Crashed

This morning our cousins came over to spend a few days with us.  My kids have been so excited for them to come.  They played ALL day long.  This morning when it was cool outside they played inside but by midmorning they were all outside on scooters and bikes all up and down the street.  After lunch I put the two little girls in the stroller and the other kids jumped on their scooters and we headed to the park.  We played on the playground and rode scooters in the skate park.  After an hour or so we headed back home, dropped off the scooters and stroller and walked to McDonalds for ice cream and drinks.  It was a pretty warm day out and I thought it would be a fun treat for the kids.  They played on the playland a little and enjoyed ice cream and soda before heading back home.  In the evening we went to baseball practice (two different ones). The kids who weren't playing baseball played in the parks.  Then it was back home for supper and back out until dark.  We ended the day with brownies and a movie.  After the movie and toothbrushing, we settled down to read scriptures and say prayers.  Olivia was next to me on the couch.  After sitting still for about three seconds this is what she looked like:

Totally crashed! Can you tell she played hard today?! I love days like today though.  Full of busy fun. It's a nice break from the routines, homework, and early bedtimes.  They are already making plans for tomorrow's fun.  At one point our front yard had 13 kids in it (nine of whom were mine).  It is so fun to look out the window and watch them play!  Tonight all their cheeks were pink from the sun (sorry, not one of those that freaks out with sunscreen. I use it, but not regularly).  I love it!  To me it is the look of healthy children enjoying life! Now the house it totally quiet, all nine kids are quiet and sleeping.  I love that too :)

Jobs...

Well, Michael had his interviews with South Dakota State last week.  It was something we were looking forward to and honestly hoping for.  Things went well and they talked good, but there was an underlying sense that Michael had that there was more to it.  He had been warned by a few to be careful of the job so that added to the issues at hand.  Also the job wouldn't necessarily allow for him to do any part time work to supplement the income.  That would've been a huge need had we taken the job.  It was disappointing for him to go back to work this hitch and not have any more answers to the situation (other than no).  We were hoping to see an end in sight.  It is hard to have him leave and not how long we are going to have to deal with it all.  Yesterday was a very hard day for both of us.  I spent part of the day in tears, part in silence, part yelling (I think my kids preferred the silence), part sad and most of it frustrated.  Michael was struggling too although he isn't as verbal about it as I am.  He did express his feelings and it made me hurt inside for him.  He is a lot like his father, silent, so it's hard to know exactly how things are affecting him.  Yesterday he let me in a little and it made me sad.  He wants change as badly as I do.  It was hard to walk away from this job that we thought would allow us more time together but we had to do what we felt was best and SDSU wasn't it. So we will walk away in hopes that there is something better waiting for us.  In the meantime he will do his job in North Dakota and I will do mine here at home...

Easter Photos

It isn't very often that all my kids are clean at the same time!  There is usually at least one that is covered in dirt or peanut butter or both!  To six kids who love to be outside playing, staying clean is not an option.  So I had to take advantage of my short window of cleanliness yesterday morning and take pictures!  Not only were they clean, but they were also wearing nice clothes - a combination that also doesn't happen all that often (at least not with ALL of them).  I even made Michael participate - although if you look at the photos, he is in the same position in all of them - we just moved in and out of the pictures :)

 Michael and the boys

 Michael and the girls

Michael and me

 me and the girls

 me and the boys

all the kiddos!

They clean up pretty good don't they!!

Look What Grew!!

Last night before the kids went to bed we planted jelly beans.  We found a clear cup and put a little sugar in the bottom of it.  Then we put in a few jelly beans and covered them with a little more sugar and left it on the tablet to see what would grow.  This morning when we came into the kitchen we discovered this:

The kids were so excited to see this in the middle of the table!  What a fun surprise!  Who knew jelly beans were magic?!  We will definitely be doing this again next year!

A "Hike" and a Hunt

Yesterday we went on a "hike" as the kids called it.  Really it was more of a walk through some tall grass and brush next to the river.  It was a beautiful day so we decided to be out and enjoy it.  We went down to Scotts Bottom and found a trail to wander down.  When we got there, there was a family hiding eggs in the bushes and grass getting ready for an egg hunt.  The kids got really excited when they saw it until we told them it was not for them!  We went on our little walk through the woods discovering all sorts of fun things.  Some one had started piling up logs to look like a house, some one else had built a stick teepee with a fire pit.  We found a rock that looked like a heart.  Zeke found lots of rocks to add to his collection and we found some really soft sand (the highlight for Olivia).  When we got back to our starting point we noticed that the egg hunt was over - the bushes had been cleaned out!  However, we noticed an egg still laying in a clump of tall grass.  Zane got it and it was full of candy!  Then the hunt was on!  The kids spread out looking for missed eggs.  Amazingly each kid walked away with at least one egg full of candy!  What a great bonus to end on!  The kids want to go back next week and see if they can find any more eggs...

Wild Horses

Today is kind of cold and windy so we decided to take the kids on the Wild Horse Loop. It's a bumpy dirt road that goes on for miles through sage brush and rocks with the occasional horse herd. This time we did luck out and towards the beginning of the drive we saw some right off the side of the road.

Now, when some people hear the name Green River, they think green and beautiful.  Green River is not green.  I personally prefer scenery of green and trees, however, every area has it's own beauty.  Though Green River is mostly shades of brown, it has it's beauty.  Here is what we saw from the top of the horse loop.

Not bad for the Wyoming desert huh?! We ended the trip with ice cream sundaes at Arctic Circle! Yum!!

Lack of Sleep

Last night I did not sleep well.  I went to bed with my mind running a million different directions and woke up at 3am doing the same.  I'm not sure what all was going on.  I wasn't really focusing on one thing in particular.  I didn't necessarily feel stressed or upset about anything - just had a lot on my mind.  Most of it has to do with this whole job/moving situation we are in right now.  I hate moving.  We moved so much growing up.  I hated having to go to a new place and make new friends.  I was very shy and unsure and it was like torture.  I am still that way.  When we moved her just over a year ago I was hoping that it would be our last.  We have moved a lot since being married and I was tired of it,  I didn't want my kids to go through the same stress that I did and I didn't want to go through the stress of it anymore either.  Then we bought a house 6 months ago and I thought that was something that would ground us here.  Then, before Christmas, things at work started changing for Michael.  What has resulted is him being gone for two weeks and home for one.  It has been really hard.  On all of us.  He by chance found a job opening at a college in South Dakota and applied for it. Not really thinking much about it we continued on.  Then he got a call from them. Today he is there interviewing for the position.  We were excited about the prospects of moving back to South Dakota.  We love it there.  However, before interviews started yesterday evening he was warned by several to be careful of the job and that there were things going on that weren't on the up and up.  Kind of put a damper on the whole precess.  During all this time we also had a friend of ours approach us about the possibility of working for them.  A thought that also excited us.  We love this family and they would be excellent people to work for and it would put us back in a place that we love. The kids were super excited about this opportunity. That is still in the works with possibilities, but nothing concrete yet.  Then my thoughts turned to leaving here.  We have a house that we purchased only 6 months ago.  It needs some work before it is ready to go on the market.  That thought is overwhelming.  The kids have opportunities here with the schools that they don't have elsewhere. Makenna has a dear friend here.  They are inseparable. It breaks my heart to think of how hard it will be for her to leave.  I love (for the most part) being able to be near family.  It has been so nice for the kids to get to know their extended family and I have loved having my sister-in-law here.  I would miss that terribly.  But I miss Michael terribly and he is very unhappy here.  His happiness also counts for something.  I believe it is very important. Anyways, all these thoughts were running through my head as I lay there in bed.  Overwhelming at times, sad at times, confusing, frustrating, yet at the same time peaceful.  While I get worked up and don't handle these things well, I also know that Heavenly Father will take care of us.  He knows what our hearts desire.  He knows the importance of Michael being able to be a part of our everyday family life.  He will take care of us.  He will provide.  I don't know exactly when and how, but I know that He will.  I will keep doing what I am doing and provide the best environment for my family while Michael is away.  It's all I can do.  At some point, He will bring Michael home to us.  For that underlying peace I am grateful.

General Conference Weekend

This weekend we were privilaged to watch General Conference.  For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a semi annual conference that is televised world wide.  It goes for Saturday and Sunday.  The leaders of our church teach us about the Savior and His gospel.  It is a wonderful weekend in many respects.  I usually try to find things for the kids to do to help them be able to sit and watch and learn.  This year we did ties.  For every speaker I gave each of the kids a tie.  They were supposed to color the tie to match the speakers tie.  Then on the back side they wrote the speakers name and something that they spoke about. I was surprised by how well they liked it!  Even Olivia stayed on task!  We also made treats and in between sessions (there are four - 2 each day) we spent time playing out side and enjoying the beautiful weather.

There were many things that touched me over the weekend.  One was a quote from Jeffrey R. Holland.  He said "It is never to late so long as the Master of the Vineyard says there is time."  He was talking about repentance and changing our lives.  There is time and a way for each of us, no matter how horrible we think we are, to change and repent and turn to the Savior.  His arms are open and ready for us to turn to Him.  I love that.  As a mother my weaknesses are thrown out in front of me constantly.  I am very aware of my shortcomings and am often overwhelmed with all that I need to do to become like my Savior and be the kind of person that I know I need to be.  This gave me the reassurance that I can still change and that the Savior still loves me.


Another quote was from Elder Soares.  He said, "You cannot be right by doing wrong and you cannot be wrong by doing right."  Sometimes the world says that right is wrong and wrong is right.  It makes it hard when we are trying our best to do right and the world is telling us we are wrong or stupid for doing what we are doing.  This is reassurance that in the Lord's eye right is still right and wrong is still wrong.


The last one was a quote from M. Russell Ballard.  He said "Remove all of your fear with faith."  I love that!  It is hard to do though.  There are so many things that I get worried about or stressed out about.  If I would just relax and put my faith in Christ, all would be well.  I like to have control though and faith doesn't mean control.  When we have faith, we put our trust and our hearts into the Lord's hands and do things according to His will, not ours. I have a hard time with that though.  I do know, however, that the times that I DO do this, it works out much better and with much less stress and worry!


As I said, there were many more things that touched me but these stuck out to me.  One other thing that made me smile was this:

Zeke wrote this during one of the sessions, "I love conference". He sounded it out himself and wrote it by himself.  Then we put it on the piano for everyone to see :)

This is the other thing he wrote. "I love mom and dad and the kids."  Once again, sounded out and written by him :)

New Creations

This weekend, since it was conference weekend, we decided to try out a few new recipes.  The first one we tried was pop tarts.  Some of my kids LOVE pop tarts.  I can't stand them, but I thought it would be fun to try home made ones.  I found a recipe on my new favorite website, Pinterest, and tried them.  I used puff pastry instead of pie dough and they turned out really good!  I would even eat them!

Our second creation was also one I found on Pinterest.  It was orange rolls shaped like Bunnies!  I made this one for me.  Dillon and Olivia helped roll out the dough and make the bunnies.  Makenna was the only one besides me who liked them so I ended up giving half of them away.  

Don't they look cute!  I won't tell you how many I ate :) We tried a few other recipes too and have ingredients to try a few more over spring break this week.  I love trying new recipes and I have found a lot on Pinterest that I love! Baking and cooking are my stress relievers.  It helps me relax and it makes others happy!  I love it!

the King and I

This last weekend was the showing of the high school's play "The King and I".  Makenna was one of the princesses.  They have been practicing for several months.  It was fun to finally see the finished product.  Makenna seems to really like it out on stage.  She did a great job playing her part and learning all the songs.  I think she has found a new pursuit in life!  Here are a few pictures of her...

following her mother on stage to meet her father the King

singing as they exit the stage

Makenna with her best friend Laura.  They were so excited when they found out they both made it!

Makenna all ready and waiting for show time!