Face Decorations

We went to McDonald's today for lunch. Kolton got a happy meal. It came with stickers. As we were driving home he told me not to look at him. I couldn't even look at him as we were walking in the house. I had to wait. Why? Because he wanted to surprise me with his face "decorations."

A Promise to be Better

I made a decision at the beginning of this week that I was going to be better.
I am going to be a better mom, wife, and member of the church.
I want to be a better mom by being here, now. I want to really listen to him and play with him.
I want to encourage him to be creative.
I want to be a better mom by enforcing rules. If I'm not the voice of influence in his life, then someone else will when he gets older. I want him to be able to cope with disappointment.
I want to be a better mom by setting a good example. I've made a goal to read the Book of Mormon in 2 months time. If I want him to study the scriptures as he gets older then he needs to see his mom do it too. I want to be closer to Jesus Christ, and one way to do that is to learn more about him and his ministry. By bringing myself closer to Christ, I will have a stronger desire to be patient and loving and more forgiving.
I want to be a better mom by loving my husband. I want Kolton to feel secure in his family and know what unconditional love is and see it. If I show respect to Brady more and love him more, then hopefully Kolton will see that. (And I know Brady isn't going to complain about more kissing. :))
I am going to smile more, say "thank you" more, and "I love you" more.
So, this is what I'm working on. So far this week, I've been trying hard to spend more time with Kolton. I've kept up on housework and done more in the evenings before bed around the house so that I can do that. I really feel like (even in just 2 days) that it has helped me be a better mom. I'm not as stressed out about the housework because I wake up to a clean house. My mind isn't drifting as I'm playing with him or listening to him thinking about the 30 things I need to do that day. I really feel like it is making me a better mom and wife.
We painted. Kolton and I. It started out with using paint brushes, but like always, turned into finger painting. And it got everywhere! He wanted his whole arm covered!


He made lots of wonderful pictures. I love them all.

Monday night after FHE Brady and Kolton had a boxing/wrestling match. It was pretty wild! Kolton sure went at it!

He was determined to win!

And for a 3 year old, he has a mean punch. :)

I couldn't help but laugh at all the faces Kolton was making and all the punches Brady was taking! Good father/son bonding. Haha.

Tuesday morning we went golfing. Monday Kolton kept asking if he could go golfing. All day. Finally, I told him that in the morning we would. First thing when he woke up he wanted me to call Brittney and invite Kade and then go. I held him off until 11:00. And good thing because Andy Alligators doesn't even open until 11:00. He would have been pretty disappointed if we had to leave and come back another time. He had a blast, though! He absolutely loves to golf! He just went from hole to hole to hole. I had to tell him a few times to slow down and to wait for us.


Tuesday afternoon out of nowhere we heard thunder. Kolton and I were playing cars in his room and all of a sudden "BOOM!" and Missie came running in to his room and laid herself across my lap. She is terrified of loud sounds. Makes me laugh. Kolton had to reassure himself it wasn't a monster and just thunder. We headed to the kitchen window to take a look and it started pouring.

Kolton sweetly asked if he could go out and jump on the trampoline in the rain with an umbrella and I obliged. We haven't had rain in who knows how long and who knows when it will rain again so I figured we better take advantage!

Look how excited he is! I love it! I got soaked, even though I was under an umbrella. The wind was blowing and falling off the roof right where I was standing so my whole bottom half was wet. I had so much fun watching him enjoy it though.



Sometimes the wind would blow and catch his umbrella. So funny to watch! I got the first one on video. It completely caught him off guard!




I hope I can continue on trying to be better. Its always easy to do at first but I hope I can make this a lifelong change. Wish me luck! :)

4th of July

So, these pictures aren't from the 4th of July, but I wanted to stuff them in here. Kolton is obsessed with this slip 'n slide. I'm so glad Jeff and Vanessa were nice enough to give it to us when they got a different one. I didn't realize how much Kolton would like it. He plays on it almost every day!

His face makes me laugh in this one. Totally preparing himself for the puddle of water at the end, hoping to not get it in his mouth. ;)


Now for the 4th of July...
The morning of we slept in and lounged around. Kolton and I headed to CVS and Walgreens to do some couponing (got 4 shampoos and 4 conditioners, 2 liter of Sprite that I had to buy because my total was too low to use one of my extra care bucks, and a box of tampons all for $2.34 with $2.00 in CVS bucks left over to use next time) and Brady headed over to his parents to help his dad take their grill to the Foys so we could use it that afternoon for our barbecue. At about 3:00 we went to Jake's Fireworks stand to go buy some cheap fireworks. We got several things for $7 and some change! :) It weirded me out though, because as we pulled in there were 3 policemen there directing you where to park. What the? Kind of strange... Anyway, then we went to the Foys at 4:00 for dinner! We had chicken, steak, and veggie kabobs (YUM!), grilled pineapple, corn on the cob, watermelon, pasta salad, raspberry lime rickies...I think that's it. It was SO good! While we were preparing it all we decided to take a short break and try and get pictures of the kids together. Oh my. :) They would NOT sit still and smile for anything! And then it started to rain....SO, the best picture I got is really just one where they are all looking up and sitting down. Haha.

We ate dinner and then we pulled out the good old slip 'n slide again. The kids got going pretty good! It helped that it was actually on some sort of a hill. Kolton reached the end several times. He'd start running up at the flower bed (after Daddy coached him some) and did pretty well.

Sterlings brother, Alex, was in town visiting. The boys took advantage and enlisted his help in getting them to go fast down the slip 'n slide.




I took the picture above and Brady noticed, so he turned his head and tried to refuse me a good picture by pulling face after face with every click of my camera. Oh dear... (click to make it bigger...)

After playing in the water we ate dessert (the men and boys had brownies and ice cream and the ladies had strawberry shortcake--one of my favorite summer desserts!). After eating dessert we headed outside to let the boys do their sparklers and set off a few little fireworks.


Brady helped Kolton do the roman candles.


With every one that Brady would set off Kolton would prepare himself for a loud bang. He was surprised after each and every one that they weren't too loud. :)

While watching, Kolton asked if they were going to outer space. Yes, son, they sure are. ;)

We then headed to the Moore fireworks. We brought glow necklaces for the kids (I always wanted one when I was little but the kids could care less about them...I mean they were excited to open them and such but once they were on they were bored of them...well, except Emery. :) She liked to eat hers.).

Snuggling with Daddy on the blanket as the fireworks were starting.


We had a fun and relaxing 4th of July with not too much craziness but fun with friends and family nonetheless. We have such great friends and are so lucky! I'm so grateful for our country we have to live in and the men and women that do and have fought for our freedoms. I'm grateful for the family I have to experience life with. I love them dearly!

This video was towards the beginning on the 4th of July of them going down the slip 'n slide.

Brady's 28th Birthday...more SUMMER fun

We've spent several days outside this year trying to stay cool. Kolton has loved playing outside in the water and as you can see he totally gets in to it! ;)

He's a funny guy...for example...the other day we were all sitting on the couch and a cute little conversation occurred.
Brady: Kolton, who will you marry?
Kolton: Probably mom. Mom, will you want to marry me?
Jen: I'm already married. I married daddy.
Brady: You only get married once. When you get older you'll find a girl that you love and is
beautiful and is your best friend and you'll marry her.
Kolton: Daddy, will you help me find her?
Brady: Sure.
Kolton: You'll say, 'you like this girl? This girl? This girl?' and I'll say 'no, no, yes.'
It was so sweet and made us laugh.


Kolton was so excited to give Brady one of the presents he got him. He picked it out all on his own.

He had to hide it behind his back until Brady was ready to open it.

And Brady was so surprised! ;)

And loved the blue tie he had received from his son.

Kolton also really wanted to pick out Brady's cake since he did that for me. We didn't plan in advance so we just had to pick from the ones that were already made and there wasn't much to choose from, but Kolton picked one he really liked and thought Brady would like as well.

Even though there's only 13 candles, Brady did indeed turn 28--not 13 as you might think. ;)

The smoke totally ruined this picture, but they blew the candles out together.

Kolton started licking icing off the corner of the cake so Brady pushed his head in. Kolton was not happy about it at first but after it was all cleaned off he started laughing about it and thought it was actually pretty funny. Even though we warned him and told him not to breath it in, he totally sniffed it up his nose and for at least 3 days he had red frosting coming out of his nostrils--especially after a bath. :)

Sunday, Brady's birthday, was also Rigdon's baby blessing. We were glad we were able to be there and that Brady was able to participate in that.
This picture totally does not do this justice, but one day we walked to the recycling bin and park and when we came back Kolton and I were both beyond hot. Kolton's face was BRIGHT red. I made him sit and rest on my bed under the fan and watch a tv show to cool down. He didn't fight that. ;)

I cleaned the box fan in my room one morning (took it apart and got all the dust off of it) and so one afternoon Kolton really wanted to clean his box fan. He helped take it apart and clean it and put it back together. The whole time he was telling me all the important steps we needed to do to make sure it was clean and that it would work when we put it back together. He also taught me how to use the screwdriver. ;)


We went to the splash pad with Kashton and Brooklyn last Wednesday. Oh my it was hot! Kolton and Kashton had a bunch of fun though! And so far this year, I haven't seen any wasps at the splash pad so that is nice!

They thought it was pretty cool that they both had the same color gatorades. ;)




We then went to the splash pad on Thursday with Vanessa and her boys and Brittney and her kids. Before we went there, we stopped by the store to buy a couple toys to play with there. Kolton picked a Cars drill/squirt gun and this splash frisbee thing. The boys all had fun running around with them and being crazy.


London convinced Kolton to stand under the buckets to get dumped on.

It finally got him one time! He was always standing to the side and then would run away when it would start to tip anyway, but one time he actually stayed and got wet!

So excited for the 4th of July weekend!! If only it wasn't so hot... I'm sure we'll still have fun though!!