Seth where's Jaq?

Oh.

for the fly on the wall...

The ROBOT CHART. Okay so I was at the family dollar the other day and I found this wicked sweet Robot that I KNEW Seth would love. So I couldnt resist getting it for him and thought to myself, "oh, I can just give it to him for his birthday in August." (This is awful but I dont feel like I can just give my kids toys that are more than dollar store toys just because...I feel like I have to have a reason like a birthday or holiday or they have to earn it...is that harsh of me?) Anyways but I was talking to my sister about it and she gave me some good advice that even though Seth might be into Robots now, he might grow out of it by August. So I came up with plan. I put the robot on top of the fridge and made a monstrous chart for him to get it. I didnt mean to but it ended up having like 84 squares, so I knew this was going to take awhile. But he did it in a month and we had little rewards along the way like a fruit snack, graham crackers and milk, water balloons, and a trip to the dollar store. So that made the rewards a little more often. He did awesome with this chart. He made his bed and cleaned his room (with help) and then got dressed every morning. And anytime he was obedient or played nice with Jaq he got a sticker. But it started to get funny cause he would say he wanted a sticker and I'd tell him he needed to be nice to Jaquelle if he wanted one, so then he'd run up to Jaq and say "tickle, tickle Jackie" then race back to me with high hopes for a sticker. Sometimes though he really did deserve them. We were out front one day and I was sweeping the porch and Jaq started to walk down our yard to the road and before I could get there Seth swooped down on his bike and blocked her way to the road. And when she tried to get around him, he jumped off and grabbed her and held her till I could come get her and proceeded to lecture her how we stay on the sidewalk and NOT on the road. It was so awesome how he was watching out for her. Sometimes when we're outside together and he needs to go inside for something he'll turn to me and say, "mom, you keep an eye on Jaq, I'll be back." Whose the parent here? How funny. Anyways so this Sunday he finally got his Robot and it was better than Christmas. Seriously. But after that day we outlawed the obnoxiously loud toy on Sundays and tried to keep it in the garage for every other day of the week. Why the heck are toys SO loud and contain more flashing lights than Vegas these days? ....well good job bud, you deserve your unthinkably loud robot.

Tomboy or maybe just a the best of both worlds

Okay so this cracks me up. Jaquelle is all girl, with the purse, the dress up and the whole gammit but in the same moment she doesnt want to be left out with anything Seth is doing, which usually involves sports. So this picture just fits this predicament perfectly. Purse, hat, sunglasses and a football/basketball. That's my girl!

Easter Camping 2010

Well its a late post, but I cant go without updating one of the biggest traditions my family does, so, here goes.First, lets start with eggs; easter isnt easter without coloring eggs. So this year Seth was going to solo the egg coloring business. After carefully watching me he knew he had it down. So I left him with the dye and 10 eggs. When I returned to the room and came back, I saw his first batch complete. Four bright, differently colored eggs. I congratulated him and left again. This time upon returning I found 4 cracked, broken eggs either on the floor or in pieces floating in the colorful cups of dye. The 6 eggs that survived, once colorful and vibrant now looked like this:
apparently each egg had to be "baptized" in every color. Ah well. Purplish, brown is an easter color right?
We camped the same place we did last year right by green river. It was COLD the ENTIRE time but come on, thats Easter Camping recently. It seems like I have memories somewhere in my brain of Easter being nice and hot when I was younger. I dont know what's happening lately. Goes to show global warming is a hoax. J/K. Anyways Krista and I showed up on Thursday so we did Easter baskets on Friday morning and the kids loved finding their baskets. Tallie was going to be there to do them with us but Jim wouldnt get out of bed and so they didnt make it in time. And trust me she was not a happy camper about this. But they did meet up with us in Goblin Valley later on that day. Goblin Valley was a whole new adventure this year. With Mason, Anna, Alexa, Seth, Jaquelle and Gaven it was more of an assembly line of handing one kid up to the next highest person, up to the next highest person and so on type of hiking. But we did get some great photo shots and we managed to get all of us, even the babies up into the cave. It was definitely a twist on the intensity of hiking we used to do. But it was good cause the kids just ran like crazy and were WAY tired that night. Neal finally came down early that evening and was bummed that he missed the easter baskets too, but what do you do. I guess he had to stay for a test and hang out more with "a girl". Saturday we just chilled all day, it was cold so that made chillin' even more accurate. We did go back to a "fantastic" geyser that I swear no one has actually witnessed going off. And then since it was general conference the boys all went to priesthood session in Green River. Krista went home on Saturday cause Aaron wanted to go to Priesthood with his grandpa and the rest of us stuck around till after church services on Sunday. Funny, but I was thinking, since it was general conference this weekend, I believe we were the only mormons on the planet going to church! But of course, its not Easter without the Sunday service (which is getting approximately 15-20 minutes longer each year, and I figure at this rate...in about 10 years its going to be an all day event!). It was good though. It was my mom's Uncle Clyde's birthday. So each brother and sister (of the originals) gave a heartfelt tribute to them and I thought how cool that would be to have my brothers and sisters say that stuff about me when I am 80. It was nice and overall a fun Easter. It really felt good to get out and camp despite the cold. Not to mention the kids LOVED it, but what kid can resist playing outside all day and snacking endlessly on Grannie Annies goods stashed in her trailer?