Shoveling Barley

I always have and always will be a farm girl. The other day when Dave asked me to go to the farm with him and shovel barley I was not too excited because I really had a lot of stuff that needed to be done. But Friday night we made final plans to go and I made arrangement for everything else. The farm I grew up on did cows and hay bales, so I have never had to shovel or move grain. This is dusty, itchy, constant things in the eyes work. It took us a couple hours to get everything in place and started. The augers really did not want to run yesterday. We started them over and over again. Then we took forever looking for things. We finally got ready just in time for lunch. I ran in and quickly fed the kids and washed our dishes then headed back out. Because I have never done this before, Dave had to tell me every step to do. But he only had to tell me once, after the first load was complete I was good to go for the rest of the day. I thought I broke the tractor once because I totally messed up the gear, but Dave fixed it. I have driven that tractor lots and have no idea what I did wrong. Our kids played good in Grandma's house all by themselves. We didn't even have a mess to clean up after. When we started we were looking for the new light weight shovel and could not find it anywhere. Dave ended up using the old very heavy shovel. We searched every building on the farm. Four hours after we took the first load Dave asked me to run and get something for him and as I walked in to the shop, hanging right in front of our face, was the shovel. I have no idea how we both missed it. Dave said, 'Man it has really been one of those days.' I really enjoyed the work even though I was freezing the whole time and for hours afterwards. I hope that they continue to do the grain farming along with the cows. It was great fun and our kids really enjoy it also. As I have said a hundred times, maybe someday I will get to move to the farm and have my kids working all the time. I really think there is no greater life style for a family.

Awesome Me :)

I decided that this year I would make a list of things I am good at. Yeah, build up my own self confidence:) I probably won't get 35 of them but here goes.
1. Sarcastic comments
2. Giving my un-asked-for opinion
3. Making my bed
4. Turning off lights
5. Shutting cupboard doors
6. Reducing Leah to tears - all I have to do is ask/remind her to do something (make bed, set table, etc) and it works every time. Gosh I am a mean mom
7. Sitting down to read a fantastic book instead of mopping my floor.
8. I make an awesome pie crust. I can't even be humble about that, but I did learn from the master. Beth Olsen
9. I personally think I am a great cook. But I hope everyone thinks they are, it would be hard to not like your own cooking. Although I would probably be skinnier then.
10. Putting off weeding the garden.
11. Vacuuming
12. Getting my kids to dust for me
13. Going for walks with Dave
14. Doing dishes
15. Blog stalking
16. Drawing stick figures
17. Making deals with my kids
18. Being Honest (this is from Cora, she says sometimes I am a little too honest)
19. Being Dependable
20. Writing checks and making cupcakes/cookies for the school
21. Copying cupcakes and cake. I am not creative or inventive but I can copy almost any picture you give me.
22. Running my kids to all their activities.
23. Setting a table. It really shouldn't be such a pet peeve when people set it wrong, but really how hard can it be.
24. Sending birthday cards.

I asked each of my family member what they thought I was good at and this is what they said.
Dave - You are the best mom
Cora - You are good at putting little notes in our lunches and spending time with your kids.
Leah - You are good at drinking water. You never drink anything else
Blake - You always make us a lunch.
See aren't I amazing. :) I am good at so many things.

Lego

Lego is taking over my house. (Dave was given this plane about 10 years ago from his parents, Blake put it together this time)

It is everywhere I turn. (Dave was given this when he was a kid and Cora has been dying to bring it home and put it together, so Sunday she finally did. The treasure chest that the blue and white pirate is standing on even has gold coins in it.)

But my kids love it!! And they are good at it. (Blake got this plane, it is a 3 in 1 kit, from Grandma Puzey for Christmas)

Plus they always get along while they are building because everyone enjoys it. I just have to put up with the seperated colors on the floor for a couple days, they do keep it contained in a small area, then a masterpiece appears. And I can vacuum again:) (This one we gave to Blake for his 5th birthday, it also came with a loader) This is by no means all the lego we have, just what is 'on display' right now.

Favorite Literary Character Day

This was the theme for spirit day this month. I really had no idea what to do for Blake, then Natalie suggested Huck Finn and I went with it. When I first heard what the theme was I was not excited, but it turned out really fun. Leah is Fancy Nancy. She already had everything but the shirt. During Cora's tournament in Taber we heard Wal-Mart was having a sale so we went and picked up the shirt. I found an old pair of short for Blake and took out the heam, then roughed it up. I found a straw hat in the basement and did the same thing. Leah and Blake were both very happy. I thought they both looked awesome.

13th Anniversary

Dave and I had a great anniversary. Myrna had invited us out to Champion for dinner. Everyone was there and it was great to see them. I loved that I didn't have to cook. I made chocolate and lemon bread to take to the early morning meetings. I told everyone that they were going to help us celebrate. It was relaxing and low key. The kids were a little upset that they hadn't had time to get us anything, but I really didn't care. I have never been one for jewelry or exotic vacations. (I defiantly want the exotic vacations but would just take the kids with me) We got told we needed to do something for the 10th and we didn't. Now they say the 15th, but we probably won't. Dave did tell me that the trail he is going through right now is my fault. He said that we have never had a hard marriage, things have been easy and smooth. Therefore the Lord needed to give him something else. :) But he is right, it has been great and I married the best person in the world. Dave is an amazing husband and father. We agree on all the big things and are just enough different on the little things that life is awesome. We really seems to be in perfect sync. It has been a great 13 years.

Little Storm Tournament

This weekend was Cora's tournament in Taber. She had a game Friday them two for sure Saturday. If she won then she would play again that night. She did really good. I think that having all those games in a row helped her and she is getting more playing time. She is excellent at clearing a lane for the shooter. Cora even took a couple shots this weekend. Although she didn't make any, she did try. She got a foal and felt awful about it. I told her I didn't want her to play dirty but I was glad she had that foal, it meant that she was finally getting aggressive. I was very proud of her. The team got first place, and really played well together.

I was worried about Blake sitting there all day. He makes it just past half way of her games and them he is done. I took lots of things for him and Leah to do. I had lunch and dinner just in case plus lots of snacks. Mom reminded me that there was a pool in Taber so I packed their swim stuff. They both did really good. Cora played her first game Saturday, then we had lunch and read some stories. After they played the second game and we knew we were staying we did go swimming. It was a great little pool. We had 4 hours. We got out early enough that we could all shower and eat dinner. I wanted to eat early so Cora wasn't running on a full stomache. It was a fun weekend. Dave went Friday but really needed to do some farm work Saturday. He felt really bad about missing the games but I have been happy that he has made it to as much as he has. He said, "I never thought I would enjoy watching junior high girl's basketball.":) Surprisingly I have really enjoyed it too, but it also really makes me want to play.

Readers Theatre

 

Blake got to preform a readers theatre in school today. He was the 1st little pig in The Three Little Pigs. His class choose 3 short stories and had done them for Leah's class on Monday. I found out that they were doing them again today, so I made sure to attend. It was very short but he did a great job. Blake had 3 lines. After he was very proud of himself.

The Last Few Days

Friday night we got a call from the bishop and he told us that we actually had to get everything out of the church. Except the chairs. So instead of sleeping in on Saturday like I had planned all week, literally:), we got up and went into Safeway to get boxes. We then spent the next 2 hours cleaning out the church. There was lots of help and so it went quickly. There was a C-Can to put all the stuff in that we need when we come back and then on the other side there was a huge bin for garbage. There was quite a bit of stuff that people felt bad throwing away but were still in good condition. Dave made the executive decision to put it all in the middle part of the gym and people could take what they liked, if it was not gone after church today they would throw it. Surprisingly almost all of it was gone. After Jeremy took us to Fatburger. It was good, I would like to take the kids sometime, even though the name really did give me pause for a while. As we were headed home Dave said let's take the kids swimming tonight. I secretly loaded up their suits and we finally convinced them to get out of the house and come for a drive with us. They were highly confused when we pulled into the parking lot and they didn't have any swimming suits:) We had to threaten Blake to come in the deep end. He has swam there lots but had a scare last year during swimming lessons and wouldn't get back in. After many threats and talking we got him in, crying the whole time. He kept asking me for a life jacket and I told him no because I knew he could do it.I felt like a really mean mom but knew he would love it again if he would just get in. And he did. We talked him through swimming out a little bit then a little bit farther till he wanted to go clear across the pool himself. In the end he went off the high dive by himself. He said "This is way more fun then the swallow pool". No kidding! I was just working up enough nerve to go off the high board even standing in line, when they started calling for everyone to get out immediantly. We still had 20 minutes left. Apparently some one had thrown up in the shallow end. I was all for leaving, Dave thought I was crazy (not that we had a choice). He kept saying that is what chlorine is for. I know that but until you see it I can disillusion myself. He kept talking about all the thing that do happen in pool, by the end I told him if he kept talking I would probably never get in another pool again and so I wouldn't go swimming with him ever.
Today at Primary was interesting. Two of the presidency is in Mexico, we had lots of people gone, and we were trying to work with limited supplies since it is all pack up, and no tables. Our Nursery leaders had told us last week that they would not be there but they had a sub. Saturday when I got home the sub called and said that they couldn't make it they were sick and got phone number for a sub. Their sub got sick and she called a sub. This morning that sub was sick and so Dave announced during Sacrament meeting that if anyone could please fill in it would be appreciated. We had some that did and I was sooooo grateful. Then we loaded the last of our stuff in to the Tahoe and took it to what the kids and I have started calling the temp church.
(Sorry that was really long)

40 Years Old

Dave turned 40. He didn't want to have a party at all. I said 'should we invite the families for dinner?' 'NO'. 'Do you want just parents?' 'No, and no surprise party'. Then after the accident last week he really didn't feel like anything but the kids decided he needed to do something. We didn't tell him anything until we were in the car. He had a certificate for Tony Romas's, so we all went there to dinner. Dave thoroughly enjoyed his prime rib. Next we went mini golfing. We then headed home for presents and cupcakes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Myrna made it in time to have cupcakes with us and that was nice. It has become tradition to do his chocolate cupcake with chocolate icing with whipped cream inside. I love it when someone hasn't had one before and they get a little surprise:) I think he had a nice birthday, not a lot of fan fare but lots of phone calls and the card from Amber and Jared came right on his birthday. I love how that works out sometimes. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my husband, I counldn't ask or ever find a better man.
PS We had that 40 sign in the window all day. As soon as Dave got home he took it down, then he had to run out for 10 mins before we left and Cora stuck it back up. We were very proud, Dave was not:)

Once Man's Junk.....

Our church building is going to be renovated. Tuesday we went to the church to move what we would need for the next couple of month over to another building we will be using. As we (Primary, YM, YW, and Bishopric) were going through the building we found a LOT of old useless stuff. Dave designated part of the gym between dividers to be the 'garbage'. Blake was there with two other young boys. These three took that stuff and had a blast. Christi had her phone there and Camryn took pictures. I was standing right beside Christi and saw her email them to me but for some reason they didn't come through. I don't know what happened. They had big cut out animals painted on one side, must have been for a nativity, and cardboard shields and breastplates. Black plastic hats with purple trim. Blake and Joey put on the breastplates, shields and hat. Found swords and sat on an animal to have jousting tournaments. Leah and Stella where dancing with 6 foot cut out boys and girls. Lots of big hearts and candy canes. Cora brought home a huge 4 and 0 to put in our window for Dave's birthday today. She also got a really cool retro lunchbox. Monday Dave and I had been at Canadian Tire and they were having a sale on hand turned apple peelers. I said this would be a cool things to have but you would only use it maybe once a year, so not really worth it. The church had 8 and a box full of pie tins. (I guess Picture Butte used to make pies and sale them for a fund raiser) The bishop decided to get rid of them so Dave grabbed a peeler and a huge pile of pie plates for me. It was a little crazy to see what the Activity Day girls walked out with, I am sure there mom's were very pleased when they got home. We did get some stuff moved however and everyone had a great time.

My Thoughtful Cora

 

I found this picture puzzle behind my dresser the other day when I took out a drawer to look for my lip gloss. It was in a sealed envelop so I know I hadn't seen it before. It was from Cora for Mother's Day 2009. She had written a poem on the back that was fun to read. It was a really cool surprise. She doesn't remember doing it and we have no idea how it got behind the dresser. We don't know how she got the pictures, we assume it was an Activity Day project.
About 9 months ago I was talking to Kita and found out that her kids don't have sleep overs, just late nights. This really seemed like something that I needed to apply to my kids also. They weren't allowed to have sleep overs until they were 10 anyways so Cora was the only one affected. She has taken the opportunity at least once a week to try to change my mind. She was bugging me so bad that I finally told her that if she didn't stop bringing it up I wouldn't let her have cousin sleep overs either. She didn't say anything for about two weeks then I found this note on my pillow one night.

Mom
Let me tell you why I want sleep overs so bad. I've never told you why. When I picture a lot of girls laughing or having fun I picture it at a sleepover. Girl's time with no parents, brothers, and sisters or any people to bother them. They laugh and play around and talk about their lastest crush or the new hot guy in the school or gossiping. They laugh and laugh until it's dark enough to get in bed. Thats when you laugh and tell ghost stories or share your deepest secrets. Then they have a tickle fight or pillow fight.(I said they because I can't) Then they all start to yawn and fall asleep. Now this may sound like a bedtime story but I have the wonderful sensation of having that at a sleep over (with no parents saying be asleep at this time, go home as soon as you wake up or 10:00 in the morning) Then when all the girls wake up they talk and laugh and eat a nice meal of pancakes/belgium waffles with whipped cream and strawberries. Then they play games only NOT till 10:00am. They remember that fun and exciting bond between them - forever - remembering what they shared that night. Just the girls.
Cora
PS No one in the class is hot so I would have no one to talk about.

I thought that was really well written and super funny. Certianly has a flare for the dramatic, but still no sleep overs:(

New Year's Resolutions

I don't usually make New Year's Resolutions. I have always been of the mind that if I want to do something just do it right now. I don't need to wait till January 1st to do it. But last night for FHE we sat down and talked about Resolutions and I had the kids make some. So here is mine.

1. Cookbook - I want to take all of my recipes and switch them into a new cookbook. I will also put the Weight Watcher Points and Calories for servings on each one. This way I don't have to figure things out all the time.

2. Try at least one new recipe each month.

3. Lose 20 lbs - yes that is probably the most clique, common goal ever but I really do need to do it.

4. Improve my posture - I really need to not be so slouchy

5. Read and finish the Doctrine and Covenants.

6. Have at least one night away with just Dave - I have never had a vacation with just my husband, unless you count my eye surgery:) I usually take the kids because I realize how fast it is going and pretty soon they won't be around to take. But I think once every 13 years should be good right?!!

7. Learn 2 new songs from The Children's Songbook - I have had years and years of piano but you would never know it. It takes me FOREVER to learn a song.

8. Make one new friend - I am terrible at getting to know new people. I really like my save little bubble. I plan to go out of my comfort zone and be friendly.

That is it. If I was really smart I would check back every three months and see how I am doing. Wish me luck!!

Finally a Ski Day!!!

We finally made it to the ski hill today. And really my kids are awesome at skiing. I didn't go skiing this time, I stayed in the lodge. I would go out and take pictures. A couple times Blake would be coming down all by himself, Dave said that he would just take off. They were not easy runs either. I was so proud of them. I knew the girls were great we usually send them by their selves. But Blake amazed me. All my kids really are leaps and bounds better than me. I should go more often, but the thought of uncontrollable speed freaks me out. I do go once a year. It was 3 above today and the sun was out. It was glorious. Dave and Leah were free because of their passes and we didn't have to rent anything. It was way cheaper than usual. I did forget to bring hot chocolate.:( I will make sure I do that next time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow that was a lot of pictures but isn't my family superb!!!!