YOU

Wes sometimes gets overshadowed by Jackster, but he's got plenty of personality of his own. He does a lot of funny things. He points at people with his index finger. We had a lot of fun with this yesterday while listening to the Runaway Bride album. There are several songs that say you in them, and he and I kept pointing at each other and laughing. Speaking of laughing, he likes to tease people by pretending he is going to give them something. Then, he takes it away and laughs. His laugh is so contagious. I love it when he gets it going. The other day he couldn't stop laughing. Ty is especially good at making him laugh. He can also make Wes growl. They like to growl at each other.

Just Breathe

I'm going to capture more of the funny things that the kids do all day long (as long as this 2nd trimester nauseousness and exhaustion doesn't overtake me.) Jacki is an entertainer and a talker. She talks nonstop and asks questions all day long. Aunt Megan was over here the other day and pointed out something that Jacki does when she talks. She doesn't stop to take a breath. Now that she pointed that out, I notice that Jacki does this ALL OF THE TIME. She has no idea that she does this because when I tell her to breathe and then talk she asks me how.

Oh Baby It's Christmas

For my mom's birthday, which is two days before Christmas, she wanted to go to Christmas village. Since we had been wanting to go anyway, it worked out great! We promised Jacki that we would take her to see Santa. She told him that she wanted instruments for Christmas. He asked her what else she wanted- she said a recorder. I told her that she might have to wait to get the recorder until her birthday. She was insistent that she get it for Christmas, so Lauren was nice enough to donate hers to the cause (I wasn't about to fight the shopping traffic to go find a recorder two days before Christmas.) Wes was oblivious to most of the Christmas craziness. He was excited about the candy cane that Santa gave him. Jacki calls them "candy cans" and says she doesn't like them (that's because she's only tried the peppermint kind. After she had that kind, she wouldn't try any of the others.)

At the annual Richards family Christmas party, Jacki played the part of the camel during the re-enactment of the Nativity. She didn't pay too much attention to the story being told---she was more focused on sticking her tongue out at different people.


Jacki woke up on Christmas morning at 7:30, which is just about perfect i.m.o. (One of my friends has older kids. She had to wake them up at 8:30. My nieces and nephews like to get up around 5, but they aren't allowed to open presents until 6.) She was excited that it was finally Christmas- time to open presents.



Jacki liked Wes's busy ball popper better than her sit and spin. Wes liked the music on both of them and caught right onto how to get the music to play. We had a good time, and then we went up to mom's to have the traditional Murray omelet breakfast. Ty and Zach cooked them for us. Jord added smoothies to the tradition, which were declicioso!

Touching story

So, I hope everyone is ready for Christmas. We finally are. I started early and got almost everyone done, but then I had mom and Aaron left, which are both hard for me, and we wanted to do something nice from all the kids but none of our money trees have produced, so I've been trying to figure out what to do to make everyone happy (not spend too much but do something nice). Anyway, my mom's sweet neighbor and Jord's 2nd mom started the search for us and shared her shopping skills to help us get a great deal, but then today, I remembered that mom told me what she really wanted for Christmas...what she and dad both wanted...as I read this story that my friend (sister for all intents and purposes) Lindsy sent us.


Hi Murray Sista's…. Someone forwarded this story to me and as I was reading it I felt like the guy in the story was a lot like your sweet Dad. Always looking for the needs of others, always giving with all he had. What a wonderful man he was on earth and what a wonderful angel he is in heaven.  My sister told me about this quote someone had in their house after their dad died.. it said "Because someone we love is in Heaven, we feel heaven in our home."  I am thinking of your family and praying for sweet memories for you this Christmas of your dear sweet Dad. I am grateful that I had the privilege of having his influence and example in my life.  XO


Christmas Eve 1881


Pa never had much compassion for the lazy or those who squandered their means and then never had enough for the necessities. But for those who were genuinely in need, his heart was as big as all outdoors. It was from him that I learned the greatest joy in life comes from giving, not from receiving.

It was Christmas Eve 1881. I was fifteen years old and feeling like the world had caved in on me because there just hadn't been enough money to buy me the rifle that I'd wanted for Christmas. We did the chores early that night for some reason. I just figured Pa wanted a little extra time so we could read in the Bible.

After supper was over I took my boots off and stretched out in front of the fireplace and waited for Pa to get down the old Bible. I was still feeling sorry for myself and, to be honest, I wasn't in much of a mood to read Scriptures. But Pa didn't get the Bible, instead he bundled up again and went outside. I couldn't figure it out because we had already done all the chores. I didn't worry about it long though, I was too busy wallowing in self-pity. Soon Pa came back in. It was a cold clear night out and there was ice in his beard. "Come on, Matt," he said. "Bundle up good, it's cold out tonight." I was really upset then. Not only wasn't I getting the rifle for Christmas, now Pa was dragging me out in the cold, and for no earthly reason that I could see. We'd already done all the chores, and I couldn't think of anything else that needed doing, especially not on a night like this. But I knew Pa was not very patient at one dragging one's feet when he'd told them to do something, so I got up and put my boots back on and got my cap, coat, and mittens. Ma gave me a mysterious smile as I opened the door to leave the house. Something was up, but I didn't know what...

Outside, I became even more dismayed. There in front of the house was the work team, already hitched to the big sled. Whatever it was we were going to do wasn't going to be a short, quick, little job. I could tell. We never hitched up this sled unless we were going to haul a big load. Pa was already up on the seat, reins in hand. I reluctantly climbed up beside him. The cold was already biting at me. I wasn't happy. When I was on, Pa pulled the sled around the house and stopped in front of the woodshed. He got off and I followed. "I think we'll put on the high sideboards," he said. "Here, help me." The high sideboards! It had been a bigger job than I wanted to do with just the low sideboards on, but whatever it was we were going to do would be a lot bigger with the high side boards on.

After we had exchanged the sideboards, Pa went into the woodshed and came out with an armload of wood - the wood I'd spent all summer hauling down from the mountain, and then all Fall sawing into blocks and splitting. What was he doing? Finally I said something. "Pa," I asked, "what are you doing?" You been by the Widow Jensen's lately?" he asked. The Widow Jensen lived about two miles down the road. Her husband had died a year or so before and left her with three children, the oldest being eight. Sure, I'd been by, but so what?

Yeah," I said, "Why?"  "I rode by just today," Pa said.  "Little Jakey was out digging around in the woodpile trying to find a few chips. They're out of wood, Matt." That was all he said and then he turned and went back into the woodshed for an other armload of wood. I followed him. We loaded the sled so high that I began to wonder if the horses would be able to pull it. Finally, Pa called a halt to our loading, then we went to the smoke house and Pa took down a big ham and a side of bacon. He handed them to me and told me to put them in the sled and wait. When he returned he was carrying a sack of flour over his right shoulder and a smaller sack of something in his left hand. "What's in the little sack?" I asked. Shoes, they're out of shoes. Little Jakey just had gunny sacks wrapped around his feet when he was out in the woodpile this morning. I got the children a little candy too. It just wouldn't be Christmas without a little candy."

We rode the two miles to Widow Jensen's pretty much in silence. I tried to think through what Pa was doing. We didn't have much by worldly standards. Of course, we did have a big woodpile, though most of what was left now was still in the form of logs that I would have to saw into blocks and split before we could use it. We also had meat and flour, so we could spare that, but I knew we didn't have any money, so why was Pa buying them shoes and candy? Really, why was he doing any of this? Widow Jensen had closer neighbors than us; it shouldn't have been our concern.

We came in from the blind side of the Jensen house and unloaded the wood as quietly as possible, then we took the meat and flour and shoes to the door. We knocked. The door opened a crack and a timid voice said, "Who is it?" "Lucas Miles, Ma'am, and my son, Matt, could we come in for a bit?"

Widow Jensen opened the door and let us in. She had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. The children were wrapped in another and were sitting in front of the fireplace by a very small fire that hardly gave off any heat at all. Widow Jensen fumbled with a match and finally lit the lamp.

"We brought you a few things, Ma'am,"
Pa said and set down the sack of flour. I put the meat on the table. Then Pa handed her the sack that had the shoes in it. She opened it hesitantly and took the shoes out one pair at a time. There was a pair for her and one for each of the children - sturdy shoes, the best, shoes that would last. I watched her carefully. She bit her lower lip to keep it from trembling and then tears filled her eyes and started running down her cheeks. She looked up at Pa like she wanted to say somethin' but it wouldn't come out.

"We brought a load of wood too, Ma'am," Pa said. He turned to me and said, "Matt, go bring in enough to last awhile. Let's get that fire up to size and heat this place up." I wasn't the same person when I went back out to bring in the wood. I had a big lump in my throat and as much as I hate to admit it, there were tears in my eyes too. In my mind I kept seeing those three kids huddled around the fireplace and their mother standing there with tears running down her cheeks with so much gratitude in her heart that she couldn't speak.
My heart swelled within me and a joy that I'd never known before, filled my soul. I had given at Christmas many times before, but never when it had made so much difference. I could see we were literally saving the lives of these people.

I soon had the fire blazing and everyone's spirits soared. The kids started giggling when Pa handed them each a piece of candy and Widow Jensen looked on with a smile that probably hadn't crossed her face for a long time. She finally turned to us. "God bless you," she said. "I know the Lord has sent you. The children and I have been praying that he would send one of his angels to spare us."

In spite of myself, the lump returned to my throat and the tears welled up in my eyes again. I'd never thought of Pa in those exact terms before, but after Widow Jensen mentioned it I could see that it was probably true. I was sure that a better man than Pa had never walked the earth. I started remembering all the times he had gone out of his way for Ma and me, and many others. The list seemed endless as I thought on it.

Pa insisted that everyone try on the shoes before we left. I was amazed when they all fit and I wondered how he had known what sizes to get. Then I guessed that if he was on an errand for the Lord that the Lord would make sure he got the right sizes.
Tears were running down Widow Jensen's face again when we stood up to leave. Pa took each of the kids in his big arms and gave them a hug. They clung to him and didn't want us to go. I could see that they missed their Pa, and I was glad that I still had mine.

At the door Pa turned to Widow Jensen and said, "The Mrs. wanted me to invite you and the children over for Christmas dinner tomorrow. The turkey will be more than the three of us can eat, and a man can get cantankerous if he has to eat turkey for too many meals. We'll be by to get you about eleven. It'll be nice to have some little ones around again. Matt, here, hasn't been little for quite a spell." I was the youngest. My two brothers and two sisters had all married and had moved away.

Widow Jensen nodded and said, "Thank you, Brother Miles. I don't have to say , May the Lord bless you, I know for certain that He will."  Out on the sled I felt a warmth that came from deep within and I didn't even notice the cold.

When we had gone a ways, Pa turned to me and said, "Matt, I want you to know something. Your ma and me have been tucking a little money away here and there all year so we could buy that rifle for you, but we didn't have quite enough. Then yesterday a man who owed me a little money from years back came by to make things square. Your ma and me were real excited, thinking that now we could get you that rifle, and I started into town this morning to do just that, but on the way I saw little Jakey out scratching in the woodpile with his feet wrapped in those gunny sacks and I knew what I had to do. Son, I spent the money for shoes and a little candy for those children. I hope you understand."

I understood, and my eyes became wet with tears again. I understood very well, and I was so glad Pa had done it. Now the rifle seemed very low on my list of priorities. Pa had given me a lot more. He had given me the look on Widow Jensen's face and the radiant smiles of her three children.

For the rest of my life, Whenever I saw any of the Jensens, or split a block of wood, I remembered, and remembering brought back that same joy I felt riding home beside Pa that night. Pa had given me much more than a rifle that night, he had given me the best Christmas of my life.

Don't be too busy today. May God richly bless you.

This made me cry hard, and I remembered that mom and dad really wanted us to do a service for someone and write about it. It may be a little late to get it done by Christmas, but I am still going to do it, and I was really feeling the love of the Savior, of course that was interrupted by Wesley taking the jar of sunflower seeds and dumping them all over the floor.


I couldn't keep myself from yelling at Jacki for letting him "spill the freakin' sunflower seeds and not getting the lid like I had asked her to do." But, now I'm laughing because he is really happy eating sunflower seeds off the floor....simple pleasures... It really isn't that big a deal, just the daily disaster around the Craven home. Yesterday, they put shredded cheese all over the floor. Our theme is from a book called Olivia, "You really wear me out, but I love you anyway." Merry Christmas. I hope that Christmas day is just the start of the Christmas season of serving and loving like Christ and our Heavenly father do."

Holiday season

We've been enjoying the holiday season- except for the head cold that we always get when the weather changes drastically- like last week when it was freezing. This week wasn't so bad. Forty degrees actually felt warm. A lot has happened this year. Our sweet Wesley (yes I love Princess bride) has turned into our Wild Wes. He's walkin' and talkin'. Although he can say more words, he sticks with cracker or dada most of the time. So, don't be offended if he calls you cracker. Jacki hates it, and yells, "He's calling me cracker. I'm not a cracker. I'm Jacki Hope Craven." He likes to dive off our bed face first and likes to follow Jacki around and hits her if he gets close enough.

Jacki is our science kid and has to know why everything happens and how and wants to know everything now (and will keep asking until you respond.) She is really into winning, so if I want her to do something, I make it into a race, but she gets really upset when Wes wins her getting dressed or if we press the garage door button first. She is very concerned about a lot of things. We've been looking for a book that the library said we had still checked out, but we never even read it. I don't remember checking it out; however I knew it was a possibility because one time I found a library book in one of Jacki's drawers that we never use. Then, this week a book disappeared, and I insisted we find it before we went to the library. She found it "in her toy chest." I was very happy to find out that the library had found it. When we checked out books this week, I prepared myself to pay for it, but the clerk told me it wasn't showing overdue, and the fines were gone.

Jacki makes sure that I know to stop at every red light and stop sign by yelling as soon as she can see the red light (way before it's time to actually stop.) She screams, "You have to stop at the red light (stop sign)." After I stop she asks, "Why did you stop at the red light?" So, I tell her she just answered her own question. No wonder I'm exhausted. I wake up tired, and it gets worse as the day goes on.

The kids love playing with their daddy. Ty and I realized that we shouldn't have bought them any presents this year- just bubble wrap. Wes laughed hard every time we popped a bubble, and Jacki loved doing the popping. Kids really do like simple things the best, but for those of you thinking about inventing a bubble wrap toy- it's too late. That same day in Toys R Us we found an electronic bubble pop imitator. We got it for Jacki. After I bought it I realized that Lauren has one (that really annoys me because it makes other sounds after you press the bubble. For example, one sound is a doorbell. It gets really annoying.)

Since the passing of my dad in November, I haven't been in to the presents and commercial side of things and have been trying to enjoy being with family and friends and seeing the lights display, which remind me of the our Savior. We had a great time with our Salt Lake buddies. (Love you guys) Jacki liked the nativities at temple square. We took her to see the Christus, and Melanie told us that Jacki said, "We're going up, up, up to see the big, big Jesus."


This is my first time putting a picture into the blog....baby steps. Jacki's favorite light display was the hopping frog at the Layton lights. We also went up to the Willard lights. I loved that both of those were drive through lights. Ty thought the lights on the trees there were so cool because they changed colors. Jacki liked seeing characters that she recognized from movies.

Ty has had a busy year working. He told me that yesterday was his first Saturday off in 3 weeks. He likes to sleep in on the weekend, but the kids don't allow that too often. Wes was up at 6:30 today. Ty works so hard, and he treats me really good, especially when I'm pregnant and doesn't complain too much about the messy house. He thinks I'm more attractive when I'm pregnant and loves watching my belly grow. We found out that we're having another boy. (Jacki wasn't happy when Ty told her that there are going to be more boys than girls in the family.) We found out we were having a boy the same week that my dad passed, and it was emotional for me. I'd like to name him after both our dads because they are both great people, but we'll see what happens.

That's a summary of what we're up to. I started the post mentioning that I'm trying to enjoy the season, so I cut out sending out Christmas cards. Instead, look for a new years card...lazy, pregnant, call it whatever you like, but it's nice to not have to worry about sending the cards by Christmas. They should arrive by Three Kings days (January 6).

Jacki just woke up and is saying "mom".

Yesterday the first thing that she asked is where Beauty and the beast is in the scriptures. She found the drawing with Abraham and said, "there it is."

She just told me that she wanted to say goodbye to dad. We got advent calendars, and she is looking at me with her eyes smiling and asking how about if we eat a chocolate treat today. Last night I melted some chocolate that we had on pretzels and almonds. She was so mad at me for melting the chips. She wanted to eat them as chocolate chips. She got over it when she tasted how yummy they were....chocolate almonds are soooooo good.

Wes is getting Mischievous (I had to spell check it in word to spell that word. However, it isn't giving me the red "you are spelling this wrong" underline that I'm getting in this program) and kept climbing on Grandma's glass table that he knew he wasn't supposed to do.

Tyson has been spending a lot of time on our light problem. He didn't buy enough for the outside of the house, so half of the garage didn't have it. The lights got bought up by a landscaping company. In fact, it's pretty hard to find Christmas decorations. He said Lowes is already down to one small isle.....I guess since fm 100 started playing Christmas music the beginning of November, everything is a month behind, so it's like Christmas is over before the season has even started. He has checked on line, gone to the Riverdale, Logan, and Ogden Lowes, and he even went to wally world (in desperation.) Well, I was at wally world yesterday and saw the led lights that he needed. They are a different brand that the others ones we have, and there is orange instead of purples, but hey not bad.. I'm really glad we can stop the search for more led lights. We are trying to slow down the season and enjoy it. We took around advent calendars to neighbors yesterday and had fun looking at the lights. The Kuhns had music that went with the lights, which was awesome.

Brushing your teeth toddler style

We've been trying to brush our teeth daily, and the kids are learning to brush too. The other night, I was helping the kids brush their teeth. Jacki has a light up toothbrush that blinks as she brushes, so she knows how long to brush. We're still working on brushing every tooth. I brushed Wesley's teeth, which didn't take long since there are only 9.  Jacki's brush stopped blinking, so she was done too. I gave Wes his toothbrush (to practice) and pretend like he was brushing, and I went to my bathroom and brushed my teeth. I was gone for two to three minutes. When I came back, Jacki was gone. Wes had her toothbrush and his toothbrush and was dipping them into the toilet.

Thanks to our wonderful dental hygienist who told me that you can sanitize toothbrushes by washing them in the dishwasher. It's been a couple of days since this incident, and Wes hasn't died, so he must not have taken in too much toilet water.

Alphabet Soup

I was making chili in the crock pot, and Jacki told me that she was making soup. She took all of the alphabet magnets off the fridge and put them in the small crock pot (the kind that is used for dips). She told me it was ready, and I said okay and went down to fold clothes while I watched Oprah. Then, she told me that she touched the hot soup, and I still didn't catch on. I thought she must have touched my crock pot, but Ty came home and said that the little crock pot was on and hot with all of the alphabet magnets in it. I will never think of Alphabet soup the same way. It turned out to be funny (since the house didn't burn down.)

Talking to the yogurt

Thursday was story time. Jacki got a bunch of books and a couple of movies. She went to get them out of the car. She told me not to let Wes eat her yogurt over and over. I told her I heard her the first several times. Then she said, “I wasn’t talking to you mom- I was talking to my yogurt.”

Truck with Fluffy stuff

Yesterday we had insulation put in our attic. It's free for us with the current rebates available. I told Jacki that there was a big truck coming that would pump fluffy stuff called insulation into the ceiling that would help keep the house warm. She was so excited and would not leave the front window, but they were late, so after an hour, I made her go down for a nap. They ended up coming 3 hours late, which worked out fine.  Jacki and Wes had just woken up from their naps. I told Jacki that she hadn't missed the truck. It was still coming. She asked, "Did they have a nap too." She liked watching the insulation pump through. I asked her if she remembered the big word I taught her, and she said, fluffilation. Ty and I think it should be renamed that.

Conference Sour Cream saga

For the family get together in between conference, we were assigned to bring funeral potatoes. The recipe is simple. It needs 4 ingredients: potatoes, sour cream, cream of chicken soup, and cheese. Ty started making the recipe and told me we had no sour cream. I told him that it was on the grocery list, and he said it wasn't. (I was right, but that's not the point here.) When he looked at the list, he said, "Oh there were two sides to the list." He said he would have to go to the store. I knew that it wasn't a big deal. All I could think of is how good it was of him to do the grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning so I could rest. Since being pregnant, I feel like I'm going to faint when I stand up, feel exhausted when I wake up, and have a bad taste in my mouth- not bad for pregnancy, but I feel pretty lazy compared to my normal routine. Back to the sour cream, I was determined to find a solution. I remembered that we didn't have sour cream in Spain and used plain yogurt. I remembered that we had a cup of plain yogurt and was sure it would still be there. Who would eat plain yogurt? I looked in the fridge. It was gone. Ty said, "I ate it. I like plain yogurt." Well, I was running out of ideas. I found another recipe for sour cream substitute, but Ty said he had one in his mom's ward cookbook that we love.  Moral of the story.....don't let a little sour cream or other unimportant detail in life ruin or make your day sour. Laugh about the hiccups that happen to our smooth lives.) I laughed hard about all of this.

The prophet told the story of a little girl that cleaned her toy closet for service to him for his birthday. Ty told Jacki, "that's a big hint for you." She replied, "What did you say," He said, "you're cute." She replied, "I'm very cute."

Blogging for Beginners

Well, my family caught a couple of bugs this week.  One of these was an intestinal infection that Wes started getting last Friday, and I gave him the cure all for babies (Tylenol for infants.) Jacki got it a few days later, and I got a 1 am wake up call, "Mom, I need a bath. I'm sick."
 
The other bug that I've caught is the blogging bug, but I'm really glad that there are templates since I have no idea how to get started. There's got to be a blogging for dummies book out there, but so far, I'm learning blogging the "hard way". You can tell that blue is my favorite color.  I talked to my younger sister today, and she said she loves reading about Jackisms in my emails. My mom said that I was always writing something for the fridge. Then, I tried my hand at poetry, but my rhyming poem about guinea pigs didn't make the top seller lists, but I love reading about my family and friends lives. If you have any cravings for the Cravens, ya know where to come. I'm staying up way past my bedtime, but I've got High school musical 3 playing in the background, and it just hit a loud part where Troy is trying to figure out what he's going to do after high school, and I had a late night snack.

This week I've had a taste of being a single parent. Ty's been at the Newfork scout camp. I talked to him on the way there, but once they got there, he had no cell phone service. Yep, there are still are places away from technology. The highlight of my week was Monday morning. Ty hiked 2 miles in the rain in order to get one bar to be able to call me. That "hey cutie" meant so much to me that I'm tearing up thinking about it.

 I can't end my first post without sharing Craven kiddisms. Speaking of technolgoy, Wesley (Wessie, Wesler, Wild Wes) is fascinated by it. He loves the light switch. He can reach it from the changing table. I turn the light on, and he turns it off, but this goes on for as long as I will do it. He could spend all day switching the light on and off. He laughs and laughs about it, and his eyes light up. The other thing he loves is running water. I rinsed his hands off after he stuck them in baby food and before he wiped them on me.  He loved playing in the water. Speaking of water, he loves it. The other night he was sick and threw up all over his bed and sat in the bath as happy as could be. Then, he thought life couldn't get any better when he got to have his second bath of the day.

 Jacki on the other hand loves water as long as she doesn't get any in her eyes. In the bathtub, whenever she gets water in her eyes, she has to have a towel to wipe them dry. I thought that swimming would help her get over that, but it hasn't. If someone splashes her, she says, "he splashed me. I need my towel." I tell her that she is going to get wet, but she actually gets out of the pool to wipe her eyes. Other than that, she's a fish and swims all over with her pirate life jacket. Her Uncle Jordie picked that up for her.  I asked him to find a good one last year when he was working at Wally World, and the only one that they had with the straps between the legs was this pirate one (and it's not Disney cute pirate), but she loves it, and she always has to wear it. I don't think she'll give it up. But, maybe if I found Dora or Sponge-bob she would. I got her Dora toothpaste the other day, and she said, "Thank you mommy for buying me new toothpaste." She is a big fan of Disney movies. She has watched Mulan over and over this past two weeks. Jacki makes up some of the word, but I know who she gets that from. (I have a hard time hearing words in music.) My favorite song that she sings comes from Pocahontas. She came up singing, "sandwiches, sandwiches." Obviously the theme of that movie is a little old for her. She's been my roommate this week. Unfortunately, she also gets her sleeping habits from me. I woke up to her feet in my face this morning. Sorry to my sister Rachie who had to share the bed with me growing up.