The Combining Season!!

I finally got some pictures of harvest season. Thanks Michelle for taking these pictures.

Jordan, Riley and Scott Stoker (along with alot more employees) have been running these combines nonstop since the end of July. They are finally on there last leg of getting all the grain harvested.
These pictures are on our farm. The light was fading fast but I think they turned out really well. All together there are three combines and a grain cart.
Along with the guys spending about all there time running these machines Michelle, Misty and I have spent long hours taking the crew dinner everynight. If they needed help moving we ended up with headers hooked to the back of our Yukon's. I guess they have wife's for a reason. Ha Ha
The grain cart is not in this picture but I love how they lined up all the machines with the augers out for a group picture.

Sundays!!!

Has anyone ever gone to church on Sunday and wondered why they even bothered?
I have those days often expecially since Jordan was put in the bishopric about a year ago.
This last Sunday was probably one of the most challenging.
The day started pretty good Jordan made us all breakfast to start our day, which was so yummy, then off to church he went two hours before we have to be. We use to listen to church music on Sunday Mornings before church but since Jordan hasn't been around I have had to keep the kids (Porter) occupied with pretty much everything(which makes my house trashed before church) so he won't be in the bathroom while I'm getting ready. I think Kade and Benson fought all morning about everything and top it off Porter was so tired and ready for a nap before we even headed out the door. I just thought how am I going to do this? I made the kids all gather around in the living room for a quick prayer for guidance and so we could all have a soften heart towards eachother while attending church.
We usually can get through passing of the sacrament, but after things usually don't go as planned. First Porter was so fussy and would not quit climbing all over me and Benson wanted to go and sit with his cousins and he was so mad that he kept repeating "I hate church" really loud so that everyone could hear. In the mean time Kade started freaking out because his tooth popped out and was bleeding all over. I had to get up and take care of him and a nice elderly lady offered to help but Porter nor Benson would give her the time of day which I was in desperate need of.
I often wonder how some people get the kids who will sit and I mean sit still the whole hour of sacrament. Is there a secret out there? What am I doing wrong? Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make sacrament meeting more meaning full for me and my kids?

1st day of Preschool!!!

Benson couldn't wait to start preschool again. It's his second year going and he absolutely loves his two teachers Mrs Jana and Mrs Joan.
When we drop our kids off the teachers are waiting for the kids on the corner because there isn't enough parking for all the parents to pull up at the school. So they have this rope that they made for all the kids to hold on to so they can be safe walking back to the school.
You can't really see Benson in this picture, but I had to take this picture of all the kids walking to there first day of preschool...

Things Kids Say

I had to put on my blog some of the things my kids said this week. They are always saying funny things but I always forget to write about it and then I forget.

The other day Benson was in the bathtub and he was yelling for me to get him out. I told him that he needed to hurry and wash his body so I could help him wash his hair. His reply was "I I Captain." I guess I need to be less demanding all the time.

Jordan has been thrashing grain for a while now and if the boys want to spend any time with him, I take them to ride on the combine with him for awhile. Well yesterday Benson wanted to ride with Jordan so I took him there. There was this guy who drives one of the trucks that hauls the grain. He jumped up on the combine to talk to Jordan and when he saw Benson he said " hey buddy how are you today" Benson's reply "I wish you would brush your teeth" Jordan about died when he said that. When the guy finally left Jordan had to explain to him that we need to be polite to other people and that would make him feel bad. He also said that's why mom and dad make you brush and floss your teeth every day so they don't look like that when you get big.

My Aunt died from a long battle of breast cancer and they had her funeral in Alpine Utah which we were not able to attend. But they had her burried here in Idaho and we were able to go. We took the boys to the grave side ceremony so they never were able to see her in the casket. While we were there they had a few speakers and a musical number. Kade was so patient and reverent and the next minute he leans up to my sister Andrea and says "Andrea when are they going to open that big treasure chest." Andrea couldn't help but chuckle because of how innocent and serious he was. Then she explained to him what was really going on and who was in the casket. I think it was funny that he thought every one was gathered around to find out what was in the big treasure chest.

First Grade here I come!!

Kade was so excited to start school that he had me up at 3 AM asking if he needed to get ready for school. I told him to go back to bed that I have the alarm set for 7:00 and when it goes off we will get ready. So he finally went back to bed. But was still up at 6:00 when Porter woke up. That makes for a long day for him. Hopefully the whole wheat pancakes that dad made him will make up for the lack of sleep.
Kade trying to smile in the freezing weather that we woke up to. I didn't think he would need a jacket so soon in the year. Look at his backpack it was seriously bigger than he was. I remember when I was in grade school that my mom would take me and walk me to my class, but he is so brave and pretty much knows everyone at school he wanted to ride the bus.
Here is Kade and his cousin Alexa getting ready to get on the bus. I had the bus driver stop so I could get a picture of them together.
I had to get a picture of Kade getting off the bus after school. I was so excited to hear how is first day went that I met him at the end of our driveway to take a picture. It is actually sad that he goes to school all day now. It sure makes for a long day without him, that I miss him.

His teacher is Mrs. Surerus. She is in our ward at church and I know he will do well in her class. She challenges the kids and works with them alot. She sends homework home everynight and really wants the parents involvement.

I can't believe how much he has grown up. He is such a big boy now.

Having Fun Before School Starts!!!

My mom and I took the boys up to Island Park to visit my cousins and let the boys play with there second cousins. It was so fun for the kids, they love to be outdoors.

We went to Island Park to see some of my cousins who own a cabin there. It was pretty nice my cousins have boys that are my kids age so they had a blast playing together. Here is Kade and Christian they both are six and getting ready to go into the first grade. It's to bad that his family lives in Utah. They had fun climbing trees and getting into all sorts of mischief.
This was the funniest thing ever. Here is Benson and Dillion. They both are Four. We took the kids bikes to ride and this is how they rode them. Benson rode his everywhere (he does not use training wheels) and he wanted Dillion to ride with him who does not know how to ride without training wheels, so he just walked the bike everywhere along side Benson. It was so funny. He kept coming to get water because he was so thirsty running the whole time instead of riding.
Long day makes for hungry boys who are waiting patiently for there snack.
Porter is making a huge mess with his spagetti, he is getting so independent that he hardly will eat anything and when he does he wants to feed himself. I guess thats a good thing considering Kade is six and still wants me to dress him every morning becuase he dosen't care.

__________________________________

Widerburg Family Reunion was at the Riot Zone in Rigby.

Porter and DreAna hanging out in there strollers at the Family Reunion.
Here we are with my Grandpa, he is such a great man I am greatful that he is in my kids lives. They love to go to his house and pick through his garden, they love to climb his trees and feed the horses. I am so glad that I can share some of my fun memories that I had as a kid with my own kids.
Here are the go-karts that the kids had a blast on. This is Alexa racing some kid that we don't even know.
Jordan was such a great sport. He really hates things like this. He has such a hard time with the heat and it was such a hot day. Thanks Jordan for being such a great husband and dad to us. We sure wouldn't know what we would do without you.

New's to know-Sick little boy!!!

We went to Island Park last Friday which I will post pictures later. When we got home Friday night Kade told me he had a stomach ache with some diarreaha, But he slept all night and on Saturday he looked white as a ghost including his lips. He was using the bathroom quite a bit but I sitll thought he was okay. Sunday Morning he woke up feeling fine so we went to church and had a family birthday party to attend, he ran around and was fine until we were getting ready to go home and he was feeling sick again. We took him home and he was up every 20 minutes with dirreaha which contained blood. I called the doctor's office the next morning and they told me I needed to take a stool sample in and get it tested. They said they probably wouldn't get the results back until Tuesday or Wednesday in the mean time just keep him hydrated. That evening I just had a bad feeling so I paged the doctor and told him I talked to one of the Physicians Assistant and she said to just keep him hydrated. He told me that I needed to take him to the Emergency Room and get some blood tests done on him along with a hydrate test, Thats when I started to get panicky. I called my mom to come and watch Benson and Porter so that Jordan and I could take Kade in to the ER. They ran some tests to make sure his Kidneys were still functioning the proper way. And everything was good. He went Monday night and all day Tuesday that night and all day Wednesday really sick where he was in the bathroom every half hour. The doctor kept calling checking on him and telling me to try and be patient until we get the test results back, that the most important thing was to keep him hydrated. My sister had been on the internet looking up symptoms to Ecoli and he had all the symptoms, but I had no idea how he would of gotten it. We all eat the same things and no one else in our family is sick. Until she asked if he has been in contact with any reptiles. I said not that I can think of. She went on to say that Turtles carry Ecoli on there backs. Thats when the light came on and I told her that Last Sunday our neigbor boy had a turtle he found in the pond behind his house and I remeber I would not let Benson go because he was being naughty, but Kade went and touched it for a few minutes before they released it back into the pond. Ecoli has an incubation period of 2 to 8 days and that was in the time frame of when he started to get symptoms, from that point on I had a gutt instinct that he had ecoli I didn't even have to wait for the test results to come back to know. But they finally came back positive with ecoli. I had no idea that turtles contained ecoli or I would have never let him come in contact with it. The doctor has called everyday checking on him making sure his symptoms improve.
I have to say that has been one of the scariest most exhausting things that I have ever had to go through. I honestly don't know what I would do if anything ever happened to him. He brings so much joy into our lives. I am so thankful for the help and many prayers from our family and friends.