Sitting is not a good thing!

When I stop moving I get tired!  Today I have so much to do and no desire to do it.  So I guess I will try to catch up on my blog as I only do that every few months....or more!

I graduated from BYU-Utah in April-yah! Thanks to so many family, friends, and teachers that pushed me to accomplish my goal.

We spent our summer close to home.  Colby was not impressed with our "staycation", but Ryan and I loved it!  We were able to work on several outside projects that will make fall and winter much more enjoyable with the animals!! We loved going to Stafford Lake (only 20 minutes from our house) and playing there in the afternoons after a long morning of working around the yard. We really enjoyed having the kids cousin, Kali, with us a lot over the summer!  She was like another kid who helped with chores and enjoyed rewards!

                                                 Colby was not enjoy the aroma in the barn!

Wow! So clean!

Thanks for your help, Kali! She and Brook were sweeping out the rabbit and guinea pig pen.

A reward for a hard days work! Thanks Ry guy! Torrie families like to work hard so they can play hard!

Unfortunately, we did have several storms this summer that did some damage at the lake...

                          I guess theses trees were supposed to be cut down a few years ago anyway...

                                               Hmmm a seadoo...on the rocks???

We saw some ducks in the water after the storm...or so I thought.  Brooklyn said it was a bird and jumped in to rescue it.  She was right...it was a dove that had been thrown around in the storm.  She took care of it through the night until it was strong enough to fly away the next morning!  She LOVES animals...have I told you that before??

We had a weak moment and made an impulse buy and welcomed "little" Lucy (a great Pyrenees) into our funny farm family.  She is four months old and already as big as our full grown border collie.  Lucy is expected to get much bigger...She's very sweet and doesn't jump OR RUN AWAY FROM HOME!  She has been great at watching out for us and the other animals-especially helping Minnie stay home.  They even each other out!  

                                                            Awe! WE LOVE LUCY!

                              Awe! So much fun...until the dog gets motion sick and pukes! NICE!

Ryan is busy...SURPRISE! On top of every thing else he does he has starting a foundation in our town of Taber.  His dream as been to have all different religions in our town working together for a common goal.  Well, after sharing his dream with the OR staff and other friends TANGO (Taber Assisting Nations through Global Outreach) was born.  Long story short people of all different faiths are coming together to travel to Fiji this year, Guatemala next year, and Mexico somewhere in between that to build schools and to provide medical, dental, and vision care.  After a garage sale and big fundraising BBQ hundreds of Taberites have joined in the cause and donated over $40, 000 to the cause!  We have an incredible community.  All of the people going are paying their own way and paying for their stay.  All the money will go to supplies to build the schools and provide the medical care needed.  With the overwhelming amount of support the foundation has received they wanted to give back to Taber and encourage future involvement.  They are working on a scholarship fund to pay for a local high school and university student to go on the next trip!  Wow!  Isn't that neat!  My husband is so humble and credits his nursing staff and co-workers for all their hard work and involvement!  

You can read about it here:

http://www.tabertimes.com/news/local-news/2579-tango-offering-medical-expertise-in-fiji.html

And this is their website:

http://thetangofoundation.ca/

Brayden got braces this summer and has officially passed me in height! I know-not too hard to do, but still!

He plays the piano in Priesthood Quorum, plays the trombone in band, and is playing on the Volleyball team at Barnwell.  He is OFFICIALLY in junior high as a grade 7 student! Can't believe it.  He is a super worker and loves to scare me!

Yikes! Didn't realize he needed them this bad!  I should get an updated picture as they look way better already and it has only been three months.  

Tyson is in grade 5 and following close behind Brayden in his love of reading.  I have the toughest time getting him to bed because he wants to "just finish this one chapter".  Tyson is excited to be going on a camp with his classmates to Waterton National Park in mid-OCTOBER! Yikes!  I am a lucky parent chaperon...

Brooklyn and Colby are in grade 3.  Brook is clogging and in painting lessons.  Both of them have joined the school choir with Tyson, and are in piano lessons again.  I love hearing music through out the house! 

Big day this summer was Brooklyn and Colby's baptism in July!  They are so grown up!  Colby wasn't sure it was the choice he wanted to make right now so I encouraged him to pray about it.  He also had a great visit with our Bishop as part of the interview process.  After that he said he felt the Spirit and chose to be baptized with Brook.  Agency is scary at times when we parents know certain things!  I am so glad I gave him the choice because otherwise he may not have had the experience of receiving that answer from Heavenly Father on his own.  Force is not part of the gospel plan! 

                                                             Our family and my parents.

                                                               So sweet! Colby is so tall!

Have I ever said how AMAZING my mother is!  She made Brooklyn's dress and Colby's tie to match! Someday...maybe I'll learn (-:

With school is back in and I am just as busy as I was when the kids were home all summer! I am PAC president, in YW still, now officially in charge of Ryan's business books and catching up on them, enjoying visiting Gma Great to help her with her physical therapy, and starting to can peaches and pears!  Life is good and I hope to be a little more consistent with this blog...but if not...oh well! 

We won't catch up.....

........... but here is a little update!

Tyson snuggling Grandma Jepsen when they visited
Conference weekend.

Brooklyn and her sweet cousin, Jordy.
She loves babies!!

Tyson is a real goof!  He and Colby love to
keep us all laughing!

Brayden and Colby working in the chicken coop.

Look how old my boy looks!!! He is 12!!!
We love our Brayden!

AH! Colby you are so cute!

Colby again....being silly!

Me on the day I became a Canadian Citizen.

We had a great skiing season and went several times!!

Happy kids after having to clean up the chicken coop, barn, loft, and dig out
the manure.
IT was a great day!!

Visiting dad in the OR....shshshshsh

Tyson is thinking about composing music.

The dog (Sweetie) with the "green" eyes had to go to a new home
last fall.  She ran away too much. Now we just have Minnie
who likes to run with every person that goes by the house so now
she is tied up during the day and keeps the coyotes away at night.
She is a great dog and super nice, but needs a full time job working the sheep.

I just like this picture of my sweet girl!

Colby enjoys making us laugh!

Brayden can now drive the tractor and unload things
that I can't!

Brooklyn LOVES babies lately!
(oh, the baby is Amir.  He is our friend Feras and Obi's son).
Life is great and we feel so blessed to have these four children!  Brooklyn is so baby sister hungry .... she wants a one so badly!!! I really wish we could have had more, but for some reason Heavenly Father only had these beautiful kiddos for us.  

I finally graduate from BYU-Utah in December! Yay! I was so excited to be finished, but immediately received a stake appointment to lead out as enactment coordinator for Moroni's Quest....hmmmm. I'll be honest and tell you I have shed many many tears, but it will be a temporary trial that ends July 15!!!

I am very excited to have time to work on our Family History this fall and paint my kids bedrooms.

Ryan is getting busier and busier, but somehow keeping everything in control!  He has recently formed a foundation to help in the Fijian Islands where the TANGO (Taber Assisting Nations through Global Outreach) group will travel to help with medical and educational needs in the island villages.  

He has been taking each of the kids out on a date and priesthood interviews once a month.  We have been doing decent at going on a date once a week-wow! It's hard work, but worth it! 

I am not sure how many medical boards he is on in Canada and the US, but he is constantly helping to improve medicine where he can.  He really amazes me and I love my best friend!

Brayden turned 12 in February, received the Aaronic Priesthood, passes the sacrament every Sunday, and plays the piano in Priesthood Quorum.  It is a challenge for him to play the hymns, but he is excelling quickly.  We went with Brayden to the temple for his first time at the beginning of the month.  My parents were able to be there too.  It was great to have some family names for Brayden to do baptisms and confirmations his first time.

Tyson is the proud owner of the  newest member of our funny farm....  We had a date last Saturday and decided to hang out at the pet store.  I really wasn't planning on bringing anything home, but Tyson was too cute looking at all the little pets.  I'm just glad we didn't come home with something that was going to grow to 6 feet....if the video every downloads you will see her.

Brooklyn is my crafty girl who loves to create.  She is happiest doing art and organizing things.  I am learning to enjoy crafts because it makes her happy.  Piano is coming a bit slower for Brook, but she is learning some primary music that has helped her a ton! 

Colby is growing so much and if he doesn't pass me in height by the time he is in grade four I will be very surprised!! He and Brooklyn finally weigh the same again and that hasn't been like that since they were about 3 months old.  He is a good 6 inches taller than her though.  Colby is a natural at the piano and is constantly asking for tougher music. He and Tyson love to have music playing and I often catch them dancing in the living room.  It's hilarious!  They are two clowns!!

We have so  much fun on this little funny farm.  The kids are getting so good at doing chores on their own.  The older boys are able to pick up the 25 pound buckets of grain much easier now that they have been doing it for a while.  As the kids would be quick to point out we have:

19 chickens

14 cows (one has her calf the others are still baking)

4 llammas

4 sheep (4-H sheep)

3 steers (2 are Brayden and Tyson's 4-H steers)

3 horses

2 cats

1 dog

 and now here is my NEVER SAY NEVER for you......

Tyson is the proud owner of 1 gerbil
and
her name is
CHICA!!

Life changing possibilities

I think I will get back into blogging....someday.
Briefly-
The dogs are driving me crazy!  They chew shoes, helmets, the cats, the garbage, and each other ruthlessly.  People are constantly bringing them home from the highway and the neighboring camp ground. We had them both fixed this month, but that doesn't seem to be helping their busy ways. I love that they keep the gophers and deer out of the yard though(-"

Brayden really is as tall as me now!  He read over 100 books this year when the requirement was 20. He has started to play some basketball, and did well with piano again this year.  He did super in 4-H and actually won junior champion and went on to win grand district champion as well!  Was he ever in shock! I told him to enjoy it because it would be very rare to happen again.  I have had a lot of people my age say that they were in 4-H for years and never won grand champion and this is only his 2nd year! Brayden worked with is friend Taylor and his sister Kaela feeding their three steers together since the fall. Taylor's steer won rate of gain at 4.2 pounds a day and Brayden was right behind at 3.92 pounds per day and Kaela around 3.72.  These steers were huge!  Taylor's weighed in at 1490, Brayden's at 1408, and Kaela 1380 (approximately-I've forgotten exact numbers but they all were great!  Kaela's would have really given Brayden's a challenge if it hadn't have gotten sick a couple months ago.  She won her class and got 2nd in showmanship) It was a superb year for our 4-H steers.  Brayden sold his grand champion steer for $2.50 per pound. We couldn't have done it without the Lee's!!

Tyson is as happy go lucky as ever.  He is loving soccer and excels at piano.  He usually memorizes his songs for the week three days after he starts practicing them.  He loves to play old songs over and over again.  He is looking forward to turning 9 in July so he can join Brayden in 4-H.  He loves the lamb club, but figures he can make way more money in beef.  I think he might end up doing both because he just can't get over how cute the lambs are! Tyson is looking forward to Ryan buying him a pig this fall so he can be the "Pig Boss" like our Hutterite friends. Tyson is my pleaser and he loves to cash in his earned tickets to play on the computer.  I think I am a strict Mom because they can only play computer or watch TV if they have earned tickets, but I just don't think it should be a free for all. Tyson has been doing well on his grade three provincial exams and he doesn't seem very stressed out about the next couple.  He does take his teachers advice seriously when they say to sleep well the night before and to eat a GOOD breakfast!  That usually means sausage and eggs! 

Here is a video from Tyson's piano recital

I will continue...it's just late and I need to go to bed!

I'm not crazy!

BUT I do love my kids and think I really might be nuts after awhile...
For Christmas I broke down and let the kids get puppies-plural! Yes,
2 cute little Border Collie/McNab cross. Basically they are just sheepdogs.
The kids do so well at getting up everyday to feed and water them and take
them on walks. Brayden was in shock-he thought I was sick!  I've just never
wanted a dog because they scare me. Now I laugh because we have two and
I actually let them lick my hands! Ah!

Tis the life of a farm family!