Socks On Steroids

Could you raise 12 children?  Could you?  Could you do it with flying colors?

I know someone who IS, and I do mean IS CURRENTLY working on the endeavor of raising TWELVE children;  she and her husband are doing this with FLYING COLORS.  She has all kinds of inspirational quotes on her walls such as:

"This house isn't under construction. 

 Kids just live here." 

&

 



"A clean house is a life wasted." 

Despite all of these inspirational quotes to remind you that the true meaning of life is not about removing the last dust speck from the baseboard in the corner, this house STILL had the cleanest bathroom I've ever seen.  It was sparkling.  How on earth do you raise 12 kids (8 of them being boys for that matter), and still end up with a sparkling bathroom?  My cousin, Tiffani, is a SUPER-Mom.

I was fortunate enough to spend the majority of a day with Tiff a couple weeks ago.  I knew I would be traveling through her town on my way home from the Homestead, and I asked her if we could have a play date with her 12 children.  :)  Let me tell you, it was a MEMORABLE experience for me and my 'offspring'.  Hang on to your seats, because I've documented the ride:


1)  A few steps after you enter the Martineau home, you might be lucky enough to spy this table in the Living Room.  It includes 14 copies of the Book of Mormon, and it looks like at least 7 Bibles are in those Scripture Cases.  What a beautiful sight!  This is a home that reads scriptures & has prayer daily.  I love that EVERY child has their own copy of scriptures to help them stay alert and awake.  I didn't really notice until later, but look at the table cloth--it's PATRIOTIC.  They teach their kids to love God AND Country...what greater things could strengthen their family than a heritage like that?  I dare say nothing.

2) Since we were camping out for most the day at their house, and since I knew they would be feeding me dinner, I thought, "Maybe there's some way I could give back."  And that's when I spied a basket of socks.  My BRILLIANT idea kind of back fired & in the end I'm pretty sure it wasn't even helpful.   Timing myself for fun, I had TWENTY straight minutes of sorting socks by colors.  Then I recruited help from Eva and we started matching up socks.  We got sick of the white ones really fast.  Then we moved to the dark colors, and then we moved to the small pile of colorful socks, because we thought we'd actually see some progress there.  After AN HOUR AND TWENTY MINUTES, I started delegating to Tristan and Eva, but not to Michael, because he said he wasn't allowed to do the socks.  Haha!  They finished up for me, and even then, we had what looked like a FULL basket of socks left over. 

Here's some crazy math for you.  This family lives in a place where they have to wear socks often, especially in the Winter.  If they average one pair of socks for everyone each day, that turns into 28 socks per day. 28 socks/day x 7 = 196 socks/week. 

 

196 socks/week x 52 = 10,192 socks per year!!! 

Once we realized this astounding laundry trivia fact for the Martineau household, Eva asked me, "Is this why you only had 3 kids?" 

3)  Everything was all hunky-dory while we were folding socks, and that's when Tiffani told me she needed to leave to the store for just a little while.  Her famous words were, "You're in charge of twelve kids."  I thought it wouldn't be a problem.  She told us to get the hot dogs out of the freezer, and open 3 cans of Hormel Chili to put on the stove.  Easy, right?  Ready for that crazy math, again? 

12 kids + my 3 kids + 3 cousins + 2 friends

= 20 children!!!!!

Being a teacher with 30 kids in a classroom is totally different than having 5 kids outside, 4 going around the block, 4 squealing in the hallway, 2 trying to tell the little boys that they need to give up the video game controllers, 2 folding socks, and 3 others who knows where.

 

That's when the GOAT showed up.

 

4)  The hero within me told me I had to save the kids from the goat.  I wasn't sure if it was a nice goat or not, and his little goat horns were at the eye level of the 2 and 3 year olds.  My anxiety level started rising, and Marron started screaming with equal parts of delight and horror at the sight of the savage goat.  Soon I saw my cousin, Macky crossing the street, and I thought he would save us, but NO.  He went to rescue his dog that was barking wildly about the intruder.  And that's when ALL the kids came out on the lawn and I started worrying about 20 children being charged by a wild beast instead of 5.

Don't worry, we were eventually saved by the owner of the goat.  The owner's name was Billy, which is nothing short of IRONIC.   His first words were, "Be careful, he butts."  Gee whiz!  The goat episode could have been awful, and it wasn't!  I had a big sigh of relief until I turned around and found kids climbing on the car.  (Please don't get mad at them, Tiff, I actually made them pause for a picture before they got down, so it's really my fault now.)

 

Eva looked at me on the lawn and said, "Boy, you sure are making a lot of memories, aren't you?"

What a darling and happy kid.  That's Paul.  He was very helpful, too.

 

5)  Seconds after we saved "The Loser Cruiser" from potential dents & scratches, I got a text from Tiff & Brandon saying they were on their way back. I started freaking out inside my head, because NOTHING they asked us to do was done.  What kind of a dog-poo reputation would I have if they saw I couldn't even handle the simple tasks they needed?

 

"Eva!  Did you get the hot dogs out of the freezer?"

"Not, yet."

"Oh, no!  Are you serious?  Why not?"

"Because, remember? I told you I needed help moving something first, and you said you would help me, but THEN THE GOAT CAME."

"Oh, yeah!  Oh my gosh!  Hurry!  Where are they?  We've got to get them out of the freezer before your mom & dad get back!"

 

I was laughing the whole time.  It's not like Tiff wanted us to MAKE the dinner.  All she wanted was the ingredients ON the counter, and we were frantically running to get them as they turned onto the street.  And then I saw red drips from otter pops all over the tile floor.  Amelia wiped those up for me seconds before Tiff & Brandon walked in the door.  And *WHEW*  that's when everything calmed down again, and that's when having 12 kids seemed like it was easy, because the PROS were BACK!

Tyson & Morgan

 



Miles, Milly, Gracie, Miles, Maron, Mallory

 



 

Tyson, Emmett, Nate, Morgan, Titan, Tristan

Tyson, Emmett, Morgan, Nate, Neighbor kid, Caden, Zack, Titan?, Other kid, Tristan

 

Paul, Kaylin, Zach, Mallory, Miles, Amelia, Marron

 



Zach?, Marron, Miles, Milly

 



6)  This sweetheart is THE BEST BABY SITTER EVER!  I never had to worry about my 1 year old, because this darling girl carted him around everywhere.  I LOVE HER!  Honestly, ALL of Brandon & Tiff's kids are like this--they are the most loving, most helpful, quick to obey, sweetest, funnest kids you've ever met.  I would keep them all if I could!

Miles, Emmett, Tyson, Zach?, Neighbor



Beauty Queen

Miles & Miles

 



 D-Jo & Tiff

 

7)  Side note:  Amid everything else, they still had energy to have a yard sale. The necklace I'm wearing in this picture was one of my treasures from the garage sale when I went back the next day.

 

8)  One more fact about this family:  They call almost everyone Aunt ______ or Uncle ____ .  I was amazed at the way they open their arms & hearts to everyone who comes to their doorstep.  Friend, neighbor, or actual family, you are treated like family.  There's an abundance of love in that household.

 

And as for your first question, Eva:  After having so much fun, I am sure that more than 3 kids would be a BLAST in my household, but I'm also pretty darn sure that after the hot-dog FIASCO, I may have to leave the raising of TWELVE kids to the PROS.  :)

 

I walked away inspired, happier, and with new, AWESOME memories!

That was one of the best days of my life, Tiff! Thanks for the play date! Gosh I love you guys!

 

Tenney's Never Quit

Alpine, AZ is where my Grandpa Tenney grew up, and where generations of my grandparents have been buried.  At our Tenney Reunion 2 weeks ago, we had an excellent "Cemetery Tour" in which several individuals were asked to dress up, stand by a grave stone, and act out vignettes about the life of a particular ancestor.

Mitchell was Warren Moroni Tenney Sr. - who came with his father over Lee's Backbone with the first Saw Mill in Arizona.  His mother and siblings stayed in Utah and left the family and eventually the church.  Because of this one man's choice to take a leap of faith, all the generations that have followed have had the gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives.  This Great-Great-Great Grandpa almost died on the trip, and the only thing that saved him was the faithfulness of his oxen, whose tails got ran over by the wagon wheels, because they sat on their haunches to prevent the load from toppling down the mountain, which would have sent Warren & his father to their deaths.  They set those faithful oxen out to pasture for the rest of their lives after the trip was over.

 

I was asked to portray Ella Hamblin Tenney (wife to Warren Sr. and daughter of Jacob Hamblin & Priscilla).  Ella grew up in New Mexico, which is close to Alpine.  She got married when she was 16, and Warren came riding up the day he met her in a buck-skin suit.  He wanted to marry her, and she said only if he promised to take her to the St. George temple to be sealed for eternity BEFORE their first child was born.  Once she became pregnant, he kept true to his promise, and they made the trip to St. George, UT.  She was so ill, and the wagon ride didn't make anything easier.  She couldn't keep any food down, and the jarring of the wagon was extremely difficult as they journeyed for TWO MONTHS.  They were sealed & she felt so happy to know that this child would be theirs forever.  On the way back, the snows came early, and they had to trudge through 3 feet of snow.  It was difficult, but they made it back safely, and raised  THIRTEEN children.  What a legacy and example, though. They traveled for FOUR MONTHS (sacrificing work and other endeavors) just to have the blessing of the temple in their lives.  Faith.  Love.  Devotion.  Testimony.  Priesthood Power.  Unwavering.

 

Before I got to the Cemetery, I looked over and saw a little old lady walking with my cousin Kalin.  I wondered who it was.  When she got closer I realized it wasn't a real little old lady, it was my cousin, Tenney pretending to be my Grandma Wanda Peterson Tenney.  When I realized that I started laughing, and then I got a little choked up.  THEY LOOKED EXACTLY LIKE MY GRANDMA AND GRANDPA TENNEY...what's funny now is that the picture doesn't really look like my grandparents looked, but I'm telling you that in the cemetery they did look like them. Haha!

 

Oh, Grandma and Grandpa Tenney, do you know how much I miss you?!  You look awesome here.  :)  LOL!

 

Then we walked over to their graves and...Grandma Velma was there...being played by Paige.  Uh...then I had the thought, "You should probably take a picture with Grandma Tenney, Grandpa Tenney, and Grandma Velma."  So I snapped the photo really fast and laughed.  It was funny, but awkward, too.  Basically in a nut shell Grandma & Grandpa had 9 kids and got divorced.  My Grandpa eventually remarried, but my Grandma didn't, and after Grandma Velma died, my Grandma & Grandpa Tenney got remarried.  So...now they're all in heaven hanging out together.  And this is the first picture we've ever taken with the 3 of them.  So I laughed because it was kind of funny.

 

 

I've never met Velma, because she died the year my parents married, but she was a good person.  She had never married, but was willing to take on the "baggage" of a divorced man with 9 kids...so she knew what LOVE means.  And without a doubt, my Grandma Tenney also knew what LOVE means, as she prayed for my Grandpa even after they were divorced, and married him again even though 'a lot of water passed under the bridge'.  She essentially kept the family together in so many ways.  And my Grandpa Tenney also knew what LOVE means, as he did everything in his power to keep us all together in the end.  These are all 3 "Tenney's Who Didn't Quit." 

 

At any rate, I believe that when I meet Grandma Velma that I will like her, because I definitely love and adore my Uncle Warren and his kids and my Aunt Kem and her kids. 

 

 Gerry & Dana were the son & daughter-in-law of the ancestors Mitch & I acted out.

 This is hilarious to me, because Nathanael AKA 'Walt' took the picture by Grandma & Grandpa's gravestones for us, and he completely missed the gravestones.  Hahaha!  I guess it just means I will have to take my children back there someday.

 Thank you very much: I got Uncle Warren and his kids in the photo WITH the gravestones. 

 What the?  Grandpa likes pirates?  :)

 Grandpa's parents

 This was Grandpa Tenney's older brother.  He died when he was 2 or younger.  This is the reason why my grandpa was named Lewis, as opposed to Warren, like the 2 generations before him.  On another stone in the graveyard of a baby, I saw the words, "Ours for a moment, God's forever."  What faith and love the parent of any lost child must have to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

 The Lollipop Shoppe was awesome, and expensive.  Remember that if you ever have to eat or purchase anything in Alpine, that it's been imported 5 hours or more from a larger city, so there's a mark up.  But even if you pay $4 for a lollipop because you couldn't afford the $8 ones, or the $300 one, that it's okay.  And it's still fun.  Make sure to take pictures, because your wallet says you might not be going back.  J/K.

Also remember that when you buy a lollipop, that the best part is the anticipation.  Usually they get dropped in 0.5 seconds after you leave the shop, or the slobber weakens the stick at the base in 2 minutes and either way, you end up with a broken lollipop.  Haha!

 I talked back to the wallet, and we went back to the Lollipop Shop with Julia & Nathanael.

 This is my cousin, Julia.  She was SO EXCITED to see the baby donkey.  She also received her mission call at the reunion to THE SAME PLACE AS WARREN MORONI TENNEY SR.  Isn't that AMAZING?  I believe this is in no way a coincidence - I believe this was meant to be.   Her mom got the letter and with permission, opened it and scanned it and emailed it to Julia so she could read it.  How neat that she got to read her call to the family while we were in the place that our ancestors lived and that she'll get to serve the people in the same place that our Great-Great Grandpa did - and all this happened on the same day we were telling stories about him.  So awesome! 

 My darling Borden nephew came with us - he kept calling us "Tingey's" because he's used to hearing that instead of "Tenney's".  Haha!

We stayed at the Homestead to save on costs so that we could spend it on the imported food in Alpine.  J/K  My Lego heads looked AWESOME with the camouflage design that happened by the dust, dirt, and rattling on the bumpy roads.  I couldn't have designed it better!  It's washed off by now, though.  Bummer!

 

To finish out our trip, Mitch left the reunion and went to Scout Camp, and I stayed at the Homestead with my mother-in-law, nephew, and kids.  We had a great time.

 

Tyson had a heart attack one day when they went to catch snakes at Snake Lake.  The cows were by the pond, and one had horns.  He came running back alone and nervous.  "MOM!  There's a bull at Snake Lake, and Caden & Emmett won't listen to me."  I told him I'd go down there and started walking, "WAIT!  Do you even know how dangerous a bull is?  Have you even ever been near one before?  What if something happens to you? (And then he choked up.) I don't want something to happen to my little brother, or my best cousin!"  I told him I'd be fine and to say a little prayer.  Fortunately the bull was not even paying attention to the other boys, and we drew them all to safety, but those DARN COWS camped out for TWO DAYS STRAIGHT, and the boys weren't ever able to go into their territory and catch the snakes on this trip.  Caden was such a tough guy as we walked back to the cabin, "I could run faster than a bull."  I'd like to see him try. :) 

 

On the way back from the reunion, Miles had pink-eye, so I had to chill out in Springerville and kill time while I waited for the on-call doctor to talk to the nurse and call us in an eye-drop prescription.  What do you know?  Springerville has an air-port.  We saw maybe 15 little planes there.  The boys liked it.

We also drove past a little river.  :)

 This is why the Homestead is the BEST place in the world for little boys. 

 Miles getting spoiled.

 Sleeping in the swing.

 I LOVE HIS FACE!

 Air port picture out of order, but I love Tyson's new fetish with making faces that go with the pictures he poses for.

 COUSINS!

 Miles was so cute walking with Grandma Borden. She took us all to McDonald's on the way home.

And that's it.

 

Don't worry, Tiff--you're in the next post

(there's simply too much to tell in this post since it's already so long.) 

Stay tuned--I'll blog again in a few days.

 

Happy 4th of July, everyone!!!!

 

America is all about loving God, loving FAMILY, and loving FREEDOM.  I am so grateful to my ancestors who NEVER GAVE UP so that we could enjoy the freedoms of this GREAT NATION.  Their journeys were hard, but they SAW US - they envisioned what the future would be like, and THEY DID IT FOR US!!!!   Thomas & Ann Tenney were the first Tenneys to come to America, and every single Tenney in America can honor their name today, even if their last name is spelt differently, they are connected.  My mom's side has a history of being great patriots, too, and have the deepest work-ethic of anyone I've ever known - true American Spirit.  They had dreams and made them happen - they grew their family and grew their businesses, and bettered the communities they helped establish.  Amazing people!  I am also so grateful for the heritage my husband's family has - his g-g-g-grandfather on his mom's side Homesteaded some land that keeps the family & gospel ties strong and continuing for their posterity today.  And my husband's father is a modern-day-pioneer in his faith and without a doubt thru all his boys & grandsons (and granddaughters, too), is establishing a family name that will carry on his example in living the gospel.  I am so grateful for the blessings we have, for the heritage we have, for the sacrifices made so we can have our Bill of Rights.  All the people who came before knew that freedom isn't free.  We must to everything in our power to preserve this great nation so the children who are to come can enjoy the privileges we enjoy and so that the sacrifices of those who have gone before are not wasted.

 

God Bless America!



Emmett's First Post and Translation

A blog from Emmett:

qweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeertyyyyyyyyyyyyyuuiiioopp

"That's all."

"Can you tell me what it says?"

"No.  I don't know."

"What do you want it to say?"

"Be great. Love you."

kokdjffggfdhsjkxvxcllaxcjbbioekskdygcedsaUJUXGDHCHHJJYBVJ

"What does that say?"

"I don't know.  It says that."

jxnxnnbnzdhjfdazhscmjxnxnbnvb

"That's what I want it to say."

"LOVE YOU."

jhxbbztgsxxfgddhdkL

"THAT'S ALL."

What Do You Do in the Summer Time?

My husband's famous words haunted me yesterday when I was just in a rush and ready to leave the house to finish things on my "To-Do-List".  As soon as I was ready to go, the boys ran in with their lunch boxes and blanket:  "Let's have a picnic!"  I heard Mitch's voice from the distance, "Just say yes more."  So I listened.

All it took was 10 minutes for them to drink their Capri Suns and eat a yogurt.  They had packed the picnic already, but honestly, it was so cute and they were so happy.  When they were done, we still managed to finish the to-do-list, but it wasn't as important, or nearly as memorable as the picnic.

 

 

Sometimes all it takes is a picnic to remember that LIFE IS GOOD!

How to be the BEST Parent EVER...

I'm not an expert at being a parent, not by a long shot.  But something my 3 year old said on Friday got me thinking.

We had an awesome weekend planned.  In my efforts to fill the Summer time up with wholesome recreational family activities, we have literally been ON THE RUN.  We've also been fortunate enough to have some free passes to places we wouldn't have otherwise been going and so we've been trying to use those passes on the dates they were allowed before they expire.  Our weekend plans started Thursday night:  Paintballing, Man of Steel Premiere, Funeral for my cousin's husband who battled the effects of Leukemia for 7 years--who passed away this week & is survived by his wife & 5 kids, Mini-Amusement Park, Father's Day Shopping, Sea Life Arizona, a Surprise Party...and of course FATHER'S DAY.  Honestly, everything was going as planned, and we even had a sitter for the funeral who is AMAZING (she took the kids to the Summer Movie for me while I was gone).  I was totally looking forward to the Enchanted Island Amusement Park for a fun family activity because I heard they had a little roller coaster for the kids, and BAM!  It happened.  Something major that was NOT planned: 

My husband who was working late had an EMERGENCY at a job site.  Let's just say, we are completely and entirely blessed that this emergency didn't catch an entire house on fire, because it almost did.  Just be glad, right? Well, that's hard to remember on a FRIDAY night when you're in the middle of driving 100 miles round trip with 3 kids (one of them screaming) to help with the emergency, and the weekend plans are getting pushed off the calendar.  What's awesome in all of this, however, is that the kids didn't care about the amusement park.  They just wanted to spend time with their dad (isn't that the reason we had booked the calendar anyway?  FAMILY time).  Upon arrival, Tyson found the shovel from the back of the van & was dragging it over to help shovel dirt with Mitch.  Emmett grabbed a rake & jumped in.  And Miles played with a hammer.  And for my kids, life was beautiful.  Emmett was asking for pictures, which is rare for him.  The boys were doing what they always DREAM of doing:  Going to work with their DAD!  It wasn't until Emmett hugged me and said, "You're the BEST MOM, EVER!" that I realized the secret to parenting that's so easy to forget.  Sometimes, actually MOST times, you don't have to have the biggest, or the best, or the most exciting events planned to qualify you as a great parent who loves your kids.  All you have to have is love, time to listen, time to feed them dinner, time to break up fights, and time to teach life lessons (even if it means service on the other side of town instead of roller coasters and carousel rides).  It's just the little things that matter, and when your kids have the LITTLE things they need, it's those little things that are actually the BIG things.  That's the secret.  Now we just have to remember it.

I could feel this beautiful epiphany sort of moment working its magic, effectively changing my heart and attitude for the evening as I realized that writing "Help Dad Put Out a Fire" was more worthy of my calendar than anything else.



And then I stepped on a nail.
(It's okay to laugh at me; even I think it's funny now.)

To all those Dad's who worked day in an day out trying to put food on the table (and I especially send these words to my husband, my father, & my father-in-law)--please know that all those little things you provided for your kids were really the BIG things that their little hearts and souls needed the most.  You did a great job.  You still do a great job.  Because your kid knows you love them, YOU are the BEST DAD EVER!  Happy Father's Day!

 

 

 

Just a note: To Our Best Dad's EVER (Dale Borden & Joe Tenney): 

 

We love you!

 

 

Frugality

Tyson was thinking this morning, "Mom!  I thought of a great way to save money.  If I go to Hawaii, I won't need to buy food.  I just could pick it off of the trees or something."

"Good plan!"  I said.

"Yeah, I would just need to save money for a plane." he said.

Protective?

Today we were at the public pool.  My older two boys are finally old enough that I probably shouldn't haul them through the girl's bathroom with me to enter the pool.  So usually they walk through the boys' side (do not get me wrong--I am NOT afraid to follow them, if need be, ALL THE WAY THROUGH the Men's side just for protection). But, even with my fearlessness, the momentary separation can still create issues.

Today as we were leaving, I told the boys to go together, but Emmett ran through turbo-speed without Tyson.  I get on the other side of the bathrooms and meet up with Emmett.  We're looking for Tyson, and I'm even poking my head into the men's bathroom to see if he's in there.  I began to get nervous about Tyson, because we couldn't find him anywhere.  We headed outside the gates to see if he was by the vehicle already, and THAT'S when I see him still inside the pool gate, poking around. 


"TYSON!  There you are!  We're over here.  Would you hurry through the bathrooms?  We've got to go home!"  I called.

"I'm waiting for Emmett," he responded.

"I've got him already, Son.  Just hurry, please--we need to load up."

Tyson came quickly and got in the van, but he was slightly unsettled and huffing at me a bit when he said emphatically, "Mom, what's more important: brothers or swimming?"

Wondering where he was going with this, I slowly replied, "Brothers."

"SEE?!  I don't want to live a lonely life with just one brother who doesn't do much.  I was looking for Emmett to make sure he was okay," Tyson chided. 


(Might I add, "DUH, MOM!")

I laughed most the way home.  It's so sweet to see how caring & protective he is of his younger brother, but it was so hilarious to simultaneously see my five-year-old's true perspective of his one-year-old brother.