I am loving the winter weather in so many ways.  For one, it is not very cold yet, and the Mikkelsen's wood burning stove has glass doors.  It makes the whole living area extremely cozy.  I love watching the flames cast shadows and dance all over the darkened room when everyone has gone to bed.  I have decided that when I grow up, and get a house of my own, I want one for sure.  To top it all off, my Dad brought us a load of Cedar wood.  I love how it crackles and pops.  Yeah, I love the beauty of winter down here.  It never bites that hard with it's chills.

    Homecoming week was pretty eventful.  I realized after reading my last few posts that I had forgotten to discuss that week.  It was filled with all kinds of fun.  For one, the whole town gets involved with the happenings which is pretty fun.  I did struggle to some degree too because every night we were up late with stuff, and poor Dill had had it by the end of the week.  Jams and Sags had a great band and orchestra concert one evening, and it was great.  Dill kept trying to run around and get on stage which was discouraging though.  There was also a parade and a pep rally.  All of my older kids were in the parade.  Sags was on the FFA float, Rooshkie marched with the middle school drill team, and Wames was on the High School drill team float.  There was a pep rally after that, and it was hard because Dill just wanted to go to bed.  They had a tail gate party with free hot dogs and chips which all of my kids were excited about.  Wames danced in the program, and their dance was pretty cool because they turned out all of the lights, and danced with flashlights.  My biggest problem of all of that was Mo.  He was terrible.  He kept plopping on this random girls lap, and when he would sit by me, he would kick the young man in front of us.  I kept apologizing, and he kept saying that he didn't mind, but c'mon!  Who likes to be kicked in the back over and over again?  I must admit that when the Bishop came and scooped Mo up, and held him on his lap, I was all kinds of grateful.  This kind of a thing goes above and beyond the calling in my book, and I was able to keep some level of sanity after that.     

     The next night was the big game.  I forgot to mention that some kid had asked Rooshkie to wear his jersey.  It is kind of a sign of friendship or a bit more in this town according to Ryan. Kind of like wearing a letterman's jacket. She tried to sneak out of the house in it, because she knew that I would make a big deal about it, and I did...I mean c'mon it's my job.  I did snap a few pictures which made her extremely uncomfortable.  She kept making it clear that she was just friends with the young man, and that it was no big deal....whatever Rooshkie...you guys are getting married now for sure.    I will say that I was kinda a basket case about that jersey for the rest of the day.  I am aware, now more than ever, at how much sports cost a family to participate in...this jersey was beautiful, and heavy and expensive looking.  I hounded her non-stop about not getting anything on it, and not letting the kids touch her with weedo, or cheeto hands...needless to say that I heaved a great sigh of relief when she gave it back to him without holes or stains.                                  

     Sometime during the day, Mo had come across some green silly putty.  He had somehow gotten it into his hair, and had molded and shaped a nice horn that stuck out to the side at an odd angle.  Needless to say, that by the time I noticed it, it was time to go to the game, and I had no time to try to remove it.  To top it off, he wouldn't let me touch it, or try to remove it, or comb it.  Whatever....we arrived at the game with no shoes and a horn.  At least it was a green horn, and it matched the school colors.   

     Wames danced beautifully that evening.  I was way proud of her.  It was a number that they had joined with the cheerleaders on, and it was way fun to watch.  The kids were bawling and ready to go by half time though, and our team was winning easily, and so we left a little early.  Arden played a great game too, sacking the quarter back etc.

     My next confession is, that Mo carried the green horn on his head for a few days after homecoming.  He was just not letting me try to comb it out without having a complete come apart.  I finally asked Carol what she thought I ought to do about his green horn.  I must take a moment and say this about my lovely Mother in Law...she can figure out how to fix any kid mess or disaster.  She has seen it all, and has dealt with it all, and her fixes always work.  She took Mo's horn into consideration and told me to try some coconut oil on it.  So, that evening when he was watching Fatty Fats (Wild Kratt's)  I caught him unawares with some, and the putty came right out.  I was seriously thinking that we would have to shave his head bald.  Thank goodness for Grandma's that is for sure!

     Since homecoming we have all just been crazy busy with Young Women's stuff, drill team, and cow branding and working.  Ryan worked on the house for awhile too.  The other night I was displeased with Mo because he had brought his train to the dinner table, and had slathered a thick layer of butter all over it (what is it with Mo and butter???)  I started to get after him, but Ryan claimed that his tractor just needed a little grease, and so why was that a big deal?  Oh, I don't know maybe because Mo is kinda famous for wasting butter all the time.

     The other night for scripture study, I became aware once again, that Oak turned eight months ago, and I have yet to buy him a set of scriptures of his own.  I asked him if he had been reading any at all, and of course he hadn't.  When the girls were his age, I used to bribe them all the time to read their scriptures every evening.  I told him that if he would read his scriptures every night for a month, I would buy him a sling shot...this made Sags all kinds of upset, and she threw a huge fit.  She made it very clear that if Oak got a new sling shot, she would be getting nailed with it non-stop.  I cannot say that I disagree with her theories, but it was important to me, to get my kids into the habit of reading their scriptures every night.  So....he is getting a sling shot if he keeps up with his reading.  Hopefully, he will play with it outside.

     We had Grandma Great last weekend, and she is finally starting to recover from her hurt rib.  She does not get out of bed any more though, and I was really struggling that day to get her to eat anything.  I finally sat down on her bed and spoon fed her some pudding while she complained about her aches and pains.  I spacily left the pudding on her night stand as I tried to rub some of the pain out of her legs.  Well, I left the room, only to come back in and find that Dill had spread pudding all over her sheets as Grandma peacefully dozed.  Not good Dill!  I was also not amused to find that Dill had gotten into Ryan's stash of bullets and had sat and shoved a whole bunch of them into my body wash...yes, she took the lid off of my body wash, and filled all of the excess space with Ryan's bullets...not sure if the soap will ruin the bullets or not.  I was not ready for Dill to be starting into these messes.  I came home from a shrsh meeting on Sunday to find rice scattered all over my kitchen and living room....did someone get married or something?  Why was rice tossed everywhere?

     And speaking of shrsh...Mo decided that it was a good time to do the Wonder Pets cheers in the middle of sacrament meeting...right when it was nice and quiet..."we're not too big, and we're not too tough, but when we work together we've got the right stuff.. GOOOO WONDERPETS!"  He also began playing "the Wild Wild West" in the middle of the meeting...not good...if I didn't have my lessons and scriptures on my phone, I would leave it home for sure.

     The other night, Ryan and I went to the temple for our anniversary.  When I got out, I noticed that one of the kids had tried to call repeatedly.  I called them back, and it was Wazz.  She claimed that she had watched the kids all evening, and that no one had helped her, and she was getting tired of it all.  I must admit that I know this is true to a large degree.  The older girls get on their devices, Rooshkie, gets on her lap top, and yeah, Wazz ends up babysitting.  Ryan and I grabbed her a cotton candy at the Golden Corral as we were leaving, and it helped to reward her for keeping Dill happy.  However, I was not too pleased the next morning to find that someone had taken the little cone thing, that they wrap the cotton candy around, and had placed bandaids strategically all up and down the cone.  Why do I buy stuff?  All of the stuff I buy is largely wasted on such things.  It's either dumped down the drain, or on the floor, or wasted in some other way....not too happy about that.

Arden-painted and got the blue bus running...wow

     It has been weeks, and I feel bad about that.  Our computer mouse didn't work for a few weeks, and Ryan was out of town, and I just get so busy doing what, I am not sure.  Seriously weeks go by, and I look around and I have nothing to show for it.   For example, Ryan pulled the travel trailer here weeks ago, so that I could get it nice and clean to store or whatever...I haven't cleaned one thing in there yet.  Not one.  Hopefully, I am improving my attitude or something every day.  Hopefully, I will be a better person in the end, even if I cannot seem to get stuff done. 
     Mo has still been all sorts of high maintenance in his breakfast demands.  One morning he heaped himself up a nice plate of Doritos, because heaven forbid that I had made pancakes.  Huxti happened to text me that morning that he was also having issues with Tommy.  Apparently Tommy insisted on two different kinds of cereals, and I know that Huxti knew he wasn't going to like it at all.  These are the difficulties of the three year old kid.  Just this morning, Mo wanted nothing but "Oatmeal Sugar".  I had to ask him about several times, because I was more than willing to dish him up some oatmeal with brown sugar...but oh no...he just wanted the brown sugar in a bowl with nothing else....sorry Mo...not happening.  Some days I go along with some of the nonsense because hey, battles have got to be important ones, but I just cannot fathom dishing him up a bowl of sugar.
     We had our semi-annual dental appointment this past week.  It was a fiasco as it always is.  To start with, I grossly underestimated how much time it would take to stop by all three schools and get all of the kids checked out.  Seriously..Rooshkie especially took FOREVER.  I am not sure if she was doing the Charleston in the halls or what, but I guarantee a few spins and leaps may have been involved.  I was trying like mad to get there on time, but alas we were probably ten minutes late.  On the way through the gorge, Jazz had somehow found a candy cane to give Dill so that she would be quiet.  It worked, but she was a sticky, red, mess.  She kept throwing all of the neatly arranged magazines all over the office.  Mo immediately turned on the dumb ABC video and poked and prodded Dill anytime she came near to mess with the dials.  This would make Dill cry and cry.  Jazz had brought a toothbrush to clean her teeth with, but this ended up being bad because Oak would go and get it wet and then let Dill brush water all over the magazines.  Usually I can send the kids to the little water walk across the street when we are finished, but on that particular day it was rainy and cold.  I had things somewhat managed until I turned the reigns over to Wames so that he could check my teeth.  Apparently Oak and Rooshkie began messing with the radio dials.  Rooshkie would turn it on her favorite station, and then Oak would crank up the volume.  Mo also began slamming the door loudly until the secretary had to get involved.  No one would listen to Wameserz and her threats and demands.  I didn't even know any of this until we were on our way home.  What can I do at this point?  I thought about sending the secretary flowers or something?  Oh well, I guess no permanent damage was really done.
     I have trying to think about the last few weeks and some of our activities.  We have had Halloween, and Ryan and Dill's birthday.  Dill turned one on the 26th.  I hate to admit that there is a huge difference between her first birthday party and Wames' first birthday party.  It doesn't mean I love the Dill any less, I just know that really, she doesn't really know or care too much about her birthday yet, and for that I am grateful.  Ryan had traded a bin of winter squash for a bin of watermelons, and yeah, she got a beautiful squash cake that was actually quite delicious.  She, and everyone else loved it.  I broke down, and let the kids play and squabble over balloons, and she got a few toys.  For the most part she was just loved and sung to most of the day.  She is a big deal, but I didn't invite anyone and we didn't go anywhere.  I also let her go in Walmart and pick out a toy.  She chose a pink singing bear...perfect for my little ray of happy.  What a wonderful year it has been with my little Salem...I have to remind myself of her beautiful name, and it's meaning.  She is a lovely and happy soul.  My family seems complete.
     On the week of Halloween we had a ton of activities going on. Rooshkie got really sick that week, and I was trying to take care of her.  It was a bad virus, but she is such a little social thing, that some of the worst of it was just her missing out on all of the fun activities.  For Young Women's that week we were supposed to go and help with the Halloween carnival at the elementary school.  Wames was involved with the Drill Team in getting the kids to come and dance in their costumes.  However, on that same night, the FFA put on a haunted hayride, and Sags, and Wames were involved with that, along with Arden, and Falen Hafen and all of the FFA kids.  So, yeah, Wames was supposed to be in two places at once (three if you count the YW activity)  Oak was also supposed to play in a football game that evening.  Anyhow, it was kinda crazy.  Sags also had volleyball practice during all of this.  So, the kids scraped up some costumes (and when I say scraped, I mean totally thrown together)  Oak was a football player (being that he was still thinking about playing) Jazz was some girl off of  "Despicable Me" and actually looked the part quite well, but she isn't a real familiar character.  Some kid asked her if she were dressed up like a piece of trash???  That kinda took the wind out of her sails.  Mo was a super hero, Dill was just herself, and Chlo was a fairy princess.  When we got there, immediately Jazz and Oak wanted to go through the spook alley, but I was sure that Chlo could not handle it.  I don't know if I have ever discussed on here, how skittish Chlo is.  She is kind of spooked about everything.  She won't sleep in her room alone, or even go in her room alone, even if it is broad daylight.  There was no way she could handle a spook alley...which left Oak and Jazz to go alone.  Chlo and I went with Dill, and Mo to see how Wames was doing.  She had dressed up like a spooky doll and was awkwardly trying to get the little kids to come to the drill team booth and dance for candy.  I figured that was right up Chlo Bird's alley and so we went.  The girl running the booth had to ask what her siblings were dressed as though because no one quite knew including Wames.  It was kinda awkward to say the least.  The drill team did figure it out later though, and began playing the Macarena and some of the songs the kids knew the dances to.  Anyhow, Jazz ended up half scared to death in the spook alley, and kept trying to receive comfort and protection from Oak, who was indifferent and board to all of their scare tactics.  I will say this about Oak though...the carnival was getting ready to shut down, and I told him to go and buy his sister a cotton candy because she was home sick...he waited in the dumb cotton candy line for Jerusha for 45 minutes or so.  And then, all of the kids ate most of it on the way home without me knowing until I handed Jerusha a bag with a little smidgeon of cotton candy left...poor Rooshkie...it totally wasn't her night.
     The haunted hayride was fun, and is a totally different story.  It was an FFA fundraiser, and they had people ride through a haunted and spooky field.  We went over there to pick up Wames and Sags, when things were winding down.  Derek Hafen was getting ready to pull another load of people through the field when the kids began piling out.  He looked at them and told them to hop on, and that he would be happy to let them see the spookiness for free.  ( Did I mention I love the people in this valley?)  They all found a spot, and so Ryan, Dill and I hopped on too.  It was actually a ton of fun.  They had silent, spooky types follow after the trailer slowly, and scenes of blood and horror around every corner.  Chlo felt brave next to Ryan and shouted all sorts of insults just to show that she wasn't scared.  Wames was a spooky doll in a haunted play house, and I was secretly glad that Arden's chainsaw scene had broken down earlier.  It was a quiet, spooky, still night and a light rain was falling...seriously, thoroughly enjoyable.  We got home to a sad little Rooshkie, and I didn't even have hardly any cotton candy to give her ( I had purchased like four bags of the stuff).
     Halloween was fun.  Ryan worked all day, and I always feel like his birthday is largely over looked.  The ward does trunk or treat, and we also stopped at Grandma Greats to say hi.  She was really struggling that night, and Margaret felt like she had maybe broken a rib from a fall that she had had earlier in the week.  It didn't stop an extremely sticky Mo from shedding his costume at the front door, and wanting a glass of hot chocolate in his underwear.  Of course, Margaret got him one.  We gave Grandma a quick hug, and I promised to send Ryan over to give poor Grandma a blessing. 
     We ended up going over to Grandma's the next day so that Ryan and Cliven could give her a blessing.  She was in terrible pain.  She is way tough, and so to have her complain and cry like she had been was really concerning.  Margaret had given her some pretty powerful pain killers and that made her way disoriented.  I will never forget the way that the room felt as Ryan and Cliven placed their hands on her head.  She had been in so much pain just moments before that she was crying out and moaning.  In the middle of Ryan's blessing, peace came over all of us.  She began snoring softly as he finished speaking.  How grateful I am that the Lord shares his peace and power with us.  I cannot tell you how many times that the Priesthood has given me the boost that I needed to go on.  It was just what cute Grandma needed that day too.  I am also grateful for difficulties that require me to stop and ask for blessings.  I always feel such a powerful connection with  my Heavenly Father during those times.  I am thinking that I haven't written about it in this blog, but on the day that I was in labor with Moroni, I was just getting up the courage I needed to deliver him.  I was in a lot of pain, and my midwife asked if I would like a blessing.  I explained to her that I had already had one.  She looked at me kind of incredulous.  "Well, would you like another one?  I don't see it said anywhere that you can't have another one."  Ryan blessed me, and I was no longer scared.  Yep...I am so grateful for Priesthood power.  I believe in it wholeheartedly.
     Ok...we also have had to take several trips to Cedar so that we can work on our house.  It has been up for sale, and it has needed some work.  We have hired some of the work done, but most of the guys that we hired, had since found full time employment.  We went up on a long weekend, rented a room through Jeff's wonderful employer, and hoped that we could buckle down and get some work done.  The realtor wanted everything painted white, and all of our cabinets redone, along with trim on the exterior painted.  Ryan also needed to replace some flooring because we had some flooding happen when a pipe broke the previous winter.  I was quite pleased with my older kids...we stripped paper, and painted the whole living room on the one day that we were there.  Also, staying with the kids in a hotel is always quite the adventure.  We had checked in pretty late, and I was hoping that the kids would keep it down so that we didn't cause a disturbance.  Yeah, they all insisted on a swimming session, and quiet was far from everybody's behavior.  Yelling, and fighting in that echo-y pool room had me pretty nervous.  To top it all off, I had forgotten my suit and Mo kept jumping in willy nilly.  I saved his little body from death several times, but had gotten all wet in the process.  Needless to say, that staying at the hotel made the whole weekend fun, even though we had gone up there to get some work done.  Thank goodness for Jeff and the discount he can get us on rooms.  In the morning, Ryan and I woke up to a very disgruntled Sags.  She had gotten into the shower right after Rooshkie.  Rooshkie had used up all of the little shampoo and conditioner sample that was left in the shower.  That isn't really a surprise because it is just a sample, and Rooshkie has a ton of hair.  Anyhow, she hollered and yelled, and asked Ryan and I what we were going to do about Jerusha.  I was kinda dumbfounded.  What did she want me to do with her, squeeze any excess products out of her hair?  She was upset that she didn't have any shampoo or conditioner for her hair, but in my book, that isn't even close to a crisis.  I was going to do nothing about it, that was for sure.  Needless to say, Sags was ready to string Rooshkie up.  I knew that her hair would be fine if it wasn't washed that day...no biggie, we were going home that night for crying out loud.  Oh...the teenage drama, people warned me about it for years, and we are totally there.

somehow this was an indication that things were haunted?

     It has cooled off finally!  I seriously want to go outside and skip, and dance, and hop!  It is down to the lower 90's and it feels absolutely amazing!  One thing that I desperately miss about Cedar is fall.  We kind of get a fall around the end of November or so, but yeah...I miss going to look at the beautiful change of leaves, football, and cozy nights by the fire.  Bring it all on!  I am ready...I will take lower 90's though.  It was a long, hot and dry summer. 
     Jerusha made the drill team, and this has led her to spin and twirl and dance all over the house ever since she got that glorious news.  Sags has been busy with Volleyball, and has been involved with two games a week.  They have won some, and have lost some.  She loves to play, though, and she has become quite the player.  Jamie has also performed quite a bit, and her arm has pretty much healed up.  She performed three times this past week.  We had a game Friday night, and she danced beautifully.  My kids are busy and loving it.
     I received a new calling a few weeks ago, and it is going to keep me busy.  I am now the Second Counselor in the Young Women's.  I am excited about this new calling, and yet, I was so busy with the kids and all of their activities before the calling.  I have faith that if I give the Lord this time, I will be better at juggling the rest of my demands.  The only immediate problem with the new calling, is that I had just signed up Oak for flag football.  Tackle would have been ideal, but all of the tackle practices etc were going on during the craziest part of melon season.  I figured that he could at least learn the main points of the game by playing flag football first.  Anyhow....all of his games are held on Wednesdays at six...right during Young Women's.  Last week Ryan was able to go and he claims that Oak was great on the field, grabbing off flags, and he even made a touchdown.  Yeah for Oak.  I guess I will take it one week at a time, and hopefully I will be able to go to some of the games.
    Melons are definitely winding down.  We are struggling just to find enough melons to fill a bin.  There are quite a few small ones coming on, but I am not sure if anyone is going to want to buy them.  Watermelons are kind of a summer food, but hey....it is still in the 90's here.  Anyhow, the other day, Ryan and I had gone out to pick melons with the two babies.  It had been hot, and sweaty, and difficult because we had to search far and wide to get the bins filled....Dill had also bawled most of the morning.  It felt great in the truck in the air conditioning, but a strange smell filled the cab, and it got stronger and stronger until I felt like my head was going to explode.  I finally discovered that Mo had sprayed an entire bottle of spray lube all over the seat, saturating a sock until it was dripping and yellow.  From then on, the trip home was quite miserable....Dilly bawled and I couldn't get out of the truck fast enough.
     We have also had more incidents with Mo getting into the butter.  I don't know why he feels the need to mess with the butter, but for whatever reason, he is drawn to it.  Sags had begged me one morning to wash her green Volleyball practice shirt, so that she could wear it to practice that afternoon.  I had stuck it in the wash while I was getting the elementary kids out the door, and then I had grabbed it out of the washer and hung it on the back of the chair because we were heading out to pick melons.  I felt proud of myself for getting it done when I had a bajillion other things to do.  She would see it there, and it would be clean and fresh even if I didn't make it back before she did.  Well, we did make it home before her, and I didn't realize it, but Mo saw the freshly laundered shirt, and slathered it in butter.  Needless to say, Sags was not too happy with the little fella.  He has also been slathering it on the countertops again, which is never very easy to clean up.
     Mo's playing with pet rocks has also taken on a whole new level.  To properly care for the rocks, he sticks them in socks.  I have found many a rock/sock combinations in many various places.  I usually grab the stray sock with thoughts that it needs to be wershed, only to be met up by a rock inside.  I am never sure how fond of the rock he is, but I haven't gotten in too much trouble yet for simply chucking the rock outside, and throwing the sock in the wersh.
     I mentioned that Wams performed at half time the other night.  That whole evening ended up being a complete fiasco.  Ryan and I had the kids, and we were all set to go to the game.  However, as we were loading up, Ryan got a call from Cliven, because a bunch of heifers had gotten into the fresh alfalfa and had to be driven out immediately.  Cliven was taking care of his Mother and Arden was playing football....yeah, it definitely fell to Ryan to take care of this task.  This put me at the game alone with all of the kids.  Saggers had also been asked to babysit for a friend, and Jazz had already gone to the game with a secret friend.  So...this left Rooshkie and I to take care of all of the babies.  I got in there, and Rooshkie handed me some bracelets that she is supposed to be selling for drill team, and she disappeared.  There were some Nazi adults who wouldn't allow the kids to roll down the hill (I am sorry but this type of thing really bugs me! )  which left me trying to juggle a bored Oak, and a bawling Mo, and a busybody Dill on the bench.  Thankfully Jazz had showed up with her friend and offered to keep Chlo.  Anyhow...Rooshkie did finally show up and take Dill, but Mo made loud bawling noises for a good 45 minutes.  It all started because he wanted a drink of water.  Because of the last game, and the volleyball water demands, I had opted not to bring my water bottle.  Last time he refused it anyway.  He bawled and bawled for a drink, and so I went in search of a drinking fountain with no luck.  There was one, but it had not been in operation for awhile.  This bugs me too because I know why they don't fix the fountains, and it is so that you will have to buy water from the snack bar.  The current snack bar line was huge, the van was parked clear down the block, and on and on he bawled.  I finally located Jazz, and asked her to wait in the long line for a bottle of water.  She of course, said yes, and even kept Chlo with her.  Meanwhile Mo's sobs are getting louder and louder.   Our team was getting butchered, and no one's spirits were very good.  I finally went down on the grass and just let him cry. Wazz finally did show up with the water, but he refused to drink it, and only bawled louder because it was cold.  Yes, he wanted hot water to drink, and the cold water just would not do.  I could tell that he was just worn out, and as soon as Wams finished with her performance, we left.  He fell fast asleep as soon as we got in the car.  Seriously....Mo is completely unreasonable when he is tired.  The other day, he quietly wormed out of his seat, got in a melon box, and fell asleep as I was driving to the store.  At that point I was wondering whether I should try to pick up the whole box and just wheel him in, or what because I definitely couldn't leave him in his melon box bed while I shopped....yeah, it was still 110 that week.  I ended up having to wake him up of course...he wasn't too happy about it.
     Speaking of rogue cattle, Big Dummy has been at it again at the Casablanca golf course.  Someone always leaves the fence down over the river, which just gives Big Dummy the access to the golf course.  Apparently some triple a member went and yelled at Ryan and the kids last Sunday for being on the course.  Sags was like..."do you want to continue dealing with Big Dummy on the course?"  the guy then called the cops, which agreed that Big Dummy just had to go.  But, he just runs into the brush and hides there...and then saunters back onto the green.  Cliven mentioned last night that he is back on the course this weekend.  I am hoping Arden and Taylen went and chased him off again.  Seriously?  We just need to plant a golf course for Big Dummy...it is where he wants to be at all times.

    

 

    We are still running around like crazies.  Ryan is still selling a bin of melons here or there, and so we pick from time to time, and most of our time lately, has been spent just cleaning things up.  We have been stacking boxes and burning trash.  Things are looking more clean and organized, and the melons are still growing.  But, our market is pretty much gone.  That's ok...we lost enough money on melons for the year.
     With that being said, we have had football games, and volleyball games, and Wamers performances to keep us busy.  Rooshkie has also completed a course in volleyball, and her tournament was last weekend.  She has also thrown herself into the drill team, and they nominated her as "spirit leader".  I am not sure what the spirit leader does, but whatever it is, Rooshkie will give it 110%, which is just how she does everything.  She is very much like her Dad in that aspect.  If there is a contest of some sort, she is going to join, and try to win.  She does everything with all she's got.  One of her best friends is moving, and I know she is going to be way sad when that time comes.  In the meantime, she has kept busy, and some kid has asked her to wear his football jersey for homecoming.  I am not even quite sure what this means...it must be a Virgin Valley thing.  When I went to school, a guy might ask a special girl to wear his Letterman's jacket, but I realize that down here, the scorching sun makes it too hot for Letterman's jackets.  Maybe this jersey thing is somewhat similar...all I know is that she's too little, and she ought to go and play with her Polly Pocket set or something.
     Oak has had a couple of football games.  He absolutely loves to play.  He is learning the rules of the game and is extremely aggressive and competitive.  He and I have been practicing passes, and he has gotten pretty good at catching long ones.  Ryan has practiced with him too.  Anyhow, I was kind of disappointed last week, when he dropped a long pass.  The next time one was thrown to him, however, he caught it, and his flags fell off....I am not even sure how this happened, but yeah, we need to tie them on better.  After that, he got all kinds of aggressive.  He went after every kid that got the ball with an extreme vigor.  One little girl was open, and her coach was throwing her a pass....before it even landed in her arms, Oak had ripped her flags off.  I think in regular football, it would be considered a pass interference, but in flag, they just considered her tackled...before she even caught the ball.  And she did catch it.  Poor gal.  Anyhow...he loves the game.  He even invited a whole bunch of people to his last game.  His bus driver even showed up, and she casually gave me a Gatorade to give him after the game.   One thing about it, you just cannot beat the people in this valley.  I have come to love them.
     Sage has had a ton of home games lately.  I really enjoy watching her play, and she has come so far from our sweaty and hot practices in the summer sun.  Seriously, she has learned a ton.  However, lately, for one reason or another, I have had to bring all of the kids and that has been a regular disaster.  DISASTER!!!!  Oak is bored and awful.  There are a bunch of bucket seats at the top of the bleachers that are supposed to be reserved for school boosters and contributors.  At a freshman game, they are up for grabs though, and Oak and Moroni feel the need to walk around and slam them up and slam them down...as loudly, and next to elderly people if possible.  Then they run around on the bleachers, banging and stomping as they go.  I try to find them a section that is largely unoccupied if I possibly can, but they refuse to limit themselves to an area where there is no one to notice their loud ways.  Moroni went running down the bleachers last game and laughing and stomping out the door.  This forced me to run after him, and I clomped into a garbage can on the way down the stairs, which tumbled down the stairs and scattered trash all over the court at our last game.  Ryan also came to that game, and yeah, I'm sorry, but his heart and blood pressure cannot take the pressure.  He kept muttering and complaining about a particular player, who was having an off day that day.  Yeah, she messed up a lot, and he was going  nuts that the coach had not pulled her out.  I was so concerned about her parents hearing his mutterings, and combine that with Mo slamming chairs around, I had a hard time watching my Saggers play.  She did well though...and the coach finally did pull the struggling player out.  I swore off taking any of the little kids with me, but again today...a game, and Oak with a football game after it, and no time and extra gas money to run home...they will all have to come to the game again.  I am not looking forward to it.
     Another thing, was at the last game...I did not notice, but Mo had dressed himself in a neon yellow stained shirt, blue and white short shorts ( they did not come low enough to hang down under the shirt)  and he must have smashed up Doritos somewhere and knelt in their cheesiness.  He had Dorito knees...or Weedo knees according to him.  Mo has also been slathering on the deodorant lately.  He usually asks which kind is the boy kind, and then he generously applies some under his little arms.  The other day, Rooshkie was in primping, and he came in to use some deodorant.  He slathered her legs with the stuff, just for good measure.  Hey, at least he is smelling fresh!
     We were also somewhere with a large congregation of people, when Mo went to run off...he almost cannot resist doing this.  Jazz grabbed him by the waist, but he began to yell that she was choking him.  Ummm I don't think so.  He was also all upset the other day, because Jazz fixed his pancake with star swirl patterns with the syrup...and she cut it like a pizza.  He was not okay with this.  He bawled and howled, and Jazz wondered how to fix it.  I kept telling her to ignore the nonsense, which she did, and he finally ate the pancake with all of its short comings.  Seriously...when will this three year old stuff end?

    

     Well, things are still as busy as all get out, but with melons winding down, I have definitely enjoyed just being at home and getting things in order again.  I just couldn't keep up with the house, the laundry and everything when we were spending so much time dealing with melons.  Another thing, is that Ryan has been taking Moroni most days, and Dill and I are able to get way more done with him gone.  The only problem that has come up with this arrangement, is that Ryan lets him sleep most of the day, and then he is up most of the night.  Of course at night, he only wants Mom...this has led to many a restless night, but I know that he is learning a lot from his Dad and Grandpa.   I just hope he stays awake long enough to learn it.  I cannot figure out how Ryan gets him to sleep all day...I can't ever get him to nap much anymore.  Maybe it is all of the work in the sunshine that wears him out quickly.

     Last week, I had to run Jazz clear to Cedar for an orthodontist appointment.  I really like our orthodontist, but the trip to Cedar and back, is always a huge inconvenience.  Dill has gotten old enough that she hates her car seat, and Mo is still as unreasonable as ever in the car.  Ryan went to a Donald Trump rally that day, because with Rand Paul losing steam, we are still unsure who to vote for.  Trump has been getting a lot of attention from a lot of people, and when the ticket was offered to Ryan, he couldn't refuse.  Anyhow, so, Mo had to accompany me to the Orthodontist with Jazz and baby Dill.  Needless to say, it was a long day.  Dill actually slept most of the way up, which was a huge blessing.  Mo got kinda restless, and was way disappointed when the appointment was for Jazz and not for him.  Jazz had gone in to brush her teeth, and then ended up in a cool sort of chair.  Mo explained that he needed to brush his teeth, his feet and his hands with the brush and paste...he told me that he needed to sit in the cool chair too, as soon as he was done.  I told him that Jazzerz was the only one that would be in the chair that day, and I tried my best to distract him with their cool pumpkin display.  He wasn't really going for the distraction.  He was way disappointed that he couldn't be the one in the chair.

     I then stopped at Cal-ranch because Oak has been in need of a new white shirt for shrsh.  Mo got really naughty in there...squealing, and running, and hiding in the racks of clothes.  It got bad enough, that I hurried and beat it out of there, and found him a nice spot of grass to run around for awhile.  We decided to meet up with my Mom and Dad for lunch because it was my Mom's birthday and they were going to be passing through.  They bought us some McDonalds, while Mo played all over the equipment.  Dill got drenched and sticky with the ice cream cone and milk shake.  Literally she was sticking to me.

     Luckily Dill fell asleep on the way home too, but Sags called when I hit St.George and begged me to get her some supplies for volleyball.  This made my shoulders slump, but Mesquite doesn't have a whole lot of stores for that kind of thing.  I reluctantly stopped which was a huge fiasco.  I bent down to look at something for two seconds and Mo took off.  I noticed that he was gone pretty fast, but it is a huge sporting goods store, and I knew that he could be hiding anywhere at that point.  Jazz and I split up, and I immediately began looking down aisles, and under racks....I noticed an elderly employee escorting Mo to the front of the store pretty quick.  I yelled, and the man let me know that he was getting ready to page me.  I apologized and decided that I was just going to have to keep his hand in mine for the rest of the shopping trip.  The problem is, Mo has been faking injuries lately to get attention.  I cannot figure this out because the kid gets plenty of attention...it is non stop.  Anyhow, he howled that my grip was too tight and that I was hurting him, but I knew that he just wanted to break free so that he could run around, squeal, and hide.
     Sags had several items on her list, but I decided to head out to the checkout area with the one that I happened to get when Mo initially took off.  I have learned over the years, and I need to remember, that shopping with Mo and Oak really isn't worth it.  They win, I cannot do it.  I admit defeat.  I was calling it quits, while I still had his hand in mine.  We approached the check out, and I let go of his hand so that I could grab my card....big mistake.  Anyhow, we wormed away and ran behind a checkout desk that wasn't being used at the time.  Of course, the guy ringing me up freaked out about him being back there.  I hurried and gave him my signature, and went and grabbed Mo.  He freaked out and played injured once again when I grabbed him.  Owwww!  He screeched...your hurting my arm OWWWWWW!  Yeah, as loud as possible, which got everyone's attention.  Needless to say, that I was cussing Sags, and Mo at that moment.  When I got him outside, it was not his arm that was injured, but his legs.  He threw himself on the ground and was just too hurt to move.  I finally got him in the car, and was trying to get out of there.  I got him in the car, and I had Jasmine checking him over, just to be sure that he was faking, which I was 99% positive that he was.  He then began howling that his feet were too hot...TOOO HOTTT!  Jazz removed his boots and socks, only to find that his feet had been slathered in a grubby layer of toothpaste.  I had mysteriously smelled toothpaste wafting through the car, and wondered if he had been eating it.  I had yelled at him several times not to eat the toothpaste, and he always replied that he wasn't...yeah, he wasn't he was slathering it on his feet instead. He had mentioned at the Orthodontist that his feet and hands needed to be brushed with toothpaste too, I guess I should listen to his agenda. We checked him over, he stopped crying, and decided that he no longer wanted to ride in the car seat...this was no surprise because he hates it, but he decided that he wanted to ride on my lap.  I knew this was out of the question.  I think that he knew that it was out of the question, but it didn't stop him from starting his bawling all over again.  At that point I didn't care...so what?  Mo is bawling, so what else is new?  Jazz, however went and made a hut around him, and this made him way happy...however, he then began to demand treats, and books, and toys that were needed in his hut...he required all kinds of niceties in order for his hut to be comfortable and enjoyable.  Luckily, he fell asleep before all of his demands were met....usually the problem is, he is hungry or tired.  However, he needs to learn that hunger and fatigue are just a huge part of life, and we have to act reasonable, even when we feel those things.  He totally has not learned this yet.
     It was nice to get home, and get the two babies out where they could run and play.  I hope that Mo and his "fake injuries" don't cause me any trouble later on.

     I cannot figure out why I can't get organized, or get it together at all.  Other people seem to be able to function in a somewhat organized manner.  I cannot.  I have lost all of my ability to keep on top of things.  These past few weeks have passed in a blur, and for the past three weeks we cannot, for the life of us, find Chloee's shoes for shrsh.  We also cannot seem to keep on top of all of the endless activities, and demands that is just common to life. 
     For example...next week is drill team tryouts for the middle school.  Rooshkie has all kinds of desires and ambitions to try out.  I am fine with this, and I even attended the parents meeting, which was held a week or two ago.  They passed out athletic packets, which needed to be filled out and returned by....um two days ago.  Yeah, this is how things are continually done.  I had to hurry and try to get her in to get a physical on Saturday because her athletic packet was due last Fridee.  I find myself not doing things the last minute.  I do things after the last minute, and then have to beg for things to be accepted and admitted after the fact.  Anyhow, we went in to the clinic, I had the athletic packet, but the paper that was needed at the clinic, to be filled out by the physician had ripped off of the back (seriously so typical of me!)  So...this left me scrambling.  I ran to the high school with the remote hope that someone would be in their office on a Saturday (no one was).  I called Saggers at the house because, thankfully, I had accidentally left her athletic packet at the house when I took her in to get her physical, which caused me to run up to the high school for another one.  Unfortunately Little Sags had tossed it during her last room cleaning.  I was just beginning to give up hope, when Rooshkie found it, dripping wet and under Wamzerz leaking water bottle.  So...we went to the clinic with a soppy paper, and they filled it out and ignored the fact that it was soggy.  Yep...it is the story of my life always these days.
     Another example of this, is Oak has all sorts of ambitions in the football arena.  Unfortunately, little league tackle football is drawing to a close for the year.  They began their season when we were in the middle of melons, and I just knew that we would be too busy to go.  It was a several night of the week commitment, and I knew it would be too much at the time.  Ryan expects Oak especially to help with melons because he is our oldest boy, and he needs to learn how to work hard.  They have a flag football session starting up, and I figured that he could at least learn the rules of the game, and he begged me over and over and OVER to sign him up.  Well....yep, I didn't get it done until sign ups were over.  I did go and beg, and they let him in.  I am tired of being this way, and I know that melons are largely to blame.  I still remember my bridal shower.  I had invited my Mother in law to be, and my new sister-in-laws to it.  It was right in the middle of melon season, and I remember Carol squirming when I gave her the invite.  They did show up, but they were like two hours late.  We kept stalling and stalling with more and more dumb games because they were on their way.  I just could not figure out at the time, how melons could get in the way of my little event, but I definitely understand now.  Melons have taken over the world as I know it.
     Dilly is now walking everywhere and getting into EVERYTHING.  I realize that this is just part of her learning process, but she is dumping, and sorting, and unloading nonstop.  I cannot keep up, because I am still constantly having to drive the kids all over tarnation with their practices, meetings, and activities.  It sometimes takes me a minute to recover from her unloading sessions.  I noticed last week, that she dumped a package of q-tips and it took me a few days to get to it, because it was in a corner that I just couldn't get to.  Yesterday, she got into a jar of marshmallow cream and went to town eating it.  I watched her dip her little hands into it over and over as she got it all over her little face and hands.  Chlo got herself a dip or two, and claimed that the stuff tasted of "deer heart and marshmallows"  I am not sure how that stuff tasted like deer heart, but I get the 'shmallow taste origins for sure.  My little Dill is learning that is for sure...and making a huge mess in the process.  She also likes to take paper and rip it to shreds.  It is one way that she feels extremely productive.
     Ryan sold a bunch of melons to a company in Vegas that were actually willing to come and pick the melons up right out of the field.  I was concerned because it was 20 bins, and a school day.  Cliven and Carol showed up to help, and our cousin Christopher, who is recently returned off of a mission was there, and another kid from Beaver Dam AZ.  Anyhow, we put Oak on the tractor, Wazz loading boxes and we went to picking.  The biggest problem, is that most of our melons are overripe and ruined.  This means it is a ton more work, because we have to pick every melon, tap it, and chuck it, or put it on the picker if it is good.  9 times out of 10, it is no good.  It was a long day to say the least.  And quite disheartening.  Anyhow, when my older kids got out of school, they came and began helping us.  Sags was all sorts of disgruntled about all of the melons to be picked, and she was way annoyed with everything Rooshkie was doing.  She complained and complained about Rooshkie.  Finally, Christopher mentioned a talk given by Elder Uchtorf about complaining that she should listen to.  I agreed readily that she should listen to the speech.  She quickly shot back with a retort about Elder Uchtdorf's talk about being annoying that Jerusha should definitely listen to.  I looked at her quizzically because I could not recall a speech about avoiding the annoyance of others.  Yep...Sags is quick....I love her sense of humor.  She seems to have gotten "the glass is half-full" attitude that Cliven often has, but she also got the Huntington sense of humor.  Seriously, hilarious a lot of the time.  Rooshkie spent most of her time dancing and flitting about the melon field.  They were doing the odd "whip and nae nae" song that came out recently.  Christopher mentioned that his sister made him watch the video when he returned home, and that it was a huge waste of three minutes of his time.  Of course, this made Sags and Rooshkie whip and nae nae even more.  I have to laugh at Rooshkie too because she likes to put rotten melons on the conveyor for Wams to deal with as she loads the bins.  I find it so hilarious to see a rotting melon set with all of the other nice ones rolling slowly down the conveyor to Wams.  Just some of the ways that we have made the melon field fun.
     Another thing that I love in the melon field is when the evening falls.  When the sun goes down, everything cools off, and the bats come out.  I get a big kick out of watching the bats.  They swoop around and eat bugs, and it is almost mesmerizing.  Anyhow, I mentioned to the kids that I was really looking forward to the bats coming out.  Rooshkie gave me a sidelong glance and told me that if bats were the highlight of my day, then she felt really sorry for me.  Bats have become a very enjoyable part of my day though.  When the bats come out, I know that my work day is done.  It is a very satisfying and enjoyable part of the melon field.  I like the bats.
     Today has been a crazy and busy Sundee.  We have also been taking care of Grandma since yesterday morning.  This means that Ryan was at Grandma's and I had to get all of the kids ready alone this morning.  Dilly was way forlorn without her Dad.  She has gotten way attached to Ryan, and must have her Daddy time.  Anyhow, she whined and bawled as I tried to get everyone ready.  To top it all off, Wams had to go to some soils convention for FFA today.  She also had to go to Moapa to a farewell, and so the morning was especially busy for her.  Because she has an injured arm, I had to curl her hair for her, and Dilly was not down with it.  I finally asked Oak to take care of her.  He promptly sat her on the floor and began spinning around and around on his knees.  This stopped her crying and she was entertained for a moment.  I was struck for a minute about the difference in my boys and girls.  When I hand the Dill off to Wazz or Sager, they soothe her, or try to feed her in some manner.  They hold her close and love her better.  Oak, on the other hand tries to make her happy by entertaining her in some way.  Often it is in some loud, and horrid noise that makes the rest of us all cringe.  This morning the spinning on the knees thing, made Dill all sorts of happy.  I love my little Oaker  boy.  He is great.
     Jerusha has become smitten with a boy at school.  He apparently feels likewise about her because when the school interviewed him about his favorite person, he mentioned Jerusha Bundy.  He also sat by her on the bus that day....yep, I see a romance starting.  It better be nothing more than admiring each other from afar, but anyway...when it came time to pick melons I was supposed to pick her up after school, but was of course...late.  She got on the bus, which made me go on a crazy chase after the bus.  I finally caught up at one of the stops, and crazily ran onto the bus carrying a melon to bribe the bus driver with.  I didn't have to explain...he asked me if I needed Jerusha to help in the melon patch.  She was on the back seat, not looking too happy about the fact that I was on her bus, muddy, and holding a melon in a crazy manner.  And she wasn't too excited about picking melons, and leaving a cute boy who had the courage to sit by her.  All I can say is...get used to it Rooshkie my love...I will be embarrassing you until the end of time.

     Well, we are back in the rhythm of school, activities, and homework.  Plus, we are trying to sell as many melons as possible, which puts Ryan and I in the melon field with the babies a lot.  Mo is down with the melon field, but Dilly gets pretty frustrated.  All we have to do for Mo is crack open a melon.  He will just sit and dig in it with his fingers, and pretty much eat the whole thing.  One night we had all of the kids and Arden out picking, and Mo got whiney.  We busted a melon open for him, and I will never forget looking back at his little blond head, poking up out of the melon vines, as the night surrounded us.  His little blondness became harder and harder to see, but I knew he was content to just sit and eat his melon.  Dill usually gets set in the bin as we pick, and I just think that she is sick of the confinement of it all.  We even had Mo "drive" the melon picker the other morning.  Anyway, he thought he was driving, which made him feel pretty important.
     I would also like to take note of how much family has stepped in and helped us in our time of need.  Carol and Cliven have spent a lot of time helping us harvest, and they have done all that they can to offer suggestions, and assistance in selling wherever we can.  I was at the end of my rope one day, and I had to run to St George to get Chlo-bird's birth certificate so that she could start kindergarten.  I also had a bajillion other things that needed to get done, and I was feeling a ton of pressure.  Sags came in and informed me that she also had volleyball pictures that day.  It was seriously the last straw that I couldn't take any more.  I tearfully called Bailey (whom I know is extremely busy herself) and just asked if she could possibly run Sager in for pictures, because I couldn't be in St George and her ride for pictures...of course I had also waited to get the birth certificate until the very last minute too.  Anyhow, she not only ran Saggers to pictures, but she came and cleaned my house as well, leaving dinner on the table...that I might add, gave me dinner for several days.  I will always remember all of those people who are always so willing and ready to assist us all the time. Arden has also been so good to come and help us, when I know there are tons of things he would rather be doing.  I love my family, and I love my Bundy's.  I am very blessed.
     Sags has had several games, and seems to enjoy being on the volley ball team.  I have gone to all of her home games, and she has won one, and lost one.  She has another home game on Thursdee.  I was proud to watch her score a few points, and scared when she missed a few.  Man...it is a lot of pressure, and I am not even the one on the court!  She has come a long way with her skills though.  I am happy for her.
     We also celebrated Jamie's sixteenth birthday.  Wow...I cannot believe she is really 16.  Anyhow, she wanted a swimming party, and we congregated at Bunker's pond for awhile, and then the kids played night games.  I encouraged some of Rooshkie's friends to try to scare Wams back that evening, but I don't think it really happened.  She said it was a lot of fun, and she is pretty low key...I am grateful for this, because I have plenty of kids who aren't. 
     We had our first home football game the other night, and it was great to watch Wams perform with the drill team.  I was really proud of her.  One of her dance friends got injured during the routine though, and unfortunately, she knocked her knee cap out of place, and is more than likely done for the season.  Arden also killed it on the field by sacking the quarter back, and scoring a touch down.  Because he threw the ball in his excitement, they threw a penalty at him, and because the team was easily winning he was pulled out of the game at that point.  I will never forget my Arden boy carrying the water to all of his teammates with his pads, his jersey, and his cowboy boots.  I love that guy.  He is a ton of fun.  Mo was also a fiasco at the game, and so was Dill.  I also learned that most of the children in town, spend the time of the game, rolling down the hills near the bleachers.  Chlo engaged in this activity for the most part.  She also found that all of the grass on the hill was a bit dry, and all of the bits of dry grass ended up making her itch for the rest of the evening.  In my opinion the whole rolling down the hill thing is overrated, and is not as fun as it looks.  Usually the kids end up rolling sideways, and they usually end up with a confused, and unpleasant, dizzy look on their face.  Mo would run around and around the bleachers, only pausing to demand a drink of Volleyball water.  I still don't know what volleyball water is.  I would understand if I had taken him to Saggers games, and gotten him a drink at the fountain near the gym, but I always opted to leave him home during the volleyball games.  I had a hard enough time keeping Dilly off of the court, I don't want to even think about what Mo is capable of.  I do know that Volleyball water is not any kind of water out of a water bottle.  I offered several water bottles to him, only to have him decline, and insist on Volleyball water.  He was also wearing nothing but bib overalls and I heard a few snide remarks about his apparel from the cheerleaders.  But, Ryan seemed proud of the fact that he was officially a farm boy, and looked the part.
     After the game, and a small fiasco of misplacing Mo temporarily, Wams wanted to stay after the game and go to the "Stomp."  I had no idea what a stomp was, but I guessed that it must be a fun, and rowdy dance.  I readily agreed, but Ryan wanted her to come home.  He did finally agree to let her stay, but reluctantly.  We should have listened to him, because instead of going to the "Stomp" which had either been cancelled, or there never was one scheduled, she ended up at the Bunker's house jumping on their trampoline.  She fell off, and tried to catch herself by straightening her arms to catch her weight.  This ended up dislocating her elbow, and she was just extremely lucky that it wasn't broken.  Ryan ended up taking her to the Emergency Room in St George where it was X-rayed and set back into place.  She was in a ton of pain, and cried way more than I had seen her cry in a long time.  The good thing is, it isn't broken, and it will take some time to heal, but not 6 weeks like we feared when she left.  I figured she was done with drill team for sure.
     The next day, we had the Dave Bundy Reunion out at Nay's Ranch.  We had a hard time pulling it together and getting out there for some reason.  I just seem to be able to get through each day, and planning ahead is out of the question.  When the kids were little, and we had a reunion, I would pack for days, but I just don't have that luxury anymore.  Wams, was stiff, and sore, she and Ryan had both been up all night, and were extremely tired.  We did finally pack up on Saturday evening, and head out to Nay's.  We got there right at dusk, and dinner was still being served.  I must admit that I was a little bit crabby about setting up beds.  We were so ill equipped it wasn't even funny.  I had checked the forecast, and there was no remote chance of rain, anywhere in the vicinity.  But, I hated putting my babies to bed in the dirt.  All of the grassy spots were taken, which is no surprise, because we were the last ones out there.  I finally got to work, trying to set up some beds in the dark.  Luckily, Hailey Allen invited Wams and Sags to sleep in her tent with her (yeah!) and Wazz and some other secret cousin friends had decided to sleep down in a grassy area by the house.  Ryan had thrown us out a bed on a flattish area, which left Mo, Chlo, Oak, and Rooshkie...of course Dill was all about sleeping by Mom and Dad.  Anyhow, Ryan had hauled a bunch of melons out in a bin.  I quickly unloaded those and made Mo and Chlo a bed in the melon bin.  I then made Rooshkie a bed on the truck bed, and Oak slept on a table.  The reunion was great fun.  I always enjoy the spirit at testimony meeting, and one of Ryan's cousins had returned that week from a mission.  Anyhow, the next night, we all went to bed and there was a full-on down pour.  It poured rain like I had never imagined.  We literally had nothing to keep us dry.  Mo awoke in his melon box to water pouring in on his little bed.  Needless to say, that I felt like a horrible and irresponsible parent at that moment.  I told Ryan, that we would no longer camp without a tent of some sort.  How many times does this have to happen to us?  I will never forget Scott Sessions crawling out of his tent to help us.  Ryan did have a pop up canopy that he set up over our bed.  We also scrounged up a few tarps from people, and Scott even gave his dry bag to Jazz and Oak who were soaked.  We all ended up huddling under the pop up canopy on one bed in the end...seriously a horrible night.  Ryan had offered to haul the trailer out there, and man...I wish we would have done that.  Oh well...this will motivate us to be more prepared next time.  No more bill board tarps, or logs falling on faces.  I want a normal tent like a normal family. 
     Since the reunion, we have had some interesting days for sure.  Dilly is now walking more than she is crawling which makes me a little sad.  She and Mo have gotten to where they play pretty good together, but he will shove her for no good reason every now and again.  He stole a crown that Jazzerz had received at a church activity and was sporting it around.  He claimed to be the king and all of that.  I asked him what I was and he informed me that girls cannot be kings, because girls can only be kingdoms....got it Mo.
     Mo has kind of struggled with being home without a ton of siblings to entertain him.  I have also been surprised at his abilities to entertain himself for long spurts.  He will take a few matchbox cars, and quietly play all afternoon.  He will also take big lego type blocks, put a longer block on top, call them horses, and play with his "horses" for hours too.  Yesterday had been a really long and quiet day because Dill had taken an extra long nap.  When Rooshkie got home, Mo was all kinds of eager to play with someone.  I was very impressed with the way that she handled him.  She is twelve and not into playing little kid stuff any more (which makes me really sad, because her imagination was the best at keeping everyone entertained).  Anyhow, she walked in the door, and he immediately came running over to her, and begged her to read a stack of books to him.  She immediately sat down, and read all of the books.  Then he begged her to go and play with him upstairs.  She followed him up the stairs where he produced two pairs of Ryan's work gloves.  He was so excited as he told her that they were now able to slap with the gloves.  "Yeah!  We can just slap, slap, and slap!"  He said enthusiastically.  She put on the gloves and clapped around with him for awhile.  At that point my little Chlo-bird came home, and she was all up for playing with Mo.  This made me smile too, because for awhile there, she was way too cool to play with him.  Kindergarten made her hotsy totsy there for awhile. 
     Mo also befriended a rock one day, and named it Robert.  He played with Robert for awhile, and when we went to get Sags he really wanted Robert to come.  I must say, that I didn't trust Mo with Robert in the car.  He has a tendency to want to throw rocks, and I didn't want my windshield broken, or anyone beaned in the head with Robert.  I was very surprised when he chucked Robert out the window and left  him with no regrets or remorse.  Poor Robert...cast aside, like other such rubbish.  Just this morning, Mo went out with the elementary kids to wait for the bus.  He chucked a mud ball at the bus, but from my vantage point it looked like a rock....he swears up and down that it was only a mud ball....either way, I will not be letting him wait for the bus with the kids any more.  Mo also bawled and whined in the store because he wanted a set of golf clubs.....ummmmmm, not happening my friend.  Golf is an extremely expensive and time consuming sport, that I will not be supporting you in at this current time.
     We also have had some problems with Chlo being driven to do homework.  I am sure it is just because school started, and she is eager to learn, and to please, but we had some trouble when Oak's homework turned up missing.  We could not find it, until, of course the last minute.  The missing homework ended up being with Chloee's stuff.  She had made a great attempt to do Oak's homework, but she did not understand his difficult math problems ( I mean hello, they are still learning their numbers for crying out loud)  All of her answers were wrong, which had Oak all upset.  We finally found an eraser, and erased all of Chlo's math work.  Oak was way mad at her, but really, she is just trying to be a good student, and make her way.  A little forgiveness is in order, I believe.

     Wow, how much can change in the course of a week!  Or week in a half....anyhow, melon business has really gone south, and I will explain later in the post.
     The kids are back to school.  I have never been one of those moms who get excited to send the kids back.  I really dread it, and it sneaks up on me, and I was just not ready to send them back.  Chloee was so excited to start kindergarten though, and she loved her first day, so that's good.  Chlo just seems way to little to me to be gone for school already.  Man, I miss that little girl!  Anyhow, she has gotten really good at keeping Mo busy.  Yesterday, he begged to go to school with her, and he bawled most of the morning.  Today, his matchbox cars are keeping him busy and happy.  I am sure that it won't be long before Salem is better at playing with him.  She has been kinda miserable the last few days.  I am sure she is cutting teeth.  It has been really quiet the last few days, that is for sure.  On a positive note, Mo cleaned his bedroom yesterday, all by himself, and he kept it that way.  Wow!  Chloee being gone will make him my little helper, and he will have to grow up quite a bit.  All of that will be a very good thing.
     We have celebrated two birthdays since my last post.  Chlo turned 6 on the tenth, and Rooshkie turned 12 on the 23rd.  Chlo's birthday was pretty busy with melons, but we bought her some nice gifts, we had pizza, and I bought her a big balloon, which goes against my very nature.  She did love that dumb balloon until Oak popped it on "accident."  Of course, then it was a whole bunch of bawling from Chlo.  But, I had endured Mo bawling all day long because of his lack of balloon.  Chlo had picked out a nice mylar balloon filled with helium.  I had also blown up a few to kick around on the floor.  To make up for the fact that he didn't have a balloon, Jazz tried to appease him, by tying a string around one of the non-helium filled ones.  This didn't quite cut it for Mo.  He kept throwing his in the air, in the hopes of getting it to float like Chloee's.  It just wasn't happenin.  My parents also came down a few days later, and took Chlo shopping.  She absolutely loved that, and felt quite important over it.  My parents are awesome, that is for sure.
     The melon business got crazy busy there for awhile.  There was a store who distributes to restaurants in Vegas that were willing to take whatever we could haul them.  But, they had to be boxed in small boxes, and they were very particular about what they wanted.  The first load went down without a hitch, but they began to complain about our second shipment.  They thought our melons were too small, and too soft.  They also complained about sun spots.  After that, Gregg became so stressed about anything that got put into the boxes that he was acting like he was going to have a nervous breakdown.  He was yelling and insulting everybody nonstop.  Whenever he showed up with the truck, the whole spirit of the place changed.  He was obviously stressed because what we have in the field is not what the supplier wants.  Nothing we picked was good enough, until he roared out of the field in a huff, with vows not to pay us for the loads he had hauled so far.  This totally left us in a lurch.  We had fourteen bins sitting in the field, ready to go nowhere.  Ryan, of course began to scramble and try to find places for them to be sold.  And, he was successful to a small degree, but we are nowhere near cleaning the fields of the ripe melons.  Things have slowed way down, and well, I am not sure what is going to happen at this point.  We are shipping out a bin here and there, but after 30 bins a night, it is quite discouraging.  Fortunately, my family is awesome, and they have helped us where they could, and prayed for us.  I feel at peace, and know that somehow, things will work out.  We have invested $35,000 and six months of time.  It will definitely take some time to recover, if we don't sell any melons from here on out.  But, Ryan is up in St. George welding this morning for pay, and I know he will take care of us one way or another.  He always has.  I will still defend our melons too.  They taste excellent, but they are on the smaller side.
     Anyhow, since that time we celebrated Rooshkie's birthday.  She desired to have an evening of night games at the park, and she was really quite elusive about the whole thing.  She kept telling me that I didn't have to come, that it would be no big deal, and that really....she didn't need me to come at all.  Of course...this kind of appeals to me because hey, I have plenty to do at home at all times, but why did she not want me there?  She also made it very clear that no one in the family really was needed or wanted at this particular party.  Her birthday actually fell on a Sunday, and she wanted to have a nice dinner party with the fam on Sunday, but her party on Saturday night was a friends only deal.  This of course caused quite the uproar.  Oak always insists on coming when he is told that he can't.  Jazz was way upset that she wasn't wanted, and Wames wanted to go simply because she wasn't wanted.  I ended up taking Rooshkie and a secret friend (Calla) to lunch, and then I took them to Walmart where they bought chips and pop for their night games extravaganza.  During this whole little trip to town I got many phone calls from her siblings protesting the fact that they were not wanted.  I finally just told her that I felt that Jasmine at least should be invited to her party.  I knew that she had invited a bunch of boys and girls her age, but Jazz is only 2 years younger.  She protested, but finally gave in.  Well, we get to the party, that I am not wanted at, and she had invited quite a few kids.  I asked her what she had planned, and she shrugged her shoulders.  What????  The kids began to arrive with gifts, and she was not prepared to play a single game.  I immediately began trying to remember some of the night games that we used to play.  I got some big embarrassed frowns from Rooshkie when I suggested "button, button, who's got the button" and "duck, duck, goose." One of the boys was eager to play ghosts in the graveyard, but he insisted that it had to be pitch black in order for that game to work.  So...I put a can on the grass, and tried to recall how to play "kick the can"  I seriously haven't played it since the 80's.  I finally started to remember when they wanted to move on to another game.  I tried to recall "murderer in the dark" which requires people to hold each other's hands.  This game turned into a fiasco because these kids are still pretty awkward around the opposite gender.  None of the boys were bold enough to hold hands with a girl and vice versa.  I finally got them playing that game pretty good, but one of the boys figured out which slip of paper had the murderer sign on it, and he would purposely draw it out every time.  This made it a little bit obvious when he turned out being the murderer time after time.  Also one of the other boys had a hard time catching onto the game, and he would ask if he could just randomly squeeze people's hands because he wanted to....ummmmm no....that in fact messed up several games, but he just couldn't seem to grasp the concept.
     At this point, it was getting pretty dark.  I urged them to start "ghosts in the graveyard," because they all seemed somewhat familiar with that game, even though I could not specifically remember the rules.  Once again the same boy insisted that it just could  not be played until it was darker.  I said fine, why don't we tell a few scary stories just to gear up for the game then.  This was met by a lot of excitement from the boys.  They all had stories that they had heard around campfires at scout camp that they wanted to share.  They all talked over each other, and their stories were so incomplete and convoluted that they weren't really scary at all.  That didn't stop the group of girls from walking a distance away and plugging their ears because they were just too scared to deal with the stories.  Really, I didn't hardly feel a shiver of fear during any of it.  The evening was finally beginning to cool off, the cows were in the next field over mooing softly, and the sunset was absolutely gorgeous.  At this point they decided they could try playing "ghosts in the graveyard."  Wames called me and informed me that Dilly was way upset and wanted to go to bed.  I left one of the more responsible boys in charge, and went to get Dill.  After all, most of these kids are 12, and I was going around the corner.  They finally seemed to be playing pretty good too.  Anyhow, I asked Wames if she wanted to go and finish up the party.  An hour was really all that remained, and Dill was wanting to bed down.  She balked a little, but finally said she would do it.  That turned out to be a horrible decision.  Anyhow, I should have taken Dill and gone back.
     My desires for Wames was for her to keep the kids playing games.  Well, she did try to get them to play a few things, and she just couldn't keep them interested.  We were so horribly ill prepared it wasn't even funny...seriously, though, I didn't go into detail, but my week had been as bad as bad can be...because she didn't want me at her party, I had not planned it.  She insisted that this group of kids play night games every night, they live right on that same street, and really, it is a nightly occurance that she is never invited to because she doesn't live in the neighborhood.  She just wanted to be included for once.  It was not that way at all.  The girls would go off in their little group and whisper, and the boys would climb trees, and horse around...to try to get the two groups together required some games.  Wames abandoned the games and just started to scare the two groups.  This proved to be disastrous and kind of ruined the party.  The girls got so scared that they all (with the exception of Rooshkie) ended up bawling...she apologized, but they all were so scared that they went home way upset...yeah, we had some mad parents...wow...Rooshkie's party was quite the bust.
     Ryan just happened to be staying and taking care of his Grandma that night, or I could have really used his help.  I had Wames come home with a bawling and upset Rooshkie...after all, Wames had ruined her entire party, her friends were bawling, and would probably hate her forever.  It took me forever to get to the bottom of things, to get Rooshkie calmed down, and to finally send the kids to bed.  I was way mad at Jerusha and Jamie....Jerusha was not one bit prepared to host a party, and Jamie was not sent there to make the girls cry (apparently the boys were fine with being scared by Wames).  Wames was just trying to make the party fun, but it backfired big time...and these girls are all in the ward, and I love all of their parents a ton.  The last thing I wanted was for them to have to comfort scared and crying girls all night.  Whew...it was a horrible week all in all.  Ryan's truck broke down, I lost a bunch of cash when it fell out of my pocket shopping with Rooshkie, and I got pulled over....the list goes on and on for last week, and the party was just the horrible cherry on top.
     Finally at about midnight, I had everyone settled down to some degree and in bed.  I was just finally starting to get into a deep sleep when a series of loud bangs hit the windows and front door.  I woke up with a jolt bewildered and confused.  There was an incident a few months ago, when Ryan came home and he was supposed to be out of town.  I had locked the house up tight, and he had tried to rouse us by banging on some windows, but ended up sleeping on the lawn because he couldn't get us to wake up and let him in.  My first thought was that he had come home from Grandma's because he needed something from the house for some reason.  I stumbled down the stairs and turned on the porch light.  I stepped out on to the stoop in my garments and hollered for Ryan.  All I heard was a whole bunch of falling footsteps...it could have even been someone on a horse.  The night was perfectly still.  Then, I called for the dog, because she ought to at least bark when someone is on the property that shouldn't be, but she was nowhere around too.  I was way confused, but then realized that it would have taken multiple people to do all of the banging simultaneously that was done.  At that point I felt kinda sheepish standing there in the light of the porch in nothing but garments.  I went back inside and was met by a crying and sleepy Wazz...she was scared to death because she swore up and down that someone was in her room.  She heard voices, and was sure someone was there.  Serious moment of truth...all I could do was deal with the situation.
     Anyhow, I went upstairs and grabbed a gun. At some point I moved the little kids and told the bigger ones that they were to go upstairs...if I had to shoot, I didn't want to worry about missing and hitting one of my kids.  I felt like a real warrior, training my gun, and looking in closets and under beds.  I am, and will forever be grateful that I was taught from a child the importance and significance of guns.  I am glad that there was one available, but the house was empty.  She must have just heard voices before there were knocks on the outside windows.  I don't know, and may never know who it was.  There is a good chance that it was am attempt to payback Wames for her shenanigans.  In any case, I was glad that I was able to handle the situation without getting anyone else involved.  Guns are good to have.
     The rest of the week has been somewhat typical.  Ryan has been helped by a gentleman in Enterprise, and we have been hauling melons to all of the vendors that he hauls corn to.  Because of that Ryan brought home some lovely ears of corn.  This excited Mo to no end.  He has been nibbling on them raw, and you guessed it...he brought them to bed with him the other night.  He has actually been kind of better about sleeping in his room, but not the night of the corn....we ended up sleeping with ears of corn and husks trailing around.  I'll never figure it out.
     We have had a few shenanigans at shrsh like usual.  Mo came in shouting CANDY!  loudly, over and over.  He also wanted me to lick and chomp on a make believe ice cream cone that he had made at shrsh.  It consisted of a raggy old baby wipe that was wrapped around a pencil.  It did resemble an ice cream cone, but I wasn't about to lick it or bite it.  He insists that I do certain things, and honestly, at times I just refuse to play along.  This makes him mad, but he has got to know that he can't control people.
     Another positive thing, is that my little Sager made the Volleyball team.  I am so proud of her, and this news has changed her whole attitude around about school, and the town etc.  Seriously, I am way excited for her.