It had been a long time since we went on a bike ride but alas I felt Crate was big enough to sit in the bike trailer. So we headed off, Buster on his bike, Boss on his bike and me on mine pulling the trailer with the baby. 1/2 mile into it Bossman's chain breaks on his bike. This is like the 102nd time it's broken...I should have learned to fix it by now but I always just pass on the repair to the father. Not wanting to hear Boss complain the whole time about walking home, I put him in the trailer with Crate and figured out a way to hook his bike on to the trailer and off we go. I'm sure we looked like a fatherless family of bums peddling down the road with a bike strapped on top of a already very worn trailer but we had fun nonetheless and completed 3 miles. I was very proud of Buster for not complaining during the ride. I think he's growing up and learning to take it like a man.

Boss got to have a friend over today and they had a blast playing together as usual. I babysat today and the little boy was perfect...just played with the other little boys. After school Buster worked more on tying his shoes, he's determined to be become really fast at it, then he read two books to Boss and I. He's really shy about reading so we're working on building his confidence. Last night for family home evening we had a lesson on setting goals and these are the goals the boys came up with.

Buster:
1. Read every day
2. Tie my shoes
3. Be careful with Crate-the-great
4. Say my prayers each morning and night
5. Practice my testimony

Boss:
1. Listen and be obedient
2. Be careful with Crate
3. Pick up all my army men with out being asked
4. Say my prayers
5. Write my name

Our family goals:
1. Read scriptures every single day as a family
2. Invite a neighbor over for dinner
3. Invite someone who is poor over for food (this was Busters idea)
4. Exercise together as a family
5. Go on a family vacation

I was impressed with the boys goals as they each came up with them totally on their own. Also, Buster mentioned we could pick up a poor person down by the freeway, sadly we regularly see someone begging and now he wants to open our home to them...we'll work on this one.

In other news, this little guy...

is so much fun. He's starting to coo and goo all the time. He's becoming such a happy baby.
This was his Christmas suit for church, he looked so handsome.

it was actually a productive day. most the chores got done, kids were happy and i even took a shower before 5pm (i had to shower, it had been 12 days since I last washed my hair...it was even making me sick...i'll leave spouses comments out) and made dinner to top the night off. it was a long yet successful day.

Buster got new shoes for Christmas, they are his first pair of "tie" shoes so he's never learned how to tie a knot. today at school his shoe came untied and it sounds like he was quite embarrassed when his friend had to tie it for him. Needless to say after several minutes of working with him and only a few tears he can now tie his own shoes. this is so good for him, it really helps his self-esteem when he learns something new. i'm really pleased with him sticking to learning this and not giving up quickly. it was a good afternoon for both of us.

i've been thinking a lot about my role as a mother and what being a "stay-at-home mom" means to the rest of the world. my goal this week is to write my thoughts on this topic. i've found some really amazing statements regarding the importance of my calling as a mother. i hope one day to earn the respect of others who see this stay-at-home role as unproductive or unimportant. that's all i'll say on this for the moment.

today must be a productive day around the house. seven loads of laundry to be washed and folded. three nasty bathrooms that need to be cleaned. lots of tile to be mopped. pantry that needs to be cleaned out. wood that needs to be dusted. bedding that needs washing and kids that need to be taken care of. i'll have to bring my A-game today. i'm praying i'll be blessed with energy.

the first Sunday of the year. always so exciting to find out the new teachers and new classes. I can't believe the boss is now a sunbeam, i pray for his teacher. i asked him if he as excited to go to sunbeams instead of nursery and his response was "well, no cause they don't have snacks." he was sure excited after class today because his teacher brought gold fish to eat. buster was excited for his new class also, although he had a substitute teacher today he's excited to find out who his new teacher will be. i got recalled as the young women's president today since is the first day in our new ward. i'm excited but i will sure miss the young women who stayed in the old ward. no changes for brando-commando, still a stake high councilmen. it was bliss having an afternoon with no meetings. i even got in a 30 minute nap, i was hoping to sleep longer but crate-the-great wasn't in the mood for sleep. buster starts school tomorrow after the long break and boss is already crying about not having his brother around. this week is gonna be a long week with lots of tears. i'm gearing up my patience.

today was a family day...all day.

Brando-commando had a client in town that he was supposed to be busy with all day but as of yesterday the client had to cancel so spouse suggested a little family get-a-way. I LOVE get-a-ways!

we decided to head up to Flagstaff and play in the snow. our goal was to leave at 9:30am and we pulled out at 9:34am four minutes past schedule, not bad.

we get a whopping three miles from home when all of the sudden the Phoenix Po Po are riding our tail, sirens in all. Great. We get pulled over because I forgot to renew the tags on the van. Cool cop, no ticket and luckily he didn't see the warrant for my arrest on his screen. This little stint was followed by many, many questions about what happens when one gets pulled over, what happens when one gets arrested, what happens when the Po Po uses their guns...you know all the usual questions by two inquisitive little boys.

rest of the 2.5 hr drive no problems. except for the fact that Bosman must have asked 127 times "when are we gonna be there?" followed by "are we there yet?" I answered no and not yet while reading my Going Rogue book and spouse listened to his headphones.

the weather? perfect. Brando-commando and I wore only t-shirts and pants no jackets, kids wore light jackets. the sun was out, no wind. it was a perfect day, no frigid temps.

the sledding was awesome! i'm not sure who had more fun...me or the kids. going down the hills i felt like a five year old. it was great.

the boys had a snow ball fight. they built a "snow fort" and sled down hills about 217 times.

no traffic heading up and minimal traffic coming home. on the way home the sun was starting to set over the mountains to the west of the highway. as i watched it go down i couldn't help but to think of what tomorrow holds for so many in the world. what babies would be born, who would get married, who would find a long lost friend. then i thought about those who would find out tomorrow would be the worst day of their lives. those that would loose a spouse or child to death, those that would loose a job, a career, those that would be diagnosed with cancer or have a tragic accident. for those people i said a silent prayer. my thoughts went back again to the sun. the constant rising and setting of the same sun. it was a good reminder that God is constant. despite the joys and sorrows of this mortal life, we are blessed with reminders that God has not deserted us nor will he. as the sun shines so will our prayers be answered, in one way or another. i must ever be grateful for each sunset because that means it's almost the start of a new day or a day to make anew. make amends. make better. a new day to heal from tragedy. to become stronger. if nothing else, each sunrise and sunset is one more day on this earth with my family. the desert looked picturesque with the sun setting, it was hope for a new tomorrow for so many across this earth.

then we got home and it was time for saturday night baths...for tomorrow is church, early and pops will not be around to help out. it should be interesting but i'm excited for early church it's been a long time.

all-in-all a successful day spent as a family.

tomorrow i plan to post the pictures

2010

one goal for 2010: write in blog...every.single.day.

If this is my journal that is my goal...every.single.day.

today we enjoyed family time at the park.
ran errands as a family.
i went running with the baby. it's a lot harder running with a stroller.
said goodbye to cousin cap after him staying with us for five days.
4 boys + 5 days ='s chaos. fun chaos though. it really wasn't bad.
now it's bedtime.