I found a way out....

This week has not been one that I would chalk up on my good week list (not that I keep track). It all started with an absolutely horrible sickness. One little neighbor boy best described it as "I swallowed a cactus!!" Which is so true!! Monday I had no voice and was so sick I laid on the couch all day. Tuesday I woke up with more of a voice but still very weak and tired. I had a Dr. appointment scheduled to discuss more antidepressants since my prescription is out. While in there I was told that the reason my antidepressant wasn't working anymore was because I am bipolar instead of depressed (Yes there is a difference)! I sure didn't feel good about myself coming out of the appointment. I wondered what it was that I did to deserve these problems. It took me a good day to remember that I am not the only one suffering but at the time it sure felt like it. So now I have been referred to a Psychiatrist in Roosevelt. I am not sure how I feel about that but I guess if I stand any chance of getting help with these horrible mood swings and depressed feelings I have to right?!

I came home that night and just needed to do something that would make me feel better so guess what I did? No! I don't think you could guess! I pulled out the gifts that we already have for Christmas and turned on some Christmas music and wrapped presents. It is amazing how such a simple act can change the way a person feels. For me it made me so happy to know that I was giving these presents to our kids and could already see (in my mind of course) how happy they are about what they have so far and it just made me more excited to finish Christmas shopping early so that I don't have to "STRESS" over it as Christmas gets closer and closer. I am excited to just sit back and enjoy the rest of the holiday season with a smile on my face (I hope) and get ready for the BIG day!!

As for playing the Christmas music, I have put it away again so I don't get too tired of it yet. But have it at my fingertips to turn on again if I need to. I have found that most of the songs at Christmas time are about our Savior Jesus Christ and how much He loves us and what we need to do to show Him our love in return. How can you not feel good when listening to it? Maybe I should keep some of the music out all year round and turn in to whenever there is a bad day! Some of you reading this understand that with me a bad day is not just a bad day but a really bad day. So yes I do need something to pull me out of it rather than just getting over it!

Merry "Early" Christmas to you all!!

Prop 8...Who Knew?

Who knew that this would become as huge as it has. I knew that it was big but never thought it would become as wonderful yet so horrible at the same time. Being a Mormon I understand what is so wrong about "Same Sex Marriages" but it also makes us a target for a lot of negative that is happening because of "our" involvement in getting Prop 8 passed. It is kind of hard to miss all the bad that is happening around our country seeing how it is all over the news. I wish they could all understand the big picture the way we do and see that it is for their own good. I have done a lot of thinking and JayDee and I have had several conversations about it. JayDee made a comment one night that I have loved and want to share. We know that in the next life it is all about our progression and making it to the top of the Celestial Kingdom. We also know that we have been told to multiply and replenish the earth and as we all know that can't happen between same sex couples so how is it that they could do any progressing? They can't! Which testifies to me that the Church's involvement was very much needed and I support everything that has happened and will support everything that will happen.

One thing that has been said that has had me so upset is that the gays are comparing themselves to blacks and their persecutions. The big difference I see is that the blacks were born black and didn't have a choice about how they were treated, but the gays were not born gay (no matter what they may say, God would not create gays and yet give us a bible and prophets which all talk against that life-style) so they do get to choose the way of their lives. Yet, it is us Mormons who are the bad ones. I guess it is true what has been said: The bad will be made to look good and the good will be made to look bad. That definitely true right now.

One last note, we saw on ABC 4 news members of the church were resigning from the church due to the passing of prop 8. How sad for them and their families!! As a member of the church I know that we are not judging the people (as they all seem to think) but we are judging their lifestyles. They may not know the difference but I do know that there is a difference.

It make me sad to think about what Heavenly Father is thinking right now. I am sure He is in tears about everything that is going on. How can His children be so against each other. I am ETERNALLY GRATEFUL that I am not the judge. It is going to be a very difficult job.

I did get this email from "LDS Living" that I found uplifting and hopeful. http://www.ldslivingonline.com/article.php?articleId=82645 Feel free to go read it if you want and if not that is okay too. I didn't put it through Snopes so don't quote me on it. I just found that it made me feel hopeful and happy again about such a sad topic.

I love you all and hope that my opinions don't offend anyone.

And Here He Is!!!

Our beautiful new baby boy!! He is a nine week old Shelty/Pomeranian mix. He will only get about 18 inches and so far is so sweet and fun with the kids. He is a quiet puppy. Hardly makes noises. The first few days we didn't have any accidents but today and yesterday we have found a couple places. But what is to be expected with a puppy?! We have given him the name of "Tiny Hero" but will call him Tiny. All of the kids including JayDee are fans of the cartoon done by Feature Films called "The Seventh Brother and Tiny Heros." They are about a little brown dog that gets lost and makes new friends. This puppy didn't get lost but we think that it has been a blessing to get to be his new friends. The kids have learned that they have to keep their toys picked up or he will get them and also they have learned how to share. Only one person can hold him at a time. Trust me when I say he is going to be the most spoiled puppy alive. Remember growing up how we would dress the wild kittens up and carry them around like babies? Well that is what the kids do with Tiny minus dressing him up (atleast they haven't learned that yet!!) he does have his very own afaghan that came with him that the kids will wrap him in and carry him around and the best part is that he seems to love it. He is a "Mamas' Puppy" though. When he has had it with the kids he will come find me and make sure that I hide him. He has even growled at the kids when they have tried to take him from me. He hasn't nipped at them like Iggy did with us though. I wouldn't have it.

Last night I was holding and playing with Emmalee and he got jealous. I don't think he likes Emmy yet. She gets the attention that he hopes for.

Come and visit. I am sure that he would love to meet you. He is a very playful puppy and we are happy to have him (I didn't think I would say that about a puppy since they are a lot of work!).

Well the rumors are true....

We have added to our big "little" family!! Yesterday we adopted a new little boy. He is nine weeks old and just as cute as can be!! There was some contention in his original family so the parents asked if we would take him and love him as our own. Of course we jumped at the chance. Jayden came home from school yesterday and called JayDee and told him "I finally have a brother!!" He told me today that "we now have 5 girls and 3 boys so that is more fair." I will try to post pictures of him tomorrow but for now I am so tired from keeping up with two babies that I am ready to climb into bed (since all the kids are in bed) and catch up on the many books that I need to read!! We don't know what he weighs or how tall he is but I will post that with the pictures. We really haven't decided on a name but Jayden wants to call him "Little Rascal." I never thought I would have to come up with another name so I have no idea. The Mom asked us to give him a name that would fit our family. So if you have any good boy name suggestions let me know and we will let you know what we decide.

Hey Trever, can we have a blessing the same week as your baptism? Not really! I wouldn't want to take away from such a special day for you!! I can't believe that you are already getting baptized. Let us know when and where. We would love to come down and support you!!

Stay tuned for pictures. You won't believe all the hair this little boy has!! Emmy has already taken a couple fist fulls!

"Happy Spooky Day to You....

So this week has been full of different Halloween parties for our family. We started on Monday with a FHE with the Kelly, Combs and the Mittank families. We met at Ryan and Amber's home and had supper and just let the kids play (no candy here!! YEAH!!).

On Wednesday we went to the Ward Building and had a "Trunk or Treat" in our ward each month we have 5 Wednesdays we have a family night and this just happened to be such. The Young Women were incharge. They had donuts and hot chocolate for everyone and games for the kids to play. We came home that night with 6 1/2 pounds of candy between all the kids.

On Friday the kids had a party at school and then that night we had a chili dinner (put on by the PTSO) and the kids got to parade around in their costumes and then go to the different rooms where the local business had candy and toys for the kids. Then they got turned loose to go trick or treating around the neighborhood. After the kids were tucked sweetly into bed (asleep as soon as their beautiful heads touched the pillows) JayDee and I went through the candy and seperated what would stay here for the kids and what was going down to work with him. The good thing is that the kids will think they have all their candy but by the time the candy is gone the majority of it will have gone to the Dam to be eaten by all the fellows who don't have kids to bring them candy anymore!! But before we seperated the candy we of course had to weigh it and found that we had nearly 18 1/2 pounds of candy. All in all we ended up with nearly 25 pounds of candy this year. WAY TOO MUCH FOR US!!! So if you all get candy for Christmas you will know where it all came from!! But we did all have a ton of fun with Halloween this year.

So if you can't tell from the picture of JayDee and I we went as John McCain and Sarah Palin. I don't have the clear glasses but they are rectangle like hers!! I just didn't want to go spend $300 on a pair of glasses.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO YOU ALL!!! Hope you all had a safe and fun night!!

Let Me Explain....

So many of you are probably wondering why it looks like she is going to school. Well that is because she is. At the beginning of the school year we were told that the only way she could go to preschool was if we took her to Manilla. Well because it is an hour away and she would be the only girl in a class with 13 boys and she would have to ride the bus home with the High School kids JayDee and I decided that it wasn't necessary - plus she is so smart already we didn't think she needed it. Well around the middle of September we started hearing rumors fly about Miss Moe being willing and able to take on the preschoolers. She is a teacher that is contracted through Wyoming but uses our school to help Elaina (a down syndrome girl). Miss Moe thought it might be good to have some interaction for Elaina so she decided to take on preschool too. Well the end of September we finally got a letter saying that Cora could go to preschool but only if I would go and help in the class. Again I was torn because I wanted her to have the experience but with two other girls at home plus Jayden (since preschool is in the afternoon) I am not able to go over. Once again we were okay with Cora not going to school because of the above mentioned reasons. But when I told this to the secretary and Miss Moe they all said they wanted Cora to be apart of the class and they would find away around me not being in the class with her. So of course we said HURRAY!! and sent her on her way to school. She absolutely loves it and is learning so much more than I thought a 4 year old could!!

The weekend of General Conference Amber Kelly called and said that this was the weekend that we would probably lose all our fall colors because it was supposed to turn really cold and even a possibility of getting snow. So I went driving and found a cute little barn and lots of yellow trees so here you go Amy! Here are the fall colors.

You Belong in 1957

You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in!

What Year Do You Belong In?

"You Work It Girl!!"

Lonna Anderson found this coat at Sam's Club and immediately thought of Brooke. She called to get the okay from us for her to pick it up. Of Course it was a yes and now Brooke loves her new coat. I wanted to get a picture of her in it for Lonna and of course she started posing. I couldn't tell you what it is she is doing in this picture, it looks like she is ready to go play baseball!! You will have to ask her.

Fall Fun!!

My Big Helper in the Kitchen

Here is Brooke browning the sausage for our Chinese Rice. I have found that if she does that then I can get the vegetables cut up in the same time and while we are doing these the water, rice and soup are coming to a boil. So yes I am so grateful for my little BIG helper!! It doesn't hurt that she loves helping in the kitchen and she is tall enough to work at the stove without me worring TOO much. It did take me a while before I would let her do this but she tricked me. One time she just started doing it without me knowing and proved that she could handle working around the hot stove. I Love Your Help Brooke!!

So much to catch up on...

So this post is all about miscellaneous posts. Rather than doing one for each one I decided to add them all together. So enjoy a little bit of everything!!
This first picture is of Jayden and his school mates - minus two. When school for the older kids got out at 1:45 but the Kindergarten kids got out at 12:15 we had the lodge kids come to our house to play so the parents didn't have to make two trips to pick up kids. We loved it. The kids all got along together plus it gave Cora and Anna different kids to play with even if it was only for a little while.


This is my little flower. This was right after her bath. We love the towel (thanks Aunt Debbie!!) and surprisingly she is smiling. She usually cries as we take her out of the bath. She LOVES her bath time. She fit right in with the other kids, they all love the water too!!


So the family was spending time together - well most of us. Dad was making our kitchen benches while the rest of the kids and I were washing the van inside and out. Well we had brought Emmys' carseat outside for her to lay in but she didn't want anything to do with it. She wanted to be right there with us as we cleaned. Well as you can see someone decided to take advantage of the carseat. I looked out and found Anna asleep in Emmys' carseat - she had even covered herself with Brookes' "Suzy." She always has to use someone elses blankets!!

I had asked Jayden to hold Emmalee while I put Anna to bed for her nap and came outand this is what I found. When I first walked into the front room and saw Emmy she was all smiles. I am sure she found it a little funny that she put Jayden to sleep all by herself!!


Just a little bit ago Jayden, Anna and Emmalee were all sick with colds. Jayden - who never will admit that he is sick for fear that he will miss something - came home from school and first thing said that he didn't feel good. After lunch at our house we have "Quiet Time" which means the kids have to find a movie and sit or lay down and watch it. Jayden always tells us that he is too old to take a nap and so he never will fall asleep. Well today he did. I am sure now that he really didn't feel good! What I am wanting you to see is that he is so comfortable on top of Anna and she is so comfortable that she doesn't seem to mind. Yes, Carrie, that is the blanket you gave me. Anna LOVES it so much because of how soft it is. She will pull it around the house if we let her!!