2 more uses that Nephi has found for his step stool

#1 Getting a drink


Things to be thankful for:
- I had a lot of cleaning to do today and Nephi spilled the grape juice before I started. Thankgoodness!!!!
- We are now the excited owners of a carpet shampooer.
- Nephi had a blast playing in the pool that he made.

#2 For the last week or so we have noticed that we are low on spoons. Even after the dishes were all done and put away we seemed to be missing more and more every day. Today I noticed Nephi shoving a spoon in the hole of the heating element tray (not sure if that's what you call it). I took it from him and noticed a few other spoons in there as well so I started taking them out and then noticed some more, and then some more. I found 13 spoons and forks shoved under the heating element tray. At least there was only one of Nephi's plastic baby forks in there. He won't be using it any more since it kind of melted into a deformed fork.

Our valentine's

Stuart and I had a wonderful Valentine's date planned for this Sat. He had to train some Spanish speakers in scouting until the afternoon and then we were going to go to the temple and then do a nice romantic picnic dinner on the beach. We had a little change of plans though due to the stomach bug. A sister in the ward heard of our family being sick and brought over the nicest meal. Stuart got home from training and soon thereafter Sister Pykles brought us over a rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes (with carrots and green chilies), string beans, cooked carrots, gravy, multigrain bread and a delicious Valentine's Day choc. cake (oh and a lasagna for today). After not wanting to eat anything for awhile it was such a wonderful treat. It really was so nice and very much appreciated. Sister Pykles is so amazing to us and everyone else that she comes in contact with.

So this morning the boys got up at 6:00ish and we put on "David and Goliath" so that we could continue to sleep. Spencer soon came into the room saying that Nephi was getting into the cake with a knife (luckily a butterknife). We rushed out to the kitchen and Nephi was standing on his step stool with cake all over his face, hands, clothing, counters, floor, etc. Needless to say, next time we will remember to put yummy treats on top of the fridge and realize that he can take lids off of things he wants. Nephi certainly was happy and he didn't demolish the cake, THANKGOODNESS!! We still got to eat some tonight.

Nephi playing in the mud

A few weeks ago on a warm summer day...oh wait a minute on a warm winter day, Nephi found a large area of mud at the park. He got into it before I could catch him. He was already dirty and so I let him go at it and he had a blast. He was splashing around having the time of his life.

Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Spendloves

We barely had any pictures at Christmas because 1. we mainly took videos because we only have cell phone cameras. 2. When Melissa is around, she takes TONS of pictures and we all benefit. So of course I snatched these from her website. Thank you Melissa. I don't know what we'd do without you. You are awesome.


Nephi sitting with cousing Matthew.




Stuart with Spencer ice blocking and excited Summer ice blocking.

Grandpa ice blocking.


Melissa (top) Brooke, Sarah, and Summer ice blocking. Look at the ab workout. Wow are these ladies fit!

Grandpa bowling on the wii.


Shawn, Stuart, and Steve on Rock Band. Stuart loved singing!


Nephi and Lauren on the drums.


Stuart, Sarah, Grandpa, Grandma, Rebecca, and Steve


Christmas evening.

Christmas at the Pier.


Christmas Morning

Grandma opening magnets that Summer and Spencer made in Primary.


Happy Boy Christmas morning!


Nephi opening book and doggie from Grandma/pa Spendlove. He loves to snuggle with the doggie and make it bark. Thanks for the great gift.


Spencer opening batman from Katy, Texas cousins. THANKS!


Summer modeling her new hot pink bracelet and hat.




This was by far our very favorite gift. In school Summer made a beautiful calendar with a hidden picture of her in each month. It is kind of like a "Where is Waldo" book. It touched Stuart and I very much.


After the kids went to bed on Christmas Eve, we had an adult white elephant gift exchange. Mom opened the gift that we brought, which I had wrapped in a red turtle neck sweater (Janna's former sweater, which you probably could use right now living in the cold Upstate New York). It wasn't part of the gift, but I didn't want the real gift to break and when you are poor college kids like us you use whatever you have laying around the house. So any ways, Mom put on the sweater and looked beautiful in it. I had to include this picture because she is always the life of the party and this picture symbolize that for me.


Christmas jammies from Grandma.


Cousins with Santa Claus.


Our family with Santa Claus.


Nephi loves his Aunt Melissa.

Sunday, Feb. 8th, 2009

Sundays always seem to be bitter sweet for our family. We are always wanting to have a spiritual day, but sometimes being parents gives us an opportunity to enjoy spurts of joy and spurts of frustration. Stuart and I always felt so frustrated by the time church started and during church because of grumpy kids that HATE getting dressed for church and kids that have a hard time sitting in church. Stuart thought it would be a good idea for us to do something every day (of course along with morning scripture study) with the kids to help us remember that Sunday and the Sacrament are coming. So Mondays-FHE, Testimony Tuesdays, read children's church books Weds, Thankful notebook Thurs., Liken the scriptures (acting out scriptures) Fri., early to bed and pick out church clothes Sats. It has been great these last few weeks that we have done it. But as today we realized that it doesn't mean that we are going to be able to glide through Sundays. Sometimes despite all of the preparations we make for something, we are thrown curve balls that make the journey a little more interesting.

This morning started off as usual with grumpy kids. We got to church and Nephi refused to wear his church shoes and ran off bare foot in the parking lot. He managed to get some kind of soot all over his hands before I could catch him. Of course I was wearing a white shirt to which he rubbed it all over. So we went to the bathroom to wash up. After I put him down so that I could clean myself up, I heard a splashing sound. Yes, he decided to wash his hands again in the toilet, the funny thing is that he screamed and kicked the whole time I was washing him in the sink. I guess he just loves toilet water. Next was Sacrament mtg. Let's just say that Nephi spent a lot of time with Daddy in time out during sacrament mtg. Just as we are both worn out from grumpy kids, ready to tear out all of our hair (although I do have a lot of grays, so just as long as my grays are being the ones pulled out it may be OK I guess), one of Stuart's scouts gave an amazing talk, Brother Price gave an amazing talk about the gift of tongues, and a young man leaving for the MTC this week to serve a mission in Japan gave an absolutely amazing talk. It is in these moments that we realize how fortunate we are to have the restored gospel on the earth and that the little annoyances that try to stand in the way of us feeling the Spirit really hold no signifigance. But, I am certainly grateful that Stuart is leading our family in helping us prepare to take the sacrament because it definetly has made us a happier family (even though we don't have the perfect family and never will).

Summer gave a talk in Primary. She sang part of her talk because she was using the words of one of Annie Bailey's songs for it. It was very precious. She loves to sing. I love going into primary to see Summer and Spencer.

Summer started something great in our family tonight. She was sitting by herself going through the children's songbook singing songs. A few minutes later I joined in singing with her. Spencer and Nephi joined us in the room (laughing and giggling as they hid under covers). Then finally Stuart joined in singing with us. It was a wonderful night singing together. Days like this remind me how wonderful life really is, even when only a couple of hours earlier Nephi put about 5 pieces of clothes in an unflushed toilet. But, luckily Summer yelled for us to come and stop him before he stuck more in. During the middle of writing this, Stuart came in with Nephi because Nephi had just put 1/2 a roll of toilet paper in the toilet. I think we have a future plumber on our hands. Nephi just helps us to keep life interesting.