Gorgeous Sunrise

This morning we had the most amazing sunrise! Brett even called me on his way to work for me to go out and look at it. So I snapped some pictures to share.

Just before the sun came out from behind the Tetons, there was this eerie red glow to everything - perfect for a Halloween morning!

These pictures don't quite do it justice, but take my word for it, it was GORGEOUS!!!

A beautiful sunrise behind the Tetons!

Happy Halloween!!!

Austin and Aubree have been looking forward to today for about a month now, and what a fun day it has been! Austin got to go to school wearing his Halloween costume today for their party (Aubree got to wear hers yesterday to pre-school). They were both so excited about wearing their costumes for all of their friends to see. So the parties went very well!

Then this evening, the kids and I went trunk-or-treating at the church and they about sweated to death! It was so warm tonight!! Never, since I've been taking kids trick-or-treating, has it been so nice. It has always been right around freezing and so that's what I was prepared for. Each of my kids had on layers so that they didn't have to wear a coat over their costumes. And for the first time ever, they didn't need all of those layers. Oh well! They still had lots of fun and ended up with TONS of candy. Here are my little trick-or-treaters...

Batman

The Cheerleader

Our cute, little Jack-O-Lantern

And all three at Trunk-Or-Treat!

Work On The House

Well, there have been more things going on with the house! Our brick guys were here Monday and Tuesday and they have been able to get the brick on the garage done, but won't be back until we get our front door in. That should get done sometime next week, so we're on hold for now. But Brett and his friend were able to get power to the house last night! YAY!! So I believe the electrical is done now and we can get the trenches filled in, well, when the inspections are complete that is. But those should be getting done shortly.

Yesterday, Brett finished digging the line for water by the corral. That's going to be so nice to be able to have water right there for the animals. No more dragging LONG hoses out to the animals and worrying about the hoses freezing when it gets cold. Yay!!!

So, things have been getting done. Here are some pictures to show you!

Plumbing is hooked up to the sewer line
Electrical is hooked up to the house
As well as water to the house
And the trench to the corral is doneHere are the kids helping dig the trench

Almost half-way up

The brick is now done on the garage!

Reflections Of Christ

There is an amazing photographer named Mark Mabry who has made a touching slideshow the the photography he has done on the life of Christ. His artwork was brought up here to BYU-I to be put on display and I just wanted to share this with anyone that hasn't seen it. I've seen this several times before, but I still can't get enough of it! It really makes His life come to life for me. Enjoy!

http://mabrystudios.typepad.com/reflections_of_christ/

Meeting The Horse

Sunday afternoon, Brett took Brynnlee out to meet our horse (which we finally named, after months of owning her - her name is Daisey). We sure like Daisey WAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY better than Sugar. Sugar was just plain crazy! Daisey is a lot more friendly, more ridable, and more talented. Anyway, Brett walked into the pasture with Brynn and Daisey just walked right up to them to see who her new friend was. Even though Daisey was right in Brynnlee's face, Brynn wasn't the least bit afraid. She was even petting her! It was so fun to see!!

I think we'll have friends for life!

Jack-O-Lanterns

Since we're having FHE on Sunday's, we carved our pumpkins last night. It was so much fun and the kids had a blast! They each got to choose the design of their jack-o-lantern and they both wanted something scary. I went with something a little different. Here's how it ended up...

Here's Aubree pulling out the guts!

Here's Austin showing Brett what scary face he wants on his pumpkin

Brynn's having fun too!

Here's the end product - two scary jack-o-lanterns and two polka-dot ones.

Fun, fun, fun, FUN!!!

House

I haven't posted anything on the house for a while. Though Brett works on it every night, it doesn't look like a lot has been done. Just lots of little, time consuming things. Here are some pictures of what he's been working on...

All of the windows are in!

Here is the trench Brett dug, which was called, just this morning, the worst trench our plumber has ever seen! (Kindly joking, but not really.)

Here's our garage and the braker box that was the big job last Friday that's almost done!

Here's the other end of the garage with the windows in

This is looking into our Family room

Here's the kitchen with our pocket door framed in

This is the entry way

This is one of the arches in our doorways

Today our brick-layers are here as well as the plumber. I'll be sure to snap some pictures while they are working on those things. How exciting!!

Pizza Night

The kids and I were in the mood for pizza tonight, but we've all caugh the cold - AGAIN! So we weren't going to be going out. Instead, we decided to make it ourselves! Austin and Aubree both got to make their own pizza and they had sooooooooooooooooo much fun with it!! After the pizzas were made, we put in one of our DVD's to watch together and chow down on our yummy food. We had such a great time, I think we'll be doing more of this more often!

Don't even ask about the hair. Like I said, we haven't been feeling well. And can you see that Aubree decided to cut her bangs? Nice, huh?

Mmmmm...
To get details on the pizzas, check out my food blog! (www.all-things-delicious.blogspot.com)

A List of 5's

I've been tagged by two different friends to do a list of 5's. Both of their lists are different, so I think I'll combine the two. Here goes...

A List of 5's:

5 Things I'm Into:

1. Cooking/Baking
2. Working out
3. Miss Falls Valley - the pageant I co-direct
4. Picking things out for my house
5. Learning ways to be better than I am

5 Fears:

1. Losing a child
2. Spiders
3. Brett not selling any cars
4. Not being prepared for an uncertain future
5. Mice

5 Things I Would Do If I Were A Millionaire:

1. Have a maid
2. Have a nanny to watch the kids for an hour or two each day
3. Pay off the house
4. Build Brett a shop
5. Save for college for my kids

5 Obsessions/Collections:

1. Lists, lists, lists - I'm obsessed with lists!
2. I will NOT cook if there are dishes in the sink! I can't wait to have two dishwashers!!
3. Schedules - I have to know what is going on
4. I collect recipes and cookbooks
5. I'm obssesed with making (and eating) restaurant-quality desserts

5 Places I've Lived:

1. Augusta, Georgia
2. Merced, California
3. Sugar City, Idaho
4. Boise, Idaho
5. Rexburg, Idaho

5 People I Tag:

1. Valerie R.
2. Diane P.
3. Kathy R.
4. Lisa C.
5. Alli W.

Have fun with it!!!

She's On The Move!

Brynnlee started this adorable "army" crawl last weekend and now has it improved so that she can get to anything that she wants. It's kind of nice - she keeps herself entertained for longer periods now. But the downside is that Austin and Aubree are quickly learning that they have to keep things they don't want Brynn to destroy up and out of her way. She's getting pretty quick! Here's a quick movie to show you...

My Mother's Advice

After reading the very kind comments on my previous blog entry about patience, I thought I'd post the advice my mom passed on to me and my siblings. Here's what she said...

In the adult session of Stake Conference, a mother of 5 boys shared tips for taking the downs in daily family life and neutralizing them so they don't damage the spirit in our homes. When something goes wrong and everyone is silent waiting for you to explode in anger, remember Tolerance, Humor, Do Over, and Control.

Tolerance--Don't point out every mistake. Be tolerant of each other. It's ok to make mistakes. Everyone does. We're here to grow & learn from our mistakes. Don't get into the blaming game. Just move on and do better next time.

Humor--When you fall down, spill something, or goof up, don't get mad, LAUGH about it. Children take their emotional cues from their parents. When parents act outraged, everyone else is tense around them. Humor helps diffuse the anger and makes the problems more bearable.

Do Over--Before you lose it, remember PAUSE, REWIND, & PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM! This strategy gives the problem maker an immediate second chance to recognize and fix the mistake and move on without any damaging rucus.

Control--When we react instead of acting, the natural man shows his ugly head and we lose the spirit in our homes. Control is all about suppressing the natural man. Mosiah 3:19 counsels us to become as a little child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, and full of love. Remember that you love your child more than you love the bowl he broke!

The most important work we will do in this life will be raising the next generation in righteousness. Happiness is achieved when families are founded on the Savior. We may not be given immunity from trials and problems but we do have the gospel that guides us in handling our challenges. Tap into the strength of the spirit each day with prayer & scripture study. We can do all things with the Lord's help. We can make home a bit of heaven on earth!

Pretty good, huh? On top of that, I played Primary songs all day to invite the spirit into our home, thus making it harder for me to get mad and react. That doesn't mean that kids will never get in trouble, it just makes it easier for me to dicipline with love and not over-react. But the most important thing that I did yesterday and today was to pray, first thing in the morning, for Heavenly Father to help me have more patience with my kids and to show them more love. I truly believe that was the biggest reason why I had such great success. Hope this helps!

Curves

I cannot tell you how excited I am! I used to go to Curves For Women to get my exercise, but when I started having some complications while pregnant with Brynnlee, I had to stop. That was back in December of '07. Then I needed to wait the 6 weeks after having her to go back, but then I couldn't get myself up at 6 am when I had been up several times to feed the baby during the night. So I waited until she slept through the night. Once she started sleeping through the night, I started going to Utah more than usual to see my sister. Then we started building our house and I would stay up with Brett until midnight or 1 am working on it. So 5:30 am (which is what I would have to do to get back in time to get Austin ready for school before the bus comes) just came too early for me.

But last weekend, while I was in Utah, my mom told me that my brother, Nathan, gets paid when he helps with the house or babysits my kids. I didn't realize this and can now understand why kept begging me to let him watch the kids. So, we've worked out a schedule where he comes over three times a week to play with the kids for an hour while I go work out! YAY!! It's a win-win situation here.

I can finally start getting back into shape and not be quite so disgusted with the way that I look. Curves is made specially for women and it truly works wonders; I highly recommend it! I LOVE good food and cannot stand to diet. And due to the fact that 90% of diets fail, I'm not going to torture myself with one. I'd rather work out for 30 mintues three days a week. I cannot wait to see the pounds melt away like they did when I first joined. We'll see how next month's weighing and measuring go, but until then, I'm gonna work it!!

Sweet Kids

I have to once again post about my kids. For years now, I can easily see the things that I do wrong as a mother, mainly losing my patience with my kids, and it makes me so sad that I am so quick to get mad, snap at them, and repremand them for things they do wrong. I seriously struggle with patience.

Like I said, it is something I have struggled with for a long time and while I was in Utah this last weekend, I made the comment around my mother, that I thought I was a bad mom. A couple days later, she called me and repremanded me for thinking such a thing. We had a serious conversation about this and after a great deal of council, uplift, and tears, I got off the phone with her. Austin and Aubree had come into their room (which is where I was talking on the phone) and asked me why I was crying and I told them it was because I needed to be a better mommy. Aubree hugged me as tight as she could and told me that I was such a good mommy and Austin said, "You don't have to be a better mommy; just be the same mommy." I love my kids. They love me even though I have faults and that means everything to me.

But I have to say, that today I tried some suggestions my mom gave me and it made the most amazing difference. Not once today did I get mad, I looked at every situation from a loving standpoint and I couldn't believe that difference it made in Aubree! She was such a good girl today! She listened and obeyed almost everything I said. And the one time the kids did have a timeout today, I was very calm and collected about the whole situation. So today was a huge breakthrough for me and I owe it to my Mom, my kids, and Heavenly Father. I plan on doing the same thing tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next until this becomes second nature to me because it is so worth it! Today I was the mom I have always wanted to be.

Our Anniversary

Yesterday was Brett and my eight year anniversary. Can you believe it?! I can't! It feels like just yesterday that we were married. But no, eight years and three kids later, here we are still as happy and in love as we can be. I'm so lucky to have found such a great guy to spend eternity with!

Yesterday morning, Brett brought in our anniversary gift - a new computer! Our current one makes all sorts of aweful noises and is SOOOOOOOOO slow!!! I'm excited to get using the new one as soon as I can get our internet program and a few others downloaded onto it. YAY!!!!

Last night for our anniversary date, Kathy watched the kids so we could go out and buy wiring for the house. That, in and of itself, will make our eight year mark unforgettable. We actually had a really good time, just the two of us. We were able to look for lights for the house as well and that was fun. Afterwards, we went out to eat at Outback (thanks Jenny and Dave for the gift card!) and just enjoyed being together. I realized yesterday that it has been eight months since just the two of us went out on a date together. Hopefully it won't be another eight months before we do it again!

We've had a wonderful eight years together so far and expect many, many more to come.

Handbags

Just wanted to let everyone know that there is a new website that will be selling handbags and for their grand opening, they are giving away a free handbag an hour. So go checkout this site www.handbagplanet.com!

Guess What Time It Is...

For anyone who has never lived in this part of Idaho, you may find this interesting. During this time of year, in Southeast Idaho, there is a buzz going on. All of the area school districts are taking a two-week break. And there’s a whole lot of dust in the air. Can you guess what is going on around here?

IT’S SPUD HARVEST!!!

My husband’s family owns a farm in Newdale. Though all of the children are grown and moved away, spud harvest is what brings the boys back together (usually – we miss you Marc and Shan). There’s a flurry of trucks going to and from the fields and the potato pit, tractors slowly go back and forth digging up each row of spuds, and workers doing their best to put the potatoes into storage - everyone hoping that all runs smoothly and that nothing breaks down. Once the potatoes are ready to be harvested, it seems like a race against time and the weather, to get all of the spuds out of the ground before anything freezes and ruins the crop.

It truly is amazing what happens during this time of year around here. So to help others have a better understanding, I took a few pictures and videos for you to get a small glimpse of what it’s like during Spud Harvest!

Here is the digger loading the truck full of potatoes with another truck waiting its' turn

This is the potato pit where all of the potatoes are stored

My mother-in-law, Kathy, riding the 4-wheeler with Austin

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to upload the video of the crossover. What the crossover does is it digs up four rows of potatoes and puts all of those potatoes into one row for the digger to pick up. The digger digs up two rows of potatoes and the row left by the crossover and puts the spuds into trucks. Take a look...

My Sweet, Sweet Kids

My kids seem to be busy as bees lately. Austin has been so excited about Halloween coming up! We went and got a whole bunch of pumpkins last week from my sister-in-law, Valerie's, sister. Since then, Austin has been so worried that our house won't be ready for Halloween since we don't have any Halloween decorations. So he has taken it upon himself to fix that. We now have drawings of ghosts, jack-o-lanterns, scaredy cats, spiders, witches, and more scary things up all over the house. Seriously. There are pictures taped up to our windows in the living room (so people can see them if they drive by), the kitchen window (in case anyone is behind our house), and in all of the bedrooms (except for Brynnlee's because he doesn't want to scare her). We should be all set now.

Aubree has been extra sweet lately. I've been sick since Sunday and she has been taking such good care of me. In fact, this morning, she came into my room singing, "Moooommmmmyyyy, I made you some tooooooaaaassssst to help you feel beeettttttteeerrr!"

And Brynn has been rolling all over the place and getting herself stuck in the most strange places. Yesterday, I even watched her go from sitting up to rolling around and back to sitting up again. And it's been so fun to hear her babble so much now. She likes saying, "Ma ma ma ma," "Da da da da," "Na na na na," and "Ba ba ba ba." It is so much fun to see how much she has been growing and changing. I love it; I love it; I love it!!!

Some Excitement

You know how in the title of my blog it says, "Everyday's an adventure." Well, it's really true. Last night as I was writing an email, all of a sudden, I heard a big clank coming from the kitchen. I wondered what it was, so as I headed outside to see, Brett met me coming in. I told him what I heard and he explained that as he was making his last scoop with the backhoe, he hit and broke our existing water line. So we were without water until our plumber could come today and fix the line. It's amazing, you don't really realize how much you depend on water until you don't have it. It also shows you why it's important to have some in storage. But all in all, we made just fine and are happy to have water once again.

The good news from yesterday is that first of all, our porch was poured, smoothed, stamped, and powdered. I was so excited with the color that I chose because it was different from anything that's been done around here. But when they put the powder on it, oh boy, I've been really nervous! So we'll see what it looks like when they brush it off. I have high hopes, but we'll see!!

Secondly, our windows and sliding doors arrived! Yay!! Brett will be wrapping the house and then getting the windows and doors in. That will really help keep it warmer inside and make it possible to work longer in there. Oh, and last week, Brett and Dave made the arches on the porch, the dining room, living room, and the hall into the kids' bedrooms. They turned out GREAT!!!! I'll have to get some pictures of them. We'll see what other adventures await us in the days and weeks to come!