MISSING PERSON

Name: Alex Reed

Age: 13, very close to 14 (which may explain everything)

Characteristics: Amazing & Wonderful

As I was updating our blog I realized that I have no pictures of Alex. It seems like he is spending more and more time away from home, or sleeping in later and later! I guess that is what happens when they grow up. Alex has been spending lots of time with friends, golfing lessons, and even enjoyed a week long Scout camp. He has been growing so fast, measuring in at 6 feet at his physical in June. Hopefully we can catch up to him soon and get some pictures of the things he has been doing!

The Sunset Chairs

We really get some amazing sunsets, and most nights we do not even notice them. I am trying really hard to notice and appreciate the simple and beautiful blessings that we have, and am trying to also help the kids notice those things. Troy put our adirondack chairs in the backyard, and set them so they are in the perfect spot to watch the sunset. It has been so much fun to sit with the kids, talk about how their day has gone, and watch the sun go down on another day. Now Maya and Ethan call the chairs "the sunset chairs" and I hope we are creating some great memories.

The Wheels on the Bus

One day when I was mopping the floor and moving all of the chairs out of the kitchen, I asked Alex if he remembered when he was little and he would always pretend that the chairs were a bus and he would be the driver. He used to even pack a pretend lunch and "drive" himself to school on the bus. I then told Ethan and Maya about it and they thought it sounded like fun. Maya went and got some of her animals to use as passengers and away they went!  The only problem was, because they are both so very headstrong and want to be in charge, this bus had two drivers.

Fishing

Our family really doesn't enjoy crowds. Last year we decided to go fishing to celebrate the Fourth of July, and that sounded good to us again this year. We went to the Wellsville Reservoir, where the fish have supposedly been biting, but unfortunately we didn't have any luck. Maya's face in this picture pretty much tells the story of how her day went, she wasn't a fan. We still enjoyed the time spent together and finished off the day by going to Cold Stone for ice cream. You really can't go wrong there!

Is This Made in China?

Lately Maya has been noticing that the words "Made in China" are on a lot of things. She asked me once what it said and then she started checking for those words on everything. One morning we made some Rice Krispie treats and she was the only one awake, so she got to eat what was left in the bowl and on the spoon. She took a bite, held up the spoon, and asks: "Do you think they make these in China?"

The Picnic Table

I wanted to post this just to let anyone know that may be thinking about painting a picnic table, don't do it! This was one of those projects that sounded like such a good idea and turned into a nightmare. It took Alex and I a lot of time to get it finished, so much longer than I had anticipated. But I am enjoying the finished product in the backyard.

They DO Love Each Other!

I had to capture this moment, before it was gone. One evening after dinner, while I was finishing up dishes, I noticed that things were pretty quiet. I looked into the family room and found this, all three of them sitting together looking at a book. I loved the way Maya found a way to make sure she could see also.

Maya's Hair

We had to get this picture of Maya's hair after she woke up one morning. From the day we brought her home from the hospital her hair in the morning has been something to behold. It has a mind of its own, just like she does. She has also taken to wearing her brother's old t-shirts to bed instead of her cute nightgowns. She thinks they are the coziest thing ever!

Water Balloon Fight

It is FINALLY warm enough to play outside and get wet! Maya has been wondering what a water balloon fight is all about and so today she found out. We tried to fill up the little water balloons and it was too much work. We decided to just fill up regular balloons and discovered that they are VERY hard to get to break. They kept throwing them at each other, and the balloons wouldn't break. The balloons would even roll down the rock window wells and not break. By the end they had accomplished their goal of cooling off a little bit, but Maya seemed to get the raw end of the deal.

Bug Girl

Maya LOVES bugs! Here she is getting an up close look at a roly-poly bug. She wanted Mom to hold it and find out how many legs he had. Mom wasn't willing, but according to Wikipedia there are 14. We have had so many bugs brought in the house, and then she gets upset when they die. I think we have finally convinced her that she needs to leave them where she finds them. As for this roly-poly, according to Maya he got out of his bottle and is somewhere in our basement.

Sparkly!

Maya: Is "Sparkly" a girl's name?
Mom: Yes.
Maya: I wish my name was "Sparkly."
Mom: We can call you "Sparkly" if you want us to.
Maya: Okay, tell EVERYONE in the universe.
Mom: Alright.
Maya: But don't tell the people up in the mountains.
Mom: Why not?
Maya: Well, just tell everyone around here.
Mom: Okay.
Maya: Well, just tell everyone that you know.
Mom: Alright.
Maya: How about you just tell Grandmas and your friends.

A Coconut?

We got a coconut in our "Bountiful Basket" this week. After letting it sit on our countertop for several days we decided to try and open it.

Out came the hammer and a nail, and after draining out all of the liquid (Ethan does not recommend to anyone that this makes a good drink), it broke open. We were excited to eat the inside, but it was so hard that was nearly impossible. We tried letting it dry out for a few days, but all in all our coconut

experience was a "bust"!

Piano Recital

Ethan had another great piano recital. When I get the cord for our camcorder I will put the video on our blog. He is always cool under pressure. He has such a talent for playing the piano, along with a unique way of learning it. Luckily he has a great teacher that adapts to his style and lets him go with it. We are so proud of you Ethan!

From Maya, With Love

Maya made this drawing in her Primary class. It is supposed to be of her and, as you can see, she is very proud of it. Down in the corner she wrote, "I love you Mom" and she drew her tongue sticking out because someone had asked her to eat something she didn't like. We thought the way she drew her hair sticking straight up was an interesting thing. Maybe she remembers the way her hair was when she was a newborn, always sticking straight up!

Etch-a-Sketch

This is a picture that Ethan did for Mom. It says, "I "heart" Mom. He loves to draw and always adds lots of detail in whatever he is doing. There are many things in this life that Ethan doesn't have much patience for, but he will sit for hours and draw.

Punctuation

Today when Maya and I were working on her reading she was asking me about some of the punctuation marks, and what they mean. She is so funny when she sees an exclamation mark. She will read the sentence normally until the last word and then she will say the last word really loud and excited. Question marks kind of throw her a bit, she is working on them. Then she asked me what the little dots mean. I tried to explain the periods, finally saying that when she sees them she should take a little breath before moving on to the next word. She tried this for a little while and then said, "I don't really like those little dots. I'm not going to take a breath, I don't really like to take that many breaths anyway."

Fertilizing the Lawn

It is finally good enough weather that Troy can start working in the yard. Tonight Maya helped him do some of the fertilizing. Maya's favorite part was looking at the fertilizer bits and she said, "Hey, these are all of my favorite colors!"

April Fool's!!!

Maya and mom played a great April Fool's trick on Ethan. We sent some of Maya's play kitchen food in his lunchbox, and he was pretty surprised and worried that he wouldn't have lunch that day. We were hiding in the school library waiting for him to come into the lunchroom so that we could give him his REAL lunch. Ethan was a great sport about having a joke played on him, and we had a lot of fun doing it.

Happy Birthday Maya!

This was Maya's face when she saw her cake. I really hoped that she would love it.

Our girl loves puppies, and so we made her a puppy cake.

Happy Birthday! We can't believe she is already 4 years old.

Maya had a fun day that ended with having Grandpa and Grandma Riggs, Grandpa and Grandma Dahl, Brenda, Brandon, and Aly all come for cake and ice cream.

Here Comes The Sun (doo doo doo doo)

The last few weeks our CD of choice while we are in the car is The Beatles "Abbey Road". The kids have loved it! There is nothing better than hearing my two little ones in the back seat singing "Here Comes the Sun, doo doo doo doo," on the way to school. Their other two favorite songs are "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" and "Octopus' Garden". Today on the way to school Ethan says, "If we had Beatles Rock Band I would SO be the singer."

List

Today when I told Maya that we were going to town to pick up a few things for her birthday, she said she wanted to make a list too.

Obviously, she wants cake! "I LOVE CAKE", and the bottom line says "ATPINA", which means "Pinata" (she started her P in the middle of the paper and needed to write the last two letters at the beginning). She is getting very excited for her big day.

Taxes

I was sitting at the computer trying to finish up our income taxes and Maya wanted to know what I was doing. This was our conversation:

Maya: What are you doing on the computer?

Mom: Dad and Mom's taxes.

Maya: Why do you need to do taxes?

Mom: Just because I need to finish them up.

Maya: When you get them finished up does that mean you get to go on a REALLY good date?

Mom: Well, what do you think a REALLY good date would be?

Maya: Well, three things. 1) You should always wear a helmet when you are on your bike. 2) You should go to the temple, no questions asked. 3) You should always stay safe when riding in the car.
At least she's got the safety thing down.

Girl's Day

Today Maya and Mom went to have lunch with Chari for her birthday. We went with Grandma Leishman, Grandma Pam, Brenda, and Cortney. Maya had a really good time going out to lunch, going shopping, and going to Chari's house. Grandpa Joe gave Maya some money to spend and she chose to buy a stuffed dog and a stuffed mouse, which made her very happy. When we got home Maya said, "Let's not ever drive that far again!"

Utah State Hey Aggies All The Way!!!

Maya finally got to go to the last Aggie basketball game of the year with her dad and Alex. Ethan didn't feel like going this time, and stayed home with Mom. It hadn't worked out all season that Maya was able to go because of one conflict or another, and she was so excited. I kept telling her throughout the day what it was going to be like and even showed her on YouTube some videos of the crowd. She wanted to learn some of the cheers and songs, and she was ready to go! They had a good time, but she isn't sure she wants to go back because it is very noisy.

"Bavilla" Ice Cream

Even though Maya doesn't look happy in this picture, she really was enjoying her "bavilla" ice cream cone. As far as she is concerned there is no other flavor than vanilla.

Family Popcorn Night

Our Stake President designated Sunday evening, February 14th, as "Family Popcorn Night". A bag of popcorn was given to every family and we were asked to spend the night together doing an activity and having popcorn. We chose to play some games, which turned into quite a test of patience. It isn't easy to keep all of the different ages entertained and happy, but we did survive!

Valentine's Day

We had a quiet Valentine's Day at home this year. Dad and Mom went out on Friday night, on Saturday we made sugar cookies, and on Sunday we spent the night playing games and having popcorn. Maya's friend even brought her by some sugar cookies. She was pretty excited about them!

Scout Sunday

Today was "Scout Sunday" and the boys got to wear their Scout uniforms to church. So handsome!

No Fun!

Maya had to go to the doctor today. She had spent the night before coughing, and it didn't sound very good. Dr. Schneider said she had the beginnings of either croup or RSV, and she needed to wear this mask while in the doctor's office. We were sent home with a variety of medicine, it is a good thing Maya is a great medicine taker! This is the first time Maya has been sick, other than a few small colds and fevers, and it is hard on all of us.

Our One-of-a-Kind Girl

As Maya grows and more of her personality comes out, we sometimes just have to laugh. We love her with all of our hearts, and she truly marches to the beat of her own drum.

In Our Backyard

Almost everyday we are able to see wildlife in our backyard. Troy and Maya love to look for things together, and today they were able to watch a group of wild turkeys that have been hanging around lately. We also get to see rabbits, deer, pheasants, and a lot of birds. We love the view that we have and the little forest that the wildlife come to.

Ice Fishing

Troy and the boys began the New Year by going ice fishing. They got up bright and early on New Year's Day, even after staying up until 1:30 a.m. celebrating. It was a fun experience even if they weren't too lucky. They really did have a good time.