Noteworthy Dumbledore

Last weekend my sister graciously watched the boys while Stephen and I

went to a matinee of the final Harry Potter.

This story and I have a relationship, I confess.

Or maybe better said, a history.

I worked at a bookstore when Goblet of Fire came out and

remember dressing up in a fabulous, tall, pointy hat with

sparkles and stars and ribbons to paint kids faces the day it was released.

I read each of the last several books while

sitting on the beach at Redfish.

I painted lightning bolts on Conner and Cyndel's foreheads

to go watch the first movie with them.

Conner had made us each a wand. :)

I love that LOVE is at the center of the story and I absolutely cried during this final movie. I also picked up this Dumbledore quote that really struck me and I knew immediately I wanted to make a printable to share!

"Words, in my humble opinion, are the most inexhaustible source of magic we have."

Love that... applies to the real world too, eh? :)

And this second one I whipped up mainly thinking of Taron- he came back from the movie with his Grandparents and had remembered it just to share! I used the colors from the color palette #1 at The Letter Four- a great new blog I've been enjoying!

I enjoyed creating these- thinking about Harry Potter and the memories I have of both the books and movies. I think I may have to pack a book or two with me on our upcoming camping trips- would be fun to read again now!

As always, you can click on the images then right click and save to print, OR click these links below! Enjoy!

http://www.4shared.com/photo/wtiVmCH4/Dumbledore1.html

http://www.4shared.com/photo/3e22PBZV/Dumbledore2.html

Reverse Stencil Spray Shirts!

I love Family Fun magazine! It never fails to have awesome ideas that really do end up being awesome! Recognize the issue above? When I saw this spray shirt idea, I knew it would be a winner with the boys- Cooper loves to spray with a spray bottle. I have some step by step pics of what we did here, but you can also click thru to the Family Fun site on Reverse Stenciling for instructions!

The idea with these fun play shirts is to use a Con-Tact paper stencil and then spray your shirt with color. The area covered in Con-Tact paper ends up being visible when you're done...

I found some free clip art on-line of what each of the boys wanted- a spider for Cooper, a bike for Ryder and a deer for Taron. I taped them to the Con-Tact paper and then cut it out! Peel off the backing and stick the design where you want it on your shirt... then let the kids spray away!

Obviously, we used fabric dye- Stephen was helping me gather the stuff for this and it was what he brought home! If I had it to do over again, I think I'd try the fabric paint- probably less mess!

Family Fun recommended cardboard inside of the shirts, but I think next time I'll try something more rounded, like a five-gallon bucket or milk jug to get an even spritzed look over the whole shirt.

Make sure the Con-Tact stencil is stuck on good, especially the edges. Then be careful not to spray too much or it will seep under no matter what! (Like in the example above that I wasn't watching Cooper close enough!)

I wanted the whole shirt to look a little splashed, so I tried to spray a bit all over. Then peel off the Con-Tact stencil and let them dry! Because we used dye, we did rinse them in cold water, but I'm not sure that would have been totally necessary either.

All the while, Cooper was trying to spray me with the bottles (of course!), Taron was having a hay day turning his whole shirt colorful and playing in the dye, and Ryder was sloshing around with the hose!

Taron actually totally got into this project- he really enjoyed trying to get the right color (and making his hands look like he was the Beast from X-Men) :)

And there you have it- new play shirts that the kids will love helping to make! I took these pics after they had been washed and dried and they held up really well... They turned out pretty cute and, more than anything, the boys love wearing them!

Ryder's bike is driving away on his side and Cooper's spider looks a bit like it's crawling out of his armpit!

A New Goal

I get tired of seeing things in my life that need improved

and not actually doing anything about it.

I'm not the only one that gets stuck in the status quo am I?

Anyhow, I decided after we moved

that I would pick one thing and

really work on getting better in that area.

Confession: I've not ever been very consistent

in having Family Home Evening.

And there are so many great promises for families if they are!

I want my boys to be good because they want to be.

I want to be a better Mom in really bringing spiritual things into their lives.

And I feel strongly that Family Home Evening will help with those desires.

So, my big goal lately has been to have FHE!

It's been fun thinking about things to do- there are so many great ideas out there! When Taron and Keaton were with us a couple weeks ago, our FHE was about Speaking Kindly. ALL of us, Stephen and I included, need help with this sometimes!

I liked this fun idea I found HERE... 

We put rocks in each others cups when we heard unkind words and candies for kind words. We talked about how we feel when we're spoken to each different way. I think the boys responded well to this... it didn't last as long as I might've liked, but hopefully a lesson was learned anyway.

Then this last week, we took some treats around to our new neighbors. I had seen this printable and thought it was a fun, easy idea that would work well. Designed my own tag just because ;). We talked about loving our neighbors and how we have new neighbors here, then the boys helped put the popsicle packages together and off we went! This one took longer than I anticipated (should've known)! We ended up walking home in the dark with some tired little dudes, but we had some nice conversations with our neighbors!

This week... who knows. Other than the fact that it will be happening! I know that as we travel this summer it will be somewhat hit and miss, but I'm excited about doing our best to bring the blessings of Family Home Evening into our lives!

Automatic Days

This last weekend we cruised out to Arco and home to Grammie and Grandpa's. We met everyone in Arco Saturday morning for the Atomic Days Parade... while we were waiting Taron asked if this was all part of Automatic Days :)... made me chuckle!

The best part of Atomic Days is the ping pong ball drop that kicks off the parade. The Sheriffs Department sponsors a small plane loaded with a ton of ping pong balls. It flies right above Main Street, opening underneath and dropping the balls all over the road! The balls can then be taken to the Sheriffs Office an exchanged for a shiny 50-cent piece! Small town sweetness :)

Loved this simple pic of Ry with Number Hill in the background. A landmark of my childhood, with my own child in the mix :)

You wouldn't believe the haul Quincy and Cooper brought in, with the help of Josh and Taron! Ryder mostly enjoyed watching, especially all the motorbikes doing tricks in the road! And Dad, these car shots are for you!

Afterwards, we hobnobbed around the park, running into random people from the past. We tried to grab some lunch in town, but everything was packed so we headed home for a BBQ instead. The kids spent the afternoon playing at Grammie's Water Park, the boys all really enjoyed some target practice thanks to the target Stephen brought along, and later we had the most yummy fresh strawberry pie made by Cyndel! Doesn't it look scrumptious?! Ryder even crowded my baby niece Brylee for a bath before we hit the road again...

Fun weekend and nice to be able to jaunt back and forth no problem... I love the simplicity of this small town celebration and how families seem to gather back home for it. One of those things that's just... automatic, I suppose!

Boredom Bustin'

 

Luckily the boys seem to love it when I bust out the goods for a project, because I love finding and thinking of new ideas for them to try! Most often their attention doesn't last too awful long on anything, but long enough to have made a memory (and gotten out of the heat)!

Recently we tried this simple rubber band painting idea I had seen on Kids Create . I thought the boys would love the combination of paint and mess! Ry started just painting on paper but quickly saw that Coop was painting something different and wanted in on coating the rubber bands too.

For the rubber band "snap" painting, you stretch several rubber bands across a box and paint the bands heavily, then lift the bands and SNAP! The paint then splashes and splatters- fun, eh?!

 I couldn't find a box that was strong enough not to fold together when I stretched the rubber bands around it, so I used a shallow glass bread pan I had. I think a checkbook box with the lid underneath might work good too.

This simple project was a bit messy- make sure to set your box on newspaper or in a shallow bin or something. But, I'd say it was enjoyed!

Meaningful Monday: Trust

Stephen asked me a few days ago if I was still doing my Monday posts and I realized it's been awhile since I've taken time to share something that has been meaningful, outside of our everyday goings on...

One thing about moving into a new ward that's just about inevitable is being asked to speak in sacrament meeting! And last Sunday Stephen and I were no exception! Our topic was from Proverbs 3:5, "Trust in the Lord with all thy heart." I really enjoyed thinking about thistopic and preparing for the talk- it was really fitting for our life right now. Thought I'd share some bits and pieces....

When Lehi received direction from the Lord to wake up, pack up and go, how was it that he was literally able to do it? To wake his family, load what they could and head into the middle of nowhere!

When the Lord said He would shock his brothers, why did Nephi literally stretch forth his hand?

What moved the Brother of Jared to actually lay stones across the ground?

How was Moroni able to dig a hole, place his life’s work, his father’s life’s work, these plates that had come at such a price, into the ground and cover them back over with earth, then walk away?

How were the disciples able to take those first steps to carry essentially empty baskets through a massive crowd of hungry people?

What made Peter actually straddle the side of the boat to walk across the water to meet Jesus?

What answers came to mind?

I thought it was because these men were familiar with the Savior,

comfortable with His voice and requests,

confident in the outcome of obedience.

And is there also possibly a tinge of desperation involved in trust?

The woman reaching out to touch Christ's robe,

knowing very little about this Miracle Worker, and having literally nowhere else to turn?

Jarius, a synagogue leader, asking Jesus to come heal his own daughter?

The 2,000 Stripling Warriors

knowing that God would fortify them,

but also knowing that if they didn’t step forward,

their people would again face massive destruction?

And how do we get to where we feel that we could do the same as the people in these examples? How do we become familiar, confident, comfortable with our Savior?

From President Uchtdorf:

“Have faith. Seek, and you will find.

Knock, and the door will be opened.Serve the Lord by serving others.

Become an active participant in your ward or branch.

Strengthen your family by committing to live the principles of the gospel.

Be of one heart and of one mind in your marriage and in your family.Now is the time to adjust your lives to be able to have a temple recommend and use it.

Now is the time to have meaningful family home evenings,

to read the word of God, and to speak to our Heavenly Father in earnest prayer.

Now is the time to fill our hearts with gratitude for the Restoration of His Church,

for living prophets, the Book of Mormon, and the priesthood power that blesses our lives.

Now is the time to embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ,

become His disciples, and walk in His way.”

Hear all those basic answers in there? :)

I am SO grateful for the chances I have to learn to trust Him more and more and for the Atonement that makes it so that the times we falter because we don't, can be forgiven!

Water, Worms and Dusk...

Recently our nephew Zachary stayed overnight for some fun cousin time... and boy dig they soak it up! I love these pictures I got as I followed them around tormenting each other with the hose and playing out in the pasture while it was being irrigated...

Bum crackery! :)

They were so thrilled to try and catch frogs in the irrigation water (disgusting, yes, I know, but I lost that battle, obviously...) but they ended up gathering worms more than finding frogs! Wow, it really is a boys life around here! Check out my sweet boots too :)

Did I already use the word disgusting? Ya, ummm... gross with a Capital G then... But they all thought this huge handful of slime was completely awesome... :)

I love these pics of Coop and Ry! Love that they capture who they are and what their little lives look like right now in the beautiful dusk light... bum crack and all.

Country life rocks :)