Money Back

Last night Carter was showing me his muscles. He has muscles like his dad. They might not be huge, but they are very defined. And he is at that age that he is getting muscle very rapidly. He's still a little skinny runt, but he is growing fast. So, as we kneel down for family prayers, I tell Carter to show dad his muscles. That starts a whole line of flexers. Carson's shirt comes off right away and there are pushups going on trying to enlarge the muscles. Then Carson starts flexing. Caden, kneeling for prayers, says, "Boo!!! I want my money back!" Oh my gosh we laughed and laughed. Even Carson couldn't help but laugh. Caden is so stinkin funny sometimes! And it kills his older brothers when he is so funny. They hate admitting how funny he is.

Smells Like...

Kids say the funniest things. Things that maybe you have thought of before but just never tried to put into words, and other things that are just plain new. Here are two of our funnies lately.

Caden is a funny kid. If everything in his environment is not exactly as he would like it, he speaks up. The temperature is a hot topic. He has to have the exact correct temperature or he gets pretty dramatic. He is so much like my Grandpa Smuin. He will build a roaring fire because he "soooooo cold" to turn around and open the window because its just a little hot. So in the car he is always demanding temperature changes. So while driving in Chet's car on a VERY short trip, he says (and Caden speaks very loud all the time, almost a yell) "Dad! Can you please turn down the heat! It is so hot in here that I can smell heat!" We both started laughing, so he starts to explain. "Don't you know what I mean. When your nose is full of heat and that's all you can smell? It's so hot!" What a weirdo!

Cael loves to come in our room and snuggle every morning, and most nights in the middle of the night. He loves to get under the warm covers, and he snuggles right up! He came in after Chet was gone to work and snuggled right up to me. He wiggles into the exact spot he wants, under my arm so that its wrapped around him and lays down. After a very short time, he gets up and plugs his nose. He jumps off the bed really quickly and says, "I don't want to snuggle today. Your bed smells like sleep." and runs away. Smells like sleep? I guess my breathe and body odor aren't his desired smell some mornings! I've never heard that something smells like sleep. But morning breathe is the WORST!!!

No Diabetes

Today was a very busy day. Colby and I had lots to do. As I was running late for our first appt, a DARE graduation for the twins, my pump needed filled. That is quite the process and I decided that I didn't have enough time to do it. It will beep really loud until I fill it, so I took it off and left it. After, I went home to fill it. Colby was very bugged by this and wanted to get going to Subway for lunch. So after I filled it and we were driving to get brothers lunch he tells me, "I will not marry a girl that has diabetes." I looked at him in the mirror and he said, "What! I hate having to do all the stuff for diabetes." I asked him what he would think if dad said that he didn't want to be married to me because I have diabetes and he left. He just looked at me in the mirror (wheels totally turning you could tell) and said, "Ok. She can have diabetes,. But she has to be ok with being alone a lot because I will work and still go to the mountains a lot. And I want to hunt too." I smiled at him and said, "Now those are more realistic qualities." He shook his head and you could tell he was still thinking. I am sure things will change in time, but I never want my boys to turn away from love because of some "liability" like that. It's expensive, it sucks, it causes lots of unknown side effects, and it takes a ton of time. I'm sure Chet hates it as much as me. But it is what it is, and we go on, happy as ever! But if he wants to be a big hunter, now that will take the right kind of woman!!! Look hard for that kind!

Christmas Party 2015

Every year Chet and I host a Christmas Party. It has become very popular and we always have a great turnout. This years theme was famous couples. It was a great time as always.

 

 Joe and Heather

being Stuart and Carolyn (some friends here)

 

 Mark and Mary and Easton

being Joseph & Mary and Jesus (he's our bishop too with a brand new baby!)

 

 Clint and Erin as a Boy Scout and Sasquatch

Erin is in the boy scouts. Mark and Chet are both in the bishopric, Mark the bishop and Chet over scouts. She blames them for being in the worst calling ever! She does the calling really well but hates every minute of it (the boys cannot tell at all, she does a great job with them!) so this was especially funny because she hates the whole boy scout program!

 

 

 Tony and Angie as the couple from Gone with the Wind

Angie would transport back into time and live in this era if possible. She is all about being proper and fancy and girlie! It was a perfect couple for them. She loved it!!!

 

 

 Dinner table for 24. Im not much of a decorator! I'm there for the party!

 

 

Steve and Yolanda from Seinfeld.

And one last couple. They always go all out for our themes.

 

We seriously have the best friends!!! I look forward to our Christmas Party every year. On the invitations I always put Parker's 5th Annual (or whatever year, it was 5th this year) I cannot wait until it is (double digit) annual party. We have people call and ask when the party is starting in the fall to make sure they plan their work parties around ours (lots of our friends are business owners or the boss that sets their party) We make the same dinner every year, play games(super fun and always different), and do white elephant gifts. We have learned that we do need to specify fun but appropriate gifts only please! We get some hilarious gifts for sure!!! Next year the theme is back to ugly sweater!

Haha!!!

I made this little sign on a Super Saturday. It is a fun way to show each other how much we love them. Caden gave this to me. He sure loves his mamma!!!

 

 

 

Then Chet got this one. The funniest thing is, I had just talked to Chet the night before about being selfish. This was not what Carson was trying to say, but it was so funny how it read. The next morning Carson had a huge smile and asked Chet if he saw his note.

 

Pretty sure he was saying that he loved that dad put everyone else before himself! Gosh we laughed and laughed! I'm so glad that Chet is such a good man. He doesn't take offense when I talk to him about things, and then has a great sense of humor when things like this happen. Chet told Cars he did get it thank you, and Cars came and gave him a huge hug and told him that he loved him. (Chet and Cars have a funny relationship. They struggle with each others personalities, so I love to see Carson show true appreciation for his dad. I told him once when he was complaining about him that when he matured, him and dad would be best friends because he is JUST like me and he knows how much dad loves me. Since then, it has been a totally different relationship, for the better!)

Halloween 2015

Halloween here we come!! I have always loved Halloween. But this year I was just not feeling it. But...my awesome friends talked me into it last minute. All of my boys put together their own costumes this year. I helped where they needed it (like hot glueing for Carter's straw) but they got everything together themselves, even the babies.

 

 At our ward party someone else was dressed like the 80's. I thought she looked great! I love Toni!

 

 And these are my 3 best friends in Gillette. They are all so wonderful and would do anything for me or my family. Left to Right: Yolanda-50's Erin-60's Carolyn-70's. The 50's dress Carolyns grandma wore in the 50s and the 70s dress Carolyns mom wore. It was really fun to dress up with them.

 

 Carter picked this all out himself. He went out back and pulled the dead plants off and brought them in and asked me to help him put them on. He looked amazing!

 

 This is the group that we went trick or treating with. They were fun. How about that little dear!

 

 

Caden - Business Man , Colby - Pirate , Cael - Ninja Turtle , Carter - scarecrow , & Carson - Hunter.

 

This is the last year that my older boys got to trick or treat. They were a little bugged at the first of the night when I told them that, but by the end, they agreed. Now they get to help littler kids have a great Halloween. Since we have had them we have never stayed home and handed out candy. This year we hope to do a little haunted house for younger kids and hand out candy at our house. Some young men want to help so hopefully we start a new fun tradition!!

Cael's 7th Birthday

Well, here I am in April blogging about Caels birthday from October, but better late than never! Each boy got him a present, and wrapped it themselves. It was a fun day, joined by George and Chase. After presents, we all went out to Old Chicago, because they let you play with IPads while you wait. Marketing genius! That's where the boys always want to go now!

Before we have Cael this present I told him it was from Dad. He opened it up and was like DAD, seriously clothes. It was so funny because I then told him the next present was from me. He thinks I pick better presents than dad!

Much to our surprise, the next day he wanted to wear his new clothes and play with his legos. We thought for sure it would be the IPad that he got, but nope, legos. He would still rather play with legos than an electronic. He's always been so independent. He doesn't need anyone to play with. He's such a good boy!

 

And here he is with Nana and Papas present. He couldn't be any happier!!!

 

Cael is our "little sleeper" for more than one reason. He is SUPER smart, but you wouldn't really know it. He just kinda slithers by, but he is very aware of everything going on around him. He picks up on any word he hears, and he has to know the definition of everything he doesn't know, and then he can remember it and use it in context next time. He is very independent and just as happy to play by himself as he is to play with someone. He has BY FAR had the least amount of playdates of all the boys. He plays so well with all his brothers (although him and Caden are starting to struggle) and he plays well alone so I never feel the need to have anyone else over. He has tons of friends, and is a total sweetheart. Just today at lunch, Carson was trying to steal Colby's cookie and then mine. Cael just grabbed his and gave it to Cars. He was totally going to eat it, he liked it, but if Cars wanted it then he was just as happy to have Cars eat it. He 100% fully believes that he is Mom and Dad's favorites, and he will tell his brothers that! If he doesn't get what he wants, he will still tell them it's ok I'm still their favorite! He is SNEAKY!!! He is super patient. At night, he will take a good 3-4 minutes to open our door so that we don't wake up. He then walks incredibly slow and quiet and climbs even slower into bed on dad's side (because no matter how quiet he is mom will always wake up and take him back to bed) and slowly touches you until he is snuggled up as tight as can be. He will wake up in SOMEONES bed EVERY morning. Colby comes in crying if he climbs in his, so he mostly goes down to Carters. Carter will let him stay since he has a queen. Cael can sleep for HOURS on weekdays, but is usually the first up if something fun is going on. He has to be woke up almost every school morning. He WILL NOT fall asleep early. He requires the least amount of sleep as all of them. If he gets over tired, he will go get into bed and go to sleep. But most of the time, he lays in bed, or sneaks to someone elses room for HOURS a night. He usually will go to bed at about 10-11, 2-3 hours after being "put to bed." Often, Colby will tell me that Cael is keeping him up too late and he needs more sleep.

Cael is an quiet instigator! He is a little sneak! You know if something happened and Cael is involved, he started it. He will come crying to us and say that one of his brothers hit him and Chet will ask, what did you do first? And Cael will tell him some crazy thing he did. It took us a while to figure that out, because he is so sneaky, but we have his number now. He EASILY can get under anyones skin in about a second flat. He has adults that he likes and respects, and those he DOES NOT! And if he does not respect them, all bets are off. He had a husband/wife team as primary teachers that he did not like. They didn't have any kids and were VERY strict. It was a long year. He did everything he could to annoy them and then laugh about it later. And Cael is hard to punish. He can play alone in his bed, spanking he could care less, yelling he just looks at you like you are a crazy lunatic, take things away and he'll just find something else, etc. It's been tough! But he loves to hang out with the young men. They all like him, so he would manipulate those teachers, and tell them that mom doesn't care if he gets in trouble, she'll just give me food and let me draw. So they take him to Chet (the one who really doesn't care) who taught the priest and as soon as he would walk in all the boys would fist bump him and he would go to the candy jar (they were in the bishops office) and would get some candy and hang out with the young men! What!!! I would have sitting next to me with his arms folded and feet straight, without candy and no drawing and he would sit quiet in my "boring" class. And he knew that. He knew just what to do to put them in a frenzy (take off his shoes, flip his tie, etc) and get taken to Chet, almost weekly. And that is the story of his life. He is the most stubborn boy ever born on this planet!!! But he loves his mom. And his dad. And he is a sponge. He listens to everything, and soaks in all the good. He can repeat every scripture story, every song, every story he has ever heard. He will test us every day of his young life, but we wouldn't trade him for the world. He is so close to heaven! He says things that make you stop and think exactly what he "knows", almost like the veil is a little thinner for him. I love my little Cael bug and cannot wait to see what comes next!!!



Fire

So one of the things that I have wanted forever is a real fireplace. I just love them. I love the idea of having a second source of heat too. And there's just something magical about sitting around the fireplace together. This season we have fully taken advantage of it. The boys have learned from dad how to make a fire with great air flow and maximum heat. And we have made dinner on the fire a few times. Everyday that the weather is remotely bad, the boys get us a roaring fire. Our friend drove Chet out to a place that he could get 2 cords for pretty cheap and then dropped it in our driveway. Carson was a crazy man as he carried and stacked it all behind the fence. He is such a good worker. Caden and Carter also helped, but they pooped out a little into it.

 

 

My favorite is to start up a nice fire on Sunday night and just sit and talk. That's what we are doing above. We were having a money talk. Our boys get a lot of money talks. They can repeat Dave Ramseys opening jingle, all of them. It's pretty cute.

Firestation - Preschool 2015

 Colby had to wear his Fire Chief jacket to the station. He started the laying down thing and everyone else followed! It was cute to see them all so interested in every word out of his mouth.

 

 Colby was first to do what he taught them. He told Colby to pretend he was sleeping and this is what he got! Like a corpse! So funny!

 

 

 Sitting in safety after correctly doing everything. He was pretty dang proud!

 Touching all of the equipment. They want to make sure the kids aren't scared of them.

 Colby with his good friend Brad Matthews.

 He LOVED the fireman coming down the pole. He wanted to do it himself. He is probably more interested in the fireman life than any of my other boys ever were.

So glad I get to stay home with him and go on all their field trips. By the time he gets into school I will have already hit all the same field trips a million times. and sometimes I am REALLY not excited to go, but the boys LOVE having a parent there, and I want to make sure Colby doesn't feel ripped off as I burn out. Chet has been going on some this year, and that's been a huge hit with the boys too. We really are sooooo lucky! 5 times over!