Brent and Rachel

Our talents

2011-04-24T14:32:00.000-07:00

Ok...so here's my picture updates:) We did the pinewood derby at the beginning of the month. Fro some reason we only got pictures of Emma's and Joseph's car(I think Emma was the one in charge of pics:)). Anyways you can see that Emma choose to put her favorite person in the world on her car(and it's not me:)).

I've also go some videos of the three older kids playing at their piano recital. I'm a proud mom:)

And then for the real talent....this is Emma's rendition of her father....

And Dallin at age 60...drawn by Brent...this is a true likeness:)

Phobias

2011-03-06T22:06:00.000-08:00

It has been so long since I've posted here. I've decided I need to get back in the habit. I've got a couple cute videos and pics to put up , but for now I wanted to post Emma's writing that she did at school....entitled phobias:)

Snowglo-phobia: a fear that if you shake a snow globe you're ruining the lives of tiny people.

You tube-a-phobia: fear that a funny video of you will end up on you tube.

Explode-a-phobia: a fear that you will blow up.

Cheeto-phobia: a fear that if you eat too many cheetos they will start talking to you.

Lightning-phobia: a fear that lightning is going to hit you , even though it is a sunny day.

Candy-phobia: a fear that candies eat you instead of you eating them.

Ana-Emma-phobia: the fear that Emma and Anahi will write a phobia about you.

The-end-a-phobia: the fear that phobias are going to end.

The-real-end-a-phobia:the fear that they're really going to stop.

Dallin's new lego game obsession

2010-08-22T19:05:00.000-07:00

I think he's a genius(of course I'm not biased:))

Our Arizona trip

2010-08-14T13:51:00.000-07:00

So, we headed back to AZ once again....this really was the first time we did this without a reason to. We just had fun as a family:)
Emma, of course, had to take a picture of herself.

The kids had a ball playing with their cousins at the Nolans.

Guess which Leavitt boy this is...answer at the end:)

Porter got a kick out of pushing buttons on Brent's computer.

We spent a day at Arizona's science museum.

On the way out of Arizona, we stopped at some lava tunnels and did some rock climbing down into the earth.

And then as we were driving home, I woke up to this....

It was a surprise trip by the grand canyon, and the traffic is very busy to get through the pay booths. This was not something we expected, Brent just thought this way would be faster. It was a beautiful $25 detour though:)

And for those who guessed Joseph, you were right:)

At My Sister's Pleading...

2010-08-13T09:13:00.000-07:00

Here are some kind of recent photos from the family. These were actually taken Memorial Day weekend. Aaron was photographer on most of these.

This is the chicken coop in a its unfinished state. Sorry no pictures of the finished product yet.

Chickens in their adolescence. They're looking much fuller and more like real chickens... ah yes, the chickens we'll have to tell you about them in a separate post.

Birthdays and more

2010-03-02T08:55:00.000-08:00

Emma reading with a Tiger:)

Spring Time is here!!!!

Aaron's birthday. We decided to do it in the church gym because...well...four boys plus friends...need I say more:)

Kung Fu Dallin

Joseph's Fourth Birthday Party

2010-02-14T23:12:00.000-08:00

We deemed it warm enough to venture out to one of our local parks for Joseph's 4th birthday party. I'm posting these mostly for my mother, but I thought others might enjoy them as well. Here are some highlights:
(Higher res images available upon request.)

Lego temples?

2010-01-27T10:09:00.001-08:00

Did you know that the church buys legos with the tithing:) I think we need to work a little bit more with Aaron on why we pay tithing....though, I think I could see Pres. Monson building little lego temples with his grandkids:)

My cute kids

2010-01-25T23:21:00.000-08:00

Just posting some pics of the kids....I can't believe how big they are all getting...

Dallin's Rendition of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer

2009-12-15T17:14:00.000-08:00

About half way through the song, we heard this:
"Then one soggy Christmas Eve... "

Wiping the Wrong Nose

2009-12-14T08:21:00.001-08:00

Sunday afternoon, three of my children were in the kitchen with me. Emma (9), Aaron (7), and Jacob (2). I was holding something of a conversation with the older two when I noticed Jacob at the table with a runny nose. Instinctively, I went to get a bit of tissue paper on the other side of the kitchen from where I was standing. Then with tissue in hand, I went to wipe the first nose that I found available. It happen to be Aaron's. He let out a loud, "Oow! Dad, what are you doing?" Emma starting laughing out loud to which I came realize my folly.

Aaron probably would have been laughing too if wasn't his nose that got wiped.

Silly Leavitt Sayings

2009-11-26T06:07:00.000-08:00

Dallin: (when taking turns with something, he had just finished his turn and it was now someone else's. In school, they are learning about patterns by calling them ABABAB patterns or ABBABB etc, well this is what he told Joseph when he wanted to have another turn right after he had one.) I think I should go again because sometimes the pattern is ABB. (Meaning the turn taking should go, Joseph, Dallin, Dallin, Joseph, Dallin, Dallin)

Joseph: (After I told him he was cute) I'm not cute, I'm Shadow(that's a name he likes to call himself sometimes.

Emma: We were reading scriptures and I guess Emma has internalized the language because when I was bugging her, she told me to "Shooeth".

Jacob: Whenever Jacob sees the cats he calls them "meow's".

Happy Birthday Brent

2009-11-01T12:43:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Brent!!! I have a cousin that lists 10 things that she likes about her family members on their birthdays and I thought I'd do the same thing:)

1. He loves the Lord

2. He loves to serve others

3. He loves to play with his kids

4. He helps out around the house

5. He makes horrible jokes

6. He puts up with my jabbering on at night

7. He takes being a father and a husband very seriously

8. He is always trying to know and understand what is right for him to do at any given time

9. He makes family prayer, family scripture study and family home evening a priority

10. He is a hard worker

State Castle

2009-09-22T22:28:00.000-07:00

Our trip to the state castle?!....

Summer videos

2009-09-06T09:14:00.000-07:00

I'm just updating our blog with some cute family videos from this summer:)

Toasted Harmonicas Anyone?

2009-08-13T12:28:00.000-07:00

So I got out the toaster for lunch today, to toast myself up a couple of pieces of bread to eat with some leftover spaghetti. The toast turned out just perfect and the left over spaghetti tasted pretty good, too, after sitting for a day or two in the fridge.

Just now, as I was cleaning up the kitchen to return back to work, I made sure to put the toaster away, as we've been leaving it out where the little ones could play with it too much lately. Case in point: as I looked inside the toaster after having used it, I saw one of my harmonicas laying inside the holding rack where the toast would be inserted.

The Lord's Trade-In Program

2009-08-09T20:22:00.000-07:00

Tuesday Evening, Colorado Springs at Grandma and Grandpa Leavitt's house -- Rachel left the house at around 6PM to do a little shopping in anticipation of our return trip home to Provo the next morning. Normally, I would have come with her, but for some reason I was too absorbed in my laptop so I let her go on her own. After a little while, the rest of the family (grandparents, me and my children, and Paula and her family) prepared for a weiner roast and s'mores. At about 7:30, I began thinking that Rachel had been gone a little long, and wondered if she had gotten lost -- after I'm the one that usually does the driving when we go to Colorado to visit. At around 8PM the rest of the adults began to wonder outloud about Rachel's absence when she walked through the front door.

Rachel informed us that she had been in ancident, but that she was fine, and that she had recieved a ride home from a police officer. According to the paperwork that Rachel returned home with and her own account, at 6:10 PM, Rachel made a left-hand turn on the corner of North Carefree and Bloomington, in front of the Super Target just down the road from my parent's house. An oncoming Buick SUV with two passengers entered the intersection at the same time and must have begun to brake upon seeing Rachel, but not soon enough to collide with the Voyager's front passenger side. The Voyager's air bag deployed.

The first thought that raced through Rachel's mind was that she hoped that everyone in the other vehicle was okay, especially if there had where children. There was a male driver and female passenger (presumably husband and wife) in the SUV. Neither receive any injuries. Thier vehicle escaped with much less damage than our van and they were able to drive away in it after the police reports had been filed. Rachel also checked out well, sustaining only minor scratches to one finger and the side of one foot.

The real casualty (if we can call it that) was our 1993 Plymouth Grand Voyager had been towed away to a holding yard. Honestly, everyone else in the family seem happy to see it go, but I confess that having had taken so good care of it over the years, it was hard to lose it in an instant. It became a vivid personal, reality check of how quickly life can change. Mine was a mixture of emotions between absolute gratitude that my wife escaped virtually unscathed and confusion as we suddenly were stranded hundreds of miles away from home and without a vehicle that we had worked so hard for so long to take so good care of.

Granted we had old, rusty minivan with over 270,000 miles on it. But it ran well. In fact, in anticipation of the trip, we had just had the oil changed, tires rotated, and tags renewed for another year (all the week before the trip). The one minor issue discovered in the pre-trip inspection was an oil leak that would cost over $1000 to fix. We went without that repair, and still the car performed well the whole trip over, running just as good as when we first bought the car five years ago. That's what made it so hard for me to see it go. I've never really thought I got too attached to cars, but Rachel says I do. I guess it's that way with anything you take good care of.

***************************************

Wednesday morning, the day we were suppose to be leaving for home, I got an early start to the day. My mom's minivan was in the shop, so that left my parents with only my dad's truck. Dad let me barrow the truck for the day, and following his suggestion, I began to search the local, small used car dealers for a minivan to get our family back to Utah. I stopped in first, however, at the tow yard where our wrecked Voyager was being stored.

The front of the frame had been bent by the impact of the collision to the point that the hood could no longer shut. Plastic protruded from the wheel well on the front passenger side, rubbing against the tire itself. As mentioned earlier, the air bag had deployed. The electrical system was completely disabled (probably a safety feature as a result of the air bag being launched).

The van was gone, and I made the decision with the help of the folks at the tow yard to send it to the the "scrapper". I asked them if I could take off the tires, as they were fairly new. The owner called me a red neck, and added that that was pretty bad when a tow truck driver was calling me a red neck. I let it go at that, and went to clean out the old van and left it in the tow yard where it'll wait until they receive the title to tow it to the junk yard.

The rest of that day, I kept hearing "Clunkers from Cash" from every car salesman I talked to about what had happened. I was quick to point out that the car was undriveable, and left it at that. (Rachel and I are getting a little fed up with all the government's bailout attempts, but that's a topic for another post at another time.)

After spending a good part of the morning (and I had started early) searching the used car lots, I returned home to continue searching online. I remember hearing about a former bishop of mine getting a minivan at a great price at an auction several years back. I searched to see if there were by chance any auctions taking place within the greater Denver area (1 hour to the north), and found one taking place at 6PM that evening. There was another potential listing also up in the Denver area that I had wanted to look at as well.

When my dad got off of work, we drove up to Denver to face rush-hour traffic and made it to the auto auction just a half-hour before it started. This was my first time attending an auction of any type, but had found several minivans that had the potential of meeting our needs. Not having the time to properly research the vehicles, we paid as close attention as possible to as many details as we deemed important and finally had narrowed the selection down to three vans. The first two vans we then determined had too many minor issues to worth the trouble. The third ultimately ended up being well beyond my price range. At that point we left the auction, still with no vehicle.

We made our way back down to the south end of Denver to look at one more minivan that potentially would meet our needs. It checked out well, and handled well in a test drive around the neighborhood. I honestly couldn't find anything wrong with the vehicle, but as I discussed it with my Dad, I told him something just seemed off. That is when I felt a confirmation of the Holy Spirit. I discussed it with Rachel over the phone. As she was quite anxious to be getting home, she encouraged me just to get it. I explained to her my reservation and the Spirit confirmed within me again that I should move on. So we left south Denver also without a vehicle.

That night, my parents decided that they would fly to Utah instead of drive for their planned trip that weekend making their minivan available for us to take back when it got out of the shop on Thursday. I went to bed exhausted.

We spent the following day, Thursday, preparing for the trip home and then left early in the afternoon in my mom's minivan headed back to Provo. The return trip was fortunately uneventful. We pulled into Provo in the early morning at around 4 AM after taking several breaks along the road home. I got little more than 4 hours of sleep on Friday.

************************************************

Rachel had to work Friday afternoon. With a two day window left before we were virtually vehicle-less (plus my parents coming into town on the following morning) I set out to search again for vehicles via online listings in Utah. Following my normal morning routine, I took time to search the scriptures and write in my journal. In my journal, as I made note of the auction I had attended in Denver, I felt impressed to go into more detail than I would have otherwise. It seemed strange, but I did it.

Afterwards, I began the search again for vehicles and located a dealer and also an auto auction house with some minivans on their lot up in the Salt Lake area. After Rachel went into work and Emma was off at a friend's for the afternoon, I took my four boys up with me to Salt Lake to look at cars. Our last stop was the auction house. The next auction was to be held Saturday morning. We got a listing of cars on the lot that were up for bid. We went out and located all the minivans on the lot and I analyzed them as closely as I could with four boys in tow. After only a half hour, we headed home that evening. I was utterly exhausted, near hopeless, and almost completely overwhelmed by my situation, and still without a vehicle.

Saturday morning found me on my knees, about as humbled as I could have been. After prayer, I felt to go back and review what I had written about auctions the day before. I performed several vehicle history reports on vehicles up for bid then headed off to Salt Lake with three kids in tow this time to pick up my parents from the Salt Lake Airport. I then headed over to the auto auction. My dad and I got out to look at several of the vehicles I had inspected from the day before.

At this point I had narrowed the search down to two cars. We looked at them both. My dad was only half impressed. He then walked a few lengths down the lot and located another van, and said to me, "What's wrong with this one?" It had higher mileage than the other two and more exterior body dents and dings than one of the other ones, but the inside was well kept and had any and all the features we could have hoped for in a new van. I called Rachel and had her run another vehicle history report on this van, just so we knew what we were getting into if we did purchase it.

I then sent my parents on their way back down to Provo with the three kids and told them I'd find my way home some how. I proceeded to register for the auction, leaving a security deposit and filling out some preliminary paperwork. The auction began at 11 AM. It was held inside a garage-type atmosphere with two large doors for vehicles to drive straight through as they were being presented.

In the beginning there were well over 50 persons in attendance. As the first hour wore on, the crowds seemed to shift from interested public attendees to more of a seasoned group of car dealers. The auctioneer and associates were all just as you would image them at any auction you've seen in the movies. They encourage competition between interested parties and tried as hard as they could to get the bids as high as they could go.

The auction wore on into the second hour, the first minivan with lower mileage came up for bid and I sat back to see what would happen. The minimum bid started out too high, and to my surprise had no interest from anyone in the audience. The second van with lower miles came up for bid, with a lower minimum bid, but still just as little interest. I let them both pass without any action.

As the vehicle my dad pointed out to me got ready to be driven over, I ran over to where it was parked and asked the driver if I could ride back to the auction garage with him. He consented and we jumped in and sped down the lot to the auction garage. It drove well. I jumped out as it was getting ready to be staged and found a seat in the audience, which by this point almost three hours later had dwindled down to no more than 10 people in the audience. The van came in and the auctioneer began rattle off some jumbled noise of numbers that I couldn't decipher. I wasn't about to raise my hand until I could understand what I was bidding for. Finally, he began to make sense and the starting bid had been taken by another party.

It was within my predetermined price range, so I place a counter-bid. The other gentleman raised it higher. I countered again. He must not have been that interested because at that point the other bidder declined to go higher and as there was no one else there interested, the van was declared "Sold! on an offer" to me. What that ment was that the seller had to be contacted to see if he would accept my bid, for it was quite low. A phone call later and and counter offer to the seller and the van was mine for an extremely reasonable amount that we were able to pay for without financing.

After the paperwork was complete and I was sitting in the van waiting to leave the lot, it began to hit me what had happened that day, and how the Lord's hand had led me up to this point. The reality of this blessing and how the Lord felt it important enough to bless us with a comfortable vehicle was driven in as I rode home in the nicest vehicle I have ever had the privilege of driving.

I told my oldest son later in the afternoon that I felt quite certain that Heavenly Father had blessed us with a nice car and that we ought to express our appreciation to him by taking good care of it. I'm still not sure why or what we've done to merit this temporal blessing, but there seems to be some unseen divine logic at play in all this.

This stands as yet another witness of the Lord's hand in our lives. I'm convinced that we were no more worthy or qualified than anyone else to receive this blessing, but that these same blessings can be had by anyone who will turn to the Lord in His own way and in His own time. But where we had a good, old reliable vehicle sitting in our driveway at the beginning of the week, we now have a visual reminder of the Lord's mercy and love towards our family sitting in our driveway! What a week it has been.

Building

2009-08-09T18:06:00.001-07:00

"To build or not build" that is the question...at least that was Dallin's question to me the other day:) I thought it sounded very profound. He, of course, was talking about Legos.

Gluten free anyone?

2009-07-05T16:03:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been awhile since I've written:) Well...our biggest life ajustment now is (no I'm not pregnant again:)).....we are looking into food allergies for Jacob. His skin has been horrible for the last couple of months. My doc said to give him some steroid cream, but I wanted to see if there were some other food issues first(I heard that wheat in particular is related to skin problems). So, I had him tested with a naturopath. I'm not sure I completely trust the results, but were are in the process of trying to figure it out. He tested as being allergic to wheat, dairy, canola oil, msg, and soy....what in the world do you eat then:) We're trying it out and subsequently our fruits and vedgies intake has gone way up and we have found lots of other different grains out there. Kind of interesting....it way take up to 6 mo. to really get a handle on this so we'll see:)

Little Racers

2009-05-16T11:01:00.000-07:00

The race is on!!!

Construction

2009-04-21T19:37:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of Brent taking down half our porch. We needed to do this in order to make way for what will be a future addition out.

This is underneath our house. Brent was getting some pictures for a structural engineer to look at. We need to see what sort of foundation was needed to add the second story.

Dallin, Joseph, and Jacob watching as a big cement trucks rolls into our yard to pour cement for the root cellar in the back.

Here's our plans on paper. This is the second story. We've got three bedrooms and two baths on the left. On the right is room for a future addition of two more bedrooms. We want to start this part in five years or so. We are also going to finish the attic and use that as another room for now.

So there it is. The plans are turned into the city....I have to admit, though, we are much better at tearing down than building:) But, the root cellar is coming along, and the foundation is almost done. Poco a poco.

Music Man

2009-04-12T13:30:00.000-07:00

The boys bathroom

2009-03-29T12:30:00.001-07:00

So Joseph told me I couldn't use the bathroom the other day. I asked him why. He said I couldn't use the boys bathroom. Hmmm...I guess that's what I get for having four boys.

2009-03-13T20:59:00.000-07:00

Happy Spring everyone. I love this time of year, and I love watching my flowers grow. These actually poked their faces up about a month ago. It's fun to watch them grow even when it snows.

My Allegiance to the Prophet

2009-03-09T19:38:00.000-07:00

Last evening, we viewed an introductory documentary on the life of President Thomas S. Monson, President and Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the same church of which my wife, Rachel, and I are practicing members. I much appreciated the brief overview of some of the key events from his life. I suppose I'll have to wait for a biography to come out to get a more complete overview of this good man's life.

Now, all this said, I'm fully aware of the arguments about propaganda and church-sponsored media, and how it can tend to be said that such media is lop-sided and biased. Perhaps the stories are too rosy and idealistic for some to beleive them to be true.

However, with this in mind, I wish to voice my simple, happy convictions this evening. That Spirit of truth, which Christ promised to his disciples anciently, lends witness to His personal involvement in our lives today. I know that Thomas S. Monson has been prepared to be an emissary for the Lord Jesus Christ in our troubled day.

For as long as I can remember, President Monson has been a consistant voice of witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. In such a time when so much hypocracy and deciet exist in our world, I am one that knows that there are also men of integrity and conviction. President Monson is just such a man.

I think I'm beginning to grasp the meaning of some of his oft repeated messages like "Do your duty, that is best; leave unto the Lord the rest,"(quoting some old adage) or "Wherefore, now let every man learn his duty, and to act in the office in which he is appointed, in all diligence," (quoting from an LDS book of scripture, the Doctrine and Covenants).

With President Monson at the helm, I very confident in the ability of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to withstand the corruptions of our day and to continue to sail forward in preparation for Christ's return to earth. This is not blind obedience. On the contrary, this is the conviction that comes from active involvement in the cause of Christ.

To any of our friends or acquantances that are not of our faith, there remains an open invitation to learn more. Ultimately, we hope that as many as will may join us in this excellent journey.

T0 view the documentary on President Monson, click on the follow link: On the Lord's Errand: The Life of President Thomas S. Monson. The video runs about one hour online and requires a Move Networks plugin to watch it in your Internet browser.

Jacob's words

2009-03-01T15:01:00.000-08:00

These are some of Jacob's favorite words. Mostly he still just says Maa though.

Birthdays

2009-02-16T21:49:00.000-08:00

Happy birthday to Aaron, and Joseph had his a week ago. Thought I'd just a clip:)

The boys thought this box was especially fascinating:)

Flash back to the 80's

2009-01-28T12:56:00.000-08:00

So someone gave me some hairspray and I told Emma I hadn't used that since the 80's:) Emma wanted to know why and I told her how we used to do our hair...she liked that idea so we took some photo ops...

Our little inventor

2009-01-15T11:38:00.000-08:00

Aaron loves to make up new machines and inventions, so here's his latest....

Something happened to me today

2008-12-24T14:52:00.000-08:00

Comment from Brent, "I was doing something in the kitchen, when someone came in and did something and something happened....."

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T10:25:00.000-08:00

Just pretending

2008-12-23T21:41:00.000-08:00

I have just recently talked to an old friend from High School and while I was talking to her about jobs, family, etc I realized something....I'm just pretending to be grownup:) I fooled you all. Because really, as I was talking with my friend all I could picture was us hanging out together, and studying and talking about what we wanted to do when we grew up.

Sunday School Conversations

2008-12-21T13:41:00.000-08:00

I was in attendence in Dallin's Sunday School class today. The topic was the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. As small children do, the conversation at one point quickly shifted. And as was appropriate for the season, Dallin and a friend of his started talking about Santa Claus.

Well, Santa's been a topic of conversation at our house lately with Christmas coming along and the bi-monthly feature from Netflix being "The Polar Express." We've explained to the children that Santa was a good man that lived a long time ago and that Mom and Dad play like we're Santa now. We've chosen this bend on the season, to downplay the receiving of gifts, and to hopefully give more of an emphasis on Christ and his birth.

We don't even have our presents under the tree this year (This is more for our sanity and so that there will be something left for Christmas Day), yet the children still anticipate Christmas Day and gifts they'll receive. Anyways, that's the background to the conversation.

So Dallin and his friend started talking about Santa Claus. Suddenly Dallin very definitively declared "Santa Claus is dead!"

Well his little friend didn't tolerate that in the least and retorted, "No he's not. He's alive!"

Dallin explained, "Not uugh! Santa Claus is dead, Aaron told me so!"

His friend was quite persistent. Perhaps it was inspired by the topic of the lesson, perhaps it was his desire to fit in. Finally Dallin conceded, "Well, maybe he came back to life! "

They both seemed to be able to agree on that point and so end the dispute.

Merry Christmas,

Brent

Joseph's theme song

2008-12-14T13:19:00.001-08:00

If you listen closely you can hear Joseph singing in the background. When he is excited about something he will run around the room singing his theme music.

Emma's baptism

2008-12-09T20:09:00.000-08:00

There have been a lot of mileposts along this road of parenthood. First food, first word, first day of school, but this has been by the far one of the most important ones. One of the things that meant a lot to me was family coming. I appreciate those who sacrificed time, and money to come be with us on this day.

As Emma came out of the water and I was able to be there for her to help her dry off and get dressed, I realized how nice that was. For one brief moment it flickered through my mind, that this would be the only time I would be able to experience that, but I brushed it away...I didn't want to be filled with regret. I wanted to enjoy the time I had to be with my daughter as she came up ready to begin something new.

I also thought of how up to this point, I was the one with all the answers for her. She came to me when she had questions. Now, I am beginning the process of turning the gift that was loaned to me back to God, for that is who she must learn to turn to now. I won't always be here, I definitely won't have the answers, but He will. So, I begin my new role with her(as more of a guide and teacher rather than the director:)) as she begins her new role with her Heavenly Father(as she learns to listen to the promptings of the spirit).

I know she is still young, but she is just now beginning to become the person that her Heavenly Father wants her to become and I feel so blessed to be a part of that. I find joy in the fact that she choose to be baptized and wants to work to come to know him and his plan for her more fully.

My afternoon

2008-12-08T16:06:00.001-08:00

AHHHHHH..gotto to go, I think someone is about to be killed:)

Darth Vader doesn't like cars?!

2008-12-03T13:32:00.001-08:00

Dallin: "hey mom, we're playing star wars"

Me: "ok star wars fans, it's time to go get Emma and Aaron. So let's go get out in the car."

Dallin: "Mom....I'm Darth Vader and Darth Vader does not take the car".

So there you have it, don't try and offer Darth Vader a ride in your car.

Excuse #24

2008-12-01T18:41:00.000-08:00

Excuse #24(offered immediately after excuse #23):You took too long to write that blog so now my candy's all gone and I need to get another one now.

Excuse #23 for not saying family prayer

2008-12-01T17:30:00.000-08:00

Excuse #23: (no excuse at all... she just disappeared.)

For the record, she says that she went to go get a candy.

Excuse #22 for Not Saying Morning Family Prayer

2008-11-28T08:09:00.000-08:00

Excuses #22 for not saying morning family prayer: It's morning until 12 PM.

Excuse #18 for Not Saying Family Prayer

2008-11-27T18:03:00.001-08:00

This was a good one...

Excuse #18:
I've got to do my math homework.

Excuse #21 for Not Saying Family Prayer

2008-11-27T18:00:00.001-08:00

We've been talking about doing this for several weeks now because it's just become humorous how often Emma comes up with an excuse for not saying family prayer. So we thought we'd actually start tonight.

soooooooooooo.....

Excuse #21 for not saying family prayer:
Ok, you said to go spit out my gum, now is a good time to do that.

Carrot Fruit Snacks?!

2008-11-24T10:13:00.000-08:00

Joseph came up to me today and said he wanted some fruit snacks. I said we didn't have any fruit snacks. He asked me again and I gave him the same reply. So then he said he wanted carrot fruit snacks?

Carrot fruit snacks?! So I handed him a bag of mini carrots and he and Dallin happily chomped away on their fruit snacks. If only I could do the same thing with Emma:)

Shopping with Five Children

2008-11-23T14:54:00.000-08:00

Perhaps if I were someone else, I'd entitle this post something like "Why I Love Living in Provo, Utah". But I'm not that zealous for or against the fact that I'm raising my family in Provo. This just happens to be where we are at this time in our lives raising our family. But I do have to confess that my experience grocery shopping yesterday could probably have never had happened anywhere else on the planet.

For starters, Macey's (the grocery store, not the department store) recently purchased these wonderful four-seater shopping carts. It's one of those shopping carts that's shaped like a car on the front end for two kids to ride in. Admittedly, Aaron is getting a little too big to ride in one of these, but he and Dallin faired pretty well on the front end. The back end was also a double seater allowing for the two smaller boys, Joseph and Jacob to comfortably sit on top. I think that Macey's must have purchased this shopping cart just for our family, but that leads to the second observation.

The reality is that we are not the only family around here that have enough small children to fully occupy a four-seater shopping cart. Myself feeling fairly well occupied with five children for the present, especially in a grocery store, by some accounts we're still not as big as other families in our neighborhood.

For example, as one of my children was throwing something of tantrum in the produce section of the grocery store, a sweet elderly lady comes up to me and says, "Are these all your children?" I acknowledged that they were, and mentioned how grateful I was for the four-seater shopping cart. She commented on how wonderful it was to have them as young as they were.

She then add that she was a mother of 12 children herself! Seeing me and my five children brought back fond memories for her, and her face was radiantly cheerful as she said so. That did something for me. I won't say that it made my shopping trip any less hectic or stressful. What I saw though was a woman who looked back fondly on those memories that I was now living for myself -- a bit of perspective.

Who would've thought?

2008-11-21T05:48:00.001-08:00

So I realized that Jacob's word is actually a word, just spelled different(see previous most on Jacob's vocabulary). The word "meh" is an expression of indifference or boredom, or an adjective meaning mediocre or boring,'

So, Jacaob is just bored, who would've thought:)

He is branching out though, Ah, is now apart of his vocabulary. He says it when he sees the cats. I wonder what that one means?

Happy Birthday Emma

2008-11-17T21:35:00.000-08:00

How to speak Jacob

2008-11-14T09:05:00.000-08:00

I want that....Maa!
Take me there...MAAA
Lift me up.....Ma
I don't want to sleep...Ma, Ma

So I think we need to work a little bit more on his vocabulary...for right now though, we just pretend we have a little sheep in our house.

Gratitude

2008-11-08T19:44:00.000-08:00

I was out shopping with my dad today ( my dad actually really likes to shop:)) It was fun. We talked about a lot of stuff and we really enjoyed being with each other. At one of the stores we stopped by, a lady said she thought it was really neat that we could be slow close. I stopped to think about that...I don't know that I had ever really given it much thought that I have a good relationship with my parents. But as I thought about that, I was very grateful for my parents and Brent's parents. I am grateful for their love and support and I feel that everyday...so thanks! I love you all! Rachel

Oh and Brent thinks we should build our roof out of legos:) I love telling on him:)

A pledge to fight for the family

2008-11-06T09:39:00.001-08:00

As probably a lot of you know, Brent and I supported Obama in the elections. I did so, though, with a lot of concerns...specifically concerning moral issues. I won't go into the why's about this whole thing, but it was a difficult disicion for me to say the least.

I am writing this to encourage you to do what I have done. I have expressed my concerns to Obama through e-mail about my belief in the importance and preservation of family. I wrote about how important marriage is to our nation and expressed to him my beliefs about gay marriage and abortion and why I believe the way I do. I would encourage you to do the same. Here is contact information...

EMAILS:
://obama.senate.gov/contact/,
/www.barackobama.com/index.phpMYSPACE PAGEhttp://www.myspace.com/barackobamaLINKEDIN PAGEhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/barackobama

Address
CAMPAIGN HEADQUARTERS
Obama for America
P.O. Box 8102Chicago, IL 60680

Phone

OFFICESWashington D.C. Office (202) 224-2854 (202) 228-4260 fax (202) 228-1404 TDD Chicago Office (312) 886-3506 (312) 886-3514 fax Toll free: (866) 445-2520 (for IL residents only) Springfield Office (217) 492-5089 (217) 492-5099 fax Marion Office(618) 997-2402 (618) 997-2850 fax Moline Office (309)736-1217 (309)736-1233 fax PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN HEADQUARTERS(866) 675-2008

I told myself that I would only vote for Obama if I worked hard to make sure that my voice was heard concerning issues of family and morals. I would encourage anyone else who reads this to do so also..as well as any local and state leaders that have been elected.

2008-11-01T07:47:00.000-07:00

Here's our Gromet.

Aaron as a Ninja.

Princess Keeha from a book series Emma is reading.

The Cat Buss from Totoro.

Happy Hallooween!

Answers Will Be Forthcoming...

2008-10-30T19:52:00.000-07:00

Brent was having fun with the macro zoom in our new camera. See if you can guess what these pictures are...

It's dinner time at the Leavitts

2008-10-26T15:26:00.000-07:00

Pre-dinner...with a bag of grated cheese on the floor... (Click on the picture to get the full effect.)

This will be funny in a couple of days..right?

One of our favorite things to do at dinner time is tell knock knock jokes so enjoy!:)

This one wasn't dinner, but I thought it fit in with the food theme:)

As you can tell from these pictures, Jacob is learning to get to the top of the table and either sit on top and eat (peanut butter and jelly), or dump it on the floor and eat it (cheese).

Brent also helped the kids carve pumpkins a few nights ago while I was working. Now it is officially Halloween.

The Moon is Made of Cheeeeeeeese

2008-10-23T09:07:00.001-07:00

One of Dallin's new favorite movies is Wallace and Grommet

The hole in our backyard Part 2

2008-10-22T10:06:00.000-07:00

I finally got some photos for you...and I don't think there is any gold so far in our heap:( But lots of rocks. We've heard it used to be a riverbed here.

Jacob Walking

2008-10-21T21:43:00.000-07:00

Just thougtht I'd let you all see my cute one year old who has now been walking for a couple of weeks...I'm not actually sure that's a good thing:)

The world from a child's perspective

2008-10-18T10:59:00.000-07:00

These are just some old photos that Dallin took this summer. I am cleaning up my photos, and don't really want to keep them except I thought they offered an interesting perspective from a child's point of view so I thought I'd post them here.

Why do I do this to myself?!!!

2008-10-17T14:32:00.000-07:00

Ok, so yesterday I took the kids all to the library...now that part wasn't so bad, for the most part. But...I decided I didn't want to take the car (we've been trying to use it less).

Five kids. No car. Walking. For about 45 min.

That's why this is entitled why do I do this to myself:)

Long story short, I came home 4 1/2 hours later with two crying boys and one really grumpy child who insisted on kicking everyone for the last 15m. of the walk home.

The funny thing is, I probably would choose to do it the same way again. I blame it on my dad:) He's always been an environmentalist and I think it rub off on me a bit. I love the freedom of not having to use the car. I think Brent would make the same choice too...I think we're just odd:) But admitting is half the battle, right:)

On another note, Brent was out panning for gold in our dirt heap...I guess it's just the Leavitt blood coming out in him. I'll keep you posted just in case you want to try and get in our will:)

The Hole in our Back Yard

2008-10-16T22:33:00.000-07:00

Well, Rachel has extended rights for me to contribute to the family blog now, so I thought I'd add something.

I've been digging this hole in our back yard since the beginning of the summer. I've wanted to put a root cellar underneath the the new shed I wanted to build in the north corner of the yard so that I could pull down the existing shed on the south side of the yard and use the land for a garden plot (It's the only place in the back yard where the sun shines all day long).

Now five months later, I've only gotten down about 3 or 4 feet deep and not even all the way across. I finally asked for help in Priesthood open exercises at church thinking I could get a few extra bodies to help me on a Saturday morning or something. A neighbor come up to me afterwards and offer to come over with his back hoe and help finish the remainder of the hole.

He came over tonight and made light work of the project in about 3 hours' time. We got about 3/4 of the space cleared out and a huge mound of dirt in our back yard! We'll probably finish the remainder of the hole tomorrow or Saturday. Rachel's very excited as she's set us on time line to get the house expanded and this is the first step in getting there.

Dallins prayer

2008-10-15T21:44:00.000-07:00

Dear Heavenly Father..

(Dallin you can't pray and turn around in circles at the same time)

Dear Heavenly Father, please bless that I can play on the computer...

(Dallin you need to kneel)

And bless that I can kneel...

(and close your eyes)

and that I can play on the computer...

(he looks up at me and smiles)

in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

Our bilingual child (sort of)

2008-10-13T23:05:00.000-07:00

Here's what Aaron wrote to me today...

¡WHOA You or the best!

So, I'm trying to decide if this is Spanglish in writing:). (Notice the beginning punctuation.) Either way, we thought it was cute.

Beautiful messes

2008-10-08T22:01:00.000-07:00

Ok this is pictureless, because my cameras batteries are dead, but I had to get this down....

Messes that I clean up in a typical day

1. Banana baby goo from Jacob
2. Joseph took all our library books and dumped them on the floor.
3. Before Aaron made it out the door the legos made it out and beautiful creations, plus some, where crawling across the living room.
4. Both Emma and Aaron threw their night clothes on the floor in the bathroom
5. Don't forget the roll of toilet paper that got tossed in the toilet
6. Joseph likes to help me do dishes (enough said)
7. Dallin is not quite potty changed (again enough said:))
8. Cats like to sleep on my sheets and leave kitty hairs all over
9. Spilled milk times 3
10. The boys thought it would be fun to build a fort....with my couch cusions....and my kitchen chairs.....and decided to have a picnic inside....with crackers and cheese(Brent said that was his idea-he didn't want them in the kitchen?)
11. Emma was busy making everyone You've Been Caught Being Nice notes, and conviently forgot to throw away her cut up papers.

Well, they're all in bed and I remember how much I love them:) They really are beautiful.

Peek a boo

2008-09-30T21:34:00.000-07:00

I don't know why it is, but babies playing peeka boo are some of the funniest things to watch...of course I am biased as a mother.

Creativity

2008-09-28T21:38:00.001-07:00

Here is what Aaron was working on today after church...he has gotten very good with legos.

We've also rearranged the sleeping areas, again:) The kids are now back in the larger room, but Emma wanted her own space. So we threw up a rope and some blankets to seperate the room. Very makeshift, but Emma loved it:) Hopefully by this time next year, we'll actually have our addition added on with our real rooms:)

Another day's hard work

2008-09-16T21:04:00.000-07:00

Ok, yesterday was Jacob's first birthday and as soon as Brent gets the video downloaded, I'll put that on here. Other than that here's some pictures of my day..first off Emma who has become an avid reading..
Now on to the fun stuff! Here is my pile of dishes half way through the day...
And my clothes to fold...on my bed...
in my dryer...
And at the end of the day....

Notice though that the clothes are folded on top of the dryer, and there are new clothes in the dryer...and...the dishes are not the same ones...so another ending to another day with five children who we are blessed to have enough food for and plenty of clothes:) Ta, ta for now. I'm going to sleep:)

Dallin's little quirks

2008-09-14T21:09:00.000-07:00

Ok, so Dallin is my child that has to have everything in a particular order, or he can't deal with it. Today, he was playing with puzzles, and absolutely did not want to pick them up. He had to keep them with him, only because he decided that he had to have his puzzles with him. So, he tried to stuff as much as he could here....
He really tried to get as much as he could in his pocket:)

On another quirky note...Jacob is loving little spaces...I don't think he is claustaphobic...

Joseph framed

2008-09-11T13:11:00.000-07:00

This is Joseph hanging out in our doorway. He was watching me try and get Brent's picture for his new business website that he is working on. I think it was a little amuzing because I was trying to chase Jacob at the same time.

Jacob's little adventure

2008-09-08T08:23:00.000-07:00

After completely emptying the drawer....

Jacob decided to explore a little further.

Home Improvements

2008-09-07T12:33:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I finally decided to start a blog about just our family:) We have blogs about other things, (who knew I would become such a blogger:), but not just the goings on in our family. So, this past month we finally laid down our bamboo floor, and I love it. We also got a fan for the living room and painted and tiled the doorway. It was a busy couple of weeks, but after all, we had been living on sub floor for 3 months.Here's our subfloor before the new floor was put in.
Our new fan and you can see our walls here are no longer aqua:)
My beautiful plant that hopefully doesn't get destroyed by little fingers
My window with curtains made by Cathy for us.
We tiled by the door and put bamboo floor in (pretend the toys aren't all over). We still need to put trim in.

I do want to put some posts on of the kids, but my camera's battery ran out...so next time.