What we've been up to

We have been very busy taking care of our garden. Starting at the left of the garden we have six rows of corn. We have a row of carrots. There is one row of peas. Then two rows of leaf lettuce. Then I planted about 20ish tomato plants. Don planted 2 or 3 rows of kidney beans and then 2 rows of peanuts. Then there is a big gap in the middle with nothing planted....YET.

Over on this side we have one row of onions and 4 rows of potatos. You can see Don and Rachel (barely) in the back there planting the grapes. And to the left of them we have two rows of strawberries. We have a few more plants inside waiting to be planted....peppers, watermellon, canteloupe and I think pumpkins. Not sure if you can see the apple trees. They are up to the right of Don. There are five planted...four Fuji and one golden for cross polinating. Don also planted 3 or 4 walnut trees. He keeps very busy around here. Doesn't help that his wife knocked the blades off the mower and one was bent up pretty bad. Had to buy two new blades and while he was mowing it popped off again. OH NO. He has to look under there to see if I bent the shaff (sp). I hope not.
It takes a lot of work keeping the weeds down but thankfully Don has been doing part of it with the tiller and then the rest we have been doing it by hand or with the hoe. The kids help every now and again but mostly they weed a few plants and run off and play. Or they stick by me and weed a couple here and there and watch me do the rest. WE are working on them though. It is so exciting to see the plants come up. It seems that they sometimes grow overnight. We have eaten the lettuce but are waiting for everything else.

This is only supposed to happen on movies

NO we are not cleaning the floor. I guess the dishwasher really is broken. :)

But I am telling you that we are all learning that we took our dishwasher for granted. After each meal we fill up our sink with soapy water and everyone does their own dishes. We pull up a stool and even the little ones do it. They actually LOVE it. No one has complained yet. They are used to loading and unloading the dishes but this is a new chore that is still a bit fun. Just give em some time. Won't take long before they want a new dishwasher.

All I will say about this mess is that I AM NOT THE ONE that is losing wife points here. Let's just say the husband needs to rack up a few to make up for this. I refuse to say anything more.

Annual girls night

So where do I begin. Yesterday was really full of ummm...well....let's just say excitement. I will start with our SUV. The battery light was flashing on and off. Then the dishwasher broke and the bottom is filled with water. SO now we are all remembering how it is to do dishes by hand. I am pretty sure my kids didn't even know that was possible. :)
So if I couldn't load the dishwasher I decided to go outside and mow the lawn. We have a TON of rocks on our yard and alot are hidden by the grass. We have already had to change the blades once. I hit a few rocks and then I heard an awful noise. The mower died. UH OH. But finally it started but then I realized that one of the rocks I hit caused the blade to pop off. It was kind of funny. Well I went back inside. I was afraid to touch anything.
The boys were going camping that night and the girls were going out for a girl night. They were taking the SUV (gratefully). They got to their camping sight and the truck died. But in the morning it started right up..........that is until they got about 5 miles out. It died in the road and thankfully they had a small spot to pull off the side of the road. We called a tow truck. Ok so back to my day. I took some time to just sit with the kids and watch a cartoon. Then got up and decided to vacuum. I was almost done when I sucked up the laptop cord. I can't get it out now. I am thankful that it is an old laptop that doesn't work. The kids pretend play on it. But I kind of need my vacuum. I will have to get Don on that after he fixes the dishwasher and the rider. OOH. I don't think I am getting many wife points here.

I was so happy when it was time for us girls to go out. They wanted to go to McDonalds and then for icecream. I took them to the park. It was such a beautiful day. In the car Mayah was drinking her chocolate milk. She spilled in all over herself and on the floor of the car and on a library book. HMMMM are we bad luck or what?

Rachel wanted to play tag at the park. So I spent the whole time chasing and getting chased. It was fun being a kid again. But then Rachel hit her head on the play ground and got a bit of a headache. She already had a small headache from all the walking at the zoo. She had just gotten home from a field trip right before out date.

Here is Mayah and Rachel at the park.

Mayah wanted in the swing right when we got there.

I love this picture....my sweet girls.

Here they are being funny and climbing. They are literally like monkeys.

Busy as ever. Can barely stop for a picture.

Wonder what she is looking at.

I gave the girls a chance to watch a movie or go home and dress up and dance. They were both sooooooooooo tired and they chose a movie. They didn't have any good ones Redbox so we headed home. Well on our way home we got a call from Don. He wanted us to go to the store and pick something up for them that they needed. So we turned around and headed to the store. Took us awhile to find what he needed and then had to run it over to the church. Well by the time we got home it was pretty late. There was only enough time for one small show. The girls were not happy about it. But Rachel was so whiney about her head and she was exhausted. They got to sleep in bed with me. Rachel fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. It was a fun night but it was a little hard because they were so tired. I think we will have to plan another time when I take just the two of them out again.

As soon as everything started breaking I actually had a thought come to my head....normally I kind of complain to myself and wonder WHY? Does everything have to rain at once? But the thought that came to me was how Nephi reacted when his bow broke. He didn't murmur. He just went to work and built another one. It really helped me to realize that it doesn't do any good when we complain. The problems or issues or trials are still there. They won't go away if we complain. It has taken me a long time to realize this and I am pretty sure I will still complain in the future but for today I am very happy to say that I don't feel like complaining at all. I know it is a learning experience. I feel like everything that comes my way is trying to teach me patience. I think that since I haven't learned it yet that I will continue to be faced with trials until I do. I better learn it pretty darn quick.

In my lesson for church it talks about turning negative things into positive ones. I have some examples now. :)

I am just so glad the truck didn't break down on me. I am grateful that the kids were still able to go camping. It got them there and I am glad it happened on a weekend when Don and I could work together to get it taken care of. I hauled kids home while he and Zach walked. Then Caleb watched the younger ones and I went back to pick up the walkers.

The boys had fun camping. Seemed to go really fast but it was enough for them to get their fix in. I find it almost funny that so many things are happening at once.

Ethan's new cut

Ethan decided he wanted his hair cut like Don's. The older boys like their hair a little longer but Ethan wants to be able to get out of bed without his hair all over the place. He likes the idea of not having to comb or style or put any products into his hair.

And the finished product. How cute. Now he looks even more like his dad. Looks like he could join the military right now. Zach thinks he looks alot like Caleb. I can't quite tell.

No one in their beds

I went to enrichment tonight and as soon as I got home I checked to see if everyone was tucked in bed. Well to my surprise NO ONE was even in their bed. OH......they were asleep but not in their bed. Mayah's toddler bed mattress wasn't even on the her bed. ALL five kids were in MY room sleeping. You suppose Don thought it was a good night to have a sleep over? LOL. I think it was because he goes to bed so early and so it was easier if they were all in one room.


So here is Zach in the recliner in our room. Hmmmm looks like he got a lot of reading in before he fell asleep. That's always a good thing.

Hey.......she is in my spot. Maybe she is warming up my side of the bed. :) Here is Rachel. Hope she knows that she isn't going to sleep there all night.
This is too funny. Here is Ethan. He is at the end of our bed on the chest. Gotta love this picture.

How cute is this. Mayah took her whole mattress in to sleep on.

Oh and as soon as you walk in the room Caleb is right THERE. He made his bed out of two end tables. Not very comfy if you ask me. I think I will just put Rachel on the floor. I can't make her be the only one that sleeps her in own room. Anyone want to sleep over? WE have three empty rooms.

Well looks like Don did a good job. They are all asleep and in one piece. I am sure they will remember this for a long time. I think I should go out every night.

Mothers Day

I am so very blessed to have a wonderful mom and a wonderful mother in law. I love them both so dearly. It is a blessing to have them in my life. They have enriched my life and my childrens lives. I am a very lucky person. I thank them both today for their hard work and their dedication to the mothers they are. It has been a great example to me as I raise my kids. Love you both. Happy Mothers Day.

I had a great mothers day today. My kids are so wonderful. They have been doing things all day to make me happy. Don helped the kids make me breakfast in bed. They served it on a tray. They made me scrambled eggs with sausage, strawberries and oranges.

Don and the kids made a fresh strawberry cake. I think the kids enjoyed it because they got to lick the whip topping lid and container.

Don taught Caleb a Mothers Day song on the piano and he played it while Rachel and Zach sang it. It took Caleb about 5 minutes to memorize this song. I wish he would take lessons. It was the same song they sang in Sacrament today.

Caleb did some type of Star Wars Jib Jab using my picture as being princess Leia (sp). It was super cute. Zach had a scavenger hunt for me to do with a bunch of his coins at the end. Then he also found a large tube to use as a vase. A tree in our yard lost a huge branch. He used that branch to put into the vase and he put it inside the house. Rachel made a pot holder at school and put her hand print on it. Then each child in Rachel's class said what they would do if they were the mom and it was soooooooooo cute reading through each of them. Ethan wrapped up his purple car for me. Mayah gave me a Costco ad that she taped up so perfectly. :) What a great mothers day.

A good laugh is better than medicine

So you know as a parent when you feel over worked? For me it isn't so much the physical aspect that makes me tired. My exhaustion comes mentally. Kids just sometimes make you tired and sometimes cause you to go a little batty. And it seems when you have gotten kind of spent something funny will happen and it all seems to go away for awhile. Well today I had a pretty good laugh.

A couple of days ago the older boys were playing boxing on the Wii. They were really getting into it and they were getting hot so they took off their shirts. Well Ethan wanted to play boxing and so he got it all ready and he was playing with Mayah. I could hear them from the other room. SO I walked in to see if they were able to get it all set up. They had already played a couple of matches. This is what I walked in on......now if that doesn't make you laugh. Even my daughter took off her shirt. Thankfully she is still young to where it didn't bother me. I thought it was hilarious. I guess the game of boxing involves no shirt and alot of sweat. I needed that laugh. I am still laughing. It may not be funny to someone else. But I think if we look we can find many funny things that our kids do or say. I think I need to look for more of the simple and cute things my kids do. I believe that if we take the time we can enjoy so much that is happening around us that it makes us happier and able to cope more with the stresses of our day. I think Heavenly Father always comes to my rescue when He knows I need it.

Interesting Sunday

The lesson I taught to my 8-11 year old girls was on honesty and integrity. We talked a little about it and had some examples. I was telling them the importance of always being honest....not only when it is just convenient for us. Then one girl spoke up and said, "so if I tell you that purple and yellow doesn't match....is that being honest." I was wearing a dark purple shirt with a bright yellow tank under it. AND I LOVE THOSE COLORS TOGETHER. :) I made sure she knew that there was a difference between being honest and being rude (although this didn't bother me at all). It takes WAY more than that to upset me. I told the girls that you don't just go up to someone and tell them what you think. You have to make sure to be kind and loving.

We forgot to have Caleb take his medicine. Oh boy was it a long Sunday today. It wasn't an easy day at church but we managed with a few redirectings.

A young man who is not a member of the church got up in testimony meeting and had the most wonderful testimony. I love going to church. I was so grateful that he had the nerve to get up. He told Don later that he was very nervous. He is only 24 years old and his biggest concern was that he wished that he had family that supported him. He wanted his mom and dad and family to go to church with him. He looked around and saw families together and he wanted that. But he said he also felt that in our church that the whole ward is one big family. I love that about our church too.

We have a sister in the ward who hurt her back really bad. It put her in bed for a LONG time. In fact, when we first moved into the ward, I didn't see her at church until probably a year or so after being in the ward. She was in such pain that she couldn't come to church. She had many surgeries and finally the last one worked and she was able to move around and have limited amounts of pain. Well with our snow storm she ended up falling about six times and rehurting her back. It was very disappointing for her. Her husband is also in overseas for a year so that made it even harder. It put her back into alot of pain making it impossible to do anything. But today she came up to me after church to tell me the great news that she had just been given a blessing and that the pain was totally gone. We both cried. She gets the priviledge of going on a week long trip with her hubby while he is on some leave from being overseas. They will be visiting a very beautiful country and she was saddened by the fact that she probably wouldn't be able to go because of her back. And now she can go. How amazing is that? I love the power of the Priesthood.



When we got home from church today there was a dog outside our place. The kids played with it and instantly became attached. They kept asking if we could keep the dog. It is the first dog that our kids know that doesn't take off and leave our yard. WE have owned two dogs in this house and they ran off every time they were outside. This dog is a very good dog. But this dog also has a collar. I am sad for the owners but don't know how to help it find its home. This dog has been here all day and now that it is dark it is outside on the front porch. It has even scratched on the front door. I think he likes the attention from the kids. And the kids were very sad that we can't let it come in the house to sleep. I have no idea who the dog belongs to and I am hoping it will go home so its owner isn't looking for it. Zach put out a towel and a box for it to sleep in.

By the way......... am I the only that thinks purple and yellow go together? :)