Presidents' Day

Yesterday we visited Grandma and she has lots more snow than we do. (I know, a two-hour ride, just to go sledding...)

We left Baby Doll and Drama Queen with Grandma and headed for our favorite spot at the flood dam, but as soon as we turned onto the road my sweetie knew it was a mistake. The wheels started spinning in the soft powdery snow and we were totally stuck! "OK, all the big people in the back!" he called. After we moved everyone around and I sat in the driver's seat to steer, he and the Dog Walker got out to push.

Prima Donna and Curly

Princess and Crafty

There was NO WAY we were getting that van out! Thankfully, after about five minutes somebody in a big truck stopped and pulled us out. Not that it was easy, he had to switch chains and get on dry pavement before he could pull our big van out.

Sport

So we started looking for a new place to sled...one where we could park on dry ground. We drove around for about 20 minutes and finally found this hill where someone had driven a vehicle a few times and the tire tracks had packed the snow nicely for us.

Dog Walker

The only problem was that the tracks led directly onto the highway. So my sweetie parked the van right at the bottom of the tracks and told the kids it was better to smack into the van than run into the highway.
(Not that it turned out to be a problem, nobody got within 10 feet of the van.)

I wasn't really planning to sled, but you can see that I finally succumbed to their persuasion and I had a great time going down with Curly and Scout.

Me and Curly

 Even my sweetie got into the action.

The walk back up...

And when we were finished we headed back to Grandma's for a wonderful lunch. She even made us four different cherry desserts in honor of Presidents' Day.

And how was your holiday?

Guest Blogger - My Bucket List by Teach

All of last year I kept coming up with things I wanted to do before I died... One day I decided it was time.  Time to write a legit bucket list.  This is the bucket list that my 20-year-old self wrote. I have completed 3 things and have 23 more to go. I absolutely  love my bucket list and I am excited to do all of these things some day. I hope you enjoy it! (:

1. Own my dream car (done)
2. Get married in the Temple
3. Kiss a man during a fireworks show
4. Read all 7 original Harry Potter’s
5. Walk through an “authorized personnel” door as authorized and as a rebel (done)
6. Do something that terrifies me
7. Be in a successful “High School Musical” jumping picture
8. Pray for a solid hour
9. Complete a 365 photo challenge or something similar
10. Win a contest
11. Read Pride and Prejudice
12. Write and finish a collaborative story (half way there)
13. Go on a blind date (done)
14. Watch Star Wars
15. Own a turtle
16. Take a Zumba lesson
17. Paint a fence
18. Become a mom
19. Become a teacher
20. Do something crazy in an obscure location
21. Find a secret hide out – take a boy there
22. Create a “Heaven on Earth” spot
23. Have a real life pillow fight
24. Have my heart broken (hopefully just once)
25. Become organized
26. Give a speech

*************
Word from Mom
How about you? Do you have a bucket list? I've made lists of goals before, but never something like this.

Birth Story - Sport

 Drum roll please...

Here we have it! Finally, the last birth story and it belongs to Sport. The year was 2003. Bossy was just finishing up her Associates degree at Snow College. The other kids were scattered throughout the various schools in our district. The Dog Walker was 9 years old and after three sisters, he was just dying for a baby brother. He was so convinced he was right that I even took him with me to the ultrasound. I figured he might believe the doctor more than me. Thankfully, it didn't have to be a big deal. All pictures properly indicated "boy," although the Dog Walker thought he looked more like a monkey.

I was SOOO uncomfortable with this pregnancy! It was the first time I had experienced sciatica and that along with the bursitis in my hip made it almost impossible to sleep. I tried everything to get comfortable. The thing that worked best was building a little "house" of pillows with two behind my head and on on each side. Then I would slip one between my knees. That almost worked...

Dog Walker and Sport

 
As with the previous three sisters, the doctor scheduled an induction about a week early. It was June and the weather had been unseasonably hot. It was surprising to wake up to cool and rainy., but we reported at the hospital just before 7:30 a.m. as instructed. Unfortunately, when we got there, they had no room for us, so we sat in the waiting room for about an hour.

After that we got started and the nurses were pleased to find that I was already dilated to 3 cm. Sometimes I've been asked why in the world I am at the hospital...come back next week, so that was good news. The anesthesiologist arrived just in time to keep me from feeling even one real labor pain.

In fact, things were going so well they actually had to turn the Pitocin DOWN to keep me from delivering before I had finished the required doses of antibiotics. When the final drops pumped their way in from the second bag, they upped the Pitocin again and my little Sport came really fast. Thankfully, this was NOT one of the times the nurses refused to get the doctor there on time. He halted things for only a moment as he unwrapped the cord from Sport's neck (that was a little scary!) and one push later was all it took. I didn't even have to push a second time since he slipped out all by himself.

The nurses all ooo'd and aah'd over his beautiful blond hair. It was quite long for such a little guy. We spent the next couple of weeks listening to people gush about how beautiful Sport was. He'd probably be a little embarrassed to know about that now.

We had our typical jaundice scare and he had to visit the doctor every day for the first three days. Fortunately, he didn't have to go under the lights. We were so glad to finally have him home!

Family Pictures

Present Day - Family Photos

When I was little, we always got our school pictures taken every year and Mom ordered an 8 x 10. As you know, my parents didn't have much, but they knew family pictures were important. In their bedroom Mom had made homemade frames out of thin cardboard and strong tape. They actually were very nice. The 8 of us were arranged in a circle right above their bed. (I haven't been in Dad's house for a while since he doesn't really live there anymore, but I'm assuming they are still there.)

When I had my own family, I wanted to continue that tradition except that I wanted to keep the pictures out for everyone to see. Here is my current grouping in our family room. Sorry about the glare. That top pic is of us and the others are the rest of the kids. Whatever picture they had as a high school senior will forever stay in their family frame.  The walls may change, but the adult pictures do not (at least so far...)

The Dog Walker has a fascination with these pictures. He hung most of the nails and for some reason he believes himself to be in charge of them. He often moves them around, trying to put all the boys together, or all the grownups in one particular spot. One day he decided that we might forget who was who so he cut up a sheet of paper and labeled each one of them.

One year on April Fool's Day, we all woke up to this...

Do you think you would notice if someone turned all of your pictures upside-down?

If you notice the picture in the middle is not upside down
I'm not sure why he didn't change that one