A Long Weekend...

We've been here for an entire month now. Wow has the time gone by fast!

Every weekend since we have moved seems to have been cram packed with family activites. We had a family reunion last weekend and then this weekend was my in-laws farewell. Next monday, a week from today, they will be reporting to the MTC. In a few weeks they will be on there way to Navou. Every weekend we seem to be on the go, go ,go. It's great to be so close to family that now we can participate in all the family activites we want. Our busy summer isn't over yet. This coming weekend my side of the family is having a reunion.

After such a busy weekend to say my kids were cranky was an understatement. About 1:30 this afternoon I had had enough. I threw my hands in the air and told each one of my children that it was nap time. I didn't care where or how they slept they had just better get to sleep somewhere and quickly. About 2 I went around to check on everyone. Hunter was asleep on our couch downstairs.
Madelyn on her bed.

Emily under all her covers.

And little man on my bed. It was so peaceful for a WHOLE hour.

It was a much needed peaceful hour for mom too. Despite my temptation to do the dishes or start the laundry or clean the bathrooms, I laid on my bed and read a book uninterupted.

It was a great hour. I decided I don't do that often enough. Must do that again!

Madelyn's 7

This past weekend was Madelyn's 7th birthday!

We invited ALL of her cousins and there families over for a bbq. Madelyn is growing up so fast. For a few years now I've been making their birthday cake with a theme of something that they are currently into. We've done Tinkerbell, Littlest Pet Shop, etc. This year Madelyn isn't into anything paticular. She had a hard time choosing what she wanted her cake theme to be. After a few days of different discussions we jumped on the internet to see what other 7 year old girls have had for a birthday cake. I must say I have NEVER seen anything like this before. It's called a candy cake.
I was prepared this time. I made ALL the "candy" about 5 days before the big day. This was perfect. The fondant was dried completely and I didn't have a single issue with it falling apart due to wetness. Suckers, Lollipops, hard candy, what else could you ask for?
She loved it!

Kory barbequed the hamburgers while some of the kids entertained themselves on the computer.

Finally lunch was served. Madelyn requested hamburgers and chips. We had everyone who attended bring a salad to share.

Yum!

Somebody got a hold of my camera during the party and took a few pictures. Despite the blurriness I love this picture of these two. Meet cousin Rachel with Emily. I was suppose to be induced the same day Rachel was born. I was a little dissapointed the hospital was FULL and I didn't end up having Emily for another 2 days. It would have been fun to have "twinner's".

It's always fun to watch the birthday child "try" to open there gifts. These gift givers were anxious to "help" the birthday girl open her gifts.

It's singing time.....

And now the much awaited cake time....

Grandma Heaton helping Brayden not make a mess on my new couches.

Uncle Jim brought his candy canon over to celebrate her special day.

This is Kory trying to get the fuse to light.

Madelyn was suppose to light it but it took off to quickly and she got scared and jumped back.

Do they look ready?

I think Brayden had a good ol' time with this activity. Lots of sugar fell into his lap.

The is cousin Andrea who was staying a few days at Grandma's without her family. She felt bad she didn't have a gift for Madelyn so made her some special pies. She even wrote Madie on them.

She's 7!

Here are 7 things Madelyn LOVES in no paticular order!

#1 Her baby brother, Brayden. Madeyln is so good to him. Almost to good. She is so quick to give him what he wants. She is always right there to comfort him. The other day I smacked his hand and he ran off crying and yelling her name. Within what seem like seconds Madelyn had come down stairs and picked him up. He was crying into her shoulder telling her how "mean" (his new word) mommy was to him.

#2 Cousins. Oh my gosh does this girl love her girl cousins. Of the 14 cousins that live near by only 3 of them are boys (2 belonging to me). The other 11 are all girls, girls, girls! Those big girl cousins of her's are so good to allow the little ones to tag along. At the same time Madelyn and the cousins her age are also good to allow the younger girls to follow after them.

#3 Church. She looks forward to church. She likes her new primary teacher and she likes her classmates. She is usually the 1st one ready sunday mornings. She is eager to get to church.

#4 To sing. She is always singing. ALWAYS. She quite often puts a c.d in her c.d player and sings along at the top of her lungs.

#5 Baking. I love her love of baking. Whenever she see's me in the kitchen she asks what I'm doing and if she can help. Her favorite thing to bake is cookies. I'm trying to teach her how to follow a recepie. She's doing very well. Too soon I'm going to be able to let her make them by herself without me looking over her shoulder.

#6 Draw, color, write, etc. If she's not singing or baking you can usually find her sitting at the table with papers, markers and a pencil around. She loves to color and draw. She loves to draw a picture and then add a short story to it.

#7 Clean. She is such a great helper. In the mornings she asks me, "So, mom what are we going to clean today?" Her favorite room to clean right now is the bathroom.

I love you Madelyn, I am so glad you are apart of our family.

You know your a red neck when....

You know your a red neck when.... You take your brother's offer of bringing his goats over to MOW your lawn.
Not just one goat but all 9 goats.
My family has a family reunion next weekend. Some of them have said they may want to camp out on our front lawn, of course my kids want to sleep in a tent out there too. I was telling Kory I was going to find a lawn mower this week to borrow to mow before everyone gets here. I guess he beat me to it. We'll see how good of a job they do.

Escapee...

This is a picture of one of our many outside doors. The only difference between this and the others is the dang doggy door. Eventually this doggy door will be blocked off. However this doggy door has NOT been at the top of our to do list with to many other demanding fixes that needs done. We've just been saying by winter we'll have it fixed so we don't have snow blowing inside the house and loosing heat from it. This little guy discovered the doggy door after moving in but soon forgot about it until today.
This morning I heard somebody knocking on our side door. Wondering who would possibly be knocking on that door I was quite suprised to see my little boy standing there. He came running inside, went straight to the hallway, out to the door and out that dang doggy door. I couldn't believe it. After coaxing him inside after a little while I shut the connecting door to the hallway so he wouldn't beable to escape again.

After Kory left tonight for work all 4 kids went upstairs to watch a movie. Late last week we ordered a internet phone that worked great the first 2 days. Since then we can make any long distance call we want but no local calls will go through. Knowing the kids would be busy/ entertained for the next 86 minutes I got on the internet to contact this phone server for help. They don't have a phone number to call so we've had to chat with there technicians for help. After almost the full 86 minutes had gone by I was told this company needs to contact the local phone carrier to see why our phones not working. Anyways, I get off the computer and start doing dinner. The movie soon ends and the kids start coming downstairs again. I ask where Brayden is? No one knows. I go up stairs looking for him and I can't find him. Being he missed his nap I assumed I'd find him asleep on the floor somewhere. He's not upstairs so I come back down to look. I can't find him. I'm starting to get panicky. Seeing the hallway door open I know he's escaped outside. But how long has he been gone for? I thought I knew where he was during the past 86 minutes. My father in law brought some horses home the other night and there next door in the pasture. I'm of course thinking the worse. I get the kids to help and we start searching and calling his name outside with of course no response. After about 10 minutes I'm beyond PANICKY! He's not in the pasture with the horses, he's not at the park, he's not on the rock pile in front of my in-laws, he's not out in the barn, he's not in with the goats, he's not at the church and he's not in the ditch Kory dug today trying to fix a water break.
Where is he?
I'm about ready to call Kory at work. I had no idea where he was. I'm in the back yard yelling his name and making my way back to the house when I hear my brother-in-law coming down the lane on his skidsteer. He hears me yelling Brayden's name and calls out to me saying he's on other side of the barn. I run to the other side of the barn still yelling his name and all I'm getting is silence. I don't see him anywhere. Dustin can tell I can't see him still so gets out to help me. The grass behind the barn goes up to my thighs. That kid was sitting in the thick of it. He wasn't moving, I'm sure he thought we were playing hide-n-seek. When our eyes met he gave me the biggest grin.
I can't begin to describe how scared I was.

Tonight after dinner that kid escaped again. Only this time I knew when he left. The fixing of that doggy door just went up on the to do list. It will be fixed, and soon!

A Water Break!

The owner's of the house we are renting had a barn built several years ago near the house. They had the top of the barn turned into a little apartment. All I can say is this barn would not have passed code when it was built nor the apartment. For that matter it still wouldn't pass code. The owners called Kory and asked him if he'd look into getting the water turned on in the barn so that they can come up for the 4th of July. Kory went out with a shovel to try to find the shut off valve. Most people have the water lines at least 3 ft below ground level to prevent freezing. Kory with his shovel hit and snapped the pipe in half at about 16 inches deep. OOPS!

For quite some time I listened to him ranting and raving about the "idiot" who built the barn and the "idiot" who didn't know what he was doing when he did the water lines and how stupid this person was to put the water line 16 inches deep when it's suppose to be 36-48 inches deep. Especially for putting a water line in Alton where it freezes 6 months out of the year. When he got it all out of his system he borrowed the back hoe from his dad to try to fix the now much bigger problem he had on his hands.
To say this man of mine was NOT happy was an understatement!

Hunter wanting to help his dad put on the extra pair of rubber boots to go dig through the mud to help fix the leak with his dad.

Brayden loved the time he spent in the back hoe and did not want to get out.

Kory was able to temporarily fix the break. We've got to pick up some more parts while I'm in town tommorrow so he can fix it properly.

I'm glad we moved. I'm not sure this house was the best in the end. It was the nicest from the outside, the newest and the biggest that we had available. I guess I've learned the phrase, "don't judge a book by it's cover". There were so many things that did not work or was broken when we moved in. Here's a short list to remind myself in a month or two when everythings been taken care of:

No propane, means no hot water and no cooking

Dishwasher- broken

No working light fixtures- have now replaced 30+ lightbulbs

Weather stripping was bad on all 4 outside doors, could feel the cold not seeping in but blowing in full force

Water heater that now once a week has offered no hot water

All outside doors must be kicked shut to shut or kicked open to open

The fan on the wood burining stove- broken

Broken, smelly, stinky backed up toilet up stairs

toilets that don't flush all the way

The filthyness, mold in all bathrooms, around all the sinks, in the fridge,etc.

Broken drawers in all bathrooms

Kory's been able to fix many of the above mentioned. We still have some more to go. Sometimes it seems like for every step we take forward we end up taking 2 steps back. For instance today, he was able to fix some broken fence outside this morning till he ran out of screws. After that he break's the water line and then tonight (after Kory had already left for work of course) the girls came running downstairs to tell me there sink was broken, the water wouldn't shut off. I booked it up stairs to investigate. Sure enough the cold water handle had broken. I was able to get a screw driver to shut if off but seriously! I don't dare ask, "What's next?"

The owner knew his house had many problems and has told Kory that what needs fixed can be taken off the next months rent. I just wonder if he knew how much fixing he really needed. From where we're standing I don't know when we'll have to pay another months rent.

A Park

Having a park across the street is so much fun. It certainly helps get the wiggles out.
Brayden loves the swing and could stay in one all day long.

Knowing I had my camera with me all I heard was, "Mommy, take a picture of me now."

Lots of fun to be had.

When we moved a month ago the weather in Hurricane was gorgeous. I had packed up all of our winter ware and had pulled out our summer clothes. During our first few days in Alton I quickly decided that Spring was most definetly not here yet. I unpacked those winter clothes and packed up our summer clothes for a few more weeks. Last week the weather was finally starting to warm up. I pulled out a few summer clothes to please the kids. This past sunday when we left for church we all commented how the weather was suddenly cold again. We had dark sky's and the wind was blowing. Coming out of church I was shocked to see snow flurries. Really! In the middle of June and it's snowing. It didn't stick and it didn't last for long but it SNOWED. On Father's Day, no less.

Yesterday was still quite cold but today the sun came out and we could feel the warmth. I hope it stays for a long, long time. I am ready for winter to be over.

Heaton Reunion

Every year during the month of June the Heaton's get together for a Family Reunion in Alton. There are usually between 125-200 people that come each year. For the past 3 years we have been unable to make it. I'm so glad we were able to participate this year. We had so much FUN!

This year instead of having the reunion in Alton it took place 10-15 miles away in what we call Rush. Rush is where the Heaton's keep there cattle heard during the summer's.

This picture represents what a reunion is. Cousins, Cousins and Cousins. Some you know better then others and some you don't know at all. These 4 boys were the only 8-10 year old boys around. Where there was one there were the other 3. These guys were stuck like glue. It was fun to watch Hunter make new friends. Uncle Jim brought his candy cannon.

I want one.

The kids went bezzerk when the cannon was fired and candy came falling out of the sky.

There was plenty of food around for someone to be constantly eating.

I love his mouth wide open. This was his expression when he turned around and saw this:

Look at that fire!

Being in the mountains brings the cold night air a little quicker than normal.

Grandpa Heaton carved whistles out of tree branches.

They actually worked. Grandpa's can do things like this.

It may have driven the adults CRAZY with 10 kids running around with homemade whistles
but they sure had fun.

Emily spent a while trying to catch some dirt fish!

Emily and her cousin Rachel were great babysitters. Many, many, many toddlers plopped themselves in the dirt to play. Any time one of them got up to wander these girls would quickly go find an adult for help.

Kory and Brayden.

One of the many games that were prepared for the weekend was "catch the chicken's". Hunter was so pleased that he was able to catch one. What a different kid he's turning out to be. This past year when we got baby chicks he was too scared to hold them. Look at him now, chasing chickens!

One of the other activities we had going on was a Zip-Line. Oh my goodness the hours of fun everyone had on this. The above picture is of Kory coming down.

Emily and Rachel near the end of the Zip-Line. I love Emily's facial expression. Despite the fear she had, she went down numerous times.

Hunter and Brayden also LOVED the zip line. This is them coming to a stop at the bottom. Brayden only being 2, I was not planning on him participating. I guess this is what happens when Kory found me and said, "Here let me take him from you. I'll watch him for a little while." Little did I know that he had plans on sending him down on the zip line. Kory took him with him the 1st time and he loved it. He wanted to do it over and over and over. He would throw a mini temper tantrum when it came time taking him off the chair after his turn. When he was put down, he'd head straight to the hill and start climbing up for his next turn. This kid definetly belongs to Kory. He has no FEAR.

Grandma Heaton and Emily eating there dinner together.

Madelyn and her Cousin Ruth were connected at the hips.

They had lots of fun together.

One of the activites was to have a game of Paint Ball. Not having enough guns and not wanting to spend too much money on sling shots all the kids made there own. The first part was to find a good strong Y branch, they then cut a piece of rubber and tied it to some tubing, connecting it to the Y.

Hunter's homemade sling shot he made.

Of course Grandpa brought his horse for the kids to ride.

At the end we had a box full of treats the kids got to pick out of.

Emily chose a bottle of bubbles.

Brayden was given a water shooter out of the prize box.

I love his face.

It was a great weekend that went way too fast!

We didn't camp out like some of the other families did.

I can't believe how dirty my kids got. I guess that means they had a good time too. Brayden wore himself out. He fell asleep like this on our way home in Daddy's truck.