New Year's Eve....

In years past this night would have been spent with friends laughing and trying to see the new year in by staying up until midnight or better. It would have been riddled with laughter, maybe a few tears and lots of food. There would have been movies, hand selected from the video rental place (many more than could fesible be watched in one night) and good friends galore. Tonight for me there is no such festivities. My old body has a hard time staying up until 10 let alone midnight.....good friends are out roaming the country or too far to get together.....and I don't need anymore excuses to eat more than I know I already should (when you're younger you don't seem to care about what you eat or how much). So I am spending the evening with the children, and not even all of them as Amanda (and Gabe--since he is in the YM presidency in our ward) has a stake YM and YW activity to help ring in the new year. Actually I am listening to the children have fun with each other while they watch TV in my bedroom (which they don't get to do very often). As I sit listening to them create games and pretending that my bed is a ship, I have begun to reflect on the coming year. I wonder what it will bring for our family, our nation, our world. I wonder a lot of things. I have so many ideas of things that I would/should change and hope that maybe a few of those many ideas will become a reality. I hope that I can have a better year in some respects and that I will be able to handle all the challenges that might come my way. I hope that I can live up to all the expectations that I have for myself and the family and that I don't let anyone down.

Christmas 2009

This year as in years past we have been blessed. We have lots of friends and family that must feel we need fattening up because we always get lots of goody plates and yummy food to eat. This year was no expection to that. As the practical person my husband is, we generally don't give many gifts unless they can and/or are useful to the recipient. So our Christmas shopping isn't started or finished until the last minute. This year was no exception to that either. The exception seemed to come in what we did. My parents again came down and celebrated with us on Christmas Eve. They brought all the gifts from them for the children and the kids loved it. They were able to open one present from Grandma Sherry and Grandpa Lyle and thought that was a wonderful treat. Then we had been invited to a party! We went to the party and had a wonderful time with lots of good food to eat and lots of great company. What could you ask for more for a good time that good food and good people to share it with? Much to the children's surprise Santa showed up and brought everyone a gift. Of course you had to sit on Santa's lap before you could get it (adults included)----we all had some good laughs over that one. Then we brought the children home and it was bedtime.

Christmas day dawned not so bright at our house. I remember getting up at the crack of dawn when I was a child and waking up the rest of the siblings and then rousing mom and dad so that we could open the gifts. That is not the way it happened this year. We didn't hear the children even start getting up until 7:30 and we were able to post-pone the gift opening until 8:30 after Gabe and I had showered and dressed.

Breakfast with Santa

I know that this post is a little late, but with everything else that seems to come at this time of year I have gotten behind in my posts. The Primary in our ward has a wonderful idea.....breakfast with Santa. They brought the kids in and let them have doughnuts and hot chocolate and then Santa came. They had some singing and crafts and most of all the infamous photos with Santa. I was lucky enough that although I only have 3 children who are officially in primary all 5 of the young ones were able to stay and play (as I stayed too). One member of the presidency had her digital camera there along with her printer and they printed the kids' pictures right then for them to frame and take home......and because of my friendship with this great lady I also got them emailed to me so that I could post them here, which is only now happening. Jacob and Katherine were so very much NOT interested in Santa or having anything to do with sitting on his lap, but with the help of big brother Wyatt we managed to get a cute picture of at least Jacob, Katherine's is still the typical crying for all she is worth. So enjoy!

Creating

So I have been meaning to do something for awhile about this, but just didn't know what to do. So, when then hubby suggested how to fix it, it sounded like a good idea and one that I could do fairly easily right? Well, sort of.

This quilt was one that was given to us on our wedding day almost 15 years ago. I would say that it has held up really well. But after looking at it and actually using it lately we decided that something needed to be done. The holes were much too big to just patch and be done with it. I actually had mended it by putting a binding on it about 7 or 8 years ago. It helped but the fabric was just old and worn. For some reason I just didn't want to throw it out.....so we recycled it. I took the old binding off and then took all the ties out.
I went to Walmart and found a great buy....2 king sized microfiber blankets for $15 each. I bought them and then the binding to match and away we went.

The process was slow partly because when you are a mom you never have a lot of time to do just what you want to. So in between other duties I removed the old binding, ties and then put it all on to the quilt frames. (Note to anyone else doing something like this, when you get to put it on the frames have someone else to help you---it goes much faster and is much easier). Then I began. I tied for a whole day and then spent the next one putting on the new binding. Today it looks like a brand new blanket. Of course essentially it is. I layered one new blanket on the bottom, then put the old quilt in the middle (where the batting usually goes) and then another new one on top. And voila.....our new bedspread. I have another one that I need to do now, but I think I may wait awhile before doing that one......my house needs help now.

I find that I have a love/hate relationship with projects like these. I love to have them because they give me something to do and when I am finished I have something that I can be proud and know that I did it all by myself......but I hate them because I get so involved with it that the house suffers. Laundry and dishes pile up, the floor goes unswept....nothing else but the most essential of daily chores gets done. So now that my master piece is finished I still have a ton to do in making up for 3 days of not doing squat!

GHD Update

It has been 3 months.....wow it doesn't seem like that long. Bethany has been on her meds for 3 months now. Her pediatrican wanted a height and weight check after that time to see how she is doing. So, How is she doing? We had her weighed and measure this morning and the results are: she has gained 1 pound and grown 1 1/4 inches. Now this might not seem like a lot to you, but for her it is enormous. Last time we did this she didn't make any changes. I can't see those changes, but I know that she is growing. The changes that I have seen have been in me. I have no qualms about giving her her shots now. As a matter of fact I am now doing them by myself. When we first started Gabe was always there, I think more of a support for me than anything. I still worry about her, but I know that she is doing fine. We meet again with the endocrinologist in Feb and we will know more then. As for now HORRAY for Bethany!

New Glasses

It seems like this is an everyday occurance for some, but in our household it comes but once a year. Since Wyatt has glasses too, for him it comes more often for a couple of reasons. The first and formost is that he is a boy and VERY hard on his glasses and also his eyes are changing faster than mine or Gabe's and therefore his perscription changes and then he needs a new pair. So, as you might have guessed, Wyatt got new glasses. For me this time was a bigger event than I wanted it to be, only because of the glasses that he chose. It was hard for him to decide on a pair of glasses. The ones that I thought looked good on him, he didn't like and then the ones that he liked I didn't for 2 reasons: 1. they were not the right shape, color and/or style for his face and 2. they were too expensive for what we could afford. I really wanted for him to get some that were memory metal. These were awesome glasses. You could bend twist and other wise distort them and they would retain their shape. I thought they would be the best for our money, but Wyatt didn't like them. So after much deliberation we found a pair that he liked AND that mom could tolerate. I realized, much to my dismay, that he is getting really independent and mom's opinion doesn't rate as much any more. Ultimetly I decided that it was better that he liked them and would wear them than I liked them. So the pair that we decided on:

He looks pretty handsome doesn't he?

Two

This post I had a hard time coming up with a title. Yes, it is another birthday post. This time for our little Katherine. She turned 2 on Friday the 13th. Not a fun day for some, but we managed to have decent luck that day. This post almost isn't fair to Katherine. Normally I would post things that I love about that person that amount to the number of years old they are. For Katherine that just means two, but it is hard to pick just two things about her. There are just too many things that I love about her. These last two years have definitely flown by with her. Looking back over those years, there are things that stand out in my mind about her:

1. She is the first child that we have had that needed surgery at a young age (10 months) and the first for that particular aliment, although all the children had it (clogged tear duct).

2. Her teeth have come in really oddly although the dentist tells me that this is okay and quite acceptable. She got 4 molars before she ever had top front teeth.

3. She is a quick study....she watches a lot before she tries and so when she does try she can usually accomplish it quite easily.

4. She has the most beautiful smile.

5. She is the first of my girls to be able to put their hair up at a very young age (at 3 months).

She is a special little girl and we are glad to have her in our family. I am not sure what I will do when it is her turn to go to school (I know a long way off), but in the mean time I am going to enjoy this one as much as I can.

Another Year older.....

This is a hard post to write. Not because I don't know what to say, but because I feel like I already said it once. Today is Gabe's birthday. Normally I would have a list of all the things that I love and admire about him (one for each year of his life), but I have already done a post like that (see May 26th for our anniversary post). So I am not going to repeat myself, if you want to know some reasons why I love this man see the previous post for 14 of them. I would also post pictures of him, but if your really know my husband.....he HATES pictures and will do anything to get out of them. Most of the ones that I have are of him making faces at the camera or of the back of his head because he turns away. So I guess that the point of this post is just to aknowledge that today is the birthday of my dear husband. What more can I say that I haven't already said?

Halloween 2009

We really haven't done a lot this Halloween season, but the kids sure did have fun. Wyatt and Amanda had a piano recital. This one is really different than most recitals that you have been too....the kids dress in their Halloween costumes and play the spookiest music that the teachers can find. And it is a combination of several teachers not just ours. Then the kids also had their parties at school. This year I was brave enough to go, but not sure I will again without giving children a nap. Since I have 3 kids at the same school I had 3 parties to go to and I had 2 kids that did not get naps.....you do the math on that one and decide how well I enjoyed myself there. On Halloween morning I decided to try something different for breakfast and like anything different I was met with resistance. I had the idea that I would make our french toast into spooky french toast. I had some cookie cutters that I thought that I could use to cut out some shapes after the toast was cooking. For some reason I was really hesitant about cutting them out before they cooked and wasting all the bread. So it ended up being just a ghost shape cut into the toast. Jacob was my first to say that he didn't want a ghost in his toast. Then Gabe tells me that he doesn't want one either.....until he saw that it was only the toast with a ghost in the middle. After that I think the kids ate more than normal. I personally thought that they were pretty cute. What do you think?

I was a little disappointed this year as we didn't have a ward Halloween party. Usually they have one and have the trunk or treating---didn't happen this year. So for the first time in several years, Gabe and I took the kids out trick-or-treating. We didn't want to be gone too long as we had lots of candy to give away, but we did hit a few houses of people that we knew. We were gone long enough that the kids were satisfied that we went. Unfortunately we were also gone too long that we didn't get any trick-or-treaters at our house. I personally think that we didn't get any because no one really knows that our houses exsist. The subdivision we live in is a new one (only 5 houses and 1 more almost complete) and we don't even have a road sign that tells you what street we live on. So our kids got more candy than we had intended for them to have as they now have the stuff that I bought to give away. All in all we had a wonderful time and the kids looked so wonderful in their costumes. I think that next year I should try and get on the ball and have a theme for them and make their costumes. Kelli did that with her kids and it was really cute to see all her little "bugs" come trick or treating to our house.

Finally!

I could have titled this post many ways....but I guess this one sums it up. We went hunting again last night and FINALLY filled the rest of the tags of the group that we started with. This time wasn't as strenous as the previous times we went. We were able to go on private land with a friend of ours and he took us right to where the deer were. They didn't seem to be to concerned that we were there, until the shooting started of course.
I was a little disappointed in myself...I became the mop-up shooter, not by choice, but because I wasn't as aggressive as I should have been. These deer were coming up into the field and we basically ambushed them. Lance had a better position to see and therefore shoot them, so he became the lead shooter. He said later that he was waiting for me to shoot, but when I didn't he did. He shot his little buck and then wounded mine. Gabe took his doe with one shot and then it became a matter of finishing mine. I shot him (yes, I said him) 5 times. Okay, so I didn't hit him all 5 times, but I did get him at least 3 times, but everytime I shot him he would stand up and be the typical male. It was almost like he was saying "that didn't hurt, I am alright".
I am glad that we all filled our tags, but pretty disappointed that I wasn't able to say that I took down the deer all by myself. Gabe says that this is what hunting it about...someone has to be the mop-up crew. I guess that next year I am going to have to be a little more aggressive and fight for my rights as a shooter.
On a side note, now that we have all the tags filled, the barn looks like something out of a horror film. There are currently 5 deer hanging there. Gabe and I have 2, Lance and Kelli have their 2 and then Lance's brother-in-law has one hanging too. For someone who is not used to it, it can be a little creepy.
So now I guess that I need to tell a little more about my deer. Yes it is a buck, but it doesn't show from the picture. Some may doubt that I got a buck, but the proof isn't decent to show. Gabe and Lance thought it was a doe too, until Lance started gutting him. We believe that the doe that Gabe shot was his mother and that he is only a yearling. Not a big one like I dreamed about, but still meat in the freezer. My dream had been to shot one that was bigger than the one that is currently hanging on my wall. But maybe next year.



















Lance and his deer.



















The hanging of the deer.

Stripper Girl

This one is for all you mothers out there. We are coming into that stage of development that most mother's dread. You know the one, when the child has discovered that they can take their own clothes off and then they don't want to put them back on. So Katherine is here. I get her dressed in the morning and she looks something like this:

But on this particular day 20 minutes later she looked like this:

I must admit that I have been lucky....that is all the farther that she goes (so far). When she gets like this, I ask her where her clothes are and her response: "I don't know" with a shrug of her shoulders of course. I am glad that she delites in the discovery of how things work, I just wish that she wouldn't take such pleasure in proving her growing independence.

Hunting--- Take 2

So since our first outing wasn't successful (we didn't see any deer nor shoot any) we had to take another one. This time we were a little more successful, but not by much. We decided to take a little more time at it and went out on Friday AND Saturday. I know, we were fortunate to find a great babysitter that was able to stay with the kids both days. So we went Friday.
And right off the bat found 4 nice looking bucks that would have been great for the freezer. The problem was we weren't sure if we could hunt in that area or not. After looking at the maps and such we decided that we could and so started to put the sneak on them. Unfortunately---they fled and we couldn't keep up. Strike one.
We jumped on the four-wheelers and went into an area that Gabe and Lance hunted before (it was actually the same area where Gabe harvested our trophy deer that is hanging on our wall).


We saw nothing there. No, wait, I take that back.
We saw a couple of does (but this was an antlers only area), a few cow elk, and a rattlesnake....not to mention the numerous cows that were there. Strike two.
The next place we tried we saw three huge bull elk (it was enough to make Gabe and Lance long for a tag so they could take them down). Strike three. (I can't take credit for this elk picture. I tried to get my camera out but I wasn't fast enough. By the time I had it out they were already over the hill and gone. Thanks Kelli! I borrowed this from her.) I also have to put in here that the picture of Gabe came from Kelli too. He is so hard to get pictures of that I don't try anymore. Thanks Kelli for the great picture of Gabe too.


By this time it was getting late and as we all had children to tend to we decided to head home. As we were driving out, Gabe was scanning the hillside (we didn't give up even on the drive out). He saw a deer laying on the side of the hill. He thought she looked hurt and we again debated what we should do. We decided to go try. We parked the truck. All four of us got out, but Gabe didn't bring his gun as we weren't sure what we would find. We started up the side of the mountain. We got about 4 hundred yards from the deer and stopped. I saw one standing up and Gabe had seen one laying down, but said that the one I saw standing was the same one. We decided that Kelli would have first go. She shot. Missed. As she was reloading, we noticed 4 more does stand up! WOW! Lance took a shot...nothing. Gabe took some shots....nothing. Kelli took another shot and said that her deer disappeared. By this time there were about 12 does standing there and in various stages of leaving as quickly as they could. Since Gabe didn't have his gun, he had taken mine, so there was no way for me to have shot anything and then they all left, rather quickly. So now we climbed the hill to see if there was anything. We were surprised that Kelli's second shot was true and had brought down the deer. We were thrilled, but disappointed that nothing else was there. We took care of the business of cleaning her up and getting her loaded and headed home.
The next day was also a disappointment for us all. We saw lots of deer, but they were in places that we weren't allowed to hunt---in the city limits, and on private property. I didn't take any pictures because there wasn't anything exciting to see and all the scenery had been taken the day before. This means that another hunting trip is in order. I wasn't sure that I wanted to shoot something, but now the challenge is before me. My competitive nature has taken hold and I too have to get that elusive deer so I can say that I can do it too. If you want another view point of this trip check out Kelli's blog at www.coresonfamily.blogspot.com and you can see the pictures of her deer too.
This picture is one of the sage grouse that we saw. If you look closely you can see one big fat sage hen....this is my "Where's Waldo?" picture for you. She is there. But they blend so well that they are very hard to see.














This is our rattlesnake. As we were walking along the hillside Gabe heard it. Kelli was actually walking ahead of Gabe and almost stepped on it. A little scary but he didn't hurt us, nor did we hurt him.

What a trooper!

We had to do something yesterday that as a parent is pretty tough. We took Amanda into surgery and had her tonsils and adenoids taken out. It wasn't physically tough to take her there and wait with her while this was done....it was emotionally something that I don't want to have to do again with any of my children, but know that I may have to sometime. This wasn't the first time that we have taken anyone for surgery, but I must admit it was easier this time. The first time was with Katherine and her clogged tear duct. This one was nothing compared to that, as Amanda is old enough to understand what was going on and didn't freak out as she came out of the operating room and into recovery. She was a real trooper. I didn't really hear her complain until the very end when she really just wanted to go home. And at that point, I didn't blame her because I was ready to get out of there too.
We started our day at 8:30 which found us in the waiting room.














They took us back to the room and Amanda donned the cute gowns that you have to wear. Then she got her IV. She never once cried or flinched while this was done.



















About 9:15 they came for her. They put the lovely cap on and put a robe on, because we all know how flattering those gowns are. And away they went.



















About 45 minutes later (about 10:30) she rolled back into the room looking a little tired, but still pretty upbeat.



















It wasn't until the nurse came to take out the IV and she got up to go potty that things started getting stressful for me. I know that bleeding after surgery is pretty normal, but this was a little on the extreme side I think. After they took her IV out, her nose started to bleed. I wasn't too worried, but it kept oozing and oozing. The nurse told us that she couldn't go until it stopped bleeding. So we sat there until about 4:15 before it stopped and we could go home.
Today she is hurting, but you tell me who wouldn't be after that. I know when I had my tonsil out I couldn't eat for several days and I didn't want to swallow anything either. If I remember right I lost a lot of weight. What a great way to start a senior year.

14 things I love about.....

Of course it is that time again...another birthday update. This time it is Amanda. I am going to have to stop doing this, not because I don't like listing the things that I love about my children, but because it get harder to find things that I haven't already said about them. So here it goes. 14 things that I love about Amanda:
1. She is always helpful. Since she has been little she has been my little helper. Now she loves to help, but it has gotten to the stage where she is more eager to help somone outside the home than in it (just a teenager thing).
2. Talented Musician. She is able to sit down and play a piece of music a couple of times and then almost play it for memory. This is especially true for her clarinet. She will practice a piece and then she will walk around the house playing it without her music.
3. Generous. She is and always has been a very giving person.
4. Good Cook. This one has come about lately as I have been more willing to let her help out in the kitchen. She has even done the whole meal by herself a couple of times with minimal help from me. That is nice for me as I can have her start something while I am busy with something else and then come help her finish it.
5. Willing to help. This one is a little different than before. She is always the first one to jump in where she sees help is needed.
6. She is alway pretty happy. I am seeing less of it as the teenage grumpies hit, but I can always seem to get a smile out of her.
7. She is going to be a great mother. I have caught her trying to do things that I should be doing for the other children. She loves to play with the babies of the ward and anytime that she can babysit (other than for her siblings) she is always willing.
8. Brave--this one I really saw happening lately. But more on that in a future post.
9. Energetic. I wish that I had half of her energy and stamina at times. She has been know at slumber parties to do just the opposite----stay up ALL night and then just keep going the next day without missing a beat.
10. Relates well to others. It doesn't matter how old they are, she is a people person. She wants to be with other people.
11. Dependable. She has come to be the one that you can rely on. If she says she will do something,then she is going to do it and be there for you.
12. Eager learner. She is always up for the challenge of learning something new.
13. Quick study. She is eager to learn, but she also picks it up quite quickly.
14. And last, but definetly not least, is that she is turning into such a nice and well rounded Young Women. I am very happy with what she has done in her life and the choices that she is making. If we can make it through these teenage years, we will be one happy family.
These are just a few pictures that I found of her that I wanted to share.
This was taken last Christmas. My father-in-law bought a Santa suit and had all the grandkids come and get their picture taken with "Santa". The funny thing is, that is his true beard and he didn't have to stuff the costume at all either.



















This is a special one for Gabe. This is Amanda with her Great-Grandpa Joe. She was born about 3 yrs before he passed away. I believe that she was his first Great-grandchild, but don't quote me on that one.
















This is Amanda and Gabe at her baptism. What a special day for her and us.



















This one is my special one. This is a four generation picture taken after she was born. This was her first road trip to Utah, and hasn't been the last either. I know that somewhere we have a 5 generation one for this side of the family (it would include my great-grandma and Amanda's great-great grandma Kimber) , but not sure where that one is. If any family members can help me track that one down, I would be forever grateful.

Rags to Riches...well not exactly

Today I had a burst of creativity....or something like unto it. I decided that it had been way too long since I had pulled out my sewing machine and I needed to get it out so that I could sew the patches on Wyatt's scout shirt (I know he has been in for almost 5 months and I am such a slacker for just getting around to sewing them on). But in order to sew today I had to uncover my machine which meant that I had to decide what to do with the mending that was pilling up---mend it now or later. Well, as you might guess, I decided to mend now while I was going through the pile and save Wyatt's patches for another day. So my task began with sewing Gabe's work shirt and fixing a hole there, sewing another button on another work shirt of Gabe's, stitching up a hole in one of his ties, and then there were several pairs of pants that had holes in them. Jacob is very hard up for pants and there was one pair in there that was his size. The rest were actually Katherine's size....although she isn't needing them as much. So I had some decisions to make....do a patch job that was just that a patch or do something more decorative.
A friend suggested that I take the denim patch that I would have put on the outside of the pants on the inside and then make the outside fancy. I was unsure at first because I am not really good at cute and fancy. Patching I can do, cute and fancy...not so much. But as I was thinking about it, I was trying to find some fabric that I could use and came across pieces of a quilt that we had made for a wedding and cut some off to make it shorter. It was just what I needed. Katherine really didn't have a choice and hers was the test. I think that they turned out pretty cute what do you think?















The whole time that I was working on Katherine's pants, Jacob was looking at the rest of the scraps that I had and was asking where his pants were. So I showed him the pants that were going to become his and then asked him what he wanted on them. I would have put the puppy print that I had, but he chose the kitty ones instead. Either way I had to make his today too, because he kept asking when his would be finished. It really didn't take too long. And I feel pretty good about having taken some things that would have normally go in the trash, fixed them up and made them wearable again. I am thankful at this moment in time for my mother who took the time to show me how to sew and then taught me that saving material is okay. If I hadn't have saved those scraps from the quilt I would have just had to do boring old patches that the kids probably wouldn't have wore anyway. But now I have something that is 100% unique and pretty darn cute in my opinion. And if you think about it I saved our family about 15+ dollars by not needing to buy the pants new.

I think that I may have to do more of this, but unfortunately I don't have many more scraps of fabric or pants to put them on. I may just have to break down and get the fabric for a "real" project or two first. Either way I need to do more of this. The satisfaction of seeing the end result and knowing that I did that makes it worth the effort. Granted next time I think I will start a little earlier into rest time as then I won't have to contend with Katherine wanting to push the pedal for the sewing machine when I am not ready for that. We shall see what happens with time.

The first snow of the season...

Yesterday it began to snow, and it really hasn't stopped feeling like winter since. I love this kind of snow as it is really wet and sticks together well. So what do we do with it.....build a snowman of course. But by the time I decided to make one Jacob was complaining that he wanted to go inside and so therefore Katherine was doing the same. I made just a quick one and convinced Jacob to get the eyes (rocks).

This one is Katherine in her snow stuff.

Jacob is getting a kick out of throwing the snow balls.

Our snowman. This is the first one that I can remember building in a long time. I think that the last one that I built with the kids was when Amanda was about 3 and we were living in some apartments and made one with all the apartment neigbors.

My new stuff

The biggest treat for me was that my cousin brought their cricut with them. Now I am not an avid scrapbooker, but I know the possibilities that this machine can create. So I was trying to think of something that we could do with it. And the best that I could do was names for our hooks in the closet for the kids. I had been given instructions that I couldn't put the vinyl on the walls, but we managed to do something and I really like it. So here are the creations that we were able to do with the cricut among all the other things that we did this weekend. Thanks guys, I love them!