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.

Christmas 2015

It was a fabulous Christmas break for us all.  Monday the 21st I had woken up early and so started packing boxes.  My kids were not so impressed since it was the first day of their Christmas break and they wanted to sleep.  By about 11 I figured we were going to be able to have almost all things moved that day and spend our first night in our new house.  (Yes pictures will be coming, I am still having issues uploading them)  It was really neat to be in our house.  Over the next few days we got the last of our stuff and sorted out rooms.  We only have one toilet in, and there is a sheet over the door opening.  Dave has been busy building temporary shelving for everything.  We still have a lot to do, but it is great being here.  Since we had moved so late, I had decided not to decorate for Christmas at all.  Dave thought we really needed a tree, so he grabbed one one day when he was in town.  I'm glad he did.  It made a big difference.  Christmas eve we had our appetizer dinner, watched our traditional movie "A Christmas Story", read the Christmas story from the Bible and set  out our stockings, and opened our pajamas.

 After the kids went to bed, Dave and I set up the tree.  Christmas morning they where so surprised.  It was the perfect Christmas.  I was really proud of the job I did down scaling.  I found 3 awesome gift for each of them and spent less than a $100 on each kid.  Presents and stocking included.  For Dave I got him hanging guitar holders.

 I have been wanting those for a few years now.  My nephew Brock had them in his room.  Dave has pulled out his guitars so much the past two weeks since they are just right at hand for him.  And I don't have to vacuum around the stands on the ground.  We did get a TV for Christmas also.  We had one big family gift.  Instead of wrapping it, I sent them on a scavenger hung to find it.

 After presents Dave cooked up bacon and we did french toast.  The kids and I played some board games as Dave hung the new TV and guitar holders.  He was joking that for Dads Christmas is a work day putting together all the new stuff.  We watched a movie and then ate salmon and baby potatoes.  More games and fun time together. We have had no Internet for a couple of weeks. While I have felt a little disconnected, it has been fun.  Leah has spent literally hours playing the piano, flute and ukulele. She has taught herself many songs over the break.  Many board games and fun going on.  One day Blake wanted to go sledding so bad, he made himself a sled out of left over cardboard and tuck tape.  Dave pulled him around for a while.  It's still standing.  :)  The rest of the week was relaxing and fun.  Dave worked on the house, kids played and organized rooms.  We all hung out peacefully and wonderfully.  One day my parents came up and spent a few hours. I had to practically tie them down to stay for lunch.  I love when Dave has time off work and we all get to hang out.

Blake's sled.

Cora being the Joker during cards.

Flying Blake's new helicopter.

Finding beloved toys while unpacking.

Ward Christmas Party

Red and Green Day at school.  Leah packed 3 outfits this day. Red and Green for spirit day at school.  She changed into a dress for the game after school.  Then after the game into the jeans she needed for the song they were doing at the Ward Party.

Our awesome youth performance at the Ward Party.