Birthdays, Costumes and Awards

All the kids helping Brett stack the wood. What good helpers. Sadie turned 11 years old on October 18th.

Pumpkin carving was fun. The kids had "pumpkin guts" stuck to them everywhere!

Sadie the black cat, Jackson as Spiderman, Cody the pirate "ARGH" and Greg as "The Thing" from Fantastic Four.

The kids all drew pumpkin designs and then we used one thing from each drawing. The top pumpkin has Cody's eyes/brows and Jackson's mouth and the bottom one used Sadie's eyes and Greg's mouth.
Sadie holding her awards. One from the Post Register and the other from the school board here in Rigby.

OK, so here I am working on a blog post instead of studying for an exam I have on Monday. Don't worry, I think that I have my priorities right where they should be for the moment. There is always more time to study. As you can see from the photos above, we have definitely been keeping busy. At the beginning of October Brett and his Dad went and cut a ton of firewood and the kids spent an entire Saturday morning helping to get it all stacked. Sadie's birthday was spread out over an entire week. Brett was going hunting on her birthday, so we did gifts Friday night, she spent her day with her friends, and then on Sunday we did her favorite meals. The next weekend I took her and a friend to see High School Musical 3 in the theater. It was a fun girls "date". Halloween came and went without too much to complain about. The kids were really good about costumes. Jackson said that he didn't care that he was Spiderman last year, we live somewhere new, so nobody knows. I thought that was pretty good thinking. Greg was pumped that we got his costume off of eBay. I tried to convince the kids to be the Fantastic Four, since we have 3 boys and 1 girl, but they all looked at me like that was the stupidest idea ever. Oh well, a mom has to try right? Most recently, this past week, Sadie was recognized for an essay she wrote. The Idaho Falls newspaper (The Post Register) had an essay contest on diversity. Her language arts teacher told them that they could enter it for extra credit. Sadie, being the student and writer that she is (her goal in life is to be an author) entered. She wrote the essay without any help from us or her teacher. She received an honorable mention in the 6th grade division. You can read her essay online at http://www.postregister.com/essays/.

As for Brett, he is almost in full swing with his trap line. He has been concentrating on getting his bait caught first. Now he is focusing on his hunts. He has a pretty good deer and elk hunt this year, so he has been going as much as he can. He has been great getting the kids off to school everyday and helping around the house so much. I don't know how I could do this without him. I have been kept busy with school. I am finally learning how to use all the instruments that dental hygienists get to use. It is a bit stressful, but exciting too. Truly, school has been flying by. I only have 4 weeks or so left in the semester and I will be 1/4 of the way done with my program! It is going really fast.

I hope that all of you are well and, in this season of Thanksgiving, that you are beginning to focus on all that we have to be grateful for. I, for one, am grateful that I don't have to listen or view any more political adds for a while. Keep in touch!

Oh! Also, for a good laugh, check out my Brother/Sister in law's blog which is linked on the right side of my blog - living the high life. They have a hysterical video of our neice.

Fall is in full swing

The kids enjoying some play time with a box - it takes so little to amuse them eh?L to R: Greg, Sadie, Cody, Jackson
"Sprout"

So, it has been three weeks since my last post and it seems like a lot longer. So much has been going on that I don't know how I could possibly tell it all. We have gotten into the swing of school, and me being gone all day. We spent two weekends in Blackfoot attending the Eastern Idaho State Fair, including going to the demolition derby. (Cody wanted to know what a redneck was, so we went to that so he could see some for himself) ;) This past week and a half we have had kids sick, then Brett came down with it too. I was so happy that I hadn't gotten sick because I can't miss school (seriously, if I miss more than one day they can kick me out of the program), but it finally hit me yesterday while we were up cutting firewood. So I got to have a stomach flu in the forest (not fun) and Brett got to haul wood by himself. I am grateful that it hit me on the weekend though.

It seems like everything that could happen, has happened, since school started. The fuel pump went out on our Suburban, our dryer died, sick family etc. etc. So we fixed the car and finally after three weeks without a dryer, we bought a new one. So the kids took the box out on the front lawn and had a blast. I had to take some pics. The photo of the dog is another one of those things I was talking about. We got notified, this past week, that one of the people that we had sold a puppy to last fall had surrendered it to the animal shelter in Idaho Falls. Since she is papered they contacted us to let us know that we could come and get her if we wanted her. Well, we really don't want another dog, so we contacted another person that we had sold a puppy to, and he wants her, but he lives across the state and is still trying to figure out how to get her. So Brett picked her up on Friday and we temporarily have two dogs. She is really lovable and hasn't been aggressive at all. We called her Sprout before we sold her, so we are calling her that again. Hopefully we won't need to have her here too long because she is all ready getting attached to our family.
As far as school is concerned, I am loving it. Don't get me wrong, it is probably one of the hardest things that I have ever attempted, but it is also really gratifying. It is so nice to sit in class after class and learn things that directly apply to what I want to do. It is also really interesting to note that it is coming really easy for me. I am remembering things without effort and I haven't had to study nearly as much as I expected. I got elected the Dental Hygiene Jr. class president, so that will look good on resumes and scholarship applications. I love the people in my class and I think the next two years are going to fly by. Now, being away from the family like I am is a challenge. Everyday I get up at 5am, leave by 6am (before anyone else is awake) and then am gone for 13 hours almost every day M-T. Fridays I get home earlier so I have made a habit on Fridays of crashing for a 30 minute power nap until the boys get home from school at 3:30. The kids think it is cool to have me working on homework at the same time they are.

So far, this fall has been really crazy, but I know that if we stay strong as a family and stay close to the Lord that all will work out. I wouldn't be able to do this without Brett and the kids taking over so much around our house, I am really thankful for them - Oh, by the way, today is Brett's and my anniversary. 13 years!!! Pitifully enough though, we have been so busy we both totally forgot about it until this morning. I guess that says something about our relationship, we are comfortable enough with each other to say, "Happy Anniversary honey, I totally forgot until just now!" And that is a good thing, of course I will try not to forget any other important days like kids birthdays or Christmas. I would definitely be in trouble then. Hope all is great for all of you. Keep in touch.

Sadie takes on the County Fair

Sadie and "Buddy" waiting their turn
Sadie during the market class showing
Sadie and Buddy's backside (sorry) notice the blue ribbons?

Sadie and one of her blue ribbons

From the 11th of August through the 17th we were involved with the Jefferson County Fair in one way or another. A totally new experience for us all I promise you. Sadie did 4-H - Lamb, Dutch oven cooking and a cooking day camp. She showed her lamb and got a blue ribbon for showmanship and a blue ribbon for the market class. Her lamb started out at 81lbs. in June and ended up weighing 141lbs. at fair. Pretty good rate of gain! When she showed him for the showmanship he got away from her (they aren't supposed to use the halter) and it shook her up a little. But once they caught him again she took control and did her best. Through out this experience she has pretty much hated her sheep and told us repeatedly that she wanted to quite. Of course, we didn't let her and I think that she is grateful now. She had a good time. Overall she got 4 blue ribbons and one BIG rosette chamion ribbon for a poster she made at the cooking day camp. We decided that the fair is so small, next year we are going to enter something in every category (not every animal category though) and see how much money the kids can make! You get paid like 3 dollars for every blue ribbon etc. My green peppers totally would have won this year, oh well.

I started school today with an orientation. It opened my eyes as to just what a hard two years are ahead for us (That and the twins crying last night as I tucked them in asking me "why do you have to go to school mommy? Is it because of us, don't do it!"). I know they will be able to handle it once we get into the rutine. I will try to keep posting somewhat regularly but we will have to see. The kids also started school this week and they are all loving their teachers and the twins love being there all day and being able to eat lunch. Hope everyone enjoyed their summer as much as I did.

Kelly came for a visit!

Sorry I am a bit of a slacker, my sister came like 2 weeks ago and still haven’t posted anything about it. Like I said, my sister Kelly and her family (husband Bob and kids Brett and Allison) came to visit us from Oregon. They were here for about a week and we loved having them. We took a trip into Yellowstone and to Jackson Hole so I have posted some photos from that trip. The family photo of us is taken in front of the Tetons right at twilight. It was really beautiful, those mountains are so awesome. We spent a lot of time visiting and the kids had a blast having their cousins here to share the pasture with (they made some cool forts). It was awesome to have them make the effort to come so far just for us. It is the first time any of my siblings have come to see us (except when they might have been passing through) and it meant a lot to me (no this is not meant to be a guilt trip guys, just an observation. I know how far it is.). Thanks again Kelly. Anyway, the county fair starts this week so I am sure I will have a long post about Sadie and her sheep experience for you next week, not to mention my brother is getting married on Saturday (congrats Joseph) so check back then and enjoy the rest of your summer.