Something has happened to me...

Tonight I realized as I was out in a social setting that I don't know how to be social any more. I somehow either become too quiet or I can't stop talking. I found myself extremely annoying and in my head I'd say to myself, "That's enough!" But then, I couldn't stop talking. UGH! And, I don't need those comments from siblings who say "You've always been annoying."
I have a complex now. Maybe it's time to just be a hermit.

Happy Mother's Day!!

(I know they look a little shaggy. They now all have haircuts, but I still love this picture and had to post it. Also we haven't refinished our steps. This is on the house list of to-do's. Now I'm done with apologies and on to a post).

Today I feel special. It's been a wonderful day and I'm so thankful to my hubby and little ones for making it such. I love my sweet little ones. I'm so grateful for my mother. We've had a fun weekend and a great Mother's Day.

In the LDS church, the membership mostly gives talks based on topics given to us by our leaders. We do not have a preacher who preaches to us every Sunday. The members share messages and they usually help strengthen the individual speaking.

Today hubby had to give a talk. It was one of the most tender talks he's given. It was very sweet. He was given a talk that President Thomas S. Monson (the prophet of our church) gave "Behold Thy Mother." Go read it if you can (Thomas S. Monson, “‘Behold Thy Mother’,” Ensign, Apr 1998, 2). It's one of those timeless talks. We work with the youth and one of their mom's turned around and said to me, "What's he trying to do make everyone cry?" Anyway, it was very endearing and I'm grateful he's my hubby. He also paid tribute to his mother and spoke about her integrity. I'm so grateful for her as well. She's a rock and when she says she'll do something she'll do it. She's a woman of service and she's one of a kind.

I'm grateful for the mother's I've had in my life. My mother. My Granny. My Grandma. My Mother-in-Law. My sisters and sisters-in-law. I have such good examples of what a mother should be. I feel so blessed and hope that I can be what I ought.

This is how President Monson closed his talk, "One cannot forget mother and remember God.

One cannot remember mother and forget God. Why? Because these two sacred persons, God and mother, partners in creation, in love, in sacrifice, in service, are as one. " I like that. I want to be a partner in crime. I guess I should say partner in goodness. Yeah. That definitely sounds better!! Happy Mother's Day everyone!

A Weekend of Food

My sis Jen came home on Friday and we took our cute little mom out to dinner. We went to a Japanese steakhouse and ate way too much. It was such fun, and we talked and laughed until they practically kicked us out of the restaurant. I don't think we've had a girls night for ages and it really perked up the spirits. I'm so thankful for my mom. She's such a great lady. She is a listener and she somehow always knows when to say just what I need and even when not to say anything at all. She's a wise one. I feel blessed to have her as my mother.

Yesterday, we had a very interesting dinner. My mom fried locust blooms and poke stalks. We then ate the leaves from the poke plant (very much like a spinach). Poke is a poisonous plant, but if it is washed at least twice and then boiled it is edible, and I must say quite delicious. The leaves were delicious with balsamic vinegar, and we breaded and fried the stalks which tasted much like okra. Locust blooms are just what the name says--the bloom from the locust tree. It is only available for about two weeks out of the year and it is also yummy. If you don't believe you can fry anything come to my house. I promise it will taste good. ;) We also had fresh steaks that were hickory smoked over hickory wood. I think it was hands down one of the best steaks I've eaten. And we had fresh trout that was also hickory smoked. The boys went fishing in the pond earlier yesterday, and David #3 caught the biggest fish. He caught a bigger fish than everyone so that equated to extra excitement.

Today was a great Mother's Day. I got some fun little treats from everyone--yummy chocolates, some new perfume from hubby that I love, the movie Leap Year from Jen, and my sister-in-law made me a gorgeous picture collage in all black-and-white of the kids. It was a lovely day. But, the best part is that David, J, and L pampered me and mom by fixing a delicious dinner. We had baked chickens, wild rice, baked asparagus, spinach and blueberry Frye salad, and some homemade biscuits. David made the biscuits and I was impressed. We finished with homemade cake with strawberry cream cheese frosting and then some delicious home-made yogurt with fresh mangoes, blackberries, and strawberries. The yogurt was my favorite part. I guess my weekend has revolved around a lot of food. Sorry for the long post, but it was a delicious weekend!!

Thursday

On Thursday after work, we all gathered together and went to our neighbor's house to help shell some corn to plant our lower field with. We then came to our house to do the planting (the picture up above is one of our lower fields). We ended up receiving two bags of popcorn after the night--one bag of strawberry and another bag of yellow. The kids really had a fun night.

We planted--

*Sugar cane--We hand planted this in 12 long rows. Our neighbor dug the rows with his tractor. We make molasses every year in our neighborhood (if you can call it a neighborhood). Everyone gathers together and we do the molasses in a big pot. It consists of a long night boiling the juice from the sugar cane and lots of "tasting" to make sure it's just right. Anyway, we helped plant the cane. I've never helped plant it before. I learned that you need about 3-4 seeds and you plant them about 1 ft apart. We shall see how they grow.

*Popcorn--We planted two rows of strawberry popcorn. We actually popped some for dinner on Thursday night and it was quite good. There's something exciting about the fact that this was home-grown from last year.

*Brooms?--Not sure what exactly this was, but the neighbor called it "brooms". I'm thinking broom sage, but my dad says that's not right either. Anyway, our neighbor planted two rows of brooms so that "the kids can make homemade brooms." I'm interested to see how this turns out.

*Sweet corn--All tractor planted and I LOVE FRESH SWEET CORN. I can't even wait.

*White corn--We use this to make corn meal with. And it was all planted with the tractor.

Anyway, such a fun night for the kids. We all helped with our two neighbors that we love and had a nice evening together.

Spiders

This morning Tyler said to me, "Mom!! If you put a spider in your eye it will bite your eye out and then you won't see." And I replied, "Really? Let's not put spider's in our eyes."

Now I must ask, "Why would anyone ever think of putting a spider in their eye?" I just can't help but laugh.

Next time you see a spider, please refrain from picking it up and popping it in your eye. I know if will be difficult, but it's definitely not worth losing an eye over.

Highlights

We've had some really good weekends the past several weeks.

Highlights:

--The second weekend of April our stake had a very large temple day. It was centered around the Primary and we had over 200 children at the temple day activity (most traveled 4-5 hours to get there). Several very sweet couples in our stake were group leaders and took the kids to different stations around the temple while parents and youth participated in temple work. It was a wonderful day and the boys loved the opportunity to be at the temple. I think it is an experience they will not forget, nor will I. President Thomas S. Monson has said, "as we touch the temple, the temple will touch us (“A Shining Beacon on a Hill: Jordan River Temple Is Dedicated,” Ensign, Jan. 1982, 77)." It took a little bit for Tyler to warm up to his group leaders, but he finally did (with a little bribery from mom). And, I think both Tyler and David will always remember going to the temple, singing songs, and having the opportunity to "touch the temple." We also had fun seeing Jen and meeting her neighbor with the talking parrot "Coco."

--The weekend of the 17th I took the boys and Madilyn to the park and we went for a hike on one of the local trails. The trail was extremely steep. With packing Madilyn and a botched up knee, it was a bit rough for me on the way down. Plus, there was a really creepy guy in a truck who would not go away. Everything turned out okay, but I called my mom on the way down from the hike and she almost called the police.

--The weekend of the 21st LeAnn came down and we went to Pipestem Park. It's a fun mountain state park in West Virginia that has a lot of activities and trails. The kids enjoyed playing and a hike to a lookout tower on the top of the mountain. We also had a picnic. David #3 has been wanting to go on a picnic for several months and we FINALLY made it happen.

(The kids built this fun little lean-too tee-pee thing by the

picnic shelter around a tree. They kept calling it their house.)

(David and Ella at the top of the lookout tower. They refused to look at me)

--And last but not least, last weekend, we went camping on our farm. Now that was quite the experience. We wanted to do a "trial run" before Memorial Day weekend, and I'm not sure we're ready for a full fledged outing until Miss Madilyn is a little older. We had a really good time--definitely a great memory for the boys. We set up the tent, built a campfire, roasted hot dogs, and toasted marshmallows. We then sang some silly songs and played Frisbee with David's new glow in the dark Frisbee. Afterwards, we packed in the tent. We started out taking up the whole tent, but by the time the night was out, we were all smashed together in about 1/4 of the tent. Needless to say, little bodies got cold and they snuggled up to big bodies. We ended up getting up around 7am and heading back to the house. It was lovely to be so close to home. :)

(David #3 is not a deer. He's a moose.)

The kids helping dad build the fire at the pit

And those are some of the main highlights. I love weekends. If you talk to me during the week, I'm usually a bit frazzled, but the weekends are spectacular. I covet them. And, they are always just a little too short.

Bologna

Is it a sin to feed my children bologna? I hate the stuff. Just the thought of it makes me crinkle up my nose. But, my children LOVE it. That's their favorite lunch. And the label on the above picture -- "gourmet bologna." Can bologna really be gormet? Is it even considered a meat? I don't think so.
I can't stand it, but I buy it by the mass packages for my children.

I'm a bologna hypocrite.

Scratches

It looks like we put Tyler in a cage with a very ferocious cat. In all reality, he tumbled right into a rose bush while we were cleaning off a corner of the farm a few evenings ago. His poor little face and legs are all scratched up. We're taking a family excursion this weekend up to DC. Perfect timing for the evil stares (from people who think I abuse my children.)

I can't wait for a family outing. I love them and we are visiting one of the best places on earth!!

Easter Fun!

We had a very nice Easter. My brother, his wife, and their two cute kids came in very unexpectedly from Texas. We had a nice weekend. Highlights:

**General Conference--What a wonderful time to have General Conference and celebrate the life of the Savior! I love when General Conference falls on Easter weekend. I love the opportunity to hear from our church leaders. I really enjoyed the specific talks on families and the importance placed on building stronger families.

**Easter egg coloring and hunting--We've always hunted Easter eggs. Even in high school, we colored eggs and mom and dad would hide them. It's one of those fun traditions that we can't stop.

(My niece Ella could not keep her hands out of the dye)

**Easter brunch--We usually have a big Easter dinner, but this year we did a big breakfast right before the first session of General conference on Sunday morning. It was delicious--and fun to have friends and family gathered together.

**Sunshine--Oh how the sun did shine!! I loved it! We spent many hours out and about. We went on walks, played with the new baby calves, and enjoyed warm weather!

The kids with Uncle Jake (Please note that the kids

did not actually take a ride all together. This was just for a picture.)

**Egg-golfing--This is officially a new sport started by my brother Jared. Everyone needs to try it sometime. :)

Wicked Wicked Wife

Hubby David is the worst prankster ever. He always seems to win at everything, BUT this morning I actually got him good. And, I'm competetive. Frankly, I like to win too!! He fell for my April Fool's Day trickery. He actually took the bait and ran with it. I won. I actually won! It was a true miracle. :)

And, if you haven't had a chance, you need to go check out Google's main search page: www.google.com. It's cute. Make sure you read the link that says "Not In Kansas: learn about our new name."

Happy April Fool's Day!

Tyler the Builder

Tyler is our little guy with a real silly bone. He's always making jokes and trying to make everyone laugh. And, I just like this picture of him. He loves to put on this ensemble and say, "MOM, I'm Bob the Builder."

There you go, Bob. Thanks for brainwashing my children.

Why sisters shouldn't help with letters to Santa . . .

Read the note at the top. Do you notice the error? Bad, bad error. I hope Satan didn't come to our house for Christmas.

Santa didn't even notice it until Christmas morning. My sister can no longer help make the Christmas Eve snacks for Santa. Although, I must say that I'm grateful for her help. Santa drank all of his chocolate milk and ate both of his cookies. The reindeer devoured their carrot.

Anyway, very late post, but I saw this on my camera and thought it might bring a few laughs.

Stewing and Happiness

I've been stewing for the last couple of days since I found out the Health Care bill passed. When 70% of the American people say they don't want something, shouldn't that matter? What happened to democracy? What happened to the voice of the people? I have not talked to a single person who agrees with this nationalized health plan. Not one. I must say to Congress, "What happened to making the right decision because it was right, not because you negotiated something with another state?" I'll leave it alone at that. Obviously the letters and phone calls I've sent to Congressmen and Senators don't seem to matter. Now, I'm done.

And on another note, while stewing, I found this fabulous little blog. I like it. Someone sent it to me and I felt a bit of joy reading. If you should read it, start at the beginning of the posts.

http://www.thehapacusproject.com/

Who knew that there were people out there who studied happiness? I'd like a career change.

Poor Pitiful Blog

It's been a while. My blog is feeling lonely. My blog is saying something my kids have said before, "Mommy, that's not bery (very) nice." I can't seem to get my act together lately. Life is good, but busy as can be. And we all say that we're busy, so it's my lame excuse. But there you go.
Life has been busy and I haven't made time for you, blog. I'm sorry.
The end.

And on another note we were all sitting around the other night and I said "I've got the giggles."
To which David said, "Mom, what does giggles mean?"
Tyler gladly answered, "Giggles means you hide from the bad elephants. Elephants is bad."

I tried to correct Tyler's grammar but it didn't seem to help. And then I had the giggles again.

Happy Sunday everyone!