the mouse

warning: there are pictures to go along with the story. not for the faint at heart.

I've been suspecting a mouse for about a week or so. I had caught a glimpse of a possible mouse scurrying under the stove and have been weary ever since. Other "clues" have added to the suspicions. So last night I finally set a trap.

Everyone had gone to bed. It was just after 10 and I was heading to bed. I put some peanut butter on a tiny section of american cheese and placed it on the trap. Set the trap in the corner by the oven where I had the "sighting" a week previous. I went about the house turning off lights and locking doors and went up to bed. As I was pulling down my covers I heard the SNAP of the trap. "Wow, that was fast" I thought. But when I checked the trap, it was empty! That bugger had stolen my cheese! I reset the trap with a smaller piece of cheese and smashed it more into the trap.

Again I went to bed and within 5 minutes I heard the snap again. I was getting nervous and didnt really want to see a mouse squirming in the trap. So I gave it ten minutes before I went down to check. Sure enough, there was a grey blob attached to the trap. The trap had flipped over, thank heavens I couldnt see the head. But the body of the mouse was as big as the trap itself. It totally grossed me out! This was WAY bigger than the tiny mouse we caught a few years ago.

But now I was in a dilemma. With Brian gone, who was going to dispose of this mouse? Then I remembered how brave Brianne was last time when we caught a mouse. She nonchalantly picked up the trap with mouse attached and put it in the sack. No biggie! I went to bed certain that Brianne would throw it out in the morning.

Unfortunately Brianne has gotten more squeemish in her mature teenage years. In the morning she not only refused to take care of it, she wouldn't even go in the kitchen to get breakfast.

Hannah was no better.

I had to wake up Jackson.

The weird part is, when I had gone to bed the mouse and trap were both in plain sight. About 8 inches away from any of the cabinets or appliances - in full view. But in the morning, the trap was right up next to the oven and I couldnt see if the mouse was still there. I was afraid he had gotten away again. I got the broom handle and pulled on the trap. EWWWWW! THE MOUSE WAS STILL ATTACHED! But how the heck had he gotten himself and the trap over to the oven? Had his little army mouse friends tried to save him? Had he himself wiggle over trying to escape? Oh my gosh! What if I had tried to throw him out last night and he had started wiggling? /shiver

He was definately dead now. Can you say RIGAMORTIS?

OK, so I pull Jackson out of bed and give him a big speech about how he is the man of the house right now which requires him to take certain jobs upon himself. I hand him the walmart sack and point to the trap. He was a bit uncertain at first. But quickly got a glint in his eye that tells me this is every 10 yr old boy dream come true. He pulled on the trap - sure enough - grey mouse, legs sticking up, tail curling. AACKKKK!!!! /insert girlie screaming here. I'd blame all the screaming on the other 5 females that live in the house, but I admit it was all from me.

Some comments from Jackson include: "oh look at his guts!" then "i'm gonna flip it over to see his head" and then "wow his teeth are really stickin out"

/more screaming from mom

I did manage to snap some pictures. Not because I want to inspect it, but to prove how big the mouse was.

The first one shows how he was under the stove. The second one is, well ...





I've set another trap in case he has a friend. I'll give an update if anything happens! I think I'm ready to move in with mom for a few weeks. /sigh

Jainna "crawling"

ok, she may not be actually "crawling" in these videos, but it was her first attempts. Please excuse the annoying chipmunks singing in the background.





These videos were taken about a month ago. now she crawls all over the place. We are on constant vigil to keep tiny objects off the carpet so she wont put them in her mouth.

jainna growing

Savannah the Photographer

the camera is always FULL of pictures taken by Savannah. She usually points the camera backwards and upsidedown. Here are some of my favs.






again, naked, i know ...

Savannah the Baker

I was doing some baking the other day and Savannah decided she wanted to bake too. She pulled up a chair to the counter and proceeded to take pinches of flour from the flour bin and sprinkle it all over her tummy. I looked down at myself and saw flour all over my torso. I laughed as I realized what "baking" means to a three year old.




and FYI, my bread turned out great!


and yes, savannah is always naked down to her pullup whenever she is home. ALWAYS.

a new life...gonna make new friends, but keep the old!

This is not a new announcement, but we are moving to Las Vegas/Henerson, Nevada. Brian started working last month at a great company and has been commuting on the weekends. We've been trying to purchase a house in Vegas, but the market is so overwhelmed that its taking the banks forever to make any decision. And since just about every home there is in shortsale, we are at the mercy of the banks. So we finally decided this weekend that we are moving at the end of October whether we have a home or not.

Ironically, the lesson in church yesterday was on Faith. I really feel like this is a huge leap of faith on our part. We have no idea where we will live, but we are moving forward with those plans. We need to be together as a family.

Brian will start looking for houses to rent and I am going out there the first weekend in October to look as well. We may even look at homes to buy to put another offer in, in case our current offer gets denied.

Truth be told, I am nervous. But I think that is normal. I hope . . . :) Each week at church is getting harder and harder to face. But I know we are being led by the Lord to our new location.

Packing is such a pain! I've only done a little bit, but I'm gonna kick it in gear this week. I've set a goal to pack for 2 hours a day. It doesn't sound like much, but with 2 little ones at home, 2 teenager schedules, and a fund-raiser bake sale I'm doing - it's pretty hard to find 2 hours.

Brianne has started a new blog about our move from her point of view. Check it out, she is a great writer :)

my day

I had a really full day today. I thought it would be interesting to spell it all out for 3 reasons.

1. Some day when I think about having more kids, I will read this and remember why I decided to STOP!
2. Some day when I am feeling sad about not being good enough, I will read this and remember I AM!
3. Some day when my kids think I'm a rotten mom and only remember the bad things I did, they will read this I realize IM NOT!


In order to get a full effect of my day, we have to start with last night. Savannah fell asleep (for the 2nd night in a row) at 4:00 pm and slept all the way to 11 pm. She woke up thinking it was morning and insisted on cereal. I therefore stayed up with her until she fell asleep at 2 am. I slept fast and woke up with Jainna at 6 am. 4 hours sleep - good start! At 8 am I went on a bike ride with Maegann over to her school. She is taking a summer reading class. I rode home by myself and quickly gathered my things to go to the grocery store.

I spent an hour and a half at the store. Buying groceries, a swimming pool, and Toy Story 1 AND 2. By the time I got home and the groceries unloaded it was time to ride my bike back to the school to pick up Maegs. It's 11 am, I ride to meet her, only to find out that her bike had a flat tire. So I race back home to pick up the van so we can load up her bike and come home.

Once home, I bribe all the kids to get their chores done by telling them I had "presents" from Walmart. It seemed to work fairly well. The house was picked up and lunch was consumed and cleared so I put on Toy Story 1 and left to take Brianne to meet some friends swimming. It's 1 pm. It should've only taken me 15 minutes to drop her off, but instead it took me 45 minutes since I refused to follow the directions (I thought I knew a better way).

Once home, I reboot the laundry, change TWO (2) stinky poo-poo diapers, and take a personal potty break for myself. After "freshening up" (i.e. washing hands and applying a new layer of deoderant), I go downstairs to the kitchen. I begin pulling out ingredients and supplies to make homemade breadsticks and wheat bread in preparation for tomorrow's bread demonstration at Super Saturday. It takes me a little over an hour to get everything in the oven. Then I'm off again to pick up brianne at the swimming pool. 3:30 pm.

I bring Savannah with me this time because she is forlorn about being left behind again. However, I quickly regret it when she realizes we are at the pool and she is not going IN! She throws a huge fit and I once again use bribery to take the edge off. We pull into the gas station and I fill up on gas and get myself a refill on my Dog Pepper, Savannah some Smarties and Brianne gets a Slushie.

At home, it's 4 pm and I've barely got time to sit at the computer and type up a fast flyer to be printed so I can make copies for the handout at tomorrow's bread demo.

I once again leave the house at 4:15 pm to take Brianne to Lehi because she is in Marching Band and they have a parade tonight (night parades? who knew!). After dropping off Brianne, I cruise over to the freeway exit to meet up with Brian at 5 pm. He needed me to bring him his bike because he needs to fix some things on it before his big ride tomorrow morning.

I then jet into the local grocery store because I've realized I forgot an important ingredient for tomorrow's bread demo. I'm in and out in less than 10 minutes. I decide to pick up a Papa Murphy's Pizza for dinner because I am TOO TIRED to even think about dinner. I quickly make my copies for tomorrow while they make my pizza next door.

I am home by 6 pm. I pop the pizza in the oven, then wash and pack dishes/ingredients to take to the church for the demo. Feed the family dinner. Snarf down a piece of pizza while holding Savannah in my lap.

7 pm and it's time to take Hannah to a birthday party. I drop her off and take myself to the church. I unload the van and set up my table and chairs. I am rushing myself because I've left Jackson at home to babysit. Even though Jainna was sleeping when I left, I worry that she'll wake up and need me while I am gone.

I come in the door a few minutes before 8 pm and the house is not burned down. I have to knock on my own front door because Savannah has a fascination with locking the door when ever she see's it. I am grateful to find that Jackson has done well with his babysitting skills. Apparently Jainna did wake up, but he got her up himself and made her a bottle, fed her, and burped her! What a MAN!!!

A few minutes after 8 pm and I am sitting at the computer typing up my day. As soon as Brian gets home, I am going to visit a friend who is having a Michael Jackson tribute marathon. Did you know today is the one year anniversary of his death? She is a big fan. I'll bring the baby with me because I miss her. I've hardly held her all day. She has been so good through it all.

I am hoping to veg-out on my friend's couch and not move a muscle. But at 10:30 pm I need to go pick up Hannah from her party. Brianne also has a party to go to as soon as she gets back from the parade. But thankfully Brian has agreed to take her and a friend is bringing her home. PHEW!

TWO FUNNIES . . .

#1 Maegann:

After realizing the case of Dr. Pepper got left in the van after grocery shopping, I had this funny conversation with Maegann.

me: "Maegann, please go out to the van and bring in the Dr. Pepper."

her: "DOG PEPPER?!!!??" (with a very surprised and questioning tone)

me: (sarcastically) "hahaha, ya DOG PEPPER!"

She goes outside and comes back in 2 minutes later.

her: "Mom, I can't find it!"

me: "Go look again, I know it's in there! It's in the middle section behind the driver seat."

She leaves once again, only to come back empty handed. So I take her outside with me and open the van door. I point directly to the case and she says "oh, that soda?"

me: "yes, of course! What did you think?"

her: "I was looking for dog pepper!"

I'm not sure what she thought dog pepper looked like, but I found it really funny. I have to remind myself that Maegann does not (never has, and may never) understand sarcasm. Heaven help me!

Ever since, I can't help but call my favorite beverage "Dog Pepper".

#2 Jackson:

After buying Hannah a new bra at Wal-mart.

me: "Hannah, come get this B-R-A and try it on." (spelling it out so as to not embarrass Hannah or to make Jackson squirm)

maegann: "Mom, what does B-R-A spell?"

me: "you can figure it out, you're a smart reader now!"

Maegann makes a few failed attempts at guessing what B-R-A spells. Jackson decides to join in the guessing game and says "bray?" (emphasizing the wrong vowel sound.)

me: "No, the A says the 'ah' sound"

Jackson: in a really loud and excited voice "BRA!" instantly, without skipping a beat he realizes what he just said and in disgust screams out "OH GROSS!"

Hannah and I bust up laughing. The reason I had spelled it out was to avoid such a response. But instead I apparently drew attention to the item, but it was very funny.

The poor boy has many years ahead of him with a house full of bra's and other unmentionables. He will be a great husband some day, very sympathetic to his wife and daughters. He's a trooper!

Trek

I have a lot to say, and....I don't know where to start. I have posted this same thing on facebook. But for those who are not friends of mine on facebook will know how my weekend at trek was.

Lets start backwards, with Squeezy Pete.
Squeezy Pete was my family's little baby brother. He was a baby doll, and on the first day we were told to take care of him, and love him. We did love him, and take care of him, but we also got sick of him....REAL fast. On the last day of trekkin', we got a note that told us his life story. Peter was a baby who was in the Martin handcart company, as most of you should know, the Martin handcart company struggled with snow, and bad handcarts, and they ran out of food. He had 6ish siblings and his Ma and Pa were very ill. Him and his Pa died while sleeping in his Pa's arms in the middle of the night. Becca, my sister was very attached to Peter. She loved him, and had a hard time with Squeezy Pete dying. Since Peter died, we had to bury him. Chris, Drake, Josh, Becca, Pa, and I were the only ones there for his "Funeral". It was a very humbling experience for me, because it made me thing about what I go through if I had to bury my baby sister Jainna on the road to Zion if I were a pioneer. Most of us were crying, and it was very difficult. We weren't even that found of Pete! But we still loved him, he was our baby and he entertained us a lot. As we buried him, we sang "God be with you till we meet again"

Next. The womens pull. My favorite part of the whole trek.

The womens pull represented what the women had to do when the men had to leave. Us women had to pull our hand carts up one of the hardest hills in the whole trek, by ourselves. It was very steep. I am yet to find a picture, but you will be amazed when you see it. We sisters of the church combined two families to make it easier to pull up the hand carts, which meant we had to pull two handcarts up there. Before we trekked up the hill, my sister Amber offered a prayer. She asked Heavenly Father if he could take the burden, if we would do the walking. Us women, using all the power and will we had, got closer and closer to the top of the hill. It was, indeed, the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. All of my brothers were standing up at the top of the hill, singing "Come, Come Ye Saints". When I heard them singing that, I started to crying. Everyone was crying. The Spirit was so strong. When we finally got to the top, my big brother Josh was up there, and he gave me a big, giant, big brother hug. And we just cried. Then we had to go get the other handcart. I am just going to say that on the second handcart, we did none of the work. Heavenly Father did it all. It was easy. Very easy. We got to the top and we just sat down and rested.

My testimony grew bounds that day. I knew, right then and there, that my Heavenly Father, knows me, loves me, and is willing to help me if I have the faith. He took the burden, and we just walked up the hill, just as Amber had asked. I am so thankful for that experience.

Last but certainly NOT least. My family. I had the best family anyone could ask for. Ma and Pa were so great and so caring. They were the best anyone could asked for. I had the sweetest brothers ON THE PLANET, and I love them to DEATH, and my sisters.....well, lets just leave it at that. I can't describe how great they were. I was so glad we had no drama, or fighting, or crankyness, and everyone was happy all the time. I love my family so much, as my sisters and I say "Trek family's are forever as long as you get sealed in the dust of CRAZYNESS"!! I can't thank them enough for letting me have an amazing time.
WE WIN!!!!!!!!!!!! And you will double win if you climb aboard the Mormon ship.

Love,
Brianne

Jainna Lydia - 3 months

Jainna at 3 months ... featuring her cousin Tyler Whipple!

Book PRE-view: "Starved Stuff"

I went to a Blogging Conference this last weekend. They had many classes pertaining to improving my blog (familyscratchcooking.blogspot.com, still a work in progress) and I learned many things! But I was surprised to see myself learning a lot about myself in my personal life as well. The opening Keynote Speaker for the second day was a relationship counselor, Matt Townsend, who spoke to us about developing a great relationship with our blog readers. But I was really drawn to the comments and examples he gave about husband and wife relationships - many things hit home for me. I bought his book as soon as the class ended.

The book is called "Starved Stuff: Feeding the 7 Basic Needs of Healthy Relationships" and I am very excited to read it! I read the first chapter this morning and passed it over to Brian and asked him to read it. We plan to read it together, yet separate, one chapter at a time.

The first chapter was about the three types of LOVE: Yearning Love, Earning Love, and Enduring Love. VERY INTERESTING STUFF! The first type of love (like when we are dating and falling in love for the first time) is the chemical stage of love - its all about the hormones! It has high chemicals, but low clarity (reality). He compares Yearning Love to a space shuttle launch where massive amounts of chemicals (fuel) are used in order to get the rocket in the air. Once the shuttle is in the air it transitions to the long journey. Similarly, our Yearning Love loses it's initial boost, and we must give way to the next deeper stage of love, Earning Love.

Earning Love is where each partner must earn the love he or she desires. There is much work involved. It's where the majority of couples spend most of their long-term relationship. The Earning Love stage has low-chemicals, but high clarity. It's a hard transition, and many people confuse it for "falling out of love"


The final stage is the Enduring Stage. It's the type of love (i.e. grandma and grandpa) where you are content with each other and committed to the end. Chemicals are no longer the source of your love, and the clarity is crystal clear. You literally CHOOSE to be with each other. It's the goal of the entire book - helping people reach that Enduring Love.

Doesn't that sound AWESOME?!? and thats only the first chapter! The rest of the book is about recognizing problems that arise during the Earning stage and how to solve them in order to reach the Enduring stage.

I'll let you know when I finish the book and about other highlights I enjoyed. If you decide to get the book, I'd love to hear what you learned from it! TTYL!!!

my virgin attempt at PhotoShop

are you impressed? LOL don't be too impressed, its from a template and I only added the text. But I had fun doing it and will attempt to do more. Here is the header I made for my food blog.

my girls inspired me!

It's something I've been thinking about doing for several months, but never had the guts to do it. Well, now that part of my "guts" have literally been removed (had my gallbladder out yesterday) I decided now is the time! I'm going off candy for one year! I have an intense addiction to candy - particularly chocolate. Peanut Butter M&M's are my biggest weakness. But I must admit, the Lifesaver Jelly Beans at Easter were DELISH! In addition to candy, I am also going to get rid of all obvious high-sugar desserts: cookies, cake, pie, and dare I say . . . ice cream!

So it looks like sugar free jello (with a possible splurge of whip cream) is in my future for treat time. Any other low-fat/sugar free ideas are appreciated :) I hope I dont go crazy in the meantime! Wish me luck!

Jainna Lydia Kirkby

Family Scratch blog

I've started a new blog about cooking and incorporate healthy eating for a family of 8. I'm going to be updating it 2 or 3 times a week and adding recipes on a regular basis. Please pass it along to your friends and feel free to make comments and suggestions.

http://familyscratch.blogspot.com/

Little Miss Jainna, part 1

Born Saturday, February 20, 2010

After 2 weeks of false labor warnings, our 6th child (5th daughter) came to our family in a quick rush. I want to tell her story, but I can't seem to find the time to sit down and write it all out at once, so for now I will give a brief update and later hopefully find the time to give more details as to how she came to us.

First of all, we have finally settled on Jainna as her first name. The middle name is still undecided, but at least we can stop calling her "that baby with no name". Second, she is still in the care of the wonderful hospital staff at American Fork Hospital. Although its hard to not have her at home with us, we know it's where she needs to be.

She was 5 weeks early, and therefore is not ready for some of the daily demands life puts on her. She initially had trouble breathing properly on her own, but that was under control within the first 12 hours. The next main hurdle was (and remains to be) her eating ability. She is so sleepy and does not have the energy to wake up to eat. Also, she does not have the internal instinct most babies have to suckle and nurse. These are all typical responses that "near term" 35 week babies have problems with. It's nothing to panic about, just something that time and patients will bring her success.

At this point, I am allowed to attempt to feed her twice a day. So I go in every morning for her 10:30 feeding and then again in the evening for the 7:30 feeding. We have had no success in getting her to nurse at this point, but she could turn that corner at any time.

At a later time I will share more about her delivery, but for now all I will say is she came FAST (meaning about 25 minutes from arriving at hospital to actual birth time). Apparently one of the side effects of such a fast delivery, is that her eyes are bruised - it looks like someone punched her in both eyes. I'm not sure how long the redness and swelling will last, but I cant wait for that to be remedied.

She was on an IV to give her fluids, but now they have removed that and now is on a feeding tube instead. A "feeding tube" sounds more intimidating than it really is - its a teeny tiny tube in her nose that leads to her stomach to give her food directly. It doesnt get in her way, and she is not bothered by it at all. I'm glad the IV is out because that WAS in her way and she seemed constantly bothered by it (or perhaps im just thinking of how I would feel to have that in my hand all the time - no thanks).

She did have slightly elevated levels of jaundice so the put the "bili lights" in her bed for one day. But she conquered that event quickly and is back to normal lighting.

One of the hardest parts is that the other kids have not had a chance to hold her or even get a good look at her. They are so anxious to have her home with us - as well are Brian and I. We took the kids school pictures and taped them to her bed.

I think she will be at least another week before she even starts to be interested in eating, and another week to get her up to speed with proper nursing amounts. But that is just my guess - any and all prayers are appreciated.

More to come later, until then enjoy these pictures and video (if it will work).

Love, Liz

Joseph and Brianne

No, its not a new boyfriend . . .


Brianne has been chosen to be "Assistant Director" for the upcoming school musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. She had auditioned for a chorus part, but they obviously saw in her what we've been seeing for many years - a great ability to lead. She is listed first in the cast listing (above all the leads) which to me says she is the star :)

We really didn't know how she would do compared to the other girls who were auditioning, and since there are so few girl parts in this musical, we all thought she'd be "lucky" if she got to be in the ensemble (chorus). On Wednesday night she learned she did not make callbacks, but her teacher explained that callbacks were only for people getting lead roles - she still had a chance to be in the ensemble. Then this morning the teacher posted the official cast list and the first title on the list said "Assistant Director - Brianne Kirkby".

She is VERY excited - we didn't even know the teacher was considering a student position for this. We think she fits the "role" perfectly. She would much rather do this than be a chorus girl, even tho it means not being on stage performing. Personally, I think she fits in behind the scenes better than on stage. She will go to every rehearsal (which is a pain in the rear for me - but owell what can I do?) and get to boss everyone around, how great is THAT??? lol just kidding :)

We are all thrilled for her and invite everyone to come see the show at the end of March. And any local friends who are driving home past Willowcreek every week day at 5 o'clock who can pick her up would be appreciated :) just kidding again - sort of.

Grats Brianne! GO GO GO JOSEPH!

Happy New Year!!

I did it!! I didn't eat candy for a whole year. It wasn't as hard as i thought it was. I have now inspired my sister to do it along with my cousin, good luck to them and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

ps Just for the record, the first candy i ate was a skittle. [: