Smothered with affection

Cheyenne seems to be acclimating really well to Oregon and our family. I can't even imagine how scary it must be for her to move to a new state start at a new high school and make all new friends. She has been really optimistic and brave about everything.

Ruby and Lucy are OBSESSED with Cheyenne. They watch her put on make up like they are watching the best movie ever. They constantly want to play with her and Cheyenne seems to enjoy it (for now). We have been a little stir crazy since we have been home bound with lice and sickness. Tonight the three of them put on a play for Haley and I. Haley has been on the sofa since Wed with a 103 fever and stomach upset. Here are a few photos of the play.

They were hilarious and kept asking for pictures of everything. I took some video that is priceless.

One of them (I'm guessing Ruby) has been leaving Cheyenne little love notes everyday.

Fyi- this may look like Cheyenne has a ton of chores, but each of the girls have the same list with the same chores just on different days. Eric came up with this plan a while ago to make all the chores even and it has worked really well. Cheyenne has jumped right in with her chores and is doing great.

A little quilting

I am in a 12 X 12 quilt exchange (12 people each make one block a month for 12 months). January was Barbara's month and she requested that we each make her a beach theme block using only batik fabric. I googled and flickred and could not find anything I was excited about. Then I remembered this awesome photo Eric took of a sea turtle on our trip.

So I quilted it.

I hope she likes it.

You can see the the blocks from the other months here.

That will never happen to us..

You know those things that you see on the news or you hear people talking about and you think "That will never happen to me"...

After avoiding it my entire life and knowing that my kids would never get it because they are blonde, I found lice on Haley's head last night.

I am completely disgusted and freaked out by these bugs in our home. All 4 girls have been using the same hairbrushes. On Sunday morning I lined them all up in my bathroom and used my brush to do their hair for church. I know that that possibility of all 5 of us hosting these critters is probably unavoidable.

I am keeping everyone home tomorrow. Doing the lice treatments and combing, bagging all stuffed animals, washing bedding ect.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to conquer this and keep my sanity, please BRING IT ON!

Cheyenne is in the house!!!!

We have been preparing for a while and today was the day. Our 14 year old niece Cheyenne moved in with us. She flew up from California on an airplane by herself and it was the 1st time she has ever been on an airplane.

Ruby, Lucy and Haley have been counting down the days for her to arrive. Lucy volunteered to give up her room and moved in with Ruby so Cheyenne could have her own room.

Cheyenne brought cute gifts for the girls that they all LOVED. Of course everyone was happy, nice and on their best behavior. I know they will all start fighting like real sisters soon.

It was kinda funny that Cheyenne left California with horrible rainy weather and came to Oregon where it is sunny and beautiful.

One of the Young Women in the ward stopped by to meet Cheyenne. She brought her a really cute dry erase board and magnetic clips to help decorate her room. We have such great youth here, I can't wait for Cheyenne to get sucked up by all the activities and fun things they do. I know this will be a positive experience for her.

One thing that shocked me, Cheyenne has gotten a lot taller then when we moved away in June. She is only 14 years old but at 5 feet 9 inches... she looks down on me!

Chinchilla love

They are so stinking cute I can't stop taking pictures of them.

(and best of all they don't smell)

The greatest bad trip ever

My neighbor Lisa always knows about great places to stay and fun local trips. She found some little cabins at Hyatt Lake in Ashland and asked if we wanted to go up with them for a couple of days. We ended up going with Lisa's family and one other family. It was great because we each had out own little cabin and the 3 cabins were next to each other. The kids (all 12 of them) all got along well and we were loving it.

The "cabin" was soooo much nicer then I expected. It had a fridge with ice and water in the door so I was in heaven!

They allowed pets so Max and Opal learned how to walk on snow.

Each cabin had it's own jacuzzi outside the door. The kids were running back and forth to each others jacuzzis.

I was positive someone was going to get sick, they spent more time out of the Jacuzzi playing then they did in. The kids were having the time of their lives so I just let it go.

When we woke up we headed to a great sledding hill 3 miles from the cabins. We had to bust out the chains to get our 2 wheel drive mini van up the road.

For about 15 min, everyone was having a great time sledding....

Then the world stopped.

We watched our friends little girl Sierra crash and hit her head so hard she was unconscious and having a seizure. I was in complete shock and thought I had just watched a really strong, smart 10 year old girls life change forever.

All three Dads took her to the car on a sled and gave her a priesthood blessing (A blessing given by a Melchizedek Priesthood holder, by the laying on of hands and by inspiration, to one who is sick or otherwise in need of special counsel, comfort, or healing. If the blessing is for the sick, consecrated oil is used (James 5:14-15)

Then the Mom and Dad flew via car down the hill to get her to the hospital. She regained consciousness but had blurry vision, numb hands and was in tons of pain. She has since fully recovered from this accident completely, but has no memory of the accident at all. I know that her complete recovery was in large part do to the blessing she received.

When we got home Ruby and Lucy made cards for Sierra. I loved the honesty of Lucy's card "We are sad".
We were all sooo sad but we are thrilled to have our bearded dragon on her shoulder Sierra back!