We woke up to rain this morning which was way unexpected.  We live in an interesting era, where we are able to keep up with the weather and all kinds of information from our hand held devices.  My phone's weather icon showed no indication of rain...but we woke up to rain.  It was lovely.  There is something about rain here in the desert.  It is rare, and it makes the whole landscape change.  And it smells incredible.  At home it was the sage, here I am not sure what bush makes the incredible smell, but wow...I love it.  It has been way nice and warm for January, and rain.  I will try to remember these beautiful winter days in the midst of the horrible heat that the summer time brings.
     We had a good week, and weekend.  Jams came home on Friday horribly sick though.  I have been hearing about the horrible flu virus that has been going around this year through facebook, and the news media.  It has had me nervous, although, I am not nearly as nervous now as I was as a young mother.  I have been very blessed with healthy kids, who get over stuff.  I don't know how I think I am going to somehow escape these viruses.  I just have too many kids out there in the world and they bring the stuff home.  I remember when the swine flu scare went around, yep we got it.  And the pertussis outbreak, yep, we got that too.  Anyhow, Jamie seems to be on the mend.  I have been trying to fortify everyone else with airborne tablets.  Someone however, has been politely leaving their airborne tablets on the bathroom countertop uneaten...hopefully their immune system is up to par without them.  This virus has caused a number of youth deaths in the area.  I worry about my baby and Mo.
     Well, it is cow chasing season, and Ryan and Sage have joined in the cow chasing efforts.  I have noticed that Sags enjoys the cattle chasing way more than the farming.  The farming is sweaty physical labor without the excitement of wrastling wild cattle around.  She gets to watch all kinds of interesting rodeos daily as she drives the truck and trailer around the hills.  Ryan and Sage got home one evening really late.  We all went to straight to bed.  Ryan woke up in the middle of the night to see me doing some push ups with Bob Harper.  He asks..."So, are you ready to go?"  I could tell that he was half asleep still.  And here I am, unable to sleep, and in plank awaiting Bob's next outrageous demand, and I am thinking, "no, I am not ready to go anywhere at all." 
     "Where?"  I finally managed to ask...apparently he had lost his phone chasing cows, and figured that we needed to go and look for it in the dark, because when it rang the light would shine making it easier to see.  I could also tell that he was still half asleep and so I told him to go back to bed, and I would help him when he was rested and ready to get up.
     Well, we got up at a reasonable time.  I handed Chlo some sensible shoes, and her coat and instructed her to go get in the car as soon as she was dressed.  I got Mo dressed, and grabbed the baby, and we set out to find the lost phone before it lost all battery.  It was a really windy morning, and the wind was biting, cold.  Well, we got to the first area where cows were chased and caught.  It was up on the mesa, and it was frigid.  I bundled the kids, hollered at Chlo, who had traded her sensible shoes for some strappy high heels, and set off following horse tracks.  Chlo lasted about two minutes in the cold blast.  I was also concerned about her open toe on her shoes because there were prickly pears everywhere.  The baby was gasping, and Mo was trying to be tough, but starting to whine.  Seriously, fifty feet from the van.  I was slightly irritated at the whole situation.  I mean, why does he need his phone to chase cows?  Why didn't he leave his phone in the truck.  We have spent many family excursions searching for long lost phones.  He always loses them as he chases cows.  I was muttering slightly because I had a bazillion things to do at home too.  Shame on me.  Anyhow, I thought I would tuck the kids back in the van, and try to help closer to the van.  Just then, I saw Sagger coming back to the car too, and figured she was too cold as well.  I asked her how she was, and she explained that she had been praying and felt that we should look in several spots where they had caught calves and struggled to get them loaded.  I instantly felt shame.  Here is my Sagger girl praying to help her Dad, and I am just complaining like a real Laman and Lemuel.  I am so grateful for my kids and the lessons they teach me.  Needless to say, Ryan found the phone retracing steps.  Yeah....it is always tragic to lose all of his phone contacts.  This phone tons of numbers that we got during the stand-off and those people have become some of our closest friends.  It would have been tragic to lose all of them.
     The kids were their usual imaginative selves this week.  Chlo and Mo are often lions lately, and can be seen carrying around various stuffed animals in their mouth.  Mo also named one of my necklaces "Jibby" and he pretended it was his pet snake for days.  I am not sure if Jibby layed eggs, or what, but he carted around a bunch of beads that had once been a stylish bracelet.  He explained to me over and over, that they were snake eggs, and he handled them with care.  We actually ended up sleeping with the snake eggs one night.  Last night as I was cooking dinner, he and Chlo made quite the mess and ruckus.  I had brought in some onions from the garden.  Chlo and mo were slapping each other with the onions.  Onion greens were flung everywhere.  Luckily as we settled down for family home evening, they returned to being lions.  Lions is a nice clean game, with only a few stuffed animals being used.  I had to put on the skids of Mo's game this morning...he was pretending a mug was a boot and klomping around in it.
     We also had Stake Conference last weekend, and a new Stake Presidency was called.  I had tried really hard to make sure everyone was ready and looking their best.  Jerusha was not satisfied with the shoes that we had found her, and Chloee, in spite of my constant badgering, ended up at the conference with no shoes to go with her beautiful hot pink dress.  I found an unsavory pair of green flip flops, and they looked ridiculous with her flouncy dress.  Mo raced his school bus into the chapel, and I was thinking we were in for it.  Luckily, Dawn and her kids found us, and helped us.  Most of the kids ended up in the nursery.  Whatever works.  That bus could have been a loud nightmare.
     Baby Salem is still such a wonderful blessing.  She is pleasant and cuddly, and she smells wonderful still.  I love her to pieces.  I am so grateful for all of the kids and the things they teach me.  Jerusha made me a book for my birthday.  It has a lot of compliments in it.  Included are some games and puzzles.  
     Well, until another day!

     Well, I have so much I really need to be writing about every day.  My life is interesting to say the very least.  These last few weeks have been quite enjoyable.  A few of the kids have colds, but overall we have been very blessed with good health over the past few winters.  I hear that the flu bug is a horrible one this year, and I keep hoping that we somehow dodge it.  I really worry about the baby and Mo.  Anyhow, so far so good. 
     The baby has been sucking on her three middle fingers lately, and so desperately I am trying to get her to take a pacifier.  She won't.  I have tried all different kinds and sizes.  Jazzerz can usually get her to take one for whatever reason, but she refuses to take one from me.  She is still so pleasant and wonderful.  Ryan and Ammon met with some state legislators on my birthday, this was in Vegas, and I tagged along because Ryan figured the meeting wouldn't last very long, and then the rest of the day would be ours.  Anyhow, to make a long story short, the meeting lasted five hours (no regrets, it was of the upmost importance) and we ended up at the Mandalay Bay trying to find a buffet.  The baby had a complete come apart in there.  Seriously, the hardest I have ever heard her cry.  I guess she doesn't want to go into great and spacious buildings.  She hated it. I guess we will avoid casino's in the future.  She was really good for the five hour meeting though.
     We are still struggling with Mo's late night fiasco's.  Last night he insisted on bringing five or six dripping wet toothbrushes to bed with him.  He also insisted on sleeping in my bed with the soggy toothbrushes.  The real problem is, I am just too tired at that point in the day to argue with him, or stand any kind of ground.  He always wins no matter what because I am tired. Way too tired to argue about wet toothbrushes.  The wet toothbrushes were no fun to encounter in the night though.
     Chloee has also been acting strangely at night.  She has her own room, and she just is too afraid to sleep in her bed alone.  I will get up in the night to check on her, and it is interesting where she ends up.  It is a rare night that I find her in her bed.  One night I panicked because I could not find her anywhere.  Often she ends up on Rooshkie's floor.  She wasn't there, she wasn't in her bed, and she hadn't curled up on my floor (I really cannot figure out why anyone would sleep on the floor, when they have a nice soft bed),  anyhow I started to worry about someone snatching her.  That is when I saw her little hair lying behind her closet doors.  She must have felt safe beneath them....whatever Chlo!  Chlo, by the way, has grown up a ton this year.  She helps and serves me, and the baby.  She also takes really good care of Mo boy, which sometimes he doesn't really deserve.  I have been so  happy and proud of the great girl she is becoming.  She still hates to wear shoes to shrsh, and she still insists on building benches, and cabins out of the hymn books, but hey, at least she is quiet while she performs these activities.  She did have a come apart on Sunday, when Oak took and hoarded all of the hymn books for himself.  Poor Chlo...she was really wanting to build her hymnal fort.
     Oak informed me the other day, that he was given a pair of skates at school.  He was sketchy on the details of who gave him the skates.  I was kind of wowed by someone's generosity.  He kind of made it sound like all of the students received a pair.  I was way skeptical at this point.  Skates were a lot of fun, but were really an 80's thing.  I haven't even seen any to purchase as of late.  Why would the school pass out roller skates???  Things were not adding up.  When he pulled out his "skates" things made a little more sense.  They were not skates at all but to square pieces of plastic that he could slide around the floor on.  He and Jazz both had a pair, and they slid and skidded around the house all evening.  I really have my doubts that the square plastic pieces were skates when they were passed out.  It is a mystery what they were supposed to be used for. 
     One of Mo and Chlo's new games is riding around the house on a broomstick.  I would blame the Harry Potter movies, but no one rides on a broom together on Harry Potter. I will admit that any Harry Potter movie is quickly put on the t.v. when it appears that Mo is not going to settle down and go to bed.  Any Harry Potter movie will have him sleeping before Harry even gets any wand waving done...works like a charm.  As I think back over my kids, we began struggling with bed time and nap time at Rooshkie.  There were just a lot of little kids to juggle, at that point and there has been ever since.  Lonesome Dove would put Rooshkie to sleep every time.  It is a pretty hard core show in a lot of ways, but we never had to watch more than a few minutes before she would fall asleep.  With Chloee it was "the Others".  This show is quite scary, but if the show was on, and the sound turned down, it would always get her to sleep.  I discovered the Harry Potter trick with Mo one night.  It was in the middle of the night and he was still squirreling around.  I had tried everything I could think of.  I had all of the lights off, I was rocking him in the chair...he just flip flopped around until I thought I would go crazy.  Finally I turned on "The Chamber of Secrets"...he was out within the first ten minutes of the show.  Now, it doesn't take me long to stick Harry Potter in, and hey, the movie might play over and over during the night, but we all get rest.  J.K. Rowling will forever be one of my favorite friends.
     The cowboys had a major rounding up program the other day.  They had eight riders, and Cliven and Dave got in the plane so that they could spot the location of the cattle.  Mo was with Cliven and I when Davey landed the plan to pick up Cliven.  He was completely mesmerized.  Dave landed, they then got in, and took off.  About a minute later, Mo said, "I really wanted to go with Grandpa, Mom!"  Maybe next time, if you are dressed, and actually have shoes on, Mo!
     Our number one body guard since the April stand-off is scheduled to get baptized on Valentines day.  I am so excited for him, and it has been so awesome to see people join the gospel.  He has quit smoking, and has studied a lot.  I am so excited for him!  I feel so blessed to have seen so many people get baptized this past year.  It has been a wonderful blessing.
     Ryan purchased us a milk cow the other day.  I was actually pretty mad about this.  He was thinking about buying one, and I wasn't against the idea, but I was going to be kind of picky about what kind he bought.  I knew that there was a Brown Swiss for sale in Orderville, but I didn't want that kind because of their heavy cream production.  We had a jersey once before, and wow...I never could make our homemade butter taste right.  I guess I just didn't want the pressure to make cheese, and butter at all....(I guess it is just too easy to buy!)  Anyhow, Ryan went and bought the cow anyway.  To top it off, she likes to kick whoever milks her, and she doesn't milk out easy at all.  Great...thanks a heap Ryan.  Anyhow, he has been taking care of all of the milking until yesterday when he had to fly to Reno for more meetings with legislators.  He assured me that he would have Clance or Arden take care of the cow milking program.  I got a sheepish text late that morning that he could not get in touch with any of the cowboys at the ranch to milk the cow...great.  I must admit that I complained and muttered the whole way to the ranch.  He told me that I had to somehow mange to tie her back legs together.  I also had to tie her head to the fence as I milked her out (which was difficult if the first two tasks could be performed).  Sometimes I seriously look around to see if there is a secret Candid Camera conspiracy going on that I was not aware of.  I approached the cow with hesitation and caution.  I must admit that I wasn't raised on a ranch, but I have learned a few things since being married into the whole farming/ranching program.  Her bag looked empty.  What?  I was ready to shower whoever milked her with cookies, or praise or both.  Clance came clanking by in his spurs at that moment.  I stopped him, and asked him if he had milked the cow.  He told me that he had not, but he climbed in the corral with her to investigate the situation.  She was in the same pen with Jams and Sags show steers.  He kind of started to chuckle and he explained that the show steers both had milk moustache's.  They had sucked her out pretty good.  I was so relieved and grateful for those show steers yesterday!  Thanks for missing your mama, boys!
     We had our semi-annual dental check-up yesterday.  It is always a juggle, but our dentist office has got it down pretty good.  They usually block the whole office off for us, and keep the kids rotating through the chairs pretty good.  It hasn't been as hard the last few visits.
TTFN!
    

     Well, welcome 2015!  It has been an insanely busy December, and I am always a little bit glad when the new year begins, and all of the partying ends.  I love seeing family, and enjoying the holidays, but I always like to get back into a routine too.  We had a great December, but it just flew by too fast.
     We had a great Christmas.  We were able to go to Hatch on Christmas eve and enjoy associating with my family for a brief visit.  Barry and Mindi hosted the Christmas eve party, and we had a great time.  My mom had brought all of the nativity costumes, and she drew all of the different parts out of a hat.  Jerusha was Mary, Jamie was a wiseman, Oak was a shepherd, Mo was a reluctant wiseman, Sage and Chlo were angels, Madelyn was the star, Kyler was Joseph, Kaden was a donkey, and Jazz was a cow.  Of course little Salem was our baby Jesus.  Mo and Oak refused to wear their hats...Mo removed his crown, and Oak removed his shepherds hat.  It was a whole lotta chaos as the beautiful story was being read.  My mom had also wrapped all of the kids their Christmas eve gifts.  She had the oldest begin by unwrapping their gifts first.  Of course, all of this was done deliberately slowly, as Mo and Chlo were dying with anticipation.  Finally, I just threw her rule out the window, and told all of the little ones to open their gifts too.  She had wrapped Mo up a pair of pj's with Olaf the snowman on them.  She also had bought him a stuffed Olaf.  He was so thrilled about his pajamas, he about couldn't stand it.  It was fun.  Chlo's pajamas had included two pairs, one for summer, and one for winter.  She happily put both pairs on at the same time.
     Christmas morning came way early for me.  I still had not finished wrapping gifts.  I got up at 3am to finish.  Salem wanted to be up too, and so she happily watched me wrap the remaining gifts.  By the time I finished, my older ones were awake.  We finally woke up the babies...which seemed to me a little backwards.  Anyhow, Mo received a pickup truck that he was really excited about.  He was also given a race track and cars that some anonymous person in our ward gave us.  He got so excited about this race track, that he was shaking with excitement as my mom put it together.  In the meantime, the snow had begun to fall in the night.  It was a classic, wonderful, snowy Christmas.  We were lazy, and enjoyed not having a schedule or commitments.
     The next day Doug and Larissa came over with Lyvia and Tommy.  Lyvia is hilarious.  My mom went in her room to take a picture of all of the kids as they played together.  Lyvia instructed my mom to go and draw a picture of what they were doing too.  My mom kind of ignored those instructions until Lyvia came out and wanted to see her work.  Lyvia promptly went up the stairs and got my mom a blank sheet of paper so that she could complete the assignment.  Mom finally gave up and drew something, which seemed to satisfy little Lyvia.  She is a funny kid. 
     Our car ride home was typical hell.  Heck, I should say.  Anyhow, traveling with the kids has become torture to a large degree.  They are constantly fighting over who gets to ride where, someone is always carsick, and someone is always in tears...seriously always.  Bawling always.  Anyhow, I get to where I just try to retreat inside myself.  I try to ignore it all.  I usually cannot do it for a few hours though.  Then the kids wonder why we don't take them on exotic adventures around the world....I have a hard time going from our home in Bunkerville to the ranch.  A whole six miles.  Sage is the worst at wondering why we don't take them to Orlando, or Disneyland.  Ummm Hello...I would like to remain sane if at possible during my duration on the earth.  Sage's latest demands include some Harry Potter theme park in Florida....I hate to say it Sager, but it just isn't gonna happen in this lifetime.  Not without a bunch of strait jackets anyway.
     The new year celebration was quiet.  Sage had invited a bunch of friends from Cedar down, but I knew they wouldn't be able to come.  She had also invited one of our favorite families from down here over, but they got sick and were unable to come.  Jerusha had a few friends over until 10:30, and Jamie had gone to St George to the youth dance.  Salem and I fell asleep at like 8:30 or so.  Sage came up and informed me that Oak laughed so hard he puked, and that I had to come and clean it up.  This was probably at 10 or so.  This was as wild as it got.  I am not, nor have I ever been a stay up all night kind of gal.  I have stayed up a lot with kids over the years, but I am a morning person, who is happy to get up early after a decent amount of sleep.  Sorry Sager...I am not a partier either.  Maybe someday you can party in Harry Potterville with your in-laws.
     Mo has a new obsession called "Peppa Pig"  I am not entirely sure about his new favorite cartoon.  The episodes are on youtube, and he begs to watch them all day every day.  I still hold to my guns about not watching tv during daylight hours, but that doesn't stop Mo from begging and begging.  It involves some odd shaped pig that talks out of the side of his mouth in an English accent.  I cannot see why it appeals to Mo so much, but it does.  He adores his time watching Peppa Pig.  I must admit that Peppa Pig time is about the only time I can count on him not jumping all over me, so I like Peppa Pig too.  He is begging me for Peppa Pig now in fact.    
    
    

     Well, our beautiful baby girl got blessed yesterday, and it was a great weekend.  Salem Esther Bundy was finally what Ryan settled on, and we seriously debated over names so long and hard, that I wondered if she would ever get a name.  Part of the problem is that we have too many opinions.  Someone not only disliked, but hated every name that was ever mentioned.  Likewise, some of the kids passionately loved some of the names so much, that they were almost insistent upon certain ones.  Even as Ryan pronounced her name in the blessing, Sage groaned and Jerusha face palmed herself in the forehead.  We prayed about it, Ryan fasted, and we felt that Salem fit her....nice, complete, and peaceful baby.  I am hoping Sags will get used to it.
     We had such a great time with family this weekend.  I don't get anywhere enough time with my family these days, and it is so fun when we are together.  We always have plenty to laugh about.  I love that we can tease each other, and laugh at some of the crazy things we came up with as children.  My parents had no idea what they were signing up for when we were brought into the world....I only regret that there is not more of us.  My parents couldn't come because of tithing settlement, but three out of the four brothers made it.  The Bundy's were way supportive too...Stetsy and Clance had their baby Roper blessed too, and it gave everyone even more reason to come.  I love my family, and I adore the Bundy's.
     We had some interesting times these past few weeks.  One thing that I usually forget, and my mother usually reminds me, is that the two year old of the family usually causes more work than the baby.  This is definitely the case in our situation.  The problem arises that so much time is initially spent nursing the new child...this causes a back log of messes that really need to be cleaned up, and the toddler usually feels somewhat neglected, and so they act up more to some degree.  I love...actually love is not even a strong enough word, I adore my little Mo, but man, he has been a handful lately.  He is still the one that I end up hanging out with in the night.  Baby Salem sleeps wonderfully.  I woke up last week to cookie crumbs scattered all over in my bed....I believe that Mo may be to blame for this.  I HATE any kind of crumbs in my bed....seriously, I cannot stand it.  My kids learn rather early that I can wade through a whole lot of messes, but if it is in my bed...they are in deep double dutch trouble....I tried, that morning to let things slide with the crumbs in my bed, and because it was early, and I was sleepy, I must not have noticed all of the cookie crumbs in the shower too.  I drew myself a gross, soggy, smooshed up cookie bath to start my day.  This had me frowning and sighing big time.  I love my Mo...but really?  Let's respect some boundaries please!
     In the meantime, we are still trying to get settled in a different home.  I love this home, by the way, but Ryan is still bringing boxes back from Cedar City every trip.  I am also starting to get quite concerned about Christy the deer.  Ryan's impressive deer mount has been lovingly named "Christy" by Chlo.  The problem is, there is really nowhere suitable to hang Christy, and I am afraid that abuse is being heaped upon him.  He gets cars driven on him by Mo all the time, and I know this cannot be good.  Hopefully we can get everything in its place soon.
     Mo also caused me a disgusting mess the other morning when he chose to dump a large glass of water in the corn pops cereal bag.  I entered the kitchen in the morning to corn pops scattered from one end of the kitchen to the other.  It was morning, and I am happy and full of energy in the morning, and so I happily started cleaning it up...just for good measure, I went to grab myself a handful of the sunny, happy cereal, and was met with a soggy mess....seriously ruined my bag of corn pops with his water experiments.  Boo Mo!
     We also had a horrible tragedy in the family last week.  Ryan's cousin, Rod Jensen, was hit head on in his car on the way to work one morning, and killed instantly.  It was so sudden, and he was so young.  Sad...we enjoyed seeing everyone at the funeral, and the Jensen family is awesome....many of them double cousins with Ryan.  I had to get after Oak a little bit because he and Bronco were enjoying wrastling around the cemetery.  Oak and Bronco are best buddies, and they just didn't understand the solemn occasion thing.  I guess that is understandable.
     We also had a great Thanksgiving with the Bundy's.  Ryan used the Mikkelsen's smoker and smoked a turkey.  Seriously...some of the best turkey ever.  It was actually almost gone by the time I got myself some dinner.  I sat down to feed the baby, and figured there would be tons...not so, with Ryan's incredible turkey.  We had a great time enjoying all of these little babies that have come to the family.  Hanna is due any day now, and we are excited for her baby to be joining us too.
     I love this time of year!  I love Christmas, and all of the wonderful spirit that goes with it.  I got my nativity out the other day, and Mo just loves playing with the camels.  I am so glad that I got this set at the DI, because Mo is hard on the camels.  Naturally, the two camels are friends and are trotting all of the house because of Mo.  I noticed that baby Jesus has been glued back together too.  This must have been Mo's contribution last year, and it has been such an insane year, I don't even remember him breaking it.
     Mo informed me that a Monster has given him a cup of lemonade.  It was really a cup of ordinary water that was taken out of the fridge, but hey...I am glad that Mo has a bright imagination.  Thankfully we have a nice, lemonade sharing monster around here. 

     Well, we have had some weeks quickly slip by.  My baby is four weeks old today, and I have enjoyed the wonderful little person that she is.  I am finally at that point that I am not so sore and tired from the birth, and I am just loving rocking her and holding her little warm body.  She is great. 
     Thankfully, Mo has really enjoyed going with Ryan most days, and there hasn't seemed to be much for jealousy where he is concerned.  He loves his little sister and likes holding her and taking care of her.  All of the kids are constantly fighting over who gets to hold her and change her and bathe her etc....truly we love babies around our house.
     Fall has been way gorgeous down here.  I never thought I would survive the summer and all of its heat and flies.  It really was one of the hardest times ever.  It really made me appreciate having a home and a kitchen and all of the little things that I had taken for granted so long.  I am feeling so blessed these days.  My baby is healthy, we have a home, and we have the gospel.
     Last Sunday we had a few mishaps in shrsh that I should take note of.  Chlo is still in the habit of building things out of hymn books.  Usually she makes herself a little bench to sit on.  It does not make a whole lot of sense because she sets it up on the bench, which is way more comfortable than sitting on a bunch of hymn books.  Mo has been especially impossible in shrsh lately.  Last Sunday I was very mortified when he began chucking a wet paper towel around the place.  We were on the front row too, which I hate.  Anyhow, there were three girls singing on the stand.  They were doing a lovely job too.  Mo threw the wet paper towel at them, and gratefully missed, but everyone saw the dumb thing whizz through the air and land on the stand.  I was so embarrassed that I wanted to crawl under Chloee's pile of hymn books.  Today, I got in the chapel first, and I headed straight to the back...much more my style.  Chlo did get a horrible case of the giggles, and Mo moved some chairs to and fro, but we did a little better today.  I don't think that I will have to worry about Mo being able to chuck anything on the stand if we are way in the back.
     Today Mo came out of nursery proudly waving a little paper that he had made.  It had a picture of Adam and Eve with a few animals from the Garden of Eden.  I asked him about Adam and Eve and the lesson.  He claimed that he didn't learn anything about Adam and Eve, but had learned about "Weindeer"  (there was a picture of a deer on the photo with Adam and Eve.)  Whatever Mo...I am sure that this was not the main idea of the lesson.
     Mo has also continued to give us fits in the night.  He often crawls in our bed with cars, and if he cannot be in our bed, he bawls and wants to be.  Whew, it is not going to be easy to get him outta there.  I cannot help but smile when I see him tromp around in his diaper and boots.  He is the cutest little cowboy ever.  He wants to rope and catch cows...those are his desires.
     We had a tragic accident in the family last week.  Rod Jensen, and Donnie Collins were travelling to work in Vegas, when a car crossed the median and hit them head on.  They were all killed instantly.  Wow...what a sudden blow.  We all loved Rod, and his kids were married, but way too young to be without their Dad.  It was all horribly sad and sudden.  We attended his funeral on Saturday and donated melons.  It was really good.  I enjoyed listening to stories about him.  It was a good day and we enjoyed seeing all of the Bundy's and Jensen's.


    

     We have had some very significant events take place in the last few weeks.  Most important is the birth of our eighth baby.  She has been an incredible addition to our family and we are all crazy about her.  Anyhow, I was supposed to be due on the 18th of October according to our ultrasound expert.  Vickie kept disputing that because she felt I was due on the 27th.  She explained that ultrasound people measure around the circumfrence of the babies head, and their femur bone.  What they don't really consider is genetics, and lets face it...my legs are crazy long.  She figured he was off a bit, and he was.  The baby girl was born on Sunday October 26th.  She still has no name, and we are discussing it often, trying to give her something that is really significant.  Anyhow, she was 6lbs 15 oz.  My last few babies have been quite a bit bigger than that.  She is quite teeny.
     I actually went into labor in the middle of the night, but I always doubt that it is the real thing.  I got up and went to work on a lesson that was needed for my shrsh calling.  I must admit that when labor hits, I panic.  I still panic, even though I have lived through seven other successful deliveries.  I know and am quite aware, that as adults, we have to face our fears.  Labor and delivery petrify me with fear.  Sounds ridiculous, but hey, it is true.  I always do everything in my power to try to stop the labor pains, because I am always scared and nervous.  The labor pains did actually stop for a few hours in the morning.  I went about getting everyone ready for shrsh...trying to convince myself that today was not the day.
     I told Ryan that I wanted a blessing.  I was so nervous that my midwife would not make it to my house in time.  She had a two hour drive, and I was so scared to face any possible complications alone.  We went to the ranch, and Cliven and Ryan gave me a blessing.  I really wanted to hear that the baby would come in a timely manner....timely because Vickie needed TIME to make it.  Ryan said nothing of that sort.  He explained that the birth process was painful by design, and that the baby and I were both fit and strong enough to handle it.  He promised that her body would be strong in the birth process and she would be born healthy and whole.  Ok...I still wanted Vickie to help me.  I guess I kind of knew at that point that the birth would be assisted by Ryan....and that is it.
    I should have listened to my body rationally because the labor pains hit again in sacrament meeting.  We were having ward conference, and we just got a new bishopric.  I was so touched at what the topic was....facing fears, with the help of the Lord.  It was exactly what I needed to hear.  I bawled through most of the speeches until Mo became so unbearable that I had to take him out in the hall.  I was also timing contractions.  They were painful, and coming at sporadic intervals.  Every fifteen minutes, then seven, then five, then fifteen.  They weren't lasting very long either.  I brushed them aside, as nothing.  Ryan and I went in to our class to teach our lesson.  I noticed that I was getting irritable, which again made me notice the sharp pain the contractions had.  I love our class, and love our students tons, but I noticed that I just wanted Ryan to wrap things up.  The pains were consistent...every five minutes.  I finally told Ryan that I was in labor and wanted to go home.  I called my midwife and told her that I was probably in labor...I wanted to get into a warm tub and see if the contractions kept going, but to be on standby.  When we arrived at home the pains got faster and harder.  The bathtub did nothing to relax them away and so I got Vickie on her way.  She also called her closest assistant to me in Hurricane and got her on the road.  I immediately got cleaning the house, because I knew I wouldn't feel like it later.  Ryan helped and also got going on getting the birth pool inflated and filled.  The kids showed up with Arden to get their clothes changed....thank goodness for family.  Arden took them to the ranch for me.  Anyhow, the kids stayed long enough to say a prayer with me.  Mo ended up in the birth tub and had to be removed.
   The pains started piling on each other...there was no break in between and I tried reasoning with the baby to take it easy...slow down.  I was still cleaning Mo and Oak's room but ended up on my hands and knees to try to take pressure off of my back.  I was crawling around cleaning, and feeling like I wanted to scream or die.  I went and flopped in the pool and felt immediate help from the warm water.  Ryan was there wanting to do something to ease my pain.  At that point I was dying from the pressure and knew that the baby was going to be arriving if I would just get the work done.  I finally yelled at Ryan to come because the baby was coming.  She was born in a warm pool of water and into the welcoming hands of her Dad.  We both were elated and crying and excited.  She was perfect and content.  We called Vickie and she was just getting to Mesquite.  She was able to come and take care of everything else, but the birth belonged to us....it was an incredible blessing to share it with the man I love the most.  He took good care of me even though I moaned and complained about the pain.
     Since then, I have had a ton of help from good family and people from the community.  My mom came and stayed and ran all of the many kid errands for me.  Wow...I didn't want to be chasing around town.  Family and friends helped me on Halloween, and so Ryan and I could spend some time together on his birthday.  It has been great.
     Mo has been pretty good, but pretty demanding through the whole thing.  He goes with Ryan everywhere, but insists that I hang out with him in the night.  The baby sleeps really well, and usually just gets up once to nurse, but Mo?  Oh no, he wants mom and wants her now...and for a long time.  He also insists that I play horses and cars with him if we are together that day.  He will tell me to put the baby down so  that I can pretend with him.  The other night, I heated up a roast for dinner...I was disappointed in my family because this was the third time I had reheated this roast and no one was excited about it.  They started heating up frozen pizzas and I frowned.  Mo ate his plate of roast and potatoes with zest until I noticed that he was just taking his potatoes and smooshing it into the eye sockets of the spooky skull that I had sitting on the counter top for Halloween.  He and Chlo like to be lions, and frogs, and puppies sometimes.  He is hilarious really.  He desperately wants to rope cows though, and I frequently get hit in the head with his rope.  Ryan needs to spend some time teaching him how to rope.  It is obviously in his blood.

     Another week and a half flown by!  We are so busy that the days just slip through my fingers.  We are settling into life down here in Nevada.  Most of my kids are enjoying it a ton better than our life in Utah.  I am loving having a place to call home, and I am still trying to remember not to get too spoiled.  I took so many blessings for granted, and want to always be grateful for the things that I have.  I love, this house a ton.
     The kids are settled into school, and I take Mo and Chlo down to sell and pick melons every day.  I have never been a "working mom" and yet this is the closest thing to that I have ever been.  I really hate that I am not at home when my children walk through the door from school, and yet most evenings are spent all together in the rows and rows of Bundy melons.  We probably spend more time together now than we ever have.  I wish I could say that we are always getting along in the rows of melons, but this would be a lie.  The kids get fighting about the dumbest stuff.  All of the older ones have learned how to operate the skid loader and of course they all think that they are the best operator.  I must admit that Jazzerz operating skills leave a bit to be desired, but hey, I don't even know how to turn the engine on.  I have no room to talk.  They fight about who is helping, and who isn't, and who is digging around in the dirt instead.  Rooshkie wants to take melon breaks pretty much non-stop, and Oak usually finds some reason why he needs to make a run to the ranch house.  Overall though, it has been great.  I love working together.
     Mo's little imagination is starting to run wild.  I love watching him grow.  He is really quite hilarious.  He is a different animal every time I turn around.  My least favorite of these is when he chooses to be a frog.  The frog has a tendency to use me as a spring board.  I have told him and told him that my large and pregnant bump is really not to be used to spring from, but he does not seem to get it.  He is a donkey quite often too.  When he chooses to be a lion, he insists that we shoot him with an imaginary gun so that he can tip over in a dramatic fashion.  He will whisper "shoot me..." it is then expected that a loud gun shot cracks and he tips to one side or the other.  He also seems to think that he is a good hair dresser.  The other morning he motioned for Jazzerz to bring her comb so that he could fix her hair.  I cannot say that he does a good job.  Anyhow, Jazz is a good sport to allow him to mess with her hair at all.
     Chlo and Mo were playing a game of "brains" the other day when they somehow bumped into each other, and Mo split his head open.  Brains is a game that is played when they chase each other around and yell "brains" at other just for grossed out laughs and spookiness, I guess.  It gets pretty wild.  I am glad that he and Chloee play pretty good together these days for the most part. 
     Chlo has also learned how to drive a truck.  She ended up driving the truck in the hay field the other day for the men as they gathered the hay.  She informed her dad, after this task was complete, that he doesn't ever have to drive again.  She would like to be his chauffeur.  I umm don't think so Chlo.  I am surprised that you are even able to reach the pedals enough to drive in the hay field...sorry.
     It has been so long since I had anything to do with the business world.  I am sure that Chlo and Mo hinder business a bit with my melon customers.  Almost all of my customers are snow birds that live in Mesquite.  I am seriously kind of jealous when I hear where some of these people are from because many of them live in a beautiful area all summer, and then come down for our mild winters...seriously the best of both worlds.  Anyhow, their cars are usually new, spic and span, and they usually pack boxes in their pristine trunks so that the melons don't roll around and get ruined.  What makes me frown, is when I go around to help them load their melons, and Chlo and Mo have crawled in their trunk, and are hiding in their boxes.  This cannot be good for business, even though most of them get a kick out of it.  It makes me frown....especially when they are looking particularly grubby, which is just something that happens at the ranch.  They eat melon, then they roll around in the dust, and the results are not always pretty.  Anyhow, I have been amazed at little Chlo and how much she pitches in now that her siblings are gone most of the day.  She can really pack some heavy melons, and she is always right there to help.  Nice little Chlo.