I Love These Kids!

I love having a nine-year-old girl.  She is learning to do more and more on her own, and it is fun to watch her.  This week Liliana wanted to bake and decorate a cake like the ones in her American Girl magazine.  She did a great job.  I got to go with her (thanks to dear sister-in-law Jennifer keeping the boys!) to Activity Day this week to try to sew together.  Like always, the seam ripper was my best friend.  I don't know if I can help Lili sew when I'm so bad at it myself, but it was great to be with her.

 The next best thing to having a sister is having a Carolina cousin as a neighbor.  This week Carolina came over and the girls dressed up.  They're so lovely:

 I love having a two-year-old boy.  Ammon is into giving a thumbs up and a squinty grin.  (Why does squinty have a red squiggly line under it?  Marianne?  Am I spelling that wrong?)  The best thing about it is that Ammon substitutes his index finger for his thumb and doesn't know the difference.  I love it!

I love having a seven-year-old boy.  Ruben looks like a jack-o-lantern these days with several missing teeth.  His dress-up du jour (you can tell I'm taking an on-line French class, can't you?) is Buzz Lightyear.  I know, his winter snowsuit and coat and gloves don't make him look a lick like Buzz Light Year, but in his mind it all does.  I love his imagination (and how sweaty he gets running around in his winter gear).  Since he's so into Buzz Light Year, he thinks he would like a Buzz Lightyear birthday party.  I offered to dress up as Buzz for the party.  Ruben said, "No thanks, Mom.  I think that would make me nervous."   (Uh oh, Lightyear is underlined too.  Doesn't spellcheck know about Disney Pixar characters?  Woa!--woa and spellcheck and Pixar are also underlined!  I'd better quit while I'm ahead!)

 I love having a four-year-old boy who still has no problem getting in touch with his feminine side.  Marcos likes to pretend he's a "sister" by putting hair bows in his hair.  Next to having Carolina for a cousin, Marcos is the closest Lili can get for a sister.  Marcos gets quiet and docile when he's a sister.  We're going to have him pretend to be a sister during the upcoming Primary Program.

 I love having a baby!  This sweet little fellow makes my day every day with his happy smile.  He is so good.  Last night while I was at the General Relief Society Meeting, he stayed home with Edgar and did great.  Then he slept through the whole night for me.  By the way, the General Relief Society Meeting was excellent!

I love these five little monkeys!
P.S:  In your opinion, is turquoise considered a fall (as in autumn) color?  I'm just wondering.

Our Trip to Nauvoo

I took way too many pictures on our trip to Nauvoo.  If you don't believe me, ask my parents.  At one point my mom said, "You know, Olivia, you don't need a picture of every site."  I knew, but I was trying to take a bit of that wonderful Nauvoo feeling home with me.  Every place was so spiritual and beautiful.  My plethora of photos started even before we reached Nauvoo though.  It was the first time we'd driven over the Rocky Mountains.  They were gorgeous.  The leaves were starting to change color, and it rained for two days straight as we drove through Colorado and Kansas and Missouri.  It felt good to us thirsty Nevadans to get drenched.

These weren't necessarily the most beautiful trees we saw, but we were stopped anyway, and decided to take a picture.  Somebody had to go to the bathroom or Omar had to eat or my conscientious Edgar felt he ought to check the tire pressure.  Needless to say, it was NOT a non-stop drive.  We stopped an awful lot.

 

 

 In Golden, Colorado (near Denver), we went to a Railroad Museum that we'd been planning on visiting for months.  My boys all love trains.  The day we went to the museum it was pouring rain.  The museum is 15 acres large and almost all outside.  The museum staff was so kind.  They gave us a rain check so that we can return and see the museum for free when it's not raining.  I'm not sure when we'll be back there, but it was a great gesture.  We bought all the kids hats and took some nice pictures anyway. 

In Independence, Missouri, we went to the LDS Visitors' Center.  It was a lovely place.  We went on a little tour with a nice sister missionary.  My youngest boys were very restless and had a hard time paying attention, but at the end, when we approached the Christus statue, they sensed something.  Ammon came and sat on my lap and Marcos settled down and snuggled into me as we listened to some of the words of the Savior from the New Testament.  "Come unto me, all ye who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest."  I got teary for the first (but definitely not the last) time.  It was very spiritual and even my littlest children felt something of the love of the Lord.

With our frequent stops and slow travel, it took awhile.  We stopped at Liberty Jail and Adam-Ondi-Ahman.  Finally, we arrived in Nauvoo and had these wonderful folks waiting for us outside their house:

Could there be a more welcome sight?  It was actually dark the night we got there--this picture was taken the next night before Elder and Sister Dahl's performance in Rendezvous.  Please note the hose.  They seem to be a great rarity in the mid-west.  I guess you can either have rain or hoses.  In Nevada we have hoses.

 

Here are the performers in action:

They were so great!  We were right on the front row, cheering them on.

Afterwards, they practiced a part for us that they are preparing to do later.  Let me tell you, these parents of mine have talent!

After the show, we felt like celebrities.  So many wonderful senior missionaries, missing their own grandchildren, doted on my kids.  They let them try on their fancy hats and told them they were cute.

Here are some other shots from beautiful Nauvoo:

Lili took this picture of Edgar and me in front of the Nauvoo temple.  I think it looks a little like an engagement shot.

This was in an ox wagon.  I was snapping my finger so that Ammon would look at the camera.

Elder Dahl, narrated a carriage ride.  I loved it.  He did such a good job.

Sister Dahl narrated the wagon ride we went on and Elder Dahl drove.  They were wonderful, and I just loved seeing them in action!

Here we were at Carthage Jail. It was a sobering place, but the Church has made it (and all of their sites) so beautiful with gorgeous and well-cared for flowers everywhere.

Sister Dahl gave us a tour of the Log School House in Nauvoo.  We loved it.

Sister Dahl also made these darling hats for each of the kids.  They loved the hats and insisted on wearing them all the time.  Even little Omar got one.

On our tour of the Cultural Hall, Sister Jardine had us dance on the dance floor because it is the original floor from the good old days when the city of Nauvoo was in full swing.  Edgar was very hesitant to dance and he wouldn't have done it just for me, but the outside pressure from Sister Jardine and my mom was too much for my Eddie.

Elder Dahl in the Browning Gun Shop with the Cobian children.

This picture was taken in the Seventies' Hall.  This is where missionaries were trained.  With our current missionaries and all our future missionaries, we thought we'd better take a photo.

 

This picture is at the Winter Quarters Visitors' Center.  The kids got to dress up as pioneers and pull a hand cart.

 

Near Cheyenne, Wyoming, we took these pictures on our way home at a bison ranch.  We were too late in the day to take a train ride to see the buffalo, but we did get a shot with this fellow.  Our kids are so different.  Ruben had no desire to "ride" the buffalo, and Ammon wouldn't even get close enough to the buffalo to be in the picture, but Marcos couldn't wait to get up there!

Lili rode the jack-o-lope.

Though we didn't see any live buffalo, we saw a lot of other animals.  This camel was overly friendly, and kept trying to put its head near mine.  I was a little nervous because there was a sign that said, "Camels can bite and spit."

  We enjoyed Nauvoo so much that I think everyone should visit there.  If you act quickly, and go within this next year, you'll get to see these wonderful missionaries there:

THE COBIANS, or in other words, NACHO BITES

Usually, this is what you see atop our piano:

 

Last weekend when (one of) my clever brother(s), Ammon, and his family stayed with us, this is what we found atop the piano:

 

I never knew our name could do that.

This post will have more pictures than you ever wanted to see.  Last week our computer had crashed and I did not blog.  Labor Day weekend was very big for us.  It was our county fair.  It was also Omar's blessing in church.  Tabor and Ammon and their dear families came for fair, but I think mostly for blessing (I think it's fun to omit articles).  Actually, Ammon's family didn't make it to the fair at all--as you can see, they are missing in this picture of a lot of us watching the fair parade on the sidewalk by Capriola's in Elko:

Poor Ruby was traumatized (as were many of the children) by a float promoting a scary haunted house.  As the scary people came by giving flyers and candy, my son Ammon also cried.  I told them they were scaring children.  They didn't care.  I think that's what they wanted to do.

 Ruben could not have been happier with his white ribbon that he won for his Lego race car.  He got a red ribbon on his race car drawing and he had a blue ribbon from last year.  Now, when we sing "You're a Grand Old Flag" as part of our school, he collects his red, white, and blue ribbons and marches around.  Patriotic little fellow. 

 I was really glad Lili got a blue ribbon on her snickerdoodles this year.  Last year she made delicious peanut butter cookies and got a white ribbon.  We love white ribbons (see above), but what bothered me was that all of the peanut butter cookies were there--the judges hadn't even tasted them.  I didn't notice this year if they had tasted them or not.  We had the blue ribbon; I was content.

 

On Sunday (September 2) was little Omar's blessing.  He looked adorable in his little blessing suit.

 He wore booties that his Grandma Dahl gave me before she became Sister Dahl, full-time missionary.  He also used the beautiful white afghan that his Grandma Dahl made for Lili when she was blessed.  All of our children have used it on their blessing days.

Have you ever seen such a cute baby?

 Here are all The Cobians (Nacho Bites) before church:

 

And here's brother Ammon's family before church.  They're a good-looking group.

 Three of Edgar's siblings and their families and his mom all came to Sacrament Meeting to see Omar blessed.  When I saw them come in, I started crying.  Their love and support, and the love and support of my side of the family, really touched me.  Of course then I felt silly and didn't want them to see me cry.  Here is Abuelita with Omarcito:

 

This couple needs to have more children (they only have six):

Robert & Marianne with Azure and Omar

 Of course, if they have more of their own, they won't be quite as available to help out with everybody else's.

Cousins

More cousins--and there are many more not pictured.  What a blessing for our kids to have so many cousins on both sides of the family!

An after-dinner shot.

An after-dinner nap.

An after-dinner braid.  I thought it was so cute how Hyrum was braiding Carolina's hair.

THE OLIVIAS--My niece Olivia is fortunately much more attractive than I.

THE AMMONS--Both are very attractive and this time we didn't let Ammon the Younger know we were taking the picture.  I think this is the first Ammon shot in which Ammon the Younger is not crying.

THE MISCELLANEOUS-NO-WE-WILL-NOT-SMILE-FOR-THE-CAMERA GROUP--Edgar aspires to join this one.

And now, as if we haven't seen enough, we fast-forward to today.  It is Marcos's fourth birthday and it has been a delight.  His Sunbeam teacher brought cupcakes and he got a chocolate bar from the Primary.  He is so exuberant, that giving him a gift is a great pleasure.

All the Cobian children this morning in their PJs

See what I mean?  He's so tickled.

This is what Elder & Sister Dahl gave him.

Ruben made Marcos a cardboard sword.  Later Ruben said Marcos did NOT deserve the sword because Marcos was not letting Ruben play with his new toys.

Lili made a lovely sunset scene for Marcos out of construction paper.

 Marcos wanted a birthday cake that was featured in the Friend for President Monson's birthday.  I was relieved because earlier he had wanted a Thomas the Train cake.  I've only been a mother of boys for about eight years, but I've already made enough Thomas the Train cakes to last a lifetime.

Inside the cake is colored layers.  Pink is still our four-year-old boy's favorite color.

Forgive me for all the pictures.  They are mostly here for the Davises and for Elder & Sister Dahl who weren't here for the blessing--and for fair.  Next Sunday we will be in Nauvoo with Elder & Sister Dahl.  We will not be blogging.  I can't wait to see my Mama and Daddy!