It's raining!

I love the rain. Growing up in a drought has made me appreciate every drop that comes. This has been a good day already (I took a nap and when I woke up I thought an hour had gone by, but I slept for two hours, wow!) , but the rain makes everything seem even better. It's been over 100 degrees this weekend, so the rain has cooled everything down and made our plants happy.
It seems like every family has their own Sunday dinner traditions. My mom declared it her day of rest from the kitchen, and about half the time she would put in a roast in the slowcooker and we were on our own in making the rest of our meal. It was actually kind of fun, we'd poke around to see what everyone else was fixing up. Our tradition is evolving into breakfast dinners. I don't make anything for breakfast beyond oatmeal unless we have visitors, so our french toast, waffles, crepes, and ebelskivers (they're these yummy pancake balls with a fruit filling that my mom made a lot growing up) are only made a dinner time. Sunday feels like a good day to make breakfast at night because it feels kind of special with out spending three hours cooking and cleaning. Plus, Farris helps out a lot with sunday dinners (hurrah, he's home at dinner making time!) and he makes excellent french toast. So, now I'm happy from eating a good breakfast dinner and from the rain. There's nothing like food and cooler temperatures to make a pregnant woman happy. Maybe I'll even have some ice cream...

trips and temples and (fruity) kids

We're back from our trip to Idaho, we had lots of fun and enjoyed spending time with family and being in our homes. We are glad to be back though! Felicity and Caleb were gone for two whole weeks and I think they were missing their rooms and the regular routine. They were showing lots of grumpiness the last few days and I'm hoping that a couple nights of real sleep and regular activities will get them back on even keel. The highlight of our trip was going through the open house for the new Twin Falls Temple. It was gorgeous! I wish we could go through it all again, we went on Saturday and because of so many people waiting to go we didn't get to look as closely at everything as I would have liked to. I can't wait to sit still in the Celestial room and just sit. Guess I'll just have to do some sessions there! We're all very excited that the Magic Valley has a temple, finally, finally.
We've been busy with fruit lately...I think I understand why Washington chopped the cherry tree down. He was tired of finding those gross worms in the fruit! Some friends in our ward gave us permission to pick from their tree, but it hadn't been sprayed and we spent a lot of time dissecting to find the good cherries. I don't think I'll be able to eat cherries for awhile now. Then, when we were in Idaho, Farris spent about three hours at a strawberry farm and came back with nine gallons of strawberries. Mom (thank you again!) helped us freeze some and make jam with the rest, and it's yummy! Yesterday on the way home we stopped in Burley and picked raspberries (thanks again, Judy!) and brought home a lot to make more jam and maybe just freeze some of those, too. We've had two offers this week to pick apricots and eventually we want to raid some peach trees, too. This winter I will be very grateful, I just hope I don't keel over with all this now.
Our garden decided to double itself while we were gone, including the weeds unfortunately. Our tomato plants are loaded with green fruit and our bell peppers are popping out all over, our carrots are getting close to pick, the watermelon has a little melon and the beans and corn are getting really big and I think our strawberries are looking much better if we can find them under the weeds. Yikes! We've created a monster. Now we have to do something with it all.
The kids are doing great. Joseph had fun trying to keep Grandpa Newey from taking naps (from just saying "wake up, sleepyhead!" to joining his cousin Michael in bouncing blocks off grandpa's head), Felicity is observing our driving much how a teenager would, and asked me if the other car could hear me talking to it? Caleb is the same mellow kid, he loved playing with his big boy cousins. When we were driving through Jerome he saw some cows out the window and announced it. I was making sure I knew the way I was going and not really paying attention and just said "Really? Lucky duck!" and he confusedly answered, "No, Mom, COWS."
Whew, I knew this was going to be a long one. And I know we don't put pictures on here, I'm sorry. Someday we will leave the past and actually get a digital camera, until then, you'll have to come see us and take your own pictures. Our house is always open for guests. Especially if they like to weed...

Camping at Outhouse Flats

Happy 4th of July! We had a great time this weekend (but it sure felt great to take a really long nap on Saturday after everyone had left!) . On Thursday after many calls to coordinate efforts, we met my mom, dad, Tasha, and the kids at Nicki's in Ogden and then headed up to Outhouse Flats by Pine View Reservoir in the Ogden Canyon to go camping. Now, the camp ground is not really called Outhouse Flats, but my mischievous dad and his equally so friends named it that when the forest service first opened the campground on a flat area between the highway and the reservoir. They had planted trees, but the trees were still really small compared to the outhouses. The kids tried to put up signs saying Outhouse Flats, but the forest service didn't think it was funny and kept taking down the signs. Frustrated, dad and his friends looked for something more permanent. Such as the white reflective highway paint. And Dad's cousin Paul's dad worked for the highway department...all was going well. They only had one more hitch in their plan. In the middle of painting the new name on the highway, going both ways, the local sheriff's deputy stopped by. They hid, but it was a cold night and the paint was steaming up from their hiding place in the bushes. The deputy's flashlight shined right on it. But after reading what was written he just laughed, announced to the steam that he'd be swinging through the area in a little while so they better hurry, and left them to finish the job. So to get back to the original topic, we went camping at Outhouse Flats, but the trees are much bigger now. Melissa and Rob joined us in a little while, then Chad and Tarilynn and kids, so everybody was there. Grandma and Grandpa were practically floating with all their grandkids around them. In the morning we went to the Huntsville park for the town breakfast and parade. Huntsville is growing but it still has a lot of the traditions that it had when we were kids (luckily, since we were out of the town we missed the sheriff driving through town at six with his siren on to wake everyone up for the breakfast. That was a tradition gladly missed) and it was really fun for Dad to see so many people he grew up with, including his cousin Paul. After the parade we went to grandma Newey's house that Aunt DaNeice owns now and had lunch with our cousins. We left to meet a college roommate of mine for a few minutes and then met back at our house here for dinner, except Chad and Tarilynn who headed back to Idaho. Saturday morning we just enjoyed being together and then packed everybody up to head back home. Felicity and Caleb jumped in with grandma at the last minute and I'm still trying to remember if I packed enough underwear for them in the frantic packing. As loud and busy as Joseph is, it sure is a lot quieter with the older two gone, and it was amazing how much faster we got ready for Church this morning. We do miss them, Joseph wandered the house this morning looking for Felicity. We'll pick them up when we head to Idaho for a family reunion this coming weekend. When we talked to them on the phone I think we missed them more than they missed us, Felicity was just excited that she got french frys and a hamburger for dinner. And speaking of that, I better go make dinner, Joseph is declaring he's hungry.

The toys vs. mean mom

In my last blog I meant to talk about the conflict I've been having with toys. My Inner Mean Mom (apparently not so inner) has come out and attacked a couple times the last few weeks, and we're trying to decide how to stop this. See, a few weeks ago the toy room and the family room were a mess with multitudes of toys. I told the kids they had to clean up before dinner, and Caleb looked at me and said "no." Inner mean mom started to rise. I told him I was going to put some of his toys in time out unless he cleaned up. He just said no again. So I told him I was going to get a big bag and everything that wasn't cleaned up was going into the bag for a long time out. He laughed and said no and started running around the room. Inner Mean Mom was not Inner at all any more, and all the toys throughout the house, even the stuffed animals they sleep with were shoved in the guest bedroom. After I calmed down I made a deal with them that they could get a toy out each time they made their beds or helped us or something like that. They were really good about cleaning up after that, and we had guests coming and a play group at my house, so I eventually brought all the toys out (except the toys I decided were D.I. bound). Then on this last Friday the Mean Mom reappeared. This time it was Felicity that said no. It's really the defiance that gets me mad, as long as the toys aren't too chaotic and are all in the toy room out of sight I'm o.k. But when they start acting like teenagers (or two year olds) look out. Anyway, this time I had the kids put the toys on the shelves and then the whole toy room went into time out for a week. I have the door barricaded and everything. They had a few toys up in their rooms and they have their bikes and books and coloring so they're o.k. (they've been pretty creative: Joseph played with a cardboard box last night, and Felicity and Caleb were using books to make tents for their stuffed animals.) So now we're thinking about keeping some toys out and switching every few weeks. They really don't have a huge amount of toys, it all just seems to multiply when it's on the floor. And the bag of 150 balls and bags and wagons with 500 or so mega blocks doesn't help. So that's the situation at my house. The mean mom is still lurking but maybe I can keep her inside for awhile.

toys and dancing and stuff

Yes, it's definately summer, we jumped from 60 and 70 degree days to 90 degree days. Felicity and Caleb have started their communtiy classes. This week and next week they both have a dance class everyday, Felicity's in creative dance. She loves it, but can't wait for ballet next year. Caleb is in an all boys Super Heros dance class. I was hoping maybe it would teach him not to walk into walls and doorways (yeah, we have a little problem with that). This morning he told me that he learned that Super Heros have stinky feet. So maybe he'll have to learn some grace later. Caleb did get a bike for his birthday, it says "Rockit" on it, so whenever it bucks him off or is a little hard to turn he sighs and says "Come on, Rocket, let's go!" We found a trike for Joseph and had to give it to him for his birthday a little early because he kept trying to steal Caleb's bike. Last night for my night off I went to a fabric store that's having a good sale and got material for a quilt for little baby #4. I've finished Joseph's quilt top, but since I've never actually quilted the whole thing together before, I'm not sure when he's going to get an actual blanket. Mom (and Nicki), I might have to come visit with a couple projects in tow. Well, Joseph just walked up and announced that he's poopy, so I better go. Next time I should talk about Joseph's growing vocabulary, he never stops talking now, which is pretty funny.

boys, boys, boys...continued

Soooo...I got my ultrasound today. Felicity was disappointed. She got bored pretty quick after the announcement and tried to walk out. She seems to be coming around, and has already decided we should name the baby "Mark" after one of her friends here (Yup, Julie, that's your Mark). Caleb and Joseph don't seem to care now, but maybe they will when they realize the balance of power is still in their favor. I'm glad, he's a healthy little guy and is a little bigger than average, the due date is October 21st, his size is on schedule for October 12th, but it probably won't change the due date. It is really neat that they can check how many chambers the heart has, if the spinal cord is growing as it needs to, if some of the major arteries have fused together and all of these other things to rule out health problems. He's looking good, and we're excited to have another little guy running, jumping and playing. Even if I do have to sanitize everything, all the time.

boys, boys, boys...

I know I just wrote yesterday, but I want to complain and see if any one else with little boys has the same problems. I'm talking bathroom, so if you're squimish, stop reading now. When I first got married (yes, this was at Deseret Book), I worked with this great lady who told me that with her sons she put a sign above the toilet that said "It's not as long as you think. Stand closer." Caleb has decided he wants to pee like daddy. I thought he was doing so well, and he does most of the time, but saturday I realized that I need to sanitize the floor around the toilet and the toilet seat about every other day. And to make it worse, Joseph who is still getting potty trained, wants to stand up too. The problem is he's short and no amount of toe standing and streching is going to make it. But he is demanding that he stand up. After I tell him about how special his seat is and all that I can usually get him on it, but he has problems with that, too. He's not real good at aiming inside the toilet (I might have to try that bullseye trick with the cheerios), the other day he put his finger in the wrong spot and it was like a hose when you put your finger in front to spray the garden, except it was the rug and walls. Now, don't be scared of going in our bathroom, I use a lot of Lysol (we're working on a year supply) and I steam the tile in the bathroom, and I'm learning to move the rug so I don't have to wash it every other day. But do I have any sympathy out there? Any great ideas? Any other good stories so I know that I'm not alone? This week I'll find out if we're having boy #3 or girl #2. Either would be wonderful, but sometimes I think I can handle the girly-dramatics more than the boy- sanitize-the-world. We'll see.