Pioneer Day

Bracken told his uncles about our Pioneer Day FHE last year, and they thought we’d better celebrate our own Pioneer Day. 

We sang pioneer songs and shared our favorite pioneer stories while we made cookies.  If it had been left to me we would have pulled around a cardboard box with a rope for our handcart, but Sarah made a great handcart out of a dolly and a laundry basket.  The little boys rounded up button up shirts, cowboy hats, bandanas and boots.  Sarah found skirts and bonnets for the girls.  When we left the house we almost had our own Pioneer Parade!

Then we went on a little trek to share cookies with some of their neighbors, where the kids explored their backyard and watched the farm animals. It was a fun afternoon! We have been having a great time in Richfield and I'm so glad Bracken and Chandra have been able to be around my family.  We miss Brian though and are SO excited to see him soon.

Manly Adventures

When I was a little girl, I'd go on "Daddy Daughter Dates." So when Bracken left on a special outing with Brian, I'd say, "have fun on your Daddy date!" I have now been corrected. Apparently, that is a very unmanly name for a guy outing. So Brian and Bracken have coined the term "Manly Adventure" for their not-Daddy-dates.

Bracken went bat researching with Brian again last night. He prepared by dressing himself in pajamas, blue rain boots, his super hero cape, and filling his Cat-in-the-Hat backpack with cookies, popcorn, books, and a dry erase board. He was so excited to go, and stayed outside and had Brian pull him on his little blue bike with a rope until it was time to go.

And here's an excerpt out of Bracken's journal from their last bat researching trip, just because I think it's cute:

"I went on a manly adventure with Daddy to do bat research. We went up a high mountain in the truck and I got to sit on his lap in the front seat on the dirt road. When we got to the main road I sat in my caarseat because sometimes a main road is pretty dangerous...

I saw lots of deer too. Not a hundred billion, just a little bit and some more. Probably only almost twenty-thousand deer...

I want to go bat researching with Dad again. We didn't see any bats though. Daddy said we were listening for them but I didn't hear any either."

Bike wreck and family.

I wrecked my bike a week and a half ago and ended up with a broken collar bone and a gash in the back of my head.  I’m really grateful it wasn’t worse and that no one else was hurt, but the injury has certainly been limiting.  After Glade and Shaylee’s wedding Brian had to go back to Cedar for work, but the kids and I stayed with my family for a few days so we could have the help we needed. 

Chandra loved my mom’s raspberries and would search for and eat raspberries for an hour at a time. Bracken had fun doing the chores with my little brothers, jumping on the trampoline and playing in the sandbox. Mom and Grandma made sure I was resting and that my kids had food and love. Thanks for all your help family!

Here are some portraits of my good looking siblings.  I took these under my parent's car port, the background is just the concrete floor.  I was super happy with how they turned out!

Putting a Light in Your Heart

A month or so ago, Bracken and I watched a movie on the church's website called "Pass it On," which highlighted kind things children did for each other, and made a light shine whenever the kind deed happened.  A few days later we read about Moses and Pharaoh, specifically about how Pharaoh had a hard heart.

Bracken started doing all sorts of cute things to help me out.  He'd say, "Mom, close your eyes!" and hurry and pick up the living room, then say, "Open them!" and want me to be super surprised.  He'd push a chair over to the sink and wash all the dishes, share a toy with Chandra, or put books back on the shelf, then say, "Did I put a light on in your heart?"

He came up to me one day and said, "Feel this." and had me put my hand over his heart.  "What am I feeling Bracken?"  "My heart. It's warm and soft.  Not hard like Pharaoh's."

It works both ways though.  One day I took one of the strawberries off his plate that he hadn't touched and cut it up and gave it to Chandra without asking. Tears welled up in his eyes, and his voice trembled as he said, "Mom, why did you take my strawberry?  You just took all the lights out of my heart."  I about started crying too and scooped him up in my arms and made amends.

I'm so grateful for such a kind little son who puts lights on in my heart everyday.

Bat Research and Family Camping Trip

What we've been up to...

We were outside playing one morning (yes in pj's at 11am) and Bracken disappeared.  When I said, "Bracken, where are you?!" I heard giggling and saw him pop out of the mailbox.  I had no idea he could fit in there, but he thought he was pretty hilarious.

These two are such good friends...they have so much fun playing together. 

Bracken loves playing under the pine trees by our house.  He was hunting bears with a "stun gun" stick when I took this picture. 

Logan Beenfield and Chandra.   

Grandpa and Grandma Ellingford gave Chandra a musical birthday card.  She absolutely loved it, and she and Bracken played with it for over an hour.  Chandra would giggle and beam everytime she opened the card and it started playing music.