Nate's Chore

Mom, I am soooooooooooo happy that you put my coat on and my boots so I could go out and collect the eggs. That's one of my favorite things in the world to do. Anything outside. Anything with animals. Anything with shoes on. I don't care that it is FREEZING outside.

(To all of my SF friends with boys Ashlyn's age...I remember you saying things like "He's just dying to get outside" and I just didn't know what you were talking about. Ash could have stayed inside for a month and been fine. Now I know what little boys are like.)


Do I dare enter the chicken-poop zone? I've got my basket, I better just go for it. Oh, one chicken is sitting there laying. I'll wait for her to finish (this was a real part of our experience).

I don't think eggs ever crack. I'll just toss each one in the basket. Lesson learned. Next time I better hand them to mom, then she can gently place them in the basket.

Hi Mom! I'm all done with my chore!

See all the eggs I got? Now I'll bring them inside and show "Ah" and "Boo". Their egg business is doing so well. I am sure it is because of the egg collector.

Dave and I started an intermediate swing class. 3 other couples from the ward joined us and so it makes it extra fun! We like to show off what we learned at class to the kids and then they want to learn everything! We have some wild dance parties at our house!

I just love how Sadie is looking at her Daddy - like he is the greatest thing ever...which he is.

Nate was having more fun than it appears in the picture.

Both Sad and Glad

Great Grandpa Walton used to tell a story about being both sad and glad. When I was out in CA, I heard Uncle Chuck speak in church, and for the first time I heard the WHOLE sad and glad story.

The other day - I was sad and glad. Sad that my little baby is 18 months old and doesn't need me to feed him his oatmeal every morning. Glad that my little baby is 18 months old, folds his arms to pray before he eats anything, and can feed himself while I can get dishes done. I have spent every day for the past 18 months feeding him his breakfast in one form or another and now he is Mr. Independent and wants to feed himself EVERYTHING, and walk by himself (no hand holding) EVERYWHERE. I love that little boy.

Which one of these is not like the other? We laughed so hard when we saw the mini egg.

Nate knows what Sadie's sewing machine is really for.

Nate's preferred choice of seating for family night. Silly boy.

Our Winter Wonderland

This is what we woke up to.




It was a day I dream about...
-Dave got a call at 5:30 a.m. that he didn't have to go in to work all day! (2nd in a row!!!)
-Dave got to sleep in (he let me sleep in yesterday) while the kids and I made oatmeal-wheat-blueberry pancakes.
-We took an hour to get all of our snow gear gathered and ON. Wow - I can't believe how much work our parents went through to take us skiing so often!
-We delivered warm cinnamon rolls to a couple families (one of my FAVORITE things to do).
-We hit a few stores looking for sleds - but to no avail. All were sold out. We grabbed some diapers for Nate - and that diaper box turned out to be the best sled of all. We also used a big tupperware lid that worked pretty well. And a nice lady saw us lugging boxes around, so she let us borrow her sled.
-We went to the junior high school where everyone was having fun sledding down the hill. They even set up a little jump and some kids were snowboarding.
-We sledded and played for 3 hours.
-Brought everyone home for a bath, lunch, Nate down for a nap and the girls went to a friend's house for the afternoon. I got a nice, long, hot bath in the afternoon - unheard of in my life!
-We played all day and it was the best.

Nate loved every ride. And the second we stopped, he would say "Again".

I guess Dave and Nate were too scared to open their eyes. And I do notice Dave putting on the brakes with his hand. Can you see Sadie tucked in there?

Just a quick, cute story about Ash. Yesterday at dinner she was telling us how the girl that sits next to her at school is mean to her every day. She said that she isn't mean back, and just pretty much doesn't talk to her. We suggested that maybe she could go the extra mile and be super nice to her and see what happens. She was quiet for a few minutes, then got so excited as she said that she was going to make a purse for this girl. She worked so hard on it, put a pen and post-it note pad in it, and put a "T" on the front of the purse for her friend's first name. She can't wait to go to school and give it to her tomorrow.

This is now Dave: This is my coyote skull I just finished. Back in November I found a coyote on the side of the road (dead). Luckily I had my hand saw and trash bags in the trunk as I'm sure everyone does. I brought the head home and skinned it. Ash and Sadie really wanted to watch that part for some reason (despite my warnings of bad dreams from it). After I skinned it I put it in a bucket of water to rot off all the soft tissue. This step is called "maceration" and can take weeks to months depending on the temperature outside. Putrid is the best description of the smell when openning the bucket. After rinsing off the soft tissue and washing out the brain, the skull is put in a bucket of ammonia for a couple of weeks to dissolve the fat out of the marrow. Then it is bleached with hydrogen peroxide and rinsed multiple times with fresh water for a few days to get the smell out. After drying everything the teeth are glued back into the jaw (they fall out during maceration). I know it sounds crazy and gross....it is gross. It is fun to handle the perfectly cleaned skull and think of all the steps that got it there. I think skulls are almost a work of art. Please send all your dead animal heads my way.

It was a wet sock day

It was one of those days. Bad allergies (makes everything seem worse), and just one hard thing after another (just regular hard day things - I won't bore you with the list). I hate stepping in something wet while wearing socks. Today I got wet socks 4 times. From 4 different things (all water - some from sippy cups, some from the bath). It was just that kind of a day.

I had just vented to Dave on the phone during lunch of my hard day. I was getting lunch ready for the kids, when I looked out the window and wondered what Turkish (our turkey) had in its mouth. Something white? Oh no! It was Ned-feather-head. I scream (that's all I know how to do in emergencies) and send Ash out. She's much better with the animals than I am. After I sent her out, I decided to run after her. That's when I caught a glimpse of Turkish nipping Ash while Ash screams out a bloody murder scream. She was screaming because she saw blood on Ned's head, and I thought she was screaming out of pain. Turns out it was hardly a peck from Turkish to Ash. She was totally fine. I thought for sure Ned was dead. We have no clue why Turkish decided to pick on Ned today. Turkish has always gotten along fine with the chickens. I got Ash in the house - and had 3 screaming kids. I ran back out to find my neighbor pinning Turkish down (thank you) and to our surprise, Ned was walking around. Ned ran off into the woods to find her friends. I ran in the house to rush the kids off to school. Everyone was crying, and as we pulled out of the garage, we looked out back and saw that Turkish had found Ned AGAIN and was attacking her. I really thought that Ned was beaten so bad that she would die any minute. I drove off because I didn't know what else to do! I really didn't think Ned wanted to live after such an event. As we drove off, Ash is mad at me and says "Chickens are more important than school!" It was quite the drive to school. Sadie announced that we need to kill Turkish. Ash bursts into tears again. And then Nate is saying "Ah, Boo" (translate: Ash, Sadie) because he's worried about them crying. And I was dying that I would have to deal with it when I got home. I came home and Turkish was still at it with Ned. And Ned was still alive. Unbelievable! She wouldn't give up. Dave had to walk out on the surgery he was in the middle of 3 times to help tell me what to do at different stages. Sorry Dave. I didn't know I signed up for this sort of thing.

I had to pick up Turkish (while she was still picking at Ned) and put her in our garage. Let me tell you that I was dying the whole time. It was disgusting and scary and I just felt sick inside about poor Ned. Then Dave told me that I had to catch Ned and separate her from the flock because the flock would start picking at her because she would now be considered the weak link. I tried and tried. No success. I was saying prayers, I was moving as slow as I could while dishing out chicken scratch. Finally, I got her. I brought Ned into Dave's workroom in the basement where she could die in peace. I brought food and water in case she wanted it. And I had to spray some stuff on her wound (her whole head) to stop infection from starting. I would call myself brave today only because I actually accomplished what Dave told me to do. My feelings inside were anything but brave.

Ned is still alive and doing pretty well. Dave took a picture of her, but they were all too graphic to put on the blog.

We had to say good-bye to Turkish. Dave is in the middle of preparing her for a brine - and the crazy guy (Dave) thinks we will eat her tomorrow. Which leads me to a great quote for the quote book.

While tucking the girls in bed:
Me: Daddy wants to cook Turkish tomorrow.
Ash: I will NOT eat my pet.
Sadie: I will. I love meat. I love turkey.

While Mom and Dad were visiting us, they happened to pick these two birds (Turkish and Ned) to take a picture with them. They were friends back then.

Ash had a hard day. Sadie did too, but not nearly as sad as Ashlyn's day. Ash shed LOTS of tears, and when she went into her room to cry some more, Sadie followed her in. I came in to this scene and had to capture the cute sight of Sadie trying to cheer up her big sister.

Life on a farm is not always easy. Today I wished I was living in my SF apartment while sweeping sand in my family room from living so close to the beach.

Why can't Dave be home when these things happen?

A lesson learned

I've learned this lesson over and over again, but today it especially stood out in my mind. When someone is mean to Ash at school, I remind her that you just never know if that person had some really hard things they were going through that you might not know about. I try to teach her that it's best to be as nice as you can, even when they aren't being nice. I realize that it's easier to teach this principle than to live it.

The older I get, it seems that I know more of those "hard things" that people are going through.

If Dave ever complains of a driver driving too slow, I suggest that maybe the driver's wife just had a c-section. I know how it feels, and slow-as-a-snail is how I wanted my husband to drive after a c-section.

Today I watched a leader at church lead with a smile - even though last night her teenage son ran away. I was amazed she was there, doing her best, and even with a smile. Most people didn't know about her situation - and I just hoped that everyone around her would be extra warm, extra patient and extra understanding.

Dave has had some things from work weighing heavily on his mind. One day after hearing about everything from Dave, a neighbor stopped by and we chatted for a while. She had no clue of the stress going on inside my head while we talked.

There have been several other situations that have really made me think. And wonder how many times I have interacted with someone. Maybe they were short with me or moody or impatient. Maybe (probably) I had no clue of something they were going through.

And so my resolution today and for this new year is to treat everyone with love, and to remember that most of the time, I may have no clue of the hurt, sadness, suffering, frustration, or WHATEVER, that those I interact with may be going through.



We're back from a fabulous trip to California. It was such a treat to have Mom's cooking and not having to clean or cook or grocery shop! It wasn't the most relaxing trip we've ever had -as we had so much to fit in, and still many people we didn't get to see! But we had a fun time and I have no pictures to prove it. With the airlines being so strict with baggage, I tried to pack as light as possible - and that meant that my big camera didn't stand a chance of making it into the bag. So I'm counting on my family to send pictures soon so I can have some documentation of our trip!

Nate copies everything we do. Lately, when we lay on the floor he gets in right next to us - in the exact position. Today at church we were sustaining new callings. Right when it would be the time to oppose - Nate raised both hands in the air. While I'm talking about church - have I mentioned that during the sacrament, Nate says either "roll" or "wa-wa" the whole time. He calls bread "roll". He always wants more. Funny kid.

Dave was vacuuming yesterday. Nate found it to be quite the fun ride.

Our little Nativity

Ashlyn and Sadie showing sporting their new Christmas pajamas. This is a tradition from when I was little. The girls have too many pajamas from last Christmas. I knew they didn't need more pajamas - but I just had to - for tradition's sake.

From left to right: Ashlyn - the angel. Sadie - Mary. Me - the donkey. Nate - Joseph. Sister Kenzler - a noisy lamb. Dave - photgrapher and narrator.

Mary and baby Jesus - she took the job so seriously.

Christmas jello that we had with our Christmas Eve dinner. I wanted to cut a bunch of Christmas trees, but one was hard enough - with a cookie cutter that didn't go as deep as the jello did.

Truffles

Vanilla Buttercream

I spent all day Saturday making truffles. And I mean all day! I started first thing in the morning, and stopped 30 minutes before we had to leave for 2 Christmas parties that night. I thought Dave might want his date to shower and get out of her pajamas before we left.

I have a friend here who is the chocolate master. She knows everything about chocolate and cake decorating and all of that fun stuff. So I went to her house one day (brought my own centers that she gave me the recipe for) and she showed me how to dip the centers and make truffles. She has a fancy chocolate tempering machine that tempers the chocolate. It was so much fun. I'm hooked to this hobby. I went home and made tonz of centers...250 of them. Then she let me borrow her machine for an all day dipping extravaganza. The girls helped here or there, Dave helped by having an all day date with Nate, and also making me lunch. The only time I sat all day was for 5 minutes to shovel down some lunch and then rushed back to the dipping.


Here are my helpers with the centers ready to dip. Maple fudge, caramel, chocolate chip cookie dough, vanilla buttercream, orange buttercream, chocolate buttercream and chocolate mint buttercream.

My friend showed me a discount website to order gourmet chocolate. I bought a 10 pound block of chocolate and I've never seen anything like it! I wish I got a picture of it before stabbing into it.

Maple Fudge

Chocolate Buttercream

At the end of the dipping day, I handed the girls a bag of Oreos and let them dip away. They had so much fun.

This picture has nothing to do with chocolate - except that it is sooooooooo sweet! This was a couple weeks ago during our first snow storm. Another big storm is coming in tonight.