Nature is a funny thing...

So way back in September our 7 year old Basset Hound Molly and 7 month old Lab Flash were out in the yard like always enjoying the warm day. Well they enjoyed it a little too much and now we have 8 puppies!!!! Not only do we have puppies we have Bassador Puppies. Yeah they have a NAME!!! According to the Internet they will look like labs but have short legs, and basset feet. They will be low key like Molly but smart like Flash.

It's been quite an experience to have puppies. Growing up we always had boy dogs which meant NO BABIES!!! They're a month old and pretty cute. We have 4 girls and 4 boys and 6 of them are yellow and 2 black. My kids are in love of course and when there were 8 born my son said "there's enough for each of us to have our OWN!!!!" Oh my gosh NO!!! So in about a month they'll be ready to go to a new home and Molly will be visiting the vet.

So if anyone out there wants a VERY CUTE puppy, just let me know!!!

What to do????

So here we are the beginning of day 3 of Christmas Break. It's bleak outside, gray and cold, the high is low teens. And what do I hear ALL DAY LONG??? "I'm bored there's nothing to do." Now please understand that my 4 children were blessed with a pretty good Christmas. And there is a TON to do!!!! But apparently playing wii (rock band, scooby doo, resort, play, sports, fit, fit plus, music, etc.) is nothing to do. Or make necklaces from new charms and beads (for the girls) or build dinosaur models (for Zach) listen to their new i Pods (they EACH got one) or read a book, play one of the 5 games they got....the list goes on and on. And granted we are an hour from ANYTHING that resembles society, but still we have stuff to do here. So I'm preparing myself for another day of suggesting all of the above and anything else I can think of to amuse my wonderful bored children for 4 more days!!! I was trying to think why I survive all summer but not one week of Christmas??? The it hit me...DUH!!! Summer = warm = OUTSIDE!!! Heaven Help Me!!!!

I've survived.....

I hope everyone enjoyed and survived Christmas here's what did..... first the kids got wii Rock Band - and it's been on ever since Christmas Morning (See how happy Ben is I took his picture HA HA HA)

Here's the tree BEFORE the carnage....

The stockings are all filled.....

Grandpa is reading the Christmas Story - one of our traditions

Ben is reading "The Night Before Christmas" another tradition

Cute kids is Christmas PJ's also a tradition

Here are the fruits of the kids labors....Christmas Cookies!!!!

My child laborers..JUST KIDDING they LOVE doing cookies

3 of the kids waiting to see Santa after the school Christmas Program

Zach during the program

Dani (in preschool) doing her part...what a cute ELF!!!!

Michaela in the recorder Choir and also the Christmas Play!!

Jordynn as an Elf or her classroom Christmas Play!!

We had a VERY busy Christmas FULL of family!!! Ben's parents and brother came up for Christmas Eve and morning and my parents and siblings came Sunday!!! All in all it was a WONDERFUL Christmas!!! Have a great vacation and NEW YEAR!!!!!

Wheww........

So we've been soo very very busy and here's the update.

We went to get a tree the Sunday after Thanksgiving. It was quite the adventure full of walking around the Forrest in the snow, not finding a tree, walking some more, still no tree, walking some more maybe this one....nope, more walking, getting a little lost, and loading it in the DARK!!!

This is NOT the tree we got it was a POSSIBILITY.....

Well it's home and up and going well. We haven't had the cat climb it or the dogs use it as a bathroom (yet)

Besides the tree we've had some additions to our family...not by choice. Our OLD (almost 8) Basset Hound and our YOUNG (7 months old) Lab had fun one afternoon and now we have 8 PUPPIES!!! So what do Basset Hound Labrador puppies look like??? Well ours look like labs. Everything I could find on the Internet says they will basically look like short legged labs. They'll be smart like a lab but low key like a Basset.

All in all pretty cute but we have 8 of them...so if anyone would like a Bassador (that's really what they're called) let us know. They'll be ready first of February.

And finally this is what happens when you let the kids play with the camera. By the way there are 26 pictures of the TV

I'm not sure WHY?????

Thanksgiving Update...finally

This year for Thanksgiving we went down to Salt Lake to spend time with both families. We had a great Thanksgiving dinner with Ben's brothers, parents, and wives and kids. It was a great time and we laughed a lot. But before we headed over to their house I was helping my mom in the kitchen when the sun went away. It was sunny and bright then DARK. We looked out the window and this balloon was right over the house!! It was VERY cool.

After a great dinner at the in-laws we headed back to my parents house for our traditional after dinner game of B-I-N-G-O!! It's so fun, and we all win prizes. It's quite a gathering and we all have soooo much fun!!

Even Ben got in on the fun...he's concentrating hard not wanting to look at the camera.

On Saturday we had the pleasure of going with my brother through the Temple for the first time. He's getting ready for his mission to Brazil in March. When we got out of the Temple it was too dark for pictures so we took these at Red Robin (where we had dinner) We had WAY too much fun with the stars of New Moon.

I am SUCH a DORK!!! This is not new...but I thought I should mention it....again!!!!

Here's sister Alice with star of movie Alice, CUTE!!!!

It was a great weekend fun of fun, family and FOOD!!! Now we're back in Manila and getting ready for the BIG DAY (Christmas). I hope all of you out there had a great holiday and enjoy this time of year!!!!

I'm tired....

So last night I was quite adventurous (well for a 31 year old mother of 4) and I went to see New Moon at MIDNIGHT!!! That's right me a 3 friends (Melissa, Ch'ree, and Jessica) went and we LOVED it.

Let me walk you through the night....sorry if you don't care!!

1st- We arrived at the theatre at 9:30ish after dinner

2nd - We waited in the car since the doors didn't open until 10pm (we already had tickets)

3rd- 9:35ish stupid younger teenager like girls decide to wait right by the door thus causing a rush to get in line.

4th- We excited the car stood in line OUTSIDE in the dark at NIGHT and it was at LEAST 30 below zero. OK probably not that cold but in the low 30's for sure. My only solace was that we all bought 'Snuggies' at the grocery store when we got snacks. Sure we were embarrassing but WARM!!!

5th - Doors open at 10 pm and it's a dash to get the best seats. It should be noted that we were all still wearing our 'Snuggies' when perusing the theatre for seats. We get good middle seats and settle in for the 2 hour wait

6th- Melissa and I duck out to get drinks because if you spend money at the concession stand you can enter in the raffle for prizes before the movie. Well I HAD to have a New Moon T-shirt so I spent $20 on CRAP and headed back to our seats (Still in 'Snuggies")

7th- We wait and wait and talk and wait. Fun but I really just wanted the raffle to start so I could WIN!!! Well finally a kid about 12 years old comes in to draw names for LAME prizes I was a little disappointed and of course I didn't win....sigh

8th - FINALLY THE MOVIE BEGINS - the theatre was silent it was cool. Let me sum up the movie for all those that weren't crazy/lucky enough to watch it at midnight.....AWESOME!!! There that's what I have to say AWESOME!!!

9th- 2hours and 20 min. later movie over and we start the 45min. drive BACK to Manila at 2:30AM that's right AM we drive and compare movie to book and all agree it was VERY MUCH like the movie. We only hit one large Jack Rabbit and I was in bed by 3:30 AM (Did you catch that AM!!!)

10th - Up at 7am to get kids off to school and myself there by 8AM (again AM) so even though I'm VERY tired and may sleep until Eclipse comes out it was TOTALLY WORTH IT!!!!

Thanks Melissa for driving it was a blast!!!! Only 7 months until Eclipse!!!!

My new favorite country

So my brother got his mission call this last Thurs. And he's going to BRAZIL!!! I'm so excited for him and can't wait to start getting mission letters. Thanks to the number of people who came to hear his call there were PLENTY of phones so I got to listen as he read it. I think when you're a member of the Church and you have a son you know this day will come. When I found out I was having a boy (Zach) I knew he would grow up and serve a mission. I remember when Caleb was born and that thought never entered my mind but now I see how's he's grown into an EXCEPTIONAL young man who loves the Lord and will serve with honor. I'm so proud of you Caleb and know this will be the hardest thing you'll ever do but remember what Coach Gelwig (sp?) said.....

Viver BRAZIL!!!!!

Sorry I'm behind AGAIN!!

So I can't find the cord for the camera to add pictures but let me catch you up on the past few weeks. For Halloween the kids and I went to Sandy because my sister from Vegas came into town. We had a good time and everyone enjoyed trick or treating. Zach and Dani didn't last very long but Granne (my mom) was kind enough to take them around longer so we could take the little kids home.
My brother's mission call should come this week and I'm sooooo excited I'm sure he's WAY more excited than me but it'll still be great to hear where he'll be going. Life in Manila is well....life in Manila. It's hunting season so that means Ben is EXTRA busy and we don't see him much. But it'll calm down soon enough then we'll just have to make it through the holidays!! YEAH!!!! Anyway that's the news from the great North East. Have a great day and enjoy the weather if it's nice where you are. It's GREAT here!!!!

Going for a drive...

So most people go to the store, go to the library, go to school and church. What do I do on a Friday afternoon??? I drive a deer carcass to the butcher INSIDE my Suburban!! If you recall my post about being the best mom ever I want to now add to my resume best wife ever. Yep I win!!!! So I drove for an hour with a dead deer in the back of the car wrapped in a tarp. I have to admit I did everything in my power to not remember it was there. I turned the i-Pod WAY up and sang my heart out. For some reason singing along to Lady Antebellum seemed to help. And now the carcass is now at the butcher and I enjoyed my drive home WAY more than any normal human who DOESN'T drive around with a dead deer should.

I hope my award doesn't have a little gold deer on it.

On a side note don't be jealous that you don't have one of these to put in your yard during the deer hunt.

Excuse me...

The joys of a little kitten who wants some chicken....And Ben LET HIM!!!

The ones that didn't make the cut...

Today Ben and I took the kids out to take 'school pictures'. We are so lucky to live in a place with such great scenery and beautiful locations. We spent about 2 hours out and about and 70 pictures later we got some good shots. These are NOT those shots. Here are some that didn't make the cut. You can click on any photo for a bigger view.

Goober children - especially Michaela

This is Dani not smiling- she thought she was funny I think it's good black mail

This photo seemed to have a LOT of Zach in it

Here's Zach NOT looking at the camera.

Why is Dani in a ray of sunshine?

Cute picture of Jordynn but I like it when she opens her eyes.

Zach playing with a stick. He does this all the time but this is NOT a good school picture.

Again this is my goober son.

Michaela has some fly away bangs in this one.

Dani was scared to be by the water fall and didn't want to fall in. So she's TRYING to smile but is too scared.

Wheww...a busy week

Well the weekend of fun ended and we made it home to a new school week. But we had a great time while we were hanging with the family. We took the kids to see Toy Story in 3D and it was really good. And when I say we took the kids please remember this includes my 18 year old brother. We went to Gardner Village to see all the Halloween Decorations and to drop a shoe in the water. Thank goodness my brother Josh was there to rescue it. We fed some ducks and went to lots of the cute shops.

When we weren't having fun I was RUNNING MY BUTT off trying to get all the errands run I needed to get done. And of course I didn't. But hey there's always another trip.

The drive home was tiring for the kids

And then Ben got a MOOSE!!!! It was so cool. Ok he didn't really get a moose it was poached but he brought it home for us to see before he donated it to a family who would use the meat. It was SOOOOOO big!!

And fianlly I'm sick of the mouse in the house so.....