Labor Day, Birthdays and Boy Stories

We had a great Labor Day weekend.  Dan, Jill, Boe and Kamber came to visit and we spent Saturday in Spearfish wandering around the sanctuary and the rest of the weekend relaxing and chatting.  It's fun to have family move closer.

Sport swinging at the park.

Sport has 4 new teeth and while they were coming in he got into the habit of puckering up his lips.

After our company left Monday afternoon, we took the boys out to play some baseball in the front yard.

Colt "batted" with a tennis racket.

Wednesday was Brandan's birthday.  The boys were so excited to celebrate with him and give/unwrap his presents.

Brandan and the boys blowing out the candles on his birthday cinnamon rolls.

The boys gave Brandan a pic of themselves in a mat them decorated.

Today we attempted taking family pictures.

Colt practiced his smiley face.

Family Photo

I love being able to spend time with the boys and watch them grow and have them make me laugh (and make me mad).  They all have their own unique personalities that develop more and more each day.

Dash is really growing into the role of firstborn leader.  I'm constantly asking him to help out around the house and with his little brothers and he is really stepping up to the challenge. He unloads the dishwasher without being asked and usually gets Sport out of bed after his nap before I can get to him.  The other day we were making pizza for dinner and he was rolling the dough out while I gathered the toppings.  At one point he told me, "You can just relax Mom. We got this."
The other day Dash gave us the perfect example of how completely culturally accepting a child is.  We were looking at the UnderArmour magazine that came in the mail and there was a picture of a black man modeling the clothes.  Dash pointed to the picture and said, "Look Daddy, this guy looks just like you, except (here is where we expected him to point out some very obvious differences) he is wearing a green shirt and you have on a blue one."

If Dash is my helper, Colt is my comedian.  He is always doing something to get a laugh.  Last Sunday the boys were chasing some deer in the park.  As we were walking home, Dash said, "I'm fast like a cheetah."  Not to be outdone, Colt piped up with, "Yeah and I'm like an elephant."
Colt's latest quirk is to "ask you a question" which turns out to actually be a really long story about his Baby Puppy, his imaginary friend.  In fact, we just celebrated his Baby Puppy's birthday today.  Unfortunately, after birthday treats, Baby Puppy died (again...Baby Puppy "gets dead" at least once a day).  Not to worry though, Colt put Baby Puppy in the fridge and I expect he'll make a full recovery in the morning.

Sport is also really coming into his own.  He loves clapping and dancing to the songs we sing and chasing the boys around as fast as his little legs will carry him.  Sport has also learned he can control certain situations by screaming and demanding attention.  He often ends up with most of Brandan's snacks by yelling and pointing at what Brandan has until he gives in and hands it over.  Along with this, Sport has also developed a jealous streak and can't stand to see anyone sitting in my lap.  The other day Colt was snuggled up with me and Sport came across the room and pulled on Colt's feet until he got off my lap and then Sport went so far and to push Colt away from the chair I was sitting in!

Home Again

Immediately after we returned from Idaho, we got right back into our home improvement projects beginning with the fence.  We were lucky enough to get most all our wood given to us from Brandan's friend in Spearfish, but the boards came in 16 ft X 1 ft lengths so this required a ton of cutting.  But before we could even get to that we had to dig the post holes. Our ground is insanely hard so we rented an augur and Brandan and I wrestled that thing for a day and a half before we finished, covered in bruises...literally.  In the meantime, we let the boys have pretty free reign and they found a hose and some dirt and well....

Sport was trying to keep the weeds in check.

Sport found the mud first and when Colt saw Sport wasn't getting into trouble, he joined him.

Colt, aka "Patch"

About 10 minutes into the mud bath.

Typical Colt.



Messy Dash


Now don't get me wrong, we make sure to take time to play in addition to all our work.

Dash and Abby playing dress up in the only play clothes Abby has.



On Friday, we hosted an ice cream party in our newly fenced front yard.



Sport enjoyed the oreo he was given at the party.

On Saturday I went to Billings with some of the Relief Society ladies for the Stake Relief Society temple day.  We left at 5 am and got back around 10 pm. Brandan stayed home with the boys.  They did pretty well, even though Colt had a tummy ache in the morning and Sport was a little fussy with teething.  They actually did better than I did.  I missed them all horribly, got heat sick in Billings and started to pass out, and then came home with mastitis.  The temple is always worth it though...right?

Family

Brandan and I were in charge of the Clayson Family reunion.  We tried to incorporate a Western theme and well, this is how it turned out....

The family got into our Western duds and went to the Little Buckaroo Parade.

"Bad Guy" Dash with Dan, Jill, Boe and Kamber.

Colt gathering candy.

The loot bags.

Nate stands waiting for treats.

Cowboy Grandpa chats with the crowd.

Gathering treats.

Grandpa Clayson

Kamber chasing her "steer" on the "cattle drive".

The cattle drive.

Hog tying competition.

Hog tying.

Scott, Andrew, Cam, Nate and Cierra shoot the breeze in the shade.

Dan, Kamber, Jill and Brandan chat and Tiff yucks it up.

Kimberly watches while Colt shows off his best jumps.

Jessica and Jared.

Jessica and Charity.

Kimberly relaxing in the shade.

Gracie

Mom and I looking our very best.

Grandma

Cam

Kyle

Kimberly and Cam

The boot pinata.

Colt poking at the boot.

Hannah swinging at the pinata.

Dash gave it all he had.

On Monday, we went boating with the Madsen family.

The boys loved riding on the tube and I liked going with them because Brady didn't try to kill us while children were aboard.

Sport relaxing in the bottom of the boat.

Yellowstone Park

We left for Idaho on August 2 and decided to take the scenic route home stopping in Yellowstone Park.  The boys loved the scenery and the bighorn sheep we saw along the road, but they were pretty antsy to get to their family in Idaho.  We were about 10 miles from home when Dash announced "Okay, I'm boring."  We had to do a little talking to convince him that it would be worth putting off our arrival for just a few hours in order to see some sights.

We stopped at Yellowstone Lake to throw rocks and stretch our legs.

Sport loved getting out of his car seat and eating the rocks.

The boys "skipping" rocks.

It didn't take long before the boys decided to swim in the cold water...in their underwear.

The water wasn't warm, but the boys loved it and swimming in their skivvies drew quite a crowd.

Playing/shivering on the shore.

Me and the boys outside the hotpots.

This little geysers erupts unpredictably and we just happened to be right next to it when it went off.

Old Faithful.