Monument Valley Tour

So I really haven't posted forever! The book fair went really well, making more than double my goal. It was a lot of work- but it worked out well. I wish I could say it's totally done and out of the way- but the freight company only comes out here the second Thursday of each month- and I called on the second Friday- so we just have to wait until January- otherwise it went great!
So before Thanksgiving we went on a tour of the back country of Monument Valley. We have driven around it before, but there are many roads you can't go on that we went on on the tour. The Lafont's- our new friends from the library- who actually manage Gouldings invited us on the tour. They have twin girls Spencer's age. He absolutely loves to play with them. This was an amazing tour. I felt like a new explorer. It was cold- but beautiful!
So in no particular order, here are the pictures
Spencer is holding up one finger like the monument in the background, the totem pole

This is inside "The Hogan." It's supposed to look like an eagle when you look up at it- I didn't see it, but I don't have that huge of an imagination.

That's James out there in the distance. We mostly put him down in the dirt to play while we explored, he was perfectly content, and my arms got a little break.



Spencer was a regular mountain goat, and he loved climbing on the rocks!
Here are Vivi and Dessa climbing the hill. Isn't it cute that they are holding hands? This was a huge sand dune!
This pictures is sideways- I don't know how to turn it at this point, so just imagine!
This is water left from rain about 2 weeks before, that's pretty crazy. Spencer loved throwing rocks in the water.



James playing in the dirt- we live in a good place for boys who love to play in the dirt.
Our attempt at a family picture, it was freezing up here. Once we got into the valley it blocked the wind a little.

A little better family picture
All the kids throwing rocks into the water
Can you see the dragon sleeping?
Checking out the wares
We took the sunset tour- so the ride back was beautiful.
It was a great tour! We had so much fun- the boys loved it. Dirt, rocks and a bumpy ride, right up their alley.
We are very sad that the Lafont's actually moved last week. We miss them already!

Book Fair

Remember those book fairs you had in Elementary school? It was so fun to go to the library and actually buy books. Well, I decided to try hosting one of those at our very own Monument Valley Community Library. Because of how education has been set up here on the rez in the past (mostly boarding schools) families are slowly trying to add education to their homes. My parents always had tons of books, and I was lucky. People here don't have so many books in their homes. The library is great for that, but there is nothing like owning a book. So that is why I decided to host a book fair. The books are inexpensive, and hopefully people will take the time to come in and take a look. I am really crossing my fingers that it works well because it has been a ton of work. Usually a whole PTA works on it- no PTA here, so just me. Actually the honors society did help me out with decorations, good thing because I cannot draw (where are Elizabeth and Catherine when I need them?) So 41 boxes of books arrived today. Wish me luck and I'll see you in a few weeks when the maddness is over!

Family pictures

I had to record our failed attempt at family pictures for Christmas cards (we took 94 pictures, and they all look this bad), because someday I will think it's funny-right? Good scenery though. Spencer looked over the wall and said "I can see the whole world from here!"
This one turned out cute, but what boy isn't happy when he is crawling on a rock?

Hats

James loves crawling under and through things.
Also, trying on hats- isn't he cute?

Halloween

We painted our Halloween pumpkins this year since the boys chose really tiny ones. This is James' first experience with paint. He thought it tasted pretty good.
This isn't the best picture of Spencer, but he loved painting the pumpkins.
Spencer wanted to be a green monster for Halloween. He always helps me be creative. I think he looks like a cross between a Dr. Seuss character and a viking, but he thinks he looks like a green monster, and that is what counts.
I was Little Red Riding Hood, and James was Curious George. He loves George just like Spencer. He always points to the TV and says "Jo." his costume lasted about 10 minutes because he had a fever and it was hot- but it was cute for a few minutes!
These are creepy Jack-o-lantern pictures. Spencer was pretty sure they were real. Actually, when the fire alarm went off in the school he thought it was these screaming. Such an imagination!
Here's the whole family on trick-or-treating night. Devon is a "space cowboy" but you can see his buzz lightyear gun.
We had a busy week with a library party on Thursday, a carnival on Friday and trick or treating on Saturday. The party went well, by far the best attendance at a library event. It has been fu to get to know other people in the community through the library.
Devon put together a ring toss for the carnival. He was very excited about it, and it went really well. There was a line most of the night, and he made pretty good money.
Now Halloween is over, on to Christmas!

Catching Up

So we learned that we could get our neighbors wireless internet in our living room. So for now we sort-of have the internet. We have to use our laptop- which still means I have to load pictures twice, but it's better than nothing. James had been really sick, so I am staying home from church with him today. I am sad, but it is the perfect opportunity to catch up a little on our blog, so here it goes!
These are not in chronological order.
I just had to put this one in because it's so cute. James put that hat on himself. He loves saying "cheese" for the camera.
Garden season is over, I'm so sad. Here is Spencer holding up the carrots we dug up.
Spencer and the newest member of our family, the Ipad. The school here got a grant where every teacher gets an Ipad and every student gets and Ipod touch. There are a lot of educational apps. Spencer loves to play on the Ipad, and Devon takes it everywhere.
James loves oatmeal, which is good because he is a picky eater, I am glad to find anything he will eat. Here he is after feeding himself.
James also loves riding his bike. When we go outside he just rides around and around. He has even firugred out steering. He rides really well, but we are still working on walking.
These are the preschool kids with their "ears" when we learned about hearing. Teaching preschool has been really fun, and last week Spencer decided that he didn't need to cry everytime he went- Yeah!
We found this toad in our sandbox. It was pretty cool, so we tried to keep it as a pet, but it wouldn't eat any of the bugs Devon found for it, so we had to let it go.
Devon's dad and sister stopped by on their way to Provo from Texas. We showed them Bluff fort. Here is James laughing because he is making Grandpa nervous by standing up in the handcart.
Elizabeth let spencer use her camera for a while, and he took pictures of everything, trees, rocks, dirt, the floor, and a few people.
Isn't James just cute?
My neighbor and I trade off babies when we are teaching preschool so we can actually teach preschool. Having Berkley over has taught me some things to be grateful for. On this day I came out and the crayons were everywhere! They were both drawing on the floor. We got some paper to make this more productive. I am grateful that Spencer had enough of a small motor delay that he could not open the crayon box until he was pretty good about drawing on paper. James however, has learned the trick, so now we need a new place for the crayons.


And lastly Spencer singing his new favorite song "I'm a mean old witch with a hat"

Long time

So it has been a long time since I posted. Our internet has been down for what seems like forever, about 2 months with a 2 day working spurt when I last posted. Anyway, I am posting this from the library, but that is a big pain since I don't want to load my pictures on the library computer. Someday the internet will work again, or we will just buck up and pay for it (since it's the school's free internet that is down), but until then here are some cute pictures of the boys we took on Sunday. They are growing like crazy!