It's A Wonderful Life

In the last couple of weeks Hyrum spends his whole day playing.  I mean really playing.  When we got him he had no idea what to do with a car, block or ball. We tried to teach him to race the cars across the floor but couldn't get why. He wouldn't throw a ball or play catch. He had no idea how to play pretend. He now goes to the play room and gets out the cars and will play with 20 at a time.  He puts the Lego guys in them and pushes them around the house.  He can't do this alone though so he has to have a playmate.  During the day it's always Bria.  He needs her so that while he is playing cars he has someone to pretend with.  They love to play dinner!! I think I feed the doll 5 times a day. Hyrum is also obsessed with food. For the first couple of months I allowed him to eat whenever he wanted but I soon discovered that all he would do is snack and not eat his meals anymore. I decided that I would limit when he ate.  He seemed to do fine with ...

We got new chicks. We have had chickens for about 6 years now. We have laying hens and have done meat chickens as well. This year our chickens slowed down in production so much that we gave them away while we were in China so the kids didn't have to worry about it and we wouldn't have to take care of them in the ice and snow. This would have been the winter to have good layers. It was so warm that the production would have stayed up. We ordered chicks off of the internet and they were shipped via US Postal Service. It is so weird to get chicken in a box. You really can get anything on the internet. We ordered the chicks on a Friday and scheduled for them to be delivered on the next Friday. Wednesday morning we got a call from the post office.  Our chick were in.  We hadn't done anything to get ready for them.  The kids washed out the feeders and pulled out the playpen we keep chicks in while I went to the post office.  I dropped the chicks off with strict instructi...

Monday we went back to Shriners to get another cast for Bria. We had to be there by 7:30am.  That means we picked the kids up out of bed, put them in the car and left by 6:50am. Hyrum was so excited to go. He has no idea what it really means for Bria and she wasn't quite as excited but had no problem. We went right in and they cut her cast off.  We were able to wash her up and get the dead skin off in hopes that she won't itch. She didn't want to get out of the water even though it was just a wash cloth and a faucet.  She loves water and can't go near it for now. We had the same doctor as we had for the first cast, overseeing an intern. The doctor shaped the plaster cast on the foot then she turned wrapping over to the intern.  I stood there and watched this guy getting more and more frustrated at his inability to wrap a cast. the doctor had to intervene a few times and tell him things like "leave some room at the top so it doesn't rub her raw". He had n...

Today we took some time to have fun.  We went down to Thanksgiving Point and toured Holdman Studios.  It was so cool! We got to watch as they made a bowl and then toured the whole shop. The kids sat and watched intently. I was happy to see that all but one of the kids sat still without being asked and no one touched a thing. A  glass shop is not the safest place to take 11 kids from the ages of 3 to 18. There were platters all over the walls and even a Christmas tree made of glass.  We were then taken to the back room where they make stained glass.  We were blown away at what they have going. If any of you live in the area or come to Salt Lake to visit this is a must see. Sorry I don't have pictures but you can see some of their stuff if you search eBay.  I loved that they also sell seconds for just $60 compared to the $350 a plate. Holdman Studios also does classes.  They have a Friday night class that goes 5 weeks and they teach you ...

Here is my great banana bread recipe. I got this out of a bread cookbook about 10 years ago.  I have loved this book but haven't made very many things out of it. It is considered my luxury cookbook. The author traveled the world in search of good bread recipes. He came up with a 735 page cookbook. This recipe came from the islands of Hawaii. There was a women in a restaurant that is well known for this banana bread.  There are some tricks to making this so take note. We condensed the instructions to fit in our family book so I will give you the condensed version.   Banana Bread Ingredients: 6 T  Butter at room temperature 1/3 cp Sugar 2 Eggs, room temperature 1 ½ cp Mashed bananas 1 ½ cp All purpose flour 1 tsp Baking soda ½ tsp Baking powder ¼ tsp Each: salt, and vanilla extract 1 cp Coarsely broken macadamia nuts ½ cp Shredded coconut Mini chocolate chips ...

It never seems like we have much out of the ordinary happening at our house.  I talked with Ressa on Wednesday and she asked what was new.  I said nothing?.?. Well I was wrong. I couldn't figure out why I would have forgotten to tell her about Bria, then I realized I just take it all in stride because there is so much coming at me at once.  That is just my life and it makes every day a new adventure. Bria had another appointment at Shriner's on Monday. I didn't know what to expect because we have had to take each appointment one at a time.  We would discover something new or have another question about her foot so we couldn't start casting until all questions were cleared up. I figured we would just go for a consultation and hopefully get a solid direction to go in to fix her club foot.  We came out of our appointment an hour later with a full cast on her foot and leg.  Shriner's is so amazing! The cast slowly mov...

I was at the store that can not be named (it's about as evil as Voldemort). No, I really just don't like their business practices so I try to stay away from them. I happened to need something and didn't have much time so the closest store had to do and there I stood.  In the entrance they had bananas for .30/pound. That is a great price so I decided to get some from bread and Banana milk. Pierce and I loaded our cart with several bunches.  I thought I'd better get a few more because the kids will eat a lot if I bought them. So we loaded more bananas.  I began to wish they had boxes so I could have just gotten a box. My cart ended up more than half full of bananas.  It was just a little embarrassing.  I don't know why it bothered me.  I haven't had a problem being embarrassed when I buy 15 cases of strawberries, what's the difference? I figured I had taken my share and walked away knowing I would wish I had bought more. On our way to get anothe...

We are seeing constant growth in Bria and Hyrum. Two weeks ago I was giving Hyrum and Bria a bath when I started wondering again if she would rather be in China.  I decided to ask her. "Do you want to go to China ?" Bria "Bria no China, Bria home.  Mama China" Bria fully understood what she was saying. Another day she was telling me "Mama find me. China, mama get me." We talked a little about her being in China and how she waited for us. All the prayes I said that the children would be prepared and be accompanied by the angels were heard. The were prepared for us to come and Bria knows that we were looking for her.  I wonder if she knows how long we looked for her? I wrote this back in January but forgot to post it.  We haven't had much more talk like this but Bria knows she is home even though she still struggles letting us in her heart.  It will come in time. Hyrum is opening up so much.  He is very clingy at times and gives many hugs...