Welcome To The Badger Den

Throwing reindeer food out on the front lawn (snow) for Rudolph and the gang. Yes, Kelsey is not wearing any shoes or socks...child abuse? Not on Christmas Eve. Thanks to Camille for providing the magic food. After putting Emily and Cyrus to bed, Kelsey decided she wasn't ready yet. While we were distracted wrapping last minute presents, we found her enjoying the plate of cookies Emily and Cyrus had left for Santa. No big whoop....

We had a great time with good pizza and good company. We were also able to talk to our favorite sister missionary on the phone. Is was great to talk to her but sad to say good-bye. It will be good to see Hermana Jeanetty this August.

Just a couple of pictures from our Travis Christmas party last Sunday. You will see that Kelsey loves Santa. That's probably why she only got a lump of coal from him this year. Hopefully she has learned her lesson and will treat Santa with a bit more respect next year.

Some may say that the building market has slowed down....not in this house. Andy, the foreman, was the builder with Emily and Cyrus on exterior design and decoration. I was scheduled to be part of that group, but was then reassigned to "distract the monster" duty in order to be sure that the house was not destroyed. Apparently Kelsey thought she was on demolition duty. Just trying to get her job done. It turned out pretty good considering... Kelsey with her stolen piece of gingerbread. We "lost" Kelsey for a minute during the building process and found her helping herself to a beverage of snowcone syrup from the fridge.

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Just a little clip of some fun we have during the day. Who needs a playground when you've got this? Thanks to cousin Keiti for joining in on the party!!

Using potatoes and onions from Mom and Dad's garden, we finished up our harvest canning by processing 76 quart jars of vegetable soup. With help from Camille, Mom, and of course the kids, we got everything peeled, cut, and placed in bottles in about 4 hours. It then took the rest of the day to process them, even with 2 canners going. Bring on the cold weather!

Last Thursday Emily's school had a "Family Fun Night" for the families of the students to roam the halls to view the work of their kids. We saw Emily's story as well as some art work. She also did a couple of presentations of songs she's learned in class. Here are some examples of our little super star.

Over UEA weekend, we decided to take a road trip to New Mexico to see Uncle Dan and Aunt Nicole and their new home. Mom, Dad, Jacob, and us Badgers (minus Andy as he was hiking and biking with the scouts in Moab that weekend) loaded up and hit the road for 11 hours. I didn't take any pictures of the time on the road..you know...angry eyes and all. Actually, the ride went better than I had expected. The kids traveled well thanks to portable DVD players and plenty of snack food. I must say that it was comical to be driving for hours looking at nothing but sagebrush, dirt, and small rural shacks and all of a sudden we pass a HUGE casino and hotel combo. Indian Reservations.... Once we got to New Mexico, we were shown all that New Mexico had to offer by our own personal tour guide Uncle Dan. We experienced the zoo, the children's scientific discovery museum, the famous El Pinto mexican restaurant, and we ordered shakes in a diner on old Route 66. It was hard to leave but we look fo...

In celebration of High School Musical 3, I caught Emily and Cyrus practicing their own musical. Emily wrote the script and directed while Cyrus was the star. If you can't understand Cyrus, he's saying "I am a cowboy"..."Girls love me"..."Girls know that". You will also hear Emily giving him additional instruction (as all good directors should) I apoligize for the the shaking at the end of the video. I was trying not to laugh...didn't work. Once Emily realized that I was taping, she wanted to be included in the production as well. Please note that I had Kelsey on my lap during this filming. I think she wanted my job.

As we cleaned out the garden, it made me stop and realize how blessed we were this year. I can't even remember how many buckets of tomatoes we picked and bottled. Our pantry is full of salsa, tomato soup, Italian tomatoes, stewed tomatoes, and green beans bottled from our garden. We ate corn on the cob almost every night for weeks. It was fantastic. It will be nice to put the garden to sleep for the winter, in order to get rested up for next years crop. Whew!

We have started a weekly tradition to make and decorate cupcakes. It's been more out of necessity as my cake mixes and frostings are expiring. (I buy a years supply of cake mixes and then not use them...not smart. Last week it got a bit out of hand. Someone lost control of the situation...Cyrus?? It's a good thing the maid was there to clean up the mess. :) Clean up time...Caitlyn's not liking that at all! You should have seen the bathtub after Kelsey's bath. I'm looking forward to next weeks cupcake day!

I just want to preface this post with the fact that I strongly dislike shopping. I don't find enjoyment in it. I do any type of shopping (grocery, clothes, shoes, etc.) with a list and I try to get in and get out of the store as quickly as I can. Emily is just the opposite. I have known that Emily needed some more long pants for some time now, but I kept putting it off. With the weather changing, it became a necessity. I tried to get Andy to just pick up a pair of pants on his way home from work one day, but he thought it would be good if Emily and I had a "girls night out" and actually went out shopping for a Halloween costume and some pants. YIKES!! We went to a couple of stores looking for the perfect costume. She loved looking at all of her options as well as the many accessories for each. After deciding on a witch costume, we headed to Kohl's department store for pants. I was in "get in and get out" mode. Emily was not. After deciding on the right pants...

Kelsey is starting to take a few steps. I really haven't wanted this day to come, but I guess I have no choice. I can't keep pushing her down each time to stands up to walk. We'd like to thank Uncle Dan and Aunt Nicole's home with the "take off" steps.

Oh.. Family Home Evening...each Monday we never know what to expect...will there be fighting, pouting, or even crying? (and that's just from Andy and I) Last Monday it was Cyrus' turn to give the lesson. As we were looking through the Friend magazine Monday morning there was a short story about a missionary. We had found our topic. We had rehearsed a few questions he could ask, cut pictures out for a game, and called Andy to remind him he has treats. He was most excited when after dinner, we put on his suit (a hand-me down from his cousin), name tag, and scriptures. After we got into the front room, Cyrus did not even wait for the prayer or song, he started right in on his lesson. "What do I look like?" he asked with a grin. We all took turns naming things; a bishop, a dad, a Cyrus. When Emily guessed a missionary. He yelled, RIGHT. The game went pretty smooth and Cyrus told us a story about a missionary and the Lamanites. The treat was also FANTASTIC...we love Albert...

When I woke up early Monday morning with extra energy, I created my to-do list and KNEW I was going to get this house cleaner than it had ever been. As the day progressed, the energy dimished, and the hope of completing even one item grew dark. I figured rather than give up and pout (which I do ALOT) I would just pull out the camera and take pictures. Hopefully Andy will look at this blog and get an idea as to why the maid always seems to be on vacation...:) Are they loading or unloading the dishwasher? Does it really matter? I wish the older kids were as anxious to help. I actually did get this bathroom cleaned...during nap time...theirs, not mine.

On Sunday, we took a family drive through emigration canyon. It was wonderful. Leaves were beautiful, drive was smooth, and the kids were asleep...PEACE ON EARTH!! We decided to pull off and take a little hike on part of the Mormon Trail. Except for the fact that Kelsey wanted to get down and eat rocks off the trail, we had a great time. The kids kept asking why we hadn't been there before. That's a good question....We'll have to go out and do more discovery outings.