Teaching moment.... gone bad?

This morning I wash rushing around trying to get my boys and myself ready. They were going to my cousins while I went to get my hair cut. Kyson only wears one pair of shoes daily (except on Sunday's). He really only has those one pair of shoes. Kyson found the right shoe in the living room.... the search was one for the left shoe. I swear we looked everywhere. We were already going to be late at this point... then it popped into my head, "You should pray." I thought to myself, this will be my first teaching experience about prayer and that there are many reasons to pray including when we need help (not just for blessing meals and our night prayers that he only blesses Uncle Olin in is rodeo and Uncle Evan on his mission and every once in while he'll thank Heavenly Father for the church and prophet) so GREAT opportunity right!

I explained to Kyson that we can pray and ask Heavenly Father for help and he will tell us where to look to find his shoe. Kyson says, "Heavenly Father is coming to our house!" I told him he tells us in our minds and heart (pretty sure my 3-year old didn't understand that) but he bought it. So he knelt down by my bed and started his prayer... "Dear Heavenly Father, please help me find my shoe. Thank you for my blessings. In the name Jesus Christ, Amen." I was so proud of him, it was like he really had understood what I was trying to teach him.

So we started to look for his shoe. He kept saying, Heavenly Father is helping us find my shoe. We kept looking, and looked and looked. No shoe. So I finally told him that Heavenly Father will help us find his shoe on His time, not ours. We left for my cousins house and put Kyson in his church shoes.

We still have not found the shoe.

To be honest, I am pretty disappointed that we didn't find the shoe. I know he really doesn't understand but how do you teach your child these principles when it doesn't come to fruition? Needless to say I think I am swallowing the humility pill today because I can't stop thinking about why this teaching moment turned out this way.

Where did I go wrong?

SYTYCD!!

My husband came home one day in August from work, brought down our lap top, and starting playing the "So You Think You Can Dance" them song. I asked, "What the heck are you doing?" He asked, "Babe would you like to hear more of this theme song?" My response, "What??" "Sure!" "I guess." He said, "Well you'll be hearing more of it in November when you go to their 2010 tour performance in our home town... LAS VEGAS!!" I know my husband spoils me. :) I'm usually not a fan of sharing the things my husband does for me on the blog... but I couldn't help it with this one. As most of you know, I have had a love affair with dance since I was 2 years old. This is a big deal for me.

I loved every single moment of it!! I didn't get very many pictures, but it was a blast!!

Thanks babe. Love you to pieces!!

XOXO Melanie

Happy Halloween

Mommy helped Kyson carve his pumpkin this year. He wouldn't show his face for the picture. Gotta love three year olds!

Daddy helped Brox with his pumpkin.

We had a week long of parties to celebrate Halloween this year. We also switched up the costumes a few times. Kyson was the Karate Kid for this party. Shad did a pretty good job on the makeup for the black eye. Seriously, it is not really... promise CPS.



Brotherly love! Brox is a monkey.

Mom is a rodeo clown... for the many of you have seen this costume before, sorry. We are not very creative in this household. :)

A monkey bum.

Another party... we were a family of rodeo clowns. Once again, please don't browse last year's Halloween costumes because they will be the same.

The final Halloween party... Shad & I decided not to put on the rodeo clown makeup for a 3rd night in a row.

Love Trunk-Or-Treat. Seriously our Stake was awesome in decorating their cars!!

This guy did not move for the 30 minutes we stood watching... talk about a workout.

Too much candy was given to my two boys... in fact we still have some in our pantry. They come in handy for potty treats. LOL!

XOXO Melanie

Calendar Weekend

Once again trying to catch up on my blog :)

"Calendar Weekend" will eventually turn into "Sister Retreat" once our long lost sister moves closer to Utah... but for now we call it the calendar weekend. The weekend where we get together and create our family calendar for the new year with pictures from the past year. We digitally scrapbook the top portion of the calendar and then make the calendar portion in Word. It has become a favorite Christmas present to our family. We love looking at the pictures every month not to mention reminding us of every one's birthday and anniversary.

This calendar weekend we decided to get really crazy and take Kyson on his very first fishing trip. I haven't gone to Lake Hill up Ephraim canyon since I was little. I use to love coming up to this lake to fish... my favorite was when I got to come up with just my Dad & I. So what better place to take Kyson!!

Really I think this picture is PRICELESS!!

Brox as cute as can be!!

It was a perfect day in mid October. Can you see how awesome this place is!! The leaves were changing colors and in the first picture a deer had come to take a drink. Awesome!!

Kyson thought every pole was his and so when anyone caught a fish he had to be the one to reel it in. This was his very first catch on his very first fishing trip. Again PRICELESS.

XOXO Melanie

Lake Powell

Our good friends invited our family to go on their last Lake Powell trip of the season (back in September). It was so much fun!! It has been many years since I have experienced Lake Powell without a house boat and it was a lot of fun. The kids actually did pretty well sleeping in tents. It was seriously PERFECT weather. It would get cool enough at night to be comfortable sleeping and the days were sunny with NO wind...let me repeat myself for any of you who have gone to Lake Powell. There was NO wind!! The vacation did have its share of "hiccups" including Cole's sister loosing her boat off her trailer on the way down to the lake. It was scary but everyone was ok and the boat was actually able to get on the lake the next day. Thanks Cole for inviting us to come. We had a blast!!

Yes my husband is a dare devil... can you see where he jumped from? Click on the picture to make it larger. YIKES! I jumped from where the few individuals are standing on the bottom right. Kyson actually jumped just a little lower than that... so my 3 year old son pretty much showed me up!

We climbed "Sand Mountain". Talk about a leg workout! Kyson also experienced this adventure with us. He was such a trooper.

Brox's girlfriend Elsie. Aren't they the cutest!!

Kyson also tried wake surfing. Can you believe Cole was able to do this?!?! Cole has many talents, and apparently so does Kyson!

I wish this picture was a little more in focus but it was so cute I couldn't resist. Brox loved being in the water too!

Feeding the ducks.

Cole's niece... too cute!

Ashley & Elsie... sun goddesses!!

Kyson & Mommy riding the jet ski.

Thanks again Cole! Don't forget us next year.

XOXO Melanie

Happy 80th Birthday!

The Rollo's had a surprise party for Great Grandma Rollo for her big 80th birthday (in September...I'm a little behind in posting). She is such a great example for Shad & I and we absolutely adore her! We love you Grandma Great!!

XOXO Melanie

Quick Trip with Ma & Pa.

My Mom invited me to come to St. George and stay with my parents while my Dad went to a conference for work. We had so much fun together. We played in a splash park, ate lunch with Kenzie in between her classes. We went to a movie, shopped and played in the hotel pool.

Kyson also got to have his very first experience sitting in a dental chair! Aunt Z got to clean his teeth and take some x-rays. He was a fantastic patient and received many prizes.

Then one of my friends said she had 4 extra tickets to a BYU game. I couldn't pass that up (even in a "rebuilding" year). So I continued to Ephraim and spent a couple days there too!

This is Natalie's best attempt at the "Y". Don't ask.

Yes we did enjoy ourselves on our mini vacation... almost as much as the kid in the row behind me in this picture. LOL!

XOXO Melanie