Our weekend...and a little bit of me ranting....

I have been working on this post and trying to arrange the pictures...but blogger is not letting me move the pictures. It's about to drive me nuts...well...that and Addie screaming her head off. She's lucky that I have locked myself in the office because I am seriously ready to smack that kid! AHHHHHHH!!!!! She wants me to blow up a swimming pool...and #1...I have no clue where our blow up swimming pool is and #2...I can't figure out how to put the right attachment on the air compressor and I am not about to blow up a pool with my mouth...even if I DID know where it was! She is freaking out and screaming at me to "blow up the pool!" You guys just don't understand how this girl can throw a fit and there is NOTHING you can do to get her to stop. She stops when she's ready. I can't put her in her room, she just comes out. She wont sit in time out and I can't sit there with her because her crying drives me crazy! If you have any advice...well...at this point keep it to yourself because right now I'd perfer to think that there's something wrong with her and not my parenting techniques. :}

Okay.....enough of me ranting....
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Here is my post about this past weekend!

Aren't Mondays the worst? I just want to crawl back in bed and go to sleep today. I guess I still haven't recovered from the two hours I spent in nursery with 17 kids. That wiped me out yesterday!

So....I thought I'd blog about our weekend...since we actually did something! My parents drove up late Friday night. We've been needing a visit from them...the kids ask about them coming to visit us all the time and Weston has even been praying that they will come! They got here around midnight. We got up Saturday morning and my kids attacked them in their bed (now that we have rearranged rooms...the guest bed in the office is often referred to as "Grandma and Grandpa's bed"). Anyhow...we ate breakfast and then Brandon, my dad, Weston and Addie went to go look at the cows. Weston had it in his head that he wanted to go see the cows that day...and so they all went. Funny kid. When they got back we loaded up in the van and headed over to Dollar Tree because Kaitlyn had earned some money pulling weeds and it was burning a hole in her pocket!

Oh! I have to back track for a second and tell you about Friday night! We had a ward Primary activity at the park. We all ate dinner and then they had tickets for snow cones and popcorn....plus they set up a big screen and projector and played the movie "Black Beards Ghost". We hadn't seen that one before...and the kids weren't very interested in it plus Weston kept wandering off in the dark so we left....but the whole idea was fun! I loved being out there in the night watching a movie with our ward family! I hope they'll do it again.

Okay...back to Saturday. After Dollar Tree we ate at Taco Bell for lunch then drove up to Woodland lake. I love that place. We walked around the lake and just took our time looking at the birds and plants. I think the highlight of the day for us all was when we saw a mommy duck with her 7 hungry ducklings. The kids indulged them on old hot dog buns that we had brought for that exact purpose! The ducklings were so cute! They just followed their momma everywhere she went! We could have watched them all day! The kids also liked playing at the play ground. It's near the ball field. There were some people shooting off bottle rockets in the field...so we watched them for a little while. Then we went to the store to get things for BBQ~ing. Then took the scenic route home from Show Low...back up Love Lake Road. It's so pretty over there. I know some people might hate me for saying this...but that area back behind Shumway and Taylor is SO much prettier than Snowflake. I'd love to live over there if it weren't for the water near by. I don't want to live near water while my kids are little.

Anyhow! That was our weekend! Fun and relaxing. The best part might have been that the kids were so well behaved!

I should also mention that we got a new Bishopric. Jim Bailey is Bishop, Jason Lyman is 1st Counselor and Sam Weech is 2nd Counselor! All great guys! We'll miss Bishop Decker and his family though. I have to admit that I was SO relieved that Brandon wasn't call to the Bishopric. I had been nervous that he might be. It's hard enough having him gone Sunday mornings!

Here's a few pictures from our visit to the lake!

P.S. Sorry about my snappy comment about not wanting advice...you ever had one of those moments though?

"Hair...bye bye"

Last night, Addie and Weston took a shower together. It's nice to have Weston older and to be able to just throw him in the shower with his sister! Well....after his shower, I got him dressed and then a little later he wanted a drink. We were in the kitchen when I noticed he had a patch if hair missing...then after further examination...I realized that he had several pathces of hair missing! Addie quickly owned up to the deed. Somehow a razor was left in the kids shower...and Addie put it to use. All I can say is it's a good thing Weston's a boy and I could just shave his hair off. Could you imagine if Addie had used the razor on herself!?

So...this morning after breakfast, I took a few pictures of Weston and then shaved his poor hair off. One day he'll laugh at this....I hope. For now...he misses his hair. When I ask him, "Where's your hair Weston?" He rubs his head and says, "Hair, bye bye."

With hair or without....he's still a little cutie!_________________________________________________

The Guilty Party

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Before I buzzed his head

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The girls and I thought it would be fun to give him a mohawk!

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Now here he is....bald and beautiful (well...not beautiful but still adorable!)

SO....I have to report my failure. Yesterday I tried to make fruit leather.....this was my second time. The first was about 4 years ago. ANYHOW.....it looked good+smelled great...but was stuck to the wax paper. I guess I should have used plastic wrap. Maybe I'll try that....in another 4 years.

Mmmmm....it's smelling pretty good over here. I have my cherry/apple fruit puree in the dehydtrator...I'm hoping it turns into some yummy fruit leather!

I have to give a little shout out to duct tape though. Totally saved me today! I had dropped the pitcher of my blender on the floor...then not knowing that it cracked I put the mashed up fruit in it to puree. Well...it started leaking out the crack and I was afraid I was going to lose all my hard work (picking cherries+washing them+taking the pits out....not to mention all the hot hours I spent 2 years ago canning the apple sauce.)...anyhow....I ran to the shed....got the duct tape and was able to finish up my puree without losing more than a couple dribbles! Thank you duct tape!

B-day+Father's Day!

Today is Brandon's day and I hope he's enjoying it! So far he didn't get breakfast in bed because our ward meets too early for that.....but I made him yummy chicken salad for lunch...which we ate AFTER we had cake...my mom sent it up for his Father's Day present...they sell them at her bakery...chocolaty and yummy...we manged to squeeze all 32 candles on it! It resembled a small forest fire and when he blew the candles out...there was tons of smoke! That's what happens when you get old I guess! :) Then he opened his gifts and he's been relaxing in his new recliner ever since...which I am SO happy for! I think Father's Day and Mother's Day and birthdays are days where the person being celebrated should do whatever they want and not have to cook, clean or change a diaper. So....I hope that Brandon feels celebrated! He's such a great dad...he loves to play with the kids, take them on dates, read them bed time stories and tease them! I also love that he has ambition. He takes pride in providing for our family. He honors his Priesthood which I am SO grateful for! Plus he has a great sense of humor. All in all....he's a pretty great guy who is lucky to have me as a wife....oops. I mean...I am so lucky to be his wife!

Mother+Daughter Night

We had a Mother+Daughter Night for Enrichment today! We ate dinner, decorated cookies, made flower hair clips and these adorable flip flops! Kaitlyn and Addie picked out the material they wanted to use and Aimee and I helped them put them together...totally cute and very fun! :)

Oh..I forgot

...I have to tell you what Kaitlyn said on the way home from church today! But first a little back ground. During our family scripture study recently, we talked about giving to people even if we're not sure that they will do something good with what we give them...our job is to give, not to judge....and that's hard sometimes.

Well...today Kaitlyn said something like, "Mom, will you give me some money." And I said, "If you earn it, I will". Then she said, "But I asked...and if people ask you for money, then you're supposed to give it to them remember?"

I don't know if she really thinks that is what we were trying to teach her...or if she was just being clever.....either way...I still thought it was cute.

lake, tie dye and a movie

There's not much to blog about... or at least not that my failing memory can recall...but I'm gonna try to do an update anyways!

SO! This week has been pretty fun. With Aimee here, I worry about her getting too bored...so we've tried to come up with a few fun things to do! There's been wacky weather to contend with too. The winds returned...which is good and bad. Bad because I hate the layer of dirt it leaves in my windows...and good because it's kept things cool. We're in the middle of June now and we still haven't had to turn on your AC! We also got a little rain this week...which is NEVER a bad thing around here!

I don't remember which day it was this week...maybe Monday? Anyhow....we (me, Aimee and the kids) along with Pam and her kids...(minus Jayzee and Dahlia and including Jewel and Jack) went to Woodland Lake. I don't know why I have never heard of that place before! It's up in Pinetop...about a 35-40 minute drive. They have a paved path around the lake that we walked (in the rain)...and ducks and swans to feed. I loved being out in the rain...even though it made things a little cool for comfort at times. We saw birds fishing and just enjoyed the smell of the trees! By the way...(my niece NaElle told me this and it's true even though I thought for a minute that she was just trying to made me look crazy)....anyhow...If you sniff a tree in a place were the bark is cracked and the tree is sort of exposed it smells like vanilla or butterscotch! It's true. You should try it!

What else did we do this week????? Oh! We made tie dye T-shirts! We made a big ol' mess doing it. It was windy outside and we had the dye in squirt bottles. We all had on "grubby" clothes...but then Jaydee (she's Addie's age) came over and even though she wasn't near the mess...the mess got near her because the wind blew sprays of dye all over. BUT....we have some super cute summer camp looking T-shirts now! We all put our shirts on and took pictures. I need to post those. We really looked like we'd been at summer camp!

Let's see......Friday night my brother Eric and his wife Kim drove up to visit! I really didn't think they'd come! None of my siblings have been up here to visit me in probably 2 years or more. They got here Friday night and realized they'd forgotten their bag that had their clothes in it....so me, Aimee and Kim made a late night trip to Wal-mart for a few essential items! :) Saturday I took Eric and Kim along with Aimee and Weston on a little tour of town. That didn't take too long...but it was fun. Then that night Aimee baby sat and us married folk went on a double date. We ate at this Italian place in Pinetop and then went and saw the movie "Land of the Lost". It was one of those movies where most of the funny parts were shown in the previews...and there were some pretty crude lines...so it's not one I'd recommend seeing...although it was moderately entertaining! :) After the movie we went to Dairy Queen. Let me tell you a little secret. The Dairy Queen in Show Low gives you more for your money than the one here in Snowflake. The medium in Show Low is the same size as the large here (just a little random information for ya!).

Eric and Kim drove home this morning. Well....I assume they made it home. I haven't heard from them though. The rest of us almost made it to church on time. I was excited for Nursery today because the Achievement Day girls (aka Dawniel) cleaned and organized all the toys and our cupboard. I love organization so that was very exciting for me! Everything was so nice and neat that it took the kids a lot longer to make a mess! I feel bad for not helping Dawniel with that project.

OH! I have to mention yoga because I don't think I have yet. This week was my second week of yoga and I already don't know what I ever did without it! I LOVE the stretching, breathing and relaxing. This next week I have to miss the Tuesday class because of Enrichment Night...but we're going to be learning some meditation techniques which I am excited about. We've also done a little reflexology. I love this class!

Well....that's about it I guess. Here's to another fun week right!?

1 year

When Jake died...it was seriously life shattering for us for a few weeks. It's hard to comprehend how it's possible to feel peaceful and happy now when we felt so sad then. That was a HARD day. Since then, he's been honored with awards and people have done SO much to make Mary Louise and the rest of the family feel like we're not alone in our mourning...which truly does help in the healing process. After uploading my blog to BookSmart to create a book, I realized that I never blogged about what happened (from my point of view) the day Jake died.

I was in bed. It was a Sunday morning and Brandon had gone to the Church for meetings already. I was just laying in bed enjoying the fact that the kids were still sleeping and I didn't have to get out of bed yet. I am not sure what time it was. While I was laying there, I heard the siren of an Emergency vehicle going by and didn't think much of it. Actually, I thought about Brandon's Uncle Dean because that's who I always think about when I hear sirens going in that direction...he's getting older and so I worry about him. Anyhow...I heard the sirens and then a few minutes later the phone rang. It was my sister in law Teresa calling. She sounded scared as she asked for Brandon. I told her that he was at meetings and then she asked me to pray for Jake because he'd fallen and wasn't breathing. I got out of bed, said a prayer and then went to find the phone number to the Bishops office. All along I was waiting to hear the sirens of the ambulance so that I'd know that Jake was okay and on his way to the hospital. Well...I was able to get a hold of Brandon and told him what Teresa had said and he said he'd go over and help give Jake a blessing. Then I called my mom. There wasn't much to tell her...I just needed her to know what was going on. By now....over 5 minutes had passed and I was getting scared because I hadn't heard that ambulance yet. When I was 19, I was trained as an Emergency First Responder...so I know what people do when they get an emergency call....and each minute that went past without me hearing those sirens solidified my worry that Jake wasn't going to make it. By now, Kaitlyn was awake and we knelt down and prayed for a miracle but in my mind...I knew he'd been too long without oxygen. 15 minutes after Teresa's phone call, I heard the ambulance. A few minutes later my sister in law Pam called to see if I wanted to drive to the hospital with her and Teresa. Aunt Ruth came over to be with my kids. In my mind I kept saying that he'd been too long without oxygen but please make him okay. Teresa and Pam got to my house and Weston and I got in the car and we left. We didn't get passed Taylor before we called for an update and were told that Jake didn't make it. I remember just bursting into tears and asking Teresa to pull over. Then we got back on the road and sped to the hospital. I called Aunt Evelyn and Aunt Ruth to tell them what had happened. Aunt Evelyn was watching Travis and Teresa's kids. Then I just started thinking... I couldn't imagine what on earth I'd say to Brandon when I saw him. Then I started thinking about Jake and all he does and wondering who would do it and I started to worry about our State of Arizona and wondered who would stand up to our Governor for us. I never really worried about what was going on in our State government because I knew Jake was there taking care of things. Well...we got to the hospital and went in to try to find the chapel. Brandon and Travis met us at the door leading into the area where Jake was. I just remember hugging Brandon and crying together and then going in to see Jake. They hadn't taken out the attachment to the ventilator and I remember wanting to take it out. I called my mom and told her that Jake hadn't made it and she offered to drive up right away but I told her to wait. We all just stayed in the room with Jake and talked...and we'd get to where we weren't crying anymore and then all of a sudden the tears were back again...finally we decided to go ahead and say good bye and leave the hospital.

I don't remember all that went on the rest of that day or the next few. We spent a lot of time at Brandon's parents house and there were LOTS of visitors who brought LOTS of food.

When I think back to that time...it seems like it was terrible but good. I have never felt the power of other peoples prayers buoying me up like I did then. Brandon and I spent time talking and crying together. And I felt more bonded to Brandon's family after going through that trial together.

This past year has gone by fast. I miss Jake. I really do...but I feel peace now.

I feel like we should be doing something to 'celebrate' his passing. Some of Brandon's siblings were able to go do sealings together which I think would have been nice to do. Today they are doing something at the State Capitol. I think they called it a Death Resolution. It's going to be read in front of the Legislators and Senators and some of the family is going to be there for that. Brandon couldn't' miss work or else we could have been there. So many people and organizations have done so many things to honor Jake that it's been impossible to be there for them all.

Anyhow... I guess I don't really know what else to say! I am just so grateful for the Gospel. I don't know how people get through the loss of a loved ones without it.

kid updates

Kaity-Lou lost another tooth last night (her 6th). She actually let me pull it! (I don't know why...but I LOVE pulling teeth!)...and since her Grandpa Flake isn't here to give her $2 for allowing him to pull teeth anymore...I gave her $2. Then she put the tooth in a baggie and put it under her pillow. This morning she woke up in a grumpy mood...calling for me and not getting out of bed until I came into her room to see what her problem was. There....to my utter astonishment was her tooth...still in the baggie! The tooth fairy hadn't come! Luckily...I have the tooth fairies email address...so I hurried and sent her an email. She replied right away telling me that she'd had been very busy during the night and was behind in her stops and that she'd be to our house sometime during the day...if Kaitlyn stayed out of her room. Well....low and behold...after lunch Kaitlyn checked under her pillow and her tooth was GONE with a $1 in it's place! How does that tooth fairy do it?

Addie has been her busy little self. She loves to play Barbies and get wet in the little kiddie pool....sometimes she does both at the same time. She has also graduated from wearing pull ups to bed at night. She's officially a BIG girl! We told her that she could wear panties to bed at night if she were able to keep her pull up dry for 5 nights in a row. Well...she did it and then called her daddy and Grandma Barrett to tell them all about it! She was so thrilled to wear her panties to bed. It's been a few weeks and she's had a couple accidents...but I gotta say...it feels great to only be buying diapers for one!

Which leads me to Westy-boy! He's trying to be a BIG boy and go to the bathroom on the toilet too! For a few days in a row he did all of his #2 jobs on the toilet to the point where when he actually went in his diaper, I was kindda grossed out! I think I'll wait one more month and see how things go before I aggressively start potty training him. They always think going on the toilet is GREAT when it's their idea but it seems like as soon as mom suggests it...they want nothing to do with it! Weston has also gotten very cute with how he pronounces things...and he's learning his "please" and "thank yous"....but kindda gets them mixed up sometimes. The other day I asked him if he was ready to go take a nap and he said, "No please".

We also have my cousin Amy staying with us. She got here Wednesday night. She's 17 and is GREAT to have around! The kids LOVE her and she's so good with them. It's also great when I need to run somewhere real quick or go visiting teaching...and she'll stay with the kids! She's out playing night games with my nephew Noah and some of his friends right now. We plan to have her here for another 2 weeks...if we don't drive her crazy first!

Contest

My friend Michelle is having a giveaway on her photography blog! Check it out!

Mesa and movin' cows

Things were kindda crazy this past week.

Amongst other things, the kids and I made a trip to Mesa to attend my great Uncle Ray's funeral. My Aunt Deanna (Ray's husband and my Grandma's sister...) is the sweetest person ever. I am glad I was able to go down and spend some time with her. She was staying at my parents house too. My girls got a chance to bond with her. Watching them together reminded me of when my Aunt Deanna would come visit us or we'd go visit them and she's show me how to knit or chrocet. She's never had children of her own...but she is a great example of motherhood in how kind she is and how she is always trying to teach children something. Adelin slept with her at night.....it's a good thing my Aunt's getting old or else Addie night have kept her up...but it was the other way around! You know how people get when they are older....frequent trips to the bathroom and then come 5 a.m. they are wide awake! I had to force Addie back to sleep in the mornings because she thought she should be getting up with Aunt Deanna....and I would have let her if we had gotten to bed before midnight an night that we were there! Anyhow...we drove home Friday after the funeral. Our niece Sydney was at our house and she spent Friday and Saturday night with us. She was a lot of fun! Friday night we all decided that we were going to take blankets out and lay on the trampoline and look for shooting stars. Well...the moon as a little too bright for that so the girls ended up getting flash lights and looked for worms in the garden. They ended up with quite the collection! Then Saturday we moved cows. Kaitlyn, Sydney and Brandon rode horses and Adelin, Weston and I drove the truck and tried to keep track of the girls + look for cows from the highway. I was pretty proud of Kaitlyn and Sydney. When we first got to where most of the cows were, they started driving about 16 of them south towards the canyon while Brandon rode out to find the rest of the cows. Well...I watched the girls for as long as I could and then they disappeared over a hill. I knew Brandon was going to catch up with them but I was getting nervous after a while and drove out to see if I could see them from the highway all the while praying that they weren't scared and that they horses and cows would be nice! Well...I found them waiting by the fence not too far from the canyon. They had gotten the cows where they needed to be and were waiting there without a care in the world! Seriously...I don't know what's happened to me to stick a 6 year old and an 8 year old on a couple horses and let them ride off with a bunch of cows...(have I finally gone completely nuts?)but they did it with no problem and had a great time! Well...Brandon and the girls ended up having to go back and look for some other cows so I waited for them knowing the girls would probably be sore and ready to quit....which they were. But Brandon still needed a ride home so we all went to the drinker that he was herding the cows to and waited. The girls got the horses out of the trailer and rode around and Weston, Addie and I hiked around a little. OH! I forgot to mention that I turned the truck and trailer around...by myself!

I am just rambling. There's so much to catch up on, it's impossible...so I guess I'll just consider that good enough! Oh! One other thing! I start my yoga class tomorrow! I am excited! It's every Tuesday and Thursday for a hour and a half! The class is at NPC. My niece-in-law Michelle is taking it too! Should be fun and it only costs us $24 (each)!

Okay...it's after midnight...better go to bed!