She DID IT!

Courtney has been going through an intense series of projects to prepare for the Sterling Scholar competition.

This week she found out the winners. There were 4 people going for Sterling Scholar in Agricultural Management and....

COURTNEY TOOK FIRST PLACE!

Yeah for Courtney!

It was a DARK and STORMY night.....

This is how my Dad starts most of his stories but this one he just started with...."Have I told you about the time I lost half my herd of sheep?"

My Dad got up one morning and looked out the window and noticed that half his herd of sheep were missing. So, he went outside and sure enough....half of them were dead! He called animal control:

"Hi, this is Kent. It looks like I lost half my herd of Sheep and I am going to need you to send a truck to take care of it."

"Oh, dear...that's awful. Well, how many trucks do I need to send..four or five? I think I can round up that many, but if I need more then you just let me know and I can try to get some more."

"Oh, no. I think one truck will be fine."

"OH? You only need one truck?

"Yes."

"Well, do you mind me asking how many sheep you lost?"

"I only lost one, but that was half my herd. I only had 2 sheep!"

"That's the funniest thing I have ever heard. I think we can help you out!"

"Yep, one of my sheep fell in the water trough. So, now I only have one!"

The Sun Will Come Out Tommorrow!

Yep, bet your bottom dollar ...blah blah blah. I know that is a really good song but I don't know all the words so I will just say this:

I FOUND THE KEYS!

The sun melted the snow just enough so I could see the clicker on the keys through the snow. Yeah ME!

When something goes from BAD to WORSE!

Have you ever had one of those days where you wish you would have just stayed in bed. Today was one of those days and I just want to go to bed and pretend that today never happened.

The kids woke up early in hopes of not having to go to school. They were watching out the windows and Megan's bus came so she missed school and then Zac's bus came 40 minutes later and he begged to miss school.

As soon as the buses left, Zac, Megan and Austin got their snow clothes on and went out to feed horses and play in the snow. They were having a ball running in the snow with Copper and making snow angels.

Then they decided to let the dogs, Sparky and Bear, out.

Before I continue, I want to add a few things about Sparky the puppy that Austin smuggled into the car and promised to take good care of. One day, Austin was out in the kennel teaching Sparky how to climb the fence. He learned that skill pretty well and also a few other escape artist skills. Sparky is chained up in a chain link fenced area with limited access to just food, shelter and water. Sparky climbs over and under fences and the other day he chewed through the plastic coated cable/chain we had him chained up with. He is a crazy dog but Austin loves him! Sparky brought home one of the neighbors chickens a couple weeks ago and then there was chatter in the neighborhood of the chicken owners that they are having a hard time keeping chickens this year. It wasn't looking good for Sparky.

So, back to my day. I could hear a lot of screaming outside and then Austin came running in the house. "Sparky is in with the lamb" to which I had a hard time registering what that meant and I froze. Courtney's new show lamb we just bought on Saturday? So, I went to the door and all I saw was Zac in the pen trying to catch Sparky who was jumping and chasing the lamb all over the place. Megan and Austin were screaming, Zac was screaming and I took off running to the lamb pen. I pounced Sparky, just like you would see on WWF when they jump off the side of the arena and pounce their opponent. I grabbed the dog and threw him out of the lamb pen and he went flying. I yelled at the kids to catch that dog and put him away then slammed the lamb pen. Megan and Austin could not catch Sparky and he ran to the back door. So, I ran to the back door and grabbed him before he knew what hit and held him until Megan could get her hands on him. At that point I realized that I did not put any shoes on and I was in my PJ's. So I came in the house and hurried and wrapped my red snowy feet in a blanket. They were so cold they hurt. Then Austin came running in and said, "There's a hole in the side!" "What?!?" "There's a hole in the side!" I was still not getting it or comprehending, if there is a hole in the fence,I thought, Zac can fix that. Then Zac was yelling and Megan started yelling so I stuck my head out and Zac repeated, "There's a HOLE in the side of the lamb!" CRAP! I almost took off running outside again but thought a little more clearly and ran to my room to put on socks, shoes and a sweatshirt. Sure enough, Sparky had ripped a hole in the lamb.

The confusion continued and we were able to get the ice off the horse trailer hitch, get hooked up, load the lamb and head to the vet. The vet gave him the once over and asked if we could leave him for surgery. The dog came within an inch of the lambs vitals,punctured the neck and ripped some muscle. The lamb had not bled out very much so they would be able to get him stitched up.

We left the lamb and headed home, back up the hill, and passed a bad accident where it looked like 4 cars had slid on the road and into each other. We felt bad and then we hit black ice, in the truck, with my kids, with the trailer on the back. NOT GOOD! But I kept it under control turning the wheel back and forth to try to keep the truck and trailer moving straight. YIKES! I will be honest...it scared me to death but it was only about a 10 second scare and we headed forward without harm once again.

Later, Courtney and I had to go pick up the lamb, only this time we had to take Sparky down with us to meet his fate. ARGH! How do you tell a 7 year old you had to put his dog to sleep because he was naughty. He will have nightmares everytime he does something bad. I struggled all afternoon for the words I would use to make it clear to Austin what I had done. We got to the vet and doc, who is alot like J.Golden Kimball....he can use more swear words in one sentence than anyone I know..., had this to say, "Oh my hell damn dog what a shit damnit there's nothing you can do with a little shit first sheep then chickens then the damn thing gets himself into a whole hell of a lot of trouble the little shit" Well, my words exactly. It certainly gave me something to laugh at!

I met Austin at home and his first question to me was, "Will Courtney be able to still show her lamb?" Heck, the tears came and I had to let him know. "Yes, buddy she will be able to show her lamb. The lamb has stitches and is going to be okay but we need to talk about Sparky." "Why do we have to talk about Sparky?" "Well, because Sparky got a taste for chickens and sheep he will continue to attack all the sheep that are now in the valley and we couldn't put more sheep at risk. So, I had to take Sparky down to the vet when I picked up the lamb and he is dead now." It broke his little heart! He went to his room and cried!

That was BAD!

Things got WORSE......
when I lost Steve's keys to the truck, the only keys to the truck, in the snow when I was putting the lamb away.

I hope tommorrow is a better day!

Let It SNOW

The kids are all hoping they will declare a snow day and get to stay home from school tomorrow, however, I think the School Bus can make it through 1/2 inch of snow.
Christmas season + Snow = hyperactivity infinity!

Pie for Dinner

It has been 2 months since I finished bottling Apple Pie filling. I absolutely have missed having Apple Pie filling on my shelve to pull out anytime I wanted to make a fresh Apple Pie or have a Dutch Oven cobbler and after all the work was done, I sit them on my shelf to look at. I even left them out on the counter for a week so that everyone could admire and appreciate my work. So, last night I finally broke into the pie filling and made a pie. I can't tell you if it tasted good because everyone was too full from dinner to have pie. Tommorrow....no dinner....just pie!

Babies on the golf course

Austin needed a day off school the other day so we went to lunch with Steve. On the way home we passed Dixie Red Hills Golf Course. There were people out on the course golfing and Austin asked, "Why do people who golf just push their babies around the golf course all day?"

Hidden Treasure

We have been living in Diamond Valley for 12 years. We love to go out looking for deer because this time of year we usually have bucks around the OUTSKIRTS of the valley. Except when RaeJean lived in Diamond Valley, the deer lived in her yard!

This year, my neighbors (who just moved 2 weeks ago)had a big fountain installed in their front yard. It's been real beautiful to listen to and watch through the summer months and then the fall hit and the deer started moving from the outskirts to the inskirts (is that a word?) They have found the MOTHERLOAD! Fresh running water, green grass because they come from the field through 2 lawns of green grass to get to the water. The middle of October there was a sighting in our front yard of a 4 point buck that was on our lawn. Yep, he rubbed on my quakies and ate one almost to the ground.

Last night they finally found their Thanksgiving feast....they found the hay!

Family Pictures!

I know you are thinking, "Oh, that's so cool, they had family pictures" but any of you who have actually tried to gather your family together for family pictures, you will totally understand when I tell you that it was not the bonding moment we were hoping for.


There is so much to get ready for this event.


First the clothes, what can you put on boys and girls that will look good....oh, I give up.....just wear whatever you want!


Next, the hair...


Courtney spent the day trying different styles for her hair and they were all cute HOWEVER, she hated them all and we ended up dyeing her hair. This was when "my" hair salon opens, I get Courtney's hair done and send her to do Megan's hair. Throw Zac in the chair, squirt, squirt, squirt, buzz, buzz, buzz and on to Austin. After I threathen him within a inch of his life, he finally is persuaded by his father that getting a haircut is the best thing he can do right now. WHEW!


Gather the camera stuff, throw kids in the car "LOVINGLY" of course. Everybody is grumpy and now I am going to ask them to smile at a pretend photographer because I have the tripod set up on a timer!



It's not really important what we all look like, only that we capture the moments as we see them.

Party TIME!

And they're off.....8 screaming 11 year olds running around the yard on a scavenger hunt to find the clues and articles of tourist clothing they will need for their next game. Run girls ...run Only to find out that the "treasures" they just retreived are for the next game.... the tourist relay. What you are going to do here is .... take these tourist clothes (tye dye shirt, camera on a string, hawaiian shorts, straw hat, Steve's hiking boots, Courtney's toe socks, tourist bag and lei) put them all on and run through this obstacle course, come back to the start, take all the "treasures" off and the next person has to put them on.....run girls, run....




Through the poles, jump the tire, jump the archery target, grab the stroller, run around the bucket, put the stroller back, jump the tire, figure eight through the poles WHEW! all in 95 degree weather!

Not too bad, until you have to run in Steve's big hiking boots!

Then inside to do a little limbo, play Hot Coconut (alot like hot potatoe but using a coconut...okay it is hot potatoe but a coconut fit the whole Luau theme)

Then they made these cute sun visors and decorated them with stickers, made tissue flowers and candy necklaces! Run girls .....run

See you next year!

If Nan can cook.....So can YOU!

It's a beautiful thing to know that I will have enough Chili Sauce to last until next year and in case you are wondering, and I know you are, all the ingredients came from my impossible soil in St. George except for the red hot peppers and onions.

Steve will not have to steal from his parents every time we visit this next year....at least not Chili Sauce.

Jam on the other hand he will probably continue to "borrow" from his mom. We made Raspberry and Strawberry jam, however, my visiting teacher makes the best homemade bread and it goes great with homemade jam and so we do not have alot of Jam left.

I also have the Nicole factor......starving college student needs homemade jam from Mom's freezer.....

Steve 'borrows' from his Mom.....Nicole 'borrows' from her Mom....it's a trend!

YUMMMMY!

Mini Monkey Bread

Try this fun and easy Mini Monkey Bread recipe out on your family.
It's sure to become a favorite.
Servings: 12

Skills: Beginning

Bake Time(min): 15-20

Prep Time(min): 20 (not including thaw time)
Ingredients:
12 Rhodes™ Dinner rolls, (wheat tastes good too!) thawed but still cold

6 tablespoons butter, melted

2 tablespoons corn syrup

½ cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

Icing:1 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon butter, melted

1-2 tablespoons milk

½ teaspoon vanilla

Instructions:
Cut each dinner roll into 6 equal pieces. In a bowl, combine butter and corn syrup and stir until well mixed. In another bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon and mix well. Dip each roll piece in the butter mixture and then in the sugar mixture. Place 6 pieces in each well sprayed cup of a 12 cup muffin tin. Cover with sprayed plastic wrap and let double in size. Remove wrap and bake at 350°F 15-20 minutes. Cool 3-4 minutes before removing from pan. Combine icing ingredients and mix well. Drizzle over monkey breads if desired.

Happy 11th Birthday!

Turning 11 just doesn't get any better than this.

Starting 6th grade at an Intermediate School with awesome teachers.

Megan announced to all her teachers that it was her birthday and to everyone she talked to.

While getting ready in gym she shouted,

"Today is my birthday!"

Megan has developed a very funny, or should I say "PUNNY" sense of humor.

Megan loves to read, loves animals and loves to ride horses ....but mostly read!

We went to dinner at Red Robin (yum!) and it was delicious, however, I look over at my kids and not one of them have finished their meal so I attempt the big MOM threat...

"That's it I am not going to take you guys out anymore because it is such a waist!"

and Megan's reply,

"How can you take us out....I thought we were all related"

It took us all a minute to get that one but the table erupted with laughter.

Courtney then tells Nicole they should start a Volleyball team but there will only be two of us so it will have to be Beach Volleyball but we'll have to wear bikinni's and then we need someone to play....Zac and Megan could be the other team.

Megan's reply "Okay but Zac is going to look pretty funny in a bikinni!"

Everyone at the Restaurant wished they were at our table.

Senior Pic's

I can't believe that Courtney is going to be a Senior in High School this year.

It really settled when she asked if she could have her Senior Pictures taken while we were at Strawberry.

She wanted to be in a field with all the wild flowers and there were a ton of wild flowers so it was really fun.

As she finished her Junior year I knew she was headed for that last year of school but it never bothered me until I had to take these pictures and had to deal with the fact that she really is going to grow up no matter how many times I tell her not to.

KIDS NEVER LISTEN!

Strawberry Resevoir July 2009

After 10 pictures, one picture where they are all FINALLY looking at me.

Sheesh!

We went camping at Strawberry Resevoir with Jeff and Heather with their kids Brooklyn, Conner and Bryson and Brian and Stephanie and Steve's Dad, Lynn.

It was a great weekend!

Austin, Megan, Courtney, Zac, Nicole and Copper

Nanny McPhee

Have you ever seen the movie Nanny McPhee?

I could never watch it because I could not stand to look at her teeth.

I started calling Austin Nanny McPhee because he had one tooth that was so loose it was hanging down and to the point where it would wiggle back and forth in his mouth when he would laugh, talk, breath, sneeze, cough.

He would not let me pull it out but then I don't really have the stomach for that sort of thing.

I hate the sight of blood, so I was okay with the wiggly tooth as long as Austin was.

Then one night, Austin and Zac decided to have a bit of a wrestling match and Austin took a swing at Zac with all his force but Zac did the old "block the face" and Austin's hand ended up rebounding and back in his own mouth.

They were both laughing so hard when it happened until Austin noticed that his tooth had fallen out.

He started laughing then crying, then laughing then crying and then when Mom wasn't upset.....He started laughing!

(and no my kids don't fight)

Epic shopping exerience!

Well, I decided to hit the Albertson's EPIC shopping sale. I did okay but I guess I could have done better.

However, my big FIND for the day was the Oreo's.

Everybody loves OREO's!

Albertson's has them on sale for $1.88, with an in-store coupon. That is a good price BUT I remembered last week when I went shopping that the Oreo packages that were stacked back by the milk had a coupon on them for $1.00 off milk if you purchase Oreo's.

So I went to the back of the store and got those Oreo's and then bought Milk that was on sale 3 for $5.00. That makes 3 gallons of milk and 3 packages of Oreo's for $7.64. That was a savings of $5.86 just on those items.

I also dedcided I was getting low on Tuna Fish. It is on sale and for every 10 cans that you buy you get $5.00 off. So, I bought 20 cans and got $10.00 off. I bought a few other things including Kellogg's cereal (.67 a box). My final bill was $169.47 but I used $110.76 in coupons....I paid $58.71 and my gas rewards are $30.17 off my next fill

PLUS $4.50 off my next purchase of MILK.

(I will probably get Chocolate Milk!)

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary......

This has been a good year (so far) for our garden.

This St. George soil has been so hard, and I mean HARD to get used to.

Let's just say we have struggled in the Garden Growing department.

Our ground is Hard as a rock but we have finally managed to get something to grow.

Last year, we planted a whole garden of STUFF and a week later it was all dead, so it was early enough in the year to plant again...so we did. ALL OF IT DIED! So, this year when we went to the Nursery, I just said YES to everything that anyone wanted to plant because I figured it would only last a week anyway.

So, we have...6 zucchini plants...YIKES! and they are all growing.

We have some mighty fine Tomatoes growing, which was the whole purpose to the garden in my oppinion, watermelons, cucumbers, peas (kinda), crookneck squash, green peppers and I think we are growing Squash bugs because there are an awful lot of them!

(This is one of my many Watermelons)

I decided I was going to stay on top of the squash bugs this year. So, here is my bug killing kit. Yes, I have been picking them off (fully gloved up) and putting them in a bottle of water. They don't like water or can't swim or I don't really care.

I just know they are off my plants.

We have tried poison in the past and I think in St. George they just eat it and say "Yum, bring some more of that stuff, I will invite some friends over."

One year we tried pouring beer in sawed off pop cans....well, the wind blew and the limbs rubbed back and forth on the can until they were finally cut off.

It got rid of the bugs but only because the plants were dead too! Maybe they just had hang-overs and couldn't find their way home.

Anyway, here are the fruits of my labor! My first real food from these lovely plants.

I could have waited for them to get bigger but I wanted to prove that I had actually grown something!

ITCHY WA WA

This is Copper.

It took awhile for Courtney to settle on a name but she finally settled on Copper, like the hound dog from The Fox and The Hound.

But he's not a hound dog, he is a Chihuahua, and very cute.

Courtney has wanted a little dog since Christmas but we haven't been able to find one for her. So, we finally saw a sign

"Pupies for Sale"

.....nope....I didn't mispell the word, that is what the sign said in the parking lot of Walmart.

She saw Copper and instantly fell in love!

Courtney got Copper for her birthday after she promised to always take care of him and always love him and she won't ask for anything else for her birthday....I gave in.

We took him to the park, which he loves, and there was a little boy about 3 years old that was very intrigued with Copper. He asked if he was an "Itchy Wa Wa" so, now she is the proud owner of an Itchy Wa Wa.

Livestock show RESULTS

I know it has been a month since the Livestock Show and I am really proud of my kids and how well they did this year.

Courtney took 3rd place in Showmanship and 3rd place in Market.

















Zac took 3rd place in Showmanship and 3rd place in Market.




















Megan took 5th place in Showmanship and 5th place in Market.















YEAH, for them. It was a good year with good animals.



















And as always, the dance after the Award's Dinner is the highlight of the livestock show. Old and Young tear up the dance floor from the time it begins to the time it ends at 12:00am (WAY...past my bedtime).

When they do the Cotton Eye Joe......don't stop or you will get RUN OVER....this Wagon Wheel is HUGE and Fast!

This little piggy went to market......

The livestock show is getting closer and the pigs are getting bigger.

This was cleaning up and shaving day.

Zac and Megan loaded their piggy's into the trailer and we took them down to the pig lady's house.

Weighed them, to make sure we were going to make weight for the livestock show....we did....and then they took them into the wash rack and the kids had to scrub them clean.

The pigs loved it and tried to lay down but then......it was time to shear them.

Megan's pig hates to have it's snout snared.

It really lets out a squeal and doesn't quit.

When her pig started squealing, all the other pigs started to squeal....SORRY NEIGHBORS.... but they are probably use to it by now.

Courtney got the opportunity of shaving these two fine pigs and did an awesome job.

This little piggy kept grabbing the clipper cord in her mouth but it kept Courtney on her toes.

Now the hard part....we have to put 15 pounds on them by next week!

7 days to go and counting.....

Tag 3....me again!

Merry Christmas! This picture was in the 5th folder and the 4th picture in. This is Zac and Megan in 1998. Zac was pretending to be Santa Claus and everybody had to take turns sitting on his lap so he could say, "Merry Christmas and what do you want for Christmas little girl?" This is Megan sitting with Zac. He took her everywhere when they were little. He loves having a little sister and Megan loves being with him. Time goes by too fast but the journey has been fun!

2nd Tag...next folder! Tag...I'm it again!

The magic number was 4. I went to the bottom of my photos, picked the last folder and counted 4 pictures from the bottom. HA HA HA....sorry Nicole. This was a picture taken when she was in High School. She's kissing Tim McGraw!

I didn't even get to say.....NOT IT!

Oh, I guess I have "some" photos on this computer! I hope Kari doesn't mind me blogging her. This was a couple that I did engagement pictures for. This picture was one that they used in their invitation. They were a fun couple to photograph!

She said YES!

Courtney took the poster with YES checked and cut out a bunch of check marks and decorated his room with them and a bunch of candy and streamers. The day finally came and they spent the day riding 4 wheelers. She came home and had just enough time to get ready for the Prom.

She looks absolutely beautiful..... Brenden has a camo tux on and looks rather DASHING!
It was fun to see them together and to see how excited they were to be together.

Their chariot awaits.........

and they're off!

Check YES or NO

A couple of days ago, I received a text message from Brenden.

"Hey Nan, I have a question. Courtney's prom is the end of the month and I would like to take her. Would it be okay with you if I asked her?

How cute is that! That was so cool of him to ask. I told him I would love it if he took her.

So, he came over last night to hang out for awhile and then he left. Waited until he thought Courtney was asleep and then went to work plotting the question.

When she left for school she was met with a big surprise.

There were streamers from the house to her car and all over inside her car along with confetti and all kinds of candy.

On the windshield was a poster board that said, "Check Yes or No"

And "Prom" written on the hood in Hershey's Chocolate Kisses and his picture.

Now....she needs a cute way to answer....