cowboy up

Dallan, Jan 17th 2010.
Major countdown mode. Just 16 days left. We are anxious for your arrival and my children have assured me that it will be Okay for them to miss school in your honor.
Marcus is currently sporting a black eye. I asked him what happened and his response was this “When I was playing soccer I got hit with a football in my eye.” I made him repeat his sentence twice and then asked how that was possible. Apparently the playground at school is the field for all sports no matter which one you choose to be playing you need to be aware of all games. Perhaps this is why so many men are able to follow so much sporting hype. They got their first taste when they were in elementary school and couldn’t get over the constant involvement in all sports.
Stiles is nursing a fat lip. He got that while taking a shower last night in my bathroom. Being short he did not have the proper reach to get the spray wand part of the shower head down and when he pulled on it to bring it down to him it came hastily and Kissed him right in the Kisser Quite hard. It cut him on his upper lip just below his nose. And then the force of the blow caused some abrasion damage on the inside of his mouth and his mouth was bleeding. This morning it was pretty swollen but by church his lip didn’t look so kissably juicy.
Yesterday we took the kids and the horses up to the indoor riding arena. Stiles got thrown off by Rebel pretty early on but did a cowboy up and was soon in the saddle again. Stiles rode and rode and got Rebel pretty tired and calmed down so the other kids could have a good ride. Jon’s sister, Julie, and her family came up and their boys took a turn, they seemed to really like it. We had quite a surprise with our kid horse “Oaky” that we bought last fall. She has been totally awesome in our yard with me and with the kids and Jon. But she was originally trained as a roping horse. So when we got into the arena she was ready to RUN! And run fast! And Hard! I lead her around the arena a few times with kids on her and then I decided to jump up on her and have a ride. Well she needed very little encouragement to TAKE OFF. And she did. I was saying not very good words to say in front of children and when I finally got her to slow down and almost stopped she spun real hard and I lost my balance and I could feel myself falling so I “stepped off” well the crappy thing is Now I Know that I have GOT TO get back on that Horse. I was shaking so bad!!! I had to have Jon lead me around the arena because I knew that if She took off on me again I would be in big trouble! All in all We had fun and Stiles has a nice owie on his side from being thrown off.
I have been trying to get this body back into a shape other than the one it is currently in. 3 babies in a row has not been nice to certain parts of me. Because of this new years goal I have had much soreness and stiffness in many parts of my body in the last week. The scale still gives me a number that makes me want to throw the scale out the window and then drive a semi truck over it a few times but we will continue to work towards a less flabby mommy shape.
Mom had me read a book called the Total Money Makeover, by Dave Ramsey. I am impressed with the “duh this just makes sense” formula that the author teaches. You really walk away from the book with a new insight to money in general. As part of that new insight to money I can see why Camille is starting her own business and Why Seth And Emily cut up their credit cards and why Emily is going back to school. So they might be able to see why in the crazy sam hill I switched my kids to cloth diapers. -then again maybe they won’t but we are getting a little further ahead one diaper change at a time and Jon has even managed to get stuck with a poopy one. And he changed it! I gave him a trophy. When you get home I am sure that Mom will try to get you to read this book. And if she doesn’t one of your other siblings probably will. Anyway I just finished reading the book yesterday and I am anxious for Jon to start and see what insights he has.
The Church is true. Christ lives. The time is short. Work hard.
We Love you , Monica and the Woodin Nickel Knuckle Heads!