My Joy

After kind of a rough day at clogging, I went to my sister-in-law, Suzie's house to pick Stetson up. When I asked if he had been good, she said, "Stetson is always good - you are so blessed." I smiled and said, "yeah, I know". But then on the way home it hit me! I really am blessed! Two years ago I didn't think I would ever be able to have children, and now I have Stetson. I know I am probably a little bias, but I think he is the best little boy in the world! He is so cute and fun and sweet and wonderful! I couldn't have asked for a better kid! He really is the joy of my life! Definately a miracle that I pray I will never take for granted!Last week Kenny volunteered me to feed the missionaries. It was a very hard thing for me because I am the world's worst cook, a terrible host, and I can't make conversation with people I don't know to save my life. I was nervous, but it went well. The missionaries were kind and friendly, and I was able to talk to them about the missionaries in my family. One of the missionaries gave Stetson a pass-along card with a picture of Jesus on the front. Stetson immediately recognized him and said, pointing to the card, "Jesus". The missionary, who has only been out a few weeks, was amazed, "he knows Jesus". Yes he does. From the time Stetson was tiny he has loved pictures of Jesus, and as soon as he could talk he would point to them say Jesus. I really believe that Stetson had a special relationship with his older brother Jesus before he came to earth. He is such a special little guy!

On Saturday Stetson and I went to the Middle School to watch my sister McKady play volleyball. We were sitting by several people from Doloras, Colorado. Stetson would walk up to them, look them in the eye, and smile until they made eye contact and smiled back. As you can imagine, he won them over. He played with the kids for quite awhile, and made several new friends. I really admire that because I remember as a kid, I would hide behind my mom and pray that no one would look at me, and especially that no one would try to talk to me! And here is my son, at 16 months old, making friends with perfect strangers. It was a long day, and I think he made it more enjoyable for all of us! What a great kid!

We can no longer keep Stetson in his crib because he can climb up on his changing table. But, I guess he likes it up there, and has fallen asleep up there several times. Isn't he precious?

The Little Things

Sometimes we get so caught up in our fast-paced lives, and the things we want that we don't have, that we forget to really appreciate the little things we DO have. I got a little reminder this past weekend of one of the little things in my life that I take for granted - running water. Friday morning we woke up to the sound of spraying water. Kenny went down to the basement to find a nice little wading pool of about 6 inches of water, and a steady stream of water spraying out of our pressure tank. We all showered very quickly, then turned all the water off. Since there were no pressure tanks to be found in our small town, I took the day off work and we headed to Farmington, NM. It turned out to be a fun day, just Kenny, Stetson and I. We did some other shopping, and found a pressure tank the same size as ours at Home Depot. Kenny spent all day Saturday removing the old tank, putting in the new one, rerouting some old pipe and getting everything hooked back up. I can't even count the number of times I tried to turn the faucet on to wash my hands or get a drink, and it was really a pain to have to drive over to my parents' house to use the bathroom. I couldn't take a shower, I couldn't do dishes, I couldn't do laundry, and so on and so forth. It really made me think how I take this little blessing for granted. How on earth did people do it back in the day? I was so excited when we turned the water back on! Plus, I was so grateful for a husband who was actually home, and had the skills and willingness to fix our problem. Life is so full of LITTLE BLESSINGS! I hope that from now on I will be able to focus more on the little blessings and not the little inconveniences!

The Guatemala MTC

There it is, the MTC in Guatemala City - isn't it beautiful there? This is where my brother, Elder J.J. Grover, will spend the next two months - what a lucky guy! Actually, he will probably be too busy learning spanish and preparing to preach the gospel, that he won't have much time to enjoy the outdoors.Elder Grover, along with about 20 other missionaries (this isn't all of them - I CAN count) flew from the Provo MTC to the Guatemala MTC on Tuesday, February 17. His new mission president at the MTC sent a nice e-mail with the above photo attached, letting the families know that that the missionaries had arrived safe and sound, and are in good hands. I think J.J. was a little nervous, since this is his first time leaving the United States, but I am sure he will be just fine. And I think he looks great! (he is the second elder from the left - he is not even the shortest one there!) Best wishes to all the fine young people who are out spreading the gospel!

Happy Valentine's Day!

On Friday night the drill team catered a dinner for a dinner theater that EOTS was putting on. The girls also performed at the last home basketball game - so it was a crazy night. I got home late, and since Stetson and Kenny were already in bed I took the opportunity to write in the card I had purchased for Kenny. I set it by the computer, along with some chocolates for his Valentine treat - he was sure to find it there. Stetson woke up early and was running around the house while Kenny and I laid in bed talking. I could hear some wrappers crinkling, but without my contacts in, I couldn't see what Stetson was doing; Kenny assured me that he was okay. When we finally went in to get him he was covered in chocolate. All I could say was, "Happy Valentine's Day, Honey".
Kenny's gift to me was spending the morning cleaning out a room upstairs so that we can start working on it (as you can tell, we really need to move the office out of Stetson's room!). Now that Stetson can climb out of his crib, it is really hard to get him settled down enough to go down for a nap. So, I spend most of the afternoon fighting him, trying to get him to go to sleep. In the middle of this there was a knock at the door and my sweet nephew was standing there with a bouquet of flowers. "This is from grandpa" was all he said. I have received flowers from my father-in-law, Pete, every Valentine's Day since Kenny and I were married. It is something I really look forward to, and usually the only flowers I receive on Valentine's Day. Thanks to Steve F. and Kade, he was able to come through again, even though he is currently serving a mission in Africa. Once I finally got Stetson to sleep I did some more cleaning upstairs and then went to the store.
That evening we all went over to my parents' house where we had a yummy lasagna dinner and watched a movie. I was carrying a pan of lasagna from the kitchen into the dining room and was just stepping over my brother, who was crouched on the floor. Not knowing that I was there, he raised up at just the right moment, hitting his head on the bottom of the pan. The pan left my hands and went flying through the air for what seemed like several minutes. It finally came to rest ON the foot of my older sister who was carrying my sticky son into the kitchen to wash his hands. We were all so shocked that we just stood there and stared at the lasagna until my mom came over and asked, "what's wrong?" When she saw the lasagna on the floor, she started laughing. I guess I gave her a look that said, "this is not funny" because she said, "don't worry, someday you will laugh about it too." As always, she was right. Later that evening we were talking about it, and we were all laughing.
Then on Sunday Suzie had us over for a very yummy dinner and desert. Jody and her kids were down, and it was a lot of fun to spend some time with Kenny's family. Since Monday was a holiday, and I had the day off work, we spent most of the day cleaning again. The good news is that we finally got all the junk out of the room so we can start working on it. The bad news is that we didn't get rid of the junk, we just moved it to another room - now when we want to work on that room, we will have to move the junk again. How do we acquire so much junk anyway?

Wal-Mart! That's it! That afternoon I went over to Cortez with Kenny to get some feed for the cows and we went to Wal-Mart, and I realized that is where all the junk comes from. Actually we got mostly food and supplies for our 72-hour kits - yes, we are finally putting together our 72-hour kits. Hey, at least if the world comes to an end, we will survive for three days - that is probably all I could handle of the end of the world anyway!Stetson and the flowers from Grandpa Black

Pay It Forward

This can be so fun, and it is a great way to do something for some of the people in your life. Also a great chance to let them do something great.
The Rules
1. Be one of the first THREE bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me - something crafty or yummy, who knows?!
2. Winners must post this challenge on their blog, meaning that they will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on their post about this giveaway!
3. The gift that you send to your friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember: It’s the Spirit and the Thought That Count!
4. When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate pictures and comments!
If you are not one of the Top Three Commenters on this post, you can still play along. Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same! SO, REMEMBER...Pay it forward!
P.S. If you are one of the first three and don't have a blog to post you can take the next three friends that call you just to chat and Pay It Forward to them! Then challenge them to do the same :) Let's help make this a wonderful world to live in and show our friends how much we care for them :)

A new puppy!

Well, Stetson got his first puppy. On the way home from the State Drill Team Competition Kenny picked up two puppies in Scipio, UT. One was for Stetson, the other for Andy and Alicia to replace Ruby. Stetson was so cute with the puppies - he wasn't afraid of them at all. He kept calling them Bo Bo, so we named ours Bo. Andy and Alicia named their Ridge - so cute! Anyway, we are very excited to have this new member of the family - now we just have to build a pen to keep him in so he can live at our house instead of Andy and Alicia's (thanks guys for taking care of him for us!). We are hoping that Bo will learn to heard cows and be able to help Kenny on the ranch. Stetson is sitting in front of Ridge, but this is a good picture of Bo

Stetson is already trying to teach the puppies to fetch! Ridge is the one standing, and Bo is sitting behind him

The San Juan Royals

Right here in Blanding, attending school at San Juan High, there is a group of 12 awesome girls. I am so proud of them and their accomplishments, and I just wanted to take a few minutes to honor them. Their season started last March, and they have been working hard ever since. They wake up every morning at 5 am to come to practice and work their butts off. There have ups and downs, and through it all these girls have stuck together to produce a dance team that the whole community can be proud of. These girls don't get much recognition, but that is okay because deep down inside of each one of them, they know how great they are. I have seen these girls improve so much over the last year; they have become beautiful, confident dancers. And not only that, they have become best friends - not one of them will ever be alone because she has her drill team sisters right there beside her. I admire these girls not only for their determination, hard work, and dancing ability, but especially for what they stand for. As coaches, we never had to worry about them getting into trouble. You will never find them dancing to dirty songs or encouraging inappropriate behavior. Thanks girls for a great year, and for your great examples! I have enjoyed getting to know each of you better, and wish you the best in all your future endeavors!
The girls performed well at Region, but a broken prop in the middle of the routine set them back. They did make it to State, where they did awesome! They even beat one of the teams at State that beat them at Region. Way to go ladies!
The morning before we left for the State competition Jeanna and made breakfast for the girls with a Chinese theme (they had to eat everything with chopsticks). We used the story of Kung Fu Panda to get the girls to believe in themselves. That day they each wore a t-shirt that said "there is no secret ingredient". In order for something to be special, you just have to believe it is special. And these girls are special! I love you guys!

Kara Redd, Alisha Tate, Sam Bergeman, Robin Jones, Brielle Francom, Jeannie Kirk, Jessica Bradford, Alana Benallie, Cassidy Berrett, Heather Palmer, Jorden Giddings, Ashkia Benallie

I hope they call me on a mission

" I hope they call me on a mission, when I have grown a foot or two. . ." Well, my brother J.J. is still waiting to grow that foot or two, but even though he is short they called him on a mission - to Guatemala! I had the wonderful privledge of traveling to Provo with Jesse, Jens and McKady where we met the rest of my family for "brunch" at Village Inn and then said our final good-byes before leaving Elder J.J. Grover at the MTC. Though this is a bitter/sweet experience, I am so grateful to have been there. He turned to wave at us one last time before walking out the door, and though his eyes were full of tears, his face was full of excitement and determination. At this moment, the spirit touched my soul and I knew without a doubt that J.J. will be taken care of and that the boy we left at the MTC will return from Guatemala in two years a wonderful young man. I know that J.J. will be an awesome missionary! He is a very hard worker, and his integrity has always amazed me. I look up to my younger brothers so much - they are such an inspiration to me! I can't imagine life without the gospel and family. How wonderful it is that my brothers and parents-in-law have the opportunity to share this wonderful truth with our brothers and sisters around the world. May the Lord watch over and bless each one of them. I love you J.J. - best wishes in Guatemala!

My Little Toddler

Well, I haven't written for quite awhile, so here is an update. Stetson started out the new year with the flu, he was pretty miserable there for several days. We got him on some anibiotic and the fever went away, but he is still fighting a runny nose and a bad cough. Even though Kenny and I were on a preventative antibiotic, I got some flu symptoms too. Then I got a head cold that developed into a sinus infection and an ear infection. On top of that I had another one of my episodes that put me out of commission for a couple days. Stetson has also been teething, trying to get his bottom 1-yr molars. The first one broke through on Saturday after a few days of a big blister on his gums that I didn't dare pop. For the last few months Stetson has been taking several steps, here and there, on his own, but he has preferred to crawl - which he is very good at. My dad has been calling him "cruiser" because he is so fast; he would kick it into turbo speed, and I could hardly keep up! Then on Sunday - it happened! At 15 months and 15 days old my little man decided to walk. He is getting pretty good, and seems to enjoy the new mode of transportation. He is still pretty slow, but I am sure that will change soon enough, and he looks like a bow-legged cowboy when he walks - it is so cute! He is also talking a lot; he loves to sing, especially in the bath tub. He has also gotten very good at climbing, and now nothing in my house - no matter how high I put it - is safe. Our kitchen chairs now live on the table, and you will notice in the picture above that we have our fireplace chained shut. Stetson stays away from it when it is hot, but when it is cold he opens the doors and climbs right in! Crazy kid! I gave Stetson a hair cut on Saturday - it is a little short, but the good news it that it will grow back. Between the hair cut and walking, he looks a lot older! My baby is growing up! I am so proud of him though - Way to go Stetson!

On A Mission

My brother Jordan is serving in the Oklahoma, Tulsa mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This mission covers 4 states; he has already served in Missouri, Arkansas, and he is currently in Kansas. He must be famous or something because there was an article in the local paper about him and his companion - picture and all! If you would like to read this article, just click on this link http://www.morningsun.net/living_people/x743983615/ON-A-MISSION. He will be transferred at the end of this week to Gore, Oklahoma. I don't know how many missionaries in that mission get to serve in all four states, but he will. I am so proud of him and the wonderful young man that he is becoming. I am so grateful for the example he is setting for his younger siblings and nieces and nephews. Way to go Elder Grover!