Last night for family night we got the chance to go to the first ever arena football game in Utah Valley. Our friend Keith hooked us up with some tickets to the brand new Utah Valley Thunder. Definitely on a way different scale then the Arizona Rattlers but the kids had the, "best night of their life", according to Redden! What couldn't be fun about unhealthy food, cheerleaders, spotlights, free posters, t-shirts, and footballs. Oh and did I mention, cheerleaders. I have reached the point where during the halftime show where I can look over and see my two oldest with smiles from ear to ear telling eachother things quietly and laughing all giddily. They were picking out their "favorite". Then I look at Gabe and he has the proudest look on his face that you could have ever seen. Seriously, what is wrong with these guys!!! It is unbelievable the power a short skirt, long hair, and face paint (a.k.a makeup) have over this species of mankind! Well, this leads me to why Redden had the best night of his life. One of the cheerleaders came up and asked him to come play a game down on the field. It was a relay race between boys and they had run with a football while wearing a helmet. Redden got the hand off from another kid first and he was on his way.....till the 12 year old boy blew past him. Luckily, for Redden, the 12 year old boy tripped about 2 yards from the enzone and Redden raced right by the poor boy who just face planted on the turf to the finish line! Redden won the football autograped by the whole team and as he came running back to us, he was giving half the crowd (all 200 of them) high fives! What a stud. Keith gave us another ball so Redden and Ryder each ended up with a ball that I believe is already in their backpacks to show off at school today. We all had a fun time and I'm sure we'll be back again. I just hope they can keep the league going!
The New.... Utah Valley Thunder!
The Rocket Derby
Redden had his first Rocket Derby.....wait.....I mean Gabe had his first Rocket Derby. It all started off on a rough note when I told Gabe to work on it with Redden the weekend I was out of town in Moab. Well, they played too much and didn't have time so Tues. came and all of the sudden I'm panicking telling him they have to finish it that night cuz pack meeting would be the next day. So, they make a trip to Home Depot and by 11:30 that night, Gabe had proudly finished his first rocket (with a lot of watching and some imput from Redden of course)! Well the next day I find out it's not until the next week so Gabe wasn't too happy with me but I said, "Hey, at least it's done now!" They made it into the shape of a bat and burned some cool marks on it and made it with Redden's name. Redden was proud to show it of but let's just say that was the best part about it! If you haven't done one of these before you're not missing out! We had to replace the stinkin' rubberbands about 4 times cuz they would keep snapping and the whole thing would come apart. We got to watch it soar across about 3/4 of the way to the finish and that was all.....one race......3/4 of the way......good job guys! We took a picture with the trophy cuz Redden thinks his looked the coolest at least! There were only about 2 rockets that worked very good. The rest of the time was spent watching the dads wind up new rubberbands while the boys ran around in a wild game of tag. How many more years do I have with this cub scout thing?!!? I say stick with the pine wood derby! 
Here are a few pictures of Ryder at his latest performance at school. He learned a whole bunch of new songs that we have heard over and over and over.......and loved of course! He did good and really got into a few of the songs. I got there early to get a good seat and made the front row! Usually I am in the back and he can never find me. He was excited to see us so close and loved having Ranger wave at him the whole time. Good job Ryder! We love you!
Ranger Danger
Yesterday the boys all went downstairs, or so we thought, to play basketball. Ranger siezed the opportunity to quietly go into my bathroom..... instead.... and go through mom and dad's cabinets to see what would be fun to get into today. As you can see, he found Gabe's hair stuff and tried to do it just like dad and rubbed the whole thing all over his whole head and then face. It was brand new and clear full! Luckily Gabe had just bought a small one! I couldn't believe my eyes when he came sprinting around the corner into the family room with this look of pride on his face. A smile from ear to ear. He tries to copy everything and everyone in the house. It was no suprise when we followed the messy clues back to the bathroom that he was trying to rub the stuff in his hair like daddy. He even pointed to his head and said, "Daddies". He is at such a cute stage but also a messy one! I don't know if it's because I am older now or, if this one is just TROUBLE, but by the end of the day....I am exhausted! I can't leave him alone for more than 5 min. before he is into something else. He can scale the pantry cabinents in about 3.5 seconds, climb on the kitchen counter in about 1.4 seconds, and crawl up on the computer desk and get the markers in about 2.6 seconds. You get the picture.....trouble!! It's so hard not to laugh because he just looks so cute. I don't remember the other two being this curious. It definitly takes our whole family to stay on our toes and keep him safe. Redden and Ryder do such a good job of keeping an eye on him and letting me know what he's into now. They also laugh hysterically at him though so he might be doing things just to impress his big brothers! Until next time.....or next mess......luv you all!
What is Sexy?
I know I know.....a new post. Is the world standing still? Maybe. Ryder just said one of the funniest things last night and I didn't want to forget so I am actually on the computer getting it down. We were all in the car coming back from dinner and the boys were being silly and cracking us up. Ryder started saying that everything was sexy. Sexy cars, sexy house, and on and on. Gabe turns to him and asks him...Ryder..what is sexy? What does that mean? He sat there with a very thoughtful look on his face trying to figure out what this word he had been using meant to him. He finally said it means lip gloss and chocolate. WHOA! I better be on my toes with this kid! If there is ever a girl wearing lipgloss eating chocolate that shows up to Kindegarten, we are in trouble! He didn't think it had anything to do with girls yet, or so I'm hoping! Those just happen to be two of his favorite things right now. I am constantly getting my lipgloss/chapstick out of his pockets and as soon as he walks in from school he asks for some chocolate. We had a good laugh and then talked for a minute about other words we could use that were a little more appropriate than sexy. Gotta love kids!
And the WINNER is........
One of our favorite things to do as a family is to go bowling. Redden and Ryder really enjoy it and Redden even decided he is now officially too good for the bumpers. The key is all in finding the right ball??? That's what the boys think.
Redden thinks he's so funny!
And one by one the faces show it all.......the sign of defeat!
I told Gabe to show me his best loser face and he thought that was pretty funny. He wouldn't give me that satisfaction!
And the winner is....... of course.....ME! What's sad is that I won with a whole 121 pts. Pretty bad. All that matters though is that I won!!!! We aren't a competitive family at all.
This is what Redden thought of me winning.
And sweet Ranger had no idea who won because he spent the majority of his time driving the racecar!
Thanks Gabe for taking us bowling. We miss you dearly, again, and will see you shortly. You might want to practice your game before we get there unless you need another butt kickin'. Hee Hee. No one can beat the MELVINATOR!
Temple Lights
On Sunday night we decided to make the drive up to Salt Lake to see the beautiful lights at the temple. I have seen the Arizona Temple Lights every year but we missed last year. I missed that tradition. It was nice to see a different set of lights and get the wonderful feeling of just being on the temple grounds. The boys really wanted to take a ride on one of the horse drawn carriages circling the temple but I just couldn't bring myself to spend 50 bucks on it. They should be free on Sunday as well as the parking! Papa, get Barkley ready to pull them around the neighboorhood. Better yet, maybe I'll start that at the Arizona temple. Hmmmm. We kept the same tradition of having cocoa and doughnuts after and enjoyed every last bite. 
Thanksgiving at Home
This year we were very grateful to have our family back together again for Thanksgiving. We hadn't seen Gabe in a month and it was a very nice reunion when he walked through the doors of our home. Tears and all. The boys settled for hugging Gabe's legs since I wouldn't budge. We had a couple invites for Thanksgiving Dinner but decided we wanted to just spend it at home together. It was nice. We spent all day just relaxing and cooking. Redden and Ryder got to help with every dish and Ryder LOVED it. I couldn't hardly get him out of the kitchen. The next Emerill. Ranger just followed Gabe around and if he wasn't near Gabe, he was right next to Gunner. Gunner was with Gabe and Ranger missed his dog dearly.
Our turkey turned out delicious although it doesn't look as pretty because the bag pulled off some skin. Best turkey I have ever had! Thanks to my cousins Becoming Betty Blog where I got the recipe I successfully made my first turkey! We missed all of our family in Arizona but will see you all soon for Christmas. Moving around has given us the opportunity to try many new things including having holidays alone and with friends. We spent our first Thanksgiving in Texas eating at Mimi's cafe and it was delicious! I also didn't have one pot or pan to clean after. Point of the story...... don't be afraid to do things the untraditional way because sometimes they come with the best memories. Hope everyone had a good day and I am very grateful for all of you in my life. You help keep me sane. 
Halloween
We had a fun night out in the neighborhood with all of our friends. Redden and Ryder were Ninjas and Ranger was a football player. We started the night with pizza at the Hall's house and then onto the trick or treating. It was a beautiful night to be out. Much warmer than last year. We got sprinkled on for about 15 min. but that was it. We ended the night with some Guitar Hero at the Prins house and then off to bed. Now we are just dealing with the candy tantrums from Ranger. The first thing he says when he wakes up is... Sucker. Nice. I gotta get rid of this candy! 
