Video Week, Day 2: Molly Prayers

Last week while Macy was visiting Amby in California, she noticed something strange in Sacrament Meeting. As soon as they announced a prayer, Molly would spontaneously stop what she was doing, sit up, and quickly fold her arms.

We have never ever tried to train Molly in the etiquette of praying, so the big surprise was how she came to figure this out completely on her own.

After they returned home we tried it, telling Molly that it was time to pray, and she instantly folded her arms again.

I say this just to explain that while the following does appear pretty coached, it really isn't at all, or at least it didn't start out that way. You can tell that she now responds to our more direct 'prayer' cues, but just remember that it all started out as her own little brain child, not ours.


Molly Prayer from Ryan on Vimeo.


Molly Prayer Again from Ryan on Vimeo.

Video Week Day 1: Quarterback Lucy

We've got a few videos on file that may be worth sharing, but we've been very lazy bloggers lately.

So each day for the next few days, to reward our longsuffering readers for their patience, we'll post one video for your enjoyment.

Here's the first. Several weeks ago, Rex, Lucy and I spent a half hour playing football in the backyard. One of them would be the receiver and one would play defense. I would huddle with whomever was the receiver and I'd describe a route for them to run, and would then throw the ball to them. Sometimes the route would end with "and then run back toward me." (mostly because Lucy would often end up 50 yards away from me, under some tree, or in the play house, or under the tramp, and it's just not easy to get the ball to her when she runs those routes)

Anyway, I came out an hour later to find that Lucy had graduated from receiver/defender to QB, and that she had her own routes going on in her own game. It's nice to see kids absorb lessons this well, and especially gratifying to see what a good football mind she has.



Quarterback Lucy from Ryan on Vimeo.

More video tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Molly Bear!!

Today our baby turns ONE!! I can't believe how fast this year has gone. It has been a great year, a crazy busy year with three little ones , but a great one. I guess the coming of school starting for my oldest next week, and my baby turning one has made me realize how much I love these days when my kids are all little. I love the total control over my kids and our lives, my complete freedom almost everyday, and that we are all at home together. Well no longer. My kids are growing up.



Molly is such a happy baby! She is busy, busy, and very extroverted. She loves Rex and Lucy, and of course her mom and dad so much. I love every second I get alone with her because it is few and far between. I love her smell , and I have to kiss her head every time I pick her up...it has become a complete habit for me. I love the way she crawls around and then stops in football huddle position to play with something or open a cupboard or something. I love, love her laugh, and she gives it out pretty easily which isn't the most common thing in our household. She has been such a fun addition to our family, and we all adore her.

This year we had a combined One year old party for Molly, Oliver, and Ashton who are all turning one weeks from one another. What lucky cousins.

Rex's water party and Cousin sleepover

Rex has been dying to have a water party all summer, and since his birthday is on Christmas Eve we decided to celebrate his half birthday too. We invited some friends and all the cousins to come have pizza and jump on the Pearce family bounce house and go down the Massey family's amazing slip-n-slide (we have great resources), and most importantly water balloons (thanks Wade and Kerstin for even helping us with those). Then the older cousins stayed to sleep on the trampoline. What a night !!






Ryan and I spent hours chatting and blowing these up, it was actually kind of fun after we got going and I stopped screwing up and getting both of us really wet. Who knew Ryan takes water balloons almost as seriously as his job? He told me all about his water ballooning days, and that he was always the balloon tier while Davis was the filler.

The boys: Rex, Nate, and Ike The girls: Tenley, Lucy, and Anna eating their creamies Anna helping Molly walk. What a cute little babysitter she is. Molly peering out the door. She loves watching the kids.

Molly and Ashton playing inside


The sleepover went pretty well considering three were sobbing at one point scared out of their minds to sleep on our tramp. Lucy ended up coming inside to sleep. We put a baby monitor out there so they could talk to us if they needed to , and boy did they use it. Nate told us three times that he was having a nightmare before they ever went to sleep, and then he informed us that they were having two bad feelings. Anna and Abby were so sweet every time they needed something. They would always say what they needed in the monitor and then say, "sorry to keep bugging you guys." It was really cute. What sweet, sweet kids! We said a prayer with all of them, and Ryan ended up sleeping out there beside the tramp, and then they were fine. Rex had a ball, and it was all worth it in the end. Cute cousins and fun times!!!

"Baby, lets cruise"

Lucy finally started riding her bike! Now, we are just talking about a bike with training wheels here, but we are proud none the less. It has been no small feat. We have never been able to get her to even ride a tricycle....the girl is just not motivated by much. Even a brand new pink mini-cruiser didn't do the trick. I thought maybe it was because of her dislike of Rex's old blue and red tricycle, and so I did tons of research and shopping to find her the cutest and brightest pink mini-cruiser, and well she was excited on Christmas day, but then didn't want anything to do with it after that. Don't get me wrong she definitely enjoyed sitting on it, but no riding was occurring. So in the bike trailer she sat beside her baby sister on all our rides throughout springtime and into the summer. So then Mother's day came, and Ryan gave me this great bike seat for Molly to sit in on the back of my bike, and I had been so excited to ride with just molly behind me on my bike(so I wouldn't have to pull the bike trailer everywhere) around the neighborhood or during the day to the library or the park this summer while Rex and Lucy rode their own bikes. You just get so excited for new phases, you know. Finally we gave up, and thought we would just leave it to her. Well one day recently she got on and without any pushing from Ryan and I she just started peddling and now loves it!!!

So we have been doing a lot of this in the mornings lately:
Rex and Lucy with their racer faces on
Utah summers are the best! What am I going to do when Rex starts school next week? What a sad end of an era for me.

Rex and Nate

Rex and Nate are the best of buddies and the best of cousins. We had Nate down to our house the other day, and just could not believe what good friends these two are. I mean I always knew they had a great little connection, but seriously we didn't have one quarrel the entire day, not one problem at all. From the moment we picked Nate up to the last second Ryan dropped him off to Ange they were laughing, chatting, joking around, and happy. They have pretty much all of the same interests and seem to always be up for what the other wants to do at the moment. It is always a breath of fresh air to have Nate down to play and see how happy it makes Rex the entire time. Cousins are great, aren't they?

We love Tater Tots!

Rex: "Dad, Is Ike still a tater tot?"

Dad: "A tater tot?"

Rex: "You know, a tater tot-- like Brooks and Charlotte."

Dad: "A tater tot? Do you mean toddler?"

Rex: "Oh, yeah, toddler."