Puppies!

Josh and the kids can hardly stand to be without a dog.

I don't mind so much.

But I am outvoted.

So, Josh has been watching KSL for ads for puppies. He found one set he was particularly interested in and called. They are a lab/heeler mix. The puppies were to be ready to take home mid June.

That was the plan.

Then their mother stopped feeding them and we got a call to come and pick them up.

I wasn't ready for puppies yet. I just finished potty training Logan, I was still gearing up to start again. Oh well, they are very loved and will (please oh please oh please) be a good addition to our household.

Should be another exciting adventure!

(Charlie sleeping)

(Piper sleeping with Josh)

(Piper and Charlie)

(Gavin and Charlie)

A Yin and Yang Weekend

It has been an eventful few days, for both good and bad.

I guess that is really the way life is in general, full of so many moments that shape us and build us into the people that we become.

Sometimes those moments are so sweet we can hardly stand it. Like we might burst from the purity and beauty of the life around us. Other times we wish we could just close our eyes and let them pass by without really touching us, but that is not the way of things. We need every moment we have.

On Thursday, Aubrey got to perform with the school chorus. They had worked on the songs for a while and even though she was off track, she was thrilled to perform with the group. I love being able to see my kids get involved in things. They are amazing little people.

Thursday evening, our canine companion of six years experienced a grand mal seizure. I am not going to go in to that much (reference my last post if you are interested).

We took him to the vet the next day and were told that there was really nothing that could be done. So, Josh and I sat quietly in the office with our dog for the last time. Moka was calm, almost serene (completely out of character for this dog). He just seemed happy to be with us. We got to be beside him as he peacefully passed from this life to the next. We cried a lot, enough crying to remember six years of smiles and aggravation and joy.

We were able to bury our dog on Josh's parent's property. We will miss him. This has been very hard, but we have been surrounded by good and kind people who have helped make it go as smoothly as possible, and we are grateful for that. Finally, Saturday was Josh's youngest brother's wedding. It was a wonderful event and we are so excited for Chris and Tricia. We were humbled to be able to attend their sealing in the Salt Lake temple and had the amazing blessing of watching Chris and Tricia be sealed by the same sweet man that sealed Josh and I almost eleven years ago. It was a good time for us to be reminded of the eternal nature of life and family.

For the family pictures, all the boys were sporting lime green ties, the girls wore dresses to match. They all looked adorable.

We tried to capture the magic of that cuteness at home, but they must have needed all the magic for the reception pictures because things didn't turn out so well here. Oh well.

Still cute though, you get the idea.

I am sometimes grateful for those raw and painful moments in our life because they open up a spectrum of feeling that we sometimes forget about. It is never fun, but that acute, biting sting also reminds us that sometimes there are aches that cannot be cured without the soothing hug of our big brother, Jesus Christ, and His loving and eternal perspective.

No matter what else, those sweet and sour pieces of life are what really make us.

And aren't we glad to be made.

Moka

Last night I sat with our dog while he had a seizure.

.

It was miserable.

.

We had let him out of his kennel to play with us in the back yard. He started walking awkwardly. I recognized this immediately and screamed for Josh (who was inside doing the dishes). Moka fell over, his muscles all tensing, and started to convulse. I yelled at the kids to go inside "RIGHT NOW!!!" They were all crying as they pattered into the house, and their tear streaked faces bundled into the kitchen window watching us.

Josh gently cradled his dog's head and I sat by his side stroking him and talking to him. We sat with him as his body jerked and twitched and his mouth foamed. It was painful to watch. Josh was calm and in control, but I felt panicked. Josh has always been Moka's favorite playmate, but to our dog, I am the boss. Deep down, I think he loves me best, even though I get much more aggravated with him than Josh does.

(This is a much happier video of our pup)

Over the six years that we have had our dog, he has been a bitter sweet blessing to our family. He is a very tidy dog, so he only poops in one distant corner of the yard. That has been really nice (we don't have to dodge doggy presents when we play in the backyard).

He is AMAZING with the kids. They can torment and annoy him and he just takes it. I have never seen him so much as growl at a person. In fact, the only time I have ever heard him growl was when another dog tried to bite me and he barreled into her to protect me.

However, he has had his bothersome side too. This dog has ADHD, I swear, it's true. He cannot hold still. He has ruined more yard and house items than I like to admit. He chewed through a shed door, scratched through two window screens, ate a hole in the wall (that was the day he became an essentially outdoor dog except to sleep), and there had been many other casualties of his excessive energy (not just when he was a puppy mind you, although bit by bit he has calmed some over the years...but you wouldn't realize that if you hadn't seen him as a puppy, he is still uber hyper). I got so frustrated with him when he chewed through the seat of our canopied porch swing that I literally spanked him with a wooden spoon (how pathetic is that).

Still, when a creature is attached to your family for six years you grow to love him anyway.

As Moka started to come back to himself last night he could barely walk at first. He was disoriented and slobbery and stumbled around like he was drunk. I remembered that I had seen this part before. He had these exact same symptoms a little over a month ago when I had frantically called Josh in tears because I knew there was something very wrong, but I had not idea what (I hadn't seen him seize, just the after effects). By the time Josh got home, Moka was fine. The vet could find no problem that day, but now we know.

I don't know yet what will happen. I know that as much as we care for our dog, he is not a person and we do not have the big funds for any major treatments.

I know that he has been diagnosed with testicular cancer already which we cannot treat because it costs many hundreds of dollars just to remove the lump, not to mention everything else (we have been assured he is not in pain from this or we would not have been so selfish as to let him continue to suffer).

Mostly, I know that I have a house full of little sprites who are very distraught because we had to tell them Moka may not live. Aubrey prayed last night that Heavenly Father will send someone to Heaven to throw a Frisbee for Moka when he gets there (his favorite pass time). Parker asked if we could hang his collar in our shed so we could jingle the tags for good luck when we miss him.

Mostly, my heart just hurts.

We'll see what happens.

As frustrated and angry as I sometimes get with this mutt, he has managed to wriggle into our hearts and to become a part of our family.

After all is said and done, we love you, Mutley.

Our New Boarders ...(but they don't pay rent)

Last week we noticed a bird's nest nestled in the crook of our aspen tree. We watched it for days to see if anyone was living in it, and never saw any evidence that it was spoken for. The kids wanted to take it down so they could take it to school and show it off, and it seemed abandoned so we set a date and said if there was no occupant by Monday we would allow the educational use of the nest.
So, Monday, I picked Parker up from school and he rushed to the nest to help me take it down, only to find a Momma robin staring at him, nestled contentedly inside.

(You can see her annoyed look as she glares at us from her vantage point...after all who wants to be pestered when they are expecting).

He was disappointed, a little, but we called out the other kids and admired her from a distance. The kids named her "Ruby" (because of her red chest...it was a big discussion whether to name her Ruby or Jennifer...I shot "Robin" down as dull from the start and also said no to "Melissa"...I do not need birds wandering around with my name). Our children are in love with her. We used the camera to peek inside her nest when she was out one time and found she has two shiny turquoise eggs. We are loving our new neighbor.

We also have a sparrow family that is nesting in our rain gutter. That can't be pleasant with all the rain that has gone on, but they seem happy so oh well. Oh, the magic of spring.

Our garden is growing, our flowers are poking their little heads out and getting ready to blossom, and our kids are enjoying the wonders of outside.

I love this time of year.

Once upon a weekend....

It came to my attention this weekend that although we have 5,841,287 lego pieces, we only had two lego people (I know this because the boys have been fighting over those two guys all weekend long).

On further investigation,

I found that someone (probably the two year old) has

been pulling the hands, arms, heads etc off all the guys and depositing the minuscule pieces

back into the box of legos.

.

MOM TO THE RESCUE!!!!

I decided to find all the lego people pieces and put them back together.

How hard could that be?

sooooooooo

three and a half hours later

after two episodes of "Say Yes to the Dress"
and one ULTRA lame movie (but it had Mathew Mcconaughey so I suffered through)

I had a pile of arms and hands and heads and an intense hatred of tiny lego parts.

However, mission accomplished because I found enough bits to piece together 15 lego guys.

I hope the boys take care of them because I am

NEVER NEVER

doing that again.....

I think.

.

.

On a much less tedious note

(ok, ok, I am actually really grateful for a massive pile of legos, they are wonderful for the kid's creativity and my boys spend hours building awesome things with them)

we got a new (to us) couch this weekend.

I feel very grateful.

We have kind of needed a new couch for a while

(our previous living room couch I inherited by doing some work at a church that was going to be remodeled in our last ward...eight years ago...the old couch had been the church foyer couch, not the prettiest, but free and we needed it so it was a huge blessing). Our old couch was pretty worn...who wouldn't be after eight years of children on top of who knows how many years of dedicated service in a church foyer.

Last Friday, a friend posted on facebook that she was taking her couch to DI unless anyone wanted it.

I jumped on that (does that make me greedy, what if someone else didn't have a couch at all...too late now I guess)

It is flowery (not my favorite) but MUCH less ugly than our last couch.

Beggars can't be choosers.

It is SUPER soft and comfortable,

and we love it.

I am grateful for a Heavenly Father who knows our needs

AND

our wants and lets us be blessed by the incredible people around us.

It is nice to remember how much God loves us, after all we are his kids, and he wants us to be happy. We really do have a great family.

Call the WAAAAAHbulence!

I hate being sick.
Ok, who doesn't. I guess that is sort of a stupid thing to say (this is where my kids all chime in "we don't say stupid").
We have had some sort of nasty bug floating around our house this week. Parker started it on Friday by throwing up twice (but he did it at Grandma and Grandpa's house while we were at the temple...see the blessings of temple attendance...just kidding).
He was fine the next day.
Bryce threw up all night Sunday. Poor guy.
He was fine the next day.
Josh came home from work with it on Wednesday.
He is much better today.

How is this fair.
I started feeling rotten on Sunday night. I couldn't eat all day Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday I spent throwing up most of what I did manage to eat. I haven't puked this much since I was pregnant (which is not the case now!!!!!)
Finally today I am feeling much better.

For everyone else it is a 24 hour illness. For me it drags on and on and on and on...(you get the picture).

No fair.
You don't get to take a day off from being a mom.
You still have to change diapers and feed children and clean messes and make meals and whatever whatever whatever else.

I guess I do get whiny.
But only when I'm sick.
...
...
...
...

Ok, that isn't true.

Thankfully, I am feeling much better now...and Ellie hasn't gotten it (ah, the powers of breastfeeding...thank you antibodies).

I really hope no one else gets this.
It is icky.

Mother's Day

Happy Belated Mother's Day everyone!

Hope it was a wonderful day for all of you mothers out there.

It was a crazy weekend here at our house.

My mother's day present was having my shed painted. It has needed to be done for a reeeeeeealy long time.

I started it once upon a time when I was pregnant...however after two hours of painting in the hot sun I hadn't quite finished one side, so I decided that was enough.

Thankfully, this weekend, my family all volunteered to come and help.

We had the whole thing done in less than an hour and I was super grateful. It is awesome to have a family that is so willing to help.

Then, on Sunday, I got to speak in church.

Not my idea of a fabulous way to spend the morning.

However, it's not like speaking on mother's day is any worse than speaking any other time (at least to me) so I guess that is just how it goes.

Someone had to do it.

Thankfully, it is over. Hooray!

We drove to Ogden and then back to West Valley to visit our moms and ended the day by talking to my brother, Joel, who is currently serving a mission in California.

Overall, it was a good day.

We were even blessed with really delicious cookies that evening from someone we love (they really hit the spot).

(Joel is the second from the left)

We got home from my parent's house and Bryce started throwing up.

Happy Mother's Day!

He continued to throw up all night long...but Josh, being the awesome guy that he is, got up with Bryce over and over so that I could try to sleep. I was really grateful.

Sadly, that meant that I wasn't able to attend Parker's Wheeler Farm school field trip today and I was disappointed about that (Parker didn't care at all), this is the first Wheeler Farm trip I have missed with our kids. Oh well, c'est la vie!

Overall, it was a fabulous day spent with the people I love most and that was a great blessing.

Boy Day

Twice a year we celebrate "Boy Day." These are the days that Josh really gets to be the boss as the house and have things done the way he wants them, instead of the way we normally do them(that sentence is a grammatical mess...oh well). On these days we break all the rules and Josh gets to be pampered and have no honey-do's for an entire day.

One of these is Father's Day.

The other is today.

Josh's Birthday!

So, I want to take a moment to thank this amazing man for being my best friend, my partner in crime, and my biggest fan...not to mention one handsome guy. I am so blessed to be able to spend my life with him. I cannot imagine a better husband. He ALWAYS puts my needs and desires before his own.

He is an incredible father.

My kids are very blessed.

They have a dad that takes days off of work to spend time in their schools. He wrestles with them, even when he is tired and all he wants to do is sleep. He works on science projects and cub scout requirements. He is the kind of father that every child deserves, the kind of father that cannot help but make his children's lives better.

. He is also a lot of fun.

He is not afraid to do silly things and let us all laugh at him...I mean with him.

.On top of all of that, he is a Christlike example.

He is kind and loving to everyone, whether he likes them or not.

I have learned more about love and tenderness thanks to this man than I thought possible. He understands the gospel and is ready to share it at any opportunity. His testimony is just a part of who he is and comes out whenever it has a chance.

I could not be more grateful for this amazing man who has put up with me all these years. He takes my practical jokes with a smile (even if he does roll his eyes at me). He listens when I whine, and helps me feel better. He knows when to leave me alone and let me be, he knows when I need him to just quietly sit by me and not say anything, and he knows when to softly help me see the error of my ways.

On top of it all, he is a super kisser too.

Thank you, Josh, for making my life worth living.
I am very grateful for the day that you were born.

My life would not be right without you.
Happy Birthday, Tough Guy!!

Homemade Weekend

Some fabulous projects have taken place in our home this weekend. It had been oodles of fun.

I spent a day in Josh's classroom last week helping some teenagers make greeting cards to donate to Ronald McDonald house (for parents/friends to send to their kids in the hospital).

I came home with lots of leftover bits of paper and the kids have taken to making bookmarks out of them.

This is one that our four year old made, he was pretty proud of it.

I think he did a fabulous job.

Next, our boys love oatmeal. We buy a lot of instant oatmeal.

This week I realized I have a bunch of #10 cans of quick oats in the basement as part of our food storage and wondered if I could figure out how to put together my own packets of instant oatmeal.

Thankfully, I wasn't the first person to come up with this idea so loads of smarter-than-me people already had recipes and ideas on the web.

So, the kids and I spent an afternoon putting together packets of our very own, DeMoux family cinnamon and brown sugar oatmeal.

We got 25 packets (each one is double the size of one Quaker packet because one is never enough for my boys...even the two year old) out of the one can.

That was a great project.

(**Sad Update--No one will actually eat the oatmeal packs we made except Ellie...

The boys say the texture is wrong.

It looks great in our cupboard, maybe I can convince the kids that it is fine if I keep at it. We'll see)

Finally, Parker informed me that birds have been eating all of the seeds that we recently planted in our garden (they haven't really, but he is concerned). He told me the solution is that we needed a scarecrow.

So, we decided to make one.

Parker designed his face and everyone else helped stuff him and put him together.

We stationed him in the garden where he does, indeed, keep all the birds away.

Yippee!!!

(Josh walked past our kitchen window and glimpsed our little project and thought we actually had a kid in our garden...we all got to chuckle at Dad for a minute).

He may not be pretty, but he does his job (the scarecrow, not Josh...well Josh does his job too...oh, you get the idea).