The baby is A....

?????????????????
Confused?

So are we! Our baby has a sense of humor and decided to cross his/her legs. So instead of telling you what it is, because I really don't know... I'm humoring you with a picture of me- 18 1/2 weeks along. The good news is that the baby looks healthy and is growing properly and that's all we really care about. The Dr. did said he'd try again at our next appointment though, so until then we're still anxiously waiting to find out what we're having. Better luck next time :)

Family Baby Boom 2008

The last 15 months has been a family baby boom for our families. All seven married couples had babies. Here are the photos from other blogs. There are going to be tons of cousins at reunions.


Rachel Mae July 23, 2007 6 lbs 3 oz


Brayden James Jan. 11, 2008 5 lbs 14 oz


Hallie Sage February 12, 2008 8 lbs 7 oz


Emily Sophia March 6, 2008 8 lbs 7 oz


Avalon Kaye March 11, 2008 7 lbs 3 oz


Ashlyn McKell May 11, 2008 7 lbs 12 oz


Carson Kyle October 1, 2008 7 lbs 0 oz

MOPisms

I always forget to write down the funny things Madeline says, but today I actually remembered and thought I'd share them with you, they still have me laughing :) I love my little girl.

Mommy: "Oh dang it" (I was working on the computer and don't even remember why I said dang it)
Madeline (in her sweet little voice): "oh dang it, did Daddy forget to leave a comment?"

Later in the day...

Madeline: "My teeth are getting bigger, and then I'll be a wolf"

I think we've been reading a little bit too much of Little Red Riding Hood...

Columbus Day Adventures

Since Jared works for the Government he gets every holiday off... even Columbus Day! How nice! I taught aerobics in the morning and didn't have to take the kids- yay! Then we decided to go to Swan Falls and explore the nature a little bit. There are tons of huge rocks there so of course Jared wanted to climb :) Actually, it was really a lot of fun. All of us climbed rocks and had a great time, much better than staying at home!! Jared caught a couple lizards and the girls even held one of them!

Then we went off to our next adventure- the Linder Farm






















One of my favorite things to do in the fall is going to Linder Farms. They have a great pumpkin patch, a little kid maze and this year they added a petting zoo all for free! I've never seen a Zebra so close so I had to get a picture of it. The girls loved the petting zoo and even tried to feed some of them :)

We didn't buy a pumpkin this year because we grew our own little pumpkin patch, whether we actually get any orange pumpkins or not is the big question, (they're all still green and we just had a really cold weekend) but I figured we could just paint them if they don't change colors :)

I just love going on the hayride, watching the sun set, and seeing a beautiful red barn with corn fields surrounding me, and being with my family on a beautiful fall evening. It was a great Columbus Day and I'm happy we were able to "explore" our area:)

P.S. We find out on Monday what we're having, so don't forget to leave a comment on what your prediction is for the gender!!

Family Sports Bar

What do you do when BYU and Boise State play at the same time on different channels? Easy, get two televisions. I have a slicer and after about an hour of figetting, I figured out how to get both TV's get different games. Next time, I hope to to get three TV's working at the same time. We should start our own family sports bar.

Also, I must thank Cable One because I only pay for digital cable, and they provide me digital plus basic. I called and told them of the error in my favor, but they haven't done anything about it yet. I told them I wasn't complaining and I enjoy it, but just letting them know. So anytime soon, we will probably lose the part we aren't paying for.

Also, I chose Cable One over DirectTV and DISH because it was the cheapest way for us to get the MTN to watch BYU football. I got the Digital Lifeline which has the MTN, ESPNU, ESPNews, three Fox sports channels, and BYUTV for 38 bucks a month after taxes. And now because of the error, I get all the normal cable channels as well.

Since there is much sleeze on cable, we really like our TIVO. It blocks all programs over PG for us and records shows for us so that we can watch them later without commercials. At first, Jen was against TIVO, but now she is an advocate.

Conversations with the Children

(after I got home from work)
Me: Did it snow today, or just rain?
Madeline: Just rain, but I have snow boots. They're just mine, and I don't have to share with Morgan. [her cousin]

(after Aliza said a prayer)
Madeline: That was a small prayer.
Me: But it had big faith.
Madeline: Yah, big prayers have small faith.

(as we are watching t.v. and Aliza is coloring with crayons)
Aliza as she shows a yellow crayon: Yellow, Mommy, yellow?
Mommy: Yep.
Aliza as she shows a RED crayon: Yellow, Mommy, yellow?
Mommy: No, that's red.
Aliza: Oh, red.
Aliza as she shows a Green crayon: Yellow, Daddy, yellow?
Me: No, that's green.
Aliza: Oh, green.
(repeat 20 times).

(we ran out of honey one day at lunch)
Jen: Madeline, remind me at the store to get honey.
(one week later as Jen is at the checkout line).
Madeline: Mommy, we need to get honey!

Me: Rachel, do you want a cracker?
Rachel: (nod yes)
Me: Rachel, do you want to go to bed?
Rachel: (nod no)

Pizza Party during Priesthood Session

On Saturday night while Jared was gone to the priesthood session of general conference I made pizza. We tried waiting until he got home to eat, but the girls (and I) couldn't resist :) I thought it would be fun to have a little indoor picnic and the girls loved it! They were watching the Tigger movie and I don't think Madeline ate a bite of pizza because she was so involved in the movie:) I think pizza was a special treat for Jared after conference and I want to make it a new tradition. I'm thankful that Jared is a strong and faithful member of the church who is a great example to our family.

P.S. I found a yummy pizza recipe on allrecipes.com and put it on my cooking blog

Visiting Some Idaho Potato Fields

For work I mostly sit in front of a computer screen all day forecasting or estimating agriculture numbers. I have no ag background, so sometimes I am confused at what everyone is talking about at work. But I'm learning and loving agriculture. After all, my grandpa was a farmer.

Well, one of my co-workers thought it would be a good idea for me to learn how to do a potato dig, where we randomly sample some fields and go dig out some potatoes to do a objective potato yield. Of course, we obtained permission from the operator and did some digging. Notice they made me wear plastic around my shoes so that my dirty shoes wouldn't contaminate the field. I can't tell you whose field this is or I get fined $250,000 and some jail time for breaking my confidentiality agreement.

It was a learning experience and it helped me understand more about the numbers I crunch.
(action photos taken by Brad Early)

Ezra Taft Benson about Paying Off Debt

http://www.ldsvoices.com/index.php?id=1015

Download MP3 (34:21 min, 9.8MB)

This is a must listen. This was given February 1962 at BYU. Ezra Taft Benson was extremely conservative and was secretary of agriculture under Eisenhower.

[clipped Harry Reid bashing out in order to promote more unity]

By the way, I am against the government bailing out all these people. I couldn't stand at the last debate how both candidates put no blame on the American people for the loans they couldn't pay back. "It's all the lender's faults" they say. Well, didn't the people accept to take those loans? The American people are definitately living above their means. The government also is living above its means as well. People usually follow the example of their leaders. Oh well, these are some political thoughts by Jared.

General Conference Begins

A good tradition for us is to watch general conference every six months with our family to listen to our church leaders. It's great motivation to live better lives and have more hope for the future. We're excited, but since we decided to stay in Idaho this time, we will miss sitting next to extended family and seeing them nod off during some of the talks. And we'll miss all the candy from the Smiths as well as the conference bingo.

Blessings

Life has been so crazy lately. Between church callings, being pregnant, taking care of kids, hanging out with friends, making dresses for my brothers wedding, and all the other million things I'm trying to do I feel like I'm constantly going. But life if great! I feel like we have been so very blessed these past couple of weeks.
Last week my friend Emily called and asked if I wanted to go to the church orchard to glean peaches. I really wanted to go, but my other friend Aubrey had just called and offered to watch my girls so that I could get some sewing done. So I reluctantly said no to Emily and she said she'd just pick some peaches for me. What a sweet thing to do! Later she brought over a HUGE box of peaches and a bag of onions too (that she had also gleaned). I was able to sew half of a dress. Thank you to my friends who are such great examples of love and service.
Our freezer has been PACKED so I mentioned to Jared that I really wanted to get a freezer for outside. Last weekend I went to garage sales and found a free freezer that actually works! It wasn't even a week after I said I would like freezer and we were blessed with one. So now I have space for all the peaches and onions that we received :)
I love being able to see the hand of the Lord in my life. Even though life is crazy I know the Lord is watching over us. I am so thankful for all of my friends that I have here. It is a really important thing since we don't have any family close. So thank you friends!!