Summer Wrap Up

School has started and I have the house to myself again.  It's pretty quiet.
Three different schools this year--
          Brennen 11th grade
    Andy 6th grade
          Janessa 4th grade
      Cameron 2nd grade


Here is a recap of our summer: (more pics later)

A family vacation to Washington DC for a week to see the sights

We rode bicycles around the mall.  (Scott and Cameron)

Janessa siting on FDR's lap

Brennen and Andy in front of the White House--sort of.  gotta love the construction

RAGNAR--a trip to Utah for my hubby to run in the Wasatch Back Ragnar with his siblings, then we stayed to visit for a week the Grandparents and cousins.

Youth Conference in Flagstaff (Brennen)

Some birthdays (Dustin, Brennen, Scott, Cameron)

Family Reunion near Moab

Another trip to Utah (Scott and the youngest 3)

Camping in Colorado a few times

Piedra Falls gathering courage to jump in the pool at the base of the waterfall-brrr!

playing in the river at Middle Fork

Baby kittens--3 that we are now trying to give away

Cousins staying at our house for 10 days while their dad (my brother) gave my sister a kidney.

Swimming lessons (the 3 youngest)

Couple of scout overnighters (Andy and Brennen)

A few trips to Big Bounce--one of my favorite places to take the young 'uns

Rock climbing at the college climbing wall

Lots of swimming at the pool and a few times to the river

Night games at the park

Some reading (mostly Janessa--the rest of us read a little bit but she knocked out the whole Gregor the Overlander series plus some others)

Selling Kirby vacuums (Dustin)

Too much video games and netflix

    Now a new school year...and back to "normal"

Post Holiday Ramblings

We had a very nice uneventful Holiday season, thank goodness!  (because last year's season was too eventful with stomach flu, lice, and a totaled family car).

I was a little bummed that the kids didn't get out of school until Friday the 21st.  and it wasn't even a half day.  There just seems to be fun things to do with the kids before Christmas like frosting cookies, crafting etc.  And that gave us only 3 days before the big day.  It's fine, but just sayin'-

However, now I am ready for them to go back to school and they don't go back until the 8th.  Two more full days of kids with lots of energy and cold cold weather outside.

Dustin is home for a few months and won't be going back to school.  He is waiting for his mission call!  His papers aren't quite submitted but will be within the week I think.

Brennen gets to drive himself to school now.  Hooray!  He got his license mid December.  The day he got his license I had him pick up Cam from piano lessons.  nice.

This morning as we had family prayer I looked around at my beautiful family and felt so blessed.  I thought how awesome it is that we get to start our day together as a family kneeling in prayer, quiet and away from the world.  Though I do enjoy the quiet house when they are away at school, it isn't easy to send them into the world everyday knowing (or not knowing) all that is waiting for them.  I am so grateful for my family, the birth of our Savior, and the knowledge and truth of the gospel, and that I have the ability to teach and influence my children in our home, and hopefully, keep them "unspotted from the world."

Colorado

I love the Colorado Mountains.  I grew up camping in them.  It is so great to be back close to them again. 

A few weeks ago we headed north for an hour to Colorado up La Plata Canyon for the day.  We played in the La Plata River, ate lunch, hiked a little bit, and played in the water some more. 

There was a little spring coming out of the ground near the campground that ran down the hill a little bit in a stream and then kind of spread out just soaked up in the ground in a mud hole.  Brennen decided to make the path for the water more defined, and cleaned out the leaves and sticks to make the water run faster.  Basically building a longer stream.  I was playing in the water and mud helping him, because it is fun and relaxing. We made the little 'river' about 10 feet longer. Cameron wanted me for something and I said "Just a minute.  I like playing in the mud".  He replied: "Pigs like to play in mud!"

Andy and Janessa brought their goggles.  (I guess they haven't played in a river enough to know that you don't need goggles).  Andy would put his face in the water to look for fish with his googles.  It was too funny.

Cameron is at an age where everything new is fun.  He wanted to go on a hike.  So he and I set off on a little trail by the campground, went maybe 200 yards, then he happily turned around and started back.  That was such a great hike to him!  He was happy and proud.

It was fun watching my kids have fun.  Throwing rocks into the river, moving rocks around to build 'dams', splashing each other with rocks, wading in the cold water.  Building little streams. 

Scott took a few pictures on his phone, but of course I did not bring a camera.

It is times like these that make all the other days worth it.

The following are pictures I took with my phone (so they aren' that great) last Labor Weekend when we were camping near Pagosa Springs by the Piedra River.  Colorado is just beautiful.

Happy New Year

Wow.  A New Year.  Like Janessa said yesterday "Tomorrow is January??!!"  Indeed it is.  A new decade.  I suppose I should write something profound.  But I won't. 

Dustin went to his first New Year's Eve Dance.  (Last year he could have gone but he didn't go to dances until we moved here).  He went out and bought a purple dress shirt and a new black tie.  He looked nice.  Of course the reason he did that was to match his good friend Sarah's purple dress.  Her dad picked up Dustin and I never saw Sarah's dress because she didn't come inside.  I wanted to to take pictures of them and all (because I am a mom and moms just want to do that) but it was not a date and she is not  his girlfriend (even though facebook says so).  So I didn't.  I just let him leave.  And instructed him to dance with at least two other girls and to hang out with his cousins too, not just Sarah! 

The rest of us played with party poppers (poppers, not poopers) and light sticks and ate brownies and ice cream.  Then the little ones went to bed and Scott and Brennen and I played Settlers of Catan and watched the Mentalist.  If you like board games, which I do and my kids do, Settlers is a great game!  It can be long but it is fun.  Last night's game wasn't very long.  Brennen won pretty quickly.  I think I have won only once.  But I still like it.  The other game we play often is Ticket to Ride.  And Ark of the Covenant is pretty cool too, though I have only played that one once.  Besides being fun, board games are a good way for Scott and I to connect with our older boys since so much time and energy and attention is spent on the little ones.  Often we play games with them after the little ones go to bed.
Anyway, our New Year's Eve was pretty low key but enjoyable. 

And of course the little kids don't know that you are supposed to sleep in on New Year's Day so they were up at 7:00 as usual.  But they quickly went to watch TV.  I cautioned them not to fight so Andy said that they will find something they all like to watch, like Sponge Bob (is that one word or two?).

We had a fun Christmas time too.  We had a few family parties, ate lots of good food (too much) including fondue (the kind with the hot oil and steak and shrimp), and had plenty of gifts.  We also did the Twelve Days of Christmas for a family down the block--where you leave something on their door step every day for 12 days before Christmas.  (We added one thing every night so by Christmas Eve there are 12 things). The kids had fun with that, but the family figured out it was us. 

On Christmas Eve we had the kids act out the Nativity.  Dustin was the photographer and Brennen was the donkey.  Janessa was Mary (of course) and Andy was Joseph (though under protest).  Cameron was a very cute shepard.  He was holding a stuffed lamb and asked what a lamb said.  I told him "baa" but he asked again.  I gave the same answer.  He is used to not being understood.  Exasperated he said "No!  A sheep says baa!  What does a lamb say?"  It was kind of funny.  We explained that a lamb is a baby sheep.  And last night after the playing with the glow sticks in the dark, the lights were turned back on and he asked me "How do you turn them on?"  I finally figured out he wanted to turn the glow sticks on because they weren't glowing in the light. 

Our First Christmas Tree Cutting

I grew up with fresh cut Christmas trees.  I have great memories of Christmas tree cutting trips.  When I was younger we would go to our friends' house who lived on a farm about an hour away, and then our two families would go together.  Half the fun was just being at the farm!  The animals, the barn,sometimes a frozen pond. I can also remember going with my Grandma and Grandpa a few times, and as a teenager going with just my dad and sisters.

This year I wanted my kids to have that experience so last Saturday we bundled up, took some hot chocolate, and headed out even though the temperature outside was ice cold.  And no, it wasn't like the movies where there is a snowy forest.  It was cold, but no snow and not really a forest.  But there was lots of sagebrush.

In the car on the way, I prepared the kids that we might not find the perfect tree, but told them "with light and decorations and love it will be great."  Scott and the boys found a big tree.  I thought it was too big.  But Scott cut it down anyway and lugged it to the car.  And we tied it on top.

I still thought it was too big.  In fact I was even complaining a little and then Dustin said  "With lights and love it will be fine." 

We got it home and in the house:

I told you it was too big!

With a little off the bottom and the top, some lights and love, it is beautiful!  Our very first cut Christmas Tree!

But after the fun of decorating, it was time for bed.

A post note:  It may have been fun for the kids, but I think the one who enoyed it the most and is most proud is the biggest boy--my hubby!

Lots of Photos

The snow melted and the cold winter weather (high of 34 on Thursday) turned back into beautiful fall weather for the weekend. To fill up the Saturday before the big Halloween festivities, Scott took the kids out to the Bisti badlands for some hiking and rock climbing. What that meant for me was almost 3 and 1/2 hours of a quiet house! Heaven!

Then it's home to get on costumes, talk to Grandma and Grandpa on Skype, trick or treat for a few minutes and head off the the church for dinner, a carnival, and trunk or treat.

A cowboy, clown, skeleton, and fairy princess (as opposed to just a fairy).

Dustin was putting on another sort of out outfit--his band uniform. The Farmington Scorpion Sound Regiment (the marching band) went the New Mexico State University Tournament of Bands on Friday and competed against other bands on Saturday. The following are some pictures earlier in the year. He is a percussion player and this year is part of the 'pit' so he doesn't march.

Halloween Cuisine

We had some witches fingers, ghosts, mummies, monster lips, and spiders for dinner last night. Thank you Family Fun magazine for your great ideas! And not pictured are witches hands made from chicken breasts that you cut the top part into 5 fingers which kind of crinkle up as it cooks. That idea came from my friend Niesha many years ago.




Monster mouths with apple wedges with almond slivers; string Cheese fingers with green peppers as fingernails; boiled egg ghosts; crackers, peanut butter, pretzels and raisin spiders; hot dogs wrapped in breadstick mummies; mac and cheese with plastic spiders. Delicious!


Scott did the witch fingers and I think he had way too much fun! He even dipped them in green colored water for more effect (his own idea). He also did the monster lips. Janessa did most of the ghosts. Brennen made the spider crackers. There are so many fun ideas for Halloween! I tried to stick mostly to "healthier" stuff since the sugar is sure to come, but we did frost Halloween cookies after dinner. We listened to Halloween music and played a few games. Party on!

Choosing Sides

When we moved, I decided to switch sides of the bed with my husband. In this bedroom, if you walk in the door, turn and take a few steps, you run into into the side of the bed. In our old bedroom, you pretty much had equal access to either side as you entered the room. I decided I would take the side of the bed closer to the wall, away from the door. That way, when kids get up in the night, they would have a straight shot at Daddy and not me. However, for some reason it hasn't worked out that way. They still manage to navigate through the maze of boxes in the dark and arrive at my side of the bed in the wee hours of the morning. Not fair that kids seem to have a "Mom radar". You know, the one that never lets us go to the bathroom without someone finding us and pounding on the door, or talking to us underneath it.

I do have to say, much to my delight, my kids don't wake up nearly as much as they used to. Hooray! I am getting more uniterrupted sleep than I have for years. In fact, Andy finally started sleeping through the night every night about 3 or 4 months ago. Even though he is 7, he would still wake up and come into our room 4 or 5 nights a week.


Some food for thought: Did you know that most couples sleep with the man on the "driver's side" of the bed? If you were to sit up in bed, and think like you were in a car, the man is usually on the driver's side and the woman on the passenger side. How is it at your house? Do you and your spouse fit the norm? I am now on the driver's side, after having been on the passenger side for years .

Almost Peace and Quiet

Three days. Two nights. In my house ALONE. Sounds too good to be true.

And it was. While my family was planning to go camping in Bryce Canyon with Grandma and Grandpa and some cousins, I planned to stay home--alone. Because someone has to work our business. I love camping with my family, but the alternative of staying home with the house to myself (and hopefully not having to really do too much work) almost sounded like heaven. So I agreed to send my husband camping with the children--all of them. Wow. I was impressed that he wanted to take all of them, not just the older ones. I was counting the hours until Thursday morning.

But Wednesday morning, Andy started throwing up. He seemed fine in the afternoon so I still had hope. And I had the hand sanitizer out for everyone else and made sure we were all putting it on a lot. Then shortly after Andy went to bed, he was up back in the bathroom leaning over the toilet. And again at 1:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m.

He had to stay home with me. He wasn't too happy about it as you can imagine. And it made it stressful as I tried to help Scott get packed up to leave, Andy hanging on me crying and wanting lots of hugs and sympathy because he didn't get to go. And me not having patience for that.

And I wasn't too happy about it either. It was my three days for napping and sewing and reading and packing up some boxes without interruption. And sleeping at night without kids wondering into my bedroom or crying for a lost binky.

Well instead of doing any of the above, I worked on the computer completing 3 filings, or jobs, while trying to be a nice mom to a sad little boy who didn't feel well (which wasn't easy); made some brownies (only half a pan since most everyone else isn't here to help me eat them); took Andy to see Night at the Museum 2 (because he was feeling better); set up the tent trailer with him and ate dinner in it (a late dinner on account of the movie) and read books until we came in for bed. And then, I got to read! And blog.

Not the day I had planned but it turned out pretty well anyway. And hopefully I made some good memories for Andy even though he couldn't go camping. And will make some more in the next two days.

I admit it will be more comforting to not have to sleep in the house alone. Andy will keep me good company in my room--and, since he is starting out there, he won't be waking me up in the night!

(if you are wondering why Scott didn't take the tent trailer it's because it's old and the electrical doesn't work--like brake lights and taillights--and who knows how good the tires are. And he just didn't want to drive it all the way to Bryce).

I am hoping and praying that none of the other kids get sick while they are away. I told Scott about my concern with others getting sick but he didn't seem too worried.