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.