Tale of a Little Boy (now without pictures) (sadly)

I was visiting with the caseworker today and when I was telling her how we had shown pictures to everyone when we found out we could keep Brigham, she told me (and apparently assumed I knew before that) that we aren't supposed to post any pictures on the internet of foster kids. So, needless to say I'm glad I got to show most of you the pictures before they were outlawed. Oops.

I hope the family one at the bottom is subtle enough.

There was once this little boy...

and he came to live at our house...
and we grew to love him a ton....
and we grew to love him even more,

and then we wished and hoped

and prayed and prayed a lot,

that he'd get to be a part of our family.
We had ups and downs

And then, finally, 361 days later, heard the news


that he would be ours!!

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and love!

We love you all and hope you can all meet little Brigham soon.

A Rare Night Away

Dan and I took an opportunity to get away last weekend. About a month ago, we were on our way up to Island Park when we passed those little cabins in Ashton and I told Dan I've always thought it would be fun to go stay in a cozy cabin with a fireplace. So he booked a cabin for a night during spud harvest. It was close--just up the road to Heise. It was so fun! The cabins surrounded a pond with a fountain, and the trees are turning colors... The funny thing was, though, when we walked into the cabin we looked for the fireplace (which Dan had specifically asked if they had) and it was one of those wall units where you can turn on the flame like fire and supposedly get the same feel as a fireplace. It was funny--I should have got a picture of me by it. But it was a very nice and needed getaway.

We drove to Sizzler for dinner and then back again to the cabin where we actually watched two movies--without any interruptions!! The next morning we got up, had homemade caramel French toast in the lodge and had a nice drive to the Temple before going home. Thanks Hon for the wonderful time!! I think since our anniversary is always the busiest time for the store we better start celebrating our half anniversary like this--so Happy 20 1/2!

(Notice the ducks to the side of me--they are "Larry" and "Curly" and came waddling up to the cabin for food when we called them.)

More Family Fun

Here are our little soldiers in the fight for right. We did this several years ago (Thanks Scott for the picture of Austin!) and just this last FHE. Keep that armor shined up kids!

Dan's dad used to play a game with them called "Pull Dad off the Couch." Here's a twist we tried this week- "Put Dad on the Couch". A little harder to do...

the Demise of the Chickens

Well, it was inevitable. With chicken feed prices up to $13.50 a bag, and a bag only lasting about 2 weeks, the 3 dozen eggs we got in that amount of time just didn't make it worthwhile. Even though I insisted back when we got chicks that the only way I would go for it is if I didn't have to help kill them, you know how that goes. I have to admit, it was a well, memorable experience for me when I was young (hence the reason I didn't want to help this go around...) and so it was as memorable for our kids.

Keaton digs in to pull of those feathers. Luckily, Grandpa Ballard came over to help.

Our neighbor Luke Willmore helped a ton. He was much more brave than any of us. In fact, Tanner ended up in on the couch with a stomach ache. Poor little guy.
This one cracks me up! We did the dishtowels on the heads to mimic a picture (I wish we had it scanned so we could share) of Dan's mom and her sister cleaning chickens. I think it's so funny to see the difference in the size of the chickens before and after feathers removed.

Things the kids learned, and that I was reminded of:

1. The saying "running around like a chicken with its head cut off" has real merit.

2. The smell of a blanched feathered covered hen is just like it was, oh, thirty years ago.

3. Once you've grabbed the first handful of warm feathers off it gets a little easier...until you have to start scraping out the inside like pumpkin guts.

4. The one thing that is more interesting than it is gross is the eggs in all the different stages of development. (but not by very far)

Amazingly, I've kind of agreed to getting chicks this spring. Will I ever learn?

We'll let you know how they taste. :)

One more try--"Wicked" at Lagoon

Okay, sorry we're still back on the Lagoon trip, but I couldn't get this to upload before and it's kind of fun to watch. This is the newer one, and I would pretty much NEVER go on it. But Redge, Tanner and Dan did. Go guys!

Redge a wailin'

Here's Redge's debut in his awesome singing group, Vocal Spectrum. They are way good. This wasn't a concert, just them entertaining the Kiwanis Club. But we were sure glad we got to go. And yes, that's Redge singing high and getting into it at the end. He says it needs improvement and that I would say it's awesome no matter what. Well, it is their first performance, but I was pretty impressed. Eons better than I could ever do.

I have to say I do see a little of his Dad in him again--have any of you seen our copy of Bye Bye Birdie? :)

p.s. Redge is second from the right--it's kind of hard to see him.

A little Homecoming Fun

Alright, some more stuff to share! It's been homecoming around here and we've got a few pictures.

First, the MUD VOLLEYBALL! (fyi: Some of you (from Sugar City) may recognize the girl these

muddy boys are holding--Jenna Davis. Cindy and Steve's daughter)

Here's the junior-high spiriter: (this is the actual spirit day)And I think this was hero day. That cape of Dan's he had as a drum major years ago has gotten a lot of use. Boy I hadn't noticed how messy our house is in the morning. Oh well, now we all know. Mom and Dad have witnessed getting six kids off to school in the a.m., and it's not a pretty sight.

Here we have our full of spirit senior, in the big homecoming parade, and coincedently his date to the homecoming dance on the back of the tandem. They even made the Standard Journal! http://pioneer.olivesoftware.com/Daily/skins/StandardJournal/navigator.asp?skin=StandardJournal&AW=1221599474109 p.s. I could only get this link to go to today's paper and it's in Saturday's on page 3...I'll keep working on it!

Brigham got to go to the parade, along with his cousin Preston. One of the perks of not being in school yet I guess!

Here they are all dressed up for the dance. He sure has a lot of cute girls for his friends....this one's name is Maddie.

o