Happy 7th Birthday Luke & Noah!

 It is hard to believe these guys are 7! We had a fun day. We went to Ender's Game as a family, then came home and had a party. Thanks to skype we have talked to G&G Smith and G&G Hardy sang Happy Birthday with us and watched presents being opened. Lots of fun gifts! The boys got a target along with their bb guns. Of course after cake and ice cream we went outside to shoot guns. The boys pretended to be shooting buggers :) instead of the zombies on it. It seems like SO long ago that they were little dudes. But yet again I can't believe how quickly they have grown up. Our family is so blessed to have both Luke and Noah. I am grateful for both of them!

One more to the menagerie...

Luke finally has his turtle. He has been asking for a few years. It turns out that pet stores can not sell turtles in NC. So we drove to Winston tonight to buy a turtle from a guy selling them out the trunk of his car. He did have a card with his name and number on it if we needed any help.

 This little guy is a hatchling musk turtle. He is only about the size of a quarter! He is super cute and has been active, exploring his tank and eating already. The whole family has been watching him all night.

 Plus, now the boys have an awesome waterfall sound from  the filter to fall asleep to in their room. Our animal count is now at:
1 dog
2 cats
1 gerbil
1 turtle
1 beta fish
& 8 chickens

Makes me laugh! Especially for Jason who is not especially an animal lover. But he does love his kids :)

I spent most of the afternoon today sorting through boxes that have not been opened for years. Childhood keepsakes, letters all the way back to elementary school, tons and tons and tons of pictures and letters from my mission. It was fun to find some things I thought I had lost - my baby book for one! I could never find it when we moved to NC. I was not super worried, I was sure it was somewhere. I also found a blue glass bird that I received as a wedding gift from a college professor that meant a lot to me. She was on sabbatical from a baptist college somewhere in the south where it is traditional to give a blue bird of happiness as a wedding gift.
I has such a hard time deciding what to keep and what to give away or get rid of. Our new  house does not have room to store all this stuff, so I can't keep it all. That is the hard part, the blessing of all this is realizing what a life of abundance I have lived.
I have letters and letters and letters from all members of my family telling me of their love and just what was happening in their lives. I have had such amazing friends over the years that have loved, listened and taught me. I met people on my mission that changed my life and taught me of the Savior in ways no one else could. I have cards of love and support from my parents and Grandparents. I have been able to travel and have amazing experiences. I was reminded of blessings and experiences today and people whom I have not thought of for many years.
I have always loved John 10:10 when Christ says I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. Tonight as I look back on my life to this point, I see the abundance and know it is from the Lord and I am humbled and so full of gratitude.

Christmas 2013

Merry Christmas!

 Gracie screamed with joy opening a gift from Santa of 15 books

 Santa brought Luke a turtle habitat. He has been wanting a pet turtle for a few years. 

 Legos. Enough said.

 Sophie got a real microphone, clothes and a knitting machine. But to pose for a picture she was loving on her enormous Hershey's kiss.

 Jason got all of the kids a motor bike. He built it and we tested it out while the kids were in school. I crashed pretty spectacularly and we laughed out heads off. But Christmas morning it promptly broke. Starting mechanism in pieces. Such a bummer. Kids are still excited, but sad to have it be broken first thing Christmas morning. Grace made me smile all dressed in pink with her pink bb gun.

It was pretty cold but we played out side a lot. This is a fun game Santa brough Luke. You can see our chicken coop in the background. It was Jason and I's gift this year.

I am always sad to not be with family on holidays. This year was no exception. But we had a relaxing fun day. We stayed in pjs and read, ate lots of candy, played games and hung out together. We played a new game Grandma Hardy got us called Headbandz before bed and laughed and laughed together. It was a wonderful day.

Christmas Eve

 Christmas Eve 2013

This year Susie and I started what we hope will be a tradition. We met at the church with some other families and played all morning long in the gym. I was the only Mom playing, which I think is crummy. But Susie was taking care of babies and Jen Cobia just had surgery last week. We played Spider Ball which is a combined dodge ball/freeze tag and kick ball and had tons of fun. The grown up men got too competitive, which I think is funny. But it was a good time. I had a spectacularly embarrassing fall in the middle of one game. The kind where you keep stumbling forward desperately trying to get your balance and then fall hard to the ground. It made me feel old. But it was pretty funny. I laughed and laughed. I was too embarrassed to see if anyone else was laughing, I asked Grace a bit later how bad it was, if I should be embarrassed and she said yes, definitely.

 We watched the video of the Savior's birth instead of reading it this year. The church made an incredible video. The kids learned more from it and payed attention better. I still love reading Luke 2, and I'm sure we will in years to come. We video stopped between segments and we were able to talk and discuss the Savior's birth. At one point Noah leaned over to me and whispered, "I'd rather have Jesus then presents." It was really sweet. Jason and I both bore our testimonies to the kids at the end of the Savior, His birth and redemptive power. We had a simple, wonderful Christmas Eve. Grace cracked me up that she wanted footie pjs, but she did. So I got them for her.  Sophie had the entire Christmas morning planned out, scheduled and written for the other kids. She said she would do a pep rally between the time they woke up at 6:10 and when we said they could get us up at 6:30. No pep rally was needed!

 Stockings, tree and Noah with our Santa key. He looks like he is praying that Santa will come! I think he was just cold.

Grace made sure to leave a snack for the reindeer on the front lawn. The other kids were putting out cookies for Santa. When Grace came in she started writing a thank you letter to Santa. Soon all the other kids had joined her.

Happy Birthday Jason!

Jason turned 42 today! We had a special breakfast today to celebrate before he left for Caswell this morning. It was his first sunday there on assignment as a High Counselor. They meet the same time we do, but are an hour away. It will take some getting used to for Jason to not be with us most sundays, but I am so grateful for his willingness and worthiness to serve the Lord.
While we waited for Jason to get home I made the kids watch White Christmas with me. Sophie liked the first half ok. The other kids not so much. I still love it though. I had fun telling Sophie who Bing Crosby was, etc. We had a yummy pot roast dinner and wacky cake tonight. I was the one who put the mismatched 42 on the cake. We actually didn't have any regular candles, but for some reason I kept some number ones.
I am so grateful for Jason, today and every day. Especially in this grand endeavor we  have begun, I have to admit most of the farm planning and motivation has been his. I am married to a wonderful man.

Early Christmas

Jason and I decided that our Christmas this year would be our coop and chickens. Our chicks came today! We ordered them from a hatchery in Pennsylvania where they were born yesterday. They pack them up right after they hatch so the chicks have plenty of nutrition from the egg and today we got to go down to our post office and pick up a little, peeping box of chicks! It was only about the size of a shoe box.

 For right now the chicks are in the mud room. We ordered 3each of 5 different laying breeds. We have 1 extra, so a total of 16. We only need 8, our friends the Ides are going to take the other 8. The whole family has been hanging out in the mud room watching them. Grace was there all afternoon. She took her book in with her :)

 You can see the little part of their beak that broke through their shells still. They are tiny! Feels like a fluffy nothing almost when you pick them up.

This little yellow chick is fast asleep with its head in the feeder. It stayed that way for several minutes. Jason and I were cracking up! The chicks just flop down wherever they are when they are tired and sleep, legs and wings all at odd angles. But no one else fell asleep in their dinner. Totally reminded me of a human baby asleep in their high chair. So much fun!

Gingerbread Barn

For our gingerbread house this year we made a barn. Good ol' Tractor Supply. You never know what you will find there! I think it turned out really cute. The kids mostly had fun. It seems we can't do anything as a family lately without at least a little bit of fighting. Sigh. But by the end we had it all figured out and everyone was happy.

Luke did the lights all along the roof, Noah came up with the gumdrop lanterns, Sophie made the candy cane wood pile and Grace made these adorable little mice to go along with the gummy animals that came in the kit.

Merry Christmas!

Grandma Hardy's Visit

We were lucky to share Thanksgiving with Grandma Hardy this year. We didn't go anywhere, there is still a lot of work to do here, but it was nice to spend the holiday together. I love this picture. It is on the steps of our corn crib. Not sure why it is called that. But it is an old shed that Mr. Lawrence moved when they built the house. 

Guest Author Grace

HI!!!!Today was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do you like my zombie faces??????

Me and Sophie on an old hay bale on the edge of our field. It was sort of hard because it kept falling apart.

We had fun playing.

BYE!!!!!!!!!!