CHRISTMAS

We had the best ward Christmas party. The Relief Society was in charge. I did spend many nights dreaming of forgetting to make rolls, but I didn't and we ended up with more than we needed.

Our neighbor brought us these beauties and they were as good as they looked.

Christmas was wonderful, except all of us got sick the week before. I had to cancel all of the Christmas drop offs we do for friends and neighbors and just focus on my little ones. I was grateful to be able to slow down and focus on my family a little more. 

After Christmas we packed up and went to see our cousins in St. George. We enjoyed the New Year with them and then came home.

He has learned how to undress himself. He won't keep his clothes on now.  It is an endless battle.

BROWNIES

He wouldn't stop fussing, so I told Madison to go and make brownies with him. He loved every minute of it. Madison said, "That was hard making good brownies with Logan." I said, "Yes, I know. However, I didn't here you once get frustrated with him, which means you are going to be a great mom, and that is more important than good brownies." Her brownies turned out really good, as good as if I made them. 

James begged me to go outside and throw a football with him. Confession, I have always thought of James as my thoughtful kid and Ashton as my tough kid. I have always thought Ashton would go far in sports because of it. I have never thought of James as a kid that would ever do sports. I guess I shouldn't put my kids in boxes. James blew my mind at how good he is at throwing a football. He caught every football I threw. I was giggling. Ashton couldn't throw the ball to save his life. He is younger. 

James kept giving him these great tips.

Put the ball next to your ear.

Make the ball spin.

Point the hand you aren't using to throw to where you want the ball to go.

His dad has never thrown a football with him. I remember throwing a football with him in his bedroom while I was pregnant with Logan, a few times. He was good back then. He has gotten better. We don't watch sports. We aren't sport people.

When I asked him how he learned to throw a football he said, "I was watching a football game at grandpa's house and I remember how they threw the ball."

LOGUS

Often I feel that Logan adds a level of anxiety to my day that none of my other kids ever have. He has to be cooking all the time. All my friends find it cute but living with it day in and day out is exhausting. He is always moving my chairs around the kitchen so he can climb on my cabinets and cook. He got eggs out of the fridge and cracked half of them into a pan. He dumped a container of hot cocoa into a bowl and added water and mixed it. He tried to help clean the dishes for me and got a ton of water dripped down my cabinets and onto the floor. Then I started loosing my mind. Logus, stop cooking. Please! 

I am afraid he is going to get his Christmas present early this year. He is getting a play kitchen. I should have bought one for James, but our home was too small. It is still too small but my friend reminded me if stopped thinking about his kitchen like a beautiful piece of furniture, I wanted to purchase from Pottery Barn, and just think of it as his Christmas present I could buy a simple plastic one and toss it when he was over this phase, guilt free. I did it. I bought a cheap plastic kitchen and I am sure he is going to love it. 

JAMES's READING

I love my James and he works so hard but learning to read has been a very difficult process. We found out he needed glasses and that has helped but it is still a struggle. Today as we were walking through the thrift store he said, "You know mom, I love to read!" So, I guess we are winning. As long as he loves reading, he will learn.

SQUEAKY

Squeaky is her best friend. There were so many miracles around us getting Squeaky. I know Heaven's hand was in it and I feel so blessed.
I was worried about finding her the right horse. Her heart was broken after Flint died and she said I would never be able to replace him. She had mentioned she wanted to look into doing dressage and jumping. She has always loved Paints. We wanted a healthy horse but we didn't want to pay a fortune for one. I wanted the horse to be around 5,000 dollars. I called my friend who knows horses and she laughed in my face and said, "You want a horse that isn't dead or hot for 5,000, wow you don't ask for much." She laughed pretty hard. I told Sierra we would have her a horse by her birthday and it was fast approaching.
We grew hay together all summer in our field to feed the horse. She had her heart sent on it. The hay was being baled and I didn't have a clue how I was going to find her a horse. I know nothing about horses. I didn't want to pick the wrong horse.
My brother was incredibly helpful and he looked a a half a dozen horses for me in Utah. We hadn't felt we had found the right one.
(Side note: Sierra was having panic attacks daily. They were brought on by social anxiety. She would have them when I dropped her off at school and for church activities. I had prayed about it and I knew the horse would be the answer. I just knew it, but I had to find the right horse.)
I kept telling Sierra, "Don't worry, mommy will get you a pony for your birthday!" She would roll her  eyes and say, "You make me sound like a brat."
I was talking to Leslie about my situation and she said, "Let me call my friend Allysa Hunt and see if she knows of a horse for sale."
She texted Allysa and got an immediate reply she said, "I am having the strongest impression that Squeaky is suppose to be her horse. Tell Lisa to call me."
I have to admit I rolled my eyes but texted Allysa back and told her we would come see her horse. I told Sierra on the way to see the horse that she was a pony. Sierra said that she would never be happy with a pony. She wanted a horse. I sarcastically told her I had only promised her a pony.
We pulled onto the Hunt's property and Allysa had two horses by the reigns. She was walking toward us. Sierra grabbed me by the arm and said, "That is my horse!" I still get a little teary thinking about. I said, "what horse? You don't know what horse she is selling." She said, "I do know. That is my horse."
Sierra climbed on Squeaky and road her around Allysa's arena. Allysa kept saying how beautiful of a rider Sierra was and how she made Squeaky look good. Her parents came out and watched Sierra ride. They both commented on a what a pretty little rider she was.
Allysa told me she had been her sole horse since she got home from her mission. She had put her life into Squeaky's hands a few times and she had never let her down. She was trained in dressage and jumping. She was eleven years old. She is a Paint.
I finally got up the courage to ask, "Allysa, how much?"
She said, "5,000."
As we drove home I said to Sierra, "I hope you know how much your Heavenly Father knows you and loves you."
We paid for Squeaky a few days before her birthday. I was able to keep my word. I don't think I have ever seen such a miraculous blessing on behalf of one of my children. She hasn't had a single panic attack since we brought Squeaky home. My mother heart felt so big and grateful to my Father-in-Heaven who knows and loves my children.

PLAYDOUGH

Ashton's Hands

Ashton, Logan and I made play dough today. Ashton wanted red play dough. It ended up being pink and he was a little disappointed. We took a walk with our neighbor Mrs. Merluzzi. She was a school teacher and she is so kind to my boys.

SHE IS WELL

I can't begin to describe how grateful I am that this little girl is well. The color is back in her face. She is looking and acting like herself. I am so glad.

Life feels peaceful and happy again. We have had a rough few weeks. We had three family members in the ER. The worse of which is our Uncle Brandon, he has been in our prayers. We are glad he is home and doing a better. 

WATERBOTTLE

Ashton found his water bottle that he left out by the horse. He was extremely excited. He needed a picture.
We have more Ashtonisms in our family than from anyone else. He really is a pistol. At Stake Conference a few weeks ago, he wanted to use the men's restroom. He ran in before I could grab him. I ran into the Relief Society President and was chatting with her when he ran out. He high fived me and said, "I went potty in the boy's bathroom." I high fived him back and said, "Good job buddy!" He said, "And I washed my hands!" I said, "Good job buddy!" (My hands were pretty wet by this point. He hadn't dried his hands.) He said, "You know what mom, the boy's bathroom is so cool cause the sink is right next to the potty." I grabbed him and took him straight in the women's bathroom and we both washed our hands. The Relief Society President was laughing so hard she was crying.

Madison had the ribbon festival today. She did well and got her first ribbon. She played three pieces she memorized and she wrote a piece of music and took a theory test. It has been fun to watch her progress in the piano.

PUBLISH PEACE

The phrase "publish peace" has called to me for two days. The need for me to publish peace in my world. I have pondered on this phrase deeply and what it means. I publish peace through many avenues. Obviously, my media choices. I have gotten better at that. Obviously, my words can create peace or drama. I am still working on that. Less obviously, I publish peace when I take care of my home. I spent the morning cleaning their room with them. When we finished, they immediately started playing with toys they have forgotten. There has been no contention since their room has been put in order. James has often commented on how wonderful it makes him feel to walk into a clean home, after a busy day at school. I know cleanliness can be restorative and one of the small ways I can publish peace. 

LOGAN MY CHEF

My sister did a drawing challenge. I am going to do a photograph challenge. I am going to do one photo a day till the end of the year. 

Here is Logan. He loves to cook. He is obsessive about it. I mean obsessive. If he isn't cooking he is yelling about cooking. He is constantly emptying my drawers of every pan and stirring utensil. One day I went and laid down for twenty minutes. I left Ashton watching a show and gave Logan the Bosch, don't worry I didn't give him a dough hook or wire whisks or cookie paddles. It was just the motor and the bowl. He found my flour and carried the flour cup by cup into the living room to the Bosch bowl. When I woke up twenty minutes later my whole house was dusted in flour. 

I can't say it wasn't worth it though. It did take a while to clean up the mess but I was so tired. I needed those twenty minutes. 

This morning, I let him cook sausages. He shook the pan back and forth and let the sausages roll around in the pan. I know super dangerous. He loves it.

Then I let him cut up a banana with a butter knife. He loved it. I wish cooking breakfast and cutting a banana would satisfy his need to cook for the day but I spent the most of the morning out by the sand box watching him cook with sand. Logan my chef. James was a chef too but I don't remember him being this obsessive.

PRIMARY CHILDREN's

 I took Madison to Primary Children's on Friday. I just wasn't getting any of the answers I needed. She had missed a month and a half of school. After twenty-four hours and two blood samples and a urine analysis, they didn't seem to give me more answers than the doctor had already given me. The best answer we got was "fevers of unknown origins." For a minute they thought she had E coli but the doctor said the E coli was so small that it shouldn't have been causing her fevers. So, we still don't know what was going on with sweet Madison, but we are glad she is healthy again.

HAPPY MOMENTS

 We chopped down the top parts of the large Cottonwoods on our property. It took us working as a family for three straight evenings to clean up all the debris off the lawn. I treasure moments when we work as a family.  Then we had over thirty trees planted on our property. We still have a lot of tree-work to do but we are happy to see progress on our little farm.

 I treasure my moments with these two little boys. They are growing so much.

 The boys did karate together for a few months until James got a fungus infection on his foot. Yuck, we quit. 

 Just sitting around talking to dad and eating watermelon.

 Picking grapes at Kay's farm. 

 We missed Disneyland because this little one got sick with viral meningitis for ten days. Then she had lingering fevers for another month.

 She did make a short recovery for her birthday. 

 Logan eating grapes. 

 She was healthy at her birthday party that weekend. She invited, Kaylee Neff, Evelynn, Colt and Rowdy. They ran around the house and made their own pizzas. 

We went to the Truck-or-treat event in Fruita. We had a couple power rangers, a transformer, and a witch. Oh, and a cowgirl, not pictured. :)

The only two to go Trick-or-Treating on Halloween was James and Ashton. Nate and I took them. Nate kept the car warm while I and the boys ran from house to house. James exclaimed,"This is the best day ever. I have only seen people do this in the movies!" I giggled. I can't believe I had never taken them trick-or-treating. We always do the ward trunk-or-treat and truck-or-treat and I am usually  tired by the time Halloween comes around. I don't think they will ever let us miss it again. They had a blast. Sierra thought she was too old. Madison was sick. Sigh.

 Ashton built a fort for his brother.

For history day the 1st grade was studying ancient Egypt. I made James a mummy costume. He said he loved it so much he will be a mummy for Halloween next year. I was making Madison a Geisha and had a wig and everything but she was so sick she couldn't go. 

 Enjoying a warm day in November with my boys. I taught them how to push each other around in their Tonka trucks.