HAPPY HALLOWEENIE!

Can you believe Kacy is 20 today?! Holy Moley! It's seems like just yesterday he was bribing the neighbor kids to do his chores. Happy Birthday little brother!! And Happy Halloweenie everyone!

In honor of our hard working missionary, share a few favorite "Remember when's" of Kacy.

Remember when....

• Kacy clonked me on the head with his cast because I wouldn't stop playing the piano?
• Kadie and I (mostly Kadie) dressed him up like a girl and took him to Brad's to get an icecream??!
• He learned he had to get hormones? ("Hormones?! I don't want HORMONES!")
• We would drag him to all of our events and he would fall asleep in the most random places?

Music Suggestions???

I want our blog "soundtrack" to be music that we all can stand to listen too and I also want it to be music that represents us. So any suggestions in this department would be greatly appreciated. 

List a few songs that you feel "represent" you at the moment...and I'll get them on the music player. The songs can be changed at any time so don't worry about it being the perfect song or anything like that.  

Thanks All!

XOXO,

Malea

Calling all ranch stories!!!

Hi everyone! I finally figured out how to down load my pictures. YEAH! Carson you should be proud of me!

This is an open invite for all to share their ranch stories! McKye started to cry because he didn't want grandpa to do>>>>>>>
to him. Ha Ha it was pretty funny!

ps. Darlo is still pretty spry for such an old feller!

A little girl with a BIG NOGGIN

I'm sure I've talked to most of you, but I have to blog this for journal purposes.

Susie Gonzolas (a fellow teacher w/ mom) informed me I'm having a girl with blond hair and a big head. She claims a gift in which she can predict the gender and features of an unborn child. I think its kind of weird, but a little fun at the same time. I never have been good at waiting for surprises! She was totally right about Madsen. Maybe she's right about this one too.

I hope all is well with everyone. xoxoxox kadie

Coach Esplin!

I thought you would all enjoy some pictures of Coach Annie in action at the cross country state meet. It was fun to see her in her "element" :). You can tell the kids really love her.

I've Been Upped by a 4-Year Old

McKye's experience teaching my 4th period Junior Enlgish class:
"Grandma, can I teached your class?"
"Yes, what are you going to teach them?"
"Hmmmm, how to share."
"Why do you think they need to learn how to share?"
"So people will like them!"
Friday, McKye came to my class fully prepared to teach my English class. I prepared the students so that they wouldn't laugh even if he was cute, so that he wouldn't become intimidated. When he walked through the door I asked him if he was ready to teach and he went to the front of the room took a dry-erase marker off the board, pulled up a chair to stand on and proceeded to draw an intricite train engine. (This took a couple of minutes) He turned around and with the marker as a pointing tool, proceed to walk them through the detail of a steam engine, including how and why the bell works, the smoke stack and how the steam runs the train, and the cow catcher that removes the debris off the tracks, (sometimes there's even a dead cow! He turned to the class and asked "does anyone have any questions?" He answered both questions with utmost confidence and then proceeded to draw the two-way train and repeat the procedure. The attention of the class was riveted on McKye. No one laughed, but there was not one face that wasn't spread wide with a grin. Sharing was his next subject. He drew the stick figure of a boy, a circle around it, and a diagional line through it. "This boy doesn't share and he isn't happy." A picture of Kadie with extraordinary long legs, thin too I might add, was next to go on the board. McKye drew himself next to his mother. He then put a present in the hand of Kadie and told the class that his mommy shares and it makes him happy and it makes her happy. One of the students raised his hand and asked why he should share and McKye promptly responded, "Because people will like you!" As always, the best is saved for last. He put down his marker, turned to the class and said, "Now we're going on a bear hunt." After a deep and cleansing breath, he launched into the entire 10 minute version of "Goin' on a Bear Hunt" starting with, "You better get out your backbacks," and complete with the sign language to go with every action. Twenty 16-17 year olds were mesmerized and followed along with the repeats, sign language, and voice inflections demonstrated by their most wise, yet entertaining teacher. There was roarous applause and McKye stepped down, asked for a paper and pencil, then took his place amongst those ready to learn. He joined in the group projects and completed his worksheet with letters, most of which spelled words. Needless to say, my class now wants a repeat performace and the rest of my classes are asking why they got overlooked. (Word gets around fast).

Pregnant for a month.

I know I might just be blogging to myself but I'll just keep this going until I get you all interested. My tactic here is to be as candid as possible. I'm letting it all out. Sweet? Sweet.

As far as Trav and I go, there's not a lot going on that you don't already know about. Trav's in school taking lots of tests...and Malea is getting her trash kicked at the airport 4 days a week. Well here's what's going on behind the scenes...

Our house has been a little emotional for the last little while. And by that I mean Malea is a crazy person and Travis has to try and make sense of it. (I always tease Travis for being emotionally void, but I think I have enough of it for the both of us.) Let me explain.... I have spent the last 3 weeks thinking I was pregnant. COMPLETELY convinced. I thought I saw all of the signs; tired, nauseous, sore nubs (that's right, I said nubs) and more emotional than mom when she's at the MTC. I was freaked out at first and then I got really really excited. Just thinking about snuggling and kissing my own little creation made me so happy. I had it all planned out to keep it a secret and then surpise you all. In the back of my mind all I could really think about was "ooooo I can't wait to dress it"!!

Well, mother nature crushed those plans when she came to visit today. ("Ugh. Cramps? I'm supposed to be pregnant!?" ) Now I don't know what to feel. I'm sad. A little relieved. Kind of pissed off because I was wrong and Travis was right. What a mess I am!

What now you ask? Who knows. It gave me a lot to think about though. Like what is really important. I've been "postponing" my family for selfish reasons: I'm scared. I'm afraid I won't get to travel. I'm afraid of the mess it will make of my body. I'm afraid of bringing a completely dependent child into this world when I can barely keep up with taking care of my self. I'm scared because we have no money. blah blah blah. The thing is, those worries will probably never go away....but the one thing that "being pregnant" has taught me is that the solution to my worries is to just jump into them; face them. When we face them it forces us to find a way to get through them. And we know we can always get through them because we are promised that the Lord won't dish us more than we can take.

Whew. I hope that makes sense.

There are no plans to really get pregnant anytime soon (pretend pregnancy has been stressful enough), but this little hypochondriatic experience has definitely put the discussion on the table. For now, we will be re-evaluating our priorities and figuring out how we can make it work instead of why it won't.

Ah.Thanks for letting me get that out. I feel much better. I love you all! Post back soon :)

"I'm off to slay dragons!"
XOXO,
Malea

In Carsons words, "lets get this motha started"!

Alright familia, this is it. Our own blog to vent, chat, share and connect. President Eyring's talk in conference today really got me thinking about the importance of unity. He made the comment that when "hearts are knit together, our power is magnified". As a family, I want our hearts to be knit!! We have power as family to lift one another and to bring joy into each others lives and to do incredible things with our futures. I know that as we all work a little harder at staying connected (heaven knows I'm always the last to hear about family news), we will gain strength from each other to get through this battle called life with as few scars as possible. So feel free to post news, experiences, encouragement or anything else that gets us involved in eachothers lives. I love you all!
XOXO,
Malea