Family, every two weeks, Matthew and Megan's turn! June 14-18

This year we have been SO SO SO blessed and feel so so so loved!! Living out in Wisconsin has been a wonderful change for us. Our marriage is better, our children are doing awesome and Miller Electric treats Zak really well. Can't go a minute without mentioning how stellar our Ward is, too!

BUT, being away from extended family can be hard. It stinks when there are fun things going on and we won't be there. It is also tough when you know getting a babysitter is an option, but a loving Aunt or Uncle would have been an easier choice. We are learning to ask for help and loving this choice to be far away.

This spring has been abundant with family and love! Now, it is Matthew and Megan's turn to visit and they are staying five whole days! I love when Matthew and Megan visit because they are very calm and sweet and give me a new perspective on parenting and marriage. They treat each other with lots of kindness and patience. I really admire that about them. Last year when they came for Gretel's Blessing, I was able to see them just love on Gretel and it made me feel so much better about the love that I could offer her.

This year, we get to play a lot more!! Well, Gretel and I get to play a lot more! Zakary just barely arrived from his Military Training in California. I am sure his is exhausted, but he loves family so much. He jumped right in and we went for a hike up Mosquito Hill. It really is the only hill around for miles. You gotta climb it!

The kids all did great. Moses fell in love with little Lucy. He was so happy to see that she could TALK! They became fast, sweet friends. Megan amazed me that she had baby Bennett just two months ago and was out doing a road trip to visit family. Her love for family is very strong.

We took them to our favorite, Union Star Cheese Factory in Zittau, Wisconsin. (near Fremont). We arrived exactly on time to see the cheese go from shoebox shapes to door mats to curds. The process is just amazing!

I had never been up to Bay Beach Park, and I felt that our kids were finally at the right age for amusement rides. Each ride is only 25cents so it makes the day totally worthwhile! I had just been hired at Fox Valley Dental and the DDS paid me that day in cash! It was so fun to treat us all to the rides. I think the favorite was the giant slide.

I never knew how much Matthew loved strawberries til I mentioned that we got to the Cuff Farms strawberry fields and pick strawberries! He was all for it and when we got there he was beaming. The tractor ride was nice and long and the boys were in heaven. Out in the field it was hot, but the picking went really well and we ate as much as we wanted. I love the taste of sunshine in the berry!

The last day, we spent at Plamann Pond. For us, it doesn't matter that it is a landlocked manmade beach next to a tiny pond. We want beach, we want sand, we want water. We get it all at Plamann. And it was SO much fun! My boys are getting so brave in the water! Dunking their heads in, holding their breath, pushing out from the shore! Little Lucy loves water and was all giggles and teasing with her splashes. Gretel was all smiles and splashes, too! At the end of the night, we got to tell them all why we love them so much. It makes our life richer to share it with family.

Heber broke his collar bone, June 4.

Preschool is all finished. We had a really great year. I am so grateful that Kristen and Lucy allowed me the opportunity to do a preschool with them. I was able to learn so much! I was excited to see the kids learn and to hear them talk about things later. I loved when Moses told me that a can was a cylinder.

Today we had a closing ceremony to celebrate all that we had learned and to teach the kids about summer and tell them what we loved about them. It was a challenge because the kids all had extra energy cuz they had their moms with them. And each of us moms had our younger baby with us. We read stories, sang, had treats, played outside and gave them a gift. I know Moses and Heber learned so much.

After they all went home, a friend brought over her son for me to babysit. I had agreed to it earlier. The kids were getting crazy at lunch and I was starving, so I sent them upstairs to play until I finished eating. A few minutes later I heard Heber screaming. It is normal for him to be screaming. He is accident prone and highly emotionally driven. So, he was screaming pretty normal for him. I dashed upstairs faster after Moses told me that Heber had fallen from the bunk bed and couldn't get up. When I looked at Heber, I thought, BROKEN BONE. My next thought was, HEBER IS TIRED. I went with my second thought, scooped Heebs up and put him in his bed. He cried and told me he couldn't walk and that his shoulder hurt. I didn't waste any time. I left him to sleep this off. Heber is by far my best sleeper. After only 45 min of sleeping, he was screaming from his bed and I knew something was wrong. He NEVER wakes up after such a short nap. I got him to got to sleep again and I started thinking of what I could do. My dad was coming back around 6pm and I didn't dare go to the ER with three kids, two of which would need me to carry them.

Heber woke up again screaming and I did my best to get him comfortable on the couch and watching TV. My secret weapon is to never let my kids watch TV so that when I really really need them to hold still and be quiet the TV works. He stayed still for 90 min and I was able to call the pediatrician and make sure that if I waited to take him in, that he would still be ok. I suspected he had broke his collar bone. It is the number 1 broken bone for a fall like he did.

At 6pm, Dad arrived and we piled into the cars to head to the ER. The xray confirmed a broken collarbone and Dr. said there is nothing you can do for it. "If the two ends are within the same zip code, they will heal." So we went home with a sling that I vowed I would require him to wear for one week. The pain meds they gave him made him sick that first night. So, I laid on the floor on the camping pad next to his mattress in Moses' bedroom that night. Every time he needed to pee, I was there to lift him from his bed. Every time he wanted to roll over, I was there. And, every time his pain came back, I got him a new dose. 

Within three days, Heber was no longer taking pain meds and was running and playing again. There were still the moments that he would trip and fall in the grass and not be able to get back up, and the moments when he couldn't pull his pants down to pee. For the most part he was doing great. The sling was only a reminder to him to slow down, since it wasn't doing him any good just hanging off his neck behind him. At ten days we had another xray taken and apparently ZERO healing had happened. But, Heebs felt and acted better so we decided he was fine and that it would heal later.

I am forever grateful that my dad was here this week. Geez. One baby chick down and the very next day my Heber takes a fall. We were able to finally enjoy the weekend when my dad took us to the NEW Zoo in Green Bay and out to eat. Thanks, DAD!

Our baby chicks arrived! May 28th

We bought this house with the plan of one day having chickens again. At our Ogden house we had chickens for about 4 years! It was such a great experience. We LEARNED the hard way that we needed to close the chickens up really tight, but our hearts felt the unmatched love that only a chicken can offer!

In February, (I think), we placed our order with Murray McMurray Hatchery. You gotta order 15 chickens for the smallest box. So we got brave and thought we would try our hand at doing some meat chickens, too.

On May 28th we got a call from the Greenville PostOffice that our baby chicks had arrived!! Moses and Heber were thrilled! I was scared to death of how this was going to go. I told myself over and over again that I was going to have to let the boys learn and be involved. My first brave move: I let Moses carry the box of baby chicks to the van and on the way home!! AGGHH!! Next, after I opened the box, I let them each choose which chicken they were going to claim and even hold the chicks.. AGGHHHH!!!

Moses picked a darling grey and yellow one and Heber snagged a black one with a yellow spot on her head. They called it her "cheese head." They named them Chicky choo, and Lightning. I got the golden one, Orpah. Zakary was away on Military Training, but he picked the blackest one and called her Blacky Boo Boo.. Gretel was assigned a red one and I named her Winnie. The yellow one was named after our favorite chicken in Ogden, Yella. And the other black one had a white bottom, so she was named Sparkled. Yes, Sparkled.

The meat chicks were given the larger brooder out in the garage and the laying chicks only lasted one minute in the garage. Moses put an end to that right off. No way was his baby going to sleep in the garage. Moses was SO loving and caring. He asked me to let him always feed them and he wanted to make sure that they were warm.. the first night he struggled because I wouldn't put a blanket over them. He LOVED those babies! It came at a perfect time for him. He was asking me to protect his pet worms and he was leaving them out all around.

We did have one sad accident. We had our chicks for one week, I took the babies outside so I could clean out their brooder. Moses and Heber were watching the chicks play. I came back around the house with new clean bedding, and the boys were hiding the chicks under frisbees. I ran to uncover them and one baby chick had been crushed. She was still breathing, but badly hurt. It was Chicky Choo. Moses was devastated. I put her in his hands and told him to tell her all that he loved about her. I finished up cleaning and put the other chicks away. We put Chicky Choo in a small box where she later died. We literally watched her take her last breath! Moses cried and cried. I cried and cried! It was terrible. I called several hatcheries to get a replacement, but no one would sell me a single chick.

My dad arrived that night, he tried getting a replacement, too. But in the end, we buried Chicky Choo and I allowed Moses to pick a new chick. He chose Gretel's red one, and changed her name to Chicky Choo Number 2. He loved on that baby chick, perhaps a little less, but he had learned a hard lesson.

Felt like magic. Greg and Sariah come to visit. May 2015

May 16 is a day we had been awaiting for a good couple weeks. We were so excited when Greg and Sariah told us that they would be coming out to spend a few days with us! From the moment they arrived we felt that we were enjoying something special. Grandpa Greg and Sariah were so much fun! Greg and Zakary were set out to build us a chicken coop. Sariah wanted to get some serious niece and nephew time.. Emily was hoping for a bit of a break from the regular routine and maybe even plan her garden!! Zak had already busted his back pouring the concrete flooring for the coop and Greg was super generous and paid for the lumber and tools to put up the roof and pillars. Moses and Heber were in heaven with Aunt Sariah. She had them making up songs as they were swinging in the hammock. Gretel was a tough cookie as she knee-walked all over the yard-including the garden, concrete, dirt and rocks. She just wanted to be part of it all.

Greg is tired. His body is worn down from the chemo and the cancer. It is hard to see him this way. I am amazed at how gentle and kind he still is when it must be so frustrating for him to be physically ill. I offered to have him move in with us so that I can feed him better food and research home cancer remedies. My main objective would be to improve his quality of life - AND enjoy his ongoing company. He said he is going to do a medical trial and hopes that works. I feel doubts. He also has said that he doesn't want family taking care of him. I think he wants to avoid becoming a burden.

 We took them on our mosquito hill hike in New London and Greg also took us out for dinner one night at Pullmans. I have never seen the kids behave so well!! They were thrilled to be at a "factory" and they ate EVERYTHING that was offered to them. Sariah was amazing at keeping my kitchen looking great! It was SO nice to enjoy just cooking and not also doing the cleaning. I am super grateful that they decided to come out! The weather was good, the company was awesome and the memories are precious.

Jacob is here!! "Jacob is the best"!

We have been so so blessed to have lots of family visits. Since we have moved to Wisconsin we have had nearly every member of both sides of our family come out to see us. It really is magical and heartwarming to have them sacrifice to travel and spend time at our house. We feel so loved and so blessed!

We were SO excited to hear that Jacob wanted to come out for a whole week! Jacob brings the best out in our family and I love that he requires the boys to repeat that "Jacob is the best". I think it makes Jacob feel amazing when they say it without his prompts!

The last few MONTHS have been rougher than normal. We have been battling Zakary's back pain since we moved here. He's had back problems that have come with injury and playing too hard for years, but this pain has been unrelenting for nearly three years. He has dealt with it REALLY well for 2 years. While he was laying around from his Achilles Tendon Rupture he realized what it was like to NOT have back pain. As soon as he was off crutches and walking again-the pain returned and he has really struggled to manage. He has tried physical therapy, acupuncture, essential oils, massage, a spinal surgeon (told him to stop thinking about the pain), narcotic pain medication, he found that one leg is longer than the other and has custom shoes to even that up, yoga, crossfit, an inverter table, a TENS machine, counter pressure, and all this to no avail! He continues in pain and it has become a huge interruption to his life. For three months he simply comes home and lays down. For January-March I didn't mind so much--- but APRIL!!?? The sun is shining, the grass is growing, the snow is melted and it is time to get outside--and yet, Zak is in too much pain to enjoy it.  It is torture for all of us-especially him.

So, as the time neared for Jacob to come visit my heart hoped that he would be willing to help me outside in the yard! I asked him and he said yes! He arrived at midnight on Saturday April 11th in Milwaukee.. THAT was a blast just driving home with him at 2 in the morning! I loved catching up with him! He is in love with two girls, one is on a mission and the other is a dancer. We talked about that choice a lot. Sunday morning church was great and I let him take one GIANT nap on Sunday afternoon.. and then the week was full of lots of work. We have SO many garden plots and flower areas and half of them have completely grown out of control. Jacob rototiled them all! I decided that I wanted a patio on the south side of the house--Jacob was right there putting in paver stones.. my boys mentioned that they would love a treasure box--and Jacob went to work making them. Jacob took Moses and Heber out for ice cream.. he also took them to pick out a kite and helped them learn to fly it. I also decided I wanted a rock path under a hammock and Jacob wouldn't stop working til that job was done.. To make it completely fair, I was there for some of the work and so was Zak. Even though his back hurts-it only bothers him with he stops moving-so Zak worked with Jacob on the patio and hammock paradise while home from work. Jacob did the majority of the work and still had time for kite flying, reading with the boys, putting Gretel down for cuddly naps and playing farkle. We really had such a wonderful time with him here!! Jacob really is the best! My yard and the general level of happiness that he left here is proof of that!

Oh my goodness!! I almost forgot to mention that Jacob also took us all fishing. Heber caught his first fish and then we headed to to New London to see the stergeon spawning! These fish are huge and come right up to the rocky shore to lay eggs. So cool!!