April 2014

4/2 Wednesday - Today we bought a Saanen Goat. She was $225.00 and in July she will be 2 years old. She is expected to be pregnant which we are really hoping for. Her mother milked over 2 gallons a day and the owner just loved her. This goat was pasture raised with her sister so she is very skittish. We are hoping with lots of love and attention we will be able to be friend her. Bowdee is going to sell his CC and buy this one to replace her. We have given her the special name of Crystal Bell, I sure hope she turns out!

4/3 Thursday - Ted's mother passed away this last week. She was really struggling and not doing well, she was in the hospital for quite a while before passing on. So today Terry and I went out with Kaye and Chuck to Wendover to attend her services. She seemed to do many good things for their community and always being so giving of her time and generous with her blessed creations. She was a quilter and it made her heart so happy to give one of her beautiful handmade quilts away. Tammie was sweet enough to pick one out so I could keep this little treasure forever. So sorry for your loss Ted and Tammie we love you both!

After the services we rode back to Kaye and Chucks which was such a great ride with those two wonderful people. Anyway I just love watching Chuck and Terry together. They do so many of the same actions and get kicks out of so many of the same things. I love my in-laws like crazy I don't think they will ever realize how much I appreciate them! Look how cute this photo is!

4/9 Wednesday - Spring Break is finally here! We don't have big plans because we are still teaching horse lessons and we have a big vacation in June. So when Tara C. talked about doing something little and close just us and the kids we jumped on it. So we headed to my parents cabin to enjoy a couple nights. The kids enjoyed the hot tub and playing in the snow.

4/10 Thursday - Tara and I enjoyed a little yoga but we mostly enjoyed watching the kids get along and play. They were so cute the last night we were there they all made a scary movie together. This was hilarious little Eva was even in it and she had some seriously scary parts. Love these kids and love the memories we just created!

4/11 Friday - Terry sent me an email that listed all we would need to do before going rock hounding in the desert. He figured we wouldn't get it all done so to plan on leaving on Saturday. I thought if we are going camping it IS going to be for at least 2 nights so I busted my butt all day and with the kids help we completed everything on the list and we were ready to leave when Terry got home from work at 5:00 we got out there late but we did see the wild horses on the way! This made all the work worth it to see Matia get so excited to see these wild amazing animals.

4/12 Saturday - So we took Dolly and Dash and left Daisy with mom and dad. Dolly did a lot better then we expected and turned out to be so much fun on the trip. We found quite a few geodes and were getting ready to move on to Apache Tears (which was wonderful) then Topaz Mountain when this lady told us about fossil mountain. So we thought maybe we will give it a try after Topaz. Topaz was a bust, I found one small topaz but nothing to exciting.

So then we headed to Baker Hot Springs just outside of Delta. Terry and Bowdee had been here with the scouts and they were excited to share it with the family. So even though a storm was rolling in we took the time to stop and enjoy the hot springs. I am so glad we did, it was such a great experience for the kids and nobody was there!

We headed to Delta for gas and a treat then out to fossil mountain. This is the one thing we would have done differently. It was a VERY long drive out there and by the time we got there it was dark and we couldn't find the area we were looking for. So we just parked the trailer made a quick dinner of Dinty More Soup and headed to bed. The next day we drove all over that mountain looking for the dig sight and found nothing! It was very disappointing and cost us an extra $80 in gas!

4/13 Sunday - After the disappointment in Fossil Mountain we headed to the Trilobites and we didn't have any luck there either but we did find a Hoola Monster (a lizard that runs on his back two legs) Terry and Bowdee tried to catch it and couldn't. So they called Dash over. He was quick to catch it and just held it in his mouth for Bowdee to pick up. We held him and he got cold so when we put him on the rock to run away he just stayed there getting warm. Treg went back over later to check on him and he ran away for him. That was fun for them to watch though.

4/19 Saturday - Let the soccer games begin! Yep it is that season again where we start with soccer, then baseball, then swimming then soccer again, then football it just doesn't stop once spring hits. We do love it and I love watching my kids be active and not just home being bored. Sometimes they wish we were the parents that would let them lounge around being bored but I think one day they will be thankful we encouraged them to live an active life. Getting out and meeting new people and challenging their minds and bodies. Yes it takes most of our time and it does cost a shiny penny but they are worth every bit of it!

4/20 Sunday - Easter what a hard day for me. I love being home with my family to celebrate but I always feel like I should be to church showing God how I do care for him and love him. I just hope he can feel those feelings even though I choose to stay home and be with Terry and the kids. I am very thankful for our Lord and all he does for us. I do have a testimony of the church. I love the gospel and find it very rewarding to be part of this church. I love the things it teaches my children and how we should not be selfish and always think of others.

After all the Easter hunt and fun we invited my parents over to enjoy a nice ham dinner. I can not explain to you how much these two people mean to me. I love the example they are to me and what a great people they are to everyone around them. I love living near them so my children can feel their influences as often as possible. Love you so very much mom and dad! Thank you for being a part of our lives!

4/22 Tuesday - The day before Easter Treg bought this darling little bunny from a cute lady in American Fork. He loved this little bunny naming her Charlie (because we were not sure if she was a girl or boy) anyway last night he cuddled her for a little before bed then put her in her cage and went to sleep. When I went to wake him up this morning she was cuddled up to Daisy on Daisies bed smothered. Somehow she had gotten out of her cage and Daisy licked her like her puppy and it was to much for this little bunny and she passed away from too much love. Treg was simply heart broken!

He told me what he thinks happened. He thinks "the bunny had a bad dream and tried to sneak down to him during the night for a cuddle. Treg was too asleep to notice so Daisy tried to make her feel better." My heart just broke to watch his heart break. I took him to buy a new bunny and let him stay home with me today but it really didn't make it better. He still misses his Charlie. I am so sorry Treg but I do know Tonia will give Charlie extra loves for us until we meet her again. Bugsy is a cuddler and very sweet but just not as entertaining as Charlie was.

4/23 Wednesday - Oh this DANG thistle! Last year our back pasture had so much thistle in it that we spent many hours with many hands digging it out hoping to get rid of the roots and hauling it away. Well it is coming back and it seems to be upset of our attempts to kill it last year. I spent $100 dollars on some spray and many hours out spraying this thistle hoping to clear our land of this curse!!!!

4/24 Thursday - In the last two weeks I have had the opportunities to enjoy lunches with many of my very dear friends, Denise, Mindy, Christina, Jerianne, Tara, Mindee, Kami, Holly, Angela, & Tonya and these are just the few that I got to see these weeks. I have so many good friends I feel so incredibly blessed to be a part of their lives. I can not tell you what my friends mean to me but I sure hope they can feel my love and appreciation to them. I don't know what I ever did to deserve such great friends but they do make a difference in my life always helping me want to be a better person. Love you ladies!

4/25 Friday - My parents ROCK! I just can't tell you how many times my mom and dad have stepped up to bat and hit homeruns in my book! They are always there for me just willing to help out whenever I am in need. They are leaving for a month on vacation and I just don't know what I will ever do without them... So Sad, thanks dad for trimming my goats hooves that was well over due!

4-27 Sunday - This morning Terry spent his time trying to fix the Ty-rod in our Honda. Of course after hours of working on it he finished the job. I can't tell you what a blessing it has been to our family for him to have this talent and ability to do these jobs. After that yucky job him and I snuck away to do a little fishing at Strawberry. The weather sucked with cold temps and lots of wind so no work was going to get done and we hoped to charge our souls with fresh fish. Well the fishing was no good but we enjoyed our time together as we always do!

March 2014

March 1st - We were sad that we had to head down from the cabin with the Callaways for Matia's basketball play offs but we will do it again soon. Matia did great in her games she played so hard. They took second in the playoffs only loosing to a team that plays competition basketball. Matia has always been a really aggressive player with lots of spunk so she is so fun to watch! Good going Girls!

March 2nd - Today I invited my family over to ride all our horses for a while. You see with Kyle moving I realized we don't have much time to enjoy this hobby of ours together. So we all saddled up and went for a short ride in the arena and then down to Dixies and back. I just can't tell you how happy this makes my heart. Tayla had a sad kind of smile on her face because she knows how much she is going to miss these kinds of memory making moments. We will sure miss their cute family!

March 3rd - So we bought a family pass to the AF Rec Center this is something we didn't do last year because of finances and the time restraints of the ranch. But this year we figured we just had to make the time to make this part of our lives. So we have been trying to take the family up to the rec center twice a week while we have time. Racquetball is a favorite activity of our whole family!

March 4th - Saving Mr. Banks today we all just didn't feel like much other than being together so we took a drive down to the sticky shoe to watch Saving Mr. Banks. It was an ok movie we all felt with a bit of education behind it. I figured every once in a while we need to just do something fun and relaxing and stay up a little past our 9:00 bedtime :)

March 5th - Bowdee's Basketball Playoffs being. So here we go the beginning to the ending of a great season with this team. Bowdee had a great time playing for his football assistant coach. He learned a lot and I am always amazed at how good they all get at the end of the year. I hate to see the season end!

March 7th - Tonight Terry and I went on a date with his brothers and sisters to play cards at Tara's house. It made me realize how much I miss being with family. It is a rare occasion when us siblings get together for some fun that doesn't revolve around the children. So it was a great night to just play cards, chat and have fun together! But before we left Treg had his two best friends over to celebrate his birthday a little early because they both couldn't be here next week. Caden and Bode have been such great friends to Treg. I am so thankful they are still buddies after all these 10 years of friendship.

March 8th - Our dear friends the Garricks were moving to their dream house up Provo Canyon right on the river. We are so happy for them to finally have a place where they are excited to be. So we took our trailer over and helped them load up their rental into the trailer and cars and helped them move a good portion up to the home in the mountains. Afterwards we stayed for pizza and a campfire. It was just good to be with them for such an exciting time of their lives. We love you Garricks!

March 9th - Matia had an interview with the bishop and then her new young women's leader Suzie and Jana the beehive president came over to give her a welcoming gift and chat with her a little bit. Matia is so excited to be going into young womens she can barely stand it. I am so proud of the young lady she has become although still in my mind she is my little girl! Love you cute Matia! This will be her last day in primary... I just can't believe it!

March 10th - Horray for no school! Can I just say I love having my kids home with me. I wish everyday was no school day. I do love having them around they are such WONDERFUL kids. So today Matia and her friend Daisy decided to celebrate Matia's birthday by going to the movies and subway for lunch. I sure love the friend that Daisy has been to Matia all these years. She has been there for her like a real trooper, I love how they never talk behind each others backs or have spats. Love these girls!

March 11th - It is still hard to believe that at 12:55pm 12 years ago today my sweet baby girl came into our family! Matia has always had a strong love for animals especially horses it goes way back to when she was just 1 year old. She loved riding Robbie with Grandpa. When she was little she also LOVED to dance around to everything. She still has the moves but really focuses on her little animal friends. Matia has such a kind gentle heart, but will not allow anyone to be mean to others or herself. And now she is in 6th grade, she loves to read, ride her horse Missy Lou, and play with her no-drama friends. I am so glad you are part of our life Matia you are such a special little lady. Happy Birthday. Daddy and I sure had fun taking you to Pizza Pie Cafe for dinner and shopping afterwards. You said this was your best birthday ever!

March 12th - Today was a busy day. Treg wants a red velvet cheesecake like the cheesecake factory cake so I spent pretty much all day cooking that. Then horse lessons started and Matia had her first young yomens activity, Bowdee had scouts, and the Blackhurst brought over Cache for us to visit. He was the youngest of the nine puppies we had. He is still a cuddler and cute as can be although he dashed out of the house and we had to play tag for 25 minutes until he would finally let us catch him!

March 13th - Today Treg wanted to celebrate his lunch where I check him out of school at lunch for the rest of the day. So I did and we headed up to Terry's work so he could go with us. We all went to Pizza Pie Cafe (Tregs Choice) for lunch then we went to build-a-bear and then shopping! It was just a fun time being with our baby doing the things he wanted to do! Then at 6:00 we loaded up the horses and off to 4H we went. The boys do not love 4H but they love the riding skills they are getting. Matia well she loves any time she can spend with her horse.

March 15th - Once again I am sitting here stunned to think that today at 11:22am just 10 years ago my baby caboose boy was born. He is really growing up quickly. They say it happens fast but you don't believe it until after 10 years has pasted then your looking back wondering where the time went. I have loved every minute of being Tregs mom. It is such a blessing to have his little personality in our family. Treg still loves money, computers, and his dogs!!! I love how particular Treg is and how amazingly smart he is. We all love you so much Treg just keep being that happy boy and loving what you do! Thanks for being part of our family!!!! Bowdee and Matia helped me get creative and decorated this cake for our favorite baby brother!

March 17th - Today there was a nasty wind warning of winds up to 65 mph. So Terry booked it home from work and got up on the paddocks roof to start screwing it down. You see when we built it we only put one layer of screws on the top and one on the bottom. So Terry worked and worked out there like a mad man. He got alot put in and then the wind nearly blew him off the roof so we figured he was finished for now and we prayed that what he had put in was strong enough to hold it down.

It did hold it down but while he was screwing them in I was out there just incase he slipped off and fell I could call 911. Well I was cleaning the junk pile when I smelled an all to familiar smell... MINK! Then he popped his head out at me and kinked it like what ya gunna do now. I have to admit he was a cute little guy but I wouldn't be fooled I know how deceiving they are. So I got the trap and put some cat food in it and in he went. But the trap didn't go off, I had set it wrong so I tried to throw a piece of wood on it to make the trap go off but I missed and the mink ran out and toward me. I all but fell backwards, when I collected myself again. I reset the trap the right way and WHAMMO I caught a mink!

After the mink drama and crazy wind storm, I spent the day in the house getting ready for our St. Patricks Day dinner. We had Corned beef, jello, salad and guacomole chips. I did have horse lessons so Terry helped throw it all together like he is so good at. Love you my cuties!

March 18th - So the beginning of this month I signed up for the Women of Steel Triathlon. But I didn't want to have to borrow a bike again so Terry bought me this sweet Motobecane off the internet and I have been biking with Kami once a week. I just love going with her. We are both pretty close the the same level although I don't trust the car drivers one bit. I still have fun even though there is pain! Hopefully I can be ready by May for the Tri.

March 20th - Another big milestone for Matia tonight was the Jr. High open night for 7th grade registration. Bowdee was so cute he wanted to be there with her to show her around and to help her with her locker. I am so thankful Matia has a big brother to watch over her. We got there and ran into Daisy (her friend). I still can't believe they are going to Jr. High. I remember them walking into kindergarten together the first day hand in hand. CRAZY!

This was also the day our cat had 6 kittens. Only 3 of them made it past the first day and I don't think Gretel the mom produced any milk because by the end of the 2 weeks they had all passed away. It was sad we were super excited about having kittens run around the ranch. We love you Gretel!

March 22nd - Last night Bowdee played a few church basketball games and they did great. So this morning they were headed for a few more games. Terry and I went to watch and it was so much fun to see the boys in the ward play together. Bowdee did great and they played him alot with lots of enthusiasm toward his ball handling skills. I can't tell you enough how much I just love being in this ward.

March 25th - Oh how we love the ranch!!! These are the days that are time stopping. Today Princess Cinderella had her kid goat. She had a baby girl around 9:00am. Which is weird because Matia always goes out and checks on her before school but today she didn't have time. Which if she had she probably would have known she was going to have her and stayed home to watch. I sat with her for hours after waiting to see if she was going to have another. Just spending that time with her made me so giddy!!!! I LOVE BABY GOATS! Matia has choosen to name her Callie and she weighs 6 lbs 10 oz. so stinking cute!

March 28th - Eighty's Day at school... As we were getting ready for school, packing lunches, showering and stuff my kids casually mention its 80's day and they needed to dress up. Oh boy, I kicked it up a gear and started thinking what can we do, what can we do... Well this is what we ended up with last minute...

March 29th - So Terry woke up and decided today was the day we were going to rent the escavator and tear out the old arena fence posts and dig a line for the goat pen. It was a day full of hard work digging out cement chunks, hauling fence away and cleaning up. But it sure looks alot better. Now we just have to figure out how we are going to afford a new arena fence....

February 2014

Feb 1st - Terry and I started the month out on a date to Wendover. It was double the fun because we had double the free money to play with. It has been so long since Terry and I have just been on a date that it was fun even though we didn't come back any richer then we left.

Dolly is now 3 months old and weighing 15lbs. She is just a bundle of energy. Her sweet mom puts up with her all day long tugging at her ears and bouncing on and off of her. We love our sweet Dolly. Isn't her new hair cut darling? Yes, 3 dogs is a lot but most of the time we love it!

Here is Bowdee's latest art project. Yes, he just keeps getting better. He was pretty excited to be invited to 9th grade honors art next year. He loves when he completes a difficult project like this and he does so good. His project was voted class favorite and they had a hard time coming up with something to critic it. Good job Bowdee!

Oh my sweetness! I went to take some baby photos for my dear friend that had a baby recently. This is her baby number 6 so I wanted to make sure she got some before she blinked and baby turns 5 years old just like that! The best part was after I took the photos I got to just hold her. Man, I miss those little ones!

Matia did this science fair project all by herself! I was so proud of her for coming up with the idea and researching all her information. She took 3rd in her school so she is now going on to the district science fair. She found out that the flowers in water died first, then the ones in coke, then the ones with flower food bloomed beautifully and lasted a lot longer!

It's basketball season and all 3 kids are playing. We love to keep our kids involved in all different kinds of sports so they are well rounded, healthy, and know what sportsmanship means. This is Tregs fun team although in our opinion the coaches (refs) let them get away with way to much not helping them learn how to play by the rules... Oh well he had fun and has great ball control!

Feb 13th - we went down town with Kami, Iz, Lakota, and Mom to meet up with Clint and his darling family for the night. Taunya had got us tickets to the BYU Acapella group performance in the Conference center and it was simply amazing! The best part was hugging these two darling nieces of mine! This family is so amazing in all sorts of ways!

Feb 14th - These three kids mean so much to me. I just don't know what I would do without each one of them. Bowdee is such a great big brother always there to help out when needed. Matia is such a sweetie always there to help make the sad happy. Treg is such a comedian he keeps us all laughing!

For Valentines we always get a heart shape pizza and then open gifts. I made the kids 2 years of scrapbooks then the family 2 years of family book as well. It was a lot of work and was quite spendy but the kids love them and I feel it is worth the money!

Feb 16th - We decided to rent a room at the Strawberry Bay Lodge and spend the night ice fishing for presidents day. We ate dinner at the restraint and it was delicious. Then we went to the room and watched the Olympics while waiting for the wind to calm down. After it calmed Terry and I went out and set up the tent and did a little fishing. It was slow but we caught a couple. We finally went back to the room and got some sleep. The kids were up watching the Olympics and participating in the bobsled event as you can see in this photo....

Feb 17th - It started out nicely the kids resting in the room while we were ice fishing... Slow again... Then when things warmed up we cleaned up out of the room and the kids came out sledding. They had been sledding for a while when I told Terry "You know we are going to end up in the ER room right?" just an hour later Bowdee let Matia use his sled... She wasn't used to how it rode and she was leaning one way to far and the sled went of to the side through the weeds. In the weeds was a T-post nobody had seen and she found it with her forhead!

Sure enough we ended up in the ER. It was so bad blood everywhere and cut right down to the skull 2 inches long. She was so brave she cried at the first but then she calmed down and that was it. She was so sweet and positive even though she was scared to death and she didn't want a scar on her forhead. A really nice guy came over and helped Terry pack up the ice fishing stuff and get it to the truck so we could leave as fast as possible.

My sweet baby girl, so tough and so brave. I hated watching her have to go through this but we all knew it had to be done and so we did it the best we could. We were in the ER for 2&1/2 hours before we could leave. They nice man next room to ours came and complimented us on our family. How brave Matia was the whole time he said his grandson would have screamed the whole 2 hours and then they would have had to strap him down. And he mentioned how patient the boys were. I had to agree with all he said. Bowdee kept wishing it was his head split open not his sisters. Such a bad day but it could have been worse and I am so thankful she is going to be ok.

So our new family sport for the year is racquetball. We have been going every week at least once but trying for twice a week. Matia is sad to be missing out on the fun with her head injury we just don't feel it is safe yet. But we do have fun while we are there getting our hearts pumping!

Feb 25th - Matia's Junior High checkup and shots!!! Holy Cow how did my baby girl get so old? I just can't believe how fast the time flys. We went to visit Dr. Sundwall he thought Matia's head was healing up great and gave her the go ahead to start playing bball again. She was so brave to take all 3 shots with out crying. Love this girl like CRAZY! I just can't believe my eyes.

Feb 26th - So sad Winter lessons are over and this sweet family is not taking lessons in the spring. They are so cute and fun to teach! The Knapus family is in my dads ward and are simply amazing people! Hopefully we will see them again in the Summer. Winter lessons were fun although Robbie is having a hard time in his 3rd lesson.

Today the kids decided to take a day off of school and so we went to lunch relaxed and went to Cal-Ranch and IFA to buy some chickies! You always need new chicks in the spring right? We got 3 Arecaunas, and a few different kinds but we are super excited!

Feb 28th - Since Robbie was struggling in the 3rd lesson I kept my eyes open for another lesson horse and this is what we came up with. Her name was Athena and we call her Sweetie. She is a Mustang/Quarter horse mix. She is just as sweet as can be and I think she will do great in lessons. Mom, Dad and Treg took the journey to the Neveda border south of St. George to pick her up for $650 lets hope the kids like her. She looks like all the others so nobody will feel jealous of someone having the pretty horse :)

Feb 28th - We got home from picking up the horse at 5:30 and at 6:00 we left with the Callaways to go spend the night at my mom and dads cabin. By the time we got there and carpooled up to the cabin because of the snow it was getting pretty late. But the kids all jumped in the hot tub and they stayed there for at least 2 hours!

We sure get along great with this darling family. Everyone agreed that this is something we need to do again soon when we have more time to stay and enjoy the view and company! What a great way to end a super fun month!