A birthday

Austin turned 13 on December 27th.  Having a birthday so close to Christmas has some benefits (if he doesn't get exactly what he wants for Christmas he just asks for it for his birthday...) but it also has some downfalls.  Most noticeable--we are almost never home on  Austin's birthday.  We like to spend Christmas in our own beds so we don't head out to visit Family until after Christmas.  We have spent Austin's birthday at the Hatch family Christmas party almost every year.  Last year we realized that Austin has never ever had a 'friend' birthday party so this year we decided to invite  some friends over a bit early.  They had a blast.  They played with Air Soft guns and practiced their tough guy poses and ate a lot of pizza  and treats dipped in chocolate.

We couldn't be happier to have Austin in our family and he is reaffirming our belief (and experience!) that teenagers are the reward for surviving toddlers.

Ho, Ho, Ho

I just read an article that made me laugh until my cheeks hurt.  

In fact my laughing made Jackson laugh right along with me.  

Have I mentioned that this child is attached to my leg lately?  

When the kids leave for school he stands by the door and cries pitifully "go, go, go..." then he runs into the kitchen and does his "hot chocolate dance."   

Once we get our hot chocolate we get to work recovering from the daily morning tornado.  

Except for the last two days when I have been running from one appointment to another.  Which means that today I have three tornadoes to clean up after.  

I am going to lock the doors, shut down the computer and go restart the pilot light on the water heater {again--hopefully it will get fixed today...} in preparation for the Mt. Wash-more pile of laundry that is ready and waiting for a long hot bath. 

Until then I highly recommend a visit over to the pioneer woman for a good hard chuckle.  

The Pioneer woman--All I wanted was a doughnut.

Look who's grown up!

I kind of think it's awesome to be forty.  I can't really explain it except that it feels like a new beginning.  Maybe I only say that because I still have another year in my 30's...

I called Rustin's office and got his Friday afternoon schedule cleared and I whisked him away to the Sun Valley lodge.

It was beautiful.  So nice to see some snow!

 The lodge wasn't busy so we sat by the fire...

 And remembered one of our first dates--almost eighteen years ago!  We skated and twirled and held hands and laughed and talked for hours and hours without ever running out of things to talk about.  We can still do that today.  Except we aren't so good at the skating and twirling part...

 We went window shopping at all the little shops in the Village.  I'm serious about the window shopping part... This lovely coat and handbag cost over $6000!  Whew.

 There were lots of cute toy stores and fun Christmas window displays and Christmas lights in the Village Square.

 We ate one of our most memorable meals ever at the Ram at the Inn.  Delicious. Food. 

We climbed under the covers and watched Sun Valley Serenade which plays continually on the TV's in the lodge rooms.

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It was a great weekend and reminded me of how lucky Rustin and I  are to have found each other. And how lucky we are to be able to do all the great things in life together.  With many more still to come!

Happy Birthday.

non-verbal communication

It starts with a cute face and a little dance under the living room fan... 

 Then "up-a up-a up-a" (most words these days end with "-a-")...

 And he tries to throw the little dog...

 Then sweet siblings interpret the sign language/body language and put the dog on top of the fan for him...

 to watch it fly off...

 Which makes Jackson laugh like crazy which  makes his siblings happy!

That pretty much sums up our entertainment for the night!

Thanksgiving

This fall has been beautiful.  Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of the year.  This year it has been impossible to keep any kind of decorations on the table.  Jackson climbs up and throws everything off.  So I cut up a skirt that I made out of linen  (the skirt was terrible so no loss there...) and made these cute little pumpkins.  I love the linen with the black.  They are weighted with rice in the bottom.  It has been perfect.  Jackson can throw them on the floor and they are no worse for the wear.   

Just before Thanksgiving we made some pies.  I haven't hosted Thanksgiving by myself for years so I haven't made pies for a loooong time. I kind of stink at pies but it wasn't as bad as I feared. In fact I would say we had delicious food the entire weekend.

Pie day.

Quality assurance by Jackson who 'helped' make the apple cranberry pie--

when he wasn't taking a nap with Beau! 

We had Jotham and Jamie and their kids over.  They are the best house guests.  Our kids all get along so well and our lives are so similar that I never worry about what they will think of us and our craziness.  And they are super helpful with meals and games and cleaning up.  We were so laid back we didn't even take any pictures.  Darn.  We put the leaves in the table and we were able to seat 12.  We put Holly and Jackson and Gavin at their own little table. 

It was a great weekend and I  am ready for the Christmas season to start!

Home can be a Heaven on Earth

We went to the Boise temple dedication via satellite here in Twin Falls on Sunday.  Benson was baptized just a couple of weeks ago so it  was so great to have five of our six kids with us at the dedication.  Jackson went to a friend's house.

While we were waiting for the dedication to start, I had some time to sit and quietly think. I remembered another dedication we attended years ago.

We moved to Memphis Tennessee in 1999 and we were lucky enough to live just five minutes from the temple construction site.  It was during the spring of 2000 that the temple was completed and ready for dedication.   When the day finally came, we arrived at the stake center next to the church knowing that there probably wouldn't be room to accommodate everyone inside the temple for the actual dedication ceremony.

As we were ushered in, our friends were seated in the front row of the gym and we were just a couple of seats behind them on the second row. As we waited I started to feel anxious.  Somehow the knowledge the the familiar face of  Elder Faust was so close and yet so far away in the temple next door made me feel left out and slightly homesick.  After a few minutes, the ushers came in and escorted the first row of the gym out of the room.  We soon realized  that there were some empty seats inside the temple and they were going to take some of us from the gym to fill the empty seats.  I felt a rush of happiness and a thrill of anticipation at the prospect of actually entering the temple.

A few minutes later the ushers came in and escorted the guests in the newly filled front row of the gym out to the temple and another wave of just-arrived guests filled the emptied seats.

This happened several times.

Each time the ushers came in I hoped and expected that they would take our row into the temple.  Each time they took only the front row.

By the third time the row in front of us emptied my face felt flushed and I could feel my blood pounding in my ears.  I couldn't even hear the beautiful music being played and I certainly didn't feel any peace.  I was just mad and squirming in my seat as the late arrivals in front of us kept being escorted into the temple.

Finally the ushers took the first two rows out of the gym.  I sighed a breath of pent up frustration and un-fairness-induced anxiety as we walked up to the steps of the front doors of the temple.  As we paused to put foot protection over our shoes one of the ushers came out and told us that the temple was full and we would have to return to our seats in the gym in the next door.  When we returned to the gym our second row seats had been filled and we were seated at the back of the room.  I had hot tears pouring down my face and I finally turned to prayer in desperation.

I prayed that I would be able to hear the music being played.    I prayed that I would be able to find some kind of peace.  I explained to my Heavenly Father that I was homesick and wanted to see and hear and feel the familiar presence of someone I had grown up watching and listening to with my family.  I explained to my Heavenly Father that I desperately wanted to feel the spirit in the most holy of all places on the earth.

As I prayed a had a rush of peace and a clear answer;  "You don't need to enter the temple to be in one of the most holy places on earth, your home is just as holy."

This was new doctrine to me.  With two-year-old twins and a six-month-old baby, my home felt exhausting and cluttered and somewhat frumpy.  At the time I had never really considered the sanctity of the home.

 Home is where covenants are kept.  Home is where families become bonded and truly sealed.  Home is where prayers and love and work are offered to the Lord.  The hymn Home can be a heaven on earth has  new meaning for me.

It has been twelve years since that time in my life and I can say I have never ever forgotten that important lesson.  Just last night Rustin and I sat down after dinner with our six busy, happy, noisy kids and Rustin said, "I am so glad we have six kids.  There is no one in the world I would want to sit around the table with more than our family."  I agree.

I am so glad that  I was reminded of a lesson burned into my soul long ago.  While I love and attend the temple often, my home really is one of the most sacred places I know.

Jack-out-o-the-box

 Just to catch up...

 We were lucky enough to have the perfect Jack-o-lantern smile just in time for Halloween.

 Seriously.  Benson's teeth couldn't have been more perfect for a freaky pumpkin carving template.

Along with a dirty faced baby.

We had a great Halloween.  Perfect 70's-ish weather (we have had snow in some years...)

And happy kids.

And of course lots of spicy pumpkin seeds. 

And the all important costumes--

Jenna was a witch, an Egyptian Princess and a 50's girl--all this year. (can we say indecisive?) 

 Austin is a Rasta man, Dallin is a vampire bat, a random friend is a pirate, Landon is Rocky and Benson is Bilbo. (As opposed to Frodo from last year... no complaints from me!)

 And Royalty!

We tried putting Jackson in a box. { Jack-in-the-box...}  He didn't go for it.