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FLOATING the COLORADO

Mary

I called my friend Lilly a while back and asked her what we were doing for her birthday. We normally go out for lunch but I suggested we do something more. She said she had always wanted to float the Colorado river. I can't believe none of the ladies had been down the river. I went two years ago with my sisters we almost died but I guess I was the best option for a tour guide. The trip down the river was really uneventful. We just casually floated down the river. Mary was a bit sassy. She took Annie's phone snapped a bunch of pictures and dangled it over the river. Then she took Lilly's paddle and said she was going to steer the boat. She steered them into a tree. Lily was saying, "Give me the paddle Mary. This is serious business." Mary was just giggling. Mary is usually the quite one when we are together. It was fun to see the river bring out a new side of her personality.

 

Happy Birthday Lilly! You are like the older sister I really need to live close by me. Thanks for always being there for me. You really mean so much to me!

Lilly pulling Mary down the river.

Lilly letting Mary paddle for a minute. Sippin' her soda! Hilarious.

Me.

Amber. She recently moved into our ward. New favorite.

Annie. Always Annie.

NEW HOUSE

Because you keep asking for it. The tour. Just so you know, my life is one big disaster waiting to happen. No one was harmed in the making of this video. It is quick and nonsensical because everything in my life is. Did I say kitchen sink? I meant bathroom. Hopefully no crazy person sees this because I am sure my comments would explode, so keep it on the DL. Enjoy.

THANK YOU GRANDPA

My father-in-law has been ill for the last five months. He experienced temporary paralysis on his right side. He had pneumonia, which wiped him out.  I was worried because his heart isn't the healthiest. I was worried every day that we might loose him. He has had a fabulous recovery. He is not all the way back but he is mostly and we are grateful.

Grandpa came out on the train on Tuesday to help on the house. James was running around like a crazy boy and my hands were full with Ashton again. One of the train people gave James a coloring book, crayons, and a paper conductors hat. He was excited until Ashton ate it. Grandpa worked on the house on Tuesday and Wednesday alone but I got to join him on Thursday. I think I missed my calling in life. I should have done construction. I really enjoy watching things come together.  I think of all the things I did in college I made the worst choice possible. I could have done so many wonderful things that could have benefited my life more. Sigh. Ashton just sat there and watched me work. James went to visit my friend Lilly. He loves Lilly. She said she enjoyed him following her around too. I was grateful not have him into things that could cause him harm.

Thursday night we rented a Danny Kaye movie for Dad to watch. I was surprised at James willingness to sit still and watch it with his grandpa. The girls also enjoyed it. We had ice cream for dessert that night.

Friday, Mom and Jenny came into town. They all had dental appointments. Dad had a failing crown. He will have to return in three weeks. We are glad he will be returning soon. We sure like having him around.

Friday night they played board games with the girls. They sure enjoyed that. We don't play board games that often as a family. They sure enjoy having someone play with them.

After tweaking a few more things they took off Saturday afternoon. Sierra jumped in the car and went with them. She wanted to go help my family get ready for the upcoming wedding. My sweet sister Tamara will be marrying Chase on Friday. We are so excited for both of them. We love having a new uncle. My girls love Chase. I hope Sierra is helpful. I think she mostly plans on living at the Bosch Kitchen Center and helping my mother at work every day. It is her dream to grow up and work there. Thanks Mom and Dad McKnight for shuttling her there.

James looks so much like my nephew Jayden in this picture. I never thought they looked much alike but there is something about this picture.

STORM

Thursday night a big storm blew in. I made dinner for my babies and my father-in-law. Sierra was up late doing her last minute due-Friday homework. I was washing the dishes in the kitchen. The lightning was cutting the sky and the thunder was booming. All of the sudden we lost electricity. Sierra said, "Mom, I am scared." She rushed over to me and curled up to my back and shadowed me around as I located a candle and matches. I got the candle out of storage and lite it. She finished her math homework by candle light. She thought that by-candle light was the coolest way to do homework. She was so hyper by the excitement of doing homework by candle light she would not calm down to go to sleep. While I was nursing Ashton she got a bloody nose. She was hung over the toilet and it was just dripping. Luckily, by that time the electricity was back. We couldn't get her bloody nose under control. I looked up on the internet how to. They said to pinch the soft part of the nose for ten straight minutes. It worked. She finally got to bed a mid-night. It was hard getting her out of bed the next morning. However, I hope she remembers doing homework by candle light. We should do it more often. She enjoyed it a lot.

MY WORLD has TURNED

I have gone full circle from a world filled with princesses, mermaids, fairies, and castles to trains, motorcycles, tractors, guns, and swords and, "I zap you momma!" This little boy fills my world from the times his eyes open until they shut at night. He is every bit as adventures, imaginative, and creative as Sierra was at this age. He sits on my legs as I nurse Ashton and says. "Go." He pushes and imaginary button on my toe, "Go, motorcycle. Go." I tell him I am not your motorcycle.

Lately he finishes every sentence with the words, "Momma." A typical conversation will be, "We going momma? We going a store momma? We buy chocolate milk momma? We need chocolate milk momma? You buy chocolate milk momma? I need shoes momma? You carry Ash momma? You get your keys momma? We go to a car momma?" Yes, his conversations are rapid and one sided. He is busy and wonderful. My favorites are, "I helping you momma!" and  "I love you momma!"

If he takes a nap for even ten minutes, he is up till ten. I do acrobats trying to not let him take a nap. He gets so tired during the day and often falls asleep on the way to get the girls. I will sit and yell, "Come on James, stay with me." His head bobs and he is out. I am so disappointed knowing it is going to be another late night. Whether he gets a nap or not between five and seven he is just plain ornery. He just doesn't want to deal with life during those hours. Neither do I son, I get it!

He is my world. My days begin and end with James. He is the loudest of all my children right now and demands ten times the attention of the other three combined. Yesterday, I asked him is it because you want to be my baby James. He said, "I not baby. Ash, baby!" I told him, "Yes, Ash is the baby."

He loves his grandpas and this sisters. Sierra has taught him to complete the phrase, "I love..." with the word Sierra. She will say, "James, say I." He will say, "I love Sara." She gets the biggest kick out of it. These girls will do anything for him. He was falling apart last night because he didn't get a nap and it was between five and seven. Madison said, "Please mom, just let me turn on Daniel Tiger." I said, "I am sorry, he will fall asleep and I just need him to stay up till seven. Then we can put him to bed." She sighed and looked up. I am sure she was thinking, how will I make my mother understand? "But mom, he is so sad. I know he will stop crying if I turn on Daniel Tiger." I told her, "I am sorry Madison." They are his little advocates.

HOME DEPOT with the BOYS

I am not sure why I took both of these pictures at such weird angles but aren't these boys the cutest things ever. I love the car carts at the Home Depot. They are perfect. The boys would agree.

Nate called this morning and asked me if I wanted to meet him at the IHOP for breakfast and then head over to Home Depot to pick up paint colors for the exterior of our home. James loved having pancakes with whipped cream on them. He leaned over the back of our restaurant bench and introduced himself to three elderly gentlemen who were having breakfast together. He said, "Hi! I James." The old man smiled and said, "I am James too." They had a great conversation. James introduced them to me, "this my best mom." He said as he gave me a big side squeeze. He was animated and excited. The old men were cute to play along.

Then we went to the Home Depot to pick paint colors. Nate settled on the color. I told him what I wanted but ultimately I settled to let him have his way with the exterior because he let me have my way with the interior. I am not a fan of green houses, but I can live with it especially because it is his favorite color. I did make him promise to put white trim around the windows and door. I love country home that are white with black shutters, but it's okay to have a green house with white shutters too.

James needed to go potty at the Home Depot. He ran into the men's bathroom. I went in to grab him, just as a man was stepping up to the urinal. I backed out and yelled, "James come back." He wouldn't come. Luckily the door was propped open, so I felt a little more in control but still scared. The man exited just as another man walked in and stepped up to the urinal. I couldn't run in and grab him. The man exiting chuckled and said, "I guess he felt the best way to get that done was by stripping down." I panicked, "James, come here." All the while this sweet voice is saying, "I coming momma. I doing it momma. I getting my clothes mommy. I doing it momma." I finally stepped in the door to check on him and told the man at the urinal to ignore me. James was putting on his shoes. I slipped back out. He followed. Oh, my! He neglected to wash his hands. I just threw him in the cart and handed him a wipe and got out of there.  Navigating a boy world!

THE OFFICE

 

Nate asked me to take pictures today of his office. I ran down to his office with James. James kept running in and out of the pictures and all over the office. Nate was very particular about the shots I took. I think he might have a real eye for photography if he ever really wanted to get into it. He is very proud of his office. It has taken two years of hard work, really hard work. He worked about eighty hours a week for two years. He finally hired another dentist full time this last month and cut back his hours to forty hours a week. We love seeing him more and especially seeing him a little less stressed. I love this office of his. I love how Nate comes through in every design element. Take note of all of the art, he picked it all out himself. Take note of the storage he uses for his dental supplies, a tool chests. His accent color is his favorite color, green.

 

I am just so darn proud of him and all his hard work. I am grateful for Heavenly Father and his unending blessings. He is the great creator and we all are just instruments. We have been so blessed this year. We have a beautiful new son, a gorgeous new office and an almost finished house. People often say, "You have worked so hard, you deserve it." I always cringe. I know better people who work harder and who deserve more and have been given less. We certainly don't deserve it, it is a gift or a curse depending on how we use it. I hope we use it well. I am certain Nate will. 

 

Life is good. Heavenly Father is good to those who are faithful to him. 

ASHTON MAXWELL and the HOUSE

He is growing deliciously well. I want to nibble every bulge of skin. This morning I squeezed him so hard he cried. I felt bad. I just love him so much. Then I had to release and kiss all of his squeezed-to-hard parts. He makes little o's with his lips and then noises like a monkey. He rolls and scotches everywhere. He is the smilest kid. (I know smilest is not a word but I had to use it because that is what he is.) On Sunday the young women begged to take him to class, I told them that was fine as long as he didn't disturb the classroom. Several minutes later the young women's president brought him back bursting with squeals and happy noises. She handed him to me sweetly and said, "I am sorry Lisa, he is too big of a distraction, even for me! But, I am afraid that is what he will be his whole life!" I have to agree. He is a heart throb. He smiles at everyone in church. Everyone comments on what a happy child he is. I am so glad we made it to four kids. Each one is such a joy and adds pounds to my joy. He has adds pounds and pounds of joy to my heart.

 

Today, I went to the house. The carpet layers are done. I am going this afternoon to vacuum all the excess carpet fragments and clean the bathroom and rid it of all its food storage. (A totally other story.) I will be cleaning and touching up and arranging all the electrical outlets and smiling so big my cheeks hurt. I can't even begin to convey the level of happiness I have felt these last few days. Sierra said it best when she said, "Poor Ash, he will never know what we have been through with this house. He will never feel this moment of joy because he never saw it all yucky." She is right. I think joy is compensatory to pain. This house has been such a pain in our side since we picked it up a year and half ago, when James was crawling and Ashton wasn't even a thought. To see the end in sight and to know I will soon live inside its perfect crooked walls is pure joy. Earthly tongue can not convey how my heart feels, but it is other-world-happy. 



GRANDPA CAME

 Well, this past weekend my parents came back into town to help us finish the house. They were so sweet and spent hours taping, finishing and painting our house. Saturday we, meaning mostly my parents but some of me ran until every muscle hurt. When we were done the house was a beautiful ultra white. Sunday after church I took the kids over to the house to have a picnic Sierra said, "Our house was like Jesus had died all sad and pathetic, now it is LIKE RESURRECTION MORNING!" I loved her comparison and I am certain the ultra white wall helped with her analogy. I can't even tell you how happy I was. Dad dropped Mom off in Utah and came back on Monday, he was too good to us and spent the next two days fixing the electrical to the bathroom and putting new sub-flooring down for the carpet men that were coming on Tuesday.

Dad was supposed to have a small bit of dental work done. He met with the oral surgeon and got that taken care of. We repaid all of his kindness to us by allowing him to reenact the zombie apocalypse. Let me explain.....

I dropped Dad off at the oral surgeon and was suppose to come back in a few hours to get him. I went to Sam's Club and then headed home. I pulled in the driveway about the time Dad texted and said he needed to be picked up. Ashton was hungry, so I nursed him and then went to head out the door when I realized if I went to pick him up before I picked up my girls I would miss them. I misplaced my phone while nursing Ashton and couldn't find it anywhere. As I rushed out the door, James stole my wallet and launched it out of Ashton's car seat. (Aren't car seats the perfect purses?) As I pulled out of the driveway I realized the tank was on empty. I figured I had enough gas to grab the girls and go get my father I would be fine. I didn't turn back for the phone or the wallet. I got to the school got the girls in the car and headed for the oral surgeons office. I got there dad was gone he started walking. I thought maybe he had walked to Nate's office. He didn't. When I got there they looked at me like I was crazy. I went back to the oral surgeon searching along the road in between. No daddy. I went back to Nate's office and called Mom. She said he was at the overpass. I put the kids back in the car and headed to the second grand junction overpass. Madison was crying she was hungry. James needed to go potty. Ashton was fussy. I got there no Dad. I went all the way up one road, no dad. All the way down another, no dad. Finally I decided if I kept looking the car was going to run out of gas. I went home found my wallet and my phone. Figured out that dad was at the first grand junction overpass. I ran and put gas in the car and headed to the other overpass. Poor dad hadn't eaten much all day, my fault and he had no water. By the time I found him he had been walking the hot Colorado sun for two hours and twenty minutes. He was pale and had blood on his lips. When I saw him he looked like a zombie, literally. All the frustration I felt melted out of me and I just felt stupid. I love him so much and it hurt me to see him like that. He never even asked me, "Where were you?" He just climbed in the car. I was grateful he went and rested the rest of the night only asking for a bowl of cornflakes with a banana.

He came in the next morning, having left before I woke up, after working on my house for several hours with doughnut holes for the kids.He looked and acted like the whole zombie event never happened. My father has always been like that. No ill fated event holds him back, he easily and happily moves on to the next of lives events. He lifts us when we are down. I love him.

My house looks amazing because of him. He has worked miracles with that old run down shack turned mansion. The other day I was walking along one the paths that meanders around our property and James was running ahead of me with all the vigor of the two year old. It was morning and the light was perfect. I wished I had of had my camera. I thought, I love this moment. I love this land and its crooked old house. I love the weeds and the grass and the pond. I had to catch my breath as I thought of the scripture, "In my Father's house there are many mansions..." I thought this is my mansion. I would give up cold marbled halls with turrets any day for this cottage and my weeds and little feet running on crooked paths. I am so happy.

BABY CRAWLING

He is army crawling. I love it. He is adorable. He can get anywhere he wants to! I did a little bit better on my obnoxious baby voice. I was proud. You should be too. He is growing in marvelous ways.

 

My favorite part of the day was when James pointed to his eyelashes and said, "Ashton has eyelashes. Mommy has eyelashes. James have eye...yyy..yyy....lashes." It was a big word and a new discovery. He said it perfectly the first two time but the last time it got caught on his tongue.

 

My other favorite part was doing Algebra on the whiteboard with Sierra. She finally has memorized her three times tables. She was encouraging me to challenge her. I was putting her three times tables in algebraic equations. She was loving every minute of it. I think in a few weeks she is going to start to love math. Last year and the year before she fought me on learning her times tables. I encouraged but didn't fight her. I fought her with reading and she still hates it, so I thought this time I would let her come to it on her own. Earlier this week she had to factor a large number and she broke down in tears because she couldn't do it. The factors weren't in her mind files. I asked her if she was finally ready to memorize them. Through tear stained cheeks she nodded her head. She has worked hard this week to learn her three times tables. She finally passed them off with me. We are starting her four times tables, at this rate she should have them all down in a few weeks.

 

Yes, my children have started school. I know, too soon. They are a week an half into first and fifth grade and Madison comes home every day saying she loved ever minute of the day. Sierra comes home every day not saying it was the worst day of her life, so I think it is going to be a great year.

RANCH 2015

 I think the best part was reconnecting with cousins. I loved talking to my cousin Tiffany and seeing Adam and huge transformation. He was a punk kid and high all the time. He completely turned his life around. He was recently sealed in the temple. I can't believe how beautiful he is. 

RANCH 2015 HORSES

 Horseback riding at the ranch. Sierra's favorite activity.

 

RANCH 2015 SLIP and SLIDE

 The water slide is one of our favorite ranch activities. This year we had an extended family reunion. All my Craven Cousin's came and we got to catch up on so many things. I felt blessed to spend time with them.