Brothers, Boys, & Dirt

Whichever one finishes first thinks they should have more (of anything) since the other is still eating...every now and then they get nice and share...

My boys love walking along these rocks when we go to the park by our home.


James has recently discovered climbing trees and thinks it is the coolest thing.

The boys spent forever running up and down this dirt hill at the park. James said to me, "Wanna try it mom? It's awfully fun."

The weather lately has been perfect and amazing!! Upper 60s to low 70s during the day. And the leaves look beautiful! Fall is a wonderful time of year.

Matthias Chatter

Me: What's the opposite of clean?
Matthias: Mud.

After throwing his fruit cup all over the floor..."Me. Naughty."

Whenever he gets ice cream he claps his hands in immense enthusiasm and shouts, "Ice cream, ice cream!!"

Tonight during dinner he kept turning to Taylor and shouting "Beer, beer." He was trying to say 'disappear' after every bite he took because his food was disappearing.

Absolutely everything is a gun now and Matthias uses these guns to shoot monsters. Today it was his milk cup which he held up and said, "Boom, boom. Shoot. Monster."

The day we left for the deer hunt he woke up at 5:30 (we can count on this a couple times a week) and wanting to let Taylor sleep since he had to drive I went and got in bed with Matthias to keep him quiet. After climbing on me, kicking me, pulling my hair, etc for an hour he laid next to me, put his cheek next to mine and said, "Love you." That is why I love being a mom.

During James' picture taking extravaganza he said to Matthias, "Make a funny face." The above picture is the result.

James Speak

He has been so hilarious lately, but I keep forgetting to write things down so I don't remember so many that were just so funny! But a few...

Lately James has been telling everyone that "Matt is a chunk." Yesterday I asked what he wanted to write on a card to a friend and he said, "Jokes and stuff. Like 'Matt is a chunk.'" So since everyone laughs when he says that he thinks he is telling a joke.

"When Hannah is born, she can ride on my shoulders and Matthias can ride on Dad's shoulders." Riiight...I'm definitely up for that.

"Where did Dad's white car go? That he used to drive to work."

While home teaching with Taylor last week he described in great detail the chopping and skinning of the deer.

Said to me..."Your tummy is so fat."

"First I was in your tummy and then I popped out and then Matthias was in your tummy and he popped out and now Hannah is in your tummy." Fortunately nobody has actually popped...yet.

Ever since we got home from hunting James keeps saying "I want some meat." ALL the time.

"Thumper and Bambi are friends like me and Todd are friends."

After he took about 50 pics (a blog post of it's own to come) I was looking through them...
Me: What is THAT?

James: My nose.

Pirates, Knights, Leaves, and more!

What a wonderful weekend we had...

Saturday Matthias and got up at 7 and worked on some Christmas sewing. James and Taylor finally rolled out of bed about 9 and we got ready. And off to the toy store. What fun! We had so much fun and only bought one more thing for Christmas. During nap time I was able to read and sew while Taylor and James ran to Wal-mart. We played in the leaves after nap time and made yummy mint brownies. Then off to the ward Halloween Party/Trunk or Treat which was a blast.





Sunday we headed to see the stake president. =] Then we dropped by the temple because the boys haven't been to the Denver one yet.

I love having lots of family time and enjoying our days together. These three guys are the best!

Morning Project

Wednesday night we got the go ahead from our landlord to paint, so first thing Thursday morning I ran out to the garage to see what I could find. Besides orange and blue all we had was half a gallon of Darby Creek (color of our bedroom in Texas). So I had to pick a small room that would look good with a deep tan. The half bath downstairs was the only option.

Wish I had taken pics of the boys in their underwear painting. After about 20 minutes I kicked them out to get some serious painting done. The whole project took about an hour and a half (with hanging pics, cleaning sink, etc). This is now my favorite room in the house. It's so warm and cozy and comfy and ahhh....I LOVE paint.

Don't worry, when I was all done it was finally 9am, so I called my OB to make sure I was okay to paint while pregnant. I am.





This is what the boys did after they were done painting. A lot of work went into this ladder.

Four Generations

Our four generations of Harvey Men/Boys. I love these guys! They are all so amazing and have made my life so wonderful.

Boom, Boom

The boys also spent some time shooting a BB gun while at the farm. Also when we were cutting deer meat Todd and Leigh took them outside while they were shooting an old gun from Todd's grandpa (maybe great?). James had a great time picking up all the gun "poop" off the ground. I found a couple empty shells in my laundry today.

The Great Hike

On Friday before the deer hunt began we drove down to Natural Bridges to do some hiking. Taylor has been here a lot and we went as a family with James a couple years back.

This time we had Taylor's entire family and it was a lot of fun. With nine adults we figured we could handle going around the bottom which totaled four miles of hiking once we added the short hike to the third bridge. The boys probably managed to walk about two miles and were carried by various people for the rest. (Thanks Cam, Todd, Grandpa, and Taylor!)

The day was perfect...the weather beautiful, the company better than any, the views spectacular. It was so much fun. One of the reasons I love Colorado (I'm forcing myself to focus on the positive...). I took a bazillion pictures. You will want to visit with your family soon too. =]

One of two ladders down to the first bridge

One Happy Family!

Dirt, rocks, outside, and tons of family. Couldn't be happier.

Walking to the lookout. Kathy (Taylor's mom) thought the sign was funny...fortunately I had an easier time of controlling my children than she did. =]

Todd, James, Leigh

Taking a break with Grandma to watch a bird

James found a great little spot

Cameron and Lesley walking with Matthias

Leigh and Todd hiking up to some old buildings

Dad scaling the mountain

Matthias building rock signs

James enjoying a smaller rock climb

Matthias and Cameron looking up at an arch

Mighty Hunters

The guys were able to get a deer very quickly on Saturday morning. Within three hours of leaving Great-Grandpa Harvey was back for the tractor to go pick them up. After carrying the deer at least a mile to get within a half mile of the house the boys decided Kate needed to get married so they would have an extra pair of hands. Us wives took my boys down to congratulate the hunters. Matthias rode in the tractor. (James rode in the tractor later to help with farm work, so here's a picture of him as well.)



After bringing the deer home they got it ready and hung it up. The boys stayed outside to watch the skinning and what not. They didn't seem too phased by it, but James did ask, "Next year can we see a real deer?" (Meaning a live one).


We spent about four hours that night cutting and grinding meat. We ended up with over 60 lbs of meat. Taylor and I were able to bring about 50 of it home with us. We have lots of ground venison and chucks. Plus several roasts, steaks, and some strips. We now have a three months supply of meat if all we eat is venison. We're pretty stoked to use all this meat for the rest of the year. Thanks so much Grandpa! And everyone else who helped.

Twilight & Hunting

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Speaking of Twilight, we are off to go hunting this weekend. Hope we come home with a tasty deer. Wish us luck!

15 to Celebrate October 15th

A day for history!

This day is special to me and 14 other people because it is the day that me, Bec, and Brenna slept in a window well belonging to six boys. Later a seventh boy moved in and got to be part of the monthly "window well commemoration". Most of these people have married now bringing our totals to 15. (Two of us girls married two of those boys.)

Here we are in said window well. Since we were in Provo at the time I can assure you that it was freezing and we did not sleep well. The three of us had to sleep on our sides all packed up together. We alternated throughout the night who got the middle. Imagine the looks at 7 am on BYU campus when we stood up from the window well...

Why would we do this you ask? Because these were/are the funniest boys we know and each day they would recount all the hilarious things they had done the night before...after we had left at midnight (curfew). So one night we decided to see for ourselves. They were pretty funny. Mostly they thought we were being ridiculous, but we did it any way.

Before they all moved and went on their missions we created a time capsule which we hid on a secret cubby they found in the hall closet. Each year after us three girls would go to Penrose 80 on October 15th. Two of us would distract the current residents and one would sneak into the hall closet and check for the capsule. I am not kidding. We really did this.

We recovered it the year after the boys returned home and had a great time exploring everything we had saved!

I love these people dearly and count them as some of my greatest friends. We all still keep in touch through a google group. And most of us (minus Brenna) have family in Utah so we still see each other every year or so.

Taylor happened to be one of these boys and obviously I really love him! We were not yet dating at the time of the window well, but I'm sure we'd had at least one DTR by then...

Some pictures to commemorate our great friendship:

Everyone except BJ (and plus Scott)

BJ and me (since he isnt' in the last pic)

Playing Around the World...one of our favorite games!
Eric, Bec (who got married), Brenna, Jon, Me, Taylor in a snow fort

This pic fell out of Taylor's scriptures while he was sitting by his mom...when she didn't know we were really dating. About a month before he left on his mission.

The first of our many pics taken of ourselves. We love to do this.

Visitor Count Low...

And I have to add a blatant plug for preschoolparty.blogspot.com

I know you people have kids and would love to do something creative with them. I'm giving you free ideas!! Don't you want them?

I Love Homemaking.

Meaning canning, cooking, sewing, crafting. It is something I really enjoy. I think it is fun and I love being self sufficient. But may I just say that 7.5 times out of 10 homemade is more costly. And obviously more time consuming.

Case in point:

Cute Baby Pajama made by ME

Cost: $6.50
Labor Hours: roughly 3 hours
Frustration Level: 8 (out of 10)



Cute Baby Pajama made by a wonderful employee of Carters

Cost: $6.82
Labor Hours: About 10 minutes
Frustration Level: -3 (shopping for this was so fun it decreased my overall stress in life)



Must I remind myself once more that I really do not enjoy making clothing. Of any kind. Sewing I love. Buying fabric and creating something cute, beautiful, neat, etc...totally worth every minute. Even if more expensive. I love making quilts, blankets, baby bumpers, pillows, covers for ugly 80's cushions, basket liners. Does anyone notice a trend here? NONE of these items have to be worn by anyone. They don't have to fit just right, they don't have to match up perfectly with something else. You can fudge and pull and tug and fling on a bed. No one will notice. If they don't look too closely.

Homemaking is fun when you enjoy the process. It is totally not worth it when you hate what you are doing. (As long as you have the skill and are capable of being self sufficient. Even if you're bad at it. Just in case Wal-mart ever ceases to exist.)

So my next project is a blessing dress. I love this one. Call me crazy.


*(not including the fabric since I bought that 2.5 years ago and don't remember how much I paid.)