Mud Puddle

One of our risers that feeds our pivot broke and flooded part of our new arena and of coarse they boys found it. Sid and I were busy putting panels up for the arena and thought it was great that the boys were occupied......that was until I saw them up close. They were soooo muddy! But they had fun! While the boys were so occupied with the mud puddle Sid was tightening some wire on one of the panels and pulled back too hard and hit himself in the mouth with the pliers and chipped his tooth. I thought it was pretty funny, but Sid did not. After the boys got done playing in the mud puddle we sent them in house to take a shower (you should see my shower....but that is a whole nother story) and next thing we know here comes our naked Jace with marshmallows on wooden skewers. What to do with that boy?

Fun On The Fourth

Our 4th was layed back, quiet and relaxing......just what we needed. On the 4th Sid came home early and we had a fun dinner with Dallas and Margaret at their house. Then we all came home and took a nap. We woke up and did chores and then did some fireworks at our house and then went up on our dirt bike track and watched the Richfield fireworks (they were lame this year) and came in the house and went to bed. Saturday Sid and I left the kids and went shopping in Twin and went out to lunch, came home took yet another nap, woke up rode the horses, watched the UFC fight and went to bed. It was a good day.

Date Night

Last night I got to go on a date with my husband. I love when he calls and asks me on a date. I know for a fact the last thing he probably wanted to do was drive to Twin after working all day, but he is so sweet to remember me and my "needs". We went with Craig and Natalie (it was actually their idea to go out) and went to Outback and Cold Stone. We had such a good time, we laughed ALL night. I think I really needed that. Anyway, I highly recommend a good date night to everyone that reads this.

Jace (aka Jack Jack)

So we have all seen the movie The Incredibles....well there is a bonus little cartoon called, Jack Jack Attack and our cousins have decided that is totally what Jace acts like so that is his new nickname. Jace was over at Deanna and Alex's house and Alex told Jace that it was not ok to pick on the dog with 100 stitches that just got hit by a truck (how mean I know) and he went running into the house and told Deanna "that Dad outside is MEAN!" Jace can make a super cool "mean face" and he even growls now when he does it. He really makes me proud. If you tell him that if he can't listen you are going to spank his bum his reply is "oh no you can" instead of "oh no you can't." I think by the time we are done with him we will be on a first name basis with the ER.

Baseball

Baseball is over and I have really mixed emotions about it. I am glad because I am so busy and will enjoy having Tuesday and Thursday nights to ride my horses, but I really really liked baseball. We lost 2 games and won 5, so I was really proud of my team. I had 2 girls on my team that those last couple of games improved sooooo much, it was really fun to see. I think next year that I will loose all but 3 of my players, so I will miss them. But the good news is, is that Breck will get to play on my team next year and I will finally get to watch him play.

Swimming Lessons

We had our last day of swim lessons today. It has been a fun two weeks, but I am glad that it is over. Tanner passed level 4 with flying colors. He and his cousin, Olivia, were in major competition (I have no idea where he gets that from) with one another and they really pushed each another to really improve. Tanner is really amazing to watch his front crawl and his breast stroke, I think he could easily beat me. Breck passed level 3, even though he thought he was going to drown when he had to tread water for 30 "whole" seconds. And Con passed level 1 even though he swam for about 10 minutes everyday this week. His teacher said that he could touch and he wasn't scared so he got to pass......whatever works I guess.

Goats

On Saturday we went and bought 2 new goats. We couldn't go to the junior rodeo so why not go by some goats right.......right! So we now are the owners of 2 fabulous new goats. One is Benny and one is Goliath. We bought them for the boys to practice their goat tying on, and Breck is getting really good.

Boat Race

For cub scouts we decided that it would be a super fun idea to have a boat race. And in this planning why in the world would you want to use and average irrigation ditch when you can use the canal......right. So all the scouts made boats and painted them for the boat race, we packed lunches and headed to the canal. We had the boat race and 100% of the boats flipped over (I don't think they intended the $1 boats from Michael's to be put in a canal). Then came the exciting part of getting the boats out of the canal. So I am thinking I am so smart and take a huge fishing net to "fish" the boats out of the water, well the fishing net was not 30' long so there is like no way that I am going to get some of the boats out of the water. So my oldest son decides to jump in the canal, after all the scouts had PROMISED me that they would not get wet, just to save a cheap boat. We ended up loosing some boats, which caused some tears and some boats were mangled and it was a crazy day. So I am relaying this story to a member of of bishopric who nicely informs me that we have a special ditch in the back of the church that was made special for scouts and boat races.........so for our 2nd annual boat race we will be having it at the church and I will not be bringing a fishing net.

Baseball

This is our last week of baseball and I must admit I am sad. My team has done so good this year, I am really proud of them. This week we have 2 home games so that will be a good way to end out the season. Breck has done awesome in t-ball. He hit 3 home runs last week, I wish that I got to watch him play more. Tanner is a great athlete and I will miss him next year when he moves up to softball.

Preston Junior Rodeo

We left Friday night to go to the junior rodeo in Preston, and in 6 hours we made it to Burley and back. We got out past Dietrich and blew a tire, so we "limped" back into town and changed the tire. We then made it to Burley and stopped to fuel up and could hear the air hissing out of another tire and it was almost completely flat. We did not have another spare so we decided to have dinner and come home. I am not sure why we were not supposed to go to Preston but obviously we were not so we just came home. The flat tire ended up blowing as well and we got to drive about 30 mph all the way home. My kids were pretty bummed but they have another rodeo in Buhl on Monday night so we will try it again. I was just really glad that Sid was with me this time, and nothing really bad happened. So this is the first Saturday that we have been home in a long time and we were able to get a ton of work done, so it all worked out.

Swimming Lessons

We have started swimming lessons again this year. Conor is able to touch in the 3 feet section of the pool so he gets to be in level 1 with no floaties this year....yeah! Breck is in level 3 again and doing great. At the end of the lessons the kids get to jump off the board and Breck spends most of his time perfecting his flips off the diving board. Tanner is in level 4 again, level 5 is pretty hard and not as much fun, so we decided to try level 4 again. I can't hardly wait until next year when all 4 of my kids can be in swim lessons, that is almost as cool as all 4 kids in school.........well maybe not.

'I don't tare"

I know that the "terrible two's" got it's name for a reason. But I have seriously decided that my 2 year old makes other 2 year olds look like saints. Jace is truly a piece of work. He will not ever tell you that he "loves you too" unless he wants something (like ice cream). So last night I told him that I loved him and he looked right at me and said "I don't tare". I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. If he is this naughty at 2 we don't stand a chance at 16.

Tanner's "Blistard"

Tan went on vacation with my family to St. George Utah and got a horrible sunburn. My mom swears that she put spf 50 sunscreen on him twice, but he still got burned. You could not touch his shoulders for about a week. When he had been home for a couple of days I decided that we needed to change his bandages and get some antibiotic cream on them. When we took off the bandages we found this blister, or "blistard" as Conor would call them. It was truly the size of a golf ball. I have never seen anything like it.


FYI.....I read the directions (who would ever think of that) and it says that sunscreen needs to be reapplied every 80 minutes.

Update on Sid's Finger

Sid goes into the doctor Monday morning to have it x-rayed again to see if that chunk of bone is moving. If it has not moved he does not have to have surgery and if it has he will have to have it pinned. So I am hoping that the dang thing is holding still. I guess we will see.

Junior Rodeo

Well, I survived our first junior rodeo. We (myself, Tan, Breck, Con and Kyla) left Friday night and drove to Grace (about 3 hrs 15 min) and stayed the night in the horse trailer. The rodeo started at 8:00 and I wanted to make sure we would be there and be ready. The older 2 boys did barrels first, Breck got a no time because he broke the pattern and Tan ended up 9th out of 48 kids. I was really proud of him and Chex considering it was both on theirs first rodeo ever and Chex has just learned the barrels. Then Con rode his sheep, he said it was lots of fun and is excited to do it again, which is a much better experience than the last time he rode. Tan then rode his calf and did great. We then did goats. Con's age group just pulled the ribbon off the goats tail and ran back and he was so cute! And the older 2 boys tied their goat. Tan ran out of time. Tying a real goat vs the dummy is totally different, so needless to say this week we are buying a goat. Breck got a time and I was pretty impressed for this being his first time. So, they do all the goat events in the middle of the arena and I have Con going on one side and the other 2 boys on the other side, I am trying to video and hold Roxy and by the time it was over I had lost Kyla. My only excuse is I am not used to looking for kids in pink windbreakers. I found her within 5 minutes, but I felt really bad. Poles were last and Tan got a no time and Breck got 4th (yeah) and Con went up one side of the poles and back down the other. He was really sad! He rides great, he just isn't strong enough to make those horses listen. The day was a great learning experience for us all and we are going to practice hard for the next one which is in Preston in 2 weeks.

Our first baseball game

We had our first game on Thursday. We were supposed to play on Tuesday but the game had to be canceled because of the rain. My team did sooooo good, I was really proud of them all. I have a couple of kids that need work (mostly just with paying attention) but all in all everyone did great! Tanner had one hit that was amazing, he nailed it clear in the outfield and got a home run. Every time he would hit the other coach would tell him his team to back up, I love it! I have no idea how he can hit the ball so well considering he wont wear his glasses, but he does great! We are not supposed to keep score, but in my opinion what is the point of playing a game if you aren't gonna win.......right? But, we creamed them! And no, I am not super competitive.

Sids Finger

My threats must have worked......Sid did go to the doctor today and his finger is broken. It is not broken like a "typical break" (nothing in our medical drama can ever be normal) when you noramlly look at an x-ray there is a horizontal break in the bone, his has a chunk of bone broken off the side (I demonstrated this at McDonald's using a french fry for my kids today). We are waiting to hear back from the bone doctor about doing surgery to fix it and the best way to cast it. So, no roping for Sid for at least 4 weeks. I don't know how his is going to survive the depression:)

ANNOUNCEMENT

I have an important announcement to make........this is the last year that I am going to have a Birthday. I appreciate everyones calls, Mijken taking me out to lunch and Deanna's super great cookies (that I am not sharing) and all the cards. Next year we are just going to have to pick a day to do nice things for me but it wont be my birthday. I am going to stay 29 F O R E V E R!!!!! Ya all can get old....but not me I have decided that I want no part of it!

Utah USTRC....yuck

We weekend was not so much fun. I guess you "win some and loose some". It started off by one of our really good friends got his hand caught in his dally and had to be taken to the hospital. It was still attached (team ropers are notorious for getting their fingers, mostly thumbs, caught when they rope and get cut off....sounds fun huh). It ended up just being broken (in half) and is going to be ok.....in about 4 weeks. Then Sid did the same thing, just different finger. So his finger is 4 times the size of the others. I he has instruction (from me) to go get it x-rayed tomorrow. Then Sid roped with 9 different partners and he missed 1 and all the rest missed......major bummer. And Jace was a holy terror ALL weekend. But the highlights of the weekend are......Conor won another buckle, Breck got second and won a rope and we got Tanner home. Oh yeah.....and I didn't leave Jace in Salt Lake....always a plus!

Junior Rodeo

I have yet to decide if this is a good or bad thing but....I signed my 3 oldest kids up for the Idaho Junior Rodeo Association. They get to run barrels, poles, goat tie (Conor will just pull the ribbon off the goats tail) and mutton busting. The first one is in Grace on June 7th, so we have been trying to get practiced. Tanner is in Colorado and wont have much time to practice, Breck rides every day and Conor (that's another story) when he doesn't want to listen he tells me that he is "only 4". The other rodeo's are in Preston, Rigby, Challis and American Falls. I just hope that we have fun and the boys can learn something. I will keep you all posted on how they do and hopefully will have some pictures up.

Foxy Roxy

We took Roxy with us to Rexburg this weekend and everyone loved her, she has quite the "fan club" now. There were some kids there that played with her all day....she was one tired puppy when it was all over with. But I think she will make a good rodeo dog!

Grass

This grass is making me so insane! No pictures of my beautiful yard.........yet.

Baseball

It is that time of year again......time to look frantically around the house for the baseball things. Breck is playing t-ball again (this will be his last year) and Tanner is playing coach pitch (coached by yours truly) and this will also be his last year. They are both doing great! We still have issues with Breck convincing him that cowboy boots and baseball is not a great idea. It should be a fun year!

Jace

I have pics of the older 3 boys and thought I would add some of Jace......who could forget Jace? Jace's favorite thing to say is "my do it" and that means you had better step back and let him take charge.

Nampa USTRC

We just got home from the USTRC roping in Nampa (for some of you that do not know the roping lingo, here is a little lesson.....the USTRC is the United States Team Roping Championships). The boys all participated in the dummy roping on Saturday morning. Conor won his age group (5 and under) and Breck won his age group (6-7). They both got new buckles! We were so proud of them. I tell you what though watching your kids compete is a million times more nerve racking than competing your self or watching your spouse compete. Tanner got 4th and we were really proud of him as well. I told Sid after the boys roped that watching them both win buckles was so much fun we could just load up and go home. He decided that was a great idea but wanted his shot as well. Well Sid ended up getting second and third and won 2 buckles. I am a super nice wife and allow him to wear one to work and kept the pretty one for myself.........aren't I thoughtful! It was a great weekend we got to meet some new great people and my family and horses all put together in one weekend, it doesn't get any better than that.