And Once Again...

And once again we are blessed!! Luckily this time none of my kids were involved, but the 6 foot trench was!! I was upstairs in the playroom cleaning when I heard a different tractor sound outside and so I looked out the window to see what was going on and I saw Dale (Ry's very cute, very single, RM little brother - if anyone knows anyone that is available :)) driving a tractor right along the edge of the 6 ft. deep trenches Ry has dug. I think to myself that he is mighty close to the edge and that it can't be safe and just minutes later Dale jumps off and down goes the tractor and they are left with this mess.
They hooked the backhoe onto the tractor and attempted to lift it out with no success. So, Dale climbed very carefully back into the tractor and as Ryan pulled with the backhoe Dale backed up the enbankment. AH!!!

Farm accidents terrify me and it is worse when I watch them happen. I am so glad that Dale knows how to use his head and knew when to jump off and I am glad that the tractor is now back on firm ground!

Recognizing the Lords Hand in our lives -

Every morning and night when we have our family prayers we pray for safety. I think it is more out of habit than anything. We go through our normal daily routines usually very uneventful...until we have an accident and then is when we recognize the Lords Hand in our lives.The past few days Ryan has been digging 6 foot deep trenches in our driveway to replace and lay new water pipes. (He has to get water to his 130 trees :)) Last night after the kids were out of the tub Laiklie fell asleep on the floor so the 3 big kids and I decided to walk out and see what dad was doing. The kids loved looking down into the holes and were just running around the driveway.
Ryan wanted some pictures of where the water lines were laid, so I ran in to the house to get the camera and was met by the door on my way back out by Rhett. All he said - that I understood anyway was - the gate fell and Oakley. By then I could hear her crying and ran over to the corrals where I could hear the crying coming from. Of course when you know there is an accident as a mom you always prepare for the worst. The first thing I saw was Oakley on the ground pinned up under a gate that Ry had leaning against the corrals. The next thing I saw made my heart swell. (I know that is on old lady thing to say, but it is how I felt!) There standing next to her was her brother Dallin trying with all his might to lift the gate off of her and free his hurt and crying sister. The gate was too heavy and there was no way he could have lifted it off of her, but he was holding some of the weight so it wasn't on her legs. I have a big brother that literally saved my life (it involves a hot dog and the Heimlich maneuver) and my mind instantly went back to that day. I was so proud of my little man that he was doing all in his power to help Oakley. Anyway - I lifted the gate off of her and dried the tears and after looking at the situation realized it could have been SO MUCH worse. The gate landed exactly on her in the one way that couldn't have broken her leg and it was a blessing it pinned her under it, because she was inches away from the 6 foot trench. If it would have pushed her without pinning her she would have gone in the hole. So, today we are looking at life differently, once again recognizing that the Lord is in control and that he does hear and answer our prayers - even if they are just out of habit.

Cowboy

Dallin has and probably always will be my "COWBOY!" He got the nickname Cowboy when he was two and HAD to wear wranglers and his black cowboy hat everywhere he went. I was constantly getting comments from people at the grocery store about my little cowboy. He has definitely grown out of the wranglers and hat stage, but he still LOVES cowboys and anything that has to do with cowboys.
Last night my sweet mother-in-law had a cowboy party for FHE. She gave the kids each a new cowboy hat and bandana and they each got a sherrif's badge to go with it. We ate hamburgers and watched Grandpa's cowboy movie. The movie was called "Castaway Cowboys" (I think) and it comes highly recommended by myself, Dallin and of course Grandpa. It is about some native Hawaiian's they try to turn into cowboys. It is an Oldie Goldie and pretty funny. Dallin loved it. Thanks Grandma Hawkins for the fun!!

Our Newest Addition

About 3 weeks ago Oakley's diabetic doctors office called and asked Oakley to be part of a trial study. She had to wear a machine called a Dexcom for 1 week as part of the trial. The Dexcom is part of the newest technology when it comes to diabetes. There is a sensor inserted with a needle just under Oakley's skin and it reads to a little computer type machine and it tells you what you blood is every 5 minutes. It is suppose to help you keep better blood control and make less finger pricks. We bought a Dexcom when they first came out and HATED it, but this is the 3rd version and so we had been wanting to try it anyway. We LOVED it this time around. It was so nice to be able to just look down at the Dexcom and know what her blood was. This is Oakley and the Dexcom.
Oakley's favorite part of wearing the Dexcom was the pay check they gave her at the end of the week. She got paid $120.00 for wearing it. We took a very big chunk to the bank and then she filled out her tithing slip, and then the rest sat and burned a hole in her pocket for 2 WHOLE DAYS. The longest 2 days she has ever had.:) Finally last night Ryan got home at about 8:30 pm and let me and Oakley go shopping without any other kids.

Oakley had decided with the money that she really needed a pet. She asked for a Hamster and I about fell off my rocker - YUCK - DOUBLE YUCK!! She decided after I explained that a hamster is similar to a mouse that she didn't want one of those either.(She hates mice as bad as I do) So after cruising Petco for the last 15 minutes before they closed last night she decided that this sweet little Parakeet needed to come home with us.

Introducing - Dexlie. She is named after the Dexcom of course. She is still a little nervous about all of us. I don't blame her - we are a little overwhelming.:) We are excited to have her though!

* I posted this and then Rhett said something really funny that I decided to add... My kids favorite show is Extreme Home Makeover and a couple weeks ago on the show they had a deaf girl that spoke using sign language and all my kids thought it was great. So - back to my story about the bird...the kids tried for about 20 minutes this morning to get the bird to tweet and after trying everything they could and still no tweeting Rhett says to me, "Maybe dis is one of dos birds dat talks with its hands!"

What are your hobbies??

So, today I went to the dentist and as he sat down in his chair he said to me, "Tell me Natalie, if you had time for hobbies, what hobbies would you have? What kind of things do you like?" I was like...um...um...and two minutes later still like...um?? How sad that I am turning 30 in just under 5 months and have NO IDEA WHAT I LIKE TO DO!! At what point in our lives do we give all that we are away and become this person that we don't know anymore? I don't remember when I became MOM AND ONLY MOM, but somewhere along the line it happened. Thinking back to my childhood what I wanted to be when I grew-up was always a mom. So, am I disappointed in what I have become NO... and would I trade it for anything in the world NO. I love my children and I would give up anything I have to be their mom. But, the question still got me thinking, "What do I like?" Does a clean house, caught-up scrapbooks, warm weather and clogging in my kitchen count as hobbies??? I don't know, but I do know that the next time someone asks what my hobbies are I am going to come right out with - OAKLEY, DALLIN, RHETT AND LAIKLIE - and once they are grown I will figure out then what I like.

THIS IS MY JOY...

Poppin' bubbles

Swingin' and singin'

I talk all the time about what a struggle my sweet little Laiklie is. She is so head strong and determined to have things her own way all the time that we do have alot of two-year-old fights, BUT Laiklie is also the first two-year-old that I have had without having a brand new baby and it has been amazing to watch all of the things that two-year-olds do that I missed with my other kids. I love watching her eyes light up when we blow bubbles and I love listening to her sweet voice try to say new words and I love watching her kiss and hug on her brothers and sister. She has an excitement about life that has made me look at things differently. Laiklie, along with her brothers and sister really are - MY JOY!!

Locks of Love

Oakley Before her Hair cut.
She wanted it straight for her last day long, so it does look a little stingy - part of why we decided to cut it.:)

Oakley after her hair cut. Isn't she SO CUTE!!

She wanted to cut off enough to donate it to locks of love. I wanted her to cut off enough that she can wash it by herself without her mom having to go in and make sure she got all the shampoo out. Oakley is at the age that her friends are all starting to do their own hair and when hers was long she couldn't even reach to comb it by herself. She is excited for the new adventure of hair fixing. Her hair grows SO FAST that I think it will be nice to have it short for the summer and it will be long again by the time school starts next Fall. How fun, how fun!!

Happy Easter

HE IS NOT HERE; HE IS RISEN!!

We had a great Easter this year. This is the kids in their new Easter clothes. Laiklie was upset as she is every Sunday because she ALWAYS wants to wear her swimsoup (as she calls it) to church. And once again, like every other Sunday, her mean mom made her put on a pretty dress instead.
Our little "Bucket Heads!" This is pre-Easter egg hunt. We always do breakfast and egg hunt at our house on Saturday morning with the Hawkins cousins so we don't have to fight the crowd at the Easter Egg Hunts in town. The kids had so many eggs this year they not only filled their buckets but also the hoods of their jackets.

This is the famous egg dying!! We only had one black egg this year from being put in multiple colors.:) We did this for FHE and put together some plates to take around to a few neighbors. My mom started a widow basket tradition when we were young that she still does. This year my sweet mom put together 40 baskets to take to people in her little town that needed some love. My kids happened to be some of the cousins that were there the weekend she delivered them and they LOVED it. Oakley and her cousins got so many kisses and hugs from these sweet little ladies that they had never seen before. It is so good for them to learn to serve others. I thank my mom for that great example, and I thank the Savior for giving us the real reason we celebrate Easter!

Craving Summer...

We don't know about you, but everybody at our house is craving summer. We cannot wait for the hot sunshiny days and the sprinklers to run through and the tan skin and the nice green grass and the fishing and boat rides. I updated my kids pictures on here to their outdated last summer pictures because the green grass looked SO nice. I figured if summer isn't coming outside atleast I can enjoy it a little on my blog. (Rhett's picture wouldn't rotate AGAIN - I tried downloading it 5 times and each time it started out right and flipped during the download and won't flip back. ARGH!! So, you have to enjoy him sideways - he is cute no matter how you look at him right!)

Our BIG Project

So, my sweet husband, whom I love very much, has a serious problem. When he gets an idea in his head that he likes he becomes 200% FULLY involved in it. It is great in some cases, but in some cases - like this one - it sometimes goes a LITTLE overboard. So, Ryan's idea of cutting down a few old dead trees and planting a few new ones in their place has turned into a MAJOR PROJECT.This is Ryan loading like #5 dump truck full of dead trees. It was a major cleaning process and with his crappy back whatever the tractor couldn't lift was left to me. I am proud to announce that I lifted some BIG OL' MOMMA TREES all by myself. That is until I saw a mouse...then I wasn't quite so helpful.:( The one job I also had was the job of standing on the forks of the above mentioned tractor and Ryan lifting me up as high as the tractor could lift - which is mighty high - and I got to hunch down and wrap the heavy chain around the tree trunks so that he could use the tractor to pull them over. Of course, I don't have any pictures of proof that any of this went on, but trust me it did and it was traumatic.
We measured each of the kids next to a tree so we can see how the trees and the kids are growing. You can see a few of the baby pine trees in the back ground if you look hard too. This is Dallin. He was some really good help for his dad.

Oakley in the whole tree cutting process was great help. She too saw a mouse so she wouldn't help with loading the truck, but she did drive the 4-wheeler one day to pull her dad out in the dump truck since he had gotten himself stuck.

Rhett is at an age that when we mention work he has to go to the bathroom or is SO tired. He did like helping plant the new trees though and he is the one with the sunburn to prove he had been out helping.

The sun was so bright that I didn't know Laiklie was glaring at me when I took this. She loved the holes and especially filling them with dirt - before the trees were put in them of course.

So, after the first 90 trees Ryan bought ...that is right 90, we had to have a major talk about how trees don't give us anything back except a little shade and shelter and that at some point you are just throwing money away. Ryan didn't hear me very well and went and bought 30 more. So, we are now the proud owners of a fruit orchard in the middle of our freezing climate and I am praying we didn't just throw our money away. Hopefully all these trees will turn into a little forest for my kids to play and make forts in.:) I am just glad to say that we are finally finished with the entire tree fascination...I think anyway!!

I got TAGGED...

My friend Heather tagged me. I was suppose to open my fourth photo in my fourth folder. The only problem with that is that those of you that have been following my blog since the beginning know that about December my computer crashed and we lost ALOT of photos. It broke my heart. So, we only have recent photos on my new computer and the photo that I was suppose to post was Laiklie's butt crack photo that is already on my blog. So, I went to my last folder and counted back four and that is the folder I opened...so I cheated a little. But - the picture that came up is one that everyone should get a good laugh at anyway. This is Laiklie at her best!! I tag my sisters...I can't wait to see what pictures they come up with!

Time for change!!

I am one of those people that love change - CONTROLLED CHANGE - that is. I move my furniture atleast once a month and we move my kids rooms around, etc. One of the other things I love to change is my hair. It was time once again for a hair change. I have had blonde highlights for over a year now and I get so sick of keeping up on them, so I decided to go back to my natural brown for awhile. So here, are the before and after picture.This was not actually a picture that was taken of my hair - it is just the only picture I have of me. SAD I know. So, it doesn't show the before too well, but you can atleast see that it is a big difference.
These are the after pictures, courtesy of Oakley. They were taken just after I got home from the salon, so it may look a little different once I get my hands on it, but I am definitely happy to have something different for a minute.