Beautiful Nauvoo

There are countless moments when the complexities of life wear me down. The moments of my inadequacy as a mother, wife, person in general seem to come more often and the trials of life seem to surface. Then you visit Nauvoo....

Enter the homes they left behind....
And walk in the streets where they walked...

The reverence is overwhelming,

The stories of hardship, faith and endurance bring you to a different understanding, and you are humbled.
When you cross the river they crossed,

You imagine life, their life and witness the simpleness of it all.You learn about a Prophet, his life, his legacy, and you love him so much more.

You stand in the room where he spent his last moments of this life...

And testify to your sweet sons of his divinity.

You pray, that your sons will love each other the way they did.

You treasure the fact that your family is forever.
Then before you go home, you realize how blessed you are to be a mother of them...

A Sister to her,

And to have the blessings of an Eternal Family.

And when those moments of inadequacy come, I remember, I remember them,

and hope to have more faith,

and remember the spirit that I felt, the witness that I received, the realization of sacrifices made, all for the Gospel that I love.

Beautiful Nauvoo....

Beautiful Nauvoo.

Halloween Costumes

My kids are very spoiled every year by a Grandma who finds the best costumes ever!! Every Halloween the kids spend hours in front of the computer picking out their costumes! It usually takes a few days to decide, and yet Tate is always a ninja, and Sissy of course, is always one of the princesses (very fitting for her little personality). Tye just wanted to be Football payer, pretty shocking!

One tradition we have is the annual photo shot - and trust me, my kids love it!

For the report of Halloween Night, you must ready my sister's blog, she is a much better story teller than I ever could be. www.talesofthetimes.blogspot.com

Enjoy the photos below!

At Last...

My husband has been on a 9 day hunting trip, and tonight, he's home AT LAST! Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that he's been able to go but let me tell you a little about the time he's been gone. I had originally planned all these little fun activities for the kids & I. I knew that trying to get all 3 kids and to their activities, plus add a few of my own was going to be rough....but I planned it out and thought I had every covered. I was also in charge of the ranch while he was gone, but recently hired a young man to help us so I thought we would be fine.

Does anything in life go as planned?

On Monday the guy we hired called in sick - for the week!!!!

By Tuesday, Sick child Number 1

By Thursday, Sick Child #2

By Friday, Sick Child #3


Although this sick child is a littler harder to deal with because she lives underneath our kitchen table. I'm not kidding. She has her bed down there, toys, books, a phone, her babies....and in her words "It's my HOUSE". If you look closely below you can see her pink phone in the sick of her kitchen. Every time I have to check on her I have to crawl done under the table....nice huh? (one more side note, she always has to have a flashlight on underneath the table....cause that's hers light!)

When she's feeling better she plays on top of the table. She's mostly into playing restaurant right now. All those pink slips of paper is how she takes orders and all the food is served as balloons. I'm not kidding, Tate had this packet of 1,000 water balloons that he got for his birthday and all your food is served as balloons. (I am so tired of picking up little balloons all over my house I could scream....I did try vacuuming them, don't recommend it!)

Tye is the worst out of the bunch. I thought it might be swine flu (I'm a little paranoid, since one of our schools in town has 40% of the kids sick with the flu) But luckily it is pneumonia. We spent two days at the hospital because he had so much fluid in his lungs. We didn't have to spend the night, just go in during the day for treatments & xrays. The funny thing is we've become addicted to the hospital cafeteria. I know it sounds disgusting....but it's fantastic! When Tye had surgery in August, we would eat there a lot, and as soon as Tye found out where we were going each day he would beg to eat there. Also it's so cheap and has the best smoothies. I would call my sister everyday and tell her what we would get for lunch and how much it would cost. Example one day: 2 Smoothies, 2 Ham Sandwiches, a croissant club sandwich ( for me of course) lg. cup of soap a salad bar, a sugar cookie, two drink, two donuts...and chocolate mouse (for me again). All for $13.65. I'm telling you, it's a steal, and the food is great. Just in case anyone wants to eat at the cafe inside Aurora Hospital!

I would call Wes each night and tell him everything that was happening between the kids and the ranch, and he felt bad. Not bad enough to hop on a plane and come home, but bad enough to get the service of Martha Stewart Flowers. com! It was a nice surprise!

So every night while he was being wined and dined eating steak and lobster at this private hunting lodge in Kansas, or his 5 day Elk hunt in Jackson Hole....I was at home, eating hospital food and thinking how much I'm glad that I'm not a single mom, thinking one sick child in hard...3 is a disaster,thinking that the fact that he puts his wet towels on my bed drives my crazy, but he's worth it, thinking that if someone actually saw the condition of my home I would die, thinking that it's time I cashed in the massage certificate I've been hanging on to, thinking I'm so glad he'll be back at the ranch, thinking I better wash all the sheets today (minus, sissy's bed - wink wink!!) thinking it's a good thing I haven't left the house in a week because my roots are so bad that a trip to the salon is 5 1/2 weeks over due, thinking that I'm not going to get away with grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner any more, thinking I'm happy that my husband had a great trip, and actually got tons of birds in Kansas and a elk in Wyoming, but mostly thinking ....that tonight, AT LAST, he's home!!!!!

Fall Means.......

I'm just not ready for fall....it use to be my favorite season....until I moved to Wisconsin and realized what comes afterwards. (I am so not ready for another Wisconsin Winter.)

Nevertheless I still manage to love it and Fall in our household means the following....

a LOT of this

We are a football family. Always have been...always will be. The funnest part is actually watching Tye play "tackle" for the first time. Every year we've put him in Flag, but decided this year to let him have a chance at the "Big League - Pop Warner." Sissy calls it "Pop Corner" but you know what I mean. He's done super well. He was a little disappointed that he wasn't quarterback, but when he learned there was 12 running plays and only 1 play where they actually throw the ball he was happy the coach put him at Running Back. He rushed for over 100 yards and got his first touchdown on the first game and it was Fun....I can't tell you how many hours our family spends in the Fall watching football, too much to even mention, but I wouldn't change it.

The other stuff that fall brings is

the fact that the hundred of acres of corn fields that surround our house is about to be cut down. I love the rows and rows of corn and pretty soon they'll all disappear. The picture above is my view from our front porch.

Fall also means it's time to turn the oven on again. I don't know why I prefer to cook in the fall/winter, but I always enjoy it more. One of my FAVORITE things in life is Carmel Apples - and trust me, I seriously could eat these for breakfast, lunch & dinner. When Fall rolls around it's time to bust out the homemade Carmel apples, with fresh apples. Love it!!

Fall also means an end to the thing my kids love most....being outside. I just dread the fact when they can't go outside and play. I've let the kids have friends over more than ever, just so that they can enjoy the last few weeks of doing the things they love best. Tate's best friend Jared is allergic to horses, so they play on this.....We've only had one small accident where Tate actually ran into the the little pond in front of the house.

and Tye's best Friend Andrew loves to ride, so they spend most of their time doing this...

While Wes has been busy helping Coach Tye's football I've been busy taking take to Baseball. It's his first time playing machine pitch and we weren't sure how he was going to like it. Tate could care less about sports, he only plays to get the metals/trophies that are involved. Luckily he's on a great team and their undefeated so consequently he thinks he's hot stuff! He LOVES to hit, and he gets to play first base, so he's in heaven!

For Taylor...she's just a good sport to sit at endless Football & Baseball games and practices. (That's when ring pops come in handy)

If you ask my husband what Fall really means it comes down to one thing and one thing only. It's the time of the year I just, well any of you with husband's that love hunting as much as mine completely understand.
Wes has a turkey tag right now, so sometimes before school or in the afternoon's he'll pack up the boys and head to the trees. My boys LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE it, and they are so excited with the stories they come back with. They have jumped them a few times but still no Turkey. The funny thing is they come back with acorns, pine combs, used shotgun shells and they have started a little collection in my kitchen window of their new treasures.
I don't know if Wes is ever going to keep them quiet enough to actually get something...but he's not giving up yet! They just changed the law in Wisconsin that 10 year olds can hunt....I'm not sure who's more excited, Wes or Tye!

As for me....I can't tell you how much I love the trees changing colors, the fact that my garden is full of pumpkin's to decorate with, the new soup recipes I embark on, the laziness of Sundays in front of the NFL Network, the fact that my kids are asleep every night by 8:00, the new Fall season shows that I'm addicted to and DVR religiously, new jogging suits, comfy socks, cream of wheat, apple cider and a clean house for more than 10 minutes a day.

I also love my mornings...especially like the one below, foggy, dense and just watching the Sun try and break through. I have to admit living in the country makes me very mindful of the fact that I'm surrounded by beautiful landscapes...and the view from my kitchen window is amazing! (As long as you can look past the acorn pile...)