More fun

I'm telling you. Things are just more fun with this kid around.
Lucky for me, he's mine.

Tradition, Tradition

We spent Thanksgiving in Utah this year. We got to visit with almost all of our grandparents and it was very lovely! One our stop to visit GG and GP the kids got to participate in a long standing Hosking tradition.... The Money Grab. I seriously remember "money grabs" from as early as age 6 or so. Such a generous and fun tradition started by my giving grandparents. I love traditions (and Fiddler on the Roof!...Tradition, Tradition!!)

The Nutcracker Junior

Took all of the kids to a shortened version of The Nutcracker Ballet and they all enjoyed it. I tried to find a sitter for Tenley, at Spencer's suggestion, and was unable to. Rather than have the boys miss the ballet I decided to bring her along. She LOVED it. Overall, it was a huge success. Some of the boys even asked if they could see the full ballet next year.

Others insisted that a football game would have been better. 

You can't win 'em all. But I'll take "tolerable" as a win.

Girls Weekend

Much needed, much enjoyed, girls getaway. We shopped, ate fabulous Chinese food, sat in the hot tub, painted our nails, applied facial masks, ate a LOT of candy, and shopped some more. We ended our weekend away by meeting up with the guys at the Salt Lake Temple. Our entire Hosking family of adults all attended together. It was beautiful! Love my family. And I am already looking forward to our next girls weekend.

{Quotable Truman)

Taggart got a Honda 50 dirt bike for his birthday this summer. The boys LOVE riding it, Taggart loves it most. He's gotten pretty good at riding up and down the lane, but since a recent visit to the Trujillo cousins house (they have a dirt bike track for their boys) he has been insistent that we build some "jumps" so that he can "get air". Just what we need, our 6 year old getting air on something with a small engine. Anyway, they (the boys) are bound and determined to build jumps on our driveway. A few days ago, we had load of road base delivered for our drive and the boys took the initiative and pulled out some snow shovels to build a jump.  This has been going on for a few days now, and today the jump got to be pretty good sized. The following conversation ensued...

Mom: "Wow! That looks like a big, narrow, long jump....."

Truman" "YEA, it is!!!"

Mom: "That doesn't look very safe."

Truman: "Oh, it is. We said two prayers while we were building it."

At least these boys have faith.

California Love: Part 1

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We told the kids that we were flying to California the day before we left. We accomplished the goal of reading the Book of Mormon together, as a family, and celebrated with a fun family vacation to San Diego, California! They were all super excited to fly on an airplane, first time for a couple of them. :)


We decided to make it our personal quest to find the "Best Burger in the San Diego Area". We started the day we got there with a visit to a local burger shop in Oceanside, CA near the condo that we were staying at.

Then...we hit the beach! We spent so many glorious days relaxing in the beautiful sunshine. Everyone loved playing in the wave, boogie boarding, and digging in the sand. The beach where we stayed was not crowded at all (great benefit of homeschooling!) and it was wonderful to have absolutely nothing to do except enjoy the beach.

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We attending a local ward meeting on Sunday and enjoyed meeting the members there. We then traveled down to the beautiful San Diego temple. It was gorgeous (as all temples are). The way that the temple was situated on the plot of land where it was built is absolutely stunning. We talked with a few families and individuals and got the inside scoop on good Mexican restaurants in Old Town San Diego from the missionary couple that was serving there.

Cowboys and Schoolwork

Cowboys still have to do school work. Much to this cowboys' dismay.

At least he looks awesome while he's gettin' er done.

Shelton Time!

The pictures say it all. We had a wonderful time having the Shelton Family stay with us. Cambria is a cowgirl for sure, Tanden loved exploring with the boys, and Shandi was a dream baby. Thank you for coming and playing with us. We loved every second of it!

The Dental Visit

Sometimes your mom tells you your going to the dentist in 30 minutes. So you run like crazy to get ready to go and gear up for your appointment. Previous visits have proven to be easy, peasy, lemon squeezy so your not worried. But...sometimes you mom forgets to mention that you are having a couple of teeth pulled, your mouth skin clipped and stitched, and that you have to have a cavity filled (Truman: the only Stucki child with a cavity...but I shouldn't throw stones...). It would have been nice to have a forewarning and a pain killer.

Sorry boys. I'll be better at filling you in next time. And giving you Tylenol BEFORE your visit. 

Love you.

Kidney Stones Are Awful.

My unexpected ride in an ambulance...that ended in a short, unplanned surgery. At this point in the story I have some good medications in me and I'm only feeling a bit of nausea.

One day I woke up and said goodbye to my sweet sister and her family, who had been visiting us for a few days. One short hour after their departure I started to feel sharp, awful, (unfortunately unfamiliar) flank pain. I knew exactly what it was...kidney pain. I had the same dreadful experience just 6 weeks after giving birth to Teague, while we (Spencer, the kids, and I) were vacationing in Pennsylvania. That memorable experience landed me in some, middle-of-nowhere emergency room, begging for some type of explanation to why I felt like I was going to pass out because of pain. So this time I braced myself for what I knew would be awful and hoped that within 24 hours I would pass the good-for-nothing stone. It didn't happen that way. In fact I was in so much pain I started vomiting every 30-45 minutes because I absolutely wanted to be admitted to the hospital and pumped full of something or knocked out completely. By the next day I hoped that things would improve, and I did have some momentary relief, but by late afternoon I was starting to run a temperature and had uncontrollable chills. I was defeated and desperate. It was time to visit the ER...again. Spencer had already taken the boys and sis to the ward rodeo so I thought maybe I would just drive myself there. Yea right. Spencer found awesome friends to keep an eye on the kids and he took me in. Long story short; It was determined that I had a kidney infection and needed IV antibiotics and a stent placed to drain the infection from my right kidney. The ER that we went to did not have operating rooms so I had to be transported downtown, to Boise, where I could have the surgery done. Spencer kissed me goodbye, got the kids settled at home and I was taken via ambulance to St. Luke's in Boise. It was crazy. I survived though and have one more surgery to go. By the way, I still have a stone in the left kidney. It's small right now, I'm told there isn't much I can do about it. So, I guess this is my lot in life. I hate kidney stones. I love the blessings I receive during trials like this though. I guess that's the beautiful heartbreak of life. And so it goes.

Tagg the Dirt Bike King

Happy Birthday to the one and only Taggart. Seriously an awesome, happy, tougher-than-nails, lovable, smart, boy!  He was super surprised with his birthday present....

Don't let the expression fool you...he could hardly contain himself. This is the "I'm totally cool" look :)

And as we thought...he was a natural. It only took one over exuberant pull of the throttle to learn the ropes. From there, he took off! He even learned the kick start himself.

 Thank you so much for calling, sending gifts and loving our Tagg man. He is such an awesome part of our family and I thank Heaven for sending him to me!

Date Night Fishin' on The Payette

Didn't catch a thing. But I loved this...

And this...

And I loved every single minute of being with Him.

The Mud Bog

You really haven't experienced life to it's fullest until you have attended a mug bog event. Wow. It was quite the experience. At one point Taede said "Mom, I didn't know that they still made the Confederate Flag". It was full fledged, down home, chockablock country living. The family that hosted the shindig was so kind and while we weren't totally accustomed to some of the words that were being said and felt a bit uncomfortable at some of the topics that were being discussed, we appreciated the invitation. Some of the boys even got to take a ride in one of the trucks. So, attending a mud bog has been checked off of our list...even though I don't remember it being on the list to begin with.

Baby Bird

Teague is a quiet, little, sweet boy. One day he found a baby bird that had fallen out of its nest.

Gently, quietly, and tenderly he helped me bury this baby bird.
Teague said he is in heaven now.
The sweetness and pure love of a child.

That's my boy.

Taede is getting so big. He is very helpful, and I often send him into the town store to grab a few random items every now and again. This time we needed Cheese Whiz for our authentic Philly Cheesteaks (it has to be Cheese Whiz to be authentic). He came back to the car and said "Score mom. I got this on sale!" Sure enough. He proceeded to tell me that it was "only a couple of days expired", sounding just like the mother who gave him life. Yes, I was very proud of his frugal skills indeed, yo. (Because that is how he talks these days, yo).

The Fort

The boys built a fort and wanted to spend the night in it. They spent two nights (one of which was cut short by a worrying mother who heard the coyotes...ok they were probably just dogs...but I was worried). 

Summer nights cane be absolutely magical.

Wildflower

I'm just a girl that needs
A little sun, a little rain
An open field to play

Hey, I'm a wildflower, growin' in the sunshine
Soakin' up the way of life I was raised in
Runnin' barefoot bloomin' in a summer shower
Ponytail dancin', I can't help it, I'm a wildflower

The Janedear Girls

The "Little Brothers"

Real Cowboys Love Their Sisters

Me and my girl watching the boys play on a Sunday afternoon.

Truman is baptized!

We were blessed beyond measure to have so many members of our family come and support Truman on his most special day. So proud of our sweet boy. We love you Truman James.