Happy Thanksgiving 2008

Dallan, And all you other people

I am so glad that Sunday is now over. I was asked to teach the RS lesson. It was the talk President packer gave in April about “THE TEWLVE” I was scared spit less. I have never been so nervous in all my life. I had to go to the bathroom to try and calm myself down. In the end nobody threw rotten tomatoes and I think that we were blessed with a little bit more understanding of the Apostles. I just hope they don’t ask me to teach in RS again anytime soon.
This week is Thanksgiving. As you know Mom and Dad and Garrett are sunning themselves on some beach in Hawaii. Jon’s Mom and Dad have gone to Seattle to spend the Holiday with Jon’s two sisters who live up there. So that left Jon and I kind of Stuck. Don’t worry we are Having Jason and Nanette’s Family join us and well as Nanette’s Brother and his friend and Ed has been invited over. We are excited for the day. And Jon is all Jazzed up to cook the Turkey in the new smoker he bought a Cabela’s. So on Thursday we will all be pleasantly stuffed and will have a great need to loosen our belts. I might think for a minute that it is Seth’s birthday and have an extra slice of pie in his honor. But then again I think I would have an extra slice anyway.
Hunter is cutting his two year old molars- Ouch it can not be fun not with all the bawling and bellyaching. And he opens up wide so I can administer the nasty tasting mouth numbing stuff. And if that wasn’t the worst of it his nose would be a gold mine if Snot and buggers were worth anything. We will get through this.
William is just as cute as ever, I know you haven’t seen him yet. And I am a rotten Sister to not send you any pictures but believe me I have some coming soon. Anyway he laughs and giggles and his two dimples will steal the show any day. He is of course growing like a weed. And it makes me so sad that they don’t stay just little tiny.
Marcus is shooting up through the roof. His pants are all high waters and every time I look at him I have to do a double take to make sure he is still my kid. He is so tired all the time right now because he is growing so fast. I feel so bad when I wake him up in the morning and send him to school because I can see how exhausted he is. He is looking forward to his birthday next month and I wish I could push the pause button.
Stiles brought home his report card this last week. He is doing fine. His handwriting could use some improvement. He has some bad habits that is going to make learning cursive writing a crap shoot for him. And I am a bad Mom and don’t give him too much grief. I am just happy when we finish his homework, I am not going to get to picky about his handwriting. Stiles has learned that if he does his homework on the bus then it doesn’t cut into his play time so much. I am so grateful for this. It cuts our after school homework fight/tantrum in half.
Erica still is and always will be the princess. She loves playing mommy with her dolls and is usually carrying one around. Preschool is the delight of her week. I am glad that my turn as the teacher is over for a few months. But it is a blast having all those boys tearing through the house every week. Did I tell you her group is all boys and Erica- She is right in her element.
Jon is still loving working with the YM. And I think they enjoy having him as their BB Coach. I think he is just glad to run out of the house most evenings and go play.
Well nothing much to report. We are still just hanging out. Trying to accomplish this and that. I am glad you are my brother and I am grateful for my Savior. Work hard we will miss you and I will be sure to have some pie on Thursday just for you! Happy Thanksgiving!

Love Monica, Jonathan, Stiles, Marcus, Erica, Hunter, & William.

nov 17 2008 letter to dallan

Dear Dallan,

How are you? Me well I can’t complain. The Holiday’s are barreling down on us and I am so grateful that they are here again. I always love the holidays. I just wish I didn’t have to shop with a bunch of other crazy people. I prefer to be the only crazy person in the store.
On Monday we had our family pictures taken. Jon was a good sport and Stiles, Marcus and Erica were on their best behavior. -Remember that their BEST behavior is only mediocre compared to others. Hunter was great for the family picture part but then the other poses he was not so cooperative. I’ll get the pictures next week. Cross your fingers and hope for the best right.
Hunter is such a stubborn little guy. I have been asking him where is nose is for 5 months now almost every time I change his diaper. I point it out I point my nose out and ask him where his nose is. Well in Nursery They had a lesson about ears. And I asked him where his nose was and he shook his head no then I asked if he knew where his ears were and he immediately grabbed both of his ears. It is pretty obvious to me that Bro. and Sister Ward are much better teachers than I am.
Speaking of teaching I was asked to teach the lesson next week in Relief Society. My topic is the talk Elder Packer gave in the April conference on The Twelve apostles. I have no idea how to teach it. I almost want to cheat and just watch his talk instead because he teaches it so well. Anyway good luck to me I guess.
Stiles and Marcus are still plugging away at school., They are doing well and there does not seem to be any complaints coming home from their teachers. Either my boys are on task or there are some real problem kids in their classes at school. I am impressed with how Marcus seems to be catching up. Since he was supposedly so far behind the first week of school. Stiles is devouring books and his AR grade is awesome. They are having a drawing for a bike at the school at the end of the year in connection with AR and Stiles is very hopeful. I hope he is not to disappointed when his name is not drawn out of the hat.
Erica loves to sit with Marcus when he is doing his letter fluency charts and I can tell she is paying very close attention to the name of the letters and the sounds they make when Marcus is studying them. I don’t think she will score way low when she enters school next fall.
This Friday we had a surprise Birthday party out in the barn for Jon’s brother, ED. It was fun. Ed had no idea what was going on. And we had quite a few people show up. But I was just asked this morning if I was willing to Host the Briscoe Christmas Party out in the barn. We will have to see. We had a hard time getting the loft of that barn warm enough. And it was not a cold cold day on Friday. I don’t know how it would work if the wind was howling and the temperatures way below freezing. But if we do have the party I’m sure it will be just fine.
Jon had Hunter sit on the potty chair on Saturday. It was not fruitful in any way. I think Jon is jumping the gun . I figure I have at least one more year of diapers for that boy. But this morning I found the Toilet totally plugged with toilet paper and I am sure that hunter is my culprit because he escaped from his crib/cage last night. After the rest of the kids had gone to bed. So perhaps his interest has been sparked. Oh well. I will not count any eggs in the basket until the poops in the potty really happen
Well I don’t think anything else has happened that I need to let any one know about so I will just end this letter and let you know that I think Grandpa is right. I think you are a rotten little brother. But I still love you and am glad that the pot was wise enough to call the kettle black. I am still laughing my head off.
Study and work hard. We miss you and pray for you always.

THANK YOU JONNY!!!

Thank you to Jonathan Woodin, Fred Woodin, Sam Hayward, Grandpa Woodland, Uncle Orlo Maughan, JD Phippen, Oliver Woodland, Great great grandpa Ephiram James Woodland. And all those other Men and Women who have served in our armed forces. And A very very big kudos and thanks go out to all those Wives and Husbands, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, daughters, sons, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and friends who have sacrificed so that their Solider could serve this great country. You are to be whole heartily thanked too.

pictures

Last night for FHE our family got all dolled up and had a photo shoot done of our family. Our photographer was so patient with us and Hunter actually cooperated for the first little bit. Then he got his bottle and we had a hard time getting it ditched so it wouldn't be in the pictures. I am anxiously waiting for the next two weeks to fly by, (which they will) and then I will be able to get my hands on those pictures. After the photo shoot we had a hurried dinner of cold cereal and Then jumped in the hot tub. It is so great to be a family. If only Monday night football didn't correspond with FHE then things would be great- right.

Nov 9th 2008 primary progam

This weeks letter to my brother Dallan who is serving a mission in Mexico

Dallan Nov, 9 2008

Wow Look at that date!!! They say that as you get older the faster and faster the time goes. I am nervous about how fast the time will go 10 years from now because right now it just feels as if it is flying by! IT seem like only yesterday we all gathered together on the stairs and had our family picture taken. Now we have 5 more members in the family and you gone on a mission. That picture ends up being out dated pretty quick but it is the most up to date one we’ve got. (In Case you are wondering who the 5 new people are I thought I would list them since it took me a minute to figure it out myself. Stetson, Juliet, William, Kade, & Mckenzie.)
Anyway as far as dates go this week was full of a few important ones. We had election day and the country elected our first colored president. I hope president Obama will be able to lead this nation through all of the tough times the scriptures tell us will befall all nations. I know I would not want the job. I just thought it was a good quote from an old black lady who said “I am so proud that my country has finally grown up and can see past the color.” And it made me think of the scriptures when the Lamanites were more righteous than the Nephites. And Samuel the Lamanite prophesied on the wall the coming of our Savior. It is not a matter of color or heritage it is a matter of righteous and wickedness. I hope and pray the nation has elected a righteous leader. Enough of politics-right - We need a division of church and state right. Maybe we need to rethink that idea- hmmm…
This Sunday we had the primary program. Erica said “The prophet holds all priesthood keys.” Very beautifully into the “mic” but got nervous right at the end and covered her face as she was stepping away. Marcus was finally assigned a part yesterday and was not well prepared for his part. However he was brave and showed no fear. His part was “I am created in His image. I have a divine destiny.” He said- “I am eat-ed in his mage. I have a vine density.” I think I was one of the few who knew what he was suppose to say. But HE has to be given Kudos for being brave. Stiles sang every song with lots of enthusiasm and stayed very still in his seat- well a ton better than expected. His part was “We read the scriptures. I learn about the scriptures at home and in Primary. I have a book about Noah.” He did well- He said his part VERY fast and was stepping away from the mic on the last part but on the whole he did very well and Jon and I were quite pleased. The Nursery Teacher had a part and Hunter tuned into his voice very quickly and stood up to try and find his teacher. It was neat to see him react that way. When he did find Bro. Ward on the stand Hunter started grinning from ear to ear. He went into Nursery with no problem today. -WHEW. There is a boy in our ward named Marcus who has some learning and behavior disabilities I am not sure all of his challenges but today he played on a guitar and sang the first verse to the song “Army of Helaman.” It was very neat to watch him with all of his trials, with the help of his mom and another sister in our ward help him to perform. There were not very many dry eyes.
Jon has been horse shopping and this week bought a 2 year old horse for $200.00 He is very gentle and getting used to us. He is only halter broke so Jon and I have a lot of work to get him ready to ride but Jon is excited with the project and The boys are tickled pink with the thought of a second horse. Most of our time is being spent out in the barn. Good thing it is such an awesome barn. I was complaining to Jon that we needed to wash up all the horse poop that is in front of the barn doors so that it wouldn’t be tracked into my house. His response was “Woman, Don’t you know you live on a ranch now?” I am not convinced. I guess I will have to drag out the pressure washer if I really want it cleaned up.
William continues to cry until 11:00 pm and then sleeps until about 7 am -I am not complaining. Jon and I usually end up watching a movie or jumping into the hot tub. He is going to cry and keep us up any way we might as well do something fun. So it is almost like we are dating again. Except I still end up cooking dinner.
I am grateful that you have chosen to serve a mission. It is such an example to my boys. They miss you and ask when they can see you again. They were very concerned about getting you a Christmas present. (sorry we don’t have you until next year, you will get your gift then.) I told them we would write you a special Christmas letter. They are really influenced by your example. Work hard. The church is true. The spirit will always testify to the truthfulness of this Gospel. It is Christ’s Church. He is in charge of it. He want’s all of us to partake in its blessings. Be true.

Love Monica

Sweetheart Tag

Each person answers questions about their sweethearts.


At the end of the post, the person then tags 6 people and posts their names; then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment, letting them know they have been tagged.

What is your husbands name? Jonathan Stiles Woodin


How long have you guys been married? 9 years 5 months


How long did you date? IT was very short. We went on our first date in November and were engaged Feb 20th, then we were married in June.


How old is he? Jon is 31 and complaing about being a old man and falling apart. I love his birthday. It is the same day as Erica's and His age this decade will always add up to be her age. I did miss him in the Hospital that day though.

Who is taller? Jon is taller, and I love it!

Who can sing best? We try not to.


Who is smarter? We have our own strenghts and weekness. He is awesome in Math, I can barely add. I love English, But Jon is horrible at english. He makes the money I spend it. We balance each other out.


Who does laundry? I do the mountain of laundry all day, every day. He will wash his hunting clothes though So I won't "stink them up with that fabric softner stuff". Hey I don't do specialty loads. He did do a ton of Laundry when we moved and I Had William all on the same week. That was major and he still thinks he should get a medal for it.

Who pays the bills? Jon takes care of the business. and I take care of the house. But He usally does more than his fair share.


Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do, He sleeps on the wrong side and does every night we get in a fight.


Who mows the lawn? Jon thinks it is his job, but loves for me to do it. I don't mind.

Who cooks dinner? I do, and Lunch and Breakfast, and after school snack, and mid morning snack. NO wonder we are putting on weight.

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? We just quit talking to each other until I get a chance to take a nap because I am usually wrong, especailly when I am tired. But we never admit any wrongness. we only apologize for being stubborn. WE are NEVER wrong.

Who kissed who first? Jon kissed me and I was mad at him about it. He only kissed me on the forhead but He wasn't suppose to do anything like that. -The bugger.

Who wears the pants? He wears the pants, But I fight with him every day for that role-I am a control freak.




Thanks Shawna for the Tag


I tag Wendy, Heather, Camille, Crystal, My Mom, and Cody.

Now I am really in trouble

Just a few moments ago I changed William's diaper and then set him on the floor on his belly to watch Stiles building with mega blocks. I then resuced Hunter from the crib/cage and changed his diaper. (I am seeing a diaper changing pattern) When I turned back around to put Hunter down from the changing table William had rolled to his back and was giving me a goofy smile. So I thought he did it all on accident and so I put him back on his tummy and he immediatly rolled to his back. We played this back and forth game a few times. Now I ask you, am I in trouble or what?

For Sale

Jon and I are willing to sell our Terry camper trailer. It is a bumper-pull trailer that we bought last summer for our employees to sleep in while working up in Driggs. Every thing in the camper works. The fridge, heater, lights, a/c, plumbing, stove, oven ect. We are will to sell it to family for $1000.00. If no one is interested in it we are going to put it on Craigs list for $1600.00. We are willing to do payments with family as long as it is all paid for with in 12 months. the only draw back to this camper is it does not have cushions. They could be easily made. The camper sleeps 6 and has a ton of storage/cupboard space. Call me if you are interested.

letter to Dallan, @ halloween

Dallan…..imagine me cracking my knuckles and stretching out as if I am getting ready for a fight.
Well let me see. Many people follow my blog and since I post most of my day to day things on the blog as well as my letter to you to fill in other blanks I am finding my brain drawing a blank. I want to add my blog posts to the letter as well as provide some new insights.
We will go youngest to oldest how about that
William started out as a dragon for Halloween.- Then blew out his shorts and needed a new costume pronto. I had a devil costume waiting in the wings (pun intended) And viola a little devil. Actually he is an angel and is sleep most nights about 7 hours at a time twice this week he put in a 9 hour stretch- after 2 hours of crying of course. He smiles and his dimples melt any old crotchety heart. No rolling or sitting or any other crazy movement. I am okay with that. It is hard to grasp that tomorrow he will be 4 months old! He looks like a monster next to Mckenzie.
Hunter has been the focus of most of my recent blogging. I have been listing the things that he has done in the past little bit that should transfer the title of mass destruction from Stiles to Hunter. Camille has been laughing at the list and when she was here on Thursday told me I need to add -dumped out all my straight pins all over my sewing room- AHHH. He has broken to death Jon’s glasses twice, found the flour bucket, the candy stash, threw oatmeal all over the basement, Got into the kool-aid packets, unloaded files out of the filing cabinet, and unwrapped and shot off an entire box of tampons. Just to name a few of the messes. However he does have a new redeeming quality. He has learned a new word- UH-OH. He is desperately in need of a new word since his last word “MAAAM” usually brought me to the scene of the crime and spankings were issued. Now after I come he can with his darling curls and sparkly eyes say UH-OH and soften the wrath of the “MAAAM”
Erica has been trying to figure out time. And had said some very funny things as she tries to figure out what words like Next month, this weekend, yesterday, tomorrow, and Tuesday all mean. So when Jon in casual conversation with her asked her when she thought it might be fun to try and have a new baby sister (no this is not any type of an announcement of any kind- do not ready anything into this!) She responded “How about Thursday.” Then later she asked when she had preschool I told her on Thursday. She asked when that was . I told her tomorrow. She said “Oh, so it is yesterday!” Then the morning after Halloween She got us and asked us if Halloween was all over. We told her that indeed Halloween was over. Without missing a beat She said “SO…Now it’s CHRISTMAS!”
Marcus’s Teacher asked me to be in charge of their class Halloween party at school. It was really easy. I just made some phone calls and they all showed up and did their thing and all the kids went home with lots of Halloween loot. Marcus was so excited to see me at school and was jazzed to let the other kids know that his Mom had planned the party. - I just passed out juice and rang a bell every 10 minutes so the kids would move to the next game.-real hard. Anyway, He is learning in leaps and bounds. (And Sara is right The letter factory is awesome and even Erica is singing “every letter makes a sound the “N” says “NNNN”) He brought home several Halloween decorations from school and I hung them up on the walls in the kitchen. He was pleased.
Stiles was sick Thursday night (barf is awful) but he got it all in the toilet. Bless that child. (Erica didn’t do so good. She insisted someone else came in and threw up all over her bed and pillow and in her hair.-yeh right -Mom are you remembering the peuck in the Sunday shoes. Yeh I thought you were.) Anyway I made him stay home from school on Friday. HE was devastated that he missed he class Halloween party. He was feeling great by about 2 in the afternoon and made quite the pest out of himself the rest of the day wondering if we were EVER going to leave to go trick-or-treating. We did and they all had a ball. Even Hunter did when he realized that his bucket was getting heavier and heavier and gave up the first piece of candy in pursuit of larger more sticky items. Stiles was ever in pursuit of the Halloween holiday. He cleaned and helped and was almost cheerful in hopes of carving pumpkins and dressing up and eating more cavities into his mouth.
I made pumpkin pie out of the first pumpkin from our volunteer garden. It is a good fruit. I took some of the pies to the trunk or treat and had people track me down to complement me on the pie -Thanks for the lessons mom. Jon and I got the thermostat fixed in our hot tub and now it is HOT WATER. I am loving it. We keep on putting the kids to bed then sneaking out for a dip. The kids are not fooled but we threw them in on Saturday after lunch. And that was fun. Hunter loves to just float while wearing his life jacket. All my other kids would have freaked out!!! I am usually found digging myself out from under a mountain of laundry only to get a breath of fresh air before it is piled on me again. -Again Mom thank you for tackling the mountain every day. I have to tell you one funny thing I did last week. I had Erica’s preschool group over here and the lesson manual called for Playing with shaving cream. So I cleaned off the counter and let the kids have at the piles of foam I kept on spraying out the end of the can. We had foam everywhere, That was fun. It would be a blast at Powell I think, and then it just washes away.
Jon has been asked to coach the YM basketball program in our ward this year. He is excited to work with the youth in our ward. We have such a neat group of young men in our ward. And Young women too. He continues to work with Sis, our horse, and she and Jon are both getting better-at what I am not sure.
Anyway I have gone on long enough now and Jon is calling for my help. We Love you and pray for you. The church is true. This is Christ’s church. The Lord has a plan for each and every one of us. He knows who we are and loves us. We are his children.

Love, Monica and the rest of the Woodins she’s claims’ as her mess.

Happy Halloween -Whew glad that one is over!

So here is some Halloween Fun. I wanteed to let everyone know Saturday morning, after Halloween, Erica asked if Halloween was over. We replied that indeed it was. Her response was "So...now it's CHRISTMAS!"


This was Erica before We had to change her into a french maid. I let her wear her costume all day and by the time it was time to go trick-or-treating she had shredded the dress. Oh well she wore it last year too. At least she had some fun


This is Hunter pre candy. See how nice and clean he is. He loved his pumpkin Hat. He had never allowed me to put a hat on him period! But He wore this one all day and even asked me to put it back on him when it fell off. He threw a tantrum at bed time when I took it off and demanded it be back on his head on Saturday. Funny kid.



we did Carve Pumpkins on Halloween Eve. Erica's is the little one, Stiles the green one and Marcus did the big one. We had a ball and the kids were pleased with their "scary" creations. FYI Hunter was already in bed and William is too young to care.


this Was Erica dressed up for her Pre-school Halloween party. She is a "butterfly princess" She was so jazzed to be able to dress up twice! I am so glad we are done dressing up! But I totally dig her blue eye make-up. I guess I do like Halloween too.



William started out as a cute Dragon but then like all baby dragons blew poop out his diaper and was in need of a new costume. -the devil was waiting in the wings- (HA HA- Pun(s) if any intended)I thought he was cute and he didn't seem to mind being dressed with a bonnet on his head or wings stuck to his back.

So there are my Kids for Halloween. I wasn't fast enough to get Stiles and Marcus in their Vampire Bat costumes but if you want to view them Katherine took some pictures at her house and they are on her blog page.