Introducing.....

The double long toddler loft bed!

Featuring:
~Removable sides for taking it apart--though it certainly isn't a quick task!
~Ladder rungs that are too far apart for Nate to climb (yet), meaning a safe haven for Camden.
~Camden-chosen blue paint. It looks a tad bit purple, but it really is a deep blue. 

This is going to be how we can fit three kids into one bedroom. 

Incredible job, Brian! 

Merry Christmas, Camden!

Special thanks to:
~Our friend, Ryan, for letting Brian use his tools
~Our downstairs neighbor, Jana, for being patient with the drilling/sanding
~Our Honda Civic Truck for hauling wood from Home Depot
~Mom and Dad's bedroom for being a wood shop/storage area
~Home Depot cashier for reminding Brian to get screws

Picture update

So now that we have a camera AND the cord, we got a new computer, so I am trying to figure it all out again.  But, here are some pictures from the last too many months.  I tried to include lots of pictures and not too many words so the post isn't too long. 

Here's my little climber.

Some fall leaves

 

Nate's cheesy smile--we can't get enough of it!

Camden trying out the new head flashlight we got.

He's actually under a fort back behind the tunnel.  

 

 

Our first (and only, so far) snowfall.  Camden LOVES playing in the snow.  Nate is happy unless he gets snow in his face or if his gloves fall off. 

 Brian teaching the boys how to make a snow fort.

 

Christmas at Temple Square

 

And this one is just funny.  We were driving home the 7-10 minutes from Costco when we realized both boys had fallen asleep.  Brian carried Camden in and took off shoes and his coat, and Camden just crawled onto the carpet and fell asleep again.  It was just so cute!

 

And, our annual photo shoot for the boys in their Christmas clothes.  Note it only took about 5 minutes.  That's all I can muster between their uncooperativeness and my short patience.  I always think it will be so fun to get the boys dressed up and take their pictures.  Then the actual event is more like asking, then begging kids to come back and hold still for 5 seconds.  Then, it turns the boys squishing, pulling, grabbing, and wrestling each other.  Still, if I can get one good picture, it's all worth it.  I especially like the first and last pictures.  

Merry Christmas!

Before Thanksgiving gets here....

I can finally post Halloween pictures!  I lost the camera cord again, so I couldn't upload any pictures to my computer.  After searching, pulling out desks and couches, and waiting a few weeks to make sure I really lost it, I decided Nate must have hidden it somewhere.  I ordered a new one.  The best way to find something is to order a new one.  The same day that the new one arrived, I found the old one--buried at the bottom of the diaper bag.  Weird.
   
Anyway, now I can post again!

Camden really wanted to be a Spinosaurus for Halloween this year.  

Here he is trying out his new costume a few days before Halloween.

  And a front shot.

He totally fell asleep reading books, sitting up.  What books?  Two dinosaur books, of course!

I think he looks a little like a big cat or something, with his tail. 

 A party with our cousins in Centerville.  They were dragons--sooo cute!  Nate was a pteranadon.  He even had wings, but it's hard to tell in the pictures.

 Brian was the night watchman from "Night at the Museum."  He has the funny monkey who steals his keys, and Camden is holding the T-rex skeleton.  I thought I would be the museum tour guide lady, but I don't really look enough like her that people could tell.  Oh, well.  Brian looked really cool.  :)

  On Halloween, we had a really great day, until dinner.  No details need be mentioned, but one very grumpy Spinosaurus had a hard time eating dinner.  Lesson learned:  our Spinosaurus is not a carnivore.  :)

Anyway, dinner disaster made us forget to take many pictures on Halloween night.  But, here is one tired spinosaurus on the way home from trick-or-treating.  So cute!  

Pteranadon was just a happy sticky sucker mess. 

 

Good day!

We've had a really good day today!

We started off with Camden finishing his Articles of Faith.  He can sing all of them, with a little help on a few.  So, to celebrate, he got to choose whether he wanted to go to an indoor bounce house or choose a new dinosaur.  He choose to get Ankylosaurus, and was so proud of himself.  It made me smile. :)

Sometime in the morning, I researched how to get crayon out of clothes.  A yellow crayon got mixed in a load of laundry when we were in Maryland (promise I'll get pictures and posts about our trip).  It wasn't a large load, but a new pair of Brian's jeans, my favorite capris, a nice jacket, and a few other things had awful yellow spots all over.  The trick?  Borax mixed with Cascade Complete in  hot water.  Rub onto crayon spots, then send the clothes through a regular wash with the extra amount of Borax solution that didn't get rubbed in.  I'm so glad to save my clothes!

While Nate was napping, Camden and I got a few mean old rose bushes trimmed.  Glad that's done!  We also got the ice melt and shovels passed out to the buildings in our complex.   Now we're ready for snow, but happy to let it stay away a little longer.

Nate took a nice long nap, and Camden wanted to rest.  I was more than happy to let him rest.  So, I had some time to research candidates and issues for my mail-in ballot. 

When we went to put my ballot in the mailbox, we found a surprise.  Camden's Christmas ornament.  Each year, the boys get a new ornament that represents them somehow.  Camden is enthralled with dinosaurs this year, and really loves Spinosaurus (which is his Halloween costume, too).  It's supposed to be bigger than T-Rex, but a little slimmer.  Its head looked more like a crocodile than a T-Rex.  It also has a sail on its back.  The best fossils that scientists have found were destroyed in a German museum in WWII.  Anyway, I fond a Spinosaurus Christmas ornament for a price within our Christmas ornament budget on ebay.  Score!

Also, my house went from disaster area in every room to a little cleaner--not quite tidy, but much better.

One more thing.  My boys haven't been complaining all day that they are hungry.  Yesterday was rough, with "I need somping.  I'm HUNGRY!" nearly every 20-30 minutes.  I really do think they were hungry, but it didn't matter how much they ate or how recently.  Anyway, by the end of the day, I was grateful to leave to go visit a few women from church and let Brian put them to bed. :)

Hope you have a great day today or sometime soon!

Cedar Trees

Having grown up with relatives in Southern Utah, I have driven through St George and Cedar City many times.  I just assumed that the city was named for the trees around it that look somewhat like this:

http://cpluhna.nau.edu/Biota/pinyon-juniper.htm

But, in the scriptures, we read about "Cedars of Lebanon."  Somehow, the feeling that I've always gotten from the scriptural references to cedars are that they are tall and regal.  I've also wondered how it is possible to get the valuable cedar planks that line chests and closets from the stubby cedars that I'm familiar with. 

And, at Mount Vernon (home of George Washington), we discovered the answer.  These are real cedar trees, right from Lebanon.

 

Now it all makes much more sense.  And then, as I was searching for a picture of "Utah Cedars" on google, the first result that came up listed Juniper trees.  Utah cedars aren't cedar at all!  They're juniper trees!