what a beautiful mess

Even big, burly men like my Trevor need and deserve to be pampered once in awhile.  Especially after long work days like today.  A friend of mine gave me some lavender essential oil today so I massaged Trevor's head and arms while Joshua gave him a pillow and made him comfortable with his stuffed animals.  We were happy to have him home... Stephen had his first baseball game of the season today. (boo for no pictures) He hit a home run on his first hit and ran to third base on his second.  And then they called it a game because of the weather.  Man, oh man, was it cold!  We're hoping this Fridays' game is much warmer. Happy Monday everyone!

Our weekend always starts at 5:45 p.m. Friday afternoon. Which is by far the best time of any day of the week. This friday we took a "mini"date and went and rented our movie and bought our treats for Nacho Movie Night. Usually the start of our weekend is the best because it means a whole 2 days spent together. Except for this weekend. Saturday we spent apart. And although we were apart, we both had great Saturdays. Trevor went to his brothers to help build a fence and then came home and made the kids stuffed crust pizza for dinner. Plus they were able to stay up late to watch a movie. I went to St Anthony to do a sweet and gorgeous girls hair for Jr. Miss. She seriously was beautiful and won two different awards. This particular pageant was much different than I expected. The girls were all so nice to each other, complimenting the other girls and giving encouragement. And they were all super talented. It was about more than beauty, it was who the girls ...

Today I saw something I never thought I'd see. Stephen scooping up a calf's head with a shovel and burying it in the dirt at the fence line. It was so weird and strange and a bit surreal. And he was just fine with it, not grossed out at all. I was completely grossed out. I was even more grossed out that Carl brought it over, with it dangling out of his mouth. A word to the wise: Do not let Carl lick your face...or any body part for that matter.

is perfect (oh really?!?). I leave laundry piles laying around the house.  I always need to dust or change the sheets or sweep the floor or vacuum.  However, here in my home with my own people I am loved and appreciated.  Plus my dog loves me and seems to have a sixth sense as to when I am coming home.  Today started out crummy.  I couldn't find my keys this morning,  I found out the fridge at our Meridian house isn't working properly,  I left my refill cup in the D.I. box I dropped off,  I made a fool of myself at Wal Mart,  the wind was horrible while I was spraying round-up on the weeds  and left my face caked with dirt, and so on and so on.... But all that doesn't matter and especially won't matter tomorrow when it's a new day.  I came home tonight from Young Womens, complaining of my day to Trevor,  not even realizing till he go...

After dinner we went out as a family to get some ice cream and came home to this: We left the dinner dishes on the counter and Carl got curious~ and tempted by the bacon fat sitting up there.  After cleaning up the broken glass and  "doctoring" a chicken, the power went out.  So we lit some candles and had our "life skills" FHE lesson by candle light.  It was a bust though because it's really hard to fold clothes in the semi darkness.  So we put the clothes in piles and carried them to our rooms.  After the kids went to bed, and not scared at all might I add, Trevor and I spent a  few quiet moments on the couch and eventually went to bed to read by candlelight.  It was all kind of romantic.  Except that we fell asleep within minutes and woke up to the power coming back on at 11:30.  And now we know exactly what we need to restock in our 72 hour kit!

There are 31 chickens in there, believe it or not. Six of those are Cornish Hens that we get to butcher on  Stephens birthday (what a present). We won't actually do it on his birthday but pretty close to that date.  Speaking of Stephen turning 8, he's going to be baptized! We are so happy for him. If any family wants to  come up (which we would absolutely love!!!), it will be on June 2nd.  And we would love to have you stay with us. We have this really big chicken coop that can fit about,  well...roughly, around....10 people.  Kidding...we'll let you sleep in our house.

It reminds me a little of Napoleon Dynamite but hey, we live in Idaho so it's fitting.... When I saw one of Jenna's boys wearing the same thing on her blog the other day, I knew I had to take a picture to share. It must be the age that makes them think snow boots are appropriate for spring weather.  No worries, I do not allow him to wear these away from home, as awesome as it looks.  Outside playing with the neighbors, riding his bike, feeding the chickens~  they are just fine and dandy but for a trip to the library... not so much.

I mentioned this TV mini-series the other day in a post and decided that I think all the world should watch it and that putting it on my blog is closest way to get that done.  Okay so putting it on my blog won't get the whole world to watch it but at least maybe those closest to me. I know that Chelsea watched it.  I also know that she watches Downton Abbey and  is soon going to watch some of my other favorite BBC productions.  The actors in North and South are fantastic and the story is riveting... if you can handle the wonderfully slow moving way that BBC does movies (Trevor cannot which is why when Masterpiece Theater comes on, he falls asleep in my lap). There's plenty of romance and there are, of course, the wonderfully broody eyes of Richard Armitage.  The last episode is my most favorite although you can't fully enjoy it  unless you've watched all the episodes leading up to it....

A few weeks ago, as we were sitting around the dinner table talking, just having gotten done with dinner, Annabelle tells us a story of something that happened to her that day. She told us that during class she burped really loudly and everyone laughed. She thought it was a great story and pretty funny. Trevor and I however, did not find it funny. Not even a little bit. I told her how inappropriate it was to do that and asked if her teacher heard her (because heaven forbid the one adult in the room thinks my child's disgusting...) She replied that yes she thinks she did  hear her loud and disgusting burp (exaggerated there by me). I was disappointed in her and let her know that. I want my girls to grow up and be ladies. Not prudish or haughty, but genuine, kind, polite, etc... As her punishment, we made her write a letter to her teacher apologizing. We told her that we weren't sure if we were going to make her give it to her but that she did have to write it. Here's wha...

Sometimes, when's it's getting late and the kids are in bed, Trevor and I get silly.   What a great use of time....  Stephen looks like a giant. A giant with a very small beard. I know that Emily had eyes at one point but they seem to be missing. It must be the mustache...

and this is what my house still looks like: and this: (oh the horrors...thank your lucky stars you can't smell it cause it's the worst stinky-feet smell. Ever.) and this: No matter that I haven't started cleaning up from the weekend. I have however signed Joshua up for Kindergarten (boo hoo hoo), gone to the library and worked out.  As I worked out, I read this  article from the ensign. It was uplifting and wonderful. Please read it.  "When lonely, cold, hard times come, we have to endure, we have to continue, we have to persist. That was the Savior’s message in the parable of the importuning widow . Keep knocking on that door. Keep pleading. In the meantime, know that God hears your cries and knows your distress. He is your Father, and you are His child."  Elder Holland Today I have great things planned. For starters, I'm going to finish the last episode of North and South (BBC classic!) and watch an adorable little 4 year old for a...

Trevor had to work late tonight because of their big annual sale (early off tomorrow though, yay!) so I wanted to surprise him by finishing something we started about a week ago: Believe it or not that is our bedroom sans fake wood walls, nails, dust, trim and all manner of who-knows- what. I carried all of that ugly wood paneling out to the side of the shed where it will be used for the inside  walls of the chicken coop (reduce, reuse, recycle, everyone!).  And our room actually feels bigger (although I wouldn't complain of the size because I love it and picked this  room especially for us).  So this is my inspiration for the finished product: And I want my bed to look like it's the most comfortable bed ever made...because it will be. I live for a bed  like what you see in magazines and at really fancy hotels...and it's not too bad as it is right now, I just need a  lot more pillows, a wrought ...

It's Emily's birthday! It was a lot of fun celebrating Emily today. All day, I've been remembering little bits and pieces from when she was born and I'm so grateful to have all these memories of her that I can recall at any time. In my mind she can be a newborn or a crazy toddler or a silly preteen; no matter what she's always Emily and I love her. In her card I wrote "Eleven years ago today you made me and your dad infinitely happy." And it's so true. She's a special girl. At the dinner table we each took turns saying what we love about Emily. Annabelle said that she loves how weird Emily is. Joshua said that he loves how obnoxious she is (he meant it nicely..I think). Stephen said that he loves how funny she is. And that he loves her laugh. Trevor said that he loves how sensitive she is. He mentioned that he believes because of her sensitivity she can feel the spirit that much easier and I completely agree with him. I said t...

It's the last night Emily will ever be ten years old. Ever. Our baby is going to be eleven tomorrow and time just keeps on ticking. She always makes me laugh or feel kind of surprised at how she acts. She's much more spunky than she's ever been given credit for. And it's a good kind of spunky (although she does have the stinker in her also...). With everyone having babies around me (family, friends, ward members) it makes me remember having my very first one. And then I think "what were we thinking??". And then the thought comes how grateful I am that we weren't thinking. I mean, look at her, she's nothing short of amazing: Tonight she showed off her sense of humor as we goofed around as a family and had a totally inappropriate conversation that you would only expect to hear in a 2nd grade classroom full of boys. And I can tell you, we were all laughing. Even prim and proper moi`. And we kept laughing until it came time to say our family pray...

Before bed last night, Trevor told Stephen that he needed to even out the floor in the chicken coop today so they could finish it tonight. Stephen went out and worked for a good hour this morning, went to a friends house for the afternoon, came home and worked on it until Trevor came home from work. He worked so hard, just like his Dad does. He made me come outside so he could show me that he could use the nail gun; with supervision of course. What a cool kid... While I was out there, I couldn't help taking this picture of Carl: He looks blissfully happy, right? I may have to print it out and hang it on my wall. I'm always up for a good laugh...

We've enjoyed a great Easter weekend. We are so grateful, especially today, for our Savior and his Atonement for us. I was uplifted today and learned so much from our meetings at church. I hope the spirit we felt carries on through the week. Besides that today was filled with lots of junk food: Besides the pita chips and hummus it was all cookies, ice cream, candy and chocolate. Although we ate dinner at some friends house and tried, for the first time, lamb. We all liked it and are now considering "growing" our very own. We had an Easter egg hunt with our neighbors and had a great time finding eggs hidden in the grass. There really wasn't much choice...it's a pretty barren landscape! Carl especially enjoyed the hunt. Even from his 4 foot leash... Trevor and I snuck into this blog post to say "HAPPY EASTER!" (and to point out that he's so handsome). Stephen received a drawing pad and supplies today and this is the por...

It's a small one really. Up there with my addiction to Diet Dr. Pepper, which if you ask, I will swear up and down it's not an addiction, I just really love it. I'm addicted to   Apartment Therapy .  I have been for years. I read it everyday or nearly everyday. My favorite posts are the daily House Tours. Let me tell you why: I am one of those people that when I am a passenger in a vehicle (and sometimes when I'm the driver) I stare out the window at all the houses that I drive by and silently curse those that have their drapes or blinds closed. I want to see inside your house! (in a non-weird way) Sometimes there are thought provoking posts. The other day Maxwell did an article on fences and used Robert Frosts poem with the line "Good fences make great neighbors". I don't exactly agree because I'm fence-less and I love my neighbors~although I think they hate our dog. But metaphorically speaking, I have fences that I build up and rarely let peop...

During General Conference you will usually find us like this:  Or like this: And I always inevitably end up doing something like this:   The kids did such a good job at paying attention.  They quietly did their packets, listened for the treat word and behaved themselves.  I didn't know that Conference could be so pleasant.  Tonight for FHE we all gave short "talks" on our favorite messages.  I was so pleased to realized that our kids listened and understood what was being taught.  And now I can't wait for 6 more months. 

It lasted from Tuesday night to Sunday afternoon. And a good time was had by all. At least by all the Haslems. We did a lot of awesome and exciting things like.... We ate delicious artichoke, bacon and cheese pizza. We cut and colored each others hair (of course!). We held Kyran a lot. Well, Candice did. I only held him when he would let me.... We celebrated Quinns birthday with a delicious limeade cake. Actually the cake wasn't quite frozen so it was even more delicious the next night but it was still satisfying and summer-y. (here's Candice lamenting the liquid-y state of her cake) We laughed a lot. Especially at Asa. He's such a funny little boy. And absolutely adorable.... And last but not least, we watched General Conference.  All of the talks were wonderful and we took a whole bunch of notes! We did some other stuff also (we actually left the house) but nothing is ever as memorable as just  hanging ...