Teasing Fish

The last two days have been so funny to me. My kids have just been on their game. Here are a few examples:

Dylan: Come outside Livie, it is WINTER!
(This being said at 7:30 in the morning, when it is about 74 degrees.)

Livie: Running out of the bathroom yelling, I POOPED, I POOPED, when we had the missionaries at her house, eating dinner.

Dylan: I don't want the missionaries to come to dinner, I want Jesus to come.

Last, but probably the worst, our little mishap this morning.

I woke up to Dylan sitting on my bed with that look on his face. The first words out of his mouth were, "I did something bad to the fish tank." I knew what was coming. The last couple of days he has been trying to catch the little bugger. This is how the rest of the conversation went:
Me: What did you do Dyl?
Dyl: I caught the fishy, and he was squishy, and I put him in the big hole in the sink.
Me: Why, oh why did you do that?
Dyl: Because he was teasing me.
Later when I was brushing his teeth, he told me he was sorry he threw the fish in the hole. We scooped it up out of the disposal and gave him a proper burial in the toilet. Dylan thought it was great that he could "swim" in there now. I think this may be our last fish for awhile.

Autism Videos

I usually don't try to sell things on my blog, but I am going to put this out there for anyone who is interested. We bought the Floor time Videos about a year ago. They teach parents the best way to get your autistic child to interact with you and with others. There are about twelve videos in all, and an instruction manual. Jon and I bought the videos for $250.00, but we are selling them for $50.00. If anyone is interested, or knows anyone who would be, please let me know. They taught Jon and I so much, and I think the methods they taught have really worked for Dyl. And yeah, I know they are old school VHS's, but the DVD's were about a hundred dollars more.

Fourth Picture in the Fourth Folder

I saw this on a couple of people's blogs, and it looked like fun, so here it goes!

Rules: Open your pictures file, go to the fourth folder, and then the fourth picture. Post the picture and write a little bit about what was going on!

I love this picture of Jon and Livie. She has always been such a daddy's girl. As soon as he gets home from work, she doesn't even notice me.

September Birthday Party

This last Tuesday, some of the girls in our ward went to BJ's, to celebrate some birthdays. The Birthday girls that were able to make it were Janet, Kelly, and Emilee. I hope everyone had a great time, and a happy birthday. We missed everyone who was unable to make it.

Find Joy

I read the most incredible book the other day called The Brothers by Chris Stewart. It takes place in the pre-mortal existence. I read so many inspiring quotes, but there was one that completely stood out to me, and I have been focusing on that ever since. In this place in the book, our Heavenly Father is talking to three of his children and giving them advice:

"I am sending you to earth at a very treacherous time. Once you are there, you will forget everything. And the things you will deal with will seem so important to you. Your everyday problems will seem incredibly large-your work and your school, your family and friends, what to wear, how you look. Are you fat? Are you strong? Are you pretty? Are you smart? Do you make enough money? Do other people like you? Why weren't you chosen for a game or group activity? Why isn't life always fair? Worries such as these may consume you and take all your time."
"You may obsess with disappointments; you may put all your focus on the pain. It will be easy to forget that life is always good-that whether you are here or on earth, you are meant to find joy."
"So on quiet nights in the summer, when you are still and peaceful, I want you to look up at the heavens, the moon and the stars, so your spirit can remember these things I have shown you today. And if you do, you will remember, somewhere deep in your soul, that you are part of a heavenly family, a heavenly plan, something eternal and wonderful and incredibly large. You will remember that your family is up here cheering for you, that family is the only thing that matters, the only thing of any significance. And though your human language won't have words for the feelings I will place in your hearts, your spirit will remember and you will long to be with me again."

This passage has made me think of my own life and has helped me so much. I hope by sharing it, it helps one of you.

Pump It Up

Dylan's class, and a few other autistic classes went to Pump it Up together on Friday. It was so cute. All of these kids running around, and none of them were playing with each other. One of the Pump It Up employees brought out a red car, and the kids went crazy. Dylan commandeered the car, and whenever I made him share with the others, he followed them around on the hippity-hop ball, examining the wheels. It still amazes me to see how far Dylan has come. Some of the kids that had just started the program were standing there covering their ears and not playing. It reminded me so much of Dylan last year. His improvement is fantastic. He rarely covers his ears anymore.

Best Friends

My friend (and sort of my relative, since my brother is married to her sister), Tawni came to see us when she was visiting her in laws in Vegas last week. It was so good to see her. She has two darling kids, Courtney and Grant. Courtney and Livie hit it off right away. They were instant best friends. They made easy bake cakes in Courtney's oven, and then we went to story time together. We both hope we get to see them again soon.

Dylan and Livie's Jesus

I love my kids views and opinions on Jesus. Last night we were reading in 3rd Nephi, when Jesus comes to the America's, and it started a little discussion.

Dylan: "Jesus comes into my blue room. He stands right there and fixes my scary light."

Jon and I looked at each other and said, wow Dyl, that's great.

Dylan then goes into further explanation: "Jesus lives in a big big big giant house in the sky. He drives a Herbie, an ice cream truck, and a spaceship to get to the temple."

As if on cue, Livie opens the blinds and looks at the sky and shouts:

"There He is! There's Jesus Mommy."

I think Dylan has his idea of what heaven would be like, and to Dylan, no heaven would be complete without a Herbie car and a spaceship! You have to love the innocence of children.

8's

So, I got tagged again, so this will be two in a row. But since my life is pretty boring right now, I guess I have nothing better to blog about!

8 TV shows I love to watch

Prison Break

Super Nanny

Grey's Anatomy

Jon and Kate Plus Eight

So you Think you can Dance

The Office

The Big Bang

How I Met Your Mother

8 Favorite restaurants

The Elephant Bar

Cafe Rio

Olive Garden

In-N-Out Burger

BJ's

The Claim Jumper

Utah Noodle

Applebees

8 Things that happened yesterday

We went to the library

Cleaned the house

Flushed one of my two fish, he perished

Took the kids to the water "mountain"

Ironed all of our clothes for church

Watched Baby Mama

Watched Dyl get his hair cut

Started a new book

8 things I am looking forward to

Halloween

Seeing more and more of Dylan's improvements

Having Livie be fully potty trained

General Conference

Thanksgiving

Painting the house

Putting in our new carpet that is sitting in the garage, until we paint the rest of the upstairs.

CHRISTMAS

8 things on my wish list

Take my family on vacation

To finish the Book of Mormon again

To have Dylan integrate into a regular kindergarten

To have our house be worth what we bought it for

To lose my baby weight, but since my "baby" is almost 3 years old, I guess I can't call it that anymore.

Adopting more kids

Have all of my photos downloaded into the computer

To have Dylan be able to read before kindergarten

8 people I'm tagging

Alee R.

Chandi B.

Krista N.

Emily B.

Taren M.

Rachel S.

Heidi B.

Janet S.

36 Facts

I love knowing random facts about people, so I decided to do this tag I saw on my friend Courtney's blog.
36 Facts...
1. Do you like blue cheese? Only Blue Cheese salad dressing.
2. Have you ever smoked? No.
3. Do you own a gun? No.
4. What flavor Kool-Aid was your favorite? I'm not a big fan of sugar flavored water.
Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Not a regular doctor, but I do when it is the woman doctor.
6. What do you think of hot dogs? I couldn't eat them every day, but sometimes they sound delicious.
7. Favorite Christmas movie? The Night they Saved Christmas.
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Water.
9. Can you do push ups? Depends on how many. 2, yes. 10, probably not.
10. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry? Wedding Ring
11. Favorite hobby? Reading.
12. Do you have ADD? Depends on the activity. I could sit down and read forever, but with other things, I can get pretty antsy.
13. Middle name? I do not have one.
14. Name three thoughts at this exact moment. I'm wondering how Dylan is doing at school, What time Jon is going to get home, and how my family in Utah is doing.
15. Name three drinks you regularly drink. Water, Coke, and not much else.
16. Current worry? Trying to figure out how to get Dylan to sleep through the night, without his lamp on.
17. Current hate right now? Barack Obama. Not so much him as a person, because that would be un-Christlike, but his values and his political viewpoints.
18. Favorite place to be? My home.
19. How did you bring in the New Year? We had some friends over to play games, but both Jon and I ended up getting the stomach flu that night.
20. Where would you like to go? I would like to take my family on vacation to Sea World.
21. Name three people who will complete this. Whoever wants to, I guess.
22. Do you own slippers? No, I am more of a fuzzy sock wearer.
23. What shirt are you wearing? Brown with some little ruffles and a shade tee underneath.
24. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? I have never slept on them, but I imagine it would be quite fun.
25. Can you whistle? Yes.
26. Favorite color? Cerulean.
27. Would you be a pirate? If I could look like Kiera Knightley in Pirates of the Caribbean.
28. What songs do you sing in the shower? Usually songs from Wicked.
29. Favorite girl’s name? Olivia.
30. Favorite boy’s name? I don't really have one, so I am going to say Jonathan and Dylan.
31. What’s in your pocket right now? An elastic, and one of Dylan's cars that I need to put away.
32. Last thing that made you laugh? Livie throwing my laundry pile out of the way, and telling me I was done, so now I could play with her.
33. What vehicle do you drive? A van, but it looks pretty slick from the front.
34. Worst injury you have ever had? My first C-Section.
35. Do you love where you live? Oh yeah.
36. How many televisions do you have in your house? 2

Family Home Evening

The best part of family home evening, are the treats afterward. Last night, we went to McDonald's to get ice cream. It is going to be our new strategy to keep the kids reverent during the lesson. Remind them to be quiet for their treat.

10 things that make me SMILE

* Dylan asking me if our new fish were dieting. (The other fish we had died in one day, so he was trying to ask if the new ones were dying, but it came out a lot cuter.)

* Livie telling Dylan that he needed to be quiet in church for Jesus.

* The show Prison Break is new again.

* Dylan sleeping with a picture of Jesus on his bed, to help him with his nightmares of scary six inch men that smile with their eyes pulled down.

* Livie going potty on her first public toilet.

* It is thundering outside.

* Church. It is so nice to go to church every week and get that spiritual lift.

* Livie and Dylan saying their prayers. I don't know where they come up with some of the stuff they pray for, but I love it.

* Livie's hilarious breakfast drama. Every time she drops a piece of cereal, our hoover, Zoey, sucks it up as fast as she can. Livie is then devastated, and will only be pacified if I give her a piece of cereal from my bowl. She ends with a tearful thank you mommy.

* The new fish we purchased have lived for three days at our house, and not once has a car or pretty pony been thrown in the bowl.

(Yes, Livie is wearing a hat with a Cinderella dress, and Dylan has a table runner wrapped around him like a vest.)

Labor Day Weekend

This past weekend, our family went up to see our extended families in Utah. Jon's little brother was blessing his first baby, Noah. It was a great trip and the kids had so much fun. We headed to Tremonton first. Unfortunately, we were only able to stay at each house for two days, but we made the most out of our time. Dyl and Livie had so much fun with their cousins. On Friday night, my family had a picnic at the park, and then we went back to my mom's house to make smores.

We headed to Orem next, and Livie discovered that cousin Emma is her new best friend. Emma is Dyl's age, but she is so tiny, that Livie is taller than she is. Livie thinks that Emma is the best thing, and she and Dylan were vying for Emma's attention. The blessing was beautiful, Briggy did a fantastic job. Noah is precious and tiny, and everything wonderful that comes with a new baby.