Happy Birthday Tank!

Dearest Teancum,

Happy 6th Birthday!!! You are such a sweetheart!  You are very spiritually in-tune and often say things that are deep and profound.  When you do this we all look at each other in amazement.  You frequently speak the word of the Lord.  Your prayers are from the heart and reflect a great understanding of the gospel and a deep love of the Lord.  Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love you so much.  Of course, we do too!

You are full of spunk and activity.  You are funny and already understand and use irony and word play.  You are so stinking smart!  You are learning to read very well.  You demand to read the scriptures.  You know they are so important.

You have a kind, tender heart.  You share hugs and kisses so freely.  Thank you!  They make my day!  You are so good to your little sister and brother!  They love you so!  You have patiently taught Adelynn to be kind and soft.  Now you are dear friends.  You are a good example to your siblings and to Dad and I.  We are so blessed to have you in our family!

I can't believe you are already so big!  I'm so blessed to be your mom.  You always bring a smile to my face!  I love you!!!  Keep following your Savior.  He has a wonderful life planned for you; He needs you to help and love many people.  He knows He can trust you!  You are a wonderful disciple of Christ.  Again I love you so much!

Love,

Mom

Early Morning

I got up at 4:40 this morning.  It feels marvelous to get a bit of a jump start.  I worked my core and upper body.  The kids are enjoying a gorgeous sunrise from the front window right now.  They are also enjoying bubble gum balls.  Now I'll see if I can get them to enjoy doing the dishes.  The Lord must have blessed the morning with a bit extra.

Thanksgiving

The day before Thanksgiving we bought an old MCI bus!  It's been our dream for years!  We are now beginning that adventure.  We are converting it into an RV.  We are all so excited!  That is our Christmas present to the kids this year and maybe for the next 10 years!

Thanksgiving Day we spent at my parents.  It was really nice to visit with Kaleb and LaNell, Emily, and KyVan.  I picked Kaleb's brain on how he is making money flipping garage sale items.  He says he is making enough to pay for his truck, their clothes, and trips that they take.  Sweet!  My goal is to try it out and see if I can make enough to build out the RV and pay for trips.  That means I need to make about $2000 a month.  Okay, the reality is it could suck up $10,000 a month if we let it.  So we will just see how much we can do with what we've got.  But part of what we've got is imagination, hard work, creativity, and excitement.  So right there I'd say we are doing great!  We really enjoyed visiting and the food was wonderful!  The little kids loved playing with cousins!  And the big kids played with aunts, uncles, and grandparents.  It was fun to visit with Kaleb and LaNell who are also raising little ones and we have a lot in common.  They are great parents!

The day after Thanksgiving we went to Garland for Jaremy's family party.  The kids enjoyed the games at both parties.  I enjoy the visiting, but there wasn't very much this year.  Everyone played, ate, then left.  I play in the nursery with the little ones.  The gym is too dangerous!  I'm the only one out of Jaremy's big family that has a baby or any little ones under 7.  So it can be a bit lonely as far as adult company goes.  But that's okay.  It gives me a great chance to play with my sweet babies and wee ones.

I'm grateful Heavenly Father has blessed us with wonderful families!  And the ability to get together with them.

Benjamin's 16th Birthday - November 8, 2014

Our dear Benjamin is already 16 years old.  I can't believe it!  He such an amazing man!  He is humble, yet confident.  He is a peacemaker, a friend maker, a backpacker, and big snacker.  He is so respectful, thoughtful, and kind.  He is such a good example of service, leadership, and faith.  He is smart, active, and tough.  He really understands people and loves them.  I look at him and see true greatness.  He is the same kind of man as Captain Moroni, Nephi, President Hinckley, and King Benjamin.  We are so blessed to have Benjamin in our family!!!  The world is blessed to have him here at this time.  Heavenly Father has a lot he needs Benjamin to accomplish; you can just see it!  I love him so much!!!

Benjamin, we love and trust you so much!!!  We, your parents, are inspired by your tremendous example and encouraged by your respect, understanding, and love.  You know we aren't perfect, yet you humbly obey and respect us.  We want to be better, much better because of you.  Thank you!!!  We love you!!!

Our dog Brook died on Benjamin's 16th birthday.  She chased a buck across a sharp fence post and sliced her hide and muscle wide open about 10 inches.  The vet said it would take multiple surgeries, thousands of dollars, and she might die anyway.  So we decided to put her down.  She was a sweet dog.  She was so good to all the kids.  We will all miss her.  We enjoyed taking her running in the mountains.  She loved that, especially if there were deer to chase and ponds to swim in.  She didn't have a mean bone in her body.   We were blessed to have such a sweet dog, even if she was a drool machine.  Heavenly Father sent just the right dog for our family.  But now things are just a bit more simple and that's good for now.  Luckily Benjamin was not that close to Brook, so it didn't totally ruin his day.  But several of the kids took it pretty hard.  They were dear friends with Brook.

Story Time

I love cuddling on the couch with my little ones to read stories.  Time seems to stop, everything feels perfect!  We seem to really bond!  I feel something similar when we hike as a family.  I'm going to go read to them right now!  I'm so glad Heavenly Father blesses us with these sweet moments!

Asian Food Store

Yesterday I took the kids on a fieldtrip to an Asian food store.  They liked the different smells, the live crabs and lobsters, and listening to Chinese.  We were trying some new Indian recipes, bread chaat and pohu.  I didn't know anything but the English names for the ingredients I was looking for.  A lot of the packaging was in Chinese and the workers at the store spoke very little English and couldn't help me.  The people at the store were reserved and most did not even look at us (my six children and I).  In the end, I found some of the things I came for but not three of them.  I looked online for more help and I think I could find them now.  The ingredients go by multiple names.  I'm going to give it a go anyway.

I've always wanted to have the adventure of living in a foreign country.  But after yesterday I wonder if you could just become lonely and isolated.  It would take a tone of emotional energy, diligent learning, and constant pushing away comfort zones to make it work.  It would take a ton of work, courage, and tenacity.  I don't know if I could add that kind of lifestyle on top of raising my current brood of nine.  I already feel overwhelmed from that.  But we would do our best and have a great time if Heavenly Father sent us to a foreign country.  However, I think that highly unlikely.

It was fun to explore and have a new experience right here at home.  And today I'm going to load the kids up, try to get them to behave in the store, and go again to find those last three ingredients.

I'm grateful Heavenly Father is in charge of my life.  I pray I can be willing and able to do all He wants me to with sunshine in my heart.

Snow Canyon Half Marathon

Jaremy ran the Snow Canyon Half Marathon.  He did great!  Now he can't walk.  Poor guy!  It's inspiration to see him set challenging, difficult goals and accomplish them.  We all went to St. George with him and stayed at a nice condo with beautiful views, a dishwasher, 2 bathrooms, and a swimming pool.  Talk about luxury!  It was fun to get away!  I'm grateful Heavenly Father sets up change in our lives:  little vacations, weather, seasons, etc.  Life is exciting and challenging!