Well, Rooshkie is one year older, and wiser too.  We celebrated her 10th birthday Fridee.  She is a great gal, and we are happy to have her.  Currently Oak is being a butler to Jerusha for three days.  I wish I could say that this was because he was being thoughtful to her for her birthday.  Nope, he agreed to wait on her hand and foot if she would give him a chip from her bag of potato chips. Yep a chip. Frankly I think he got gipped.  Talk about a mess of pottage situation.  Oak has much to learn.  In the meantime, Jerusha has him going to fetch for her non-stop.  He seems eager to do it, so I am not going to get involved.
     We have had much stress this week.  I have temporarily pulled Jams, Sags, and Rooshkie out of school.  We are working with the Gateway staff through correspondance.  The kids are great people, but it has gotten to the point where they have gotten their priorities mixed up.  School and friends were beginning to rule their life, and family didn't matter much to them.  Most simple tasks that were requested of them were completely ignored.  My goal is to put them back in ASAP.  In the mean time, I definitely need to get my priorities straight.  For the most part, I was allowing them to do whatever, as long as they weren't mad at me.  Ryan was turning into the only parent who was giving them any kind of discipline.  It was turning into a bad situation because I was not being a very assertive parent, and Ryan was seen as the bad guy.  They are at an age where they need to love and respect both parents.  I need to parent them full time to get this straightened out..  I have great kids.  We just all need a little time to get our priorities straight.  Luckily the school is very equipped to deal with this.  They do this sort of thing all the time.
     Yesterday, for Jerusha's birthday, my parents took her shoe shopping.  They have a great time doing this.  She was also taken out for ice cream, and her friends spoiled her too.  We had a birthday party for her at the SUU pool and so I was in charge of 11 kids for a few hours.  When we went in to swim, a gal with Downs Syndrome came right over to me.  She was nice but let me know that her niece was coming and that she didn't want all of my kids in the pool.  I was polite and smiled, but of course, made no plans to leave.  Just for the record, I love Downs Syndrome kids.  They are so loving and affectionate, but this one wanted us to leave pretty bad.  She was irritated with us being there.  Her grandma let me know that not only does she have Downs Syndrome, but she has obsessive compulsive disorder too.  She likes to go to the pool and walk back and forth in the same line every time she comes.  My kids were in her way...kind of like the North going Zax and the South going Zax.  Anyhow, she loosened up a little bit, and her Grandma said it was good for her to have to walk around us.  She did get mad at us because we lost the blue diving ring too.  The Bundy's brought chaos to her world on Friday.  I hope we didn't throw her off too much.
      Jerusha's best friend, Emily gave her a best friends necklace and it totally made her whole day.  Emily is a great friend.  It is such a relief that my kids are picking good people to be friends with.  My parents also brought the kids a dozen doughnuts for Jerusha's birthday.  For lunch Chlo sat down to a peanut butter and nuttella sandwich and a chocolate donut.  Sage asked Chloee if she wanted to be obese when she grows up.  Chlo thought about it, and let Sage know that she had every intention of being a spider when she grows up.  Hmmm, a spider.  We will have a spider, and a dragon in the family.  Oak has every intention of being a dragon when he grows up.  It will make for great family pictures I am sure.  The Beek's other birthday desire was a date with her Dad.  Ryan took her to the Family Festival at the park, and they watched a show on their big screen.  She loved it.
     Jamie made her cake, and she is still learning.  She wanted to decorate it, and I explained that she needed a ton of powdered sugar to decorate with.  Her first and only mistake was adding a couple of cups of milk to the sugar.  When all was said and done, Rooshkie's cake looked like an oozing smear of colored frosting.  I didn't even get a picture before it was eaten, but Wams is still learning, and it obviously tasted just fine.  (I didn't even get a piece, they ate it so fast.)
     Yesterday was interesting to say the least.  Ryan is starting some new jobs and is feeling pulled in a dozen different directions.  He finally decided that he needed to get to St. George and put up a silt fence.  He told the kids that if they came, they could play in the fire hose.  We got there, and it was a lot right in the middle of town.  He is going to help build an additional building to a rehabilitation center.  The existing rehabilitation center is right on the same property.  Ryan hooked up the fire hose and got on the tractor.  The kids were asking how they should play in the fire hose.  I told Rooshkie that it was going to be like she was going to jail, and that we were going to spray her so hard, she was going to get knocked over.  I could tell that they were trying to be enthusiastic about the whole thing.  Anyhow Dustin had dug some big pond areas, and Ryan told the kids to go ahead and fill them up with water.  They were having a muddy blast dowsing each other with the big hose.  It wasn't real pretty, but they were having a great time.  They claimed that the water was pleasantly warm too.  Anyhow, a timid gal from the rehabilitation center came out and wondered what we were doing, and explained that the property was under construction and not for play.  I had to chuckle because I could only guess what she was thinking...(hey kids, I have an idea!  Let's go to an abandoned lot in the middle of town and dowse each other with a fire hose!)  Anyhow I explained that my husband was one of the general contractors and that we were in fact working.  The water was actually needed in the soil to make compaction requirements.  She apologized and left.  We are definitely an interesting bunch.
     Jazzerz got hurt in our mud sport right off the bat.  She somehow stepped on a sharp rock, and it ripped her toe nail off.  She was bummed out the rest of the day.  I finally told her that she could keep playing, but that when we returned home, I would have to clean up her wound really good.  A good time was had by all after that.  Ryan made the mistake of getting hungry and mentioning "golden corral"  What??  the kids were mud monsters at this point.  I quietly declined but one of the kids had overheard.  Not good.  Ryan finally hosed them all off one by one with the fire hose, and they put their clothes back on.  They looked quite presentable after that.
     Golden Corral was an adventure to say the least.  We don't take the kids out to eat often because of the expense.  It was like $80 to feed them all.  Anyhow,  Mo wanted to eat on the table like usual, and we kept trying to get him to eat in his high chair like a civilized baby.  He was crawling around on the floor and throwing himself on the carpet.  People had to walk around him laying prostrate upon the floor.  What was really bad was the cotton candy.  The little ones went up to get more and more and more of it.  They finally got backed up in the cotton candy department.  I think Oak had like four rounds.  Anyhow, when the waitress came and asked if we needed anything Ryan told her that we needed her to take Mo.  She chuckled at this, but that is what we needed her to do.  Oh well, they had their fill of cotton candy for the year at least.
     Ryan, Sage, and Jerusha went back to St. George last night and spent the night at the job sight.  They still needed to get a lot more water into the soil.  I think the kids always sleep better when Daddy is home.  Chlo did get up this morning and she mentioned that she hadn't seen any zombies in her bed last night, and because of this she had slept well.  I was a little curious about this.  I asked her more.  She said that there had been zombies outside, but none in her bed.  Well, that's good.  Shrsh with Mo was pretty much a nightmare today.  He squirmed, and squealed, and screeched loudly in every class that I tried to attend.  After going in and out of classes 6 times, I finally gave up. The Relief Society teaches stopped her lesson, and couldn't continue because he distracted her so much.  I finally went to the car, and found him a chip bag with some crunchy crumbs at the bottom.  He toddled around the church grounds and munched instead.   
     After shrsh Mo has bawled and squawked enough that Chlo finally put ear muffs on.  Finally she is getting a small dose of how we feel about her non-stop bawling.  Hopefully she can see why we get a little annoyed too.  TTFN!

     It has been interesting lately that my children keep sustaining self-inflicted injuries.  We got home from Shrsh yesterday, and I noticed that Oak had a huge, black goose egg on top of his head.  I asked him about it, and he explained that he had gotten that bump on purpose.  What????  I asked him why he would purposefully whack himself in the head.  He explained that he hadn't cried and that he had bumped his head on purpose.  I finally looked at his sisters because I was hoping that they had noticed how he had gotten the bump during primary.  Jazz nonchalantly explained that he had been clanking around the halls with his eyes closed, and had ran right into the door that leads to opening excercises.  I don't think he necessarily set out to get a huge bump, but he was fine with the fact that he got one.  Walking around with your eyes closed makes it all worth it, apparently.
     Jazzerz got hurt yesterday by sticking her behind and legs up in the air, and then leaning upside down on the edge of the couch.  She somehow flipped off and bumped her head.  This injury was not intentional and she bawled and bawled.  Ryan rocked her in the chair until she calmed down.
     Chlo got zapped with a cattle hot shot this week too.  When Wamer's steer went down, the vet used a hot shot to get him on his feet.  He explained that when a cow goes down and refuses to get up, it gets necessary to make them get up.  Their legs go numb, and after awhile they can't get up even if they want to.  We purchased one, to help the steer, but Chlo got her hands on it, and zapped herself in the mouth, and on the nose.  She was really upset about this, and it would have hurt.  I felt bad for all of the odd injuries sustained.  Except for maybe Oak's, bump that he got on purpose.
     I have been slowly feeling better and better, but my house sure took a heavy hit when I got sick.  Someone dumped tang on the floor, and there were several ripe peaches pushed and smooshed into the carpet in various places.  Moroni scattered band-aids, bullets, nail shot, paper plates, matches, and ziplocs all over.  Unfortunately Ryan is under the gun and hasn't been able to help me get things back in order.  I am not complaining, because I am grateful that he has work.  Anyhow, if he pleases the General on these next two jobs, it will lead to a few more jobs.  He has been trying to fix tools, fix trucks, pick up tractors, and hire the right men to make things happen.  I am glad that he hasn't had to be stuck to the floor with me because the tang mess is probably the worst.  I will have to get the girls busy helping me this afternoon.  I entered Chloee's messy room last night.  Everyone else was slumbering, but she was sitting on her bed, in a tense sort of way.  I asked her why she wasn't sleeping.  She explained that she couldn't sleep because there had been a scorpion in her bed.  I was skeptical, and asked her to show me the scorpion.  She told me that Oak had removed it for her before he went to bed.  I asked Oak about it later, and he said it was an earwig, not a scorpion.  Anyhow, because of the scorpion, it took Chlo awhile to feel brave enough to go to bed. 
     Speaking of Chlo, she made an interesting observation the other day.  Grandma Val took her to McDonalds for her birthday, and purchased her a happy meal.  Chlo became quite offended at the happy meal box, and my mom could not understand why.  Well, it just so happened that the Smurfs were the theme of the box, and Chlo was ticked off that papa smurf was shirtless on there.  I mean how dare he?   On a happy meal box with nothing but a hat and pants???  This was just too much for Chlo to handle.  She ate the food, but wanted nothing to do with that horrible box.  It was only a few days later, that I found Chlo outside playing with Oak.  She was dressed in nothing but her Dora panties.  I thought that she was over her naked habits, but I was really busy, and so I assigned Jazzerz the task of taking some clothes outside to get her dressed.  I ran into Chlo later, and still, nothing but Dora underwear.  I immediately hollered at Jazz.  She calmly explained that she had taken Chloee a heavy winter coat to wear.  Hello Jazz!  It was probably in the mid-90's!  Jazz explained that it was big, and heavy, and covered Chlo's nakedness quite well.  Chlo obviously couldn't take the extreme heat in the heavy coat.  I am going to have to watch that Jazzerz.  Her ideas and mine have been clashing quite a bit lately.
     Speaking of Jazz, she hopped backwards all the way down the street to feed the steers.  Our friends, the Allred's were over on Saturdee, and Jaycee and I went down with the kids to feed.  I was being spacey because Jaycee and I were deep in conversation, but I found myself slightly annoyed and uncomfortable that Jazz was kind of in our face hopping backwards, and being careful not to hop on any cracks.  What a gal that Jazz is!
     Ryan and I have really struggled this week to spend any time alone together.  When I got sick, the kids all wanted to sleep with us, or on the floor.  I tried to sit by him in shrsh, but Chlo came and sat between us, and Rooshkie plopped herself across Ryan's lap.  Moroni bawls and bawls to be held by one of us non-stop too.  Anyhow, he has been wanting to discuss with me his schedule, and some of the things that have been stressing him out.  We went in our room and locked the door.  Luckily we were only talking when Chlo's head popped up outside our window.  She climbed onto our windowsill and explained that the kids were listening to a naughty song.  She came in the room and joined us.  We just had to laugh.  We love the kids, but wow, lately we cannot get alone no matter what. 
     Last night, the girls and I attended a really good fireside about the book of mormon.  Our stake has challenged the youth, and their parents to read the Book of Mormon on our own during the school year.  This got me really excited because my whole testimony is based on the Book of Mormon.  I know it is true.  I had a witness of it when I was seventeen that I simply cannot deny.  There is a power that comes into my life when I study it, and it has been a long time since I studied the Book of Mormon.  I have read it a lot, but I am looking forward to studying it.  I will be a better wife and mom if I do, and my girls will get testimonies of their own too.  I know they will need them.
     Anyhow, I hope this week goes better.  Oak started Kindergarten today and is way ready and excited.  I hope he has a great first day!  This will also force Chlo to grow up a little. I have already caught her painting Ryan's duct tape with nail polish today.  Not good. Ryan would have happily used red splashed duct tape, but she wouldn't sloshed it all over the carpet.  Yep, Chlo needs to grow up a little. We will hopefully avoid that offensive papa smurf, and have a great week!

 

     We found out that Bert Smith was wanting us to come and meet him at his ranch in Ruby Valley.  He was needing someone to come and take over his cattle operation.  The only problem was, it came at a really hard time.  Don't get me wrong...it is always next to impossible for me to go anywhere.  With eight people going a million different directions, the timing is never good.  Anyhow, Jamie's steer was really sick, I had peaches to bottle, and the kids started school on Monday.  Luckily kindergarten does not start until next week, but, still I figured I would need to stay home for sure.  Ryan, however, arranged for his mom to come up and spend the two days with the kids.  I was very grateful that she was able to do this.  I know that she always has a million things going too.  They had a great time with Grandma.  She was very good to them, and she finished my laundry which is a huge miracle.
     Anyhow, we got up Monday morning with a six hour drive ahead of us.  I was not looking forward to the drive with Mo.  He is absolutely awful in the car.  Luckily he slept for a good portion of it.  We stopped by the Gardner ranch and had a good visit with Cliff and his wife Bertha.  They have a beautiful ranch with trees and green grass.  I loved sitting on their porch, listening to the wind rush through the trees.  You could see their horses grazing and the cows in the distance.  I immediately realized that I would love a life right there.  Mo had a ball running through the grass and gawking over the horses.  Wow, it is nice.
     We arrived at the Smith ranch, and they put Ryan right to work.  They were sorting and cutting cows in preparation to ship them in the morning.  My experience with cows comes from helping on the Bundy ranch in Riverside.  I actually was floored at how easy going their cows were.  They just kinda ran where they were told.  The cattle I am used to want to fight and maim you for messing with them.  These ones were very mild mannered, but I noticed that they had way more sick ones to deal with.  I guess that each ranch has its own set of problems.  It was funny because Bert's brother had a granddaughter that was there that was Chlo's age.  She had a do-it-yourself haircut just like Chlo's and she messed with Mo the whole time.  Mo probably felt right at home because of this.  He also went chasing chickens at one point, and he must have caught one because when I caught up with him, he was covered in chicken poop.  Yuck Mo!
     When Bert and Kathy arrived he wanted to take Ryan and I on a ride around the ranch.  I kind of cringed because I had dealt with Mo in the car for 6 hours already.  He wallered around on my lap for the next 2 hours as Bert showed us his hay fields and his property lines.  I had full confidence that Ryan could run the ranch up there, but it was way higher altitude, and would require him to do a lot of learning.  There was an old burned out store, and dancing hall that I wanted to explore right by his property line.  I loved listening to all of the old stories that Bert had to tell.  The area up there is gorgeous.  I really liked Kathy a lot.  She is a wonderful person, and fun to be with.  She took good care of us.
     We had pretty much decided that first day that we couldn't move up there.  There were plenty of family members that still wanted to be running the ranch, and we knew that we had no long term future there.  Ryan is old enough that we need to acquire a ranch of our own to pass down to our kids.  Plus, Ryan is way to used to being his own boss.  It was still a great experience, and I loved the family up there immediately.  Ryan helped them ship their cows, and we headed for home.  I got so sick of  Moroni on the way home, that he and I were both ready to scratch our eyeballs out.  He had been cooped up for far too long.  We finally got kind of off in the wrong direction and we came upon a really pretty area.  We got out and let Mo play for awhile.  This did us all a lot of good.
     It was good to get home.  Jamie's steer died of pneumonia on Tuesday which was way sad.  We had a vet come and give him some shots, but it was too late.  Jams sat there with him for a few hours and at least kept the flies off of his face while he was struggling for breath.  We were all quite upset about losing Fergus because he was our best steer by far.  He was fat, and good natured.  The vet just said that they catch colds sometimes, and there isn't much that can be done about it.  Diablo, and Leo seem to be fine, but they are as crazy as ever.  Hopefully we can get them ready for the show.
     The kids have gotten back in to the school routine pretty easy.  Oak has his first day of kindergarten on Monday and he is super excited.  I have been pretty sick this week, running fevers and body aches etc.  Luckily my parents had pity on me last night and brought the kids some pizza.  In spite of my illness, I was able to bottle all of the peaches, and keep up with the housework.  I hate getting sick because the house gets out of control when I am not constantly working on it.  I got up for a minute yesterday, and the peaches were thrown all over the kitchen, Mo and removed Ziploc bags out of the box one by one, and he had also thrown paper plates all over the kitchen.  I am glad I am feeling up to getting things back in order today
       Mo has been happy to be home.  He is learning to speak and he calls Jazzerz the a-word, which is great.  They have turned the living room into a dance floor this morning.  Rooshkie has been the singer, and she has been singing songs in sultry, husky type voice.  Chlo and Jazz dance all over in blankets that they have wrapped around their bodies in various ways.  I came in once and tried to clean up once, but Jazz wouldn't have it.  The dancing game may last awhile. 
     The first three pictures are of Cliff Gardner's place.  I honestly do not believe I have ever seen a spread on a buck that is as big as that one.  The second picture is of Charlie's .22 collection.  The next three pictures are of the Smith family ranch.  The little Chlo girl is with Mo in the one picture.  I wish I could remember her name. The next three are of the nice area we stopped to let Mo get out of the car.  I loved it there, and want to take the kids there to play someday soon.

     This weekend is our last before school starts.  It was crazy busy.  We started off Saturday heading to Pang town to celebrate a new baby coming in September.  My mom and Mindi's sisters threw her a baby shower.  We had Bailey make her a hair bow with some matching footies, plus we found a giraffe outfit to match.  I took everyone, but Oak.  Mo would have been left behind, but I knew that Ryan was working on vehicles, and he has compressors and machinery that make me nervous around little Moroni.  He was kind of a nightmare at the baby shower, but he was a safe nightmare.  I would rather that they be a hassle and safe that is for sure.  Anyhow, it was Chlo's birthday too and so I was trying to make a huge deal out of her too.  After all, Chlo is a huge deal.
     They had a yogurt bar, and this turned out to be a great idea!  I loved it, and proclaimed it loudly.  They had berries and granola to mix in the yogurt, plus they had muffins.  Mo took a muffin and shredded it all over their lovely table.  He also kept trying to mess with some of the treadmills and exercise equipment that happened to be in the building they were using.  I finally took him outside where he and Chlo began throwing rocks dangerously close to the windows.  We finally left a little early because after all, Chlo needed cake and presents.  We also had Brooke Trotters wedding reception that we needed to attend.
     Jams made and decorated Chlo a princess cake.  She stuck a princess crown in the top and Chlo was delighted.  She also got some nice toys.  All she asked for was a princess crown, a piggy bank, and a turtle.  We didn't get her a turtle, but we tried to accommodate her more reasonable requests.  I think she has like 2 cents.  This promptly went into her new piggy bank.  The nose screws off of the bank so that the money can be retrieved without too much trouble.  Anyhow, Oak kept putting the nose off-center and this would make Chlo bawl and bawl.  I really hope that she learns not to be so upset about dumb stuff.  This should be Chlo's new goal.  Chlo also took a bunch of toothpaste this week and slathered it on the bottom of the toilet.  Being a tidier Chlo would also be a good goal.
     We went to Brooklyn Trotter's wedding reception, and Chlo was going wild over the wedding cake.  She thought that the wedding cake was her birthday cake.  Luckily they were serving cake that looked similar to the wedding cake, so we didn't really explain that the party and cake was not for her birthday.  I am sure she thought that we created quite the party for her at the stake center.  She fell asleep happy with her new "Despicable Me" pajamas on.
     Today has been a very busy day.  Shrsh was great, but the kids were really naughty.  Jamie's steer has become quite sick, and this caused us to be late this morning.  We ended up on the front row because of this, and the front row isn't a great place for us.  Chlo was hopping back and forth in front of the podium just like a bunny.  She had removed her brand new shoes that Grandma H had just purchased her for her birthday, and hopped to and fro until I ended her bunny hop.  Mo, was screeching at the top of his lungs and he got frustrated and went up and hit the podium with his hand.  I was pretty embarrassed by his behavior and so I left with him for awhile.  Jazzerz was really being a knothead too.  She kept standing up and walking back and forth.  Sacrament mtg. had great speeches today too.  Wow...we will keep working on it. 
     Somehow Chlo and her new princess shoes became separated again and a friend of mine saw a nice sister from the Spanish branch carting them around with a confused look on her face.  Luckily Robyn grabbed them, and thanked her.  Chlo got some nice shoes this year too.  She loves them and would have been quite upset to lose a pair.  The van wouldn't start after shrsh, so we all walked home, and I noticed that besides Oak, all of my kids were barefoot.  It has to be a Bundy thing. 

     It has been a great week.  I really regret that it is our last week of summer.  I hate to think of school starting next Monday.  We have totally enjoyed our time off.
     Ryan has been busy as all get out.  For this I am truly grateful.  He took Jamie to work with him on Monday, and he took Rooshkie to work with him yesterday.  The kids have hung out in the water trough non-stop, and they have pretty much lived on ice cream. 
     I made muffins the other morning.  Chlo got up and helped herself to one.  She set it down, and Mo moved in on it.  He kind of hashed the top of it, and pulled it all apart.  When Chlo realized what was going on she bawled and bawled.  I finally got her muffin back, but she did not want it at all after Mo was done with it.  She claimed that it was "grungy all over."  Yep, it kinda was too.  Chlo normally only eats the muffin top.  She has kind of struggled for a few weeks.  She bawls quite a bit.  I do believe that she needs some more attention.  I realize that there is not much of me to go around in the summer.  Anyhow, I took Chlo to town the other day.  It was her turn to grocery shop with me.  I went in to "Sally's beauty supply" and let her pick out two bottles of nail polish.  She was delighted.  I also took her to lunch.  She got a little upset when I ordered her a mini pizza at the Pizza Factory because she wanted a big pizza.  Anyhow, Chlo and I had a splendid time together.  I think we both needed it.
     Today we had quite the day.  Cliven was going to Gunlock to get some peaches.  Ryan decided we should go and see him and help him.  Ryan had some business to take care of in St. George and we were needing an outing, and so it would work out nicely.  We met Cliven at Aunt Gertrude's house in the early morning, and we were met by some of the Jensen relatives.  Apparently Cliven has been getting melons for them and so they told him that he could pick one of their peach trees.  Anyhow, we started off rough because  Moroni woke up in a horrible mood.  He had shots this week and this might have been part of the trouble.  He bawled and moaned and was extremely needy.  We immediately got Jams and Sags picking and they are very good at it.  They know not to throw the peaches around, and to be way easy on the tree.  Jerusha is pretty good help too.  Oak, however went and caught himself a frog.  Jazzerz wandered aimlessly too.  She was supposed to pick up all of the ripe peaches off of the ground before they were stepped on, and we stepped on quite a few before she figured out her job.  Mo and Chlo pretty much wandered around and bawled.  We did get the tree picked, but it was mostly Jams and Sags who got the work done.  We then decided to go craw-dad fishing.  We drove down to the creek, and the kids were not having much luck.  The water was running pretty swift, and we decided not to get the bacon out because the craw-dads were hiding anyway.  To catch craw-dads we usually tie a piece of bacon on a string and the craw-dads just reach out and grab it. It works best in ponds, and slower moving water. They only caught four, and they were teeny.  I was nervous because all I had packed was a loaf of bread, and some peanut butter.  The kids had pretty much eaten the whole thing at this point.  I was kind of counting on the craw-dads for lunch.
     The girls got to work diverting the water and building a dam so that Mo could have a little stream of his own to play in.  Mo threw mud and rocks and Cliven fell asleep on the bank.  He is so great to have around.  However, I cannot figure out how he can sleep on a gravelly bank.  I guess that is a cowboy for ya'.  They work hard enough to sleep wherever they can.
     The kids were getting hungrier and hungrier, and I could see that the craw-dadding wasn't panning out.  Ryan decided to build a fire and let them cook bacon on a stick.  This was quite a fiasco because the matches that I had stored in the van were not working.  Something had dumped on them making them completely useless (shocker!)  Of course, this didn't stop Ryan at all.  Somehow, he started a small fire with some kindling in his hands, using his Dad's truck battery.  I saw him running over to the fire pit and he was burning the heck out of his hands in the process.  Just like Ryan, he always figures out a way, and the kids were then able to fry bacon on their sticks.  It was kinda comical.  Bacon and Cheetos.  Not my best mother moment, that is for sure. 
     While I am thinking about it, I would just like to mention that road trips are kinda clunky with all of the kids.  I will truly miss my kids tons when they grow up and leave, but I don't think I will miss traveling with them.  Someone is always bawling about their "spot."  This morning Oak had made himself a nice spot, and then Jazzerz and Chlo took it over.  This of course did not go over well.  Oak basically just took his spot back, and then Chlo started bawling.  They never agree on the temperature.  Someone is always cold, and someone else is hot.  Moroni is just plain awful in the car and always has been. He lurches, and bawls and screams in his car seat non-stop.  Today, the kids began hurling insults at each other.  We had Mo bawling, and insults flying.  "Platypus diaphragm!"  and "Woodpecker Uni-brow"  were some of the more ridiculous ones.  Nope- I won't miss the car trips too much.
     Well, we have a busy weekend coming up.  We shall see how it goes! 
    

     Notice on Oak's head...his nice little frog.  The picture's above are in Gunlock at Guy and Gertrude's home.  Gertrude has passed away, but Guy is pictured above with Ryan.  Ryan claims that he has great memories of Gunlock, and Aunt Gertrude was the only woman who would cook their craw-dad's for them.  She is Grandma Bodel's sister.  Anyhow,  I loved their place!  It was shady, and green and beautiful.  We had a great day with Grandpa Bundy!

     Ryan has been gone all week.  We got him back last night, and it is way good to have him home.  Wow...the kids act better, and I act better when he is around.  It has been difficult mothering alone all week.
     The week started out pretty normal.  I think that I mentioned that Ryan took Oak to Monroe for a few days to complete his job up there.  I missed both of them terribly, but it is so good for Oak to spend time with his Dad.  Ryan said that he learns really fast, and doesn't complain when I am not around.  They have been working inside some schools around Richfield and Monroe.  Apparently, Oak disappeared for awhile, and Ryan went looking for him.  The janitor had put Oak to work, and he was vacuuming.  He worked 12 hour days too.  I am grateful Ryan takes the time to teach all of the children.  They are better people because of him.
     This week we rented the Parown pool for achievement days.  We had a great time.  The kids were doing flips off of the diving board, and Mo splashed around in his floating frog.  I had a real problem with Mo when he wasn't in the frog.  He has no fear, and he would get out, and run and cannonball off of the side of the kiddie pool.  No fear of drowning, whatsoever.  I was grateful for the swimming lessons because I had to keep my eye on him the whole time.  Chlo and everyone else did fine because of their lessons at SUU.  Chlo's floaty suit helped matters too.
     We caught Moroni eating ants the other day.  I am not sure what he was thinking, but Jams had to literally dig an ant out of his mouth.  We have been watching him a little bit closer after this incident.  We went to Woods Ranch on Wednesday.  We ate Cheetos, told scary stories, and chased Mo.  He ended up trying to catch and eat red ants, and we had to get pretty serious about telling him "No!"  He just didn't seem to understand. I knew he was going to get stung, and so we finally went around and stomped a bunch of them.  The meadows at Woods Ranch were chock full of grasshoppers.  This made Chlo and I frown.  I have an unreal hatred for grasshoppers.  When we were young, we had contests to see who could drown the most grasshoppers.  We used a large silver bowl, and just began catching them all over the garden, and yard. We would then stick them in the bowl that was half-full of water. My mom appreciated this game, because it helped clear the grasshoppers from the property.  Anyhow, it was really gross.  The grasshoppers would climb all over each other and try to get out.  There would be legs come off, and they would spit all over when we would pick them up too.  Yuck...somehow we found this entertaining.  Anyhow, ever since then, grasshoppers are just the epitome of gross.  I hate them.  Chlo couldn't stand them either.  They would fly all over, and land on her, and she would get quite upset.  I cannot say that I feel a whole lot better about them.  We kind of avoided the meadow because of this.
      We also went down to the spillway, and swam for awhile.  Chlo ended up naked in a bush.  She went in the bush to use the bathroom.  It is kind of a pain to use the bathroom in a swimming suit and she ended up just taking it off.  I was chasing Moroni all over the spillway, trying to keep him from falling, or drowning.  Oak was trying to get some help for Chlo.  I realized that I simply couldn't set Moroni down.  Finally I recruited Rooshkie to get her dressed, but in the meantime, an unsuspecting gentleman with a German Shepherd came upon Chlo.  Oak was still trying not to watch her, but was guarding the bush for her.  I am still non-stop amazed at what a great big brother Oak is.  Luckily, the guy asked no questions about the girl naked in the bush and just moved on.  I am grateful when people give me the benefit of the doubt and just move on.  We all survive all right.
     I have noticed that my nerves are shot this week.  I have roared at the kids a few times.  They have been tapping cups non-stop ever since the cup song came out in the movie "Pitch Perfect."  We have not seen the film, but the girls have watched the music video over and over trying to figure out the cup tapping scene.  I have been quite irritated with the non-stop tapping.  Jazzerz is tapping on everything all the time.  I find it quite unnerving to hear banging all the time, because Jazz never uses a cup.  She just bangs her hands on everything.  The kids also fight a lot more when Dad is gone, and we have had some of the dumbest knock-down drag-outs.  Oak has roared, and Jazz and Jerusha have tapped and banged until I had to scream.  One of the kids even told me to take my baby "for once."  This I burst out laughing about.  Mo is usually sleeping by my side, or keeping me up at night.  He bangs around the bathroom while I shower, and he is on my hip most of the day.  I love him, but wow..a break is nice every now and then.  Anyhow, toward the end of the week, I realized that all of the feeling sorry for myself was getting me nowhere.  Yep, I have my hands full, but what kind of a life would I lead, if my world was centered on me all of the time?  A miserable one for sure.  I have such a great opportunity to spend time with them, and teach them.  After that I stopped being grouchy and we got some good work done.  I enjoyed myself after that.  Our society says that women cannot be fulfilled at home.  I beg to differ.  I am needed non-stop, and I am irreplaceable in one place only.  Boo to anyone who feels like women cannot be happy at home full-time.  My attitude just needed to be tweaked a little.
     Mo has been throwing punches this week.  The kids kept playing a game with him where they pretended he was beating them up.  This has created an unreal monster.  I told them not to reward him for bad behavior, but now he thinks it is great to hit in the face.  We have had to back track on that one and frown at him instead.
     Chlo has been sleeping in the bookoo fudge.  Last night I noticed her asleep in the bookoo fudge, and she was wearing her swimming suit.  I cannot imagine that this was comfortable at all.  She did stick it out though.  For those who don't know, the bookoo fudge is a pile of blankets in the corner of the living room.  Sage named it the bookoo fudge because Jerusha liked to be in there, and Sage's nickname for her was "Bookoo."  You may have noticed that this name has evolved to "Rooshkie"  "Beekster" or the "Beek."
     Ryan had the opportunity to speak with his Dad at an R-Calf convention.  This is where he was for the rest of the week.  They flew to South Dakota, along with Carol, and Burt and Kathy Smith.  Cliven said that Ryan spoke and sang beautifully.  I am grateful that he had that opportunity.  I gave Wamer's lesson in Sunday school today.  I always learn a ton when I have to give a lesson.  Anyhow, I enjoyed that opportunity too.  Relief Society was really good today, except for a kid who came in and burped loudly five times.  I was just smiling because it wasn't one of my kids. Yep, Shrsh was great.
     Since Ryan's return, I have been reminded of why I like him so much.   We walked into the living room together to find that the kids had dumped cereal all over the floor.  He didn't say anything, he just calmly went and got a bowl, and scooped some cereal into it, and poured milk on it.  He is so calm and unfettered by all of the nonsense, it is great. Chlo wallered on him all through sacrament meeting, and he sits calmly through all of the cup song nonsense.  Yep, I am grateful for the big family that Ryan was raised in.  He truly rolls with whatever happens.  I am sure this has a lot to do with all of his siblings and his small home.  I chose well.  I am blessed,  another week has begun.