I feel like I had another domestic day today...and the GREAT news?! I didn't lose any of the kids! Course Dan was home today, so that probably helped a little :) After we went to Park City to get some wood for Dan and his projects I started on the jam. I bought a flat of strawberries a couple days ago, and today was the day. Course, yesterday should have been the day...a lot of the strawberries were bad but what can you do? Now, I'm just going to clarify...making jam is easy, but it sure is time consuming. And more than half way through I remembered that I didn't have everything ready to go and I was not at a point where I could stop and get things ready. So, Cole became the messenger and I pulled Dan from his projects so he could help me! Isn't he the greatest. Batch two went a lot better. I made sure I was prepared with everything this time. So, all in all I got 11 bottles of strawberry jam. Someday I will get brave and mix flavors, but for now I'm a one flavor type gal. Want to see one of the projects Dan whipped up?Yep, it's a dog house. No, we aren't getting a dog. This wouldn't even fit the kids stuffed animals. Caden just told Dan that he wanted him to make him a dog house. Then Caden got me and I painted it. He tried, but his little fingers aren't strong enough for spray paint. It's not exactly the color scheme I would have chosen, but blue and black were his choices. Anyway, I thought it was cute of Dan to make one.

While he was working on other things and one batch of jam was done, I took Caden on a mommy date and we went to the store so I could finish another project of mine. Finally, I present to you, homemade magnetic robots!
Hopefully this will keep the kids entertained for awhile. My boys really like Robots, and this way they can make them however they want. I had fun putting these together :) Doesn't my creativity astound you? Go ahead, be astounded...and then know that I copied the idea from someone else...like I do with all good ideas. So now the kids have these robots, some story stones (huge fan of those, p.s. by the way...you should hear their stories...super cute), and someday I will finish the Alphabet lacing cards. I'm trying to actually finish projects now, and I'm doing better, but it still takes me a month or so. Good thing you can't wait with food, huh.

On a random note, my sister Rorie was able to bring her babies home today from the hospital! She sounds good, and it sounds like the babies are doing great. They are identical twins and she mentioned that they have a hard time telling them apart, but considering she had them a few days ago, and today is the first time she's really seen them I think that's okay. The question is, will I ever be able to tell Caleb and Micah apart. This remains to be seen. So, congrats Rorie and Nate. Our little family is super happy for you guys!

Whiskey Springs (FHE)

Last Monday for family home evening the Linford's invited us to go with them to Whiskey Springs to roast marshmallows for FHE. When I told Dan he got really excited and started planning a dutch oven dinner to go along with it. He dragged out the dutch oven, chopped everything up, packed everything in (and I'm including the kids in this sentence even though I was originally referring to the food) and loaded it all. They waited for me to finish teaching my class and when I got home, we went up early to get things cooking! It's a pretty little place. Kember wanted to go exploring and hiking on the trails right away. The kids also had fun taking pictures. Kember has a good time with this, and only cut off a little bit of my head. But hey, it proves me and Milee were there!I set Milee down on the ground so I could do something and Dan asked what she had in her mouth. I told him it was probably a leaf and not a big deal. These things are big deals to Dan so he went over and fished out the "leaf". Turns out it wasn't a leaf but a cigarette butt. Ew...gross. Glad he fished that out. When the Collin, Michelle, and clan arrived, we ate, hiked a little, and made s'mores. Dan is teaching the kids how to make a fire. I think Caden is convinced that all you have to do is still the fire pit with a stick. One time when we were at the ranch we had a fire going, but it started to rain and either put the fire out, or let it go out. Anyway, the kids were outside playing and Jacob and the rest of the boys come running in. They were so excited that they started a fire! All they had to do was stir the ashed with a stick. Guess we didn't put the fire out very well. My favorite part of the evening was playing Missionary Tag after we finished eating. Everyone played, and it was really fun. I love watching my kids play games like that. We don't do that enough in our family, so it was great to be with Collin and Michelle, because they do. Also, their kids are really good to mine. The would slow down and let my kids think they were super fast and could beat them. They are just a really supportive family. Glad we live close by. It was a great FHE!

I am officially a soccer mom

I've had the van for a while now, but I finally have a child playing soccer. Caden had his first game tonight and I was so proud of him. He has been talking non-stop about playing soccer for the last week. We finally found him shin-guards yesterday. He tried them on at home and wouldn't take them off until his legs got hot and itchy.


I was really worried about signing him up because of our last experience with him and swimming, but he got right in there and went after the ball. He falls down a lot. Even more than a lot, but he looks good while he does it!


This was just because I thought it was funny!

There was a little bit of crying (once when he fell down he got stepped on) and major concern that he wasn't winning. It's hard to convince him that they aren't keeping score, and he is just supposed to play for fun and practice. All my competitive little boy knows is that the other team made more goals than his team, and he wanted to win, but he did enjoy his snack!

Mom and dad even came to watch his game! Thanks for the support guys! So, here is my question....Do I buy the jersey? I mean, technically, as long as he has a black or yellow shirt he is okay to play. I'm all for that. It saves me money and I don't think he's at an age to really care that he is the ONLY one without a jersey. But other people think that we should buy one. What should I do?

Work 'em while they are young

Dan has been after me to come up with a chore chart for a while now. I've been meaning to make one, but like all my ideas this didn't ever come to fruition. The only reason Dan wanted me to make one was because he felt the kids needed a way to earn some money. The only problem is that I don't want to pay them. But he finally won me over by telling me that it would be a good learning experience for them to go through the whole process...you know, earn the money, save it, and buy something that they wanted. Plus, we could teach them tithing this way. Hard to teach tithing when they never earn anything. That was probably the best argument for me :) So I sat down and finally decided what chores they have to do just because they are a member of the family. Things like make their bed, clean their room, take care of their dishes, etc. Then after their "have to's" are done any extras they do they can earn a little something. Well, Caden is super good at this. He is my helper and he knows exactly what he is saving for...Lego's, what else? He's such a sweetheart that he would help me with stuff even before he was getting paid for it. However, the majority of stuff was done while Kember was a school so I decided to hit the chore list hard on Saturday when Kember was home. Surprisingly enough the kids were really willing and wanting to go through the list. Some of the chores were hard for them and they wanted to stop in the middle, but after explaining that they don't get paid for half finished jobs, they finished....then asked to do the next one.Poor Caden gets gypped in the picture area apparently. I had a picture of him, but I can't find it anywhere. He's a great helper though. Kember earned the most and Cole just spluttered (is that a word?) along at his own snail pace...but he did it, and I discovered that he is really good, or rather, really likes to wipe the mirrors and windows. They were really proud of themselves, and couldn't wait to tell Daddy how much they had earned. Too bad it isn't Saturday tomorrow...my house could use some sprucing :)

Sunday Thoughts

*Warning: Just a bunch of rambling

I can't say that I got much out of church today. Unfortunately I spent a lot of time walking the halls with a very happy baby. Why would I be walking the halls with a happy baby? Don't you normally leave class with angry/sad/upset babies? Yes, normally you do. However...my very tired happy baby was extremely loud. She was making very cute happy sounds, but they were very loud. I will also admit to not really paying much attention to the talks during Sacrament meeting. However, I did learn that a lot of people were more in tune with the Spirit than I was because multiple people brought up and commented about one of the sisters talks. Guess that just goes to show that we need to be prepared...it's not just the speakers responsibility. Look at what I missed out on because I chose not to be prepared.
Dan and I tried out a new Sunday School class today. Dan (and me too) was hesitant to try it because our Gospel Doctrine class has been really really good. But in sacrament the Bishop mentioned this new (to us) class and how it was going to teach ways to help our children combat things like pornography. Since I feel like I can use all the help with this that I possibly can I asked Dan if we could switch classes. This is one subject that completely terrifies me. I'm mostly worried about my boys. Let's face it, porn is everywhere. How can I teach them the right things to do when confronted with it? I have no idea what they will have to go through because I grew up oblivious to these kinds of things. I'm also worried about Kember. Now that she is in school I worry about her friends, and the influence they will have on her. I grew up with great friends...and for me, that made all the difference. She went to a friends house the other day, and while I'm thrilled that she has a friend (and that the friend lives fairly close by) I'm just worried about outside influences. I met the mother and she was really friendly, but since I don't know the family I worry. All of a sudden being a mother is terrifying. My children are growing up and I'm worried that I have missed some vital teaching moment that would help them strengthen their testimony of the gospel.
I was reading the conference talk "Become as a Little Child" and she says, "Elder M. Russell Ballard has taught us the importance of the Savior's admonition to 'behold your little one' when he said; 'Notice that He didn't say 'glance at them' or 'casually observe them' or 'occasionally take a look in their general direction.' He said to behold them. " Isn't that a great quotation? That's what I've been working on this week. To really behold my children. There is loads that I need to do to improve, but at least it is comforting to know that these are God's children, and He will help me raise them.

Labor Day

This is the only picture I took on Labor Day, but I sure think it's a cute one! Cameron is really great with kids. Milee is fascinated by him.
Dan had to work (surprise, surprise) but he took Caden with him. He had the next two days off and decided that would be a good time to go back to St. George and get all the things we left behind. So, he took Caden with him. It was his idea too! It amazes me how much my children need each other. I love it. Kember and Cole kept asking when Caden would be back, and every time I would talk to Caden on the phone he would ask to talk to the kids. When he did get home it was dinner time and he turned to me very seriously and said, "Mom...after dinner can I play with Kember and Cole because I haven't played with anyone all day." Dan was a little offended...what is he, chopped liver? but I had to laugh. I love that my children love each other. Some day, probably sooner than I'd like, I'm sure they are going to start fighting like cats and dogs...but right now I love it. Now that Kember is in school the boys are playing more and more with each other, and it's really cute.
Oh, back to Labor Day. I invited myself to a BB-Q at Andrea's that my parents and Cameron were going to. It was a really nice relaxing day. We just hung out at Andrea's while the guys went golfing. The kids entertained themselves, and we just visited. We ate a great meal (Yes, Matt and Cameron, it was great despite the fact I forgot the hamburger and we only had hot dogs...heaven forbid). I love living close to family so we can do things like this. I miss St. George..(especially now that the weather is getting cooler. I may have to dig out the kids jackets from somewhere in the next couple days.) However I'm getting more and more involved with different things so that's been helpful. The boys will start a preschool with some moms in the ward, we have play-group, I talked today to a girl about starting a book club, I'm going to volunteer every Tuesday in Kember's class, we have story time at the library, and I'm going to teach two community theater classes for a few months. It's a start, right?

Little Milee

I think someone is a little tired.
Yep, sleepy...
Really really really sleepy.

Missing

So, what did you all do on this lovely first day of September? I went to playgroup, made lunch for my kids, baked 4 loaves of bread, 2 loaves of zucchini bread, made homemade pop-tarts, lost Kember, and generally freaked out.And now on to the long version of the story. So about a half hour after Kember gets home from school there is a knock on the door. A little friend came over to play. Huh...well, I guess if her parents are okay with just randomly going to someones house it's okay by me. I know where my kid is anyway. So, they play for about an hour while I finish up in the kitchen. Five o'clock rolls around so I tell Kember that she can walk her friend home if she wants, and I'll get the mail. So I walk with the boys to the mailbox and wait on the driveway for Kember to come back. She doesn't come. So, I walk up the street a bit to find her. Umm...can't see her anywhere and have no idea which street she is on. I'm assuming she went into her friends house and stayed, but...???? I don't know this girl, so I have no idea where she lives. All I know is that she is close by because she rides the bus with Kember. So I walk down another street and ask some kid who's working outside if he saw two little girls walk this way. He didn't notice anything. Okay, I'm starting to panic a little bit now, and when I panic I get angry, so naturally I take it out on Caden who is walking with me...because I'm just a great mom like that. So I go back home thinking maybe she's there (although I know she isn't, because if she went home and I wasn't there she would freak out and start screaming for me...no screaming=no Kember). I gather up Cole, Caden and the baby and we start out again. I go to a lady's house that has kids on the bus stop hoping she would know this girl and where she lives. No luck there. But on my way I meet up with another girl from playgroup and of course I start crying. She stays and helps me look for Kember. While checking one home I ask if my daughter is there. She looks at me funny and then says, "You look familiar...did you grow up here?" Yes "Are you a Linford?" I'm not thinking to straight at this point (panicking, remember?) so I say something brilliant like "Should I know you?" nice, huh? Anyway, it turns out to be Melissa Caulkins whom I used to live by. Small world...small small world. Well, she decides to help out too (because again, I've started to cry). The other girl (who incidentally is also named Tara, and is super cute and nice) has to go home because her husband has to start his second job, and her baby is sleeping. I decide to try one more block before I really started to panic. This time when I knock on the door a familiar face opens it and I say, "Is my daughter here?!" "Yep" but he looked at me kind of funny so I had to explain that I had no idea where she was. Yep, mother of the year award to me. I got Kember out of the house and promptly started to cry. Good times...good times.And in other news, I baked...and everything turned out how it was supposed to (mostly). The bread looks good (don't know if it tastes good, but looks are important, right?) and the pop-tarts, while I'm not the biggest fan of them (I'm going to make them again with a pie crust instead) the kids went ga-ga over them. So, success there. I also made two loaves of zucchini bread, which didn't go as well as I had hoped, but whatever. I may have lost my child, but I'm domestic, right? Sigh. At least Caden had fun helping me make the bread. You should have seen him pound the dough out. I told him to karate chop it and he thought that was cool. He really liked to roll it into the shape too. He's a keeper.