The New Member of Our Family...

He really isn't that new....we got him in September. But I haven't gotten around to post about him. He is 14 yrs old and we have been enjoying him. His name is Bubba, but sometimes we call C that so it gets kind of confusing. Bubba is not his registered name so we keep think we are going to call him something different, but end up calling him Bubba anyways. J wants to call him Radar since when they go up on the mountain his ears are straight forward and on alert. Bubba doesn't really like me riding him cause I make him do what I want him to. J is learning a lot and is actually enjoying riding. I am always nervous he is going to fall off. It is nice because now we can ride and one of the girls can ride Black Beauty.

It has been nice having a horse around that I can ride. It has been so long since I had gotten on one. After I got on, I started to remember how much I enjoy riding. I had kind of got busy with family life and work and we had not been in a place where I could have a horse. So needless to say, we are enjoying him.

Halloween 2009

Happy Halloween! The kiddos had so much fun this October getting ready for Halloween. While J was out having a good time hunting, we decided to have a little fun ourselves. We went to Gardner Village one weekend, then the American West Heritage Center the next. They also had fun choosing their costumes. They had a Halloween Carnival at school that they participated in and they had a Halloween Costume Parade at school on Friday. They then attended a Halloween Party at a friend's house. They can home all smiles and exhausted.

Which leads us up to Halloween, M started saying she was really cold and she started running a fever. Saturday she could kick the chills or the fever so we choose to take her in to the doctor. She ended up having what I have been dreading...the swine flu. After getting the medicine in her she started to perk up and so wanted to go trick or treating, but she had to stay home. She did get her costume on for pictures. It was sad, because for the whole month she had been looking forward to it. My parents came out on Halloween night and watched M while J and I took O and C to the ward trunk or treat. It wasn't the same without M. J's mom wanted them to come in to her house to show her and grandma great their costumes. So she did get to trick or treat at grandma's.

Our Girls are Vampires

So maybe too much Wizards of Waverly Place? Who knows, but our girls have turned into vampires (at least they think). J has had company up hunting (geesh... hunting that seems to be the theme of the month). They are a dad and son from Texas and St. George. The dad use to be J's YM leader when they lived in Delta. He has always really looked up to Dan and enjoyed hunting and hanging out with them. Anyways, the girls have been on a kick at home trying to "suck people's blood." M even things she has "thangs (fangs)." And poor Dan and Jordan were fresh blood, guess. Dan and Jordan were staying the girls room. Sunday afternoon I find out on Saturday night the vampires were ALIVE.... The girls made there way into their room as Dan and Jordan were apparently saying there good night prayers and the girls shut off the lights and announced the vampires were there to suck their blood. Then apparently one of our little vampires sneaked up and grabbed Dan's leg. Dan was really starting to wonder if they were vampires. The girls kept teasing them. Poor Jordan could find the light and the girls were having a hayday terrorizing them. Dan kept telling Jordan to get the light get the light. Good thing Dan and Jordan were such good sports. :) The girls have had a blast teasing them.

Little Hollywood

Doesn't he look sooo Hollywood in his big sis' sunglasses? This boy is such a little ray of sunshine in our home. We LUV him to pieces. Even if he gives everyone but mama real kisses.

SEP Conferences

SEP Conferences were this afternoon for both girls. I know that they have been working really hard on their homework and trying their best so I wasn't too surprised to find out that both girls are doing really well in school so far. O has Mrs. Perry this year and boy I don't remember learning how to spell and read in 1st Grade, but O is. She works very hard each night on her spelling words and her homework. Even if it is really hard and she doesn't want to she still gets it done. She has gotten four or five 100% on her spelling test and this past time she got 9/10. Which I am so proud of her for giving her best effort and practicing at night and doing her best. The first time she got 100% I told her that was awesome that she had got a 100%, but most of all it was more awesome she tried her hardest. She has always been a good little student. But we are so happy that she is doing so well. She has branched out a little and met some new friends which is wonderful. She has been watching out for her little sis. Yesterday M was running to get the mail after school and fell face first into a dried mud puddle. I looked out the window to see O picking her sister up and brushing her off. As they were walking down the lane, O was holding M's hand and telling her it would be alright. Poor M had landed right on her nose. It was all muddy. I was so proud of O for helping M and looking out for her.

M has Mrs. Baker this year and what a wonderful perfect little fit. They go so well together. M is loving school so much. I was hoping she would be in all day because it seems like she has a harder time learning (or maybe just she learns differently than O). When they called to say she was in all day, I got nervous then and was a little sad that my girl was growing up. But she has done wonderfully in school. After about the first week I saw great improvement in her handwriting when she was writing her name. She is so stinking excited to get homework and she is the first to jump up to the counter and start her homework. Mrs. Baker said she is doing so good and she is such a good little leader on her table. M has met so many nice little friends. Which is such a great thing since their isn't any girls her age around in our little community. Her closest friend Mrs. Baker says is a twin to M. She said they look just alike and if she isn't paying attention closely she'll call them by the wrong name. I've seen the girl and oh my, if everyone in the world has a twin somewhere M's sits in back of her in all day kindergarten. She is learning to behave better on the bus. I think she has a permenant seat up front now. But she's learning.

It's exciting to see them grow, learn and develop.

All Day Kindergarten Wears Ya Out

About once every couple weeks this happens after school:

I was helping O with her homework and it was really quiet. I asked O where M was and she said she didn't know. I called her name and no answer. I was headed to look outside to see if she was playing with her cat and I happened to walk past the couch and I saw this. What cracked me up the most is look what was in her ears... my iPod. She had laid down to listen to it and fell fast asleep.

My Life...

I have to say that even though they can be mischevious sometimes... these three are my life!

I love them so much. And their daddy does too!

Nicole Nelson was doing Back to School Mini Sessions a couple weeks back so I jumped on the opportunity. I cannot believe how much they have grown over the past year. It makes me happy and sad at the same time if that is possible. C was not really wanting to participate in this photo shoot to badly. One word: Teething. We did get him in about two of the pictures. But we did get some good pictures of him a couple months ago. Thanks again Nicole for doing such an awesome job!

Witches...Oh My

J has been gone hunting up in Wyoming this weekend and me and the kids had a pretty uneventful week. We did attempted to make Caramel Apples on Thursday. They didn't quite turn out right, but they were still good. Other than that it was a lot of homework (for all three of us school kids), a lot of napping (for me and my little buddy) and sharing my bedroom with the girls (when J is gone they automatically get their stuff and move in on the floor in our room). Friday night we did go get some pumpkins with J's mom and then went to dinner with her and J's dad and sister. I have to say the girls were mischevious at dinner and I vowed I didn't think I wanted to ever take them in public again!

Well, fast forward to Saturday about noon, I decided we needed to get out of the house. I wanted to go to the Pumpkin Walk in North Logan, but it doesn't open for two weeks. I remembered a lady I worked with said that Gardener Village is a ball during the month of October. So I loaded up my little pumpkins and headed to SLC. Oh boy... it was so fun to see the girls see REAL WITCHES and see the excitement and fun in their eyes. They were all very well behaved and were really good. It was wonderful getting out and enjoying some fresh air, sunshine and the brisky air. And to add to the fun....it was not that much money. YEAH!!!! Here are some pictures from our fun afternoon:

What Do Babies Do When They Get Bored?

And mom isn't watching....

One of His Other Favorite Guys

C loves loves loves his daddy, his Grandpas and his uncles. But he also loves Grandpa Garth. Now Garth is not really his Grandpa. We rented the little pink house from him and Veda for years and they have been an active part in our lives. We all just love them so much. My aunt Charlene is actually married to their son Dan. Anyhoo, the girls have always called them Grandpa Garth and Grandma Veda. Veda passed away before C was born. I think that she told him in heaven to be a good baby for us because she knew how much the girls had given us a run for our money. They have both been into farming and collecting tractors forever. If you go to their house, you'll see the Tractor Patch. We go up and visit quite often and especially now that Garth is alone we go up to see him a lot more. He likes to visit. J likes to take the kids up there to entertain Garth. He loves it and they love visiting, playing on the grass, picking apples and pears and just playing up there. C and J go up on the Ranger or the 4-Wheeler a lot and they enjoying sitting up there visiting. C just loves Garth so much. He gets really excited when he sees him. He loves the tractors too. I decided I need to take a picture with the two of them in it:

We are very thankful that Garth and Veda let us be a part of their lives!

Kittens

So back in August, we caved. The girls had been asking for kitties for awhile and there were some free kitties at Kent's. I asked Joe and he said okay. So the girls got themselves some kittens. O is a kitten striped kitten. She at first named it Hearts but has since changed the name to Jessica. M kitten was a little gray male with white feet. She kept changing the name from Boots, to Mittens, to Socks. They love love love their kittens. O's kitten is really playful and fisty. M's was a little more subdue but still liked playing too. M gets up every morning to give hers a love before school and the first thing she does when she gets home is run out to give it more loves. The first week of school she asked me to bring the kittens in for show and tell. They were so well behaved. M packed her kitten around like a baby and the funny thing was that it let her. She put her little heart and sole into that kitten. O loves and babies hers too but M has a special attachment to all animals. As my niece would say, she is an animal lover.

Well, here comes the bad part of having kitties. The girls can't seem to grasp the concept of not opening the garage door every time they go outside. A week ago we need to run to town and the cats had gotten into the garage. So being the concincous mother and not wanting to run them over (cause we have done that before), I asked the girls to get their cats and take them out back. O's was giving her a hard time catching it so I went to help O. Just as I was picking up O's cat I heard a large crash on the other side of the garage. J had three extremely large metal tractor disk's that he had made into dutch oven stands leaning up against the wall with his bike. M had accidently knocked them over. Luckily they did not fall on M, but unluckily they hit her little kitten. It broke its back and neck. I don't necessarily love cats by any means, but seeing her little kitty suffer and seeing M crying was really hard. I actually cried. J had to come home to bury the poor little thing. Poor M cried and cried. I found her after she got ready for school the next morning outside on the steps holding O's kitten with tears streaming down her little face. That was hard. The kids had just watched Marly and Me (again) the weekend before so they colored pictures and said nice things about the kitty.
We were able to locate her another kitten. He is a short little chubby thing. He is really cute and M has taken really good care of it. O's kitten has decided that it is fun to walk with whoever is outside and be underneath your feet. And we are all actually enjoying the kittens, except for Fritz who gets nervous going outside by them. They are on the attack every time he goes around.

Important Part of Summer... I forgot to post about

If you ask the girls one of there highlights this summer was taking.... Swimming lessons. Yay!!! I kind of drug my feet at getting them into lessons (just because I knew I would have to go into town every single day), so we ended up taking lessons at the end of July/first of August from the natatorium. The girls really enjoyed it and learned alot. M has been a waterbaby since day one. She just loves loves loves swimming and boating and gettting wet. O has been really into swimming and boating and playing in the water too...but when a new thing was brought on at swimming she wasn't 100% sure she was into it. It is called the tuck float. I took swimming lessons for several years and I didn't remember what the tuck float was. Anyways she got brave and did it. One of our favorite things to do in the summer is go to the Big Slide Pool (Brigham Pool) to swim. We kind of measure how tall the girls have gotten over the past year by where the water hits them. Man have they grown and by the end of the year the girls were going down the slide by themselves and J had C going down with them and he loved it. Looks like we might have another waterbaby on our hands.

Here are some pictures of the girls at swimming lessons (I had to have April Litchford take the pictures because I kept forgetting to bring my camera):

The Poor Dog

I feel bad for our poor little picked on dog. C has been chasing him NON-STOP. The dog is probably enjoying it though. C chased him with a plastic sword from the fair last week squealing the whole time. Fritz looked scared that day though. Last night C had one of the girls' Barbies and was wacking him with it. Today C is chasing him with a graham cracker...he ought to turn around and eat it.

Tooting My Own Horn

I learned at work a couple years ago from a friend that sometimes you just got to toot your own horn when you do sometime good or accomplish a goal you set cause who else will toot it for you... Well I didn't do as good as O did on her spelling test but....I got 92% on my 1st Family and Human Development Test today!!!! YAY!!!! I had no clue how it was going to go. I studied and studied and hoped for the best. I only missed three questions, and well, two of them I should have got right because I just didn't read the question thoroughly but still I am pretty darn excited!!! YAY for me!

What We've Been Up to...

We have been enjoying the start of school. Both girls are absolutely loving it. The first week M had homework every night (coloring) and she thought she was pretty cool. O was a little mad cause the Kindergartener had homework and she didn't. Oh boy, she (we) were in for it last week though. O has spelling words to work on every night and reading along with a little math. I can't believe my 1st grade had a spelling test on Friday. Yikes! I don't remember really reading or having spelling tests until 2nd grade. I asked her when she got home how she did and she said she spelled them all correctly. That's right 100% for my little girl.

M was a little upset because last week was kindgarten testing and she didn't have school. She was okay the first day staying home with me but after that she was frustrated she didn't get to go to school with O. On Friday she went to hang out with Grandma Maxfield having some one-on-one time. They rode their bikes around, made cookies, painted and had a great time. O is now wondering when her Grandma one-on-one is. She'll get it soon I bet.

J's brother drew a moose tag up in the Cache so we decided to go a camping. We thought we'd take the trailer up Thursday to save us a spot. We usually like going up Temple Fork. Thursday before J left the Ranch up in Huntsville he blew a tire so when he got back to Tremonton he had to go get it fixed. So he didn't get home until 7 pm. The trailer was ready and we headed out. Unfortunately they have made a mess out of Temple Fork with construction on the dirt roads. Any spots that weren't already take had Bulldozers in them. They have really screwed it up up there. So we thought we'd go to Right Hand Fork. So spots. After pulling our trailer around the mountain for two hours we came home. We didn't get home until about 11 pm. I was ticked off. Not at J but for the stupid construction and just what a crappy night we had. On top of it I was worried O was not getting enough sleep to do well on her test. But she ended up getting enough. Thank goodness.

Friday when J and O got home from work and school we headed up to the Sinks. A spot we had only been to snowmobile around at before. We had no idea they had all of those camping spots up there and they were big spots too! We had so much for with everyone that came up. It was fun to tease his brother and sister about their, um... friends. It was nice not being the one to get harrassed for a change. We drove all over the mountain. No moose though. Sunday we saw some guys that had a Bull Elk Tag and they thought they had seen some about 45 mins earlier but so we sent Mike and his "friend" a hiking over the mountain and went around the mountain to meet them. We weren't far enough down though but we waited and drove around. Vicki and her "friend" and Maury were on 4-wheelers and we were on the Ranger. We split up to see if we could locate them. J saw a trail and decided that we'd turn around to go on it, but he backed up an embankment and flipped the Ranger on its side. Everone went flying out lucky. And we were really blessed no one got hurt badly. My side is a little sore, but we are all okay. The kids were all crying (from getting thrown out). It scared us pretty good. We said a prayer to thank Heavenly Father for protecting us and that no one got hurt and that J would be able to flip the Ranger back up right and by the time we opened our eyes J had already turned it back over. We finally found Mike and his "friend" on the road to Old Ephraims Grave and headed home. We met up with everyone and headed back to camp. All in all it was a great time and the kids were flithy dirty by the time we got home (you'd think we'd give them a shower in the trailer, huh). We got home about 5 pm. It was good to be home.

I got a phone call Sunday night that they had released us from the YW Presidency on Sunday. I have mixed emotions. I have loved working with the Presidency and getting to know them better. I have really enjoyed the girls and what wonderful YW they are. I hope our daughters grow up to be like them. They are really good girls. C is getting to be quite the little rascal in church and it is getting hard to sit through any type of lesson with him. He was pretty disruptive to the class. But he was just so darn cute that the girls would rather pay attention to him than the lesson. I just pray they don't stick me in as the Music Director cause heaven knows I can't lead music. I am just going to stay on the down low.

1st Day of School

I am really excited that school started today. I will be very very glad to be able to get the family back on a schedule. O is entering the 1st Grade. She has Mrs. Perry. She was excited to be able to have lunch at school. M is entering into Kindergarten and she is in the all day class. She has Mrs. Baker. She said she loved lunch and they had quiet time and she said she got to meet some cute new friends. I took them to school this morning and dropped them off. I have to say I did shed a couple tears as me and C walked back to the car. You see when O went to kindergarten, I was just barely on Maternity Leave from having C and I was use to dropping her off at day care all day so it wasn't really that big of adjustment to not have her right there. M on the other hand had been my little helper all year long last year. She helped take care of C and while sometimes she is rough, she normally does have good intentions. She would talk with me nonstop and would be my little nap buddy. So I am a little sad she has moved on to big and better things and has left her little mommy behind. But at the same time excited that she is growing, developing and learning new things.

Here are some pictures of them before we left for school:

Now it is just me and my boy at home. I am not quite as entertaining as the girls. He was grumpy from waking up early and let's just say he took a good nap this afternoon. I was able to get some homework done though so that was nice. When he woke up he just wanted to be held nonstop. But then he found the dog and they entertained each other. Him and I were pretty darn excited to see the girls when they got home. They instantly picked him up and started playing with him. What good sisters he has.

YAY!!! It's Fair Week....

We are so stinking excited it's fair week. I know we are kind of dorks. I asked J the other day if we are the only people in the world that get so excited it's fair week. He laughed. The girls are most likely not going to show this year. O is too old for the leadline class and she has to move up to the walk/trot class. We are NOT quite brave enough yet. And really I don't want to haul the horse in for just M and then have to listen to O cry because she didn't get to show. So we are probably going to forgo showing on Friday. Next year, we'll be ready. But we are still excited. I don't know what it is about the fair but we have such a good time. I think we spend a lot of time and money over there this week.

We are ready for school to start next Monday. The girls went and met their teachers. M already knew hers but we really didn't have a clue who O's teacher was. She seems like a nice lady. Yesterday I started back in school. I am going to USU. I have two class and they are both online. My brain hurts already. Isn't that pretty sad. Lots and lots and lots of reading.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House

We were able to attend the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House during the last part of July. I really wanted to be able to take the children to the open house so they could see what the inside of a temple looked like especially the sealing room and so they could feel the peace and good feelings you feel while you are in the temple. J's parents, brother and a friend came along for the evening. It was such a wonderful place and the kids really did enjoy it and were very well behaved. As we were coming down the steps into the baptismal area I noticed my cousins husband standing there so I wave and as I came further down the steps I was suprised to see my dad's sister and her whole family standing there. It was awesome. We were also able to sit down in the sealing room with her family in there too. It was wonderful to see the mirrors and see forever with my family and some of my extended family there too. We had a wonderful evening and I hope the kids will remember it and keep a strong desire to live worthy to be able to have those special blessings someday.

2009 Call Family Reunion Whitney Resevoir

We went up to Whitney Resevior for a long needed little getaway. We went up Thursday Morning and had a ball. The kids played with their cousins (well my cousins kids) the whole time. We did break them away on Friday to take them fishing. We had nine on the line and reeled 5 in. Pretty darn good for about 30 minutes worth of fishing. Especially because it seems that we never catch anything. We rode the Ranger and 4-Wheelers a ton. Went on a 4-Wheeler Scavenger Hunt, ate great food, and was greatful for the well needed relaxation. Only deer this year. No moose which is suprising since it seems like that is all we ever see and we never see any deer. We always seem to have a moose running through or by camp. Oh well, we had fun anyhow.

The Hunt for the Illusive Lizard

O is such a little poser. Grandpa calls her the Drama Queen (I think he is right on w/that).

These two adorable little yayhoos were hunting for the illusive lizard one afternoon in July. They were at it for about 20 minutes before they were finally able to catch it. The little lizzard survived in the Maxfield household for about two days. I am not sure if it didn't have enough air in the container we put it in (I poked holes in the top) or if it was a put a little water in the bottom and it drowned or if it was just sad to be away from its friends so it died of a broken heart or if M loved it too much and squeezed it too tight. Anyways the girls had fun with it while it lasted.

C's Birthday Party

I finally got the pictures downloaded off of the camera from C's birthday party. He had a great 1st Birthday! Thanks Everyone!