This week has been great, but so busy that I am glad it is over.  The play was this past weekend and so the kids had a lot of hours of practice to put in.  We also had orthodontist appointments, young womens, and all of the regular end-of-school year stuff that makes me want to scratch my eyeballs out.  I have been so busy this week that no one has had any socks to wear.  I am way behind on laundry.  Anyhow, this week should be less busy.  I will get caught up. 
     Chlo has been on one this week to top it all off.  We have just raced from one thing to the next, and have been at home only at scattered intervals.  The kids kept complaining that Chlo was stealing the silverware.  I couldn't for the life of me figure out why she would do this, and so I spacily ignored their complaints.  Anyhow from time to time I would notice that there seemed to be less spoons, but I thought it was because I was loading the dishwasher too full.  Anyhow, finally on Saturday, Jazzerz came to me to say that she had found Chloee's stash of silverware.  Why was she taking it???? I have no answer for that.  I did notice a few times that the kids would ask her for a spoon and she was able to produce one though.  She had been stashing them in between the couch and the window.

     She also took a few of my round cake pans and proceeded to clank and clomp all over the house with them.  It was crash, crash, all over the tile floor.  I must admit that my nerves were quite shot over this activity.  She has also been taking my step aerobics step and playing with it quite vigorously.  She was being a "hover cricket?"  (these are her own words.)  Ryan and I found the step aerobics step covered with towels in our bathroom, covered with blankets in our bed, and spread out amongst blankets and pillows in the hall.  I still haven't quite figured out what she is doing.  Anyhow, I am glad she has had a good time amidst all of the busy chaos.

     Sager, Rooshkie, and Wams did a great job in the play this weekend!  I was as proud as punch!  I was way impressed with how much Sage had memorized.  It was like an entire book.  The kids did great and it was way fun to see all of their hard work pay off.  The last night they had bought Sage a bouquet of roses and were sure to tell everyone that she was only in sixth grade.  She and my other girls really wowed them.  My mom and dad came over the first night and helped me chase Moroni around.  Sage had even reserved Ryan and I a seat up front, but I couldn't sit there too much.  Momo was wanting to be the star of the show.  He was one step away of climbing on stage at one point, but luckily I caught him in the nick of time.  My Dad finally took him out, and Mo had him worn out in no time.  Watching Mo brings out the athlete in all of us.  Barry and Mindi came over the next night.  Ryan kept the kids and I was able to video tape most of it.  I am sure we will love watching it again and again. 

     Ryan got the kids some show steers rounded up this week too.  He has been busy with little Oak, fixing fences and hanging gates.  He has leased a piece of property just under the overpass so the kids can do their chores and work their steers.  Jamie's steer is just lazy and likes to eat, but Sage's is going to give her a run for her money.  I am glad Ryan has some tricks to try to tame him down.  I wouldn 't have the foggiest clue what to do.  All in all, a great week.  I am glad we found our silverware, and I am glad there is no more play practice!

     It has been a great week and weekend!  Time flies faster and faster the older I get.  Anyhow, last week was insanely busy.  Jamie still needed some work done on her braces, and so I shuttled her to and from the orthodontist. Mo was naughty of course in the waiting room.
      Jams and Sags also had a concert and it was just excellent.  I have been so happy that they have gotten so good on their instruments.  All of the screechy and squeaky practice those first few years were totally worth it now.  I love watching them.  For this concert, I got to watch Jams, but not Sags because Moroni started screeching loudly.  I do not know what he was trying to prove, but he got very loud with his squeals.  I would step out, and then step in, and SCREECH!  It was not good.  They sounded very good through the door though.  I was so proud of them.  Jams looks swift and cool working her bow.  I am so grateful for Mrs. Hughes and Mrs. Doyle.  They have spent many an hour with my children and their instruments and it shows. 

    These pictures were snapped after the concert.  They actually played with Parowan High School's band and orchestra.  It sounded awesome, especially the Indiana Jones song.
    We ended up going to Nevada for the weekend because Ryan had a childhood friend pass away.  It came as quite a shock to him.  Anyhow, this meant that the kids had a great time living in Grandpa's ditch for the weekend.  They had a great time.  They caught frogs until all hours of the night too.  I think 25 was their final count.  I am so grateful for the ranch.  It is an awesome place.  We watched an awesome lightning storm on friday night and some of the bulls were making a lot of noise about it.  I love going to sleep listening to the sound of the frogs this time of year.  We could hear the water rushing in the ditch, and the frogs.  How fresh and tranquil is that!?  I love it, love it, love it!  They also have a dogie calf down there who is always eager for the girls to bottle feed him, and Oak gets to haul buckets of grain to the cows.  My kids are so blessed to have those experiences.  They are so lucky.
     Arden was awesome and took all of the kids swimming while Ryan and I attended the funeral.  I know from personal experience that this is no easy task.  Jams told me that Oak kept bawling too.  How patient is Arden!  He also took Oak fishing.  Much fun was had by all, and Ryan cooked their trout for them. 
     The one downer to the weekend was the fact that Oscar was not there for Chlo in church.  I feel kinda bad, because I am not aware of Oscar's last name, but he is Chlo's sunbeam teacher in the Bunkerville ward.  She loves Oscar and was eager to go to his class.  What a disappointment that he happened to be out of town for the weekend.  Poor little Chlo!  She looked and looked for Oscar!

 

 

 

 

     Bailey also brought down little Jaylee for us to see and she is awesome.  She seems really easy going, and she is a beautiful baby.  The picture above shows grandma holding her.  She was great fun.

 

     We also went to visit Grandma Grapes.  Most of the Bundy's refer to her as "Grandma Great."  My kids somehow mixed it up by calling her Grandma Grapes, and in their defense, she does have grapes.  Anyhow, I love her, but she has a million trinkets and it was quite maddening to keep Mo boy out of her stuff.  He also kept throwing blocks at Chlo's face, and so a bulk of our time was spent outside.  He really wanted to hang out with grandma's sheep, but I was afraid they were going to jump on him.  He had a great time shuttling around her yard.  We would take him in, he would chuck a block and out we would go.  I enjoyed the visit though.  We are grateful to grandma grapes.

 

     Today was Miss Sager's birthday.  She decided she wanted some cash, and so we cancelled her party and spoiled her as a family instead.  She seemed to enjoy her day and the cheesecake birthday cake. 

     Well, the weekend was great.  Jerusha has been hounding Ryan to fix her bike tires, and so he got up and spent the whole morning fixing bike tires.  We have puncture weeds all over the neighborhood, and our tires are constantly popping.  In the afternoon, he and most of the kids decided to ride their bikes to the new park.  They just updated the city park and added new equipment.  Anyhow, Oak even wanted to go which surprised me because he knew how to ride a bike last year, but has seemed to have forgotten over the winter.  Ryan's employee gave him a boy bike, but it still had training wheels, and that seemed to throw him off too.  Anyhow, he rides, but pretty slow.  I decided to wait for ten minutes and follow in the van so that I could pick up a tired Oak and Jazz.  I figured they would wear out quickly.  Not so, they rode the whole way...even Oak with his clunky training wheels.  The kids played on the new equipment for awhile, and Ryan rode over to a floral shop and bought me some flowers for Mother's day which was a great surprise.  They then rode all the way home (Oak included!)  I was way surprised at Oak.  He did great even though he said he hated the trip. It was probably an eight mile ride.  It was only 30 minutes before he was clunking around on the training wheels again.

 

Jams, Sags, and Rooshkie at the top

     Yesterday was Mother's day, and it was great.  I think I have enjoyed my last few mothers days because I refuse to feel guilty and picked on.  I used to feel inadequate on Mother's day when I would hear all of the heroic mother stories that they tell in church, and I also used to have all of these grand expectations of my husband and children.  A little thanks and recognition is all that I now require.  Jamie wrote me a nice note, Jazz had made me a pen with a flower on the end of it, Jerusha made me a crepe paper flower, and Chlo had dictated a nice note.  It was great.  Oak also attempted to do the dishes.  He fizzled pretty fast, but hey, he thought about helping out.  Ryan told the girls to clean up lunch, but they were all dragging and so I told them that they were going to go to bed earlier.  Ha, that was a joke.  They decided they wanted to sleep outside, and so they piled their bags on the back lawn.  They giggle goofed until 11pm or so.  It made me mad because they wouldn't wake up for school.  This was after all kinds of promises to just go out there and go to sleep.  Anyhow Chlo took the skull from Halloween to sleep with and I just cannot figure out how a cackling, flashing, skull with a zombie-like voice can be a comfort to her, but it must be.  She slept with it around Halloween time too.  I find it kinda morbid, but hey, Chlo needs it, so more power to her. 

     Thanks to Mother, Chlo has been demanding waffles in the shape of butterflies.  I usually just cook her a waffle and give it to her no matter what it looks like and just exclaim "look.. its a butterfly!"  This morning she wanted a waffle in the shape of a lion.  I had to draw the line.

     I thought that I had better dedicate a post on Sooty.  Sooty is Chloee's pet caterpillar.  The other day, Ryan came home for a few minutes in the afternoon, just to drop off a fuzzy caterpillar that he had found for Chlo.  This was brilliant, because she had been out of sorts all day.  The caterpillar just gave her a delightful time.  She promptly put him in a cup.  I then noticed that she had tried to share her peanut butter sandwich crust with him.  I peeked in the cup and noticed the crust and he was crawling all over it.  The next thing I see, is Sooty was now on the kitchen table, on her sandwich.  Wow...Chlo was getting generous.  I don't believe Sooty eats peanut butter sandwiches, but I did not want to rain on Chlo's parade.  She then took him outside and they played and played.  When she brought him back in, she had filled his cup with dirt, leaves, and rocks.  For whatever reason, Chlo dumped Sooty, and the contents out on the wood burning stove and spread them out.  I guess she figured that Sooty needed to get out and stretch his legs.  Anyhow, I came upon this scene after awhile and noticed that Sooty was MIA.  Oh well.  I figured we would probably find Sooty smashed.  Too bad, so sad.
    The next day, I was cleaning my room, and as I was picking up Ryan's pants to wash, I behold SOOTY!  He was curled up on my carpet.  Wow,  Sooty had traveled long and far, and without getting trompled.  I put him in a cup, and went to show Chlo.  She was in the bath, and was so excited that she wanted to put Sooty in the bath with her.  I politely declined on behalf of Sooty.
     Ryan put Sooty in the house plant.  This is a good spot.  We have hopes that he will build a Chrysillus and that the kids can watch.  In any case, Sooty is a trooper.  To survive Chlo's lovin' is a feat indeed.

     Oak has been interesting lately.  He must have caught a little cold, because yesterday he told me that his tongue was on backwards.  He also woke me up in the night, saying he couldn't breathe.  I used some essential oil on him and he finally went back to sleep.  The weather has warmed up and he is usually outside, eating otter pops.  He is happy that his wood hauling days are probably over for the season.
     I walked in the kitchen yesterday, to see Jerusha whipping a bunch of cream.  I was kind of flabbergasted about this, because she was using the hand mixer, in a bowl on the floor.  Cream was splattered all over the floor and walls.  I asked her what in the world she was doing, and she explained that she wanted to dip her roll in cream.  I thought she was really overdoing it, because she had this whole bowl of cream, for her little roll.  It got eaten in the end, I am assuming Chlo helped, but I bet Chlo didn't have any rolls to dip.  Someone had just eaten it with a spoon. 

     Well, our Sunday was very fun because we invited the Aitchison's over for dinner.  Robin is due with her fifth baby in 10 days or so, and we thought it would be nice to give her a break from cooking.  Besides, the Aitchison's are fun to be with.  Her mom came too, and she was great.  Anyhow, the house got a little crazy with 11 kids running around.  Moroni kept getting into Cleod's dinner, and he (Mo) also bit me a few times?  What is up with Mo?  Anyhow, Robin and I kept checking on Cora and Chlo, and for the most part they played really well.  We caught them on Chlo's bed playing with stuffed animals, and they looked like the best of pals.  At one point, I asked Jazzerz to go and check on them.  She came back, and said that they had locked her out of the bedroom.  This was not a good thing because the kids have a knob on their door, that used to be on the front door.  It requires a key and everything.  I urged Jazzerz to try one more time.  Chlo yelled, "not by the hair of my chin-y chin chin!"  I then told Jazz to see if she could get in through the window.  Luckily she was able to.  Chlo and Cora had quite a good time together.  They just wanted to be undisturbed I guess. 

     A little while later, Chlo came up missing again.  Cora had fallen asleep, and where was Chlo???  We actually found her in Jams and Sags room.  Grant was painting her thumb and thumbnail with a few bold colors.  Red and black.  Luckily we caught that situation before it got too serious too.
     Yesterday was busy.  I had to go to St. George because Jazz needed a cavity filled.  Ryan also needed to be in St. George for a business meeting and so we decided to go together.  I made arrangements for Sags, Wames, and Rooshkie, to get a ride from a lady in the ward after play practice.  Her son is also in the play.  Ryan had pulled an all nighter working on a bid, and I woke him as late as possible.  He had to be at his business meeting at 11 am.

     We had decided to just attend the meeting together.  It was Canon company and they were promoting some of their printers and computer programs.  They were going to have a presentation and a lunch, and then they were giving us free tickets to the movie, with no obligation to buy.  When we walked in, Ryan explained that the children were with us, but that he did not expect them to purchase lunch for them.  He was going to pay for them, but the sales reps were really gracious and acted like it was not a big issue to have them there.  I knew from experience that they were going to be a big deal.  I had hopes that they wouldn't be, but figured it was going to be a fiasco.  I was right.
     To start off with, they asked us what we wanted to drink.  Because we had the children, I wanted the financial impact to be minimal, so I told him that we just wanted water.  He brought everyone a cup of ice water and I should have told him "no thanks" to the straws.  I whispered to the kids that they were not to blow bubbles in their drinks.  Too bad they have learned to ignore my warnings.  The room was as quiet as a pin when the sales rep in her business suit switched on a projector with pie charts, and diagrams.   I immediately was aware of Oak blowing bubbles which was slopping water all over the table.  Chlo finished up her water and began to slurp loudly.  She then let out a loud burp.  They had also noticed that other people had ordered soft drinks and were making demands for root beer.  Oak began to loudly complain that he was "starving to death".  All during this the lady droned on about the amazing products of Canon.  Ryan was really into the presentation, asking questions and such.  After Jazz started to slurp I ushered them all outside. 
     The presentation was at Ancestor Square in the Pasta Factory.  It was homey around that place.  There was a tranquil water fall, and pond,  old pioneer homes, and green grass and boulders for the kids to play on.  The day was beautiful and I was thankful to be there.  I had to get after Oak a little because there are businesses all over the little square and Oak was chasing the kids and roaring so loud that it was making my head pound.  I lost complete control over them for a minute when they began to play Hide-n-Seek.  I had to make them stop because I didn't like not knowing where they were.  In the middle of the square is an old jail cell.  It apparently housed Butch Cassidy quite a few times.  I was hoping I could put the kids in there to play.  It actually looked quite cozy inside, and then I would know for sure where they were.  Anyhow, it was locked up tight.  Boo to that.
     Ryan texted that the presentation was over and they were catering the lunch.  We went inside and other than Oak complaining loudly about the black things in the salad (olives)  the kids were good during lunch. 
     After lunch, Ryan dropped me off at the temple.  It has been too long since I attended.  He took the kids to the visitor's center and the park.  I enjoyed my two hours.  It was badly needed.
     As soon as I got out of the temple, Jamie started calling.  She couldn't figure out where we were and what we were doing even though I had explained everything in detail several times.  She told me that she needed me to come and get her because she didn't need to be at play practice.  Um, that was not going to happen.  She then asked if she could just walk home.  I thought that she meant that she was going to ride the bus to the bus stop, and then walk from fiddlers canyon.  This makes me a little nervous, but I figured she could do it just for one day.  I consented and told her to text me as soon as she got home. 
     We went to Jazzerz dental appointment which took a whole five minutes.  Jazzerz does not like to be numb and so he just fixed her cavity, and we were on our way.  We had about six hours to kill before the movie, which I might add, they insisted on giving us enough movie tickets for all of the kids too.  We decided to get some grocery shopping done.  I also wanted to see if they had any good books at the DI.  During our shopping I started to get nervous because I had not heard from Jamie.  I figured her walk would take 30 minutes tops.  After an hour I got nervous.  Ryan called the school, and Sags said that she had gone home.  We then sent Tammy Nesmith out looking for her, and after an hour and a half she finally texted.  She had walked clear home...from the school.  She had missed the bus, and walked over four miles.  She said she got lost a few times too.  Not a good thing.  I apologized profusely to Tammy.  I owe her some hot poppin' bread or something.  I hope Jams enjoyed her adventure.  I would never have given her permission to do that.
     Ryan fed the kids chicken nuggets at the DI while I ran in and checked out their book selection.  I got some great finds too.  Jazzerz wanted to check out the new C-A-L Ranch in St. George so we went there next.  Oak and Chlo were being very loud and naughty.  I started browsing through some of the clothes, with Mo on my hip when he desperately started yelling for his Dad.  It was hilarious.  Mo did not want to be caught dead browsing through the women's stuff.  He yelled louder and louder unti Ryan came and got him. He was content to go look at guns with Ryan. 
     The movie was next.  Canon had rented a whole theater for their guests.  They also had set up a huge table filled with concessions for us.  They gave each of the kids their own box of popcorn, a king-sized candy, and a drink.  Chlo was in heaven.  All of the kids were good during the previews because they were happily eating their popcorn, but all of this wore off pretty quick for the Mo-ster.  He came toddling over and grabbed my drink.  The lady in front of me leaned forward, and a loud splash from my drink was heard.  I apologized to her and beat it out of there.  What else can I really do at that point.  Mo and I ended up popping in and out where he would shriek loudly, and we would quickly leave to walk the halls.  Jazzerz told me later that Oak was sliding down the big railing, putting his hands in other people's popcorn and running around with Chlo.  Not good.  Ryan better by a Canon printer is all I can say.  They deserve it.
     Jamie went and got braces this morning.  Chlo asked her why she was wearing bracelets on her teeth.  She is pretty sore tonight, but still excited to get her teeth straightened.

     Well, Ryan came up with a brilliant idea.  It is so absolutely brilliant in so many ways that I can honestly say that I would have never thought of it in a bazillion years.  I am one of these people that just likes everything to be as clean and orderly as possible.  I have had to loosen my standards quite a bit because I just came to the conclusion after about the fourth kid, that I cannot possibly have everything clean and orderly all at once.  I am always working on something, but I just cannot manage everything very well any more.  I have a lot of dishes and laundry to do and it takes up most of my time.  I usually try to focus on the kitchen, and the living room and I try to get the bedrooms done most days and the bathrooms at least straightened.  Well, it has gotten to the point that the yard has been gettting very neglected and the car was getting absolutely ridiculous.  I cleaned it out really good last week and it took me three days to finish.  Anyhow, my point is, I needed more help, and I cannot seem to hound the kids into helping much.
     Ryan called the kids together and placed some work items up for bid.  This is how he makes his way in the work world, and so it was good for the kids to be more familiar with the whole process.  He explained that a few things were simply never getting done, and that he was willing to pay the child with the lowest bid to accomplish these things that mom couldn't get to.  He had a pre-bid meeting, and explained what the job would include, and handed out slips to everyone.  He put four items up for bid, the front yard, the back yard, the van, and the bathrooms.  I was really interested to see how much this little venture was going to cost.  Jamie and Sage have been begging for an allowance and I figured this was a perfect solution.  Well, Jazzerz bid on only one item, this was the front yard, and she bid to do the front yard for a dollar a week.  In my head, I was thinking that there was no possible way this was going to work.  Jazzerz doesn't even know how to run a mower, or a trimmer for that matter.  I was going to have to keep doing the front yard, because this was definitely going to be the low bid.  Nope!  Sage bid to do it for $.55.  Jams was mad because she really wanted to do the front yard, but Sage outbid her.  Sage also had the low bid on the backyard at $.75.  Sage and Jerusha had a tie on the bathrooms for $1.00 a week, and so we let Jerusha have it.  Jams won the van bid at $2.00 a week, but Jerusha was really upset at this.  She had written her bid wrong, but she claimed that she was willing to keep the van clean for 5 cents a week.  At this point I just burst out laughing.  She bawled and bawled.  I just couldn't imagine working all summer for like seventy five cents.  I think Ryan and I got great deal and hey, the kids worked all afternoon like a bunch of eager beavers. The yards and bathrooms sparkle even.  Wahoo, I hope it lasts!

     We have been having an interesting problem with little Mo.  He has become attached to a photo album.  A few years ago, Rooshkie put together a little photo album with a few snapshots.  She has not paid much attention to it for quite awhile.  Moroni just loves to have it with him.  The other night I tried to put him to bed without it and holy cow...he threw the biggest fit about it.  He bawled and bawled for about 20 minutes stratight.  Of course I tried to return it to him promptly, but he was too ticked off at that point to calm down.  He took it this morning with us when we went to saw-cut some concrete that Ryan poured. We had to go to the Home Depot for some door knobs and yep, he had the photo album in hand.  I would have never seen that one coming.
     The other day Chlo was being sneaky and extra quiet. I wondered where she was and what she was doing.  I knew it couldn't be good.  When I found her, she was standing in the pantry, in her underwear and there was a lot of chocolate all over her face, teeth and chest.  I asked her what she had been eating.  "Nothing," was her swift reply.  Yeah right, I have really been trying to teach Chlo to tell the truth lately.  She has been lying to get out of trouble.  Anyhow, I knew she had been eating something chocolate.  I finally said, "Chloee, do not lie to me.  If you lie, I will spank you, and put you in your room.  If you tell the truth, I am not going to get mad."  Finally, her eyes kind of shifted.  She looked at me and said, "I have been eating 'balella'."  I looked behind her and she had a whole jar of nutella with a spoon.  I was grateful that she was brave enough to tell the truth, and so I just went and filled her a warm bath.  We will make her an honest gal, if I have anything to say about it.  She also came to me bawling today because she claimed that the kids were "getting fun off of me."  She was quite upset.  As a matter of fact, she has bawled most of the day for this or that.  She is a little out of sorts.

     Well, we were loving the spring weather, only to have a cold spell and be stuck in the house for a few days.  Moroni just about cannot take it.  We actually filled the water trough on Monday and the kids have happily been splashing about in it all week, even on these cold days.  Chlo got a new swimming suit for the season and she wore it for a few days.  Yep, she even slept in it.  It is her favorite color, purple you see, and this excites little Chlo.  She came out yesterday in a swimming suit and it was put on backwards.  Every one of my little girls have done this at some point, and I find it hilarious.

     She also came in with some rocks and were smashing her cheeks with them.  I am afraid that Chlo will always be a mystery.  Speaking of rocks, she seems to be bringing them in the house in droves lately.  I find them in the beds, on her dresser, in the car, in her clothes.  I am glad she can amuse herself with rocks. 

     Oak went with Ryan again today, and once again, I am glad that Ryan is teaching him how to work.  Oak always comes home exhausted, and happy, and feeling very worthwhile.  I am so grateful for his Dad.  Ryan claims that he really is a lot of help too.  It will be good to send little Moroni, being that he has tons of energy.  I get way too much work out of him during the day.  He empties the trash onto the floor, empties the dishes onto the floor, empties the clean laundry all over the house.  Let's put that energy to some good use!  Mo must have been instructed in heaven to work hard, and he took it to heart.  He just doesn't quite know how yet.  Cute little Mo.
     Jerusha has been busying herself lately with some fine recipes.  She has all sorts of opinions on how to fix food and has been putting her ideas in writing.  She and Jazz have also been offering their foot rubbing services around the place and the smell of vicks always hangs heavily in the air.  I cannot figure out why vicks has to be a part of their foot massages.  FHE this week was supposed to be on missionary work, but the vicks came out and everyone just ended up with a foot massage from Rooshkie instead.  She is quite the gal.

     We got a bunch of citrus from Gary this week and it has been great.  Rooshkie has been juicing them and giving everyone samples.  She has also been practicing all of her dance moves for the Alice in Wonderland play.  She spins and twirls again and again.  Sags did get the part of Alice after all, by the way.  I am very excited for her and I don't think I have mentioned it on here yet.  She will do a good job.  Jamie is officially the two of spades.  I told her that she will be the cutest two of spades ever!  She and Ryan have been shopping around for braces and she is getting more and more excited to get them on.  We have also been shopping around for some show steers. I guess the girls are getting antsy for some chores to do.  All in all a great week so far!