Just January!

Well January is almost over! It is so cold. It is even colder around my house than it should be. Whoever designed the heating system in my cute little 38 year old home obviously wasn't thinking about little children. You see as you walk out of my family room into the hall leading to the boys room/bathroom/laundry area is a little light switch. This fascinating little thing is eye level to a two year old and happens to control the furnace. So several times a day when I notice that it seems a bit chilly I go check the switch and sure enough. It is off. It isn't so bad except for 2 nights this week apparently Joseph turned it off right before bed time so we all wake up to a house that is below 50. It is hard to get kids out of bed when it is so cold.
What a fun month it has been. We went sledding and had a great time. All of the Rencher cousins (even Claire) were there. (hey, that rhymes) My kids love cousins! I asked Josh when he was having a "Why did I have to come to this family" day if there was anything he could think of that he LIKED about this family and he came up with cousins. Thank goodness he has some of them! Oh and Joe-Joe was a plus also.

Speaking of cousins! We got the exciting news this month that Brad, Sara and company are coming (oh wait, maybe not, ok now it is back on) back to Utah! I honestly didn't see that one coming. When they presented Mom and Dad with a homemade day planner/calendar for the upcoming year we all thought they were expecting a baby (which is exactly why they did it!) If you read this and happen to see Adam or Emma don't tell them yet! Sara didn't want to face having Adam ask if they were going to Utah yet every 5 minutes from now until June! I guess Brad is coming to start work here tomorrow.

It was really fun on Saturday to go with Tricia to pick out her wedding dress! I realized that I won't have many chances to do that since all I have are boys! I wonder have any of you that are married ever invited your future mother-in-law to go with you to shop for wedding dresses? I think not. Point made! I am so excited for Tricia and Brandon. We went to Brandon's house after to see where they are going to live and see all the changes he is making to accommodate his expanding family. What a nice guy!

We had a fun party here last night with some of my high school friends. It is amazing to see what good guys they have all become. They make me laugh! Dave borrowed Rock Band from Paul and Nate and they stayed until 10:00 playing. I can remember the days where they would call me up and say they were coming to pick me up for a "jam session". We would head over to Matt's basement where they would play music very loudly and play air drums, air guitar and air everything else while they sang the lyrics. All very amusing. Like I said I am amazed they turned out so well!

Alex turned 5! He and I are both happy he has accomplished this amazing feat. I have been telling him for months that 5 year olds....don't scream, get dressed all alone, say their prayers all alone, brush teeth all alone.... and he is actually doing these things. The power of the mom at this age!

Josh went to 6th grade maturation and learned all about being a boy and a teenaged boy to boot! He learned about hormones and about becoming angry and thinking his parents were no longer smart. So everytime he starts getting angry I tease him about his hormones. I know I am the Worlds Worst Mother but it makes him laugh and sometimes for a brief moment I can see the little boy in those surly eyes (can eyes be surly? maybe hostile is a better description). He will be 12 this summer and we just found out that he will be going on the Pioneer Trek with the YM/YW. I can't believe that my son is that old! I must have started having children very, very young!

Jonathan got to go to his 8 is Great program. He is such a good boy! He is so funny though because when I do something he doesn't like he yells at me... "Fine, then I won't be baptized!" When he goes for a threat he goes big!

Dad is into his 3rd week of chemo and he did pretty well this week. He seems to get really sick for the first few days after the chemo and then he feels better for a few days until we start again. I went over to "Grandpa sit" on Friday and he only gagged once the whole time we were there! He has lost 90 lbs and he finally had to go back on the feeding tube because he couldn't keep any food down but we are hopeful that in the future things will get better.

Well I heard that we are having a Carter family reunion over Memorial Day at Grant's Cabin and we are planning a Rencher family reunion at the Homestead over the 4th of July. So all of you to whom these apply please spread the word and put these on your calendars!

Love you all! Kelli