Friday, December 27, 2013

     I figure that I had better update the blog a little early this week because we will be at the ranch and I will have no computer access.  We had a lovely Christmas and I am feeling so blessed.  I am so grateful for my kids, a great husband, and that we were able to spend the holiday with some of my family.
     Monday the kids were out of school and I knew that I needed to hurry and finish up some last minute Christmas things.  I needed and wanted to take homemade bread around to my neighbors.  I had actually started this project on Saturday, but did not get very far because we had to go ring the bell at Wal-Mart.  I got up early and started a batch.  At this point pretty much all of the kids were up because Ryan had left for work.  I began kneading my dough when I began to notice some disturbing things appearing in the dough.  A little rock here, a blade of grass there.  I kept kneading, and it got worse and worse.  I noticed some elastic bands off of Jams braces and that was it...what in the world had gotten into my flour?  Oak blamed it on Mo, but my sack of flour had been sitting in the pantry.  The garbage can sits just outside of the pantry, and it almost looked like someone had emptied the dustpan into the flour.  Luckily it was almost gone.  I chucked it, and the dough, and started over.  I went out to the garage and got me a new sack of flour.  The next batch looked nice and clean, which was reassuring.  I mixed it up and got it raising.  I started a second batch.  I was just beginning to smell the first batch cooking when a loud boom shattered the silence.  I peeked into the kitchen to see that the oven door had blown open, and smoke was billowing out of the oven area.  Jams was standing in the kitchen looking quite bewildered.  "What was that?"  she asked.  I peeked into the open oven, and a new smell began filling the air.  A green chile/Ortega smell.  I looked in and at some point, Mo had added a can of green chile's to the oven.  I am not sure what his reasoning was, but that can of green chile's had exploded and there was green chile's and ash all over my lovely bread.  Needless to say that I was not happy that two batches of bread were ruined right off of the bat.  Why Mo?  Did I ask for your help?  Ummm no.
     Somewhere in the midst of all of the bread making, the younger kids started a bath tub party.  They all got into their swimming suits, and got in the bath.  Mo somehow wanted to get involved in the party, but could not locate his suit and so he brought Jams a pull-up.  She did not know what he was doing and so she just put it on him.  Well, he got out bawling pretty quick.  It must have weighed a ton.  Poor Mo.  He just wanted to be involved with the party.
     When we did start cranking out the bread loaves, the kids always love to deliver it.  Chlo dressed up in her tiger suit for the occasion, and Mo insisted on being involved.  Jerusha got a little frustrated with him because he kept wanting to stop and take little snow eating breaks.  He also got hollering at Oak just because.  We always enjoy passing out a homemade gift to the neighbors, but this year we waited so long that there were a lot of people gone already.  Too bad for them because they could have had some Ortega bread.
     We usually spend Christmas with my parents because they like to watch the kids open their gifts, and there is usually no lack of little kids at the ranch.  It is a ton of work to get all of the Christmas gear packed up even though upon Ryan's insistence Christmas is kept quite small.  It never really is small, though just because of our numbers.  Anyhow, Ryan had to work most of the day on Christmas eve, and I put Jams and Sags to work wrapping gifts.  I would put the gifts in a box, so they couldn't see it and they would wrap.  I didn't make them wrap their own, but they were great to wrap up everyone elses.  I tried to get Jazz and Rooshkie to wrap Jams and Sags' gifts, but they fizzled kind of fast.  Anyhow, we drove over the mountain, and my mom was so excited to see us.  She and Mindi were busy cooking Christmas eve dinner.  My mom had all of these ideas about a Christmas program with the kids.  She assigned Jerusha the task of assigning roles and costumes.  I jumped in and helped them get the dinner on.  My assignments were guacamole and homemade salsa, but I couldn't keep Jazzerz and Deeb out of the guacamole.  Jazzerz especially was all about dipping her chips.
     When dinner was over, the program began.  The first scene was of Jams the donkey, carrying Mary (Rooshkie) and Joseph (Mo).  Joseph was leaning oddly on the donkey and looked as though we was going to fall off.  Joseph was also red all over because he had been partaking of hot Cheetos.  He had a weird sheath on his head that was all skeewampus too.  Anyhow, I have never seen a version where Joseph rode the donkey too, and then ditched Mary as soon as they arrived at the stable.  I think Joseph was in need of some more flamin' hot Cheetos.  The angels were tussling over wings (Jazz and Chlo).  Burndon was a cow, and Ryan was a wiseman.  Barry claimed that he looked a little too feminine for a wiseman, which is totally not Ryan's style.  Anyhow...the baby Jesus (Maddy) was quite upset before the pageant was over, the angels were slapping each other around, and Joseph was just gone.  A memorable, yet inaccurate, portrayal of the Savior's birth.  I always love to hear the events read though, and my favorite part is still the shepherds.  Sags was our only shepherd in the play, but shepherds would have been humble, and prayerful people.  Anyone whose existence and prosperity depend upon the weather and elements, realize that there is something bigger out there than them.  I am sure that herding sheep was frustrating and demanding work.  I also know that they probably spent a lot of time praying over their little sheep, and over the weather.  What an incredible thing that the angel informed simple shepherds.
     The night before Christmas was kind of eventful.  Ryan and I went to bed, and he woke me up around four so that we could bring the gifts in.  I got some warm clothes on, and hauled everything from the van, to the porch so that he could set things up in front of the tree.  I wasn't really paying attention to what I was hauling, but there were groceries also involved so that I could contribute to their dinner.  I informed Ryan that he also needed to stick bows on everything.  I had to laugh when I came in...now bows, and all of the groceries were neatly displayed with everything else...(Wahoo! Cream Cheese for Christmas!)  Yep, I love that man of mine.
      Rooshkie was up and down and round and round all night too.  She could not sleep, and finally I woke up to her and Jazzerz playing UNO.  It was around 5 or 6 at this point, and so I told them just to get everyone up.  The kids loved their Christmas, and we had a great Christmas season.  I really think that we had focused most of our energies on serving other people that we knew this year.  It totally made all of the difference.  They liked their gifts too, and we had a great day.
     I had given the kids a bottle of bubble bath so that they could get in Grandma's jetted tub.  I stuck Chlo and Mo in.  I kind of forgot about the water softner, and the fact that the jets really agitate the bubbles when I poured some in.  When I came back to check on them I just about fainted...they were literally buried in bubbles.  Mo's face was even covered in them.  They were having a bubble fight and flinging them everywhere.  I seriously was not sure if any water was even involved at that point.  I warned my mom not to go in there, but she had to see, and she got laughing really hard.  Their bubble fight had it to where Mo couldn't even see.  I will have to remember to go easier on the bubbles next time.
     Grandpa H gave Oak a bow and arrow set.  He loved them.  We went out shooting Moroni's new .22 rifle, (also a gift from Grandpa H) and Oak got really intent on target practicing.  We then went down into old town to check out the deer and turkeys.  Oak was really on the prowl to shoot one.  He kept telling me to watch for a big buck because he might as well shoot it.  Yep, the bow and arrow set was a winner for sure.
     The next night was kind of a fiasco because Chlo kept getting kicked out of people's beds, and I noticed Jazz ended up underneath one of the beds.  Poor Chlo.  She finally told me that she just needed her own pillow and then she could sleep just about anywhere.  I got up and went and found her one.  Nice little Chlo just needed a pillow.
     Yesterday was a fiasco.  Ryan wanted to get unpacked, clean up, and head down south for some cattle drives.  I started some laundry, but I just did not get done in time.  He had also brought one of Clance's friends to help out with the round-up and I was kind of embarrassed because things were insane around the house.  He was a good looking cowboy from Orderville and he was fifteen.  I also noticed right off the bat that the girls were acting really goofy around him.  Yep, I think he is in for a long week.  Oak informed him right off the bat that Jerusha liked him.  It was a little awkward to say the least.  Needless to say, that I am still home trying to get things in order and packed.  I am looking forward to warmer weather, and the smells from the river. 











Sunday, December 22, 2013

     It has been a great week this week.  The kids had a busy week at school and they are done for the year...Wahoo!  I am looking forward to a few weeks without a schedule.  There is also no dance classes and Young women's activities.  I love Christmas, and this Christmas season has been wonderful.
     Mo has been extra difficult this week.  I finally noticed that he is cutting his eye-teeth.  He has been whinier, and crabbier.  A friend invited us over for ice cream sundies this week and he kept throwing fits about different toppings that were or were not being added to his sundae.  He also kept me up most of the night on Fridee night.  He was completely restless.  Because of this, I went to bed kind of early on Saturday night.  I was lightly sleeping and noticed that he was zipping around back and forth with a toy 4-wheeler.  This toy makes a lot of engine type noises.  I was too tired to care.  Anyhow, at some point he decided it was time for him to settle down for the night.  Everyone else had gone to bed.  He crawled up on my bed, and lightly began driving his 4-wheeler around on my face.  I finally woke up and rocked him to sleep.  Nice Mo, he couldn't figure out how to go to bed without his Mom.
     Oak had been hounding me for a haircut.  He really liked getting his haircut from Connie a few months ago.  He started hounding me last week, but I was too busy to get him an appointment.  I walked into my bathroom one afternoon and there were hair clippings all over the counter top.  I immediately thought of Chlo.  We just got her hair looking decent from her last DIY haircut.  It wasn't Chlo it was Oak, and of course he wacked a big chunk off right up front and close to the scalp. Anyhow, I did get him and Mo into see Connie this week.  She does a really good job with them.  Jams and Sags wanted to come too because they wanted to go in to a store and do some shopping for their friends.  When Oak was done we walked over to grab them.  Oak immediately began klomping all over the store in his moon boots...so loud.  He ran behind their soda fountain counter.  A bewildered girl who worked behind the counter was quite awestruck with Oak's behavior.  I yelled at him, but that store had a million break-ables and he just kept klunking around and around the place in his big boots. I guess he was feeling sporty with his new haircut. Finally I just told Jams and Sags that I couldn't let Oak stay in there another second.  I removed him and myself.  Talk about bull in a china shop...jeez.
     Mo got to go to school with Sags on Wednesday.  She had a class that required them to observe little kids.  He colored a picture and got really crabby at some point.  Sage was smart enough to realize that he was just hungry.  She excused herself to go and grab her lunch box.  She let Mo have her Doritos and he acted much better after that.  I understand that the need for Doritos can be pretty strong at times.  He felt pretty special about the whole situation.  The next day he got up and wanted to go to school with Sage.  Too bad Mo.  It was a one day deal.
     Ryan had signed us up to ring the bell for the Salvation Army on Saturday.  He instructed all of us to dress up nice, and he told the girls to get their musical instruments.  He then drove us up to Wal-Mart.  We sang hymns while Jams and Sags played their instruments and the outcome was amazing.  There was rarely a person go by that did not donate some money.  We have rang the bell many seasons, but never have I seen people respond to us that way.  It really got us into the true Christmas spirit.  Oak and Chlo took turns ringing the bell, and Mo got squirmy, but other than that it was great. 
     Jams, Sags, and Rooshkie also had the opportunity to go ice skating with some friends this week.  They had a great time.  Jamie also went to a surprise party for one of her best friends.  I had these ideal scenes in my head about me waiting up to hear about my teenager's evening.  I was going to be a good mom who stayed up and waited.  On this particular evening I sat in the chair, and waited and waited.  I finally completely fell asleep.  When she came home I was fully clothed and sleeping soundly in the chair.  I was so mad that she had stayed out so late, and did not call.  Shame shame Jams...
     Ryan mentioned that he had a meeting on Friday, but had the rest of the day off.  His meeting was in St. George and then he mentioned helping me finish up some Christmas errands.  Anyhow, it was funny because we went to one store.  I purchased like three items and his shoulders were quite shlumpy when we left.  He mentioned that he was all shopped out.  I asked him to just take me to Cal Ranch...this is definitely his type of store.  They have horse tack, and tools galore.  I just needed to grab a few items of clothing.  He sat on a chair while I was thumbing through some clothing racks.  The next time I checked on him was sleeping soundly in the chair.  I think that stores need to install beds for husbands to sleep in...maybe beds with t.v.'s and remotes.  This would solve all kinds of problems.
     My brother Gary sent us a big box of citrus from his trees this week.  It was a great gift.  I still cannot figure out how Jazzerz can eat lemon after lemon and not even have a pucker-y face about it.  Jazz is a lemon girl that is for sure.
     Ryan and I were in charge of the Christmas program.  It was kind of stressful, but we initially just passed out sign-up sheets.  Every person that participated was a volunteer and the program turned out great.  About a year ago, Ryan's sister Katie sent him a musical medley that followed the Savior's life.  It started out with the prophesies, and ended with the resurrection.  We just took all of the songs and assigned them to people and it turned out great!  I was so relieved.  I had stressed about it quite a bit.  Ryan sang, Sags and I sang with my friend Robin, Jamie played her violin for Rooshkie and a friend of hers to sing, and we had numerous people from the ward sing.  We ended with a volunteer choir that sang "Joy to the World."  It sounded amazing.
     Chlo had to give the scripture in primary today.  I went in there and whispered in her ear the words.  She would basically just whisper into the mike the last word of each sentence of the verse...good enough.  When we arrived home she threw herself into the bookoo fudge and bawled and bawled.  I finally ventured over to her and asked her what kinds of problems she was having.  It turns out that she was upset because when we arrived at home, I had cleared the table to get everyone some lunch.  Unknowingly I had cleared the bag of cereal that she was wanting to partake from.  When we got that figured out, she got happy again.
     Ryan and I were upset to find two of his nice, white shirts on the floor in a heap.  Sprinkled throughout the heap were a bunch of chawed up cashews.  Why???  I figure Mo was behind this, but I have no proof and I have no clue why Ryan's shirts had to be involved.  If you are going to chew up nuts and spit them out, why on Ryan's shirts?
     Another laugh that we had this week, I received a brochure in the mail that had a house for sale...my house.  The pictures looked really good, and I had worked really hard that day to get everything in order so that the pictures would look good.  But, right in the middle of my beautiful, clean kitchen floor Mo's train was there big as anything.  We all had a good laugh about it.  No matter how hard I try, Moroni leaves his mark. 
     Ryan and the girls put a huge star on the roof this evening.  It turned out great.  There was a lot of banging around and squealing but no one fell, and they had a good time with their Dad.  Chlo has also decided that when she grows up she either wants to be a frog, a spider, or a psychic detective.  I explained to Chlo that there is really no such thing as a psychic detective.  She has been watching "Psych" with Sags.  I explained that even on the show, the guy isn't really psychic but just really observant.  Chlo didn't understand any of this.  She still has her three choices when she grows up.
I cannot picture Chlo as any of these things, but there is still time to convince Chlo that maybe there are other things to pursue. 




 
  

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

     I am getting this update done a few days later than normal because last week was so insane and it is spilling over into this week.  Seriously, when I thought of having a bunch of kids I forgot that they would all have their little deals that they would want to be at.  Last week we had four festivals, a dance review, plus practices, a band and orchestra concert, plus we had the steer to deal with and I was helping a friend out with  her dog while they went to Disneyland.  This required some extra stops every day to her house.  It all turned out okay, but we were pretty scattered.  We also went and the kids participated in the Creche Festival on Sundee.  I was asked to fill in for Chloee's primary lesson, and I am trying to make sure that everyone is lined out for the Christmas Sacrament Meeting next week.  Ryan and I were in charge of that meeting.  Anyhow...hopefully it will all come together.
     Amid all of the chaos last week, Jamie caught Oak doing some boxing moves in the mirror when no one was looking.  He had his shirt off, and according to Wams, he was really letting someone have it good.  He is always way concerned about building his muscles.  I hope he won whoever he was fighting.  This reminded me of his Dad because Ryan's dreams usually consist of him vs. some formidable foe.  Ryan vs. the Mtn. Lion....Ryan vs. the ninja's to name a few.  It truly must be a guy thing. 
     The Christmas tree has been lovely this week and it smiles really fresh and pine-y.  However, it has become somewhat of a pain because Mo seriously will not leave the ornaments on the tree.  I am quite used to this to a large degree because the kids have never been good to leave the tree alone.  I understand that this is just too much to ask.  I think the difference with Mo has been the ball thing.  When the girls would remove the ornaments, it was usually because they loved decorating the tree.  They would remove all the ornaments and then re-decorate it.  It was a little annoying  because only the bottom half would ever be decorated, but I quit caring about how my tree looked years ago.  Oak never cared really either way about the tree as far as I remember, but Mo is all about taking all of the balls off and chucking them until they smash.  I am smart enough to buy plastic balls, but they do smash and get holes after so much chucking.  Chlo was examining the ornaments this week (what is left of them) and disapproved of one of them by claiming that spiders were smooshed all over it.  Oak scoffed at this idea.  He explained to Chlo that the ornament company is not going to smoosh spiders all over the ornaments that they sell because then no one would want to buy them.  It just isn't good for business was his explanation to Chlo.  I have to agree.  Smooshed up spider ornaments would probably never be a hot item.  I am glad that Oak has good business sense.
     The girls did great in their Christmas concert.  It was Rooshkie's first one and she was a cute little violinist.  Sager's band did not sound half as bad as she had warned me about, and Jams did great.  Sage also sang with the Choir which was a first.  The biggest problem was Moroni's attention span.  Someone from the school always gets up and gives a big long spiel about concert courtesy blah, blah, blah.  I understand that it is rude to get up and leave in the middle of a number, I understand it is rude to get up and leave at all, but I also believe in taking the whole family to these events.  The siblings need to be there to support each other.  Mo is a sibling.  The next time I hear a teacher, or in this case, it was a principal give this lecture I am going to go and hand them the Mo-ster.  It is hard enough to keep Chlo, Oak, and even Jazzerz good, but Mo is impossible.  I would like to see them keep the concert courtesy rules with Mo in tow.  He was bad from the start.  Ryan bought them all popcorn, which I was hoping, would keep him sitting still for awhile.  Mo finished his way too quickly.  He had gone around and demanded some other ladies popcorn who was not too excited to share.  I kept having to pull him away from her first thing.  After that, he just wanted to run and screech around the joint.  When I picked him up he would arch backwards trying to do a back bend to the ground.  I tried telling him to look for the cows/horses/spiders...anything that would stop him and shut him up for a few minutes.  He would look around all wide-eyed and try to find the mysterious animal.  It wasn't long before he figured out that there were no animals or spiders in the whole gym.  The last half was just a wrestling match.  The girls did well though, and I wrestled with squirming Mo as quietly as I could.  Finally Miranda, one of Sager's best friends came and got him, and he sat all nice and tall and still for her.  I just don't get it, but thank you Miranda!
     We also had been checking out other houses to purchase, and we found one that we felt was an awesome buy.  We got to work on putting offers on it.  This led to a bunch of errands and paper work too, but we feel if we get it, it would be a great blessing.  It would mean taking out a loan, though, which doesn't excite us too much.
     The girls had their dance review on Fridee in the Heritage center.  My parents came over for it, and I had the privelege of bringing my baby niece Madelyn with us.  She was a great little pal at the dance review!  They did a great job, and Mo was only restless through the second half.  I was happy with my girls.  They are really enjoying their dance classes.
     On Sunday, I had to get after Jazzerz over and over.  She was rolling around licking unsuspecting people, and she and Chlo got some game going where they would hug and roll around on the bench.  It was loud and raucous.  You would think that Jazzerz would be good, but no...not last week.  I was asked to fill in for Chlo's class at the last minute, but I was concerned about making sure people were ready to sing in the Christmas program next Sundee.  Luckily Jams volunteered to teach Chloee's class.  She did a great job.  We also went to the Creche festival, and Jazzerz was Mary, Oak was a shepherd in moon boots, and Chlo was an angel.  Oak was really clod-hopperish in those moon boots, but hey, he clunked all over the place and made quite a splash.  Jerusha was also an angel with a gal from her class named Danya.  Danya is one of those little angel girls with downs syndrome.  Jerusha is great with her, and Danya is sweet, spirited and fun.   I am the achievement day leader, and I asked Danya to pray for us in our last activity.  She whispered all of her family member's names over and over.  It was sweet.  Anyhow, I instructed Jams to go and get some pictures.  Every time she would try to get a picture of Jerusha, Danya would step in front of Jerusha.  It was funny.  Jerusha loves Danya and takes good care of her.  Anyhow, I always love the spirit at the crèche festival.  Everyone displays their nativities and it is great to walk around and look at all of them.  There are so many different versions of that same beautiful story.  There are always various choirs and orchestra's playing the back ground music too.  The Creche festival is one of my favorite Cedar City traditions.
     I went and accomplished a lot of my Christmas shopping yesterday.  This forced me to pull Wams out of school for the day, but this week is supposed to be pretty busy too, and I had to go try to get some things done.  I had an incredible experience in the temple, and I enjoyed my day shopping.  While I was gone, Chloee made a big ornament soup for the ghost that apparently lives in our home.  I was not aware of this ghost, but I am grateful that Chlo was aware of her, and was trying to see to her needs.  The ornament soup kind of made me frown because she had pulled most of the ornaments off of the tree (again) and she had pulled a whole bunch of fake berries off of the garlands that adorn my tree.  It was quite the mess and so I hope that the ghost, whom Chlo lovingly calls "Cupcake" enjoyed her soup.




     These two pictures are of Mo after his bath today.  He insisted that I put one of Ryan's grease rags on him.  I tried to explain to him that even though the grease rag had been through the wash, there was no real way to wear it.  He just insisted over and over until I tied it around his neck.  This seemed to satisfy him.



The last four pictures are of the crèche festival...the top one is of Oak, Chlo, and Jazz in the live nativity.  The next one is of cute Danya, Danya and  Jerusha are next and the last one is a nativity that someone made out of balloons.

Monday, December 9, 2013

     This week has been great!  Christmas season is in full swing and I love it!  Rooshkie and Jams had a dance performance on Monday.  They performed for some folks at a rest home and it was fun to watch them.  I kinda fizzled out and refused to bring Mo.  Sometimes I just don't feel like wrestling with his squirminess.  Sags and Jazz didn't feel too great after our Thanksgiving festivities.  They stayed home from school on Monday and so he got left with them.  It was fun to watch all of the kids perform.  I am grateful that they have been able to join the dance team. 
     We have had some interesting events happen this week.  A huge snow storm moved in on Tuesdee.  It was bad enough that I decided not to drive the girls to Young Women's.  We put our house up for sale with a realtor, and put an offer on another place.  Nothing is set in stone yet, but we did get the ball rolling to get into a bigger home.  This is truly needed because we really have no room to put our little Mo-ster.  I am excited because we have been talking about moving for years.  It feels like we are finally taking the steps necessary to make that happen.  My parents even brought a sink-y rollaway bed for Mo, but I really don't even have the room to store it during the day anywhere.  Mo has been camping out on the couch for the most part until he bawls and comes into our bed.  His tantrums are becoming less and less, thank goodness!
     The kids have been their usual interesting selves.  I found myself frowning often as I walked into my kitchen.  There was always a scattering of chocolate chips all over the floor.  I would holler at people to stay out of the chocolate chips.  I would clean it up, and the next time I would walk into the kitchen....chocolate chips all over the floor.  I would clean them up and make a statement about staying out of the chocolate chips.  This went on a few times until I caught Oak pushing the ice dispenser on the freezer door.  Chocolate chips were flying out of that thing at high speed.  Someone had filled the ice dispenser with chocolate chips and the kids found it very convenient for their snacking needs.  They would simply stick their hand out, and push....chocolate chips!  The only problem was, they didn't catch most of them.  I must admit that I had never thought about turning the ice dispenser into a chocolate chip dispenser.  Quite ingenious really.
     Mo has been going through the Lo lo like nobodies business.  The ward party was this week.  We went and all of the kids in the ward got coloring books from Santa.  Mo climbed up onto the counter so that he could have access to his lo lo.  He would chomp the lo lo as he colored his pictures.  His coloring was slobbery and sloppy. This was not because of Mo's coloring skills.  He does fine work.  He was getting too much drippy lo lo juice on his pictures. Too bad that lo lo (melon) season is over.  This is the last batch we will get until next fall. 
     My Dad got us a Christmas tree this week.  It has been bitter cold...10 and 15 below zero.  That didn't stop my Dad bringing us a tree.  We put it in the house and the kids got to decorating that thing all fancy dancy.  Mo threw many of the décor all over the house.  I guess that this is to be expected.  Everyone else seemed to understand that the balls were to hang on the tree and not to be tossed around like baseballs.  Luckily most of my balls are plastic.  I also heard Jerusha and Jasmine putting on commercials all morning to advertise the beauty of the Christmas tree.  Sell it Rooshkie.  She would urge her listeners to check her website at www.christmastrees.gov???  I don't think she knows what she is talking about.
     We had a pretty good day at shrsh today.  I really enjoyed the speeches.  A young woman from our ward reported her mission to Russia.  It was interesting to hear about her difficulties and challenges.  Our stake president spoke too.  Oak and Mo kept trying to get some kind of a boxing match going with Ryan, but he was trying to ignore their banter so that they would listen.  Jazzerz had an occasional loud and unrestrained outburst of laughter which would result in me scowling at her.  Ryan finally got after her and it stopped.  At one point, Ryan had Oak on one of his knees, and Chlo on the other.  I was sitting by Ryan in the corner.  Oak just happened to be on the knee that I was closest to.  He was literally driving be insane.  His wallering was just out of control.  He kept knocking into my head, and my side sliding from one side of Ryan's knee to the other.  Needless to say that I was way excited for primary. When I went to pick up Chlo from primary, she was in the corner all huddled up and bawling.  Her teacher explained that Chlo did not approve of the game that they were playing.  She wanted to play a different game.  She bawled and bawled and I realized that she was just hungry.  Ryan brought her home and loved on her and got her a plate of roast.  After that we had a different kind of Chlo on our hands.  A friendly and fun-loving Chlo.  Mo still has something against attending the nursery.  He lets out loud wails if I even approach the door.  This means that he is still stuck with me in Relief Society because I haven't really wanted to attend the nursery with him.  I ended up going around and around the building.  If I tried to stop then Mo would throw a fit on the floor.  I would sit and ignore him and get caught up on my scripture reading.  When he learned that I wasn't going to do anything when the tantrum was in progress he would stop.  Yep, I think we are slowly making some progress.
     Now that the tree is up, all of the little ones cannot wait to sleep under the tree.  It isn't so bad this year because we put the tree in the living room with the carpet.  There have been years when we have put the tree in our kitchen.  It always looks so horribly clunky to see them arched around the tree on the tile floor.  I cannot figure out why a person would want to sleep under the tree, but hey....why not?
     The temperatures are still ridiculously low.  It is currently like 5 degrees outside.  I have been going down every morning and breaking through the show steer's water with an ax.  He is still very skittish.  Ryan and Jams definitely need to spend some time calming him down.  I cannot say that he is mean, but really jumpy.  Hopefully we can get him to show by next fall.
     We are starting a week full of Christmas activities.  Jams, Sags, and Rooshkie all have a Christmas concert.  Jams, Rooshkie, and Wazz have a dance review on Fridee, and I believe it is the Creche Festival this weekend.  I love December!



 







 

 









    

Monday, December 2, 2013

     We had a nice Thanksgiving this year!  Thanksgiving day was a total hoot because we went to Marylynn and Dave's house.  Marylynn and Dave are a lot of fun.
     Last week started off pretty typical.  The kids had school and my desire was to get things in order.  I was so glad that all of the extra activities had been cancelled last week.  No dance, YW activities, and no guitar lessons.  That excited me tons.  The kids went to school on Mondee and Tuesdee and were out the rest of the week. 
     Mo still had his tantrums going in full swing.  Ryan got up with him one night and tried really hard to put a stop to them by putting a barrier up against our bedroom door.  He wanted Mo to know that Mom was just unavailable and that he was going to have to deal with going back to sleep without her.  This didn't work for a long time, but he did finally give up after a good hour of tantrum bawling.  Weaning him has been a horrible nightmare.  He got all bent out of shape one day because I needed to shower and he didn't want to let me out of his sight.  I made him a piece of toast as a distraction and planned on hurrying really fast.  Well, I wasn't out of the shower before he was shoving shredded up, and smashed pieces of toast under the door.  He was also rolling shotgun shells under there to keep tabs on me.  Nice Mo.  He just wants to have some kind of interaction with Mom at all times.  He also has learned to yell "cheese" when he is hungry.  I hear him yell "CHEESE" quite often.  It is fun that he is learning to communicate. 
     We headed south on Wednesdee and Ryan still had to stop at his job in Ivins and work for awhile.  He put the girls and Oak to work digging a hole that could only be done by hand, and he hopped on his skidsteer.  The kids timed themselves and dug for ten minutes a turn.  Chlo just kind of skivied around the place and Mo was no help either.  We worked until the hole was dug and then drove down to Dave's place in Beaver Dam.  The kids don't get to spend enough time with Dave's kids.  We rarely see them, but Brett is Sager's age.  Maysa is Rooshkie's age, Dally and Jazzerz are close to the same age, Oak and Bronco are the same age, and Mo and Payton are the same age too.  With the exception of Mo and Payton who don't know how to interact yet (except maybe to clobber each other in passing)  the kids get along great.  Jerusha, Jazz, and Oak all ended up spending the night.  With the exception of Rooshkie and Maysa who giggle-goofed until one-ish they all went to bed for Marylynn too.
     Dave had decided to do a deep-pit roasted turkey, plus they wanted Ryan to fry one.  We showed up the next day and Ryan got his turkey frying.  I had gotten up early and made a few pies, and I only messed one of them up.  I don't know what it is, but when I cook in Carol's kitchen my cooking skills get left at the door.  It is rare when I can get something to turn out.  Anyhow, Marylynn had made rolls, and stuffing, and all of her food was from scratch.  Everything was delish.  Ryan's turkey is always really savory and the deep pit turkey was excellent too.  It was great. Chlo, over the last couple of years has absolutely refused to eat anything at Thanksgiving dinner...all she got during this round was a big plate of corn.  I guess we are making some improvements.
     Marylynn had put together a piñata for the kids to bat around at.  She had simply put some prizes in a box, and we put a rope through the top.  Leeroy and Wyatt then bounced it up and down and round and round while everyone swung and missed over and over.  I finally told Sags to go and hit Leeroy and Wyatt first, and then maybe she would have a chance at the piñata.  She was too nice and wouldn't do it.  When it was finally broke it was hilarious what Marylynn had included in the prizes.  Apparently a store was going out of business in Delta and she had bought most of the merchandise.  There were cheap and dum looking sunglasses for most of the kids, and cassette tapes galore.  I was surprised to see that Chlo had ended up with a New Kids on the Block Christmas album from the 80's.  I had that tape In the 80's for sure.  Marylynn and I put it in one of her old clock radio's and began blasting it out of the kitchen.  Watching all of the cowboys try to talk over it made me realize how dumb it was.  Why, why did I like them so much in the 80's?  We finally couldn't handle it anymore, watching them shout over it and turned it off.  It was hilarious though.  For some reason it was comical to see them try to have a serious discussion about guns, tranny's or whatever with New Kids on the Block blaring.
     We also set off rockets and this ended up being so much fun.  The rockets would go really high and a parachute would float down somewhere and the kids would scramble to get it.  At one point one of the parachute's landed in a tree.  Jams being an adventuresome gal began climbing the tree to try to reach the parachute.  Dave yelled at her to hold still and he shot the branch that was holding the parachute out of the tree.  I don't know why, but I found the whole situation hilarious... (she wasn't even remotely close to reaching the parachute at this point).
     Some cows also got onto the Casablanca golf course on Thanksgiving and so some of the men had to leave early.  I asked Arden if it was Big Dummy and he shrugged.  Carol chimed in that Big Dummy regularly checks the electric fence and eagerly gets in if it is off.  Arden claims that they went over there, but couldn't find anything.  It was probably Big Dummy.  He is smart, and he likes the golf course.  According to Arden, he is patient and knows how to hide too.
     Ryan and the guys went out to rope cows on Friday.  They caught about nine head and brought them to the ranch.  They cows were of course scared, and upset as all get out.  I had to laugh because there are a few cows that have ropes permanently stuck around their horns down there.  I asked Cliven about it, and he explained that the cowboys had roped and caught these cows, but that they were too wild and mean to allow them to get the ropes off.  So, they just look dumb and eager as they come up to eat, unawares that there is still a rope around their horns. 
     Stetsy has been bottle feeding a heffer calf that is way little, and spunky.  She is tons of fun.  She chases everyone around and bunts them until they get her a bottle.  After the bottle she chases everyone in sight because she wants more. She kicks and frolicks around.   Stetsy named her Sassy, and she is really playful.  I will include some pictures of the kids giving her a bottle.  She was tons of fun.  I need to get my niece Lyvia down to meet Sassy.  Lyvia is scared of cows and makes my brother check under the bed, not for monsters...but for cows.  She refuses to sing about cows mooing on Old MacDonald's farm too.  Sassy would either scare her, or help her get over her fears.  I think it is worth a shot.
      On Saturday, I took the kids into the melon patch to pick melons.  It was such a beautiful day down there.  I thoroughly enjoyed getting out and filling the van full of melons.  Mo has kind of become obsessed with melons lately.  He calls them "lo lo" and he loves them.  He is especially crazy about watermelon.  We had one of Cliven's melons in the kitchen last week and he rolled around and around on that melon and begged and begged for lo lo.  Ryan of course cut him a piece and he would just demand more and more.  Personally, I like the Bundy casaba's, and the Crenshaw's are full of flavor.  Anyhow, Mo went nuts in the melon patch.  All of the lo lo's were about more than he could handle.  He and the other kids then went chasing ladybugs around.  They had all sorts of pet ladybugs when all was said and done.
     Mo was on a naughty streak yesterday.  Luckily he and Chlo slept through all of Sunday school, but when he got home he began his days work.  He pulled Chlo's hair, dumped a huge bag of cereal, and came in and threw a tantrum while Ryan and I were trying to catch up on some sleep.  He also threw his bowl of soup across the room.  My Dad texted me later on that evening inquiring as to what Mo needed for a treat.  Here is that dialogue...
Dad:  Ask the mo man what he is hankering for in the treat dept?
Me:  He deserves a kick in the pants, not a treat.
Dad:  True but he will get a treat
Me:  He smooshed an apple into the carpet, pulled Chlo's hair, and had to be taken out of Sacrament mtg....a treat for all that?
Dad:  2 treats
Me:  He just threw his bowl of soup too.  He is making me scowl.
Dad:  He is making me smile
Me:  I won't be buying him any treats in the near future that is for sure
Dad:  Gma and I can't wait to get him a treat
Me:  A monster is being created.
     Perhaps I will send him to stay at Grandma and Grandpa's for a few days and we shall see how excited they are to buy him treats when he is throwing bowls of soup across their kitchen.  He might even hit Sara Inez Porter in the clock.
 Chlo being a tiger and partaking of Ryan's Runts
 Mo
 Jams and Kaitlyn
 Sags and Whitley
 Mo and Grandma Bundy
 Rooshkie batting at the piñata and Wyatt moving it around so that she can't whack it
 Wyatt in his hip new sunglasses
 Arden in his hip new sunglasses checking out his new cassettes
 Leeroy with his cassette and sunglasses
 After take-off of one of our many rocket launchings
 
Cute Ella at the haystack
Bundy family pictures 2013
Mo and Sassy