Snow Day!

Yup! That's right! We got about an inch of snow yesterday -- apparently this means extreme driving conditions in a town with no snow plows! This is the second day of school cancellations in as many weeks. I can't help but laugh at people who are complaining that they don't remember when we've had a winter this bad! I took this picture from my front door this morning and -- yes -- those are tumbleweeds sticking up out of the snow! Growing up in northern Utah makes it a little difficult for me to see what all the fuss is about, but the kids are sure happy about it!


Kutter discovered the joy of icicles today. I'm hoping that knocking them off the roof meant they were semi-clean, but, dirty or not, how could I rob him of this childhood memory?

Breje did most of the shoveling, but Kutter took over near the end, and he seriously did not want to quit! He ended up carrying the shovel all around the yard, hence, we no longer even have that inch in some places! I'm not sure how he even lugged that huge thing around, but he was so proud of how hard he was working!

Of course, the day did not start this joyful! The school district is great at canceling school, but not so great at giving us plenty of notice. We found out at 6:30 this morning, when the kids were almost completely ready. I swear I heard mothers all around town groaning at the news (apparently, my house was not the only scene of complete warfare during the last snow day!) but this day off turned out to be pretty enjoyable. The best part was finding the kids making snow angels in the front yard!

Be Thou An Example

I've read so many beautiful posts, today, about the recent death of our prophet, expressing the bittersweet feelings of loss for his sweet presence and joy for the welcoming he's surely enjoying. Many of your words so closely mirrored my own feelings, that I was thinking it was unnecessary for me to share my thoughts on the subject. I couldn't stop thinking about all the reasons he will be missed -- his strength, his energy and enthusiasm, his optimism -- but I think for me it all comes down to his wonderful example. It made me want to share my own story of the time I was fortunate enough to meet the prophet.

I can't remember exactly how long ago it was. Quite awhile ago, because I was still in college and working for USU Catering. I was extremely grumpy because I had been called in, along with 3 of my friends, to set up a banquet last minute. Someone had lost the paperwork and the dinner had nearly been forgotten. Now four of us were being asked to give up our fun weekend plans to set up a party for a bunch of strangers, and none of us were exactly thrilled.

We usually had a piece of paper with he details of the evening -- the name of the group and whether or not they had a speaker, but this was missing. It was important information because it usually helped us guess how long we'd be stuck there. It there were young people it usually meant a bigger mess to clean up. If there was a speaker, it meant we'd have to clock out and wait forever -- not getting paid a dime -- while they finished before we could clean up and go home.

I still remember our mood as we set up the party. Usually we enjoyed setting up for the banquets. It was fun to decorate and see how nice we could make the room look -- and we got to gossip with our friends or sing to the radio while we did it. Not that night. We were all stomping around the room, slamming down plates and threatening that these people just better hurry up and leave so that we could get back to our important plans. I remember that none of us was being especially pleasant that night.

I also remember how suddenly the mood in that banquet room changed as people started coming in. One girl, who happened to not be a member of our church, suddenly spoke up with "You know, I don't think tonight's gonna be so bad". I was still busy setting up my station, so I didn't notice the room filling with elderly gentlemen until one of my other friends, a return missionary, nearly dropped her tray. "Omigosh! That's President Hinckley!"

It just so happens that this group stayed FOREVER that night. They did have a speaker and all four of us spent our break listening to him outside the door. I don't remember what he said that night, but I do remember that he took the time to thank each of us for a wonderful evening before he left. That touched us all (we were usually just part of the background at these things) but what made the biggest impression on me was his ability to completely change the feeling in the room, just by entering it. I remember thinking to myself that that is the kind of person I would like to be. That someday I would like to be able affect people for the better, merely because of my presence.

I'm still working on attaining that goal, I'm pretty sure it will take my entire life (probably longer) but I'll never stop being grateful for the beautiful example he set for all of us that night.

Crawling!

Now that I've finally figured out this video thing, you are probably all gonna get pretty sick of seeing footage of my children being cute! Brielle officially turned 8 months today, and I just had to commemorate it with the first footage of her crawling. She started figuring this out about a week ago and she thinks she's pretty fabulous! I just think we're in trouble!

My Sunshine

From her gorgeous blond hair to her sparkling, spunky personality, having my adorable neice around often makes me feel like I have my own personal ray of sunshine. Her family is going through so much right now that I feel kind of guilty that I borrowed her cheerful smile for the weekend, but I sure was grateful for it! She enjoys every second of life to the fullest and it helps me remember to do the same. Painting this fishy appeared to be the joy of her little lifetime, but so did everything else she did this weekend. I love that she seems to have formed her own special relationship with each member of our family.

She and Kutter always seem to form an immediate connection, although it's often difficult to imagine. You couldn't find a boy who's more boyish, or a girl who's more girlish, but they spent the entire weekend joined at the hip, locked in some deep conversation that no one else could ever truly appreciate. She has a way of reaching out to each of us, even Uncle Jody, who is discovering that her trust once lost (He's learned not to EVER throw her in the air again!) is not lost forever.

This time, she especially touched my heart. My favorite moment all weekend? She was watching me put on my make up and said so sweetly, "You look just like my mommy!" It made me so happy I almost cried. Most people spend their lives looking up to older siblings, but I've admired my kid sister since the day she was born. Hayley has a way of gathering friendships and being so good at everything she does. I used to be so jealous of how popular and pretty she is, but now I am just grateful to have her for a friend. It's like Ady knew exactly what the nicest thing she could say to me was! Thanks, sweetie!

ANOTHER QUIZ

You Are a Chocolate Cake

Fun, comforting, and friendly.You are a true classic, and while you're not super cutting edge, you're high quality.People love your company - and have even been known to get addicted to you.

">http://www.blogthings.com/whatkindofcakeareyouquiz/">What Kind of Cake Are You?

Quizes seem to be the theme for the day. This one is SO ME! I couldn't help it!

Are They Even Listening?

Lately we have really been trying to make sure we get Family Home Evening and Scripture study in. When I say we, I mean mostly Jody. I go along with it and spend the majority of the time gritting my teeth. It's generally a rather difficult experience. Most evenings, it takes about a million tries to get everyone together. Then one of them, usually Kutter, decides to torture everyone else. It ends in a big dogpile, or me threatening to send everyone to bed early. Very spiritual.

Last night was a great example. I'm getting better at this, so I used brownies to get their noses out of books, eyes off the computer, and hands off the matchbox cars. I even went one step further and let them have the treat during the lesson, thinking this might keep their hands and mouths busy. I didn't get much feedback, but it did seem to be working until Kutter yelled "Pause!" Apparently, he needed to get a drink! Maybe there's been too many video games and movies at the Wolfley residence these days!

Fortunately, there's primary! I've said it before and I'll say it again, primary teachers are saints! I remember teaching the CTR 5 kids and wondering what was the point of even showing up. They were all over the place and I really don't remember ever getting through any of the lessons, let alone thinking that any of the kids listened. Now that I have one that age, I know better. Kutter came home from his first week in CTR 5 with a brand new CTR ring. It is his pride and joy. He wears it all day (It's been 9 days and he still hasn't lost it!) and puts it on his dresser at night in the place of honor-right next to his nurf gun and Lightning McQueen.

The best part is that now, whenever he does anything good, he comes running to me and says, "My ring reminded me to Shooze the right! That's why I put away my toys!" Thank you Sister R!

Most amazing? Scripture study is the most challenging for us. We've kept at it and it does seem like Trayson and Breje are starting to get something out of it, but my greatest hope for Kutter is that he's getting the habit and he'll learn from it someday. Anyone who has a 4-year-old, even one that's not as rambunctious as Kutter, will understand my surprise when we were driving around town today and, out-of-the-blue he says, "Mom, are we ever going to get to a place where the Nephites stop fighting?" OK, so maybe that's not deep doctrine, but

he's LISTENING!

Home Sweet Home

I hate when it's been so long since I've posted, but It's amazing how few pictures I take when my kids have been sick for two whole weeks! We have been the epitomy of boring! I guess that means this is a good week to finally get around to posting pictures of our new house. Several of my bloggin friends have requested pics, so I tried hard to get a few. Ok, so our home is almost a year old, but I really am slow! I just can't seem to capture the way it really looks, but I gave it my best shot.

This is our front room. The plant shelves are one of my favorite things. I still don't know how to decorate them, but it's sure fun trying!My dining room is another favorite part. It's tiny, but cozy, and we finally splurged and bought our first real table. Matching chairs and everything!

Now if we could just figure out how to get a huge forest to replace the desert that surrounds our five acres, it would be perfect!

Feeling Awful!

Poor Little Brielle has been feeling awful all week. She's had a quite a fever, a bad cough, and ,if you look close, you can see that she's got nasty, goopy eyes. The doc says she's also had a pretty bad sore throat. This picture really captured how pathetic she's been feeling lately (Mommy, too -- absolutely NO SLEEP!) Fortunately for Brielle . . .

Bathtime

fixes

EVERYTHING!

Happy Birthday Trayson!

This year, we were able to continue Trayson's favorite birthday tradition and have a joint birthday party with his Uncle Cody. Cody still gets a little bit gyped on his birthday celebration, but at least he gets a cake and a birthday song, even if most of the pictures do get taken of Trayson! Tray just loves sharing the spotlight with his uncle -- and thinks the greatest thing ever is to beat Cody to blowing out the candles! I cannot believe my little guy is seven years old! He has been such a joy to have in our life. I love that he is always coming up with fun little bits of trivia and surprising us all with his vast knowledge of the universe (yes, we've noticed how much he takes after his Grandpa!) He always has time to stop and give me a hug, even on days when he doesn't agree with me, and his testimony already inspires me. Although it's hard to think about him getting even older on me, I can't wait to see the ways he'll grow in the next year!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Yeah, I know. Christmas was over a week ago, but it wore me out and this is the first day that I've been able to imagine stringing together even one sentence that makes sense. We'll see if I can do it!

Christmas was really as wonderful as we all expected it to be. We were able to make it to Grandpa's Christmas party-which is always the highlight of every holiday! It's amazing to watch all my cousins kids grow up and become friends with my own. It takes me back, and it makes me feel so blessed to know they will have the kinds of friendships I have with my cousins!

Santa Claus came to Grandma Kay's this Christmas, and the kids were clearly not dissappointed! We relaxed a little then packed up the car to continue the marathon of gift-giving at my parent's house. It was like Christmas morning all over again. I still consider it a Christmas miracle that we were able to get all of the presents home! (NO, it was NOT a comfortable ride!)

We feel so blessed to have been able to spend this time with our family, and especially to be able to actually enjoy our family so much! We fit in more drives, dinners, gifts, and games than I could ever count! (I tried, I thought it would make a funny post, but I just cannot count that high today!) It was a whirlwind, but it was fun!

BRRRRrrr

We kicked-off our holiday trip to Utah last week with a a freezing cold trip to Hardware Ranch. It's this place in Cache Valley where they have a kind of refuge for all the elk that come down out of the mountains in the winter. They feed them so that they don't drive the farmers nuts, and they provide these fun little sleigh rides and a few "elk facts" for the kids.

Now, I had a chance to sit this one out -- I've seen elk before. They are big, they have antlers, they stand around in the snow. Yay. The problem is that the kids haven't seen elk, and I didn't want to miss their cute little faces. I wasn't sure that I'd made the right decision when we drove through the canyon and watched the temperature drop to 2 degrees, but I was so glad that I went! They all LoVeD the horses (they are pretty cool), none of them seemed bothered by the cold, Trayson loved all the animal trivia that he picked up and I kept hearing Simon and Sienna say "wow". Brielle's picture speaks for itself! Totally worth freezing my toes off!