Spring Concerts Galore

The Spring Equinox has passed. YEA!!! We made it, we survived the winter. Bring on Spring and Summer!

Jesse had a Choir Concert last week and accompanied her friend Bailey in a solo. What fun to see her up there on stage on the Grand Piano, and she did a great job. The 8th grade girls sounded awesome; the boys' singing had something to be desired! Joseph kept saying, "I'm so glad I'm not in 8th grade...", which is humorous coming from a 9th grader. He's so mature now, you know.

Speaking of Joseph, he found a book that I bought years ago called Puzzles for Pleasure, and he has been immersed in solving these logic puzzles. He's getting good at them, and I've had fun joining him in solving a few. I guess that is pretty mature, isn't it (on Joseph's part, I mean).

Mary's Band Concert was fun because the Director had the High School bands come down and play with the middle schoolers for this concert. They sounded great! :) I thought it was a neat idea, to have them experience what it's like to play with a large band that has a good sound! Mary plays the saxophone, just like Joseph did.

Peter's 3rd grade Music Program was all about the USA, and they sang folk songs from different cultures in the USA.

I'm sure in 5 years I'll be able to use this video as bribery for anything I want. Ha haIn the meantime, I love the enthusiasm and innocence of 3rd graders!

After 3 tries, I finally made some butter that tasted good! I was glad, because I was getting worried. There's a lot of cream that comes off of this milk.

This week we started Spring Break. Friday afternoon I took the kids to the bookstore and everyone got to pick out a paperback. If this is not the most fun, I don't know what is. The ride home was QUIET, except for Libby announcing to everyone that she was done with another chapter of her Junie B. Jones book.

(NOTE:I don't care for those books myself, but that's what her teacher - whom I highly respect- is reading at school, so she likes them. I just don't get how you teach first graders correct grammar and spelling from reading a book that has very little of it from the main character? Do tell, if you have another opinion.)

The High School Parent Teacher Conferences were this week, and those are my big PAY DAYS. Not that I can take any credit for how great my boys are, but still, it makes a Mom feel happy to hear every teacher say, "Oh, he's great to have in class", etc.

Joseph's track coach said that when she first saw him run, she knew she had found a natural runner, one that makes it look effortless. He hasn't started competing yet, so it will be exciting to see how he does. He'll probably do the 1600 meter, and either the 3200 meter or the 800 meter. Joseph would prefer the 3200, because he can pace himself and get faster the longer he goes.

Crazy - that's just crazy. But the 800 is awful too. I don't have fond memories of running that!

Josh and I played a duet in Church today of "Praise to the Man". We could have used some more practice, but it turned out all right.

Our community's "Unplugged" month has been going well. I have to tell you what my four-year Primary class member, Benson, told his Mom about this. He said, "It's not (our town) unplugged, it's YOU unplugged. You're the one that unplugged the TV!" He was mad about not being able to watch movies. I thought that was so funny.

We did catch Josh, Joseph and Jesse on different occasions watching movies, saying that they were watching it "as a family" with only two of them. Ha ha So Bruce went and CUT the cord to the TV, literally! HA HA I laughed so hard when he told me. The kids couldn't believe it. Personally, I think he just wanted to do that at some point in his career as a Dad to say he had done it, and this was as good of a chance as any! :)

But it got the point across. Nobody has asked to watch any movies again. They could watch on the computer, but they haven't. It has been extremely pleasant in the evenings to have most, if not all of the family gathered around in the living room or family room reading books by the fire.

Wow, I have to pinch myself sometimes. We just milked a cow, made our own butter, and now we're sitting around the fire reading books in the evening? What century are we in??

This century, I guess, 'cause here I am letting people on every continent know about it over this "Internet" thing, and we did flip a switch to get the gas fire going!

Speaking of the Internet, have I said before that I love those guys at Google? They added a feature on Gmail that enables you to keep a simple Task list on the corner of the window while you're reading your email. You can add tasks to the list directly from email messages. Before I would just leave messages that had unfinished business marked as unread, and it made for a messy Inbox. This Task window is simple, and yet fits most of the needs I have. I love it!

Political issue of the week: Can I just say that it find it absolutely laughable and ridiculous, all this hullabaloo about the AIG bonuses. Not that the bonuses should have been given - that was a serious error on AIG's part - but the surprise on the public and the government's part that this should happen is so ridiculous and childlike in it's scope. It's just like elderly parents giving their married child money, and then being surprised and offended when they go and spend it on something that they don't approve of. Is not this really a classic problem with giving money away, that mature people should understand?! It's all such a joke! C'mon people!

I do find it VERY scary that the Congress is passing legislation to tax specific people at 90%. Yikes, who are they going to come up with next? I guess they do that a lot in a many areas, but I've never seen it quite this narrow. I wish Steve Forbes would have been supported more in his flat tax ideas. We need a FLAT TAX.

Good news from my side of the family! My brother Craig, and his wife Jaclyn, are moving back to Utah so Craig can get a Masters Degree in Environmental History. Awesome! They will fit right in with all the "younger set" that are down on the Wasatch Front going to school. Maybe they can even be invited to the "Cousin Parties" and supervise! :)

I want to thank all of you who read this blog, and also to those who comment! I love your comments.

I laugh with my friend Wendy about people who ask how everything is going. Inwardly we think, "You'd know if you read my blog....!" Ha ha

When I asked my brother Craig if he still read it, considering the length of the content at times, he replied that it was like War and Peace, or Les Miserables, that the content was so good that it was worth the saga. YOU ARE VERY NICE, CRAIG!

P.S. As Joseph said tonight, "The calf has not yet perished. We're on a roll!"

Easier with the doing of it

I firmly believe that many a hard thing becomes easier with the doing of it.

And so it has been with the milking this week. Little by little we have figured out the milking machine and it seems to go better every day. We have got it down now so can finish with everything in less than an hour with either Bruce or I and two of the kids working. We have all the days assigned out so everybody has four turns of milking a week. We only use the machine with our cow Buttercup. We still milk Natalie by hand.

It was Libby's 7th birthday this week! The night before her birthday she went to bed at 6:30 pm, on her own, so she could be ready for the next day. On her Google Calendar, she had scheduled the following on her birthday:

2:00-3:00 am - Wake up
3:00-4:00 am - Pretend to sleep
6:00- the rest of the day - Have fun

At 6:30 am we went in and woke her up (Jesse, Mary and Dad had already done the milking) and sang Las Mañanitas. We brought her into the Entertainment room, where Jesse and Mary had set up her birthday present.It was Libby's Hot Chocolate "Restaurant", complete with a Menu board, cups and saucers, pink hot pads, measuring cups and sponges, an apron that said "Libby - I love Hot Chocolate" and some hot chocolate mix and white store-bought bread (the real treat)! She served us all hot chocolate that morning. The prelude to this is that for Christmas Bruce and Joseph gave me a hot chocolate maker, which mixes the hot chocolate and keeps it warm, and has a pour spout with it. Libby has been making hot chocolate for everyone constantly since Christmas, so we just added to her "Restaurant". Every day since she gets home from school and goes upstairs and pretty soon we hear over the intercom, "I'm ready to serve hot chocolate if you want to come to my restaurant!" She has been serving anyone that comes over, including Josh's friends and the home teachers.

On Wednesday we got a new calf, a Holstein bull. (Yes - we're brave enough to try it again!) He is SO CUTE, as you can see here. Holstein calves are bigger and hardier, and so far this one is doing well. We are bottle feeding him with the milk we get from the Jerseys.We have yet to come up with a name for him. Peter wants to name him Frederico, which just bothers Mary to no end because she doesn't think Peter should be able to name him, and Bruce is determined that his name should be Slobber-Face, since that is what he does after you feed him. FYI - the calves that we lost were not Joseph's. His cow and calf are in a different herd and are just fine. He did not loose his investment!

One day last week they had "Crazy Hair Day" at the Middle School. This is what Jesse did to Mary's hair! There was a secret to it, but we'll never tell. :)Thursday night there was a High School Choir Concert, and Josh sang in several numbers. His first one was "Try to Remember", accompanied by me. His friend Vinnie sang the same number at festival, so they sang it together for the Concert. They put actions to it, and had the audience smiling. Their voices sounded incredible together. Josh also sang with the Madrigals, and then the last number was his barbershop quartet group. They sang this song in the video, Still of the Night, and Breakfast at Tiffany's also.



It was SO FUN to hear them sing!! For the first time they had microphones, so Josh's bass part really came out. Everyone came up to me afterward and said what a great bass part it was. Josh LOVES singing with these guys. They really have fun together.

We had a fun, but short visit from Lorna and Kaylee, who stayed overnight with us. We hardly recognized Lorna! Ask her if you talk to her... :) Happy Birthday this week to Kaylee and Lauren!!

On Saturday morning, Jesse played her soccer game against a really tough team. They lost 4-1, but they played really well. When the whistle blew, she grabbed her bag and ran to the car, and we took off down the road to another city in Idaho for her clogging competition. We made it at the exact MINUTE that we needed to be there. If that was not a blessing, I don't know what is. We were blessed.

She did really well, getting a first in one dance, and two seconds in the others. She loves to clog, and loves to be up there on the stage. Here is a clip of one of her dances:

As soon as we left there, we got to drive 45 minutes and see my parents, who just got back from Atlanta, where they have been healing at my brother Curtis' house. We didn't tell them we were coming, so when my Mom opened the door, she said, "Well... ", and looked first at Jesse and didn't recognize her at all. Then she turned her head to me, her face went all serious, and then she started to cry when she recognized me. It was so funny! I wish I had a video of her face.

How fun to be with Mom and Dad!! To be home, even though I've never lived there. Wherever they are is home. We brought some pizza and added it to their hamburger and carrots. In a cooler we also brought a gallon of milk from our cows, a dozen fresh eggs from our chickens, a pound of ground elk meat, and a loaf of whole wheat bread. That was fun and Mom just ooed and aahed over that, which is just what I wanted her to do. (True confession - ha ha). The bread was overboard - I mostly brought it so she could tell what was wrong with it and what I could do better! Ha ha

When Angie came in later on, she started to jump up and down and yell when she saw us! Of course that just makes one feel good all over. :) She came over to convince Mom and Dad to go to the Gold and Green Ball that her stake was having. So we got dressed up and went. It was a live band, and Mom and Dad loved it. It was worth the whole trip to see their faces when the Tennessee Waltz came on. The look that passed between them was priceless. Not recognizing the song, I had to ask, "What's wrong?" They answered quickly that it was the Tennessee Waltz and in a moment they were arm in arm off dancing. Unforgettable moment for me! (This is the song that was playing on the Music Player when the blog first came up.)

Jesse got a fever while we were there. Hopefully it wasn't contagious; I think she had just overdone it. On Sunday morning after Mom and Dad had gone to Church (we didn't go because of Jesse's fever), Jesse took a Tylenol and started to feel better. When I woke up from a nap, I was laying on the couch and she went to the piano and started playing piece after piece. It was heavenly to lie on the couch and listen to her play!

I went over to Rodney and Angie's and got to see these cute kids! Carson put his hands up to me for a hug. He has really grown up, walking all over the place.Angie - so sorry I missed you. I guess Mom and Dad's clock was wrong, because I thought I was there in time. I hope your song went well! Rodney showed me all around the house. It's so great! I can't believe all the room you have downstairs to expand. What a great find!

Back at home, Bruce was busy coaching Joseph's soccer team. They lost again. They are playing club teams that pay thousands of dollars to play, and have professional coaches, so it's tough. It's good experience for them, though.

Mary's team lost also, although it wasn't so bad as the first game. Thanks to those who coached for me on Saturday! Josh played almost his whole game this week, and they WON 2-0! He also performed again on Saturday night for the Booster Club, altough he said that performance wasn't nearly as good as Thursday night.

We had Zach and Sarah with us this weekend, while Gary and Heidi went to Colorado to get the Van from Grandma and Grandpa. What a great thing that will be for them. Well, I shouldn't say they were with "us" since I was gone for two days. Peter and Libby had fun playing with them.

Here is a puzzle that Joseph made up:

This exercise is designed to test your ability to FOLLOW DIRECTIONS. In the end, this should turn a brand of Dictionary into a famous author. Write this on a sideways sheet of notebook paper, using the blue lines as a guide. Write out each step.

1. Print WEBSTERSDICTIONARY – Record your starting time
2. Remove the first letter
3. Change all the vowels except for the letter E into Ts (Y is not a vowel)
4. Switch in position the second letter and the sixteenth letter
5. Change the third letter into an O
6. If any of the same letters are in succession with each other, remove them all
7. Change the thirteenth letter into an E
8. Insert a J before each E
9. Move the letters in the fifteenth and sixteenth position, keeping them in order, to the seventh and eighth position
10. Remove any of the same letters that are in succession, and from left to right replace the first set of letters with one L, and the second set of letters with one K
11. Switch the letters in position 10 and position 13
12. Change the first C into a T
13. Remove the first D
14. Change the letter in position 9 into an I
15. Remove any of the same letters that are in succession with each other
16. Switch the letters in positions eight and nine
17. Remove the last letter
18. Switch the second vowel with the third consonant
19. Switch the first vowel with the second R
20. Print the name of the Author – record your time

Post your answer in the Comments section!
(sorry to anyone who has already done it -- it was wrong but has been fixed!)