Great Moments this Year

I have had a great birthday.  Cora is off for finals. We did some grocery shopping and ordered doors. Then we went to lunch together.  Earl's chicken tender with house salad and their home made ranch is my favorite.  Dave doesn't like Earl's so we never go.  I decided today was my birthday so we were going to go.  It was delicious.  Dave has high council tonight, but the girls made him dinner as I was picking up Blake and we are going to watch a movie.  I have had many birthday wishes from family and friends.  It's been lovely.  I couldn't decide what my list should be this year.  This morning when my mom called and I was talking to her, she suggested this idea.  I thought it was perfect. So.....

39 Great Moments This Year
1.  The first night spent in our new house
2.  Christmas at home with not much going on was perfect
3.  Cora getting her drivers license
4.  Getting out on the boat after years of not doing it
5.  Working with my kids building fences
6.  Picking up my Dad from the hospital after his heart attack.  It was fun to spend that tiny bit of time with with my parents.  Even tho it was not the best of situations.
7.  Blake driving the tractor to feed cows.  He was so proud
8.  Watching Blake and Dave build the Kub Kar together
9.  Watching the wood floor go in
10. Seeing my kids interact with their friends at school
11. The awesome school pictures I got of the kids this year
12. We actually had a fall this year.   Not just two days.  My ideal perfect season.
13. I had one YW that it seemed I could do nothing to inspire her to work on her Personal Progress.  Just before she graduated she came to me and told me she had completed the entire thing.
14. Leah making an effort herself to study and get good grades.  She is acing it.
15. Listening to Blake's do a spur of the moment talk in Primary.
16. First time vacuuming my new carpet.
17. Turning on our water and having no leaks in the plumbing
18. When the kids played hide and seek and we had no walls
19. Basketball
20. Spending time with Blake as we sat through many tournaments
21. Being surprised with my Bosch from Myrna
22. Listening to Leah's piano duet at the ward Christmas party.  It was amazing.
23. Helping Dave tag some new baby calves
24. When Cora raked by herself first time.  She got the worst part of the field with all the bumps and the transmission in the tractor was not working.  Still she totally nailed it.
25. Every rare  moment I get to sit and read.
26.  Family Nerf Wars
27. When my parents surprised me with my newly painted table and chairs
28. Doing the egg art with the kids
29. Learning that Leah loved using the drill.  We could get her to do all sorts of work after, as long as it involved the drill.
30.  Our first sun downer
31. The few short days I was with my sisters this year.
32. Going to Idaho and not having anything broke or  broken :)
33. Being with Cora when she got her patriarchal blessing
34. The walks with Dave
35. Cora and Leah coming in the door after basketball singing, laughing, and quoting movies.
36. Listening to the kids harmonize as Dave played his guitar
37. When the girls finally unpacked their last box
38. Every sunrise I see out my bedroom window
39. Every moment I get to spend with Dave and the kids. Sometimes we are home so little is seems rare, but I treasure each and every moment.  I love my family to bits.

This has probably been the easiest list so far.  There were many, many great moments.  I could have made a list several pages long.  To another great year.

17 years

Wednesday I was filling our many forms for Leah's upcoming trip to San Diego.  As I was writing the date over and over again I realized that Friday was our anniversary.  I called out to Dave, "Hey our anniversary is Friday"  I really had completely forgotten.  He asked me what we were going to do.  I laughed and said that I would be at a basketball tournament and he would be picking up Blake from a friends house.  That is how we spent our celebration day.  He did not even get dinner from me.  When I arrived home at 10:30, Dave had left a card for me on the counter.  He had spent the evening fixing fences, then grabbing Blake.  He said it was quite warm and peaceful out.  We watched one quick TV episode and went to bed.  Happy Anniversary to us.  Dave joked that at least for our 15th we went to the dump together.  We don't seem to be improving.  Oh well, I don't need a big night out to tell me how great the last 17 years have been. :)  

The girl have finals and midterms this week.  They have been up late studying almost every night. (Notice my cool white elephant on the piano?  Amber gave that to me just before Christmas as a house warming gift.  It will go great with all my Africa stuff once I finally put it up.)

Saturday Dave took Blake and went to the dump.  Finally!!  It was quite the load.  I think perhaps we should go a little more often.

The girls and I went back to play another game.  Final game Leah won all-star.  I thought it was cool that Cora had won all-star when she was in Grade 8 at the same tournament.  She still had her shirt.

Leah and Cora have math exams today.  Cora saved her math sock for the exam.  She thought it was appropriate.:)

Separating Cows

Last Saturday we separated the cows and calves.  There are some BIG calves this year.  It was a cold day, but worked well with the girls schedule.  They didn't play till later in the afternoon.  Our family was a bit late to the start.  Dave was trying to get the last of some tile done before our kitchen people came.  We ran over quick to help bring the cows in after Jared,Amber, and Emry had started.  We would get a batch then Jared would separate them out and yell in or out.  Blake and I then relayed the message to Dave who was controlling the fence.  Cora and Amber made sure none ran around the corner.  I thought it went smooth this year.  We had no fence jumping going on.  Leah helped for the first while but then made the mistake of sitting down.  It was too cold, you had to keep moving.  So she ended up going to Emry's house for a few minutes then I had her run go get the camera.  She took a very very long time at this task and almost missed it.

Dave manning the gate.

Cool shot by Leah.

Jared getting the last two.

Each family then went to their house for a quick bite of lunch.  Then back to separate heifers and steers.  I guess we didn't have enough bands, so Amber made a flying trip to grab some.

Some of steers took three hands to get the band on.  It was crazy. Leah and Blake did a good job keeping the cows moving.  Emry joined and helped after Cora had put her camera away.  Pictures for me was a last minute thought, so make sure to check out Amber's.  She will probably have better ones.  

Keeping the cows moving.

Jared got a picture of Blake's and sent it to Dave.  He is so woolly. (Or furry, or fuzzy, whichever you prefer.)

As the day wore on, Cora and Leah needed to leave for their game. Emry and Blake went in again for a few minutes to warm up then back out to help.  Once we were all done, we walked a sick cow in and gave it some antibiotics.  Unfortunately the poor thing didn't make it.  It was a good full day.  We didn't make it to the dump as hoped, but the girls did drive safe on the icy roads.  I was worried.  They placed second.  We had a fun time working together and didn't totally freeze.  :)  Hot chocolate was a wonderful thing.

Playin' Ball

January is full of basketball games.  The girls has a game every Tuesday and Thursday this month and a tournament every weekend.  Leah has been doing well.  She is fast, so even tho she is also tall they have put her as a wing.  Sometimes Leah will be put in as a post if they are up against a tall girl that can jump.

It has been fun for Cora and Leah to go up to practice together and hang out.  Cora is enjoying coaching.  Of course she would rather be playing, but is having fun.  They will drive to practice and grab the mail on the way home.  It's fantastic.  They always come in the house after practice singing and laughing.  I love that they have each other.

At last weekends tournament they placed second.

Cora was schedules to ref a few games during the last tournament.  At one point a ref didn't show.  Cora changed into her shorts and reffed the first half, the sat down and coached the second half when ref showed up.  She LOVED it.

Cora is a lot more confident in her reffing this year and did great against a vocal coach.  She held her own.

This past week Cora also did her first solo coach job.  I sat on the bench with her and did the stats.  I'm good at that:)  She has to have and adult with her for liability, but she did great.  Cora is doing the tournament this weekend and next plus next Tuesday also.

I have just been asked to get a few girls together and coach for a high school tournament in Feb.  We only have three weeks to get ready.  We need to find at least 6, hopefully 7 girls.  Cora is so excited to play.  I hope we can pull it off.  It has been foggy for weeks as we have been driving back and forth.  At first it was like a cozy little blanket wrapped around us.  But after endless days and almost hitting a train, I was so glad when it finally lifted.  But on the plus side in the spots the fog was thinner and you could see a bit everything was so frosted and  beautiful.  Cora kept sending my pictures each day.

Happy Birthday Dave!

Monday we celebrated Dave's birthday.  It wasn't much.  He wants his guitar fixed and he had some tile to do.  When I asked what he wanted for his special dinner he really didn't know.  Blake chose hot sandwiches and Leah chose honeyed green beans.  I don't think he even really likes the green beans, but for lack of him choosing that is what we went with.  We ate quickly before I took Leah up for practice and then had cake late when we got back. That I didn't even ask.  Just made him chocolate cake.  As always :)  I did finally get to wrap someone lunch tho.  I saw this on Pinterest three years ago and in all that time not one of my family has had a birthday land on a school or work day.  So finally Sunday night, Dave went to check the cows and the kids and I wrapped everything in his lunch.  I told the kids to write Happy Birthday on each one.  They took it up a notch.

Dave said he was very stealthy about opening it all, so no one at work would know.  We wrapped each orange, spoon, sandwich, yogurt, dip, everything.

From Leah, these are actually carrots.

From Cora, these are chips.  He did not smash them.

Getting things wrapped.

                                        Leah was very clever, she wrote on wrapping...

...and the banana.  Blake wrapped a bag of air.  We had a lot of fun doing it.  So Happy Birthday Dave.  Hope it was a good one.

Abby's Call

A big congratulations to Abby for getting her mission call.  She is the third to go and the first Sister.  She is to report to the MTC May 4.  No one won this time, although I do have two claims.  So first all guesses.
Cora -  New York/Manhattan, Switzerland
Leah - New York, Chili
Blake - Quebec, France (I guess he really thought she should learn French)
Dave - Maryland
Justin - Iceland (That is just cruel)
Steve - Honolulu
Mckay - Armenia
Levi - Washington DC, Pennslvania
Mom - Hawaii Visitor Center, Nova Scotia
Dad - Salt Lake Visitor Center, England
(I thought the rest of these where funny,  Apparently my family is either lazy or really like double letters)
Char - Indiana, Ireland
Natalie - Germany, Georgia
Ryan - Canada, Colorado
Kita - Florida, France
Taylor - Baltimore, Boston, and Toronto (Guess Tay can not count :)
And for my favorite guess
Kailey - Billings MT and Madagascar.  Talk about two big extremes.
And she is going to....New Zealand, Hamilton Temple Visitor Center!!!!!
Congrats, you will be awesome.
(Mom and Dad both claim a win since they said visitor center, mom is sure it is her since she is closer.)
Good guesses everyone.

Our House

As is obvious from the last few post, I am having problems with pictures.  Sorry, they are not the best at all.  But for all that have patiently been waiting, oh that is no one sorry, for those that have impatiently waited here a few pictures of our house.  First a side note:  When I married Dave I knew we would one day move back to his family farm.  In some ways it came sooner than we thought and in other is was later than we thought.  But as we have been here the last year and a half I can see blessing of having the Lord have us come when he did.  Since I knew it was going to happen, I have been collecting pictures from magazines, going to show homes and making notes, noting things I liked in classic movies, and looking online at many layouts for farm houses for 14 years.  When we meet with the architect for the first time I handed him a big folder.  I can walk through my house and tell you what every inch will eventually look like.  I won't because I want people to view it done rather than me telling you.  Not much of my style or wants have changed, even with Pinterest coming along. :) Some have been hard to still find and some I think are classic. We also feel extremely blessed that the first homes we lived in we found at low prices and sold well so we could build up equity. We have given up things to save for this as well. We are so happy that all the years of planning, saving, and waiting have helped us to build the home we dreamed of.  That being said the next few months or years I will have better pictures as each room comes together.  Or you can just come visit me.  :)

Front view

Front door.  Off to the left of picture is Dave's office and right is entry and stairs going up.  And the ones you can see going down.

Looking out of Dave's office.  I love my wood floor.  Dave was sure I would never find it.  Let me tell you I search long and hard for that.

Kitchen.  Where the microwave is closes.  We just don't have the handles put on yet.  I love the touch of bead board. Next to the open cupboard out of sight is the fridge then the door to my pantry.  The pantry runs the whole length behind the wall.  Next to pantry door is opening for my downstairs laundry room and the mudroom to garage. Oh and small bathroom.

Pantry.  Another thing I love.

Looking from kitchen to open eating and front room.

Front room.

Two things I did get from Pinterest.  I was so excited to organize my spices in these tiny mason jars. and I made my own bath mat out of scraps I had and a towel.  Gives it some color.

I was trying to wait for a day my kids had clean room, but lets face it, it is not going to happen.  Here is Blake's.

The girls. Yes Leah hardly makes her bed.  This will be a little better when we get some more storage places for them.  They have a regular closet then a small walk-in and a window set on the right.

Different view of kitchen.  I have had several people ask if we brought our fridge from old house.  No, it is just very hard to find a freezer on the top and an ice maker not in the door.  I really really don't like freezers on the bottom.  It was obvious I am the only one by how many I found.

Basement where the wood stove will go.  So there is a bit for you all.

Ringing in the New Year

New Years Eve we went out to my parents house in the afternoon.  Smith's had gotten in the night before and Bevans' were leaving the next day.  We had only a few short hours together.  Mom had made us all lunch.  We really didn't do much.  Ate, chatted, a few games.  It was perfect.  Blake finally got to go sledding.  Levi pulled him behind the four wheeler.  They then played outside for a bit sliding down the hills. 

We then loaded up our kids and headed back home.  Quick stop to grab our food and presents' then over to the Puzey's.  Atwood were right behind us, everyone else was already there.  Again relaxing hang out and then finger food.  I love finger food/appetizer meals.  It was all really good.  Our kids were really tired, so about 10:30 we came back to our house. The younger kids all had a little Martenelli at grandmas before we left.  Natalie had found the perfect little glasses for me.  They are tiny mason jars.  We used them to ring in the New Year.

 Then the kids wanted to watch one 'Corner Gas' episode.  Well of course it was two and by the time we were all ready for bed it was 4 minutes to midnight.  We waited and rang New Year in for the third time.  We had wanted to see the fireworks in town, but missed them.  The next morning Cora and I went for a run.  I had missed signing up for the Resolution Run and was determined to do it on my own anyways.  Dave took us a few miles away from the house and dropped us off.  He kept making sure we were going to stay together and asked me if I had my phone, which I didn't.  Why would I run with my phone???  He insisted that he was worried about us slipping or something.  Later when we were home safe and and sound he informed us that he had talked to a neighbor that morning that was out hunting coyotes that went through his yard.  Dave knew that would freak me out and I wouldn't go.  So he just kept checking on us and didn't tell me.  He tells me over and over that they would not attack me, but when you hear them in the night howling in a pack, it is very nerve racking.  Anyways we made it.  A quick house clean and showers then back to the party next door.  Cousins exchanged gifts and got them from Grandma.  My kids loved everything they got. Then we got stockings from Myrna.  Always good stuff in that for sure.  Kids played, put together Lego, some played ping pong.  We had another nice meal and just hung out.  Later there was a little concert.  My three kids sang as Dave played the guitar.  They did well for remembering the day before hand.  :)  Things started to wind down.  Blake was anxious to go home to put his Lego from grandma together.  When we got back he got right into it.  Such a cool one, he loves it.  Girls watched a movie, I read, and Dave did a little work on shelves then sat with his girls.  A wonderful day.  Saturday since we hadn't really done much for the holiday except unpack we took the kids to see Spectre.  It was pretty good.  We don't usually get popcorn at the theater, but it smelled extra good that night as we were fasting.  It was a good wrap up to a great Christmas break.