One year ago...

As I take my little yellow baby aspirin tonight I think about the events of one year ago and I'm thankful.

That I'm still here.
That I still have the opportunity to mother my children...
That I still have time to build my marriage...

That I have no complications or lingering effects...

That I don't have to take Coumadin anymore...

That I see the value and purpose of my life more clearly...

Life is precious. Don't waste it and your time on things of little worth. When your time seems limited I can promise you that  nothing matters more than your relationships.

With your children...

With your parents and siblings...

With your spouse...

With Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ...

I find that I'm still easily distracted by the world. I have to work hard to refocus. Often!

But I think I treasure more than ever before the people I love and the Gospel of my Savior. That was the blessed lesson that came from the craziest 10 days of my life.

Tattoo Artist in Training....or is it nail tech?

Today I was listening to a conference talk. Apparently this was the perfect time for a 2 year old to practice his tattoo technique as well as his toenail painting.

Good Things:

It was a dry-erase marker

It was not on any furniture or walls

Someday he'll grow up and not feel the need to color on himself!

Sixteen, going on seventeen....

We celebrated Cambria's 17th birthday with little fanfare this year. She wanted to take a cake to Seminary to share with her class so we made Cinnamon Swirl Cake for her to take. When she got home  from school I asked her if she wanted another cake for candles and family, but since a friend had made her a cake she said that was plenty of cake. She also did NOT want to be sung to anymore. Said she'd heard it enough at school that day. So we cut the cake her friend, Zoe, made her and had it with a little ice cream. We did get her a mint chevron infinity scarf that she really liked, and she got some cash from both grandparents. And that was pretty much it. 

We sure are thankful to have this girl in our family. She is a great help to me, especially in her care and attention to her little brothers. We are thankful for her efforts to become the person that God created her to be. She has many talents and gifts and much to offer. We love you, Cambria!!!! Happy Birthday!

beautiful girl opening her one gift...

modeling her scarf for us. Nice pouty lips there...

Zoe made a "lava" cake for Cambria. She has fun friends!

Tsunami in Provo?

We went to Utah Valley on Saturday for Taylor's mission farewell. We weren't able to leave til Sat morning because of XC and football and cheer/drill on Friday. We had plans to leave early on Saturday. Haha! We all overslept and still had to pack once we woke up. So we left a couple of hours later than we had wanted to. Then we got just past the airport and Cambria realized she had forgotten the guitar and banjo. She wanted to try to trade them for a better guitar. So we turned around and went back for them, also changing drivers. This time we got almost to the Rodeway Inn before I realized that the contact in my left eye was really irritating my eyelid. I noticed a small tear in it that morning and thought it would be okay, after all it was only a week old. But the thought of driving 4+ hours with it hurting didn't make me happy, so we turned around yet again so I could go exchange it for a new one. (when I pulled it out I could see that the tear was nearly to the center of the contact. No wonder it hurt.)

So third time was the charm and we were actually able to get past Peter's Hill this time. We noticed in Spanish Fork Canyon that there had been some flooding, with dried mud on the road. All the hillsides between Skyview and Billy's Mt. had deep crevices on them where the water had run off them, with piles of sand, rock and debris at the base of the hills. We could also see that we were driving into a storm. We even saw a bolt of lightening hit. When we were going up the east side of Billy's Mt. I was looking up at the switchbacks from when they had made the cut there in 83-84 to reopen the road through the canyon, and  I saw smoke and a tree on fire. Yup, found where the lightening had struck!

When we got into the valley, we had a few stops to make: Costco, Sam's Club, IFA, and Bill Harris Music. We had done the food shopping and Cambria and Curtis had gone in to the music store to trade guitars. Those of us sitting in the car were looking to the south and watching the clouds roiling above us. I got out to get a better look at them. Hannah said, 'Hey, that one looks like a tsunami!" I took some pictures as the clouds continued to move and change. They had very interesting shapes and colors. Almost looked like tornado weather,  that lovely greenish cast to the sky.

Then we went to IFA for chicken feed and while Curtis was in there, the storm hit with full fury. No working up to it, it was gangbusters from the get go. He got a bit wet walking from the door to the car. We tried to make our way to the Lefebvre's but with the storm and the traffic for the BYU football game, it took us about 30 minutes, with a few detours. We saw trees down, signs blown over, rivers running down streets, cars trying to be boats......It was crazy and it was as close as I ever want to come to experiencing a hurricane.

Good Things: 

The farewell was great, it was nice to see all the family and friends...

watching people turn out to help each other (many in the Lefebvre's neighborhood had their basements flooded.) 

Nice to see Ford again and meet his girlfriend. 

Great weekend!

I liked the greenish tint between the banks of clouds in this one.

Interesting formations-moving fast

The really dark bottomed cloud is the one Hannah thought looked like a tsunami wave...

Here it is moving closer to us....

It really does look like it's just going to roll over us...

Heading east on 3rd S. Wipers could hardly keep up.

3rd S and University. Looks like fog, but it's just heavy rain.

Turning up the road to the Lefebvre's. The water pouring down the street was muddy and had rocks in it and was flowing out and over 8th N in Orem. See how deep it is on the wheels of the car in front of us...

See it running down both sides of the street. (darn orange paper.)

That little car across the street is Allyson's. It was actually lifted up by the debris caught under it. See the 'water fountain" directly below it in the picture. That was caused by the fast moving water hitting the slope of the sidewalk/driveway. You can also see the diverted water running across the graveled parking and sidewalk of the neighbor's house. Compare it to the picture below.

After the rain stopped, the kids all went out and started helping clean up. Here Hannah (in black) and Isabell are clearing rocks from the road.

They had quite a bit of work to keep them busy.

My own little Tom and Huck...

I have no idea how my little guys walk everywhere without shoes, but they do. I love that they obviously play outside enough to have tough feet. I love that we live where there are dirt and rocks to walk on and not just concrete or asphalt.

Harvest 2013

Just recording what we've been able to harvest off our garden this year:

Spinach-several quart bags frozen for smoothies, some raw for juicing and some fed to chickens.

Lettuce-mesclun-salads, sandwiches and chickens. Grows great here in our cooler climate!

Peas-just enough for eating raw. Can't convince the little boys to leave them on the vine til they're big.

Chard-a bit for juicing, mostly for feeding greens to the chickens.

Bell peppers-so far we've picked 6 and they taste GOOD! Lots of little ones still on the plants. *edited*-I harvested the last of the peppers the day before it snowed, thank goodness! I got 46 peppers. Bumper crop for us!

Green beans-I planted bush beans thus year and they've done well. So far I've picked enough to cook for two meals for our family size. Still lots of little beans growing.

Onions-pulled up a few that were supposed to be green onions but were about the size of pickling onions. We've decided to just leave them all to grow bigger. 

Strawberries-they're really producing right now. Good sized berries that are juicy and yummy. Hoping the plants spread well and we have lots more next year!

Pumpkin-not harvested yet but there are two little pumpkins growing away on the vine. Hopefully they'll be big enough for us to use at Halloween.

Soren flips for tumbling

Soren doing straddle-rolls. (With Mindy-his teacher)

Need to work on flexibility it looks like!

Tuesday was also Soren's first day in a tumbling class. Hannah and Sadie have been taking it for a year but with Hannah now being in cheer/drill, she really didn't have time and it was decided that Soren needed to try it out.

I thought he would be excited, but when we got there he refused to get out of the car!

'I want to play soccer!'

'You already tried that. It's time to try something new.'

'Well, how about football?'

'They don't have football for 2nd grade.'

'Yes, they do!'

'Nope. Only for 3/4, and 5/6.'

'Well, I'd rather do wrestling!'

'It isn't wrestling season, and I can't afford to put you in rowdy boys wrestling. You'll have to wait for Jr. High for wrestling.'

'Humph!!'

I finally told him he only had to try it for a month and he decided he could do that and went into the gym.

When I picked him up afterward he was full of energy and excitement. 

'Thanks mom! For signing me up for tumbling! Next week we're going to have an obstacle course....................'

Whew! Crisis passed.

Good Things:

Fresh produce from the garden...

Citation Index app for scripture study...

An evening with everyone home...

Oh, boy! I've Got Joy! I Do, I Do!

Today was Charlie's first day of preschool at Mrs. E's Joy School.

He's been talking about it and asking about it since we went to the open house last week. 

This morning he was asking if it was time to go at 9 a.m. School didn't start until 12:30!

He was a bit nervous when we got there because there were kids he didn't know. I left him sitting there anyway, knowing that he would eventually join in and enjoy himself.

When I picked him up he had a smile on his face and lots to tell me about Joy School. It's hard for me to believe he is old enough to go to school already but I think he's going to have a 'joy'ful year!

Age: 4 1/2

Height: 3 ft, 6 1/2 in

Favorite food: PB & J sandwich

Favorite show: Avatar, the Last Airbender

Best buddies: Ethan, Canyon, Ryan

Good things: 

Only a 4 day school week!

Seeing Grandpa & Grandma W this coming weekend...

Finding THM.....

Our new grade school...

One thing we did pretty consistently over the summer is check out the progress on our new elementary school. It is scheduled to be completed by next year and ready for kids on the first day of school, August 2014!

When we moved here I was excited thinking that some of my children would go to the same schools I went to when I was growing up here. In a small town things don't often change much.

But the old school had lots of maintenance issues and it was so costly to keep fixing things that the district decided to replace it with a brand spanking new one! It's being built on the same property but its set back off the road further so it's actually being built behind the old school. The kids and community can watch the building of it every day. We are excited to have a new, modern school with all the bells and whistles.

Good things:

B Fridays, no one has to be to school early...

Watching my kids participate in their respective sports...

Mission farewells for my nephews and nieces...

Jordan and Lindsey Visit!

We have been looking forward to having Jordan and Lindsey come visit since they got married in April. This is the first time Lindsey has been to our home and it's the first time Jordan has been back to Monticello since Grandpa Barton's funeral. Too long between visits!!

They had time off between semesters so they took a week and came to spend some time with us. They came on Wed, Aug 21 and came to the ward party with us so they could partake of Dutch Oven potatoes. Traditional summer ward party fare.

On Thursday, they, James, Charles and I went to Bluff to see Grandma and the Fort. Grandma treated us to lunch at the Twin Rocks Cafe and then we wandered through the Bluff Fort Visitor Center and through the Fort itself, checking out the cabins. I forgot to take any photos of this event.

On Friday, they went to Canyonlands by way of the mountain. It was a stormy day and Jordan got some cool pictures of the storm rolling in.

On Saturday, we did yard work and other projects and then in the afternoon, we went up to the shooting range. It's so close to home, it's silly that we don't utilize it more often. I like that all my kids enjoy learning to shoot and are becoming quite good shots. I'm glad that Curtis has all the equipment to allow them to learn and that he also teaches them safe gun use and is very vigilant about it.

Getting things set up....

Some stylish safety eyewear...(Sadie, 12)

Same stylish eyewear and some happening ear protection, as well. (Hannah, 14)

Sighting in the gun in preparation to shoot...(Sadie)

Hannah's turn to shoot the single shot 22.

The little guys patiently waiting their turn, but trying out the eyewear...(Charles and James)

Dad getting his sights lined up...

Soren's turn to try to hit a can...

The girls knocking them down! (Sadie hit a target at 100 yards) (Hannah hit a penny at 50 ft)

James kept himself busy picking up shells...

Taking a break to go set up more targets or hunt for coins that were shot...

Lindsey(in her cool pink ear protection) is a good shot!

Jordan showing us his stuff!!

Not sure what he's being timid about...not wanting us to see him in glasses, maybe??

The gun range is fairly new and was a young man's Eagle Scout Project. It has a big berm on the west side and has target areas set up at 50 ft, 50 yards, 75 yards and 100 yards. It is close to our home and will provide us with another option for a family activity during the summer.

On Sunday we were going to drive over the mountain to Blanding, but when we woke up the mountain was invisible and stayed that way all day as the sky drizzled on us the entire day. We were in the path of the remnants of Tropical Storm Ivo. No flooding, just a soft, steady drizzle. It lasted into Monday as well.

On Monday, Jordan and Lindsey headed to Moab to Arches, Dead Horse Point and the Island in the Sky portion of Canyonlands. They are surely making good use of their yearly pass that gets them into all the National Parks and Monuments.

Tuesday we said goodbye as they headed down to the Grand Canyon, where they had been given a night's stay by a friend. Guess what they saw when they got there??

Not much, it was cloudy and drizzly. Thankfully it did clear up enough for them to see the Canyon. They headed back to Idaho on Wednesday, back to life and school. Hopefully we will see them here again in less than 1 1/2 years!!

Rock skipping

One thing we like to do occasionally is to head up to Loyd's Lake to throw and skip rocks. There is just something about rocks and a body of water that compels little boys to put the rocks into the water as hard as they can!

L-R:Soren, Charles, Cambria, James

This year, the water level at Loyd's is as low as I've ever seen it, due to the drought. It's crazy how little water is left in the reservoir. One benefit, I guess you could call it, is that there are a lot more rocks exposed to pick from for throwing and skipping. On this particular trip we found a deposit of shale that was perfect for skipping, since it comes apart in thin layers.

Cambria demonstrating her technique

Cambria and Soren were getting some pretty good skips going. And the next thing we knew Charles was getting some almost as good as theirs. And he has his own technique for doing it. He throws it like a frisbee. And it works!! James even managed to get a couple to skip once.

Follow-through

We sure enjoy having a lake close to home where we can go on a moment's whim to play. With three little boys in the house I suppose we will have many more days of rock skipping and throwing in our future!

Good Things:

A day with nothing scheduled...

That Sheila didn't bite Lindsey worse than she did.....

Spending time with Jordan and Lindsey!

Sunset and rain clouds

This night the sunset was particularly amazing. We had just had a good rain storm, there was still lots of moisture in the air and the colors just didn't stop. They went all across the sky from horizon to horizon. I was a little leery of trying to capture the colors with my phone camera, but decided to give it a try. I cannot believe how well the colors show up. With no fancy filters or anything, just my iPhone.

I wanted it to stay forever. I was in Type 2 chroma heaven this night. All the colors in the sky were on my style guide, with the exception of the bright yellows and oranges. :)

Sometimes, I have had the feeling that I'm looking more through my spiritual eyes than my physical eyes and when I experience that, I see things more vividly, especially the colors. This night I didn't have that feeling, but the colors surely could have made me think I was. God is a master creator!!

The trees at the west edge of our driveway look like they are on fire!

Incredible colors-captured with my little iPhone. 

I wish the sky was always this color. 

The most interesting rainbow I've seen. My house was at the end of it!!

Garden-summer 2013

Last year we started our garden by cutting down two trees and building the boxes for the raised beds. This year we wanted to get them going, but it was soooo hard to find compost or decent dirt that we could afford. We ended up spending more than we wanted and not getting quite what we wanted and by the time we got it the season for planting was pretty well past. We decided to just plant anyway to see how things would grow. We have been happily surprised to find that things grew well and that we were able to grow lots of things that we wanted to. We plan to build more boxes and someday the entire back yard will be a garden that will supply us with lots of our food. We have purchased a 'bender' for electrical conduit which you use to make hoops. The hoops and ag-fabric are used to make mini greenhouses or hoop--houses. This allows us to extend the growing season on both ends, being able to plant earlier and harvest longer. We will work on hoops during the winter and hopefully will have them available to use early next spring. When you live at 7000 ft you need some way to extend the growing season, it's pretty short. We also planted four trees this year, two apple-one Golden Delicious, and one Honeycrisp, one pear, and one plum. The plum tree did not survive, but the other three are doing well. We are excited to some day eat an apple off our own tree.

Good Things:
Harvesting all the greens today...
Evening thunderstorm...
Jordan and Lindsey are coming to visit next week!!

Our current garden beds-L to R
Strawberries/Green beans, Onions/Pumpkin, nothing, Lettuce/Spinach/Tomatoes/GreenPeppers/Chard, Raspberries

I LOVE strawberries. In all my married life, I've never grown any. I've planted them a couple of time but never gotten them to grow. We planted 10 plants this year, lost one, and finally we have lovely sweet red-all-the-way-through berries!!

Green peppers are quite prolific this year. We counted 14 peppers on one plant today. 

Lots of green tomatoes. All the rain is making it hard to stress the plants so that the tomatoes will turn red.

We feel very blessed to have been able to get this much to grow this year and are excited to think about the possibilities of the future. There is something so satisfying about growing some of your own food!