The Hutch

Brian made me this hutch for me for Christmas. . . he couldn't hide it from me, so he put it in the house with a sign that said "Do not paint until after Christmas". So, for two weeks, I agonized over what color to paint it. I looked online at other hutches, printed out pictures of what I liked, had my friends come over to tally which one they liked. It was a painful process. But, finally Christmas came, and I could now paint the hutch. Now, I DO NOT like to paint, which is odd because I have fond memories of my mother painting the kitchen of our house at 2 A.M. because she thought it needed to be done, then a year maybe two later, doing it again. I lived in that house for 18 years, so I would bet there are at least 10 coats of paint on those walls. But you see, I did not get that gene. I got the "it's a pain- it will make a mess-it will take forever-I do not have the patience for this" gene. But, it had to be done. So when the decision needed to be made, I decided to go with artist canvas (off white) with a brown wash. So after 2 coats of artist canvas, sanding, more sanding and even more sanding, and, putting the stain on, just to wipe it off, AND all of this totaling about 11 hours of work. . . . I give you. . .DRUM ROLL. . . The Hutch.

I've been NATIVITIED

How do I expain? Hmmmmmmm? Well, we have some good friends here in Kuna who have this nativity (it was given to them by a grandmother). My friend thinks it is a little, shall we say, lacking in beauty. So a few of us were joking with her about it and she basically told us that we'd better watch what we say or it may end up in our yard. . . guess what, it did tonight. So the jokes on me this year, but watch what you say or else it may be in your yard next year!!!!!!


Isn't it lovely. . . it is even pre-lit!

Josh's 3rd Grade Music Program

Josh had his 3rd grade music program yesterday. He did a great job of singing and other that the fact that I didn't have a battery charged to record it, it was great (No, worries though, I stood in the back with it plugged into the wall the whole time!). Here are some pictures of Josh's cute self:

Luke's Tree

The people at Brian's work purchased a tree in memory of Luke to plant next to the green belt in Kuna. It will be nice to have something to visit in his memory. Here are some pictures of it. . . it is a Blazing Maple!

Here is what it looks like now,(it's like me right now)it's asleep. It isn't growing or producing, it's hibernating:



And here is what it will look like in the fall. Beautiful isn't it? Here is hoping that I can make it to autumn.

The "Who Would You Be?" Tree

Today was tough, like all Sundays have been. But it turned out to be pretty good. . . at around 5:30 there was a knock on our door. It was my friend Gail Jenkins and her husband Kjell. They had bought us a Christmas Tree. You see, Gail has wanted to go to Salt Lake City, to the Festival of Trees, to buy herself a tree. So this year, her children pulled their money together and gave it to their Mom and said go get your tree. So what did she do, she bought me a tree instead(I know, bring out the kleenex).

So here is the story of my tree:

A family decorated this tree in honor of their 3 sons who had died, two as babies from a lung problems and one that was murdered when he was 20. She wrote a poem entitled, "Who Would You Be?". The end of the poem says:

Your chance was not taken?
Nor, was it stolen away.
You have fulfilled God's plan,
And you can't stay

I'll try not to cry anymore.
I know where your suppose to be.
It's just sometimes I wonder,
Who would you be?

On the tree are different boys dressed up like a doctor, or fireman, or sports person, or a policeman. It is such a beautiful gift! THANK YOU Jenkins family! We love it!

Luke's Birthday

The entire day yesterday, I reminisced about Luke's life; how he came into the world and how he loved life. I would like to share, for this, what would have been his 2nd birthday, those memories.

I had to convince Brian to have another baby and he finally consented when he felt like our family wasn't complete. We began trying and got pregnant right away, actually the day of ( I know, TMI!!!). Nine months later, our family was finally complete with the birth of Luke. He was 6lbs. 6 oz. and was 21 inches long. He grew quickly and I remember often telling him to STOP growing. I knew he was our baby and so I relished in every moment with him, every 2 AM feeding, every sick moment, every milestone passed. Everything was such a joy. He was walking at 11 months and after that he quickly went to running after his brothers. My favorite memories of him were of us cuddling on the couch together. . . .I would lay on my back and he would get his blue blanket, and I would lay it on my chest, the silky part up so he could stroke it with his index finger while he sucked his thumb. I really miss that! He loved to crawl up on a chair and launch himself over the couch. He would laugh and do it over and over again. He was determined, happy, and just wonderful. I have felt recently that I was in the presence of greatness when he was here. What a great spirit he must have had to be able to have fulfilled his mission on earth in 23 months.

On his birthday we went to Idaho Falls and took balloons to his grave. Some of our friends and family were there to give of their greatly needed support. We drove home to find our kitchen table FILLED with cookies and cards from our ward family remembering Luke. We feel so loved and I am so grateful to all of you. We also did a cake for Luke. . . it was so hard to blow out those candles for him. I am grateful to know that someday I WILL be able to see him grow up. . . to see the man he is.

Happy Birthday, our Luker boy!

Being Thankful

Today is a hard day. . . . it is hard not to think about what this day was supposed to be like. . . the boys eating turkey and potatoes and watching Luke eat olives off his fingers, just enjoying being together as a family. And now. . . .well, its different. But, I do still have some things to be thankful for:
-My boys that I have here. . . Brian, Josh and Mike who help me to laugh.
-Brian's wonderful work, they have helped us so much!
-Our families, who care about us so much!
-The knowledge we have of the gospel.

I know this list is short, but I hope to continue to work on it. Someday, I hope that I will be able to know why we had to do this and just maybe, I will be thankful for this trial, but that is not today.

Be Still, My Soul

This is, without a shadow of a doubt, the worst thing EVER. We miss him everyday; we want to be with him everyday; we want to kiss, hug and play with him everyday. There are no words that can take away our sorrow and nothing takes away the pain, believe me I have tried. . . . not even cleaning.

We have had moments of peace, moments when he seems to be here. The knowledge we have of Eternal Families has been a great strength to all of us. Thanks to everyone who prays for us on a daily basis. . . I truly believe you are a BIG reason why we can get up in the morning. It is going to be a long journey. . . .I know that every day I make it through is one day closer to Luke.

Luke--Mommy, Daddy, Josh, and Mikey love and miss you so much. We are going to try to endure to the end so that we can see and hold you again.

We may rest assured that all things are controlled and governed by Him whose spirit children we are. He knows all things from the beginning to the end and he provides for each of us the testings and trials which he knows we need. President Joseph Fielding Smith once told me that we must assume that the Lord knows and arranges beforehand who shall die in infancy and who shall remain on earth to undergo whatever tests are needed in their cases. This accords with Joseph Smith’s statement: “The Lord takes many away, even in infancy, that they may escape the envy of man, and the sorrows and evils of this present world; they were too pure, too lovely, to live on earth.” -Bruce R. McConkie

Until we meet again, my Luker boy, our mister Luke.

Spooks and Goblins Galore!!!

Halloween was really fun this year!! The boys wanted to be army men and Luke was a giraffe (I love hand me downs)! Luke got the hang of the trick or treat thing FAST. He was very polite and would always say Thank You after he got the candy. . . what a good boy. . . the melt down didn't happen until after we got home and we took his candy away because it was time for bed.

Josh and Mike love getting all the candy and then coming home to make it into piles. . . the good stuff pile, the gross stuff pile (Dad takes that one to work), and the Mommy pile (this one contains all the nut containing candy, YUMMY!).

We love Halloween!

Great Hunter

Brian has been doing A LOT of hunting the last few weeks. . . pheasants, chucker, deer. . .

if its moving, look out. Well, this last Thursday was no exception, he got this 3 X 3. And there is a great story that goes along with it, so if youwant to hear it, call him up. And to get you interested, it took at least 4 bullets in this deer to get it down. What a hunt!!!

BOO cake

For Halloween I channeled my inner Martha and created THIS.........

Look What Luke Can Do, Part Two!!

So here are a few more great things Luke is doing:

Like taking out the trash . . .or becoming one with the trash (and yes, he went straight to the tub after this was taken!)

Or doing the Josh take down:


And last but not least, climbing whatever he can, like his brothers bunk beds (Grandma Butikofer, you may want to avert your eyes!)
I uploaded the video to youtube to get it to work! So scroll down a little!

Luke video and Pics 023

Look What Luke Can Do!!!!

So I think I finally had a kid that I will NOT have to send to speech therapy!!! Luke has an extensive vocabulary for his age and will try to say anything you ask him to. So I took a little video to share with you, and as you can see I had a harder time trying to come up with words for him to say! But, I'll let you be the judge of his brilliance, because I am obviously bias!

A Fisherman's Tale

Now, as all of you know, fish stories usually consist of forms of the truth. . . ya know, like the one that was this big (visualize arms stretched out as far as they will go) but my line broke and it got away, but the story you will read today is the truth. . . I promise. It starts out like many other stories with a BEAUTIFUL Saturday morning.....yep, birds were singing and everything. We decided it would be a good day to go fishing for the last time of the season. So we headed up to Lucky Peak Reservoir. We got the boat in the water and took off to find a good fishin' spot. Brian found a great spot and the boys were excited to get their poles in the water. . . including Luke. Now, Luke is not yet at an age where I consider giving him the BEST pole. He gets the one that doesn't work correctly so that when (yes, I know its a when) he throws the pole in the lake, I won't get too upset. But he wanted to fish, so I got a worm and strung it on his pole and since you can't cast his pole (it's broken), I unwound the string by hand into the water and gave the pole to Luke. He dipped the top of the pole in the water and brought it up and bobbed the line up and down and up and down, but wouldn't you know it, he was the first one to catch a fish. . . all by himself. The only way I knew he had a fish on was because I though he was going to throw the pole into the water and I grabbed it by the line and felt something tugging on the other end. I couldn't believe it. Well, it wasn't big enough to keep, so we threw it back and put another worm on and let him have it. . . .BAM. . . another fish. Needless to say, Luke, the 21 month old caught the most fish yesterday. And,because for it to be a good fish story there can be no evidence, I forgot to take my camera so I have no pictures of Luke catching his first fish.

But to end our story I do have a picture of Mike, who caught the biggest fish of the day (unlike his Dad who caught a whopping 2 incher).


I do love a good fish tale!!!

Picture Time

You all know that I looove to take pictures of my cute kiddos, well, today was no exception!! I wanted to share with you all how very cute they are so let me know which ones you like the best!

Elk Hunting

So, after a few times of bow hunting for elk with Brian this week, I am really beginning to wonder what is the point? Here is the story:
Monday, 3:30 A.M. (Sondi, I actually got up then, instead of going to bed then, try it!) get up to go. . . . . . . . . . (lots of dots mean something really poignant is about to happen). . . . . . . 9:00 P.M. arrive home with NOTHING, didn't see anything, didn't hear anything, after 12 hours of walking, nothing. So we tried our chances yesterday, Friday. It started out good. . . another 3:30 wake up and off we go. We get to the hills and are walking by 6:30 A.M. We hear a bull bugle and we are off to get him. We find him and he is a nice 5-point, but I can't get a shot so Brian and I decided to go to a different area, and Brian (who did a great job of calling) got another one to come in, he was another 5-point and this time I did get a shot, a 15 yard shot and I took it and the arrow went in and he ran away and we waited an hour to go track him and we found the blood trail and we tracked it for 250yards and we looked and looked and looked and then, and then, and THEN, we lost him.

So again, what is the point? Is it really supposed to be hiking for 12 hours a day to come home with nothing? I ask you, is that fun?

So here is a picture of what he would have looked like! *sigh* *sniff* *sigh*

The First Day. . . of PEACE!!!!!!!

So today is the first wonderful day of school. The boys were so excited to go, they wouldn't even let me take them to school!!! To be truthful, I will miss them and the house seems so quiet without them here, but as I sit here in the quiet, I begin to think. . . yes, it is so quiet I can actually think. . . .this is going to be nice!! So here is the annual shot of my two boys going off to their big day. AND Mike finally lost his first tooth, so here are some pics of his cute grin!

(P.S. In reference to Josh's shirt: This is what happens when Dad goes school clothes shopping!)

Who Could Ask For Anything More?

We took a quick trip to Silver Creek Plunge this weekend. It is one of our favorite spots to go--you can go swimming, fishing, hiking, biking, wading in the creek--it is a FUN place to go camping! This year we even got to go huckleberry pickin'! The boys were so excited, and they ate as many as they picked. And tonight, Brian made it into YUMMY homemade huckleberry ice cream! Here are some of the highlights! I would like you to all notice that in the fishing pictures it is dark outside(it was 10:00 P.M.)--I know, I know, I am turning over a new leaf. But I am turning slowly, because you'll notice Luke is in bed! :)