Joey is Five!

Even though his favorite color is red, Joey has decided it's okay to be True Blue.  He picked a BYU football cake, which was fun and easy.

We had some family over, and some family Skype.  And he got to open lots of presents!

He had so much fun with all of them. 

Mike and I have been so impressed with Joey.  He seems to have turned the corner from being a baby to a big boy.  He doesn't whine, he doesn't ask why, he just gets things done.  He is becoming independent and helpful.  I love to see him putting together his own lunch.  Sometimes he packs a variety of fun items, often asking if he has packed everything from the food groups yet.  Other times he starts pulling out the fixings for a quesadilla or peanut butter sandwich when he's hungry.  He is an incredible older brother to Braden and Nelson.  They adore him, and want to play everything he plays, sometimes to his chagrin.  But most times, they get along so well, and I am so happy Joey can be a part of their lives.

Joey is very good at dressing up.  The other day he decided to be a police, but he doesn't have a police uniform, so he worked with what he had and put together a "detective" rank outfit, complete with slacks, tie, hat, and investigative folder and pen for info.

Just the other day, we showed him that he could read.  He didn't really know he could read, but after seeing him spell, I knew he could read.  He was pretty impressed, and excited, and waiting for me to take him to the library for some more "emerging reader" type books.  It's exciting stuff.  I love this particular milestone!

I hate to admit it, but sometimes, I get irritated with his process of learning.  He will ask for help spelling a word, but refuses to tell me what word he is spelling.  So, he'll ask, "how do you spell oo."  And I'll say, "it depends on what word you're spelling.  It could be ew, or ou, or oo."  And so he'll say the sound much more definitively, as if I will be able to figure out exactly which spelling of oo he should use.  I'll get to the point where I'll say, "just tell me what word you're trying to spell!" and he'll refuse, letting me know that he just needs helps with sounds, not entire words.  In the end, I recognize the miracle that is occurring in this little guy's brain, and I get over it.

I am coaching his T-ball team with Mike this year, and my very, very favorite part, is to watch Joey run from third base to home.  He has the most amazing smile the entire time!  I love it.  I want to bring my camera to capture it, but I wonder if that would be to un-coach-like.

Joey is awesome!  I can't wait to be a part of his life as a kindergartner, and a teenager, and a Dad!

Change of Season

It was a very cold winter for us.  We had a couple very, deep freezes that caused quite a bit of havoc in town, and made for quite a few cold mornings for the kids, since they have to be to school by 8 am.  But surprisingly, nobody ever really got tired of winter this year.  The snow came, and the kids kept begging for gloves so they could make, yet, another snowman.

The totem pole pose



This adorable little fellow was made solely by Michael and Joey.  I am impressed that they are getting strong enough to lift one big snowball on top of the other.

AND THEN...
Less than a week later, we are out flying kites in the nice, warm weather.  I love this time of year.  The flip flop never gets old to me.  It's like a fun surprise every morning.

Adelyn enjoyed flying kites so much.  She got it super high, where it was very windy, and the kite got pulled out of her hand, where it flew into our neighborhood and the handle stuck to a very high and flimsy tree branch.  It flew itself like that for over 8 hours.  It came down sometime in the night and we looked all over without any luck.  We knew which way the wind was blowing so we had high hopes of finding in the fairgrounds, but no luck.  It wasn't until the kite was rescued by some of our friends on their way up the canyon that I found out Adelyn had prayed for the kite to be found.  When they brought back the kite, she just sobbed, so thankful that her prayer had been answered.

My favorite kite, always running away from us.

Michael's Kite caught in a tree.

Joey kite flying

Adelyn turns 9!

This was Adelyn's year to have a big birthday party with friends, but really, she decided she didn't want one and would wait another year, so we celebrated with family.  She decorated her own cake and got open presents.  She was spoiled all day, including in primary where they sang to her.

On the day of her birthday, she got so many presents, I'll admit that I decided to leave mine upstairs in the loft until the day of her friend party (which hadn't been cancelled yet).  Three months later, and they are still there.  Note to self: don't ever do that again.  She may just grow out her first pair of "high heels" before she ever even sees them.

Adelyn surprises me with her strength and determination.  She is intelligent beyond her years and enjoys the process of learning and following wherever her mind takes her.  She has an amazing spirit, and a knack for learning the gospel.  Since I work in Primary, I get to hear some of her outbursts of spiritual wisdom quite often and I am amazed and how well she soaks it all up.  Once, someone mentioned a quote from the most recent general conference.  Not only did Adelyn know who had said it, but she continued the quote, mentioning that it was her favorite talk, and she had downloaded it to her device so she could listen to it again.  Um.... I hadn't known any of that.  And I am as impressed by it as the lady giving the lesson.  I am impressed by my Adelyn.

I'm so old, I forget how old I am!

Happy Birthday to me!

Mike had left for work at 4am so he could spend the day with me, so I was surprised to hear noise coming from the kitchen when I woke up.  I was touched to see that Adelyn had set her own alarm to get up and make me breakfast.  Pancakes with sprinkles, which is what I love to make for the kids on their birthdays.  She's a keeper!

I got to make my own cake.

while Mike made dinner!  Stir Fry!

The 4-H Blue Ribbon Bunnies Club

I don't know if this happens for anybody else, but sometimes chore time is hard around here.  Sometimes the kids drag their feet, and avoid them, and sometimes sit around all day, because they'd rather do nothing, than be forced to wipe down the sinks.

One day Adelyn pointed out that her chores were pointless.  She doesn't see any purpose to wiping the sinks or making her bed etc.  I tried my best to tell her what an asset her work is for our family, but I couldn't convince her.  Finally, I decided to add a couple chores that might help her see the purpose in her chores.  First, I added "Prepare After-school Snack."  That got the wheels turning.  She doesn't want to have to go without that.  Secondly, "Feed Rabbits." We didn't have rabbits, but I thought that it would be a great way to help her correlate the meaning of work with a mundane chore list.

After some research, I decided to learn about rabbits and the care of rabbits with the 4-H program, and a club was born.  Before we picked out rabbits, we took a field trip to a rabbit farm and learned all about their care and habitat.  I picked out my favorite habitat features, designed it, and had it built by Mike Crockett Construction and Pals (Tim and Ben Taylor).

The bottom is all mesh, and our intent is to get some ceramic tiles to place in a couple places for them to stand on when their feet get tired.  The left section will hold a water bottle and a lightbulb in the winter, to help the water not freeze.  The back part of the left section has a little entry for the rabbits to go and hide, if a dog (or a Braden or a Nelson) were to come up to their cage to scare them.  The roof is slanted and shingled to keep them dry, and there are doors on the left and the front.

Joey was the first to earn his rabbit.  He gets up every morning, and is always willing to get right to work.  I originally hadn't planned on getting Joey a rabbit until he was old enough to join 4-H, but he asked about it one day, "have I earned a rabbit yet?  I've been doing my chores every day..." and I couldn't resist.  I hoped that having a real rabbit around would be a great motivator for all.

We don't have pet stores in Southern Utah, we have farm stores, so our rabbits are classified as "meat rabbits," but we have found that such classification does not diminish the softness of their fur, or the cognitive ability to form bonds between itself and its owner.  Meat rabbits can be pets.  Don't believe me?  Meet Joey's Rabbit.  Her name is Ribbons.

She is cute and cuddly

Joey told me once that I should add, "watch an episode of TV with Ribbons" as a daily chore

A couple weeks later, Michael also earned his rabbit.  The only rabbits still on the market were "purebred" and so Michael's rabbit actually has a breed classification of "Silver Fox." And she earns every bit of the "Fox" in her name.  She is fast and wild.  Michael tries to teach her to do backflips and go down the slide.  Her name is "Foxy."  She is also cute and is willing to be cuddled.

Foxy's first day at home.

The babies love the bunnies, and have been surprisingly gentle with them.  They love to feed them and pet them.  One day when Braden was trying to stall before nap, he concluded that he needed to go "Talk (to) Ribbons" which he does go and do quite often.

We hope Adelyn will earn a rabbit soon also.  However, before I decided to commit to raising rabbits, I looked up their lifespan and saw an average of 8-9 years, which means I could be caring for her rabbit when she leaves for college or a mission.  So if she doesn't get one, I guess less work for me :)

Demolition!

One day when I was picking up the kids from school, they mentioned that the church was being torn down.  Shortly after, I got a text from Mom and Dad, inviting me to come watch with them.  I loaded the kids up, and we took some final pictures with them by the church, as it made it's way down.  Although this church has never been her ward building, Adelyn was very sentimental about having it torn down.  She pointed out the importance of having the old rock church (built by the pioneers) as a pinnacle in our community, and how tearing this church down would just be ruining a part of our history.  She had taken pictures of the demolition with her camera, and after some thought, deleted them, because her memory of a functioning and wholly constructed church served a better purpose.  As we drive by the new church, which is currently still under construction,  Adelyn is excited, but does not want to let us forget the heritage of the lot, and the building that was once there.

The boys loved the demolition.

Michael standing in the city park, with the old 1st/2nd Ward Building

Adelyn and Joey standing by the 1st/2nd Ward builing.  You can see the location of the new building on its left

This is the view from the post office.  Once they had this wall down, and I could see inside the chapel, I did get a lot sentimental.

This is how far along the new church was during the demolition (view from the post office).