Tis the Reason

I love nativity sets. This one is from the Primary Presidency. It is actually Makay's but it is so cute I had to put it on the shelves next to mine.

This one was given to me by a secret Santa 2 years ago.

This is my Grandma one. It is Fisher Price and all playable if my grandchildren every come to my house for Christmas. They can play with Baby Jesus all they want.

This one was given to me by a dear friend. Thanks Tausha.

This is my newest one. The kids gave me this Willow Tree one. It is beautiful. I moved things around and it now has the place of glory that my white nativity(no picture) has had for many years. I have the greatest kids on the earth. I controlles the tears when I unwrapped it but not now that I am typing this. Merry Christmas. Remember the reason for the Season.

I Love Wrestling!

Clayton had his first wrestling match of the year and I couldn't believe how much I missed being in the gym.

He had a good match at Salmon and came away with a win.

He had a good match at South Fremont with a 15 second pin.

Not so great at Malad but that is how it goes sometimes. He should be able to go to state if he works hard and stays healthy. I all ready told Luke he could not hurt Clayton this year. Both boys just laughed.

GIRL'S CHOICE

Clayton finally hooked up with a girl over homecoming week, so when it came time for Girl's Choice they went together.

Their group went to Rexburg to a game place call Craze and played games and laser tag.

They then went to Hamer to one of the girl's house and had dinner and played around in her backyard.

They went to the dance and Clay said he had a lot of fun. I have yet to see any pictures from the dance. Just glad I sent his camera and he gave it to the girls. Thanks Jennifer.

Adult Supervision?

One night after having dinner at our house the football team decided to make some dry ice bombs.

The boys weren't exactly sure how to do it correctly, but it didn't take long for them to figure it out. The first one that finally exploded made them all jump and run. It was really funny watching them.

We live on the main highway so the boys would try and roll the bottle to the edge of the grass and time it so that when a car drove by it would explode. They weren't very successful as they didn't want to get them to close to the road.

Boys will be boys no matter how big or how old they get.

Feeding the Thousands(well not quite)

At the beginning of the football season Clayton and I decided to have a team dinner. We felt like the team really needed to get to know each other on and off the field.

So on Thursday before the first game we had them over to eat. We then decided that we should do this every Thursday. It was a blast having the boys in our home. They were very funny especially when they didn't realize that I could hear their conversations.

We always made sure to have plenty of food because they are teenage boys, they are football players and boy were they always hungry.

Over the football season I feed them 1 pot of chili, 1 pot of stroganoff, 2 huge cookers of chicken noodle soup, 2 crockpots pulled pork and chicken sandwiches, 1 cooker, white chicken chili, 1 cooker taco soup,1 cooker 3-Bean soup,Glazed ham, 4 pans of lasagna,Green salad, potato salad, pasta salad, deviled eggs, yummy potatoes, 8 loaves of homemade bread, 6 loaves french bread, 4 plates of shrimp dip, 2 7-layer dip, 2 pumpkin rolls,4 bags tortilla chips, brownies,rice krispie treats, cinnamon rolls, relish tray, a huge cobbler, homemade sugar cookies, homemade oreo cookies, chocolate cake, I am sure there was more.

Thanks boys for making this year a blast and well worth all the blood sweat and tears.

Football 2010

Clayton's Senior Year at West Jefferson. Clayton wasn't sure he wanted to play football. After some encouraging by his teammates he decided to play.
Clay went to practice and ended up hurting his knee again. Now he wasn't sure if he would get to play. He sat out the first two games and then with the help of medicine and a good brace he was back on the field. The team had a great year and ended up being tied for first with two other teams.

Senior Night brought a great game for these boys. Lots of boys didn't think Clayton had a dad so we reassured them that on Senior Night they would see him. Daren went hunting and was not there. The boys all laughed about this.


Playoff were held in Ririe. We picked the coldest night of the year with the wind blowing for this Kansas City playoff. But in the end we came out on top. District Champions for our District. We then got to play at home. That ended up being their final game. The boys can hold their heads up high for a season well played. They made huge improvement from last year and were definitly united as a team.
After every game the team would come to center field and sing the school song. We are proud of the name of WEST JEFFERSON! May it live on forever more. Clayton had some rough games but he was really glad in the end that he played his Senior year.

Happy Birthday to Me!

I have fabulous children who remember my birthday. Not like my husband who says to me Sunday morning, I forgot until just now that it was your birthday. Suprise Suprise. I saw this necklace in West. It is petrified tree sap. . I collect old lanterns and McKenzie got this one at an antique show.
Thanks kids. Ranell also got me tons of camping scrap stuff which I have all ready used.

Chicken Soup????

Daren told the boys they had to butcher the chicken today> Clayton is scared to death of chicken, well birds in general. So with the help of Makay's frien Kelton they attempted to catch the chicken. The chicken kept hiding under the chicken house and the dog was no help, he kept trying to get the chickens. They decided to make a loop and tie it around the chicken's head but three failed attempts made them try for a leg.
They finally got it and Clayton drug it from the coop. He is holding the chicken as far away as possible and trying to swing it up onto the chopping block. He can't do it and Makay refused to hold the wings. Clayton finally pins the head to the ground and Makay takes a swing. No success.
Clayton then stepping on the neck, holding the leg with a string takes a swing and thus puts an end to the whole ordeal.. . Clayton is now trying to gut and skin the chicken on the back porch. Of course I was of no help because I am laughing and taking pictures so I can put it on the blog. Okay pictures are backwards but you will get the idea

Another one bites the dust!

Does my family not understand that everytime they go to the doctor it cost me money$$$$? Clayton went for a litle endover on his motorcycle. The last thing that Daren told him before he left was don't wreck. Well as you can tell he is a very disobedient child. Black eye, 6 stitches, broken handlebars, broken helmet, and lots of road rash. Boys and their toys. I think I am going to buy them each a chess set for Christmas. I guess it could have been worse. Lots of thanks to the unknown campers who helped bandage him up so he could get down the mountain.

Is it okay to laugh?

Daren went to turn the water off at the cemetery tonight. He decided to ride Makay's pedal bike. Well on the way home the chain came off and consequently so did Daren. Daren was standing up pedaling and when the chain went Daren went sprawling across the pavement. Daren came in with blood on his elbow, his forearm, his finger and his knee. He also got some road rash on his shoulder. And after he told me what had happened all I could do was laugh because just the thought alone of him on a pedal bike was an image to imagine. Maybe he should stick to motorbikes. Oh wait a minute when he rides those he runs into pickups. Maybe he should stick to his recliner.

Mom Treats?

Okay I am finally in the swing of things. Indian Creek goodies are being made and put in the freezer. After pulling these from the oven Clayton asks "Are those Mom treats or normal treats?" I had to laugh. He also thinks that because Tate is crippled that he will sit at the mom table and pocket a few mom treats for the big boys tent.

C.I.L.Y.

This is a c.i.l.y. gift just for Tammy. Probably not as fancy as Joddi's but I think it will work.

Chapter 8

Hang On!
It seemed like things were going to quiet down a little and then the girls became teenagers. Ranell had gotten her driver's license and thought the world was hers. One day she and McKenzie headed to get a pizza. Clayton wanted to go, but they said no. Clayton decided to climb onto the hood of the car and hang on until they said yes. The girls went ahead and tried to turn around in the driveway. In the process they dumped Clayton off resulting in a broken arm. What lesson could I possibly have learned from this? Well credit and kudos to my kids. They were honest with me about what had happened so that we could get Clayton's arm set and healed.

Fancy Smancy #2

Finally finished. Everything is back together and cleaned. Now I have to load it with everything including the kitchen sink. I am still looking for a new futon or couch or something to replace the lovely orange one that was in there, but I am good to go with the loading. All of this started with tearing up the carpet to put pergo flooring down. A month later, two new walls, one new window and plenty of curse words from my husband I have the wood floor down. Thanks to a great guy who mostly just smiled. And to my dad also who was a huge help to my husband. Thanks to the best two guys in the world.

Fancy Smancy

Okay I think things are looking up. We are making good progress on the camper and we got a car. We bought a 2002 Toyota Avalon. It is pretty fancy compared to the minivan. Clayton and Makay said we couldn't buy an old person car and they had to have enough leg room in the back.

Chapter 7 LOST ONE

We love to go camping and try to go as often as possible. One weekend a bunch of us loaded up our campers and motorcycles and headed for Howe. The guys all go for a ride and the ladies usually start scrap booking. We go with some friends whose boys are the same age as ours. Makay, who was three at the time, and his buddy Kelton, who was two, were up on the hill above the campers playing. The wind came up and so Micky and I put the awning down on the camper and looked up and saw the boys playing around some large rocks. We waved at them and went back in the camper. A little while later it started to sprinkle with rain so we went to get the little boys. Makay was playing down in camp but we did not see Kelton anywhere. We asked Makay where Kelton was and he said he didn't know. We started to holler for him and looking for him. We soon had everyone in camp searching the creek and mountainside looking for this two year old. The wind came up and it was starting to rain more. We searched everywhere, looking under every sagebrush bush thinking that maybe he had fallen asleep. We continued the search for about an hour with the weather getting worse and darkness approaching. The whole time we were looking I kept praying. At first my prayer was to find Kelton, but then it changed that the guys would know that we needed their help at camp. Kelton's mom, Micky, was praying that I would be inspired. I was amazed that she trusted me that much. The search was now coming upon its second hour. The campers parked next to us had a navigation system on their pickup and they were just getting ready to drive Micky to the top of the hill to call search and rescue, when into camp came Kelton's dad and uncle. On the front of the four wheeler sat a very tires and dirty two year old.
While coming back to camp they had seen something laying in the middle of the road about 2 miles from camp. Too tired to walk any farther Kelton had just laid down and quit.
Now what makes this story even more incredible is that Kelton's dad has no sense of direction and it was out of the norm for him to come back to camp on his own. In fact, the road that they found Kelton on was really out of the way from where they should have come back. I was amazed afterwards, that my prayer hadn't been answered how I thought it was going to be. I would have thought that finding him would have been my first prayer but after all the events leading up to us finding Kelton I knew that the prayer for the guys to come home was the prayer that was needed.
Sometimes the prayers we pray and the way they are answered are what is best for us. The Lord surely knew that we would not look that far down the road for that little boy, and he sent the help we needed.