Halloween 2017

Mario and the little bumble bee buzzed around the neighborhood for treats!

A cheerleader this year. Went out with her ward friends, then Eden's dad took these girls (Eden, Brielle, Maiah, and Hailey) to Spanish Fork for some more trick or treating. 

He's so creative! Came up with the idea to be homework for Halloween! Made his own costume. 

Paige and her buddy Penn Oct 31, 2017

School Halloween Parade

School Halloween Parade

Pumpkin Patch

Some things from yesterday: pumpkin patch and pumpkin muffins! The kids each have one big pumpkin that Aunt Jacque grew in her yard this year and a cute small pumpkin from the pumpkin patch. We're going to carve the big ones and be crafty with the little ones.

Apple Orchard tomorrow? I hope so!

Our favorite pumpkin muffin recipe, I found this recipe from cookieandkate.com a couple years ago.

NGREDIENTS

• ⅓ cup melted coconut oil or extra-virgin olive oil
• ½ cup maple syrup or honey
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup pumpkin purée
• ¼ cup milk of choice (I used almond milk)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon, plus more for sprinkling on top
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon allspice or cloves
• 1 ¾ cups whole wheat pastry flour or regular whole wheat flour
• ⅓ cup old-fashioned oats, plus more for sprinkling on top

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit (165 degrees Celsius). If necessary, grease ten cups of your muffin tin with butter or non-stick cooking spray (my pan is non-stick and didn’t require any grease).
2. In a large bowl, beat the oil and maple syrup or honey together with a whisk. Add eggs, and beat well. Mix in the pumpkin purée and milk, followed by the baking soda, vanilla extract, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and allspice or cloves.
3. Add the flour and oats to the bowl and mix with a large spoon, just until combined. If you’d like to add any additional mix-ins, like nuts, chocolate or dried fruit, fold them in now.
4. Divide the batter evenly between the ten muffin cups. For these muffins, it’s ok to fill the cups a little higher than you normally would. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with a small amount of oats, followed by a sprinkle of cinnamon. Bake muffins for 23 to 26 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.
5. Place the muffin tin on a cooling rack. These muffins are delicate until they cool down (you have been warned!), so it’s best to wait until they have cooled down to remove them from the tin. You might need to run a butter knife along the outer edge of the muffins to loosen them from the pan. Enjoy muffins as is or with a spread of nut butter or regular butter.

Beautiful and COLD!

I think winter is so beautiful. I love seeing sparkly, bright, white snow all over the ground. The frost on trees takes my breath away. Winter is beautiful. 

We had two HUGE snow storms this week. The first one on Tuesday.

The other storm was today. It was beautiful, but the snow is SOOOO deep out there! It's kinda fun. It's also an AMAZING workout if you try to shovel it. Full body sculpting workout ladies and gents. 

Last week the kids went sledding FOUR times. FOUR. TIMES. They LOVE sledding. We stop sledding when people can no longer feel their fingers or toes. Now you may ask why Miles was not wearing a coat in the photo below. Because playing in the snow in his coat makes him hot and sweaty he says! I totally understand. I get hot and sweaty...when I'm shoveling snow. Seriously, try it. Full body workout people!

Joey was sick on January 1, 2017 so he didn't attend church that day, but the kids and I did and here we are right before church on the first day of the new year. What really cracks me up about this photo is that I'm a floating head. Doesn't it look like I have no body attached to my head? Or maybe I'm a couch with a head. Like I'm mother couch with room enough for all my children to sit on me. It makes me laugh!! Happy New Year! 

Last but not least, I thought this sight was SO special and it sums up how I feel about the snow. When I was a kid I lived from 2nd grade until 6th grade in Illinois. I have great memories of playing outside in my snowsuit. And so whenever it's this time of year it makes me feel happy to see my little kids peer out the window first thing in the morning to see if it snowed. It makes me happy to see them play outside.

This is my beautiful Hailey building a snowman last week. And when I looked out the window and saw her out there it made my heart melt! (Pun intended!) And as I watched her, just for a second I remembered another 8 year old girl playing in the snow, a little girl whose now long gone, but somehow every once in a while, is still there inside of me and best brought out by these kids of mine.

Happy Winter from Mapleton! Now, I wonder what they're doing in Cancun this time of year...

Quotes 2013-2015

Hailey: Her teacher was a hippie for Halloween. Hailey had never heard of a hippie and forgot the word by the time she came home from school. She told me, "My teacher was a hypocrite for Halloween!" (October 2013)

Clay: Before Joey left the house he stopped and gave me a kiss on the lips and then gave Clay a little kiss on the lips. Clay wiped his lips then walked over to me and wiped my lips too. (October 2013)

Hailey: "Lifesavers" (what Hailey calls Light Sabers from the movie Star Wars)

Tiff: "What's the matter?"

Hailey: "I don't have a matter." (November 2013)

Hailey: "I am boy trapped." What she said to me one day recently about having two brothers and no sisters. (November 2013)

Me: "Good night Clay! You're my happy boy!"

Clay: "Good night. You my happy woman!" (December 2013)

Hailey: "Autumn-torium" (auditorium)

Clay: He came to the kitchen with a tampon, unopened still in the plastic wrapper. (Guess he had been rummaging around in our bathroom!) Then he handed it to me asked if I would open that cheese stick for him! I had to explain to him that what he had was NOT a cheese stick!

Clay: "door-bable" (adorable) February 2014

Hailey: "Constructions" (instructions) March 2014

Miles: (said in his prayer as he blessed our food) "...and we are excited to see grandma and grandpa tomorrow. Just so you know. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen." March 2014

Miles: "Grandma and Grandpa are coming today!"

Clay: "Yeah! And so are Joey's parents!" March 2014

Clay: "Baff-tism" (Clay's pronunciation of 'baptism.' 'Baff" is how he says 'bath') (May 2014)

I was listening to NPR as we drove and all of a sudden Clay said, "Mom! Nited-states! He said nited-states!" I guess Clay was listening too, and he must have some understand that we live in the United States. :) (August 2014)

Clay: "pic-pic" How Clay says picnic. (Summer 2014)

Over July 3rd and July 4th 2014 we went camping at Payson Lakes. We were fishing at the lake closest to our campsite when Clay said, "I want to go back to our website." He called it our 'website' the entire time!

"Cold-freeze"- How Clay says 'brain freeze'

Clay (patting my tummy the day after I came home from the hospital after giving birth): "You have a baby in your tummy still! You have a big baby in there! We are going to have another baby to go with our new baby! They will be twins!"(Ha! Good thing I don't rely on my children for my self esteem!!)

(Oct 20, 2014, morning before school...)

Clay was using the potty while Miles was washing his hands the bathroom door was wide open...Clay flushes and runs out.

Miles: Wait, you have to wash your hands!

Clay: I don't do that anymore!

(Yuck! Come back here three year old!)

Clay: "Hallowing" (pronunciation of Halloween October 2014)

Clay: "Root beard" (pronunciation of Root Beer December 2014)

Clay: We were flipping through our DVD holder and as we turned the pages Clay saw our "Finding Faith in Christ" DVD with a picture of Jesus Christ on the front of it. He pointed and said, "There's Jesus! I love that guy!" (January 2015)

Clay: The Primary song "He Sent his Son" is a favorite in our house. It starts out, "How could the Father tell the world of love and tenderness..." at the end of the song the lyrics say..."Help others on their way." Clay loves this song, but at the end he sings, "Help Fathers on their way." (April 2015)

2014-2015 school year

Here is Hailey with her 1st grade teacher, Miss Stokes. What a great teacher! I have loved Sierra Bonita, it has been a wonderful school and all the teachers have been great so far. I think Miss Stokes has been my one of my favorites because she went above and beyond what she is paid to do in many ways. At the end of the school year she had t-shirts made for all the students in her class. She also made them a little memory DVD of all their field trips and fun activities at school.

Hailey played a turtle in the 1st grade play.

Hailey is already someone I consider a close friend. Her love and consideration has already helped me in moments when I am tired or discouraged, she senses it without me saying a word or expecting anything, and I often find her by my side in those times ready to help and extend love. I am so lucky to have her.

Clay had a great pre-school group! Natalie Perry set up a co-op with several moms in the neighborhood. In this preschool group there were: Clayton, Henry Peterson, Ella Mendenhall, Carter Watts, Gavin Simpson, Lincoln Hassler, Mila Perry, Talmage Perry, and Kyle Ash. Lots of boys! At the end of the year the kids took a tour of the local fire station. The Mapleton Fire Station is 100% volunteer, which I thought was pretty cool!

Firefighter Darrel gave a great tour of the station. He even took the kids for a RIDE in the fire truck!!

In the photo below the firefighter is spraying water from the fire truck and the kids loved it.

 

Miles' teacher was awesome. Miss Jhorth was just great. I loved how she had a great attitude and I could tell she loves what she does. This was the best school year for Miles! He did great and I definitely believe his teacher helped make this school year so amazing.

Here they are on the last day of school, May 29, 2015. Oh man, I am in LOVE with these kids. They are my treasure. :)

Y

I had a goal to hike the Y as a family this summer. I got the idea from Miles. One winter night as we watched snow falling onto our patio he asked if we could hike it. I promised him we'd try. As soon as the weather warmed up, we were on our way! Yes, I was 7 months pregnant. Yes, Clay had tiny legs. I was wondering how it would go...

 But, surprisingly we did it and had a GREAT time. We were happy and having fun together and talking all the way up. Clay even walked the entire way up!! Joey carried him on his shoulders on the way back down.

Hello beautiful me! :) 

Oh, man they are so cute!

Almost there!

View from the top

Sitting on the Y! We all touched it! Yay!

Goals are SO worth having! :)

Sunday beauties (and a couple other non-Sunday beauties)

There were a few beautiful moments as well as a very tender moment that I experienced this week.

First, this morning Clayton woke up at 6am. Miles got up with him and gave him cereal and milk. Then I heard Miles coaxing Clay to wash his hands after eating breakfast--it was very cute. I smiled with my eyes still closed as I listened to them talk. Next I listened as Miles started getting himself and Clay ready for church! It was wonderful!

Later on before we left for church I overheard Hailey singing. She LOVES to sing and she makes up songs almost daily, especially when she's in her make believe world. I heard her sing in a dramatic melody, but with all the beauty she could muster in her voice, " Oh I wish I were a human being!" Of course I had to peek in. She was playing with a little pink dolphin bath toy. The dolphin--at least as far as I could tell--was singing its song to a barbie, because afterwards the dolphin and the barbie had a conversation. Beautiful!

On Friday Joey and I stole away on a date to the temple. It was wonderful. The next morning Miles told me that since I was gone at bedtime he had decided to do our nightly scripture study without me (he and I read the BoM every night before he goes to sleep apart from family scriptures). I was so proud of him for choosing to read the scriptures without his mom there to encourage him!

Again tonight Miles did it again. Things got a little sticky at bedtime. The kids were very cranky and family scripture study was punctuated with bursts of cries from Hailey (who had gotten in trouble earlier for stealing a pepperoni from Clay and was feeling sad about it still) and bursts of squirming around on the floor like a snake from Clay. Miles was on the couch, limp. He was not very cheery. Luckily, I put on my happy face and was able to keep it on until they were in bed. Joey and I even exchanged really cheesy smiles to encourage each other! We made it through a song (which Hailey sang in a very weepy voice) and a few verses of scripture (the adults read two verses, the kids read one, and Clay repeats one) and a prayer was said. Miles ran to bed and pulled the covers over his head. I wasn't going to fight it, if he wasn't up for reading with me tonight, that was fine--after all my cranky switch turns on when I'm tired and I could tell if I saw any more unhappiness from these offspring my crankiness was about to switch to on mode too!

Anyway, about 5 minutes later I heard padding of child feet on our carpet. Without a word or a sound Miles climbed onto the couch and opened the scriptures and started to read. He got up to read scriptures after all! It was a beautiful moment.

Now lastly, a very tender moment. Making friends here in Utah has come slowly but surly. It has been a long and patient process, but the friendships I have made are good ones and I am grateful for them. One of my close friends, Emily, lives right next door. She and I went walking every weekday at 6am during the summer. We both have three children, the same ages! We have become close through our early morning walks. She and I even unknowingly ended up being pregnant with our fourth at the same time! We didn't share the news with each other until we were both pretty far along, but when we did we were both surprised and happy to be pregnant together. She was due a month before me. We planned to walk with our strollers and large pregnant bellies when the weather warmed up. Last week she texted me to share that she had lost the baby. They were going to have a boy. She had to go to the hospital and be put into labor to give birth to her no longer living son. Heidi and I brought Emily dinner tonight. When we saw Emily her tears would not stop flowing. We hugged her and gave our food. It was very somber and tender moment.

There's so much I want to be great at. I think of the scripture in Ether that says that our weaknesses can become strengths. Sometimes I feel weak at raising kids. The days ebb and flow with happy moments and frustrating moments with my kids. I try to show them love each day, I try to show them I love the gospel each day, and I try to make sure we all laugh each day---and I hope, pray, and try to follow my feelings. I wish I knew how to better comfort my friend tonight too. I made her lasagna and breadsticks, I told her I am praying for her, I offered her what I could, but I didn't know what to do or say to help her pain tonight. I felt awkward as I watched her cry. My words sounded nice, but weak. What do you say to someone who just gave birth and lost the child? Maybe having a walking friend again would help her. Maybe she'll want to go walking in a month or two. Maybe we can once again joke and laugh and get our blood pumping in the morning sun. Laughing always feels good, even after a tragedy. Of course, she probably needs time to really grieve and let all her feelings be felt. As I thought about that scripture lately I think our weaknesses might sometimes take a lot of years in mortality and a lot of practice and a lot of gained wisdom through experience to become strengths. At least, that's how it seems to be going for me. For now, I'll get up everyday with my weaknesses and strengths right there alongside me as I go about my day. I'll pray for Emily and I'll pray for my kids and I'll pray Joey and for our marriage and all of my family and I'll just keep trying to enjoy the beautiful moments and better understand and react to the tender moments.

Cute on the potty and other quick thoughts

Quick thoughts to share during nap time:

Right before we left for church this last Sunday Clay asked to sit on the potty. Of course I won't say no to that! I dropped my church bag and we made a run for the toilet. Then I saw how cute he was and I made another quick b-line for the camera! We have not started officially potty training yet, but we sit him on the potty each day in prep for the big event.

Clay also says the funniest little things. I said to him, "You're my big boy!" and he said back, "You're my tiny mom!" 

I was able to French braid Hailey's hair this morning. I have been trying to French braid for many years without much luck, but this morning Hailey asked if I'd French braid her hair for school and so once again I tried. This time it worked, my fingers did what I wanted them to do, and--even better--Hailey's hair did what I wanted it to do! It was a small, personal triumph. What I learned: keep trying, it may take years but eventually what you are trying to learn may just click. I think we may be doing a lot more French braids around here. 

This afternoon Miles had to have his blood drawn. He not only watched as the needle was inserted but he watched with wonder and had many questions about the process as his blood was being taken. Although I didn't know how he'd react to something like this, I was surprised that he was totally fine with the whole process and even curious. The experience opened up a floodgate of questions from him: "How do they check my blood to know things? Why is some blood blue? Why does oxygen turn it red? How does your heart and lungs add oxygen to your blood? Does your body always make new blood? What about giving blood? Why would someone need someone else's blood? Can I give blood?"... I love it when my kids surprise me! Needless to say, we've talked a lot about blood today! 

Miles and I are still going strong with our Book of Mormon reading and I was reminded that patience and persistence are wonderful things.Yesterday he requested that instead of each of us reading a column as we usually do we should each read a page from now on. As we sat together he stopped reading to ask questions and share his thoughts from time to time. I was so grateful and happy! Several months ago when I started this goal it could be quite difficult to feel that Miles was cooperative with the whole scripture study idea. I didn't want it to turn into a control battle or a bad experience so I was just patient and sat down with him each day. Regardless of his attitude I tried to be happy and kind. Sometimes it was a struggle for me as I felt that my efforts were unappreciated and sometimes refuted. As the months went on he slowly softened and stopped resisting and eventually seemed to enjoy our time reading together. These days I truly do feel the spirit as we read. Sometimes it is so strong I have to ask Miles, "Do you feel that?" and then I can bear my testimony. I feel like after so much time, Heavenly Father is rewarding my efforts because the spirit is even stronger when we read out loud together than it is when I read privately. I wouldn't trade this time with Miles for anything. We are now in Alma, and although we may not complete the whole book by the time he is baptized, I hope we can complete it a few months after. Patience and persistence are such wonderful, strong tools that can bring about great things!! Now if I could just remember to be patient about everything then I'd have it made! ;)

January happenings

First, a small tid-bit about Christmas. Clay met Santa at the library. He talked a lot about Santa this year. Hailey is in a Mapleton City Choir and it was so wonderful to hear her choir perform some beautiful Christmas music at their Christmas concert. She has really blossomed in choir. With her in the picture below is Brielle and Ashton. Brielle is our upstairs neighbor and Ashton lives right next door. These sweet kindergartners play a lot together. Heidi is the director, she also lives upstairs and she and her husband own the house we are living in. They are GREAT friends and I count her as a HUGE blessing in my life in Utah. I know I can always count on her, and she and KC have helped us so many time since we moved here. We go on double dates on occasion and swap babysitting often. Next up, I finally finished my Grandma's history right before Christmas and I am super happy to have it complete! Lastly, we took a trip to see the temple lights in SLC. That handsome man in the picture below is mine. I love him!

We did the 12 day of Christmas for our elderly neighbors.One night we came outside with their gift for the night making lots of noise and didn't notice that Elwin was outside taking his trash to the curb. He saw us, we saw him. We looked like deer caught in headlights I'm sure! The kids ran and hid behind a parked car. So, I hid with them. We were maybe 10 feet away from him. He SAW us run and hide behind the car! He went inside his house, and turned on the porch lights. Doing the secret Santa thing was fun, and next year we might even be able to pull the 'secret' part off. :)

Oh, we finally made a snowman. You've got to wait for the snow to get a little slushy, but once it does the snowman turns out great! We named him Snowy. He was a very good looking snowman if I may say so myself. I will also say it is an AWESOME workout to make a snowman. The kids "helped" me by patting the snow with their little mitten hands. But I was working up a good heart rate, it's a great winter workout ;).

A few weeks after making him a kindergartner eye witness told me that a 7-year-old ninja was spotted doing multiple karate moves on the defenseless snowman--whose head came clean off his body! When the suspect was approached and questioned he responded with, "Uhhh...am I going to get in trouble?" I really couldn't keep a straight face. Our poor snowman has yet to be reconstructed and Snowy's head is still sitting on the ground right next to his body, poor guy!

Also, I better announce our awesome news (so that a baby doesn't just pop out of nowhere in a future post leaving the reader to wonder, "Where did that baby come from?!" but go ask your mom, not me, if you don't know...) We are having a baby in the summer! I am now about 11 weeks prego. Clay announced it to his Daddy with this picture, which I framed and gave to Joey as a Christmas gift.

We are hoping to go sledding on Saturday. I love sledding! Life is happily moving forward. We are blessed!

A general update!

I will try to make this concise and interesting:
1. spring sprang!!! It is BEAUTIFUL and WARM and GREEN and full of little singing birds! I LOVE it! We are living outside these days. The highs are in the mid-70s usually and it is glorious!

2. I have never seen so many deer in my life! They are everywhere around these parts. I love it. These deer were out in our backyard a couple of weeks ago. We see deer on a regular basis!

3. Hailey graduated from preschool! I really liked her teacher, Mrs. Jackie. She also had a very cute carpool/playgroup group, Ellie, Brielle and Sawyer. These kids made me smile all school year. Their favorite lunch at my house was chicken nuggets. The last day of preschool they had a water party.

4. I walked into the kitchen to find my studly husband helping his offspring make cookies. It was super cute. Real men make cookies with their babies I think ;). I had to take a picture.

6. Hailey and Clay took a trip with the preschool to the local fire department. Clay now says, "Wee-ooh!" which in translation means "fire truck."

7. Last, but not least, Miles with his wonderful 1st grade teacher Mrs. Creamer. He is wearing a suit because his class did some plays for the parents and he was supposed to wear a suit for his part. Hailey jumped in the picture too. She liked coming to the elementary school when she got the chance.