A Turkey Family's Thanksgiving

In honor of Thanksgiving, Gavin was assigned to write a story about a turkey family. My favorite was when he tried to say they cooked up a big turkey... I told him that probably wasn't the best idea...  Anyway, here it is!

A Turkey Family’s Thanksgiving.

Once upon a time there was a family who had a turkey Thanksgiving. The little girl’s name was Heidi. The big boy’s name was Bob. The mom’s name was Susie and the dad’s name was Billy. They set up for Thanksgiving and had a big table full of foods like gummy worms, potatoes, and their drink was apple juice.

The boy, Bob, said he was going to make a turkey with apples, sticks for the legs, and toothpicks for the tail feathers. And for the beak he used popcorn.

They all went outside to play in the leaves. All of them went inside to go to bed. 

The End

The "B" Word

Growing up on a farm, I learned that you had better be doing something during the day, or you'd have a job found for you. I'm glad I was raised that way because it taught me hard work. And there are days when I sit down on my couch, all ready to hang out on the computer and I get that nagging feeling that my house should probably get cleaned, my kids should probably get dressed, and maybe I should brush my hair... Most of the time I'll get up and get things done so I can feel like I have accomplished something and earned a chance to rest.

However, one day in June, I made a huge mistake. I was laying on my couch, knowing I had a lot of stuff I needed to do but I didn't want to do any of it. I popped onto Facebook and posted "I'm bored". Immediately my sister commented that she had plenty of weeds that needed pulled and trees that needed trimmed. My other sister warned me that I should never say something like that because it could come back and bite me. I knew I was tempting fate - I just didn't know how much.

That night as we were headed to writing group, we got a phone call to meet with the Bishop. Now, rewind a week here for a second. My stake was given the opportunity to have a plot of land that they split up into ward plots so that we could have a garden to use for the ward. Our ward chose to give people chance to have a small plot of their own, and then we had a larger one for the ward. I was excited for it - but then I got called to be the ward garden specialist with Steve. I was ECSTATIC. Here was my chance to prove to myself and my parents that I had learned a little about gardening from them. I looked up the correct distance between vegetables rows, etc and we were all ready to go.

Ok, so fast forward back to where we were, the day I said the "b" word. I figured that the Bishop just wanted to talk to me about the ward garden. I had a few things I wanted to talk about for the garden as well, so after we enjoyed our writing group, we headed off to the church.

All was going well with the interview - and then the Bishop turned to me. Uh oh. I knew this was serious. What I didn't expect - and wouldn't have expected in a million years - was that he called me to be RELIEF SOCIETY PRESIDENT. I felt like I'd taken a baseball to the face. I felt it was right but it was not what I expected. I wanted to drop to the floor and laugh - and cry. The only thing that kept coming to mind was what my sister had warned me about this morning. Be careful with that word. It will come back to you. I accepted the calling knowing I would never be bored and hoped that would make up for what I'd said. But no, life wasn't done with me quite yet.

That week was spent in a daze. I had to come up with counselors and come to terms that life was about to change. A lot. Later in the week I was starting to have health issues. Hot flashes like you wouldn't believe and I just felt miserable. Saturday night I realized that something hadn't come yet (won't get into more than that) and asked Steve to get me two pregnancy tests - just to make sure.

The next morning I woke and used a test - it was positive. I stared in shock. I wasn't ready. I was DONE. Heidi was supposed to be my last. I decided to brush it off and go to church. I was sustained to my calling- while in a daze - and later set apart.

My family left shortly after that and headed off to St George. We'd been planning to leave Friday but my new calling threw that off. We had a wonderful time in St. George. Steve's brother was in town and we enjoyed visiting with everyone. The pregnancy and my calling were on my mind constantly. Tuesday morning, I started having problems. I called and made an appointment with a doctor to check and make sure everything was okay.  We enjoyed the last day with Steve's family and then it was time to get home.

I went to my appointment, expecting to find out I'd had a miscarriage. The ultrasound technician informed me that things actually looked great and that my due date would be Valentine's Day.  I stared in shock. I still wasn't ready. I wanted to keep my Pilot. I wanted to move onto the next phase of being a mom. But I was willing to be a mom again. I love children and everything would work great.

I went home and showed pictures to the kids. They were thrilled. So thrilled that the excitement spread to me. We started looking at bigger cars and ways to make baby #7 fit into our house. Names flew for what we would call baby and the excitement was infectious.

That week I got to learn how to use the calling tree for our ward. A sewer pipe broke and I had to call and let everyone in the ward know that they couldn't use any water in their house for up to 4 hours. By the time I hit send for the last text, I got another text informing me that everything was fine. I laughed and went back through letting everyone know they were okay. I figured that at least I knew how to use it - not that I would need it for a long time. Wrong.

The next week Steve headed off to Florida. I was okay with that. We'd done it a few times before. However, while he was gone, a fire started on the mountain next to us, thanks to people who had gone shooting and weren't careful. 200 fires had started in Utah through the summer - most human caused. Nice. Can you see the smoke? We watched it closely.

This was the view as I driving home from dropping Jakob off at a friend's house. I was getting a little more nervous as the day wore on.

This was taken up behind our house.

Thursday night I heard the wind blowing hard. I walked outside and felt the wind coming straight for us. Great. The flames were huge but since it was dark, I couldn't see how close they actually were to my house. I went back in the house and mentioned to friends of mine on a writer's chat site that I should probably start packing. They began telling me things I should grab. I wish I'd listened. I did grab our important papers but nothing else.

 I went out a few minutes later and the air was suddenly calm. It was crazy. The flames had died down. I still felt I should pack but again I didn't listen. The flame is tiny in this photo.

The next morning, Jakob called from his friend's house, asking if we were being evacuated. I ran to the window and saw smoke. And lots of it. It was heading east so I wasn't sure if we were okay. I got off the phone and ran to my computer to see if anyone had anything posted. The internet was down. Great! I ran outside to see if I could find anyone that might know. Steve called from Florida telling me that it had been announced on Facebook that there were evacuations. He wasn't sure if it was us yet but I let my neighbors know so they'd start getting ready.  Steve called back shortly afterwards to confirm that it was for sure us. For the second time in a week, I pulled out my list to start the calling tree. 

The kids quickly started packing and I made phone call after phone call letting everyone know to get out asap. The kids loaded up the Pilot with dolls, stuffed animals, random clothes, and random foods from the kitchen. I pulled my stuff together and waited for friend to get there to help get us out. We  shoved all the guinea pigs into boxes and put them in my car. The kids with my friend in her car and we were off. My sister had come up to help out and she left at the same time. I had to turn back around just before leaving the neighborhood to grab my radio so we could keep in contact with the stake and then we were off - only to find out that I had an empty gas tank. Way to be prepared. After filling up, we headed across the valley (picking Jakob up on the way) and stayed with our friends. Steve was picked up from the airport and I was happy to have him home so I could let myself cry for just a few minutes. 

Staying in Pleasant Grove had it's advantages and disadvantages. We were able to spend time with friend so it mostly kept the kids preoccupied.  I say 'mostly' because we had views like this from their yard:

See those darks spots on the mountains in the picture below? They were hot spots and they were coming ever closer to my house. I didn't sleep much that night. Partly because of worry, partly because I was pregnant and mostly because of the mattress. Blow up mattresses and pregnant bellies don't work. I finally went to sleep on the couch and was able to get rest.

Morning came and everything looked great. The mountain was black but our valley was still okay! I was thrilled. We hoped we'd be able to get home soon.

Later that afternoon we were worried. The smoked picked back up again and I stared as the smoke got closer to our valley again.

That night around 6 PM we were given the ok to go home. Steve had wanted to go fishing with our friends but I just wanted my home. I wanted to see what damage there had been and I was worried about our yard. We packed everything up and headed home.

I wanted to cry as we pulled into our valley. There were blackened mountains around us but our valley was still green. There was no smoke smell in the air. We would have ash fall down here and there but everything was great. We pulled weeds, watered flowers and just relished the fact that we had that chance.  I joked that this had been my "trial by fire" as Relief Society President. It was only partly funny.

Was that "b" word done with me? Nope, in July I started having problems with my pregnancy again. I was sick and things didn't look good. I went into the doctor and found out that I'd miscarried. I didn't know how to feel but I knew I just wanted out of that office NOW. I allowed myself to break down once I got to the car. My first thought was "well, I guess I get to keep my Pilot" And immediately felt guilty and worried about my kids.

When I came home and let them know we wouldn't have another baby, Ashley cheered and yelled "WE GET TO KEEP THE PILOT!" Ok, so I guess they'd be fine. I had surgery later that week and while I had a hard time staying down and resting, I was able to recover and move on.

So the moral of this story? NEVER EVER under any circumstances say you're bored. EVER.

It's May??? Part two

Spring Break had just gotten over in my last post. So here we go with the next one.

Oh, except the "I went on an awesome date with Steve to Chef's Table, was caught staring at Dave Rose while trying to figure out who he was (I nodded at him to make me not look quite so psycho - maybe), then to Mirror Mirror which is my new favorite movie, and then went with my sister to go save my other sister from her broken down car in Salina" evening. It ended at 3:30 in the morning... But I'm glad I could help!

Monday morning, Gavin stayed home with Steve (and was not happy), Heidi went to her Aunt Charlotte's (and boy was she thrilled!!), and Ethan went to the dentist.  The poor boy's tooth had met his brother's leg over a month before and instead of having the color of the tooth improve, it had gotten a little darker.  I'd been worried about taking him but since he'd done so well with the eye doctor, I had hope this one would go well.

Gavin tried to be happy to stay home, but when it was time for me to leave, this is how I found him...

Poor tooth!! This was in March

I was thrilled with the appointment. Dr Hansen is an amazing dentist. He is great with kids (and we like him for ourselves) and makes sure they're at ease. His office has TV's in the ceiling so while Ethan was poked and prodded, he got to watch Toy Story. The only time he got upset was when they took his headphones off to get an x-ray...

He sat this way the ENTIRE time.

They'll have to take out the tooth (it's darker now) and they found a cavity. Poor boy! So he goes back in June and will get the cavity fixed. We'll see if he gets the other tooth taken out at the same time.

The next night we went to Hope of America. It was amazing. Jakob and several 5th graders in Utah County performed at the Marriott Center. It was great to hear the patriotic music. I got a little teary eyed a few times. I love my country.

Jakob was in the upper yellow part - somewhere in the middle.

The next weekend was our actual anniversary. Twelve years. Crazy! Anyway, Steve and I went to the Desert Star with some good friends and then out to dinner.  We also spent time with them in the mountains that weekend. It consisted of Steve watching the chicken cook while I chased Heidi from one side of the campsite to the other - over and over and over and over and over. The kids had a blast and we had great company. In between me running after Heidi...

That Monday, we got into full baseball mode. On Wednesdays we have four kids practicing all at once. Luckily three of them are on one field. The other practice is further away but we get to drive on unpaved roads to get there so that's pretty cool. I sit in the car with Ethan and Heidi while Jakob practices (Steve is with the others). They watch Netflix on my phone and I read a book. I'd get out to play but I'm usually afraid they'll blow away... Darn wind!

Anyway, that Saturday was busy busy. There were three baseball games that morning and I had to rush home to decorate a cake and finish decorating. I had an awesome friend that bought a pinata for me. I have no picture of it because I was the one holding the broomstick with the pinata on it and no one else was there to take photos.

Ashley's friends arrived and they had a great time. They played Snow White's poison apple (Like hot potato but with an apple), Jasmine's musical magic carpets (Like musical chairs), the pinata, and then they watched Barbie's Charm School. They ate yummy cake and opened presents. It turned out to be a lot of fun. The best was when my two older boys and their friends tried to crash the party and play the princess games.

This was supposed to be a castle cake...

While I was doing that, Steve went off to learn how to make Malaysian food. He made egg rolls and curry puffs that were A-MAZING.  He had a great time and he can't wait to go and learn more.

After the party girls left and Steve got home, our friends came to have dinner and play games. Their twin girls were at the party already so the rest of the family came over.  The tacos were yummy and the game was fun. Pirate's Cove is a favorite of my older boys and I enjoyed learning to play it. And getting throttled. We had to leave shortly after they left to grab a few groceries for the next day.

The next day was my birthday! And Ashley's. I love sharing with my girl. I curled her hair and my hair and then we opened presents. Ashley got a few things to decorate her room in Hello Kitty style along with a few other things and I got skates and books. The skates I've wanted since my other ones got stolen in 6th grade...

Ashley asked for a jewelry maker. 

Look at that adorable toothless smile. 

Both Beyonders (Brandon Mull) books and Target in Ties by Tristi Pinkston. YAY!

I was so excited for these! I even used them to pick Gavin up from school one day.

We went and enjoyed church before coming home to start on pizza. We made four pizzas, two pans of breadsticks, and my German Chocolate cake. My sister brought salad and my friends brought two more pizzas. And everything was GONE by the end of the night. One pizza went back with the Ellises but otherwise we ate everything. It was a lot of fun. Such a perfect birthday. :)

The next week went fast. I didn't expect it to because I was so excited for the following weekend but it really did fly. I had to take Ashley and Jakob to a well-child appointment (Jakob had other issues but he's fine), before getting home for Family Home Evening. Baseball practices went well and then it was time for me to go to LDS Storymakers. Which I'll blog about later.

One thing I forgot to mention earlier, was that we were able to get a Honda Pilot in March. I have been very much in love with this car since we got it!! We still use the van when we need a second car but otherwise I enjoy my Pilot.

Its May already?!

I had put off writing anything on my blog because I wanted to get it in print. But since it's now May and I have yet to print, I figured it's time to catch everything up. In a shortened version.

2012 has been a year full of making and keeping goals. And if you know me well, that doesn't happen often.  These last few years have been crazy for me, so rather than taking a break, I wanted to find a way to keep it going. Okay, so I'm done with disastrous moves to other countries, but you know what I mean. What is my goal, you ask? Too bad, you have to wait. Unless you scroll down. But that wouldn't be fair.

January came and went with a schedule filled with basketball. Jakob, Andy and Ashley were all in Jr Jazz basketball and it was a lot of fun to watch. Jakob kicked it up several notches and flew all over the court. He did awesome. Except his shots. But those will come. Andy did great ball handling but he needs to do some pushups and weights so he can get the ball to hit the basket... And Ashley was a joy to watch. She wants to be the best at everything she does and basketball wasn't an exception. She has a ways to go because she had never played before but she's getting the hang of it. They all worked very hard on improving and I was a very proud mommy.

Oh, and I played as well. We had a lot of fun. I even stopped wheezing after the first game or two. Oh, and the best part? I'm not sure if it was the 12 points scored in one game, or if the was three pointer I made in another one. Either way, it was awesome.  I was sad when the season ended.

I almost forgot. Ashley joined the Girl Scouts. She's a Daisy at this point and she loves it. She threw herself into it and even sold 60 boxes of girl scout cookies. Its not a ton but she was thrilled with it. I was too since that meant I didn't have to deliver more. :)

February was spent with more basketball, Valentine's Day, and the rest is a blur because I was sick a lot. With colds. Colds are dumb.

I wish I could say we had a massive party for Heidi because she had such a lame birthday last year (she got her present three days later and her cake was leftovers... good thing she was one), but that wasn't the case. I was so sick. Why? I don't know. But it wasn't fun. So she got us and no cake for several days. She didn't care. She got awesome gifts.

March also brought more basketball, more scouts and more band. But what it also brought was the first part of my goal. This year I was determined to do more with writing. I've had a children's book I wrote in high school that I've wanted to publish for years, and now I have two others I want to get published. So this year's resolution was to go to conferences and actually submit my stories.  I went to Writing for Charity and LOVED it. I learned a lot, talked to authors that had come to my store, and gained more of a desire to get writing and submitting.

I also started taking art.  Jakob was very upset that he couldn't come with me. He loves drawing. I want him in classes as soon as I can get him there. But this was my turn. We worked with pastels. Here is the picture I wanted to use. My mom posted a picture of her tree in a snow storm and I knew it was "the one":

And here is my version. This was my process over the 5 classes:

I was hooked. I love pastels! I think I'm going to ask for some this Christmas. My next project is a crocus.

Next comes April. We went to St. George for conference and we enjoyed our time there as we always do. We love spending time with Steve's family! We watched conference with Steve's parents and then the kids and I played with Steve's mom while he went to the Priesthood session with his dad, brother-in-law, and nephews. We left earlier than we'd planned on Sunday because winter wasn't about to give up.  The snow was bad through Cedar City but we made it home safe and sound.

We were home for a few days before heading off to Oakley for Easter and Spring Break. It was supposed to be cold while we were there but it warmed up and the kids got loved their time outside. They jumped on the trampoline, ran around the yard, climbed trees, and slept well at night. Easter was wonderful.

We had to leave on Tuesday so we could drop Steve off at the airport for a two day trip to Indiana. The kids had hoped to do all kinds of fun things for Spring Break - but we stayed home for most of it. It was cold and windy. So after eye appointments (where we found that Ashley's are perfect and Jakob no longer needed glasses except for reading!) we went home and cleaned. And cleaned. And cleaned some more. Then it was play time. The kids have a show in Australia that they loved called Mr Maker. You learn all kinds of crafts. So that's what we did. My house is still full of their art projects. Heidi painted herself (So glad she's her own canvas) while the others painted magnets and sun catchers.

Friday we took Gavin and Ethan to the eye doctor as well. Ethan's are perfect (he was sad - he wanted glasses!) and Gavin is far-sighted. They won't do anything with them unless it causes problems. They're hoping it will correct on its own. I hope so!

I  think I will stop here. Its becoming a novel and I have so much more to tell you! Check back and I promise the next one will be much more exciting.

Christmas 2011

It took long enough, but here I am. And its still not January 25th so I'm within the month after Christmas. That's good, right?

Our Christmas started a little earlier on the Weist side when we went to visit Steve's family at the first part of December. We had fun watching the kids open their gifts from their Grandma and Grandpa Weist. The kids LOVED their gifts and we had a fun time visiting.

This Christmas we had the chance to go and stay in Idaho for a week before Christmas.  We went and visited my grandma, aunt, uncle, and cousins in Idaho Falls on Saturday the 17th and stayed in Oakley for the rest of the week.

It was a wonderful break from all the craziness at home. My sister was awesome and wrapped my gifts while I held her baby. It was a great trade for both of us. 

Even our guinea pigs made the trip, and they loved the attention they got while there.  Georgy (my mom's shih tsu) really liked them!

We made a few trips to Burley and got the last of our shopping done. Below I have pictures from our stop at Dairy Queen. 

Once my sister and her family got to Idaho, we headed out to Rock Creek Canyon to see the lights. The highlight was seeing the camels! 

Christmas Eve is full of traditions at our house. Bean dip, Egg Nog, movies, and the reading of the Christmas Story.  The best part is watching the kids act out the Nativity with the cute little puppets my sister made several years ago. They love to be part of it.

Christmas Morning!! When we were little, we used to meet in my parent's room before going to see what Santa brought us.  When my parents added on to the house, it became the tradition to meet in the toy room downstairs.  Then we'd head up youngest to oldest. Since my sister did Christmas at her house (before meeting us for presents), my family got to be the first. It was kinda strange!

 The only thing that Gavin asked for was a balloon that he could bounce with the rubber band. What a cutie.

Classy

 Steve likes his Ninja turtle pants

Ashley really, REALLY wanted a girl ds game.

 Heidi loves Minnie Mouse!!

The chair was a huge hit!

Jakob and Andy share these two gifts - and they're not complaining one bit!

 I was in the line to check out on Black Friday and saw this pony set from thirty feet away. I asked my niece to grab it because I knew Ashley and Heidi would love it. 

Ashley finally got her dress up clothes!

 Nothing beats an angry bird for Ethan

 Gavin is the child I find with books in his bed each night. I figured I'd feed his hunger.

Gifts from Grandpa and Grandma Hardy

 We got Creationary and popcorn from my sister. My kids were ecstatic!

Here is the apron Jakob bought Grandma with his own money.

It was sad to leave but with storms coming, and Steve starting a new job, we knew it was time to go.  We hope everyone had a great Christmas and a wonderful New Year!!