Slip Slidin' Christmas

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Over again and goodby

Over and over and over, again and again and again....

For the last couple of weeks that has been the story. I fix the fence and Nala finds another spot...or creates another spot to jump to freedom. The dog that always comes running when called, all of a sudden is deaf to my pleas to return. She makes her rounds and shows back up at our front gate about half an hour later. At first I tried to pretend it wasn't a problem, maybe she just needed to go for more runs or fetch or any other kind of training attention. But no matter what we tried, we'd turn around and she'd be gone again. She has a bloody history with some of the neighborhood chickens, and I knew it would only be a matter of time before we had the whole neighborhood after us, or Nala hit by a car (her second passion).

I turned to craigslist and I wasn't let down. I couldn't believe how many people wanted my dog...issues and all. There were tears from the kids and that night I couldn't sleep. I have put a lot of work into this dog and well, I kinda like having her around. I never get tired of looking at her....running, playing, snoozing, being a bum mat for Angel...she is beautiful. Maybe I could get the fence fixed up better, maybe there was something I haven't tried...

The next day I forgot to tie her back up after playing with her and when the kids went for a bike ride, she jumped the fence and went too. I didn't see her go and wasn't aware anything was wrong until Eve came crashing through the door all upset. I went out into the yard and there was Nala with a big fat rooster in her mouth. Turns out the rooster was ok, unlike the chicken she grabbed a couple months ago from the same neighbor. That was it...it was final.

Kelly and her mom, Nora, came to meet Nala today. They had been looking for a dog, specifically a golden, for a long time. They had met several dogs but none had been what they were looking for. I really didn't think Nala would pass their inspection, but they were instantly in love with her. I'm not sure about all the details, but there were tears of joy...yup, actual tears of joy. Nora even hugged me she was so happy. I feel very lucky to have her placed in a home where she has been wanted for a long time. They have had a golden before, so they know all about their temperament...good and bad.

Tonight feels quiet, and a little sad. Angel looks so small outside all by herself. But I keep thinking of a house, not too far away just hopping with activity and the excitement of a new dog and it makes me smile...maybe even chuckle.

Give the Girl a Hula Hoop!

This is just a tiny portion of Soni's concert today...it was such a hoot!

Note: For those who receive this by e-mail, you may actually have to go to the blog to make the video play.

The Bucket

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The most awesome gifts

I'm a little slow with this, but I had to post, for two reasons. 1-keeping a record of my sweet kiddos and 2-because I had an awesome birthday. There was no "one great event" that made it so, but I truly felt loved the entire day. The three oldest kids all wrote me notes and wrapped them in their own way. Eve with her colors and fancy cursive letters. Austin used hardware clamps from the garage. Soni wrapped hers in a beaded purse. Such individuals...these little ones that I so often lump together in one group. Their words written were equally thoughtful and very entertaining.
Soni writes her letters very well, but when she has a lot to say she reverts to shorthand, so she read hers to me and half way through she stoped and apologized for the letter being upside down, turned it right side up and continued on. Austin wished me a "Mare kresmes and a hapy noo yer" , "Mare ester", and a "hapy brfty". He also shared his testimony, "I no the sckrepsrs are troo", and many other sweet misspelled words that I will really miss as he continues to master his vocabulary.
Eve used a long standing family joke to congratulate me on my second favorite gift...fixing my washer before the repair man came and made me pay $60 to pull the 3 in screw out of one of the drain holes. Although Bingham didn't put anything down on paper he was very much a part of the moment, climbing up, down, around and in between.

One year older and completely worth it.

Just Believe

A couple days ago I found myself at Walmart with all four kids. This is something I am usually pretty good at avoiding, but despite my fears they were all pretty good until we got to the check out line. I could feel things getting out of control and just as I was about to start with my usual threats, Austin looked up and there was a man sitting on a bench dressed in ordinary clothes with a long white beard. The man was about 15 feet away and although I had seen him earlier, my back was toward him. Austin stopped dead in his tracks and without taking his eyes off the man he said to me, "I think that's Santa". I turned around and glanced at the man just as he winked at Austin. By then he had all of my kids attention and they were whispering back and forth with big smiles.

All of this gave me just enough time to get through the line without any major problems, and as we started to leave the man came up to our cart. "I've been watching you kids and you sure have been good. Keep up the good work". Then he gave each of the kids his card...just in case the wink wasn't proof enough :)

Then, this morning, just when I thought all belief was strong, I let Eve make pancakes all by herself. They turned out wonderful, despite the mess. The problem is that I have always made the very same pancakes with whole wheat flour. They have always been tasty, but now tasting these makes the whole wheat variety taste....well, just not the same. I'm afraid it will take a little more than a wink and a card to restore belief in whole wheat flour... Rock the House, Eve! (the last sentence was finished by Eve...chef extraordinaire)

Grandparent's Day

Yesterday Austin's singing class did a special presentation for Grandparent's Day. They sang all kinds of songs about grandparents and then at the end they had a slide show while they sang a song their teacher wrote for her grandchildren. Since you all are so far away, here is a little clip (with Eve's help) of that song.
Enjoy!

You know it's cold when....

Who's Alpha Now????

She does this all the time now...we're going to have to get her a sweater...or a thermo-bum warmer...when it gets really cold.

Bunny Ears

This picture totally cracked me up...Eve and Austin acting so natural, and then Soni's expression....so, in the spirit of blogging, I thought I should have a contest for the best caption....the winner will...well, come on...just do it, it'll be fun :)

Crazy Halloween

Every year, the days leading up to Halloween stress me out...trying to figure out costumes, planning parties, and the surety of my kids consuming their body weight in candy. I was in charge of the ward Trunk R' Treat this year, but before that, I talked my way into a full day at the school carnival. I put a lot of work into being organized...not something that comes naturally for me...so I could fit everything in. It was all a lot of fun and I was happy everything went smoothly until I was tucking my sugar coated kiddos into bed, and I realized that in all the craziness I had forgotten pictures. What? Being the camera happy person I am, I was devastated. So today I bribed my kids (not with candy) to dress back up for a photo shoot.

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My Boys

i think i'm addicted to smilebox...more to come, i'm sure

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Unfinished yard

WARNING: this post is a little graphic...not Joe in Iraq graphic, but you will see blood.

Saturday we finally decided it was time...or we finally found time...to clean up our yard for winter. The kids were helping me clean out the garden while Phil was doing a final mowing of our weeds. We were really getting a lot done when suddenly the mower stops and I look up and see Phil hopping around. I'll admit, my first thought was disappointment that something was slowing down our great momentum, but then Phil was still hopping around so I got over it and went to see what was wrong. His leg was bleeding a little and you could see whatever it was that caused the damage still lodged in just under the skin.
First thing he said was, "Get the camera!" so I figured he wasn't too bad off and went back to my tomatoes. He hopped inside and got the camera himself. At this point he was starting to feel a little more pain, so I offered to pull it out...I even got out the hydrogen peroxide...I thought it would make a really cool youtube video (not really smilebox material). He declined and drove himself to the ER. After a few x-rays they discovered the small object we could see in Phil's leg was just the tip of the iceberg...or in this case...twisted, rusty wire.
So he got a tetanus shot and the doc sniped open his leg and pulled it out.

Now it's setting on my counter as proof of...well, that you shouldn't mow through the weeds just wearing shorts.

In Trouble?

Austin had a great week this week in school. In fact his teacher stopped me today to tell me how awesome he was...."a completely different person"...I think were the words she used. So of course I have been laying on the praise to encourage this behavior. I guess he feels like a fish out of water because tonight as I was putting him to bed he told me that he got in trouble at school.
What?
So I began to ask questions...when, what happened, with which teacher. The details were very fuzzy, and he was having a hard time remembering. Austin is a pretty bright kid, so the whole time I'm wondering how could such a smart kid not remember why he got in trouble. Well, as we talked it out, it seems he didn't get in trouble...yet, but he was so sure he was going to forget to give me a message about the upcoming Halloween party that in his mind he was already in trouble.
I can't even imagine what goes on inside this boy...

Slumber Party

Ahhh, we finally did it...succumbed to the pleas of our first born and granted her her first slumber birthday party. Ok, I'll admit, I was pretty excited myself. We had her birthday early this year, knowing from experience how hard it is to get excited about celebrating life with sugar only three days after Halloween. (early Happy Birthday to Joe...although, I'm sure the sugar isn't as much of a problem for him :)) We invited five giggly girls and all came but only three stayed over night...phew! They helped decorate the cake...which tasted horrible, but looked awesome.


Then we went out and did punk rock tie dye shirts...now I'm not sure how child friendly this really is, but they had a blast twisting their shirts again and again spraying with spray paint...hopefully no permanent brain damage occurred with all those fumes. We did some other painting and then the girls just played outside making up their own games. We had such a wide variety of personalities, but they all got along great and amused me all evening.
I'm sure they stayed up a little too late...even with me laying on the couch just so they would finally hush up and sleep, but hey, you only turn 8 years and 50 weeks once in your life.

Sunday Afternoon

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The Marathon (s)

We had everything ready to go the night before and were on the road by 5am on Friday. Phil has been training for the St.George Marathon with his brother and the time had finally come. The trip there went pretty smoothly and we even had time to drive through Cedar City and reminisce about old times. Then we stopped at Red Cliffs and the kiddos had a blast...we really need to reinstate that camping get together.

We got to St.George by about 5 and met up with Phil's parents and Spencer and his family. So good to see them all again. After swimming and pizza we got the kids in bed so Phil could get a good nights sleep. They were up and gone by 4:30...in the rain! There hasn't been rain for the St.George marathon in 25 years. By the time I got the kids up and breakfast, it was time to go meet the guys. Very weird to think they could run a whole marathon in the time it takes me to get my kids ready every morning...it puts a different time frame on things. We met up with Spencer just as he had about 3 miles to go, so I got out there to wait for Phil and sent the kids with Grandma. My plan was to run with Phil the last couple miles, and I'm glad I did. For anyone who's run a marathon, you know what kind of a moment that is.

Spencer finished at 3 hours and 20 seconds...or maybe it was 19, because his goal was to go under 3 hours and he just missed it by 20 seconds! Ahhhh! Although he did win his division, Phil got 12th in the same division coming in at about 3:33...which is what he trained for. Very proud of both of them. They both just wanted a big ol' hamburger when they were done.


Now for the real marathon..hehe. See, we hung around St.George probably a little too long, and didn't get on the road til about 5pm. I knew it would be a long ride home, but I had it easy compared to poor Eve, who started throwing up about half way home. It was a continual thing...so we just gave her something to puke in and kept driving. Soni also started spewing, but quickly went back to sleep. By the time we got home, at 4:30 (yup, the whole trip was done in less than 48 hours) the van was pretty messy. So we have spent this week taking turns with the flu and doing ALOT of laundry. I'm hoping desperately that last night was the end...

Now the kids have all of next week off of school and after a week like this, what in the world will we do to keep busy?

Red Cliffs

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There's a Scorpein in my Boot

There's a scorpein in my boot,

There's a snake in my sleeping bag

And a lizerd in my pants,

There's a bird in my pelow case.

Though I know I shud give them a cance,

But I have to kick them out,

Because they haven't payed their rent!

by Eve Woolston

Football and cute kids

Austin had a football game Saturday. It's still a little overwhelming for him, all the different terms and positions....and remembering to just grab the flag instead of completely flattening the guy who has the ball. One of those parental moments when you fake horror, but are really proud as heck that your son just pulled down a kid two years older and twice his size...hehe. Then on the next big running play he got it right and pulled the kids flag...phew :)

And of course since I had my camera and kids handy I took some extra pictures just for fun.

Family Graffiti

We've been tagged!



What a rough neighborhood we live in.

actually it's just Eve and Austin's charcoal support for our cause, written on the side of our barn....
GO FAMILY!

What funny kids.

I've got my eye on you.

This is for Mary's kids...Angel just wanted me to post and let you know she's still watching you...so don't even think about throwing out her sofa. Have a good day.

Run with the Angel

I love my early morning runs, but lately it is getting darker and darker. So to keep my mind off what might be learking behind the cedar trees, I made up a little song inspired by Joie, Megan...and of course my little dog Angel.

I run with the Angel
on streets made of dust.
We're both kinda crazy
so running's a must.
Out on the dirt road
that's where we'll be,
In the early morining...

K, that's about it...I'm not so musically inclined, but I had a great run. :)