JANUARY

Oh what do you do in the winter time?

Bronson and Levi enjoying a family date at Boondocks.

Jared had a fun, or not so fun adventure this month. The super-intendant on the

Moab hospital was let go and Jared was the lucky guy who got to go help finish things up. So for 3 weeks, Sunday afternoon - Friday night, Jared was on Moab patrol. I thought about taking the boys and going down with him but being stuck in hotel with two little boys and a dog, with no indoor swimming pool, in freezing temps just didn't sound very appealing. So we held down the fort and stayed home. The hardest part was of course in the evenings, being home alone, not wanting to go to bed, so I would stay up late then not sleep very well and be tired and grumpy the next day. It wasn't a very good cycle. Normally when Jared has to leave for scouts or hunting I'll go into a highly productive mode, this was not the case this time. Pretty depressing actually, maybe because I knew how long he was going to be gone. Some how we made it through, having family night over the internet, talking on the phone, and just taking one minute at time. Even though it was nice to see him on the weekends they got depressing too. I seemed like he'd been home before he started getting ready to leave again. Bronson made the good-byes even harder. "Just stay with me one more minute Dad, okay?"

Things got a bit more crazy when I was called in to meet with the bishop. It is very interesting how the Lord works and for some reason I knew what was coming, but even still, swallowing the call of Primary President, well it made me choke a bit. Jared was actually on speaker phone with us when the bishop issued the call, I was crying, Jared . . . laughing.

My sisters had offered to watch my boys if I wanted to go down and after I decided I wasn't going to the smoke detector kept going off in the middle of the night. By morning I was ready to see my husband so I packed up as fast as I could and got the heck out of here. I took Simba with me and literally sat in front of my computer for about 25 hours, working on our family movie and organizing my computer. It was something that needed to be done but surly wasn't going to get done at home, so minus the googley eyes from staring at a computer screen, it was a nice distraction, and nice to be close to Jared. The top picture is a cloud shaped like an arch that I passed on my way down. I just thought it was crazy since I was going to Moab so I took a pic of it (while driving and listening to Julie Andrews autobiography). Here is Jared in front of the Hospital. Even now, they are still having big problems with it, but thankfully they told Jared after the 3 weeks that they needed him back in the office. I don't know what I would have done if he would have had to go down for another month. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder.

silly boys showing off their Christmas slippers

Levi learned a new skill as well, using stools and chairs to get what he wants. He has climbed on the stove three times, and the last time he did he got the stove ignited - not kidding. Bronson is still pooping his pants like a gold medalist. My reactions of course are just making the situation worse I'm sure. I've really got to figure out how to act happy at the smell and sight of poopy underwear, BLUH!

Davis, Bronson, Brock, and Levi

Playing with cousins is "Fun to do, fun to do, fun to do."

I also had a birthday while Jared was gone. It was a little odd, I wasn't quite sure what to do. My boys had no idea it was my birthday but I decided I needed to do something so we went to Fun Daze and we each got a polka dot balloon. I love balloons, I'm not sure why. I went to my mom's and had lunch, the boys still had yucky coughs and runny noses so we didn't get to play with cousins. When we were getting in the car to head home Bronson's balloon got stuck between the door and the car, he pulled so hard trying to get it in that the string popped off and up went the balloon. By the time I figured out what had happened it was about 60 feet above us. Bronson of course was devastated, he'd never lost a balloon to the sky before. I tried to tell him it was okay, that the balloon was going to fly high up in the sky just like on "Up" but he just replied, "tell the birdies bring it back a me." It was cute, . . . and sad. A funny thing Bronson does when is talks is that he will say "a" instead of "to or for". So he often says "A me mom?" in a very excited tone, and "Oh thank you mom." Levi is also learning more words, my current favorite is "achow." He'll says this when he sees Lightening McQueen.

anyway back to my birthday, Cami came over and brought this cake that Steph made for me, as well as a salad and sandwich from Zuppas. Simba, the stinker at my entire sandwich, I had about three bites before she got it, oh well. And for my present to myself this year, I get to run the Wasatch back relay in June. So for not having a husband around the day wasn't too bad. One thing I know for sure, 28 feels like real adulthood. I used to think I was still somewhat of a young adult, but now I'm a real one. Whew!

and of course we can't forget the chickens

Alice, Betty, and Cookie (from front to back)