Dec 17- 23 Christmas Dance/recitals

 

Dec 17th Monday - Tonight Matia had her dance performance. Which of course I have been excited for all day. But when Terry came home he was literally bouncing off the walls. I am sure my neighbors were thinking there was an earthquake going on downstairs. But it was just Terry with his excitement to see Matia dance. It was the first time I had been in the Lehi Jr. High since I graduated there and that was strange. (She is the one in the front right side of your screen)

There was very little seating so it seemed crazy but just before Matia's dance a family left a row empty and we got to move up so we could see better. Matia did fabulous she is so fun to watch. She has loved dance this year with her good friends Maddie and Emeree. She has a hard time on Thursdays because she has piano, homework then straight to dance. But I keep reminding her someday she will be happy she made it through all those long hard Thursday nights.

I have been waiting to post this because we had a secret we were keeping. It has been the hardest secret to keep. Driving both Terry and I CRAZY!!! You see Saturday I went shopping and bought something so special for Treg and her name is Daisy well her name was Tia but that just wasn't going to work in our family without some major confusion. So I renamed her to be Daisy. This is what she looked like when we first got her.

Dec. 18th Tuesday - I spent the day enjoying our preschool Christmas party at school. The kids were so very fun to watch open gifts from each other and finish their gifts for their family. I love to see them all show up with their preschool pj's and when they see me and Chris with the same ones they get sooo excited. We just have so much fun watching movies, playing games, exchanging gifts, and making crafts. Love you preschoolers!

Then after Terry got off work we went to visit Daisy the Dog the newest member of our family that can't even live with us for another week because I am determined to make this a BIG Christmas surprise. So we took our clippers and gave her a nice trim job. She was so patient the whole time and it took us at least an hour to get her to look nice. I can't tell you how excited I am to give her to Treg!!!

Dec. 19th Wednesday - Today I got some major stuff accomplished! I hit about 5 stores for returns, bought some last minute stuff, took the kitten in to get fixed, took Daisy in to get micro chipped and rabies shots, then back just in time to hide the dog, and pick up the kids from school. With this being their last day of school they were all pretty excited. We let them spend the night just chillin' while Terry and I headed to the farm to tear down the double doors in the master bath to put in one door to have more usable room.

Dec. 20th Thursday - With the kids out of school I decided to get Matia's photos taken at Target because I never like their school ones. So we did that and then did lunch with Terry. Which I found out we had a major mishap at the farm. A couple nights ago we put Kamis 2 horses in the big stall together because they hate being apart so bad. Well one of her horses freaked out and kicked the smaller horse "Apache" and punctured her lungs, we had to put her down. It was super sad and we learned a major lesson today. Apache was 24 years old and her teeth were all falling out and she wasn't doing the best anyway but it was still sad. After work Terry and I went down and put up the wall and framed in the new door to the master bathroom.

Dec 21st Friday - Then I took Treg to get his photos done today at Target and after we went to Pat's BBQ with Terry for lunch. He had bought some coupons on Groupon for half price and he was so excited to share this delicious lunch with us. The kids hated the 1 hour wait for the food but the music was good and the food was finally worth it once we got it. Bowdee was especially appreciative of it since he is a major food lover right now.

Dec 22nd Saturday - We again spent most of the day down at the farm working on a little of this and a little of that. The kids had fun running around outside mostly but when they got cold and came inside this is what Matia and Treg spent most of their time doing. I just love that they can be so happy just doing what they do. The house seems to be coming along so slowly that it feels like we will never be able to move in.

At 2:30 I left with my mom and dad to go "Look at a horse for Iz". When really we were headed up to Morgan to pick up a goat I had bought for Matia about a month ago. The family was so nice to hold the goat for me until closer to Christmas. I was so impressed with the girls I bought her from they were about 12 and 14. Reminded me of Kami and I as kids they had the coolest little farm in their back yard and they did all the work themselves. I am so excited to give Tia this cute little Oberhausi & Nubian/Nigerian Dwarf goat she is

Dec 23rd Sunday - This morning when Terry and I went to the farm to feed and work. I was pretty upset to see my sweet Miss Holly Kay had been bitten by something on her right leg. There were 2 punctures about 1&1/2 inches apart and blood dripping from them. I tell you what I need to get living down there to see what is killing the chickens and attacking my horses.

About lunch time we went home to eat and bring the kids down to help us do a little clean up around the farm before the snow comes. They were such good troopers and I don't think I heard one complaint. They moved wood to the hay barn the filled up this trailer with trash from the house and yard. Man I just love my kids and the hard workers they are becoming.

After we were finished working at the farm we hurried home to decorate a Christmas Cake and then head to Mom and Dads for a quick dinner and piano recital. I just can't tell you how much I love living by my family so we can enjoy short moments like this. The recital was so nice to see how much each of the kids have improved over the last year. I know they don't always love it but it is so rewarding to see their improvement. Thanks mom and dad for all you do for us and the kids.

Dec 10-16 Christmas Parties

Dec 14th Friday - Tonight Treg had a party with his church class. They had a fun time going caroling, watching a Christmas movie, and delivering treats in the ward. What great teachers they had. I expected them to be gone 1 hour but 3 hours later is when he got home. What a fun time he had. Terry and I went to the farm to work on the ceiling where it had been cracked. So pretty soon we will be all done with the sheet rock.

Dec 15th Saturday - Terry's aunt Kathy puts together a Christmas Party each year since she moved back from California. I know how much work it takes to pull something off like that and I am so grateful she gives us this opportunity to mingle with cousins each year. Terry and the kids had a great time looking through some old photos of grandpa Hagers and visiting w/ family. However, I sent Terry and the kids while I had an appointment to make up in Clinton about a wiggly Christmas gift. I had GREAT success and now I am so excited for Christmas!!!

Then that night Terry and I went to a party for Clayton's girlfriend Heather who just graduated to become a nurse. She has gone through alot of work to make this happen so we are so happy for her. We always have a good time talking and laughing with these good people. Some of them we only see but once a year so it was nice to see them again.

Dec 16th Sunday - Terry and I went on a hot date to do a little more Christmas shopping in the morning. Then we went to our Townsend Christmas party. Every year we have such a good time eating some yummy food. Visiting with our dear family and opening presents from each other. We missed the families that don't live close enough to enjoy these family parties with us. But they are there in our hearts. Thanks mom and dad for all your hard work putting it together.

Dec 3rd-9th Live Nativity

Dec 3rd Monday - Tonight was the big night of the Live Nativity down by our farm that my cousins put on. Ya know there is simply no better way to get into the Christmas spirit then by going to this amazing nativity. I sure hope everyone envolved knows how much we appreciate them.

This year we were lucky enough to be able to be involved by greeting people around the bomb fire, passing out hot chocolate, and sending them on their way. Bowdee got to help direct traffic. Matia gave out horse rides at our arena to our cousins who came to visit the nativity. Wow this world is filled with wonderful people! I truly feel blessed to know all the wonderful people I do. So many great people stopped to say hi, I am so glad they came to enjoy this wonderful event.

Dec 4th Tuesday - after school and homework was finally over. Matia went horseback riding at the equestrian park with Grandpa, Tayla and Izak. I came home fed my family and then we decorated the Christmas trees when Tia got home. Ya, we are using the little trees this year so it didn't take us long at all. But it feels more like Christmas once we got them decorated with some fun ornaments. Then Terry and Bowdee headed off to basketball practice and Tia Treg and I did a little hand stitching.

Dec 5th Wednesday - This morning I was waiting around for the dishwasher to be delivered to the farm house. So I did a little Christmas shopping, then looking through boxes looking for my scrapbooking software before I lose my mind. Anyway, after they delivered the dishwasher I met up with my dad and we put together the round pen inside the arena so during the winter we can work the horses out of the snow. Look at us go it is starting to look like a real horse ranch.

Tonight Bowdee sang in his Choir Christmas Performance. He doesn't really enjoy singing so I was excited to see him doing it anyway. He did amazing and their choir teacher put on a great performance for us parents. Love you Bowdee, I am so proud of you for doing things you don't really enjoy every once in a while.

Dec 7th Friday - Yesterday was Emilee's birthday so Kami, Mom, Dad and I took her to The Olive Garden for lunch to celebrate. Emilee is such a cute girl, she is a great mom and an awesome friend. I love that we all live close enough to enjoy a lunch together even when life is crazy. I just wish the rest of our family lived this close so we could enjoy the little things with them as well. I never thought our family would be so spread out. Kinda sad if ya know what I mean.

Dec 8th Saturday - We spent the day down at the farm with our McClellan friends, my parents, Kami and her family here and there but we were just mostly in working on the electrical, gas pipes, water piping and sheetrocking. There is still so much to do but once we get this all done it should start going a lot faster. Terry is so amazing the way he figures everything out!

Dec 9th Sunday - Well if you guessed we spent the day down at the farm again you are right. But today we finished up all the electrical, tore down wallpaper, filled in holes, tore down last remaining brace, put up a new brace, and got all the sheetrock up on the walls. So here we go, should be able to start seeing the progress a little better. We came home just intime to watch a movie with the kids and passout at 9:00!

Nov 26th-Dec 2nd Terry's weekend to Wendover

Nov 26th - Monday usually FHE but tonight it was date night. I think the whole family could tell I needed a date night with just Terry and I for a few hours. So we went shopping and I tell you I haven't decided if I LOVE or HATE Costco. It seems like every time I go in there for just one thing that one thing ends up being over $100. Tonight it ended up being $600.00 and we didn't even get our major purchase that we will get tomorrow for $450.00!

Nov. 27th - Tuesday I have to say I am going to miss my preschool days next year. Hopefully I can become a wonderful horse teacher and I can find joy in teaching children about horses because I love to see these kids progress. After preschool I went down to the farm and helped my mom and dad lay some fencing. I just love working along side these 2 wonderful people. Don't you worry, mom took me to pick up my truck and it wasn't just 2,000 it was 2,677.55 with tax, shipping and labor!

I came home and hear Treg asking Terry "Dad someday will you teach me how to make games and programs on the computer?" Terry says "Sure how about today." Tregs eyes got bigger then I have ever seen them go before and he says "REALLY???" so they proceed over to the computer and Terry shows him a "Try it now" program and he was reading programming instructions for the next 2 hours. He was glued, it took everything in him to look away for this photo.... Crazy boy! Terry says to me... "Don't worry he will love this and maybe someday he will make us a million dollars!"

Nov. 28th - Wednesday I sent the kids off to school... Matia was dressed up as a pilgrim and Treg was just Treg. Then I hustled down to the farm. Shoveled sawdust with dad to empty his dump truck then off to Delta to buy some alfalfa cubes for our sweet Miss Holly Kay! $900 later we had a dump truck full of cubes and we were headed North on I-15. I tell you what this farming life is not cheap. I think I am needing to board some horses to help pay for it. Love this life on the go!

When Terry got home we ate as quick as we could then headed to the farm to unload the cubes. We had hopes to just dump it in the wash stall but it was super tricky to get a straight shot and then we couldn't lift it the whole way up because of the ceiling so we had to shovel most of it out of the dump truck. It was painful, long, hard, and dusty. But with Terry and I both shoveling it only took us one hour of constant shoveling. The kids were mucking stalls and of course they made a fun game out of it.

Nov. 29th - Thursday After preschool I took my mom and dad lunch down at the farm. We had a goal to get the horses out in the outside corals, and I needed to shovel back the cubes to put up a wall to protect them from water. So just like my dad says working side by side with another really makes those moments memorable. When Terry got home we went shopping up at the new outlet mall by Cabela's it was amazing. But most of all I just had fun being on a date with my man.

Nov. 30th - Friday I have been excited to go on yet another date with Terry tonight. It was his LanDesk Christmas Party at Thanksgiving Point so we rode over with Terry's friends Greg Westbrook and his wife. It was a nice relaxing night out with a hilarious comedian Jason Hewlett. Oh my goodness I have not laughed so hard for so long. It was nice to just let go of all my worries and just have a good time. Thanks Terry for taking me to your party I had a great time.

Dec. 1st - Saturday When the mouse is away the mice will play. Terry got to go to a concert with his buds out at Wendover... Soooo me and the kids had some good ol fun just hanging out. I took them to Mr. E's and Krispy Kremes because they get free stuff with good grades and since all of them got straight A's we just had to go celebrate. Then we came back to have a movie night. I am so proud of my kids for working so hard in school to get these kinds of grades. Way to go kiddos

Terry had fun with they boys. They went to see Rodney Carrington and stayed at the Nuggett. I am sure he would have rather been with me ;) but sometimes he needs to be away to remember how great he has it at home and how well I really take care of his OCD mind. Love you baby and we missed you as well but glad you had fun. They didn't even take one photo for little ol' me at home.

Dec. 2nd - Sunday We had a great time sleeping in, reading the newspaper, then later cleaning the house before Terry came home. Then we left the kids home and went to the farm to work some more on the house. I know surprising but we have to get this electrical done before we can do anything else. This is what it is looking like today.

Nov 19-25 Thanksgiving Weekend

Nov 19th - My truck has been telling me for a week now that it is time to change the oil... So Terry and I decided today was the day that we would do that. So I made dinner and bought an oil filter and fuel filter and made sure we had the oil so when he got home we would head down to the farm and we would have everything to complete our mission. Ya know once you have certain comforts in life like a nice garage to change oil in its hard to go back to not having those comforts. But we made a date night out of it and enjoyed each others company in the cold dirty stall barn which is super great for horses but not so great to do mechanic work in. Man I love my boy!

Nov 20th - So my truck has been kicking out of gear when it goes from 1st to 2nd... Not a good sign so we took it into Gears Transmission today before we went to work and sure enough it is going to cost us $2000.00 to fix it. OUCH that just really hurts when we are trying to rebuild a house, start a horse ranch, and buy Christmas gifts all at the same time. Makes me so very sad :( but we gotta have our truck and Terry just doesn't have the time or the shop to do it in right now so suck it up and pay the bill!

Nov 21st - I love it when the kids are out of school! Today we just had a good time being together. Terry played in a football competition at work so the kids and I went up to watch him play. He was a tough blocker and great team player who showed an amazing amount of great sportsmanship. They won their first game and then won the championship in the second game. I loved the kids being able to watch their dad play but I sure hope that was his last game. I was just so worried the whole game that he was going to get hurt.

After the game I took the kids shopping and to lunch for a bit then we dropped off Bowdee at Terry's work so they could go hunting. They went up Mill D and hiked up to where they wanted to watch for deer. Bowdee built a little campfire to keep them warm and then when Terry got up to start hiking down to the car he felt the pain. It was in his ankle he had hurt it in the game and it just really hit him at the top of the mountain. He had Bowdee carry his bow down the mountain and they just took it super slow and easy and made it down. When he got home we put ice on it elevated his ankle and gave him anti-inflammatories.

Nov 22nd - Happy Thanksgiving what a great day to be thankful. This year I am thankful for my sweet husband having the drive within him to make this dream of ours possible. He is such a hard worker, he's so talented, a man with such a sensitive giant that lives inside of him. I am also thankful for my sweet parents who have also made this dream possible. I am so excited for when we will be able to live in our little white farm house and simplify this crazy life a little.

So this Thanksgiving is different then any other we have had. We spent the day working down at the farm framing and sheet rock Bowdee's room. We got quite a bit done but there is just still so much to do. Then at 5:00 we came home and made our own quick Thanksgiving dinner. You see my mom and dad went down to Cedar City to enjoy dinner with Kathy's family so that left us alone for the holiday. It was a nice quiet simple dinner. Nut we sure missed being with our family on Thanksgiving.

Nov 23rd - Black Friday Shopping so the kids have noticed so many ads about black friday shopping they kept asking me what it was and what it was like. So I told them I would take them out for a bit in the morning. We first hit Big 5 and it was quite, then Hobby Lobby and it was great, then Lowe's and it was fine, then we went to Smith's because I wanted to show them the hot chocolate and donuts it was busier there so the kids got a little taste of the craziness then we hit Kohl's and I showed them how the line winds around the whole store. It was fun to watch them at their first black friday experience. LOVE MY KIDS

We headed to the farm to help Terry a little more and we ran out of sheet rock. So we dropped the kids off at home and went to Home Dept you should have seen Terry he was white as a ghost scared to death of shopping on Black Friday. We ended up buying all the cabinets for the kitchen and bathroom then the sheet rock that we needed all for the bargain price of $2,800. So you add that with the 2,000 for the truck and it turned out to be a pretty expensive weekend.

Nov 24th - I bet you can't guess where we spent the day... Yep working on the farm, but today my friend Tonja came down with her 5 kids. They rode Miss Holly Kay, played with the kittens, rode the four wheelers, cleaned stalls, and just played their hearts out all day long. Tonja helped me finish screwing in the sheet rock which was a great big help. Then finally at about 4:30 we headed home to clean up and go to Post-Thanksgiving Dinner at my mom and dads.

What a wonderful time we had. My mom got out the china and had all her grandma and mothers special crystal out for us to use. Then we all sat down for a perfect Thanksgiving dinner. The only thing that would have made it better would be if our whole family could have been there. But we laughed talked and chatted about the wonderful things that is going on in our lives right now. Bowdee is thankful for family, friends and wheels. Matia is thankful for horses, family and pie. Treg is thankful for family, friends, and dogs. Terry is thankful for a healthy family, friends, and great family. And I am thankful for my talented husband, my kids, and dreams.

Nov 25th - Today was a mom's tired day... I could have just slept in until 10 for some reason but I rolled out of bed and headed to the farm with my ever hard working husband. We went down to build somewhere to store alfalfa cubes that we are planning to get this week. They will stay good forever as long as they stay dry and since it is going to be about 1,000 we figured we better make sure they will be safe. We decided to use the wash stall since we won't be using that much in the near future.

Then we grabbed the poles, chairs and fishing bait. Came home rounded up the kids and off we went to Strawberry for a little relaxation. It proved to be just that the fishing was so slow that we only got one bite and no fish which means a lot of relaxing time. The views were gorgeous and I ended up taking a nap in the car because it was so cold outside. We came home and fell asleep to Harry Potter. It was a day that we needed a day to just doing about nothing.

Nov 12-18th Miss Holly Kay & Sawyer Brown w/ Girls

Nov 12 - Today was a great day and I say that because I felt like I accomplished alot! I woke up early primed the bathroom, got the kids to school, met with Condie Construction for our road to the farm house they are working on, found Terry's boots in our mess of unorganized boxes, fed the animals, came back to the house painted bathroom ceiling, visited a horse farm w/ mom and dad to get some advice, took Terry his boots so he could go hunting, went to IFA, picked up kids, painted bathroom walls, made dinner, and watched Terry hook up the bathroom toilet and sink! I love days like that! I am sure I will sleep well tonight!

Nov 13 - OOPS! So right after preschool I sat down at the computer to update the preschool blog. I had a sudden urge to just check out the livestock and pets on ksl but resisted that urge for about 3 seconds. When all of a sudden I don't know how but it was up on my screen and just 5 minutes before was posted a Beautiful White Well Broke Mare. I clicked on it because the price was not listed and read the ad, this is what it said...

"Mystery has been used for English and Western lessons at a riding school, but we are cutting back on horses and she needs a new home. She is a 22 year old papered grey Quarter Horse. She loves trail rides and would be great for anyone on the trail even as a confidence builder or first time horse. She loads great and is easy to work with. She is calm and cool, crosses water, follows, leads, or stays in the middle. She has done a little of everything. She has no bad habits and is an easy keeper. She gets along well with other horses. She has no special requirements and travels well barefoot. She is up to date on all shots, worming, teeth, and hoof care. Easy to work around an has been used for beginning riders.Very sweet horse, She is on the smaller side at about 15 hands. Give me a call for more information." Here is the clincher "FREE TO GOOD HOME"

After reading that and knowing that we would be able to give sweet Mystery a GREAT home how could I not "Just Call". Well that call turned into an appointment to immediately "Just go look at her". All the way there I told my mom and dad "Ok if she is not just absolutely perfect we are not saying we will take her" They agreed and when it came down to it we all agreed we just couldn't feel good about ourselves if we didn't take her so we told Summer yes we would love to give her a home!

Now the tricky part was telling Terry who had just very firmly told me just 2 days ago when Bowdee's "Little Lady" goat died that we were not to get any live animals until we were living at the farm. But Terry took it like a man. I told him I had fallen in love and he asked "what kind of horse is it and how much did it cost me?" Then I told him all about it then added at the end that if he didn't want to keep it for our family that was ok because my dad wanted to keep her if we didn't. So there you have it he told me how lucky I was that it was for the right price and she was so pretty. But his one stipulation was that we were NOT going to wait until Christmas like I had planned. We were going to give her to the kids right away.

Nov 14th - This was the day to go pick up our horse. I was so excited I could barely sleep the night before. I got up and got my chores done and then went down to the farm and started putting up Christmas Trees with lights on them and decorating her stall. Then Mom, Dad and I drove to Provo to pick up our horse. She loaded in the trailer perfectly and they gave us her papers and instructions and away we went. We stopped by all a dollar for some ribbon and decorations.

Went back to the farm and brushed her and put ribbons in her mane and tail with a holly wreath wrapped around her neck and a big red bow on her chest with a jingle bell. She was so pretty luckily Terry came home just at the right time. Picked up the kids and brought them down to the farm. They walked in the barn, right after giving grandpa and grandma big hugs they all rushed over to see what the Christmas lights were about. Matia was first with the biggest smile on her face that I have ever seen asking "and who is this?"

We saddled her up and took her in the arena. Matia was the first to ride her. She asked if she could lope her and I asked her just to walk her for now. Then Bowdee took a turn he didn't seem like he enjoyed it too much. Then Treg and he was alright with it but would rather me lead her then him just ride her. Of course Matia just had to ride her again and this time she took her into a trot. Mystery wanted to go faster but she kept her at a trot. When I asked what they wanted to name her they all agreed with Matia that Holly was a perfect name. So I added the Miss and Kay to make Miss Holly Kay since her paper name is Miss Boston Kay. And that was our magical night! Thanks Terry, Mom, Dad and Summer for making this all possible.

Nov 15th - Tonight I went to see the new Breaking Dawn part 2 movie with Ang and Tonya my sweet friends. We first went for ice cream and then to the movie. The movie was good although there was a little twist in there that really surprised all of us. But most of all it was just fun to get out and mingle with some fun ladies and relax during the movie. I sure hope these girls know how much I enjoy their friendship.

Nov 16th - Today is a day I have been waiting for since May when I bought 5 tickets to Sawyer Brown. I was so excited to go watch a SUPER GREAT concert with Tonja, Holly, Kami and Emilee. However, Kami and Emilee were not able to go so it was just Tonja, Holly and I. We of course had a great time and it has been since July that I have seen them so it was nice to catch up on each others lives. Sawyer Brown was simply perfect and it was a great concert. After the concert we went dancing at the Rainbow which you know how I feel about dancing!

Nov 17th - We only had one night at the hotel so we woke up went and gambled our free money at the Red Garter came out $30.00 richer and drove back to Tonja's house to spend just one more night. We went shopping and out to eat and then we just decided to get a RedBox and chill to a movie. This is always nice for me because I have been so busy lately that it was nice to just slow down for a bit. Like Tonja has on her wall, "Sit Long, Talk Much and Laugh often!" That is alot of what we do when we are together. Love you girls!

Nov 18th - While I was gone on my weekend away Terry and the kids have been working their guts out on the farm. They got the pantry framed, fencing moved to back yard, and Bowdee's closet cut out. Terry and I are really going to try hard to bust our butts this next week and get as much as we can done while he has time off for Thanksgiving. So that just maybe we might be close by Christmas. We would really like to be able to move in by then, although I am afraid it just won't happen. Thanks for all the work you did while I was playing, I love you babe!