Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Crazy Family

 Kaleb walked in from work with his hard hat on.
It is this boy's dream come true to be wearing it. He collects stickers to stick on. 
I saw it sitting on the bench in the kitchen where he happens to shed  the many layers of his work garb....that is supposed to be in the laundry room.
I saw that he had written on the inside brim. It made me smile.
I sure am proud of this kid.
And then he took the hard hat off to eat dinner!
Holy Cow he needs his hair cut!
 Here is the daughter that is supposed to be resting a sprained MCL. She claimed that this stunt doesn't make it hurt. I kind of believe her. If she wasn't a figure skater, she probably would never know that she sprained her MCL. It only hurts when she jumps and lands on the ice or when she squats super low to do a sit spin.
 I was working on the computer when she says.....
Mom....Mom....Mom.....
I should have known!
 Victoria happened to have some of the lego drawers upstairs when Kaleb walked in from work. He didn't make it very far. Some habits are hard to shake.
The temptation was too great!
 I guess Lightning thinks the wood tray is for him to lay in while we eat dinner.
You have to be an animal lover to live in this house.
 We moved the exercise bike out of the basement so Victoria could use it to rehabilitate her knee. 
This is how skinny guys stay skinny while eating ice cream! 
 Victoria dressed for 4 degree weather. Out to wrangle goats.
She has no sympathy for any of her peers who say they are tired, or that it is cold, or that they have to empty the trash or something, when every morning, rain, snow, ice or shine, she is out to feed goats, and bring her babies hot water after taking a sledge hammer to knock the ice out of buckets.
She's a tough girl.
 Tess was the best medicine after Victoria having a bad day between her knee and headaches from a  head concussion. She was at the ice rink even though she wasn't skating and Tess, of course, kept her laughing the entire time. She is the funniest girl and filled Victoria with happy thoughts.
 Kaleb texted this picture to Kirk just after he built this rod in our laundry room as a temporary place to hang wet clothes etc... Kirk almost died because it isn't strong enough for Kaleb to do chin ups!
 Typical big brother bugging the little sister. 
I guess he's checking to see if she is still ticklish.
 Kirk and I were talking when I told him to turn around and look at Jasper.
Having a house full of people for 27 years can feel daunting. But I wouldn't like it any other way.
I love that we still have a full house. I love hearing about their day, the good and the bad. I love cooking dinner for all of them and I love that they will wash the dishes. 
Kirk and I are pretty lucky that we have such awesome kids.
We have a wonderful family.

Couch Potatoe

This has been a little stressful Fall/Winter for many reasons....
Just when you think it can't get any worse....
We need Santa to bring Victoria a bubble to live in.
She just started 6 weeks off the ice. 
You try telling a very physically active person to not do her favorite thing.
Just when you think she will adjust, she fainted in Jill's barn onto the 
cobblestone floor and got a head concussion. 
Seriously???
Now she has headaches to go with her frustration of not being able to Ice skate, snow board, ride bikes, snow shoe, run......
Now Victoria is rehabilitating her knee and her head.
God has an intense way of slowing our lives down. 


Snow...snow...and more snow.....


Wasatch Freedom Classic

Both the girls were supposed to do the Wasatch Freedom Classic but Victoria pulled out of the competition when her knee continued to worsen. Daphne skated beautifully and received a medal for First place. Victoria did Daphne's warm up while Daphne's coach was busy with another skater. It gave Victoria something to do and get her mind off the fact that she wasn't skating.

Winter Show

Both Daphne and Victoria skated in the Winter Show this year.
Daphne was very excited to be almost Jared's 6'3"
Victoria skated to "Mary did you Know" by Scotty McCreary. She sprained her MCL back in August. After the Winter Show, she will be in a heavy duty knee brace and off the ice for 6 weeks while doing physical therapy to rehabilitate her knee. She was really worried about her program because they had to take out all jumps out of her program. She only did fancy foot work and spins. She pulled it off and skated beautifully. I don't think anyone even noticed that she didn't do any jumps. 
We are so proud of Daphne. She skated to Dancing in the Light. She did some moves that she didn't feel comfortable doing and was able to do it well. I'm so glad that she skated her program for the show. She was beautiful.
Kaleb announced the entire show. I love hearing his voice over the loud speaker. He announced Daphne as his Beautiful Sister and Victoria his Firey Tempered Sister. It was awesome!
Victoria loves her coach Julie!
Julie is the best and really understands teen girls really well, especially for being a Mama to 4 adorable little boys!

No Electricity

We forgot that we had a scheduled power outage, so we really weren't prepared.
We have a funny joke with our good friend Rachael that when the going gets
tough, you eat French Toast. Especially, French Toast from Kneaders.
So Victoria, made french toast on the wood stove.
This is where the old men hang out when the wood stove is pumping out heat!

Friends for Life

Jill is an amazing person!
She constantly gives of herself to others....especially to kids.
She is probably the most generous person I know and we love her.
She is like an Aunt to Victoria since she has been in the
 4H Dog Program since she was 9 years old. She has helped Victoria through
a tough year. We feel so blessed to have a friend like Jill.

Ski Dog...

Oh wait....
I've been corrected
I'm Not a Ski Dog Mom.
I Snowboard!
Okay, okay.....