The Adams Family...snap, snap...

Snowman Potty Training Tips, Anyone?

2012-01-22T17:14:00.009-06:00

A few nights ago I was folding clothes when I looked over and saw the most attractive thing: my husband showing Hyrum how to cut out a "Christmas" tree. I love those moments when David has no idea that I am watching him. I truly am so blessed to have such an involved husband in both my life and my childrens. So today he took the kids outside to let them play. Sure enough, it wasn't long before he was playing too!

Their masterpiece: a baby snowman, obviously, seeing as how he has peed all over his self!

Ok, maybe he had a little help from our neighbors dog, Buddy.

I see London, I see France....

2012-01-21T14:41:00.003-06:00

I see London, I see France

I see Hyrum's underpants!

3 Brothers and a few wives :)

2012-01-16T23:25:00.002-06:00

I'm pretty sure tonight was the first time David and his brothers went on a group date with their wives. We went to a Thai restaurant in Orem. This was David and I first time eating Thai food and it was so yummy! Well, David had a hard time wrapping his mind around all the different textures and tastes but I loved it!

Afterwards we made a stop for hot chocolate at "The Chocolate." Well, there is no way I am going into a shop called "The Chocolate" and only getting something to drink. Their cupcakes are divine!

Helen watched the boys tonight while we had our date. I am so grateful for her love for the boys. Hyrum was so cute when we came to pick them up. He said (pointing to Grandma), "My best friend!" They played wheel barrels tonight and they were on a team together. Apparently that made them best friends. Super cute!

We made it!

2012-01-14T23:12:00.007-06:00

We left Oklahoma on New Years Day and made it to our destination on the following Thursday. We could have made it a lot sooner but after the hard few weeks leading up to the move, plus having the funds to do so, we decided to take our time and really enjoy ourselves. I loved watching the differences of cultures in each state we went through (especially New Mexico) and change of scenery (Utah would be my favorite).

Despite my constant threats of throwing Nico over the Rocky Mountains, he did make it safe and sound to Utah.

We stayed in Moab, Utah Wednesday night. The next morning while I slept in David took Brigham and Hyrum on a few dirt roads that lead to these beautiful pictures.

I wasn't there but I love this picture of Brigham being a big boy and climbing the rocks all by himself. To the left of the picture is a frozen stream that they walked over.

Often people will makes comments about the trip and sound as if I should be a wreck but honestly, leading up to the move was so stressful that the trip out here was really a vacation for me. I enjoyed it very much.

Before I left, I was able to spend time with old friends. April and Spring got a small group together for me for a farewell lunch (they know I don't do well with large crowds), ward family stopped by to say their goodbyes, neighbors came over to help and the list goes on. I was very blessed. But my favorite had to be with this girl....

This is Laura Ogden Snow. She was my best friend from 4th grade till our senior year in high school. Sure we had our typical friend fights but through it all we always found our way back to each other. I could always be my very silliest around her. I still can't believe that for as close as we were, that this picture captured the first time we saw each other in 15 years! We haven't seen each other since we graduated from high school! Soon after high school she moved to California and I was always gone for college or living in some other state when she would come home to visit family.

When she came to our house in Grove, just before we moved, I couldn't stop hugging her. I took her back to my room so we could just talk and honestly I just wanted her all to myself. I hadn't realized just how much I missed her until that moment she walked through that door.

Go figure, she and her family are moving back to Oklahoma this coming summer but that is ok. I am just so grateful I got to be young again as I talked with her that day. I will always love you, Laura!

Loading up and heading out West!

2012-01-02T23:00:00.014-06:00

I wish I could say that the process in getting us out to Utah was easy but I can say that it ended with an amazing amount of love felt in so many directions. All the tears and worries of actually getting everything packed up, cleaned, and goodbyes turned out to be in vain as everything happened on time as it should be.

This picture was taken a few days before we left. April came over with Dad and her nieces and nephew to help us pack. The Whitney family may be blood related to April's family but there have been on more than one occasion as my boys have called the Whitney children THEIR cousins. So, it was so sweet that they helped us move......and wrote us messages on our boxes!

This morning started off shaky as I became more and more overwhelmed with wondering if I would actually get everything cleaned up and ready. My father came over early to help us, before everyone else got there, and I knew immediately that I would need a father's blessing. My father has faith in me and loves me so much. I honestly have a hard time understanding how our Father in Heaven could love me more. So, I am so very grateful that Heavenly Father placed me in the family that He did to show me how much He truly does love all His children.

Strong men and children got the work done!

I love how children just want to help. They loved helping us move everything and even cleaned walls afterwards.

Grape time.....I mean, break time!

Oh Cheyanne, how I love you! I served in the Young Women while in the Grove Ward and I can honestly tell you something about each of the girls that I love so much (and that is including the leaders!). I love that Cheyanne has such a playful spirit. she is always "picking" on me and today was no different. She wrote on my face with PERMANENT marker! And I was fool enough to take a picture with her after she had already marked me. I thought we were just "showing" in the picture what she had done to me previously but NO! She actually wrote on me again! It is a good thing that I don't care about how I look because I really thought it was such a fun way to say goodbye to my stinker of a friend!

Our strong men!

I am seriously so grateful for the church and its teachings of service. These men really stepped up to get this truck loaded up quickly.

And 2 beautiful pictures to end on. I can remember when Uncle Chuck would do anything to not be in our pictures. What a handsome man.

And I you.........

Happy Birthday, Baby Cakes!

2011-12-26T11:56:00.003-06:00

David's birthday isn't until the 29th but I took the opportunity to surprise him the instant I found out about him wanting to go paint balling one last time before we leave. I encouraged him to call some friends and from there got together a cake and supplies for the guys after their game.

Brent, Elton, Ronald, David, Nick, and Aaron.

Happy Birthday, Baby Cakes!

Christmas Eve 2011

2011-12-24T20:12:00.007-06:00

We slept in this morning (some of us), cleaned house, took naps (some of us), and then headed off to Mom and Dad's house for some gingerbread and cookie decorating.

After that I pulled the kids aside and read to them a book called "A Candle In The Window" to help them get in the spirit of Christmas and not just the presents.

Just before our traditional "hamburgers on the grill" Ronald put in the movie, "To This End Was I Born." If something will stick with me for the rest of my life about tonight, it will be this movie and Levi. There is a scene in this movie of the soldiers putting the crown of thorns on Jesus' head. I was watching Levi at this moment because he is so tender hearted and I wasn't sure how he would take it. Sure enough, at this part he grabbed the top of his head. I continued to watch him as the soldiers, in the movie, whipped Jesus. Levi started crying and so I asked him quietly if he wanted to leave. He did and so he and I (and baby Layne) went into the kitchen to talk. He looked as if he was going to cry again at any moment as I asked him if something was wrong. He wouldn't answer me so I asked him if he was sad because of what had happened to Jesus. He immediately started crying. I hugged him and we had a talk about how much our Father in Heaven loves us and what He allowed Jesus to do. It was a sweet and tender reminder that I hope to never forget.

Lots of fun was had as Poppy handed out the presents......while April and Ronald put them back under the tree! Awwww traditions....what would we do without them?

I am truly so grateful that I have an Eternal Father who loves me so much that He let his son come to this Earth to eventually save me. I am so grateful that Father in Heaven loves me so much that He put me in a family with the background of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I am grateful for family units and that He guided me to David to help raise these 3 boys of ours. I am grateful.

Happy 9th Birthday, Levi!

2011-12-20T20:23:00.002-06:00

Levi had his birthday party at Country Lanes here in Grove. With my coupons, we ate very cheap and bowled for free. Elton was the "coach" as he reminded the kids how to play.

With the help of this alligator thing (to guide the ball to the pins) and the lane bumpers, the youngest kids did the best. Hyrum even made a few strikes!

I loved Levi's reactions to his presents. He said often, "That's rockin' awesome!" My Levi loves to put things together and loves to read. His gifts seem to fit him perfectly this year!

April is so good to me to let me have as much Layne time as I want since we are moving soon. I just can't get enough of her....and my sister!

Happy birthday baby boy! Once again, another year passes and I can't believe you are still such a good boy. You continue to amaze me with your love for younger children and your kindness to others. And you are still in love with your mother! I am so blessed!!!

First Love

2011-12-20T15:26:00.006-06:00

Hyrum is a lot like Levi when it comes to friends. He seems to have more "girl" friends than he does "boy" friends at this age. Now that Levi is older his friends are boys but it doesn't seem like it was too long ago that all we heard were about little girls at school. So, I'm sure Hyrum will grown out of this but I don't want to forget just how cute him and Natalie are. Natalie is his first friend that he has consistently talked about. It is Natalie this and Natalie that if he is ever talking about Head Start. I love coming into his class room each day to hear a new story from one of his teachers about something Natalie and Hyrum have done that day together. He is at that stage where they don't get that you can have more than one friend and so he is heartbroken when ever Natalie plays with someone else.
My favorite Natalie and Hyrum story involves the first picture. I came into the classroom to pick Hyrum up one day when Mrs. Julie tells me that she had the children draw pictures of their families. They do this quite often so I have seen my fair share of Hyrum's artwork of our family but this time is was very different. All he had drawn was a picture of just him and Natalie! Mrs. Julie told me that if they were 16 she would be worried!

Talent Show

2011-12-15T19:29:00.003-06:00

Last night was our ward Christmas party and talent show. The boys wanted to be in it and I knew that there would be a lot of singing talent going on so I thought, why not make it funny!?!
Walgreens sold a microphone this year called a "Merry Okee." It takes your voice and makes it sound like an elf (or chipmunk). The kids wanted it the first time they saw it so I was sold that this would be their talent. However, Levi informed me that he had already signed up to dance......um, have you ever seen an Adams boy dance? Yeah, well......I think it is adorable but once again, my Levi has all the confidence in the world and thinks he is good at it. So, here are my little elves!

They say it happens in threes

2011-12-14T01:05:00.005-06:00

They say a lot of things happen in threes.

We are the third family moving out West out of our little ward in a months time.

David got a job with Big D again and we will be starting a new chapter in our lives in a few weeks.

Getting ready for our future...back to Utah!

2011-11-28T22:08:00.007-06:00

Rose and I put together a going away party for the Wilson family and tonight was the night we tricked them all! Well, kind of......they started to figure out something was going on towards the end. Two weeks ago Tricia and I had a girls night out (with a few husbands) for Amanda the night before she left. Rose and I knew that we couldn't get away with doing the same thing and making it a surprise so we tricked her! Rose told Tricia that we weren't even going to try and surprise her and asked for a good day for a bunch of us girls to get together. So, we told everyone about the supposed "girls night out" and to just play along. Instead, we all showed up (whole families this time!) at the Wilson home for a big Family Home Evening! We had over 50 people show up tonight!

Rose did a wonderful job with putting together the FHE lesson on what seems to be dearest to the Wilson family's hearts; service and missionary work. I haven't seen so many people cry in one setting in my life.....well, maybe other than a funeral! Tonight was proof to the Wilson family just how loved and missed they will be.

This picture touches my heart more than anything. Last week, the boys had a play date over at the Wilson home. As I was taking them home that day, Brigham started crying about how he wanted to move back to Utah and how much he was going to miss the Wilsons. This lead to Levi crying and them telling me how much they miss Grandma Adams and how we could live next to the Wilsons if Daddy could find a job in Utah. It seriously broke my heart but I thought for sure it was because they had stayed up late the night before and were just emotional. But for the next few days they would not leave David alone about finding a job in Utah. So fast forward to tonight. Towards the end of our FHE, I look down at Brigham and he is just crying and crying and crying. He tried to hide it and I felt so bad for him....then I realized that Preston was crying just as hard. I'm not sure if I will ever be able to look at this picture and not be able to feel just a twinge bit of sadness.

I love my Anna so much......and so does Tricia! Tricia wasn't here for too long before Anna moved away but as you can see, they are very close. But that just tells you the effect that this family has on people.

Our high councilman came all the way from Arkansas to see the Wilson family off.

Just wanted to share something that Rose told me tonight.

Rose Bass has become a surragate Grandmother to the Wilson kids and a best friend to Tricia. If you see a Wilson, there is a good chance that Rose is with one of them. That is how close they all are to her. Tonight, one of the Wilsons gave Levi a stack of Christmas photo cards to hand out to everyone. I guess he kept passing Rose. She already had been given one before the party but wanted to tease Levi and said, "Hey, why aren't you giving me one?" He replied very honestly, "But, you are a Wilson..."

This is why I love the Wilson Family!

Thankful

2011-11-24T21:09:00.003-06:00

I am thankful for:

A husband and sister who knows me so well

Sons who love their Momma

Families that stick together

Grandparents that are so involved in my children's lives

Dad's back rubs

Nanny/Poppy nights

Mommy friends that are examples to me to be a more patient Mother

Old friends that remind me that it is ok to be silly

Laughter

Thunderstorms, snow, and wind

Happy hour at Sonic

David's touch

Random cookies or anything homemade delivered

My children's love for Family Home Evening

Those cries that come from heartfelt testimonies

A clean house

The Beck women hackle

When pictures capture perfect moments

Good bye, my friend....

2011-11-15T21:51:00.005-06:00

Tricia and I put together a going away party for Amanda Bishop and tonight was the night to celebrate.....instead of crying since I had already done my fair share of that since knowing that both her AND Tricia were leaving. I love them so much and they both have been the stay at home mommies that I needed to help me put things into perspective as I struggled to be true to what Father in heaven wants of me. I know this, but it still surprised me how sad I was of their leaving. See, David and I have been married for 9 years and out of those 9 years we have moved.........9 times! I am not used to being the one left behind plus these girls were there for me at such a critical place in my life as I was getting things back in order. I will miss them so much. But as streams of tears run down my face, I truly am so happy for them and the future that is in store for them and their families.

There were 21 of us tonight to see Mrs. Amanda off. I hope she knows just how much our branch/ward loves her and how much she will be missed.

THIS is why I love my girls!

And since a few generations of women were here tonight, we got this group picture. Can I just brag on my sister, April for a minute. I was already holding Layne when we started with these pictures but instead of her holding her own baby, she knows how self conscience I am and did her typical April thing; thought of me before herself.

Can you tell that I feel extremely blessed tonight?

New Do, New You

2011-11-15T14:34:00.005-06:00

I think I might be ready to start taking better care of myself. My poor body has went through so much in the last 5 years, physically and emotionally. Something that can seem so simple with chemical imbalances in one's brain chemistry is anything but that to someone who actually deals with it. Yet, life through this time has taught me so much. I feel past posts have shown that and I am grateful for that today. After working so hard to build my spiritual body back up I would like to continue to move forward. Who knows what tomorrow will bring but I hope to take a little more time for my physical body starting today.

Spring Houck is my hair gal and she is amazing. Look what she did!

So I went to the Lower Elementary after my hair cut and color (and yes, shockingly, I added makeup!) to bring something up to Brigham. I walked past Brynlee Wilson's class and quickly went in her room to give her a hug. She got the biggest smile on her face and said, "I love your hair! You look so good!" I walk on into Brigham's class and he just looks at me dumbfounded! It was hilarious! His face was priceless. He never said anything about my new look but it was more than apparent on his face. I picked up Hyrum from school and he said, "You got your hair cut?" I asked him what else looked different about me and he said, "Somefing on your eye!" Later he asked me if I had painted my hair......he is so cute!

But what was most important to me was to see the surprise on my husbands face. I didn't tell him I was doing this. My husband has went to hell and back for me trying to find me again (and I am not using that lightly) and lately he has been so busy with providing for us so we can get into a house that I really wanted him to know how much I appreciate his hard work and for never giving up on me. You know that look on your husband's face when all he see's is beauty? That happened today and I was grateful I could do that for him.

Christmas Open House

2011-11-11T12:38:00.010-06:00

Today was the first day of the annual Christmas Open House in Grove, OK. Grove has lots of cute little shops and every year they do an open house to boost business. Each shop has sales and treats. I was especially looking forward to it this year since 2 of my dearest friends are moving within a month of each other. They needed breaks from packing and I needed time with them before they leave me :(

This was at the first shop that we went to. Rose and I went in the back room to try their goodies. They had this slushy like drink that we wanted to try. She took a drink which led to a sour look on her face. I tried it and indeed it was sour. I really thought it tasted like apricots and so I asked one of the workers there what was in it. She proceeds to tell us that it has this and that and...... champagne in it! Rose and I just start busting up laughing! We giggled and giggled like it was the funniest thing ever and they probably thought we were the biggest weirdos but to 2 Mormons who never drink alcohol, it was pretty amusing!

This was taken in the last shop we went to. During one of our earlier visits to another shop, Amanda ran into a friend who asked Amanda if Tricia was her mother! I think Tricia might be 5 years older than Amanda so it was quite the insult! But it made for lots of "Granny" jokes for the rest of the day!

Rose's last name is Bass so we had lots of fun in this store!

Today was everything that I needed with these girls. Rose and I are really going to miss these girls......

Meet Layne Allizabeth

2011-11-09T08:38:00.005-06:00

Yesterday my newest niece was born in Tahleqhah, OK. Take one look at this picture and you know she was a whopper!

10 POUNDS AND 10 OUNCES!

No wonder everyone stopping April on the street (while pregnant) kept asking her if she was having twins!

When I went in to see Layne Allizabeth she was smacking her lips and moving her tongue all around.....that girl was already thinking about food!

It was a long wait for our little ones and they had to get creative :)

Brigham was so cute last night. He was being so patient and good and when we went to leave he started crying because they wouldn't let him or his brothers in to see Layne (because he was too young and not a sibling to Layne). Sometimes softness shows through that very ALL BOY heart of Brigham's and it melts mine.

Championships Baby!

2011-10-31T23:22:00.003-05:00

Levi has been playing soccer for the last few years through YMCA. I love playing through YMCA because up until this year, they really didn't keep track of scores and everyone sits together, cheering everyone on. This year scores were kept and I was surprised to find out last week that Levi's team was going to the championship game. It was kinda irritating that it was on Halloween night but since we had already been trick-or-treating on Saturday, I guess it was ok to skip out. Boy, am I glad that we did. They won and Levi couldn't have been more proud! Every year, every person who participates in soccer gets a trophy (and they are all the same) but Levi's team got a different set of trophies than any other team......1st PLACE!

Just a funny story.

Levi doesn't get most social situations. He can be pretty clueless at times when someone doesn't want to play with him or what to not say to people.....you know, the things that most of us get. So, I wasn't surprised at all when Amanda Bishop told me this story last week. It still makes me laugh!

She was taking Levi and Brigham home from school when she over hears Levi say, "I was the best player on my soccer team last year." Brigham replies with, "Hey! I was on your team last year!" Levi very honestly says, "I know."

Now you just have to know Levi. He doesn't have a cocky bone in his body. He just states facts. He is very confident. He often tells me how he is the smartest kid in his class. He just doesn't get that there are some things that you should keep to yourself. It cracks me up how clueless he is at times!

And just so you know, he was definitely not the best player on his team last year......though, I might just have to agree with him on him being one of the smartest in his class........

Officially a Redneck!

2011-10-30T23:15:00.009-05:00

Ok, this is going to be the grosses post ever so if you are squeamish, I would leave this page right now!

I warned you....

We have a friend who is not from around here who feels that he/she needs to experience everything Okie. Now, I will be the first to tell you that I have seen my fair share of odd things around here but I have yet to have met anyone growing up (or now as an an adult living in Oklahoma again) that has actually eaten opossum or squirrel or armadillo or whatever. As you can see, I am not naming any names because this individual wants to remain anonymous......and now that I think about it, maybe I do know people who have eaten these odd creatures but just doesn't want anyone to know. Can you blame them?

Ok, so we have animals getting in our garbage quite often and so when we found out about our friend's obsession, David offered to catch one for her/him. Luckily, this person is a hunter because there was no way we were dissecting this thing!

I have to admit that I found it a little odd looking at this thing on the grill knowing that a few days ago I had fed him some bread because David couldn't get to the critter in time (he has been very busy lately) and I didn't want him to starve to death.....

I won't be kissing this mouth for a while!

Now, the grossest part about this all is listening to this individual talk about the fleas he/she found on this nasty animal when field dressing it. I guess it was pretty stinky and covered in fat. If you are still reading this, are you puking yet? It gets better. As I am imagining this, I hear Brigham say, "Possum is good. I want more!"

And just so you know, apparently opossum tastes like Dove.

Trick or Treat

2011-10-29T21:48:00.005-05:00

The city of Grove had its residents celebrate Halloween tonight instead of Monday. I'm not sure why, but it makes my kids happy since they will celebrate the holiday on Monday also in Jay. This will be our first year getting to go and see family members on Halloween.....DOUBLE THE CANDY! Of course that's not counting all the corn maze, carnival, and parties that the boys participated in on Friday that brought home even more candy.

This year 40 of us met together at our house to have pizza before heading out to go trick-or-treating. Our family really has been blessed with great friends and neighbors to get to do stuff like this together every so often.

This was my favorite costume of the night. Brynlee was "White Trash." This toilet was in front of our neighbors house with dried ice smoke coming out of it. Brynlee very reluctantly posed for this picture. I asked her to lean on the toilet and she said, "GROSS!" Maybe she isn't cut out to be an Okie just yet :)

Oh yeah,

2011-10-24T15:46:00.002-05:00

Oh yeah....and we made Levi's first diorama. He was SUPER excited and would not leave me alone about making this. I kept telling him that I wanted to wait until fall break to do it with him. The night before fall break he asked me if he could wake me up early to start on it!

My favorite part of this is that he added a little Utah/Idaho to it!

Fall Break

2011-10-22T19:42:00.011-05:00

Well, fall break certainly wasn't a "break" for Mom but it was for the kids and school. Honestly, it was fun for me to be so active with them this past Wednesday and on. I took more naps than I am used to (because Hyrum always wants to sleep with someone.....not that I'm complaining!) but other than that, we seemed to be going, going, going.

On Wednesday we went with the Bishops to "attack" Elder Tabau's front door. He has served for 2 years for our Lord and is going home, to the Gilbert Islands. We don't often get missionaries that leave our area to go home.....and a home so far away and so different from our part of the world. We themed it "Oklahoma vs. Gilbert Islands" and printed off pictures of things that are on his Islands and things that are somewhat similar to us here. My favorite was, "You have geckos and we have the Geico Gecko......but I'm pretty sure yours doesn't sell car insurance!"

Then we had to horrible experience of getting the kids their flu shots at the ECC. Every year the school here gives them free to the kids. Levi is 8 years old and he completely scared poor Amanda's younger kids. We had to have 2 people hold Levi down and honestly, we could have used another body!

After hearing the boys fight all day on Thursday, Mommy was very happy to go to a Relief Society event that night. It was our annual service auction. I left with 3 loaves of bread and a quilt for a........GIRL!!!!! Yes, I fought hard for the girl quilt even though Tricia and Amanda kept making it clear that I didn't have any girls. I will say it again, "HELLO! I'm a girl!"

Friday seemed to go a little bit better with the bickering as there was less Wii playing and more imagination being used around our house instead. That night we went to Grandma and Grandpa's for a weenie roast.

But before long, my boy's imagination had gone and I was hearing, "Mom! Levi's hot dog is touching mine!"

Earlier I had bought the boys some glow in the dark (small) swords. I was excited for them to use them in Grandma and Grandpa's large yard......it wasn't long before Levi ran into a tree though......

Saturday was a Cub Scout event on Monkey Island. Here we are in one of those pedal boats.

I think this may have been Hyrum's first time riding a horse. The guy next to Hyrum is a pastor at one of the local "Cowboy Churches" around here. It was so odd for me to listen (at one point where we all sat down) for this man in chaps to preach to us. I'm not used to hearing, "Can I get an 'Amen'?" but it was COOL! It really was. I was glad that I was able to expose Brigham and Hyrum to another way of worshiping God.

This man was so good with Hyrum. He followed him around throughout the day just to help him. It was really sweet.

These last few days have been nice but I have to admit I am excited for tomorrow just to have church and that's it!

Randomness

2011-10-13T20:55:00.006-05:00

Things are always crazy when school starts. There are so many activities to be at and involved in plus I have been "subbing" for the flower shop and the day care my sister works for (TLC). I feel my poor house has been neglected. What is bad, though, is when you start neglecting your family because your home doesn't feel like home anymore. So, I am trying to say no a little bit more and focusing on more important things.......like these sweet boys.

Tonight was a soccer game for Levi and Hyrum. I think it was the first game this season that I really enjoyed. I guess I just felt more relaxed tonight. Here is Brigham and Elton not paying any attention to the games but having fun while doing it!

You know how cats are and how they love getting into things...he is no different...well, actually he is. He has started this thing where he walks up to me and puts his wet nose on my legs......IT DRIVES ME NUTS! I told my mom, though, that I guess I deserved it for all those times that her dogs did that to me and how much I complained and got so irritated. I guess I deserve this dog-cat.

The school is always raising money, it seems. This was a new one. The teachers went to McDonald's one night and helped the staff there. Some of the proceeds from that night were donated to the schools. Here Mrs. Glasgow is waiting on Levi.

Just a bunch of randomness but I wanted to document it so I can remember to calm things down a bit. Sit back and enjoy this time in my life. Let the Lord guide me more than I have let Him in these past few months.

Ward Halloween/Corn Maze Party

2011-10-09T10:56:00.006-05:00

The ward had our annual Halloween party at the Right Choices Corn Maze. This year it didn't rain on us so we got to participate in a lot of activities. I didn't get most of them on camera but the new edition of the blown up bouncy thing (kind of like a bounce house only you are jumping up and down on a very large air filled plastic thing without walls) was a huge hit. It was sooooo cute to watch Bitty try to bounce on it. He got bounced around everywhere!

This year Brigham wanted to be Mario. Soon Levi followed with wanting to be Toad and so while I was trying to find Toad online Hyrum got all excited about being Luigi. I WAS THRILLED! I sooooo miss not being able to dress them up alike for Halloween and so it was PERFECT for me that they wanted to be in a theme. Can you tell what their favorite Wii game is right now?!

April's little ones did a cowboy/cowgirl theme.....I love little Elton's face in this one!

Here is the majority of our group. The corn maze is always very full of people and every year we come and have a cookout before entering the corn maze area where the activities are. Every year, we cause quite the stir because we are the only ones dressed up! It is so fun to hear random, "Oh my gosh, there's Luigi!" and "Look at that mushroom on that kid's head!"

This was our little group that headed off in the corn maze.

This was the best part of the night. We were all kind of worried for April. She is so close to her due date and the maze was quite long. At one point we came across this boy who worked in the maze. April starts working it on how she is pregnant and needs to know which way to go to get out of there and he makes some comment about how it was her choice to go in the corn maze. Well, that is all it took for us to start teasing this guy. We ended up running into him a few times in the maze and by the time we left, we made sure that he knew if April ended up going into labor while in this maze that the baby was being named after him. This baby was going to be named Steven whether a boy or girl! He was a fun kid.

How do you title something like this?

2011-10-06T22:26:00.006-05:00

I was tempted to copy some of my friend's blogs and their "Wordless Wednesday" and just put these pictures on here with no explanation and see what kind of responses I get.....

.....and as I try to explain these.....well, how in the world do you explain these.....I'm still scratching my head!

So, I go in to check on the boys before I head to bed and this is what I find. I guess it was a little warm in the boy's room, but I'm not quite so sure that I would have taken off my FULL BODY night outfit and put it in my underwear!

I immediately ran to get David and the camera. David laughs and says in his "Dude, where's my car"/teenage boy voice, "Dude, bet you can't fit it all in your pants?" as if this is the conversation that was going on with Brigham and his brothers as we hear their nightly giggles.

Oh my, the things you experience with having boys.....

2011-10-06T19:11:00.000-05:00

Just a group soccer picture......so cute!

Brigham + Fire Alarm = NOT GOOD!

2011-10-02T21:32:00.005-05:00

So, last week was a terrible one for me. It really was. It is at the end of Sunday now and I am truly grateful that this week ended with General Conference. Though we were busy most of the day on Saturday, we still recorded the sessions and I am grateful that we live in a day that we can do just that. I am looking forward to this coming week and just calming down. My breaking point was Thursday, so when I got the news that Brigham had pulled a fire alarm at school on Friday, I couldn't help but be grateful that it happened on this day and not the day before. On Friday, it was funny......on Thursday, it may have set me over the edge!

Ok, so I have a wonderful friend who takes Levi and Brigham home from school everyday. I pick up Hyrum at Head Start at 2:20 p.m. Levi and Brigham's school is right next to it so if I were to wait in line, I would be there for almost an hour. This is what we did all last year, except I would find myself making excuses to pass the time with shopping and getting a "happy hour" drink at Sonic. My booty and stomach are not so thankful for this routine......Bless you Amanda Bishop for helping some extra pounds disappear this year!

So, Amanda pulls up with the boys and I walk over to her car. She timidly asks me, "How are you today?" She knew that I had had a very bad day, the day before. I told her that this day was so relaxing as I had finally put things in the right perspective. She kind off looked relieved as she told me that she had to tell me something. She proceeded to tell me that Brigham's teacher walked him out to her car (This is not usual. They have people hired to bring the kids out to the parents). I knew right then that something bad had happened! Apparently, he and his class were walking to the cafeteria for lunch when some of his classmates told him to pull the alarm. As I am writing this, I am still laughing.....I can't believe that kid sometimes! I mean, seriously, what did he expect?! As she is telling me this I am picturing all these firetrucks at the lower elementary and wondering why no one called me. Luckily, he was escorted to the principles office right away where they were able to tell the alarm system people (that called to check up on the school) that it was just a student and all was well. Amanda said that Brigham's teacher said that he was in the principles office for a long time and was pretty sure that he would NEVER do it again. It was funny telling my grandma this story because she got all defensive about Brigham getting in trouble. Don't get me wrong, she immediately laughed when I told her what he did but when I got to the part of him getting in trouble, she didn't care for that at all......Grandma, I love how much you love my boys! I on the other hand called Principle Trumbull right away and thanked her for making sure that he knew that what he had done was serious. She had him do laps for recess along with the scolding, I'm sure, he got. At the end of our conversation she told me that she appreciated me supporting her. After I got off the phone, I thought of the hard job she must have. I bet she gets phone calls all the time of parents complaining. I am just grateful that we live in the Grove School District. I really love the school here.

I later told David and of course he smirked and said that part of him wanted to give him an "atta boy" for having the guts to do it........this is why we have MOTHERS! That is all I have to say! He, of course, did not tell Brigham this.

When I talked to Brigham, of course he told me that others had told him to do it but I immediately told him that it didn't matter. That all through life you are going to have people "telling" you what do. Ultimately, all that matters is the choices we make. I was proud of him however, when he stopped me at one point in our conversation and asked me if he would get one of his privileges taken away. I told him that I didn't know because I hadn't talked to Daddy yet. He told me that he had already thought about it and that we could take his Nanny/Poppy night away from him (which was that night). You have to understand how much my boys look forward to these nights. So to have him suggest that was very impressive. I couldn't take that away from him but I was proud that he even suggested it.

All in all, I guess it could have been worse. At least the firetrucks didn't show up. The kids did file outside, however, just like they have practiced in times past and I guess later the whole second grade had an impromptu assembly on the importance of our fire alarms and only using them on emergencies......

Camp Bandage

2011-09-28T13:58:00.006-05:00

I just started helping my friend at her flower shop every Wednesday but I only stayed for 3 hours today so I could watch what the boys get to do when camp bandage comes along. Every year our local EMT, Firefighters, and Police get together at the Civic Center and teach the children all about safety. If you were to ask most parents about it the first thing that would probably come to their head is how their children come home with broken body parts, stitches, and lots of blood....fake of course. Here is Levi getting his "gun shot" wound dressed from one of the volunteers at the VoTech that is training to be a nurse.

Levi, Austin, and their classmates working it for the camera!

I didn't get to be there for the whole thing but it last for about 4 hours as they go from station to station. They learn anything from boating safety to gun safety, to getting to watch one of their teachers getting "arrested" for a DUI while her passenger has to be rescued from their wrecked van and put into a rescue helicopter.

My favorite part was listening to these kids at the station where they got to pick what injuries they wanted. One kid talked about how he got his wound from falling off the Eiffel Tower. That was probably my favorite. Levi had a knife wound on his leg, 2 gun wounds, and some stitches. But my favorite part of today was seeing Levi with Austin. I worry about him not having friends at school and one of the first things Austin said to me when he found out who I was, was if Levi could spend the night. I never thought an invitation for a sleep over would be so comforting!

Fall Soccer

2011-09-20T21:03:00.006-05:00

Last Thursday was Levi and Hyrum's first soccer game of the season. It was extra special because it was Hyrum's first time playing. He has been so funny about it. Because he is so little and it is more about the fun, they don't really have practices. Levi, however, is old enough that practices come a few times a week so every time Levi would have a practice Hyrum would get super excited just to get sad when he found out he would not be playing. So at all the practices that I take Levi to, I have to take Hyrum and "practice" with him. Needless to say, he was thrilled when last Thursday finally rolled around.

Tricia is his coach and if that wasn't cool enough, Preston gets to be on his team! By the end of the night, I felt like we had a good amount of the ward watching the game (Wilson, Thatcher, Bishop, Beck, Bass, and Adams families). It was really fun, actually. The only problem was that Levi's game was during the same time. The good thing was, though that they were right next to each other.

Tonight was a game for Levi and I was so excited to have my camera this time (my battery was dead last week). But he really didn't get much playing time this week so I couldn't wait any longer to get my boys on the blog and had to resort to these 2 phone pictures. Here David is about to get ran over by Levi on the field!

These were the only pictures that turned out well tonight. Lately, I have been taking Preston and Brynlee a few days after school so they can have play dates. I love them both but I have to admit that I look forward more to the Brynlee play dates, probably because I finally get a girl in the house. She is just such a sweet heart and I truly do love her. She and Brigham are in the same grade and I love that he will actually play with her. Brigham is completely all about the boy stuff. Levi would play with a girl but Brigham has been a mans man since birth. So I was delighted when I over heard him say today (at our play date) to Brynlee that she should look for him at recess and that they would play. I caught them doing this while Levi was playing soccer tonight. Here they are trying to "attack" each others shadow.

Oh the imaginations of children!

Nico (a.k.a evil tiddy)

2011-09-16T10:19:00.012-05:00

This summer we got a kitten from the Roberts family. Not a surprise to a lot of people because I love cats but a surprise to some because David is allergic to them. We tried in Colorado to keep kittens (with the help of allergy medicine) only to have to get rid of the kittens because of David's allergies. We tried again in Utah (this time with a full grown cat) with allergy medicine again but this time we also took the cat to the groomers every few months to have this special treatment (dip) they put on his fur and used a special brush like thing to cut down on the shedding and amazingly it worked! Sam was such a beautiful long haired, blue eyed, Siamese cat. We were sad when we had to leave him behind when we moved to Oklahoma.

Then came Nico (pronounced Knee-co).....or evil tiddy (that is what Cason called him this summer when I was babysitting him) as I called him up until very recently. For someone who really likes cats, this cat sure annoyed me! Annoyed me so much that if it wasn't for David, I would have gotten rid of him a LONG time ago! He is not like any cat I have ever had! Most cats are known for their snobbishness of coming out only on their terms and loving on you only when they want to be pet. I can certainly see why so many people love dogs, I mean, they are so very friendly and want to please their humans all the time but for some reason they bug me. If I wanted another child following me around, well, I'd have another child! I know! Sounds horrible but dogs really do get on my nerves.......so I guess it serves me right that we got a DOG CAT!!!!! This cat always has to be in our presence, comes to the door when someone knocks at it, when visitors come and sit on our coach he immediately sits on their laps (yes, even strangers!), constantly meows (I feel like he is barking at me!), walks right in front of me when I walk around the house (you have no idea how many times I have stepped on this cat.....and yet he keeps doing it!). He is also not afraid of water like dogs. He tries to get in the shower with us (I mean, what cat likes water.....seriously!). One of his favorite spots to just sit is in the bathroom sink....no joke, if you turn the water on, on him, he will just sit there and look at you like, "What? You want me to move?" Ok, so all of this just might be endearing and all you dog lovers out there are probably saying, "Hey, I could actually have this type of a cat." But don't be fooled.....he really was eviiiiiillllllll! He would hide out between furniture or where ever he could and wait for you to walk by and then attack you! Remember, this thing had claws! You would see him being all sweet looking on the couch just laying there and think, "Aw....I want to pet him." But no! He would seem to be sleeping but the second you put your hand on him he would bite you! I'm telling you, he was evil! David found this all hilarious and made it even more fun for him to play with him. He loved that he would attack him back!

Ok, I guess I should say that in Nico's defence he did come from the Roberts home (with 5 crazy kids) and into our home of 3 very hyper boys.....yeah, Nico pretty much never had a chance.....

Here he is is having to be the center of attention. The boys and Daddy got out the Legos and immediately, Nico planted his body right in the middle of it all.

And since he annoys me......I annoy him! Hey, at least they were clean underwear!

Now, this is actually kinda cute. This is Levi's stuffed dog. He loves this dog but has pretty much given it up to Nico. For some reason Nico just loves this dog. He will carry it around in his mouth until he sees a human and then put it down in whatever room that human is in and just tares into it!

Ok, so about a month ago even the kids were begging us to get the cat declawed. I found some back alley vet to take care of his claws, shots, and neutered all for $65....that is a steal! Yeah, he is an old man that should have been retired years ago and his office was disgusting but once again, I didn't really care for the cat so off he was going! I kept telling people that just maybe the vet would "accidentally" put him to sleep.....forever!

Well, he came out of surgery perfectly and I would say "Darn the bad luck" but he actually has changed quite a bit. I have decided that having him neutered must have drastically changed his testosterone levels or something but he doesn't really attack us anymore. Seriously, this cat used to jump on your face in the middle of the night while you were sleeping! One time I was laying down with David watching TV and he jumped on my face and clawed me out of nowhere!

OH EVIL TIDDY........I am so glad you have left!

Downed Tree

2011-09-04T20:14:00.004-05:00

How many hours will a "downed tree" entertain children?

We are still counting!

After this picture was taken, city workers came and used a bucket lift to get to the top of the tree to saw some of the remaining branches before taking down the rest of the tree. By the time they were done, the kids had plenty of branches to move here and there to build their rooms in their imaginary castle.

Shaylee and Elton are spending the night with us tonight and with the added neighbor kids, it was quite the party! Here is Casson (the boy that I babysat this summer) and Levi in one of the many rooms they put together.

Shaylee has never been afraid of getting down and dirty....even in her church dress!

Here is "Prince Hyrum" in his room.

Servants Elton and Brigham and taking a nap after their long hard day at the castle.

As I was out talking with our neighbors while all of our kids were playing, I couldn't help but think of today in sacrament meeting. Sister Bullen gave the opening prayer and in it she thanked the Lord for the rain and cooler weather. I wanted to yell, "Amen Sista!" for all to hear so badly! I was in heaven tonight when I watched as one of the neighbors put on a light jacket. This is the first night in months that I have felt like it is actually "nice" outside. I know it sounds so negative but I am being honest when I say that during this summer there were often times when I wondered why anyone would want to live in this state! Record breaking tornado damage, fires, and horrid, humid heat....well, sounds like hell to me! So, I sat back with my neighbors, listening to them laugh with the wonderful back ground noise of our children out playing again in weather that you can actually do it in without worrying if heat exhaustion will set in......I felt like I just might like this state after all.

Wii Wars

2011-09-02T20:10:00.006-05:00

Tonight David and I came home from our date with Wii remotes. One of our remotes has been out for a while now and so they were thrilled to know that we had another one......what they didn't realize is that now all 4 of them can play together. I wish I would have gotten on the video their first responses of, "Your the best Dad ever!" and "This is the best day of my life!" and "I can't believe we FINALLY get to play the Wii all together!" They were so thankful! Even after playing and brushing their teeth, Levi's prayer tonight was full of thanks of the new Wii remotes!

This video is of them starting on the couch and just so you know this is MILD compared to the way Brigham usually plays the Wii. Brigham can make even the PlayStation an active sport! It was adorable to watch Hyrum play the Wii. Every once in a while he will "try" to play on the Just Dance game so tonight watching him "play" Mario Brothers was hilarious!

Employee of the Year

2011-08-29T22:11:00.005-05:00

I try to avoid Wal-Mart for the most part. I get nervous sometimes with all those people and I feel better about spending my money in smaller businesses like our local Harps store. But it also helps when great employees work there.

This is Fay. I don't know her last name and I only know her as a lady who works at Harps but I love this woman. For some time she has tried to win over Hyrum. Hyrum can be shy at times and so this wasn't an easy task. Slowly, however, a bond has been formed. Today as I was in one of the isles I hear, "Hyrum?!" I look all around and see no one but I know it is Fay. Sure enough, I get closer to a register and there she is waiting for her Hyrum hug.

I can remember coming in one day and I was really having a hard time with my boys. I didn't want to be there and couldn't wait to get them back home where I knew their energy could be somewhat contained. Fay was her usual wonderful self and by the time I was leaving the check out I realized she had taught me that my boys just want to be loved. So I calmed down and put things into the right perspective.

Today as we were leaving the store Fay told me that Hyrum had brightened her very hard day. She even got teary eyed as she hugged him.

We all need each other, don't we?...

Post Office Criminals

2011-08-26T12:05:00.005-05:00

Back in May, we headed out to gather money and donations for the victims of the Joplin tornado. It was a perfect opportunity to start off Levi's Duty to God badge for Cub Scouts. This is a picture that has been displayed at our local Walgreen's store since then. The lady at the check out was so proud of my boys for raising money and then buying the tornado victims these items that before I knew it the manager was taking pictures of my boys.

Not to long afterwards, Grandma and Grandpa came over and said, "Did you know that the boys' picture is up at Walgreen's?" So every time I go in to Walgreen's I hope that they will offer the picture to me to keep. Today was the day. I was at one of the checkouts when one of the cashiers said to me that one day she had a lady and man go through her line and say, "Hey, those are my grand kids!" I told her that because of her, she had made them famous because I have had plenty of people tell me about seeing them here since then. Then another lady in the checkout said, "It's better to have their pictures up here than at the Post Office!"

True....true.

SCHOOL, SCHOOL, SCHOOL!!!

2011-08-17T09:27:00.007-05:00

Yesterday was Grove School's open houses. Hyrum is in the 4 year old program at Head Start this year. Here he is with his teachers Ms. Michelle and Ms. Julie. We always have a gift for our new teachers each year. This year we gave them bags that were filled with Hershey Hugs and a cute poem inside about "Teacher Hugs."

Last year Hyrum cried often as we dropped him off at school. It wasn't because of his teachers (I absolutely loved Ms. Dayla!), I think he just wasn't ready to be away from Mom and Dad. This year he couldn't be the more opposite!

Here is Brigham with Mrs. Green. I was thrilled this morning when I walked in Mrs. Green's classroom and a boy saw me and immediately said, "Hi Brigham!" Then realized that Brigham wasn't with me (he was in the cafeteria). I love that he has a friend from previous classes and I love that I was able to have some kind of a lasting impression that some of his classmates would remember me!

Here is Levi with Mrs. Glassgow. I had to get her in front of her "In God We Trust" poster that she proudly displayed!

So here we are on the first day of school. As you can see, Levi isn't smiling. I wish I could say that it was a flook but I am sorry to say that he doesn't care to be at school. I have to admit I am a little worried about him. He is very attached to me. He has to be touching me often and gets upset when I am upset or gone too long. We had a date last week and he told me that he really wished I was a teacher. Levi just isn't the typical boy and I worry about him and how he mixes (or doesn't) with other children. Levi is always so good about listening to me but these last few days he has been real angry. This is making me want to start the tradition of David giving the boys a father's blessing before the start of each new school year. We are going to start that tonight.

As I was getting ready to drop Hyrum off at school, I pulled over when I saw this Ridgerunner. Hyrum was super excited to take this picture with our mascot. So since we were parked somewhat close to the Head Start we thought we would just walk from there. Hyrum said, "We follow him!" Since he was going our way I thought that was a great idea. But then he cut in front of a parked vehicle. Hyrum ran to go catch up and by the time he got there the Ridgerunner only had his feathery bottoms on. I wish I could have caught the look on Hyrum's face on camera! He was so confused! He had just had his first life lesson that there are real people under those suits!

I am so very happy with all our teachers. I always dread telling people who the my boy's new teachers are in fear that who I am telling this to doesn't like that teacher or worse had a bad experience with them and their child. I am glad to report that I have heard nothing but praise about all of these teachers!

Jet Ski Joy

2011-08-09T23:40:00.003-05:00

Jet Ski

2011-08-09T23:35:00.008-05:00

Tonight was our first time being on a jet ski. Katie Lester and her family own them and was nice enough to let us (as well as Becky, Ron, and Jolayne) ride on the Grand Lake near the Dam.

I have to admit that my husband was so attractive tonight. I love seeing him play with our children and well, he just looked good on that jet ski! After telling him so Becky just happened to tell me the same thing about her husband. Those men should take us on jet skis more often!

I didn't really get any good pictures of the boys on the jet ski with David but trust me they had a blast. Even when they were pretty far out in the water I could hear them giggling and telling Daddy to, "Do it again!"

Here we are getting a family shot on the jet ski....right before it tipped over!!!!!

Ron and David tried their hardest to get up on their feet as they pulled each other. They didn't have much luck but they didn't care. They loved it!

It really was a great night....even if my camera fell in the water!!!!!!! So I never got pictures of everyone else with us. I fell over as I was trying to get a shot of Becky and Ron on the jet ski. Jolayne came running to my rescue as I yelled, "Don't worry about the drowning woman....save the camera!!!!!" You know where my priorities are!

Peace

2011-08-07T19:45:00.007-05:00

This summer has been a stressful one for me. I never wanted to be that parent that was jumping for joy when school started after summer vacation. I have become that parent and it has made me feel plenty guilty this summer. I can give you all the reasons why I turned into that parent this summer and honestly, as I look at it with a clear head now, I can see how it happened and probably would happen to any mother. However, it is what it is and I am glad to report that this week has been a nice change! I asked for a blessing from David last week and something that stuck out to me was to calm down. Though it didn't come easily, I can say that these last few days have been really great as we have kept very busy with friends. I feel at peace, even though situations around us and even in our family are anything that would promote peace. Being busy is good....so is a change of heart.

Becky and Ron Emro came to visit (from Idaho) their family this past week and so get togethers have been in abundance. Friday night we had a date night at La Casita. The Emros' and us are really the only ones who have a long term connection (Becky and I from growing up together....Ron and David from Rexburg) but through blogs and a day spent together at the pool, instant friends were made with the Bishop and Wilson families. I LOVE that about the gospel! Still not sure what Ron was doing in this picture but as you can see, we all got a kick out of it!

The next day, most of the Bass, Emro, Adams, Lester, and Wilson families headed off for Little Blue. Rose was so good with all the kids as she was the adult who spent the most time with all the little ones. She was so patient as she let them go "fishing." She took off the hook so no one would get hurt but the water was so clear that the kids got to watch as the little fish played with the plastic bait. At one point I was in front of Hyrum walking with him out of the water. I had a hold of the pole and could feel him pulling on the other end. I was in front of him so I couldn't see him and I just thought the pull was from his hands. But then I hear Rose cracking up while trying to get me to look at Hyrum. Hyrum was letting me pull him out of the water, all right! Apparently, I had caught a Hyrum fish!

We spent 5 hours at Little Blue and then headed off to the Miami pool. Some friends of ours, the Gibsons, have a family reunion every first Saturday in August after hours at this pool. We are not blood related but they have always been so good to us. This is another thing that I just love about the gospel. You really feel like family to so many people in church. I truly love the Gibson family. They have always built me up and I love them for that. Through them I have made a wonderful friend in Kristina. She was always my "summer friend" growing up as she came up from Tulsa to visit her Aunt Tammy. These reunions are usually the only times I get to see her anymore.

I love this picture because of it being Brighams' first time off the diving board but also because of the rainbow in the background. We have been in this horrible drought for so long that it was a wonderful sight. Our time at the pool was cut short because soon after lightening started to beautify the sky.

On the way home I actually called David to make sure we weren't in any type of a warning. The sky was lighting up like crazy but what kind of weirded me out was the dust of leaves flying around everywhere as we were heading home. The leaves flying around is another sign of our drought. It is not fall or even close to it yet many leaves on the trees around here have changed colors and have dropped to the ground because of the lack of water and very high heat. At one point, I drove by what looked like a baseball field. I have no idea what they were doing in that field, even though the lights were on, because so much dust and dirt had picked up. I could see absolutely no people. After our recent tornado scares, you can imagine my worried heart. It turned out to be a thunderstorm and I am very grateful for the rain. I have been praying for rain and just the other day when I said a prayer at the dinner table and forgot to ask for rain, Brigham got on to me. Yes! He is listening!

Happy Birthday, Hyrum!

2011-08-01T21:06:00.010-05:00

Sunday was Hyrum's birthday and it just so happened to fall on the 5th Sunday potluck social after church...or as Brigham kept calling it, "pot roast." I decided to contribute cupcakes and have everyone sing to him. He was soooooooooo cute! And even more cute during primary. He kept informing the primary president, Sister Van Ornum, that it was his birthday over and over again. At one point he asked where his cake was! Later, at the "pot roast" his cupcakes were a big hit. They were actually zucchini bread with cream cheese frosting. During this time of year, Grandpa gives us plenty of zucchini from his garden. I love Grandpa's fresh food and it always comes in abundance, which gives me good reason to make new and interesting stuff.

We decided to have his birthday party tonight as a big Family Home Evening. We never did end up having a lesson or anything but we were all together! It was 109 today (not including humidity) and so I tried to do as much stuff inside as possible. We had dinner inside and opened presents but I had to say no to the cake being eaten inside. With 22 people in our little house, I did not want to pick up the little pieces of cake crumbs that are inevitable when it comes to children!

Hyrum was cute with all his gifts but I loved his reaction to his singing card from Chuck and the Pringles. Chuck got him other things but Hyrum just threw all the other stuff out of the bag and only seemed to care about the Pringles. I love it when people give gifts that have special meaning. When Hyrum would go over to MeMaw and Poppy's house, Uncle Chuck would always give Hyrum chips. I blame Chuck for Hyrum's obsession of chips to this day!

Hyrum couldn't decide on a theme for his party. We went to Wal-Mart and he wanted a SpongeBob pinata, Dora whistles, and for Nanny to make him a Mickey Mouse Club House cake. I decided it must be all about his shows on Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel!

As usual, we didn't have candles so I took Minnie and put some of the icing on her head and had him make a wish off this mock candle!

It really was miserably hot but it amazes me how when it is all about your kid, you just kind of forget about it. That is saying a lot coming from a woman who HATES the heat! But as always, the kids could care less about the heat. They just love being outside.....and yes, I am including 2 of the biggest kids here tonight, Wayne and David!

Happy birthday, Hyrum!

Lawn pets

2011-07-25T11:14:00.009-05:00

With as many animals as we have seen in our yard, you would think that we live out in the country. I have come to call them my lawn pets. I have never been this girl who likes bugs and odd animals and well, still don't care for bugs but I think my boys have changed me a little as I am becoming more and more interested in certain animals. I mean the other day we were at Little Blue and I found a snake with a fish in its mouth in the water. Could have been venomous but I still wanted to get a good look at it. I would have never have done that before my boys. I kind of like what my boys and husband have opened my eyes to.....well, maybe except for finding 2 armadillos today in our yard and me wanting to get a closer look at them. What was I thinking?! Those things are nasty. I mean, they are one of the few non-human species that carry leprosy! But still I was fascinated. I guess partly because even though I grew up in Oklahoma, I have never seen a live one before. I mean, I have seen plenty of dead ones on the side of the road. In fact, I have seen my share of the picture below on Hwy 59 and dirt roads around here!

Gotta love Redneck humor!

I walked away with the same conclusion: Yep, they are nasty!

Water is good!

2011-07-23T19:44:00.009-05:00

As we continue to be in an "excessive heat warning" with no rain in sight, I have an extreme love for water right now. It has been really hard this summer keeping spirits high as we have been stuck in this very tiny 2 bedroom house with 3 very active boys who can't go outside for very long because of the heat. Do you know how hard it is to separate 3 boys in such a house when they are in trouble? I have never been so grateful for the Wii until this summer! I have a love/hate relationship with the device. I soooooo love it because it keeps the boys from fighting but it also makes me feel very guilty for the amount of time they are on it to keep my sanity in check. Sigh....oh well. It is what it is.....as David says. But on to my love for WATER....

We have a city pool that we can go to but as you can imagine it gets very expensive and so that limits how often we can go but when we discovered Little Blue a few weeks ago, I have been in heaven! We (the mommies) literally park our camping chairs in the water while our little ones play like crazy. I go on crawdad hunts with them but for the most part, they just entertain themselves.

Yep, even the teenagers entertain themselves!!!!!!

July is the crazy month of birthdays for my side of the family and so unless you are entertaining at Chuck E Cheese or something, the parties have to include water outside. I never knew so much fun could be had in the tiniest pool ever!

My Grandpa Beck made this firetruck for my parent's day care. Absolutely amazing!

I have always been a water drinker. I love water! But the past few years I have become a little addicted to Sonic's drinks and their add ins. SO SAD! But this summer has been so hot that drinking pops actually makes me a little sick inside. The outcome? I have lost 15 pounds this summer so far! They are not joking when nutritionists say that the best thing you can do to lose weight is just lay off the pop!

Water anyone?

HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY, BRIGHAM!

2011-07-14T15:35:00.008-05:00

It seems that at least one of my boys wants to do Chuck E Cheese for their birthday each year. This year it was Brigham who really wanted it. There were more kids there yesterday than this picture indicates but with cautious toddlers and older cousins that are feeling to old for this, this is all I could round up!

If you look back 2 years ago on Brigham's birthday, you will see a similar pictures. Auntee loves to get in on the fun!

Brigham is probably the most photogenic out of all my kids. I love this picture of him. You can kind of see the embarrassment on his face as everyone is watching but a little bit of loving it too!

He, of course, got plenty of presents. This picture is of the gift that kept on giving! Chuck's birthday bag seems to never end!

It seems you can never get enough tokens at this place.....and believe me, plenty is always bought!

A few days ago Brigham was talking about his soon to be birthday party and said, "We need to leave tomorrow if we are going to go to the Chuck E Cheese in Utah." He knew it takes a day to get there.......if only we could have given him that for his birthday too!

While driving to Chuck E Cheese in Joplin, David and I were so impressed with how much clean up has been done on the main roads since the tornado, that we decided that after Chuck E Cheeses we would drive around the housing areas. I am so grateful for the outpouring of help that has came to the rescue of Joplin, MO. There is still much to be done but the difference is amazing! Streets were cleared within days after the storm but for the longest time they were just trying to find bodies and not worry about clean up. Well, at least it seemed like a long time because so many wanted to help around here. It was so nice to come back and see that so much had been cleaned up. It was nice not to have to see military at every corner. People were rebuilding. At the end of most lawns were piles of debris just waiting to be picked up. I am very grateful to live in an area where people want to help themselves!

The most sobering thing that I saw this time as we were driving around was next to the hospital that was hit. There were mobile stations everywhere....like glorified tents. Tents for the ER and such.....can you imagine having a child in the middle of night with a terrible fever or a child who has had a serious accident and driving up to this place? Americans really are resilient. We amaze me sometimes. We make it work.

Little Blue

2011-07-12T19:33:00.007-05:00

As we continue to be in heat advisories with our 100+ temperatures PLUS HUMIDITY we headed off to Little Blue State Park in Disney, Oklahoma. I am not a lake person. Probably because the Grand Lake is so nasty looking but I grew up going to creeks with my family. I was excited to go to Little Blue since I hadn't been there since before my children were born. The waters were so clear and it doesn't get very deep so that put my worried Momma's heart at ease.

There were 21 of us and the majority of the time, I would say, was spent in this area. The kids loved being in the deeper end being able to jump off of this log and floating styrofoam that I think are used for under the docks around here. Look at Shaylee posing in the middle! The Mommies parked ourselves in camping chairs in the water staying quite cool.

The second favorite thing was catching things. This crawdad was the first thing caught. Then came minnows, frogs, bugs, snails.....

Tricia brought these bags for the kids to catch minnows in and Hyrum was so cute when he came up to me and said, "I caught water!" Later, he and Sofie found it much more fun when holes were punctured at the bottom and gave themselves baths.

I still am so impressed with how clear the water was. We live close to the Grand Lake and it has been advised for a while now that people do not swim in it because of the Blue Green Algae problem that it is having. It's pretty nasty, not that I ever swim in the lake, but to know that not all the water around here is contaminated makes me feel better.

Happy 4th!

2011-07-03T00:14:00.007-05:00

Last night was Grove's firework display. It was a last minute decision to go, only because we thought it was going to be tonight. But it worked out great as we arrived at last years location just minutes before the fireworks went off. That is what is wonderful about living in a small town....not hard to find parking and friends! We sat down next to the Houck and Brown families and it was entertainment from there!

When the fireworks began, Lilly and Hyrum started dancing with excitement. I just love this picture! And it is the only picture I am going to post from this holiday. There will be more celebration on the actual 4th at April and Elton's house and then at Mom and Dad's house but I just want to enjoy the time without worrying about getting the perfect picture. Plus, I think this picture captures the moment just fine. It captures joy.....and how wimpy our firework displays are! Ok, so they are not really that bad but as I was sitting next to Marie (who lived in Idaho with me) and Nate (who is from Idaho Falls) I couldn't help but chuckle at what they must be thinking. Idaho Falls has the most amazing firework display right on the snake river by the temple. It seriously is so long and full of fireworks that it actually gets to the point of where some just might say it is getting to be too much for too long. I have always missed Rexburg, Idaho since leaving but it seems to be on my mind quite a bit lately. I missed Idaho all the more tonight.

So as we were heading home tonight the boys were asking about other fireworks. Levi then asked if they would have them in China. I told him yes but that it would be for something like New Years Day not the 4th of July. I had that dreaded fear that my children didn't remember what this very important holiday was about. So I asked Levi if he remembered why we celebrated the 4th of July and he made me proud as he spoke of "America being born." Kids are so cute with their words. And before I forget I need to record what Hyrum has said since leaving for Utah a few weeks ago. So we were talking about driving to Utah when Hyrum said something about "Me-tah." I didn't get it at first but when he kept asking where we were when we actually arrived in Utah, it made since. I would tell him that we were in Utah and then he would say, "Oh, Me-tah." He though we were saying "YOU-tah." So cute!

Tea Party

2011-06-23T22:20:00.004-05:00

Tonight was our monthly Relief Society get together. We had a "tea party!" Mormons having a "tea party" is humorous in itself but we made it even more so.

Most of the women wore nice hats or even ball caps and such but if you know me, I absolutely do not like wearing hats. I never have been a ball cap girl. I think they look cute on so many other girls but not me! David used to put his hats on me all the time and tell me how cute I looked....yeah, he finally gave up! So, if I was coming to this "tea party" and was suppose to wear a hat it was going to be an obnoxious one! Thank goodness for having boys who love wearing silly hats. Mine and a few others from tonight were donated by the Adams boys!

Here Katie, me, and Amanda are in the corner at the "outcast" table!

I wish we would have taken this picture before the meeting started because most of the ladies that had the real nice "tea party hats" had left at this point of the night. We even had some wear the nice dresses and all.

Tonight we learned about hospitali-tea, creativi-tea, musicali-tea, and serini-tea. The decorations were adorable thanks to Sister Bulleigh and my Mom. It was a good night to laugh with some girls and just get out.

Cub Scout Day Camp 2011

2011-06-17T20:25:00.008-05:00

Wednesday was the beginning of the Cub Scout Day Camp. It was from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and ended today....not that we lasted until today....

While we were in Utah and David got so sick, I teased that I wanted to make out with him because then maybe I would get sick and not have to go to girls camp. I LOVE my calling but I am not a camper, at least not an overnighter. So when David got so sick and we couldn't leave in time to get back for girls camp, I have to admit that was a plus for me. But I woke up Wednesday morning to the big D. David comes into the bathroom and says, "Well, you said you didn't want to go to camp." Which of course, I replied, "Girls camp, not boys camp!!!!!!!" Turned out to be a wonderful blessing because that first day turned out to be a scorcher and I would have been miserable and most importantly, very crabby.

Well, Poppy came to the rescue and took Levi and Brigham to the camp. I can't express how much I love this about my Dad. Today a good friend of mine gave me the compliment of "being the most giving person" that she knew. But she must not know my father all that well because he is honestly the most giving person that I know. When we go over to Mom and Dad's house, he still walks with me out to the van to buckle Hyrum up so I won't have to do it. That is just who he is. He gives when it comes to the little things and the big things.

I was better by Thursday and so that morning I told the boys to get ready for camp. They immediately started to whine that they didn't want to go. I was a little surprised because Levi loved camp so much last year but at the same time I could kind of see it coming in how they came home the evening before with my Dad. They looked drained as their faces were bright red (and it wasn't from a sun burn!).

So they whined and whined and it go worse when I mentioned to them that Hyrum was going to the Wilson's house while we were at camp. My boys adore the Wilson family so that was a double blow! Honestly, I wasn't that much looking forward to the day either knowing how hot it had been for them the day before so I finally gave up fighting with them about it and said, "Ok, if you don't whine all day at camp today, I won't make you go to camp tomorrow." Levi quickly caught on and in a few short minutes, Brigham finally got it.

But the day turned out to be wonderful, weather wise, as a storm was coming in so most of the day was in cloud cover. I kind of wished I hadn't bribed them so soon as they may have been fine with the next day, as Thursday went so well.

Here Levi and his group are learning knots. He got good enough to do it with his eyes closed.

Brigham caught the biggest fish out of his group on this day at 8 1/2 inches long. But I think the record went to a boy the day before who caught a catfish at 20 something inches long! It caused such a commotion that a neighboring group who were practicing an emergency drill were ignored quickly.

Utah or bust!

2011-06-14T21:02:00.019-05:00

I will warn you of many pictures! It was hard narrowing down to these ones only! There were many times on our trip that I had to delete pictures to make room for new ones. We hadn't been to Utah for 2 years and I wanted to capture it all in pictures to get me through till the next time!

We stayed with Stephen and Holly in Spanish Fork and we were so grateful for their hospitality. I couldn't believe how much some of their children had grown up while others looked the same.

Here is Abbey and Hyrum showing their identical dimples! They are only a few months apart in age so it is perfect that they share this cousin trait!

Little Stephen let Levi help him with his club house that he is building.

And we took advantage of the nice (non-humid!!!!!!) Utah weather and played as much as we could outside.

Grandma Helen came over and showed the kids some games that she used to play as a child.

Little Stephen was so funny after she showed them one of the games. He said, "This is a pilgrim game..." We just laughed as Helen took it in good humor as her grandson just unknowingly called her "old!"

On Friday, Helen and I along with the boys headed up to Logan for Ronald and Hannah's wedding. It is an odd thing to not actually lay eyes on your future sister-in-law until she walks into the sealing room, minutes before she is married for eternity to your brother! However, I immediately felt her love for my brother and if only I could have captured Ronald's face. He was beaming at his Hannah. As I was leaving the sealing room, just before hugging Hannah for the first time, I couldn't control my emotions as I realized that she had prepared herself for my little brother for years. I am truly grateful for her.

Uncle Bubba and the boys!

On the way back to Spanish Fork, we went by to see our Rexburg friend, Christine (in Sandy). Christine was like a second mother to Levi. I can't express how much she meant to David and I while in college. She was our family away from family. Here she is showing Hyrum tricks that her Daisy can do.

The next day was the reception and just as you would expect with Ronald, his reception was not normal! The usual light refreshments was out the door as he and Hannah had cake......and otter pops to serve their guests!

After the reception, some friends of mine meet at the SCERA park in Orem for a big play date. I can't get over how pretty my girlfriends are getting with age....definitely the opposite for me!

Holy cow I love this picture! Sure miss those mountains! I can't believe that was my backyard for 2 years! And I LOVE these 2 girls! April hadn't seen Elizabeth for almost 10 years and the second they saw each other, it was like time had stood still.....as you can see from their faces!

Little "Deb" was the baby to goo all over. Be(i)n and Laurel's youngest, Olivia, was so cute! I miss my friends so much! The Brennan's have 3 girls and I need them to live closer together so I can plan their arranged marriages!!!!!

On the way home we stopped to let the kids explore at a dinosaur museum in Colorado. It was neat to be able to feel real dinosaur bones and to watch, behind glass, as workers were digging in rocks to find new fossils.

And where was David throughout this trip, you ask? Sick as a dog!!!!!!

This picture does not do justice to what his face actually looks like. I started counting his cold sores and decided it was pointless after 20. I took this picture because of him complaining about the leopard neck pillow that I bought as we were traveling out to Utah. I looked over at him while I was driving back to Oklahoma and couldn't stop laughing as he was making fun of his manhood as he was wrapped in this pinkish baby blanket with the leopard neck pillow!

His sickness started on Friday morning. As I was trying to get us ready to head to Logan for the wedding, I hear this adult puking in the bathroom. He had thrown up 3 separate times and was laying on the bathroom floor as I was heading out the door. What followed was 2 more days of diarrhea. His fevers spiked so much that he was hallucinating. Of course, the sickness spread to the kids but affected each one differently.

We were suppose to leave right after the play date on Saturday so we could drive straight threw and get David back to work on Monday.....but here we are Tues. night and just arriving home.

WHAT A TRIP!!!!!

Hormone Mafia

2011-06-05T14:44:00.009-05:00

I belong to an exclusive club....most women belong to this club....sometimes I feel I am the leader of this club....I AM THE HORMONE MAFIA!

Ok, so I found these wonderful shirts at a local store. I immediately fell in love with the shirt and had to buy one. As I was checking out I found out that all the proceeds go to local childrens and womens charities which made me feel all the better.

I wore it to one of our girls nights out when Rose and Tricia fell in love with it. Since it was Rose's birthday coming up, we all decided to wear it on her birthday lunch out.

So yesterday we, along with Amanda Bishop, headed off to a very small restaurant just outside of town. When we met up there it wasn't long before we were laughing loudly! A nearby waitress came up to us and told us that the bikers a few tables over told her to tell us that we were being louder than them! They immediately became our friends! Amanda brought a "Birthday Girl" tiara for Rose to wear. One of the bikers came up to us and asked if we would go up to one of his friends and put the tiara on him because it was his birthday also.

We soon find out that his name is Bob, which is also the name of Rose's husband, and that this Bob's wife (on the left laughing) is named Rose also! I love small towns and small places where you can randomly sing Happy Birthday songs to total strangers!

The Hormone Mafia! But who needs serious pictures when you can get good ones!

It took us forever to get this picture taken because of us laughing so hard.

Ok, I know I shouldn't have taken myself out of this picture but I love the close up of this because it is so funny. I love Tricia and Rose's friendship. They lean heavily on each other and often show me what true friendship is. I am grateful for their examples and most importantly that they can goof around and still have spiritual strengthening moments!

Happy Birthday Rose!

Joplin, MO

2011-05-26T14:49:00.023-05:00

I am not a city person. In the 2+ years that we have lived here, I think we have been to Joplin maybe twice. That is not to say that I haven't been to Joplin numerous times, though. Growing up, Joplin was the closest city and so if we wanted to watch a movie in the theater or go to a mall, that is where we went. I was quite familiar with the city growing up. I keep thinking about how just the day before my sister was in Joplin buying stuff for their trip to Florida and the week before my mom and dad was there getting stuff for Ronald's wedding.

So, I was driving the other day, listening to a radio station out of Joplin, when I heard the DJ say that one of the top things on the want lists were duct tape. Odd, I thought, to a woman but any man could see a million uses of it in times like these. I started thinking of the boys and how I really wanted them to understand the enormous damage that Sunday night's EF 5 tornado did to Joplin. So I got a few things together to have Levi's cub scout troop get together duct tape, feminine products (yes, I said, pads and tampons....for the cub scouts to gather.....), and toiletries. When I called the American Red Cross they said that there has been so many clothing and food donated that they are telling people to stop sending them and to work on these other needs. Can you believe that? Just a few days after the tornado and so many people have come together and there is actually to much of certain things?! I love Americans!!!!! So the boys and I headed off house to house to collect these items on Wed. morning. People were very generous. The one that touched my heart the most was a boy a little older than Levi. I told him that he didn't have to worry about it since his parents were not home but he really wanted to give us something. So he went back inside his house, came out, told me that he couldn't find his diamond but that he wanted to give us his toy motorcycle. We were a few houses down when I noticed this same boy, later, running towards us. He was yelling, "I found my diamond!" I thought, "Oh man....how am I going to tell this boy that he can't give me his mom's jewelry with her not being there?" when he came running up with this HUGE paperweight fake diamond. It was so sweet of him.
The boys raised $49.00 that day. Here is what they bought at Wal-Greens.

So today, Amanda Bishop, Renee Roberts, Hyrum, and I went to Joplin to deliver the goods (a lot of people stepped up from church to donate). This is one of the first things we saw. Once again, I love Americans!
I had to take a picture of this. You know that a play area is safe for your children when the Burger King is destroyed but not the kids play area inside!

This is a local church that was taking in donations. When I called the American Red Cross on Tues., they were completely full with donations along with the Salvation Army. They wanted us to bring our goods to MSSU. By the time we got there this morning, they also were full and we were now delivering to this church.

There was sooooo much there! I wanted to take pictures inside of all that was donated but I felt guilty as I noticed people were "shopping" there. I wanted to give them privacy.

We decided to park our car and go walking and these are the things we saw. Nothing was more disturbing than to see the X with the numbers inside them. Most of the time we just saw 0's but there were a few cars that we saw numbers on. I can't even imagine coming upon these places and finding the dead.

It was interesting that as the more destroyed these places became, the more odd places we would find these X's. And they had to start marking home addresses on odd places (like refrigerators) because the homes no longer existed.

Have I mentioned that I love Americans?!

At one point I started feeling sick to my stomach. It was becoming a little all to real. Needless to say, I was grateful for the laugh when we came across this garage sale sign! We even ran across a "For Sale By Owner" sign. Thank you for your humor, Joplin!

This was our stake center once upon a time. We are now in the Rogers, AR stake but who could deny that very obvious Mormon foyer chair!?!

This is a picture I didn't think I would be taking. When the news covers the Joplin disaster, they always show the St. John's hospital. Every time I see it, I realize the damage, especially to the community that desperately needs the hospital, but I always wonder why they don't show more of the homes. The hospital is still standing whereas the homes are just gone.

Well, you just can't describe it until you are there in person.

Once again, it is a miracle that anyone could survive through such force.

Count your blessings

2011-05-24T11:54:00.003-05:00

I felt comfortable today in letting the kids go to their last day of school since the storms are not suppose to hit until tonight. I thought this would be the perfect time to go driving and see the damage. How anyone can survive force like this is a miracle to me.
This travel trailer is over what used to be my friend's, Marlana, business. She said that she was there just hours before the tornado ripped it apart.

She amazed me today as she spoke of how the Lord wouldn't give her more than she could handle. She has been through so much lately. She just lost her grandma, she is going through a nasty separation, moved back in with her mom, and now this. The faith of some people just amaze me.

Daddy time....my sanity!

2011-05-23T21:46:00.003-05:00

Today I didn't let the kids go to school as the storms still threatened. As the day went on, some of my friends started pulling their kids from school as the skies got worse and because they don't have cellars, off to our house they went. At one point we had 11 kids and 3 adults ready to cram into our cellar! Luckily, the sirens never went off but as you can imagine, the boys loved the company. After a few hours, our friends went home and the boys started to act a little crazy. Being cooped up in a very small house with 3 crazy boys while you watch more and more rain dump on you, while waiting for the upcoming tornado warnings is kinda of unnerving. Needless to say, by the time Daddy got home, I was on edge. But Daddy saved the day! He left me alone while he and the kids cuddled in Hyrum's bed while Levi read stories to them all. Sure do love my boys.....

A day late

2011-05-23T07:44:00.007-05:00

So, most of you probably know that Saturday was suppose to be "Judgement Day." The rapture was predicted to come, by Harold Camping, and as most "predicted" nothing really happened. I'd have to disagree though, I did start my period on May 21, 2011. That is a pretty huge sign to me of something wrong with this world....

So last night as my family and I, along with the missionaries, kept running back and forth to the cellar, we realized Mr. Camping must have been off by just one measly day. Darn predictions.....you just can never get them right!

But seriously, last night was CRAZY! We knew a storm was coming because of the weather forecast but it is really weird to see clear skies and within minutes, it turn to dark. In fact, when all was said and done and the sun came back out again, Brigham seriously asked if we had been up all night during the storms and wondered if it was now morning. In his defense, this storm lasted over 4 hours. Storms are usually fast moving but this storm just seemed to hover over us.

We were eating dinner when the first set of tornado sirens went off. Last time this happened I was so scared that we just ran in the cellar with ourselves and a flashlight. One of our neighbors came over with a backpack pull of supplies and I felt sheepish as this "Mormon" left all her 72 hour backpacks back in her home! I was determined to be prepared this time and so off we went with our comfort items. Within minutes we had golf ball sized hail. For quite some time the sirens would go off, we would think we were safe, go back inside, only to have them go off again. This went on for a while and so we just stayed in the cellar. The boys did amazing. Hyrum was scared at first but by the end, we were calm....even through the VERY loud thundering.
Here we are in our yard after the sirens....well, one of the many times we thought they were done.

My poor flowers!

We live on 6th and Spring. This is Spring street in front of the property we live on. While in the cellar, this is what we looked out on. If you look at the left side of the picture you will see a tiny tot slide. We watched, from the cellar, as it and other toys washed away down our little street "river."

I have to remind myself to let my boys be boys. So when the sirens were off and they went straight for the water, I thought, what the heck! Let them play. Hyrum was cautious, of course, and just stayed close to Daddy. Before playing, I let the boys know of the places I did NOT want them. If you look at the second to last picture you will see where it picks up speed and I wanted them no where near that. They could go in the standing water and that was it. They of course, had a blast.....until I turned my head for a second. Brigham started walking over to where the drain area was. I immediately yelled at him to get away from there when he went forward and grabbed onto the cement just above the drain. I screamed, grabbed his arms, told him that he would be fine and that Daddy would pull him out and just like that David had sprinted across the street and pulled him out. Brigham later told me that he felt his legs being sucked in. You know, I have had moments like these where I know with everything that I am that the Lord's hand was in the situation. Usually, I am just sick afterwards about the situations and how close to danger my children were. But this time I was very calm and it was David this time who didn't handle it well. For the rest of the night, he struggled and did not sleep well at all last night.

As I ponder how blessed we were last night, my heart goes out to all those dead in Joplin, MO because of this terrible storm. I feel so blessed to have our home in one piece. David's co-worker wasn't so lucky as his house is gone this morning.

Playing in the sirens....I mean, rain.....

2011-05-23T07:35:00.003-05:00

2011 JAKES Event

2011-05-21T13:19:00.005-05:00

Today was the annual JAKES (Juniors Acquiring Knowledge, Ethics, and Sportsmanship) event out in the beautiful country just outside of Grove. This was our first time going but they do this every summer to excite kids about the outdoors. You wouldn't believe how many people show up for this and if it wasn't for my kids, there is no way I would have waited in those lines!

I am not a real outdoorsy person but I do want my boys to be exposed and honestly, I want to know more about nature because you never know when you are going to have to use it.

This event put kids into small groups, with the appropriate age, and they get to do all kinds of things. We didn't last the whole time because we needed to get Hyrum back for a nap but here are the favorites. Brigham caught 2 fish.
Levi caught 5 fish, one of them being a catfish. Needless to say, this was his favorite!

This was Hyrum's first time fishing and he caught 2! He was soooooooooooo cute about it. When we left this post to move onto the next, he would not stop doing the "reeling in" motion. When he got bored with the other stations, he would say, "Want fish....."

Don't get me wrong, I am proud of my boys for catching so many fish in less than 20 minutes but I do have to say that this pond was full of HUNGRY fish! Everyone caught fish and I am not exaggerating when I say that I watched as these kids cast out their bait and within seconds, they had caught a fish!

This was Brigham's favorite. It is so fun watching little kids doing big boy stuff.

Field Trip and boo boos

2011-05-20T07:54:00.008-05:00

These events, along with some others, help put things into perspective. Who knew that a busted up face on such a cutie would finally be the last straw to get my attention?

Two nights ago, I had an odd dream. I dreamt about Marie Osmond and her new husband and their children. Weird, I know but I woke up knowing almost immediately what the dream was about.

Most people know that I love the Osmond Family so to have a dream about them would just make most people chuckle but I have a tender, sad place in my heart for Marie. She has been through a lot lately, the worst being the suicide of one her sons. I watched a clip from her appearance on Oprah not to long ago. She spoke of her son's bout with depression and how he had called her not long before he took his life to talk to her about how he was hurting. She was going to see him in just a few days and she kept reassuring him that she would be there on Monday. Later, he called but she didn't answer the phone because she was just about to go on stage. He would soon after kill himself. Her comment of, "Depression doesn't wait until Monday" is probably the most heartbreaking sentence I have ever heard.

I have often thought of her since then and how many times I put other things in front of my children. We all do it as parents and I am no different. I have been struggling with how much is asked of me in my calling and the time it takes away from my family. We have been changing certain things, David and I, for a while now with saying no to things and it has been nice. But I found myself Wed. night, at church, getting caught up in all that I should be volunteering my time for this summer, instead of being with my family.
So I had that dream that night. I woke up and knew I needed to say no to a lot of things.

Yet, I still tried to get out of this; Levi's class field trip to Harbor Village! I can name off so much that "had" to be done first....but I am so grateful now that I choose to go anyways.

So I get home, rush around to get cookies made for some people I want to get out to, all the while trying to get the house perfect for a showing. Rush, rush, getting irritated with my children for fighting, rush, rush and then little Hyrum comes in crying with that horrible gash on his face.

That's it! I'm staying home! And I did. How many times does the Lord have to prompt me in order to get me to realize that my little family is the most important thing in my life! They should always come first. Always!

It was just reaffirmed when I talked to my friend, Charlene, on the phone later that night. She is very limited in what she can do because of a leg injury. She too is going through that realization that not being able to clean and take care of certain things is not the end of the world. Actually, it is a mercy in disguise.

Just some catch up

2011-05-15T18:42:00.011-05:00

With Spring in the air we have seen lots of new babies.....kittens, birds, groundhogs.....yes, I said groundhogs.....or should I say to my Idaho friends, rockchucks! We have 6 baby groundhogs living under the shed in our yard and they have been my favorite! I keep teasing David that I want to keep them! They are seriously so cute and if you haven't seen a grown groundhog they are even more adorable. They get so fat that they kind of waddle.Momma with one of her babies.
I thought it was about time that I documented my deceiving powers. Brigham is really good about eating his greens and Levi is just about as good but Hyrum is HORRIBLE! So I trick them! They just go on and on about how I make the best Popsicles. They really can't get enough of them.....little do they know that with all the fruits I put in them, that the main ingredient is SPINACH!

We were in Branson, MO on Easter Sunday so my boys didn't get to have an Easter egg hunt, but neither did the rest of my family because of the rain. So today after church at our house we finally had our hunt....our neighbors probably think we are weirdos hunting eggs almost a month after the actual holiday.

Here is Grandpa "hiding" one of the eggs. April and I were watching from the window inside the house and making fun of Grandpa (don 't feel so bad for him, he makes fun of us all the time!) for trying to balance an egg on top of my wild onions. To quote, April, "I love Grandpa, but he is such a dork!" Well, as you can see, we ended up eating crow!

I love catching these sweet moments. Uncle Chuck doesn't have any children but he has always been so good to my boys as well as my sister's children. Here he is guiding Brigham to an egg.

The cousins!

Brothers

2011-05-10T10:19:00.004-05:00

Sometimes I just love having boys. They are so easy in some ways.

I guess this picture doesn't really have anything to do with that last statement. I just feel really grateful today for a lot of things.

One thing I am grateful for is how much Levi loves Hyrum. Hyrum has no clue just how much Levi loves him and sometimes I wonder if he ever will because who knows if they will grow out of this stage or not. I hope not. I wanted Hyrum's name to be this because of Hyrum Smith. Hyrum Smith was the ultimate brother in my eyes. He loved his brother, Joseph, so much that he went with him to the Carthage jail and was soon after killed because of this decision. But roles are reversed in our household because Levi would do anything for Hyrum! He really would. It's kind of funny. I really wanted Levi's name to be Joseph.....kind of fitting. Last night, we put Hyrum down for bed. He cried and so Levi went in to comfort him because as Levi said, "He says he's scared." No kid wants to go to sleep at bedtime and Levi is no different than any other kid.....but for his brother he would and he did it without complaining or me even asking him to.

Later, Daddy found the boys like this.

Blue and Gold Banquet

2011-04-29T00:30:00.005-05:00

Since the church is now starting scouts at age 8, Levi has moved from the community troop to the Church's group. Levi's old den leader really stepped up last year after his first den leader couldn't do it anymore but for what ever reasons this year, it has been kind of sad. The meetings were canceled the majority of the time. I always told the boys, though, when entering Cub Scouts that it would be up to them if they transferred over into the church's den. The Cub Scout program is such a wonderful program that I don't care if it is through the church or not and honestly, I'm not sure if Brigham will transfer next year or not. He is growing up with these boys and his leader is AMAZING!

This is one of the many wonderful creations (with the help of the boys, of course) that she has come up with for the boys to do......and it won first place tonight at the Blue and Gold Banquet! It is hard to see but the astronaut there is a tiger cub! Each boy got to make their own planet and Levi got to help. This is another reason I love Melissa (den leader) and Brandy (assistant) so much. Before the church announced that they were starting the cub scout program at age 8 (before they didn't start until Webelos), I felt really bad for Levi. Brigham would go to his meetings and they were so organized and always had multiple things to do. But week after week, Levi's would be canceled. I was so impressed that Brandy and Melissa never minded that Levi tagged along. Actually, I am feeling really blessed right now as I am writing this. Amanda Bishop is the Cub Scout leader at the church (or as the boys call her, ADM -awesome den mother-) and she too always lets Brigham tag along and even Hyrum sometimes!

Have I mentioned how grateful I am for the Cub Scout program?!

Easter Weekend in Branson, MO

2011-04-24T19:21:00.008-05:00

I have been trying to talk David into a little family getaway since he returned from such a crazy work trip. It finally worked and we headed off (last minute) to Branson, Missouri. I LOVE BRANSON! It is so family friendly and it is actually not that expensive if you find packages online. I really felt like we got an amazing deal and we went on a perfect weekend since thunder, lightning, and rain was the only weather of choice. First, I love all those elements of the weather and second, it scared off some tourists!

This was one of our many entertainment parts of our package. Everything that we went to was walking distance from our hotel but since it was POORING rain the whole time we had to drive. This is an inside water park. Every 10 minutes or so this bucket fills to the top and dumps out on everyone.

Teamwork gets this thing to shoot up water!
The "lazy river" was my favorite part. It wasn't so "lazy" though as I tried to pass my boys and they tried to pass me. The best was finally getting past one another and then making it all the way around and sneak up on them!

We got to watch the Amazing Pets and I think the boys liked it until it got too long. They just really wanted to get on to our next fun thing....miniature golfing (or "gulfing" as they say).

Brigy got to hold one of the birds!

The "Fun Spot" was probably the best part of the deal. From 10:00-11:30 p.m. they open this part of one of the buildings just to the people staying at our hotel. They play music, you get free food, money put on a card that allows you a certain amount of games to be played, and a ball drop that has certain prizes stuck on it (their favorite part was probably popping the balloons!).

I had to take a picture of this. Brigham randomly asks, "When will we get to stay in a hotel again?" He loves it for some reason! Probably this reason!

We really did have such a great weekend. I think it got David's mind off of some things. There were a few times that the boys got a little spoiled with all this "free" stuff and so we had to cut certain entertainment options short because they were getting ungrateful. But it was so rewarding to hear the thank yous later as they finally remembered how blessed they really are to get to do all this stuff.

Easter Egg Hunt

2011-04-21T23:49:00.005-05:00

A lady at church, Anna Gibson, is moving out of our ward and moving closer to her family. I love Anna so much. For as far back as I can remember, when I think back of memories of Anna I just feel love. She has always showed me in many ways that she loves me. She sees something in me that I often don't see. I truly love her and am going to miss her dearly. Tricia, Rose, and I have been packing her things up and getting her ready for her move this week, though I haven't done even half as much as Rose and Tricia has done for Anna. I am so grateful to have friends like these girls who are willing to serve such a wonderful lady when I couldn't do as much as I wanted this week. They are all such good examples to me.

Today was Hyrum's Easter egg hunt with Head Start. I wanted to help Tricia out with Sofie while she was packing Anna up, so I brought her with me when I headed to the Grandwood Assisted Living to meet Hyrum and his Head Start friends. Hyrum was excited to see his "Sosie." I look at pictures like these and can't help but wonder who my children will marry. Will I have pictures of my boys at young ages with their future spouses?.....I can only hope!
Sofie and I got to the nursing home before the Head Start kids showed up. While we were waiting a nurse came up to Sofie and told her how pretty she was and how he hoped that she was the one who found the golden egg.....little did he know that she would!

I was so impressed with her! I felt bad that she had won 1 of the 2 grand prizes because she was not actually one of the Head Start kids. But she was so good and did not complain even once about sharing with the other kids.

It kind of helped that she won the "boy" grand prize!

Bye Bye Adenoids!

2011-04-20T11:54:00.010-05:00

This morning, Tricia came over bright and early to watch Levi and Brigham as David and I headed to the hospital to have Hyrum's adenoids removed. I talked to Hyrum about his surgery last night (though I don't think he had a clue as to what I was talking about) but didn't even think to tell the older boys. So I warned Tricia this morning that they didn't know, though I wasn't afraid because my boys LOVE the Wilson family! While we were waiting for the surgery to happen and while we were waiting for him to wake up I sent text pictures to my family (including the ward family:) so Tricia showed them to Brigham and he said, "Oh, now I know why you are here!" Even though she had already explained to them what was going on. I love my cute boys! So here is Hyrum checking his nurses' (Nichole Spencer) temperature. Nurses are always my favorite part of a hospital stay or surgery. Seriously, I don't know if I have ever had a bad one. They seem to have been born to serve! Actually, they tie with my love for........LOOPY MEDICINE! There is nothing funnier than seeing a 3 year old high! He was SOOOOOOOOO funny when he had his rectal biopsy with his reaction to the loopy medicine. So we were looking forward to it today....the stinker spit most of it out though! But some of it must have got in his system because by the time the other nurse came in he was waving by to us :)
Before we knew it, Dr. Allen was in telling us that everything went great and Hyrum should be in with us shortly. But as more and more time passed a nurse came in to tell us that everything was fine, he just didn't want to wake up. I just laughed because that was exactly how Levi was when he had his cyst removed. He was one of the first to have his surgery and the very last out of all the kids in the recovery room to leave because he just slept and slept! I think it is a blessing, though I think they worry a little about them not getting up so soon. I can understand but it sure is nice having a child wake up happy while every other kid is screaming around you!

When we got home, Tricia had done our dishes and had a gray stuffed bunny waiting for Hyrum. Not to long later, Grandma and Grandpa came by with a balloon and Hershey Kisses. After I picked up the other boys from school, Hyrum had so MORE stuff waiting for him at the front door from the Bishop family. By this evening, Mom and Dad had came by with a stuffed animal and I found out that Anna Gibson had went by the hospital to see if Hyrum was still there. What a cute, spoiled boy!!!

Tornado Season

2011-04-14T19:13:00.010-05:00

I started this post well over an hour ago. But when the weather scanner keeps going off and then you hear the town sirens go off, kids freaking out, running to the cellar, finding a dead squirrel in the cellar.....ok, lets back up.

David has been gone on a business trip for 3 weeks. He has come home on the weekends only to stay for 2 days and once for just over 24 hours. I haven't wanted to put this on the blog just to be on the safe side but since he will be home in a matter of hours and won't be going back, I feel ok about it now.

We have done amazingly well without Daddy. The Lord has really blessed me with patience and peace. Even tonight in the Tornado warning, I felt safe as Daddy had sent our neighbor and good friend over to watch over us. One great blessing that has come from these long days without Daddy has been how very sweet it is for Daddy to come home. You really cherish your time with someone that you love so deeply when they have been gone for longer than you are used to.

Last weekend Brigham's cub scout troop had a camp out on Monkey Island. It was on a non-for profit ranch with bathrooms, fishing, petting zoo, horse rides, wagon rides, camp fires....you name it! It was great! Well, the boys had a great time....Mommy wasn't too happy to be there. Daddy was supposed to take the boys (Levi went too) but they ended up needing him longer on this job that was in Yukon, OK. I love to hike but I am not one for camping. But Brigham was so very excited about this that I couldn't say no. Grandma and Grandpa kept Hyrum for us and I was so grateful after that terrible night......

...but first, the fun pictures. Levi was most excited about fishing. As he put it, "Because I'm good at it." Meaning he was one of the only boys at cub scout camp last summer to catch a fish. He is so cute. Most people who make comments like that are cocky but not Levi. He was just stating a fact. What a cutie! Well, as you can see......not so good at it!

Brigham was super excited to fish for the first time and he kept at it for a while until he got bored and moved on to better things! But as you can see from the back of the picture, Levi is still at it......and unfortunately still not good at it! But hey, that boy was determined! The boys stayed up late just running around with the other boys with only a rope and florescent light up sticks. All they needed was a few things and their imaginations because I kept hearing things about them being werewolves, and kings, and servants, and war, and all the boy things you can think of. But I finally talked Brigham and Levi into going to bed. We were not asleep very long when we were woke up by a VERY loud and LONG thunder. This picture was taken before the real part of the storm hit.....and the boys started freaking out! The weather out here can be so amazing. There was not a cloud in sight when we went to bed and by 2 in the morning we were in a Tornado watch as well as a Thunderstorm warning (watch means the storm has the makings of a possible tornado, a warning means it has been spotted). As you can imagine, when rain hits on the tent it is so much louder than being in a home. Now imagine being in a thunderstorm and the wind going crazy around you!?! LOUD! I was so proud of my boys though. This is where I had a wonderful teaching moment with Levi. I asked the boys what they thought we could do and they both said at the same time that we could pray. So Levi gave the prayer. We all got as tight as we could next to each other while Levi stayed under the sleeping bags. He's my little worrier. I thought I could hear him under those sleeping bags but again it was so loud that I wasn't sure. Finally, I asked him if he was ok. He poked his head out and said, "Mom, something is really wrong! I keep praying and it won't go away!" My heart broke just a little right then but it was really a bittersweet moment. I hated that the faith of this child was not making the storm go away. He truly believed that if he prayed it would go away. But I also was so thankful that I could have this moment with him and teach him of the importance of knowing the difference between what we want and what the Lord has in store for us. Before we knew it, Daddy was texting us about the warnings and we were outta there! Did you know that you can get a Happy Meal at 3:33 in the morning? I felt bad because Brigham was real disappointed about leaving so I tried to make it up to them. We ended up going back a few hours later and got all of our stuff and all was ok. Fast forward to tonight. David calls me and tells me that we are in another watch and that Wayne (our neighbor and good friend) had been over earlier, checked out the cellar and we were good to go if we needed it. I sure do have wonderful men in my life! I actually already knew about the upcoming storm though because our weather scanner had been going off. Not very long afterwards, I thought I heard sirens. I turned off the tv and sure enough the town sirens were going off. It was the only time during this whole ordeal (and even last weeks) that I kinda freaked out. A little frantically I told the boys to hurry and get their shoes on, that the tornado sirens were going off. I felt horrible later because Levi immediately started crying. We hurried, got a flash light and off to the cellar we went. There waiting for us in the cellar was the remains of a squirrel but thank goodness it had been gone long enough that all that was left was its skin. Poor little Hyrum though, wouldn't take his hands off his nose for a quite some time! Of course there were spiders and it was nasty but hey, as I kept telling the boys, spiders won't kill us! We are much safer with those than a tornado. Levi clung to me but kept it together. Hyrum was amazing. He didn't start whining until about 10 minute before we got out of the cellar. Before we knew it, though Wayne, his family and his neighbors were in there with us (and the squirrel left!). It really felt like a long time but before we knew it, the sirens finally went off. I called Grandma and Grandpa first though before we left (they have a scanner also) and they let us know it was safe. We got inside, took showers, and I praised and praised those boys for being so brave. I really was proud of them. One funny thing. I overheard Brigham saying to Levi at one point, "What if the lower elementary got sucked up....COOL!"

A cultural experience

2011-04-13T11:29:00.007-05:00

This week in Hyrum's Head Start class has been full of fun activities and will continue for the rest of the week. They have had many visitors come to teach them certain things and when I found out that today an Indian woman was coming to talk to the classes, I made sure I was there! Though I grew up around a part of the American Indian culture, it still fascinates me.

This is Foxy. I wish I would have written down her Indian name but it means "fox" thus her American nick name of Foxy. She is from the Seneca-Cayuga tribe and is not wearing the typical dress of her tribe but decided to wear for us what she would wear when she dances at Pow-Wows. She told the children about the legend of the skunk. That before skunks were black with a white stripe that they once were all white. One day a skunk was walking around all high and mighty while showing off his beautiful white fur. He came across some baby owls. If you have ever seen a baby owl, they are not very cute. Well, this skunk told them just how ugly they were and then spoke of his beauty. When the mother owl came along and the baby owls told their mother what the skunk had said to them, she swooped up the skunk in all his beautiful white fur and dropped him in the middle of a forest fire. The skunk screamed as his beautiful white fur was turning black as it burned. The mother owl thought that the skunk had learned his lesson so she pick him up and took him out of the forest fire just in time before his white fur was singed on his back. Now when we see a skunk and see that white line down his back we know how it got there and just why the skunk smells so bad....like of melting fur.

Here are some of the items that Foxy brought. I was just fascinated with all of this. The feathers in the back are Eagle feathers. Having Eagle feathers is illegal in the United States unless you are an American Indian. The jewelry on the bottom left was unique to me because they both had squash blossoms on them. I asked her later why the squash blossom was significant and she said that on her tribal flag it has what they call the "3 sisters." It is their staple: squash, corn, and beans.

Right next to those 2 necklaces is a very small object that is used to keep the belly button cord that falls off of a baby. They say that if you don't keep it, you will be searching for it for the rest of your life.

I took a close up picture of the papoose board because it taught me the most. The papoose board was designed for safety and entertainment....and I though that the car seat was invented by white men! In this picture you see a hoop like circle going around the front of it. This was for protective reasons, which I'll share later, but also to entertain the baby. Just like you would see dangling down from the car seat carrier, these little Indian babies would be entertained by objects that they would try to grab.

On the back of the papoose board was another strong piece of wood coming up from the back. This was used in conjunction with the hoop for safety. If the papoose board was put next to the sattle on the horse and was somehow knocked off, the baby's head would be safe from hitting the ground.

All I have to say, is who ever decided that American Indians were "heathens" or unlearned, never really studied their culture!

BOYS!

2011-03-30T20:59:00.006-05:00

Where do I even begin?! First, thank goodness for camera phones! See how Hyrum is soaking wet? I am soooooooooooo grateful that isn't toilet water! But it is bathroom water. I was in the RS room with the Young Women having our Wed. night meeting when Brother Van Ornum poked his head through the door and said that he needed to see me. I walked out the door to find Hyrum literally dripping with water. Brother Van Ornum proceeded to tell me how he caught Brigham leaving the bathroom as he was entering the bathroom and found Hyrum with the faucet on full blast with his little hand jammed underneath it; thus spewing water everywhere! Then Sister Jones came up and told me how she felt somewhat responsible. I guess prior to this, Levi and Brigham had gotten into a fight where Brigham slapped Levi in the face....thus this picture..... When I sent the kids to bed tonight Levi's face was still hot! Anyways, I guess she sent Levi in the bathroom to get a wet towel to cool his face. Brigham and Hyrum soon followed. Hyrum went straight to the faucet and started playing. Brigham followed and Levi was out of there because he didn't want to get into trouble! So after I had a little talk with Levi about not worrying so much about getting into trouble and worrying about others first and not fighting, talking to Brigham about leaving his brother in the bathroom while he was making a mess and of course the fighting, and then Hyrum about not playing in bathroom water we all got the privilege of cleaning up the bathroom! I only cleaned up the windows because the boys couldn't reach them and wrung out the mop (but only after Brigham first trying to get all the water out) though. These boys were going to clean up their mess! Honestly though, I was proud of them because not once did they complain. I think they knew they had consequences to suffer. I think, all in all, it went well. I should have known better. Just last week at church I had lost Hyrum and Drake Roberts after running to the van to put away the wipes. In that amount of time the boys had went into the boys bathroom and did the same exact thing.....only much less damage! And the members of our church family were so good about it all. I could tell Brother Van Ornum was irritated at first (rightly so!) but later he came up and apologized because he was afraid he had offended me in the way he reacted and was afraid he had scared Hryum when he pulled him out of the bathroom. In no way was I upset at him. And Sister Jones was so cute with her thinking that she had something to do with it all. Sister Androsko had a good laugh with me while little Jessica Roberts told me that any 4 year old boy would do the same (speaking of Drake). I love my church family even more after tonight!

2011-03-28T13:13:00.004-05:00

We went on a Sunday Drive yesterday and found this! The boat is almost as big as the trailer! You know, growing up, I always thought it was sad to see trailers with these huge, nice pick up trucks in the drive. It seemed so important to a lot that you have a nice vehicle even if the home you are living in is falling apart and very small. Seeing this picture yesterday made me smile and laugh as I remembered never understanding this type of thinking growing up. But a little over a year ago, a couple of college friends of mine came to visit. One of the girls, Charlene, mentioned something like, " I really like how everyone here seems to not care about 'keeping up with the Jones' and just seems to be fine with what they have always had." I've thought about that a lot since living here and that is one of the qualities I really like now....the same thing I thought didn't make any since growing up. People out here may want something nice, like their vehicle, but for the most part they don't care. Put food on the table and have the chance to eat out every once in a while is good enough. And just as I was talking to my former boss (I'm home full time now!) over the weekend, her best memories with her husband and son was in that little trailer before they built their own house. When you are close because of lack of space, you kind of have to get to know each other. There are times when our very little house gets to me (mainly because I can't separate the kids when they are being rowdy) but I have to say that I feel secure in that I always know what they are doing.

When we were driving around yesterday Brigham wanted to know when we were ever going to go to the beach. He then said that he remembered going once. I tried to tell him that none of them had ever been to a beach when I heard Levi say to Brigham, "No. That memory you have is not it." Brigham replies with, "No. I have a good brain." Man they are cute!

Speaking of good brains. Today was my parent teacher conference with Hyrum's teacher. She told me of how proud she was of him. She said that he is the only child in the class that can recognize numbers 1-9 by sight! He can count past that but I guess it is pretty impressive that he recognizes the shapes of the numbers as well.

Now, if we could only get him to recognize that he is pooping in his underwear.......

Spring Break

2011-03-21T09:23:00.011-05:00

Last week was the kid's spring break from school. We didn't go anywhere special but we stayed busy all week long. We started the week off with a play date......and ended the week in a play date!
I got to spend two dinners with old friends.....

....and with newer ones!

I had to work most of the vacation so the boys spent a lot of time with Me-Maw, Poppy, Auntie and cousins. I'm pretty sure they loved it!

I'm grateful for cell phone pictures. I would be at work and get these adorable pictures (like these last two) from Auntie with the comfort of knowing that my kids were safe and having fun!

Good People

2011-03-15T23:25:00.005-05:00

On March 11, 2011 a 9.0 magnitude earthquake happened just off the shore of Japan. It damaged many things (including several nuclear power plants that the country is still trying to keep under control as it threatens the leaking of radioactive substances) but nothing compared to the tsunami that followed with a 30 foot wall of water that swept away everything in its path...literally for miles! The footage that I have watched on tv makes me sick as I watch massive amounts of water sweep away everything and nothing can stop it. At this point the recovery effort is still underway and all we know is that thousands have died. I guess I'm writing about this because I want to remember it. I want to remember the footage that I am watching on news stations as they show the people of Japan and their patience. I love America. I do. But after seeing how these Japanese citizens have handled this terrible devastation, for once I am really ashamed of some of our citizens and how we have handled natural disasters. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina swept across some of our southern coastlines. The floods and deaths that followed were terrible and unfortunately, some American citizens reacted horribly. Later we learned of riots and looting and then we watched as person after person complained about how their government didn't do enough for them. I have no doubt that we could have done better. One can always do better but after watching these Japanese citizens handle their MUCH worse situation, I have realized just how spoiled some of us Americans are. I don't want to be that person. I want to remember all these images of this last tragedy if just only to remind me of gratitude. I am picturing images of people coming together after 9/11 and I hope that is the America that will respond in future natural disasters that will inevitably reach our shores someday.

Ice Cream Van

2011-03-12T14:08:00.005-06:00

You know those familiar sounds of the local ice cream truck or van? Today Levi and Brigham got to buy an ice cream from one for the first time. They were more than a little excited about it all!
We were already outside eating lunch (good ol' Sonic!) when we heard and saw the ice cream van come around. So when the boys got the ice cream I told them that they still had to eat their food. So here is Brigham doing his "lick and eat, lick and eat, lick and eat."

Mommies night out

2011-03-08T20:27:00.003-06:00

A few months ago 3 women in our branch (now ward!) had babies all around the same time. They had been on my mind for some time and so I started a Mommies Night Out for the women in our church who have young kids at home. Some of us are stay at home mommies, some of us work, but we all have days where being Mommy and Wife can be overwhelming and we need some girl time. Tonight was our monthly night out and with last month being Valentine's (and the big snow storms canceling last months outing) we decided to bring our wedding albums and fall in love with our husbands all over again. There was a common theme: we all married teenagers (well, they looked like teenagers at least)! All of us women looked so much older than our husbands! I'm glad to say that I think that all our husbands have caught up to us in the age looks now. Anyways, we had such a good time laughing and just being with each other but before we left, my mommy friends wanted to make sure that Renee and I got sung to tonight, free dessert, and pictures! Happy birthday to us!

Sunday Shoes and News

2011-03-06T16:04:00.003-06:00

Today our branch of 31 years was made into a ward. David, the kids, and I opened the back door into the overflow of the chapel as President Stout asked if we would support this new ward. Did I hear that right? I asked David and he was as shocked as I! I then went to sit down next to a new member, Sister Landrum, and I asked her if we had just been made into a ward. With a big smile on her face she said, "Yes! I don't really know what that means though." I love converts! I was reminded of that as I was teaching my first lesson in Young Women's today. It was on eternal families and as I went to teach the young women certain principles I was kind of torn between teaching those things that the girls who grew up in the church have heard over and over again (the same things that would be good for our new young women like Chelsea Landrum) or bring in something new to the topic. The girls let me know quickly that they had just went over the degrees of glory in Sunday School and so I was relieved to have that decision made for me.

I love these girls more and more as I get to spend more and more time with them. They remind me of the things I learned in college that changed me so much. They also remind me of the importance of guiding my children in these latter days.

Motherhood is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind. It places her who honors its holy calling and service next to angels. (First Presidency Message on Parenthood, given in 1942)

I have been wanting my family to become closer for some time now but didn't know how to do it while working and going to school and the million other things I have gotten myself into. I am truly grateful for things that have been happening lately that are providing ways for me to choose my little family first. Thus this picture!

Every Sunday after church, the Thatcher, Beck, Adams, Moore, and O'Dair families get together to have lunch; rotating between houses. David and I really needed to take the time to get some things in order and I wanted my Sunday family time that we have lacked for a while now. For some time now, Sundays have been our family day. We always knew that after church was just a day left of just being together. That doesn't seem to happen anymore. So we got the kids in the van after church, got some lunch, and headed to the park! I love how the Lord places people and things in your life to confirm things. Tricia just happened to drive by the park and saw us and before I knew it I was crying in her arms of truths being realized. There is the letter of the law and then there is the spirit. Soon followed a sweet text from another friend, Rose, who followed the spirit. Wow, it is hard to put into words exactly how you feel about something so strongly felt. Anyways, cute picture, huh? Those are BRAND NEW church shoes by the way!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

2011-03-04T10:01:00.003-06:00

In case you didn't know, March the 2nd was Dr. Seuss' birthday! The boys have been celebrating his birthday all week at school and today was the day all of them have been waiting for! They got to wear silly hats, silly socks, and bring things like Pillow Pets and blankets to get ready for the many Dr. Seuss books that will be read today in classrooms. It is sooooooo fun to watch your children get so excited about small, simple things!

It's derby time again!

2011-02-26T21:39:00.009-06:00

Today was Brigham's first pinewood derby with the Cub Scouts. This morning he was so hyper with excitement. Here he is with Daddy right before weigh in, putting graphite powder down in the whole in the wheels to lubricate things to help it go faster. It was fun watching those Tiger Cubs get so excited about this race!
And Brigham started his first derby race out with a bang!

First place!

I'm so glad that I got this picture because it was the only round that Levi won in the Wolves division. He was quite disappointed that there was no trophy this year and that his wheels were not working right. It is hard to convince a child that not everyone gets to win all the time.

After the Tigers, Wolves, Bears, and Webelos raced, all the first place winner got to race each other to see who wins in the overall division. Brigham was in second place until he put his weight on his car as he was standing up (after picking up his derby car from the track). After that, he couldn't beat anyone else. Later we saw a small chip near the wheel.

He got third place out off all the kids and I was pretty proud of him....until he told me that he wanted to throw away his derby car. In the boy's bedroom, they have a shelf where they put all their trophies for soccer and derbies. We always put the winning car up there also so I couldn't believe he would want to throw it away. He then told me that he was upset that his car "keeps breaking." I know I should give him a break but I have to admit that it disappointed me that he would be so ungrateful for all the time that he and Daddy had put into this car and to top it off that he won! I had to have a little talk with him and gratitude after that and how his actions are what made it "break." All is well now, though. One of those learning experiences, I guess.

Do you want to be a monkey or a tall daddy when you grow up?

2011-02-24T08:33:00.007-06:00

Just a few fun pictures from yesterday. Yesterday was such a nice day outside so I told the boys when I picked them up from school that we were going to spend some time outside. They whined, I'm sure, because they wanted to play the Wii. Brigham informed me that if he had to stay outside then he wasn't going to play. He was stubborn about it for a while but before I knew it, I found this!

But before I found this, what I actually saw was Brigham on that wooden bench with Hyrum clinging to his back! My heart raced a little bit as I started to run to them. I heard, "Me turn" from Hyrum as Brigham was giving him instructions. I stayed calm though as I explained to Brigham that he was such a good brother to include Hyrum like that but that Hyrum wasn't strong enough and that he would end up letting go and would fall to the ground. I just pictured Hyrum going straight down and a few teeth missing! Hyrum actually took it really well and didn't pout.

This cut out paper person is from Head Start. I picked it up out of his cubby whole yesterday and saw that it said "A Tall Daddy" on the back. So Iasked his teacher about it. Mrs. Dayla said that they asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up and he said "A Tall Daddy." Isn't that so cute!?! I got curious so I looked at a few of the other children's creations and they said things like "Policeman" and "Doctor." As you can imagine, I was soooooooo proud of Hyrum!

Divine Signatures

2011-02-20T21:11:00.007-06:00

Have you ever had experiences in life where you have had things line out so perfectly that there was no other way it could have happened other than by the hand of God himself? As if the Lord whispered to you that all of this was done for only you? I just got off the phone with a friend, Tricia, who continues to teach me of my worth and after I relayed to her my experiences of late she brought me to the understanding of the Lord's divine signatures. She is reading a book by Gerald Lund called, "Divine Signatures: The Confirming Hand of the Lord." I was so touched by what she said that I looked it up online and I want to share a quote from the book:

"Sometimes, the Lord sends His blessings in such a highly unusual way, dramatic or precisely timed manner, that it might be likened to a divine signature. It is as though the Lord signs the blessing personally so that we will know with certainty that it comes from him. In doing so, God not only gives His blessing, but at the same He strengthens our faith and deepens our testimony of Him."

Let me share with you some of my experiences of late. It is no secret that moving out here to Oklahoma was a pivotal changing point in our families life. All the events that led up to the move and then after brought our little family to our knees. Quite bitterly I often stated to my husband that I was tired of people telling me that it would be to my benefit later. You know, I have never been that type of person to bear their testimony of how "grateful" they were for adversities in their lives. I have always been that, "No thank you" type of person and would just rather learn from other's mistakes. Well, as it turns out I am grateful for our last 2 years. One of the greatest blessings that came out of this whole ordeal is that David and I understand each other's roles so much better now. I have worked on and off since moving here because of the hard time it has been for David to find a job, and because of this our roles have reversed. I finally understand how hard it is to come home after working and not getting to unwind first. He finally understands of the importance of the many "breaks" that I needed in order to stay sane after being home all day with very active children. There are so many things that we have learned that it would make this post so incredibly long. I love my husband more now than I think I ever have. I know without any hesitation now that my husband would do ANYTHING for me.

So, at the end of last year we had 2 very dear friends, Travis and Sari Payne, of ours from college give us a wonderful gift. They gave us money for Christmas. They were prompted to give us money for reasons they couldn't explain other than that they recently had went through unemployment and bad job situations and was recently blessed with a wonderful new job. We got their card and money and I knew for the first time that things were going to turn around. For some that may not seem like anything special but you have to understand my lack of faith of the Lord helping us anymore. But for some reason, I knew right then that all was going to be well. It has been about 2 months since then and very slowly that something finally started to show its face. David has been offered a job, is in the process of another job prospect and has been given the opportunity of yet another one.

This leads to our children. We have been blessed that our children have never had to go to day care (well, besides staying with Grandma and Grandpa and Mom and Dad at their day care) and it is very important to us that they never go to day care; that they are always with family. So, when taking one of these jobs we have the choice of me staying home or them going to day care. A lot of women of the Church would just know their role and take this as an opportunity to be at home with their children once again. But take into consideration what these last 2 years have been for me. My depression was so horrible that one of the only things that snapped me out of it was my need to go to work to provide for my family. I was forced to put that smile on my face and go on with life. It really turned out to be a saving part of my life. Now, if you could only get a real glimpse of that then you would understand of the fear that I had of being home again. Sure, I did it for years and it was wonderful but have I changed so much that I wonder if I can do that again. Plus, I know that so many will be worried about me and will fear this decision.

So today at church, as I am secretly scared of letting my boss down and telling those close to me that I might be a stay at home mom again, this beautiful lady stands up to speak to us in Sacrament meeting. Sister Mechele Wall begins to tell us of the importance of being a mother who is there for her children. From here on everything falls into perfect place as she retells a story of a woman who had a career and then gave it all up to be home. She tells of this woman who followed what the Lord prompted her to do only to find that it wasn't all sunshine and lollipops! Her kids still struggled. She struggled. But they did it together. The most important part was that in the end, those children that were going the wrong direction before, were not only going in the right path but that they had this strong love for their mother. Something that was not there before. I desperately needed to hear that all would not be perfect. I think we set ourselves up sometimes when we do all that is asked of us to do in the church only to still have disappointments in life.

After her talk I went outside in this dreary weather and just let the Lord speak to me. I have always loved the wind. At that moment I payed real close attention to the wind that was literally circling around me and at that moment I knew it was the Lord telling me that he was all around me. As tears streamed down my face, I knew the Lord was in this decision. David took me home so I could sort through some things. Soon after that he called me from church and told me that he had asked for Sister Wall's notes from her talk. She then wanted to meet me. Before I knew it, she and her husband were walking through my front door to council me. Oh how I love the tender mercies of the Lord!

Brother Wall is a high councilman...but not our high councilman. For some reason ours could not come so he did today. Brother Wall was suppose to bring a returned missionary. For some reason that didn't happen and he decided to bring a missionary instead; his wife. You see, for some time now she has believed that her "mission" is to make sure that she gets her children converted into the church. And as she spoke with me, I soon learned of her hesitation of using the story that so touched my heart. But she kept going back to that story as she was preparing her talk for those of us in the Grove Branch. She knew now that the story was for me.

Later as I expressed these things to Tricia she told me that this was the Lord's divine signature for me right now. He placed everyone of these things for this exact moment. This teaching moment for me. He loves me. I know He does.

Snowfest 2011 is over

2011-02-18T20:25:00.005-06:00

So sad, but we only have a few dirty snow piles left. Yesterday it was 79 degrees in Tulsa and just a week ago it was -20 degrees! Absolutely insane! So in the midst of all of this our water froze...that was fun. Not fun at all! Because it happened during my busy Valentine's weekend at the flower shop and I would have loved to have been able to unwind in a nice hot shower. To make it worse, it was a certain time of the month.....

So, you would think that I would just hate snow right now, huh? Nope, still in love with it! So I thought I would share a few fun pictures.

This one was taken from the last big snowstorm. David and the missionaries went out to dig people out of their houses. This is the front of David's truck driving through Grandma and Grandpa's driveway....INSANE! Jay got it worse than Grove did. Unfortunately, a few very sad things happened because of these past snow/ice storms. The worst being a couple of children that drowned in a pond. I really have such a wonderful job but sometimes delivering to funerals like these can be a little tough on your heart. It is not the children that make me sad. I just can't get the pictures out of my head of the loved ones left behind.

Here and there along the Grand Lake you will see sights like this. The snow is pretty much melted on the ground but some of the ice is still on the lake. It is so beautiful.....well, except for the collapsed boat docks! I don't even want to know how many chicken houses went down!
As I was delivering in Jay, over the holiday, I found these last two pictures. Love em!

This one is outside of V&V Drug Store.

This one is outside of the Jay Floral. Talk about some competition!

Cute Kids

2011-02-06T17:31:00.004-06:00

Ok, I am suppose to be working on a paper and I am but I had to stop for a second to blog this before I forget.

We are not a huge football family. Thank goodness, my husband isn't into the whole watching sports thing. He loves to play backyard football or play basketball with friends any day but I am so grateful that he doesn't really follow or watch college football or whatever else can take up so much time. He does however take time to watch the Super Bowl every year. I don't know if it is because of his brothers or the funny commercials that come on but there is always one Sunday out of the year that our TV is on watching football.

So I am back in the bedroom writing my paper and I start to hear America the Beautiful. I thought I would come out for this and to my surprise there was this girl on TV singing that I had no clue as to who she was. I figured they would have someone famous. Levi bursts my bubble when he says, "I know what this is (meaning the song). It's Glee!" I had to make myself not laugh! David then says, "That is America's marketing at its best!" Ok, is it more sad that my child doesn't know the name of America the Beautiful or that we are all so influenced by the TV that you could actually think a song is named after a very popular TV show? But then I quickly felt better as I asked him where he got this idea and he said it was at the bottom of the screen earlier. I then put it together and felt a little better as a parent as I remembered that we have never watched Glee and their is no way he would know what that was or who that lady was who sang America the Beautiful.....oh, wait.....that just proves how very behind the times I am as to who is cool.....obviously not me!

Then Hyrum said the cutest thing. The cameras were showing different football players and you know how they have the black face paint under their eyes? Hyrum says, "Bwoos!" It took me a little bit but I finally figured out he was saying "Bruise." What a cutie!

Ok, back to my paper....

Painting snow

2011-02-03T19:15:00.007-06:00

Today was another day without work and school and for the most part was uneventful until later this afternoon. We took water bottles, put dye in them and went outside to paint some snow!

But do you think they painted just the snow? Of course not! Brigham immediately attacked Levi, got in trouble, then proceeded to squirt himself. He got in trouble again only to start squirting it straight up in the air so it would hit the top of his head. At this point Daddy took away his squirt bottle which led to immediate tears! After that he finally decided to do it right.

And a certain boy found some yellow snow....

....sure hope that is MOUNTAIN Dew....

....WAIT! THAT BETTER NOT BE MOUNTAIN DEW IN HYRUM'S HANDS!

When the weather can't decide...

2011-02-01T19:35:00.011-06:00

Saturday was an absolute beautiful day. We played at the park and worked on vehicles and just tried to soak up as much of the sun as possible as we knew of our upcoming winter storm. Everyone around here has been talking about this storm for a good week now. It is amazing to me that we can know so much in advance of what to expect weather wise. Because of really bad past ice storms (I've had family members who didn't have power and water for days), every one kinda freaks out around here when these storms come along. Though, if I had lived through it, I probably would also. Anyways, Wal-Mart was a mad house yesterday. I wish I had my camera on me because the lines were insane! Everyone takes stocking up on water and supplies very seriously. If it wasn't for meeting Tricia there, I would have never went into that packed store! I kept Sofie entertained but I have to admit it was probably for more selfish reasons as she distracted me from freaking out about all the people around me.

Sun will make you do crazy things! On Friday at work, another really nice day outside, we had another business owner come in and buy balloons to put outside to attract customers. Very smart idea in my eyes. Driving around later that day, I wanted to go shopping too and obviously it worked on Dad and Mom! Congrats on the new car!

Hyrum and I making food for the birds earlier today.
So late last night David and I started to hear the pounding of thunder and the following tings of ice hitting the side of the house. Immediately, I was all grins from ear to ear. I LOVE THIS WEATHER!!! I am not a night owl. In fact, I start to get nauseous if I stay up past midnight but I must have been super excited because I wanted to say up and watch movies. I didn't want to miss out on any of the stuff that was falling because I didn't go to bed until just before 4! I guess I didn't think it was going to ice/snow all night but it did and all day today also! I don't know how much we actually got but it was definitely over a foot.

Our house has a very steep odd ramp outside one of the doors, that would never help any elderly person get up to our house but it makes for great play! Whether running little cars down it or making a pathway for a sled, it has kept my boys busy a many a hours!
And it keeps a certain missionary entertained also!

While Elder Grigg was busy playing with the boys (I give him a hard time about being the "fun missionary" while Elder Calkins is the responsible one. I actually think it is a great companionship, though. It reminds me of my marriage. David is always ready to do spur of the moment fun stuff while I'm the one thinking about what actually needs to be done.) Elder Calkins was trying to dig out my husband's truck....yep, my responsible husband was going to go and drive to pick up the missionaries this morning in this crazy weather...yeah, he only made it to the ditch across the street!

The missionaries ended up walking over here and after a few hours of defrosting, that is when we actually first went out and enjoyed the snow. Some people drove by and offered to help. I love the friendliness of small towns....even if it means getting them stuck also!

Eventually they made it out and David got much closer to our property and now we are all enjoying warm moments together.

Police tour with the cub scouts

2011-01-25T17:53:00.008-06:00

Last night was Brigham's cub scout activity at the local police station. These boys can get kind of rowdy at our meetings but I have to say that they did quite well last night. As you can see, Levi came along and I'm glad that he did because last year he didn't get to do this part of his "Go See It" part of his Tiger Cub requirements. The boys first run in with the law.....and it better be their last!
As you can imagine, the boys favorite part was getting to go inside the cop car and turn on the lights and sirens.
Last week as we were heading into Brigham's cub scout meeting, he told me that he needed a drink and that he needed to go to the bathroom but that he had learned his lesson from last time. Last time, apparently, he got a drink and then went to the bathroom only to have to get another drink because he peed all his previous water out (the water that he had just drunk right before going to the bathroom)! It was fun trying to convince him that it didn't quite work like that.

Snow fun part two!

2011-01-20T22:52:00.005-06:00

The Roberts Family invited us to come over this afternoon and go sledding on their property....WHAT A VIEW! Levi and Brigham were in sled heaven!

Brigham, Renee, and David racing.

Brigham and Drake got a ride from David and Hyrum.

Still not sure if Daddy or the little boys had the most fun this afternoon!

Let the snow fun begin!

2011-01-20T10:33:00.007-06:00

I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR! I have always loved the snow but since I have gotten older and am on medication that makes me hot all the time, I love the cold weather even more now. Living in Oklahoma isn't the most ideal for me, weather wise, so when it actually snows I'm in heaven! School was out and work was out of the picture so I get to enjoy the snow today with my family! Here is part one of today! The first thing Hyrum did was dig out his bike!
Nothing like a Daddy motor!

The classic snow angel.

And most importantly, TEAM WORK!

Family Home Evening with Just Dance 2!

2011-01-10T22:40:00.005-06:00

The boys got a Wii for Christmas from Uncle Chuck (a million thanks!) and as much as it bugs me when something new comes out in technology and how society gets all wrapped up in it, I have to admit that this one I really like! You can play it as a family and it gets you active...a family game that gets you sweating. I love it! So, tonight for FHE we played against each other in this dancing game. It was so cute to watch Bitty try to do it! I think it might of been his first time ever playing the Wii. I don't know how many times we thought Brigham was going to take him out (as you will see in this video)! It was such a fun FHE!

Family Home Evening with the Wii

2011-01-10T22:32:00.003-06:00

A big day

2011-01-02T18:42:00.010-06:00

Today turned out to be quite the big day for our family. Baby Spencer was blessed, I was set apart in my new calling, Hyrum graduated from Nursery and is now a Sunbeam and in the primary, and Levi was baptized and given the gift of the Holy Ghost. Levi's baptism was put together very quickly, only deciding on the date and details on Wednesday night. Today was such a wonderful day at church but that is not to say that there weren't a few bumps in the road before the actual baptism began.

After sacrament, David went to go through one of the closets to find the baptism jumpers. He approached me later and told me that he and Podge were going to go to Wal-Mart to try and find something white. I'm really trying not to freak out, as you can imagine. I mean, I had just been set apart for my calling in Young Women. The spirit was strong there as even the man who was giving the blessing was getting chocked up. It was one of the neatest experience that I've had with being set apart for a calling. So I was trying to hang on to that feeling as I was trying not to freak out about my son possibly being baptized in a robe or something. One comfort that I had was that as much as I love my husband, he is terrible at finding things. I knew there was a good chance that there was a jumper in that closet but Sunday School was going on right then when he was telling me this and of course the closet is located in the room that the class is going on in. Now that I'm thinking about it, we should have just went in there and looked. I mean seriously, if someone would get offended about us disrupting a class for a few minutes just to save us from breaking the Sabbath and having to head to Wal-Mart, well, there is something wrong where are priorities are in this branch. But do you think I considered that? Nope! I was too worried about offending all those people and it never even crossed my mind or those around me to go in there as we were discussing what to do. OH, the things that you will rationalize when you are starting to get a little freaked out. Anyways, we headed to Wal-Mart and of course there are no white pants or sweat bottoms but we did find white thermal underwear.....in the little girls department! We were laughing as Podge joked about Levi getting baptized in women's underwear (I was bent down picking up one of these sets of thermal underwear) when I went to get up and didn't realize until it was a little to late that I was stepping on my skirt and yep, you guessed it, I had to pick either to fall over or save myself and continue to rise up but would have to expose myself! Luckily, the 2 very good gentlemen that I were with both grabbed me just in time before I fell and all I have to say is that it was a good thing I had a one piece slip on! Of course, this could be a lesson on not shopping at Wal-Mart on the Sabbath!

So, we get back to the church and of course David finds the jumper once Tricia helps him. Ah, the experience makes for a good story!

The baptism was so perfect. I really don't think that it could have went any better. I am so proud of him for making the choice that he made today. Just as Poppy (Beck) spoke of, it is not the need to be baptized that is of most importance but of the steps that we take, in the correct order, to get us back to Heavenly Father. Levi is still so innocent in so many ways. I feel I need to be baptized almost daily with all that I mess up on but taking this 8 year old boy doesn't seem to make so much sense. He really is such a good boy who impresses me more than I deserve. But I also know that an example has been set to return to our Father in Heaven. I'm so proud of my Levi for taking this step. Hyrum's big step today was leaving nursery and going into Primary. Poor Brother Bridges! The little girl in the polka dots was visiting but add 2 other boys to the mix here and that is the usual for Brother Bridges. This man is a saint for doing this every week! Just look at Brigham's face! This picture does not do justice for this man who tries his hardest to keep these boys in line. Now we are adding a little boy who isn't potty trained into the mix!
Since Levi was getting baptized today, I had my camera on hand. During Sacrament meeting, Levi got up to go to the bathroom. He seemed to be taking a long time so I got up to check on him. Sure enough, he was hiding in the entry way leading to the bathroom with Preston. I laughed at him because it was so unlike him and they were both giggling like the tiniest of little boys and as you can imagine, that just encouraged him more. I went to go find David, who had went into the hallway to calm Hyrum down, when I realized I had lost the boys again. This is what I found!

I sure do love boys!

Surprise!

2010-12-31T19:25:00.004-06:00

The 29th is both David's birthday and our anniversary. I'm always afraid of David getting shafted, especially with Christmas so close by, so I try to do something unique for him. I didn't know just what I could do this year though, with being so busy.

A few Sunday's ago, Elder Grigg approached me and told me he wanted to have a surprise party for David. This is one of the things that I love about Elder Grigg so much; his love for our family and especially David. But I didn't want the typical surprise party so I wanted to think about it. Finally, I thought it would be fitting that David get a guys night out. For years, I was the one staying home with the kids and desperately needing my "outs" but now that David is kinda in my shoes I wanted to make sure he had time away from the kids. So, one the 28th, when he wasn't expecting it, Elder Grigg and I got Dad, Ronald, Podge and his uncle, Brother Houck, Brother and Sister Dooley (they are inseparable!) and the missionaries to meet at the local bowling alley. David said that he was completely surprised! He said that he recognized John's (Houck) truck in the parking lot and when he walked in and saw him with some of the the other guys figured there was some kind of Young Men's activity going on. Much to his surprise, it was all about him!

STRIKE!

A visit from the Brennan Family!

2010-12-28T18:42:00.006-06:00

I went to a church college in Idaho and one thing I loved about living in Utah was that because of the abundance of members of the church there and church history sites, you are bound to have friends from college come through. I got to see and be around lots of my college friends. I knew that I was going to miss that when moving to Oklahoma. Never would I have guessed that it would be middle ground as many of my friends moved around these last few years. We have been blessed to have many friends and family members come and visit on their journeys across the United States. We were blessed with one of these reunions last night.

I met Ben, or as I call him - Bin, in college and he quickly became my best guy friend. I have always looked up to him, even if we tease each other all the time. We kept in touch over the years as we both moved to Utah at one point and then we both got married and ended up in Rexburg, Idaho- David and I as students while he and Laurel were teachers at BYU-Idaho (he was always the smart one!). This is when I really got to know Laurel and quickly fell in love with her. We moved away and eventually ended up in Utah and they did also over the years. Once again, David and I moved and I was sad to leave my dear friends again. I guess it goes to show that some friendships last through moves. I truly am grateful for this family....and I'm glad that their kids have grown up a bit because my boys LOVED those girls last night!

We had Family Home Evening with them last night and just as it always is with kids, we didn't have a lot of alone talk time with Ben and Laurel but we still got in a few good laughs.

Who needs serious group pictures?!

I already miss you guys!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T19:43:00.011-06:00

I have been putting in 11-12 hour work days all week (except for Levi's birthday) so Christmas Eve was so nice when things started to slow down and I was home before 2:00 p.m. We headed off for Nanny and Poppy's house so the kids could make their gingerbread houses (or trains) and cookies for Santa. The littlest grandkids were the cutest with everything pretty much going in their mouths.

After Poppy's famous Christmas Eve burgers we headed off to the big room to get ready for the presents. I try my hardest every year to get something spiritual in before we rip open the presents but unfortunately most of the ADULTS, not children, are pretty unruly and ready for those presents. I used to get a special Christmas book geared towards the kids, to read right before opening all the gifts but since Barbara, David's step-mom (though David calls her mom. I've always thought it was neat that he never calls her his step mom) has been working for Deseret Book, we always get as Christmas gifts some kind of Christ centered book. I opened up our Christmas present from her and Steve early so that we could share with the family. They didn't let us down and I showed some pictures of Christ with a few scriptures before opening the presents.

Here are the kids waiting as the presents pile up and up and....

....spoiled much??????! Elder Rodriguez was looking at these pictures as I was putting them on the computer and he said, "Your family is ridiculous!" He then teased about adopting him into our family or waiting for Shaylee.....creepy, but I guess it is all about the presents! We got a good laugh considering it made me think of Shaylee's dad, Elton. His first Christmas that he spent with our family before he married April, he told her, "I'm sooo marring into this family!" after seeing how many presents are under the tree!

We had the boys open their gift from Uncle Chuck first since we all knew it would be their favorite. One blessing that I can see that comes from not having the same financial blessings as others is that my boys are not spoiled. We only bought them one gift; not that we would have even had to have done that with all that our family provided. But because we don't have a lot, we never have the new things. The Wii has been out for quite some time and just like any other kid, the boys have been wanting one for a long time. They looked forward to every Nanny and Poppy night or going over to Me-Maw and Poppy's house because they new they would get Wii time. I tell you all this because it can help you understand just how very excited they were to finally be getting one! Levi's exact words were, "IT'S A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS!"

My hat boy!

We had April and Elton's name for Christmas this year and I LOVE getting Elton crazy gifts. David got him a real gift (the DVD) and I got him some festive toilet paper......for some reason this morning, the inside of our van had been toilet papered.....not sure why......

Then this morning the boys woke up to Santa and Elder Grigg making us German pancakes. If you have never had them before, it is like having dessert for breakfast. Sooooooooooooo yummy!

Later we went over to Me-Maw and Poppy's house for our Christmas meal. I can't express how nice it has been to just be around the boys. I don't think that people realize just how busy I am. Even when I am at home, I am usually locked up in my bedroom trying to get homework done. A lot of the "nurturing" is coming from Daddy and there is a lot of guilt that comes from that....on both sides. But we know that this is what has to be done right now in our little family and we can't ignore the blessing that I have a job and that our kids don't have to go to day care and that we are both finally going to finish school. And I can say that because of our situation, I appreciate days like today when I just watch the boys and cuddle with my husband all the more than I would if life were easier.

My eight year old

2010-12-20T21:58:00.011-06:00

From early this morning it has been rush, rush, rush. Not because of Christmas, though. My boss and I were complaining last week that Christmas was suppose to be about making cookies with your kids and enjoying time with family and how it just wasn't any fun this year. I made a deal with myself right then that I was going to get my 8 page paper done this last weekend and all my posts done for school so that I didn't have to worry about ANY homework the week of Christmas. I was successful and even though today was so rushed, it wasn't because of my homework! It was just work and I can deal with that because now when I come home this week it will be all about my little family. So after work, we had Levi's 8th birthday party. Before it got started, the kids went crazy with the balloons. Here is Chuck encouraging their screams!

Levi's first birthday party in Oklahoma was a Family Home Evening and it was fitting that on his 8th birthday, the year that he would be baptized, that it would land on a Monday. So I started FHE expressing my love for Levi and his kindness to others.
Friday was the boys last day of school for the year and since Levi wouldn't be in school on his birthday to be able to have goodies brought in for him and his class I decided to have a balloon bouquet (6 latex balloons with one mylar weighed down by chocolate kisses) sent in for him. This morning as I'm heading out the door to go to work, Levi asks me if I would bring home 1 balloon......for Spencer, the newest cousin. Typical Levi; he was going to give his balloons away to his cousins tonight.
On the FHE before or after our kid's birthday we always go through their scrapbooks to remember parts of their lives up to this point. It was so funny watching Hyrum pout because there were not pictures of him in there until the second to last page!

I love it when you catch pictures of excitement. Levi and Brigham LOVED the card that Uncle Chuck got for Levi!

Yes....those would be matches on Levi's cake.....

You might be a redneck if.....

As usual, the missionaries helped save the day. As we ran out of time with me being at work and David trying to get a paper done for school, they picked up the cake, dinner, and helped David make the candles (putting candle wax over the tips of the matches in hopes of trying to get them to last longer).

After everyone left, just Levi and I went out for dinner and a birthday treat. I was so emotionaly sappy tonight! Geez! That poor kid couldn't do anything without it just making my heart swell. I really do love that boy so much.

Sweet Potatoes

2010-12-15T21:39:00.003-06:00

Tonight was a relief.

A few months ago I was asked to sing in a play that some of us put on for the church tonight. It was over the parable of the ten virgins. There are so many little sentences here and there in the play along with certain songs that touch my heart over and over again. I feel that as I have been practicing and at our rehearsals that I have been a mess. The tears always seem so close to the surface and as you can imagine, that makes it hard for solos. But alas, tonight was the night......and I did it! I sang and said my parts without crying! That's not to say that I didn't cry through certain other parts. But that is ok....even if it was in front of other people. I'm just grateful it was in front of my church family. And speaking of church family.......I'm so grateful that I have a playful one! Sister Roberts was given a massive amount of sweet potatoes from a lady in the branch. Of course she is going to use most of them but why not have a little fun with just some of them. Here is Katie, our sly gal pal that was able to trick Tricia into thinking that she wanted to help her out by taking stuff to her car (when really she just wanted the keys!). That Katie is a smart one!

One of these days Tricia is really going to pay me back and I'm gonna be in trouble...........BUT IT WASN'T ME, TRICIA! I JUST TOOK THE PICTURES!!!!! Ok, maybe I put the sweet potatoe down your antenna........

Christmas Caroling

2010-12-12T23:45:00.004-06:00

Tricia invited our family to come with hers and the Bishop family to go Christmas Caroling tonight. The Wilson family started by coming and singing to our family. From our house we loaded up (with Mom's yummy homemade hot chocolate) and headed off to the Bishop's house. From there we visited 5 other families. Here we are in the Bridges home.And here is a more "natural" look to how the photo session really went!
My camera isn't the greatest and so most of my pictures didn't turn out well but I LOVE the look on the Cullings' faces in this picture. I sure do love my branch family!

Grove Branch Christmas Party

2010-12-11T22:34:00.008-06:00

Tonight was our branch Christmas party. The boys were suppose to be in the Grove Christmas parade tonight for cub scouts but we would rather be with our church family and its a good thing too because it was very cold and windy tonight.

First we had dinner and from there the breakdowns began! Brigham and Levi were in the line for the food and began right away "play fighting." Nanny was a few people in front of us so she took Levi while I took Brigham. Well, Brigham took that as a punishment on just him and not Levi. This wasn't the case; they just needed to be separated. So when it was our turn to get our food of course stubborn Brigham wouldn't put anything on his plate. So I got his plate ready and as you probably guessed, he didn't like anything I picked out. He pouted the whole time at our table and wouldn't touch his food. But I just ignored it and enjoyed sitting with April and her family and in the midst of it all I caught this....

...Our three newest mammas (all holding each others babies!).

After our meal the kids were rounded up and got ready for the play.

I'm sooooo going to use this picture in the future as a tool in arranging Hyrum and Sofie's marriage!

Hyrum had a breakdown right in the middle of the play, which was fun, and Brigham had another one right as Santa was making his way in. Anna came right over to tell him that all was ok and that even if he didn't sit on his lap that Santa would know what he wanted because he was a good boy. I just love that woman!

I love my boys...even if they do make Christmas parties hard!

Shaylee's basketball game

2010-12-11T14:08:00.003-06:00

Today was Shaylee's first basketball game. Her Daddy, Elton, played in high school and was good at it...still is, so naturally, he is the coach of her team with the help of his brother, Pat.

It was cute April pointing out that Shaylee has the same number as Daddy did in high school and then of course them playing in the same gym as daddy did.

Of course, I think she played wonderfully! Even if they didn't win! Most of the family was there which always makes it fun but the real fun was with the crazy boys! (See video following this post!) During Shaylee's first game, the boys did so well! They just sat on the bench with me (well, Hyrum was laying all over me but still, he was being quiet). Then the game got over and I gave them money to either get a drink or candy. Of course, that changed everything....but not at first. They stayed still as they ate and drank as we waited for Shaylee's next game. But then, Brigham got thirsty (he picked candy) and of course Poppy couldn't handle them wanting more so he sent them off with $5.00 to the concession stand. Shaylee went with them and Hyrum stayed with me. When they came back, Shaylee handed Poppy (my dad) one dollar and said, "I don't know why but they only gave me a dollar back." I was confused by that also but just then Brigham says to me, "We had 5 dollars so I could get 5 things!" Of course he didn't get 5 things but forget about the other 2 kids with him and how they wouldn't get 2 things like he did! So at this point, he had already had a bag of candy and now had gotten a pop and some more candy. All the grownups laughed at Brigham and thought it was cute. A few minutes go by and I look over and realize that Brigham's pop is a Mt. Dew!!! I don't like for my kids to have caffeine as it is let alone Mt. Dew! To top it all off, I compare Brigham to Hammy on Over the Hedge as it is because of his natural hyperness. Can you just imagine that boy with Mt. Dew?!

Crazy hyper boys

2010-12-11T14:00:00.002-06:00

Prankin...I mean, celebrating a birthday with the little ones!

2010-12-06T20:52:00.012-06:00

Today was a day off for me and I really enjoyed it. I got a lot done but was still able to spend a lot of time with my family. Usually it is just one or the other, not both, so today really was a perfect day in my book. I got all my errands done before Spencer came over for us to watch him. It seriously was so hard for me to put him down to get dinner cooked. I seriously was really close to ordering in food just so I could stay snuggled up to him before I had to leave for a Head Start meeting.

Here is Hyrum loving on Spencer. Later, Brigham asked to hold him. It was so sweet to me because Levi just naturally is fascinated and loves babies. Brigham doesn't really care that much but eventually he was the one who actually asked to hold Spencer. It really surprised me and it was really sweet to be able to tell Brigham, while he was holding Spencer, that he would be a good Daddy someday. I told him about the blessing that Daddy gave to me while I was pregnant with him. It is how I found out I was having a boy (which I wanted it to be a surprise!). In the blessing he told me of this child I was caring and how he was going to be this great father. I wish I could have caught on camera the huge proud smile on Brigham's face after hearing that.

For Family Home Evening tonight we decorated our Branch President's car....yes, we did this with our boys. WHAT EXAMPLES WE ARE! Starting our kids off prankin' young!

We have an amazing Branch President. Our little family loves him very much so it was so fun to do this for him. I hope it made him feel loved and appreciated. Just an example of his kindness. He is a podiatrist and I have been having problems with one of my heels. Being the giving man that he is he has been treating me at a very reduced rate. This morning I went to him for one of my shots and as I was leaving, ran into Tricia, Sydney, and Sofie. He was seeing Sydney for her warts. I went in with them for their appointment so I could spend some time with Tricia and do you think President Roberts said anything about his birthday? Of course not. But we found out anyway!

"HAPPY B-DAY BRANCH DADDY!"

Ok, to expound on our bad parenting skills, as we were pulling up to this parking lot in Fairland, Levi starting telling us that he didn't want to get out. Knowing how cautious of a child that he is (and responsible!) I figured he was hesitant of getting caught. Sure enough he was. I tried to quickly explain to him that it would be ok if we got caught because we were not doing anything bad to Matt's car. He eventually got out and helped. But as we were leaving he asked me, "What if there were video cameras?" I love my innocent boy! I had to then explain to him the difference between vandalizing some one's property and what we had done (we had gotten permission from Renee, Matt's wife, before doing this). I think we finally got him to understand.

But before we left the parking lot, David found Tricia's van. How could we not?!!!!!

Too bad it ended up being Shannon, her husband, driving that night! Serves us right! And definitely makes it even more funny!

Thankful

2010-11-27T12:50:00.005-06:00

I used to keep a journal that in each entry it started with, "I'm thankful for...." I was just thinking about that journal. Of course, that journal was kept in my Rexburg days and I had so much to be thankful for back then. But I also know that just because life isn't as easy as it was back then and the blessings in my life now are not as easily seen on the surface as it was back then; that I am blessed just the same now. It is time to start digging deeper and finding those blessings. So here is something that I am very thankful today.

I am thankful that I got sick....yes, sick! It started yesterday but I was was hoping I would sleep it off last night. I had plans for lunch with Valerie and Pounce in Fayetteville, Arkansas today and was really looking forward to the laughs. But this morning I woke up and it was much worse than last night. I wasn't running a fever or anything but my voice sounded horrible and I had a pounding headache. Laughing was certainly not going to help the matter at hand! So as I lay in bed thinking about my friends, the thought came to me that maybe Heavenly Father had it in His plans for me to be sick at that moment.

Because of Thanksgiving, I am in the middle of a 5 day off break from work. Instead of thinking of all the wonderful sleep that I will catch up on and playing with my kids and alone time spent with my husband, all I can think about is all that I can get done with and caught up on that I have been lacking lately. Starting from Wednesday night up until this morning, I have been doing just that. Yes, even on Thanksgiving day, I did not spend it being thankful as I should. I didn't even stay long at Grandma and Grandpa's house after dinner because of all that I wanted to get done, but of course blaming it on getting Hyrum home to get in his nap. It is funny the things that you will let yourself believe sometimes.

So here I am in bed this morning and realizing that just maybe it is in the Lord's hands that I be sick to calm myself down. I am really grateful for that because here I am at 1:00 in the afternoon and I can't tell you anything that I have gotten accomplished other than letting my body rest and spending time with my family.Here I am with Hyrum and David in Hyrum's new big boy twin bed. David was able to swap out work for this bed and as you can see everyone is enjoying it!

Bitty Boo Time

2010-11-23T22:41:00.012-06:00

I was at work the other day when these first few pictures were taken. They were too cute not to share! The missionaries came over and were washing David's truck as well as their car. Bitty came out after his nap and started to help them....by washing the pressure washer!

But he moved on to the car, eventually. The missionaries are such good sports. At one point, I guess he was opening up the gas door and washing in there also. Of course they let him do it!

Here Elder Grigg and Hyrum are doing some team work!

Today was Hyrum's Thanksgiving feast at the Head Start. All the parents got to go. They fed us real well.....and did you know that the pilgrims had Coke at their meal?????? Seriously, the food was real yummy, though.
Just a funny story. We were sitting across from one of Hyrum's classmates, Javen, and her parents. They told us a story that I had to put on here. The teachers at Head Start were taking pictures of each of the kids individually and having them pose as pilgrims. Javen, who is American Indian, informs them, "I am not a Pilgrim. I'm an Indian!" It was cute to hear them tell the story and her being so proud of her heritage!