Lots has happend!

So much has happened in the past little while I thought I would update. We had two birthdays, Andie and Jenna, that weekend Ben came home on leave and we had a good time with him while he was here. I went to girls weekend with my sister-in-law's and we had a blast!!!

Jenna's Cake

Andie's Cake

Last week Johnathan graduated from BYU-Idaho with his Bachelors Degree. It was a busy weekend and we had family up for a BBQ Saturday. I am so proud of him sticking it out and going to school full time and working as much as possible, I got myself a great man!!

Graduate!

Last Friday I received an email from the Editors at Avalon and they requested a full manuscript of Sweetwater Springs. Needless to say I was thrilled and today the beautiful package went in the mail. I know that it is going to take a lot of waiting but I have been doing that for two years so I think this will be ok.

Sweetwater Springs


Other than that, Johnathan received a very good offer from Walsh Engineering in Idaho Falls so we will be moving there in June as soon as the kids are done with school. We are very much looking forward to staying close to family and working so we can buy a house sometime next year. So all in all lots of GOOD things have happened to us and I am very thankful for all the blessings we have in our lives.

Having a Boy Moment!

Casey had a boy moment yesterday when he had a run in with the bunk beds and had to go for stitches. When we heard him crying we didn't think much of it because it was a normal bump cry, not a "I cut my head open," cry so when he came out with blood running down his face we were surprised.

After cleaning him up a bit I hauled him over to Community Care and the Doctor told us he would need stitches. The nurse put a little numbing gel on it and we hung out for a few minutes until it was was numb. The Doctor came in and asked Casey to lay down, then he draped the wound and put three stitches in, Casey never cried or anything. When the Doctor was done all Casey said was "Thank you Doctor." Pleased as punch he hopped down and went for his toy. I was so proud of him for being so brave, all he asked was that I hold his hand.

So there we go, Casey's first set of stitches. I am pretty sure that they won't be his last, but if every time goes as smoothly as these ones did maybe we will all survive. Every boy needs a right of passage I guess.

Christmas Time!

My Brother-in-Law posted something on the family website that has got me thinking. The question was "Who in your house is most excited about Christmas?" My first though must be the kids. They have anticipated the gifts under the tree, the Advent House and all the yummy treats and goodies. And just like every other kid in the world they can't wait to open those gifts. I would give them a 9 on the excited scale.

But I would have to say that I am closer to a 11 on that same scale. Why, you might ask? Well I will tell you.

Money is tight, it almost always is, and some years that has gotten me down because we can't give our kids the same things as other kids. No ipods or computer games, no Wii or bikes, we simply can't afford those things. But instead of letting that get us down we turned to the drawing board, no really... The boys love to play with cars so we designed and have made a HUGE car mat for them to play on. Johnathan and I have worked hours on it and we are very close to being finished, but every time I see the little corner of is poking out behind the couch I get excited.

Andie loves clothes, she is a typical girl. She also loves jewelry. I have a friend we several older girls and she was going though their clothes and she gave two huge bags to us. I went though and picked out some wonderful sweaters and other really nice things and every time I see that box under the tree I know she is going to freak out when she opens them. Along with that I got a few necklaces that were hand me downs and I cut them and removed the beads and with them I have made two beautiful necklaces that Andie is going to love, along with some really inventive friendship bracelets.

Jenna is getting a baby doll and I know she is going to love it. I made the baby a blanket and she found it before I could wrap it. She drug it around the house all day before I could sneak it away ofter she went to bed. We also got her a little stroller and I think she is going to have a great time racing that baby around.

Some other things we did were make the boys shirts with dinosaurs on them, a blanket for Tyson, and handmade pillow cases from Santa. Johnathan is working hard on handmade Tithing, savings, spending boxes that are an exact replica of the ones his father made for him and his siblings. They are going to be really beautiful.

The one thing I am most excited about though are the ornaments. Years ago Johnathan's grandmother made crochet Christmas ornaments for him and his siblings. Johnathan has three of them on the tree and he loves them. This year I got his cousin to send me the patterns and I am making each of the kids their own ornament just like Great Grandma Duncan made. They may not understand it this year but in years to come I hope they will be treasured just like Johnathan's are.

So what does this all mean? Well I just wanted to tell you that one: Christmas isn't just for kids, and two: you are only as joyful as you choose to be. I have to say I think this is going to be the best Christmas ever, not because of the amount of money we spent, but because of the amount of love that went into every gift. Merry Christmas to all of those we love and care about, and I hope that Holiday cheer comes in the shape of a heart this year for you too.

Jenna, Miss Tude!

Though I would do an update on Jenna. She has turned into Little Miss Personality. She is really just a ray of sunshine in our lives. I don't remember any one of the other kids being so anxious to have fun and be happy. There are those times when she isn't happy, but they are few and far between. It doesn't seem to matter where we are she can command and audience. When she is angry at her brother she will clench her little fists together then raspberry all over. When she is happy she laughs and waves and dances around. Sometimes she gets herself all dizzy and falls over. She has one fun attitude and attention, but what girl doesn't?

She has several things she really likes to do, one is read her favorite book, others include playing outside, swinging on anything, and playing in boxes. She also likes to do anything that big kids, or mom and dad do, such as play on the computer, pound on the piano and jump on the trampoline. We have been pleased how healthy she has been, only one ear infection which is really a wonderful thing compared to the other children. It has been a wonderful 20 months with her and we look forward to Christmas to see if she catches on to the idea this year. We love her very much.

Washing Your Brain!

The other night Johnathan and I were watching TV when this horrendous commercial came on. I don't remember exactly what it was about, but it was disturbing. We just looked at each other for a moment and he commented on how he would never be the same after that. I looked at him and told him that I needed to go and wash my brain to get the picture out of my head.

Last night I saw yet another commercial, this one was for Tabasco sauce, there were peperoni and then they grew heads and started to sing. Again I felt the need to wash that picture from my brain. How many of you need to wash your brains?

Downata Hotsprings!!

We had a whole lot of fun. We left Friday after school and got there in time to have some hot dogs and potato salad for dinner. We hung out and played on the playground and checked out the pool then got in our jammies. Jenna cried for just a few minutes and then fell asleep. Andie and Tyson slept in my parents trailer and Casey stayed with us. Everyone slept really well until about 3:00 a.m when 3 trains came by blowing their horns one right after another. The guy next to us brought his dogs and so they started to bark, both Jenna and Casey woke up. After about 30 min and a bottle everyone settled back down and fell back asleep.

We were up by 7:30, but the pool didn't open until 11:00 so we had breakfast and then Jenna went down for a nap while the kids played in the sand. Finally it was time to swim and we all headed out. The pool was very warm and then kids had a blast. There were 3 water slides that whet into the main pool and Andie and Tyson had a so much fun shooting out of them. Casey was content to play in the little area and Mom and Dad had Jenna most of the time.

Jonathan, Andie and I went over to the big slides for a while, "The Black Hole," and "The Dragon." The Black Hole drops about 100 feet into the ground the shoots you around a corner and spits out out 15 seconds later. Johnathan's face was priceless the first time he went down. I screamed like a little girl! The Dragon is more than twice as long as the slide in Thermop and goes around in a couple of circles, it is a really big tube and you can go down it on a mat. Andie and Tyson went on that one. Finally the kids were hungry and tired so we headed back to camp.

After a BIG lunch we all settled down for naps. Two hours later we geared back up and headed back to the pool. The kids had fun again on the slides and then finally Andie said she wanted to go to the Black Hole. Johnathan and I headed over there with her and she boldly walked up there and headed down. She was SOOO excited when she got done and she went on it two more times. I don't know how many times Johnathan went down, but I stuck to the Dragon. Dad was content to play with Jenna in the pool. Finally it was time for dinner so we drug the tired wet kids back to camp.

Dinner was a tin foil dinner in the crock pot. It was really yummy and then we had ice cream for dessert. We tried a chocolate cake in the dutch oven but it seemed to cook forever and we finally just put the kids to bed and went to bed ourselves. Same sleeping arrangements and everyone slept really good until 6:15 when another train came though. We were up and going, had breakfast then went on our pioneer hike enjoying nature. Then we packed up and came home. Camping trip a success!!! We had a lot of fun and the kids were great. It was a nice end of summer camping trip.

1st Day of School!

Andie and Tyson headed out for the first day back to school, but no only was it the first day for everyone, but it really was Tyson's FIRST day! He was so excited this morning that when my mom called to wish him luck he told her "She talked to much." He was waiting for the bus and she was taking much longer talking to him than he wanted.

We all went out and waited together for the bus and when it finally arrived, Tyson jumped on like it was going to leave without him. He was so excited that he ran to the very back of the bus. When he realized Andie had stopped he went back and sat with her.

The rest of us decided to meet them at the school and get a few pictures. Tyson hit the ground running and it was like pulling teeth to get a picture of him at his classroom. Then he ran down the hall and was done with us. We stopped in at Andie's classroom and she was ready to learn. I think she is going to have a good year and I am excited to talk to her when she gets home.

I met Tyson at the bus this afternoon and I asked him. "What was the first thing you did!" Instantly he said, "I had to sit down!" HAHAHA What a crack up! He did talk and talk and talk about the rest of the day and he is ready and excited to go again tomorrow.

Casey and I worked on the alphabet song and then hung out while Jenna napped, on top of that I got the kitchen clean and the living rooms picked up. We also went to the store and played outside for a bit. Overall it was a painless first day and I hope Andie has lots of good things to report when she gets home!