I LOVE the Young Women in my ward!!!

Last night the YW in our ward were doing a service scavenger hunt. They came knocking on my door after I was already in my pajamas cuddling with my Banner. I opened up the door and there stood a group of young women with their leaders asking if they could do some chores for me. DOES LIFE GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS????? I tried to conceal my excitement so as not to scare them but I wanted to drag them in and lock the door. I thought "I wonder how long I can keep them here before anyone notices they are missing. And is it really felony kidnapping if I claim that they ASKED to come in and help?" I tried to breathe calmly as I looked at their list of chores they needed to accomplish and wondered if they would notice if I penciled in things that were not on the list. With glee I watched as they did my dishes, dusted my family room, vacummed my family room, washed some windows and read a story to Banner. Much to my dismay, it was over too soon. And as fast as these service angels came into my life, they were gone. I wanted to press my face against the window and call "Come back, Come back! I will be good to you. You will love it here. We need more girls!" Instead, I silently thanked Heavenly Father for these precious girls and their leaders and went back to cuddling with my little man. As we settled down he said to me, "Mom, They need to come back tomorrow and clean my room." Oh yes son, they do. And the bathroom.

Each Life That Touches Ours for Good

I have been thinking alot lately about the many blessings in my life and my thoughts are continually turned to the many people in my ward, neighborhood and family that are so dear to me. I am sure that there are many that don't have any idea of how much they have blessed my life in some way. I want to thank all those who have given me a smile and a kind word. You have strengthened me. I found myself humming the hymm "Each Life That Touches Ours for Good" this morning and want to share those words.

Each life that touches ours for good
Reflects thine own great mercy, Lord;
Thou sendest blessings from above
Thru words and deeds of those who love.

What greater gift dost thou bestow,
What greater goodness can we know
Than Christ-like friends, whose gentle ways
Strengthen our faith, enrich our days.

For worthy friends whose lives proclaim
Devotion to the Savior's name,
Who bless our days with peace and love,
We praise thy goodness, Lord, above.

May blessings be upon all who go about touching lives for good. I love you and am grateful for your sweet touch in my life.

My kids are the best!

Yesterday was an especially long Sunday. I didn't get a chance to eat so after staying for tithing settlement with our drop dead gorgeous bishop I was STARVING and TIRED when we got home from church. It was about 6:15 when we got home. I expressed my current level of hunger and fatigue to the kids and Layne and Emily told me to go get my jammies on and lay down and they would fix dinner. THOSE WERE THE SWEETEST WORDS! I literally ran to my room! They fixed dinner and it was so good. Later that evening I could hear dishes clinking in the kitchen and I thought that someone was eating again. They do that alot around here. I went to bed without going back into the kitchen. When i got up at 6:00 a.m. expecting last nights dinner mess to still be waiting for me, I was so surprised to see the kitchen spotless and the floor swept! My sweet Riley cleaned the kitchen for me. LOVE THESE KIDS!!!!!

Dancing!

Ammon and Bethany, and then Ammon and Hannah, are dancing at Danya and Sam's wedding reception. How precious is this!!! Bethany and Hannah are my granddaughters, Ammon's nieces. It sure puts "joy in the journey"!

The Great Escape!

My grandbaby Satchel is heading out for some big adventure. He was caught in the act!

Adam and Susan and kids

I miss these sweets kids so very much. They just moved to Clinton, Missouri a few months ago for Adam's new job.

Bourgeous Grandbabies

Bethany, Colten, and baby Emma. Emma is not to happy with the whole photo shoot experience.

How I love this precious boy!

This is my grandson, Colten. He is so darling! Can you tell that he is brother to Bethany?

Isn't she beautiful? This is my granddaughter, Bethany. She is 6 years old and as angelic as they come!

Cows on the porch?

So, how many of you get to have cows on your porch? Those darn cows keep getting out of the pasture and think they need to play in the yard. They have ate all of my trees that we planted in the yard. I was not happy. But the boys love their cows! Sometimes I will see Sippy (the momma cow) looking in my window. I have cow snot on my windows along with boy goobers!

Banner lost another tooth!

My baby is nearly 8 and is in the process of losing his baby teeth. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father sent me this last child. I would have missed out on so much if we had only had 10 kids. So glad that we kept going!!!!

Eagle Scout in the House

I am so excited that Layne has completed his Eagle. He has worked hard and we are so proud of him.

Where Have I Been?

Wow, where has the time gone? Well, I did have a minor role in the production of Joseph. It was so fun and I actually did dance. I met many new friends and especially loved being in the play with my son Ammon. He did so great learning the music! The summer flew by. Dan was working in Las Vegas until August 12th. It was wonderful to have him home. He was then laid off again. Not so fun. But I am learning to trust my Heavenly Father. I am so grateful for good people in my life who fill me with smiles and hope.

I have to tell the funniest story. Well, it made me laugh. Last saturday I told the kids to help me get the house cleaned up. Layne volunteered to clean the hall bathroom. Great. He's 17. Should be able to handle that. He finished in good time and went on his merry way. I went in there later and noticed that the toilet was filthy at the base. What the heck? Didn't it just get cleaned. The top and inside looked pretty good. Hmmmm. So I grabbed a rag and some clorex clean-up and scrubbed the base and the floor. Man, it was gross. Later i asked layne why he didn't finish cleaning the toilet. He said he did. I asked him about the base and floor. His reply was that it doesn't get dirty down there. "What???", i said. Are you kidding me??? The boys use this bathroom primarily. He told me that pee does not get on that part of the toilet when the boys use the toilet. He informed me that they all pee'd inside the toilet. And he also let me know that if there was pee anywhere outside of the toilet bowl then it was the girls in the family missing the target. I said "Are you kidding me? Seriously!!!!" He is still certain that it is the girls that have poor pee control. I guess Emily and I should be more careful!

Lucy! Lucy! Lucy!

Last friday afternoon,I found out that auditions were that evening for the Queen Creek Performing Arts Center production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat". My son Ammon wanted to audition for the children's chorus so I quickly helped him prepare a mean rendition of "Happy Birthday". As we were practicing, Banner decided that he too wanted to audition for the play. I agreed thinking that maybe he would change his mind once we got there. We arrived at auditions to a room full of people, mostly adults, who seemed to be pretty serious about auditioning. I got the boys signed in, their information paper filled out, and their picture taken. We were waiting for our turn to be called when my friend Suzanne arrived with her daughter. We sat and chatted and she asked if I was going to audition. I laughed and said that I wasn't quite that talented. She assured me that being in the chorus was fun and not too hard and talked me into auditioning. It is a good thing that she wasn't trying to talk me into drinking or something because I obviously cave into peer pressure quite easily! I didn't have a song prepared. Heck, I couldn't even think of a song that I knew the words to! They called our group of 10 in and we were taught a dance. A DANCE!!!! Suzanne failed to tell me that I would have to learn a dance. I am not a dancer. I can barely walk straight. So I giggled, well, I actually laughed right out loud at myself, and proceeded to try and dance. When we actually went in to the room to audition in front of the guys in charge I couldn't stop smiling because I was so entertained with myself trying to sing and dance. I just kept thinking of Lucy. You know, Lucy Ricardo. I have many Lucy moments but I think that this was close to one of my finer Lucy moments. When my group of ladies (about 5 of us)got up to do the dance I just smiled and stumbled my way through the routine thinking that I was surely going to make Ethel proud. Then we had to sing. Remember, I didn't have anything prepared. My Ammon and Banner did so great. I am so glad that I decided to audition so that I could be with them in the room! Then my turn came. The only song that I could come up with on a moments notice was......wait for it....it truly is a classic.....the ever famous and popular.....POPCORN POPPING ON THE APRICOT TREE with all of the actions! I sang in my best Lucy voice with my best Lucy attitude! I must have been amazing because to my great surprise I got a call back for tonight. I got the call saturday night and again, I laughed right out loud. I laughed even harder when I was told that they were calling back for the leads. She also said that I had caught the attention of the production team. By now I was snorting. It is amazing how far you can get with Popcorn Popping with the actions! I went to call backs tonight and just when I thought I couldn't have anymore of a Lucy moment, I managed to have probably the best Lucy moment I have ever had. They taught us this really cute 60's type dance that went really fast and demanded moves that my body just wasn't meant to do! But I did my best and I am sure that I provided much needed entertainment to those that actually had talent and the ability to dance! I was not in the final group that they called up to dance again for them. Whew. I was worried. I am just not sure that my family could spare me if I were to be discovered and have to go share my Lucy dancing with the world!

The ever popular and patient Sam!

My 12 year old Riley. Manhood approaches!

Emily on her 15th birthday.

Riley and his dad at the Christmas band concert, 2008.

Adam and Susan's family. Love those precious grandbabies!!

Layne Mckay Bourgeous, my boy.

My sweet Ammon.

Banner B with his happy face!

Before the reception with some of my kids!

Brother and Sister Bourgeous!

Spencer and Brye, our newest family!

Me and my girls at Spencer and Brye's reception

Still smilin' continued!

Okay, I goofed. I hit something and published my last entry before I could finish the sentence. Bonnie does have a website. I think it is bonniem@webs.com. Check it out!

Amber is just plugging along being a good mom and wife and sister and daughter and friend and a generally really good person! She is such a happy girl and I just feel good when I am around her

Adam is just about finished with school. Woo Hoo! He graduates from the Utah State in May! I am sure that Susan will be so glad to be done. She has been such a good support to him. It is a great accomplishment for all of them.

Spencer got married in February to our lovely Brye! We just love that girl. He is in heaven and loving every minute of married life!

Life is good. The journey is good. Struggle is good. It is necessary. When I can find joy in each struggle then the journey is meaningful and strength is gained. One of my prayers is that I might have faith. I can do hard things. I can do all things through Christ. With Him I find joy.

Still smilin' through the journey!

I haven't posted on this blog for so long. I have been waiting for the little blogger elves to come and post but they haven't, so I guess I will. This journey of mortality has given me many highs and lows these past few months. Our cow, Sippy (short for Sipper Cup)had her calf early in the morning of December 21st. What a fun experience that was being out there with my kids while Sippy provided us with entertainment and a calf. It was a cold, cold night and several of my kids slept out in the barn with Sippy and kept watch over her. Layne had made her a lovely soft bed of straw to labor on but she must have decided that she wanted a more natural birth because when it came right down to the last half hour or so, she decided to move out of the barn (and the semi-warmth) out to the pasture right in the muddiest place. As we all watched and did our Lamaze breathing with her Layne had to help her out and do some calf pulling. He did a right good job! Out he slipped in all his slimy glory! It was just getting light so we were able to watch the miracle of birth! I myself think that Sippy would have been more comfortable in the barn as she delivered Leroy the calf but I guess that she might have been just out of her mind with pain seeing that she was delivering a 100 lb. baby boy! We put some new straw down for the calf to lie on while momma licked him clean. He was so nice and warm that you could see the steam rising from him! Now right after this little calf was born I again reminded my boys that they need to remember that Leroy is not going to be a pet but that we were going to eat him. I had been telling them that for months. My little Banner who was 6 at that time was sitting on the fence watching little Leroy right after the birth and he says to me, "Momma" and I said, "What" and he said, "Are we going to eat him today or tomorrow?" I just laughed and explained that Leroy would have to get really big before we eat him and that would take a long time. It was so precious, his little innocent question, and made me think about how our little ones take our words as literal truth. I just hugged my little guy and apologized for not being more clear with my instructions. We had two cows but our brown cow, Buttercup, did not get pregnant even after we had provided her with many great opportunities! So, about three weeks ago she made a one way trip to the butcher. We are enjoying her ever so much now that she is in our freezer! Our Sippy is producing lots of milk and our family is getting to have the wonderful experience of milking! Dan milks in the mornings and Layne usually milks in the evenings. The younger boys and Emily help as needed. Emily has the job of washing up the evening milking pails and strainer. Layne has made two batches of cheese and the first batch was yummy. He forgot to put salt in the second batch so it isn't as good. I think that if we salt the cheese when we fry it it will be yummy. Yes, I did say fry it. Yummy! It is squeeky cheese and even squeeks when it is hot. I am grateful to have plenty of milk and a freezer full of meat.

Dan lost his job the first of February. Mixed blessings. I love having him around since he had been so busy for so long. He is bishop of our ward so he is gone many hours from our family. He has been able to do some projects that he has been wanting to do for quite a while. He built a cheese press and it works wonderful! He used pavers that he had gotten from his job site (they were throwing them away) and put a nice floor in the milking barn. He is looking hard for a job and I know that Heavenly Father is aware of our family and will provide what is needed.

Danya and Sam have moved in with us for a while so they can save up a little and get stable in this economy. They are good kids and I am glad to have them here.

Layne is such a great young man. He received a letter from BYU Football expressing interest in him. They said that they are going to be watching him closely this next year. He will be a senior in the fall. He also received a letter from NAU expressing their interest in him for their football program. Layne has been going out with the missionaries and loving it. That boy has something great to do in this life!

Emily tried out for cheerleader for next year and made the JV squad. They don't have a varsity squad because our new high school will be opening in August and there won't be juniors or seniors. Emily will be in 10th grade. She is such a darling girl and I love to be her mother.

Riley turned 12 in February and received the aaronic priesthood. He is so tall and handsome! Not a little boy anymore. When he was 5 his kindergarten teacher said he was the ladies man of kindergarten. I think that I will be having to give the "girls are not going to be calling you in 6th grade" speech soon.

Ammon will be 10 next month. The long awaited double digit!! Ammon is a natural when it comes to performing. He cracks me up with his spontaneous accents and performances! He made himself a hat out of tin foil today to keep the aliens from reading his brain! He was watching the movies "Signs" and decided that a tin foil hat was needed.

Banner is reading like no other! I can't believe how well that boy reads. He can read the scriptures with ease pronouncing just about every word correctly. He is still my cuddle boy and I love it.

We had another baby pass away in our ward last thursday. He was 8 months old. The autopsy didn't find anything wrong with him so they are calling it Sudden Infant Death syndrom. Because Dan is bishop we were called immediately and he and I were there soon after the paramedics. My heart broke for this sweet mother and father who have lost their little baby. But even through the sorrow you could feel the spirit of our Heavenly Father so strong in that home. I again am grateful to know that my Savior lives and that all is well. If you want to read this sweet mothers blog it is http://spencer-crystal5.blogspot.com/

My sweet Katie has filed for divorce from her husband. My heart and soul aches for her. Her story is sad and I so wish that things could have been different for her. But God grants free agency to all his children and because of this, there must be innocent victims. She has been true to her covenants and loyal to her marriage in every way and I know that she will be blessed.

My Bonnie has opened her own salon in her home. She has her own website for it and I am excited for her. She is so talented and can make even me gorgeous! Her website is: