This is my dog, Sadie. She's a German Short-Hair and one of the prettiest I have ever seen. A few weeks ago, my daughter went outside to feed our dogs. She came in and told me that there was something very wrong with Sadie- that her face was very swollen. If Kylee had noticed it, then the swelling had to be bad. I let Sadie in, and sure enough, her face was huge. She looked like she had the mumps. I panicked. Quickly I called the vet, who told me most likely it was a bug bite or bee sting, and to give her some Benadryl. If the swelling wasn't gone by the next day, then I needed to bring her in. So, I gave my dog some Benadryl. It didn't work. 4 hours later, I gave her some more. Finally, the swelling started to go down, but now it looked like she had a goiter, as a big flap of skin hung under her chin. Another dose of Benadryl at bedtime did the trick. By morning, all of the swelling had disappeared and her face returned to its normal shape. I am pretty sure she got stung by a bee. The bees make little nests under the railing on our deck, and Sadie likes to stand up to the railing to check out what is going on in the neighbor's yards. Needless to say, we smashed all of the bee's nests and cleared the railing to avoid anymore dogs getting bee stings!

FOR THE LOVE OF THE HUNT

Logan loves everything about hunting. He loves wearing camo. He loves having hunting boots like his Dad. He loves watching the Hunting Channel with his Dad every evening before he goes to bed. Logan has 4 camo baseball caps in his closet. He even talked me in to buying him a $30 camo backpack so that he can go hunting with his Dad. He's got his own binoculars and will sit in the back seat of the truck spotting deer for his Dad. He has begged and pleaded with his Dad to take him elk hunting. The problem: Logan can't actually hunt until he is 12 years old. For a 5 1/2 year old who is obsessed with hunting, 6 1/2 more years will drag on forever. For right now, his Dad takes him to go look for deer, but the day Logan can acutally shoot a deer can't come soon enough for him.

ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.

~ Seneca

Back in November, the month we celebrate thanksgiving for our blessings, I kept hearing the long list of all of my children's wants for Christmas. My children have been blessed to have what they need and most of what they want provided for them. I decided I needed to make sure they understood what the true blessings in life were and how important it is to be grateful for what we have. So, I made a chart with 26 pockets, decorated to match the theme of Thanksgiving. Each day, all 6 of us, had to write down on a slip of paper, something that we were grateful for. We had to write something different each day. The Monday after Thanksgiving, we had a Family Home Evening Lesson about Gratitude. First, we counted our blessings as we pulled the slips from each pocket and read what we had written. Some of us had written the same things, some were blessings the others had not thought of. Then we read a story about little orphans who had no shoes and received handed-down shoes for Christmas. The orphans were so excited to receive shoes even though they weren't new. We talked about a cousin who is serving his mission in Mexico and shared some of the poverty and distress that this cousin has seen while there and the sacrifices he has made to make the lives of those her serves a little easier. We talked about the Savior and how we need to be grateful for the gift that he gave us~ the gift of His life so that we may be an eternal family, repent of our sins, and live with Him someday. By the end of the lesson, we were all in tears, and needless to say, my kids had more of an attitude of gratitude as we approached Christmas.

I LOVE AUTUMN!

I love this time of year. The colors, the smells, the crispness in the air. It's my favorite time of the year!

MISSING THE OLYMPICS

I watching the Olympics is one of my favorite things. I love watching athletes achieve greatness. The USA made great strides despite a slow start this past summer. I think the Olympics this summer gave us a few hours each day to celebrate the greatness that resides within the United States during a time of so much negativity. Thank you to all of the athletes for providing sunshine despite the ensuing tempest.

YELLOWSTONE 2012

We had driven the front loop of Yellowstone. 2 1/2 years ago. The kids have been begging to go back and see the back loop. Finally, last weekend, we spent a day and drove through the back loop and saw some amazing things. We are planning to go back again sometime. I am sure there is much we still have not seen in this geological wonder.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

We were greeted at the front door of Gate City Elementary by the new Gate City Bear. She greeted each child with a welcoming hug before they headed through the front door and off to the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year. This will be the only year all 4 of the Craythorn children will be at the same school.