Pig Weigh-In (June)

 It was pig weigh in to make sure the pigs were growing at a good pace & will be able to make weight by fair time (mid-August).

 So we made a chute with the straw.  And Emmalee climbed up to wait for the trailer to haul the pigs to the scale.

 And of course, Benjamin had to climb up with her. 

 Can you tell he is having fun?  (and don't you love the deceiving sunshine--but we are wearing our winter coats!) 

 The wind was pretty strong, and it was a bit chilly.  Hard to believe it's June 2nd. 

 Ben looking at the pigs basking in the sun (I guess they were trying to warm up).  We haven't had very many days of sunshine!

 Daddy makes a comfortable chair!

 Our pigs cooperate and get into the trailer without any problem (and so quickly I barely get a picture)!

 And they also got off to get weighed.

 Here's Callum's pig (Wilber)

 And we didn't have much of a problem getting them back into the trailer.

 And back into the pig pen at home.

 And the first thing they did was roll in the mud.

 Ah--nice!  

1 month ago Zane's pig=85 pounds.

June=150 pounds.  Only needs 60 pounds to make weight for fair.

1 month ago Callum's pig=135 pounds.

June=218 pounds.  His pig has made weight!  Now he's just growing for added money at the livestock sale.

My 300th Post!

I think it's fitting that my 300th post should be a milestone in our family's history.

Thursday, June 2nd, 2011, our eldest son, Ethan Edward Stewart, received his mission call to serve for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  

 Ethan was in Rexburg (at school), and Pamela was in Wyoming (Star Valley).  So Pamela picked Ethan up and drove to Dubois.

 Benjamin was happy to see Ethan!

 Guesses everyone!  We all wrote down where we thought he would go--or in my case:  4 guesses!

 Ethan took time to let Ben play with his iPod (or as Benjamin calls it--"my"Pod.  (Ethan really wasn't taking time out, he was just waiting for Grandma & Grandpa Stewart to come over & Grandma & Grandpa Carter to get to Aunt Laurie's house so we could Skype!)

 Ethan slowly,       slowly, 

 Slowly opened the envelop.

 I guess we waited this long--we can wait a little longer!

 And as he starts to read the letter, Callum sneaks behind him trying to read ahead.  Ethan quickly put a stop to that!

Dear Elder Stewart,

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  You are assigned to labor in the

 California Ventura Mission!

!

  He will be reporting to the MTC on Aug. 3rd.  Although it looks like Brienna is taking pictures, she is actually holding her iPod so my sister, Janna Lee, and her 3 kids back in Pennsylvania could see us (on Skype).

 Zane videoed it for us.

 And here is my dad, mom, and sister, Laurie.

 Here is the letter from our prophet, Pres. Thomas S. Monson.

 He was so excited--he is texting, talking on the phone, and had just turned from the computer after posting it on Facebook.

Almost all of my family heard it first hand, except for my sister, Sherrie.  She lives in Colorado, but was actually in Wyoming.  

My sister, Laurie, turned 50 on June 3rd and was having a fun birthday party.  As far as she knew, none of her sisters could make it to Wyoming for her celebration.  But my sister, Pamela, planned otherwise.  She helped us get to Wyoming!  She "kidnapped" me right after Ethan got his call, and after we dropped him back in Rexburg, we drove all the way to Lander, Wyoming!  Crazy us!

We told Sherrie she could have went to Laurie's and Skyped with everyone else, but she said she couldn't have kept the rest of the surprise a secret.  Laurie was adamant that we call Sherrie to let her know, so Dad said he would take care of it.  As soon as they got home, they "called" Sherrie & let her know!

Pamela and I talked the whole trip--and we arrived at my parents about 11:30 pm.

I guess it was the right time, because we saw hundreds of elk and bison, 2 moose, a fox, and probably a wolf (I didn't have Pamela turn around because I wasn't sure what it was).  I've never seen that many elk between Jackson and Togwotee Lodge!

May 25th--Emmalee's 6th Birthday

WARNING:  VERY LONG POST WITH LOTS OF PICTURES!

(I was hoping that I could finish posting this before midnight so it would actually have the date of her birthday at the top, but I was about 10 minutes too late.)  

Zane needed to bring brownies to school for their end-of-the-year barbecue.  He was going to make the brownies last night after Young Mens, but I know how long it takes him to make things--and then clean it all up.  And I didn't want him up for another hour and a half last night, so I told him I'd just make them this morning.

 So after I got them out to cool, I decided I'd better go take a quick shower.  I don't know what I was thinking (I guess I wasn't thinking), but I left the brownies within Benjamin's reach (which is almost everywhere he can climb or push a chair over to & climb).  And 6 minutes later (yes, I shower really quickly when Benjamin is roaming free), this is what I found.  Thankfully he was kind enough to just poke the one corner.  I was able to salvage most of it and cut 20 pieces for the bbq.  

After lunch I baked Emmalee's cake, but thankfully there were plenty of "big" people around to supervise the cooling time for that cake.  

I had the kids cleaning the house and getting the bedroom ready for Grandma & Grandpa.  Plus, they had to really clean their bathroom, since it is the one that Grandma & Grandpa would have to use.  We were almost done with the bathroom and I just needed to vacuum when my parents drove up.  So we all went out to give them hugs.  And then I ducked back inside and did a quick vacuum of the living room floor.  

 Benjamin had to show Grandpa all of his Toy Story toys.

 Brienna decorated the cake for Emmalee.  Without any decorating tips. (I have some but couldn't find them anywhere!)

 Emmalee is so happy with her cake!!! (She wanted a "doll" cake at first--where the cake is the skirt for the doll, but Aunt Pamela has that cake pan at her house.  So she said it would be okay to have that kind of cake some other time).

 For dinner she chose chili dogs.  And she got to sit at the "special" table with Grandma & Grandpa.

 After Rusty, Callum & I got back from pack meeting, Emmalee opened her presents & we ate cake & ice cream.

 She is wearing her tie-dyed shirt that she helped make in kindergarten.

 Benjamin was the helper--handing her the present.  And then carefully looking on.

 He was really good--he only tried to open one present!   This morning when I asked Emmalee if she felt any different since it was her birthday, she said, "I feel a lot older--like a 6 year old!"

 Grandpa and Grandma Stewart

 Grandpa and  Grandma Carter--and Zane

 Emmalee said she had a great birthday (and there's Ben carefully watching her open those presents).

 She loved the dress that Aunt Pamela got her.

 Emmalee thought it was funny that Grandpa Carter wanted to hold her birthday money--in his pocket!

 Shortly after that comment, she opened another card and as she passed the card to Grandpa Stewart (so he could read it), he snatched some of her money away.  She looked down at the money and realized that is was gone.

 And so she tried to get it from him.  You gotta be careful of those grandpas! He gave it back to her and also gave her some $ from them.  She was quite happy.

 I wonder what she wished for?

And this is how she decided to eat the cake--lovely!  Silly girl!

She was actually a little hard to buy presents for this year because whenever we asked her what she wanted, she said she didn't know.  Even when we were at the stores--she isn't a "gimme & greedy" girl.  So she ended up getting clothes (pants, shirts & a dress), Barbie movies, candy, and books--ones that she can read on her own.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Elementary awards.  Of course Benjamin decided to sleep in, so I had to wake him up.  But overall, he behaved pretty good.

 Callum received a certificate and medal for getting 100 AR (Accelerated Reading) points.

 He's in the light blue shirt.

 Emmalee receiving an award from her kindergarten teacher.

 She is shy and bashful being in front of everyone.  She is so adorable!  The award was:  Super Citizen & being a great helper in the classroom. 

 Callum receiving his award from his 4th grade teacher.  (She had a tough class this year--behavior wise).

 Callum & one other student received a good citizen award.  His certificate was the Responsibility Award.

I tried to get a picture of him holding it up, and he kept holding it in front of his face (on purpose).  But I managed to sneak this one in.  The certificate also said that he completed every assignment & always did his best.

I attended the special school board meeting with the intent of finding out what the teacher's salaries would be.  But they didn't have the final numbers because the still didn't have the budget from the state.  They intend to go back to the 2009 pay scale, so we are hoping for a bit of a "raise" (after years of cuts).  But we're not sure because the state had more cuts and they are projecting another 6% cut for the next year.  We passed a levy (in our community) to help compensate for the cuts.  So by the next board meeting we'll know what the final numbers are.

My parents called during dinner and said they were in West Yellowstone, MT & wanted to know if they could come for the next couple of days. I wish I had videoed Emmalee's reaction when she found out they would be here on her birthday.  Her smile and reaction was priceless!

After dinner I took Brienna & Zane to mutual, and almost got stuck at the church while sheep were being moved down the highway.  I was able to go down Grover's road & the back way home.  So I quickly loaded up the younger kids so I could take them to see all the sheep.  And then I ended the evening with a chat with my sisters.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Today was a wet and rainy day.  I did some more laundry, dishes, cleaning and then baked another double batch of chocolate chip cookies so I could take some to school to celebrate Emmalee's birthday.  And I had to go get Callum from school--he was sick.  (but it's the last week of school!!!)

Her teacher wanted me to bring her treat Monday afternoon since Tuesday was their last day of school and there would be lots going on.  And Wednesday is her birthday, but the kindergarten has no school.

Emmalee was really excited to see me Monday with the cookies.

Then I mixed up bread for scones (dinner was Navajo tacos), cooked the meat & got the lettuce & tomatoes cut up .  I decided to go to the special school board meeting about teacher negotiations.

When I got home, the kids helped me roll out the scones. 

 Ben wanted to do all of the dough.

 Now he's happy because he rolled out a few of them.

 Emmalee and Callum did the rest.  

 It was nice not having to roll out the scones.

They got flour everywhere--but I love it when they want to help out.

We also had chili relenos (that Rusty makes) so we could use the peppers from our Bountiful Baskets.

Ethan's "First" Haircut

Ethan posted this picture on Facebook:

His first haircut from someone other than his mother! He said that she started cutting his bangs with the buzzer before he could tell her he wanted them cut with scissors.  So he said his bangs were shorter than he wanted, but overall the haircut was okay.

So my son is growing up and venturing out!   (ha, ha!)  I guess he needed to have someone else cut his hair since I won't be   going on his mission with him to give him hair cuts.  

I think he looks great! 

Sunday, May 22, 2011

I had early-morning meetings (and after church meetings also).  So I got up "early" (7:15) so I could shower.  I gathered all the bags (scouting, 2 primary, my scripture bag, quiet bag, and I let the kids get their own scriptures) and grabbed a piece of left-over pizza & yogurt for breakfast.

I had a phone call the night before from a teacher saying she was hoping to be back to teach primary, but if she didn't make it, then I would know where she was.  

After ward council, I went to the chapel for sacrament meeting and Annette (one of my counselors) had me talk to a boy that hadn't come in a while & invite him to stay.  I also let him know that he could go to class with his friends (even though his birthday would put him in a different class--they get the same lesson).

During sacrament meeting, Benjamin was really restless.  Rusty took him out twice.  After the second time, the phone rang in the foyer.  The deacon that was by the bishop went and got it.  I turned my attention back to the speaker (and to the restless Benjamin) when Rusty poked me and said the phone call was for me.  I immediately knew it was one of the teachers.

And it was--she had already gotten a sub. but her daughter lives in a house/cabin just up from her and when she didn't see her car go by, she got worried (daughter doesn't have a phone) so went up to find out what was up.  Her daughter had a flat tire & she didn't think she could change her clothes, then change the tire, and then change back into church clothes, and make it in time to teach primary.  (These 2 teach our 2 CTR 5 classes).  

I was hoping to combine the 2 classes & have the substitute teach both of them.  But after sacrament meeting, we saw how many kids were there.  We had a few less-actives and some visitors too.  And I knew that we needed another teacher.  The first 2 people I asked couldn't stay the whole time, and then I saw that the other CTR teacher had still not made it back.  So I decided that I would just teach the CTR classes left (Emmalee is in CTR 5).  So I grabbed a book & had Rusty come in to be an extra set of hands.  There were 10 in the class.  The lesson actually went really well.  It was about obeying and how Nephi obeyed Heavenly Father.  We sang "Nephi's Courage" about 4 times.  And each time I got to the word "obey", I would pause and the kids would sing it for me.

Needless to say, although everything went great for me in the classroom, this is the time that we meet as a presidency & get things set up for sharing time.  So it almost felt like a scramble.  We are concerned about the reverence and respect (or lack of) in our primary.  But we have decided it's not just in our primary, it's also at school and maybe in the homes also.  So for our 5th Sunday, I will be doing a sharing time about reverence and respect.  

After church, I had a scout meeting.  I was a bit frustrated because our Cubmaster didn't attend.  It's hard to plan pack meetings without him.  Anyways, we got some things settled and when I got home, the roast was done & cut, Brienna had made the Au Jus sauce for french dip and had also toasted the buns.

After we had cleaned up the table, Emmalee, Callum, Brienna & myself played Crazy Uno & Mormon Bridge.  Zane was sleeping.  He got home Saturday afternoon very, very tired.  He slept most of Saturday afternoon, got up about 7:30 and ate some dinner.  Then fell back asleep before 9 pm.  And then slept some more Sunday afternoon.  He definitely needs his sleep!