On the Farm!

This was back in the last week of September and first part of October. On a Saturday we decided to drive out to the Magrath Farm. It's only a couple of miles South of Magrath. So away we went. The kids love to walk around and explore everywhere. We got there and the lane was double gated so the cows could go on either side of the lane. So we left the burb and just climbed over the fence.

We walked around and checked the apple trees just to see if we could pick any. But there wasn't any to pick. So then we walked down to the creek. The kids like to throw rocks or sticks in the water. We were standing there and I spotted a big frog. Probably the size of the palm of my hand. So I hurried and picked it up while the kids watched me with wide eyes. I couldn't hold onto it though, it was too strong and slippery. So we watched it swim in the water.

My little explorers each found a walking stick! DJ wanted Cadence to dress in his clothes, he even picked them out for her, so that's why she has his clothes on!

We headed back to the burb and noticed ALL the cows were surrounding it. Well that got my kids all excited. DJ kept saying the cows were the eating the "vrrmmmmm". It was kind of funny. Cadence was ready to freak out, but I talked her out of it. We walked up there and I was trying to shoo the cows away. I think they were hungry and thought we were bringing food, because they didn't want to move. I finally got them moving and my kids ran to the burb and jumped in. Abbi and Brianna were laughing, while the other two were just focused to get into the vehicle, then they laughed!

There's our burb surrounded by all the cattle!

On the way home DJ kept going down and talking to Macy, it was so cute!

In the afternoon we drove out to our friends house, the Tidmarsh's. They invited us to come out and see their two week old puppies and then to have the kids ride a horse. So away we went. We got there and Cadence was clinging to me, because she didn't want any dogs or puppies touch her. We finally got her to pet a puppy and she loved it. But there was no way she was going to hold one. DJ took some time to warm up to them too, but then we couldn't keep him away from the puppies. He was so funny. He kept trying to stick them in the dog house, but they were getting out just as fast as he was putting them in. Of course, Abbi and Brianna were in love with the puppies. They were ready to bring one or two home. It was cute.

Brianna LOVED these cute little puppies. She would go to each one and hold them and talk to them like they were babies, so, so cute!

DJ wasn't too sure but then he wouldn't stop picking the puppies up!

This is the only way Cadence would hold a puppy, with her dad. But she did have fun.

Abbi absolutely loved the puppies too. She keeps bugging me for a puppy!

All the kids watching the puppies right by their dog house.

Brianna and DJ were trying really hard to put all he puppies back into the dog house. He'd run them to her and she'd stick them in. It was hilarious to watch because the puppies came out as fast as they put them in. But they did this for about 10 mins!

It was so HOT that day. I think it hit 34 degrees, which is not normal on a late September day. They got a horse out and had the kids ride it bare back. Brianna got right on and didn't want to get off. She loves horses and isn't afraid at all. The others were not too keen about the idea. Abbi was mad and kept saying, "Mom I want that THING on the horse to sit on." She wanted a saddle, but it was way too hot out. So they just had a quick ride and we went and chilled in our basement. DJ was not too thrilled about the whole horse thing. All morning he told me he was a "YEEHAA", which means a cowboy. It was so funny.  So that was our little adventure!

Brianna riding bareback. She wasn't scared at all!

DJ wasn't having any of this, I took him right down!

Cutest picture ever! My 3 girls on the horse.

There now you can see the whole horse. Kendra led them around a little bit.

We tried to get DJ on, but no! Oh well!

On Sunday the girls got to wear their new dresses I bought for them in the summer time. I got some pictures but Cadence refused to come in the pictures. So that's why she's not in them.

Brianna and Abbi in their new dresses. I thought that they were adorable! DJ ready for church and taking his bag with 5 cars in it to play with!

I've been taking a lot of pictures of everything lately for DJ's speech book. I've put a book together with pictures of buildings and stores we always go to. Also with pictures of different vehicles, people he loves, and just some of his stuff, like his bed, blanket, favorite movies etc. We've been seeing a huge improvement on DJ trying to say words, he wouldn't even try before. We'll some times flip through the book and he can tell me what he wants. It eliminates tantrums, which is great. Anyways we went with my dad one morning after we dropped the girls off at school. DJ thought it was great to go in papa's big truck!

DJ sitting in papa's truck.

This is the picture of papa's truck that I put in his speech book. Every big truck he sees he tells me that it's papa's vvvrrrmmmm. We're trying to get him to say truck!

Loved this picture of DJ with his papa Paxman! So cute!

Oh one more thing that we've been up to. I put my girls in Kinderdance, which is kind of like ballet. They all love it.  This started the first week in October. So here they are in their outfits!

My cute little dancers!

DJ had to start copying his sisters.

Thanksgiving!

I decided to skip ahead and do this post and then I'll do a couple of catch up posts. This last weekend was our Thanksgiving weekend. It was great. We ate way too much turkey. Seriously we had it 3 days in a row! But it was delish!

On Saturday we went over to Richard's Aunt Guyla's house in Cardston and had Thanksgiving with them. My kids had a blast there. They got to play with their cousins, Seth and Jasmine, which is always fun! We ate some yummy food and sat around and visited and relaxed. It was a very fun relaxing day, oh and yummy!

This picture makes it look like Cadence pushed Seth off! They loved running and jumping off the deck onto the tramp. It entertained them for hours!

Aunt Guyla is so cool and made all the kids their own cup of dirt and worms to eat! The look on my kids faces were the best! DJ thought it was funny!

Abbi loved her dessert and dug right in!

Cadence ate all her worms and a little bit of the dirt!

Once Brianna realized it was actually pudding with cookie crumbs she loved it. It took a bit of convincing that it wasn't really dirt!

Here is my cute nephew, Spencer. I found Brianna laying on the floor talking away to Spencer. It was so cute. I had to get a picture. He was talking back to her and smiling....so cute!

Of course we had to have a wrestling match. Good thing Uncle David was there to entertain!

They had a blast wrestling with their uncle!

Richard with his 3 cute little girls!

On Sunday we went to church and then headed back up to Cardston a little later. We actually all had a nap and it was so nice! When I say all I mean Richard, DJ and I. The girls entertained themselves, and didn't even make a mess! We had another Thanksgiving Dinner at Grandma Spencer's house. We got there and had family pictures taken first. I think it actually worked out too. The kids did awesome. After pictures, we all ate. Then we cleaned up and sat around and relaxed again. We also had some card games going too. The kids ran around and played. We didn't leave till close to 9pm. I figured since we had naps, I didn't need to hurry. We got home and everyone went to bed. We ALL slept in the next day till 8am, which never happens in our family, so it was nice!

We had a lazy morning on Monday. Got a few things done around the house and got ready to go out to my parents house for Thanksgiving Dinner. So we had 3 in one weekend. I ate way too much, but it sure was yummy. We got out to my parents in the early afternoon. Everyone was there except for David, of course, Shelley and Travis and Steve and Stacey and their family. We sure do miss them. My girls are always asking where their cousins, Shaylee and Mikah are. We ate our fill and then cleaned up. Oh an exciting announcement was made as we were all eating. Brent and Tiff are expecting their 1st baby. So exciting! I believe they are due in April some time. We are so excited for them.

Proof of our lazy morning! Cadence pushing DJ around in the tote. They had fun taking turns pushing each other.

Mary and DJ playing "house" together! These two are so funny together, it always amazes me at how well they play together. They have so much fun!

They kids having fun jumping on the tramp.

DJ teasing Cane and trying to run him over with the car.

It didn't work so DJ got a ball and threw it for Cane. That worked, they played together for quite awhile. It was amusing to watch DJ try to tell Cane to drop the ball!

Afterwards we cleaned up and then kids played outside and us adults took turns skeet shooting. It was so much fun. I suck at it but had fun trying! I think my problem is the 1st time I shot I felt like I lost my hearing. Then my ears were ringing like crazy. I have really sensitive ears. Then Cody said he had ear plugs, so the next time I tried I wore the ear plugs!

Emily posing with the gun!! Good form Em!

The kids had fun either standing back and watching or sitting in the back of the truck watching.

My turn! This time I put on the ear plugs!

Mom taking a turn. We sure had fun shooting!

Cam shooting. He got some too!

Megan got 2 out of 3! Way to go Meg!

Cody was throwing the clay pegions for us!

It was  very fun and relaxing day. This post has seriously taken me FOREVER to do. This week has been so sad here in Magrath. But it's amazing to see how the small town pulls together through such a sad tragedy. Just makes me so thankful for the gospel in our lives. I'm so thankful for my husband and my kids, I love them so much. They mean the world to me.

Sad

Today we went to church like normal and had a crazy sacrament meeting, which is normal too. For primary we were practicing our primary presentation and noticed a lot of kids missing and a few leaders. I asked someone and their answer broke my heart. There was a car accident last night and 4 teenagers died. There were 2 boys and 2 girls in the car. Such a sad, sad thing. I had a hard time keeping the tears in. It just breaks my heart thinking of what those 4 families are going through. My thoughts and prayers are with them.

I can't stop thinking of this tragedy of 4 young lives ending. I found a talk on lds.org from a 1992 Conferance. It was Russell M. Nelson talk on "Doors of Death". It was so good. I just wanted to share a paragraph from that talk.

Life does not begin with birth, nor does it end with death. Prior to our birth, we dwelled as spirit children with our Father in Heaven. There we eagerly anticipated the possibility of coming to earth and obtaining a physical body. Knowingly we wanted the risks of mortality, which would allow the exercise of agency and accountability. “This life [was to become] a probationary state; a time to prepare to meet God.” (Alma 12:24.) But we regarded the returning home as the best part of that long-awaited trip, just as we do now. Before embarking on any journey, we like to have some assurance of a round-trip ticket. Returning from earth to life in our heavenly home requires passage through—and not around—the doors of death. We were born to die, and we die to live. (See 2 Cor. 6:9.) As seedlings of God, we barely blossom on earth; we fully flower in heaven.

What a comfort it is to know that there is more to life then what we see here on earth. I pray for those families that they can feel comforted during this difficult time. I just want to hold my kids and husband closer to me. It makes me want to strive to do better in all aspects of my life.

Random Happenings!

Ever since the girls have started Kindergarten it seems like we've been crazy busy! The time goes by way too fast when they are in school. DJ loves doing things with me so I don't get very much done around the house, like I was planning too! Oh well!

One Sunday I took a picture of DJ in his new duds! He so didn't want me to take his picture but I got one! He has been doing so good with nursery lately. He absolutely loves going, but if Sister Toone isn't there then that's a different story. He loves to help Sister Toone. I don't know what we'll do when he goes to sunbeams in Jan. It should be interesting. He hates new things and has become very clingy with me since I've tried taking him to parent pre-school. He totally freaks out if I go into the next room with the rest of the moms. So not fun. Hopefully it will get better. My VT's came yesterday (friday) and he freaked out and started screaming and crying because he thought I was leaving him. Sheesh!

My handsome boy all ready for Church. The bag he has on is what he takes a few toys to church in! Can you believe he is now in size 5T, and size 11 shoes? I can't...he's so big!

Fuzzy picture, but loved this of Richard and DJ...so cute!

On Sept 12 I took DJ in to get his tubes into his ears. This is his second time. My mom came to get the girls ready for school for me. We were at the hospital by 7am. He was still a little sleepy, so I took his stroller so I didn't have to lug him around! I don't use the stroller very often, but it sure did come in handy at the hospital. We got there and he had to get some hospital jammies on and they had to take his vital signs. He was doing so good till they tried to clip the oxygen thing on his finger. But I calmed him down and they finished everything. Then it was the waiting game. We waited FOREVER! He had a blast in the toy room with another little boy who was waiting for tubes too. They finally came and got us around 9:30am. The other boy was not happy and kept crying. DJ just happily skipped along beside me! He was a very happy boy that day! We got to the pre-op room and had to answer questions and waited again. By this time DJ was getting a little wild! There was a wagon and he thought it was hilarious when I pulled him, he'd scream and laugh so loud. I think we entertained all the people laying there waiting to go in for their operations! The little boy went first and he screamed and kicked the nurse and was not happy. DJ was so worried about him. Then they came and got DJ. I thought that he'd freak out too. But he jumped into the wagon and the nurse told him the only way she could take him in the wagon was if he didn't try to jump out. I gave him his blanket and he hugged it and waved bye to me. The nurse took him and he didn't cry at all. I went straight up stairs to wait for him. It doesn't take very long. He came back about 30mins later. They usually have the little kids in a stroller wrapped in a warm blanket. But DJ was too big so he was on a bed, all wrapped up in a blanket. He looked so tiny on that huge bed. He wasn't crying and was still a little groggy. The nurse told me he was the best kid ever! She wanted him to come back and give lessons to other kids! ha ha! He did do awesome. The poor boy was starving too. So he gobbled down the cookies and juice that they gave him. They let us go a half hour later, since this is his second time. So we took off. I stopped at Walmart on the way home. I promised him a toy if he did good, and he did great. He didn't forget, when we walked in he kept saying, "VRRMMMM" and putting his arm up (which means big). I asked him, "Oh you want a big truck." and he replied, "Yeah, yeah yeah!" So cute! So that was his experience with his tubes. He was awesome!

Grandma Paxman got my girls all ready for school and look how cute they look! Thanks mom your the best!

Cute DJ waiting in his hospital jammies and watching out the window watching the big trucks and tractors working outside.

Waiting in the pre-op room. This is the wagon he went for a ride in. As you can see he was a really happy boy!

My birthday was on Wed, Sept 14. I woke up that morning and Richard wished me happy birthday and told me he'd stick around and help get the kids ready for school while I had a shower! So nice! So I had a relaxing shower while he got the girls ready for school. Then we were ready to walk out the door and he told me he wanted to see where the girls class was, so he came with us. The girls were excited to show him where their class was. Oh I should mention that Cadence woke up all excited saying it was "Wacky Wed". First time I heard it. So we got them dressed as wacky as they wanted. Meaning Cadence was off the wall wacky, I think everyday would be Wacky Wed if I let her get herself ready by herself. She cracks me up! She was so excited. Abbi only wanted to be a little wacky and Brianna just wanted to be pretty. My girls are so different, it's so nice! Then we left and Richard surprised me again by saying he was taking the day off and hanging with us today! It was a great surprise and I loved it! When the girls got home we had lunch and then took off to go swimming. We swam at Nicholas Sheran and were there for almost 3 hrs. It was so nice because there was hardly any one there. The kids had fun. We left and went to Liquidation world, where the girls insisted on buying me a present. So I walked around while they shopped with their dad. I kept hearing my girls say, "But dad we need wrapping paper (Richard never wraps presents!!)". But they insisted! I didn't see what they got me, so it was fun to open their presents later on. Abbi picked out a scrapbooking kit (she found it all on her own!), and I got some picture frames, a coat and my favorite candy! Richard got me a chair for downstairs. We went and I picked one out and he bought it. I was surprised and very happy! It is a nice comfy chair to watch TV in. We then picked up some Chinese food and a DQ cake and went out to my parents for dinner. It was a great day! My kids get so excited about birthdays. I loved getting phone calls from friends and families wishing me happy birthday. Thanks everyone it was a great day.

Ready for school. Abbi let me do her hair a little wacky, then look closely at Cadence. She has crazy pony tails all over her head, a fish tie, her lovely green skirt over jeans with her socks pulled up over, two different pairs of shoes on (which she's done many times before), and flower bows all over her head. Brianna looking so pretty!

My cute kids sitting on my birthday present. I love, love, love my new chair. So comfy!

On that weekend (Sat, Sept 17), we were able to sod our backyard. YEAH!!! I was very excited. We got a lot of people to come help us lay down the sod. Once we got going it went really fast. I love sod, it's like laying down green carpet. It looks instantly GREAT! Thanks everyone for all the help. I should say that the weekend before Richard and I set posts for our fence all around our yard. I was so tired that night, but a good tired. Richard's parents watched our kids for us that day. So it was a lot easier to get lots done! Our yard is slowly starting to take shape.

This was on the Friday that we were working hard preparing the yard for sod. I think we tuckered DJ right out. He came and got a banana from me and I went down 5mins later and him watching T.V. like this! So cute!

Before picture, the ground all leveled and ready for the sod.

Our load of sod When I saw how much there was I was thinking we didn't measure right. But we did. We had a little bit left over that we started on the front yard.

Ta Da, our beautiful backyard. I love grass! The right hand corner is going to be my garden and the left hand will have some gravel in it and our new tramp will be staked down (so it won't fly away) and our swing set will be in there too.

We had such a hot September, it was great! But the not so great about it was the wasps! We had so many crazy wasps around our house. The kids had lunch on the deck one afternoon and I could hear DJ yelling. He came running to me and frantically said, "Mum, Mum, zzzzzzzz (while his fingers are crawling on his head, his sign for bee)." I was busy and told him I'd be right there and to go eat his sandwich. Well he looked at me and yelled, "MMMMOO (meaning no), zzzzzzzzz." So I went outside and about freaked out. I should of listened to him. There were probably 15-20 wasps all over his sandwich and some even was IN his sandwich. Oh it was disgusting. So I had to take care of that. I had the bright idea to put a grocery bag over the sandwich and pick it up and drop it in the bag. Yeah, not so bright. As soon as I put the bag over the sandwich and wasps they started buzzing like crazy in the bag and maybe I freaked out a little. Funny thing is my neighbours happened to just walk out on their deck when I was waving my hands all over and screaming. Yup, I felt a little silly, crazy wasps!

Once I took the picture lots had flown away, but there were some in the one sandwich, they like honey!!!

Since this is a random post, I found a picture I forgot about. I took it with my phone when we were at Zellers sometime during the summer. Our truck was getting fixed so we did some errands while we were waiting. We hadn't been to Zellers in a long time, but we went. When we got there it still wasn't open, so we had to wait (not sure if I've told this story before). There were a few people waiting in the entry way with us when Abbi loudly said, "Mom, why did you wake me up, the store isn't even open, I could of slept longer." She was very disgusted with me! We got in and my kids each grabbed these cool baskets on wheels. They had a blast. It was so funny. They were laughing and giggling so hard. At one point Brianna jumped into Abbi's basket and Abbi was whipping her around. Cadence thought it was hilarious and was laughing so hard. We all got in trouble by one of the store people! I don't think they have a sense of humor. I still thought it was funny!

They loved these baskets and each of them had to have something in it, since they weren't aloud in it! ha ha!

So that is some of our random happenings. I'm still behind on my posts and have a few more to finish. Hope everyone has a HAPPY THANKSGIVING! So excited to eat LOTS of turkey!