come again?

yes, we are still sick. well, mostly me. but, that's not what i wanted to write about. i just wanted to make a quick note of my little linguist, isaiah. one morning he had come out with a pair of socks, eager to get ready for the day. however, his pair of socks just happened to be turned inside out. he held them up for sam and i to see and said, "mommy, daddy, i can't put these on cuz they're too woogly." sam and i gave each other a puzzled look. ?? they're what? "they're WOOGLY!" and he held up his socks in front of our faces for us to see the obvious "woogly." a couple seconds passed and the light bulb finally went off. duh, mom! the apparent fuzziness just happened to be the "woogly." so now we know. when things are inside out, its woogly. man, what a great word! i love it! hmm, you know, i think makayah's hair might even be considered as "woogly" in the picture above. p.s. while he was snacking away on his rainbow-ed goldfishie snacks he sorted the fishies by color and number. i love my little genius son! :)

under the weather

as a full-time mamma, there is no such thing as taking sick leave...or even a sick DAY for crying out loud. i just can't afford that luxury. so when the vicious germs are circulating around our household i become a clean freak (more than usual) and everything is wiped down or washed from door handles to binkies. and i just make up my mind..."monika, you are NOT getting sick - although snot may be smeared on your freshly washed and fairly new shirt - you are just not allowed to get sick." and believe it or not, i rarely get the flu maybe once a year at best. and then two weeks ago i began to feel sluggish. the following week i was tired and achy. oh no. it seemed all around me people (mostly the little people) were dropping like flies. pneumonia, flu, stomach flu (heaven forbid!), strep throat, RSV! and by this past saturday my throat was scratchy. just great. i can't get sick! who's gonna watch the kids? who's gonna FEED the kids? who's gonna keep the house running? and lo and behold...my knight in shining armor. by sunday morning my throat was so scratchy, my body so achy, i absolutely did not feel like crawling out of bed to rescue my adorable little banshee from her night cage at 8am. and fortunately for me, i didn't have to. sam was so amazing these past few days. he took care of the smelly diapers, fed our hungry monsters, kept the house in order, and let me sleep in. and today he stayed home from work to take care of me this morning. by noon, i was feeling much better and i assured sam i could take things from here. so that's been our weekend. we decided to skip out on church yesterday in order not to spread our lovely disease to other unsuspecting families. sam said, "we'd rather keep our small-pox blankets to ourselves." he always has a very "colorful" way of putting things. anyway, in place of church, we decided to have a video conference with sam's brother (uncle red) who just got home from his mission on friday. isaiah had remembered exactly who he was and makayah was just happy to be seen...for the most part.later on, sam thought we all needed a dose of fresh air, so he took us all on a drive to nowhere in particular. we headed up to american fork and took a stroll through the huge castle playground - isaiah was bursting with excitement and i think he is officially recovered. next, we went "temple hunting" and isaiah found the timpanogos temple. so we stepped out once more to let the kids have a closer look. isaiah is completely fascinated by temples and can't wait to get married there..."mom, can i get married?" when you're older. "but why?" anyway, despite our inconvenient illnesses and our absence from church, it was wonderful spending time together as a family. and now that i am feeling almost normal...its back to playing hockey with my wee babes and await the thrilling arrival of DADDY!

love bugs

fashionably late...that's our style, not to mention any excuse for a party and sweets. so we celebrated v-day eve with pink frosted cupcakes; v-day with home-made cards from isaiah & makayah, balloons, flowers, swiss chocolate, and our tasty heart-shaped pizza. oh, and makayah was looking oh so pookalicious in her love bug pants that nanna made and sent just in time. and not to be outdone, isaiah stubbornly chose to wear his bright orange shirt with shiny black spiders speckled on the front. i guess it was better than wearing pink. everyday is love day with my crazy crowfoot bunch. my cup runneth over.

primary predicaments

or as isaiah would say..."ploblems." our sabbath day began bright and early. we had family pictures scheduled in before our one o'clock sacrament meeting time. yeah, crazy. but it had to be done. i frantically got everyone dressed, while sam hurriedly got them re-dressed, and as we rushed out the door to the pretend castle with scary monster dragons that isaiah didn't want to go to...miss thang thought she'd look much better without the frilly bow holding the hair out of her eyes. for some reason she's happier rockin' the punk look - must be isaiah's fault, he's always calling her a little punk. hmm, guess i should talk to him about that. anyway, we trudged through the crunchy snow and took our pics before our toes froze off. sam decided after our crazy photographic escapade, he really didn't feel too good. so he stayed home with makayah, which left me to haul my very useful adolescent sister, and my temperamental toddler. i think this is isaiah's fourth, maybe fifth sunday in primary. so he's still quite new to the whole primary thing, plus, he really misses nursery - treats, toys...you know, all the fun stuff. despite his longing to be back in the carefree world of nursery, his transistion is coming along more smoothly. today, however, was quite the day. during one of the lessons on hinckley's "b's" isaiah was all too eager to "B" involved. so when the primary president began talking about "B-eing" clean, isaiah stood up and said, "yep! you can't be dirty! you have to be clean!" - with such conviction, i bowed my head to hide my smile and prayed he'd stop there. please don't embarass me, please don't embarass me! i could just hear it now, "and you can't say bad words like..." and i was worried because just that morning he stopped me and said, "mom, we can't say bad words like 'damn', huh mom." yes son. so yeah, i was sitting on the edge of my seat. luckily, he stopped there. things turned out to be a completely different story in his individual sunday school class. the little 3 year old sunbeam class just happened to have a lesson on Jesus and how Jesus loves us. isaiah, pipes up, "Yep! Jesus loves me and so and so, and so and so, but not you (points to one of his friends...they must've had some kind of falling out???). the teacher kindly replied, "Jesus loves everyone." isaiah argued back, and then the teacher said something to the effect of "we don't say things like that because its rude." now, i should've warned those poor sunbeam teachers that my son has been going through a bossy phase and an obnoxious "why" phase. for the past week, practically the only thing coming out of isaiah's mouth is the word, "why?" "but why, mom?" it can become pretty exhausting. so....the teacher says its rude and isaiah says, "but why?" teacher response. "but why? why, Why, WHY?" i'm sure they had their fun with him, or vice versa. goodness gracious, that kid is something else. a little later on in the lesson, the teacher says, "Jesus is our brother." isaiah, of course, has something to say, "Jesus is my brother, but not yours...." not again! wow. that son of mine has a way of making me laugh when i really shouldn't be. oh well. he did do a great job on sharing the scripture for closing exercises...i guess as long as he's front and center. ;) the picture i added of isaiah is his first day in primary. he loved his crown he made and really does remember the things his teachers teach him. although it may seem your words fall on deaf ears-they really don't; teachers...thank you!

whats up buttercup!

i have the girliest girl on my hands, which is actually quite, um, ironic would be the word. see, i grew up being the ONLY girl in my family for 12 years until we adopted my two sisters (and one other brother)....which by the way is absolutely fantastic because i love my sisters! anyway, back to my story. i grew up the biggest tom boy. seriously, living out on the rez, playing in the dirt, making tumbleweed forts with my brothers, breaking my nose while sword fighting with my brothers....so yeah, TOM BOY! and now, i have a daughter of my own...and boy is she the girliest girl ever. i love it (now that i've "girly-ed" out myself after all these years)! just recently, she's begun to walk with her hands delicately flared at her sides while twisting her hips back and forth. oh my gosh, it's making me laugh just thinking about her doing it. hmm, wonder where she learned THAT from! ;) so, she's got the hip sway going on...but what good is that if you haven't perfected your pout? and so she does in the hallway mirror. i caught her standing in front of the hallway mirror practicing various sad faces and pouts - scrunching her nose, squinting her eyes, and letting out heartbreaking whimpers. goodness! oh, she's also begun to fold her arms and squint her eyes shut during prayer. isaiah's constant pestering worked on her afterall..."fold your arms pakayah!" anywhoo, this past week has been chaotically pleasant. we took isaiah out to a BYU basketball game and had a blast! it was past poor pookie's bedtime, so she couldn't make it. i don't think she would've liked it anyway. but isaiah loves BYU anything! we cheered all the cheers and heckled the opposing team and went out for treats afterward. fyi, isaiah is so completely obsessed with byu sports that he knows the byu fight song by heart and asks us to sing it to him at bedtime from time to time. the following day sam and a couple of his buddies helped us demolish the downstairs bathroom and in a matter of seconds the entire inside of our home had been enveloped in a cloud of concrete dust. i just happened to see the cloud rising from the stairwell and called out to isaiah (who was happily munching on his apples and peanut butter snack), "run to your bedroom isaiah! RUN! RUN!" i grabbed the baby just in time, slammed isaiah's door shut and breathed a sigh of relief. although it looked as if our house had just exploded, it was rather fun playing our hideout game in isaiah's room. sam and i also had our date night that night but had to wash out the white dust in our hair so we didn't look like we were two fifty-year olds going out...so renee says. today was more of the same destruction. they say they're done tearing things apart....i hope, i hope. we'll see. so gotta go now...until more cuteness happens!

president hinckley

he was my most favorite prophet. i was actually still in arizona when i heard of his passing. when i first heard the news, i surprised myself. i always wondered how i would react when he finally left this world. and i wasn't sad. i was really happy for him. he was finally reunited with his dear, sweet companion once more. he was such a great and loving man. i remember when he came to window rock to speak. he expressed his great love for the navajo nation, urged each of us to continue our education and become strong leaders within the church. i was part of the choir so i couldn't go out to shake his hand. but, my dad and my brother, darrell did. he and his wife also rode in our car from and back to the airport. we had the opportunity to go to the viewing and the funeral...but unfortunately didn't make it. however, with his passing came an increased motivation to make improvements. sam had said, "you know, i want to be more like president hinckley. i want our marriage to be like theirs." i think everyone wants their marriage to be more like the hinckleys. they were always so sweet when they were together. but to be honest, sam is truly an incredible husband. the perfect husband for me. and when he had made the comment about the hinckley's marraige, it made me love him even more. president hinckley and his wife were truly remarkable and inspiring people. they will be greatly missed.

neglected blog...

yes, i know. it's now 2008 and i'm already behind on this thing. sam told me yesterday that i needed to do some updating. so, i've torn myself away from all the many projects i've seemed to bury myself in. okay, so here goes... 1. the sunday before christmas: we all bundled up (which makayah was quite upset about...and later was dubbed, "the little grinch" by isaiah) and headed to temple square to see the christmas lights. isaiah and "the little grinch" loved all the twinkling lights and thought it quite magical. however, according to isaiah, the lights were nothing compared to the "Christus" in the visiting center. we had made our rounds and took tons of pictures, and then isaiah said, "mommy, but i want to see Jesus! where is he?" we found our way back to the visitor's center and up to where the Christus stood. isaiah was beyond thrilled and said, "mommy! daddy! i know Him, its Jesus!" and makayah, well, she was just happy to be outside her fleece-lined cacoon. 2. christmas eve: isaiah, makayah and i made a gingerbread house and gingerbread cookies to leave out for santa, along with a can of holiday coke. "huh, dad, coke is only for santa cuz he's old. little guys can't have coke, huh, dad." 3. christmas day: makayah loved the wrapping paper she got for christmas, 'phff! who needs toys?!" isaiah tried stealing all of makayah's gifts. christmas is so much more fun when you've got kids! and of course, everyone got the traditional christmas pj pants from mama. 4. makayah's birthday week: she turned one! already? where was i this past year?! how did this sneak up on me? we celebrated a couple times, which is not unusual for our party-crazy family. we had a small celebration - just the four of us. and then on new year's we had another party with our extended family and friends at the adolpho's. oh what a night! frosting is a great way to make a mess. hmm, funny how none of it made it to her mouth. oh well. seriously though, its been so awesome having a daughter. she has brought even more joy and laughter (how is that possible?!) into our crazy crowfoot nest. she is so spicy and so fun and so incredibly and amazingly smart....and we just can't seem to take our eyes off her. oh she makes my heart melt. she is definately a wild one...and we are strapping in for one WILD ride. 5. january 2008...the new year: went to our neices baby blessing and heard some crazy woman rattle on and on and on and on and on....well, you get the picture. it was almost pyscho. but i won't get into that. i'd like to, because it was funny and throughout the entire 45 minute testimony we were trying unbelievably hard not to shake with laughter....but i shouldn't, so i won't. 6. my birthday week: went to a funeral in st.george and got to stay with gramma parson, and we also got to see the "brown" side of the family. YAY, family! it was a fun visit. when we came home from st. george on my actual birthday...i was surprised with a tasty lunch at tucanos with the whole gang waiting there for me (darrell, nathan, renee, marshelda + our little bunch). you know, i've decided i'd like to be 26 forever. its the perfect age. so there. ;) 7. last part of january: ran away to arizona with the kids and renee. no, i'm joking. i didn't run away but we did make a mad last-minute dash. i ended up with some kind of infection that might've started out as a sinus infection (so the doc says). anyway, while i was feeling under the weather, drugged up and jello-y, isaiah followed me into the guest bedroom to put me down for a nap. "mommy, i'll snuggle you for your nap and tell you a story, k?" he put his tiny arms around me and scratched my back and began, "once upon a time there was a big auntie renee and a little auntie renee..." his story became quite ridiculous and i'm sorry to say i was too drugged up to remember how it all went, but that was the sweetest moment EVER! my little boy, putting me down for a nap. my mom and renee also pitched in and gave me back rubs and foot rubs during my stay. needless to say, "umpa" and "nana" had the time of their lives with thier grandchildren. once i was back on my feet, we had a sewing rush, trying to crunch out as many outfits for the kids as we could. it was quite a relaxing time. meanwhile, in provo, the boys were starving and scavenging for food at papa johns and ruby river. hmmm, didn't i just go grocery shopping before i left? "yeah, but you can't EAT any of it. its all stuff you have to MAKE." i had to save my dear hunny from starving so we left cold and snowy arizona and came back to cold and blizzardy provo. and the snow hasn't let up since. 8. february: still sewing. no one is dying of starvation. isaiah is perfecting his manipulation tactics..."daddy, read me a story." not now. "but don't you love me?" okay, i'll read. makayah is still the queen of sheba and her favorite thing is to shake her lil' booty. we have dance parties every other day and they LOVE it. she's also working on her words. so far, she's learned how to say, "mine!" thanks to her lovely brother, isaiah. but mostly she likes to nod yes or no. and actually knows when to nod which. smart cookie. oh yes, i almost forgot. yesterday when sam got up to go to work isaiah came out after him. sam saw him in the hallway, "goodmorning isaiah! how are you?" isaiah replied brightly, "GRREAT!" later on that day we were feeding our "dancing" fire (as isaiah likes to describe it) and isaiah says, "mom, you're doing a terrific job!" awww, shucks. what a little man. today while coloring, he said, "mom, you're supposed to say - that's terrific isaiah." oh, okay. i think i've covered the important stuff. the stuff i'd like to remember anyways. i have a ton of pictures i still have to upload...so sometime this week i will try and get to them. love you all.