Happy Anniversary, Babe!

I know, I know this is late. The story of my life the past 7 months or so. Seems like I can barely get the daily things done let alone important things like this! Sorry hon, that this is late by a day but hopefully you know that I love you with every breath that I breathe, every blink of my eye, every minute of every day, every second of every minute, every day of every year that we have spent together, and I love you enough to want to spend ALL of eternity with you. You are the BEST thing that ever happened to me (next to our kids and grandkids!) and I have loved our life together. There have been some tough times during this 31 years of life but I wouldn't change them because they have made us who and what we are. We are being and have been refined by the fires of life!! I love how you bring me flowers unexpectedly, always open my car door, help me take my coat off, give me the first piece of cheesecake, allow me to be served first at dinner, call me during your busy and crazy work day to say hello, take care of me when I don't feel well--that's been A LOT this past 6 months--it doesn't go unnoticed, hon. I love how you listen to me when I'm excited about something with one of the kids or grandkids or some dumb thing with Relief Society--you even pretend that you are interested!! I love how you love our kids even when we would like to strangle them! I love how crazy you are about our grandkids--they are the truly sweet rewards of parenthood! I love how you run errands with me--even when I know you have TONS of other things that you want to get done. I love how picky you are about our home and property (or should I say PROPERTIES)and always want them to reflect good care and near perfection. I love how patriotic you are--you have a definete love for our country and those that sacrifice so much to defend her. I love how you fly an American flag in our yard 365days a year--no matter what! I love how you love the Lord and are always willing to serve and NEVER complain about it or what time a meeting forces you out of a warm bed. I love how diligent you are in doing your Home Teaching--you have never been given EASY families-but I'm sure there's a reason and know that it's because you truly care about others. I love how you go to "chick flicks" with me and never complain about them. I love how tender you are with Bailey even when you think I'm not looking. I love how you love your parents--they're great people and did a great job raising their son. I love how you tinker--most of the time! ;) I love how you never complain about my cooking--especially the last few months when I haven't done much of it! I love going on date night with you each week--it is the highlight of my week! I absolutely adore you, Terry! I don't know what I did in my life that made me lucky enough to have you in it but I am soooooooooo very grateful that you are my partner in life and for eternity. I love you for all these reasons and MANY MANY more, hon! Here's to 31 more wonderful years with you......

Grandpa Dales's Junk

These are a few pictures of some of the old machinery that Grandpa Dale has lying around in Ioka. They are talking about tearing down some of the old buildings and hauling off some of the old equipment in Ioka. Thought I'd start taking a few pictures so we can remember some of the old stuff that he treasures. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, they say.

Bailey Loves Grandpa, Red Stuff, and Her Clubhouse

Bailey LOVES Grandpa A LOT lately. He has been giving her some sweet treats to eat. She takes the treat from Grandpa and hurries and gets into her clubhouse to eat it before anyone can get it from her. What is that sweet treat that Grandpa gives her? You guessed it! It's LICORICE. Notice that Grandpa gives her the RED licorice--it's cuz BLACK is HIS favorite.

My "To Do" List Just Got Shorter!!

Saturday we decided to stay out of the snowy weather and clean our storage room. It was a HUGE mess. We have been just opening the door and tossing things in for quite awhile. We emptied the entire room (minus some food storage boxes and cans) and went through EVERY bin and box. It was a big project to say the least. The basement was tore up for most of the day and we filled BOTH of our outdoor dumpsters with unwanted junk and had a pretty big donation for DI by the end of the day. I labled bins and boxes and buckets so we don't have to guess anymore to it's contents. When we finished, we actually had some EMPTY shelves and bins!! It felt sooooooo good to have that big project D O N E!!! Looks pretty good, huh?

Grandpa was Officially Stuck!

Last Saturday when we were working the calves, Grandpa momentarily forgot that he is an old dude and climbed up on the fence in the corrals. Well, he found himself STUCK and let me tell ya that it took him a little while to figure his way back down! We were giggling at his predictament but he was flat out laughing at himself. It was a pretty funny site to see. What the brain won't accept as the body gets old.......(Notice that no one is coming to his aid! Poor guy. We were so busy laughing that we didn't think to go help him! Grandpa kept us laughing by saying things like we needed to call the power company and have them bring the big truck with the cherry buckets to get him down. He's quite the character!)

Colorado Objects

These are a few of the objects that caught my attention at Cow Camp this year. Maybe it's the new camera. I see things a little differently through a camera lens. There are some really interesting things out there on those 28,000+ acres...

Turkey Bag

I made this bag for my church stuff. I think he turned out pretty cute! It says "have mercy!". It's made from a tea towel. Sooooooo easy.

Why We Go to Colorado Each Fall

Here are a few pictures of the cows--the reason we travel so far (about 7 hours for us in Layton), spend a ton on groceries, spend a ton on gas to get there, spend a ton on propane trying to stay warm in our trailer, eat more food than we usually consume in a two week period of time in a mere 4-5 days, freeze our hineys off, put up with getting up each morning at 5 am, collapsing into bed each night at 11 pm, sit for hours on end in a truck during an almost blinding snow storm, put up with all the mud--in your truck, in your trailer, in your hair, EVERYWHERE!, play endless card games with the family, have absouletely NO privacy for any amount of time, pee on the mountain behind a horse trailer--or possibly IN the horse trailer when people are around, have it sooooo dang cold outside that the water all freezes up and you can't shower for 2-3 days, wear so dang many clothes to stay warm that you have to start 15 minutes before you actually need to pee to get down to bare skin!, eat yummy food, have great conversations with family, enjoy the outdoors, get to see your hunky hubby on a horse with some chaps on, see some REALLY magnificent scenery and feel blessed for where we live, eat dutch oven food, eat TONS of homemade cookies and meals, laugh with your mother-in-law and feel grateful that she is a part of your life, admire your father-in-law for all that he does for each and every person in our big ol' family and to see how cute he is with his wife of 55 plus years, to witness some really beautiful sunsets and if it's not your turn to cook breakfast you get to see the sunrises, have scripture study as an extended family and to do family prayer as a large group, to see how awesome some of your nephews are--love that Dustin!, these are but a few of the reasons we go to Colorado each fall and actually look forward to it all! Looking forward to next October already!

My New Baby

Look what I got! I'm pretty excited. Wish it were red but otherwise, I'm happy!

When You are in Charge of Two Seventy Five Year Olds...

One day at Cow Camp the weather had been bad so Grandpa and Grandma decided that they didn't want to drive so they hopped in my truck and demanded that I drive them up and down the mountainside. BTW, Grandma never did any driving while at Cow Camp--not sure why she thought this day might be different but she was very vocal about not wanting to drive this day. Anyway, we stopped on the mountainside to wait for Terry and Dustin to give them their lunches and this is what two seventy-five year olds start doing while waiting. I really thought I had been put in charge of two six year olds. They kept laughing and telling jokes and stories. They really enjoyed being with each other (IF they weren't asleep that is!) They are pretty cute senior citizens! Maybe I'm just partial to them!

The Job of Chauffer

While at Cow Camp this year, I got the job of chauffering Grandma Rae up and down the mountainside. She is one craaaazzzy lady so there was never a lack of laughter and good times and good conversation. I consider her one of my best friends in life and have to say that I REALLY enjoyed the job. On a side note tho, we would be in the middle of a conversation and she wouldn't respond so I'd look over and her lil ol head would just be bobbin and yep, she'd be sound asleep! Apparently I can be quite boring! The roads were snowpacked and had dropoffs on the sides so my eyes needed to stay on the road. I felt silly at times cuz I'd just be ramblin on about something only to find that Grandma had fallen asleep! Fun times! What a great lady she is even if she shows a small level of disrespect to conversators!

Introducing....

SHOWA! Here are some pics of Showa at Cow Camp this last week. She did great and helped Grandpa cover a lot of ground looking for cows. She didn't mind the snow and the mud. She loves carrots and apples. She doesn't like dogs--oops!--not a good thing in this family of dog lovers!! She liked being in Colorado and likes Utah even better. Today she meets Gunn, Uncle Jared's horse, as she comes back from Colorado to Utah to live in Ioka. She is a VERY tall horse and is very gentle and easy going. She doesn't like to have her neck petted and patted in anyway but otherwise likes her nose scratched. Thanks for the name, B. It's a good one and will serve her well. Welcome to the fam, Showa!

Christmas Dresses

We ordered the girls Christmas dresses tonight. I'm soooo excited to see pictures of all our little divas in these dresses. I absolutely adore these dresses. Maybe cuz they're red and have cute little polka dots all over! Just thought the girls might like to see what they will be styling this holiday season.

Porch Pumpkins

I made these pumpkins with some leftover 4x4s that we had. I thought they would be cute on my porch and cheaper than buying real pumpkins too. Pumpkins here are $5 each this year -- a little too spendy for me when I just toss them out when I put out my Christmas stuff. Anyway, Dad made fun of me cuz they are square and pumpkins aren't square in real life but who cares! I think they're cute and tons cheaper than the real thing. Besides, I can use them again and again and again. Men!! What do they know?!

Look what I made!

I decided to make myself a new bag for church. It turned out pretty cute. What do you think? I want to make one for Thanksgiving with a turkey on it. My ambitions don't always lead to finished projects tho! By the way, this bag is made out of a tea towel! Pretty cheap project as I had less than $4.00 into it! It went together really fast as well since there was very little machine sewing cuz all the edges were pre finished. Gotta love those tea towels!

We have...........

SNOW!! We woke up this morning to snow. Yesterday it was 85 degrees and today it is only 47 with rain and snow showers. I like the cooler weather just thought that we would have a little more time to go from hot to cool. Love the snow on the mountains though. When I first saw it this morning, it really took my breath away. We live in such a beautiful part of the world! Check out the orange foliage against the white snow. I LOVE Utah this time of year!

We have a Winner!!!!

And the winner is.........PAISLEY ANN!!! Her choice for a name was Puffy Pickelicious Bearenstein Salamandar. Congratulations Paisley. Grandma will get your prize in the mail to you. Thanks for all your enteries and name suggestions. They were all good and John had to think long and hard about the winning name. By the way, Puffy Pickleicious now lives at Syracuse Junior High in the Science Class of Doug Sill. They kids are treating him well and he is reported to be VERY happy there! Glad he has a good home and is no longer living in the window well of my office.

More Super Saturday Projects.....

Here are the rest of the projects that we are doing for Super Saturday. If you want any, please let me know as quick as possible so I can get the numbers turned in. Anyway, I think the projects are all pretty cute.

We have a Guest!

Hi guys! This morning while Grandma was working on her computer, she saw this little thing moving around in the window well outside my office. Not sure what it is but Grandpa is going to call a friend that knows about lizards and ask him. Soooooo, in the meantime, I thought we could have a contest to name it! Not sure what the prize is but you give a name suggestion and if it is picked (by Uncle John) Grandma will send you a prize in the mail. Hurry and get your suggestions in as the contest will end Sunday, September 20th at midnight (MST for you Japan peoples!). Anyway, have fun and make a suggestion or two. We don't know if it's a boy or girl either. You can decide by the name. A winner will be posted on this blog by Monday, the 21st by 9 pm (MST). Good luck and happy guessing!