Update

Every time I get on here I have to look back and see what I already said.  I keep thinking, though, that I'm past due for writing because so many things have happened, but now I can't think of a whole lot of them.  Ha!

I'm taking a break from my family history project.  While there are tons of sources online, there are still only a finite number, and the further back I get, the harder it is to document things.  It's been kind of frustrating to my inner perfectionist who likes to fill in all the blanks.  So I've decided to take a break for a while and mull it over in my head.  It's just on the back burner for now, but I'll keep that fire lit and attack the project with renewed vigor soon I think.  For now I'm working on my blog books.  I'm quite behind.  I never finished 2012.  I've decided that editing time for my blog books is going to be way reduced from now on.  If I see a typo that jumps out at me while I'm formatting the books I'll fix it, but I'm not going to go through word for work and make sure my meaning is clear and that all my i's are dotted.  It's kind of a waste of time.  Still there's a lot to do, and I'm going at it.

A few weeks ago Jeremy mentioned something about goals on Facebook, and cousin Caroline replied, "Hey, if you want to talk about goals you should come to our goals club meeting."  They call it Wealth Builders Club, and they meet once a month.  They take turns hosting it, and it's just family so far.  So we went for the first time in September.  It was at Caroline's house, and Jacob, Rachel, Theo, and their spouses were also there.  They just let the kids play while they discuss building wealth in all the areas of their lives.  So they'll set goals for health and exercise and for actual wealth and whatever else.  Honestly, my favorite part is spending time with them.  I tell you, these cousins of ours married well! :) It's been fun to get to know everyone and become kind of reacquainted with those cousins I just haven't seen in forever.  We hosted the meeting yesterday, and that was fun.  Jacob couldn't come because he had to work, but Shannon and her kids came.  Rachel's kids were sick, so they didn't come.  Also, Rachel's husband got hired at the prison in Winslow, so they're moving. :'( I feel like a whole realm of possibilities are open now that we get together, though.  We had Caroline and Tevis over to play Cashflow 2 weeks ago, and I like that.  I hope we do it again. :) Now I just need to get the same thing going with Uncle Gary and Aunt Bettie's family. ;) We ought to have them all over for a barbecue before it gets too cold.

There was a crazy storm here just over a week ago.  We had hail and lightning and crazy rain.  Safford was hit really hard.  All the schools had to close for at least 2 weeks.  Shannon works, I think, Lafe Nelson, and it sounds like her school was hit the hardest.  They're going to divide her school's classes up between the other elementary schools, and hopefully hers will be all fixed right around Christmas time.  She says she'll be teaching in a partitioned section of a library.  A lot of homes were also flooded.  Richard's Music sprung a leak.  Paul and Carrie lost a window and their cars are all dented.  I actually went out in that storm to grab something from Walmart, and it was a bad idea, but I survived.  The power went out at Walmart while I was looking for what I needed (I never found it), so that was kind of silly.  Oh, well.  It was pretty intense, though.  You could tell the storm intensified the closer you got to Safford.  Crazy!  You can see some pictures here.

We are always working on something on this house!  I know I mentioned that we got the roof fixed.  Next on the list was to get the vents redone.  We got that all done last week.  Before we had a total of 2 vents in the entire downstairs, and neither put out much air.  We called up the place Paul used to work for, and they came and fixed the vents we had and added more downstairs, and overall increased the air flow.  I think the winter and summer will be a lot more comfortable now!  I even have a vent that blows right on me when I am at the computer. :) I'm happy about that.  I just wish they could have added vents to the garage that will one day be a bedroom, and to the bathrooms.  Oh, well.  Next on the list: Jeremy wants to do some of that blow-in insulation, and that ought to help us save on heating and cooling costs.  We also need to fix the kitchen ceiling now too.  It turns out that ugly ceiling was a false ceiling.  It was hiding ductwork, old and new.  We pulled it down, and now we will need to soffit some of of it and fix holes where old ducts were, but we will have a higher ceiling in there instead of the ugly one.  I like that.

One funny thing about getting the ducts redone: there's an old vent in the floor of the main bathroom where the old heater used to blow.  When the guys came in to redo the ducts they couldn't use it, but the duct was still connected.  When they took it down, all sorts of stuff fell out.  Apparently, the kids who lived here last realized that the vent cover came off.  They put a lot of things in there.  There were a few bars of soap and hair clips and toothpaste, and all sorts of things.  It was funny. :) Our kiddos were then all excited when they realized the vent cover came off, and they kept dropping things through to the kitchen.  Some of them - I'm glad nobody was there when they fell!  Bubby dumped water and toothpaste through it.  Oh, boy!  The toothpaste got all over the fridge door.  Joshua, that little rascal who loves so much to tease, had all sorts of fun with it.  One day his Papa set him to get some floss because he had something stuck in his teeth, and Joshua passed it to Hyrum through the hole.  He thought that was pretty funny, but his Papa just said, "Ijole!"  He has since blocked the hole.  Well, it was funny while it lasted, mostly because of Joshua.  He has such a fun sense of humor.

Henry got another tooth last week!  He now has 6: 4 on top and 2 on bottom.  I don't know why he's in such a hurry.  He likes to bite me when he's overly upset or when he's not feeling well.  Ow!  2 more months and I'm going to wean him.  It is definitely bittersweet - that weaning business.  I'll miss it.  I always do.  But when it's time, it's time, and part of me is ready when it's time.

Henry is really good at crawling now.  He's not super fast, but he's got the mechanics down, and it melts my heart.  He's so darn cute!  He is getting really steady on his feet, too.  He is almost ready to take his first steps.  He can stand for a few seconds on his own too.  It's fun to see his eyes light up as he discovers he can do things. :)

Henry also has ringworm.  We can't figure out how in the world he got it.  It's on spot about a half inch diameter in the middle of his chest.  We have some cream for it, and it's starting to go away, but man!  Well, I suppose it could always be worse, right?

We've had all sorts of adventures with teeth lately!  Not only is Henry teething, but we found out that Jeremy needs to get his implants sooner than later.  I'm not clear on the details.  I don't know why it needs done so soon, but I'm glad it'll get done.  Most of us have dental work that needs done, in fact.  I'll get mine done this week, a bunch of the kiddos will get theirs done the day after Halloween, and then Timmy's will be a bit later in November.  I'm hoping his will work out because I don't want to take him to the valley.  I like the people there, but that's at least 2 trips to Mesa and they'd want to sedate him ($!).  Here they can do laughing gas, so I've been trying to prepare him for that.  "They'll put a piggy nose on you and fix your teeth.  It will be so silly!"  I showed him pictures, too.  We'll give it a try!

And speaking of Timmy's teeth, he lost one out of the blue right after school about a week and a half ago.  He was eating something, and it was suddenly just gone.  It was one of the two front bottom ones, of course.  He thought it looked so silly, so he had a good laugh about it.  And that very night the kiddos were crazy, and Hyrum was trying to get him to settle down for scriptures, and somehow (we still can't figure out how) his other bottom tooth got knocked out.  He bled a bit, and that freaked him out.  Poor fella!  But it stopped bleeding pretty quickly.  I explained that sometimes it bleeds, and, "See?  It's already stopped."  I gave him a big hug and he looked in the mirror and saw that that looked even more silly than one missing tooth.  So he giggled and was fine. :) Well, that wasn't the end, though.  A few days later his school called to say that he'd had a mishap coming down the slide and one of his two front teeth was just dangling.  Argh!  They weren't even loose yet!  I took him to the dentist, and they took it out.  They didn't charge for it either. The dentist showed me that the one next to it (not the other front one, but the one on the other side) was loose too and will probably fall out soon.  He said in a year or so it would have wiggled out anyway.  I guess he'll be a little toothless up on top for a while.

The local fire station had an open house last week.  Hyrum was not excited at all about going.  It was free dinner that I didn't have to cook, though, so we went!  They ran out of string for the balloons but were still handing out helium balloons.  I hurrried and dug in my purse and tore the string off the kids' library cards for two of the balloons so they wouldn't fly away.  (I put string on Jill's and Timmy's like a necklace so they don't lose their cards when we go to the library.)  Benji and Michael inhaled their helium while we waited in the dinner line, and they giggled a lot about that.  I know they're 12 and 10, but they're still such cute friends.  We still had to feed a few kiddos cereal when we got home because they didn't like the hot dogs, but oh, well.  This is the kid of thing that Hyrum dreads and I like anyway.  He worries so much about losing kiddos.  Sometimes he counts them all more than I do.  But I like to go out and do things, and I like fire trucks.  So there.

I took my sewing machine in to see if it could be repaired a few weeks ago.  The guys looked it over and gave me a free estimate.  They also have some old ones like the one Mama inherited from Grandma Badger, and I'm sorely tempted to just buy one of those instead of getting mine fixed.  I just can't be sure that mine will continue working for much longer, and I can't be sure that any of the good old ones would either.  I may go in there and chat with them about it.  I think I'll end up getting an old one.  They just don't make them like they used to.  I want one that will last through the millennium and miles of denim.

Michael and Joshua got their eyes checked just recently.  Joshua just wanted to, and Michael was due for a checkup.  Joshua's eyes are still good.  Michael's prescription is about the same.  We ordered him new glasses because we could.  They are green and white, and he likes them so far.  He had such trouble with his last pair.  They kept sliding off his face.  I don't know why he doesn't want to get wire frames.  You can fix those at home if they're sliding off your face.  But he likes the more chunky frames.  OK, then.  Well, I'm just glad he can see. :)

We also went ahead and rented a clarinet for Michael.  The one we bought was kind of cheapo.  I knew it would be, but I didn't realize how cheapo.  It was having all sorts of problems.  It was going to cost more than we paid for it to fix it, and then the guy at the music store said he couldn't guarantee it would stay fixed for any period of time because it has soft metal.  We should have done it this way in the first place.  The reason we didn't is that he's not going to play clarinet forever.  I explained that, right?  The band teacher said he has to learn clarinet and then bassoon before he can learn tuba.  So anyway, the red clarinet didn't last nearly as long as we hoped, but I guess we're OK.

Joshua really wants to build a computer.  I think that's a great idea!  I do think I want him to buy his own parts for it bit by bit, though.  I think that would be a greater experience than he does.  He thinks it will take forever.  It just might.  We only pay for jobs done on Saturday, so that's his income for now.  He did buy a used PS2 (Playstation, a video game console), though, and he's trying to fix it up.  He's ordered different things for it, and that's been a fun project for him.

EAC had their surplus auction on Conference weekend.  It started while Conference was going, and they sold all their computers during that time.  Darn it!  We hoped to get one or more for Christmas, though I don't know where we'll put any more computers. XD  We bought a bookshelf, 4 computer chairs, and a snare drum. (Shhhh!  That last one is Benji's Christmas present!)  The auction was pretty fun.  The auctioneer was in a little booth on the back of a golf cart thing, and the guy drove him around to the different items.  He was really friendly and fun.

Speaking of Conference, wasn't it wonderful?!  And also speaking of Conference, we had Stake Conference yesterday, and they released President Kartchner, who, coincidentally, was my doctor here when I was pregnant with Hyrum, the one who flew me to Tucson.  The called Todd Haynie as the new Stake President.  I don't know his counselors, but I think Todd will do a great job.  He's such a good guy.  He was just released as bishop in our ward just before we moved in, and then he moved.  My favorite thought from the conference yesterday was about repentance, and it was from one of the visiting general authorities.  He said he was in a meeting once where President Scott told them all that they needed to repent.  Then he explained that repentance isn't something huge, but all it is is coming to Christ.  That's it.  Of course, then He can help you.  I think I forget that, how simple it is.  I knew we've been told we have to repent every day, and I never understood how one could do that.  Repentance always seemed to me to be a huge, long, drawn-out process.  I didn't undestand, but, man!  If that's all it is!  I think I can handle that. :)

Hyrum and Joshua are still plugging away at college and such.  Joshua rides a bike to school and Hyrum walks while reading on the Kindle he got for his birthday.  We found out that we accidentally signed Hyrum up for the wrong chemistry class!  He got put in a hard one instead of the beginning one.  He had such a hard time with it because he had no foundation.  He went to the tutor a few times a week, but he still failed the two tests he took.  Poor guy.  He felt so much better when he realized that he was just in the wrong class and that it wasn't just him being awful at it.  We had him try his best after help from the tutor the second test to see he could do any better, and he didn't, so we let him drop it.  He's no longer full time, but he's a lot less stressed out.  I'm so glad!  He is really enjoying all his other classes.  He's also found the practice rooms and is working through a bit of that piano book we got him.  We want him to take the GED soon so he can get the Pell Grant in the spring, and that will be such a financial relief for us!  And I think it should help him get private violin lessons too,  We have the information for the GED, and EAC gives the tests, so we're going to try to get that done here in the next few weeks.  He got his tux for Fall Sing and is all excited, though he did question me about the purpose of a cumberbund.  (I know "cummerbund" is technically how you spell it, but who says it that way?  Not me.)  "Now, what is this for?!  I know where it goes, but why?!"

Joshua has not asked for a new rat.  The last 2 times he lost one he was ready right away for a new one.  I'm kind of surprised.  He's not sure at this point, and that's OK.  Sometimes it's crazy to me when I remember he doesn't have one anymore.  I miss it, and I wish he'd ask for another.  I'm giving him time and space, and I'll let him decide.

Benji is still loving middle school.  He got a nice yo-yo from a traveling yo-yo guy who visited Michael's school (Google The NED show, and you'll see what I'm talking about), and he says the kids at his school thought it was so cool that he had a yo-yo.  He told me about that several times.  He's trying really hard to be popular, but he's having a lot of fun with it too.  It's so funny to me.  It's fascinating watching kids grow, isn't it?!  It's like you watch them become more and more and more who they already are.  Very, very cool.  Anyway, he's also been doing well in band.  He's getting better and better.  He's become good friends with another of the percussionists and has enjoyed that.  We're hoping he'll get to do snare drum sometime this year.  He doesn't practice every day, but he does off and on.  He just had a concert recently, and he is so proud to participate.  Sometimes he gets all excited and gets off the beat, but mostly he dos good.  He's got that suspended cymbal down! ;) Also, hearing the drums from EAC's marching band every morning makes me so, so excited for his future in percussion.  It's so fun!

Michael wants to try wrestling.  There's a kind of club that he's joining that will be 2 days a week pretty much the whole month of November and a bit more, where they'll learn the basics.  I'm glad he wants to do it.  I bet he'll like it, even if it is a lot of work.  Registration is tonight.

Jill's reading is improving all the time.  They put her in Title 1, but really it's OK.  They make Title 1 so fun, and it's an open entry/exit program, so they'll kind of graduate her out eventually.  We've been having her read at scripture time more, and she's excited about that.  She always wants to read more and more scriptures instead of giving someone else a turn.  We all know that scriptures is why any of us got to be good readers.  It definitely makes a difference!  I'm happy for her.  She is also getting some good friends who, I hope, will stick with her!  At that age you never know.  She just needs to stop making deals with people who promise, "I'll give you this if you give me that."  They never give her "this," and they never will.  I learned that much in school. ;)

Bubby really needs to potty train.  He likes the going without pants part, but isn't interested in sitting on the toilet.  He's always stripping down.  He doesn't see how it would improve his life to use the potty.  It would make him happy and confident, apparently.  He's learning how to talk more, and it's so cute.  I need to do a blog post soon about the cute thing he says.  I've been making a list on my phone.

I have been reading The Odyssey again.  I haven't read it since high school.  I knew then it was a worthwhile read, but it was an assignment, so I didn't get much out of it.  I'm enjoying it.  I am still annoyed by how long things are taking.  Why is Odysseus sitting there so long in disguise in his house instead of just getting rid of those guys and being done with it.  And why does everyone have to have a name?!  Even the minor characters who we see for two seconds are given a name and relatives.  The guy who teases him on the street for a minute does not need a name.  The servant who brings him food once does not need a name.  Silly.  Well, I'll get through it.  It's interesting, though.  Those Greeks were so wrapped up in all those gods.  They were false gods, but their lives were all about worshiping them and seeing what their will might be.  It reminds me a lot of our religion, except that ours is actually true, you know. ;) Every bit of our lives is touched by our religion, and so was theirs.  It's interesting.

Well, I think that's long enough.  I'll see about uploading some pictures now.

September

Timmy likes to make things and tell me to take a picture. I'm not sure what prompted this one (I'm pretty much never sure), but sure... :)

Henry makes this cute face all the time.  And he loves his walker!

Bubby loves Gwee-uh bars (granola bars).

Boo!

Jeremy had a pizza party with his Sunday School class one Saturday at the park.  Henry liked my crust.

Bubby!

Timmy likes using disposable plates and cups for crafts.  Jill is practicing to be a professional photo bomber.  More evidence ahead!

Jill, Timmy, and Bubby like to sneak in our bed in the middle of the night.  This particular night she ended up on Papa's chair instead.  I don't mind that nearly as much. :)

We had some extra money leftover after paying for all the work done to fix our leaky roof.  We've been wanting to replace my recliner that doesn't recline, and Jeremy's been wanting a recliner too.  We found a good deal on these, so now we both have a new recliner.  We also were able to get a new propane grill for Jeremy.  It came in handy for his class reunion because they had a tailgate party and needed somebody to cook hot dogs.  I like the propane grill way better.  The food doesn't come out all smoky.  We cooked chicken on it last week, and it was amazing!  We didn't do anything fancy.  I just threw some frozen chicken breast pieces on the grill, and they came out great.  I love my new chair too.  Henry still wakes up at least twice in the night, and a recliner that reclines means I sleep better while I nurse him.  It's great!

Papa had a pile of vegetables for lunch, and he got full.  He left it on the table, and Henry reached up and pulled it off.  I guess he needed some too. :) Luckily, most of it landed on his tray.

Papa laid down and fell asleep.  Bub climbed up by him and fell asleep too.  Ha!

Henry eating hot dogs and cheese balls

One day I heard a weed eater outside.  When they were done I took out the garbage and looked down the street.  The city had come along and weed eated in front of our house.  I thought that was great.  Then I was walking back and heard a crackling sound that just went on and on.  I discovered it was coming from the van, and then I figured it out: whoever had weed eated sent a rock flying to our van window, and it shattered.  The only thing holding it in was the tint.  I kind of freaked out.  I flagged down a guy from our ward in a Town of Thatcher truck, and he kind of shook his head at the inmates who had been weed eating and said he always tells them to keep back further from cars.  He said, "I'll take care of it, Sister Burk."  And they did!  They called up EA Glass, and they came and took the van and replaced the window.  I didn't have the van for a couple of days, but it got done.  Phew!  We also got our tires replaced on the van (They were getting pretty bad!) and got something else fixed.  I'm not sure it's totally fixed because it still acts up when I start it up sometimes.  I can't remember what they said it was, but it may cost $500 to fix.  Yikes!  Hopefully it'll stop acting up.

Henry!

Joshua drew this in art class.  It's been fun to see the things he comes up with.

I really love seeing what Joshua puts up on his walls.  He's always drawing something.  His wall is pretty full but always changing, so I stop and look at it now and then.  I thought this little cartoon is cute.  Click to make it bigger. The toilet paper tube says, "Boy, do I feel like eating a baby rat right now."  Then along comes a baby rat and gets in and says, "So cozy..." and the toilet paper tube says, "Aw, darn it.  I gained weight.  Sometimes I wish I was a toilet paper roll."  Pyro is Joshua's name on DeviantArt.

Jill fell asleep this way after school.  Cute girly. :)

That cushion on the futon is so aggravating!  It's always slipping down!  But the futon is great for Henry naps because it slopes back.  We just watch for when he wakes up and get him off.

We went to the fair with Grandma and Grandpa Badger the Saturday before last.  We went and saw the exhibits after lunch, and then Grandpa and I took the 6 oldest kiddos to ride rides that evening.

Grandpa and the four older boys watched the magician while the rest of us went to see the animals and exhibits.  Timmy loves the pigs best.  Here's Grandma and Timmy.  That's Mr. Bradshaw in the back with the hat.  He was my Trigonometry teacher. :) He has a hook instead of a left hand (just an interesting bit of trivia).  He's a good guy.

The pig auction was going on at the time, so these guys watched the pigs go through the gates.

More pigs

Bubby was mad about seeing the pigs because we walked past a bouncy house on the way, and he wasn't allowed on.

He calmed down for the birds, though. :)

I must admit, I really enjoy the animals and exhibits these days.  I probably enjoy them more than I ever did.

Jill

Jill and Timmy

Jeremy and I took a picture with this one.  I'll have to see if I can find it.

Jill photobombing Timmy

Here it is.  Jeremy said we had to frown, so we did. :)

Bubby

Jill photobombing Bubby

Jeremy and Henry

Eating cotton candy while we waited for ribbon fries. :9

Grandma took this and the next one.  Here's Bubby!

Us after church

Back at home: Timmy put his blanket on a snow disc on top of a laundry basket so he could make a tea party.  When Papa came home Timmy had place cards, and one had Papa's name.  But then when he decided Papa was done, he wrote no on the back and made one for somebody else. XD

He made this tiny balloon for a decoration for Bubby's birthday. :)

Bubby turned 3!  He got a Minion shirt for his birthday, and then he "helped" me make his Spongebob cake by tasting all the extra frosting. :) I'm pretty happy how the cake turned out.  I was worried!  It's a little lopsided, but overall not bad at all! :) (Who says I I can't draw? ;) )

Bubby got balloons!  He and his siblings aired them all up and put them all over the house.  The next day he and Timmy had fun finding them all and then popping them in the kitchen and giggling and bringing me the pieces.  Not a bad game, especially because they brought the pieces. :) He also got a Mylar balloon that has Mickey Mouse on it.  He didn't pop that one, though.  He's playing with it today.

Bubby didn't want to wait for cake.  He'd waited all day and was determined to open his presents immediately, so we let him.

Lightning McQueen!  He also got the movie Cars.  Our old one broke years ago.  I figured it was time to get it again. :) We've watched it a lot.  Bubby's favorite part is the short movie on the disc called One Man Band.  He likes to watch it over and over and over!

Swedish fish!

The lighting was bad, and all the pictures were backlit by Papa's computer, but you can still see he had a great time and was happy. :) That's what counts. ;)

Jill got him a paddle ball.

This one is Captain America.  He even has a shield.  It's the same size as some other action figures we have.  Papa has The Hulk, Hyrum has Thor, Benji has Batman, Michael has Spider Man, and Timmy has Iron Man.

This was Papa's choice.  It ended up being his favorite, I think.  It's a doctor kit. :) He's had a great time with it.

Wah-Bob cake!

Bubby gave Papa several checkups.  The thermometer has a spinning thing that shows different temperatures with a little happy or frowny face by them.  So Papa kept crying with the frowny face. ;) Bubby thought it was hilarious.

Sleepy little guy.  Poor fella caught some stomach bug and threw up.  I was out shopping, so I bought him a new onesie.  Poor fella was poopy and covered in throw-up.  I was glad when he was all taken care of!

Hyrum and Henry

Did I mention about Hyrum's tuning fork around his neck?  He got it in Men's Chorus.  He LOVES Men's Chorus!  He's learning to read music and learning to sing.  He signed up to sing bass, so he's learning to sing harmony and low notes. He comes home so incredibly happy.  He's now more convinced than ever that he wants to major in music.

And speaking of which, he was signed up for class piano, but he was the only one, so his class got cancelled.  We convinced him that if he wants to be a music major he should take elementary theory so he'll be ready for Music Theory I next fall.  It's an online class, which he wasn't happy about, but he likes it.  And it's nice how he has only seminary and choir on Tuesdays and Thursdays because he goes to the library those days and gets his homework done.  He and Joshua both love the library.  Hooray!

And speaking of Joshua, he's doing really good so far.  He's in the most basic of all math classes offered there, but it's good.  It's refreshing his memory on some of the basics, and he's flying through the other stuff and enjoying it.  And get this - his teacher is Tom Palmer!  How fun is that?! :) He's really liking being a college student.  He's had fun finding his way around.  He comes home and tells me how he figured out how to do this or that and had fun doing it on his own. :) Next semester I think I'll let him do even more on his own (pick up books and such), and I think he'll like that.  He's also really liking Seminary.

Well, I guess you get this one upside down. XD Cute, though. :)

Henry pulls up on things now, and he's just started crawling on his hands and knees too.  Bubby was a happy photobomber here.  Ha ha!

Jeremy had his 20 year class reunion this weekend.  On Friday he was on a class float and then they had a tailgate party and went to the game.  And on Saturday we met at the high school where they took a class photo on the steps where they took their photo years ago, and then we all walked around the high school.  It was kind of fun.  We got to go see a few places I'd never been in before, and I've been there quite a few times.  My little monkeys were monkeys. :)

Benji is getting tall!

We even went in the band room.  It was fun for me to watch Timmy here.  I'm sure the band director would have had a heart attack.  But it was sweet.  I think I need to get him in music somehow.

Jeremy walking back to the steps for the class photo while kiddos play under the steps. :)

20 years!

After the high school we went to Jack in the Box and got food and then took it to the park to eat and play. :) I'm so glad Henry finally likes swings!

 

We hung out at Grandma's house, and then we went to Jesse's first birthday party, and Jeremy and I went to his reunion dinner.  That was fun and yummy!  And Jeremy won the prize for the most kids. XD

Bubby eating grapes at Jesse's party

sleepy boy

Jeremy took this one of Henry and me at the high school

Benji and Michael decided to shoot arrows before church. XD

Who is that cute baby in the mirror?

Cruising!

Hyrum is 16 today!  His birthday shirt is late getting here, so I gave him a birthday hat to wear today instead.  He was quite pleased. :)

So he pulled up his tuning fork for decoration. :)

I took this picture on Saturday at the park.  Joshua doesn't like me to take pictures of him AT ALL, but I'm happy that I took this one.  His rat Altepixe has been sick for months.  Poor fella.  He was breathing heavy and choking often.  He stopped grooming himself as well, and he stopped running on his wheel.  I've missed his running on his wheel!  That squeak, squeak, squeak in the night meant we had a happy rat.  He liked to squeeze out of his cage at night and climb on Hyrum's bed, and then Hyrum would lift him up to Joshua's bed.  He was nice and didn't chew on Joshua's bedding like Scratchy used to.  He just snuggled.  

Yesterday morning he squeezed out of his cage and ran downstairs like he often did when he was choking.  He sat by me on the couch, and I watched him there, wondering how much longer he had.  And then later in the day Joshua came downstairs holding him and crying, and he told me, "Mommy, Altepixe died."

Poor Joshua.  He'd already been having a rotten day because he wasn't feeling well.  I dropped everything and did what I could to comfort him or at least commiserate.  I'm never sure how to comfort this grown up Joshua.  Teenagers are complicated, especially the ones who were complicated to begin with.  Anyway, I talked with Jeremy, and we agreed he needed a nice box to be buried in.  I dragged poor sick Joshua to Walmart.  I guess I wanted to give him something to do, but maybe I should have let him stay home and rest.  Anyway, the best I could do was get these two pallet things and hing them together and put a clasp on it.  It did make a nice box.  The other boxes they had were too small.  We will have a little funeral when Jeremy comes home today.

Rest in peace, Altepixe.  You are loved.