Now for the News

So I uploaded the pictured below and forgot to write. I have joined the blogger world again. I could make a lot of excuses as to why I haven't posted in the last six months, but really it all comes down to the fact that I am not good at being consistent. It is one of the struggles of my life. Hey, didn't someone say that weak things can be made strong, so potentially speaking it's my greatest strength!!!

We are loving Spring. This year our family is starting a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). This is how it works, a local farmer sells shares of his crop at the beginning of the season, then those people get a weekly portion of his harvest. It is a great way to eat fresh produced that was grown locally, boosting your local community in many ways. We are so excited, of course we don't have a full blown "Farm" but we are going to grow a huge variety of vegitables. Hopefully next year we will add chickens to our farm and offer eggs. More on this as we continue to plow and plant.

Now I am going to catch up on all of your blogs since it's been a long time. Happy Spring to all of you.

This is our ultra-delux-double decker "Conference Tent". We wanted to be like the people who heard King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon, they all pitched their tents facing the temple where he spoke to them. Of course it was all Allens engenering, there was another wing of it off to the left where the parents sat. It was a great hit.

Truth found the news paper, I thought she would just crumple it up, enjoying the sound. But she also put it into her mouth and then smeered the now wet inked paper all over her face giver her that cute little smudged nose. Isn't she cute. I love babies!!!

My adorable family. This is what it's all about.

The Mom Song

Watching this made me laugh... and want to slow down and love my kids more. This is a must see, you will love it.

Christmas in the Sun

I can't believe that today is December 1st! I look out the window and see the sun light on the palm trees in the 75 degree weather and wonder how you celebrate Christmas in this climate... you enjoy every minute of it... that's how. We are in our third week of staying in Arizona with Allen's parents, he has been working with his dad and we have been playing with grandma and Tommy. I'm not sure how much longer we will be here, but we've been having a ton of fun. Now the the Christmas season has launched I do miss the "atmosphere" of Christmas for about 10 minutes and then I get over it and we take a walk or ride our bikes in the great Arizona Sun.

My mother-in-law arranged for Abby to attend Achievement Days in her ward while we were here, they were holding a luau so we dressed up and had a great time, Abby did a dance with all the other girls and I was amazed at how excited she was and how well she mingled with complete strangers.


And of course we have been playing on the beach (a lake beach). I think I could almost stay here all winter.

Yes, my children are actually swimming in the water in mid-November!

We wanted to let Esther Truth experience the water... she was not a fan.

The children collected dozens of these mini-clam shells

When I first visited Allen's home I thought it was so barren and drab, the brown desert mountains seemed so desolate compared to the Wasatch Mountains. But I have really grown to love the rugged beauty of these desert hills.

One day the kids did crafts with grandma, they loved it.

Paul made a mom & a dad with party hats

Denny made a solar system with four planets which I thought was very clever.

Grandma also has Star Wars and a large variety of light sabers... feel the force.

Esther sure feels it

This is her "Two Month" picture, hence the two apples. I just can't believe how fast they grow.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We did, I will post about that next.

Merry Christmas All.

Blessing & Baptism

I am finally ready to tell you all about the baptism of our oldest child and the blessing of our youngest (it has only been a month!). Abby was very good about having to postpone her baptism due to the fact that the baby was due around her 8th birthday. So we decided to have a double event since all the family was coming anyway. It turned out beautifully, despite a few glitches. Abby and I made programs (I designed, she folded), a member from each of the families participated, both her grandfathers spoke and the grandmothers said a prayer and played an instrument. Her aunts played the piano, led the music and said the closing prayer, while two of her uncles were the witnesses. All the grandchildren and young uncles sang "I Am A Child of God". Abby and Allen sang a duet "If The Savior Stood Beside Me", it was my favorite part of the whole thing. Allen sat in a chair and Abby stood next to him as they took turns singing. It was so precious to see them in their whites singing together, Abby sang strong and true with her testimony shinny through her eyes, Allen was so gentle as he watched her sing and then sang with her. Everyone cried!
Abigail is now part of that elite group of people who had to be baptized twice! Allen stated his authority in the prayer and had to do it all over again, he felt a bit sheepish, especially since the words were right there in front of him on the glass. The confirmation blessing was beautiful, I have noticed a real difference in Abby since she was baptized & confirmed, She is such a special girl, we love her greatly.


The baby blessing was so sweet and little Esther Truth didn't cry once... hurray.


Afterwords we went to our old 2nd ward building and had lunch.



I made four different kinds of soup and three different breads.


Then we had cream puff, cookie & ice cream for desert.


I love having my family and Allen's family together, it rarely happens but when it does it is the greatest feeling to have the people that you love so much all around you interacting with each other. There are three baptisms and two baby blessings in Allen's family, including Abby and Esther Truth, within five months of each other. The Levie family is definitely growing, there were 22 grandchildren born in 11 years and there are still three siblings who haven't married yet.

Jesse with his niece Esther Truth.

Grandma Levie

Grandma Harsh

Esther Truth

Abby with cousin Adalyn

Two silly uncles, Lem & Jeff

Uncle-in-law David playing vacuum monster with Paul, Morgan & Hyrum

The other Uncle Jeff with the twins Halle & Kierste

We were so grateful for all of our family and friends who sacrificed to travel so far to be with us on that special day. There is nothing better than that.

Girls Rule & Boys Drool!

I have always hated this saying and the attitude that goes with it, that is why I was taken back when Eve came up to us last Sunday and said very adamantly
"I don't lite boys, I lite girls!"
Allen and I tried to hold back our laughter at her very serious statement. I think she had just discovered that there was a difference between girls and boys and that she liked the girl way better, that is just our guess - who knows what goes on in the mind of a very dramatic two year old. The video below is a dialogue about her decided opinion and a look at her new hairdo.



I am happy to report that after talking with her she came to us a day or so later and said "Mom, do you lite boys?" after telling her that I did she said "I lite boys too." I'm glad that is resolved for now.

Tonight at dinner Dennis said
"Eve is getting smarter every day."
To which Paul replied
"She's smarter then we are."
Affronted at that remark Dennis had to defend himself
"No, she can't say Chess."
Eve, who of course was listening to all of this, looked at Dennis and said with perfect pronunciation
"Chess"
We all died laughing, it was the cutest thing. I wish that I had been recording it. Kids really do say the darndest things!

Beautiful Fall

My sister took this picture, it's a field near our house. Autumn is my absolute favorite time of year (along with winter, spring and summer... I can't help it they're all my favorite).

Evela

A little while ago Allen began calling Eve "La" because she was always singing "La, la, la" to herself with either a melody that she created or one she had heard (and she only needed to hear a song once and she had it learned). So we all started calling her "Ev-e-la". We love her merry heart that always has a song in it. She has two current favorites right now, If The Savior Stood Beside Me and Tomorrow from the movie Annie. In this video clip she is singing Tomorrow, note the enforced vabrado.

Halloween Adventures

He had a marvelous Halloween day.


First we carved our home grown pumpkins, very excited to roast the pumpkin seeds, then we had Stew in a Pumpkin for dinner (our annual Halloween dinner).

Then we went of to our wards Trunk-or-Treat, we met my brother there and made the rounds.

Abby - Ballerina
Dennis - Legolas (from LOTR)
Paul - Jedi Knight
Eve - A Fairy (you can't see her cute wings)
Esther - A sleepy Penguin
Allen - A Scottish Gentleman
Me - I was the doctor of five children

Lem & Chiya like "The Office" I guess there is a character that dresses up as a Scythe Lord and his girlfriend was a cat, so that is what Lem and Chiya were. Baby Faith was a beautiful butterfly.
My Handsome Scottish husband wearing my kilt, there is no end to what you may do for Halloween!

Allen Does a mean Scottish jig.

The children very seriously inspected their loot at the end of the day.


This is such an odd holiday, dressing up and walking from house to house getting candy so that you can go home and gorge yourself for the next week.

It's A Girl

Abigail, Dennis, Paul & Eve

Would like to introduce you to their new sister...

~Esther Truth Levie~

Born Wednesday September 16^th at 1:04pm

Weighing in at 7lb 4oz

Stretching out to 20 ½ inches

It all began Tuesday evening at 7:20pm while I was shopping with all the children at Wal Mart... Yep, you guessed it; my water broke right there in the store. I happened to see Adam Hailstone who let me use his cell phone to call Allen. As gracefully as possible I made my way to the closest register, purchased my groceries and went home, thankfully the contractions had not yet started.

Because of a negative pregnancy test taken early on, the baby was not expected for another two weeks, so upon arriving home I immediately washed some baby clothes and blankets (something that had not been done yet) while Allen packet a bag for the children and Uncle Lem came to pick them up (thank you Lem & Chiya) .My mother and sister Mary jumped in their cars and began the journey, one from the South and the other from the North. The contractions started around 9pm... and then Stopped at 4am, by then my midwives and my mother were here, we all decided to get some sleep. At 8:30am a contraction woke me up; Mary had arrived so everything was set. I labored all morning and at 1:04 our little girl was born. This birth was amazing, I had excellent midwives who gently guided me and helped this to be a peaceful, beautiful experience. My loving husband was perfect, I couldn’t have done it without him!

Esther is a very peaceful, gentle baby; she only cried twice the day she was born.

The first two days she slept and slept, now she stays awake to plays with her brothers

and sisters, or more appropriately put, they play with her.

The baby didn’t have a name for the first 24 hours of her life, Allen and I filled a white board with names and finally decided on Esther Truth. We both have incredible ancestors named Esther and I have a sister with that name, we wanted to use a virtue for her middle name and Truth fit perfectly with Esther.

I had wonderful care during my recovery. My mother stayed for five days, she is so calm and loving I’m glad she could come (thanks dad). My sister Mary was here with her two boys for two and a half weeks, she was an angel (gratitude to Jeff for loaning me his wife to for so long). Little Esther has had two great media experiences in the first two weeks of her life, she watched her first General Conference and her first BYU football game, thanks to her Aunt Melanie she was dressed appropriately for the occasion.

“Cry and Shout, the Cougars are out.”

Thank you all for the dinners, gifts, cards, visits and phone calls. We are most grateful to our Heavenly Father for blessing us with this beautiful little child. Know that you are all in our thoughts and prayers.

The Levie Family