chicken eggs

Today as I was talking to my sister on the phone she mentioned how the school had sent home a note saying there was head lice in her daughters class. EWWW. We talked about it for quite awhile and she was remembering when her older daughter had gotten it years back and how awful it was. Both of our heads are now itching from just discussing it.

A few hours later Ethan said, "MOM, when are the chickens going to lay their eggs in my hair"? At first I had NO idea what he was talking about. Then I remembered back to when I was talking to my sister. I had said something about 'them' laying eggs in your hair. I never did say lice.

He must have been listening and really thinking and wondering and pondering and being confused about when the chickens were going to lay eggs in his hair. That is the most common animal that lays eggs. LOL.

And then a couple of days ago I was out front with the kids watching them ride their skateboards. It was just Ethan and Mayah and they were sitting on them and scooting their way across and racing. Mayah looked at Ethan and said, "ladies first". That really got me laughing and come to find out she heard it from her sister. OFCOURSE. Isn't that where our kids learn everything? From an older sibling? But it was cute. Ethan didn't think so. He actually got really mad and started screaming at her telling her that ladies do not go first. I think Don needs to talk to this boy and teach him some manners. :)

The most beautiful place on earth

Today after church we drove up to the temple. We were able to see the Joseph Smith video and it was awesome. I love that video. Don and I both got choked up. I was trying so hard to talk to Caleb about some things but I couldn't get the words out. He sat there with such a look of awe. I know the Spirit was so strong. I am so thankful for Joseph Smith and all he did FOR US. He sacrificed alot for the gospel. And because of his righteousness and faith we are able to enjoy so much. One thing that amazes me is that he kept going and he remained strong even though he was put through SO MUCH. What a great example. I don't have even a little bit of the trials he had and I find myself complaing at times with what I deal with.

We were the only ones in that great big gynormous room. We walked around the visitors center and then took some pictures. The day was beautiful and we were there when the sun was going down and there was a beautiful pinkish sunset. OH what a beautiful sight. I didn't want to leave. Have you ever seen something so beautiful that it almost takes your breath away? SERIOUSLY that is how I felt tonight. It was gorgeous. And I am grateful we went.

I have NEVER seen anything as beautiful as the temples. The grounds are kept so clean. Everything always looks great. There is a peaceful feeling there. And really it is the most beautiful place on earth.

While we were there on the temple grounds we had Caleb and Zach come near Don and I. We asked them if they were going to get married in there and they both instantly said YES. We even did a special shake on it. :) My prayer is that one day I can be with them inside watching them partake of a very special ordinance.

Very busy day

I have to put on here first that Rachel lost another tooth. It took alot of time for us to get his tooth out. It was so bad it was like pulling teeth. LOL. But finally....finally....it came out. Her second one on top that has come out. The tooth fairy left her a note and some money. How lucky is that?


Here is Ethan. Doesn't he look mean? Caleb did everything with this costume except the cutting of the white shirt. If you look close you can see what he drew on his head thing and on the pocket of the shirt.

Here is Rachel. She is very much into anything princess. I think this is her third or fourth time being a princess. The girl at the school that did her face painting said it took her 18 years to grow out of the princess theme. :)

Zach and his hunter costume. Zach has really been into hunting lately. They will be going hunting (him and Don) next month. He has been spending alot of time watching the hunting channel and then he gets so excited to tell me how many points a deer has or how one hunter killed a turkey.

Here is Caleb and his black hair. He didn't want to use the face paint we bought to do his face as a vampire because he is saving it for Halloween night. He just wore his black and red cape. I have more pictures but they are on Don's camera. For some reason the pictures I were taking with my camera were a bit blurry. Don tell Don this but I really HATE using his camera. He took a camera with him to Jordan a few years back and someone accidently bumped him while he was holding it and it dropped and broke so he bought a new one while he was there. I can't figure it out.

Today was one busy day for us. This morning I had a Stake Relief Society conference/meeting. I had to be there at 9:45 to check in the kids for the childcare portion. I helped out in there for an hour and then was able to go to the classes. I loved them. My favorite was on learning about our individuality. The teacher talked about how most women compare themselves to others. But she wanted us to realize our potential and to truly see how important we each are in the sight of the Lord. And that we all have talents and that they all are different but that the talents we are given are given to us for a purpose. And that we should not look at someone else and try to 'be like them.' WE need to put blinders on just like the ones they put on horses during a horse race. We should not look from side to side to see how others are doing or to see if they are running faster. We need to look within us and see our own potential and to realize it really is a gift from God. WE really need to stop comparing ourselves to others. We usually take our weaknesses and compare it to someone's strengths. It was a great class and I really learned alot.

I got home about 3 and then started helping the kids get their costumes on for the Fall Festival at their school. That started at 5. We left and had a lot of fun at the school. The kids participated in a book walk, scary story time, face painting, jumping thing, bingo, and more. We stayed until about 6:30 and then headed over to the church where they were having the trunk or treat. Since it had been raining they just set up their candy in the classes of the church. They had a chili dinner with cornbread and then a ton of dessert. The kids participated in a small costume parade and then did a pinata and then went around to each room to gather their candy. WE finally got home at 9 and sorted through some candy. The kids picked out the candy they wanted us to send to the kids in Iraq. They did this last year when Don was working there. We will now have to find a different address to get this to the kids. I was very surprised and happy to see how much candy the did give. I am so appreciative of my kids and their big hearts. When they were doing the pinata it seemed like alot of the older kids were jumping in for the candy and the little kids got left with much less. Zach got some candy and gave it to some of the smaller kids. I love it when they can see and realize how to help others even without prompting from an adult.

Caleb spent a bunch of time helping Ethan get his costume ready. I was helping Rachel and trying to get her ready. I was so grateful that Caleb took extra time to help Ethan. He looked GREAT and alot of people at their school LOVED his costume. The only thing I did for Ethan's costume was cut the white shirt. Caleb did everything else.

After we sorted the candy we had to hurry and do bath time. Had to get all the color off of faces and hair. It was such a mess. WE had family scripture reading and then got the kids to bed. It was 10:30 but to bed they are. Now Don, Caleb and Zach are watching Lord of the Rings.

On the way home I asked Don if he had fun. He explained to me that his whole idea of fun has changed. He said fun used to be actually doing something and getting joy from it. But now his fun is watching his kids have fun. What better answer is that? And fun they had. It is so exciting for them to do things like this.

I have to say Mayah was probably the cutest one there. Does that sound partial? LOL. But ofcourse the pictures of her are on Don's camera. I will post them once I figure out how to lighten them up a bit. So I didn't get any pictures of Caleb or Mayah from my camera.

I gave Mayah some choices of what she wanted to be and after looking at some ideas online she chose to be a bubble bath. It was super easy and I LOVE anything super easy and CHEAP. WE got it all from the dollar store. SO you take a round laundry basket and cut the bottom out. It said to use felt around the outside but I got a white shirt from the dollar store and cut the arms off and slipped it around the basket and super glued it. Then you use pink and white balloons as the bubbles and put them in the back. And with thick ribbon you make straps that go over their shoulders so they can carry the basket. And then she wore a shower cap. Hard to really see how cute it is but she got a TON of compliments. Hopefully pictures are coming soon.

LONG BUSY DAY BUT OH SO FUN.

A breath taking drive

Here is the road we turned off of to check out some good deer places.

I love the colors but it looks so cool with the dark stumps. And the bright light in the back is cool too. I took this out the window. You can see the atena. OOPS. It is still gorgeous. We went on a drive to scope out some places for when Don and the boys go hunting. How many deer did we see you say? NONE. But Don went here a different day and saw about five. So we shall see on opening day. Cross the fingers.

This was so much more colorful in person. You see these hills everywhere here. It was just amazing.

Is this not the most amazing thing?

The crazy kids. Look at Mayah posing. That girl. Don was behind me doing weird stuff to get the kids to smile. Ethan, Mayah and Rachel were really laughing. Look how pretty the background is.

They are so full of life. BUSY. CRAZY. LOTS OF WORK. But well worth it.





Don and I. We let Caleb and Zach each take a picture. I love the scenary so much.

This was taken by Zach. I had to mess with the color because it was a bit blury.

I really do enjoy living in this area. It would be better with family but it is so amazinly beautiful. I love fall so much and the colors are just gorgeous. Here are some pictures we took on our afternoon drive. We had to go up a bit higher than where we live to get the peak of the colors. It is about 1/2 hr from our home. Our place hasn't quite hit its peak yet. But oh how I can't wait for it.

We had snow last night as well. Couldn't belive it. It even stuck and I guess it is supposed to be 65/70 later on this week. CRAZY if you ask me. LOL. Sami and Sara stayed the night and they built a snowman and a fort. We don't normally see too much snow in this area and not so early. But they had a lot of fun. It is too cold to go take a picture of the cute snowman. Ethan put Don's Steeler hat on it. Caleb put Don's button up jacket. CUTE

very jealous

I sit here this weekend thinking of all the fun my family is having WITHOUT ME. I can't believe it. I have always been close to my family but after moving a MILLION miles away from them I really miss them and the fun times we shared. There is always something fun going on. This weekend they are having potato weekend. Normally they go out and actually glean the spuds. But this year the truck will be spitting them out into my dad's pickup. REALLY HARD I must say. They will have a contest to see who can find the craziest potato. They make a BUNCH of french fries. Everyone gets to take the spuds home to keep for the winter. My father bought a bunch of paint to paint on the pumpkins. This works much better than carving them since the pumpkin gets rotten so fast. When they are painted they last so much longer. My parents grew pumpkins in their garden but they got so big they ended up buying some so they wouldn't have to use so much paint. I can't wait to see how amazing the pumpkins turn out. They will probably have a contest for that too. I think they have 21 people there this weekend.

If I could choose anything in the world it would be to live closer to family. I miss them and often think about how nice it would be to be closer. This once a year garbage is NO fun for me or my kids or even Don. He loves going back to see my family just as much as I do.

One of these days I will have to figure out how to open up a part of Washington State that will offer something in Don's field of study.

Well to all of you that are having fun without us.....I hope you make the best memories and realize that you are VERY lucky to live so close to those you love.

And for those not at this super fun place? If you live near extended family...I hope you don't take it for granted. There is nothing better than family.

apples

Here we are all ready to take our apples back to pay for them.

Caleb climbed the tree to see if he could get the ones up high. Rachel, Ethan and Mayah are below doing their own pickinig. WE had a lot of fun.

Saturday we went apple picking. We picked a few Fuji's (our fav) for eating and then we got a variety of apples to make applesauce. We spent a good part of Sat. evening making the sauce. I will post pictures of that later. Here is Mayah and myself trying to find some good ones.

Zach is finding a bunch of good ones.

Don with Mayah on his neck. Who else is going to get the ones up high?

Zach and Caleb are finding the ones in the middle.

Rachel, Mayah, and Ethan trying to see if they can find the best apples.

yogurt with chunks

Last night after scripture study Don was trying to help the kids understand what it felt like to feel the spirit. SO he had them decide between two things and they could guess which they thought was more like the spirit. Here is what he said:

1. ice cubes or a blanket

2. hair or stinging neddle (hair being soft and ofcourse the neddle...stings)

I don't remember what else he said because Zach sort of interrupted with:

regular yogurt or yogurt with chunks

I had accidently put the wrong yogurt in his lunch and he HATES it with chunks. SO to him...feeling the spirit is like eating NON chunky yogurt.

Do you see why we have such a hard time teaching our kids anything serious around here?

It ended up in a pretty good laugh. I guess it may only be funny when you are actually there but it was pretty darn hilarious. And we can always leave it to him or Ethan to make us laugh.

I loved this talk from conference....He has alot of passion.

http://www.lds.org/move/index.html?type=conference&event=Oct179&lang=english

after you click on the link go to Sunday p.m. and click on Elder Hollands talk. It is amazing. I love his testimony and passion.

Lego Temple

I forgot to add this picture to my Conference post. Caleb made this lego temple while we listened to conference.

Excited

First off I have to say that conference was great. I have such a hard time concentrating though when I am at home watching it on the computer and having five little ones to also try to entertain. But they did very well the first half on Sat. and the first half on Sunday. We were very happy with how much they did sit through.

Caleb had his journal with him and wrote down everyone who spoke, every song, the names of those who prayed. It was cool. He had to make sure everyones names were spelled right and that it was perfectly written.

Don took Caleb with him to the Priesthood session and when they came back at 11 pm. and eating blizzards I knew they had a great time. Don was SO glad he took him and for the time they got to spend together. Caleb sat on the bed with Don and I until about 11:30 and told us some of the things he remembered. WHAT A GREAT MEMORY for them both.

I am so thankful I took notes. I can look back and remember the things that stood out in my mind. One talk that I really loved was on Saturday. It was the first talk. It was given by Elder Bednar. He spoke of loving others and telling them but most importantly showing them. He said we need to become more consistent in the small things that matter so much. He said to bare our testimony and live it.

He gave an example of when he and his wife had small boys at home. THIS MADE DON AND I REALLY LAUGH. WE have the exact same situations in our home. During scripture study or FHE his kids would be saying, "don't breath my air", "don't look at me", "you're touching me".

And at time it can get a bit overwhelming. But if we stay consistent in the things that really matter it will pay off in the long run. Our kids will remember that we were consistent and that we had family prayer and scripture study. That is what is important.

Oh how grateful I am for the Prophets and Apostles. They speak of things like love, hope, Faith.

Pres. Uchtdorf said, "Obedience becomes a joy rather than a burden". He also said, "What we think and do determines what we become". And he said, "Don't get discouraged if you stumble at times".

Henry B. Eyring said, "Become better than we are".

L. Tom Perry talked about Integrity

Ann Dibb talked about over coming our challenges with Faith. She mentioned having safety equipment that we need to guide us like the Holy Ghost, prayer, sciptures. And that we must all choose to use these things. She talked about the iron rod and that it is a safety net. And she said we needed to get a grip and hold to the rod.

Russell M. Nelson talked about receiving inspiration and that we can ask, seek, and knock for divine inspiration.

And another favorite of mine was the prophet, Pres. Monson. He talked about service. On his birthday a few months ago he said the only thing he wanted for his birthday was for us to find someone and do something nice for them and to send him letters of how they did this. He received many many letters and cards and pictures and even little fuzzies representing things that people did to serve others. He gave examples of what was done. This teared me up. These young primary kids really reached out to others. What a great example it is if you can forget yourself and reach out to another person in need.

He wanted us to not let our day to day living interfere with serving and not getting too busy to where we don't have time to reach out to others.

He told a story about a father who would ask his children the same question at dinner. The question was, And what did you do for someone today? What a great dinner conversation. I think we are going to have to start using this one.

Elder Holland gave an amazing talk and I wrote some things down but got distracted. I really want to go back and read this talk. I know it was fantastic.

And Quentin L Cook said, "we try to do what is right because we love and want to please the Lord, not because someone is making us". And he talked about the stewardship of ourselves and our family and then that of the poor.

I really am so thankful for the Church. I am absolutely amazed at the teachings we receive from our Heavenly Father through these worthy members. I couldn't be happier to be a member and to have these wonderful examples for my family. I know, without a doubt, that all these things are true and very important for our salvation. It is so excited for me to hear these conference talks. I used to think conference was a great excuse to not have to go to church but now I look at it as an honor to hear these words. I don't want it to end and I wish it lasted longer. What a gift we have. What a wonderful gift to belong to a church that has revelation. In the Article of Faith number 7 it says
We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, REVELATION, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.

I just love everything about the gospel and I feel it a privilage to be a part of it. It gives me hope, understanding, a sense of love, a ton of FAITH, miracles, endurance, an understanding of the sacrifice our Savior made for each of us, the act of repenting for all my dumb and sometimes serious mistakes, knowing we do not have to be perfect but that we need to strive to always live our lives the best we possibly know how and my favorite....eternal families. Knowing that after we die we will still be a part of our families that we have upon the earth. WOW. How can it get any better?

I am so thankful that we also have hard times and trials and things that sometimes are just down right hard. But I know without them comes NO growth or learning. And the best way for us to become more like Christ is to experience hard things and trying times. Through this we tend to rely more on the Savior and come to Him for understanding. He has graven us upon his hands. He knows each of us by name and he loves us more than we can ever imagine. No matter what we go through he has already been there and felt it and paid for it. Oh how I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. And how eternally grateful I am for Him and His love and understanding.

My heading says EXCITED. I just signed up for an online course at BYU. It is a free course that they offer and it is Family Life 75. It talks alot about Functional Families. I have already started the first section. It goes through and discusses some things and then you take a quiz to see how well you remember the material. I LOVE IT already and just finished the first part. I can't wait to move on. It also has a grid that you print off and write down your own suggestions on how you can have a more functional family and ideas you want to incorporate in your family. I am so glad I found this course.

Beary unusual

Yesterday our neighbors called and said they saw two black bears near our house. I hurried and hung up the phone because Zach and Ethan were outside nailing a target to the tree so we could shoot the BB gun. I instantly went out and told them to get back in the house. I called the neighbor back to see where exactly they saw them and then she said she was looking out her window and she could see them on my neighbors porch. We went out front and sure enough they had just gotten down from their porch. I had Caleb and Zach come outside to see and they thought it was the COOLEST thing ever. One of the bears stood up and put its front feet on their tree and the other stood up and touched their t.v. dish thing. I have never been so close to a bear before besides the zoo.

I got all the kids in the car and we drove to the neighbors house to let them know. I wasn't sure they even knew because their garbage can was tipped over. The bears, by this time, had left and gone across the street. The neighbor said they were not going to leave their cat food out there anymore.

Ethan and Rachel were very sad that they did not get to see so we drove up the road to see if we could still see them and they had just gone into the forest when we drove around the corner. They didn't see them.

We got back home and called the neighbor again. He said he had been outside with his dog and that his dog was going crazy and barking and that is when he noticed the bears. He said they tipped the neighbors garbage can over and then went into the area of trees that separate his home from ours. The part that makes my heart jump is that is the exact spot that Zach was putting up his target. He said he had dropped a couple of nails and had to go a bit into the trees to get them. I have NO idea if the bears heard him and left or if they just didn't smell anything good at our place but I am so grateful they decided not to come closer. That is a bit scary.

I guess our kids won't be playing outside by themselves anytime soon. Those darn bears. I think they are trying to get as much food as they can before they hibernate so I am sure they may be back. This all happened at about 6:30-7:00 p.m.

WE have heard a few bear horror stories from this area so I am not too excited that they are here.

They were cute though. But ONLY from a distance.

On a side note:::: Caleb got up this morning and made sausage gravy. I made biscuits from scratch. This is Caleb's ALL time favorite meal ever. As we were eating breakfast he said he was going to make biscuits and gravy every day on his mission. YUM.