I Heart Heart Day

I love all the pink and red, sweet treats, and cute crafts. Our table was a Valentine workshop for several days. There's nothing more precious than a handcrafted card made with lots of love.

We dipped marshmallows for FHE and shared them with friends.
Between music classes and moms helping at school, Ruby got to spend some time with her favorite Emma.
We had a heart-shaped pizza dinner by candlelight before scrambling off to a ward party. Not an intimate dinner date, but enjoyable none the less. We had a cupcake decorating buffet and Brother McClure had us all laughing as he talked about communication.By the end of our non-stop Valentines Day, I was ready to be done with all the sweets and fanfare. I look forward to Valentines brightening up my drab February again next year.

Business Trip

Brent had an invitation to present at several grower meetings throughout the Magic and Treasure Valleys last week. And since our house was very much under construction and I could see the writing on the wall about being too busy to go to 4-wheeling in Moab, I pulled Hudson out of school and we tagged along. The kids were over the moon excited. They were so happy to get to go with their Dad and help with anything.Long meetings and car rides can get old and boring, but they did great.Our travels took us to some small towns with down to earth people. I really enjoy meeting people that share our same simple, rural way of life. It's easy to feel at home and feel an instant connection.

The kids loved running around on the dirt piles in Grandview. They could have stayed there awhile longer. My favorite was listening to their "vroooming" while revving up on their pretend handle bars, even Ruby.In Vale, OR we enjoyed walking down Main Street where the Oregon Trail once ran. They have some 30 murals painted on building throughout town. The museum and the thrifts stores were all closed. Lucky for us, DQ and the park were open. This happened to be on of the kids' favorite murals:And like all good trips, there were hotel stays and swimming in the evenings. Hands down, the best part for the kids.

Wowzer, Hudson is obsessed with search engines and YouTube. It's fun to see the things he Googles. Such as his Dad's name, equipment companies, animals, and FHE lessons. One day he was finding such fun YouTube videos of tipped over tractors and the likes that Brent had a hard time going to work. With this new found interest, it sure has got me thinking, talking, and teaching about guidelines for internet use.

And when there is snow on the ground, the kid can hardly think of anything but playing. He rides his sled as a snowboard.
Of course the girls enjoy it too.Dalanie's control has gotten a lot better, although she had a close call with a post on her second run. No explanation that she missed it other than guardian angels.It's currently January and Dalanie's birthday is in July. She is convinced that her birthday is getting closer, which I assured her is true. Trouble is, now she thinks that it will be happening very soon. She's wishing the days away so that she can turn five. Silly girl.My poor little kittten who has to wear mittens. For she has such dry skin.
Dalanie got the curse from me. Her hands got so chapped that just about anything we put on them would make her cry in pain. We started to put neosporin on them at night covered by some socks. It is working like a charm and she's so cute in the morning with her little "mittens."

Ruby sports her "skinny" jammies as is completely enamored by her big brother and his stinky feet.

Happenings

Our exciting January happenings, in no particular order. Lots of indoor and quality family time.
Remember this camp skit favorite?
Revenge for getting shaving cream in Hudson's mouth.Cuties for the cuties atop the countertop.
Drilling in ice.Lego fun.Primping.Apparent primping pride.Already raiding her sister's closet.Another installment of our favorite costume game.

Overhaul

The time has come. I guess you could say that we're committed. The kids had a blast helping us in the demolition phase. Hopefully the girls will not take the hammer to anymore walls.Ever since we've moved in to our home, the master bedroom and bathroom have been a major eyesore. Hideous. To the point I should have entered a contest. Seriously. Mauve cabinets and raspberry-revel-ice-cream solid surface. Besides the color, there has been a long hallway and lots of wasted space. So we're overhauling the space. Rearranging and moving things around.

Needless to say, we've been moved to the "guest" bedroom in the basement. ( Nobody here treats us like guests, they're not a very hospitable bunch.) Rest assured, the girls got my ability to traverse stairs and maneuver in the dark, so they're still able to find us.

We've also been finishing the garage, a [storage] room and bathroom in the basement. I use the term "we" very loosely as we've hired some of the work done. So things have been quite chaotic. We have converted an entire room into an official heap and are unsuccessfully trying to corral sheet rock dust with "plastic" walls.

I'm trying to remain calm despite the clutter and mess. It all has to get worse before is can get better, right? All impulses to dust or otherwise clean my house have been resisted. The kids think it's great to have our bed in the living room and so many new places to hide.

Goodbye Old Duke

You've been a good horse. . . (The kids just so happened to learn this sad horse song last week, so they tweaked the words and we've been singing the ballad ever since he died.) I tried explaining how he was getting old and that we'd probably let him go to sleep forever soon. Hudson asked how we'd do that and my response was not very polished and involved the word bullet. Disturbed Hudson retorted, "That's not asleep, that's dead." No one on the farm could put him down, so we ended taking him into the vet. Regardless, the ol' boy is finally out of his misery as he was beginning to suffer quite badly.

We found this ol' Appy named Duke a few years back. Dalanie affectionately called him Dukey. We made him part of our family. He was a wonderful beginner horse for our kids, as he was their first introduction to horses. He was so mellow and gentle that they were able to gain a lot of confidence with him. It's fun to look back and watch the kids grow alongside him. He didn't look like much, but he had a heart of gold. You don't find a horse like that very often.

We'll sure miss him.


Dalanie preferred to eat the rolled corn herself rather than feed it to Duke.

Rubana, Banana

After putting away a chicken drumstick for lunch, Ruby petitioned "more meat!" Still after her second one she demanded "more meat!" I had to put my foot down, no more meat until she ate her vegetables. But when she doesn't like what we're eating, there is no changing her mind. She'd rather sit out dessert than eat something she has deemed "eeeewwwie."

She's quite good at excusing herself, or anyone else for that matter, for any escaping bodily noise. "S'cuse me." And better yet she excuses herself when things are in the way. The other day I was carrying her and bumped in to the washer. She looked directly at the washer and politely apologized "s'cuse me!"

Lately whenever she is tired, in trouble, her clothes are wet or dirty, or sad she'll request "jammies on." You know it's going to be a long day when she starts asking for them at 10:00 am. It's not a bad coping technique, in fact, I'd like to do the same thing some days. When I don't let her change into jammies, she'll cry for her blankie instead.

Dalanie doesn't need a mood ring, she's got Ruby as a little sister. First thing in the mornings Ruby will report "Da-nie, mean" or "Da-nie happy, big sister." Mean is grouchy, like monsters. While happy girls get to be sisters.

Oh, she loves to dress up and wear her sister's lip gloss . It was a full blown tantrum the other day when she had to take off her fancy church dress and put pants on. I guess she was hoping she could just wear her jeans under the dress. It's not always fancy dress up, just funny combinations like Hudson's tie or boots with her footed pajamas.

She nominated herself to read from the scriptures during FHE. She quickly ran and retrieved them and found a nice little spot in front of the fireplace. She kept changing their orientation so sometimes there were right side up and other times upside down. We never heard much more than "um, um." She loves book and to be reading.