August Happenings

We were surprised to find out my brother Amron was coming down for a visit. We had so much fun with them. Addie and Emree were inseparable and they couldn't get enough time to play together. Beynon and Brady had a great time swimming at the pool and jumping on the trampoline. I LOVE cousins. I am glad my kids have the chance to know their cousins and get to play with them. I grew up within 30 miles of ALL 50 or so of my cousins and so I feel it is important for my kids to spend as much time with them as possible. Even though we live far from all of them, we love going to see them every chance we get. So THANKS Amron and Lana for coming down and spending time with us. We had a great time!

Cliff Jumping!

We had a great weekend in Spokane, spent two days at the lake, went to the temple and got a new garbage disposal yay!!! And for all of you who know how scared I am of the water because of my freaky!!! Kuzquaw river experience, I will have you know that I actually jumped off a cliff into the water. and it was about 10 feet high! Crazy I know!!! I couldn't actually believe I did it. When I came up out of the water I almost hyperventilated I was breathing so fast. Aaron and Chas were laughing, they said my face was a look of pure terror. Which was exactly how I felt!! Terrified!!! But I did it!! YAY!! I will post pictures later.

Round 4 of funny things my kids say

I had to write these down:
Emree sitting on the toilet at Vovo's house, Vovo walks in accidentally and then says, "Sorry Emree I will give you some privacy."
Emree, in record time finishes using the bathroom, pulls up her pants and runs to Chas and says very excitedly, "Vovo said she is going to give me some privacy!"
then to Vovo, "Do you have my privacy?"
We were all bent over with laughter, so what did she get? a big pink marshmallow.

We were driving the other day and I said to Chas
"Isn't that illegal on the road?" referring to something another driver was doing
Brady pipes up with, " What? Who's E Legal, where is she. I don't see her. Mom where is she?"
I was laughing so hard I couldn't answer, apparently we now have a new friend on the road.

Riding around...

Dixie took the kids and I for rides on the 4 wheeler, we had fun splashing through puddles and enjoying the evening outside with nothing to do.

Exploring

Brooklyn and I love to go exploring, especially in old buildings. So we went all over at Vovo's house and found some pretty cool things. There were all kinds of old barns and houses and jeeps, so we took a few pictures.

24th of July

Sydney, Anna,me, Trina, Chas, Tyla, Amber, some cousins that we haven't seen since they, or we, left Utah. So good to see them! and of course two of my awesome sister in laws! The theme for the parade in Sanford this year was Book of Mormon, so here is the tree of life with people holding on the iron rod, so cute!

The Brother of Jared and his boat, I can't believe how much work they put into these things, pretty cool!Aubrey, Mandy, Misty, Emree, Ashley

Peggy, Lynn, well I am not even going to try and name everyone here too many kids not facing me!

Cousin Ashlee, Tyla, Cousin Emma, Aunt Cori (which we were so glad we got to see), Emma's friend Kara and Ashlee's little girl Kenzie

Cord, Colby and Casen riding in the parade

If you or anyone you know is from Southern Colorado you know that the 24th of July is the biggest time of the year. The little towns around about triple in size and you get to see relatives you haven't seen for awhile. There are parades, BBQ's and of course the well known foot races. We all raced, well except for Chas and Beckett. Brady ran with his cousin Creed in the three legged race and they did pretty darn good, Brookie did it too and finished right behind the boys. Brooklyn and I made it to the last 4 people in the egg toss, but by then we were so far apart she couldn't even throw it that far. We had a great time and can't wait to do it again.

Cord & Mandy's cabin

Meet Moose my mount for the day. Beckett did not want to get off!

Neither did Brooklyn....
So we just stuck him on another one.

Beckett loves the water. As long as he can throw rocks he is happy! you can see a little bit of Emree pulling back from me cause I was trying to get her to go in, I don't think she even touched the water the whole afternoon.

My brother in law's family have this awesome little cabin down in New Mexico, about 2 hours from where they live. They pasture cows up there and so they stay in this cool cabin. It is a real cabin, no electricity, no phones, notta nothing. It's awesome!! So we went up there Tuesday afternoon and stayed till Wednesday night. The kids had fun swimming in the creek, roasting hot dogs, and sleeping in the tents. On Wednesday Chas kept the kids while Trina and I went with Cord for the day. He had to move some cows, look for some others and doctor a sick bull. I was so excited, a whole day on horse, with no one to take care of. Ahhhhh the peacefulness and solitude. Well we were gone all day thats for sure about six hours into our ride Trina and I were beginning to feel quite sore. We stopped and talked to some other guys who were up there checking their cows and Trina and I overheard this, " Cord you guys are still like 5 hours from the cabin, you better get moving." Trina and I looked at each other and because of course we couldn't cry we laughed! Are you kidding, 5 more hours, we already could hardly walk. Oh my!!! When we asked Cord how long it really was, he said," Well depends on how hard you want to ride."

I have never trotted for so long, on a horse, on purpose before, nor will I do it again! (unless I go with Cord) I thought I was going to die, needless to say I slept well that night! and it ended up being like 4 1/2 hours from the cabin. I would totally do it again though anytime, it was awesome! The country is beautiful, we saw elk, deer, coyote and even a water snake. We ended up riding for 10 hours that day, and Cord even said he was a little sore, so I didn't feel so bad after that. What a great day! Thanks Cord, for letting me tag along, I loved every second of it! The only thing to make it better would be to bring Chas along with me.

Bat Caves

Monday night we hiked to the Bat Caves, they were pretty cool. The bats have taken over some old mines and you can hike up and watch them all fly out at night to eat. It was quite the hike, I don't think strollers had ever made it to the top, but we made it. We were quite sweaty and definitely got our workout, but we did make it. We got to see quite a few come out and enjoyed the beautiful scenery up on top of the mountain. It was a lot more fun coming down the mountain in the dark, we had a blast hiking in the dark. Group shot of the cousins that were there, crazy to think that is only half of the total!

Our little family, at least most of us are looking at the camera.

The hike up...

Jeff and Chas are anxious to get going, that and they waiting for all the rest of us to go to the bathroom.

Hunting, Farmhouse

Pops and Vovo's house, don't ya just love it!! They have done a ton of work to it and it looks great, I could totally live here! It's beautiful!

Emree and Beckett checking out Pops' truck, while Dad is out getting some target practice.

Lovin' life.

Beckett fell asleep with his leg up on the window, I thought it was so funny! Just chillin', this boy is giving me a run for my money!

We had such an awesome trip to Colorado, it was a long drive, but worth it. We left Friday drove to Salt Lake, stayed there then left Saturday and got in about 10:30 or so that night. We went to church with Pops and Vovo on Sunday which was a very cool experience. They go to a small branch half of which speak spanish so everything has to be translated into spanish or english depending on who is speaking, anyway it was very cool. Chas loved it, brought back mission memories! Then we just hung out Sunday and enjoyed visiting. The kids loved all the space to play and Beckett especially loved the cows and enjoyed trying to feed them all day. The kid has no fear and he LOVES animals. It is really fun to watch him. So he is totally on my side for moving onto a farm! YAY! Monday, Chas got some target practice in and even let me shoot a couple. Oh the lazy days of summer, so lovin it!

Jake comes to visit

So my cousin Jake finally decided to take a trip up here. We had a fun time with them, we took them to Indian Rock, of course, and then went 4 wheeling that night. Thanks for coming Jake, sorry it was a little crazy around here, but that is beginning to be the norm!!!

4th Of July

We had a fun 4th up at a cabin with friends, we got to go 4 wheeling, enjoy the beautiful scenery and hang out with each other. It was a great time. The 4th is one of my favorite holidays.

Because I said so...

I am the Mom, I make the rules. I don't have to tell you 3 reasons why you have to take a nap. I don't have to argue with you about why you are grounded. I don't have to defend my position. I don't have to make you another dinner because you don't like what I already made. I do have to tell you how much I love you. I do have to teach you how to be polite and use good manners. I do have to teach you what is right. I do have to read you stories and sing songs to you. I have enough things "TO DO" and doing the afore mentioned things is not on my list! This is not a democracy!
Today I told my kids, "I am the Mom dang it, and I make the rules!" They thought it was hilarious, even Chas laughed......... I didn't! What do I have to do around here!? Good thing I love these little rugrats of mine, or I would have quite this 24-7 job a long time ago, but at the end of the day they are worth it! Little potlickers!

ps (I just had to put potlicker in! I haven't heard that "term of endearment" for a long time, but in Vanderhoof it's a common saying and now it makes me laugh every time I hear it, reminds me of when I was young!)

Baseball and Birthday

I can't hardly believe Brady is 6! He had a great birthday and got lots of books, which is perfect right before summer. He also had sooo much fun playing baseball and I loved watching him play, he is so much like his Dad. Here is the perfect example of how much these two are alike. On sunday Brady kept trying to put his sunday pants over his shorts, Chas of course was at meetings and I kept telling him to take his shorts off, he said, "but Mom then when I get home I can just take my pants off and I will already have my shorts on." I am thinking, since it takes soo long to put shorts on, crazy kid. Anyway I probably told him 4 times to take them off. So we get home from church I tell him to go change and as I am walking past his room I notice hime taking his pants off with his shorts still underneath, I am furious!!!! So I tell him he is grounded from TV and friends for the week. I go into our room and Chas says, "What's the big deal, I always used to do that when I was little." I said, why? His answer, " So when I got home all I had to do was take my pants off and my shorts were already on." Seriously are you kidding me? I just had to laugh, although Brady is still in trouble for not listening, so I guess it really isn't a big deal. but WHO? wears shorts and pants to church in the middle of summer, I guess my boys do.

Independance Day!

We had a great 4th. I love the 4th!! Friday night we had some people over for dessert to celebrate Canada day which is the 1st, that was a lot of fun and the weather ended up being nice so all the kids could play outside, which was extra nice. We had a good time visiting and hanging out. on Saturday we went out to Flowers cabin outside of Elgin for a BBQ and 4 wheeling, we had a ton of fun. The weather was perfect and of course the kids loved the 4 wheelers, I think they are addicted! We spent the whole day up there, came home, bathed and went to bed. It's too bad the city decided to do everything on Sunday here instead of Saturday, but we did get to see the fireworks with the Olson's at our favorite spot. Yesterday Chas had the day off, which was so nice, we had a nice day of just us, cleaned the car (that was quite the job!!!) and then went to some friends for dinner. The kids first soccer games were yesterday, they did really well and it is a lot of fun. I am coaching Brady's team and Chas is helping with Brooklyn's team, it's so fun to watch them.
I've started doing some school work with the kids everyday, they need some structured things to do and it's good for them to be learning, obviously! They both love it and always ask if they can do more. It's nice to have something to keep them busy for a small part of the day.

More Canada

I better hurry up and finish my Canada posts before too long. We have been home for a week now and yesterday the kids were pretending they were driving up to Grandma's again. I am not ready for that drive again so soon, although we will be heading 16 hours in the other direction to see Chas' family next weekend, remind me why the heck we live soooo far away from either of them? Jeesh it's a long way to drive! Anyway the kids loved going to the dairy barn with Ammon they got to bottle feed the little calves and Brady loved breaking up the hay and throwing it to all 70 or so cows. They liked chasing them up to the milking stalls and pushing the button to lock them in. Brooklyn even got to help Ammon get the cows hooked up, it's amazing how much those cows produce. It was pretty cool. Beckett of course couldn't get enough and had to touch all their noses while they were trying to eat. I think Brady is finally get out of his scared of animals phase. YAY!! We went riding over at Aunt Eileen's a couple of times, Brooklyn is getting to be quite the rider. Aunt Maureen took us with her too which was a lot of fun. We got to watch her do some ground work with a 2 year old, I learned a lot, ahhhh someday we will live out of town. After being up there I am putting the pressure on Chas, we need to get out of town, although he is feeling the same way, there is only one small problem, money! A little pricey around these parts, oh well something will work out. We had a nice picnic at the park on Saturday night, that was fun too hang out and visit for awhile. We had such a great time. Thanks Mom and Dad, and Tyanna and Ammon for making our trip so wonderful! We love you and miss you tons!!!

Sunday

Today we had the task of getting Brady's stitches out. Holy cow!!! Why are my kids are more afraid that its going to hurt than it actually hurting? I was about ready to knock him out so we could skip all the crying and yelling and drama! Drive me crazy! Anyway after about an hour of working on it we finally got them all out, and it looks great. There is a fire about 30 km's SW of town so the sky is full of smoke. We came out of church with ash on our cars and an eerie red sun. Looks like it is raining now so that is a blessing. It's always so nice to go to church here and see everyone, sacrament was very loud, I forget how quiet ours usually is. After church we had a family dinner at Aunt Maureen's house, it is so beautiful up there. Most of the family came which was nice, a lot of people there thats for sure.
Not sure what the plan for the day is, I put the kids to bed early last night (9:00) and they all threw a huge fit, but they are still sleeping and its almost 8, they were sooo tired! Anyway thats it for now!

Day 2,3,4

Thursday was another beautiful day. We went down to Riverside Park and had a picnic and let the kids play at the park for awhile, Beckett loved all the sand and they had fun playing on the swings and stuff. That afternoon we mowed the lawn some, (it takes a LONG time like 5 hours long time) so we didn't get it all done. We had another softball game that night which was fun. I do miss playing softball!
Yesterday was a GREAT day. Dad and Ammon had the day off so we went off to our favorite fishing lake, Rum Cache and had a ton of fun fishing. We got to drive over Kenny Dam, which was sooo cool to the kids and also got to see Cheslatta Falls on the way back home. The kids hooked tons of fish, but we got only one into the boat. I had a real big one and as I was reeling it in, 3 major things happened. Beckett tried to jump out of the boat so I grabbed him between my knees, I kept reeling in the big sucker, my pole was bent almost in half, then the reel broke off the pole, so here I am Beckett stuck between my knees, reel off the pole and I am still trying to bring it in. I got it all the way to the boat and was about to lift it in, when he decided he had teased me long enough, jerked hard and swam away!! AAARRRGGGHHH! We got to see a cow moose and her calf walking up the bank from getting a drink, that was cool, havven't seen one of those for awhile, and of course wild animals are always great for the kids. The boat motor decided it had had enough for one day, so we spent the remainder of the day casting from the shore, and we actually caught quite a few that way. The kids loved casting all day long and we could hardly get them away from it. What a fun day!! On the way home we drove past the first block I ever logged, crazy that was like 12 years ago, the new trees are already so tall, 146 on the Holy Cross road. Those are the days when I was a working woman. I am grateful Dad let me work with him so I could pay for school, crazy as it was! We were so tired although the kids always say, "but mom the sun is still up, why do we have to go to bed?" Daylight is really throwing us off. Last night we went to bed at 10:30, 10:50 I could still read my watch in bed. I woke up and 3:30 and it was already starting to get light, CRAZY! I really miss these days!!

Today we went 4 wheeling up to Homestead Lake, Janae and Brooklyn got swamped, with water up to their seat, so funny! I do not miss all the BUGS though! The kids think they have died and gone to heaven with all the fun stuff to do up here, Brady loves going everywhere with Grandpa and got to drive the tractor home (about 10 miles) the other day. WE got the slip and slide out and they had fun playing in the water, and we all got a little too much sun, good thing Mom has some aloe vera lotion. We got a babysitter for the kids and went out for Chinese food at 9:00, who goes out for dinner at 9? Hey the suns is still shining why not? Another good day.
(ps. I can't get pictures to upload from here, so I will have to post them when I get home. Shucks!)

Day 1

Well all of these posts will probably be short, cause I don't have a lot of time on the computer, but I thought i would write a little everyday so I can remember what we did. Yesterday we went to Tyanna's for breakfast, then went and looked at all the cows on the dairy, went to the milking barn and saw all that cool stuff, if you think your couple of animals smell, that ain't nothing!!! The kids were plugging their noses and complaining of the smell. Then we hiked down to the river and let the kids play in it for a bit, Beckett about got himself drowned, the kid has no fear and the one second I was helping Emree decided to take a walk out in the river, good thing he's short so he didn't get far, but still was face down, enough to give me a scare anyway and to soak himself. We came back to Mom's and put Beckett to sleep for his nap. Brooklyn went with Grandpa to Prince George and Brady, Emree and I went to visit Kaelen (my cousin) and Rochelle. The kids had fun playing in the backyard and especially love that we can ride the 4 wheeler everywhere. We came back and got everyone else and went to Aunt Eileen's to play on the playground, came back again and then rode our bikes the couple miles to Aunt Renetta's to say hi. Came home, made dinner and then went to play softball for Gulbransons team. Was a fun day, we were so tired and fell asleep fast. At 10 pm the sun hadn't even set yet, just getting dusk. It is really throwing Beckett off, then it starts to get light at about 4, CRAZY!! But there is nothing like summer up here!! So beautiful!!! Monday is the longest day of the year, I told the kids we will try and stay up until it gets dark, not sure if I want to pull an all nighter though!!! Anyway thats our day. On the schedule for today: visit Aunt Maureen, Ruby, another softball game and maybe put the pool and slip and slide up. I am feeling bad for all those back at home, Chas said that he had to start a fire last night after working outside all evening, it is soooo nice here!!! Lovin' the summer weather!