20 years ago...

It's been twenty years since a cute pick-up driving boy entered my life. I thought it would be fun to commemorate our first date. 

Rustin and I met on a blind date. Rustin's cousin Leslie was a good friend and we had agreed to set each other up on a date with our cousins while we were all students at Ricks but the dates never happened while we were in Rexburg. I graduated and moved on to Idaho State University where I could work on a nursing degree. 

A few months later Leslie had moved back home to Pocatello. She had received her mission call and was preparing to leave when we ran into each other at the institute at ISU. We set up our dates for the next weekend. My cousin couldn't come until Saturday night but Leslie's cousin needed to come Friday so we found dates for both nights.

 

When Rustin arrived at my door to pick me up I had just barely walked in from a date earlier that day. The first thing I noticed was that he had a black eye (from playing murder in the dark the previous day...). 

We went roller skating. 

We laughed and talked. Rustin grabbed my hand and took off flying around the rink as fast as we could go. Just as we rounded the second or third corner our hands slipped and I went flying across the floor. Very graceful. 

We both remember that it was one of the most comfortable first dates we had been on. We laughed and talked. But--we lived in different towns and we were dating different people and Leslie was leaving in less than two weeks.  I didn't expect to see him again. 

Of course I did see him again. That's a story for another day! 

Snug like a bug

Watching these pups makes me want to go curl up with whoever I can coerce into snuggling with me. 

Actually I have pretty snugly kids. 

Jackson is the best. I don't think I can ever get enough of having that boy's little face pressed into my neck...

We had the most beautiful Halloween.  We had a full week of parties this year and the weather was a glorious 70 degrees. 

Then November hit and we slipped right into serious Fall.  I love the gorgeous colors but the cool weather makes me want to hibernate. I'm trying to reprogram my brain this year. I want to get out and embrace the seasons instead of hide under a {very fuzzy} blanket. Skiing? Hiking? We'll see. What do y'all do for fun when it's cold out?

In other news I am pleased to announce that our Halloween costumes took only 30 minutes and $0 to put together. Yes!

VanHelsing, bohemian lifeguard (missing his hair here), Boise State Bronco (pronounced "Stazy bronco"), hobo (first time he hadn't been a variation of a Hobbitt in three years!), cute purple witch and Achilles (two mild high ankle sprains).  

And...my hair can look like this with two minutes notice. I don't even need hairspray...bet you're jealous...

Mamas

We have puppies at our house. They are adorable as always. 

We watched the sweetest thing with this last litter. Sadie had only one puppy for her first litter. Little fudge was four weeks old when Daisy had her pups. 

During Daisy's delivery we got to witness the sweetest thing. After a pup is born the mama is immediately attentive to cleaning the puppy (with some help from me) which helps stimulate breathing and gets blood flowing. The puppy then crawls up to the mom to snuggle and nurse and get warm. 

It's quite a thing to see a little deaf and blind newborn find and bond with her mother!

Once labor/pushing starts with the next pup the mom will stand up and start to pace and turn around so we move the already delivered puppy out of the way to make room for the next baby.

So, during Daisy's delivery we moved the pups into a dog bed just outside the whelping box where they started to whine and cry. 

That's where Sadie came in! 

She trotted over and licked the pups and then laid down in the bed so they could nurse and get warm. She stayed the entire four hours until Daisy was done delivering and we moved all seven puppies into the whelping box with her. So sweet! 

I love to see mothers helping each other. It reinforces my belief that we all need each other in this world.

Words.

Toddlers are funny. They just are. 

The kids are out of school today so we were laying in my bed this morning being entertained by Jackson. 

He was telling us stories about "when I was a little guy..."

Jackson tends to pick up on everything the big kids say. For a while he kept saying "oh my Gosh" which I don't like. So I've been trying to get him to say "oh my goodness" or " holy cow." 

This morning he kept saying 

"Holy Gosh." 

Fail. 

For a while Jack was saying "what the..." Whenever he was mad at something. While he wasn't saying anything bad it sounded very suspicious. So Benson taught him to say 'cheeseball.' 

It has morphed into a weird meaning where if Benson says 'Jack! Cheeseball!' Jackson will cry 'don't say cheeseball.' 

A few other weird ones:

When Jackson thinks it's time to do something he'll grab my face and say "mom, it's 6 o'clock."

Like in church he wants to go to nursery--'it's 6 o'clock.' 

Or he wants to have a snack 'it's 6 o'clock.'

When he wants my attention in general he puts his hands on both of my cheeks and smashes his forehead against my forehead so we can only see each other. 

When he gets super tired he'll say 'mom I'm too wiggly.' You know like those times when your head keeps nodding...

Right now Jack loves all racing. He has all his cars in a bucket and he races them down the slide or any of the ramps he has built. He and Benson also race all over the house--Ben on roller blades, Jack pushing his car. He cries whenever Ben beats him so one of the big boys will swoop in and hold Benson back so Jack can 'win.'  Just one of the many ways we are surely spoiling this boy. 

Man we love this kid!

Homecoming 2014

The kids has a great time at the Homecoming dance this year. Thankfully the dance was better than the football game! We lost in overtime. Ouch. The Bruins have had a rough start this year... Hopefully they will find their feet and get going with future games. Landon isn't playing--he had three major surgeries during his sophomore year (all different injuries) and his shoulders need more time to heal. He's hoping to be able to wrestle later this winter but we'll see how things are going then. This fall he is running in cross country. It's totally different for his body which has been conditioned to perform repeated quick bursts of speed and strength rather than long slow endurance. He gives it 110% every time which we love about him. His first 5K ever time was 22 (very painful!) minutes. Good job Landon!

Dallin's doing great this year. No injuries. We are going to put one of those #of-days-since-our-last-accident clocks on the wall and do something awesome if we can reach one year.  He plays football (of course), right guard and middle linebacker. He puts his heart and soul into everything he does. Which will be a blessing for him forever. 

                   Dallin and Annika. 

 Gorgeous pictures by Kerrianne Burch

             Landon and Ashlyn

Thanks to the awesome girls in both of these groups. 

Cute. Modest. Fun. Happy. 

And next year we can win the game and have a perfect week altogether!

Call me Miss Beetle

All right. 

Here goes. 

We are home schooling this year!

Ahhh! (Think of father of the bride when the daughter announces she's getting married...)

There is quite a steep learning curve to get this all going but I have some awesome friends and suburb mentors that are holding my hand. 

I should clarify that only Jenna, Benson and Jackson are home every day. And Dallin is taking one English course through the local common wealth school. (Which is awesome.)

We have always loved the idea home school but honestly never ever thought we'd actually take the leap. And then this last spring something changed and here we are. 

And we love it! 

And we are terrified!

And then peaceful!

And then terrified!

And then excited!

We have a huge support system here in Twin Falls. We meet with 66 other kids and moms once a week for really great classes and lots of support. And we have a mix of online and traditional curriculum. We are still working out some of the kinks but I honestly feel myself stretching and growing. I have that warm gentle burning in my heart on a daily basis which always surprises me and is what keeps me going with confidence. 

I realize how blessed I am. 

I sure do love these kids. 

Jenna got to pick the quote of the day. Clearly we are going for literary excellence here...  :)

Making automobiles from Wind in the Willows. 

The rest of us are keeping busy: football, church etc AND I am thrilled to report that we are now going on four months without an injury or surgery. Fingers crossed!

Alive!

I just figured out this new blogger phone app! How have I missed this all these years!  This just might change everything in blog land for me. How awesome to write in the comfort of my bed!

We had such a fun summer! I enjoyed every second! There are a thousand things to write about. Swimming, popsicles, cousins, horse back rides...I'll get to it. 

We are at the time of year when it's freezing in the morning and roasting in the afternoon.  I always go into mourning when summer ends but this year hasn't been bad at all! This might be the first time in many years that I totally look forward to chilly mornings and colorful leaves! I'll have to write more about that layer. For now here is my favorite moment if the day.