Oquirrh Mounain Temple

We have the great privilege of living right next to a brand new temple, the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, named for the mountains just to the west of us. The open house is currently underway. Randy and I had the opportunity to volunteer back in May, on the first day of the open house. Actually, there were not very many visitors that day and so most of the volunteers from our ward were sent home, including Randy, but my job was in first aid so I was able to stay. The first aid station is right inside the temple, and as part of my job I needed to know the layout of the temple and the grounds, so I was given a private tour. Because there were really no visitors I was able to walk through it a couple of times, and I was also able to take Randy through too. It is a beautiful building filled with gorgeous paintings of the Savior, giant chandeliers, beautiful etched glass, and hand painted murals. The Church really spared no expense, using the finest materials and the finest workmanship for the House of the Lord. I felt very grateful to have the opportunity to work there for my 5 hour shift. Last night we were able to take our kids to the open house. When we first walked in, past the recommend desk and saw the two grand staircases and beautiful chandelier Jacob's eyes lit up and he said, "Wow". My favorite room is, of course, the celestial room. Like all celestial rooms, it is the most beautiful place you can imagine. I was able to explain to Jacob that when we are in this room it is just like being in Heaven. When we got the sealing room we were able to sit down for a few minutes. There was a couple there to explain about sealings and eternal families. The man asked what peoples favorite rooms were and Jacob raised his hand, with is face all lit up and a huge smile he whispered "This one." It was so precious, I wanted to cry. After their presentation we were able to sit for a few minutes and I told Jacob, "Mommy and Daddy got married in room just like this one. That means that we can be married to each other for ever and ever, even after we die. It also means that you are our son forever and ever, no matter what. And some day when you find a girl you want to marry you can bring her here, maybe to this same room, and get married to her forever." We were also able to talk to our kids about what a special opportunity it is for them to be able to come inside the Temple right now because they won't get to come back until they are big. We told them that if they want to go back to the Temple when they are big they will have to keep all the commandments and do their best to do what Heavenly Father wants them to do. I am so grateful for this opportunity that we had for our children to enter the House of the Lord, I hope that they will remember what a special place it is and how lucky we are to have it.

Where did Adam get his looks? Not from me.

I have been asked several times, and have often wondered myself, "How did you get such a blond, fair, blue eyed child?" The first time I saw Adam I could not believe my eyes. If I hadn't just given birth to him, if there was any chance that he could have been switched with another baby, I don't know if I would have believed he was mine, well, except for the fact that he does looks a lot like my husband. He was just so blond and his skin was so white. My other kids had dark hair and more olive skin, more like babies who are a quarter Mexican should look. Well, the other day at my mother-in-laws house I discovered just where Adam got his looks. She found this picture of my father-in-law with his mother when she was cleaning out Grandma Wardle's things.



What do you think? Does Adam look exactly like Grandpa Wardle or what? He is all Wardle, there is no Vega in him at all.

Lost and Found

A week and a half ago we accidentally left the garage door open over night. We have done this a couple of times before without any consequences, but this time we had a theft. My bike was stolen. I was really sad. Randy bought it for me just after we got married. We thought it would be fun to go mountain biking together. We did a few times, but I had some bad crashes and haven't done much riding since I had kids. So, even though it is an old bike, it is still in good condition because it doesn't get used a ton. Randy actually rides it more than I do, and it had the clip to attach the bike trailer on it, so I was sad to loose that too. I keep everything, and I had all the paper work from when we bought the bike, including the serial number, so I decided to call the police and report is stolen. I didn't think that anything would come of it, but I thought just in case it wouldn't hurt. Well yesterday I got a call from one of our local police officers. He found my bike. Apparently a young woman took it, and she tried to pawn it. This officer found the serial number on a pawn list. So I was able to go down to our local station and picked it up. I was so happy. It does have a little bit of damage to the seat, but otherwise still looks good, and the trailer clip is still there too. I am really glad I had that serial number, I don't think we would have gotten it back without that.

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a fun filled busy weekend. We decided to forgo yard work on Saturday and do fun stuff instead. We started out the day yard saleing in Sandy. Our best find was a little picnic bench for the kids for $3. While we were driving around Sandy we noticed the Rocky Mouth trail head set right in the middle of this fancy neighborhood. Later in the day we decided to go hiking with Jason and Erika. Randy looked up some information on the trail and it said that it is a short hike up to a waterfall, and good for children. So we decided to try it out. It was short, and it was beautiful, but when they said it was good for children, they didn't mean 3 year olds. We struggled a bit with Nathan and Alayna. It was just really rocky and steep. But still it was fun, and we went out for ice cream after which made it even better.

In front of the waterfall, I think I look way more pregnant than I really am

On Sunday afternoon we went down to Gunnison, UT to visit Randy's favorite mission compainon Cody and his family. He and his wife Nona have three kids about the same ages as our kids. They had so much fun together. I love how kids can make friends instantly. We had a fun little trip experiencing small town life. While we were there we did several things you would never do in Salt Lake. We took a drive in the mountains near their home. This is something that we do frequently, but the difference was all 10 of us rode in their Subruban and no one wore seat belts, apparantly they are optional in Gunnison. I usually feel guilty driving in my own neighborhood with my kids unbuckled. It made me nervous, but it was still a fun drive. Apparantly obeying traffic laws are optional as well. I guess when you rarely meet another car it is okay. We saw first hand that when you live in a small town you have to find different ways to amuse youself. Cody is currently waging war against the towns gopher population, which appears to be larger than the human population. He enjoys driving around with his shot gun, stopping by the side of the road, aiming out his window, and shoting gophers. He has a pretty good aim, we witnessed him shoot at least 10 gophers. His 6 year old son also enjoys this past time, but he uses a pelet gun. We also got to visit Cody's family's dairy farm. They have about 600 cows that they milk. We got to play with some week old calfs, although my kids were terrified of them. I had a hard time getting them to even get close enough to take a picture. We got to see some cows being milked. But my kids favorite part was riding on the 4 wheelers and tractors. It was just a short overnight trip, but we had a lot of fun.

Don't they look scared, like the cows are going to break free and get them

As soon as we got home we had to get ready to host a Memorial Day/3rd Birthday Party for Nathan at our house. Our party was a lot of fun. Even with just our brothers and sisters families it was a lot of people. Luckily the weather was nice and the kids were able to play and eat outside. Nathan was so excited. I made him a "Gummy Wormy" cake, which he loved, and he got some nice presents from his cousins. The favorite present was a pack of water balloons from Uncle Jason that were quickly opened and filled. The kids had a great time with those, but they really got soaked when Randy turned the sprinklers on them :)

What I have been up to lately

I feel like a blog slacker, I haven't written or read anything for a while. I have had an incredibly busy and exhausting six weeks or so. Let me fill you in on what we have been doing.

• April was my month to teach preschool. This took up most of my time. For four weeks on Tuesday and Thursday for 2 1/2 hrs I had our little preschool class here. We talked about all things spring. We did some fun Easter activities, learned about how rainbows are made, learned about flowers and plants, took a field trip to the Home Depot garden center to look at flowers, and learned about insects. Basically, all my free time was spent planning lessons. I really enjoy teaching preschool, especially because it is free, but I am really glad that I am done, for this year at least, I will have preschoolers for many, many years to come.
• Jacob started playing Rookie Baseball. His team this year is the Muck Dogs. He has an awesome coach, his uncle Jason, and assistant coach, his dad, and team mom, me. His best friend and cousin Isaac is on his team, as well as some of the little boys in our neighborhood. We play two games a week on Tuesday and Thursday. They use a pitching machine, I think Jacob has yet to hit a ball, but his swing is improving. I don't know if there is term for the way he bats, but it is like the worst air ball you have ever seen, he is so far off. Baseball isn't really his sport, he seems to enjoy it.
  
• My brother, Aaron, graduated from BYU. My mom was here for a week. She split her time between here and Provo. It was fun to spend some time with her. It was also a lot of fun to spend a couple of days down at BYU. I love BYU, I have so many good memories of my time there. I am always happy when I get to go back.
  
• We went on a preschool field trip to Wheeler Farm (another mom was in charge of this one). The weather was perfect, we had a little picnic, fed the ducks (who actually seemed like they had already had their fill of stale white bread by the time we got there), and looked at the cute animals. There was an especially vocal lamb that provided lots of entertainment, I wish I had my camera!
  
• I got my carpet cleaned. It desperatly needed it. What I want to know is why does it take so long for my carpet to dry? Every time I have it cleaned they tell me it will only take an hour to dry, but it takes ALL day. I even open the windows and turn on fans, what is the deal. So we spent some time with cousins, and some time at Target. We also went to KFC to use our free meal coupons, which they didn't honor! We ate there anyway because by that time I was too tired and hungry to do anything else.
• I got my kids pictures taken. I tried to pick a time when I thought everyone would be happy, after naps. But Nathan cried the whole way there. I had to bribe him with ice cream if he was good and smiled nicely. That worked well for the older two and we got some cute pictures. But, Adam was completly uncooperative. He didn't want to let go of me, it took a lot of coaxing to get him to sit with his brothers. We did get some passable group shots, and one fairly cute picture of him by himself. He does have drool on his sweater, but what are you going to do? That is life. I should get the pictures next week, so stay tuned to see them on my side bar.
• Randy's Grandma Wardle passed away. Her funeral was on Friday. It was a good funeral, not very sad, and very comforting. She was old, and had dementia, she got sick and died fairly suddenly, so she did not suffer for very long. The sadest part is she left behind her husband of 62 years. They were each others constant companion, they could often be found sitting next to each other holding hands with their heads close together, they were very much in love. I am not sure what Grandpa is going to do without her. He is also very old and has dementia, he may follow her soon. Times like these make me glad for the knowledge we have of eternal families and life after death. It was nice to see all of the Wardle family. We don't all get together ever often, especiall now that everyone has multiple childre, it is hard enough to get together with just Randy's siblings and all of their kids. We have an excellent family, I am very glad to be a part of it.
  
• We went camping right after the funeral. I know, I am crazy. But, I am the mother of boys, I better get used to it. Randy was supposed to go with the scouts, but their trip was canceled, so I agreed to go as a family. He made it really easy for me, he got everything ready the night before and left me a list of things to finish while he was at work. We had fun, I love spending time with family. Our tin foil dinners did turn to charcol (good thing we had a late lunch at the funeral), and our boys did get extreemly dirty, but there is something nice about sitting around a campfire (which I started, by myself, 6 years of girls camp came in handy) and roasting marshmellows. And waking up in the cool fresh air is refreshing, especially after a good night sleep on an air mattress. We forgot to bring fule for the stove, so we didn't get to eat pancakes, good thing I had an emergency supply of granola bars in the van. We had to stop at McDonald's on the way home. Jacob told me several times how much fun he thinks camping is, so that made the whole trip worth it. And, Randy cleaned every thing up when we got home, including vacuuming out the van, and getting it washed. Thanks honey! I guess I will go camping again.
• Okay, I hope you are still reading because this is the best part (it is also the most exhausting part). We were pleasantly surprised to find out that I am pregnat again. I knew that I wanted to have one more baby and I had a really strong impression that I should stop taking the pill. So I did expecting, based on past experience, that it would take 5 months or so to get pregnant. But, it took six weeks. Just another example of how Heavenly Father has a different time table than we do. So, Adam and the baby are only going to be 20 months apart, which makes me nervous. And, I am due in December, which I really didn't want, but at least it is December 14th, so we will be home and settled by Christmas. We will just have to whole up for a few months to prevent RSV. We are planning on this being the last one, so it will be nice to have our whole family here and be done before I turn 30. And, we will get another child tax credit, so we should have another great tax return next year! I have not been as sick as I was with Adam, so that is good, but I have been extreemly tired. Hopefull I will be feeling better soon.
  

Sorry this was so long, I told you we have been busy.

Knock Knock Joke

My kids are obsessed with knock knocks jokes lately. They usually go like this "Knock Knock", "Who's there?", "Nathan", "Nathan who?", "Nathan... and then a string of nonsense words. I only know two knock knock jokes myself, so today I decided to look some up online to give my kids some actual jokes to tell. Jacob asked who came up with all these jokes and I said, "I don't know, some clever people." He asked me what clever means, and I told him it means smart. So he decided since he is a smart kid he should be able to come up with a knock knock joke to put on the internet. When he finally came up with one that made me laugh a little he said, "Mom will you put my joke on the computer, if you do I will be so happy with you." How could I say no? Good thing I have the perfect spot to put stuff like this. So, here is Jacob's original knock knock joke:

"Knock, Knock"
"Who's there?"
"Muddy"
"Muddy who?"
"Muddy, get me out of this mud"

Okay, I know it is not the funniest, it doesn't belong on a joke site, but he tried so hard, and he is only 5, and it is certainly much better than what I have been hearing for the past week, so I like it. And I really hope that Jacob will be happy with me the whole rest of the day now that I put his joke on the computer.

Adam Turns One

Adam's first birthday was yesterday. I can hardly believe it has been one year already. It has been a fast, busy, and mostly chaotic year. I have to say that having a third child was quiet an adjustment for me. It took me a long time to feel like I have things under control again. After I had Nathan it only took me about three months to feel back to normal. So after I had Adam I was okay with things being a little crazy for the first three months. But, it didn't get better after that. You see, I am a really organized person. I like having a plan. I like having a clean house. I like cooking delicious healthy meals for my family. But taking care of three little kids took so much time and energy that I didn't ever feel organized, I never had a plan for anything, my house was always messier that I like, and cooking, or rather grocery shopping, was just one more thing I didn't have time for. At six months I still felt out of control. I was trying to focus on my kids and trying not to feel bad about all the things that I was leaving undone. I tried a few different things to help keep me organized and on track, but nothing was working for me. When Adam was about nine months I heard someone on TV say that it takes nine months to get back to normal after having a baby. I thought, I am there, things will start getting better any day. That was in January. Well, at the end of January I was reading something on the internet that made mention of the Fly Lady. For those of you who haven't hear of the Fly Lady, she is "your personal online coach to help you gain control of your house and home". I had heard of the Fly Lady before, a long time ago when I still had control of my life and didn't need her. I need her now, I decided to check her out at www.flylady.net. She has made all the difference in my life. I now feel like have control again. My house is clean, my children and my husband are happy and well fed. Life is good again. Not that it hasn't been good this whole year with a sweet new baby, just chaotic. Anyway, enough about me, back to the birthday boy.

My sweet, little, blond haired, blue eyed baby boy is growing up. He is starting to toddle around, he is still not a good walker, but he will get to about the middle of the room before he falls. He is very proud of himself for this accomplishment. He is a stubborn little guy. He really puts up a fight when I want him to do something he doesn't want to do, like sleep. He has developed the very anoying habit of screaming when he wants something. If I don't put food in front of him fast enough I hear about it. He is also very happy. He is extremly ticklish, it is very easy to elicit squeals of happyness just from a few tickles. I haven't taken him in for his check up yet, but I am guessing he is in the 17 lb range, so he really is a little guy, but he is right in line with where his brothers were. We had a fun little party last night complety with cousins, cupcakes, and presents. Thanks to everone who came, we love you.

Me and my birthday boy in front of a sea of pretty cupcakes

Mmm...Chocolate. He doesn't look too messy here, you can't see his lap.