We survived!!!!

Frozen Cob Webs, and Ben Sledding!!!

VERY cold outside everything is covered in frost

Ben and his Chaps and Joe and Grandpa

Somewhere back there is a Jordynn

Zach got an Air Soft gun...everybody DUCK!!!

Michaela got a guitar



Dani was VERY excited to see what Santa brought her!!

'Twas the night before Christmas!!

New Christmas PJ's with a new tradition of making their OWN Christmas shirt!!






Opening the new PJ's

Well Christmas is done for another year and it went pretty well. We had Ben's dad and brother Joe with us again this year and that was fun!! We went sledding Christmas afternoon with some friends and that was cold and fun. I spent the first 30 min of sledding on the phone with my brother serving a mission in Brazil. It was fun to hear from him and know he's doing great!!!

I hope you enjoyed the pictures of all the fun!!!

It's Christmas Time!!!

Joe and Heather got engaged!!!

Michaela, Zach, Jordynn and Dani at Temple Square

So I've been not in the Christmas mood lately!!! Proof is in the fact that our Christmas tree was up for 2 weeks before lights were even on it (that happened yesterday) Anyway I'm getting a little jollier and here are some pictures to prove it.

I made a list this morning of what I still had to do before Christmas, when the list hit 15 I got depressed again!! But never fear it will be GOOD!! I'll just soldier through and I know when it's actually Christmas I'll be happy and cheerful! I really do love this time of year it's just very hard to not get caught up in the idea of Presents, and Neighbor Gifts, and Teacher Gifts, and Co-Worker Gifts, and getting the list DONE!!! I want to remember the reason for the season which is the Birth of our Savior Jesus Christ, the greatest gift we've ever been given. The true joy of Christmas is in the time with family and friends and not getting caught up in all the extra stuff that really doesn't matter.

Lesson Learned....

If you know me (even a little) you know I have NO patience. Well I have pretty good patience with my children and never yell. But when it comes to pretty much everything else in life ZERO patience. Why? I don't know but it's been this way my WHOLE life. I had NO patience waiting until I was 16 to drive so I started at 14 (illegally...I know, I kn0w) Cooking drives me crazy because food has to cook!!! And when I get it into my head I want something....well it has to be NOW!!! This is not ideal for life I understand. And it's a vice I need to work on...but I have no patience for it!! Anyway I had quite the insight that will make our lives easier. I have many, many (God willing) years left on this earth. That means that even though there are things I want RIGHT NOW I can wait and have things or do things when it's a better time in my life. What does this all mean? Well if you've read my blog for long you know that we have many fun and interesting animals. I love having my Baby Doll Sheep, Fainting Goats, and Miniature Donkeys. Well the time has come that they find a new home. Life is hectic and busy and even though it's ton of fun having all these animals, it's also a ton of work. So for now the animals need to find a better home. I told Ben that there will be time for animals later when life isn't so precarious. It's sad but I know that this isn't the time. So it will be a test of patience for me to not dive right back into the animal farm life, but I know that there is a time for everything and this isn't that time.

New Hobby

So I discovered the Knifty Knitters!!!!! It's an easy way to knit (I hope) and I look forward to all the cook things I hope I can make with them. I learned how to knit back in high school but I never could get it right. So I'm going to try again...wish me luck!!

P.S.
I REALLY want to make a pair of mittens!!!!

I forgot....

I noticed as I was reading over older posts that I missed a VERY important thing that happened in the Wolford Family...about a month ago Zach broke his arm. More specifically right above his left elbow. This resulted in 2 weeks of a splint because it was too swollen to cast. Finally a cast 2 weeks ago that goes from his bicep to wrist. So one may ask....how did Zach break his arm in such a strange place? Well I'll tell you....living in Manila my children have to make their own fun and he was playing on the boat in our driveway (it Ben's work boat being stored at our house) well Zach fell off about 3 ft from the ground and landed on his arm funny. It was just that simple. But what's funny is when he tells people he broke his arm falling off a boat. He gets funny looks because people assume he was in the water when it happened. I quickly explain it was parked in our driveway. That doesn't help the strange looks.

So he's been a good trooper and he only has a few weeks left and then he'll rejoin the 2 armed world.

Halloween Overload

So we've been celebrating Halloween since Monday!!! And needless to say I am SOOO done!!

It started Monday night for Family Home Evening we had Pumpkin Pizza!! It was a hit (thanks to Pappa Murphy's) Then for some unknown reason my friend Trisha and I decided to cook dinner for the Entire Dutch John Elementary. There's only 30 kids but we went all out. Including green witch finger bread sticks, spider cookies and spaghetti coming out of a pumpkins brain.

It went great then we had a trip to the corn maze with Dutch John Elementary. Jordynn goes to school there but I pulled out the other three from their school to go too!! It was VERY fun and it was a beautiful day! Then we had a daddy daughter dinner (Jordynn and Michaela went)

We had an adult costume party where Ben went as a pumpkin tree (a.k.a. DORK) and we played some fun games!!

Then Trisha and I were the mom's in charge of the 1st/2nd grade room Halloween party. It was fun and I especially liked "stick the wart on the witch" (with bubble gum) Didn't Ben draw a great witch?


And last but not least we went back to Dutch John for a chili fundraiser dinner. Then there was trick-or-treating around the school. We stayed in Dutch John and dd trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.

Then it was home to check out the loot!!


Funniest quote of the night by Zach, while we were headed home, "But I have room mom!" Mom: "Room for what?"

Zach: "Room for more candy! We can't be done yet!"

PUMPKINS!!!!

When you live in a place like Manila, it's hard to get stuff done. With stores over an hour away, it's hard to remember everything and fit it all in the car. Last trip to the store my car was SOOOO packed (I hadn't been to the store in 6 weeks) that there wasn't room for the kids. Luckily they were at home. But to have to have fit 4 GIANT pumpkins in my car.....wasn't going to happen. So this year I was thankful when a local lady set up a "pumpkin patch" and let the kids in town pick a pumpkin and they all got a cookie and cider. It was a nice Saturday morning and now we have our pumpkins for Jack-O-Lanterns!! Now the big question???? When do we carve them?????

It's that time of year again....

SCHOOL PICTURES!

Here are a few that didn't make the cut!!

Notice Zach with his cast....

poor Zach

At least they are sill cute no matter what the pictures say.

Busy, always busy

These last few weeks have been busy and good. Michaela is almost done with volleyball, and fall has come to Manila.

Here are a few pictures of how it looked this morning driving the girls to Dutch John for school.

The last 2 weekends I've been in Salt Lake for fun!! I went to dinner with college roommates 2weeks ago and it was great to catch up with everyone.

Then last weekend I went back for our semi annual girls night out while the men folk go to priesthood. It was fun and for the first time we had ALLLL sisters, mom and grandma. It was a great dinner at Red Robin.

And now we're getting ready for cooler weather and inevitably snow...

Got Jam?????

I DO!!!! My father in law brought up a TON of nectarines from his trees. Not being able to eat them fast enough...JAM!! LOTS AND LOTS of JAM!!! So my friend Trisha and I made freezer jam ALL afternoon. But it was fun and easier when there are more hands to help. And as it turns out it's not bad!! It tastes pretty good!!

On a different note - last week driving home from Vernal I passed this Bull Moose having a drink in a pond on the side of the highway!! VERY COOL!!!!