my older brother

just a thought during this christmas season. why do we celebrate christ's birth more than his death? through him the atonement was made possible!!!!!
because of him, our older brother made it possible for us to repent, be forgiven, and return to our heavenly father. I'm glad to have such a wonderful older brother. aren't you?

frosty

we are in the process of building another giant snow man. right now he stands 10 & 1/2 feet tall. he is still under construction. he stands on a platform that will become part of his feer once the rest of him is done. we are competing with our neighbor to see who can get the tallest sonwman. right now we are winning.

the tree

today we foraged for the perfect tree. the drive up took about 30 minutes. the search took about 31 minutes. the harvest took about 15 minutes. the return to suburban took about 3 7 minutes. the securing took about 15 minutes. the return took 30 minutes. we saw a coyote in the feild on the way up. we also saw an elk carcas on the side of the road. and a cute squirrel run across the road. this is by far the shortest trip we have ever taken getting a tree. the sun was shining and we did'nt get cold.

consider the life of the leaf!
it's first fledgling growth is thwarted by larva of much larger insects.
birds also do unspeakable things to them. they are green for awile and then they change colors.
wither up and are wind blown off the tree to be carried wherever the wind deems them to go.
helpless to guide their own course. unable to prevent being grabbed by an unknown hand to be heated in wax paper and crayon, torn alnog it's fragile veins to see it tear in a new cool way, and heaped into a pile to be rolled and crushed and finally dumped on the hard ground to fertilize something else.
I'm glad I'm not a leaf!!!

ever wonder what goes through your childs head as they are swimming? the other day we were swimming and two of them had an interesting dialougue. A: where are you going sir? B: anywhere you want to sir. A: what if I go here sir? B: then I will follow you sir. I think it's neat that even in play, there is one that looks up to the other. even if their dialogue comes off as weird.

the rock, the tumbler,

ever heard the expression, you have rocks instead of brains? how would you term a person who thought about rocks all the time? Robert is polishing rocks in our tumbler. every few days he takes them out rinses them off and expects you to goo goo over them. then he puts them back for a few more days. he plans to make necklaces, bolo ties, belt buckles and other such stuff. we went on a rock hunting trip two weeks ago, so not fun or productive. and he is on another one today with his dad and two of our kids. he does'nt find pretty rocks the rocks he tumbles are brosn or grey. but he really enjoys himself.

steamy

now that the sun is finally trying to shine at times during the days, I'm feeling like summer is just around the corner. we went to Yellowstone last weekend and had a blast as anyone can @ a place like that. We're thinking of going again later this summer to catch some of the things that we misssed last weekend. the geiseys and hotpools did'nt seem to smell as bad as they usually do though. thank heavens.

santa who?

Robert has carved about 6 santa heads in the last month. after he carves them, he carefully paints them. they look pretty good.he is now working on rocks in our tumbler. his labs last week were really good.

crush

Rebbeca is estatic because we now have kittens. she is getting ready for a school dance tomorrow. she has aserios crush on a certain boy who likes her back. she enjoys young womens and being a girl. she also loves her social dance class

taller

Steven is taller than he was a month ago. he takes care of our goats and he is such a clown. he loved band and now it is almost over for another year. he is sporting a mustache and this sunday, he will learn how to shave it off.

speedy

David did pretty well in track. he can run pretty fast and do the long jump well. he is almost finished with his junior year and has his senior year planned a little bit. He is looking forward to going to matin's cove with his stake in June.

busy as a bee

Christapher has his mission papers in!!! we are all so excited. He is busy working and his singles branch has him sooooo busy. sundays: distribute bulletin, branch choir, branch activities, Home teaching, and branch missionary work. Mondays he's @ work and then he goes to FHE and more branch missionary stuff. Tuesdays he's @ work and then he does the branch bulletin, more branch missionary stuff and family history class. Wednesday hes @ work and then he takes younger brother to institute with him. Fridays he's @ work and then he goes shopping with me, then more branch activities..Saturdays he does yard work and more branch activities and hangs out with friends and family.
sometimes he still has some free time. He wants to go foreign. we'll see what the Lord wants.

so Ihave started a rough outline for a book about my father. titled" in my father's shoes". wish me luck.

Rebbeca is getting taller. she is so creative and so proud to have earned things in young women's
she is very creative s well.

Steven has earned the nickname, Chuckles, with his wrestling team. i think maybe they found a ticklish spot. what do you think?

yipee

david is excited about festival and lagoon trip coming up for band. this winter he and his brothers built an 11 foot 4 inch snowman which is standing in our front yard.

count down

christapher has less than a month before he can start working on his papers. cool huh? he wants to go somewhere foreign.

shavings

Robert is on acarving craze. he is doing old men in sticks and peices of logs. he has carved 3 canes and is starting on another project. he has lathed 3 rolling pins and 4 bowls. his kineys are ok and his sinus problems are under control.

fraidy cat

so we have a beautiful half siamese long hair cat. she is so wonderful. one day Steven opened up David's meowing cat card for the kitty to hear and the cat took off running and hid under Rebbeca's bed. unsure of the exact response, Christapher convinced everyone to do it again. again kitty ran away. So after they told me about it later that night I of course wanted to see kitty "run for it!' the cat sat and purred and looked up at me as if to say " this is old got something new?!