It has been great to have some lovely spring weather this week.  This winter has actually been really nice, but it has warmed up and Mo, Chlo and Oak have raced around outside a lot this week.  We also got some new neighbors across the street, and they have a bunch of kids.  My kids have befriended these new neighbors and have played hide and seek quite a bit in the nice afternoon weather.  Bring on the spring.
     This week was pretty crazy with school activities and shrsh activities.  Jams and Sags have joined some volleyball club at the school which takes them away from home another afternoon every week.  Rooshkie and Jazz and I had activity days, and this week the parents were invited to come to Young Women's.  We have also had a few meetings that Cliven has been involved with educating other ranchers.  Ryan has also done something to his neck and shoulders which has kept him up most nights in extreme pain.  He has either done some nerve damage, or he has maybe even fractured one of his vertebrae.  Needless to say, we haven't had a lot of sleep this week. We haven't done a whole lot this weekend except rest and attend stake confernce which has been really good.  Today I am feeling much better, after feeling quite zombie-like all week.  Ryan also seems to be healing up.  He still has some pain, but he has at least been able to sleep.
     Mo, Chlo, Jazz, and Oak have raced around a lot this week on stick horses.  Mo hasn't quite figured out how to gallop.  He just kind of stomps around and trots around on his horse.  It has been really funny to watch.
     Mo has been a naughty boy this week when it comes to his baths.  Mo and Chlo love to soak away the hours in a warm bath, and if there are plenty of cattle and horses to herd around the bathtub, Mo will spend a lot of time.  However, he has successfully flooded my bathroom four times in the last two days.  It has cost me every dry towel in the house.  Yesterday, I was in my bathroom as he was bathing.  I was getting ready for conference when I noticed a wave of water lapping at my heels.  He flooded the joint when I was standing in there with him.  I finally figured out that he was taking a cup, and pushing it up over the tap.  This caused the water to spray backwards all over the floor.  I am glad that I figured it out.  No more cups in the bath for Mo.  When we returned from the adult session of confernce my bathroom was flooded yet again by the Mo-ster, Jazzerz- who felt quite sheepish about the whole situation, was using what few dry towels I had left to mop up the mess.
     Confernce was good last night and today.  They have made a new guideline that they would like the youth 12 and up to attend the adult session with their parents.  My girls had actually practiced with the youth choir, and were all geared up to sing as well.  Their song was absolutely incredible.  I was so happy with them.  The last hour of confernce, however, they began making me mad.  They were shoving each other, and pinching each other.  Jams was nicely leaning her head on my shoulder at the beginning, but by the end she was shoving her chin into my shoulder until I was about ready to screech in her direction.  I finally asked her if she was just unable to hold herself up.  I clompily tried to lean into her to show her what I meant, and she just couldn't take it.  We ended up laughing as reverently as we could.  I guess even my older kids have been trained to be reverent for an hour only.  They really struggled that last hour.  I was really tired of being leaned into.
     We got up this morning to attend the general session.  I was really not looking forward to two hours of trying to juggle Mo.  I must admit that maybe I wasn't in the best of all spirits.  I just dreaded juggling the kids.  Ryan took Mo, Chlo, and Oak an hour early to get us a decent seat.  When the older kids and I walked in, I just began hoping and hoping that Ryan hadn't got us a seat on the front row....please no.  Sure enough, we were on the front row, squished in with another family.  I frowned more than a little at that news.  We had a member of the seventy, and I so badly wanted the kids to behave.  Looking back on it, they did pretty good.  Mo had to be taken out most of the last hour, but he was pretty good for the first.  I brought some puzzles for Oak and Chlo, and they were really busy and quiet putting those together.  There were a few quiet scuffles over puzzle pieces, but overall, pretty good.  Mo was only horrible during the closing prayer.  He shrieked and twisted and turned and screamed.  Am I supposed to take him out in the middle of someone's heartfelt prayer?  She was really crying, and I felt it might be rude.  Anyhow, to me it was one of the longest prayers ever thanks to Mo.  I am sure that for everyone else, it was sincere and heartfelt.  I couldn't hear anything other than Mo's shriek's.
     Chlo has really been on a bawling trend this week.  As we were leaving conference, she learned that she was going to have to ride home with me instead of Ryan.  She cried and cried and cried.  Her cries turned into a low throttle sound.  I was seriously ready to run headlong into traffic at that point.  If the speeches had not been so good, I might have done just that.  Seriously Chlo?  Is a two minute ride around the block worth all of that crying???  But, it has been that way all week.  If someone leaves the house and doesn't give her a hug goodbye it is another round of howling that will last and last.  Ryan finally just told her that she can do all of her crying outside.  This has seemed to work.  Why cry if no one has to hear you?  Because she and Mo have soaked my bathmats with their tub flooding program over and over this week, my mats have frequently been hung in the backyard to dry.  This has turned into an odd game for Chlo.  She takes the mats, and rolls around in the grass with them for a time.  I am not sure what this does to boost Chlo's mood, but I am all for it if she doesn't bawl.  I also got after her for kicking Mo earlier...instead of an apology she just said, "Mom...why would I kick a human baby?"  good question Chlo.  Maybe there are no baby monkeys available.
     Here is another interesting bit about Chlo.  Mo has been super crabby today.  He refused to eat lunch, and he threw a fit when anyone would try to eat anything.  We couldn't figure out if he just wanted us to sit around and admire the sights and smells of lunch or what.  He sat on his Dad's lap and threw a complete tantrum when Sager ate a string bean.  We were so confused at this behavior that we finally set him outside and let him cry.  I can't let him that kind of power over everyone.  I did set his plate outside on the porch with him in case he got rational and decided to eat.  All he did was lay his head in his mashed potaters and gravy and cry. Anyhow he bawled through lunch and just got hungry and ridiculous.  Chlo got quite irritated with him and could not believe that he was crying so much.  What???? I brought up the fact that Chlo had spent much of the day bawling about stupid stuff.  She just shrugged and reminded me that all she wanted was to ride home with her dad.  True Chlo...your bawling fits are completely reasonable.
     I just wanted to mention that I am completely grateful for all of my blessings.  I am so glad that I get to be a Mom to so many great little people.  We definitely have our moments, and it is those moments that I like to record because they make me laugh.  If everything always went wonderful, life would be pretty boring.  I ran into a friend at confernce that was hustling her son out the door early because he had peed his pants.  I laughed with her at this because what else can ya' do?  I will always look back on my mothering years and want to recall the funny and exasperating things that my kids do.  There is so much good in all of them though.  I know I need to mention these qualities more often.  I just want to mention Jams in this post.  This week Mo has been really difficult.  He seems to get quite restless in the afternoons, and he just gets kind of upset.  She has been taking him out when he gets like this, hands him a little nerf baseball bat, and she plays baseball with him.  He absolutely loves the time and attention that she gives him.  She could spend that time chatting with friends or listening to music, but she spends it with her little brother.  She loves to make him happy.  Yep, I have great kids and I love them tons.  Jamie will never know how much I appreciate the fact that she tries to take care of all of her younger siblings.  Another great thing she did this week was, track me down and get me to sign a bunch of papers for Saggers Disneyland trip.  She did this without telling Sage, and it was funny because on Saturday, Sage gasped and realized that her permission papers were supposed to be in last week, and she had forgotten all about it.  I reassured her that Jamie had taken care of all of that stuff for her.  Thanks Jamie...I am so grateful for all you do.

 Maddy was our FHE friend this week

 Maddy and Jazzerz

Sager's friend Katie putting her face in her birthday cake...nice.