Adorable lunch

We are wondering if spring will ever come here. Blizzards, snow, below freezing temps and it is nearly April. Perhaps by June the snow will melt. In the meantime we enjoy a few more minutes of sunshine each day. It is hopeful! We also have some fun together. Below is a video of the most adorably packed lunch box I've seen. Normally I wouldn't say a lunch box is adorable, but in this instance I will.

Mini man, scary man (great dad), and other stuff

I have a few random pictures that I thought I should share. The first set of pictures are of "mini man", as we call him. Benny is a crack up. He is so little for his age, and we think he is mighty cute.


Next up is praise of my husband, who is a great dad! You may find the next pictures a little scary, but in all honesty, he is scary for the boys' sakes. He went upstairs one day after work, and came back down all dressed up like "merchant sea man of death". The boys absolutely loved it, (a boy thing I guess). The other picture is of him reading to all the kids.

Jeffrey is a good big brother. He got Grace to fall asleep.

Trip

We took a last minute trip to Utah a few weeks ago. It has put me behind at home in just about everything, but it was well worth it. Ben and I both got to see our entire families! I loved being with my siblings and parents and thoroughly enjoyed singing with them, playing games and catching up. I saw 4 nephews that I had not yet met and loved every minute of my time there! It really was a boost for me. As we crossed from Montana into North Dakota, the temperature steadily dropped 50 degrees. We arrived home at -10 degrees (-25 with wind chill)- a chilly welcome home and reality sinking in. We have enough warming inside from the trip to last us a little while however. Here are a few pictures from the trip.

A web - perhaps somewhat like Charolette's

How can I explain the events of the last couple of days? I probably can't, at least not well. My first thought was to describe my life as a web, a tangled up mess, but if you look closer, you may see some wonderful pattern, or beauty like in Charolette's Web.
Monday, in the wee small hours of the morning, Ben departed for a week long TDY (tour of duty) in California. I can't complain much, because it is only a week, but I certainly would have liked to go with him! Before he left I reminded him that, although I didn't want to seem pessimistic, something always goes wrong when he is away. Sure enough Monday evening Grace bit a piece of cork off of a toy and it lodged in her throat. I tried not to react or panic because I saw she could still breathe, however she was wincing and crying, gagging and drooling terribly. I called the Air Force nurse line, which called me back 45 MINUTES LATER, then told me to take her to the ER. So here I am in freezing North Dakota with 6 little kids and no husband available. The web feels tangled but this is where if I look closely I see a beautiful design. A friend had just stopped in to deliver something, and he offered to stay with the boys while I took Grace to the hospital. (His daughter just happened to trip and cut herself so badly he had the ambulance come check on her while I was gone. Crazy! But she is okay.) After a lengthy stay at the ER, Grace having worked that cork farther down and feeling happy and cheering up everyone else at the ER, we were told that they couldn't do an xray to see if it went in her lungs because wood doesn't show up. So, after much ado, they listened and made sure she was breathing well and sent us home. Thankfully Grace seems just fine. So, I went to the van to get home, but lo and behold, my van is stuck in the hospital parking lot! A man comes out soon after and has a truck. I asked him if he had a tow rope or anything to help. He replied in the negative and then left! After several more attempts to get out on my own, including digging and kicking snow away from my tires, I gave up and climbed back in the van and said a prayer. Again, beauty. Three large men happened to walk out. I asked for help and they hoisted up my huge van and freed me. I got home safely, although I did get stuck in my driveway halfway up. But I still got home safely. Things were a bit crazy and I can honestly say I laughed at all the misfortunes. But amidst it all I knew that "God was in the very details" of my life, as Neal A. Maxwell would say. A friend came at just the right time. A prayer was answered immediately. I think among all trials we can see a beautiful pattern if we are willing to look more closely at what we think may be a tangled web. A loving Heavenly Father lets me have further developmental experiences to learn and grow from, but He never leaves me alone. I miss my husband, who is my best friend and the most handsome man alive (sorry to the rest of you, but it's true), but I at least I know that however long he is gone, I can have peace knowing that I am watched over. I am a lucky Wilbur with a Charlotte's Web.

Our amusements in the frozen tundra

I think we have so many posts about snow and severe cold. Honestly, the weather here is just extreme, and it occupies so much of our lives. Every few days we get nearly half a foot to a foot with huge snow drifts in our driveway (3 1/2 to 4 feet)! I really am about ready to hybernate and not try to go anywhere!

Our back doors are completely unopenable. William is standing by our patio door. Not only does that seem like a lot of snow, but we took out the porch out that door, and when you walk out there is about a foot or more drop. A lot of snow! And winter is just beginning in North Dakota!

Dallin turned 4 on Saturday and it was a joy to watch him. He is so excited about everything and loved every tiny thing about his big day!

The Air Force base has an outdoor recreation office where you can rent all types of things. We decided to rent a snowmobile for a couple of days, trying to find entertainment in this crazy winter wonderland. The boys loved it, although it was very cold and we really had to bundle up.

I had to add this picture. My husband is so handsome and brave. He is always out shoveling, or bringing in wood for the stove despite temperatures. You can't tell well on this picture, but his eyelashes and eyebrows are frozen!

We find ways to entertain ourselves. Ben drew mustaches on the boys one night, after Abel had done so on himself already. We think they are quite handsome, even with colored mustaches!

More fun in the snow!

Welcome to North Dakota! Heavy Duty Parka's a must!

Ben had the day off today(work was cancelled) so we played in the beautiful snow. We were having so much fun we didn't really think of the temperature. But when we came back inside to drink our hot chocolate, we found out it was -25 outside. I guess you just get used to it or your brain just freezes.

Christmas was spectacular. And especially white. This is Gracie's favorite present!

Hybernation

For those of you who may secretly desire to have an adventure in Antarctica, despite the cold, may I suggest an alternative: to come to Minot, North Dakota. I assure you, your experience will be a winter adventure of surviving sub zero temperatures and terrible windchills. If you come at the right time, you can even experience the Northern Lights. The one advantage to coming to North Dakota is that there are people here, including us. And we could, of course, visit and put you up in some decent lodging during your stay.

We are currently hybernating in our home. A blizzard decided to come our way, snowing several inches, all of which is blown in huge drifts, causing closed roads etc. The wind chill has been anywhere from -25 ranging to -60. Wind gusts have been around 50 mph. I really don't see any disadvantage to seeing North Dakota unless you were planning to seek out the penguins.

Here are some fun pictures of this hybernation period. The boys thought it was really cool that there was ice on the inside of their window. They loved scratching their names into it. (Don't worry, their rooms are still heated, but the old windows can't take that cold!) The other picture is of our huge mound of snow. Ben, Jeffrey, me and Willy all worked on shoveling the driveway. What a feat!

P.S. For anyone interested in viewing Ben's new piece of art, and the other jr. artists working in our studio, visit his blog, using the link on the right. It's fantastic!

Recent photos

I truly enjoy my children. They are such blessings to me!

Grace is our Christmas queen

Wow! What joyful dramatic boys! Dallin and Little Ben enjoying breakfast.

This was funny! We heard Grace make a few discontent noises, and when I came in the living room, she had just laid down and fallen asleep by our basket of books, then Aja (the dog) laid down by her. We thought it was very cute.

Jeffrey, Abel and William playing "Twinkle, Twinkle little Star" for us on the bells during our Thanksgiving music program.

Grace is such a joy! She has found her "fake" laugh. She tries to laugh now and it cracks us all up!

The center of attention

The boys love their little sister. As you can see, most things revolve around her. What a sweet blessing she is to our family.

Learning is fun

Homeschooling is sometimes challenging, but mostly fun. I realize more and more how fun learning can be. My children are always teaching me, and trying to teach them improves my learning as well. One benefit of homeschooling is that it can be imaginitive and fun, and individualized for strengths and weaknesses. Today, the boys wanted to learn about Africa and "built" an african jungle full of animals. We read stories from Africa, learned about their lives, made hunting masks etc. We also learned about humanitarian efforts in some parts of Africa. It was great!

The other day I threw a pizza party for my sunday school class (ages 14-18). They were all here playing games. Jeffrey was playing a game called "Gobblet" (which we highly recommend - it is a game of strategy, not quite like chess, but similar in reasoning strategies) with some of the older kids. They just couldn't beat him! They would play again and again, with no luck. Finally, with a combined effort of 7 people, including me, we finally won. He is quite an intelligent child, and a little smart alec too. Heehee.

Here are a couple of other pictures.

Addendum

Ironically, after writing Ben's tribute about his last alert, it looks like his last alert turned into two alerts. We are currently experiencing somewhat of a blizzard. Because of the conditions, they are making the crews stay for a double alert. Can I survive one more night with him gone? If I've been doing it for four years, I suppose I can. My dreams of the last alert crushed!:) But now, only about 24 more hours! Such is military life. The wind is blowing at about 50 mph. The snow is blowing, creating huge drifts. We can't open our back door! The joys of not only military life, but of Minot, ND! At least it's not -60 yet!

Tribute to my man

I am sure Ben will feel ill at ease when he reads this, but I think he deserves a tribute. Today he left to go to the missle capsule for his last alert. His job as a "crew dog" in the missle field has been indescribably difficult. He has fought a good fight and has gone out with a bang. Not only is Ben the kind of person that does his job well, but he tries to make it better for others. Although he is moving on to an office job (actually it's in a vault, but it is not 70 feet under ground.) he is still trying to improve the work enviroment and training for others who are wearily going to the capsules. He is a wonderful officer and a true mentor and leader. I am so proud of him for serving his country, for moving forward the cause of liberty, for protecting our freedoms and for sacrificing for the benefit of his family and for others. I am thankful for all those who have and do serve in the armed forces, but I am most especially thankful for Ben. I love him! Perhaps he has flaws, but he is perfect for me. We are excited for him to be home with more scheduled hours and to have him sleep at home more than a few nights a week! Thank you, Ben!