Polar Express

Granny took the little kids to the north pole this year (Durango, Co.) to ride the Polar Express. It was soooooo much fun. Very magical for the little ones. We got to Durango and checked in the rooms, ate, and then headed over to get on the train. It was awesome!! You first go through a train station with gift shops. Then all the kids are hearded out to the loading site. They have the Polar Express music going, and then comes steaming in a big old fashion train. It has Polar Express on it and all the waitresses are waving to the kids. The conductor asks, "Is there anyone else who would like to ride?" All the kids yell, "Me, yes, me." You load onto your car; each ticket has different cars, and the fun begins.

This is us in the room trying desperately to get a pose of the small grandchildren. Slightly difficult. Granny bought all of the kids Christmas outfits.



Us in the gift shop.



Blazen, Ike, and Denim are just so excited to go out onto the train loading plank, they can hardly wait.



Tessa waiting patiently. She is getting so big.



This is the train coming. You can imagine the excitement at seeing the billowing smoke and hearing the loud engine pull up.



The San Juan was our boxcar. The workers were dressed like elves.



Don't lose your ticket.



Here we are on the train. Not too sure what to expect.



Fun, Fun, Fun. The waitresses started dishing out hot chocolate.



All together.



Ace and I.



Darlin fell asleep right away. Little Tessa had a bit of a hard time, but Tawana got her calmed down.



After we made it to the North Pole, Santa Claus came on the train. THE REAL SANTA. Believe me, Denim noted his REAL beard. He was so sweet and kind.







We all got a real bell, and can you believe it......we could all hear the bells. WE BELIEVE! Do you?



Thanks Granny for a magical time!!!



Walking back to our truck we ran across an amazing candy shop. We just had to go in. It was like walking into part of Willy Wonka's shop. Candies of every sort. Even a chocolate fountain. We each chose one candy and then shared.







Other events:

We all went out on the ranch together this year. Denim got to pick the big tree; Blazen the little one. They were so excited. We got the Christmas box out and they decorated the trees ALL BY THEMSELVES. The little tree has about 4 bows on it and the big tree has the rest of the decorations. Our lights were not working this year, so when Ace went to town a few days later he picked us up some. It just so happens that he brought back outside white icicle lights. AWESOME! We stuck those lights on the outside of the already up decorations and wala......our beeeeeeeeeautiful tree. It is the most beautiful tree we have ever seen. My kids our so proud!

Oh, I forgot to mention that Ace duck taped the star to the top. It is permanently sideways. Denim's cousin, Ralayna has the same star. When Denim saw it she said, "Hey, you have the same star as us, but our star goes like this, (she then bends over sideways and puts her arms straight out)."

We went to Grandmother Margarite's home and ate supper with her. Nacona brought Kentucky Fried Chicken because grandmother loves that. I set my camera up and then after the picture realized we forgot to move the chair. Oops.

Denim just loves getting her hands on the camera. Here are a few pictures that she took.



Denim was fighting this nasty stuff around her mouth. I cleared it up with Red Clover and Oregon grape.

I have been, for the past several weeks, singing with an all faiths community choir. We put on a Christmas program. It was a very neat experience for me. I sang alto, and I got to sing with some very talented singers. It was fun to learn and grow. Ace and granny watched the kids each Sunday for 2 or 3 hours so that I could participate. We performed on the 19th for the community and it went very well. I love singing even if I am not fabulous.

Nelda's Kitchen

This blog has been long in the making. Well not really the blog, but the project. Last mother's day Ace tore out Nelda's wall between her kitchen and living room. Getting her a new kitchen was her three children's gift to her. Here is the update.

Here are a few pictures of the demolition...

The cupboard completely torn out.



Tearing out the bottom drawers.



Taking the paneling off.



Tearing the kitchen wall out. Layers and layers. This was the original outside wall.



The wall GONE.



View into the kitchen.



Nelda lived like this for months. She also lived without a counter top and with a plastic laundry room sink. For a long time she cooked in crock pots and the microwave as well. One day I went over during reconstruction and she had the microwave hooked up with an extension cord outside on a pile of rubble defrosting steaks to grill. She got handy.



Here are a few pictures of the reconstruction....









Now the project is pretty much complete. There are a few touch up details yet to be accomplished, but other than that is is done. As you can see she ended up putting the new kitchen in old living room. It feel like a completely different house. I think if you asked Ace he would say that it felt like building a completely different house as well.

View into the new kitchen. Notice the new lights, fans, and sound system in the ceiling. The electrical was the most time consuming.



The new carpet.



View into the new living room. Mounted flatscreen, and Ace also built the cupboards to hold all the electronics.



View into the NW corner of the kitchen.



More living room. The white wall is where the old kitchen pantry was.



Living room.



The boys chilling out. One nice thing is that everyone is all in the same room and you can visit. Another nice thing is that Nelda isn't left out in the kitchen. She can clean and visit or watch her shows at the same time.



Double doors coming into the room. it is cut at an angle now and you enter both rooms.



New kitchen tile.



Nelda chose double stoves and a laminate counter top that resembles marble.



If you ask me it looks just like marble minus the price. It was important to Nelda to use her mom's table. This was part of the reason why she chose to put the kitchen in the old living room.....space.



This little bar area is on the north wall before you enter the hallway.



"Here it is guys."



"It stressed me out JUST a little, but it is beautiful."

November

catch up #2

To be really honest since I didn't blog weekly, November is a big blur for me. Ace took a lot of time and worked on Nelda's kitchen and living room. It looks wonderful. He worked so hard; I am really proud of him. Between that and ranch work, we saw very very little of him until Thanksgiving. He got home about 1:00 am for 2 weeks. The kids and I started a few generators and checked some waters for him to free up a little bit of time. I will post pictures with Nelda's camera soon.

Denim has been working very hard at her school work. She is learning a lot. It is neat to see her progress. We do about 2-3 hours a day. She really looks forward to her "cartoon days" (non-school days, Friday and Saturday). She is a little monkey. Lately she has been climbing anything and everything, especially all of the trees. I am amazed at how good of a climber she is. It is fun to see. I remember being a kid and loving the free feel of being high in a tree. I know she just loves it. Denim also loves to carry Darlin around. It is pretty scary since Darlin is half her size. It is funny though; Denim jogging across the lawn with Darlin; Darlin's little head bobbing up and down with a big cheesy grin and those teeth.

One thing that I am trying to find balance with is giving Blazen his own one on one and his own space from sister. I haven't figured it out yet, but I am trying. He likes to do matching worksheets and he is learning sounds. He really has become a little man. He CRAVES Daddy time. He just cries when Ace has to stop playing. He loves being rough. He also loves special alone time, he loves me to hold him and read to him. He has been enjoying helping me cook lately. He also fights his sister for the "spinny chair" and to pray. He has been wanting to sleep with us.

Darlin has the cutest teeth right now. Two bottom and funny top left fang. She squints her nose and shows her teeth. It is hilarious! She loves getting into my kitchen drawers and pulling out EVERYTHING. She broke my blender this month and smashed her fingers several times. She also LOVES pulling the electical cord to our living room lights out. It is the first thing she does when you put her down. She also like unplugging the kids TV.

I started doing play days with some gals around here. We all live about 30 min apart, but on Fridays we have started getting together to let the kids play. It has been great for the kids and for me too.

We had a very wonderful Thanksgiving. We went to Granny and Papa's house. Nacona, Will, NaLynn, Whitley, Ike, Tawana, Chris, Tessa, and Wallace were there. As always Nelda cooked a wonderful dinner. It was a weird feeling in the new house. Such a different set up. We ate and visited and watched movies and tried to play cards. It was slightly challenging with two babies and 3 toddlers to care for.

I got on the internet for two days at the very end of November and ordered all of Christmas. It was pretty stressful, but I knew there was no way that I could do it alone with 3 kids in town. So now for all of December I can just be a happy fun mommy.

November has stayed relatively warm. The kids have had a lot of fun playing in the sand piles and climbing trees. We have got to go to two brandings at the old McPhaul. One time I put Darlin in the mobey and I climbed way up the cliffs with Ike and Denim and Blazen. We got to a spot were I couldn't keep everyone safe so we had to stop, but the kids thought it was cool. Ace laid a new pipeline in Forest Tank. The kids enjoyed playing there. Denim was jumping over the ditch and she said, "I am sooooo country. I am just a country girl. I don't think a city girl could jump this far. I am country." Ace and I laughed. Blazen enjoyed putting a cup under the lead pipe and waiting for Ace to turn on the generator so the water would come spewing out.

One really fun thing the kids learned this month that they had fun telling their dad about was this....
They held in their hands something that is older than the DINOSAURS.



WATER!!!!!


They got a kick out of that one.

October

This is catch up # 1.

At the very beginning of October Ace, the kids and I took the knomemobile (which we also, by the way, are calling the "swagger wagon" ---google it if you haven't seen the commercials---) to Utah. We went to Salt Lake to go to General Conference. It was an amazing experience, as always. So uplifting to be listening to the prophet of God. All of my siblings met us up there to have a mini-reunion. We love to be together even though it is a bit crazy. We took the kids to temple square on Friday. We went to the Mayan restaurant. They entertain by dressing up like ancient Mayans and high diving into pools below. It was fun for the kids to see. We got to swim. Saturday and Sunday we were dedicated to alternating between conference sessions and babysitting. So good.

Salt Lake Temple: Where Ace and I were married.



On Temple Square we got some good stories from the sister missionaries. Ace also taught the kids about Christ's life from the painting in the building with the Christus. One lady came up to Ace and said, "I just want to thank you for teaching your children."



We got to ride the tracks together.



This is Greg being a survivor when mom is gone. Whatever it takes right.

After conference, mom came up to Syringa's and picked me up. Ace switched vehicles with my mom and we took the knomemobile to Toquerville. We got to spend a week with mom and dad and McCarty. We canned like crazy. I swear I need not see another apple or pomegranate for months. Darlin was a major mommas girl. Denim and Blazen had a blast. I did school with Denim in the mornings. It worked well since Ralayna is homeschooling this year also. We got to watch McCarty sing and we have been singing "Gonna wash that man right outta my hair," for 2 months. Ace said that Blazen has GOT to learn a different song. We also have been singing, "Anything you can do, I can do better. No you can't. Yes, I can." It is a battle of the sexes. Fun stuff. Darlin got a spider bite on her face that got bacteria in it. It turned into infantigo. So I have been doctoring that with bactroban.

The rest of October consisted of work, work and more work. We gathered our cows and shipped. We had a lot of wonderful help. Dale and John came and helped. Our friends Steve and Collette came. We missed our England friends this year. Riding reminded me of them. I remember bundling Amy up and praying she wouldn't freeze last year. This year for the most part we had better weather. We didn't ride in snow. A few days were terribly windy, but other than that, it was decent. I was ready for a break from cooking and cleaning by the end of October. Saying that, it is good to be busy.

Working cattle in the shipping pens.

Weighing. I loved this one with Jerry onlooking in the background. Father teaches son.

Darlin bundled up in the bear and with the binky.

Obviously Denim, Blazen and Ike had to participate with their whips.

Tawana and Tessa came to help. Tessa stayed snug in the truck; it was to windy.

For Halloween Denim dressed like Mulan, Blazen chose Avatar, Darlin was a black cat, and I was a quickly thrown together ugly witch (it worked for me because I didn't have time to shower or fix my hair so I threw dirt on my face and ratted my hair. Whala!). The kids had a blast at the Datil Carnival. They especially loved the cake walk, which they patronized for about an hour. We came home with SEVERAL cakes.

Love ya
Timber

Starting again

Ace told me that since I pretty much had given up for awhile, I really should have shown a picture of the frog being eaten entirely. I had a hard time finding a picture of that one, so you'll just have to picture it.

Deep breath

I have missed blogging.

VERY MUCH!

This evening I am sitting at the table by a lit candle listening to music. The kids are asleep and it is 9:45 pm. I just thought, "Man I have just got to start again."

So here I am.

This fall has been busy as always. It has been a lovely fall though. The leaves stayed green a long time as we had pleasant weather through most of November. It gave us several opportunities to ride and be about the ranch. One morning about a week ago as I was doing goat chores, I glanced back at the house and noticed that the tree was entirely bare again. The leaves had all fallen off. "When did that happen," I thought. The last time I remembered they were green. I don't even remember them turning. It seems that life can be that way. We blink and the moment is gone. Summer is long gone, winter is nearly here (definately here this evening, as we have a blizzard going on outside and the kids made snow angels this morning) and I think I totally missed our fall. It's gone. How can it be? How can life feel so slow at times, yet at others it feels like someone just pressed the fast forward button on my life? It reminds me that my opportunities for everything are quick to be over. I need to grasp them. My chance to be an influence in each stage of my children's lives will be quickly over. I must grasp these moments and remember to teach them.

It is good to write again. Thanks to everyone for encouraging me.

I am going to follow up with two catch up posts, so stay posted.

LOVE ME!