First Day of Pre-school

Yes, my little man started Pre-school this Monday. He was excited to go. The night before we got his backpack ready and laid out his clothes.
Before he left, he had to say farewell to his new pet (for the day)...another 'ricket' (grasshopper), named Ricky.

This morning he even let me do his hair.

Isn't it funny how the backpack is half his size?

Hair Do

As most of you know, I have no idea how to do hair. Mayita's hair is getting a bit longer, so this past Sunday, I attempted to do her hair.

What do you think? Not bad for a newb...and for a squirmy baby.

Fishing with Paka

It's funny how Arden inherited the fishing gene. Newel and I both have fathers who enjoy fishing, but neither of us like, much.
Still, Saturday morning, we got ready to go fishing. Arden enjoyed watching Paka shock the ground, then the worms would come up, and Arden would grab the worms for bait.
There wasn't much fish in the stream, but Arden (with Paka's assistance) managed to catch 2 fishes. The first one was small, but the second one was big enough to eat.

Arden really wanted to take the fish home, so we gave him some options: Put the fish back in the river with his friends, or if he took it home he would have to eat it, because it's wasteful to catch something and throw it away. He chose to take it home.

Here he is showing it to his little sister. She thought it was interesting.

We did take the fish home. We cleaned it, cooked it, and he ate it. And he liked it!

It was a very exciting for him.

Hiking the Pipeline Trail

Last Wednesday morning we went on a hike. We invited my sister-in-law Helen to go with us. It was fun. It was only about 2 miles total. The view was great.
This is Arden with his cousin Sophie.

Up in the sky, it's a bird, it's a plane. No, it's Super Nacho Libre Jugador Arden!

So a funny story: As most of you may know, Arden loves insects. Okay, he's obsessed with insects. On our way back from our hike, Newel helped him catch a grasshopper. He was excited to have caught the grasshopper, and named him Bobby, the 'ricket' (cricket, for some reason he thought it was a cricket).

As we were descending Arden also showed his aunt Helen his 'ricket,' and this is how their conversation went, more or less:

"Yeah, this is Bobby, he's my cousin."

"He is?" asked Helen.

"Yep, this is my cousin Bobby."

They keep walking for a little while.

"Wow, Arden that's a big booger you have coming out of your nose," says Helen.

"Yeah, but it's okay, it doesn't have any eyes, so it can't see Bobby."

The things children say =)

For any animal rights people: At the end of the hike, Arden allowed Bobby to return to his friends and family. Unfortunately, Bobby did get hurt during the eyeless nose slime episode(broken leg). I'd like to note, since this event, Arden has become more gentle in the handling of wild life.

It's nice now that Arden is a bit older he can carry his own stuff. Here he's carrying his own snack and drink.

Funny Face

This video was taken on our way to Yellowstone. Arden used to do the same thing all of the time when he was a baby. I never captured Arden doing the funny sniff on video, but I didn't want to miss out on this funny moment.

Labor Day Weekend

This past Labor Day Weekend, we headed to Yellowstone with the family. We left Friday afternoon, spent the night in West Yellowstone and in the morning we went entered the park.

Our first stop was Grand Prismatic Spring (please excuse the spelling). I like that spring. However, this year, it was a bit dry.

The kids really enjoyed walking/crawling around it and also looking at nature.

Our next stop was Old Faithful and the Old Faithful Lodge.

On our way out, we got stuck in a traffic jam. A group of elks were hanging out and that attracted a lot of attention. So, off we went to see them.

Afterwards, we arrived to Mack's Inn. The kids enjoyed wading in the river, trying to catch small fishes with their nets, paddling, and even some fishing.

After dinner, Newel and Arden went back to the river for some fishing.
It was getting late, dark, and we wanted to celebrate Troy's birthday, so I went to get them. This is what I first noticed on Arden's leg as they were walking out of the river. They didn't catch a fish, but they did catch a leech. I was a bit surprised to see a leech stuck on Arden. I almost couldn't believe it. For a moment a scene from one of the Rambo movies came into mind, when Rambo is being tortured and they pull him out of some watery torture chamber and he's covered in leeches. I know they're not really dangerous, but I was still a bit nervous about him having that stuck on his leg.

Arden was brave the entire time. He was more concerned about the safety of the leech than himself.

Here are the videos of the leech removal. It's a bit dark, but I thought my parents would enjoy seeing this clip.

After the leech was removed from Arden (and safely placed in his fish tank) we celebrated Troy's birthday.

The following morning we went back to Yellowstone and did some easy hiking. We went to Tower Falls.

Walked to the river.

After lunch we were on the road again, to Mammoth. On our way to Mammoth, we made a potty stop. It was a picnic area by one of the rivers. It was a beautiful spot. Since we weren't going to make it back in time for church, we had our little family/church service. It was really neat. We were sharing our testimonies about Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. We asked Arden if he wanted to share his testimony. And he did! It was so neat. He said Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us, he is special and all of us are special. I was so impressed. I didn't know he could do it, what he knew and what he felt. He was also quite reverent. It's neat to see your children grow and learn. His testimony strengthened me.
Lately, Arden has been surprising/impressing me a lot.
After we arrived to Mammoth, the weather was a bit yucky, but the place was still really neat.

What amazing beautiful formations.

I don't know how some people can think that all of this beauty of our earth was just mere 'coincidence.' Whenever I'm outdoors and see all of the beauty around me, whether it's the ocean, a lake, a mountain, a hill, or the formations in Yellowstone...I don't believe they are just a 'coincidence.' I know there is a Creator who made all of this for our enjoyment.

The rest of our trip was great. Arden always has a good time with his primas. We all got home safe. You would think these guys would be sick of each other after a weekend together, but as we were leaving Kristen's house (we went over to her house to drop off some of her stuff, including Beatrix who rode with us on our way back home from Yellowstone), Arden and his primas were sad to part. We promised them, they would see each other again, very soon.

Fan Day!

A couple of Saturdays ago, we went to Fan Day at the U.

All of the different sport teams were there doing different activities. Arden enjoyed playing golf...if you look closely, he's holding the club like a hockey stick. I don't think golf is his thing...perhaps, hockey?

They also played in the snow. I'm loving this whole Arden and Mayita doing things together. It's so fun.

Although the kids had a great time, I think Newel was the one who had the best time there. He was loving it!

Rock Climber

Nothing special about this photo. It was taken before the kids were going to bed. She loves climbing stuff, including rocks. She's so stinking cute!

Maya is 11 Months Old and...

Yes, tiny girl is walking! She started walking like the day she turned 11 months old. What an amazing little girl.

So at 11 months she has accomplished the following: Walking!

Has become more picky about her food. She only wants to eat what others are eating at the table. The baby food has to hidden in the "big people" food.

Lot's of babbling. She's working hard on saying "daddy" and "Arden."

Loves books. Loves looking at them, chewing on them, etc.

Runs away when I'm trying to change her diaper (this one has been for a while I just forgot to note it).

Can play games, like chasing.

Doesn't like to play hide and seek...we accidentally scared her while playing that game.

Has perfected the whining crawling behind mommy so mommy will pick her up.

Um, I can't think of the other stuff. They grow so fast and accomplish different things, but since I'm with her all day long, I tend to not write it down. I do notice the stuff she does, but I forget how much she can do from one month to the next.
It took me a while to get a short clip of her taking steps. She wants to run, and usually falls after taking a few steps, so this is as good as it gets. May be in a few days, I'll post a better video of her walking.

Sharing

Lately, Arden and Maya have become the best of friends.
There's a lot more interaction. Maya is constantly following Arden around and wants to see what he's doing.

Arden is constantly keeping an eye out for his baby sister, making sure she's not eating a choking toy, etc.
There's been less rivalry among them...with occasional disputes. It's mainly Maya being a bit "fragile,"and wants to be left alone.
The other morning, Arden was eating an apple, Maya wanted some, and they shared. It was so sweet...it could also explain, why both of my children are now sick, with colds =)