This is a little late because life has been busy as all get out.  I am sure this is just going to get worse as all of the kids get a little bit older.  To top it all off, I am having to face the fact that my little captain Mo is getting too restless to take much of a nap anymore.  I hate to admit this because it means that I am really baby-less.  I also enjoyed the fact that for at least an hour a day, he was immobilized and snoozing safely on my bed.  It is a good feeling, but it is over.  He has been as bad as the dickens to get down at night lately.  He likes to sleep on my neck, which really is uncomfortable.  I also have no bed to put him in, and no room to put another bed.  I have been trying to put him down on the couch at night, but he falls off every night and comes crying into my bed.  Then I have horrible nightmares about being strangled and not getting enough oxygen.  I wake up to him on my neck.  I am glad that his tantrum phase is over.  I am sure that the tossing and turning around on my neck will phase out too.  I might try putting him in with Oak or Chlo tonight.  Hopefully this works out better than the couch.  He also insisted one evening on going to bed with a wash cloth.  Whatever Mo.
     Oak has been getting all kinds of outland-ish ideas lately.  He spent quite a bit of time one day trying to convince me to purchase him a pet tiger.  There was just no reasoning with him on this idea.  I explained to him that the tiger would want to eat him and others.  He didn't care.  He just shrugged it off and said that he would just keep him in a cage and all would be well.  All of my "absolutely no way" replies just went in one ear and out the other.  It was pretty bizarre.
     Chlo had some troubles this week with wanting to look her best.  We had to run Jams to an orthodontist appointment.  Unfortunately we don't get out much and Chlo got kind of excited about the trip.  She got pretty overzealous and came in with something odd roughly smudged around her lips.  I at first got after her for messing with my lipstick, but when I tried to rub it off it wouldn't even smudge.  I asked her where she got the lipstick and she produced a paint pen that Ryan uses to mark steel and wood etc.  She rubbed and rubbed with water and she ended up looking only a little bit like Ronald McDonald.  Poor Chlo has great intentions.
    Because the house is for sale, I have all closets clean etc.  The kids have been enjoying hide-n-seek a lot lately.  Chlo and Oak have been folding themselves up and hanging out on the bottom shelf of the hall closet.  It looks extremely uncomfortable and awkward, but hey...it keeps them busy and safe so whatever.
     Jams had the opportunity to speak in shrsh on Sundee.  She has spoken with the fam several times, but never as the youth speaker.  She kept wanting lots of "help" with her speech, but I wouldn't budge.  I just kept telling her to pray about it, and she would get the direction she needed from the source she needed.  She finally listened to me and she did a great job.  She was even on the verge of tears when we walked in because she had dropped and broken her I-pod on the way out to the car.  There went her whole summer babysitting wages.  I was very happy with the way her speech went.  Mo was a juggle because I had no diaper bag this week and nothing to keep him entertained.  Chlo and Oak were pulling the old "put your heads into mom's side and push."  I hate it when they do this.  It is way uncomfortable and I had them doing it to me on both sides.  Chlo had her hair all fixed up in a cute curly ponytail with a ribbon when we entered shrsh.  By the time primary rolled around she looked kind of like a q-tip.  Not too happy with Chlo on Sundee.
     After shrsh I went in and fell asleep for awhile.  This proved to be a huge mistake.  Ryan and I both fell asleep actually.  Oak came bursting in at one point to inform me that Mo had broken into one of Ryan's cans of varnish.  I groggily asked where he was when he opened it and Oak mentioned that it happened outside.  I just figured it was spread all over the grass and we would have to mow it a few times when spring rolled around...so what?  Well, he jumped on the can of varnish on the back patio.  Not good.  Now we have this huge stain that we don't know quite how to deal with.  Boo to Moroni and his entertainment tactics.  Why would you grab a can to jump on?  That must have sounded like loads of fun, but now its a big mess.
     Mo has also had an interesting way of asking for a drink.  I cannot even spell it.  Lately though he just squeals for "GLACK" when he is thirsty.  He has also been acting like a lion and growling and snarling at the girls non-stop.  They are pretty good about running and acting scared by his aggressive growls.  He looks pretty small and un-intimidating when he is on all fours, but we all act scared out of our wits just for him. 
    I had the opportunity to go to the temple on Saturdee.  It was completely enjoyable.  Ryan spent several days in Bunkerville helping Davey repair and paint his crusher that he is trying to get sold.  I enjoyed my time in the temple, and I know he likes to help his family out whenever he can.  The weekend activities did us both a lot of good.

 

 

     I can honestly say that I am really aware of how spoiled I am today.  Jams had to go a day without modern technology for a class at school.  She kept trying to do it on her own, but it wouldn't work because we were not all on board with it.  For example, she was supposed to go without modern heat, but Sager kept getting cold and turning the heat back on.  She came to me complaining about not being able to get her assignment done properly, and so we all decided to go without all the modern stuff together.  I got really sick of it really fast.  Ryan has spoiled me rotten in so many ways.  He put a hot water return on my hot water heater so that when I turn the hot water on, it immediately gets hot.  He put me a water softener in, and my house is always warm and comfortable.  We use a wood stove for most of the heating, but in my bathroom we use a heater that sits below my towels so that they are always warm after a shower.  Well, he switched the power off completely yesterday afternoon.  He and the kids got busy scrounging up candles.  They found a whole bunch of them that didn't have wicks and so they got melting them down, making new wicks for them out of old t-shirts, and pouring them into glass jars.  This took them all afternoon, and by the time it got dark, we had enough candles burning to set off the smoke alarm.  We noticed right away that letting Oak and Chlo trapse around the joint with lit candles was an accident and fire just waiting to happen.  We had to take their candles away, which made Oak extremely angry.  They wanted to be all pioneer-y and travel from room to room with their candles.  Well, too bad, I like my house and I like Chloee with hair too much to let anyone set either one of them alight.  Needless to say that I was ready to switch the power back on today.  He did make Jams and Sags wash their clothes out by hand too.  It looked like a big pain in the behind.  I hope Jams passes her assignment now.  I am way more grateful for my blessings after having to go without some of them for awhile.
     We had an interesting week last week.  Ryan started the week off working a lot of hours in St. George.  I have still been working really hard to keep the house in order for potential buyers.  Well, he got home late one night and went in and started watching one of those dumb Chinese films where the fighters spin around in the air.  Not really my type of show, but I decided to quit cleaning so that we could spend some time together.  I love action movies, but the karate spinning ones are pretty frustrating.  Anyhow, I had just settled down and one of the kids had switched off the lights when Mo came in whining about something.  He wanted help up on the bed, and I immediately stuck to his little body when I grabbed him under the arms.  I couldn't see what he had all over him, but I could tell that it was extremely sticky.  I picked him up, held him at arms length, and headed to the bathroom.  When I switched on the light, I could see that he had been into the marshmallow cream.  I mean, that it looked like he had jumped in a bucket of it and rolled around.  He was covered in it, I was covered in it, and my bed spread was covered.  Boo to Sager for leaving it out.  Anyhow, he and I both had to change clothes,  Mo got stuck in a warm bath, and I had to strip our bed.  He had gotten it in the carpet and it looked like he had rolled all over the couch too.  Needless to say that I made Sager clean up the couch, and we learned our lesson about putting the marshmallow cream out of the way before Mo discovers it. 
     After I got him cleaned up, he went and got into something chocolate too.  I had to change him again.  Maybe he didn't like the dinner I fixed and he had to go scrounging around on his own.  I will make sure I cook him stuff he likes.
     I had a birthdee this week too.  The kids always want to go out and buy elaborate gifts, but I have tried to explain to them that I don't need anything.  What I want is for them to take over a few of my duties for the day.  They cannot seem to grasp this concept.  Anyhow, they did go and buy me some flowers, and plants and things which was nice of them.  Ryan took me out and bought me a new temple dress.  It was a good day overall.  All of my family called, and some of Ryan's family too.  My best friend growing up texted me too.  I am so grateful for thoughtful people.
     We also had a fiasco with a mango this week. I made the mistake of taking Sager grocery shopping with me.  She begged and begged for an extremely green mango.  I was being  a little bit spacey when I told her she could have it.  I mean, what can we really do with one green mango?  The kids love mangos.  Anyhow, that mango sat on the counter all week and it just wasn't really getting any more ripe.  Oak especially would come and beg and beg to eat it.  He didn't realize that it was Sage's and that it wasn't going to be very good if it was green.  This went on for days and days.  Finally one day he brought it in and it was red looking.  I was finally going to consent until he handed it to me.  It looked a little bit weird.  As I inspected it closer, I realized that he had used his water colors to paint it red.  Needless to say that I finally just gave in and let them cut it.  Sage was pretty stingy with it, but she did share. 
     Ryan was also a bit confused when he came in and saw a big tangle of electrical tape all over the table.  I guess someone had told Chlo to get the measuring tape, when she had wondered aloud how big she was.  She went and got some electrical tape and tried to measure herself with it.  It just ended up a big sticky wad.  Poor Chlo will get things figured out someday. 
     Our big project on Saturday was painting the hall.  My washing machine has also not been draining properly and so Ryan pulled it out to see what the problem was.  It made me so mad because we had assigned all of the kids some chores to do, and I kept finding different kids hiding in the dryer.  The dryer was sitting in the hall so that Ryan could get behind the washer, and I caught Chlo in there, Oak was in there and Rooshkie was caught hiding in there several times.  Needless to say that the wall scrubbing cannot get done when the wall scrubbers hide out in the dryer.
     We did get the hall painted, and Chlo must have been intrigued with Ryan taking off the outlet and switch covers.  I have been catching her today removing switch covers with a screw driver.  I had to remind her that her assignment today was to clean windows and mirrors...not remove light switch covers with a screw driver. 
     The kids also got into getting under the house.  Our home doesn't have a basement, but it has a huge crawl space under the house.  We like to store paint and stuff under there because it never freezes stuff under there.  Ryan made the mistake of letting Rooshkie go under the house to get the paint for the hall project.  Then she kept wanting to go under there with Oak and Jazz for adventures.  I hate them being under there.  We have mice under there from time to time, a cat lives under there, and I just know that it is dirty and spider-y.  Well, they kept going through Sager's closet, knocking her clothes and boots around, to get under the house.  Needless to say that this was not okay with Sager.  She hollered and shrieked at Jerusha until I thought she was going to go hoarse.  Rooshkie was wearing a sleek, black, sneaky outfit again and she thought she was pretty sly to slip past Sage and into the closet undetected.  It wasn't a good thing at all.
     Ward Confernce was excellent yesterday.  We have the best Stake President.  Anyhow, our Stake goals this year entail us listening and studying the words of our modern prophets.  It was really good.  I had to get after Oak and Rooshkie for tussling over honeycomb cereal, and Sager pinched Jams and maimed Jerusha once, but we did pretty good other than that.  I must admit that Jams I-pod helped us out a ton with Mo-ster.  She found some drawing game that turns his drawings into pretty designs.  He would make a nice design, and then go up and down the row for all to admire his work.  I liked it a ton because it kept him quiet and happy.
     We had our semi-annual dentist appointment today.  This is always a juggle.  We also had some of the Cox cousins come to town and so the kids were in a huge hurry to get back so that they could spend some time with them at the aquatic center.  One of the biggest problems with our Dentist's office is that it echoes really bad in there.  Every footstep seems to be amplified by a thousand.  Oak catches onto this quickly and delights in making tons of noise.  He tromps around the office.  Then he goes upstairs to the hallway and tromps around up there so that it echoes loudly into the office.  Mo caught onto the noisiness too and was stomping around.  He was banging the t.v. cabinet and running back and forth to hear his loud footfalls.  I always dread when they come to get me because I know that the noise and nonsense is going to get even worse.  I was right.  As I sat there so that the hygienist could take some x-rays I could hear the loud clomps and the screechy pterodactyl noises coming from the waiting room.  I finally asked Jams to just take them all outside.  I am so grateful for my older gals and their help.  Sheesh.
     We did get back in time for the older kids to swim with their cousins.  Chlo was way upset because I was not prepared to go swimming with them, and she had brought herself a Dora the Explorer swimming suit that was about three sizes too small.  She bawled and bawled about not being able to swim with her cousins.  I hope Chlo realizes that disappointments are just a part of life, and that life goes on. 
   

 

We also got to babysit Maddi and Jaylee this week along with Jaylee's big brother Braxton.  It made us have a great day!

 

    
    

     We had a nice week last week.  The weather has been quite pleasant for January, and I have been on a mission all week to get everything nice and clean so that our home will entice buyers.  It has been looked at by three different people this week, and I hope that someone will decide they want to buy.  Anyhow...I have turned into a regular clean Nazi.  This has not gone over too well with anyone...particularly Mo.  He just does not understand why I get upset when he dumps 5 gallons of popcorn all over the patio.  He likes to dump stuff.  It isn't a good phase when the house must be clean on any given moment.
     With all of the cleaning, I have dug up some toys that the kids had forgotten about.  I found Chloee's shopping cart which is a coveted toy between she and Mo.  It was in two pieces, but I put it back together and Chlo was thrilled.  She immediately began hauling everything under the sun in it around and around the house.  She especially liked to flaunt it in front of Mo because she knew that he would want it too.  It got extremely ridiculous.  I highly encourage sharing of personal items, but I cannot force them. Usually they learn pretty fast that if they share their stuff, others will share with them.  But Chlo knew that the cart was hers and that Mo was just out of luck.  I kept trying to get him to play with some of his stuff.  He has a dump truck that can haul just as much as the dumb shopping cart, but he wanted nothing to do with it.  He bawled and bawled as Chlo...who was feeling quite superior...strutted around the house with the prized shopping cart.  It was enough to make me want to shriek at her.  Anyhow, I also realize that Mo is extremely spoiled and he needs to be told "no" way more often.  We endured the bawling, until he got distracted by a show that one of the kids had put on.  I was just starting to be grateful for the silence, and I was thinking that he was probably going to drift off to sleep (all of the bawling had definitely worn him out) when Chlo hauls herself up onto the bed beside him with....the stupid shopping cart.  The shopping cart that he couldn't have. I was ready to chuck the shopping cart at that point.  She was trying way too hard to hurt his feelings. Needless to say that I was not happy with Chlo.  Who brings a shopping cart onto a bed to watch t.v. with? That was pretty mean spirited of Chlo, and it set him off all over again.
     I have also been kind of frustrated because the kids have been building tent cities to play and sleep in.  Tent cities do not help houses sell.  Chlo has a tent, Oak has a few of them, and they kept getting erected in the living room.  One day, I was trying really hard to get the house ready to show, and they put up a tent city. Oak found some of Jams ski boots and he began clodding all over the house in them.  They pulled umbrellas out so that they could have shelter inside of their tent shelters, and they pulled the kites out too.  It was all about exciting fun and games.  It made me frown.
     I have also had a few things backfire on me this week.  On Sundee I have to talk Chlo into wearing shoes.  I got really excited about a pair of black shoes and I went on and on about how they made her look just like Alice in Wonderland.  She was thrilled with this news and happily wore shoes to shrsh for one of the first times ever.  Well, the rest of the week she insisted on wearing those shoes everywhere.  Ryan had to go to a horse auction, and he invited Chlo.  There was still snow on the ground, and the livestock arena is pretty snow-y and muddy.  But, Chlo wanted to be Alice in Wonderland and so she insisted on wearing those shoes.  She wore them to go and fetch the horse that Ryan purchased last week, and got them stuck all the way in the mud.  I sprayed those dumb things off all week.  When Sunday rolled around again....no shoes were to be found of course.  I am sure that they were probably in some mud bog somewhere nearby.
     I just mentioned that Ryan purchased a horse this week.  We went to the horse auction and he bought a red gelding.  He looks nice and sleek and they claimed that he was "ranch broke" whatever that means.  Well, I went down the street to the pen where we have been keeping our animals, and he and the horse that Ryan had borrowed for an earlier round-up were gone.  Great fun.  I called Ryan, and he figured that they had just gotten into Sunroc's gravel pit.  He told me that he would go and get them.  He and Chlo did just that, and Chlo got to be the first Bundy to ride the new horse.  Ryan said that he seemed to really do well, and Chlo was thrilled until she almost lost her Alice in Wonderland shoes in the mud.
     Rooshkie has been acting like an odd ball this week.  She keeps putting on all black clothing (complete with an odd black beanie) and spying on the family.  She likes to cause mystery and mayhem.  Ryan and I were in the kitchen one evening.  He was doing something on the computer and I was cleaning up the kitchen.  The lights kept going out.  We have had problems with some of the lights lately and I had convinced Ryan that he needed to tear some of the lights apart before I realized that it was just Rooshkie being a sneaker.  She would dart in when no one was watching and flip out the light switch.  She is actually pretty sneaky.  Jeff and his friend Te used to play spy eye when we were growing up.  They were always very easy to spot.  Rooshkie is pretty difficult to spot, but I am sure that I am way more distracted these days.
     Oakers has decided that he has changed his mind on his goals of being a dragon when he grows up.  He has now decided that he would like to be an ape.  He sat down with me last night and basically outlined all of the reasons that being an ape would be ideal.  They make loud noises, they are quick, and they swing from trees.  Unfortunately, he is practicing all the time by making extremely loud ape noises, and hopping around ape-like from couch to couch.  I thought his dragon practicing was loud, but this is getting ridiculous.
     For FHE Ryan was trying to explain to the kids how the earth rotates around the sun.  He was doing a great job, but the just happened to be using Mo's new ball that he got for Christmas.  No one could get any learning done because Mo was having a complete come apart.  Needless to say that we finally just gave up, and gave Moroni his blasted ball.  I hope the kids learned something besides the fact that Mo loves that ball.
     One of Sagers favorite things is to watch the skits that Studio C put on.  Studio C is a group of students from BYU that do some pretty hilarious short skits and they are usually posted on youtube.  Anyhow, she loves them and has been begging me to take her up there to watch them live.  I find this whole concept kindn of amusing because it just isn't going to happen.  I rarely make it to Provo, and if I do, I cannot picture juggling seven kids (especially Mo) in a live audience.  Well, one of her friends had the opportunity to be an extra in one of their skits and she invited Sager to go.  She was so excited, and she got to meet Whitney and Adam from Studio C.  According to Sage, she had the best time ever.  She also got autographs for Jams, Rooshkie and Wazz.
     Well, I just wanted to mention that I have really been aware of all of my blessings lately.  I feel so happy to have the opportunity to put all of my time and efforts into raising my kids, and keeping the house.  I am so glad that Ryan takes on all of the responsibilities that he does so that I can enjoy being home.  I love it.  I have to smile even when Mo and Chlo dump stuff.  I am a lucky gal.

   

     I am excited for a new year and we had a great week at the ranch.  It was so nice and beautiful down there and it was just a nice break from all of the winter weather.  I know a lot of people have to take elaborate vacations and pay thousands of dollars to get out of the weather for awhile.  We are so blessed to have the ranch to go to.  I love it this time of year. 
     We went down last week, and the kids scattered outside.  They love to play on the haystack, they wander up and down the ditch, and they like to catch frogs and toads.  Mo chases chickens, and frolics with sassy, and played with the new puppies.  Ryan also put them to work.  There is a never ending supply of projects and chores that need to be done. 
     We also attended shrsh down there which was a big fiasco.  It was only a fiasco because the kids had not packed their bags very well.  Chloee tried to pull off a look in a maroon dress with yellow socks.  Jerusha couldn't find her shoes, Oak couldn't find his boots, and Chloee was stuck in yellow socks.  It all worked out, but it is hard to pack for everyone for a week.  I tried to get the kids to pack up themselves, and yet this is the results.  (Chlo didn't pack for herself, her missing shoes were my fault.)
     Ryan and Jams went out to chase cows the first few days.  Ryan has been stuck on Buck lately.  Buck is getting better, but he is slow and skittish.  Ryan also claims that he is built like a barrel and a saddle won't fit on him.  Anyhow, for this reason, Ryan hasn't been the main cow catcher of the bunch.  Jams was riding Diesel.  He is a faster horse, but Jams was intrigued with the wild donkey's and kept going after them instead of the calves.  Hello Jams...what are we going to do with a herd of wild donkey's???  Ryan usually catches one or two, but he claims he needs a better horse.  I agree...we will have to find him one.
     Arden has a camera that he wears on his cowboy hat as he chases cows.  He showed us some footage from a cowboying trip that they had been on recently.  It was seriously the coolest thing....ever.  It is so cool because you are on the horse and running.  You can see the cows in the distance and Arden spurs his horse faster...at this point you can tell that the horse is running as fast as he can to catch the cows.  Arden swings his rope several times and throws and catches one on his first try.  It of course starts bawling and mooing in protest.  For just a moment it all made sense to me.  I could clearly see why going out and chasing cows would be so amazingly fun.  It was kind of like deer hunting.  I finally understood why my Dad and brothers loved to hunt when I was finally handed a gun, and had a tag of my own to fill.  It is extremely thrilling.  Yep, I want to be a cowgirl now.  I want to learn how to rope, and I want to ride a fast horse.  If I can't make all of that happen, then I at least want to watch Arden's cool footage.  That might be as close as I ever get.
     One of Arden's dog had puppies last week.  This proved hours of fun for Chlo and the rest of the kids.  They all had a puppy that they doted on.  Chlo named her puppy cupcake and she packed it around and loved on it.  I had to kindly remind Chlo that she couldn't take it too far because if she did, the puppy would miss out on her mom coming to feed her. 
     Sassy proved to be an exciting part of the week.  She was still taking a bottle, and the girls fed her quite a few times.  The problem with Sassy is that she figured out how to get into the kitchen.  I am not sure how, but she figured out how to open the door.  It was quite hilarious to walk in the kitchen, and see Sassy standing there all dumb and out of place.  She is still as playful and rompy as ever.  Another calf was born down there, and he was small and needy.  Luckily his mom was taking good care of him, and on the morning before we left, a little black calf was born.  He was little, and needed lots of help too.  It was great to see his mom take care of him.  She helped him get up and was way protective.  Luckily Sassy has Stetsy.  I am not sure what happened to Sassy's mom, but Stetsy takes great care of the doggie calves down there.
     Jazzerz caught a frog one night.  This should have been a joyous occasion, but it turned out to be a huge fiasco thanks to Mo.  He longed to love and squeeze on that frog, and hey...we are not into torturing poor animals.  He just could not seem to get the knack of being soft with it.  For this reason, we kept having to remove the frog from Mo, and he would howl and bawl in very loud protest.  It got to where I really wished that Jazz had not caught a frog at all.  We finally figured out a solution.  We put the frog in a cup, and let Mo tend to the cup.  This way the frog didn't get squashed to death, and Mo felt close to the frog.  It was all fine and good until Mo got into some show that they were watching in Arden's room.  He must have got intrigued with the plot because he forgot all about the poor frog, and honestly I did too.  I went and scooped him (Mo) up not long after that and took him to our trailer to bed.  Apparently Arden came out of his room later.  Jams said that he said, "Who put a frog....in my room????"  The frog must have ditched his cup, and Arden had to deal with it.  Thankfully Arden is used to that kind of a thing.  It is rare when the ranch isn't crawling with dozens of grandkids.  Arden is a great uncle who uses the grandkids to hone his roping skills.  They get to chase around dodging ropes, and Arden is now one of the best ropers ever.  It is a win-win I would say.
     Most of the kids had the opportunity to go out with cowboys.  I always encourage them to go if they possibly can.  There isn't much that I wouldn't give to spend even one day with my grandparents, and the kids always come back with great stories.  Jams is trying to learn how to rope and ride better too.  We just need to keep her focused on catching calves and not donkeys.
     Mel's kids were down for awhile last week.  This was perfect because it gave the kids some great time to play with their cousins.  Ryan has an old travel trailer down there that we were trying to gut out and clean up.  Chlo and Prestlie were convinced that it was haunted.  It was hilarious, the stories that they were telling about it.  They stole a few items from our discard pile.  They explained that it was fine if they took them because everyone that had lived in the trailer was now dead, and were only around to haunt the place.  I didn't want to ruin their fun, but Ryan was living in that trailer when we were dating, and he is very lively. 
     Well, we helped gather melon seeds, the kids stacked firewood, and Ryan worked on the squeeze chute several days.  Ryan also rode with the men most days, and I chased kiddos around in the sunshine.  I also love my morning runs down there.  The noise and smell of the river are so relaxing.
     We also celebrated New Years down there.  Usually there is a small gathering of kids down there that my kids can party with.  I felt kind of bad because Jamie was missing her first New Years Eve youth dance.  Also, Stetsy is now married and has no desire to party with the kids, and Arden was off with his friends too.  This left my kids alone to party on their own.  I wasn't feeling too great that night, and had no energy to party.  Ryan went and started them a fire, and they had all kinds of desires to roast hot dogs, and sleep out under the stars.  I figured it was way too cold for them to sleep out, but I did not want to ruin all their fun.  Anyhow, I fell asleep pretty early and kind of lost track of what they were doing. 
     According to Rooshkie, they were getting cold outside, and decided to sneak in the house and watch a movie in Arden's room.  At this point Grandma and Grandpa had gone to bed too.  Well, when they walked in Cliven was up and said, "Let's party together!"  They watched "Nacho Libre" and laughed until all hours of the night.  Cliven and Jerusha had a drink of rootbeer at midnight because they were the only ones up.  Anyhow, I got up pretty early to check on them, and it looked like a party all right.  They had mattresses, and bedding and had cozied up in front of the fire.  I am sure it will be a new years that they will never forget.  I am so grateful for Cliven.  What an awesome Grandpa.
     Well, we got home, and my small little house looks like a huge mansion after spending a week cramped in our travel trailer.  I hesitate to share this story but, I am going to even though it is gross.  It is just so typical of what mom's have to deal with.  Jazzerz has caught some kind of a virus.  She came into my room several times last night and complained that she was nauseous.  I got up and rubbed some essential oils on her, and this seemed to help her for a few hours until she would wake up feeling sick again.  I got up early this morning because we have switched to the earlier schedule in shrsh.  Anyhow, Jerusha was having issues in her room and I walked in to find puke everywhere.  Someone had puked all over Chlo in her bed and all over the floor.  No one could remember throwing up at all.  Well, it had to be Jazz, but how does a person puke in their sleep??? Chlo had slept in a puke-y bed and did not even know it.  She was upset because she had accidentally peed in her bed, which is somewhat unusual for her.  I didn't want to inform her that pee wasn't all that she had slept in.  Ryan just quietly took Chlo by the hand and stuck her in the bath with Mo.  We then went to work on cleaning up the beds and the floor.  I never realized, when we were dating, what that man and I would calmly have to face together.  I am so glad that I married someone who just strongly deals with stuff with me.  I am so blessed.  I am so grateful that we face these problems together.  Anyhow, we got everything and everyone cleaned up.  Jazzerz stayed home, and Oak attempted to fly a paper airplane around the bench in Shrsh.  Luckily Ryan caught it, and hid it before it made too many flights.  Mo had a change of heart about the nursery, and did not want to leave today.  I will never quite be able to predict that kid.  Anyway, it is good to be home, but I miss the sunshine.  It is back to school and all sorts of our activities tomorrow.  Bring on 2014.

 This picture has Ryan on Buck...It looks like he roped the cow...Clance is tying it down...Leroy and Arden are also in the picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     I figure that I had better update the blog a little early this week because we will be at the ranch and I will have no computer access.  We had a lovely Christmas and I am feeling so blessed.  I am so grateful for my kids, a great husband, and that we were able to spend the holiday with some of my family.
     Monday the kids were out of school and I knew that I needed to hurry and finish up some last minute Christmas things.  I needed and wanted to take homemade bread around to my neighbors.  I had actually started this project on Saturday, but did not get very far because we had to go ring the bell at Wal-Mart.  I got up early and started a batch.  At this point pretty much all of the kids were up because Ryan had left for work.  I began kneading my dough when I began to notice some disturbing things appearing in the dough.  A little rock here, a blade of grass there.  I kept kneading, and it got worse and worse.  I noticed some elastic bands off of Jams braces and that was it...what in the world had gotten into my flour?  Oak blamed it on Mo, but my sack of flour had been sitting in the pantry.  The garbage can sits just outside of the pantry, and it almost looked like someone had emptied the dustpan into the flour.  Luckily it was almost gone.  I chucked it, and the dough, and started over.  I went out to the garage and got me a new sack of flour.  The next batch looked nice and clean, which was reassuring.  I mixed it up and got it raising.  I started a second batch.  I was just beginning to smell the first batch cooking when a loud boom shattered the silence.  I peeked into the kitchen to see that the oven door had blown open, and smoke was billowing out of the oven area.  Jams was standing in the kitchen looking quite bewildered.  "What was that?"  she asked.  I peeked into the open oven, and a new smell began filling the air.  A green chile/Ortega smell.  I looked in and at some point, Mo had added a can of green chile's to the oven.  I am not sure what his reasoning was, but that can of green chile's had exploded and there was green chile's and ash all over my lovely bread.  Needless to say that I was not happy that two batches of bread were ruined right off of the bat.  Why Mo?  Did I ask for your help?  Ummm no.
     Somewhere in the midst of all of the bread making, the younger kids started a bath tub party.  They all got into their swimming suits, and got in the bath.  Mo somehow wanted to get involved in the party, but could not locate his suit and so he brought Jams a pull-up.  She did not know what he was doing and so she just put it on him.  Well, he got out bawling pretty quick.  It must have weighed a ton.  Poor Mo.  He just wanted to be involved with the party.
     When we did start cranking out the bread loaves, the kids always love to deliver it.  Chlo dressed up in her tiger suit for the occasion, and Mo insisted on being involved.  Jerusha got a little frustrated with him because he kept wanting to stop and take little snow eating breaks.  He also got hollering at Oak just because.  We always enjoy passing out a homemade gift to the neighbors, but this year we waited so long that there were a lot of people gone already.  Too bad for them because they could have had some Ortega bread.
     We usually spend Christmas with my parents because they like to watch the kids open their gifts, and there is usually no lack of little kids at the ranch.  It is a ton of work to get all of the Christmas gear packed up even though upon Ryan's insistence Christmas is kept quite small.  It never really is small, though just because of our numbers.  Anyhow, Ryan had to work most of the day on Christmas eve, and I put Jams and Sags to work wrapping gifts.  I would put the gifts in a box, so they couldn't see it and they would wrap.  I didn't make them wrap their own, but they were great to wrap up everyone elses.  I tried to get Jazz and Rooshkie to wrap Jams and Sags' gifts, but they fizzled kind of fast.  Anyhow, we drove over the mountain, and my mom was so excited to see us.  She and Mindi were busy cooking Christmas eve dinner.  My mom had all of these ideas about a Christmas program with the kids.  She assigned Jerusha the task of assigning roles and costumes.  I jumped in and helped them get the dinner on.  My assignments were guacamole and homemade salsa, but I couldn't keep Jazzerz and Deeb out of the guacamole.  Jazzerz especially was all about dipping her chips.
     When dinner was over, the program began.  The first scene was of Jams the donkey, carrying Mary (Rooshkie) and Joseph (Mo).  Joseph was leaning oddly on the donkey and looked as though we was going to fall off.  Joseph was also red all over because he had been partaking of hot Cheetos.  He had a weird sheath on his head that was all skeewampus too.  Anyhow, I have never seen a version where Joseph rode the donkey too, and then ditched Mary as soon as they arrived at the stable.  I think Joseph was in need of some more flamin' hot Cheetos.  The angels were tussling over wings (Jazz and Chlo).  Burndon was a cow, and Ryan was a wiseman.  Barry claimed that he looked a little too feminine for a wiseman, which is totally not Ryan's style.  Anyhow...the baby Jesus (Maddy) was quite upset before the pageant was over, the angels were slapping each other around, and Joseph was just gone.  A memorable, yet inaccurate, portrayal of the Savior's birth.  I always love to hear the events read though, and my favorite part is still the shepherds.  Sags was our only shepherd in the play, but shepherds would have been humble, and prayerful people.  Anyone whose existence and prosperity depend upon the weather and elements, realize that there is something bigger out there than them.  I am sure that herding sheep was frustrating and demanding work.  I also know that they probably spent a lot of time praying over their little sheep, and over the weather.  What an incredible thing that the angel informed simple shepherds.
     The night before Christmas was kind of eventful.  Ryan and I went to bed, and he woke me up around four so that we could bring the gifts in.  I got some warm clothes on, and hauled everything from the van, to the porch so that he could set things up in front of the tree.  I wasn't really paying attention to what I was hauling, but there were groceries also involved so that I could contribute to their dinner.  I informed Ryan that he also needed to stick bows on everything.  I had to laugh when I came in...now bows, and all of the groceries were neatly displayed with everything else...(Wahoo! Cream Cheese for Christmas!)  Yep, I love that man of mine.
      Rooshkie was up and down and round and round all night too.  She could not sleep, and finally I woke up to her and Jazzerz playing UNO.  It was around 5 or 6 at this point, and so I told them just to get everyone up.  The kids loved their Christmas, and we had a great Christmas season.  I really think that we had focused most of our energies on serving other people that we knew this year.  It totally made all of the difference.  They liked their gifts too, and we had a great day.
     I had given the kids a bottle of bubble bath so that they could get in Grandma's jetted tub.  I stuck Chlo and Mo in.  I kind of forgot about the water softner, and the fact that the jets really agitate the bubbles when I poured some in.  When I came back to check on them I just about fainted...they were literally buried in bubbles.  Mo's face was even covered in them.  They were having a bubble fight and flinging them everywhere.  I seriously was not sure if any water was even involved at that point.  I warned my mom not to go in there, but she had to see, and she got laughing really hard.  Their bubble fight had it to where Mo couldn't even see.  I will have to remember to go easier on the bubbles next time.
     Grandpa H gave Oak a bow and arrow set.  He loved them.  We went out shooting Moroni's new .22 rifle, (also a gift from Grandpa H) and Oak got really intent on target practicing.  We then went down into old town to check out the deer and turkeys.  Oak was really on the prowl to shoot one.  He kept telling me to watch for a big buck because he might as well shoot it.  Yep, the bow and arrow set was a winner for sure.
     The next night was kind of a fiasco because Chlo kept getting kicked out of people's beds, and I noticed Jazz ended up underneath one of the beds.  Poor Chlo.  She finally told me that she just needed her own pillow and then she could sleep just about anywhere.  I got up and went and found her one.  Nice little Chlo just needed a pillow.
     Yesterday was a fiasco.  Ryan wanted to get unpacked, clean up, and head down south for some cattle drives.  I started some laundry, but I just did not get done in time.  He had also brought one of Clance's friends to help out with the round-up and I was kind of embarrassed because things were insane around the house.  He was a good looking cowboy from Orderville and he was fifteen.  I also noticed right off the bat that the girls were acting really goofy around him.  Yep, I think he is in for a long week.  Oak informed him right off the bat that Jerusha liked him.  It was a little awkward to say the least.  Needless to say, that I am still home trying to get things in order and packed.  I am looking forward to warmer weather, and the smells from the river. 

     It has been a great week this week.  The kids had a busy week at school and they are done for the year...Wahoo!  I am looking forward to a few weeks without a schedule.  There is also no dance classes and Young women's activities.  I love Christmas, and this Christmas season has been wonderful.
     Mo has been extra difficult this week.  I finally noticed that he is cutting his eye-teeth.  He has been whinier, and crabbier.  A friend invited us over for ice cream sundies this week and he kept throwing fits about different toppings that were or were not being added to his sundae.  He also kept me up most of the night on Fridee night.  He was completely restless.  Because of this, I went to bed kind of early on Saturday night.  I was lightly sleeping and noticed that he was zipping around back and forth with a toy 4-wheeler.  This toy makes a lot of engine type noises.  I was too tired to care.  Anyhow, at some point he decided it was time for him to settle down for the night.  Everyone else had gone to bed.  He crawled up on my bed, and lightly began driving his 4-wheeler around on my face.  I finally woke up and rocked him to sleep.  Nice Mo, he couldn't figure out how to go to bed without his Mom.
     Oak had been hounding me for a haircut.  He really liked getting his haircut from Connie a few months ago.  He started hounding me last week, but I was too busy to get him an appointment.  I walked into my bathroom one afternoon and there were hair clippings all over the counter top.  I immediately thought of Chlo.  We just got her hair looking decent from her last DIY haircut.  It wasn't Chlo it was Oak, and of course he wacked a big chunk off right up front and close to the scalp. Anyhow, I did get him and Mo into see Connie this week.  She does a really good job with them.  Jams and Sags wanted to come too because they wanted to go in to a store and do some shopping for their friends.  When Oak was done we walked over to grab them.  Oak immediately began klomping all over the store in his moon boots...so loud.  He ran behind their soda fountain counter.  A bewildered girl who worked behind the counter was quite awestruck with Oak's behavior.  I yelled at him, but that store had a million break-ables and he just kept klunking around and around the place in his big boots. I guess he was feeling sporty with his new haircut. Finally I just told Jams and Sags that I couldn't let Oak stay in there another second.  I removed him and myself.  Talk about bull in a china shop...jeez.
     Mo got to go to school with Sags on Wednesday.  She had a class that required them to observe little kids.  He colored a picture and got really crabby at some point.  Sage was smart enough to realize that he was just hungry.  She excused herself to go and grab her lunch box.  She let Mo have her Doritos and he acted much better after that.  I understand that the need for Doritos can be pretty strong at times.  He felt pretty special about the whole situation.  The next day he got up and wanted to go to school with Sage.  Too bad Mo.  It was a one day deal.
     Ryan had signed us up to ring the bell for the Salvation Army on Saturday.  He instructed all of us to dress up nice, and he told the girls to get their musical instruments.  He then drove us up to Wal-Mart.  We sang hymns while Jams and Sags played their instruments and the outcome was amazing.  There was rarely a person go by that did not donate some money.  We have rang the bell many seasons, but never have I seen people respond to us that way.  It really got us into the true Christmas spirit.  Oak and Chlo took turns ringing the bell, and Mo got squirmy, but other than that it was great. 
     Jams, Sags, and Rooshkie also had the opportunity to go ice skating with some friends this week.  They had a great time.  Jamie also went to a surprise party for one of her best friends.  I had these ideal scenes in my head about me waiting up to hear about my teenager's evening.  I was going to be a good mom who stayed up and waited.  On this particular evening I sat in the chair, and waited and waited.  I finally completely fell asleep.  When she came home I was fully clothed and sleeping soundly in the chair.  I was so mad that she had stayed out so late, and did not call.  Shame shame Jams...
     Ryan mentioned that he had a meeting on Friday, but had the rest of the day off.  His meeting was in St. George and then he mentioned helping me finish up some Christmas errands.  Anyhow, it was funny because we went to one store.  I purchased like three items and his shoulders were quite shlumpy when we left.  He mentioned that he was all shopped out.  I asked him to just take me to Cal Ranch...this is definitely his type of store.  They have horse tack, and tools galore.  I just needed to grab a few items of clothing.  He sat on a chair while I was thumbing through some clothing racks.  The next time I checked on him was sleeping soundly in the chair.  I think that stores need to install beds for husbands to sleep in...maybe beds with t.v.'s and remotes.  This would solve all kinds of problems.
     My brother Gary sent us a big box of citrus from his trees this week.  It was a great gift.  I still cannot figure out how Jazzerz can eat lemon after lemon and not even have a pucker-y face about it.  Jazz is a lemon girl that is for sure.
     Ryan and I were in charge of the Christmas program.  It was kind of stressful, but we initially just passed out sign-up sheets.  Every person that participated was a volunteer and the program turned out great.  About a year ago, Ryan's sister Katie sent him a musical medley that followed the Savior's life.  It started out with the prophesies, and ended with the resurrection.  We just took all of the songs and assigned them to people and it turned out great!  I was so relieved.  I had stressed about it quite a bit.  Ryan sang, Sags and I sang with my friend Robin, Jamie played her violin for Rooshkie and a friend of hers to sing, and we had numerous people from the ward sing.  We ended with a volunteer choir that sang "Joy to the World."  It sounded amazing.
     Chlo had to give the scripture in primary today.  I went in there and whispered in her ear the words.  She would basically just whisper into the mike the last word of each sentence of the verse...good enough.  When we arrived home she threw herself into the bookoo fudge and bawled and bawled.  I finally ventured over to her and asked her what kinds of problems she was having.  It turns out that she was upset because when we arrived at home, I had cleared the table to get everyone some lunch.  Unknowingly I had cleared the bag of cereal that she was wanting to partake from.  When we got that figured out, she got happy again.
     Ryan and I were upset to find two of his nice, white shirts on the floor in a heap.  Sprinkled throughout the heap were a bunch of chawed up cashews.  Why???  I figure Mo was behind this, but I have no proof and I have no clue why Ryan's shirts had to be involved.  If you are going to chew up nuts and spit them out, why on Ryan's shirts?
     Another laugh that we had this week, I received a brochure in the mail that had a house for sale...my house.  The pictures looked really good, and I had worked really hard that day to get everything in order so that the pictures would look good.  But, right in the middle of my beautiful, clean kitchen floor Mo's train was there big as anything.  We all had a good laugh about it.  No matter how hard I try, Moroni leaves his mark. 
     Ryan and the girls put a huge star on the roof this evening.  It turned out great.  There was a lot of banging around and squealing but no one fell, and they had a good time with their Dad.  Chlo has also decided that when she grows up she either wants to be a frog, a spider, or a psychic detective.  I explained to Chlo that there is really no such thing as a psychic detective.  She has been watching "Psych" with Sags.  I explained that even on the show, the guy isn't really psychic but just really observant.  Chlo didn't understand any of this.  She still has her three choices when she grows up.
I cannot picture Chlo as any of these things, but there is still time to convince Chlo that maybe there are other things to pursue. 

 

  

     I am getting this update done a few days later than normal because last week was so insane and it is spilling over into this week.  Seriously, when I thought of having a bunch of kids I forgot that they would all have their little deals that they would want to be at.  Last week we had four festivals, a dance review, plus practices, a band and orchestra concert, plus we had the steer to deal with and I was helping a friend out with  her dog while they went to Disneyland.  This required some extra stops every day to her house.  It all turned out okay, but we were pretty scattered.  We also went and the kids participated in the Creche Festival on Sundee.  I was asked to fill in for Chloee's primary lesson, and I am trying to make sure that everyone is lined out for the Christmas Sacrament Meeting next week.  Ryan and I were in charge of that meeting.  Anyhow...hopefully it will all come together.
     Amid all of the chaos last week, Jamie caught Oak doing some boxing moves in the mirror when no one was looking.  He had his shirt off, and according to Wams, he was really letting someone have it good.  He is always way concerned about building his muscles.  I hope he won whoever he was fighting.  This reminded me of his Dad because Ryan's dreams usually consist of him vs. some formidable foe.  Ryan vs. the Mtn. Lion....Ryan vs. the ninja's to name a few.  It truly must be a guy thing. 
     The Christmas tree has been lovely this week and it smiles really fresh and pine-y.  However, it has become somewhat of a pain because Mo seriously will not leave the ornaments on the tree.  I am quite used to this to a large degree because the kids have never been good to leave the tree alone.  I understand that this is just too much to ask.  I think the difference with Mo has been the ball thing.  When the girls would remove the ornaments, it was usually because they loved decorating the tree.  They would remove all the ornaments and then re-decorate it.  It was a little annoying  because only the bottom half would ever be decorated, but I quit caring about how my tree looked years ago.  Oak never cared really either way about the tree as far as I remember, but Mo is all about taking all of the balls off and chucking them until they smash.  I am smart enough to buy plastic balls, but they do smash and get holes after so much chucking.  Chlo was examining the ornaments this week (what is left of them) and disapproved of one of them by claiming that spiders were smooshed all over it.  Oak scoffed at this idea.  He explained to Chlo that the ornament company is not going to smoosh spiders all over the ornaments that they sell because then no one would want to buy them.  It just isn't good for business was his explanation to Chlo.  I have to agree.  Smooshed up spider ornaments would probably never be a hot item.  I am glad that Oak has good business sense.
     The girls did great in their Christmas concert.  It was Rooshkie's first one and she was a cute little violinist.  Sager's band did not sound half as bad as she had warned me about, and Jams did great.  Sage also sang with the Choir which was a first.  The biggest problem was Moroni's attention span.  Someone from the school always gets up and gives a big long spiel about concert courtesy blah, blah, blah.  I understand that it is rude to get up and leave in the middle of a number, I understand it is rude to get up and leave at all, but I also believe in taking the whole family to these events.  The siblings need to be there to support each other.  Mo is a sibling.  The next time I hear a teacher, or in this case, it was a principal give this lecture I am going to go and hand them the Mo-ster.  It is hard enough to keep Chlo, Oak, and even Jazzerz good, but Mo is impossible.  I would like to see them keep the concert courtesy rules with Mo in tow.  He was bad from the start.  Ryan bought them all popcorn, which I was hoping, would keep him sitting still for awhile.  Mo finished his way too quickly.  He had gone around and demanded some other ladies popcorn who was not too excited to share.  I kept having to pull him away from her first thing.  After that, he just wanted to run and screech around the joint.  When I picked him up he would arch backwards trying to do a back bend to the ground.  I tried telling him to look for the cows/horses/spiders...anything that would stop him and shut him up for a few minutes.  He would look around all wide-eyed and try to find the mysterious animal.  It wasn't long before he figured out that there were no animals or spiders in the whole gym.  The last half was just a wrestling match.  The girls did well though, and I wrestled with squirming Mo as quietly as I could.  Finally Miranda, one of Sager's best friends came and got him, and he sat all nice and tall and still for her.  I just don't get it, but thank you Miranda!
     We also had been checking out other houses to purchase, and we found one that we felt was an awesome buy.  We got to work on putting offers on it.  This led to a bunch of errands and paper work too, but we feel if we get it, it would be a great blessing.  It would mean taking out a loan, though, which doesn't excite us too much.
     The girls had their dance review on Fridee in the Heritage center.  My parents came over for it, and I had the privelege of bringing my baby niece Madelyn with us.  She was a great little pal at the dance review!  They did a great job, and Mo was only restless through the second half.  I was happy with my girls.  They are really enjoying their dance classes.
     On Sunday, I had to get after Jazzerz over and over.  She was rolling around licking unsuspecting people, and she and Chlo got some game going where they would hug and roll around on the bench.  It was loud and raucous.  You would think that Jazzerz would be good, but no...not last week.  I was asked to fill in for Chlo's class at the last minute, but I was concerned about making sure people were ready to sing in the Christmas program next Sundee.  Luckily Jams volunteered to teach Chloee's class.  She did a great job.  We also went to the Creche festival, and Jazzerz was Mary, Oak was a shepherd in moon boots, and Chlo was an angel.  Oak was really clod-hopperish in those moon boots, but hey, he clunked all over the place and made quite a splash.  Jerusha was also an angel with a gal from her class named Danya.  Danya is one of those little angel girls with downs syndrome.  Jerusha is great with her, and Danya is sweet, spirited and fun.   I am the achievement day leader, and I asked Danya to pray for us in our last activity.  She whispered all of her family member's names over and over.  It was sweet.  Anyhow, I instructed Jams to go and get some pictures.  Every time she would try to get a picture of Jerusha, Danya would step in front of Jerusha.  It was funny.  Jerusha loves Danya and takes good care of her.  Anyhow, I always love the spirit at the crèche festival.  Everyone displays their nativities and it is great to walk around and look at all of them.  There are so many different versions of that same beautiful story.  There are always various choirs and orchestra's playing the back ground music too.  The Creche festival is one of my favorite Cedar City traditions.
     I went and accomplished a lot of my Christmas shopping yesterday.  This forced me to pull Wams out of school for the day, but this week is supposed to be pretty busy too, and I had to go try to get some things done.  I had an incredible experience in the temple, and I enjoyed my day shopping.  While I was gone, Chloee made a big ornament soup for the ghost that apparently lives in our home.  I was not aware of this ghost, but I am grateful that Chlo was aware of her, and was trying to see to her needs.  The ornament soup kind of made me frown because she had pulled most of the ornaments off of the tree (again) and she had pulled a whole bunch of fake berries off of the garlands that adorn my tree.  It was quite the mess and so I hope that the ghost, whom Chlo lovingly calls "Cupcake" enjoyed her soup.

     These two pictures are of Mo after his bath today.  He insisted that I put one of Ryan's grease rags on him.  I tried to explain to him that even though the grease rag had been through the wash, there was no real way to wear it.  He just insisted over and over until I tied it around his neck.  This seemed to satisfy him.

The last four pictures are of the crèche festival...the top one is of Oak, Chlo, and Jazz in the live nativity.  The next one is of cute Danya, Danya and  Jerusha are next and the last one is a nativity that someone made out of balloons.