Turing a simple question into a "moment"

I love when a child that is in core phase peeks into the love of learning! Moments like these are what make being a mom, that has been given the stewardship (from her Heavenly Father) to educate her children in all realms of life, so rewarding and validating. I love my stewardship!

Today has been a busy day of a very busy week. Between the awards assemble, going to Buist with Austin, coming back for the talent show, picking up Maestin from scouts, and running a few errands I needed to make some cookies to take to some sisters, and a friend that just had a baby. So I was busy cooking, when my 5 year old Ruxton comes in excited because he knows what letter starts the word "soak" (why he picked that word I am not sure). I am loading the dish washer making cookies and he is so excited, and you know what I was excited for him. I really was. So, we started talking about the beginning sounds of a few more words. I said you know this is what reading is, words are made up of the letters that you already know! A big moment for him. It is amazing that when they are ready to get it they will, he has had the desire to read for a while but does not get it. He knows all the letter sounds but hasn't quite put it together. So with out pushing and just letting him move a long, he came up with it on his own. We proceeded to get a paper and write cat-bat- hat- He was so proud that he could hear every sound on his own and write it down. He was even more surprised to find that those three words not only rhyme but you only have to change the beginning sound. He was so proud he couldn't wait to show his ideal reader brother Maestin. And Maestin feed his ego so well. I am proud of you Ruxton. I hope that your love of learning continues to come out and ask questions more and more often so I can have "moments" with you! This is what being a mom is all about, I got to teach him his first experience with reading I have the memory not someone else.

Maestin's Talent Show Play

Well we have only one more day of school and it couldn't come soon enough for ALL of us. However, this last week has been fun for the boys. One high light every year is the talent show that Mrs. Ward so wonderfully puts on. Maestin has tried out each year, with no success of making it. He has been talking about doing a play, and I have honestly just let him do it not getting too involved. I used to put together plays all the time as a kid, and I have seen some of them and they well are very kiddish for a lack of better words, dumb. So, when he came home telling about the boys he was involving and the practices going on I just gave him my support as he needed it. Well he made it and it has been a big deal. Between a few conflicts with some of the other kids, one boy wanting to take over the whole thing and Maestin trying to keep everyone happy he has learned a lot.

So off to the talent show I went today. I am going to try and explain the short more of a skit.

Cast:
Three pick-up cowboys with ropes
One Bull (in full costume)
One cowboy doctor
One wife

Scene one:
Wild bull bucking making a ruckus the bull goes after a cowboy (Dillon) and knocks him to the ground.
Other two cowboys Meastin and Bryant rope the bull (for real!) and drag the bull out.

Maestin and Bryant run to the cowboy roll him over and Maestin says with the best stage voice...
"Doesn't look too good. Better call the Doctor!"
In enters the Doctor at a slow true cowboy shuffle kneels over the hurt cowboy for a full second stand up takes off his cowboy hat puts it over his heart and says...
"It doesn't look good, he is going to die in a few days."
Maestin: "We better take him to his wife."
The two cowboys carry the injured cowboy to his wife in the corner who is busy cooking
Maestin says.."Mum...smells like his wife is backing chocolate chip cookies."
Two cowboys exit
injured cowboy starts to get up: "Uh... I smell chocolate chip cookies I feel better already." He reaches for a cookie and asks, "Can I have one?"
Wife: Slaps his hand and says, "No, those are for the funeral."

It was definitely a crowd pleaser. However, I was pleasantly surprised. When I heard Maestin say the line about the wife baking cookies I knew instantly what he had been up to. We need to go back to my Grandpa Woodbury's 80th birthday party last fall. We went to Mackay to celebrate. After the celebration, we went into Mackay to a cowboy poetry that my grandma and grandpa put on. My Grandpa is a very talented cowboy poet. And among other guest cowboy poets there that night, my grandpa entertained us with his humor. Maestin loved it, he sat enthralled the entire time. He talked about it for days after. Well this little skit is very close to one of the jokes/stories my grandpa told that night. It was Maestin's favorite one! I had no idea that this is what he was doing.

It turned out so good, and I am proud of him. He was kind to the kids he worked with. They put in a lot of practice and team work. All the kids waited very anxiously the day they tried out to see if they made it. I was fortunate enough to be there the day they found out and I saw them run down the hall to read the list. It was priceless to see the smiles on their faces as they ran back with the good news. The wife in the play was very excited to be included, and her parents expressed their appreciation to Maestin for including her. There was another boy who was involved whose family is going through a very difficult time financially right now. They are without a home at the worst. Maestin was very sensitive to his needs, and was concerned for him when he asked to do something else in the play. Maestin thought hard about it all weekend a way to please him without hurting his feelings. He even had to deal with a difficult boy that wanted to be in charge and tell everyone none to friendly how to do and what to do. Maestin was a great leader and I saw qualities grow as we talked through the issues for the weeks leading up to the final skit. He had a lot of fun, and his little brothers couldn't wait to watch the "play" and were not disappointed...well ya they were they wanted to be in it too!

Sorry a bit long, I couldn't let this one go without it being recorded for life.
Maestin nine years old
Third grade Ms. Taylor
Friends in play:
Maestin
Carson Ellis
Bryant Cotter
Darren Tapp
Dillon Hunt
Lisa Crump

Birthdays

It was my birthday on April 30th and hate that I am getting old. And it was Maestin's Birthday on My 10th and hate that he is getting older too! Life just keeps right on coming weather you want it to or not. I would not normally put my B-day on I don't think but it was a crazy day and worthy of a journal entry. My boys, Austin included were so great. The day started off with Austin and Dale wanting to get some branding done, so guess who had to push over 60 head of calves into the chute? Yep, me... happy birthday. (thanks Blake) I love to help whenever I can, but it is not my favorite job. However, the boys were right there and they really did make the job a lot easier. We got done with that, it rained on us some but then it really started pour. Maestin had his pine-wood derby so I ran in the house to get the car ready to go, and the boys cleaned up. We headed out and Dale was cool about letting Austin take off so he could come to the race. Then my boys took me out to eat at the Dude Ranch. My mom was so great and made me a cake! It was good and the boys love to sing happy b-day and blow out your candles. They were so sweet all day with hugs and special little gifts and I love yous! I got knew furniture for my house I have not bought a knew piece of furniture in my entire 10 1/2 years of marriage. Thanks Austin! They really are great boys and they take such good care of me. Thanks.

I love this picture because I love my boys so much they bring me such joy, and this pictures kind of expresses it a little bit.

I added this one of by little man, I wish you all could hear him sing Happy Birthday. It is pretty darn cute, and you can tell that it is what he is singing. He amazes me.

Maestin
So my little man is now nine I cannot believe it. He is such and amazing child and spirit. I knew he was going to be a force of good when we were trying to get him here and the advisory did everything in his power to stop this amazing boy from coming to this earth. It was a long 9 months for both Austin and I, and a long 8 days before we brought him home with us. It didn't stop there either because we did one of the hardest things we have ever had to do when we handed our four month old baby off to a strange lady for sugary on his cute little lip. When he came back in to us, he saw me and gave me this little whimper, and I kind of whimpered myself, the nurse says, "He looks so good" I commented back you didn't see how cute he was before. He was so tough and before the night was over he smiled at the doctor and they sent us home the same day! Nothing gets this kid down for long. Through it all he has been such a joy to have in our home. His spirit radiates in a way that I cannot explain. He continues to grow and be such a fun young man. He never stops amazing us with his love of life and learning. He is kind and loving and can feel the spirit and knows when he needs to not do or do something. He is full of fun and laughter and loves a good joke. One of my favorite things about him is if he does something that would other wise embarrass someone he laughs and we all can have a good laugh. Thank you Maestin for coming to our home, you are a blessing from our Heavenly Father.

This picture needs some explaining, the boys blew out most of his candles, he was trying to be a good sport but didn't fell so great. He got another chance. Addlers face is because he got told that that was not so cool.

This is a good example of my boy, he is reading a book that grandma gave him. He got a number of books for his b-day and was excited.

His most anticipated present, the 5th book in the Fable Haven series, he was so excited.

Well there is my nine year old, all dressed up in his b-day cloths going to school the next day. He looks like a Young man. Bet you would have never thought he was born just 6lb 8 oz and 21 1/2 inches long. He was the best baby and has continued to be easy to raise and parent. We love you Maestin!

!!Pine Wood Derby!!

Well what can I say about Pine Wood Derby? I am not going to say anything and wish you all well when that time comes for each of you. Austin was so great to be dedicated and work on Maestin's car for more than just the day before. It was good for Maestin to see and be a part of an effort that took research, reading, understanding, working, testing, and then an end result. I looked up the "Pine Wood Derby Bible", read it did not understand, and turned it over to Austin who would explain and then I would critique him on what he needed to be doing so it would be better! I guess I am a little competitive! Austin was great and Maestin was a great sport about it all.

Maestin before the race with the car ready to go! We had him primed to loose, we had no idea what we were doing so did not want him to have any false expectations.

Of course Grandma Price had to put the "flame" to the car, it looked so cool! We told him even if it was slow it would have the best paint job because Grandma is awesome. This is them discussing what Maestin wanted and how it all should look. Thanks Grandma, you are the best!This is the only picture of Austin that I got. That is actually one of the best pine wood derby car making dads, giving Austin a hard time. Austin is awesome!

Masetin during the race with the boys in our ward his age, Hayden Degn, Maestin, Davis Larsen they are all buddies.

So, you are asking what was the end result? Well to our complete surprise Maestin won! He raced against two troops and had the fastest car, he even had the fastest time of the night. We were floored. It was actually kind of funny with everyone else because we were first timers, and knew nothing. Davis Larsen took second. Maestin was stoked! He was a good sport through the entire race, offering high fives and good jobs to his fellow competitors, I was proud of him.

So as a result of winning, he had to race the next day at the district race, the top two of every troop raced against each other, there were twenty cars, this is him during that race.Just a picture of some of the cars Maestin is number 18 his was called T3!We were really surprised when he ended up fourth overall, he was really happy and had so much fun. Just for memories for Maestin, I want to add that that his car was one of only three that had a time of 2.4 seconds. It really did turn out to be a good experience, at first we were not too optimistic, because there is lot that goes into the car and a lot to it, but we all learned some valuable lessons, and hopefully each year Meastin can learn more, and eventually do it more by himself. Congratulations Maestin....and Austin.

Branding Claves

The week of April 18th Blake and the kids came to Malad so we decided to brand calves while he was here. The weather was OK, but we all worked really hard to get done what we did in really two days. We branded calves two different times while Blake was here, we love that he comes and helps. The boys love to joke around and talk his ear off, and the rest of us just like that he does a lot of hard work that we would have to do if he wasn't here. The two kids were a lot of fun to have around and I think that they had a lot of fun. Blake is a very patient man, he had to work with the boys running crazy with the calves, while he was trying to do his job. Thanks Blake! Here are some pictures of branding over at the Harrison place.

Holdan loved, loved being there. He would run each calf out of the chute to the end of the pin and run the calf out the gate. Sometimes he just narrowly missed getting kicked. I have video of this I might post later.

Nyah was quite the trooper, she wanted to be crazy and get the calves but she sat there and told Ruxton what one she wanted in next. She was so excited to actually poke one or two. She stayed right there just about the entire time. The boys love when she comes.

They all had to see the baby chicks.

The branding gang without Treyson.

This is Treyson's contribution to branding. He had a busy day. He started out early with Ruxton and all our little new pets, then he went and feed with his Dad and Austin, lots of hard play and 45 min of branding and he feel asleep while I was holding him. He had fun as long as he could keep his eyes open. He was tired just think how nosie it is when you brand calves!

Update on Dad

You are asking who is that young nice looking fellow!?
Yep, your eyes do not deceive you it is Van!

I thought I would do a little quick up date on how Dad is doing. He is doing great! This picture really, I think doesn't do it justice, and he still looks good. He has had a lot of determination and has really stuck to his diet. This has not been easy for him, yet he still goes forward he is amazing. I am so proud of him and the changes that he has made. This picture was taken last Friday April 30th, he has lost weight and inches since then. Up to now, I think, that he has lost 35lbs!!! And more inches tan I know to put down. Yea for you dad keep it up. I think he would not care if I share one of the reasons that this has kept him going, he has told me that he is doing this for his kids, he wants to be healthier for us. Thanks dad I am behind you 100%! Keep it up! Only two more weeks!