An overview of our Christmas

This year when we put up our Christmas tree, the cats decided we had built a little private bed for them, and were frequently found underneath. As we started to get some presents under the tree, these became toys for them, and they would tear open the corners of the wrapping paper on the gifts. I became fed up with this behavior, so as soon as we had enough gifts under the tree, I piled them in the corner, preventing the cats from having their private bed.

Well, on the day we opened our gifts, the tree skirt was again empty, and lo and behold, I find Smokey "spread eagle" under the tree.



Pretty soon he was joined by Gillyflower and Susan. I think that was the best present for them.

Even though we were a bit sick, we decided to go to Salt Lake. Rich and Cora were the only people feeling well enough to go down and see the lights on Temple square, as has become our family tradition.

This is Cora with Rich's Niece's kids (what does that make them? 2nd Cousins?)
This is probably why she started getting sick and woke up with a sore throat and a fever on Christmas Day. We didn't take any pictures of Christmas, but we took some the next day at Everett's Blessing. We blessed him at my parents ward, and had a breakfast afterward because their Church time was 9:00 am.

Here he is in his Blessing outfit.

Here is Ian looking handsome in his Sunday clothes.

By the time we came home on Monday, everyone was sick.

Cedric had spots all over his face which we thought were chicken pox at first,


and everyone had swollen tonsils. Here are Eleanor's (she is the only one I could get to open her mouth wide enough) You can see how big her tonsils are in the back of her mouth to the right. Cora's are even more swollen than that, but I couldn't get a good picture of hers.

So we went to the doctor and we all have strep throat (except Everett) and Cedric has impetigo on his face. All the kids are on antibiotics, and we are just hanging out, trying to get better.

Nevertheless, we had a good Christmas, we are all safe at home, and we have nothing to complain about.

Of all Gods beauty, here confessed. . .

I sliced a mango to share with Eleanor and Cedric. It was a small mango and ended up in quarters, so I told them the last slice was for Everett and I would eat it for him. Then Eleanor says "Oh, like Binker?" (It is a poem by A. A. Milne about an imaginary friend) Then she more or less recited:

"Oh, Binker wants a chocolate, so could you give me two?"
And then I eat it for him, 'cos his teeth are rather new.

I love poetry. I love how it seethes into your soul. It feeds something inside of you and then poses on your tongue, just waiting to be used. Then when it has become a part of you it drips out in your sentences and gives life to your words. Words are so much more when they are poems.

I think that when God speaks His words are perfect, and beautiful, like a poem. They only become wrested and muddled by Man. I am so glad that we can be perfected in all ways, even in our words, and become like God.

Some of my favorite poetic words that have truly become a part of me are timely for the season:

"For unto us a child is born,
Unto us a son is given:
And the government shall be upon his shoulder:
And his name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor,
The mighty God,
The Everlasting Father,
The Prince of Peace."

Merry Christmas!

A bit of summer love

I found this picture among my files yesterday, and remembered the day that I took it. The week we were moving to our new house (it was late July) I went out and harvested some of the fruits of my garden. They were rather small and some underdeveloped, but I had to have some of them. It was hard leaving a maturing garden behind, and even harder knowing I wouldn't get to taste of the fruit of my labors. So I took a picture to remember what I had grown.

We left a lot more than that. I hope the new owners enjoyed it or even took care of it. I didn't get to harvest any other vegetables this year, but I did have nice neighbors who shared their winter squashes, tomatoes and baseball-bat-sized zucchinis (I think every gardener needs to have someone to pawn those to) and we enjoyed each one. Also my mother brought peaches and tomatoes and more zucchini. Having that shared produce was so wonderful that I plan on finding someone that I can share the bounty of my garden with in the future. I think that is the beauty of a garden. There is usually enough to share.

What's in a name?

The kids and I have been working on a name for our farm. I like to name things. I think it gives meaning to things and endears them to you. You tend to take care of something that is personalized more than nameless objects. When I go out hiking in the hills, I tend to name off all the plants that I do know, and it brings me a satisfaction to know what they are called. All the rest of the plants are just a blur of nothingness-- greenery in the background. Some things shouldn't have names like chickens you plan on eating, unless they are called Stew-pot or Sunday dinner. But we had a rooster we called Stew-pot, and it was still a name for him because when we ate him the kids asked if we were eating "Stew-pot" for dinner. I don't think I will give names to anymore of our eating animals.

So, we are trying to name our farm. A while back I wrote lists of words on our white board in the kitchen, and we tried combining them to make cool sounding names for the farm. We never came up with anything and eventually the list was erased. So today I put on our "To do" list that we would name our farm. Then had each person write what they thought the name should be. Here is our list:
Dad- "Home" (He doesn't think we need a name-- but how can you have acreage and NOT have a name for it?)

Mom- Sage Meadow Farm, or Sweet Woodruff Acres, or something else better!

Cora- Loving Acres (cute!)

Ian- Sagebrush Hill (But he doesn't claim this name because he doesn't want to participate either.)

Eleanor- Piney Creek (which sounds really cute, but we have no pines and no creek-- though I had a premonition that we would dig down and find a spring in our yard, so maybe if we planted some pines and dug for water we might fit the name? Wishful thinking)

Cedric- Green Orchard ( I thought that was really creative. His suggestion when I first mentioned that I wanted to name the place was "Weedy Field," which, indeed it is that at the present moment, but I explained that we need to think up a name of what we want it to be, so it will become something better than what it is.)

Everett- *Grunt** *Squeek**

There is our list of suggestions. None of them really jump out at me. The kids are off in fairy land, and don't care at the moment. This is almost like naming a baby. It is that hard to find the perfect name. I guess, like baby, the perfect name will come in time.

Bryan O'Lin

Bryan O'lin had no breeches to wear,
So he bought him a sheepskin and made him a pair.
With the skinny side out, and the woolly side in,
"Ah, ha!" that is warm!" said Bryan O'lin.

Here is my one month old little Everett laying on his "Bryan O'lin" I had been wanting to get a little sheepskin for him to lay on in our drafty house to keep him up out of the draft and give him some extra warmth. I told my mom about it and she said she had one he could use. I remembered her having a few of them when we were growing up, and I knew one was pink and one was white. I told the kids that Grandma was bringing one for us to use, and I said I hoped it wasn't the pink one. But that is the one she could find, so hopefully it doesn't mess up his boyishness to lay on a pink sheepskin!

Babies are so sweet. My favorite part about the first few months is that this is the time that they learn how to smile. I think it is really the first thing they learn how to do. Everett is really trying hard to figure it out. See:
I think he almost has it. He gets his eyes all excited, but his mouth won't cooperate. Then his mouth scrunches up and his eyes won't work. He will get it one day.

By the way, I have been doing stretches every night this December. Rich has joined in with me. I also took a walk today. I walked out in our yard, trudging through the deep snow, around the perimeter. I saw many deer, dog and pheasant tracks. I think that deep snow makes your walk count for twice as long because it is twice as much work. I was huffing and puffing. But I know I really need to do something more, and I will. This is a good start.

Quoatmeal

Today at breakfast I made some oatmeal, but I mixed in some Quinoa flakes that I had purchased for a recipe. Cedric said that it should be called quoatmeal. I thought that was cute.

I am baking bread today. I am supposed to do it on Tuesdays, but I forgot to start my sourdough on Monday, so it got bumped to today. Today is my housecleaning day, so you would think we would have made up for it yesterday, but we didn't. I still have a mental block about cleaning that I need to get over, and it came back when I had the excuse of pregnancy and new baby. I think I can handle a little bit more cleaning than just the daily stuff now. I just need to convince myself that I can.

My mom has been talking to me about this Happiness Project she is trying to do. I keep saying uh-huh, and shrugging it off because I don't want another project. But I was thinking about it yesterday after talking with her on the phone, and wondering if I should consider doing some "goal setting" to give myself a kick start again. I can do something for a month can't I? Or even a week if a month sounds too oppressive. In scouts we are supposed to have a monthly focus at our meetings, so I can focus on one virtue for a while. I was thinking about health and fitness because I have not been thinking about that at all after gestational diabetes. Last night as we all knelt down to pray as a family, while Rich was waiting for everyone to come he started doing some stretches for his back because it was hurting after shoveling snow. I thought about how I could do 10 minutes of stretching every evening for a month, and that wouldn't kill me.

So is this a commitment? I guess it is as good as any commitment. I will write about how it goes.