We have had a fun and really chaotic weekend! We had a 13 year old girl come to our house for a few day of respite care and it turned into a long term placement for us. We also had crazy Aunt Michele come and visit us. So we had a  FULL house! We had fun though.....we had a girl fight wrestling match one night and an indoor water fight another. The kids have all had turns sleeping on the trampoline and Michele gave everyone a henna tattoo. She also taught Sarah and I how to make a really cute flower bracelet out of an old t-shirt and some relaxing zentangle techniques. Tonight we are going over to Great Grandma and Grandpa Merrill's house to celebrate Grandma's birthday then the kids are going swimming.

Dustin- Summer- James- Troy- Cameron- Sarah

We have been doing lots of fun stuff.....we have been to the "river" splash pad, hiked up to red cliffs and played in the pools made from the run off rain. Yesterday Sarah and I worked on painting some dolls and today the kids painted their name plaques they got from Grandma and Grandpa Merrill for Christmas. Fun fun fun!

Red Cliffs runoff

 middle doll is pre-paint

Sarah's doll- Liz's doll

 We went to the splash pad yesterday for a few hours to kick off our summer fun bucket list. Today is our first official day of summer though. We pulled out our "bead bucket" and the kids went to town picking out beads to make a "lava lamp". They turned out really cute! Here are some pic.s

My new project is organization organization organization!!! This summer is hopefully going to be lots of fun, however fun with lots of kids can become a huge mess in no time at all! We will have our 4 kids + 1 on a full time basis (yes a foster) and then an extra 2 or 3 daycare kids coming and going throughout the day. Breath deep....in through the nose......out through the mouth.....ok. So I have been working up job charts and it came to me that I needed a job chart too! I get overwhelmed at times and when that happens I tend to do nothing. So I made me a job chart too. Nothing crazy, just a little something to remind me of stuff I need do to daily so I don't get to the "do nothing" stage. Then I stumbled across this cool little thing called a "home management binder". So now I am putting together one of those too! It has our emergency contact info. Our ward/neighborhood directory with close neighbors highlighted. It has a calendar. A job chart completion tracker page. A weekly menu and shopping list.....I have had fun putting this together..like how weird is that! But I like that I have everything in one place and organized. It must be linked somehow to my odd obsession with small boxes and new purses....not really sure though. I am also making a summer bucket list for us and I am sooo excited about this! I have found lots of fun stuff to do around town and also a really neat book that has crafts you can make from stuff you find in nature. Hopefully the kids will humor me and just go along with it.

OREO

    Summer is almost here. The kids only have 14 school days left this year! I can hardly believe it. We have two new bunnies......one is a Holland lop and the other is a mini rex/ netherland dwarf mix. They are so friendly and cute! Both are males. And my NZ white is due any day now. We sold all of the babies she had last time for Easter. I was really surprised at how many calls I had. I probably could have sold 10 more babies!!! I plan on being more prepared next spring. I want to get a female mini rex and breed her to my mini R/ ND cross. Not really sure what I plan on doing with the Holland lop. I got both males for free so I may just try to sell him.    

MIDNIGHT

    We are going to come up to SLC this weekend and take Alexis to the zoo Saturday, then Sunday we will be in Manti for a baby blessing. It will be nice to get out of the heat for a few days. 

    Troy has been super busy lately. He has been building the boys a really awesome bunk bed. I will get pictures up when it's done.....and their room is clean.....he also is working on another project truck to flip. This one is pretty darn nice to start with. It's a 2002 Avalanche. We are crossing our finger it will bring us some big $$$$ :)
 

MAMA

     I have been helping the YW in our ward make a camp flag. It is turning out pretty cute and has been lots of fun to make.....again.....I will post pictures of it when it`s done :)

     I almost forgot to mention daisy`s puppy. She only had one. We have been calling him Earl. He is so stinking cute! We will be bringing him to SLC with us to deliver him to his new home.

Life is busy but good! I  loved reading Nathans blog

post for the other day about JOY if you haven`t read it yet then you should. I can`t believe how grown up and just amazingly spiritual he is. I still picture him as a little boy crawling up the stairs with his sister to come visit me in my room and poke his little fingers into my fish bowl :) Ahhhh good times...good times.

    We have new additions to our urban farm. My bunny had eight babies (kits)! They have changed so much is such a little time. I told the kids I would take a picture of them every day so they could see them without disturbing them. So far so good. She had a good size litter for her first time and has been a great mom. She covers the kits in the evening and will uncover them during the day. It has been cool to watch. The mom (doe) is realy friendly and will come to the door when I bring her food out. The male (buck) is not as friendly unless we bribe him with a treat. Theses guys are New Zeland Whites......so yes they are meat rabbits. However, I am going to list them for sale as pets at like 3-4 weeks and what doesn't sale will go in my freezer. :) I also want to learn how to preserve the pelt and make stuff with it.   

One day old

2 days old

3 days old

4 days old

6 days

 We had a great Christmas. The kids got a trampoline this year and luckily it came with a net :) No injuries so far :) Alot has been going on since we got back from SLC. Poor Sarah had one of her new baby rats die. Sadness. But life goes on...we got a stud for Daisy and Penny. Daisy I am 100% sure she will have puppies but Penny on the other hand is a little brat and she was totally not interested in the boy dog. He tried but didn't have any luck (that I saw anyway) so we will be expecting some doxie-poo puppies some time the end of February. Also our bunny who I thought was breed apparently wasn't. She should have had kits on Christmas Eve. So we got her re-breed and she should have kits towards the end of January. As always we have extra kids at our house. Yesterday I made wafflers for lunch and I had to take pictures of them all! It was pretty cute.

Butter, Cameron, Sarah and Mari

Cameron, Sarah and Mari

Logan and Dustin



Butter and Cameron



I got a new turbo strength waffle maker from Dave and Lynda. It was super cool and fast. I was able to keep up with these little bottomless pits and was even able to sit down and eat with the stragglers!

There is so much more on my mind but I will just leave this post as it is. Maybe tomorrow I will be able to find time to do another post.

Merry Christmas!!!!

I am going to be picking my pomegranates this weekend and hopefully making some jelly :) I have only made pomegranate jelly once but the kids call it my "famous pomegranate jelly".

Well I guess we will have little D for at least another month or so. Sounds like the parents are going to willingly relinquish rights but they haven't done anything yet. So in other words nothing was resolved at the mediation meeting on Monday. The next step is pre-trial. That will happen the end of September. The case worker has not heard from the family that adopted the other siblings so it is still up in the air as to where he is going to be placed permanently.
He is such a cuttie! He is a super good baby. He sleeps mostly through the night and is a good eater. The kids all love him to death! It would be great if everyone could remember him in their prayers.

We have a new little baby to play with. He was born on the 5th so he is one week old today. We were able to pick him up from the hospital on the 8th. I wish I could post a picture of him so you could see how cute he is but it is against DCFS's rules. I think I texted a picture to everyone that I knew could receive texts so some of you got to see him. I am not sure how long we get to keep him yet. He is most likely going to a family that has previously adopted his three older siblings. The state is requiring the family to get relicenced and approved to be foster parents before they will place him there so it may take a few months. We will just love him and squeeze him for as long as we have him.

We had a rather quiet 4th of July celebration. Troy went over to Ryan's (his brother) house and helped him shingle his roof. The boys and I just stayed home and hung out inside the nice air conditioned house. Troy came home around 1:00 and we all took a nap :) At about 6 we went to the Dixie Sunbowl for a free concert and fireworks. The Sunbowl is basically a rodeo arena. They had free food, a bounce house and water wheels for the kids to play in. Troy and I just listened to the country music and relaxed while the kids played around. Sarah is still up and her Grandparents house so we missed having her there, but I know she is having tonz of fun up on the mountain. 

 Cameron and Dustin have been playing baseball for the last few weeks. The first three games we sat in the rain and then the rest we roasted in the sun...go figure. It has been nice to get out of the house and go watch their games. They are both pretty darn good players and have really enjoyed learning how to play ball and to just hang out with friends. O and of course treats after every game was also a major highlight!

Cameron

Dustin

Today was Dustin's last day of kindergarten! He is now officially a first grader. His class had a cute program followed by a commencement ceremony. They were all adorable! I just can't believe my baby is now a full time student. Time has sure flown.

    Cameron, Sarah, Jimmy and Dustin

We went down to the Santa Clara River this afternoon had lunch and played in the water. It was so nice and cool. I want to get tubes and float down next weekend :) The kids caught three frogs and several tadpoles. They are pretty cute. Dustin was very proud of  the snail he caught. It was nice to have a cool, relaxing outing with the kids.

Sarah and Dustin

Cameron and Dustin

Jimmy

Sarah had her end of year orchestra concert tonight. She did such a great job! I can't believe how fast this school year has passed. It has been one heck of a ride with lots of ups and downs. I am looking forward to the summer and to being able to have my kids home with me. There is no greater love than that of a mother. Now I must go and sit on my kids so they will stay in bed!

As usually life has been super busy! Troy and I are studying for finals at the end of the month. The kids are getting ancy to get out of school. They only have 6 weeks left! I am totally looking forward to summer! This weekend Troy and I are taking Jimmy and four other Webelos in our ward on their day hike. It should be fun, they will be able to get several things passed off. This weekend is also Troy's birthday :) I don't know what we are going to do for that yet.  The playhouse is looking good and nearly done. I love it!!!! We are also going to do regular foster care since we decided to maintain our license for Alexis. We will have a home study on May 4th and hopefully have a placement this summer. We must enjoy our lives being so busy because it seems like we are always creating more craziness! We are definitely going to have to do some camping this summer to get away and relax. :)

The weather has been so nice here. We have been spending a lot of time outside. Here is out latest project :)

Dustin



Sarah




Jimmy




Cameron



In case you can't tell.....it's a playhouse! I love it! Eventually it will have a swing set coming off one side and a fire poll off the deck area. :) Troy is such a handyman. Who needs plans right!

I have come to realize I have major test anxiety!!! I took a Psychology test last week and almost threw up! I did a little better today when I took my first CIS (computer class) test. I was much better when I saw that I got a 95%!!!! Yeah!!! Now I need to study for my English test that's on Monday. I will NEVER be an English Major!!! I am just hoping I pass that class. Who would have thought that a language I have used my entire life would be such a pain in my butt! I may just protest and learn to speak and write only Spanish!!! Haaa that will show them!!!

Yesterday was Alexis's birthday! She is 4 years old now. I can't believe how fast time has gone by! Yesterday was a day of reflection for me. I spent a lot of time thinking about Alexis and her parents. I am still concerned about how everything will turn out. They are in our family prayers and my personal prayers every day, some days most of the day. It really killed me to take her back to her mom but it does make me happy to know she is safe and warm and being feed currently. I really hope this was a major reality check for Diane and Matt. Alexis will always hold a special place in my heart and in my family. She will always be welcome to stay at my home! Love you Alexis!!!! Happy Birthday!!!!!!

I survived the first week of school and have had VERY little time to do much of anything but homework. I think I am getting the hang of it now and hopefully I am a little more organized with my time. Now I just need to catch up on my house work! I was reading Tracy's blog and it has inspired me to also have a bin to place things in we don't need anymore.
Sarah and I are starting a new project :) We are making reborn dolls! She loves her dolls and doesn't want to get rid of them so we are going to make them into real looking babies and have them more for display than to play with. I am pretty excited to try this out. Right now we have several dolls torn apart and ready to dye and then paint. I will try to post pictures as we go.
Our yard is currently full of truck parts. Troy and the boys have both trucks torn apart and hopefully will make some progress in getting the one put somewhat together this weekend. Ahhhhh its ALL GOOD!!!!