Donkey Rides

After Emily's house, we stayed one night with Grandma K and Trevor. Mom and I stayed up talking until 2:30 in the morning. It was so nice to talk about everything it seemed. The next morning we got to see Grandma Nef and then it was on to Rodney and Julie's house. Karla and Kylee both enjoyed playing with their cousins. Kevin, Kyle, Karla, and Kylee looked as if they could have been quadroupletes. Thank heaven they weren't!!
I enjoyed chatting with the both Rodney and Julie, but I loved the night when Devin and Emily came down, and we all played games. We played settlers and although Rodney was close, Julie won. We also played a game of Carassan where Devin blatenly cheated through the entire duration.
The girls highlight was definately the donkey rides. While Kevin and Kyle were not to impressed. Karla and Kylee was petting the horses while waiting for their turn. Then they each took 3 turns riding Moses, the donkey. And when they weren't riding, they helped hold the rope and lead the donkey. Kylee didn't even flinch when Moses nipped at her.
The best of all was spending time with family though. We love our relatives. When we got close, I told the girls we were almost home. And Karla thought about it "No, I no go home. I got back to my cousins house!"

costumes

So, I got to spend Tueday and Wednesday with Emily Nef, Devin's wife. It was so fun to see their little shante. She has decorated it so cute. She let me take the girls and Caleb, their son, to the park while she was in class. She also took us out to McDonald's and let the kids play. She worked hard to come up with lots of special treats for the girls. We ran and jumped into leaves and carted her rock pile back all over the yard.
Emily and I made Thing 1 and Thing 2 costumes. She and I had decided that is what we wanted to do, but I hadn't figured out how to do it just yet. Good for me, she had! So we painted thing 1 and thing 2 costumes. She also did a set for our twin nephews. I am excited!
If you click on her link, on the side, you can see pictures of our project.

Unexpected Trip

I got an email from Sandy, a lady in my Basin City Ward. She was going to Idaho Falls on Monday and was willing to take riders. Todd surprised me and said I could go. "No I can't. I have to help mom." But Mom said she didn't need me either. Although we were going to play, I debated right up until I had to make a decision. I really wanted to take the chance to see my in-laws who live in the Rexburg area. So Sunday night at 8 o'clock, I started packing. We left the next morning at 6 am. And here I am, two days later in Idaho. It has so fun to see everyone. I got to meet Caleb Nef, the newest Nef.
The girls were really well behaved for being in the car for 11 hours. They fussed for maybe 20 minutes. What good girls!! We had one incident. Karla found my gum. She is usually really good with gum, but this time it got in her hair. Since we didn't have peanut butter, and we were in someone elses car (I didn't want it to make a mess in Sandy's car), We simply cut it out. So she has a new hair cut. Todd was pretty disappointed. He usually doesn't care much about hair. But I guess he is on a long hair kick. So maybe I won't cut my hair... Here are some pictures at Aunt Emily's house and of Karla's new hair cut. They like her bird though.

Look Mom, Mountains.

Todd just reminded me, so although it is late, I am adding it now. When we were on our trip to Boise, We got up early so the girls would sleep half the trip. And it worked. Karla woke up in the pass. She looked around for a moment (waking up in the car is not unusual for her with paper routes). So she looked around for a moment. The first words she spoke "Look Mom, Mountains!"

Nef Renovations

Here at the Nef household, we are renovating. We have finally gotten a home phone. For security reasons, I am not posting it here. I wonder if that is silly, but I am going to error on the side of caution.
But that isn't the only change we are making. While out for Tiffany's graduation, I held Arianne and was so glad I wasn't having a baby. I felt overwhelmed with my two kids. But at the Nef reunion, when I held Arianne, I felt that it was time. The Lord I argued over this some. But in the end, He loved me into it. Todd, too, is worried but taking a leap of faith. Since execpting this and doing all we could to get pregnant, I am no longer overwhelmed. My house is even clean at least sometimes.
So we found out, yesterday, that we are pregnant. So we are due sometime in May. I know it is way to early to be announcing this, but so many of you already know because I have needed babysitters to watch my kids as I go to doctor's appointment after doctor's appointment. And many of you have prayed for us. Thank you. I think this baby is a girl. Todd is being more reserved, although he still doesn't want to find out before. We are getting excited, and we are trusting in the Lord to take care of His end of the details.

The end of the movie

Most people enjoy movies. My girls like the end of the movie. Garth is always saying "It's over." But the girls love the credits or the music that accompanies the credits. They get up and dance! It lifts my heart. Watching their carefree dancing is the meaning of motherhood, to me.

641 Bottles of Juice on the Wall

Lorna, Todd's sister, came down from Seattle. It was so fun to see some cousins. Karla and Natalie often disappeared and played all weekend long. Natalie is 5 while Karla is only 3 1/2 years old. I am so proud of them. They played a lot better than we thought they would. Now Kylee and Tyler (Tyler being 2 months older than her), but nonetheless, Kylee was saying "Baby buggin' me." Momma Nef decided to come out on Thurday morning and made it in at 2 am on Friday. We loved seeing her and Trevor. We all stayed out at Grandma Cook's house. Todd and I didn't get to bed before 2 am either night. It was nice to laugh and giggle and swap stories and learn more about Lorna's youth. She is more amazing than I ever knew!! How blessed I am to be apart of this family.
Thursday we left all the kids with Lisa Benites (an amazing woman and wonderful friend) and picked apples. We filled the truck and trailer so full the truck stop told us to stop (but we didn't have to because we weren't commercial). Then Friday morning we geared up and made apple juice. Grandpa Cook has a grinder and juicer. The hard part wasn't making the juice. It was canning the juice. I started with the job of putting the apples in the grinder. I then moved to switching the buckets out from under the grinder, pouring them in the juicer, and taking the juice buckets into the other room to be canned. I am very impressed with myself, but I am also very grateful because the Lord made it so my body didn't hurt like usual when I canned. As we finished making apple juice I moved in to help can it. Brent and his children showed up for a while to help as well as Lorna's sister-in-law and her friend. It was a whirlwind of a day!! But we had a lot of fun.
Then Friday morning, we woke up and decided to make grape juice. Grandpa needed to take care of his grapes before they froze, and I knew of a place we could buy some for 20 cents a pound.
I was left to babysit the kids while everyone went into town to get the grapes and other supplies we'd need. While they were gone the kids wanted a snack, and I let them eat the popsicles in Grandma's freezer. Then they wanted the icecream. I finally said the next one to open the freezer was getting spanked! I relayed this story to the adults as they got home. Grandpa said "I'm sure glad I wasn't the next one to open it." The funniest part was watching mom as tomato dribbled down her chin and she tried to breath, laugh, and swallow.
We didn't start canning until 2 pm, but we finished by 10. We then stayed up and had icecream and later on got into Grandma's caulflower. And we joked and laughed and swapped stories. We were tired the next morning though. Sunday we spent the rest of the afternoon sorting everything out!! It was crazy. And I still wonder if I got more than my share...
We were also able to get Wheat that weekend thanks to Bishop Mackey. It felt peaceful moving all this food storage into our little house. I am still trying to find space for it all.
The final numbers were as follows
Apple juice: 266 quarts, 111 2-quart bottles, 1 gallon bottle (along with a lot drunk fresh) for a total of 145 gallons canned.
Grape juice: 92 quarts for Grandpa and 171 quarts for the rest of us: for a total of 263 quarts of grape juice.
And when added all together, we canned 641 bottles of juice in two days!! It was fun.

Power of the Atonement

Okay, I just read Rich's testimony on prayer. I always debate how much to share here (outside the lighthearted, fun, or simply factual stories). But here we go--Todd came home from the Priesthood session of conference. And I asked the usual "anything you want to share with me?"
Usually he restricts his comments to about 5 words. But instead he told us of the First Presidency's talks. He said he thought the first half was wonderful and couldn't wait until he could come home and tell me about them, but then he heard the first presidency talks, and well... the rest pailed in compairson.
After my mom wondered off, he shared with me a few special moments and revelations he received.
For those of you who know Todd, you could see why part of me was saying "Who are you and what have you done with my husband?" But it is just one of many moments that I have shown me that Todd really has changed for the better this year. We have seen many miracles: and are noticing the Lord's hand in our lives weekly.
But I want to testify that I know that Christ can change all of us for the better through the atonement. I know because he has changed us. The atonement is real! I am so grateful for my wonderful husband!! He is better than ever, and I am so glad he is mine.

Sometimes, even still, I just need my mommy

I have suffered with headaches since early elementary school. It's not a migraine, but we learned early this year that it is muscle tension headaches. The doctor gave me a muscle relaxant and miracle of miracles, I don't have to live with headaches!! Well, something went wrong with my perscription and I was left suffering over the weekend. Usually, I grit my teeth and bare it, but I am not as good at doing it as I use to be (since I don't have to as much).
It got so bad that I literally wanted to throw-up. And when I found that there was nothing I could do about it until my doctors office opened up on Monday--I cried. My mom told me I needed to come to her house while Todd went to Preisthood. She took care of my kids and me. She made me her supped-up chicken noodle soup. Gave me a hot pad and put me to bed. I later found out that she wasn't feel well either, but she watched my kids all the same.
Between my mom's love, her hot pad, a lot of sleep, and Todd filled me with a ton of caffine, I got to the point that I could grit my teeth and bare it. I hope we are able to straighten it out and get my persciption back. I hate having to rely on a perscription, but I love not living with headaches!!!

Our little star

Between sessions of conference, we ate lunch--real original, huh. Todd worked on the latest Suduko while I was reading the articles in the paper that interested me. Karla came into the kitchen. She had her play microphone. She set up her stage and sang "Twinkle, Twinkle little star..." She made sure someone was giving her their full attention. She also sang "Rain came down, and the floods came up," and a few songs we didn't quite recognize. This went on for about an hour.

Tomatoes

I have canned now for about five years with my husband's family. Because of our busy schedule, I decided to can the tomatos while Todd was at work. We canned peaches earlier, and tomatos last year. I can do this. And I did. I did them just like peaches. Todd came home and told me they look great. Then he looked closer. "Did you put water in them?" "Yeah, I did them just like peaches except I put a tsp of salt instead of 1/3 cup of sugar." Now those who have canned can see my mistake. But Todd told me "tomatos are juicy enough you just stuff them in; you don't need to add water." Sigh. "It's okay. We'll just drain the water when we open them or have thinner sauce." He told me we all make mistakes, that's how we learn.

Big Helpers

I have not kept a clean house. This has been a weakness of mine for a long time. My mother would send my sister and I to our room until it was clean. I wonder about the logic now: me, my best friend, and all our toys... But I would read to my sister while she cleaned, since she couldn't read. She later realized that neither could I. She was "My cleaning fairy." I have missed her dearly.
But I am finally sick and tired of having a dirty house. It bugs me. And so I have tired and failed miserably at doing it on my own. It would seem the only way to get a clean house was to ignore my children, and I wasn't okay with that solution. So in desperation, I prayed: "Dear Lord, you have commanded me to keep a house of order and cleanliness. You have also commanded me to nurture these children. I know you give no commandment save you prepare a way to accomplish the things which you command. Help prepare a way." And then I went to work. And an amazing thing happened. My kids figured out how to pick up their toys. They don't often remember on their own, but they are good, big helpers. They are learning how to put away the silverware from the dishwasher. They love to sweep my pile, back all over the room. They are learning their cloths go in the dirty cloths after they have been worn. I did not teach them these things--I have tried. But I see how the Lord has helped them to learn. I don't understand completely how my house is clean now, ,mostly, and it wasn't before. The kids help has been the noticable change--that and my prayer. So I know it is the Lord that is helping this to be accomplished. And I am so grateful and so is Todd.

Baby curls, baby words

My baby is growing up! Yesterday, I cut off Kylee's baby curls. She looks great now and more grown up. All I did was cut off her longest layer to even out her hair (with the exception of the stuff to far back to be bangs but hasn't quite grown out yet.) But the last layer would curl out and has been so cute for so long. It was hard to throw away these beautiful curls. But like kids, hair grows.
She has also started to say Kar-ya instead of ya--for her sister's name. She is talking more and expressing herself in words better. She is a smart girl who trys to keep up with her sister in her own sassy way. We finally put her back in diapers and admitted that maybe she wasn't quite ready to potty train. She still has "accidents" in her diaper, but she goes in the potty two or three times a day. And although I miss the baby curls, I am so proud of her.