Winter is definitely here.  I love the snow.  It is a cozy situation, but hey, I can stay indoors for the most part and just enjoy the gorgeous icy scenes from the windows.  Ryan has always hated snow, and I am sure it is because he has to work in it.  It always hinders his work, freezes his concrete, and makes his equipment hard to start.  It has snowed and been snowy for about four days now.  Because of this, Oak has not been able to get out and ride his bike.  This bothers Oak to a large degree.  Instead they have been stuck inside, building huts, scooting around on Ryan's creepers, and carting each other around in mattresses.  Sags has been reading, and Jams has a new steer to take care of. 
     Moroni has still been struggling with bed time and nap time.  He pretty much throws a fit when it is time to go to sleep.  I have tried rocking him, giving him bottles, laying by him, and playing boring shows with the sound down.  (The last one worked like a charm for Chlo.)  For awhile he wanted me to pace rapidly around the floors with him.  This wasn't doing much to get me any sleep.  Frankly he was quiet, but he didn't go to sleep either.  He would, however screech in protest when I would stop.  So, now I just act bored while he throws himself on the floor and cries.  It is pretty sad.  I know this is a phase, but I hate it.  I feel like if the behavior is ignored, he will stop.  I just act like I am asleep, and I hope ends quickly.  He is a happy and delightful kid the rest of the time.  He is very smart, and can follow instructions already.  He helps me put laundry away, and even gets the clothes in the right drawers.  He also loves to sing and dance.  He shimmies around on the table, and twists and turns when the girls are practicing their dances.  He is quick to laugh and smile.  I love the little dude.  What a great addition to our family. 
     Chlo has been into decorating with bungee cords.  Ryan loves bungee cords, and he uses them all the time.  He ordered some this week, but I don't believe he knows that they came, because Chlo immediately put them to good use.  I spacily drove around with a few attached to the back bumper thanks to Chlo.  I finally asked about them and she explained that she was just decorating the van with bungee cords.  "Duh"...she likes to add, when I ask her obvious questions.  Yeah, what was I thinking?
     Ryan and I celebrated our fifteen year anniversary this week.  Jerusha decorated the house with signs, and Ryan took me to Milt's for dinner.  Steaks are so unbelievably savory.  It was a good time.
     Jazzerz performed in the craft fair this week.  Her teacher had been riding her pretty hard because she was struggling with a cart wheel that had to be done in the routine.  We decided that we were going to get Jazz on track with her cartwheel.  It was a right handed cartwheel, and Jazzerz had the tendency to want to go left.  Anyhow, Ryan was even trying to demonstrate the cartwheels for her.  Jams helped her over and over until we began to see some huge improvements.  By the time that Saturdee rolled around I felt confident that Jazz was ready.  I watched her from the audience.  She danced beautifully, and faced the wrong way when she did her cartwheel.  I am sure no one noticed but me.  Try, try again Jazz!
     We did family pictures in the snow yesterday.  I hope they turned out well.  Cute Chlo was trying to smile through her shivers.  Mo kept throwing fits, and I had to bribe them all to keep smiling for the camera.  We came home and made cinnamon rolls to fulfill the bribe which, Mo enjoyed immensely. 
     After all of the craziness with Jazzerz dance deal, getting ready for pictures, we came home to a messy house.  I had invited one of Saggers friends to come over and do hair, and this proved to be brilliant.  She did great, and I wouldn't have made it without her.  The house was filled with clothes, and hair fixing tools.  Anyhow, we all pitched in and cleaned things up.  I ran to the store for some milk, and while I was gone, Rooshkie headed up a hut making program.  The living room was pretty much not accessible at all.  She had also used my hand weights to keep the blankets in place which is never a good thing.  Someone always ends up in the hut, getting clobbered on the head by a ten lb weight.  I frowned at the hut when I walked in.  The hut had included every decent blanket out of the bookoo fudge, and my rocking chair added a nice wing onto the hut.  I frowned, and Jerusha swore up and down that she would clean it up. 
     Ryan went to bed early, and I was trying to get the kids to bed too.  They were all beaning around the hut loudly and happily until Mo entered the scene.  He was like a wrecking ball and this made Jerusha squeal and squawk with disappointment.  She bawled and screamed while Mo, within moments demolished the beloved hut.  Then "klunk"  an eight pound weight fell on Rooshkie's head which caused a ton of more wails out of Rooshkie.  All this time I am trying to shush everyone, and check on Rooshkie to get them to quiet down.  I finally told them that I had to have the rocking chair.  Even though Mo is impossible to get to sleep initially, he will let me rock him back to sleep if he wakes up in the night.  Most nights I spend half the night in the chair with him. We cleaned the hut up, and a very upset Rooshkie went to bed.  Chlo scared me however.  While Mo was throwing his nightly bedtime tantrums and I was snoozing, she was standing there in the dark wondering how to help him.  Chlo startled me.  I sent her back to bed.
     The hut went back up this morning in all of it's glory.  I noticed that they used books to hold the blankets in place this time.  They crawled and squirreled around that thing all morning.  I told them to include Mo this time and he seemed to enjoy hanging in the hut with them.  I had to pull them away from the hut to get them ready for shrsh.
     Oak has really taken up whittling this week.  He likes to sit on the back porch, sharpen knives, and whittle sticks.  He took a whittled stick to shrsh today. I am still unsure about that.  Chlo also showed up to shrsh with the most hideous doll in the world.  She had colored the back of the doll's head in bold strokes with a blue pen.  It was naked, with a grubby body and grubby face.  It was quite shabby to say the least.  I was kind of embarrassed to be seen with Chlo's doll.  She was very insulted when I questioned her about her doll.  It is beloved to Chlo, obviously.
     I bought Ryan a new creeper for the garage for his birthday.  It is a creeper that has a seat, and it works well to roll around the garage for tools and tinkering.  For whatever reason someone brought it in the house this week.  That thing got raced through the halls, round and round the kitchen, and rolled all over the bathrooms.  It banged into people's shins repeatedly though, and this caused quite a bit of distress.  I threatened to take the creeper back to the garage over and over.  The fact of the matter is, I was glad that they were being entertained by it.  Mo would place bullets and food items on it.  He then would race to and fro.  He would then either add to the food stores, or place his bottle on there.  Off he would go again.  The creeper has gotten many miles put on it this week.
     We had a niece return from a mission this week.  It is so good to know that she is back.  We felt bad that we didn't make it down to that.  The snowy weather, combined with the fact that we will be gone from our ward next week prevented us from going.  I was put in charge of the Christmas program.  I am trying to get things organized. I hope that her reunion with the family was really great today.

     Jazzerz on the fun-time creeper is the top picture. Mo is on Miranda's head in the next one.  She is the sweetheart that helped me with hair on picture day. The next two are of Jazz ready to perform.  Hut making fun is next and the one is of Chlo peeking up out of the Bookoo fudge.

      I must admit that as a mom, I have been so proud and pleased with my kids, that it has brought tears to my eyes.  I have also been so embarrassed that I could cry.  Today, embarrassment prevailed. 
     This has been a good week overall.  It was good to be back, and get back in the saddle.  I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Ryan.  I love him and I really enjoy our time together.  He is fun to talk to, and be with.  However, I feel like a fish out of water when I am away from my kids.  It was good to get back to hauling them to and fro, and cooking and cleaning for them.  I really enjoyed getting stuff unpacked, and cleaning stuff up.  The kids got their dance costumes this week, and Sags got back to her guitar lessons. 
     Ryan ordered a package of grease guns this week for greasing up all of his equipment.  It came in a normal box, with wadded up paper for packaging.  Mo and Chlo had a ball with that stuff.  They seriously played with that stuff for hours and hours.  They rolled up in the paper, threw it at each other, and used it as blankets.  I was amazed at how much mileage we got out of it. 
     I have enjoyed watching Oak grow up a little bit, and go to school.  His teacher said that he was doing well, and he seems to enjoy kindergarten quite a bit.  When I picked him up after school one day, he seemed quite pleased with himself.  He explained that once again, no one had been able to "tag" him in their daily game of tag.  He said, "they didn't tag me today, and they haven't tagged me ever in my life."  I love that he is speedy, and feels important. 
     Chlo has been exhibiting some odd behavior this week.  She has some sudden paranoia about someone robbing the stuff out of our home.  Because of this fear, I find all sorts of odd things hidden in my bathroom closet.  There was some of her stuffed animals in there one day.  I questioned her about it, and she said that she was hiding them from the robbers.  Forgive me for thinking this Chlo, but if someone actually did break in, I doubt your stuffed animals would be a hot item to take.  I am thinking more along the lines of some of Ryan's tools.  Anyhow, my phone would turn up missing, and I would scour the house for it.  When I finally would mention it to Chlo, she would produce it from all sorts of odd hiding places.  One of those places was her duck puppet.  I never would have found it in a million years.  Oak also caught her eating crackers in his bed, which really made him mad.  She just shrugged and explained that she was exercising??????  Yeah, that makes a ton of sense.
     I had the opportunity to go with my parents, and meet Doug and Larissa at the temple this past Fridee.  It was very enjoyable, except that my mom kept pointing out all of her secret friends that I do not know.  "That is Marleena Hall, Angie....surely you know Marleena from Escalante???"  Ummmm that is a big "no."  Doug and I teased her a bit, because she told Doug to bring the usual "Waldorf Salad" for Thanksgiving this year.  Waldorf Salad????  As far as I know, that stuff has never graced our Thanksgiving table.  I think she was secretly trying to be like Anne Romney or something.  My poor mom cannot do anything without getting teased though.  We love, to tease each other.  To us, it is how we tell each other we care.  Crazy, but true.
     Jams and Sags went down to the temple to perform baptisms for the dead, and Ryan and I got with a realtor and looked at a house.  Yep, I want it...I get way enthused about everything though.  I told Ryan to buy it for me.  I mean hey, they only want $950,000 for it...easy right?  The property would be ideal.  It is secluded, and grassy.  It also has some nice farm ground, and a big barn.  Yes, I want it.  I also want to move to Oklahoma, and I would love to live on the mountain somewhere.  I feel that we need to make a move here soon.  I am sure that Ryan will help me make this happen.
     Today the kids have been just awful.  Weaning Mo has been a nightmare.  He was up most of the night Saturday night, and he woke up really early this morning.  He woke up the whole house with his wails.  Chloee woke up, and joined in bawling with him.  She bawled and bawled, begging for a peanut butter sandwich.  I got up and made her one, which ended her crying fit.  Mo, on the other hand refused to be consoled.  I made him a peanut butter sandwich too because I figure that hunger is probably his biggest problem.  He gets hungry, I can no longer nurse him, and so he gets really mad.  He bawled and hauled that sandwich around, and refused to take any bites.  This was at like 5 am.  He bawled until six, when I finally got up and began to study a lesson that I had been asked to present in Oakers primary class today.  He bawled and bawled while I studied.  I tried sticking him in the bath.  He bawled all through the bath, fiercely clutching his sandweech which he refused to eat.  I must admit that after the bath, I didn't want him to eat it.  Finally he ate some cereal, at like 7:30 and his mood switched to extreme joy.  He giggled and goofed around all morning after that.  I couldn't help but be appalled at him. 
     The kids had some secret game going before shrsh that was raucous and rowdy.  I think this is why they had a hard time settling down for our Sunday meetings.  It included force fields, and shields.  It had much screaming and pain, rastling, and squealing. Everyone was wallering on everyone else. After my escapades with Mo, I kinda just let them play so they would give me a break.  We had to scramble to get them ready, which set the stage for a rowdy sort of feel at church.
     Sacrament meeting was a full on nightmare today.  There is not one of my kids that were good.  I finally sent Sage out with Mo.  Sage was furious with Jamie, and was calling her all kinds of ugly names, and Mo was flip flopping around and bawling.  Sending them out, improved things quite a bit.  Oak kept complaining to me that he was starving, Chlo kept rubbing her head on the bench, and everyone's legs.  I had fixed her hair up so nice, and she ended up looking like a human cotton ball.  The talks today in shrsh were excellent too.  I need to come up with a reward system.  Seriously, something has got to happen to improve our behavior at church.
    The home teachers came over today, and again I was mortified by the kids behavior.  Jazzerz was rolling around on the floor with her rear end in the air, Chloee was rastling with Rooshkie, and Mo dumped a big bucket of toys all over the floor.  After that I looked over to see Jazzerz sucking on her toes, and Jerusha was ripping paper into strips and licking it.  Oak also began dragging Rooshkie around by the feet.  This whole time we are trying to have a normal conversation about General Conference.  I kept shooting them horrified, and mortified looks which did nothing to improve their behavior.  Oak finally looked at them and said, "Wow, you guys have been here a long time!"  Which actually wasn't true at all.  It was just terrible.  I have heard that kids seem to lose all sense of normal behavior when the home teachers are over, but this was a bit ridiculous.  I was discussing this sort of thing with Ryan's cousin Tayna.  She comes from a family of 11 kids, and she claimed that they got spanked sometimes after the home teachers left.  Because of this, they didn't really like to see them come over.  I can totally see why.  Last month, we sent one away with a bloody nose after his rastle with Oak, this month, everyone acted way dopey.  Whew...hopefully I can figure out how to get my kids to act decent. 
     Ryan and I went to a convocation at the University about preserving our religious freedom.  It was actually pretty horrifying.  Ryan is on the front lines of the freedom battles in so many different arenas.  State's rights, gun control, reducing business regulations etc.  I had no idea that our religions are under attack too.  Former Governor Mike Leavitt was the keynote speaker, and he did an excellent job of explaining things.  I wouldn't know how to live without my religion.  I was so frustrated with my kids' Sunday behavior that I had to turn on a conference talk by Sister Beck just to put things back into perspective.  It did too.  It calmed me down, and helped me to realize just how much being a mom means.  At that point, even though I was sleep deprived, I felt like enjoying them again.  I turn to my religious beliefs to fix just about every problem I ever face.  When I get upset at someone I know that I have to forgive them, if I consider myself a follower of Christ.  It makes all of us better people.  America needs religious freedom in order to stay moral.  This is another fight, I am sure Ryan and I will enter if necessary.  I learned a lot.
     The convocation had its price, however.  When I came home, the girls had let Mo run amuck and he had spread honey on the counter tops.  He then had proceeded to stick cocoa crispies all over in the honey.  Ryan mentioned it to my older girls, and they hopped right up and cleaned it all.  They are pretty good gals, but obviously weren't paying Moroni a ton of attention.
     Well, on to a new week.  I love Monday's and all of the new and fresh possibilities that a new week brings.  I am thankful for all of my blessings. 

  Notice the nice dumped toys in the background...thanks Mo!

     Last week was definitely different than normal.  Ryan has been fighting a lawsuit in Texas for months now, and was expected to be in court last Thursday.  I had found him flights etc. but he really wanted me to come with him.  I felt like this was pretty much impossible, and he did try to get the courts to move his court date back.  They refused, and so Ryan arranged for his parents to keep the kids, and we ended up flying out of Las Vegas on Wednesdee morning.  It was an adventure and that is for sure. 
     Another thing that needed to happen is that Moroni needed to be weened.  I was way concerned about leaving him, but Ryan insisted that it was long overdue, and I had to agree.  I just didn't want to admit that Moroni was no longer my baby, but he hasn't been for a very long time.  The dude pretty much grew up as soon as he was born.  Too fast for my liking.  Anyhow, I was way torn about leaving my kids, but Cliven said that he was missing the kids, and could use some help in the melon patch too.  It was all settled, and I was leaving alone with my husband for the first time in five years.  We have always had a baby to tag along, and I have never left my kids for four days.  I truly was a nervous wreck.  I knew that nights would be especially hard with Moroni.  Ryan agreed to deal with Mo the first night, and Jamie said that she would deal with him the rest of the nights.  I truly have incredible kids.  Jams is where its at.
     After one rough night with Moroni, Ryan claims that he was saying, "Mom....Please!" by the end of the night.  I was able to hold him and get him one of Grandma's sourdough pancakes to appease him.  I kissed them all goodbye, and Ryan and I drove to Las Vegas to catch our flight.  I knew that my kids were in good hands, but we walked away from dance lessons, guitar lessons, school, and field trips.  The list goes on and on.  Anyhow, it is way hard to leave.
     Our flight from Vegas to Albuquerque was pretty uneventful.  I was reminded that I don't especially enjoy flying, even though I think the whole concept is extra incredible.  I trip out thinking about how high we are, and how I have pretty much put my life into some stranger's hands.  I always say many prayers for that pilot, whoever he is.  I love just looking and staring out the window.  The whole first flight, which was only a little over an hour, was just Ryan and I staring at the changing landscape out of the window.  We flew over Bundyville and the Bundy Reunion grounds,  it is incredible how fast those planes go.  Our flight from Albuquerque was delayed and then the pilot stalled and stalled...he slowed down several times.  When we actually hit Dallas (which is incredibly big) he circled around and around, and up and down.  He slowed down time and again.  Ryan and I were begging for a parachute.  They made it clear that there was a VIP on the ground and we couldn't land yet.  By the time we finally landed it was getting dark and I wanted to shriek.  We looked across the runway and Air Force One was parked at a terminal.  President Obama was in the area promoting Obama care.  This whole situation made me mad at him all over again.  Ryan and I had a really hard time figuring out their freeway system, and we couldn't get our bearings because it was dark already.
     We ended up going the wrong direction thanks to the GPS we rented.  We did finally figure out how to reset it, but it was going haywire when we first rented it.  To top it off some weird punk came banging on our window wanting money.  I was cussing the fact that for the first time in my whole marriage, my husband had no weapons on him.  Thank you airport security.  Anyhow, we did find an Outback Steakhouse, and the extremely good steak and bread got us in a good mood again. 
     The hearing went well, and I was grateful for an impartial judge.  Ryan will have to go back for a trial, but we weren't the only ones the business was attempting to sue.  One guy wanted to get with us and compare notes.  He had big plans to countersue.  Ryan and I just wanted out of the city, and so we beat it out of there as soon as we could.
     The landscape down there is unbelievable.  They don't have to irrigate.  Everything is green, and there are thick trees, and ponds everywhere.  We headed north to go and visit Herb and Eve Bundy who live near Hugo, Oklahoma.  We got a little bit lost and the GPS didn't work out there at all.  Ryan was in a gas station studying a map when a couple of men caught wind that Ryan was looking for a Bundy in the area.  With their Texas drawls I liked them immediately.  They knew where "Bundy" lived and one of them agreed to lead us there in his truck.  I was grateful for their kindness.  When we got to Herb and Eve's I went a little bit insane.  It is absolutely incredible.  Their fields are green and beautiful....and I am talking bright green.  They have ponds, and healthy cows.  It smelled clean and fresh up there.  You could just breathe in the farm freshness.  Herb and Eve's home smelled and reminded me of my Grandma and Grandpa Shurtz's place in Escalante.  Their property reminded me of the Peterson Pasture in Boulder.  I fell in love and began wondering why in the world Ryan had not moved me back there.  There are farms and ranches everywhere.  The small ones are 90 acres.  Herb and Eve's daughter Mary had just moved there with her husband and kids and I clicked with her immediately.  Her little boys were out running around the pasture and they were trying to rope their dog.  I could just picture Oak and Moroni out there with their little cowboy hats.  They would have all the room to run, ponds to swim in, and trees to climb.  Ryan and I spent a lot of time checking out ranches, and studying the area.  I am all for going back there.  We definitely need to pray about it.  We might miss our parents too much though. 
     We were glad to get back to our kids and the ranch.  Mo had survived, and Jazzerz claims that he kept catching toads and would squeeze them.  Thankfully Jazz would save the toads.  Hot Toddy was saddled up and the kids got to ride him around the ranch.  I was so grateful for Carol and Cliven.  They have a million things going on, and yet they took on my seven kids and even enjoyed them for four days.  They had picked melons, played on the haystack, and played with cousins. We attended shrsh in Bunkerville and I was so happy to see that Chlo's favorite teacher Oscar was there.  I literally had to remove Chlo from their classroom when shrsh was over.  Chlo loves Oscar and his wife.
      Mo still acts like he needs me, and I am glad.  Ryan and I had a great break, and the kids did too.  I had to laugh when I got Oak ready for school the next morning.  The girls had all showered as soon as they got home.  Oak didn't care either way.  He walked in and I could see his grimy arms and I gasped.  I marched him into the bathroom and began to scrub.  His hands were stained brown, and would not come clean.  Oak said "well Mom...I ate like 30 pomegranites.  It stained my hands brown."  I am so grateful for the VO ranch.  My kids had a great time and didn't want to leave. 
     Back to reality, and homework.  Sags had a presentation today that involved an experiment which required me to go purchase all kinds of odd items.  Rooshkie is back to all of the ten year old girl drama, and Jazzerz sang in the Veterans day breakfast yesterday. I have been enjoying some savory melons that we brought back from the ranch.  My Mom and Dad dropped off jerky, nerds, and popcorn and I would say that things are pretty much back to normal.

     I have missed my husband badly this weekend.  He had to work all week, and all weekend.  I am so glad he is busy, but I am feeling a little bit gypped today.  We get used to family time on weekends, and this weekend that just didn't happen.  Hopefully next weekend.
     Our week was great and action packed.  I mentioned in my last post that we had to go over to Panguitch and teach the kids some dances.  This was to take place on Tuesday, and I was horribly nervous.  I knew that they were going to just turn the time over to us, and I feared that it would just be us and the cricket noise.  Ryan and I haven't danced as much as we used to.  There is always the Bundy reunion, but half of the time there, I am getting kids to bed or scooping up sleeping babies off the benches and laps.  He ends up dancing with everyone else usually.  Anyhow, I kept telling myself, that because it was for a stake activity it would work out.  I firmly believe that whom the Lord calls, he qualifies.  Ryan worked Tuesday, and I started getting the kids ready pretty early because I wanted to get over there early.  Of course, with Ryan's busy schedule, this didn't really happen.  We got over there in time to go over a few things thanks to Mormon standard time.  Anyhow, Ryan and I have done these activities on a ward level before, but this time because it was for the stake we had urged them to hire Steve Gifford to come and deejay the event.  This made all of the difference.  He does such a good job at keeping the kids out on the floor dancing.  Jams and Sags had invited Demi to come, and we had all of our older kids out dancing.  It turned out to be a total blast.  At first the kids were standing around with their hands in their pockets acting sheepish.  I paired them up and we taught them the barn dance.  They caught on really fast, and they really seemed to be enjoying themselves.  I urged to Steve to play the Cupid Shuffle while Ryan and I discussed what to do next.  Everyone was acting a little sheepish, and I sent Jazzerz out there to do the Cupid Shuffle, and it was funny because after Jazz broke the ice, they all jumped in.  I recall a Bundy Reunion when Chlo was tiny.  We had camped outside of camp quite far.  I could still hear the dance, but because of the baby Ryan and I had opted to stay out there and be with her and Oak while they slept.  I had sent Jams into camp with the kids on the 4-wheeler.  Anyhow, it was getting close to midnight Utah time and I was getting way concerned about Jazzerz.  I was sure that she had fallen asleep on the cement slab somewhere.  I had Ryan stay with the babies, and I hiked into camp alone to put her to bed.  I approached the dance floor, and was shocked to see little Jazz on the floor, quietly doing the Cupid Shuffle with the rest of the Bundy teenagers...(at that hour, that is about who was left.)  I urged her to come with me and she refused.  Bewildered, I walked back to camp alone.  Anyhow, once again, it was Jazz, Rooshkie and a bunch of teenagers enjoying the Cupid Shuffle.
     Ryan and I decided to teach them a harder dance that included partner changes and more complicated steps.  They caught on to this one quickly too, and we all had a really great time.  Steve played the Macarena and the Hokey Pokey, and it was time to go home.  My kids were all pleasantly exhausted on the way home, including Mo who had been entertained by Kyler the whole time.  I was grateful for that opportunity, and the youth of Panguitch went out of their way to thank us, and they let us know that they had had a lot of fun too.
     I know I mentioned Oak's couch moving on facebook, but I am not sure if I have mentioned it in the blog.  Oak likes to move the couches around to show his strong muscles off.  The problem with this is, it is odd to be chatting with people, and have him suddenly move the couch.  There are usually abandoned crayons, wrappers, and loose change that need to be cleaned up, which is just sorta embarrassing.  Last week, I found a huge stash of toothbrushes.  Gary reminded me that Chlo likes to play with toothbrush families and this is probably why they were there.  So true, but I feel bad because I couldn't figure out where all of the toothbrushes went, and like a space cadet I kept buying replacements.  I should have checked behind the couch...duh.
     We also had Halloween, and Ryan's birthday this week.  This was kind of hindered by an accident that took place on Monday night.  Jams and Rooshkie were being really squirrely and rastling around the living room.  I knew someone was going to get hurt, and I urged them several times to tone things down.  Of course, this went ignored until Jamie kicked Rooshkie in the face and knocked out her front tooth.  Jerusha's front tooth broke in half about a year ago while she was riding her bike.  She ran into a pole and broke her front tooth off.  I took her right in to the dentist, and he attached a temporary tooth in hopes that the permanent tooth was not dead and would heal.  Anyhow, Jams knocked out the temporary with one kick.  This meant that Rooshkie had to get into the dentist, and the first opening he had was Halloween morning.  Ryan is doing a job just around the corner from the dentist's office and he agreed to take her.  However, he didn't get off of the job site until late, and we all sat around and waited for Rooshkie to get home so we could go trick-or-treating.  On top of that it was Ryan's birthday, and I was really wanting to take care of him.  We had come up with a costume and had it all ready for Jerusha when she came home.  She was way disappointed in what we had come up with.  She frowned and sulked for awhile because she wanted to look like the scary ghost "mama" from the latest scary show.  I will admit that Mama was going to be hard to pull off, but I had found a creepy wig, and a tattered dress, but no.  Not good enough.  I finally dressed her up like Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter.  She looked really authentic too.  Wow, I am good at pulling together last minute costumes.
     I forgot to mention how much Chlo had been anticipating Halloween.  She has been asking about it for weeks.  On Halloween morning she got up really early when I was seeing Ryan and Jerusha off.  It was still dark outside.  She asked if it was Halloween, and I confirmed that it was.  She got all excited and wanted to go trick-or-treating before the sun was even up.  I told her that no one was going to have their candy ready yet.  I asked her again what it was that she wanted to be.  She told me again that she wanted to be a "flower ghost."  Ryan whistled and exclaimed at how spooky flower ghosts really are.  He then started singing "Ghost Flowers in the Ground" to the tune of "Ghost Riders in the Sky."  This did nothing to improve Chlo's mood.  She frowned at her Dad.  I laughed and laughed.  Needless to say, she couldn't find her spooky flowery pillow case, and ended up being a lion instead.  Ryan and I took the kids and we trick-or-treated for awhile, had some birthdee pie, and went to bed.  Ryan said that he was too tired for partying, but seemed to like the gifts we got him anyhow.  He is pretty low maintenance and that is for sure.
     We had the opportunity to keep little Madeline (sp?) for Barry and Mindy on Saturday night.  She is so sweet and little.  The kids fought over turns to hold her the whole time.  She was happy, and made satisfying little noises.  I finally took her amid many protests and just held her and rocked she and little Mo to sleep.  Both of their little heads smelled good, and were warm.  It was very enjoyable.
     We had a couple of terrible injuries this weekend.  Chlo split her head open on Saturday morning.  Ryan is usually our go-to first aid guy.  He wasn't around, and so I clipped her hair, and shaved her head around the gash, and glued it shut.  It had bled really bad and her little blonde hair was dripping with red blood.  Poor Chlo was about as freaked out by it all as she could be.  Ryan checked my handiwork when he got home and said it looked good.  Moroni split his foot open on Sunday morning too.  Oak brought him in and he was kind of complaining a little bit, but I stuck him on my hip because I was making some preparations for Sunday dinner.  I finally looked down, and noticed that the floor had blood drips all over.  We glued poor Mo's foot shut, and stuck some socks on him.  He didn't even cry, and it didn't slow him down at all.  There are currently bloody footprints all over my bathroom, and I need to go clean it up.  Thank goodness for super glue, and that little kids heal up fast.    Mo ran all over the house and ran all over shrsh.  I am just grateful that he feels up to running.
     Shrsh was a complete fiasco without my husband today.  There is something about his presence that demands some respect, and the kids behave way better when he is around.  I looked up at one point, and I was alone on the aisle with Sags and Mo.  Jamie had recently asked to go and get a tissue, but apparently everyone had followed her out.  I waited and waited awhile for everyone to return with Jamie being the only returning child, and she had her tissue.  Finally I went out and started tracking the naughties down.  A few friends who were in the hall had spotted Chlo and Jazz, and they said that Jazz had been chasing Chloee around and around the building.  Oak was doing who knows what, and Jerusha claimed that she had gone and gotten a drink, but recanted later saying that she didn't go and get a drink because it was fast Sunday and she was fasting.  It made me grateful and realize how much of a help Ryan is.  We are always together on Sundays and he was sorely missed.  Mo missed him too because Ryan usually sits in the nursery with him.  I didn't feel like the nursery today, and so he came with me to class, and he kept trying to outyell the teacher.  In Relief Society he kept handing his water bottle to a lady, and then pushing the room divider way in.  I knew that he was disrupting the Coal Creek Branch's Relief Society  meeting  with all of his room divider intrusions.  We finally ended up in the foyer for good.  The van was "deader n a doornail" and we ended up having to walk home.  For sure one of the kids left some kind of a light on or something.  Luckily we didn't make it the whole way before Tammy Nesmith picked us up.  Nice gal Tammy. 
     Chlo came and handed me a stick that was pointy.  She explained that it was for "turning people into frogs."  I am also kind of disgruntled with her this morning, because she locked us out of my bedroom again.  Ryan put a new door on our bedroom.  It is heavier and more sound proof so that I can put babies to sleep in there, and they won't wake up with all of the noise.  It is harder to spring the lock though.  Luckily Sags will be able to get me in when she gets home.  She is my expert lock picker.  In the meantime, I am sitting here, after a hard workout...not smelling like a summer breeze, needing a shower, and my clothes.  I guess it will have to wait for my Sags to get home.
    

     The pictures are of our pumpkin carvings at fhe...Mo looking like Groucho Marks, Chlo wrapped up in a garbage sack?????  And everyone decked out for Halloween.  Mo refused to wear his puppy costume and so Ryan wore it. 

     We have been too blessed by the warm weather lately.  October has been great.  I am sure that cold winter is around the corner, though.  It seems to me that the longer time marches on, summer seems to last later into the year, and winter lasts longer into the spring.  I guess I will have to look back and appreciate a week in the 70's in the spring, when it is still snowing.
     The kids have been extremely involved with stuff this week.  I took Mo and Chlo grocery shopping early in the week because Jams and Sags had one of their friends get into a horrible car accident, and they invited some friends over to make cookies for her.  This meant that I had to actually take kids to the store to be prepared.  They actually really enjoyed the outing.  I purchased them a Halloween bucket, and they drug those things around all week.  Moroni's was a fluorescent green with black spiders and the word EEK on it.  He got all excited, and called the spiders "puppies."  He is really confused about this puppy stuff.  Chlo also informed me that she would like to be a "flower ghost" for Halloween.  I am not sure how to make her into a flower ghost, and Jerusha desires to be "Mama" from the latest horror film.  Rooshkie is my picky kid when it comes to her costumes too.  Mama has hair that blows in the wind, glowing blue eyes that are crooked, and she is built like a crazy mop...yeah, good luck with that one.  Mama also does crazy acrobatics and eats bugs.  Thank goodness that I can probably stick everyone else in something simple. 
     Oak had a good time this week pretending that he was deer hunting with my glue gun.  He even stuck .bb's down the "barrel" and was afraid to pull the trigger.  He was sure that if he shot at the mounted deer on the wall with his loaded "gun" that it would fall off, and his Dad would be mad.  I just hope that I will be able to get the .bb's out of the glue gun.  Mo took the same glue gun and pretended it was a phone for a long while. 
     Speaking of Moroni, we have entered undesirable "dumping" territory with him and I expect it is going to be one long and messy ordeal with him.  He took my box of "Frankenberry" and dumped it on the living room floor in and amongst his large legos.  He then proceeded to pick every marshmallow out of the bunch so that he could eat them.  We were left with a pile of blocks and a bunch of undesirable marshmallow-less red ghosts.  Needless to say, that he dumped a bag of chips twice that day too.  I got after him about it, but at his age, discipline is pretty complicated.  He just doesn't get it.  I instructed the kids not to let him have anything he can dump.  This has worked to a small degree.  We have still had a few dumping mishaps, but nothing too bad.
     Moroni also got really upset the other day, and Chloee was trying desperately to make him happy.  She went in and got him a lid off of a bin, and expected this to lift his spirits.  Well, it didn't work, but hey, she is trying to be thoughtful, and that is what makes me happy.
     Oak is also going through an odd phase of moving the couches around when he desires to be impressive.  I am kind of sick of it though, because sometimes things get messy behind the couches.  It isn't cool to reveal Chlo's family of toothbrushes to the neighbors when they come to visit.  There is usually wrappers, and other various crayons, and papers too.  I think he just wants to prove that he is a man with muscles.
     The school did their International Day on Fridee.  International day, is a day that they want the kids to learn about their ancestors.  They are supposed to find out about some of the people from their family tree, and dress up like the people from that country, and bring some food samples from that country if possible.  Well, Sager for some reason, had to have a cake shaped like a fort that day, and it was Jazzerz day to bring sharing and treats for her class.  Not to mention that Ryan had stayed up late and  had just helped Jams complete her  roller coaster the day before.  Anyhow, it was about more school stuff than I could take.  Luckily Oak was way against participating in international day, so I didn't have to dress him up, I just kept him home.  Jamie didn't want to dress up and I felt like kissing her for this.  She is always low maintenance.  Of course Jerusha was the one who wanted to go all out for international day.  She wanted me to run her to town, and purchase her a genuine costume from Spain.  Spain???? As far as I know, we have no ancestors from Spain.  This didn't stop her from wanting to dress up like a Spanish Maiden.  I told her no.  She would have to come up with a costume from our existing dress up box.  She stayed up really late creating herself a Native American costume.  She claimed that she was related thanks to her Uncle Jesse.  OK.  Anyhow, we braided her hair, put war paint on her, and she had glued brown looking fringe onto a pair of her boots.  Jazzerz dressed up like a pioneer, and Sags dressed up like a lady from England.  We rolled out fondant to cover Sags cake, and her fort turned out pretty snazzy too.  Jazz just took a box of fish crackers, and a fossil to share with her class.  It all turned out ok.  In fact, everyone loved Saggers fort cake, and they found my fondant delish too.  Thankfully, Jamie was able to cover it smoothly, and Sage used nutella to give it the muddy look that she desired.  We make a pretty good team.  The band, orchestra, and choir also performed for the studentbody that day.  Sags was not looking forward to this, because she claims that the band sounds like a "herd of honking geese with asthma."  I have faith that the band will improve, but Sage is a little disgruntled over that situation.
     After school on Friday, I told the kids that I would take them to the Cedar Livestock and Heritage Festival for their fun day.  I told everyone to put on their best Western wear, and meet me in the car.  I helped Mo, and everyone came out looking pretty good except for Chlo.  She came to the car in her owl pajamas.  I must give her credit, that her owl pajamas had a top and bottom that matched, but I just wasn't willing to take her to the fest dressed like an owl going to bed.  Thankfully her big sister Jams came to the rescue and went and dressed her up. 
     The "sheep fest" is always a good time.  We purchased everyone a dutch oven cinnamon roll, and there was a dental center giving balloons away.  This proved to be a great blessing.  They had actually attached a bracelet to the balloon which anchored the balloon, and the kids could wear them on their wrist.  If they came off, they didn't float to the ceiling because the bracelet keep it on the ground.  Well, Oak and Chlo kept taking off to run and skid around amongst the vendors.  It was easy to spot them because of the balloons.  Oak had a blue one, and Chlo's was yellow.  We would just look around for the blue, and yellow balloon that was zipping to and fro, and there they would be!  It worked out great.  Mo hauled his balloon everywhere for the rest of the week until it popped.  Literally everywhere.  We took it truck shopping on Saturday, and boot shopping, and he slept with his balloon.  When it popped, he shrugged it off and got all excited about a "horsie."
     On Saturday, Ryan took Jams and Mo to work.  Mo got all tuckered out from his help, and slept for quite awhile.  He was so excited that he got to go to work with Dad.  Jams ended up painting a garage floor.  She seemed to enjoy it.
     We took the kids to the Livestock and Heritage festival's live band and dance on Saturday night.  The girls were way disgruntled because there were no boys their age to swing with.  Ryan purchased them an old fashioned soda and we went home.  Ryan and I have to teach the Panguitch stake the swing dance this week and we were hoping to get some good practice in.  We did get a little of that done.
     I learned today that I need to teach the kids about the law of the fast.  I had been asked to fill in for a Relief Society teacher and needed to plan the lesson.  Ryan volunteered to make the kids omlettes for breakfast so that I could prepare.  Well, he spent most of the morning making all of the kids an omlette.  The only complaint that I heard was that he put too many onions on them.  Ryan explained that he was just doing unto others as he would have others do to him, and he desired many onions on his omlette.  Oak kind of slept in, but several of the kids had left half of their omlettes.  When he woke up, Ryan instructed him to finish one of them.  Normally Oak is fine with this kind of a situation, but I could tell this morning that a cold, half-eaten omlette was not appealing to him.  He finally decided that rather than eat the leftovers, he would fast.  Chlo had eaten two eggs, but claimed that she was fasting too.  She fasted for about ten minutes and then announced that she needed a "yogut"  Oak lasted a few hours and then claimed that he could not survive any longer without a cup of chocolate milk.  In fact, as I type this, Chlo came and told me that she had resumed her fast, and wanted me to cook her an egg.  Yep, we need a lesson on the fast.
    Moroni had some pants that were a little too big today.  I was pretty busy fretting over my lesson, and I couldn't locate a belt.  When we got to shrsh I noticed that Ryan had used a zip-tie to hold up his pants.  I love that man of mine, and his fixes.  The zip-tie worked great.  My lesson went ok, and the home teachers came over.  Oak got rastling with one of the home teachers and actually gave him a bloody nose.  I cannot say that this made me smile.  We definitely need to keep working on our people skills.

     We had such a nice week off.  It was way nice to just buckle down and do house work instead of running kids all over the place.  
     We had a horrible accident last Sunday evening.  Arden and Jared were coming home from Orderville and wrecked above Hurricane.  Yep, those horrible scary cliffs above Hurricane.  We were so grateful that they were being protected because things could have ended horribly.  Arden escaped with some feet trouble and a broken leg.  Jared is worse with some back injuries and road rash, but considering where they wrecked they are way lucky. 
     We had a nice week.  The kids were able to catch up on some sleep, and they were a lot of help.  We didn't get as much done as I wanted, but we did get a lot done.  We got most of the wood stacked for the winter, and we picked up all of the beef that the girls raised over the summer.  My freezer is now stocked with really good meat, and for this I am so grateful.  I also came to appreciate Ryan because I ended up having to defrost and clean out the freezer.  He usually does this, but he worked way too many hours to deal with it.  It was a ton of work, but I am glad it is done.  
     Jerusha started some trend, where she was acting like some noble lady at dinner and lunch times.  She would speak in a proper English accent and sip and simper accordingly.  Mo, who usually ends up on the table acting like Animal from the Muppets, she held in great disdain.  He did not care either way.  One day she was trying to have a lofty and dignified conversation with Jazzerz who just happened to be drinking her milk through a funnel.  I did not believe that Jazzerz behavior fit into the proper behavior that Jerusha was trying to portray.  Poor Rooshkie, we are definitely not the royal type.
     We had a crazy weekend filled with too many events.  One of Ryan's cousins had a daughter get married, and we felt like we needed to be at that.  We love and enjoy seeing the Bundy relatives any time that we can.  Well, we decided to attend a Friday night open house.  The problem began that day because Wams had, of course waited until the last minute to build a roller coaster.  An assignment that she has been whining about for quite some time.  Anyhow, without Ryan's assistance, Jams and I were having struggles indeed.  We did finally figure it out in my rinky dink sort of way.  The roller coaster assignment took us most of the day to figure out.  This pushed us as being late in getting ready for the reception.  At one point I realized that every person in the family were waiting on me to do something for them.  Ryan had not eaten all day, and I was heating up dinner for him, Wams had requested some assistance with the back of her hair, Sags was having issues with her dress, Rooshkie wanted me to curl her hair, Jazz needed her hair done, Oak could not find his boots, Chlo refused to get ready at all, and Mo needed his Sunday attire put on him.  I kinda felt like screaming.  Eventually all of the things got done.  I am so glad that I am needed, and we did make it.   I loved the open house.  It was decorated beautifully, they had some moist cupcakes, and some delicious lemonade.  Seriously, the lemonade was crisp, sweet, tangy and refreshing.  Not like the battery acid tasting stuff.  I really just loved that lemonade.  Anyhow, on the way home, Oak went a little nuts.  He had some obsession about making the girls squirm by sticking their heads into his arm pits.  He was yelling things like "pits for dinner!"  ha ha ha.  Really, we had all had enough of Oak's armpits  by the time we got home.  Traveling with the kids is kind of like a torturing session.  So glad to make it home after that lengthy trip to New Castle.
     On Saturday we had a Bundy funeral.  Ethan Bundy died, and he was such a great guy.  We love that family and wanted to be there to show our support.  We roused the kids out of bed, and once again made them dress up in their Sunday best.  The funeral was good, but my kids just couldn't seem to sit still.  I finally found them a safe place to dink around, and I just checked on them periodically.  There was this eight year old boy who was wandering the halls who seemed pretty obsessed with the fact that my kids were playing in the primary room.  He kept going in to "check" on my kids too.  I thought this was kind of funny because Jerusha is 10 and very capable of keeping things under control.  According to my kids he kept coming in there wanting to fight with someone.  He came and reported to me once that the kids were being "hyperactivity"  I went in there and checked and they were doing just fine.  Finally his dad came and collected him.  It made for some good laughs though.  We stopped by and let the kids eat at Golden Corral again.  Once again they pretty much cleaned the joint out of cotton candy.  We got to enjoy Ryan's dad and he gave us some delicious melons.  They have been great.  We had to bring fruit to the baby blessing, and everyone raved about the melons.  I was grateful for them because fruit is kind of expensive this time of year.  Family is such a blessing.
     After the funeral, we had to go to Hatch because Barry and Mindi were blessing baby Madeline first thing Sunday morning.  It was also the opening of the deer hunt, and in spite of the fact that I had no deer tag, I wanted to sneak around the trees a little bit.  Ryan informed me that he had to stop in Kanab to purchase some tires, and we set off.  Oak and Chlo were fighting in the back, and Chlo and Jerusha were being way giggle-goofy.  Finally everyone fell asleep, and I was able to drive in peace.  It was nice. 
     We got to Kanab, and Ryan gave me directions to a welding yard.  He had purchased some tires off of an old box truck, that was about to be scrapped.  Needless to say, that Sage was less than thrilled about waking up in the middle of a welding yard.  Ryan took his tools, and began removing tires.  He instructed us to find some blocks to set the truck onto.  Chlo, Oak, and Mo were still in their church clothing, and I needed them to stay clean for church and the blessing the next day.  Well, this just wasn't happening.  Chlo, and Mo began rolling around in some rusty old pipes, and they found a pile of black dirt to play in.  I went and found some logs to set the truck up on.  The problem was, the blocks were kind of narrow.  Ryan, said that they would work fine, because they were going to scrap the truck right away.  The problem arose when he had removed all six tires, Oak climbed up into the cab and began jerking the steering wheel back and forth.  The whole truck was rocking, and I just knew it was going to fall off.  I screamed at Oak to exit the truck immediately.  He went back to rolling around in oily, and rusty pipes with Chlo and Mo.  Needless to say that I had to wersh all of their clothing as soon as we got to my mom's.
     I explained to my mom that I wanted to meet them deer hunting, so I instructed her to take the phone so I could text her.  Needless to say that when we arrived at her house, when we tried to call, her phone rang and buzzed loudly on the counter top.  I never really did get my deer hunting fill.
     The baby blessing was nice.  She looked so pretty in her elegant white dress.  She was definitely the little star of the day.  I think that Mo sensed that the world was not revolving around him because he really started to act up at that point.  He grabbed my necklace, and pulled until it broke.  He would squirm and arch, and scream.  I would grab Sager's I-pod and this would keep him occupied for about a minute, he then would go to the story book about a plastic purse, and then he would go back to the broken necklace.  I-pod, book, necklace.  Necklace book I-pod, twist and screech.  Finally Ryan took him out.  This was nice until Sage and wazz began pounding at each other.  They claimed that it felt good, but it was way distracting.  Loud pounds were heard from our bench the rest of the meeting.  Jams also stepped on my toe in her spiked heels.  It was extremely painful.  I almost shrieked too.
     They served a breakfast at the Senior Citizen's Center.  It was really good.  The center had an interesting machine that vibrated everyone that stepped on it.  The kids spent the whole time on this machine. Mo found a haunted house statue that moaned around, and the kids vibrating would make their noise with Mo's haunted house.  It was pretty funny.  They also had a leg massager that pinched at your legs.  All of these machines got a lot of use.
     We then went to Grandma's and she made cookies, and Krispy Kreme donuts.  The girls had a ball dipping donuts.  Huxty and I went walking because of all of the sweets Grandma was making, and she had some trouble with Chlo who had stapled her dress and accidentally knocked a shelf over.  Chlo was sad about these troubles too.  It was definitely time to get home and get her busy again.
     My Dad got us an additional load of wood this week which was very nice of him.  Ryan has been extremely busy and this will definitely get us through the winter.  We all went out to load it in the trailer with the tires we had picked up in Kanab.  Mo somehow wanted to make himself useful too.  He wandered around munching on a donut for awhile until he came across the hitch on the truck.  He then began to hook the donut onto the hitch.  This was the extent of Mo's assistance. 
     We are back home now, and the night with Mo was less than ideal.  He woke up at 2am for several hours.  I thought I had just gotten him to sleep when he rose up, and enthusiastically began discussing cows.  Needless to say that I was not wanting to hang out with him any longer.  He finally did go back to sleep around 4am.  I will try to discuss cows with him during daylight hours.  Hopefully this will get it out of his mind and he will rest easier tonight.

    
        

     This week was a total blur.  I don't even hardly remember what happened because it just came and went too fast.  Many days are this way.  I cannot seem to get a handle on anything.
     I pulled Sage out of school early on Friday to babysit so that I could attend the temple.  I am ashamed to say that I have not attended in a few months.  I had such an amazing time in there on Friday.  I am totally recommitted to attending more often. It puts such a perspective on everything.  After I finished in there, I met up with Ryan who had been working in Washington.  We travelled home together the back way because he had to look at a project in Diamond Valley.  It was great to just have some time to talk without all of the musical chairs and squealing coming out of the back seats.  Mo has been a literal nightmare on car trips.
     We went on a couple of wood hauling projects yesterday and we got a load of wood for some ward members, and we went back and got a load for ourselves.  I can honestly say that when I heard about the ward wood haul, I was a little bit crabby about it.  They wanted to meet at like 6:30am.  I am not a sleeping slob...I usually get up most weekdays at 4am, but Saturdays I would like to sleep until 7:30 if possible.  Anyhow, Ryan had the trailer and the chainsaws and so that pretty much sealed the fact that we had to be there.  We kind of have an unspoken rule, that Saturdays and Sundays are family time no matter what.  If Ryan has to work, we all go with him if we can.  If the Elders Quorum is having a wood haul...we are all going together.  We roused the kids up, and I instructed them to wear multiple layers of clothing.  Chlo was really against this whole idea.  We are talking about a gal who would prefer wearing a swimming suit at all times if possible.  I began putting layers on her and she was having a total fit.  Not okay in her book to be wearing two pairs of everything.  I dressed her in spite of her protests and sent her in to eat some breakfast.  She came back all upset because there was no one to eat with.  She absolutely refused to eat at the table alone.  I finally sent Jazzerz to sit at the table with her so that she would be willing to eat something.  Chlo is quite the gal that is for sure. 
     We went out in the hills, and Ryan whipped out the chainsaws and started sawing things up...Chlo and Mo even hauled a few sticks.  Jams and Sags are awesome wood haulers.  We have been on enough wood hauls that they pitch right in.  We actually had a great time.  We had a few of the Elders with us, and I must say that even though they were California city guys, Ryan taught them how to cut wood like pros.  I am not sure that they appreciated getting soggy Cheetos chucked at them on the ride home, but they were pretty good sports.  Luckily, we had the Elder's Quorum President with us on the car trip.  He is a comedian and entertained Mo the entire time.  It was great.
     We came home, dropped the extra men off, and picked up another trailer,(of course this entailed Ryan having to change a tire) and we went out to get another load.  I must admit that I am way too picky about the wood that I want to burn.  I like Cedar, I am willing to gather Oak, but thumbs down to Aspen.  Cedar is my favorite because it burns hot and long, and it makes cozy popping sounds as it burns.  I turn my snout up at some of the piles that we pass.  It's ok because Ryan found me some red cedar to burn...yippee.  Anyhow, the second wood haul, the younger kids were less than enthusiastic about hauling more wood.  They got some kind of an interesting game going that had an ax and an oven. The oven was a weird old log, and the ax was a stick. I am not really sure the gist of the game, but they were quite entertained playing amongst a pile of dead trees.  Needless to say that Jams, Sags, and I did most of the work.  I can honestly say that I thoroughly enjoy working with my girls.  They are fun and funny.  I laughed and laughed with them as we hauled and stacked wood.  Moroni wasn't too much of a pleasure though.  Part of the time, he expected to be hauled in my arms along with the wood.  Yep, he is pretty spoiled.  Chlo sat in the van most of the time because she kept removing her shoes.  She would jump over seats over and over.  Chlo is actually really good help when the kids are all at school, but she definitely lets the older kids handle the work load if she can.
     Between wood hauls, Oak was out riding his bike and found a nice, brown caterpillar.  He loved that little guy.  Anyhow, he put the worm in a bowl and held the bowl in his mouth, and gave the caterpillar rides.  I noticed that he had found a smashed tomater for the caterpillar too.  It didn't really want anything to do with the smashed tomater, but it was the thought that counts.
     Well, it is official.  My baby is in the nursery and he absolutely hates it.  HATES IT! While Jazz, Oak and Chlo were in the nursery, Ryan and I were nursery leaders and so we didn't have a problem getting them to transition.  Anyhow, Moroni screamed and whaled and shrieked.  Ryan finally just stayed in there with him. Ryan is awesome in the nursery.  I just hope that Mo gets used to it before too long.  I had the task of helping Chloee give a talk in primary.  She did great because we kept it nice and short.  We got laughing later because we recalled a day when Jazz had been assigned to give a talk.  She was a little Sun beamer.  Anyhow, I was in the nursery at the time with Oak.  Ryan went in to primary to help Jazzerz with her speech.  When it came time for her to get up, there was a sheepish pause because no one was there to help her.  Yep, Ryan was snoring on one of the chairs in the back.  Luckily, Wams was in there to wake him up, but poor Jazz.  I know she felt awkward there for a moment.  We had a nice Sunday.  Except for Chlo's stuffed cow that was thrown around some in sacrament meeting, we did pretty good.
     The kids have a week off from school, and I have huge cleaning plans.  I know the kids need some fun time too, but I want to get things organized.  We shall see how this goes.

     The first picture shows Chloee sleeping soundly on the computer desk...the second is of Oak giving his caterpillar a ride.  The next few are of the kids playing while we haul wood, and the one of Ryan is of his home-made tailgate.  Our trailer didn't have a tailgate, and so he built one...that is just how my man is.  Mo is looking quite tired in the last few shots, and he was.  A good week all in all.