Poor Jalen

Sunday night I sent Alan with the kids to finish delivering some Christmas presents. After only a few minutes, Madelyn and Mason came running home crying and upset, letting me know that Jalen got bit by our neighbors dog. I didn't get to0 excited, because the kids can be a little dramatic. Then Alan came walking in holding Jalen and very calmly said, "Yes, Jalen got bit and he's going to need a couple stitches." I still wasn't too alarmed until Jalen looked up at me and I saw two gaping holes from the bottom of his upper lip to his nose. It was more than just a little cut! He looked like he had a cleft lip and it barely missed going all the way through. That's when I panicked. I just couldn't believe this had happened. With very crapy health insurance and not knowing where we could even take Jalen and get somewhat coverage, I was upset. Not only was it Sunday, the fact that we were trying to do a good deed by taking a gift to our neighbors, but also we had just come home from tithing settlements! Sometimes don't you feel like despite trying to do everything right, things can still go very wrong? Four hours, 10 stitches later and a dose of humility, changed my perspective. After getting Jalen home and in bed, all night I thought of the many other things that could happen that would be so much worse. Jalen was going to be fine. At least it was a small dog and the cut wasn't any worse; at least we have good doctors and antibiotics that can fix the problem; it's a blessing the dog was immunized and our neighbors are so concerned about Jalen too. I guess I've learned that we are just never in the clear...life is going to continually throw challenges and all we can do is make the best of them. Most important is that Jalen really is just fine. And as for the dog, well Jalen thinks he needs soap in his mouth!

Thanksgiving Traditions

I seem to always run behind in posting updates and events for our family, but late is better than never, right?! Here are some of our traditions and highlights from Thanksgiving.

One of Alan's favorite traditions is the pie at Thanksgiving dinner. His mom makes at least 30 or more pies. Not only is there enough for 3 or 4 pieces the night of Thanksgiving, but also, it is a tradition to eat pie for breakfast the day after. Grandma Joyce makes 3 or 4 of every kind: apple, pumpkin, banana cream, chocolate cream, lemon, pecan, mince meat, and cherry. Joyce is a great cook and always makes sure that no one goes hungry at her house!

Below are some pictures of where the pies are stored before the feast...yes even on top of her car!

Here is a table set up in the garage with pie only.

Here are some shells ready for filling when needed on top of a fridge.

Thanks Grandma Joyce for the fun tradition and of course, yummy yummy pie!


Here are all the cute grandkids at Thanksgiving dinner.

Another fun tradition is watching the light parade down main streen of Manti the night after Thanksgiving. We all bundle up and watch for the highlight: Santa Claus riding on a fire truck. Of course, it's the favorite for all the little ones.

Madelyn loves having her fun cousins to do girlie things with.




Alan was so excited to take Mason on a 4-wheeler ride and find some snow in the mountains. He really misses the outdoor activities that we don't get to do much living in Arizona. So any chance he gets while visiting Utah, he takes...even if that means subzero temperatures!

Praiseworthy

I recently went to parent teacher conference for Madelyn. She absolutely loves school and is doing so well. Madelyn's teacher had nothing but good to say about her. One very nice compliment she gave was that Madelyn is so nice to everyone, always willing to help, share, or make others feel good. For example, one day a little boy dropped a can of pencils that spilled all over the floor. As the other children started to laugh and make fun of the boy, Madelyn quickly bent down to help him pick it up. Mrs. Needham went on to say that Madelyn is very well liked and respected by her classmates, and more importantly, she doesn't even realize it. She is always so humble and kind to everyone. I was so pleased to hear this. As a mom, I often wonder if the efforts I make to teach my children is really working. Sometimes what I see at home, makes me feel discouraged but after such a Praiseworthy compliment about Madelyn, I gained some hope. It reminds me of a saying that I heard not too long ago that goes something like this, "How your children act outside the home, is a reflection on what is happening inside the home." Hopefully there are lessons of respect, love, honesty, integrity, and happiness being learned in our home, despite the chaos and busyness of everyday life!

Almost Forgotten

I've just realized here it is December and I never shared some of our Halloween photos! Where has the time gone? We did have great Halloween...Madelyn was (take a guess)....Hannah Montana, Mason was spiderman, and Jalen was a fireman. About a month before Halloween, Madelyn and I checked online and in several stores for different ideas for a costume. I tried to encourage a cute witch, pirate, genie, clown, cowgirl or anything but Hannah Montana. Of course I didn't win. Madelyn is like many other girls everywhere...in love with Hannah Montana so it wasn't surprising that we saw many neighbors and friends all dressed up as a blonde, cute rock star! Mason wasn't set on any particular costume, he agreed and was excited to be Spiderman when I suggessted it (I already had a costume I bought last year on sale:) This fits his personality so well...easy going, easy to please and doesn't put up a fight or fuss over things. Thanks Mason! Jalen has been very interested in firemen and firetrucks ever since his birthday. For awhile, he kept saying he wanted to be a firetruck for Halloween. I didn't know how that was going to work, but after getting the cute fireman costume for his birthday from his friend, Hannah, he was so excited. The pictures just don't do this outfit justice. It is so dang cute. It even has red suspenders, his name on the jacket, and real reflecters on the pants and jacket sleeves (that's why some of the pictures of him don't turn out so well) Anyways, they all looked adorable and had a great weekend.

Visit from the tooth fairy

Madelyn FINALLY lost her first tooth! She has been waiting for this day for months as she has watched all her friends and classmates loose their teeth over the last year. She anxiously awaited that night to leave her tooth for the tooth fairy. At 2:00 a.m. she woke me up to show me that the tooth fairy had found her tooth and left money! Now's she's even more excited for the next one to fall out.

We LOVE Fall!

The change in seasons has taken a whole new meaning since moving and living in Arizonia. I used to love fall for the beautiful colors, the starting of a new school year, and for football season. I do have to admit that experiencing college football with Alan was such an exciting time of year and there really was a feeling in the air on those fall Saturday game days. I miss those times!

Now, the fall season is primarily so exciting because we can finally enjoy the outdoors again. I love the cool crisp mornings and the time we can spend outside with neighbors and friends. It's almost like the neighborhood comes back to life in the fall. The kids have especially loved the change in season and spending more time outside. In many ways we have become very spoiled to the nice weather for the majority of the year. I came across a note I had written down last May when it had rained for about 2-3 days and the boys couldn't play outside. Here's their comments:

The sky is very cloudy and Mason says: "Why is the sky that color? Why does it look like that? I've never seen it look like that."

As Jalen opens the blinds to see another rainy, wet day he says in a gruff deep voice, "It's wet outside again! That's not fair!" (and then stomps up the stairs)

Thank goodness we only see rainy wet days maybe 5-10 days out of the year!

Here's the boys with our neighbor Cooper enjoying riding bikes outside

Run Away

Recently, after I had left for work, Alan got a call from our friend and neighbor Jeff Lundt at 6:30 A.M. asking if we were missing anyone. To Alan's knowledge, all our kids were home, but his answer to the question was, "I don't know, am I missing somebody?"

Jeff's response, "Yes, I have Jalen here all dressed with his cowboy boots and jacket ready to play with Braydon. The only problem is that Braydon is fast asleep (still snoring according to Jalen as Jeff let Jalen peek in to see him).

Yes, we have a runaway on our hands! I don't know which is more surprising, that Jalen could make it around the block and find Braydon's house all on his own, or that Alan had no idea that Jalen had gone out the front door and was gone that long without realizing it. We're definately keeping a tighter reign on him to avoid those run aways situations in the future!

Here is Jalen with one of his best buddies, Braydon Lundt