Ode to my dog - Chienne

Last night about 1am, Safia woke up and wanted me to help her in the bathroom. At 1:27am I was still awake when I heard my dog barking like crazy! I jumped out of bed and ran to look out the front door. There was a truck out in my driveway. (I live on and flag lot so they had to drive a litlle ways to get to our house.) I flipped on my front porch light and the truck quickly backed up and I heard it squealing it's tired down the road. My adrenaline was going and I didn't fall back to sleep again until after 2am. These are one of the times I am thankful that we have a dog who does her job!

Copper wire = $$$

Matt brought home a stash of insulated copper wire that he pulled out of a remodel job that was no longer useful. So we spent about 3 evening stripping the insulation off of it. Yesterday we took the wire to the recycling center and got back just over $250. That was time worth spending. Fortunately, now we have a little money for back-to-school shopping.

Enrichment - I teach a class!

For Enrichment this month, they wanted 3 people to teach mini-classes. I volunteered to teach a class on grains. I summarized the info I have on grains stating a little background info, their nutritional value and how to use them. So for my class I had each of the grains displayed and then I talked a little bit about each one of them. They looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. I made some whole grain zucchini muffins, but only 3 people tried them. I was a little discourage afterwards. I had worked so hard to prepare and received very little appreciation. Candy consoled me by saying that it takes a lot of exposure to something new before actually trying it.

Safia disappears!

Tuesday, the day after our travels, Safia had a slight fever. I figure she just got too much sun. She woke up at 8:30 and took a nap from 12 noon to 1pm. Well at 3:00 I saw Safia in her room changing her clothes again, but at 3:15 I couldn't find her anywhere. I searched every room and closet twice. I searched all around the outside of the house twice. I got on my bike and searched the neighborhood. We finally came back into the house and said a prayer. Then we started our search again. It was 3:45 now. This time we finally found her. Her comforter for bed was loosely doubled over at the end of her bed. She had slipped between the layers of the comforter covering herself and fell asleep. The bar that holds up the the bunk bed was making a blind spot over her when I looked in her room. I was so relieved, but at the same time surprised that she was taking yet another nap. When she woke up at 4pm she got lots of hugs and kisses.

Hiking in the high Uintas

Monday morning we all met at Jen's house and they lead us to the High Uintas for a hike. It was really quite beautiful up there. The elevation was about 10,100 feet. The worst part was the mosquitoes. I only got bit once before I got repellent on and that bite hurt and itched for days. Anyway, the hike was only a mile long. Aaron helped me with carrying Beau. Safia walked some but then was carried by some cousin or another. The kids enjoyed playing in the SNOW in the middle of July. The lake was cold but some of the kids actually jumped in it. Talon did too. That was too crazy for me. It was very pleasant, but I ended up getting burned on my forehead and neck. Matt even got in a little fishing time, but didn't catch anything.

We left from there and traveled home. The last hour was miserable. The kids were done being in the car, especially Beau. We were so exhausted but glad to be home.

Amy's parents 50th wedding anniversary party!

Friday morning, I worked my self into a headache stressing to get the house is some order, pack everyone, and bake some muffins to take with us. I told Matt I wanted to leave by 1pm, but he thought I said I wanted him to get off work at 1. We didn't end up leaving until 3pm. We got to my sister's house (Kairlee) in Riverton at 7pm. We were actually there right on time. My other siblings arrived just after we did. Marni was already there just taking the first pizza out of the oven. We had an enjoyable evening eating Marni's pizza and visiting with everyone.

(The picture on the left is my immediate family and on the one on the right is my parents' grand and great grandkids.) Then next day, Saturday was the anniversary party. My sister Jen did most of the preparations. We started the evening with family pictures. My parent's hired a photographer, so I don't have all the pics yet but I do have some from my camera. At the party I say several cousin that I hadn't seen in years and that was the whole point of the party. My mom didn't even eat anything until it was over. We all had an enjoyable time, especially the kids getting to play with their cousins.

(This is a picture of my cousins Kris and Aaron. We would go visit them every year growing up whenever we would travel to Utah.)

On Sunday a lot of us went to church with Jen in Orem. There was enough food left over from the party to feed us all a nice lunch after church. I managed to get a picture of all my kids with the cousin that is closest to their age. Jileigh and Phoebe, Talon and Milley (only 35 minutes a part), Angelique and Sabra, Jaren and Silas, Safia and Tabitha, and Beauchene and Lottie.

Sunday afternoon we went back to Shanna's house (Matt's cousin in Provo) where we were staying and had dinner and let our kids play with her kids. I left Jileigh at Jen's to play with Phoebe longer. I went back to get her at 9pm and ended up staying until 10:30 just visiting with Marni and Becky (Aaron's wife) until Matt called me to come back because Beauchene wanted me to put him to sleep. (Yes he is stilllllll nursing.)

Chicken salad and Safia

Today I made chicken salad for the very first time. Honest, I have never made it before. It turned out really good too. Unfortunately, while I was making it, Safia started screaming outside. I sighed to myself saying,"What's wrong now?" Then Jileigh told me that she had been stung by a wasp twice, once on the hand and once on the back. The poor baby! So I mixed up some Redmond clay powder with some water and coated both stings and then gave her some Ibuprofen and some anti-histamine. Then I fed her dinner to her. After that she was fine. I hate wasps!

My Summer Treat!

This is my summer treat! Homemade whole wheat bread toasted, homemade raw butter, homemade olive oil mayonnaise, and homegrown tomatoes, sprinkled with Himalayan crystal salt. YUM!

Insurmountable task

Guess what I am doing today? This is what I do every week. This is the results of having 8 people in this family that dirty clothes!

Kyla's b-day at Sheepbridge with the family

My kids and I spent the entire day cleaning our house and then unloaded our car from our weekend away. I had a few battles, but we got it done. Matt got home from work and helped with the finishing touches and made our zucchini/squash dish for the pot luck dinner. Then we went out to Sheepbridge and played in the river with all of Matt's family. Dan and Lise are still here from Michigan so they had their daughter Kyla's 5th birthday party there with us. We ended up playing in the water until about 8:30 and the park closes at 9pm so we loaded up and came back to our house for dinner and the party. We came back a few minutes before everyone else to make sure everything was in order. I had the girls make my bed and I cleaned my bathroom really quick. (I always seem to leave my room for last when I am cleaning.) We had a nice dinner or Little Caesar pizza, fried chicken from the grocery store, leftover cold twice baked potatoes, chips and salsa, watermelon, and we contributed grilled hot dogs, green salad and the squash dish. Quite the assortment, but we were all filled. Then they served the cake and Kyla opened her presents. After everyone left and we cleaned up, it was 11:30 before the kids got to bed, except for Beau. He fell asleep on the way home so it took until 12:20 before he finally fell asleep. Needless to say, we all slept in until after 9am this morning, except for Matt. he had to be to work at 7am.

The first picture is of the entrance into Zion canyon at sunset from sheepbridge park. You can see a little of the river in the bottom corner. The next is of me. BLAH. The bottom picture is of Kyla and the cake the Esther made for her. Esther is Matt's youngest sister.

4th of July weekend

We went to the ranch for the 4th of July weekend and Matt's family reunion. We wanted to go through Zion's canyon without paying so we got up at 5am and left at 6am. We are only a half an hour away so we made it before 7am. It was really pretty to go through it that early in the morning before the sun was really shining. Anyway, we got there at 7:30 and my kids headed right to the pond to play. They spent most of the day there. Despite sunblock and t-shirts they got quite burned. I told them tons of times to come in out of the sun, but kids will be kids.

That evening, after dark, the kids got to roast marshmallows for s'mores and play with sparklers. Aaron, Matt's youngest brother, brough a large box of firework and the kids had a ball. I did get a picture of Aaron and his girlfriend this time from a distance and zoomed it in.


That night before I put them to bed Beau was hungry so I fed him some cottage cheese and Candy talked me into letting him have a hot dog that she had just warmed up. BIG MISTAKE!!! That kid tossed and turned and fussed until almost 4am. Just then it started to sprinkle outside. So I got out of the tent and gathered up all the stuff in the back of the trailer including clothes, my diaper supply, and Matt's guns. Finally, after that I was able to get some sleep. I am so glad, though, that we weren't inside the cabin. Everyone would have been scowling at me the next morning.




























After breakfast the kids did races. Safia won hers. Jaren was the youngest of his group, but he still did well even though he didn't win. Angelique and Jileigh ended up being the only ones in their respective age groups so they didn't race, but they weren't that heart-broken. Talon and Kelsey tied their race. Then they had funny races of going backward, going in circles, and crab crawling. Talon and Jileigh did really good in those. Then, to my displeasure, they gave all the kids a piece of candy. They tried to give one to Beau, but I stopped them. I said to Jason, "I didn't throw a fit about the others getting candy, but I won't stand for you giving it to my baby!" He just laughed at me. Then the kids got to make some crafts. They did foam door hangers and pictures frames. It was a nice, cool, cloud-covered day where the day before was just hot and sunny. It was a nice change. It kept my kids' burns from getting worse.

Then we had lunch. It was assorted breads, meats, and salads. Everything was wonderful. I tried hard not to over-eat. I had a nice time visiting with all of Matt's cousins and their spouses. The first cousins in his family are all so close and welcome all in-laws with open arms.

Matt took Talon for a ride on the 4-wheeler. They went riding and crossed the stream a couple of times and got covered in mud. It was definately picture worthy.

Later we had a program / talent show like we do at every reunion. It really is great because it gives the kids an opportunity to perform in front of an audience. They also gave all the kids an award for participating in the races that morning.
Then we made a spaghetti dinner. I made a full pan of sauteed zucchini and yellow squash with shredded cheese and crumbled bacon on top. It was a hit! Matt and the kids packed up while I cooked. During that time, Jileigh came to me and asked me if I had an extra set of keys. Appearently, Matt let Beau play in the car while they were packing. Someone shut the door and Beau locked himself in alone with the keys in the car and had turned on the headlights. I had learned from my last experience and had the extra set. After dinner we left. It was sad to leave but I was ready to go home to my own bed.














I took a couple of pictures of the outside of the cabin from the front and back and then another picture of the kitchen. It is a bit messy from lunch, but you get the general idea of what it looks like.

By the way, I spent over an hour and a half on the post trying to get it to look acceptable. The formatting on the program could use some improvement.

Safia and Sariah are into mischief!

Today was picnic-at-the-park at the church building because it was too hot. I took whole grain banana muffins. They weren't a hit with everyone else, but we sure loved them. I took my fresh made raw butter along with it. I found a supplier of raw milk here in town. Anyway, after we were done eating and cleaning up, we noticed Safia and Sariah had disappeared. This building is an old style building with an upstairs. We found them upstairs in the nursery room in the toy closet. They locked themselves inside and were happily playing with all the toys. Unfortunately, Candy didn't have a key to this room and they weren't about to unlock it. We ordered, threatened and even bribed them to open this door. Finally, Candy offered Sariah a cookie and Safia said she wanted one and unlocked the door. That little TURKEY!

This afternoon Jileigh had an eye appointment to get a new pair of glasses. Her last ones broke and then she lost them. She hasn't had an eye appt. for a couple of years so it was time. Fortunately, her prescription was just about the same so her eyes aren't any worse.

FHE with Matt's family

Matt's brother Daniel and his wife Lise and their 3 girls are here from Michigan for a couple of weeks. (Lise announced that she is expecting!) We had them over Monday evening for a BBQ and swimming. We also invited Nate and Candy's family and Matt's mom Cynthia. Then Aaron and his girlfriend showed up, so we had quite the group here. The food was all good and the swimming was fun. Candy didn't want to get in so I went in with Sariah and Brandon. Those two were that last ones to get out. In return, Candy cleaned up after dinner and scubbed down my fridge and pantry door. I will take that trade any day!