A Barrel of Monkeys: January 2012

The week after Christmas we went up to Portage to visit Grandpa Gunnell. The kids always love going to the farm but this day was especially fun. I have never enjoyed myself more there. A day on the farm usually consists of tractor rides, four wheeler rides and recently, horse rides. Plus, there's always a trip down into the field to feed the cows. That's not really very eventful because everyone just watches while Grandpa and Dad load the truck with hay and then drive through the field pitching it off the back of the truck to the cows. But this trip was special, Grandpa needed to tag some new calves (7 to be exact) that had been born just a few days earlier. Who knew that could be so entertaining?

Anyone that's a mother understands the "mother bear" instinct and cows are no different. Those new moms did not want anyone messing with their new babies. Before going down to the field all the kids (mine, the cousins, the in-law grandkids) were told to be quiet during this expedition because the mother cows were already going to be anxious and unpredictable and we didn't want to aggravate the situation with too much noise. The kids were totally willing to obey because being in a herd of large animals makes most of them a little uneasy anyway but they didn't expect to see a red neck rodeo and it's hard not to laugh at that.

JayDee and his nephew Jordan were in charge of catching the calves and tagging them while Grandpa tried to separate the mothers from their calves. The trouble was those mommas weren't about to let their babies out of their sight or away from their side. It became even more difficult after the first calf was caught and tagged because the other mothers were watching and it was like you could see them say "No way are you doing that to my baby!" JayDee and Jordan totally got their workout that day. They were running all over the place trying to catch the calves and not be trampled by the mothers or other cows. Hilarious!

I happened to catch the best tagging on video because I was trying to figure out how to use that feature on my new iPhone. A little background: When they caught a calf they would put it up on the flatbed of the truck to tag it so there would be more distance from the mother. All the kids were also on the flatbed, which proved to be a popular place during this particular tagging.

Sorry for the poor cameraman-ship it was my first video and in my defense, I was trying to get a better angle when the cow made her move. Then everything was in disarray. So obviously, I couldn't stop laughing, but if you notice there is not a peep from behind me in the kid section other than a tiny "I'm scared." Those kids really took the be quiet suggestion from Grandpa to heart.

Yeah, hardly room for all of us plus a calf and a cow.

After the tagging adventures, and laughing until I cried, we next went over to the hay stacks to unstick a stuck cow. Grandpa had been told it was bull wedged in the stacks but after moving 6 stacks of hay to get it out we found out it was just a greedy cow that had pushed its way in to eat more.

Here's Grandpa moving the hay

Here's the poor dear causing all the trouble.

Waiting for the cow extraction

So we had crazy mother cows, men running all over the place, calf wrestling, muddy four wheeler rides, and a cow stuck in a hay stack. And it just wouldn't be a day at the farm without a little horse riding. Isaac loves being on the horses and I love watching him because he looks so small on top of such a big animal. So I'll leave you with another video of my little cowboy taking a ride.

I don't know where December went but it's gone! I don't think I've ever experienced a month that has gone by so fast as December 2011. Even my children made multiple comments about how fast Christmas came this year. I never thought Christmas came fast EVER as a child. And now here it is January 2012! Wow.

I spent most of my December at the elementary school substitute teaching. I have never been asked to sub so often but December was my lucky month I guess. The teachers started asking if I had my own room by the end because I was there almost every day. It was kind of bittersweet. I loved being in a classroom (I actually realized this year how much I miss teaching) and the extra income has been a blessing, but I also started feeling really guilty about leaving my baby home with the neighbors. Don't get me wrong, I have an awesome babysitter this year but I never thought I'd have to use her so much. I miss my Isaac time and knowing that I've got all day to do my mommy duties. Scrunching all those mommy duties into a few hours after school is really hard when you're not used to it. Needless to say, I was ecstatic when Christmas break finally arrived.

Christmas. Ahhhhh...what a wonderful holiday. I really looked forward to it this year. This year was the first year that all my children got their #1 Christmas wishes. Every year when they make their lists and after I have gone through them and vetoed the ones that they will never get, I ask them to number the remainders in order of what they want the very most. Remember that my kids only get 3 gifts. One from Santa (in the believing years) and 2 from Mom and Dad. Okay, I guess they actually get 4 because there is always pajamas on Christmas Eve.

Usually there is always one or more of my kids that doesn't get exactly what they wanted due to price (I could get a similar thing for cheaper) or something that they needed more took precedence. This year however was not that year. I was looking forward to present opening time almost as much as my kids were just so I could see there faces when they opened their gifts. I was not disappointed. Although I did have to wait until after church to see those excited faces.

Yep, we made them wait. We had a discussion with them about how Christmas was on Sunday this year and although they get up early enough to have time to open presents AND get ready for church we thought it was the perfect opportunity to put Christ first. The amazing thing was that we didn't get any objections. Seriously. The children that usually start complaining the second we say it's time to read scriptures didn't complain about having to wait to open their presents. It was truly a Christmas miracle. So on Christmas morning, we let them go through their stockings but they didn't open one present. We got ready for church, ate breakfast and headed out. We had a nice Christmas program and I told JayDee that maybe the Catholic church was really on to something with their Christmas Mass. I think we should have a church meeting every Christmas regardless of what day it falls on. It was the perfect beginning to the day.

After church, we all got back into our pajamas and opened those presents. Here everyone's number ones:

Ethan got the Skylander video game

I had a moral dilemma with this one. I really do not love video games but I just couldn't say no to that face.

Emma got an American Girl Doll

I had a moral dilemma with this one too. The price of this doll is just about enough to give a frugal mother a heart attack but Emma has never asked for anything specific ever. Every Christmas and birthday she could never tell us what she wanted so we'd just get her things we thought she'd like or need, but this year she asked. And she never changed her mind so I knew she really meant it. She wanted a "My American Girl" doll which is not one that has a book or any historical significance, they are the ones that you can choose to look like you. She was in love at first look!

Here they are dressed to impress in their matching outfits.

All Hannah wanted this year was a Rapunzel doll.

As you can tell from this picture she not only got the doll but a matching dress up dress and nightgown (thanks Grandma for the nightgown). She was in tangled bliss.

Isaac was by far the easiest (as usual). He really didn't ask for anything but got a bunch of stuff that made him really happy. He got a remote controlled car, a dinosaur set (pictured here) that came with a triceratops family (his favorite dinosaur) and a scooter. He was a happy camper.

As for JayDee and I, well we didn't get much. We are saving all our dollars for a trip to Holland in the spring and we weren't supposed to get each other anything. But I had a gift card to Cabela's and couldn't let it go to waste, especially when they were having a killer sale on something JayDee has wanted for a long time so I couldn't pass it up.

A chaise lounge patio/camping chair.

He knew I had bought something for him so he thought he had to get me something. All I wanted was a license plate face plate from USU. He added the down vest.

After presents we packed it up and headed to Grandma and Grandpa Taggart's house to wait for Elder Taggart to call from Italy. We waited for quite a while before the call came, almost long enough for a nap.....

but not quite. Just when you get comfortable, right? Poor JayDee and Bryan had to sit up and pay attention when Chase finally called.

It was really good to talk to Chase. He sounded in much better spirits than the letters we had been getting. He's been gone almost a year and has a new companion and new area and feels a lot better about the language. My dad asked him to bear his testimony to us in Italian and it was really neat. What a great day!

Other fun we had during December:

Christmas program and parties at school