Jaren lost his first tooth! And then his Second!

Today, November 12, Jaren lost his first tooth. After dinner, he wanted to try to get his very wiggly tooth out. Angelique decided that she would be the "Dentist" and pull his tooth out. After several tries, she got it out. He was such a proud little boy. (He is not wearing a shirt because he was afraid that he would get blood on it.)

On the 25th of November he lost his second tooth! He wiggled this tooth for days and really wanted it out. I was so sick of listening to him that I took a square of toilet paper, asked him if I could see his tooth, put my fingers on it and pulled it out and said, "There you go!"

Beau in the oven

Beauchene has a funny desire to clean. Today he opened up the oven, pulled out both of the racks, grabbed the vacuum attachment brush and proceeded to sweep up the bottom of the oven. This was totally his idea. So I got out my vacuum and sucked up the stuff on the bottom of the oven and then he decided to climb in and brush the bottom some more. I finally had to insist that he was "all done" and that he needed to get out.

Talon's Veteran's Day Assembly

On Nov. 11, Veteran's Day, the 5th grade put on a program singing patriotic songs. Talon's teacher really complimented him saying that he was one of the best singers. Talon's teacher really tries hard to make school a positive experience. Matt had to take a day off from working last Saturday, so he chose today so that he could go to this program and attend the kids SEPs (student evaluation plan) with me. OK, so I told him this was the day that he needed to take off. :)

Beauchene's first haircut

Tonight I gave Beauchene his first haircut. The other kids decided they needed haircuts too. These are the before pics.

These are the after pics. I forgot to take a picture of Angelique before; but in Beauchene's after picture, you can see the back of Angelique's hair.

The faith of a child

Last night, Saturday, I came down with a migraine. I went to bed at about 8pm, but couldn't sleep. Matt massaged my head for me. It felt really good, but it seemed to make it worse. Jaren came in to see me and ask Matt, "Dad, can we say a prayer so that Mom can feel better." So we did and Jaren wanted to say it. It was short but very sweet. Then the kids went to bed. I then had Matt and his brother Nate give me a blessing. After they left the room, my head stopped pounding and I was able to rest calmly. After about 2 hours the pain stopped and I was able to sleep peacefully. I am a firm believer in the power of the priesthood.

Halloween 2008

Beauchene as a frog

Safia as a Barbie princess

Jaren as a Ninja



Jaren as Spiderman

Angelique as a witch

Talon as a wizard

Jileigh as a cowgirl

Group picture of my family and Candy's family and our friend Jennifer's family.

We had a No Candy Halloween party at my house Halloween night. I made 5 pizzas with whole wheat crusts and then we took pictures. Grandma Heaton came by for a little bit to see the kids and enjoy some pizza with us. Then Jennifer did an activity with the kids where they decorated a can. Then we watched The Pirates who Don't do Anything. Candy's family left after the pictures to go to their ward's Trunk or Treat. We all had a nice time and the kids got to have their fun.

I want to tell about the punch Candy brought. She called me and told me that she wanted to bring a punch with Sprite in it and asked me if was ok. I groaned at her and she just said, "Say Yes because I am doing it anyway." She had prefroze some red fruit punch in rubber gloves. So the punch was country time lemonade with Sprite. Then she put in lime sherbet and the frozen red hands. She called it ghoul punch with bloody hands and green puss. I tasted a little bit of it and it was actually really good. It was a good combination of flavors.

Flu season

Our kids passed around the stomach flu about a week ago. First it was Talon, then Jaren, then Angelique, then Beauchene. Jileigh, Safia and Matt only got a touch of it. I think I got a touch of it too. I wonder if there is medical explanation as to why kids always throw up about an hour after everyone is asleep, and they can't possibly make it out of thier beds first! Thank goodness for washing machines and extra sets of bedding. Who needs sleep, anyways?!

Matt's latest book

Friday, Brandon Sanderson's latest book came into the library: Mistborn 3 - Hero of Ages. Matt stayed up until midnight Friday night, until 3:20am on Saturday night and had it finished Sunday evening at about 10 pm. Yeah! I get my husband back! As much as he would have liked to read all day during the days, I wasn't feeling too well, so he had to make all the meals and keep the kids on the laundry, keep up on the dishes, and he took the pool down Saturday afternoon as well.

Safia's messes for the week

Bathroom walls and sink: I heard water running in the bathroom and kids giggling. Jaren and Safia were wetting down wads of toilet paper and throwing them all over the bathroom, on the walls, the floor, and on the mirror. I was too mad to even think about taking a picture. The funny thing is, is that they did it in a matter of a couple of minutes. They were suppose to be washing their hands for dinner.

Bathroom toilet: A couple of days later, I woke up to find that Safia had gone to the bathroom. She didn't quite make it to the toilet in time and had messed in her panties some. So she had this mess on her bum as well. She didn't use toilet paper. She rubbed her bum all over the toilet seat and the toilet base and the floor. YUCK! Then I noticed that she had had fun in the bathroom the night before with the toothpaste. It was smeared all over the counter, the mirror, and the cabinet fronts. So Sunday morning I cleaned up the disgusting bathroom, (so much for keeping the Sabbath Day holy.) No pictures necessary!

Egg shells in the front room: A couple of days after that, we'd had eggs for breakfast and the shells were still sitting out in the carton. Safia found them and decided to smash them up and sprinkle them all over my front room floor.

Dental floss: She and Jaren unstrung almost the entire roll of my new Glide dental floss container all over my bedroom. While I was cleaning that up I heard them playing in the front room. They had gotten a hold of 2 bags of cereal that I have already put away and were eating the cereal and dumping it in the front room in the corner behind a couch. I sent them both outside to play!

I think this child just needs a creative outlet.

Saturday of Applesauce and Bread and Parents

Saturday, October 11th we made 8 quarts of applesauce and I made my weekly 4 loaves of bread. We were trying so hard to get everything cleaned up and done before my parent were to arrive from Orem on their way back home.

Our new pets

One day, a couple of months ago, we found a litter of 4 kittens in our front yard. My kids fell instantly in love with them. So I gave in and bought some cat food for them. Of course they stuck around. A couple of days later, the momma cat shows up (the light colored one.) Fortunately, we are able to get them all fixed and get their shots for FREE. I would really like to get rid of a couple of them, but I don't know how.

The one in the middle is the marbled tabby cat. Her name is Nicki. She is Safia's favorite. We normally don't allow the cats in the house, but Safia manages to bring that one in everyday holding her like a baby.

Matt's project

This is Matt's mom's old wood burning stove. Matt brought it home, cleaned it up, painted it and put new tiles on it. We are going to try to sell it for her so that we can buy some road base gravel for her sandy driveway.

Today's accomplishments - Venison and canning pears

Yesterday I went home teaching with Matt to the Buckner family. Brother Buckner recently got back from hunting and brought home the meat of a deer he had shot. His wife wasn't one bit interested in the meat, so they handed us a bag with 3 venison roasts. I was a little apprehensive about trying in but I thought I would give it a shot. So today I put one in the crock pot to roast all day and we made quesadillas with it. We all really enjoyed it.

Then Matt and I bottled 14 quarts of pears. Now I am exhausted and am going to bed.

Angelique's Birthday Party

After the baptism, we went back to our house. We picked up a some Papa Murphy's pizzas (the take home and bake kind). After dinner she we had cheese cake and Angelique opened her presents. Yes, we did get her a cake. She specifically asked for a cheese cake for her 8th birthday. I complied. I even actually had a piece even though I haven't eaten a dessert in I don't know how many months.

Angelique's Baptism Sept 27th 2008

Saturday was Angelique's birthday. It worked out to have her baptism on her birthday. It was the one day that my parents were going to be here as they are spending the next two week in the SLC area. We had my dad give the talk on baptism and Matt's mom Cynthia give that talk on the Holy Ghost. Matt's two brothers and two sisters that live here locally were able to come too. Granda Nora came too with Aunt Carolyn one of her daughters. We had a nice crowd and the meeting was lovely.

My date with Matt going 4-wheeling

Friday, Matt and I drove out to his mom's house to get a bed of ours that we have been storing there. While we were there we went 4 wheeling back up the canyon. Matt wanted to take a few pics of me for my blog. We set the timer to get some of the both of us, but for some reason it didn't work. Candy watched our little kids while the others were at school. That evening we returned the favor and watched her kids while they went on a date. Matt here. Amy didn't want to brag but she has been working really hard and has dropped all of her excess weight to reach her goal. Those Wranglers she is wearing (and looking great in!) are the pair she bought when we were dating over 12 years ago! Not bad for a mother of 6!

Safia's latest mischief

One day a couple of weeks ago while I was working in the kitchen, I decided I needed to look for Safia to see what she was up to. She had gotten into the dry erase markers and marked up my filing cabinet and my night stand drawer that Matt made for me. Dry erase marker does not come off with alcohol or anything else I tried. But I do have to compliment her by saying that she is 3 1/3 years old and she can write her name.

Going to the stake conference evening adult session had consequences

Last night we left the kids home alone, being that I now have 2 legal babysitters, and went to the adult session of our stake conference. It was a nice meeting. Then we went back home. We soon discovered that Jaren and Safia were playing with matches in Jaren's room on his mattress. He was lighting matches when one got too hot and dropped it on his mattress. It burned through his sheet and was burning a hole in his mattress when Talon and Jileigh came in a put it out. As a mother my mind went crazy with "what if"s. We were lucky, or I should say blessed, that it wasn't worse.

Actually, Friday night and Saturday I was sick with the stomach flu. I didn't ever throw up, but I was in serious abdominal pain. I didn't eat anything all day but a vitamin/protein shake. I just hope my kids don't get this sickness.

Labor Day Fun, Sept 1, 2008

Today the kids had off being Labor Day so the spent the morning and early afternoon in the garage playing. They made a "hotel" and a "restaurant." I cleaned my kitchen then made bread. I took some slices out to them for their restaurant. Matt worked on a side job until 3pm and then came home. Then we all got to work on canning peaches. While the last batch of peaches was processing, Matt made a homemade fresh peach cobbler. It was so delicious. He made the cake part with ground mixed grains and just a little raw sugar. It was very tasty! By 9 pm, the peaches were done and they all sealed! Yea!!

A better Sunday

Today has been a nice day. It's about 80 degrees outside and cloudy. The kids have played well together OUTSIDE. Matt's still napping and I am trying to get caught up on my blogging. I love Sundays!

Peach Days!

Here in Hurricane are the apricot and peach orchards for the church. After several hundreds of rows are picked, they let the members go in and glean the fields. Candy and I went on Friday and I picked 5 boxes of peaches. Matt and I cleaned and froze some of them yesterday and tomorrow we will probably can the rest.

Friday night we had Matt's dad over so he could give Talon his present and we had him over for dinner. I wanted to try a new recipe. It is in the Better Homes and Garden cookbook and it is called Basil chicken in a coconut-curry sauce. It turned out fantastic! We adults loved it and so did Talon and Beau, but the other kids didn't so much as touch it. Too bad for them. (The only thing that I added to the recipe was just a little salt to the sauce and we ate it over cooked brown rice.)

Talon's birthday!

August 28th was Talon's 10th birthday! We had Nate and Candy's family and Matt's mom over for a dinner. We grilled kabobs, hamburgers, and hotdogs. I made blueberry muffins and corn muffins instead of having cake. There were a big hit. I found Talon a comforter set for him at JC Penney on clearance. I also got him a really nice marble chess set at a garage sale for $10.

Sunday nap = Safia's disaster

This child pushed me to the edge last Sunday. While Matt and I were taking our Sunday nap (Aug, 24) Safia got into the pantry and got into my grains. She dumped about 2 cups each of buckwheat, millet, and kamut and then about 4 cups of soft white wheat. Then she dumped water on them. I woke up to Jileigh yelling, "Safia! What did you do?!" By the time I got into the kitchen, Jileigh tried to sweep it all together. My reaction will not be recorded in writing. Anyway, I collected it all in a bowl, washed it about 20 times, soaked it over night, drained it, added a little more water, and cooked it. After it cooled, I fed it to the dog in portions over the week. At the very least, it wasn't a total waste. We have given our older children strict instructions that they have to watch THAT CHILD when I can't. (Jileigh actually took these pictures. I was way too upset to even think about it.)