Torture, Hiking, and Peeing in the Tub

(I started writing this last night...) 
Well, we just finished eating dinner. "We" is a stretch, actually. I ate dinner, Rus is home teaching...the kids suffered through a horrible form of torture called "Sweet Potatoes and Meatloaf."
Okay, I totally understand that the word meatloaf sounds disgusting. But sweet potatoes? I even tried to make it more appealing by cutting the baked potatoes in half and sprinkling them with brown sugar, cinnamon and marshmallows. They still met with scathing reviews. Bekah collapsed on the floor crying at the sight of her plate. (Am. Not. Kidding.) After being threatened with her life she sat in front of her food and scowled at it for five minutes. Then she scraped off all of the brown sugar and marshmallows. ("Gross.") Then she tried a bite of the potato because she saw Beau take a bite and he didn't die.
"Yum!"
If she wasn't my daughter I'd think she was really funny.
If I was a mean person I'd give in to my natural instincts and swat her.
As it was I smoldered just a little bit didn't say anything at all.
Beau happily tried just the bites with marshmallows attached and Jacob scraped off all the marshmallows and ate them, but he totally redeemed himself by eating the meatloaf.
Seriously there is no hope for my children and good food.
Anywho...
Flashback to last weekend...

Rus and I took the kids on an adventure on Saturday to Cabezon Peak.  It was once a volcano; the peak has eroded to reveal that interesting-looking basalt column.

It was about an hour and a half drive from ABQ and the kids did really well on the drive. Bekah is great at sitting by Marianne and keeping her happy - what a change from when Bekah was a baby and Rus or I had to sit by her when she was mad/sad/tired. Rus was truly in his element driving down dirt roads and deciphering what I consider vague directions: south on 1114, second left past ghost town onto 259, left at the watering hole and right at the pile of sticks. (I'm exaggerating. Sort of.) Our van said it was 46 degrees outside and I was a little nervous that we would all freeze, Marianne especially. But I wrapped her up in my Moby and used my coat as a windbreak and all was well. Except for the muscles in my legs. Because I obviously haven't been asking enough of them lately, and that hike was a butt-kicker. Lots of up and lots of rocks. The kids did great, considering. Aww...look at this great family picture. Even Colonel is in it. The fifth child that lives outside most of the time.

And here's where I step in and grab Marianne because she looks slightly uncomfortable the way Bekah is holding her.

Love this view of the peak - the sky was so perfectly blue.

Rus brought along the gps and the kids had fun finding two geocaches. Rus would basically find the cache and then tell the kids where to look. They call it "treasure hunting." Luckily Jacob and Bekah each found one or I never would have heard the end of it.

Beautiful view from the mountain...

And on another note we decorated for Christmas a few nights ago. Doesn't Beau look like this little picture of Rus from when he was a kid?

Jacob looks like him, too, but I couldn't get him to take a picture with it.

The kids in front of the tree, Jakey looks slightly crazy here, maybe there was a bug on Beau's head:

Okay and this was so funny...the other night Jacob woke up and needed to pee. It was about ten pm when he walked out of his room (he had slept in his Santa hat), walked into the bathroom, climbed into the tub and peed. I took this pic as he was finishing his business. Rus was the one who saw him first and he whisper-yelled to me, "KERI! Come here now!!" AAH! So funny. And Jacob never woke up enough to realize what he was doing; the next morning we asked him about it and he was clueless.

Back to Halloween

 I realize that I'm behind and it's hard and slightly boring to go back in time...but I have these great pictures from Halloween and I want to include them...
For Halloween we invited Rus' brother and sister and all the kids to our house for dinner and trick-or-treating. I had gone to Jacob's class at school for a party earlier in the day and the kids had played a fun game, bobbing for powdered donuts. It was hilarious to see them try to catch the donuts and wind up with powdered sugar all over their faces, and Jakey and I decided to play it with all the cousins. Here are some pics of them trying to get their donuts:

 Ben needed some help; I love Beau just trying to get a lick of his...

 And here are my kids. Bekah as Mother Gothel, Beau the Army Guy, and Spidey Jakey. Earlier in the day Bekah was a cheerleader and Jacob was a ninja, but last minute they decided to change.

And here are all the cousins (just Marianne was missing)
Zaya, baby Spencer, Beau, Jacob, Libby, Bekah, Ben, Russel, and Emma. They were all so cute and so excited to get candy.

The end.
That wasn't too painful, was it? :)

Separate Vacations

You know that you and your husband have been married past that "honeymoon" phase when you wind up taking separate vacations. Rus drew out for deer and had been planning his trip to Lordsburg for months. I didn't want to be home alone for the weekend so I went to visit my sister Amy in Flagstaff. (Actually, she called me and said, "I came to visit you when Mikey was two months old. So when are you coming?")
I was actually hoping that Rus didn't get a deer because (a) I have no idea what to do with deer meat, and (b) we don't have any freezer space, and (c) I don't know if I actually like venison. But it turns out my man is a gifted hunter because he snagged this little fork horn deer the first morning he went out. He was slightly disappointed - he'd been planning on having more time bumming around the boonies. I could have attached the picture of the deer split open but I didn't really feel the need to save that for our posterity.

So once the deer was hanging out in the garage Rus and his parents went out taking pictures. Rus and his mom both have the same Canon Rebel XS and wanted to practice using it. I love this picture Rus snuck of his parents.

 I thought this one was pretty, too.

 Rus and farm implements...he loves them...

 And what did I do on my vacation? Amy and I were champion crafters considering all the kids we had to take care of (hers, mine, and several others that came over to play). We found these ideas on Pinterest (LOVE Pinterest!)

 This snowman just needs a scarf. Cute and simple.

I had a great time visiting her - we shared some good laughs, played scrabble, had homemade-pumpkin-from-an-actual-pumpkin-pie, hugged Marianne, watched underwater synchronized ninjas with Mike and then made him watch a show with overdramatic teenage gymnasts. Good times...
I also wanted to include a picture of some trees I came up with to use as centerpieces for a Relief Society dinner. They have a cardstock cone center and are made of rolled up, twisted newspapers that are spray painted gold and silver with glitter on top. They are standing on pedestal glasses. I thought they turned out awesome; Amy took one look and started laughing. She thought they just looked like rolled up newspapers. I made her keep one on her table all weekend until she finally admitted that it was slightly cute. What do you think? For a zero-dollar centerpiece (with the exception of the spray paint), I thought they turned out pretty cool.

Marianne's Blessing Dress

Since I missed taking a good picture of Marianne on Sunday, I thought I'd try tonight...and then when she pooped/peed through her clothes and blanket and onto Rus' lap and needed a bath, I thought, what better time?
She did not seem to agree. She was apparently not in the mood to work the camera. Our little shoot went something like this:

Sadness

Daddy helping to calm down...then a big burp and...

*eating makes me happy* (love those little balled up fists!)

Um, actually, still not wanting to work the camera

Wait a second! What is that flash? Maybe I'm not so mad...

And let the cuteness finally begin...

 

Your Blessing Day

Dear Marianne,
Yesterday was perfect. I mean it...from sun-up to way past sun-down - it was a glorious day. I woke up while you were still sleeping and realized that you had slept all night. Now that is a wonderful way to start a day! Maybe the bath with lotion the night before did the trick...We had waffles with special syrup (buttermilk, yum), for breakfast because blessing days are special days. Bekah, Jacob, and Beau all really appreciated this, as did Uncle Tom who loved all the food this weekend almost as much as he loved your sweet chubby cheeks. (Here you are with him right before he had to leave.)

 We were ready for church on time - no small thing considering its 8am starting time - and you were lotioned and dressed in your beautiful blessing dress no more than ten minutes before it was time to leave. And oh my did you look precious! It's a good thing your arms aren't any chubbier or the sleeves would have been too tight. I just love that you were able to wear the same dress that Bekah wore. Cutesy made that dress and to this day it still doesn't have buttons on the back, but we decided it was better that way - pins work just fine. You wore adorable slippers on your feet and a bonnet on your head. (Better picture to come later...)

We got to church in time to save two big rows and we were pleasantly surprised to find that all the family arrived on time too - no small feat for them. In attendance for your special day there were: G&Nana Payne, G&G Cutesy, Uncle Jacob, Aunt DeAnn, Zaya, Russel, Aunt Carla, Uncle Doug, Libby, Emma, Ben, Spencer, Aunt Emilee, Uncle Chip, Uncle Jared, Uncle Tom, Taffy, Jeremy, Hailey, Cody, Gavin, and Jason (of Jason & Joy). It was a big, fun crew. I got to sit up on the stand watching everything because I am the chorister, and it was just so fun to see Nana, Jared, Cutesy, and Emilee all take turns holding you. You were the second baby blessed and no less than 8 men were part of the circle. Daddy is pretty funny about blessing circles - he likes them small - but there were just so many people there for you that eight hands held you while Daddy gave the blessing. Uncle Tom said you had your eyes open the whole time and you were looking at your daddy while he talked. (Tom knows because his eyes were open.) You were blessed with some really special things: to know the love of your Heavenly Father; that you were valiant and strong in the pre-existence; blessed to share your love and spirit with those around you; blessed to be like your Grandma Hansen who you are named after who is also valiant and strong and raised her family in the gospel; blessed to marry in the temple and raise up your family and that your children would be leaders; blessed with a spirit of understanding and knowledge and that you would know right from wrong and make good choices...
Phew! That's a lot of stuff for a tiny two-month old, but I swear I see everyone of those attributes and possibilities when I look in your blue eyes. You are special, Bug.
After church it was all about the food! And the good company of course! We had pulled pork sandwiches, a salad with berries and poppy see dressing, and a million veggies because Granddad raided the grocery store the night before. Cutesy held you most of the time (she just can't get enough of you), until you were just so worn out from all the noise that you were finally able to sleep. I took a nap too and it was wonderful. Later on, during another nap of yours, Granddad, Tom, Daddy and I played scrabble and Granddad won by a hair - it was a really close game. That was his second win in as many nights and I'm afraid his ego is quite inflated now.
Somehow while I was making dinner, this happened...so funny!

You even got in on the action (but didn't like how the mustache tickled your nose):

When everything finally settled down last night I laid in bed and thought about the day, and my heart was overflowing with gratitude to my Heavenly Father for such a perfect day. Our family is so blessed to have so many people who love us! I am so grateful that you came into our family to make such an occasion possible!
 
Love you lots and lots,
your Momma