Joe and Autum: 2008

Friday, December 12, 2008

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We have had a wonderful year and are grateful for all the things that we have been able to be a part of. We have truly been blessed with many things including the gospel, wonderful family members, and friends. We love to celebrate this special time of year when we can focus on the Savior and on those that we love. To all of our friends and family, thank you for your love and support and for being a part of our lives always.

-Joseph, Autum, Averee, Hyrum, Clara, Emmett

Emmett update.

Someone in my bunko group asked if I had any more updated pictures of Emmett on my blog. So to whoever that was.....Yes there are some of him now. Here you go. He's 2 & 1/2 months now. And such a great baby. So happy all the time. He just had his checkup at the doctor today and weighed 11 pds 7 oz. and was 24 inches long. He is in the 50th percentile for everything. So he's a perfectly well rounded boy!

Christmas Quiz

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Paper is more fun to open

2. Real tree or Artificial? Real, and cut down by yourself.

3. When do you put up the tree? We usually put it up the Sunday after Thanksgiving, cause we get back from the tree hunt Saturday night.

4. When do you take the tree down? I like it down by Christmas Day afternoon. I'm not a Grinch or anything, its just that after a month of decorations I'm ready for it to go. I love the "clean feeling" I get when it's done.

5.Do you like eggnog? I love it on a every now and then basis.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Anything sporty or active.

7. Hardest person to buy for?My father in law.

8. Easiest person to buy for? My kids of course.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Two. One has had the heads broke off and glued back on several times. The other was given to me last year, so not enough time to get broken.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? I do both, and I don't have a preference on which I receive.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Nearly everything from my Grandma Carter. It was always really ugly and embarrassing clothes. Luckily my mom always let me take them back or at least didn't make me wear them.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Elf, Muppet Christmas Carol and A Christmas Story

13. When do you start shopping? End of September usually. This year wasn't till November due to new baby.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Sure, only if I knew they would like it more than I.
15. Favorite thing to eat or drink at Christmas? Christmas Dinner

16. Lights on the tree? Tons of little white lights.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Neil Diamonds Christmas Album, and anything done by a country artist.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Home till day after Christmas than a fun trip for the rest of the break. We are going camping to Mesquite this year.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Yep

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel, its tradition.

21. Open presents on Christmas Eve or Morning? Morning always. Gift swaps on eve.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Worrying about money.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? My mom has a music tree that I love. It has tons of little instruments hanging on it. She also has a patriotic tree that I love too.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Meat and mashed potatoes.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? To be out of debt...but since Christmas hinders that...Joe already let me get new couches for my newly done living room upstairs.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Hey, that's not my deer!

So, the other day, Joe comes back from picking up his deer horns. He'd paid to have the guy do a European mount to hang on the wall. That's when they do the skull and horns. He gets home and we start looking at them saying, I don't remember them looking like this... So Joe pulls out the picture of him with the deer on the hunt and we find that, Nope, they don't match the horns in the picture. It's not his deer. What a mess. The guy at the meat place says they've never had a mix up before. And it's possible that whoever has Joe's horns won't even notice they aren't right. They probably did just what Joe did. Go pick them up and only notice that it's a four-point. They are probably saying..I don't remember this...but maybe they don't have a picture to compare to. So we'll see if this gets worked out. Joe's gonna drive back down there sometime to return the horns and show the guy his picture...all I know, is that I'm not paying $180 bucks for some other guys horns. Moral of the story. Take a picture with you when you pick up your horns.

Wrong Horns

Right Horns

Open-Couch-Surgery

I spent 3 hours today fixing my couch after the cut up clara incident. The arm rest is significantly smaller than the other side now, but after a deep analysis, seemed to be the best option with the least amount of money spent. I cut out all the triangles pulled out the extra cotton and then pulled the sides together and stitched it up. I guess it'll do. Better than it was right?

BEFORE

AFTER

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Popping sound..not so good

On Thursday I was getting the kids ready to go do some Christmas shopping with my little sister Angel. I just needed to get Clara's hair done and then we could all go. She doesn't like to have her hair done. She has my tender head. But I'm always as soft as I can be when I do her hair. I grabbed her hand and was walking her to the bathroom when she decided she wasn't going. She did the classic 2 year old collapse to the ground move. That's when I felt and heard a loud "POP" sound. She immediately started screaming. I knew something was wrong. She wouldn't move her arm at all. So off to the doctor we go. Our regular doc is out of town so we went to a new one in that office. I felt just terrible as I tried to explain to the doctor what happened... hoping the word "abuse" wouldn't come up. The doc said she had "Nursemaids elbow" or "Nanny's elbow." It's a partial dislocation of the elbow. So I had to hold Clara tight while she popped it back in. Clara didn't like that. Good thing it wasn't our regular doctor cause I don't think she'll let that doctor touch her ever again. The doc tells me that it is a very common injury for toddlers and it's very easy to do. That made me feel better. Cause I swear that I wasn't getting even for the cutting she did on my couch. So we get it x-rayed to make sure it's in the right place and that's that. She's still not using that arm much, but she hasn't complained about the pain as much today -Hope it continues to improve.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Thanksgiving and the Tree Hunt

Warning: Due to the extreme content of this post, Tree Hugging Environmentalists should not read!

This Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. We ate dinner with Joseph's family and then spent the rest of the night at my Mom's house. Then we closed the night by taking the kids to the movie Bolt.

The next morning we left for the Tree Hunt. It's been a long tradition with Joe's family to buy a tree tag and go "hunt" for the perfect Christmas tree. The great thing about this kind of hunt is that you always get one! (if you can't hunt a tree then you have serious issues) We took the trailer and camped over night.

We found our perfect tree quickly at the top of the mountain. And we ended its life on the mountain permanently by CUTTING IT DOWN. (Oh the horror of it all! That tree deserves more than being a decoration for a month. The mountainside will be scarred for life! Quick! Call Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and the Sierra Club and help them put a ban on Christmas Trees! Quick Everybody! Join the Green movement! Do your part to stop Global Warming. Save the Trees!

(For those who can't tell, I was being sarcastic)

Then we had a nice night around the fire. The next day was full of lots of loud bangs. We used our right to have and bear arms and took the guns out and had a great time shooting. I love skeet shooting! We went through boxes and boxes of clay pigeons and who knows how many shotgun shells! Not to mention we had a great assortment of handguns to shoot too! Everybody had to try out everybody else's gun of course. My shoulder and arm and hand is still pretty achey. I had some bruising on my shoulder as usual and after shooting some big handguns my arm was pretty sore. Don't usually think about stretching before and after this sport....oh well, it was worth it. We wanted to get a good day of shooting in before our president elect decides to take away our guns. Hopefully this won't happen, but you never know with this guy.

Just got the one group picture from this trip. Go ahead and play where's Autum.

For a short trip..it was sure fun.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Cut-up-Clara

So Clara has a new nic-name. CUT UP CLARA. While I was cleaning up the paint mess one night and Joe had just started sanding the hardwoods the kids asked me if they could do watercolor paints. I said yes, little did I know that Clara didn't stay painting with the other kids. After finishing my work I went downstairs to get in the shower. There was a trail of cotton on the floor. I followed it and found this......

You can't imagine how upset I was.

Some say you should never raise your voice or your hand to your children.... they must have never had their child take scissors to their couch.

My House Project

So I have been wishing that my living room didn't have carpet for a couple of years now. This old house has original hardwoods and I decided that the white stained carpet had to go. So 2 weeks ago I got busy. I moved all of the furniture out of the room and ripped up the carpet and padding in the living room and hallway. Joe came home from work to find the pile of carpet out on the front porch. I had a lot of work ahead of me. The previous owner had painted latex paint over oil paint without doing the primer first. Latex based paint doesn't stick to oil based paint without it. So the paint on the walls had been getting worse each day. I had to scrape and sand all the walls to remove most of the paint. Then I had to do the primer and then finally the finishing paint. Scraping and sanding was not the most fun thing I ever did. After that was done my wonderful sister Annalisa spent as much time as she could helping me with the primer and paint. That took a week for us to get done. Then Joe sanded and refinished the hardwood floors. That took 3 days as each coat of the stain, sealant and finish took about a day each to dry. We spent one night sleeping at Joe's parents house because the smell was too powerful.

The first morning that Joe put the stain on the floors, I was in my room sleeping and was having a dream that had a powerful smell in it. I woke up to Joe yelling at me that the stain on the hardwoods would take a few hours to dry. Then he left to work. I had Clara and Emmett in my room with me and Hyrum was still asleep in his room in the basement. Averee was already off to school. That's when I realized that I was trapped. Joe had painted me into my room! I didn't want to ruin the work Joe had done by walking in the hallway but Clara was saying she was hungry, and then Hyrum woke up and came upstairs and I couldn't just make my kids wait till it was dry. So, I decided to climb out the window. I glanced out mine that went out to the front of the house, but the neighbor across the street was enjoying his morning smoke out on his porch and I didn't want him to think that my house was on fire or something. So I decided to toss Clara into her room across the hallway and managed to bridge myself over enough to hand Emmett to her. Then I jumped across. So I get the window to the backyard open and I lower Clara down. Then I start thinking what about Emmett? How am I supposed to go out this little window with him and not die? So Hyrum to the rescue! I have Hyrum come out and I lower Emmett to him. Now the hard part. First problem - small window and big butt. I started to go out feet first facing up. Got halfway before I realized that I would have to decapitate myself if I was to drop out this way. So I try to roll over. But my butt and hips wouldn't let me. Jammed up no matter which way I turned. The whole time I'm thinkin'. It's a dang good thing that I'm doing this in the backyard and not the front. My neighbors would have had a good laugh. Second Problem - I'm short. So I pull myself all the way out and while standing on the dresser in front of the window squat down and go out feet first on my belly. So I'm slowly lowering myself down till I'm hanging by my armpits and still have a foot or so till the ground. I drop down and one foot goes into the window well and the other hits the ground. This of course throws me off balance and I scrape my left arm all the way down the brick. I have a nice line of scratches and several good bruises on my arm, but I made it out alive. So I get the kids fed and go on with my life. Third Problem - going out window not necessary. Then my husband tells me that night that I could have just walked on the floor and it wouldn't have hurt it one bit! I told him that would have been nice to know before he left!

So here's some pictures of before and after.

Before

After Carpets ripped out

Me painting

Finished, I don't have couches anymore, I took the green ones to the D.I. cause I didn't have anywhere to store them while we were working on the room.

I'm so glad to be done. Next is the dining room. But I'll wait till after Christmas.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Emmett's Blessing Day Nov. 2nd 2008

So this day turned out to be a little hectic. The morning of the blessing day Clara decides that she needs to throw up. So we are trying to figure out how we are gonna do this. We can't cancel cause we have family coming, some a long distance, and we had already planned a family luncheon after. Neither me nor Joe can stay home with her cause he of course is doing the blessing, and it'd be just wrong for me not to be there. So we decide to dress her for church and pray that she doesn't throw up during the meeting. My sweet sister Angel and her husband Jason were willing to leave the meeting early and take her home. So they left with her as soon as the blessing was done. And my prayer that she wouldn't throw up at church was answered.

It was a wonderful blessing and it was so great to see so many take part in the blessing. I'm sure that the ward thought we'd had cousins and friends help in the blessing, but it adds up to a big circle when you put together 2 dads, 2 grandpas, and 9 brothers. It was great to have all of our family there!

So we did our best to quarantine Clara upstairs while we had the luncheon. That went great. And it was nice of Mom and Dad Adams to let us have like 75 people over to eat at their house. But, after the luncheon my nephew Bridger threw up and then Clara threw up again right after. So we got that cleaned up and left for home. Not sure if Mom and Dad Adams want us to have a party there anymore, the throw up thing might have crossed the line a bit.

So we get home and are glad to have our long day over and done with. That was until Averee spilled a bag of popcorn down the stairs. I got the vacuum and started step by step down the stairs and I step down the last step to the bottom and the carpet goes "SPLASH." Our basement had flooded due to the huge rain storm that went on all day. We finally figured out that one of the window wells had filled up and leaked into the storage room and went through the wall into the carpet. So we had to move our bookshelf which meant piling books and junk all over to basement so that we could move it. Between the throwing up in the morning and the soaking up water out of the carpet, we didn't have a single towel left clean in the house. Joe had to leave out of town early the next morning for the whole week and that left me to deal with cleaning up the mess in the basement and cleaning up more puke from Clara who didn't want to get over her illness for a couple days. It was a long day and a long week for me.

And, not to mention, most of my family after a couple days had their families get sick and I completely apologize! I did the best that I could considering the circumstances! I'M SO SORRY!

Halloween 2008

Hyrum as Spiderman

Clara as Tinkerbell

Averee as a Mean Scary Witch

Emmett as a cute Mummy

Emmett with his Mommy

Monday, October 27, 2008

Deer Hunt! The Adams family gets 6 out of 10!

So the hunt was very fun and very successful this year. We had a total of 10 deertags this year. Opening morning Joe bagged his 4 point, followed by Trinna getting a 4 point. They came back and we admired their kills. I didn't go hunting that morning and stayed back at camp with the kids. So that evening Joe wanted to show me where he got his deer. We hopped on the 4-wheeler and took a gun just in case, although I wasn't really planning on hunting much since Joe already had his for the family. Dad Adams was generous and said he'd sit with the baby for awhile. About a 10 min ride down the hollow behind camp I spotted two deer on the hillside about 60 or so yards up. After carefully observing them, (the horns weren't very big and wanted to make sure I wasn't shooting a doe) took the shot. I watched the deer fall and it started running/falling down the mountainside. We started the hike up to find it before it hid itself. As I was stopping for a rest, (didn't have much time to get in shape after having the baby) I heard a noise in a bush and saw the deer poke his head up. Of course he had to go and lay in a pokey bush that we had to drag him out of. Good thing I was out of shape or I wouldn't have stopped for a rest and we might have hiked right on past him. The bullet had struck him through the hind quarters. I gutted him and then dragged him down the mountain while Joe took the gun down and went to get the 4-wheeler closer. It took all of an hour to hunt a deer that I wasn't really even looking for. But it was exciting and fun. The next evening Karen and Jon got their 2 points. And then another 3 point for Jon's family the next morning. It was wonderful weather and a fun time was had by all. 6 out of 10 is a record set for the hunt!

Hyrum and his cousin Wiley get to have their birthdays on the hunt and both turned 4! They were born a day apart and are best buddies. They had a fun party together!

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Deer Hunt, Here We Come!!

I've been spending lots of time this last week getting us ready for the deer hunt. It's always a huge project, but this year especially since I have a newborn to care for. (I know that you are all thinking that I must be nuts to take a 2 and 1/2 week old on the hunt, cause that's what everybody tells me. But just for the record, my camp trailer is just as nice, (or maybe even nicer) than my house. And I'll have everything that I need.)

The deer hunt is always hard to plan for because we never know what the weather is going to be like. We have to prepare for snow and shine, wet and dry, etc. I've had to get out all of the snow clothes to find out which kid still fits in last years, and which kid needs new. Which this year, Hyrum needed new and Clara has upgraded to Hyrums hand me downs. Averee, thank heavens, still fits into hers. Then the trickiness of finding the right sizes at stores that are just barely getting snow stuff in is another story. Many trips to several places and I finally have something suitable for Hyrum to wear.

Both Joe and I drew out tags this year, including every adult in the Adams family, totaling 10 tags for the southern region. We go down to Richfield and head up to the top of the mountain there. It will be fun to see who can bag a deer this year.

Last year I was planning to get a new rifle, cause I had just been using one of Joe's before. But, out of the blue my brother Ammon asks me if I want one of his guns, cause the poor guy just has too many guns and doesn't use this one much anymore. So he gives me a Savage, bolt action, 30.06. All I had to do was dress it up with a new scope and strap. So, thanks Ammon! That saved me a bunch of money!

I love the deer hunt because it's like a big reunion for the Jensen side of Joe's family. The cool crisp air, and the smell of the sage brush are wonderful, and the red and gold leaves on the mountain are beautiful. Not to mention, it's a huge adrenaline rush to shoot at a deer. When you see one with horns it gets your heart just a pounding!

We are leaving on the 15th and coming back the 21st, so I will update then! Until then, here's a photo of me and my first deer that I shot 2 years ago. A 3x4 and a pretty nice kill I would say.

Friday, October 3, 2008

Emmett Rieske Adams!

Emmett Rieske Adams was born on Friday, September 26th at 12:06 P.M. He weighed 7 pounds 6 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long. It was a wonderfully short labor. The eviction notice was sent out at 9:30 A.M. and a little over 2 1/2 hours later he showed up. This measured about 1/4th of the time that my previous inductions had taken, so I was pleased by this nice surprise. As you can see in the following photos, he was jaundiced and got to spend a few days in the billi-bed. I will update with more pictures when I get them from Joe.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

My little Brothers Wedding.

I finally got some pictures from my brothers wedding. (shouldn't have been that hard since Joe took the pictures, but just haven't reminded him.) Alexander and Andra got married on Aug. 7th. It was a beautiful wedding. I don't know if Andra realizes how crazy and loud my big family can get at times, but she'll just have to get used to it. She's done pretty good so far at putting up with us. Above are some of the photo highlights.

Friday, September 12, 2008

And down she goes....

So, this morning I'm going down the stairs and about halfway down my left foot slips off the edge of the step and sends me down on my butt. Which then, because of that awful thing called gravitational pull, has me repeating that same motion on each step all the way to the bottom of the stairs. BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM! (If you say this really fast you will get an understanding of what it sounded like.) This has left me really achy from the back on down. This takes the cake compared to a few weeks ago when I was trying to get out of the tub but instead created a huge tsunami when I lost my balance. Needless to say, I am getting really clumsy in these final stages of pregnancy. Which leaves me wanting this baby to come ASAP before someone really gets hurt. And sorry there is no picture...I failed to have enough time to get an action shot of me going down the stairs...And of course no one wants to see one of me falling in the tub......for many, many, reasons.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Other little tidbits...

My birthday was on the 4th. I turned 21.....well okay.....24.....fine....27. That's right. I'm what you call almost 30 now! I can't believe it. I was born during probably the busiest season for Joe's work and so we have postponed doing anything for it till we find the time. But he did manage to squeeze in getting my gift. I had asked for some end tables. He got me the most beautiful end tables for my living room upstairs that match the wood on my piano perfectly. A dark shiny mohagany color.

On another note, I am set to send the eviction notice to baby Emmit on the 26th unless he decides to come earlier or the doctor decides to take him earlier. I am on a toxemia watch as of now and he may be forced to come earlier if it gets much worse, so we'll see. I feel pretty good, other than being a bit tired. But, I can't wait till he gets here!

Day Ride in the Lake Mountains

Over Labor Day weekend we went for a quick easy ride in the Lake Mountains. Joe had to work that Saturday morning, so in the afternoon he got home and we decided to take a quick trip to let the kids ride for awhile.

It was a couple of fun hours of following Averee around on easy trails and roads. (Since that's all I can handle in this stage of pregnancy and that's all Averee's little training wheels can handle it worked out perfectly.) It was one of the proudest moments of being a mom I've had. Averee had never really ridden more than just circles around camp or in the back yard, and it was so fun to teach her about going up and down hills and navigating through rocks and such. As the minutes ticked by she got more and more confident and was zooming around with no problem at all. It was a very good day out with the family.

Averee's First Day of School

First off, Averee started kindergarten this year. She goes at 8am and that made me make some adjustments to my lifestyle. I've always been a night owl. (my best thoughts and ideas come in the middle of the night) And since becoming a stay at home mom 5 years ago I had kind of just let the kids stay up for awhile with me. So a 10:30 bedtime recently had to be changed to 9pm. And the kids and I have had to get up at 7am instead of 8:30am. I thought it was going to be harder than it was. But we have all adjusted well.

Averee goes to Shelley Elementary which is only a block away from us. At back to school night we walked there and I showed her how to get to her classroom. Then the big morning arrives. I throw the other kids in the stroller and walk her to school and she says on the way, "you know mom, you don't have to walk me, I know the way." It made me so proud to see how independent she was. Especially when I witnessed several kids in her class holding on with all their might as their mom tries to pry them off her leg. Glad I didn't have to deal with that!

Since then she's walked to school with a group of kids, and walks home alone when she gets out. (the other kids are older and get out later)

Also, I don't know if you can tell in this picture very good, but she has a black eye thats just starting to fade. She hit it on a table at my brothers wedding before school started and at back to school night the teacher asked her how it happened. She told her she ran into a table. Which is the truth but sounds pretty lame. Well, at this very moment she has another black eye. Same place and everything. She bonked heads with her cousin on the trampoline over the weekend. I really hope her teacher doesn't suspect anything....."uh, yeah, I usually try to hit her in places that are hidden, but man she just got me so angry those two times that I didn't think....."

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Lake Powell Trip 2008

So just 2 days after getting back from Bear River, we were headed to Lake Powell. We camp on a beach called Lone Rock, just a few minutes from Glen Canyon Dam and Page, Az. The lake was much higher this year. It was very hot and it was a bit discouraging to see my feet and ankles get puffier and bigger each day, but it was still so much fun to play with the kids in the water and watch the others do the high action water sports. (Although it was mighty tempting to show them a thing or two on the wakeboard, I decided to save that all for next summer.) I was quite surprised to see how brave Averee was. She was jumping off cliffs and had no fear at all of the water. We spent a whole week there and made it home one day before my little brother Alex's wedding which was on last Thursday the 7th.

Bear River over the 24th

We had a fun trip with my family over Pioneer Day Weekend. We went up into the Uintahs to a spot called Bear River. It was nice and cool up there which I loved. The kids had a creek to play in so they had fun getting wet and then rolling in the dirt to get as muddy as possible. It's just one of those trips where you plan on having to shower them off every night before they go to bed. ( I seriously don't know how people camp in tents with small children.) It was a fun trip, and when we got home I had just 2 days to clean, unpack and repack. Next up is Lake Powell with Joe's family!

Days of '47 Rodeo!

My Mom and Dad took Averee and I to the rodeo. I know this is gonna sound crazy, but I had never been to one before. It was Averee's first time too. It was a lot of fun and Grandma and Grandpa spoiled Averee and bought her a cowgirl hat!

Monday, July 28, 2008

Backyard Splash!

The kids have had so much fun swimming in the backyard this summer. With a pool at the bottom of a slide you can't go wrong!