February on-goings

February!

Superbowl Sunday.  Uncle Wes so thoughtfully sent Nathan a Broncos Peyton Manning shirt.  Unfortunately the game was horrible.  Horrible! From. The. First. Snap. 

Ashton has moved to a big boy bed.  He's very proud of this.  He has his room all to himself as the crib is now up in the loft of the garage, awaiting a garage sale.

 For one of our 'adventure' days we hit Grafton, a ghost town near Zions Natl. Park.

 After which we found a hiking trail and explored it for a while.

Valentines day I helped in Nathans class.  The kids decorated sugar cookies with frosting and sprinkles.  They combined the two classes, made big messes and had a loud and fun time.  Today (this very day) Nathan told me, "I want to be a teacher when I grow up because Mrs. Gonzalez is so fun, and I want to do that and teach kids, too."

Nathans cookie

Ashton and Kaitlyn enjoying the 1st graders treats.

In February there was another Free Entrance Day at Zions on President's Day, so there we went again!

Nathan and Shane actually made it 99.9% to Angels Landing.  The park was crowded and Shane said on the fourth and last set of chains to reach to summit was so busy it made him nervous to have NQ so close to impending doom while people were rushing up and down.  So Nathan CAN say he's been up the Landing, just not the viewpoints from the top.

 Ashton and I made it more than 1/2 way to the top of the trail.  But Ashton was petering out, and there are many many dangerous ledges on much of that trail, so we stopped going up and took our time sight seeing, sand playing and taking breaks on the way down.  SO many people gave him high fives!  (Because we HAD made it quite a long, steep way.)  This is a view of him taking a nap somewhere near the middle of the assent.

The next day we were driving around town, when, in the shoulder of a very busy street, we saw a pigeon heading closer to the fast  vehicles. Shane went out and rescued it.  We brought it home and called the animal control.  The lady told us that homing pigeons (It had little bracelets on its ankles) fly and fly until they're so tired they drop to rest, no matter wherever they land!!  And it WAS sleeping in Shane's hands and when we brought it home.  She said to put it in a tree and leave it be. We did.  And it flew off.

One of my peach trees is in bloom!

Boys and toys.  The Skylander obsession.

Making Home Made Valentines!
Tools used: stencils, paints, toothbrushes, markers, and heart!
We sent some to Aunt Brooke & Uncle Wes (and Stirling)
And we sent some to the UK to the Barney Family.

Facebook Posts:

2//4
I *almost* beat Shane Petty in an arm wrestle this morning!! However, it would seem that once my foot joined my two arms (I'm extremely bendy) that I was no longer 'arm' wrestling, and therefore had forfeit my near win.



2/14
You might be asking yourself, "Which Petty bathroom is the cleanest this afternoon?" "Is it the one the four-year old flooded the toilet in (all the way out the hall into the adjoining closet)? Or is the bathroom directly below that one that also got the flooding, via the vent?" I assure you both are VERY CLEAN now, and the 7 year old has earned lots of brownie points. The four year old has NOT. OH the things that happen at 5:30 when I'm trying to get dinner started...Trying again...NOW!




Tidbits:

Nathan has been reading with a flashlight in his bed nightly when we tuck him in at night. (I checked in on him and caught him at it.)  He says he likes to read a few pages because it helps him get ready to sleep. I LOVE this!!  I'm planning on getting his bookshelf stocked with good reads!



Today we had a Spanish Movie day.  We ended up with 11 kids total to watch Despicable Me 2 in Spanish.  :D


Shane's birthday we ended up at the buffet where Shane ate himself ill with perfectly cooked prime rib.  Seven Helpings.  Yes. Seven.

January doings.

Let's catch up on January, should we?


1st we had the school reflections projects due.  Nathan did well in the 3D art competition last year, however this year I was asked to judge that category this year.  So NQ entered an acrylic painting of his family playing in front of the red mountains.  The painting did not place, but I was proud of his participation.

Ashton also did a nice abstract piece

 One warm day we went for a drive around town (to find the street side orange stand) and decided to check out an old cemetery in Santa Clara.  It had a bunch of really old plots with those famous-like pioneers buried in them. Some 'born' dates dating in the 1700s.  

Ashton is one of the new Sunbeams of primary. His teachers Bro. and Sis. Brandan are great guardians of the class.  Ashton is happy there and can't wait to see his teachers.  The transition has been smooth. 

Nathan has broken down all of his Lego sets and now free creates his own inventions. This is a flying space ship he created. I took the picture for Shane as he was in Denver at his MVP invitational with the big wigs of Dish.  He had a successful trip and provided feedback and worked in workshops with the people who run the business.  He took tours, had dinners, and full meeting schedules every day. 

Zion Free Entrance day. NQ holding Ashton's hand down the path. 

This was a great entrance day, we spend most of our time at the river.  The boys threw rocks and explored the bank.  We'd all been a little under the weather and weren't up for a big hike, but very much up to seeing the splendid outdoors and getting some fresh air.

We had lunch at the lodge and skedaddled home.

That weekend we went to a birthday party for a couple of kids in our neighborhood.  It was out at Bishop Graf's farm.  the kids fed cows and horses, and roasted hotdogs and played with the bunches of kittens that were scampering around.

A friend at the school needed a Doctor Who cake for her son.  As I was contemplating how to achieve that, the thought kept coming into my head to have a girl in our ward do it. She an accomplished artist.  And the thought wouldn't leave me alone.  And with great results.  She agreed to 'paint' a scene for me on the fondant. It was great! So I made the cake, but she beautifully transformed it into an art piece.

Bee Lip and Ashton's Birthday

On Saturday the 4th of January the little boys and I enjoyed the Baptism and activities of Ben Harris!  Nathan was so sweet to watch over Ashton and Carter as Ben was Baptized in the font.  He rubbed little Carter's back and let him to and from the little chairs to the the viewing area of the carpet.  It was so sweet.

Right after another little boy was confirmed, Ashton stood up, folded his arms, walked through the circle of men getting handshakes, and walked back to his chair verbalizing that "I am a good boy!" before sitting back down.  (Adorable!)

After the church we went to Holly's house for a luncheon.  Ashton plopped down outside and ate his lunch, so I sat next to him and helped.  We retreated indoors for visiting and playing after eating. That's when I decided I would run out and grab his Root Beer and finish drinking it down.  I sat down, took a sip and felt something solid in my mouth.  I went to spit it out, and before I did, I got a huge buzz and sting on the inside of my lip! I jumped up and ran to the bathroom and I spit out a bee on the top of the can.  I managed to quickly brush the stinger out of my lip.  But the damage was done.  Joe's mom told me to put a paste of baking soda and water on it.  And I did, and that did stop the stinging.  However the next day my lip looked like this:

I spent most of Sunday sleeping off a Benadryl haze.  This was too darn bad because we missed baby Dallin Harris getting blessed that day.  But I was in no state to go anywhere!  In fact my lip got a bit worse than this before it started to recede. (Still today it's itchy and puffy) Anyhow, let this be a bee lesson.  Bee's do not freeze in St. George.  I never even thought to check the soda.  It never occurred to me that a bee would still be buzzing around in January.

Tidbit:
On Monday after school Shane picked Nathan up from school and they went to the Thor movie together.  Between the two of them they cleaned out an entire large sized bucket of popcorn.  This did not set well for Shane, but Nathan didn't have any vomit to divulge his gluttony, as his daddy did.

Tuesday was Ashton's Birthday!  The cute little Squirt turned 4!!

Shane had the day off so we took him to run errands and pick out some birthday goodies for him.  We went to Costco to exchange some pants and Ashton wanted to eat in and have pizza - so we did!  He was charming and visited with the people sitting on the table next to us. 

Opening the Skylander

He was able to open his Magna Charge Skylander early in the day and he carried him with him all the day long.  The two of us popped into the Party Land store, where he plopped this hat right on his head and wore it around the store.

Skylanders in his hands - always

Mikey Cake

He loved it.

 I took him to look at all of the party themes so he could choose what kind of party he wanted.  He's been playing a Monster's Inc game on the Leapster, so he was attracted to the Mike and Sully display of party supplies.  (There wasn't a Skylander option) 

So the kiddo got Monsters, Inc. plates and Momma got an idea for how to decorate the naked cake waiting at home.

My lip is still puffy in this picture.

Once Nathan came home we got down to party stuff.  We had planned to go to Jumpin' Jacks, but we asked the Birthday Boy what he wanted to do most of all: Jumpin' Jacks or Pirate Cove Pizza.  The boy surprised us with :McDonald's.  We confirmed this about 3 more times before he got frustrated and said: I Just want to go to McDonald's.  So we did!  And the kid was Happy!  The boys played for just over an hour at the play place and ordered their favorite McDonald's food.  (Shane and I opted to eat elsewhere.) 

We got home and opened presents which included Monsters, Inc. snacks, Monster's Inc. Mike and Sully Roll and Scare toys, a new Batman Shirt, a little Lego vehicle set, and two more shirts and a pair of jeans.  This of course in addition to his Skylander.  After cake and ice cream, the boys went downstairs for an hour of Skylanders video game playing before showers and bedtime! 

Shane was afraid that we were being super lame for Ashton's birthday.  That McDonald's wasn't a great place to go, but I countered that the kid was HAPPY.  And that he loved it!  And not too worry- he had plenty more birthday's coming his way.  Plus, he had the option to go to two other really fun places and that was what he had WANTED to do.  So with that - I daresay he had a great and happy birthday.

Christmas

I've been working on the 2013 year in review book, and thus neglecting the blog. And a huge shout out to Weston Graham, who has once again agreed to tackle being my year in review book editor!  He's awesome.  And once he edits and a new Shutterfly Sale occurs, the BOOK shall be printed!  Hoorah!

Be assured we had a lovely Christmas! It was low key and peaceful. Shane had to work until about noon, but the boys were great.  They opened their stockings from Santa Clause and went right to work playing their new Skylander characters.  Nathan had a tear of brotherly love.  When Santa didn't get him the Skylander he wanted, I whispered in his ear it was because his brother had gotten him one and that it was under the tree.  Nathan's eyes welled up and spilled over with tears as he hugged his brother and praised him endlessly for being the "Best Brother Ever." 

Once Shane got home, we opened presents had Christmas Lunch: Ham, homemade rolls, au gratin potatoes, corn, Jell-o, corn flake wreath cookies, and sparkling grape juice, and then proceeded to play toys, watch movies and stay in pajamas all day. We visited with family and enjoyed a quiet day.

Our Snowman - rare to have so much snow

Ashton completed his first round of swim lessons. Loved them!

Our Angel Tree gift, picked by Nathan

Sampling the Christmas goodies.

The Block Party hosted by 94.9 FM. 

Petty boys Christmas get together

NQ's Lego Transformer

The boys in from of the gingerbread house they decorated

Grinch Party w/ Grandpa and Grandma Lenore

Santa and Lenore

The Christmas season was busy and filled with plenty of activity - as you can plainly see.  But the best part of the holidays were a special Stake Conference we had with Jeffrey R. Holland as the guest speaker.  He was powerful.  His message clear; Christmas isn't just about the Birth of the Savior - it's about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It's not just about the little baby born poor and laid in a manger, but about his life, teachings, death and Resurrection also.  I cried, Shane got teary, and the boys did well to sit through the meeting.  Elder Holland blessed us to remember that Christmas doesn't have to be grand with more gifts, and more trips to the store and stacks of presents under the tree.  He told us to enjoy our families and the love that we have for each other, and to know that what we're doing is enough and not to feel the pressures of the season.  It was a great, great meeting.  And I have thanks for the young couple sitting next to us that shared their toilet paper with me while I cried. :)

The Petty's are feeling blessed by the year 2013 and looking forward to some good adventures in 2014.