July

July has brought on more family fun! It began with the annual 4th of July breakfast with the Rifle 2nd Ward. I love anytime that I do not have to cook! Good food mixed with great friends is always good times!






After the breakfast we took off for 4-wheelin' fun up on our friends John and Chelsie Shideler ranch. Riding started out great, Brayden learned how to drive his own 4-wheeler for the first time. He did very well for the first time, I might add, until we got to a hill that he was intimidated by. That's okay, it was a great start for him! Brayden jumped into the back of the rhino and went the rest of the way with Miranda and Me. We packed lunches and found a little flat spot to stop and eat! Yummy food! From lunch on it was quite the experience! It started to sprinkle, which is no big deal. It has seemed to rain almost every time we have decided to go out riding! After lunch, Gavin had now decided to ride in the rhino with us. It started to get chilly, so he covered himself with his sweatshirt. Little did he know that shortly after getting in the rhino it would start to downpour and hail, and not just hail little teeny pieces, but about 1/2 inch size balls. Miranda had fallen asleep in her car seat strapped to the passenger seat, the boys helped me quickly put her sweatshirt and Buck's jacket over the top of her. As the hail proceeded to literally pound on us, which I might add really hurts, thunder and lightning all around us, lets just say I became very anxious more than ever to get back to safety. Being in an area that you have no idea which trail to follow and more water and hail than you could imagine, no windshield wipers, and the first time that I decide not to wear my helmet, it was quite the experience. All I could think about was getting my kids back to safety. At this point I had 2 of the three kids screaming, which doesn't help my blood pressure in a very intense situation. Buck decided on this ride to borrow Spencer's dirt bike to drive. Dirt bikes don't do very well in the pouring rain on mud! As we came up on the fields that had just been bailed I hoped that that meant that we were getting close. I then saw the house and the barn and gunned the rhino to go as fast as I possibly could. We all pulled into the shop and waited out the storm safely! Every single one of us were completely drenched down to our bare skin and all we could do was laugh about it! Let's just say that I am really thinking twice about this 4-wheeling thing!

For the 24th our ward held its first camp out in a long time, from what I understand, at Meadow Lake up on the flat tops about an hour away from our house. We went up Thursday with our friends Jon and Sherry, set-up camp, and enjoyed the evening! Friday morning we got up ate breakfast and went for another "trail ride"! This time around it was absolutely beautiful with the sun shining and just wisps of clouds. We had a great ride! By that evening we were surrounded by those in our ward that were able to come, we all sat around a fire and listened as Bro. Evans put on a great fireside telling us stories of the Pioneers and their travels. Saturday morning we woke up to the High Priest Group leadership making us a yummy pancake breakfast!

We have had a great Summer thus far! It is coming to a close rather quickly as school begins on the 17th of August.

Happy Summer everyone!

June

The month of June was quite the adventurous one. Buck worked in Salt Lake for the first two weeks of the month finishing a job that they needed him on. While he worked in Salt Lake we (the kids and I) took advantage of being there with him! After finally getting home we celebrated his 32nd birthday with 4-wheelin' and cake! The next weekend was Father's Day and again Buck was spoiled! So basically we celebrated for two weeks at our house just for the DAD!!! Love ya Daddy!


On June 17th we had our ultrasound to find out what sex our baby would be. I know that I am late at posting this, but, better late than never! We were very excited to "see" that we are having another boy! If you are familiar with ultrasound pictures you will be able to see for yourself that there is no greater shot than this to see what you are having! Yep, definitely a boy!



The kids have been part of the Summer reading program with the Garfield County Library! The theme this year is "Be Creative". The kids have enjoyed going every Wednesday (that we have been able to) to the Library and participating in their Activity days and also watching the performances being put on. I think their favorite so far has been "Science Gone Mad". After watching the Scientist, all of the kids decided that is what they want to be and do. We have been trying out all of the experiments since then! If I had known Science could be so fun, I would have taken more classes in school. The Science classes I took were not near what the show was!

Stay Tuned

I will try to post the events in June and July tomorrow! My bed is calling me! Stay tuned for the excitement!

Wayyyyy Behind!

I am so far behind in my posts I can't even keep up. I will try to update everything of importance that I have missed in the past 3 months. I can't even believe it has been that long! Time flies by so fast!

May 2009

There were field trips, graduation from Pre-school, the last day of school, and of course Memorial Day weekend. Brayden went to the Math and Science Museum in Grand Junction where he got to do hands on experiments. He had a blast! Gavin's field trip was to a sheep farm here in New Castle, just up the road from us a way. They got to see all of the baby lambs, help feed some with a bottle, and hold them. Both Gavin and Miranda got to hold a lamb, very sweet! I might add that baby sheep are very cute! Not so cute as a mama!





After all of the madness of field trips there was graduation from pre-school and the last day of school. Gavin graduated pre-school on the same day that Brayden had his field trip, having to choose between both children is not fun. Brayden was very understanding and was okay that Buck and I went to Gavin's graduation instead of going on his field trip. It was Gavin's turn to have Mom and Dad's complete attention! Gavin's class had a great party and ended with a very cute program for the parents. Mr. Lindenburg the Principal handed out certificates to those graduating and moving on to Kindergarten. The kids thought that was awesome!





The last day of school brought on our first camping/4-wheelin' trip for the year as a family! What an exciting weekend!!! (That is totally an understatement!) We decided to go to Green River, Utah and camp and from there we went to Temple Mountain down by Goblin Valley, and also to Thompson Springs, which is East of Green River about 30 miles. I don't think that Mother Nature is very happy with me. Every time we have decided to go out riding it has rained, but not only rained, down poured! When we showed up to our camp site in Green River, let's just say that it was the most ridiculous camp spot you could ever imagine. We got our money back and searched for a new site (at 10 pm). After calling every hotel/motel/inn/shack/and campgrounds, it was apparent that we were not going to find a spot real easy (who would on Memorial Day weekend!!), meanwhile, we needed to park anywhere that we could so Jon and Sherry could go and save Sherry's daughter and friend Jake bullock who had broken down on the freeway back about 20 miles or so. I don't know who I felt worst for Jake and Chelsea, the kids, or Jon and Sherry, the very nervous parents! Love you guys! It worked out just fine, Jon had a tow strap in his truck and pulled them back to where we had parked back in Green River. The night was just getting started, by now it was about midnight, no place to stay and no bathrooms close by available for use. It made for a great time! We decided to stay in our vehicles for the night and set up camp at a campground the next morning when an opening became available. Can I just tell you that I am soooo grateful for my bed and my home! This is how the bed situation went: Buck, drivers seat; Me, passenger seat with Miranda on my lap after several attempts to have her sleep on the row of seats behind us; Brayden on the seat behind the front seats; and Gavin (with the most comfortable bed in the truck) in a sleeping bag on the stack of "stuff", mostly pillows, sleeping bags, and padding underneath him, up above the back seat where it was a perfect fit just for him. The kids seemed to fall asleep and aside from Brayden falling off of the bench once in the night, they did really well given the circumstances. Buck and I on the other hand, let's just say that we were both in and out of, I wouldn't call it sleeping, resting our eyes; we would glance at each other chuckle, laugh, and say what a great time we were having! It was definitely a NIGHT TO REMEMBER!!! Good times! The camera was buried or I would have pictures to show you our little bunk house! Just try to use your imagination, I'm sure that you will be able to picture it!

We finally found a campsite at the Green River State Park the next morning about 11 am, set-up camp, and found ourselves in our tents while we endured yet another rain storm! Sunday and Monday were different, we got to take warm showers, eat yummy food, play games, enjoy each others company and finally ride! Although while riding around Temple Mountain, Sunday afternoon, we had just finished our little "stroll/trail ride", were eating lunch and a crazy flash flood and hail storm raged into the area. The washes that we were riding in that were completely dry while we were going through them, now had about 3 feet of raging water running through them. I can't believe the weather, it is absolutely crazy and definitely unpredictable. I am so thankful that we were not back in them when the storm came in! After the weather cleared up and we could get through the road that had been washed over we headed back to Green River for an enjoyable evening. Monday, we went to Thompson Springs, about 30 miles East of Green River and road up to the Indian Reservation. It was such a pretty ride, we saw several petroglyphs and beautiful wilderness. Of course, the rain couldn't stay away. We were almost to the top and another storm came in, just not as bad as Sunday's. We endured! From there our fun and eventful weekend came to a close and Buck, the kids, and I were on our way to Utah to work for a couple of weeks.








I could go on and on of the events of that weekend, but that was about the jist of it. We had a great time and it was definitely was a "Memorial Day Weekend"!!!