Getting the swing of things!

When we first found out that we were going to move to Montana, I was so excited! My whole life I had wanted to live on a farm, and being more self-sufficient just seemed like a little piece of heaven on Earth for me.

We got our chickens and they were so easy. Anyone could do chickens, even in the city. They stay close to home, and if you have a coop(that is really easy to build yourself) then you don't even have to worry about them roaming. With chickens, you getfresh eggs everyday. Your neighbors would never even know you had them as long as you didn't have a rooster. You don't need a rooster to have eggs, but if you do have a rooster they will be fertilized. Fertilized eggs are better nutritionally for you because they have all 23 amino acids making it a perfect protein. Unfertilized eggs, the kind you get in the store, only have 19 amino acids, but arguably are still good for you. Having your own eggs is a bonus over buying them because free range chickens lay eggs that have more nutrients, you know exactly what is being fed to the chickens and it is more humane.

Then we got our goats. I must admit I cried when the older man bringing them to us de-horned them at our house. I was so saddened, but determined to have milk goats. The next year, it was time for us to de-horn our own goats. We waited too long to do it and the horns were really big. The goats were really big and it was a disaster. Ryan and I both cried (not really, but it was quite tramatic). We only did one goat. The others were left to grow horns...not a good idea. With all that "experience" we attempted goat de-horning again this year. We are pros now. It was easy. Just call me a natural. Actually Ryan did all the work, I just held them still. This year we will have four milking ladies, and I will learn how to make yougart, cottage cheese, goat cheese and ice cream out of it. The kids are so ready to have milk again. I can tell a diffrence in our health when we don't have it. The good fat(see link) from milk is essential for kids. Only two more weeks and I will start milking them.

So I guess after all this, I think I may have gotten the swing of things. We got 24 new baby chick this year and are going to get 24 fryer chickens next week, and since I have all that down, I guess it is time to shake things up...you know the only way to learn is to jump in with two feet and start moving, so we are getting pigs. Five of them. I know, I know, what will I do with pork that I don't eat...well, we are just doing pigs for 4-H. The boys will each raise one, and they get to sell them and keep the money that they make. They are the easiest animal to start with, so instead of jumping into steers, pigs will have to do. It should be fun, and hopefully not too stinky! Maybe we will have enough confidence that next year we can do a cow! I love this farm life.

~`Of Chipped Teeth and Fallen Arches!`~

I guess it is inevidible. I do have six wild crazy kids, and they are all very active thankfully. I mean I don't really want them to sit on their duff and do nothing, so it is with gratitude that I say Mara was running around like a banshee yesterday and ran straight into the gate...not fun for her or her tooth. The front on, right smack dab in the middle of her mouth got slightly chipped. You can't really tell, luckily it chipped back behind, so unless you really look, you can't see it.
Look out Uncle Wade, here we come!
It just so happens that the same day I took Sam to the doctor because he gets really stiff legs and as I was zoning his feet about a month ago (I know I am quick on the draw...a whole month later I get around to it) and noticed that his feet were so flat...go figure. his arches drop a whole 8 mm when he stands, forcing his tibia to rotate inward, throwing his hips off balance, so he has to have really cheap insert....you know what is a couple hundred here, and a couple hundred there? I am made of money aren't you? It will all be worth it though, if he can only run like a normal kid and not be so stiff when he stands up.
I could create a whole list of how my life is falling apart and how it appears that I can do nothing right at the moment, but instead, I will just say that I got to spend the afternoon planting flowers with the most sweetest girl in the world who insisted on holding my hand and the greatest boy who thought it was the coolest thing in the world to walk back and forth from the house to the flower bed with his eyes closed. I have a wonderful husband who grounds me and helps me to realize that really, life is perfectly how it should be, insignificant trials and all.

Happy Spring To you all...I love the newness of life I see all around me.

Robotic Noah

This kid cracks me up! There is nothing in this whole world like his laugh!

Love him!!!

Family Ski Day!

Finally I got to go!

I can't tell you how nervous I was once I got to the top and realized that I now had to go down.

I rode up with Max and when I said that I was a tiny bit nervous about going down that big hill...

his response "it's okay, just follow me"

Great advise from a six year old. If he could do it then so could I. and I did, I followed him right down the hill

So much fun.! Hunk-a-love!

Noah was awesome today! He almost got those parallel turns down.

You should see him rip it up on the moguls though!

Caleb did get those parallel turns down! Way to go!

He was not as fast as the others, but his form!!!Good job Caleb!

I couldn't believe how great Max was, he went on everything that we did. He's a snowplow, but boy can he plow

and is he ever fast! More than once we wanted to go a diffrent way, but Max was already down the mountain!

Sam can do anything his father can...though he doesn't love the sluice box, and Caleb and I agree with him.

Oops

Missed Max's head

There we go, there is that sweet grin!

It was so great to have some "wholesome recreational activities" with all the kids!

Where are the girls???

They got stuck in the daycare for the first time in their lives. At the resort there is a daycare, and though Mara was not loving it, she was promised that next year, She is UP!

Emma's First Haircut!

Rondi was nice enough to take on Emma, Mara, Sam and me all in one sitting.

Emma was pretty excited for "me_turn"

She was really good too. Rondi cut off the back and just blended her baby hair

She looks so cute.She has just enough curl that I can't do a little bob unless I want to straighten it each day and with a two year old...

yeah, that won't happen, so we'll just let it grow.

Thanks Rondi!

Gotta Love Max's "Cool Runnings"!

I walked past the boys bedroom today and this is how I found Max. Totally unashamed that his bobsled is pink and has wheels. He is great. That kid has worn that helmet for the last two days. Ever since watching "Cool Runnings" again. His pants were even tight and stretchy like on the movie. That kid....I hope no one ever changes him!

Just needed to hear this today!

"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time."

~Thomas Alva Edison~

Just thoughts!

Little miss Emma thinks that Mara's dance class it her dance class as well. The teacher made the mistake of letting her join them one day and she has been hooked on tutus and fairy wings since. Can't tell you how happy that makes me ;)

While in Utah, we inherited pink cowboy boots that fit Emma just a little too big, and she insists on wearing them. They are so stinking cute on her, I can't resist letting her, even though she clumps around in them and they fall off if I hold her! Her first complete sentence was...

"Hallie give me pink boots!"

She has said that too me so frequently this week, that we now call them the " Hallie gave me pink boots" boots!

I especially love it when she wears them with her tutu and fairy wings!

So with the fun stuff out of the way, I just need to say that I don't think I have ever gone through a worse winter! I can't tell you what the coming of spring means to me. I love the time change. Love that my kids were outside until 7:30pm and it was still light. Love that we played outside all day! love the new baby chicks and the new goats, but love them this year so much more because of the dark gloom this winter held on me. It wasn't just the winter, it was all the "happenings" this winter had.

We end (I say that with a hopeful note) this winter with our toilet overflowing yet again and flooding our basement yet again. Sam and Noah's room was completely flooded this time, so everything had to be moved. Ryan and I couldn't take it again, so we just ripped up all the carpet, pad, sheet rock, moldings, and moved all the furniture. ( why did it have to be the only room we have finished down there that got flooded?) We now have a cement floor, and it will stay that way until we can truly figure out why our drains think it okay to back up into our house.

All kids are upstairs, Sam in Max's bed, Noah sleeping with the girls, and Caleb and Max sharing a twin bed. We are cozy at our house. One blessing is that with Noah in with the girls they sleep the whole night in their bed.

I did not want another house project, and am still in denial...life can just go on the way it is, lots of people live in trail houses...that's just what our downstairs looks like now. No one goes down except to do laundry, we play outside and all watch t.v. together in our bedroom...all eight of us on the bed...that's fine right. We only watch two shows on t.v., so can I just be in denial for a summer? Would that be wrong? I just want to plant my garden and pretend the downstairs doesn't exist.

Four weeks of this semester left and not a single class done. So needing to be a better student, a better teacher, a better friend, but most of all a better mom. Way too many roles to fill. Just need to get this school thing behind me. but the Montana State board is giving me lots of grief...have I mentioned how much I hate politics???

I am so not even feeling like putting on a smile anymore, so if I am not so chipper, it's not you, just know I am going through my own little hell right now. One day it will end, be my friend then......stear clear for now......the bad luck just might rub off.

I can't leave you with a bad note, so here's some funnies for the night.

At the end of family home evening, Mara was sitting on Sam's lap and he had his eyes closed. She lifted his eyelids and said "Hi, Sam!" She kept doing it over and over, then Noah said "do it to me. She lifted Noah's eyelids and said "Hi, Sam!"

Thought the boys might just pee themselves over that one.

Emma was snugglin into bed tonight with Noah and trying desperately to stay awake for longer she said...

"Peee???"

"No", I said, "Noah just took you,"

"Pooo???? she said

"No"

"Gwarwar???" (translation: Water)

I fear I am in for it with that little sassy pants. She is way too smart for her britches.

She must come by it rightly, her older brother Noah was supposed to be doing his Math today and I came it to see how far he was. "I'm all done!" "really I said, you did that quick, let me correct it." was my reply. Seriously the kid had changed the date on the lesson he had done last week. Really, did you think I was that dumb? He got to do two math lessons today for that little stunt. But really, I was not that smart in school!

{Monday, Monday} In *Salt Lake City!*

Saturday We all headed to Utah and on Monday decided we needed some fun, so after school work was done,

We got Addy from school, hopped on the Front RunnerPlayed a little leap frog on the benches and ... ...headed into Salt Lake City.

The train conductor was a little "saucey" and kept telling everyone to keep their feet off the seat in front of them.
After he walked by for the third time telling someone to put their feet down, Emma crawled off my lap
walked over to the empty seat and promptly put her feet up on the window. I must admit I got quite a chuckle over that one! Hopefully she doesn't end up a rule "bender" like someone else I know well.

It was so fun to have Addy with us. She and Sam are only two years apart, and they get along really well.
I love it. She is such a great girl, and I miss her greatly, and always tell her she could be mine
(Just because I like her so much!)

The kids LOVED the front runner. I debated about spending the money, but was grateful that I did.

There is just something about what these two share. They totally adore each other!

I love it. And they have the exact same color of eyes!

We got off the frontrunner and then rode Trax to Gateway.

Went to the planetarium and then to Discovery

Emma loved grocery shopping!

MAx loved the horse

and Mara, Max and Caleb played in the helicoptor for a really long time!

Pretending to pick up the wounded and look for the lost!

Even the older kids loved it!

After the Discovery Museum, we went to the fountains...you can't go to Gateway and not get wet in the fountain

Luckily the weather was so beautiful, it was okay to get a little wet!

I love this picture! Probably because I love these two immensly, and this is just the kind of mischief they love!

Sam and Addy ran into Barnes and Nobel on a "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" search.

After the fountain we rode Trax to Temple Square. I haven't been there for so long and really wanted the kids to see it.

It was well worth it.

We saw the Joseph Smith film at the Joseph Smith Memorial building, and even Max had a few tears in his eyes.

It was so cute I looked over and he was just transfixed by the screen, with a tear rolling out of his eye. About three days later we were driving in the car and he said "Mom, you know when we walked into that building with the big statue of Jesus...Yeah, I had such a warm feeling in my heart there." Loved that moment!

It was so much fun. We didn't get home until late, but it was so worth it. It will never cease to amaze me how just being near a temple you feel the radiance of the spirit. I so miss that in Montana. Please of Please let there be a temple closer to us. It would totally change the dymanics of Great Falls....so much for the better.

Showdown skiing!

The boys have been lucky enough to go skiing most Friday's with their father. He took these pictures and should be the one to blog about it, so I will leave the narration to him Max

Noah

Samwise


Caleb