We started our Thanksgiving out with this wonderful family:

Then Greg took these two boys and drove 3.5 hours to do this:

with these guys:

and loved every single minute of it!

While me and the two little ones stayed behind and worked on these:

and this:

wreath idea came from here but I added my own touch.....something about burlap this year....just loving it.

Oh, and we (me and the little ones) also loved every single minute of our few days together!

The summer here was probably the worst I have ever had to endure. Miserably hot and terribly humid.
The fall here has been one of the best I have ever had to endure. The weather is perfect and I have plenty of little company to enjoy it with!

Last week we took a little drive (um, sometimes it didn't really feel little but the kids were great overall in the 10 plus hours we spent in the car).
We visited:
Adam-ondi-Ahman
Liberty Jail
Independence, Missouri
The Hampton Inn swimming pool
St. Louis Temple
Cabelas
The Drury Plaza swimming pool
St. Louis Science Museum
St. Louis City Museum
The Drury Plaza Swimming pool
and we could not leave without spending a few more hours in the
The Drury Plaza swimming pool

The kids favorite parts: swimming, all you can eat waffles every morning and the City Museum.

Adam-ondi-Ahman

St. Louis Temple

The City Museum was really soooo cool and absolutely and insanely bazaar. We loved it.

Little Emmett tends to like the view from this angle quite often

The boys had a kitten for a day. She found a new home with a friend of ours.

And Greg has two weeks off for an expansion at work so we plan on doing a little traveling, sightseeing, and swimming.

The boys finished swim lessons.

And enjoyed a canoe ride in the end.

Dax thought he'd sell his big colorful rock....

for 50 Bucks! It's still on our front lawn if you're interested!

In an effort to listen to and act on this counsel from President Spencer W. Kimball

“It would be a fine thing if … parents would have in every bedroom in their house a picture of the temple so [their children] from the time [they are] infant[s] could look at the picture every day [until] it becomes a part of [their lives]. When [they reach] the age that [they need] to make [the] very important decision [concerning going to the temple], it will have already been made”

I had Perfect Printables put these together for Emmett's and Nolan's rooms.

Logan, UT Temple

Nauvoo, IL Temple

Lucas learned to ride his bike and now begs to go on a walk all day:


Nolan is officially potty trained:

Emmett is cruising everywhere and is adored by us all:


Dax is really enjoying school. His favorite parts are "doing work" (he loves to learn) and "recess":



And like all the other mothers I know, I am just busy with kids and everything else that involves. Life is good. I love this quote put together by It Works for Bobbi by Pres. Hinckley.

"Children"
They are idols of hearts and of households,
They are angels of God in disguise.
The sunlight still sleeps in their tresses,
His glory still gleams in their eyes.
These truants from home and from Heaven
They have made me more manly and mild,
And I know now how Jesus could liken,
The Kingdom of God to a child.
By Catherine S. Hardy

Just a quick update on the idols of my heart:

As Lucas would say, "the little guy is super, duper, super, duper, duper close to crawlin" and is in need of a haircut.

Me: K, Nolan let's go potty in the toilet.
Nolan: R'did just did go potty in the toilet!
(As he's sitting in a puddle on the couch...things are going well)

Luke hasn't slept through the night for the past 3 months but has the best facial expressions ever.

And this guy had his first day of school today. This year we talked a lot about the evils of the world that can ruin our minds and destroy our spirits and how important it is to stay far far away from those things. Some of which include pornography, vulgar language, drugs, drinking and smoking. Greg and I hope that this scripture and our constant reminder of both our love and our Father in Heaven's love for them will help them be strong and never afraid to run away from the horrible things of this world.

Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest."

sign from HowDoesShe

I had to do something to make up for the craziness yesterday
so we made a couple batches of play dough using
An Art Nest's play dough recipe.

Emmett's starting to get a little mobile.

Loves baby food, being held, and is the absolute sweetest lil thing.

Ya know, it really doesn't seem like I get anything done during the day. Even though I try to keep things from becoming utterly chaotic here, today there was nothing I could do about Dax dropping Emmett on his head on the tile in our kitchen, or the boys breaking the curtain rod, or Dax hitting, kicking or flicking his brothers, or the boys thinking it's really cool to fill their empty plastic popsicle pops with urine, or dumping a whole bunch of water on their floor in their room in the process of make-believe eating, or rolling Nolan up in his blanket and pushing him off the couch. You would not believe the amount of tears that are shed throughout the day (like right NOW, Greg's gone and I guess I'm done caring for a minute!!) Ahhhhhhh....it can be so overwhelming!

And there was certainly nothing I could do about this:

The boys thought they'd cut hair as I guess the one I gave them yesterday didn't suffice. Dax's isn't nearly as bad. But, seriously? At least it gave me something to laugh right out loud about!

Minutes up.....off to put out some fires.