Have I mentioned I Love Bridges??

Saturday was a cloudy, rainy day, so we spent most of the day inside. In between rain showers, we decided to get some fresh air. We wanted to visit the river bottom to see the leaves. However, the place I loved to go as a kid is all private property now, so we couldn't go there. So, we decided to cross the highway and visit the old bridge. I love that bridge and it was always a special treat when we went that way as kids. My Dad always told us it was a "talking" bridge. It was fun to take my family there! We've driven over it before, but we've never gotten out and spent time there like that. We had so much fun! Ken was just wonderful and took care of the kids while I wandered around with my camera. It was so beautiful! The bridge was great because it has so many fun angles to play with! We had a really nice time and I even found an ancient rusted over truck! The sun was going down and it was one of the most incredible sunsets I have ever seen!

Reverence Spots

Last Monday, we had a, little crazy (as always), but fun Family Home Evening. It seems that every night when we have FHE or scripture study, 90% of the conversation is getting the kids to stay in one spot and listen (within reason for a 5 and 3 year old, of course! :) ). So, we had a lesson about reverence. We sang some Primary songs and read a scripture about reverence. We also talked about it and did some role playing. For our activity, we made "reverence spots." I grabbed some towels from the dollar store and let the kids paint them. We put their names on them as well. They didn't turn out exactly as I had pictured, but the kids loved it and they really feel ownership in what they created. Taysum was very cute about it; he didn't want his name on it until he was done (just like an artist doesn't sign his/her work until it's done) and he named it, "Outer Space" (there are comets flying around). Here is Bailey's

Ken helped Hayden with his

It seems to be working so far. They have their own Book of Mormon and their own reverent spot. They have to stay on their spot and they need to be reverent when they are on that spot. Hopefully it's something that will help! :)

The week before, we had another FHE that I want to remember. Taysum had brought something home in his pocket from my Dad's classroom at school without asking. He was really excited to show it to me and didn't realize that it was wrong. That night, we talked about stealing. We did a lot of role playing. It was just one of "those" moments when I could see it click in his eyes and to see that he understood what I was trying to teach him (that's why I became a teacher...it is indescribable when you are able to help someone understand something!!) The kids were SO good and both participated through the whole thing! For the activity, we taught them to play "Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar" which they LOVED and want to play all the time now! Not all of our FHEs are nearly so effective or pleasant, but moments like these make all the trial and error SO very worth it!!

Cute Cousins

We've had a lot of fun having cousins Carissa and Celeste at our house during the day. Bailey loves playing with the girls and it keeps her busy. They color, read, play with toys, play pretend and play outside. Since Bailey doesn't have a sister, I'm glad that she gets along so well with Carissa! Here are some cute shots I caught: