Puppies

   Here are some pictures of our newest members of our family.

In our lives

this last week.  We had a very pleasant weekend.  Nathan had a baseball game on Saturday morning and Kathie had invited me to a Relief Society meeting.  I chose the RS meeting and Glenn took Nathan and Mandy to the game.  It was a close game and we technically won but it was put as a lose.  In Little League, you play for a certain amount of minutes.  If you are in the middle of an inning, then the score reverts back to what it was before that inning started.  So, I think we were winning when the time ran out but had been behind the last inning, so we lost.  Nathan had a good game, he is really coming on as a pitcher and is bat has been pretty good this year.  Last year, the coaches determined that he needed to switch stances and arms and so he now bats left handed.  It took the season for him to make the transition but he is doing well now.

Kathie and I had a nice time at the RS meeting and then I came home and changed clothes and the Ricks came over.  We picked dewberries – they are everywhere this year – and made freezer jam.  Yum.  Then we had a nice Passover meal.  We had great food and desserts.  Jessi and Lizzie stayed when the Turpins left earlier.  They came dewberry picking but were just leaving when we got back home.

We have very cute puppies.  They remind me of the 101 Dalmatians in that they are so fat!  They will look like our bulldog, Bull.  Their mom, Sandy, is going to need surgery.  Sigh.  How do we do this?  Her femoral head on her left side is deteriating  (sp?)and will need surgery.  Don’t know if we will but probably as she is in pain and is hopping around.  The pregnancy was probably not good for her but this is a long time thing.

We are counting down to our leaving for Germany.  Mandy and I leave May 16th and then Nathan and Daddy are coming on the 31st. We have around 4 weeks and are trying to push school to finish what we can.

I am trying to figure out what to do next year.  I am trying to find an online program that will work for Nathan.  Maybe Mandy also, haven’t decided.  I have checked out several programs but haven’t come to a conclusion.  I know that it’s a ways from school starting next year but I try to have everything ordered and in line before the school year ends, that way I don’t have to worry about it over the summer.  We will see.

It is so wonderful that we have had rain so far this year.  Everything  is so green, all of my roses are blooming like crazy and even a climbing vine that I thought was dead.  It is growing and blooming beautifully.  Last year, we didn’t mow once because there was no grass and we have already mowed this year and  it needs it again.  We are so blessed!

Puppies

We have puppies.  Sandy had 6 puppies last night/this morning.  I have been through several puppy/kitchen births but Sandy took it the hardest.  Anyway, we have 4 brown puppies and 2 white with brown patches on their eyes.  They are good size puppies for a small dog.  We will take some pictures later when they aren’t so new and Sandy has gotten used to the idea of her puppies.  That  means for now we have 12 dogs on the property!  Groan.

The week, so far

It has been a hard week, I guess because it has been so busy.  Nathan has started back into baseball (ugh) and practices.  Mandy has been introduced to a orthodontist (oh joy!) because she is going to need a retainer for a underbite.  Then Bull also got hurt around a week ago. 

I will spare you pictures.  He evidently got kicked by one of the cows.  He probably had it coming as he chases them.  We have tried to stop him and may need to tie him up some.   Nathan noticed it 8 days ago, what ever day that is.  He was laying down, looked awful and when I started looking  at his underbelly (?) was purple and hard.  Now 8 days later, he has a hole in the said underbelly that is as large as my two fists.  It is just open and gaping.  The skin has died and he still has an infection but is much better.  We are giving antibiotics twice a day, doing hypro- something (spraying his wound with water) twice a day, and now the Vet told me to put sugar in his wound.  Yes, I said sugar!

I am a little confused by this but it is supposed to help the wound.  Who knew?  Not me. 

Glenn is getting back from Canada tonight but is leaving for Germany on Saturday.  He will be there a couple of weeks.  He told me but I am not sure what he will be doing.  Nathan is sad.  He misses his Dad and two weeks is a long time.  More, later.

Lego’s First club – Magnolia Makers

Mandy belongs to a Science club called the First Club, our group is called the Magnolia Makers.  There are 7 kids in our group, aged 6 – 9.  Mandy is the only girl.  We have been working all year to build things that move.  We have built a car that actually is remote controlled and the last part of the year  we have been working on making a model of something that makes a snack.

Our kids decided on the banana split and they researched the history and then made a cute model of a little restaurant and a little machine that moved around and was supposed to be the ice cream dispenser and also dispensed toppings and whip cream.  It did go around but didn't have to actually dispense the ice cream.  We went to an exhibit and competition yesterday.  I think the kids enjoyed it and it was fascinating to watch what the older kids made.  The older group 9 – 12 were doing robotics.  Their machines had to actually do certain things, scoop things up, move them from one place to another, move around obstacles without hitting them, etc. 

So, this is our group.  We had to make a poster with info on each of the kids, history about our snack and then our machine. Wait, one of the kids is missing – have to find another picture.         Some of the boys and our model.  The silver things are bowls, they are seats and a person for each of the kids.  The right side is the “kitchen” of the restaurant.  The judge talking to the kids and looking at the models and poster.  Each judge had on some kind of crazy hat.  It was easy to spot them!

The group received a trophy to put in their meeting room.   I think Mandy had a good time and this club has been good for her.  We wanted to have shirts for each of the kids but didn’t want to spend a lot of money and so we had them printed in black and then each of the kids used fabric paint to color their own shirt.

We took a couple of pictures of the older kids “robots” and the competition:

One of the older kids robots.  They had to be able to pick up and scoop things up.

   Some of the “unusual” judges.  It was a nice day, we stopped and had lunch and then went home.

Agency

Our theme for this year in Primary is Choose the Right.  It is all about having our agency and learning to make the right choices.

Today, I did sharing time and something interesting happened.  The first part of my presentation was posting one “A” and one “B” on the board and giving the kids a definition of each plan.  We were pretending to go to Disney World.  Plan A was that we were all going but that I choose all the rides they would take, what they would eat and where they would play but I guaranteed that no one would get lost or hurt.  Plan B was that we were all going but the kids could choose what rides they wanted and where they wanted to eat and play but I couldn’t guarantee that someone wouldn’t get lost or hurt.

In both Junior and Senior primary 1/3 of the kids chose plan A and 2/3 chose plan B.  It was  interesting.  By the way, Mandy chose plan A with no choice and Nathan chose B with his own choice.  Kind of made me feel a little like what Heavenly Father might have felt like.

Happy new year

 

 

Happy new year everyone

We have two new kittens-NathanWorld

Spot had five kittens  I have caught two.

we have named one Shadow and the other Jet.

We have no idea what happed to the rest? 

                                 This is Shadow

Christmas, 2011

This year we went to Shelly’s for Christmas Eve, enjoyed yummy food, had a wonderful Nativity Scene and a computer animated review of our year and music.  We had a very nice time.

   Our Lizzy is growing up and so pretty!

Marlissa and Elizabeth – always together and the very best friends.

The angels and shepherds watching over their flocks

Mary and Joseph watching the music flash across the screen.

 

 

 

 

 

The wise men traveling afar and also Sammi/Beth the camel.  Best camel I have ever seen!

    Marlissa the “Wise Guy”.  She was so cute!

Samuel the Lamanite exiting the scene.

Beth and Dallas joined us for Christmas Eve, it was nice to see them.

Presents, presents everywhere.

Later at home, opening that one present.  She unwrapped a pink Nintendo DS XL.  Very happy girl!

Lego’s, Lego’s everywhere

We had a wonderful Christmas.  Nathan asked for 2 things this year.  A “Loopz” game and a Air Hogs remote control plane.

This is Loopz and it is a musical game.  The machine will give him/her a pattern of notes and you have to repeat them.  You can play by yourself or against others.  Everyone has enjoyed it and the remote control – well they are harder than they look.  Here we go – up, up and away -

and then -  yes, it is in there somewhere!  We did get it down and they enjoyed flying it this way and that.  

On the hay and on the ground.  Mandy on the other hand has played nonstop with her Nintendo.

We hope you all had a great Christmas and wish you a Happy, wonderful 2012.

Christmas, so far.

 

As I get older Christmas seems to come faster and there are alot of things that I don’t do, that I used to do.  This year just seemed very busy and some things like sending out cards didn’t get done but we have had a nice holiday and thought I would share a few pictures so far.

Our first batch of peanut butter balls this year.

 

We had a Christmas Advent wreath.  We have been reading an advent story and the candles are lit each either day or each Sunday.

This is the advent story that we have been reading this year.  It follows and young man in Jesus’ time and his adventure as he is taken through the Holy land and finally ends up at Bethlehem on Christmas day and the birth of the Messiah.

           Mandy set up the Nativity scene this year.  They are both getting so big and this seemed like something she would like to do.  She did a good job, I think.

We also made Gingerbread houses for FHE last week.  They both made one and they are both interesting. 

Step one and step two.

Nathan’s house – later he stuck the gingerbread man up on the roof, like Santa.  Mandy’s house -

I guess I need to get another picture of hers.  She has a walk way and the same design on one roof and the other and she was very meticulous, of course!

I will need to post other pictures of Christmas Eve and Christmas day but Happy Holidays to all!

The Beach and Thanksgiving

Of course, I am back to writing what happened a month ago.  The last time I blogged Nathan was playing football.  They won the Magnolia championship for their age group and then went on to win the area championship, also.  A good first year of football for Nathan.

The weekend   before Thanksgiving we went down to the beach and had a wonderful time!  We loved the house and everyone was very comfortable.  We could walk right onto the beach and play.  Only problem was in turned up cold on Saturday but of course, when we left on Sunday it was a lovely day.

               The view from the back porch.

 

 

 

 

         I didn’t even know Shelly could run!  The house was very nice.

The boys digging to China!

Katherine and David in the water.  We made them come out when Cameron said he couldn’t feel his feet!  We had fun though.

   Marlissa and Elizabeth – they play so well together.

Nathan playing football by the house.  We got back from the beach and Cyndi pulled in right after I did.  Nathan and Jacob were playing with the Jenga set and building things.  I didn’t get pictures of Thanksgiving.  I was busy but Shelly and Kathie did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Friday after Thanksgiving Mandy was baptized.  It was a very sweet baptism.  Shelly and Kathie spoke and Shelly, Donna, Kathie and Cyndi sang.  It has been a long time since they sang together and it was very nice.

Our week

I am trying to keep this up to date – although everyone that knows me, knows this won’t happen.  Anyway, almost no pictures, sorry.  We went to the Renaissance Festival with Kathie and her kids and nanny, Ashley and Sammi T.  We had a wonderful time but Kathie had the camera – I forgot mine.  She blogged – go check it out.

Nathan played their final regular season  football game yesterday. They ended the season 6-3.  Not bad for a team that over 50% of the kids had not played football before and some of the teams they played where HUGE!  I am talking 230 lbs. players huge and they were 10!  They played  the Magnolia playoffs – they were first place and they played the 2nd place team and beat them.  It was a good game, hard fought and we won 6 – 0.  On the 12th, we play the TOC (something to do with Champions) and play actually a two day tournament except we are only playing on Saturday.

Nathan is #60.  At the beginning of the season they were able to pick their own number and that was Daddy’s number when he played in Jr. High.  Nathan is a lineman.  He keeps getting matched against these huge kids.  Saturday, he was double teamed by two kids that were bigger than I am.

Pep talk after the game.  The coaches are really good at motivating the kids.  It has been a long season (July until November 12th) and I for one am glad it is over but he has learned a lot about sportsmanship and football and that is what it is all about.