Our Teichert Tale

Plenty Busy

2012-02-08T13:50:00.000-08:00

My 3 year old is turning into a slug. Not only is he slimy and sticky, he likes to lay around all day. He is shunning jeans and only wants to wear sweatpants. The same ones for three days straight. The only noises he makes are "Dora", "Diego", "Backyardigans". Those are marching orders meant for me to turn on his show. I've let this go on for a few days because it's cloudy and chilly, until I realized he sounds a lot like a depressed overweight girl. Sweatpants, TV, couch, tubs of frosting, all the signs. (except the frosting, I'm not that bad of a mom.) So today after putting sister on the school bus, I dressed the boys and we followed Dad down to the corrals. Seth is knee deep in baby calves again, and nothing can wake a boy up faster than poking a stick at some cow patties. (plus other grosser stuff)
The boys are loving life since Uncle Wes moved up to the Flats to help with calving. He comes over every day for lunch and keeps those monkeys entertained. I feel like one of those old cookies in cow camp firing up the stove everyday to feed the crew. Two guys aren't exactly a crew, but I haven't cooked this many consecutive meals ever. Because it's not like "here's a sandwich and chips". I feel bad for Wes being on his own and want him to have something substantial to eat every day. In the past Seth has had to live with me thinking "well, I've made him oatmeal for breakfast, he can fend for himself at lunch." Or "maybe he's not too hungry today." Or "maybe he's fasting ". Maybe that's why I don't blog or read blogs anymore, I'm too busy cooking and cleaning up the messes I make.

These pictures aren't of today, because Rylee is present in her skirt and leggings (so appropriate for corrals). This is typical of how things work, Dax and Rylee trying to help dad...

...while Peyton tries to do something crazy/naughty/messy.

Seth is only at home for one to two hour intervals, then he's off to the barn again. I do my part, though. When he leaves at 4 in the morning I roll over to his side of the bed so it'll be warm we when he gets back. That's pure thoughtfulness. 90 calves down, 300 to go!

Muffins (of the studly variety)

2012-01-18T19:06:00.000-08:00

One would think that living where I do, a very rural area, that my friends and company would be sort of limited. I have two fantastic things going for me. One, that my kids are stinking adorable. Seriously. And two, that between Seth and I we have13 siblings who really like their stinking adorable niece and nephews. Dax has a soul mate in one aunt (she predicted his birthday and time of birth) who has a great talent. Never did I dream, 9 years ago, when I met this 11 year old girl with mismatched socks that she would turn out to be such a photographer. She is amazing! Tayler always comes to visit around my kids birthdays for photo shoots, so I just wanted to show off a little for her.

Are you in love yet? Have you called your 1 to 3 year old daughters over to the computer so they can be smitten too? The dimples and eyelashes and chubby cheeks- wow, that's all I can say. My two boys are so different from each other, Peyton is pretty reckless while Dax is more deliberate. Peyton sticks close and Dax likes more independence. But they both like to wrestle and be macho, and destructive could be their last name. Pretty much, they're boys, just really really cute ones.

Shoes

2012-01-16T09:04:00.000-08:00

Something pretty amazing happened to me yesterday. Peyton is finally growing big enough to fit into some of Dax's cute little shoes, including a pair of horsie moccasins. He tried them on in September but they were still way too big, so I thought I put them back in storage. Except I didn't, Peyton wore them trick or treating, which I completely forget. He found one of the little shoes last week and has been wearing it around the house looking for the other one. So I started looking for the other one, too, going through boxes and looking under beds. That shoe was a no show! Tired of searching I said a little prayer for some help in finding the other one, and that's when the miracle happened. It really is a miracle to me that Heavenly Father actually cares about something so trivial. At the end of church yesterday a lady came to me and said, "I know this is going to sound crazy, but are you missing a slipper with a horse on it?" I kind of freaked out saying over and over "are you serious? for reals?" She had found it on her yard at halloween and put it aside until 2 days ago when it popped into her mind that the shoe belonged to Dax, she'd seen him wear it 2 years before. That is so amazing to me! Peyton was pretty stoked, he loves his horsie shoes.

I decided to organize the boy's little shoe spot, and I realized the boys are really not hurting in the shoe department. Except when it comes to moccasins, because now the other one's location is a mystery. Really? I think this time I'll start with a prayer before I start looking.

On a roll I moved into Rylee's closet, where she has maybe a few too many shoes too. Um, in my defense, I bought most of them on sale. And her feet have stopped growing for a while so the old ones are still fitting.

And in my own defense the majority of these shoes were given to me. My mom, sisters, friends, they all know I have a thing about shoes and will wear almost anything. Some are pretty interesting, but I make them work and love love love them. I do love shoes. The more impractical the better.

And finally, Seth's side of the closet. (by the way, our closet is usually not this tidy) His boots make his collection the most expensive in our house. In fact, all of my, Dax's, Peyton's, and Ry's shoes don't cost as much as his. That's what happens when every pair of boots you own are $400 and up. That's why he's totally fine with any new purchase by me, because he knows I can never match him.

Unchanging

2012-01-10T13:08:00.000-08:00

I am a very vivid dreamer. I dream crazy things and then remember them, thrilling Seth with my story.

"And then I was in this room, which was like my old high school, but not, because it didn't have lockers, but I knew that's what it was, because my Mr. McFarland was there, but he had a beard..."

Ok, interesting as that is, my dreams cause me to experience deja vu sometimes, where I know I've seen it or been there, only to remember that it was only a dream. Does this make me a visionary? Probably not, because it usually happens when I go to buy ice cream or something. But last night I took a picture, and when I did I thought to myself "I have taken this picture before." So I searched through my old folders and found out I'm not so wacky as I seem. I have taken this picture before, or at least one very similar.

Dec 2008

Jan 2012

Oh, I love it I love it! Dax woke up last night from a bad dream, which he's been doing a lot lately. And if my dreams are odd, then his are weird, because he cries and tells me he was fat and big. Or just sobs that he's a naughty boy. Last night he couldn't even talk about it, so Seth grabbed him and they fell asleep watching reruns of American Choppers. They are buddies, through and through. Seth isn't only my best friend, but our kids best friend too.

Proof: Dax and Seth have BFF boots. After Seth made his pair, he set a little leather aside for Dax. 3 years later Dax won't even put on any other pair of shoes, because he likes to match his dad. Seth promised to make each child their very own first pair of boots that is theirs to keep and not be a hand-me-down. Peyton won't be left out, because his dad just finished a pair of brown and yellow ones for himself that would look darling in mini size. In 2 years he'll have a pair of BFF boots too. It's great having a husband who's such a good boot maker. And daddy.

Break's Over

2012-01-03T19:57:00.000-08:00

The alarm went off at 6:30 this morning, which can only mean one thing: Christmas break is done with. 12 days of sleeping in, eating whenever and whatever we want, and lots of playing. I loved the lack of structure to my life. Not like anything productive was ever done, but there was tons of memorable fun things that happened. We started out going to temple square in Salt Lake to see the Christmas lights. In all the years of living only 4 hours (or less) away neither Seth or I have ever been to see those beautiful lights. Although the best part of the trip for my amigos was swimming in the hotel's tiny pool.

The next weekend was Christmas eve with my family. This is one of the first times that long trip across the desert wasn't icy and slick. I'd just like to give global warming a big high 5, I'm loving the weather! In case you've never noticed my mentioning this before, I love spending time with my sisters more. We even got to skype with my missionary bro in Australia. Technology. Wow.

Then just last weekend we headed to Sun Valley to hit the slopes, but due to rainy and warmer than usual conditions we went bowling and swimming instead. The amigos liked that better anyways. I was dreading Monday because school was starting up again and my free reign of nothingness would be over.

Until I realized we had another day to do as we pleased. Luckily the ladies at church filled me in on the schedule. I was happier than Rylee about it. We took advantage of some more of this fantastic weather and went to the reservoir just up the road. Slowly more and more fishing shacks show up on the frozen water until there is a little village. The ice is more than 20 inches thick and the whole reservoir is frozen. Since it didn't snow while it froze the surface is smooth and black, and it looks like someone spilled glitter under the ice. It was amazing, but slick. Rylee fell down quite a few times (the boys were safe in a sled) and hurt her little bum, so we came home to some hot chocolate.

Christmas morning!

This holiday season has been such a relaxing family time for us. Back to the real world, back to the grind, but with some great memories to keep us happy.

O Tannenbaum!

2011-12-13T14:07:00.000-08:00

There are some advantages to living out here, in the middle of nowhere. Besides mowing my lawn in my bathing suit, taking out thetrash in my underwear, and telling Dax to "just go outside" when he has to go (his aim is... not so straight). We get our own Christmas trees. We load up in one of our many diesel pickups and drive down the road to pick out a tree. I think I am the only member of my family that doesn't have a plastic tree. Not like there's anything wrong with plastic, only that it doesn't make a mess and when it's time to be put away you can just pack it in a box and not let it sit in your backyard for a few months. Who wants that kind of convenience? A real tree has the advantage of smelling good and I always have sentimental feelings about the ones we cut down, as scrawny and flopsy as they are. Although I have seen people that dig up their trees, and keep them watered and in a bucket in their living rooms. Those people don't live in a place where the ground is frozen 6 feet deep in December.

I'm digging this tree even more than last years. We drove down the snowy forest roads, not getting stuck once, although Rylee kept thinking we were. She's kind of wimpy that way. Driving towards Sun Valley we took a little road off to the left, which took us to Christmas tree heaven. Rylee gets to pick her own tree, and she was even more discerning than me, looking at each possible tree with a critical eye.

"That one is not full enough."

"It needs to be even."

"Nice, but too little." She says this to a 20 foot tree.

What a surprise when we get our trees home, where it almost touches the ceiling.

"It looks a lot taller in the house than in the forest."

Just what we kept telling ya, kid, but oh no, you have to figure it out for yourself. Kind of like everything else that we tell you.

So far no presents underneath this tree, and there probably won't be any until Christmas eve. Sparkly beautifully wrapped presents are too attractive for the boys, and isn't it better to keep them out of temptations path? I think so. Plus I don't want to re-wrap.

PS Notice the little nativity dolls under the tree? Rylee got them from Grammy T who promises they looked better in the magazine than in real life. In real life Mary and Joseph bear a striking resemblance to terrorists, and baby Jesus' hair leaves a lot to be desired. But they are great props in teaching the Christmas story, and my kids don't seem to mind their craaazy eyes.

Three!

2011-12-07T20:23:00.001-08:00

Shot through the heart.

Sorry if a dead deer with a tiny rack isn't really your thing, (it's not really mine) but his tough guy face here is something I want to remember. "Yeah, I killed this deer, with my bare hands." Dax is such a stud! If I were three years old I would totally want to be his girlfriend. Except he doesn't really like girls, just horses and trucks and tractors and deer jerky. I like everything about him, except the fact that he's growing so fast. Stop! Be little and sweet, not tall and killer.

A little premature candle blowing.

His birthday was a fun one, with presents and playing, grandparents and more presents, and cake and ice cream. Because I must have blocked out all of the years of my brother's Lego obsession, I thought it was such a good idea to get him a Toy Story Lego train. It looked awesome, and it was, after the 200 pages of instructions on how to put every car and engine together. About 15 minutes into getting it assembled Dax was smashing them off the table, running them into the wall, stomping on them, just normal 3 year old play. After putting them back together so often I memorized the instructions, they are now back in the box and stored away. He likes all the little Lego characters the best anyways. We don't call him Dax the Destroyer for nothing.

I miss him being my baby, there is something deep about this December son of mine. Here's a little trip down memory lane.

New

One

Two

Through the Desert

2011-11-25T18:14:00.000-08:00

It's been a wild week since Thanksgiving, but the holidays are always like that, building up and getting crazier until January hits, then we can settle into our winter. We traveled to a little town called Osgood for our Thanksgiving dinner this year. No over the river and through the woods, more like driving 2 hours past sagebrush and the INL. We made it to Seth's brother's new house, and it is beautiful and cozy. Have any of you ever been to Osgood? No? Well, I've only been there a handful of times in my life, although they have been memorable. The very first job I ever had was in that town, sorting potatoes during spud harvest. It was so cold and miserable, and as soon as my two weeks were up I blew all the money I made. It wasn't much but I did have a sweet Columbia coat to show for it. I was 15 years old. 8 months later I went to Osgood again with some friends. I had been asked on a date and we were going to some party out there, but never made it. Teenagers are not so bright when it comes to thinking out consequences to our actions. We were driving along those empty dark country roads, running stop signs and speeding in the rain. One road ended in a T-intersection, and we didn't see it ended until too late. My date slammed on the brakes, but we still hit a railroad embankment at about 75 mph. He died instantly, my friend next to me was in the hospital for the rest of the summer, and I was in a wheelchair for a month. There were some boys in the backseat who were taken to the hospital and released the next day. Whenever I think about this little spot where my extended family now lives, I think hard about my accident. It was life changing, and not a day goes by that I don't think about and miss my friend.

Like most families, we rotate holidays with in-laws, and 2 years ago was the last one we had with the Teichert's. This picture is so incomplete, we took it to send to the 3 sibling who couldn't make it. But what makes it special is it is the last family picture with Tessa. When we got together again this year there was a space where she should have been, and I felt it. Not a day goes by where I don't think about and miss her too.

This is Rylee's kindergarten teacher, Mr. Gordon. Oh my, was he a good teacher for that girl. He was fun, making learning fun and easy for her to get. His patience seemed endless, he always was good humored. That's just the thing a bunch of 5 year old's need. He passed away this past week after fighting cancer for one and 1/2 years. He's 27. His loss is a hard one for our community, just because he is every one's friend. His influence will not soon be forgotten.

When my friend died in the car accident 12 years ago, it hit me so hard I could not get over it. He was the first person that was close to me to die, and I didn't know how to feel or act or what to do. Time heals hurts, it has for me, and it has also taught me a lot about the Atonement. So when Tessa died I was able to understand a lot better, and in truth, it didn't take long to come to peace with it. Rylee is learning that lesson at such a young age, losing people close to her. I have a thankful heart to our Father in heaven, that he can take such trials and give us good things in return. Part of living is dying, and we don't get to choose when or who. We can choose to trust our Heavenly Father, we can choose to thank him for even letting us be a part of that special person's life, we can choose to believe that there's more for us after this life. That's something I can give thanks for this year while entering the season of celebrating Christ's birth.

Part 2- Hell's Kitchen

2011-11-21T19:27:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of things I love about this new house. It's warm and cozy, it not only smells clean but is clean, and there's lots of room for us to spread out. One of my most favorite things is the beautiful kitchen I have to work in. It's so wonderful, there's space and drawers and room to do whatever I want. But I'm maybe a little possessive of this this place. I have a hard time even letting Seth make popcorn in the microwave. Blast-O-Butter is leaky, and I don't like seeing yellow "butter" on the inside of my shiny clean microwave/convection oven. So I have had to turn the other way as Seth has taken over my counter space to grind up 30 pounds of meat. That sweet daddy dear he got this year has now, finally, been turned into jerky. 30 lbs is a lot of stinky meat. That good husband was sensitive to my needs, and set up the dehydrator in the garage so I didn't have to keep smelling it. Rylee and Dax, especially Dax, liked helping out. He was excellent at turning on the meat grinder, and even more excellent at making funny faces.

For the first time my cabinets aren't made from plywood with a wood grain sticker glued on it. They're maple and so pretty. There is enough cabinet room that they are not all full. You can come over, randomly open a door, and find nothing behind it. That makes for a nice change of pace. Things aren't jammed into the cupboards to fall out when opened. Cooking's a wonder and baking a pleasure.

Anyone ever looked through house plans? It was a chore to find a house that had a mud room and a pantry. Maybe it's because people don't need a mud room for their dirty husband to come into anymore, because there are less dirty jobs. I don't know. And maybe no one needs a pantry to keep their food. When it's shopping time my list is long and expensive and the groceries have to last at least 2 weeks. This pantry with it's sliding door has plenty of room for our goodies.

See? Plenty of room. Most of our food storage is still in the barn at our old house, so it doesn't take up any room in my pantry.

Of everything in this kitchen that makes me happy, the sink is the cherry on top. Has anyone ever had such strong loving feelings towards a sink? I think not. No one's feelings could match mine. It is like a giant washtub. While canning this summer the obligatory jar of pears broke in the canning pot. The pot fit in my sink! I could clean it as easy as a cereal bowl. My family hears me go into raptures daily about this lovely sink. 22 qt crock pot? Fits with room to spare. The extra long and wide cookie sheet? It sits on the bottom of the sink to soak. In fact, I could (and should) throw Peyton in and clean that snot off his face. I think my excess of feeling comes from the seriously teeny sink in our last house. It was too small to lay a plate down in. Like most mommas, I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. And I'm liking it more than ever.

House bound

2011-11-14T08:08:00.000-08:00

This poor little boy has been sick, sick, sick. Sore throat, fever, no appetite. I think it's breaking today, he actually ate some cereal and stepped off that couch. He's lived there for 3 days. Netflix instant streaming has never been so appreciated. We've watched more dinosaur and monkey movies than my brain can handle. He will sleep half the day away and then have weird sickly nightmares at night. It's so awful when a baby is sick. Especially when we want to take a trip to San Francisco this week. I'm pretty sure a 13 hour long car ride is not recommended for anyone with 3 kids, and most surely not for sick kids.

Some other shows we've been watching in our TV marathon are "Cake Boss" and "Toddlers and Tiaras". Rylee has two new aspirations in life, to win a giant trophy from a pageant and to be a baker. Since she's allergic to mascara I think she has more of a future in cake decorating. She has made 3 batches of cookies and one cake all by herself. The only help she needs is taking it in and out of the oven. I could get used to having a baker in the family. Hopefully she'll be a better cake decorator than I am.

And just to throw this in, while I was gone from the world of blogging, my baby turned one! One thing I can almost guarantee is a Halloween themed birthday for him every year. That's what happens when you're born a week before Halloween. Peyton is a snuggly and huggy boy, and loves to lay his head on my chest. He is a big tease and will tickle his sister and wrestle his dad. These three keep me busy and crazy.

El Casa Costa Plenty- Part 1

2011-11-04T12:27:00.001-07:00

This is one of my favorite rooms in the house. Even though it has no carpet and is mostly messy, I love it. Upstairs and out of the way, I finally have a place to put the 3 amigo's toys. They can watch their kid movies up here and play and make messes, and generally not be underfoot all the time.

I also love the upstairs room because it keeps the bedrooms clean. No toys allowed. Except for that gun on the bed, it's a toy. We usually don't keep pistols on top of the bed. They are a strictly under the pillow kind of thing. (joking) I plan to add a barn wood chair rail going around the room burned with brands. It'll be awesome! If I ever get around to it.

I love this picture hanging in the boy's room. Seth bought it for me for Christmas 6 years ago, and it's a perfect representation of Dax and Peyton. You know what words Peyton can say? Mamma, Dada, and Moo. He also says "what's this" while pointing at cows.

Rylee has wanted a pink room since she learned what the color pink was. I told her we'd paint her walls a light pink that would go well with all her things.

But her favorite part is the cherry soda pink wall. This room is just perfect for her, girly and fun. Ry's favorite thing in the world are those dang annoying disney princesses. My one concession to decorating with them is her pillowcase. But she got a present of some pretty princess cards, which I don't find annoying at all. I have a friend making some frames and we'll hang them on the wall, giving her what she wants and what I want. Princesses and not ugly.

I'll post more pictures of our new house, which we're loving. It's already got the lived in feel, since Dax has colored and scratched the walls, and our carpet has had its share of bodily fluids wiped up off of. It's nice having our own place that I can paint and decorate and put time into. As I get everything arranged and moved in and organized there will be more posts.

One Dark Night

2011-10-31T20:09:00.001-07:00

My happy little trick-or-treaters. We are home, they are in bed, and I am eating their candy. Unless I can get in their bags the same night all the good stuff gets eaten and I'm stuck with root beer barrels and dum dum's. We drove into town to do our looting, and as usual, made out like bandits. Once Peyton figured out what he was doing he ran up to the door faster than anyone else. He has his mamma's sweet tooth.

Dax wanted to be something scary, and since I had an extra white sheet hanging around he became a spooky ghost. That's an easy costume, and he liked trying to scare people. Peyton ended up being a horse because it was warmer than a skeleton. And warmth was definitely something we needed. The wind blew right through us and rattled our bones.

Rylee was as predictable as ever and wanted to be a princess. I switched things up by making her an indian princess. The first few houses people called her Pocahontas, which I corrected by telling them Pocahontas was too scantily clad to trick or treat in Idaho. After that she had her jacket on and no one knew what she was.

Poor Seth is still sick, so he missed out on Rylee and Dax getting freaked out by monsters and Peyton pulling out fistfuls of candy. This is the first time he's missed trick or treating since Rylee was 2 and those dang heifers got out. Nonetheless, it was a pretty good time. Happy Halloween!

We're back...

2011-10-30T19:21:00.000-07:00

For the past 4 years I have been a pretty constant blogger. I never went two weeks without posting. But things have gotten steadily busier and the choices I make each day have changed from "which shoes should I wear today" to "oh my, I wonder if I should change out of my pajamas". I haven't blogged since before we moved. And that was my reason: I was moving. Packing, cleaning, and then no phone or internet, and then trying to help the boys adjust their schedules. Homework and school and an awful 2 week long sickness that's hit everyone in our house. When I do have extra time there are so many other good things that I want to and need to do that I just let computer time slide off my plate. But I've missed it. I like checking up on my friends, and I like writing about what we've been up to. So I made a decision today while carving pumpkins and making spooky cookies. Rylee and Dax were being so funny and trying to cut out faces by themselves and I thought "this would be funny to blog about". So just wait until tomorrow for the best Halloween post I've ever done. Because it's on a weekday and my babies will be in bed by 8 so I'll have all night to type. And catch up on everybody else.

Cruisin'

2011-08-29T08:26:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I wonder how I kept myself entertained before we had our kids. The faces they make, the moves they can pull off, the things they say, kids are better than tv. Peyton keeps me on my toes and watching him more than I ever had to with brother and sister. He is a wild one. He took his first steps on August 13, a week before he turned 10 months. He hadn't really mastered the standing up thing because he could never hold still long enough to just stand there. That Saturday morning I stood him up next to my bed and walked away. Peyton followed right after me, making it 3 steps before tipping over. I wasn't expecting that! The bottom video is of him trying to walk that first day.

He's mastered the skill now, making everyone in Sunday School quietly laugh as he walked around and around the room. He's quick too, making it up to the table to pull off the tablecloth faster than I could grab him. He's made great strides *snicker* since he started walking, and is a speedy little guy. I hope you enjoy Dax in both vidoes, wearing his sissies easter hat in one and laughing maniacally in the other.

The end of our freedom

2011-08-22T07:27:00.000-07:00

I have to say thank you thank you thank you to my brother in law Wes. He's recently returned from his mission to Georgia and working on the ranch with Seth. And he loves logging. Seriously. We went to Stanley, Idaho for one last hurrah before school, and threw in some logging with our camping. Since there weren't enough of us to make a real dent, it wasn't real logging, more like chainsawing. Our new house is thisclose to being done, and we are going to need a fence around it to keep those pesky cows away. Hence our camping/chainsawing trip. Seth, Wes, and sister Tayler knocked down nearly 100 lodge pole pine trees. I knocked down 5, and it took me forever. My forearms still ache from holding the chainsaw. Good thing I had my kids to keep me occupied elsewhere.

We did some exploring while the others were working and found the Cape Horn Lakes. They are beautiful and refreshing after a hot day of hard work. Rylee and Dax ran right in even though the water was kind of dubious looking.

There were actual lily pads growing in the lakes. I have never seen a lily pad before, and I didn't expect to see them in some mountain lakes in the coldest place in the lower 48.

There is a scout camp up there that had put out a dock into one of the lakes. Perfect for sitting and soaking. Rylee and Dax just pulled up the lily pads and pretended to fish. There weren't any other people there, which is just the way I like it. And since I really didn't do much of the work, it was the most relaxed I've been in a long time. The beauty and isolation and quiet of that place spoke to my soul. It's hard to put into words how the beautiful things God has made makes me feel.

The Sawtooth mountains.

Rylee is absolutely one of the most beautiful things God has made. She is off this morning to her first day of first grade. She wasn't nervous or scared, only very excited. She didn't stop talking all morning long, only taking a break to spoon yogurt in her mouth. There are a lot of things I am hoping for. That she has fun, and likes her teacher, and feels comfortable in a new class, and can get along with everyone. And I hope she will miss me, just a little. Because already, gone only 2 hours, we miss her.

Family Time

2011-08-09T19:41:00.000-07:00

I am such a lucky girl with all these fabulous sisters. A few of them requested I stop being so lazy and please post something on my blog. If I wasn't so busy doing so many things with them maybe I could take the time to sit at the computer. Summertime has become awesometime. We have been able to spend a lot of time with both the Teichert and the Ricks sides of our families. I am kind of a bossy boss and make everybody pose for pictures, with less than stellar results. Like, who on earth decided to give my sisters bunny ears?

These are all the girl cousins on my side of the family. Everyone just looks so...nice. I think it has to do with their coordinating outfits. Plus their ability to follow instructions on how to sit next to each other.

The girls picture turned out a lot better than the boys. Really, this was the best one I could get.

Then it's time for a whole family picture. Except everyone there had to be in the picture. Everyone except the 10 year old neighbor boy, who assured me he knew exactly how to use a camera and was a great shot.

We did end up getting one picture where everyone was in it. I love all the bare chests, towels, and otter pops. Actually I really do love them, it is a very accurate picture of my family. We're scattered and unorganized, but we always manage to have fun and do what we want at Grandma's house. Two brothers are missing in the photo, one serving a mission in Australia, the other not getting the picture taking memo, so add them in and my never small family of 10 is now a staggering 26. Even though Seth comes from a big family himself, he gets a little overwhelmed when we all get together. I just like watching all the cousins get to know each other again, and staying up late talking, and always lots of laughing. No one thinks I'm as funny as my family does. I'll see all these Ricks's next year, and hopefully get some better pictures.

Eight is Great

2011-07-12T20:10:00.000-07:00

Between shopping for semi trailers , going on a real live date, and meeting a missionary at the airport, my week has been full. Full and happy and exciting, except for the semi trailer thing. That's just not as thrilling as it sounds. Especially driving the semi without air conditioning or cruise control two hours across the desert to pick up the trailer we shopped for. Actually, I didn't even ride in it, so I can't complain. Plus that has nothing to do with my post.

What I really wanted to talk about was my date. A date! Without any little kidlets pulling on me or demanding to be fed kind of date. It was a special occasion though, my eight years of wonderful marriage anniversary with Seth. He drove me through the mountains to Sun Valley for dinner. The drive is literally through the mountains, on a sheer drop off type of dirt road. It was so green and beautiful with waterfalls coming out of every canyon. An avalanche had wiped out the road sometime this spring, but they just built the road around it and we drove past a huge pile of snow.

Tuesday was Sun Valley's farmers market, which was interestingly full of things like organic raspberries at $30/ carton. I don't believe they tasted that good. After walking around Ketchum for a while we wandered into the Pioneer Saloon. Dinner was amazingly good, and terribly filling. Enough so that I didn't even want to buy any chocolate at the candy store. It was such a good night, so happy am I.

I realized when we got dressed to go out that our outfits were remarkably similar to what we wore for our engagement photos. Seth's shirt was the same. He wasn't a fan of posing for pictures then, just like he hates it now. We got some good ones, let me tell you. He is always telling me how much we've aged. Speak for yourself mister. If it weren't for those 3 amigos running around I could still pretend I was 20. Maybe I don't look it, but I feel it. And I still feel so much in love with that cowboy I married.

Even when he makes faces like this. I am looking forward to the next couple of eternities with him.

I can't stop partying

2011-07-06T21:04:00.001-07:00

For me, having kids makes things that are fun turn into things that are FUN!!!! I don't just have a good time, I get to watch my kids do things that make their lives so awesome. Seth's cousin piled his 4 kids in the van and made about a 5 hour long trip just to visit. We had to make it worth the drive, so I planned FUN!!! things to do. First stop, the swinging tree. Rylee had to show the three girls just how it was done, until she was done in by hitting the tree.

That afternoon we headed to the park in town for a little fishing. The town sets up a big pool and dumps rainbow trout in. Dax caught a rubber ducky and they gave him a goldfish to take home.

After many many minutes of trying, and a lot of help from the guy with the net, (who happens to be our bishop and her "boyfriend's" dad) Rylee caught her real live fish. Her cousins, while thrilled, wouldn't touch it until it was safely wrapped up.

Even then it was still icky.

The fireworks were pretty much not so great, but we impressed all the little kids. Instead of spitting and sparkling, our sparklers just burned. The few mortars we set off were pretty fun though.

Since our baby boys were not interested in letting us sleep, we got up pretty early again the next morning. We loaded up in the truck and headed up the mountain for a picnic. The first picnic ground we stopped at wasn't so desirable, the mosquito's were pretty intense there. Plus there was a truck there emptying the outhouse. "Yesterday's meals on wheels" was the slogan painted on the side of the tank. That's not really something I want to think about, (or smell) so we drove on to star hope. After gobbling up our picnic, Rylee losing her shoe in some mud, and pumping their own water, home we went. I was pretty sleepy by then, and really tried to sleep, but Seth's super muscular shoulder was just too hard to lean against. At least that's what he tells me.

The cousins were super excited to ride horses, and Seth took them down to the barn so they could be cowgirls. I stayed home with the babies and let them crawl on me while I dozed off. Everyone wound down watching movies and talking. For all the little girls in the house there were surprisingly few fights and tears. Rylee loves her new found cousins, Beanie, Bunny, Speller, and Blue Boy. (a mix of their real nicknames and ones Ry bestowed upon them) Dax cried when they left, after only 3 days we have made some good friends. We ate homemade ice cream and steak, hiked and rode 4 wheelers, and between all of us have probably 7000 mosquito bites. After all that playing I'm just ready for a nap.

Call him Daximus

2011-06-26T20:40:00.000-07:00

This little guy has been cracking me up a lot lately. Dax is just full of all sorts of mischief. Oh, but his name is not Dax anymore, since watching Tangled he is now known as Daximus. Daximus has a beautiful singing voice, but an even better growling monster voice. He turns simple phrases such as, "Mommmmy, me need more waffle (bagel), pleeease!" into a Cookie Monster skit, complete with the stuffing it wildly into his mouth with crumbs flying. He has a very theatrical scripture reading voice, alternating falsetto with the blue monster. Even acting like that he is such a lady killer. All the girls fall for him, but I have to confess I have the biggest crush on this stud muffin.

He's fearless, which gets him into some pretty tight spots, but he hasn't been injured so badly that a "woodybuzz" band aide can't fix it. He's seen enough dead calves/dogs/random animals dead that he has to die himself a few times a day. "Me died", he tells me as he wraps up in the floor rug. He can laugh pretty hard from a tickled belly even as a dead kid.

It really should have come as no surprise when we found this little treasure in his nose. He has a pretty gross thumb sucking nose picking thing going on (which if anyone has any ideas how to cure, I am all ears), so it was no big deal seeing blood running out his nose. But when he told me it hurt, and he had a rock up there, I kind of freaked. Internally, so I didn't give him the freakies too. I calmly pointed a flashlight up his nostril, saw the nasty rock, and handed Seth a pair of tweezers. Dax was very all about getting that sucker out, and didn't move a muscle. I have a sinking suspicion that this is only one of many "mishaps" that will make me want to gag, run, and pretend I'm not the responsible one here. Let's just add that to the list of "Joys of Raising Boys".

Swinging Tree

2011-06-22T08:58:00.000-07:00

When it comes to blogging, lately I've been such a lazy bogus. Between house building, babies being sick in the behind, gardening, t-ball, and time outside, my computer activities have been left out. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. We've been having a lot of fun.

One of my towns claim to fame is called the swinging tree. People come from all over to swing around the tree. It might not sound all that fun, but it really really is. My little sister came to visit, and in an effort to entertain her, we followed Seth's little sister up the mountain to the swinging tree.

Rylee takes a little swing, with loving family to throw and catch her. Otherwise she'd smack into the tree.

My sister-in-law Tayler takes a huge swing, looking like she's flying over the valley. She's about 30 feet off the ground and travelling pretty fast. There's pine sap on the handle, and I've never seen anyone fly off. Yet.

New House

2011-06-09T06:53:00.000-07:00

On Monday our house looked like this.

On Wednesday it looked like this. It has taken us about 3 years to do this whole house building thing. Permits and fees and lot splits and house plans and financing, all that was just about enough to make me throw in the towel. I don't actually want to build a house, preferring instead just to buy one. But since the only house for sale anywhere near us is also comes with a 4 million dollar ranch, we are building. Now that we've started it is coming along so fast, and I am actually excited.

This is the view out of my kitchen window (including the Fummins, I'm sure). They are called the three sisters. It's impossible to live in this valley and have a bad view. In not too many more months I'll be standing at my new sink, scrubbing old pots. I am even excited about that.

Driving Around

2011-05-31T07:09:00.000-07:00

Every time I need to do some shopping I load up my kids and take a drive. A two hour long drive. My 3 amigos are pretty good travelers. Yesterday we decided to take a drive just for fun, which we rarely do. Mainly because everywhere we go, even into church, is a lot of time in the car for kids, and diesel is $4.40/ gallon. But Seth wanted to see some new country, and we just needed out of our valley. We took a loop that goes around our mountains and let us see what they look like from the other side.

We'd heard about a warm little pond that was full of tropical fish. Turns out they love dried up hamburger buns, which we tossed out into the pond. It was so windy it was hard to see them under the water. All we saw were flashes of bright orange, red, and blue, although I'm pretty sure a catfish came to the surface once. Rylee kept pretending she could see them in the stream that ran out of the pond, but it was just a rock :)

As cold as this year has been, of course the snow hadn't melted yet. I caught Seth throwing a snowball at Rylee. It was a good thing a snowplow had gone through.

There was a lot of snow.

When we made it to the other side of the pass we found a little spot to target practice. This was Rylee's first time shooting a gun. She used my little Jiminy Cricket gun. It weighs 2.5 lbs, and I got this .22 on my 22nd birthday on January 22. After one shot she decided she'd try it again when she was 22.

It started snowing while we were there, but it wasn't very cold. Snow, wind, and rain, that's Memorial Day for you.

On our way home we stopped by the graveyard to visit Rylee's Auntie Tess. It's been a little over a year since she passed away and we miss her a lot. Rylee likes to visit, and she runs around the graveyard finding blown away flowers which she puts on Tessa's grave. (notice the fabric pointsettas?)

My parents would often load up all their kids in our econo-size van and take us for long drives. My favorite destination was Driggs, where we would visit my Grandpa's grave. Remembering our family and loved ones has become even more important to me after working as a florist. People would come in year after year, buying arrangements to put on their husband's/parent's/children's graves. They don't want to stop showing how much they love them, even if they are gone. This tradition doesn't seem to be passing down to younger generations, where Memorial Day is just for camping, or shopping, or picnics. Let's not forget to show our love and respect too.

Class of 2023

2011-05-25T07:15:00.000-07:00

Getting ready for her big night.

It's finally over. Nine months of waking up at 6:30 in the morning. Making a lunch. Watching out the window for the bus. Rylee officially graduated kindergarten. I've never been to a graduation other than college or high school, but this was not too bad. Only 30 minutes long, they sang songs, the teacher told some funny stories, and we had some root beer floats. That is so my kind of party.

Our poor tiny school district has problems, like most do, with funding and teachers and classes. But not the kindergarteners. It was Rylee's teachers first year, and he was just excellent. There's no way she could have had a better teacher. Rylee reads like a champ, can do simple math, and most importantly loves to learn now. Kindergarten in my day was singing, colors, shapes, snacks, and nap time. It's a lot to expect from 5 and 6 years olds to read and write, but Rylee caught on and is doing great.

I'm pretty excited school is over, if only for 3 months. She is too, although she'll miss talking to her friends. (this is her boyfriend, whoo whoo) She won't miss bossy bus drivers (why do they all seem to be that way?), dress codes (she can wear flip flops again), and math.

My (un)cowardly lion

2011-05-14T14:14:00.000-07:00

We are all full of smiles around here lately. Just like everywhere else nearby, it seems like spring/summer is finally here. It's warm, it's sunny, and it's great to get my cooped up kids outside. Cooped up me is spending a lot of time outside as well, with a slightly sunburned face to prove it. I really don't mind, I love it! Dax likes to play with his trucks and horses and cows in the yard, and Rylee has finally learned to ride her bike minus training wheels. It's so cute watching her wobble and tilt and not fall over. She's kind of a chicken, so this is a huge accomplishment for her. She has conquered another fear of her's this past week. About 3 years ago I was leading her around on a horse, and the saddle (that I put on) somehow loosened (because I'm bad at tightening things) and tipped her off a horse. She landed in the grass and wasn't a bit hurt, but she has been hysterically terrified of horses ever since. I force her to ride, but she's always hunched over the saddle horn and has to be led everywhere. Out of nowhere she asked to go riding a few days ago. We put the halter on the horse and I led her around some meadows and she was just thrilled about it.

When she found out her dad was moving all the cows to the BLM today, she wanted to saddle up and ride along. By herself. She held the reins. She weaved, she whoa'd. It was pretty impressive seeing that tiny girl on her big horse, pushing 300 head of cows down the lane.

Doesn't she look like she knows what she's doing?

Thanks for keeping her safe, Rainbow.

The only problem with Rylee riding was Dax was super duper jealous. He had to go with his mamma, pulling the horse trailer and closing gates along the way. Ry was nice and let him take a ride. She said the thing she liked the most was turning her horse and being so high off the ground. The thing she liked least was wearing those itchy wranglers. The thing I liked the most was her confronting her fear and finding out that it wasn't all that scary. She had so much fun! What I like least is that my little girlie is getting to be a big girlie, much too fast for me to keep up with. Great job Ry!

Snakes, snails, puppy dog tails

2011-05-05T14:30:00.000-07:00

I love boys. My daughter is the epitome of all things girly. Princesses, pink, whining, talking. She loves all those things and does them in spades. Dax has the boy thing going on. (funny how that works :) We tilled up our garden in hopes of planting soon. Dax disappeared the next day, and was found burying himself in the soft dirt. Crazy dirty little boy. The tub took just as much scrubbing afterwards as Dax did while in it.

My other little boy is proving that he's pretty hardcore too. Crawling just isn't good enough for him. I think Peyton only learned to crawl so he could get to objects with which to pull himself up. He climbs up couches, chairs, boxes, legs, anything that's higher than he is. As a result his poor little body has bruises and rug burns everywhere. Balance isn't his strong suit. He crawls after me wherever I go then pulls himself up my legs, which makes it hard to make meals or clean up. I'm trying hard to enjoy this new found boogying he has, instead of telling him that he's too young to do this yet and when I lay you on a blanket please just stay there. Well, I do tell him that, but he doesn't listen. Which is another one of those "boy" things.

Easter

2011-04-25T08:18:00.002-07:00

Spring break! I only wish it were spring here. There are a few green blades of grass shooting up, but the wind combined with the snow storms we keep getting makes it too chilly to head outside yet. So we took advantage of the few days off school and went to Utah. Again. My younger sister and her husband graduated from BYU and my older sister blessed her baby girl, so at least there was a good reason behind the 5 hour drive. It was a fun weekend with my family. And Seth had a fun weekend at home, branding and sorting cows. We sure missed him, and are so glad to be home now and sort of unpacked.

I wanted to take some easter pictures of my 3 amigos, but they were never all awake and dressed in their easter clothes at the same time. So the pictures are all separate, but they sure were cute and matchy. Rylee has such attitude, as you can tell from her picture. She is such a poser sometimes and makes these super smarmy faces and puts her hands in very awkward positions, so I love this picture because it is so un-contrived. Dax wouldn't let go of his easter things and kept looking at the neighbor's house with his "just woke up from a nap" zombie stare. I was a little scared Peyton would fall out of his bucket, kind of like he fell out of the cart at Ikea the day before. (If you look close you'll see the bruises on his forehead. His carseat flipped backwards and he fell into the cart.)

Here's a picture of the graduate! And a picture of the old regular looking me. Below is a picture of the new me, the one that makes me stare in the mirror and say "I look like a completely different person". Seth's cousin cut my hair and did a great job, I really really like it, but am really weirded out by the change.

Hope your easter was warm and happy too!

Half a Birthday!

2011-04-18T09:01:00.000-07:00

Did you happen to know that it's someone's half birthday today?

It's mine :)

Sorry this picture is blurry, he moves a little fast these days.

I finally have an athlete! Peyton has been crawling and sitting up himself for a few weeks now, much earlier than his older, chubbier siblings. I'll go into the kitchen and the next think I know I'm stepping on this fast little baby, who two minutes ago was playing in the living room. What else is new with our youngest family member? He's learned how to blow some great snot bubbles, spits and sticks out his tongue a lot, and is trying so hard to jump off of the changing table/couch/bed. He'll succeed one of these days, and then maybe it won't seem like such fun. Peyton is also a great conversationalist, albeit a babbling one. The past 6 months with him have gone so fast, and have been so good. It would be impossible not to love this guy.

A fine spring day

2011-04-06T19:39:00.000-07:00

The long winter is (maybe) finally over, along with calving around our place. So now it's time to get those little babies branded up. We always have neighbors and friends come over to help, it makes the work fun. One lady had never seen a calf branded before, so I thought I would show everyone just how we brand our calves. I'll apologize beforehand for all the pictures; they're instructional :) I love the flying fringe in the top picture, I wear my chinks mostly to watch my shadow. So entertaining!

First, you have to bring your children. Especially new ones who haven't heard bawling calves or smelled burning hair. They find it fascinating and stare in wonder with big blue eyes.

Then you'd better rope a calf. Otherwise we'll be here for a long time. So get to work ropers! (I am not included in that group, just to let you know.)

Then drag the calf up to the fire, where the ground crew awaits.

Baby calf needs a brand to differentiate from all the other baby calves in the world, especially when he lives on the forest with 5 other ranch's calves.

Give him a shot of 8-way, which is a vaccine.

Sometimes little girls need to get over their fears and just sit on the calf and breathe in that smoke. Look at that smile, Rylee was actually enjoying herself! Then you let the calf go and repeat about 180 times. It wasn't too long or bad of a day, and we broke in the middle for lunch. Lunch that I had to make. Ranch wives have a lot to live up to when it comes to food, because ranch wives are the best cooks ever. These ladies are known everywhere for good cooking. A branding meal cannot be peanut butter sandwiches and chips, or even a ham sandwich. It has to have some serious substance, and there must be a lot of it. I've supplied side dishes and deserts, and made a little meal or two, but this is the first year the main lunch fell on me. And I think it was ok. Now that's over I won't stress about it anymore in the many years to come of cooking for a room full of hungry cowboys.

The last thing that we do at a branding, after turning the calves back in with their moms, is get really tired and cold. Find a good windbreak until it's time to go home. Then take a bath, because everyone that was there desperately needs one.

My Bedlamites

2011-04-04T19:38:00.000-07:00

This past week has just been the best. THE BEST! Usually my thoughts tend more towards "this week has made me even more worthless. I need a nap." Instead I just need to share my happiness. Last Tuesday my first bedlamite turned 6. (in case you didn't watch/listen to the almost closing talk of LDS general conference, go here to find out just what a bedlamite is.) Rylee is six and she can even count that high. I actually heard her count past 100 the other day, missing only 17 and 18. She got 117 and 118 though. She is reading and writing and doing math and excelling as a beautiful daughter. My mom decided to give her another thing to become proficient in, the princess piano. After one afternoon of princess medleys the rules are she can only play it in her room with the door shut and furnace running. "I can show you the world" is soon to become "I can show you the trash can". :)

Wrangler butts drive me nuts!

Our family was in Utah on Thursday and Friday for Seth's sister's wedding, and oh, was it gorgeous. 70+ degrees, no wind, bright flowers and sunshine. Plus the most amazing temple ceremony I've ever attended. Dax soaked up the sun, and while we lazed around inside on windy/rainy Saturday and Sunday, today was too good to pass up. He played and played out in the sun without a coat for the first time in 6 months. Ok, maybe 5. He was so happy and just sat on his sister's bike in the middle of the driveway pretending it was a motorbike for the longest time. I think he'll sleep the sleep of the outdoors-man tonight.

And this little cutie pie is doing just wonderfully. It's been a while since I've updated on him. 5 1/2 months have just flown by. He is trying like crazy to crawl cooridnatedly, he can make it clear across the room just by rolling, but is very close to figuring out how to move hands and knees in sync. He can push himself into a sitting position, and loves eating big baby foods. Most importantly, he brings a lot of love and happiness into our home. He's sweet and loves to be held and sung to. I decided not to be done having children because babies are too enticing. I cannot even begin to describe what Peyton makes me feel. What all of my children make me feel. It's times like these when the stars align that I love being a mother. What a wonderful gift from a loving God. And while they do create an awful lot of bedlam, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Please pass the pepper

2011-03-24T08:07:00.000-07:00

I have plenty of bad habits, but there is one that I am especially known for. I always place lids back on their containers, but tightening them is another story. I have spilled countless juices, milk, sodas, and plenty of other things Seth tries to pick up by the lid. Mayo. jam, pickles, vinegar, it has ended up on the floor. So now Seth overcompensates by screwing down lids so tight it takes vice grips for me to get them open. Now that you know that, this story will make a lot more sense.

I made Seth some of his favorite candy, English Toffee, yesterday, and he was so happy he said he'd eat anything for dinner, even spaghetti. Rylee and Dax loves spaghetti, but it's on his list of seriously disliked foods. So while I'm making dinner I decide to refill the salt and pepper shakers, thinking how Seth would be so pleased that he wouldn't have to shake so hard to season his food. Yeah. He still thought the pepper was nearly empty and shook it for all it's worth.

I couldn't stop laughing. I'm sure he was thinking, "yum, spaghetti, how could it taste any worse?". Well, he found a way. And no way could we throw that food away, that's wasteful. So he choked it down. He was a little hot, in more ways than one.

Our weekend

2011-03-14T07:38:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure why, but it seems like "the thing" to kind of bag on Utah. I have to admit I've done my share of complaining about that place, but only because of the traffic through the Wasatch front. It makes me shudder to think of it. Other than that I think I like our neighbor state. The shopping is better, there are beautiful temples everywhere, and the weather kicks tail. One of my oldest friends was married in Salt Lake last weekend so I loaded up my kids and to the wedding we went.

We strolled around in our shirtsleeves in the sunny beautiful 60's + weather. I may not have been as happy and smiley as the bride, but it was close. Peyton had never been that warm before. Rylee wasn't aware of the weather though, since the bugs her whole Kindergarten class has been passing around finally hit her. She was pretty out of it. We cut our trip short to get her sick self home. Turns out she and Peyton have strep throat. That has been wonderful.

Something that really is wonderful are Ashley's flowers. She picked out some beautiful flowers and let me put them together for her.

We're home now, safe and snuggled inside with our antibiotics and clorox wipes. I'm glad I got the short experience of warmth, because once again it's snowing here. It's a beautiful spring snow though, with birds chirping and no wind. We'll have a sick day coloring and watching movies by the fire.

Dax Man

2011-03-08T20:06:00.000-08:00

The terrible twos. It's like a mean disease that sneaks in and turns the best and sweetest of children into monsters. Sometimes I look at my formerly kind and gentle little boy and wonder where on earth this wild and destructive kid came from. And although it looks like he might have taken up cage fighting, it's only wood stain. He thought the best way to help me get my table and chairs done would be to smear stain all over himself and anything else he could lay his hands on. Luckily it washed off pretty easily.

It's like he knows just when he's about to drive his mom over the edge, because he gets all loving and Dax-like again. The day he fell asleep in his chair was a looong one for me. Notice the little bit of pen on his hand? He had a full body tattoo by the time I figured out what he was doing so quietly in his room. But when I picked him up to put him to bed he threw his arms around my neck and whispered "mommy" and wanted me to sleep by him. Melted my easily swayed heart.

Then he does stuff like this. A lot.

I have to laugh at myself because all I ever wanted to be was a mom. I had no "real" career ambitions. Sometimes I have to wonder what on earth was I thinking! Why would I choose a job that I am kind of not the best at? I lose my temper and just want to be alone and get so tired of the repetitiveness of "my black chair my black chair my black chair". Because Dax has to repeat himself about 20 odd times before he thinks you understand. But... and this is a big but (kind of like mine since having three kids :), nothing in this world has ever made me so happy, so fulfilled so satisfied. That little guy makes me feel loved. Plus he's cute. Like his dad.

Finished!

2011-03-04T12:46:00.000-08:00

It was my birthday just a month and a half ago. I know, happy birthday to me, right? Actually it was. Being 28 is feels no different than being 20. And because my awesome husband knew I was in need of something and surprised me by taking me to pick out my own present. The dining table and chairs we've had since we were married are very nice, but in kind of poor repair. The set belonged to Seth's Grandma Teichert, who passed it on to his mom, who passed it on to us. Some of the chairs were broken though, and the finish on the furniture was dated and a little worn. We both have large families and whenever we all tried to get together someone would end up sitting on a tall stool or computer chair just so we could all fit. Seth took me to Pure Wood in Idaho Falls and we picked out this beautiful set:

We didn't take it home looking like this. The other part of the store's name is Unfinished Furniture. The set was very very reasonably priced. Heck, we have enough seating for 8-10 now. (if they have small bums :) For an extra $500 the store would finish the dining set. We chose to do it ourselves, which is why it has taken me a month and a half to show my birthday present. I'd work on it whenever I had a spare minute (not too often) and tried to take my time. I am so happy with the end result.

A big plus for us is the butterfly wings. No more storing extra leaves under Dax's bed. So handy.

Without the leaves it is the perfect size for our family right now. All the hours and work put into makes it more valuable to me. If I actually let anyone eat off of it it would be valuable to them, too.

Rolls

2011-03-01T07:31:00.001-08:00

I read a somewhat funny and true blog post last night about thighs that will forever be touching. The lady who wrote it is in great shape and very fit, and she ends by saying how her kids inherited her chubby legs. When Rylee and Dax were born everyone commented on how they are exact replicas of their dad. Seth would always tell them their thighs take after me though. Hardy har har.

Rylee was such a little Michelin man with all her rollie pollie parts. She still doesn't have knuckles, just dimples.

Dax was and is just a thick little kid. His rolls are still evident on his legs, he hasn't stretched enough yet.

Peyton is my skinny kid, but still he got the creases. They are so dang cute and squeezable. Even though I say Peyton is skinny, he is 4 1/2 months old, 14.7 lbs and 25 inches. That's over 95th percentile in both. Last checkup I took Rylee to she had finally made it back on the charts with weight and soars off of it in height.

I thought my kids would be built more like me as a child, where my knees were the biggest part of my legs. I was a string bean. (those days are long gone :)

Seth is the guy in white. So where do you think my kids get their chub from? The proof is in the picture.

Neat

2011-02-17T13:52:00.000-08:00

Six and a half years ago when I first found out I was expecting I hoped for two things. One, that baby would be a girl, and two, that she would be AWESOME! OK, I do hope for more than that for Rylee, but I do have one sweet little girlie. She loves to color and is so good at it, even winning an award at school. She sings and dances and does the whole princess thing (please grow out of that!) and enjoys all the trimmings that come with being a girl.

Rylee is enthusiastic and spontaneous and can make our whole house so happy. She can also turn our house into the most chaotic place in the world with teasing and poking and playing. She has got some energy. She is a cool girl.

We got a letter inviting us to one of the monthly assemblies. Apparently Rylee has won an award for neatness. This is the entire elementary school sitting in front of me. So tiny, but still so noisy.

Rylee received a certificate and a T-shirt. I'm kind of thinking the school doesn't want anyone to feel left out, because while Rylee is pretty neat, she isn't very neat.

I was shooing Dax out of her room this morning when I really noticed how not clean it really is. Neatness, yeah right. But coolness, yeah!

Time mostly wasted

2011-02-13T18:28:00.001-08:00

Sometimes I just make the strangest decisions. It's a fact that I have three children. It's also a fact that children don't exactly enjoy being in car seats and travelling. So why on earth did I choose to make a quick trip to Utah? My beautiful sister in law Calli just got home from her mission 25 days ago, and has been happily engaged for 15 days. Her fiancee lives in Utah, so I thought I'd help a girl out and let her tag along to see her honey. I wanted to visit with my sisters too, and as an added plus the Pioneer Woman was going to be in Salt Lake for a book signing.

The Pioneer Woman has a blog that is so funny and entertaining. She is a city girl that fell for a cowboy and they got married and now she lives on a ranch in the middle of nowhere. Sound familiar? So I was excited to get the chance to meet her, but so was a couple of hundred other people. THREE HOURS of waiting (I was thisclose to leaving) we finally got to talk to her, and Peyton came within an inch of puking all over her pretty red hair. It splattered on my boot instead, and so I never got the chance to say a word except "he does that a lot, sorry, let me clean it up". That was the long and short of it. Kind of disappointing to say the least.

I do have some pretty wonderful sisters though. They were the one good part of the hours in the car. Camille took Rylee and Dax to feed the ducks at the park near her house (where the police found a mutilated corpse just a few weeks ago. Freaky.)

Then she played dress up with Rylee. I think she looks an awful lot like Norm from Cheers when he's on SNL cheering for "da bears" and sometimes "da bulls". Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Peyton got in some action too. Just call him little Tom Selleck.

Honey-Do

2011-02-07T10:00:00.001-08:00

I honestly don't ask Seth to do too many things around the house. Maybe because it isn't our own house to do things with, or maybe because he has a lot of projects of his own. He is a major truck lover. To be precise, he loves the Cummins diesel engine. His love list goes something like this : Heavenly Father, family, cummins engines, guns, steak, chainsaws. At least I come before the truck. So he shocked a lot of people when he came home one day driving a Ford Powerstroke.

He had plans for this truck. Dodge isn't exactly known for smooth riding roomy trucks,while this Ford crew cab could house both of our extended families. It's huge, and not nearly so pricey as a mega-cab. So, after the hunk of junk Powerstroke pooped out after only 500 miles of Seth driving it (he was waiting for his parts), out came the old and in with the new.

Well, not exactly new. This motor came out of Seth's dad's old truck. The front end went out on it and Seth has found a home for many of it's inside parts. But apparently this engine lasts forever. There are plenty of million mile Cummins out there.

This Ford rocks a Cummins.

I'm thinking Seth is pretty dang awesome, because he did this whole major project alone. His brother came up one day to help him put the Cummins in, and I did hold a hose once, but Seth did the rest. We've been cruising around for a few hundred miles with no problems.

Not one to sit idle, he's also cranked out a few boots lately.

Red is totally in right now :)

I've been working on a few projects too, but not quite so ambitious or beautiful as Seth's. He is such a good husband (thumbs WAY up) and great dad, plus he's really talented at a lot of different things. I am one lucky gal. That drives a Ford. In custom made cowboy boots.

Party Time

2011-01-31T08:00:00.000-08:00

Did you see the size of that chicken?

This past weekend was a very fun one for me. I have really started to love this little place that I live. There are quite a few older people that live here too. They've either lived here all their lives and couldn't imagine living anywhere else, or the husbands are avid fisherman who move their wives here after retirement. Our Relief Society had a 60's plus Mexican Fiesta that was geared toward the older crowd. It was a blast! These ladies know how to crack it up.

Somehow I was roped into doing a quasi-macarena dance for the entertainment portion. Luckily, Rylee and Dax joined me and the MC and made it a little less embarrassing.

As soon as we had cleaned up the dishes I drove across the desert to Rigby to throw a baby shower for my sissy Camille. Isn't she glowing? She has less than two months left and is expecting a little girl, Eleanor Faye Smith. We're going to call her Ellie!

Peyton had some quality time with his Great-Grandma Murdock. I was a teeny bit afraid she was going to drop him since he weighs half as much as her. She is a little pretty lady.

Our cousin Melina is expecting her 3rd baby, due any day. Camille and Melina were always close since they are the same age, same grade in school, and roomies in college.

I love my sisters! (missing one, though) Congratulations Camille!

Started Already

2011-01-25T08:24:00.000-08:00

We are having some beautiful winter weather here in the frozen north. It was about 25 degrees this morning, which is a good 40-45 degrees warmer than last week, so we bundled up and headed out.

Peyton didn't last long, the diesel truck put him right to sleep. But Dax was way excited to see the new baby calf. He's an itty bitty thing born last week, and more are on the way. Calving is a pretty tiring time for Seth since he gets up a couple times in the night to check on the mamas, but since I'm up too my sympathy isn't overwhelmingly strong. Actually I've been up with all 3 of my babies during calving, so at least we have someone to talk to in the middle of the night.

Dax never got a really good look at the baby because he kept hiding and stayed close to his mom. Dax really wanted to go for a bull ride but the calf was having none of that. We'll have to wait for another littler, less fast calf.

All that running around gave him a runny nose :)

He likes to move it

2011-01-15T18:06:00.000-08:00

Peyton was sitting in his little buzz chair being a happy camper and jabbering while I was kneading bread this afternoon. I turned around to see him smiling and happy as can be, so I grabbed my camera and took some fast shots of him. I love how babies flail their arms and legs.

Digital slideshow generated with Smilebox

He is not always so happy to be in his buzz chair though. I set him in it the other day so I could do things that require two hands. He got pretty ticked off and managed to flip himself over and nearly out of the chair. Guess it's time to start buckling him up.

Look who we've got our Hanes on now

2011-01-01T09:08:00.000-08:00

This last month has been a busy one, like December usually is for most people. Since I didn't post one single thing that we did, I thought I'd combine it all into one big picture post.

We went up in the mountains to find our Christmas tree, almost getting stuck in all the snow.

Rylee got to bring home her own little Charlie Brown tree.

These trees actually turned out pretty good. At least compared to the lemons we've brought home other years.

Rylee played a part in the Nativity. (little girl on the left with a maroon sash)

Peyton met Santa.

Rylee sang in her first school program. She rocked Jingle Bells.

Opening presents gets a little wilder every year. Rylee has finally figured out what this morning means to her, and we had to get up at 5:30. Yikes.

It's all thanks to our little chainsaw dude that I have been too busy to write.

The day after his 2nd birthday he got rid of his diapers and has been wearing his big boy pants ever since. It's been good in some ways, baaaad in others. It only took one day for him to figure out how much fun it was to potty, and he had no accidents. And no accidents. And he would always potty in the potty, even waking up dry some mornings. He is more than willing to do his business in the toilet and it is saving us a fortune on diapers. The downside to it is he will only go if I take him to the bathroom. He never tells me that he needs to potty, so if I get a little busy doing anything else, like make dinner, brush Rylee's hair, feed the baby, he will run to a little corner somewhere and come back saying "uh-oh". I am so sick of washing underwear out in the toilet. But so happy to have such a willing little guy. So that's what we've been up to, and we plan on spending our new year's day snuggled up warm in the house, thanks to our -24 degree weather this morning. I guess it'll be a while before Seth teaches Dax to pee outside :)

A Birthday Blessing

2010-12-06T13:44:00.000-08:00

December 5th is such a great day. Dax was born two years ago and has been such an awesome little addition to our family. Rylee was an only child and such a girly one that having a boy was sort of an adjustment. Boys are so rough. Boys play hard. Boys are sweet and loving and cuddly. At least Dax is.

His Aunt Tayler is totally in love with this guy, so she offered to take some birthday pictures of him. She did a great job capturing the personality of our little cowboy.

We did something else pretty special on December 5th. It was Peyton's blessing day. I am so appreciative to our loving Heavenly Father that he lets us give our children such a great start to their lives. The blessings they receive are so special. How glad I am for the priesthood. A friend of ours crocheted this little sweater for Peyton and I knew right away that it had to be his blessing outfit. Just look at those cute little buttons she found! Peyton has grown pretty fast though and he has the Teichert gorilla arms so they hung out a few inches. He still looked pretty dang cute and was very good all through church. We're 3 for 3 with no crying during the blessing.

I love my boys!

All I want for Christmas

2010-12-03T10:40:00.000-08:00

My sweet little 5 1/2 year old Rylee has hit another milestone. It might not be her two front teeth, but she lost her first tooth (which, incidentally, was the first she ever grew). She wiggled and wiggled and thought it would never come out. It was like a trap door flapping in the wind, and it finally pretty much fell out on its own. Rylee was kind enough to inform us that the tooth fairy gave her friend $5 for her lost tooth. The tooth fairy wasn't quite as generous at our house and she got 50 cents.
She was pretty happy with that, and does a pretty good job of wishing us a "merry chrithmath".

Reno

2010-11-29T15:58:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is such family togetherness holiday, but we totally ditched everyone this year and headed out west.Now that Rylee is in school we can't just get up and go whenever we want, so we took advantage of the Thanksgiving break to take a trip to Reno. The roads were horrible and we left a day late due to road closure, but it was worth it just to get out of town. Rylee Dax and Peyton were good little travellers, I think they were ready for some new scenery too. We love Nevada, especially Seth since he is from there, and we found a new town to love. Thanksgiving day we went to an old silver mining town (it's where the Comstock was) called Virginia City. The town is full of original buildings built in the 1800's, like this old school.

We browsed the couple of stores and casinos that were open and walked around the original boardwalk. It was not made for strollers.

Seth and Rylee checked out some of the old games in one of the casinos. They wouldn't work though, darn it all. We drove back to Reno and had a very delicious meal that I didn't have to make one thing for, it was great. The best part was being in somewhat warmer country. It hit about 40 degrees while home was hovering somewhere around 0. All in all a good holiday.

31 Days

2010-11-18T13:19:00.000-08:00

Happy one month birthday Peyton! The little guy has changed so much in such a short period of time. He's grown a lot too and put some rolls on those skinny legs of his. A lot of people have told me that three kids are tough and it's a big adjustment. I've told myself that it won't be that way and three will just be wonderful and tra la la all the time. To tell you the truth, if I weren't so dang tired from staying up with Peyton all night or overrun with the demands of the other two I'm sure it would be pretty easy. I love all my little children, but I feel like they have me whupped for now. Give me a month or so when Peyton starts to actually sleep in a crib (what, mom, you're not holding me? boo hoo) and I can pay more attention to Rylee and Dax (what, mom, you're not intently focused on me?) and we'll have a good schedule worked out. Something I do love is how much these three like each other. They are buds already and our house has such a spirit of contentment. We are so blessed.

Snoozing

2010-11-09T19:12:00.000-08:00

Spent the whole day making and canning applesauce and apple juice. It took the whole day because I have 3 sweet little helpers that need fed, hugged, burped, held, and being the center of my world. But I'm feeling pretty good getting that job done. Now there is only one more thing I want to do today.Hopefully I'll be joining him in dreamland soon. First, I have a big appley mess to clean up.

Halloween

2010-10-31T20:55:00.000-07:00

Peyton dressed up as a horsie...

Dax was a pirate...

and Rylee was a beautiful queen.

Actually we ended up with two beautiful queens. Our friends from California came to visit and brought Rylee her elaborate dress that matches her best friends. They were quite the pair trick or treating. Dax got a little freaked out and sat on dad's lap most of the night, so sadly he didn't bring home as much candy. Rylee made a haul that has enough to feed our entire family. I love Halloween.

the waiting game

2010-10-26T09:59:00.001-07:00

I decided to try something a little different with baby #3. Rylee was born in Elko, NV, and I wouldn't recommend that to anyone. It was not such a fun time for either of us. Dax was born in Blackfoot, and while I really liked the hospital and nurses, my doctor was just not the one for me. I know a lot of people have found dr's they just love, but mine have been pushy and bossy and treated pregnancy like it's some sort of disease only they can cure. This time I decided I try a midwife and skip that whole expensive bossy hospital thing. I loved it. LOOOOVED it! It might not seem possible, but having a baby really isn't so bad, actually it was an awesome experience. Luckily there is a birthing center 2 hours away, which is as close as any hospital. Look how pretty my room is at Agape Birth Center. Seth and I went in on Sunday night and after being there for 5 hours or so I thought little guy had changed his mind. Again. All of a sudden he decided he would be coming after all, and was born in the middle of the night. In the bathtub. I never ever ever thought I'd have a baby in a tub, it just seems so strange. But I did, and it was pretty dang wonderful. Both midwives who helped me have had something like 18 kids between the two of them and actually knew what to do to make me feel better.
My recovery and Peyton's recovery has been the best ever. Just look at him smiling in his sleep, dreaming of heaven.

This is how Peyton felt yesterday. Since I never had to go to a doctor's office this entire pregnancy I forgot just how awful they can be. We had to take him in for a little boy procedure. The one that makes me cringe. Anyway, we get to the pediatrician's 15 minutes early and wait. And wait. And 45 minutes later we're still waiting. Rylee and Dax have had enough and so had the little guy. The pediatrician was great, but the office just made a bad experience worse. Our appoinment which was supposed to be at 3:00 lasted so long we didn't get home until nearly 8:00 last night. It made me kind of grouchy, especially since Peyton didn't sleep all night. I don't blame him. I just wish dr's offices were more like my midwives office, where I had a one hour block of time that wasn't tripled booked with other patients. So that's my rant that I'm sure I'll be over once I get a nap.

Post-partum Elation

2010-10-20T10:26:00.001-07:00

Look who finally decided to join us! On Monday morning at 1:35 am this little guy made his way out. And I am THRILLED!!! His name is Peyton LaVelle and he weighed 8 lbs 1 0z and is 20 inches long.

It's always so amazing to me that new babies are so itty bitty, but at the same time I wonder how on earth they ever fit inside my tummy. Peyton's due date was the 16th (I thought it was the 15th the whole time, oops) but I honestly thought he'd come earlier than that. I have had false labor and contractions for a month that have been the most irritating thing that's ever happened to me. This pregnancy had been so easy until the end where every stinking day I wondered if baby was coming. I've done this before so I should know, right? No. He was a little trickster and right up until the very end I didn't really believe it was real. I knew he had to be born sometime, but I figured he'd probably have a full set of teeth and a mustache before that happened. Happily, he's just a dang cute little baby that really came when the time was right.

Love the dimples. One on each cheek.

Dax and Rylee are pretty happy about little brother. Especially Ry, because now she has a more willing brother to mother. Seth's mom was kind enough to take our kids for us the past couple of days and do all my laundry and clean my entire house. An 80 year old woman I know said if she could guarantee that kind of treatment she'd consider having another kid. I must admit it has made it so nice and a very easy transition.

Seth was in charge of picking out the name. We really struggle with boy names and even though we had nearly 5 months to pick one there was never any that seemed right. So I just told Seth to choose, although I did have to draw the line at Buster. We already have a horse named Peyton (who had a brother named Riley) that will have to have a name change real quick. Seth's Grandpa's name is LaVelle, who everyone tells me was the nicest best guy ever. I never got to meet him, but I love him because he looks a lot like my husband. Before we even told Seth's mom his name she said Peyton looked like her dad. So it was a good choice. I hope I've written enough to make up for my last month of silence and I'll try and keep updated on our newest little addition.

It's Raining Babies

2010-09-20T19:25:00.000-07:00

Something cool is happening in our tiny little ward in our tiny little town. Within 3 months of each other 5 ladies are having babies. While that will put a serious strain on our mother's lounge, it's so great and exciting that our ward will have 5 new little ones. This happens a lot in larger places, but when I had Dax he was the lone babe for a long time. There are only 2 kids in nursery. In fact, on any given Sunday there are only 6 kids in primary. So as mothers we are helping our ward grow.
I am due the earliest of the ladies by only 2 weeks. Next comes the tall lady in the dark blue shirt. Can you believe she is nearly 8 months along? It looks like she had a big lunch or something, not that a little boy is growing in her. Then comes the girl in the glasses in November, and the last baby is born in January. All 4 of us are having boys. It's going to be wild. And where is momma #5? She was due the exact same day as me, but due to some issues had her baby 1 whole month early on the day of our ward baby shower. A sweet tiny little girl. So she didn't make it, but got a pretty dang good present anyway. I'm so anxious for my little guy (who is still nameless) to come join us. Soon. Soon.

{I'm not in} labor day

2010-09-07T07:17:00.000-07:00

The very best thing about having a kid in school is that we only have 4 days of it a week. School stinks! It makes me get up super early and puts a cramp in my day. Rylee is loving it and doesn't have the least hard time getting going in the morning. I have been excited for this long weekend, which really started on Thursday for us. Instead of doing field day in the spring our school had ours in the fall and I was in charge of the hula hoop/jump rope station. All the kids came through and we were having a good time until it was the kindergartners turn. Rylee wanted a pink hula hoop, and because I'm her mom I'm supposed to magically get her one. Let's just say she didn't get a ribbon in that one. The kid next to her did though.

Friday and Monday we spent up in the forest getting firewood. It was nice for Seth because he loves using his chainsaw. It was nice for us because I'm 8 months pregnant and Rylee and Dax aren't really that great of help so we just got to play in the woods. Rylee collected a ton of puzzle grass (that's just what I call it, I've heard it called joint and snake grass too) in her "pretty place".

On Monday we were surprised by a flock of sheep in the road. I had no clue anyone even ran sheep around here. I felt bad for the sheepherder trying to keep them together as our convoy of 6 trucks drove through.

We filled four of those trucks with firewood. Well, not me, I was watching babies run around and making lunch. It was such a pleasant day. It was a pleasant 4 day weekend.

And She's Off

2010-08-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

We woke up bright and sunshiney early this morning at 6:30 to get ready for our first day of school. Since it is the first, I decided to drive Rylee into town, and it was a good choice considering the bus drove by while we were still eating breakfast. So tomorrow we'll try 6:15 and a little more speed. Rylee has had her first day of school outfit picked out since we went shopping and was so happy and excited to wear it. She is happy and excited about the whole thing actually. We got to school and she met her teacher and just started playing. I stood in the back of the room with other moms and felt very sad that I had to go home without her.

It wasn't very much longer that the bus pulled up with her on it all alone. She is the very last stop and got home about 12:30. That's a very short time to be away and I can deal with it, in fact will probably relish it when the baby gets here.

We made the long walk back down the driveway while she filled me in on how nice Mr. Gordon is and how lunch was not so good and that they didn't have to learn anything at all today. It's so strange how time can fly so quickly and my little girl is really in school. It seems not so long ago she was my only baby and we did everything together. Now she's doing her own thing and learning from other people and I'm not around to see how she acts or reacts to different things. It was harder than I thought, but I guess it'll get easier every day. We only have 4 days of school here so at least we'll have lots of long weekends to play.

Moving On

2010-08-11T15:13:00.000-07:00

We have lived in this little log cabin for the past 5 years and 3 months and loved it. There were some parts I didn't love so much, like the mice and spiders and dust that lived there too, but this house has so many memories for us. I have been super happy here, but now we've moved. Although this place was perfect when we moved here with our 1 month old baby girl, our family has very nearly outgrown it. Give me 8 weeks and there'll be a new baby that needs a home, and there just wasn't room for a crib in Rylee and Dax's room. So we finally decided to move our things to Seth's parent's old house that has 4 bedrooms. We don't know what to do with all this space. There are so many things I'm going to miss about our little house on the prairie. I love the sound of the wind coming through the pine trees (there are 42 of them in a row, not fun to mow around). I will miss being able to look out of my walls of windows and be able to see my kids playing on our massive lawn. I miss giving my kids tub time in the first tub they ever bathed in. How sentimental.
Dax misses sharing a room with Rylee and has woke up every night for the past week crying about being lonely. I cry about being tired. This move has worn me down to the bone. I thought I was extra tired and chalked it up to moving and cleaning, but after a visit to the doctor found out I'm anemic on top of that. I'm taking my iron and eating my steak so things should be just fine in a little while, once my body can catch up. Seth has been very helpful but a very busy ranch man with non stop haying. And we only have 12 days till school starts! Here's another plus about living in this house only 5 miles from our other, the bus will come by at 7:08 instead of 6:45. So change is good.

Make Hay While the Sun Shines

2010-07-25T17:44:00.000-07:00

I have been horrible awful and terrible at keeping up with blogging lately. We've had company and computer viruses, but mostly I just like to lay on the couch and read stories to my little ones. Or nap. Now that I'm in my third trimester of pregnancy sleepiness has come back, along with a super duper craving for carrots. Anyone have carrots from their garden yet? Because that's the kind I really want.

The mosquito's have been so bad this year, if you're not careful they will pick you up and carry you away. And lucky little Dax is allergic to the blood suckers, so I've been forced to keep him inside while he wants to go out and play. Now that people have started cutting hay the skeeters have calmed down so Dax can finally work on his tan line. We have a tiny portion of Warm Springs Creek running through the ranch that is shallow and slow running. Perfect for little legs to play in.Rylee found a duck decoy trapped in a fence and it is become her new pet Blossoms. They had a lot of fun playing with the fake duck and feeding it worms.

Poor Seth was slaving away in the tractor while we were having fun, baling meadow grass. Since his dad retired he is flying solo and had to put up the pivots by himself. His little sis Tayler helped a lot, but he would wake up at midnight and work until 5 or 6 o'clock the next evening. That's all over with, at least until second crop.
Rylee is working for school clothes money, so after our swim we went to "help" by tying up the loose twine on the round bales. Just look how beautiful that blue sky is. I have a real appreciation of where we live and the things we get to do. My husband is such a good one for giving us this kind of life. I want to make the most of this summer; it's only 1 month until school starts (gasp!) and 2 1/2 until baby #3 makes his appearance. So we'll take advantage of our freedom while we still can.

Celebrate

2010-07-06T08:52:00.000-07:00

This week leading up to the 4th has been so fun for us. Fun and sooo warm. Until the very end, where I wanted to die, but I'll get to that later. On Monday Seth took me for a 4 wheeler ride up the Mine Hill in Mackay, which has all sorts of old mines and buildings and is kind of a neat place. I thought a portion of it would make for a good kid hike, and so I gathered up some friends and went for a walk. It was about 2 1/2 miles of an old rail road track that they'd made into a road, even restoring the old trestle. We found old rail spikes and had a picnic, and even Dax got to come along in his stroller.

Rylee played her last t-ball game and the green team kicked some tail. (notice how she doesn't use a t? It's because she's awesome) Actually, where there are no outs and an unlimited number of strikes, there are no winners or losers, just ice cream at the end.

Saturday Mackay celebrated the 4th with an annual picnic at the park. I'm not sure if it's because everyone here is really into fishing, but they set up a pool and fill it with fish for kids to catch. Then the kids mommy's can take them home and fry them up.
We gave ours to the cat.

Dax went fishing too, only for rubber duckies instead of trout (or whatever, I'm really not too fishy). Then he got a little gold fish to take home. That poor little dude didn't make it past Sunday night. I almost didn't, either.
Our ranch owners have decided to make the 4th their annual family get together in Idaho with all the kids and grandkids coming together. There were 26 of them, plus my little family and Seth's mom dad and sister that came over to our house for a Saturday night barbecue. BYU-I catered most of the food and it was so good and everyone had their fill. We played football and stayed up until 11:30 setting off fireworks. The good illegal kind. We went to bed, but only for a couple hours before Rylee started throwing up. It was major. I sat on the couch with her all night while she emptied her entire body of everything. It went on until Sunday morning, with probably 25 trips to the puke bowl. Poor little girl. Then Dax stared filling his diaper every 10 minutes and I started getting queasy. Soon I was the one barricaded in the bathroom and even though I was no where near death I kind of wanted to be. It was so awful. Every single person, all 33 of us, that were at the bbq, got deathly ill. Seth and his dad where the last to succumb on Monday morning, but that makes them the last to get better. I'm still feeling pretty weak and mainly just want to lay on the couch, if only Rylee hadn't puked on it so much. But we're still celebrating that we're still alive and it's over.

I like when it's warm

2010-06-18T20:07:00.000-07:00

Before I whine and complain about our lack of summer weather, I have to admit I have had a nice warm day this year. My only grandparent left, Grandma Murdock, had her 80th b-day party last Sunday and I was ready to break out the capris. Nearly everyone got a little tan and had a fun day and good times reminiscing with long lost relatives. I even saw my cousin Amy (in the middle), who has been MIA for at least 15 years. I had to throw in this picture so everyone could see my big baby belly. Only 4 months to go!

After that nice day in Rigby I was hoping for the same where I live. We're only 2 hours away, but the climate here is just chilly. We've decided to pretend like it is warm and we haven't woke up the past two mornings to frost, so all the guys in my family went for a mountain motorcycle/4 wheeler trip. My dad, 3 little bro's, and Seth are camping in the wilderness tonight. I hope there's no frostbite in the morning.

Continuing with our warm thoughts we went boating on the reservoir. It's so muddy and very high due to spring run off. That didn't keep Rylee from splashing water on herself and everyone else. My kids just don't seem to feel the cold like normal people.

The rest of us had on sweatshirts and wrapped up in blankets. Dax kept trying to jump ship and was a little put out with that dang life jacket. I love all the snowy mountains in the background; when it rains in the valley the mountains get frosted, so we just keep getting the white stuff. Ry's last two t-ball games have been played in winter coats and gloves, and there is only 4 more days until the longest day of the year. We'll tough it out though. We're actually going to build a house here so i just need to get a little thicker skin. Or a heavier coat.

Play Ball

2010-06-02T21:09:00.000-07:00

How is it possible I have a little girl that isn't quite so little anymore? Little Miss has started up T-ball this year, and she is one of 3 pipsqueaks on her team. Mackay has 4 teams of kids aged 5-10, which makes the skill levels a little laughable. These three little ones are good friends and although not very coordinated have a lot of energy.

Here comes the ball...there goes the ball. For some reason they didn't use a Tee, and that bat got awfully heavy for Rylee's little arms. But when she finally did hit it that ball flew a good 7 feet. Maybe.She stands in the field on dandelions, acting disinterested and playing with her necklace, but she looooved it. I, as the person who knows her best, am shocked by her enthusiasm and willingness to try, try again. It may have a lot to do with getting her way and buying a pink baseball glove, but I think she actually likes the sport. I'm so proud of the little slugger and looking forward to cheering her on at games.

Runs in the Family

2010-05-17T16:29:00.000-07:00

This little guy sure is cute. Spitting image of his dad, so he of course has dashingly good looks.
She's a little beauty, isn't she? Being her mom might make me a little biased, but I've got to say she is one gorgeous girl.

So it stands to reason if Seth and I have such cute kids we might as well have another. For a black and white ultrasound this kid sure is a looker, don't you think?
Look at his perfect little legs and foot. Plus the, uh, proof that we are having another little guy. Rylee is pretty broken hearted about no sisters, but I'm pretty excited. He and Dax will be 22 months apart, so more than likely they'll be little buddies and partners in crime. He's due on October 15, maybe a little earlier. This has been the easiest pregnancy and I've felt great. I've gone on hikes and rode horses. If it weren't for my poky belly and the random kicks I'd hardly know little guy was there. We're so happy for our new addition!

This too shall pass

2010-05-09T21:09:00.000-07:00

Before I say anything else I have to say a deep heartfelt thank you. Thank you to everyone who prayed for us, called us, left comments, stopped by, and just showed their love for Tessa. She has been so close to us it's just not comprehensible that she won't be here anymore. I have had no anger at her or God or struggled with what has happened now that she's on the other side of the veil. Instead I just flat out plain old miss her. We planned a big mother day's party just this weekend with her and her husband coming to visit. She was making the macaroni salad. That is the part that's so hard. What do we do with out her?

Rylee has struggled. Telling her that her auntie had died was the hardest thing Seth has had to do. She stared at us panic stricken then buried her face in my chest. For 3 days she wouldn't hear a thing about Tessa or say her name. Finally she told me it was OK and we shouldn't all be sad because she'll be back alive in no time. In the true eternal perspective that is very real. We'll see her again in no time. Thankfully Rylee's best little friend showed up for the funeral and really opened her up. The picked flowers off the arrangements and tossed them on Tessa's casket saying how beautiful she is, how they'll miss her, how long it'll be before they get to play again. She'll heal quickly and will always have sweet memories of her aunt.Seth's mom Julie has been a rock and such a comfort to everyone, especially her other girls. She has a daughter and a son serving missions right now that chose to stay where they are. All of the children in this family are so close and such good friends. Now they're even closer.

Tessa's service was in a stake center in Twin Falls, the chapel was full and the overflow was overflowing. Then we drove to Mackay to bury her. I'm so glad her husband wants her up here. The pall bearers lowered the casket with ropes, which is the way that cowgirl would want it. Rylee told me it was just a body that looked nothing at all like Tess. Her spirit is in a different place.

The flowers at the funeral were the most beautiful I've ever seen. (that's what this picture is all about, not wrinkly suit coat bums) The out pouring of love has left our family so vulnerable. We've cried and hugged and talked without sleeping or eating for a week. Seth and I, through all sorts of trials, made it to a sealing session at the temple on Friday. I have never had the Lord speak to me so directly and clearly. I understand that Tessa is fine, she loves us so dearly, and what happened is not stopping her eternal progression. We're healing, and we're happy to be sealed forever. I'm happy most of all this mother's day for my beautiful children. They were loved so much by a wonderful girl, and we'll try and take some of that and pass it on. That way Tessa will live on through us.

Tessa Bell Teichert

2010-05-03T20:45:00.000-07:00

I have talked about Tessa before.

She is one of my sissies although she is Seth's sister. We met when I started dating Seth, she had just moved in with him and was going to start beauty school. Well, she didn't ever make it to school, she was too busy having fun and buying cute shoes. After Seth and I were married we lived in an apartment next door to Tessa and his other sis Gina and I got to know them even better. One thing for sure about Tess, she is fun. And she knows how to love.

She loves my children like none other. She spoils and plays and gets down on the floor with them. Rylee has found a best friend in her auntie. She would call her and talk about nothing for hours and Tess would always converse back and make Rylee feel loved. She has always been really good at that. She got married a year and a half ago to her perfect match, Shane Bell. Rylee was pretty dang jealous that he took up so much of Tess's time, but how could she not love him too? Shane is the best thing that could ever happen to her aunt and made her happy and in turn made us happy. Tessa has had some hard knocks and finding a guy that could be sweet as a teddy but was the size of a grizzly made her safe. Our little family has really relied on Tessa and Shane this past year and a half since they moved to Twin Falls to come visit us and make some good meals. And they did, a lot. Dax went on his first long horse ride 2 weeks ago with Tess as navigator. She even found his boot when it fell off and held him close when he fell asleep on the saddle. (cowboying is hard work) We love our sissy so much. She is not an in-law to me.

Tessa passed away yesterday. This has been so hard for our family to deal with. She is only 4 months younger than me and in two weeks would have hit her 27th birthday. Life has not always been kind to her, a lot of the reasons have to do with bad choices, but that never stopped her from being kind to others. Like me. I'll miss my sissy, and I know how much Seth and his family is struggling with losing their sister and daughter. She is beloved. What a blessing it has been for me to know this talented and beautiful girl.
I've never lost anyone this close before, and it is HARD. We have the Lord, and the Lord has mercy, and all will be well, of that I am sure.

Donkey Basketball

2010-04-30T07:37:00.000-07:00

Seth played in a fun little game last night. It's where you sit on donkeys and play basketball. Pretty hokey, I know. I played when we lived in Dubois, Idaho, and it was the first time I had ever heard of such a thing. It was pretty fun, and Seth has been jealous for 6 years that he didn't get a chance to ride. The senior class had a fundraiser where the girls were supposed to play against their dads, and since my father-in-law opted out, Seth filled in. Such a natural.
There were a lot of dads that didn't want to play so we got some wild and unsavory characters on those poor donkeys. (Seth just finished those white and black boots last week.)

Then all the kids got a chance for a little donkey ride, which of course Dax would not pass up. Rylee refused to touch them.

She had other things on her mind. The seniors were auctioned off for a pie in the face, and Rylee's aunt Tayler was the high bidder of the night going for $70. The man who bought her was so kind and let Rylee be the pie-thrower. She acted like she didn't really want to do it...

...but when it came down to it had no problem smearing pie all over her aunt.

Tayler almost talked Rylee into giving her a hug, but I quickly intervened. Seth is the oldest in his family and Tayler the youngest. Her and Rylee are a year closer in age then she is to Seth, so these two girls act more like sisters (the kind that fight) than anything else. It was an especially fun night for Rylee. I love living in a little town where donkey's can play in the gym and you can pie the whole senior class, 15 kids, in just a couple of minutes.

Rylee and Rylee

2010-04-12T10:01:00.000-07:00

Rylee seems to be kind of a popular name nowadays, but when she was born I only knew one other little boy with the same name. Even in our tiny town of Mackay with only 300 people I know 5 kids with this name. One of Seth's friends had their first kid only 3 weeks after us and named her Rylee too, and since they are moving to Florida at the end of the month we finally made a trip to get the two Rylee's together. It was wild.Both Rylee's really did enjoy Cabela's, no matter what it looks like in pictures.

Our friends live right in downtown Salt Lake. He works for the church's agricultural business and took a desk job as a way to get in to working on their ranches. Their apartment is half a block from temple square, and because it was 71 degrees (hallelujah!) we had to take a walk down there.

Brigham Young's office. These two are waaaay too much alike. They are bossy and naughty and loving and new best friends.

I could not believe all the growing things. Just look at those flowers!

Dax was pretty happy to be outside on some nice green grass and ran and played. He just kept falling over, which is a huge bummer when you're 16 months old.

But still, this kid was happy to be home. He could run around topless, draw on himself with markers, and only have one Rylee to worry about. I think two of them made life much too hard.

It's a Hot One

2010-04-03T20:52:00.000-07:00

A lot of places have been having similar spring weather as ours. Oops, I meant winter weather. We started calving at the end of January and are pretty much done by now (except 10 or so), so now it's time to brand the little guys. So we brought out our little guy to be around the things he loves most, horses and cows.

Usually it's kind of nice to choose a nice warm day for branding. It's much nicer for the people and the keeps the calves from getting sick. But since our calves are getting a little old and big we just picked a day. Of course it wasn't even near 30 degrees, plus the windchill. The corrals are still a little mucky from all the moisture we've gotten which makes it a really tough pull for the horses. This horse, Saturn, the most beautiful of all, is mine. I've ridden probably 3 times. She's a little feisty.

Dax was so enthralled with all the commotion and tried to get himself run over a couple of times. I put him on the truck bed with the pile of calf nuts. Now those things were really interesting. This guy's poor wife had to take a gallon sized baggie full of these tasty treats home. Yummy.

Where was Rylee during all this? Our little cowgirl has totally lost all interest in anything horsey or cowey. She sat in her tent and played with plastic horses and cows, which is much more preferable to her. It just breaks her grandpa's heart.

She was pretty happy right where she was.

Party Time

2010-03-31T07:23:00.000-07:00

Rylee's big 05 birthday is finally over. Finally. It was a three day long shindig. We started on Saturday with her first ever friends over party. I didn't know there were going to be 8 of them, but it turned out great. Rylee is very diverse and her friends aged from 4 to 11. They put on their aprons and made their own pizzas right away. Then right away they took them off and never looked at them again.She had a strawberry themed party but somehow ended up with a princess tablecloth.

Cake #1.

Here she is, just thrilled to have PRESENTS!! Age sure changes things. She was so enthusiastic in thanking and showing gratitude. I had some fun games planned, but it worked out better to just let them run around and play freeze dance. All in all, a success. The next day my mom and dad came up and we had another party. Rylee's biggest hope came true and she got The Princess and the Frog. We've watched this movie quite a few times by now.

Dax is just enthralled with the frogs.

Opening presents birthday morning.

On Monday she had another party and more presents. Grandma and Grandpa Teichert came over. Tattoo's are just an awesome present, as long as they are only temporary. Auntie Tay and Rylee are so hard core.

She was so excited to blow out more candles and have more cake. It took her quite a while to blow out the candles. Five are just too many. What is she going to do when she hits her Grandpa T's (at the foot of the table) age?
Dax was excited for cake, too.

We really really really love our little girl. Rylee has been such a blessing to us, and she'll always have a special place in my heart as my first baby. Five years can just fly by, it's hard to believe she'll be starting school in a few months. I really enjoy having my little ones around me all the time. Happy Birthday Rylee!

Where have I been?

2010-03-25T20:53:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, blogging has been terrible for me lately. It's just taken a backseat to everything else that's going on lately. It seems like every single day we have something else to do. Like putting on the Relief Society birthday party, or getting food enough for 550 people at a funeral, or making the two hour trip to town, or the other hundreds of things I seem to HAVE to do every day. Rylee's having her first birthday party and it really takes a lot of planning, although I'm making it harder than it has to be. Like did I really need to make 8 aprons for those kids? No, but I'm doing it anyways. Even with all the things on my to-do list we still manage to sneak in some good stuff. Like playing in the mud puddles. Those socks are now a perma grey color, but it sure was fun.
Another thing I really love to do but rarely get invited to is go to bull sales. We wander around the bulls for a while and assess their traits (I'm more on the look out for cow patties than rib eye) and get a nice big meal then bid on whichever bulls we want. Which there were a lot of at this sale in Leadore, the only problem was they were going a little high. Great for the owners, but we only made it out with 3 bulls. {So Lana, you recognize any of these guys? One's my father-in-law, one's my husband, and the other seems to think you have 3 kids. Or at least one on the way! Are you keeping something from me?}

Seth's been keeping busy at his bootshop. I don't know how he does it all. Calving and church meetings and family time, he must make boots in his sleep because somehow they get done.

This brown and blue pair are for another of our neighbor's who broke his pelvis right before calving. One of his dogs from an innumerable herd broke from tradition of nipping at cows to nip at his horse. The horse bucked and he was broken. But his boots still look classy paired with crutches.

Here's a special pair for Seth's aunt. The poor thing ordered them a loooong time ago, but being family she just kept being pushed back. Funny, I know that feeling when it comes to getting some boots. She went back and forth over the color and stitching, but they turned out beautifully.

I hope I can get better at keeping my blog up to date, and leaving comments for all my friends. Life could slow down and I'd be happy sitting at home all day reading a book and playing with my two terrorists, but I'll just have to wait. It goes from one set of things to another, and we're coming up on spring work like branding and cleaning. Plus I just found out my dryer is broken (I thought it was taking awfully long for those jeans to dry) so I guess I'll be homesteading it and hanging my clothes on my furniture, because it's still too cold to go outside. We'd have some seriously shivering sheets. Take what comes and love it.

Out of the Country

2010-03-08T09:44:00.001-08:00

I thought I'd switch things up by not talking about cows and calving, but the only reason I can is because we went somewhere without cows or calving. My sister and I took my two little ones to Utah this past week to see some of the big city. I am proud to say I overcame my phobia and actually drove the whole way. (It's tough to drive in real traffic when I can drive for an hour and a half and only pass 5 cars.)

We stopped at temple square, which of course was a huge hit with Rylee and Dax. What child hasn't seen the statue of Jesus and loved it? We wandered around the tabernacle and conference center for a while then headed down to Provo to visit another sister. Even though there was a blizzard and they got 4 inches of snow while we were there, it melted and was 60 degrees by the end of the day. That is just not the case here in the frigid north.
I had to throw in a pic of Dax with one shoe on, sucking his thumb, running around in his dad's tie. He must be growing some more major big teeth because he's bitten me 3 times in one spot on my arm. It's bruised and marked up like I run around with terrible mouth-eye coordinated vampires. He's 15 months old now and doesn't like to talk, but still gets his point across. Rylee was a jabber box from the beginning and spoke in sentences at this age, but some peace and quiet is kind of nice in one kid. We're back to the grindstone but enjoyed a few days of no cooking, cleaning, or laundry. I know for sure how different my life is now that a trip to Utah is considered a vacation.

Moooving up

2010-02-24T10:11:00.000-08:00

Rylee is a very smart little girl and we've come to expect a lot out of her. She's still only 4, but she has a list of daily chores, she watches after her brother, is learning to read and kicks tail on Mario Kart Wii. A man in our ward was feeding his cows off the back of his moving truck when he fell off and broke his hip. But he still managed to jump up and chase down his truck. He's nearing 80, so his recovery is going to take a while, and it's bad timing because of calving. So his cows came to the corrals behind our house and Rylee got a new job.
At first she was way less than jazzed to feed the cows, but the second she busted her first bale she found her niche. I cut the strings, she pulls it out ("Because string is very unhealthy for cows"), then we throw the flakes out to the cows.

She maybe didn't throw that one too far.

Dax is in the house taking a nap and we are having fun while learning to work. I was not raised ranching and this lifestyle is still new to me, but the thing I appreciate most is the work aspect. My husband knows how to get a job done and do it right. I'm glad we have the chance to teach the same values to our kids. A strong work ethic isn't very prevalent anymore but it's still very important. Plus we get a chance to grow some hay pitching muscles.:)

Two are Better Than One

2010-02-18T19:23:00.001-08:00

Have I mentioned lately that there are two really cool kids living in my house? Being a mom to two has been easier and better than I could have planned. Rylee and Dax spend nearly every waking (and all sleeping) moment together, but they get along just great. Sometimes it's a little frustrating for both of them that they aren't on the same level and can't do the same things. For example, Rylee gives Dax a Barbie to play with. He bangs her on the floor, chews on her foot, throws her off the bed and wanders off. Not Ry's idea of playing.

This is Dax's idea of a good time. Every time we head to the barn he jumps on a calf and loves it, as evidenced by his grin. My little guy was born with a love for trucks, cows, and danger. It's just what being a boy is all about.

His teeth are growing in so... unevenly. Notice that giant chomper on top? He is finally getting one on the other side, I just hope it can grow to be as big. Maybe not quite as sharp though.

After nearly 5 months of snow we had a day to build a snowman. Mostly it's too cold and the snow is powdery or crusty. But we've had some 35 degree weather and went out and built "Frosty". Ain't very original, is she.

Notice anything different? An auntie came and gave Rylee a much needed haircut. Thankfully. It just had gotten soooo long and snarly and took 10-15 minutes to brush each day. We've cut it off before, but she loves long princess hair so it grew out again. Cinderella and Snow White have shorter hair, so it's ok. And so cute!

I sure do love my little turkeys. Most days. Today, definitely. Rylee read her little bro a bedtime story and they went off to bed and left me to blog. I think I'm going to go dream some sweet dreams of sleeping in.

New Babies

2010-01-27T16:03:00.000-08:00

What a sunshiny day it is! We got on our snow clothes and headed down to the barn to see all the new baby calves. Only 15 out of 400 have been born yet, so it's still pretty exciting to see them. Especially for our little cow lovers. We've been trapped in the house for a while as evidenced by Rylee's fair complexion. Dax is over 1 year older than this little guy, but he is outweighed by about 70 lbs and a few inches shorter. Just doesn't seem fair, does it?

Dax is as different from his sister as can be. He wobbled over the straw to get as close to the babies as possible. Then he had a wild bull ride. That little calf could kick! Dax laughed and laughed. It's all right now with his daddy keeping hold, and luckily I think he'll be a little tall to be a pro bull rider in the future.

Here is more proof of these two's differences. Dax tried to climb up the horse by himself, while we had to drag Rylee onto the saddle. Her fear all stems back to an accident this summer where a loose cinch landed her on the ground. She landed in the grass and it didn't' hurt anything but her feelings and she hates being on a horse now.

Meanwhile, her brother rode off into the sunset.

Chilly Days

2010-01-07T18:21:00.000-08:00

Finally, like most places in Idaho, we had to wait until after Christmas for snow. And for us at least, with the snow comes the cold. -21 was the temperature when I took this picture this morning. Brrrrrr. Get me out of here!
Well, if I can't leave, we might as well have some fun. We hooked up the tubes to the four-wheeler and spun cookies in the field. Although, word of warning, watch out for frozen cow turds. They are like granite boulders hitting you full force.

Looks like Hollywood made its way out tubing:)

We headed to Utah for a quick ski trip, and while there wasn't very much snow our little pinkalicous girl had a great time skiing. Her Uncle Sage works at a skiing place and brought her some skis and boots. They double skiied for a while, then she was heading down the hill herself. What a natural! I'm not such a natural, considering all the times I crashed. Seth didn't even bother going and stayed at the hotel to watch all the babies. I guess you can have fun in the cold.

Pretty Pretty

2009-12-29T11:16:00.000-08:00

Rylee has two aunts that are more like big sisters. They show up and have slumber parties and eat candy and play games. They are good friends, and know Rylee really well. For the past two Christmases they each bought her beautiful big spinney princess dresses. She loves them and has a hard time choosing which to wear every day. Since they are dry clean, the three hours of church are the only times she actually gets to wear them. Seth got me a new fancy camera, and I've been reading up and practicing, and who makes a better guinea pig than a kid?

I think the camera did great, but maybe I should have ironed the backdrop.

Princesses get silly sometimes too.

Love my pretty girl, and my new camera! Next up, my littlest cowboy.

Our Holiday

2009-12-25T20:47:00.000-08:00

This Christmas was not the one I expected. My dad called me last Thursday and told me his mom was not doing well and if I wanted to tell her goodbye I had better come home. So I drove to Rigby and spent the night with Grandma Ricks. My sister Camille and cousin Melina stayed with us and we talked and sang to her until 5:30 in the morning. She was in a coma the whole time, but she heard us and I felt very good that Melina was with her the next night when she passed away.

We travelled to Rigby on the 23rd for her viewing, and the funeral was Christmas eve. What a frosty, cold, perfect day it was. All of my family made it home, so we did get to spend some time together. I have a lot of memories of my grandma, she lived only 7 miles away and my sisters and I spent the night and played there and went shopping with her all the time. We knew her really well, and while I'm sad that we won't be making any new memories I'm so happy for our eternal families. I'm happy she's with her husband and happy to know the end of her earthly life is not the end.

Only 2 of her grandsons were missing, and the other 6 were her pallbearers.

My beautiful sisters.

Minus 3 or 4 (car troubles, bad ones), these are all my cousins that were able to come to the funeral. It really made this holiday special to spend it with a lot of family and really reflect on our Savior. Not only His birth, but His atonement. which in the end was the entire reason he was put on this earth. To give us comfort and peace and continuation.

Of course, Christmas still happened. We got home at tucked our little ones in bed and Santa came. Rylee slept in and didn't wake until nearly 8 o'clock, which was fine with me, I was worn out. She showed some definite improvement in gratitude with shouts of "Oh thank you, Santa!" and "I love you mom and dad, thank you!" It was fun. Dax walked right over to his pony and that was the end of it for him, nothing else mattered. What a good, good day.

A Wonderful Christmastime

2009-12-12T08:21:00.000-08:00

We've had it planned for days and days, but since the temperature has had a hard time going over the 0 mark, our Christmas tree has stayed on the mountain. Finally it hit a balmy 10 degrees and bundled up to go find the perfect tree. Well, 10 degrees is not all that warm, either, especially to one year olds. So we ended up with whatever tree was closest to the truck.
There are a few holes, but it sure looks pretty with all of the lights and decorations.

We had our ward Christmas party and good ol' Santa showed up. In the ward I grew up in Santa would drive around to each house with a bag of goodies. Our boundaries in this ward are a little larger, and the houses are very spread out, so Santa comes to the party. Rylee was NOT feeling this Kris Kringle, and she told me his beard was so fake. Considering the guy who played him is younger than me, I guess it's not too hard to figure out he's not the big guy. But she did still ask him for UnoMoo and "some Princess and the Frog stuff".

We dashed over to the school after our party so Rylee could do her dance recital. Last year when we started dance it was a disaster and only lasted a month. This year she was the example for all the other girls and learned her dance and did all the steps. Sometimes all it takes is a little time. I'm so proud of her and how well she did. It has been a pretty special holiday season, with our focus on our family and other families that haven't had as much. If there is anything I could teach my children it would be to Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That saying always reminds me of Christ's- As I have loved you love one another. Hopefully someday I can learn that perfectly, too.

One {whole} Year

2009-12-05T07:31:00.001-08:00

How is it that only a year ago he looked like this?My sweet little guy is just so big now. This year has passed as if it were a dream, it was that quick. Time flies when you're having fun, and we have been.

Dax has added so much happiness to our family. He couldn't ask for a better big sister in Rylee, and we couldn't ask for better children. Dax is starting to walk, has two little teeth, and loves going any where with dad, even if it's only taking out the trash :) The joys of a one year old!

We love you Dax, Happy Birthday!

Long Time Gone

2009-11-03T19:25:00.000-08:00

We're back! It's my favorite time of year again, too. It wasn't too fall-ish for us, though. Most of our tree leaves just froze black and fell off. Not so beautiful. Here's another of fall times not-so-beautiful pictures. Seth, while somewhat disgruntled looking, is very handsome, but the result of some fall work splattered on his shirt is not. Happily, Spray 'N Wash did its job.

Rylee and Dax make some pretty cute country kids. When we run cows in to work them over Rylee climbs all around the loading chute and posed for some interesting pictures. If only Dax could figure out that whole walking thing. The wagon is not his favorite place to be.

Things are the same as ever around here. But better, because life is just better everyday.

Busted

2009-09-15T14:19:00.000-07:00

Our computer breathed it's last breath quite some time ago, so we've been out of touch. We just learned it died for good, so a new one is on the way. Then I can finally update and catch up on everyone else. Hope you don't miss us too bad:)

If you're going to San Francisco

2009-08-26T12:47:00.001-07:00

Seth's beautiful sister Gina moved to San Francisco about a year and a half ago, and no one has ever been to visit! Poor thing was feeling unloved, and I was feeling trapped in Mackaytown, so we made a major road trip. Gina had some fun things planned out for us: first off, the zoo. It was so neat and huge and had every animal imaginable. Even a brand new baby gorilla. Unfortunately, all I got were two pics of giraffes, then my battery died.

We headed to the beach, which wasn't exactly the warm and sunny kind of Southern Cali we swam in last year. The fog was so thick the sun had a heck of a time getting through. It wasn't too cold, and Dax was loving all the sand to crawl in after THIRTEEN hours in the car the day before. He and Rylee loved the water and she collected quite a few sand dollars.

Gina's apartment is so cute and in a nice part of town. Dax's favorite place were the stairs, which he just learned to climb!
Seth and I made it to a preseason 49er's/Raiders game. I think I stared more at the fans than the players. There were some wild people there representing both teams. We were in Candlestick Park, and there was so much security breaking up so many fights. I thought that 49er's fans were clean cut respectable people. I expected the Raider's fans to be a little...wild. Both teams had some flamboyant and crazy and super foul mouthed fans. It was good time, though, and my hardcore Raider husband got to see his team in action. They lost by one point:)My little monkeys in downtown.We took the scenic route home through Yosemite National Park. It was good for our babies to get out and stretch their legs.
I think Rylee and Dax's favorite part of the whole trip was stopping in a grocery store in Oakdale. They were driving that cart like Indy racers. The best part of this whole trip for me was just getting away from home, relaxing and spending time with my family. We were disconnected from anything resembling work. Vacays are wonderful, but after 5 days, we're happy to be home again.

Another one bites the dust

2009-08-16T19:46:00.000-07:00

I have 4 beautiful wonderful sisters, and we actually all got to see each other this past weekend. My little sister Anna (who has turned into the most beautiful of us all) got married! Her new husband, Alex, is such a cutie pie and they make the best couple. I just love seeing people in love!

I'm just so glad my family is a temple family. When Anna took her endowments out in the Idaho Falls temple there were 20 members of our family present! It's hard to express how grateful I am for eternal families, but knowing that there is no end to all of the good, most favorite things in life is so kind of our Heavenly Father. Seth and I have been married over 6 years and it feels just like yesterday. I hope my sister and her new husband can be so happy, too.

Practice

2009-08-10T20:18:00.000-07:00

There always seems to be something going on around here, and this week is no different. A neighbouring town is having a ranch rodeo Wednesday, and one of Seth's friends roped him into it. (haha, I'm so clever:) They are going to do a team branding, which is to see how fast 4 guys can rope and brand 4 calves. So we went down to some corrals tonight to watch them practice.
Rylee got the important job of opening the chute to let the steers out. These steers are very used to doing this, so there is no fire under them and they just kind of saunter out and wait to get roped. Here's a little info for the people who are maybe not so savvy with the cavvy. A heifer is a lady cow who hasn't had a baby yet, a steer is a boy cow that has been cut (castrated) and an ox is just an old grown up steer. Not many steers make it to oxen, most just make it to steak. I never knew these things until I found my cowboy.

Our newest little cowboy had a great time watching all the action. Manure is already in his veins, as all he wanted to do was ride with dad and catch those cows. Dax must want to be trick rider like his great grandpa Teichert; he wanted to stand on the horn instead of sit down. I just love my cowboys!

Pioneer Children

2009-07-30T17:29:00.000-07:00

The 24th of July has been over for a while, but it's taking me longer and longer to get anything posted. What a great holiday Pioneer Day is. My heritage is pioneer all the way around, and I really appreciate my ancestors. So it's great that we had a big celebration in our valley this year. The day started out with a parade, and even though she doesn't look it, Rylee was super excited to pull Dax in their covered wagon. I teamed them up with some older kids in case Rylee got a little tired, but she would not let anyone else touch her wagon. It was quite a ways to the church house, too.
One of Rylee's boyfriends. He's even older than her, so maybe one day he'll grow into her:0)

Dax promptly fell asleep, and I know exactly what he was dreaming of...
This is the only way he'd cross the plains; driving a Cummins Turbo Diesel. He's already been corrupted by his dad. (We're just driving through the field at about 10 mph, he is not in any danger driving the truck).

I like to eat

2009-07-19T08:14:00.000-07:00

Yum yum, apricots and oatmeal. Delicious and nutritious.
Wait a second, maybe not so much on the delicious part.

I thought I liked to eat. I thought food was supposed to be good.

Not sure what I'm thinking right now. Maybe betrayed for getting such a nasty spoonful. That's why I spit it all over the place.

Yes, things are that bad.

4th of Juuuuly

2009-07-06T07:56:00.000-07:00

4th of July is my favorite holiday. I love barbecues, I love fireworks, I love finally being able to wear red white and blue together. I think I may have already passed this love on to Rylee. She was busy setting off her daytime fireworks: silly string. Sometimes her aim wasn't so great and she sprayed herself instead.
Ever heard of the old adage that corn should be "knee high by the 4th of July"? The tallest of our 3 little corn that are coming up doesn't even reach Dax's knees.

It's been a while since we have set of snakes. They are just as thrilling as they were 20 years ago. "I only like snakes and sparklers".

Up the Canyon

2009-06-29T08:30:00.000-07:00

With all the rain we've been getting lately water has just been pouring out of every creek, stream and river. Seth and I had gone 4-wheeling with some friends last year and found this creek that ran for a little ways then sunk into the ground. But with all the high water it was actually making it down to the reservoir, so we wanted to see what it looked like now.
Rylee kept thinking we were pioneers because we were walking and we had no food.

The water was really roaring, and Dax was loving it. There were so many new things for him to look at he just kept whipping his head from side to side. Even though we've lived here over 4 years now I'm just starting to see the beauty of this place.

PS Those beautiful beans in my last post had a sad ending. They froze to death the night after I took their picture. I guess it's radishes and carrots again this year.

Growing Things

2009-06-22T16:05:00.000-07:00

This is why I'm loving summer.

These little guys are another reason. They may look puny and pathetic but are by far the best crop we've had in 4 years.

Lilacs are my number one favorite part of spring. But it's not spring anymore, right? Because of our altitude and weather we get lilacs at the end of June, so they are all the more enjoyable. They have always been my favorite flower and remind me of going to Driggs, Idaho for Memorial Day. We'd always cut some blooms and make the drive to visit my mom's family graves. We'd have a picnic and get a little vacay. I loved it, and the smell of lilacs always brings me back.

River's Up

2009-06-16T15:38:00.000-07:00

A mentioned in my last post, it's been raining here. A lot. Like everyday for the past 3 weeks. The grass has never been so tall or green. We got a break where the sun came out for a couple hours and took a little 4 wheeler ride to check out high water.

Our fields are just over run and have little lakes all over. My father-in-law has actually stopped irrigating, because as Rylee puts it "the rain washes the grass better than you". Because the sun does peek through every so often, all this rain is just wonderful. If we had constant clouds it would be a little tiring, but my garden is growing better than it ever has, our fields have taller grass, and everything has something to drink. Bring on the rain:)

Half a Birthday

2009-06-05T19:24:00.000-07:00

Seth left home on Wednesday morning at about 6:30 am and I haven't seen or talked to him since. He's out in the middle of Wyoming pulling one of these:

We really miss him but don't really envy him. They picked the ma's and pa's from all the wards in our stake to go on the Martin's Cove Handcart Trek, and Seth and his mother made a pair. They are the only ones in our stake not with a spouse, because I have a 6 month old I can't leave and Seth's dad just doesn't walk anymore than he has to. It just isn't enjoyable for cowboys to take a stroll, so I'm thinking this whole hiking/trek thing isn't quite up Seth's ally. We'll just have to see how it went we he gets home on Saturday night.

There are a couple of pluses being home alone. Like eating caramel popcorn for lunch and cereal for dinner. Going on long bike rides without having to think of time or someone at home, and playing in the sprinklers whenever the weather permits. (Rylee is really into accessorizing, that's the only way to explain her outfit)

Sad for dad he missed Dax's happy half a birthday today. Six months old! Rylee wanted to take a picture of Dax and me, and even though it's blurry I had to post it because as soon as she snapped he puked. There is puke running down his chin and onto my hand. That's nothing new because he pukes about 1200000 times every day. And isn't my purse cute? Seth made it for me:)

This little guy is just into everything and everywhere. He's definitely more of an explorer and risk taker than his big sis. If there's a tight or dirty spot he could get into that's right where he goes. In the case of behind the wood stove it's both. Tight and dirty, that is. He also gets stuck behind the couch, under the table, rocking chair, and computer, and bangs his head on any hard surface. I sure love the little guy and these six months have just been great!
These past few days have been great for rain. Every day we get 3-4 rainstorms with thunder and lightning and hail. I've never seen Mackay so green! I just figure the sky feels the same way I do without Seth here. I'm so cheesy, but I really am missing that guy. I just hope he hasn't had the same storms we have while trying to pull a handcart and sleep in a tent.

Save the Dandelions

2009-06-03T08:32:00.000-07:00

We are loving summertime. There was no spring, we just woke up one morning and it was 70 degrees. I have been busy doing things I can do when the sun shines and it's warm out: gardening, bike rides, lawn work (2 acres takes a looong time to mow with a push mower), barbecuing. Dax has been busy, too: sitting up, crawling, getting a big boy haircut, eating real food.

Rylee has been crusading in vain this year to save all those pretty yellow flowers on our lawn. When I crank up the lawn mower she turns on her jets and races around picking all the dandelions. We have vases all over our house with dandelions floating in them. One day she'll realize it's a lost cause and they are actually weeds, but we all have to feel deeply about something.

Through Rylee's eyes

2009-05-16T20:49:00.000-07:00

Hi, I'm Rylee. If you think my face looks bad you should see the other guy's knuckles. Just kidding. Even though it looks like I've been fighting, or possibly crying for 5 days straight, it's neither. It started out as a runny nose and cough, and just when my mommy thought I was getting better it travelled to my eyes. I like to wipe my nose with my favorite little stuffed dog, then I like to rub it in my eyes, even though mommy told me not to. I'm sure she just loves wiping my my nose 586 times a day and cleaning my eyes out, because I always hold still and succumb to the tissue gratefully. I was one of the walking dead until I finally gave in (it wasn't easy, I fought it every inch of the way) and found a comfy spot to sleep.

This is Dax. He's been giving me grossed-out looks for a couple of days now. I think what he is saying is "You stay as far away from me as possible. I don't want your icky sickness, so please stop trying to kiss and hug me. You love me, I get it, now back off". All of us at my house hope I'll get better soon.

New Boots

2009-05-13T11:55:00.000-07:00

How in the world did this rancher cowboy husband of mine end up a maker of cowboy boots? Great fantastic beautiful cowboy boots, I might add. A little while before we started dating he had seen a leather shop for sale in the Thrifty Nickel. He thought he'd buy a sewing machine to do his little leather projects like chaps, chinks, headstalls, and other cowboy horsie things made from leather. He ended up buying the whole dang shop and had a basement full of strange machines. Seth had made friends with some lace-up boot makers out of Dubois, Idaho, and they offered him a 6 month apprenticeship. This was after we'd married, so we packed everything up and moved to a itty-bitty apartment above the boot shop in Dubois. And I mean little, Seth could touch the ceiling while sitting down.
After learning some things about lace up boots, we left and he didn't get much boot making done for the next year. But after we moved to Mackay he found another boot maker in Salmon, Idaho, who gave him a three day class on pull-on boots. So Seth started making some of his own, but they weren't turning out quite the way he wanted. He bought some VERY expensive boot making videos from a guy in Texas, and then his work started to take off. He's had so many orders that at any time he's out a year and a half. Granted, he can only work on them after his "real job", but every pair he turns out is better than the last.

He doesn't advertise, people just call up and order what they want. Sometimes, like the brown pair, it's a little generic, but it's what they want. Everything he makes is custom fit to their feet, so they are comfy as well as super good-looking:) The blue pair is for a guy with size 13A feet who has a hard time finding anything to fit. I've finally decided what I want my next pair to look like, and even though I've been working on them for 2 months they are not very far along. I'm a very slow boot maker. Rylee's new pair is in the works, too. Even though I have no trouble finding a pair that fits, I want a pair that's awesome!

Oh Deer

2009-05-10T12:41:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day weekend is always good one for me because I get to go to my old flower shop and pretend to be a florist still. Being around flowers is one of my favorite things, and the ladies at the shop are some of my favorite people. I just love it there! We also got to visit Dax's cute little cousin Flint Sterling Teichert. He is adorable and teeny weeny. How can a kid grow so much in 5 months?
Saturday we went to the temple to help the youth in our ward do baptisms. It was the most beautiful day outside, but even more beautiful inside. Auntie Calli was nice enough to watch Dax and Rylee while we were busy. We dithered around Idaho Falls running errands, so by the time we were headed home it was getting dark. Only 10 miles from home a raggedy molting herd of deer ran straight out in front of us, and this is the end result:
I'm very impressed with this 5 star crash rating little Hyundai. We weren't hurt at all and we made it home, leaving a trail of coolant behind us. Our wonderful day ended perfectly with a call to our insurance. We learned from car #1 to always have full coverage insurance with a small deductible, so no worries there, we are all safe, and we get to drive around Big Red more often.

Baby Boys

2009-05-04T20:35:00.000-07:00

My little guy is already 5 months old. He is growing super fast, too. He's already 17 lbs and nearly 29 inches tall. I don't know why but my kids are just giants. Seth has some really "great" jokes about cow stats and their abilities to have big calves and me having the same qualities. At least I won't be sent off to the sale yard any time soon. Haha. Dax is already crawling, and although his arms and legs don't quite move simultaneously he sure can get around. I love having this boy as part of our family.

Speaking of part of our family, my hope has come true for Dax to have a boy cousin. Seth's brother Sage and his wife Sarah had their first baby on Saturday, name yet to be determined. He was a little guy at 6 1/2 lbs and 19 inches. I'll get to see the cutie later this week, and if they would ever send us pictures of him I'll post them. It's been a while since I had my first baby, and I remember clearly the feeling of "what have I gotten myself into". I hope things go great for them and they have the perfect 10 hour sleeping, knows how to eat, and cleans up after himself baby. Congrats!

So Fairy Wonderful!

2009-04-22T12:06:00.000-07:00

Usually I am not much of a winner. Once I won a fridge and a year's supply of milk, and that was pretty awesome. But I am constantly entering contests on blogs and until I went to Fairy Wonderful I had won zero. Luckily, out of all the entries, Rylee got this super cute custom made tutu, matching beanie and polk-dot leg warmers. How girly can she get! Thank you so much for picking us!
Speaking of giveaways, I think I have found the best one EVER! Head over to the meanest mom and enter. I want that stuff so bad!

Spring Work

2009-04-19T15:02:00.000-07:00

This is Seth's littlest sister Tayler. She's only 17 years old and is already very accomplished. She can cowboy and rope like a pro, she's an amateur photographer that has already been published in Working Ranch Magazine, and she took Dax on his first horse ride.She also took all these awesome pictures of us being real live buckaroos.
I mainly branded this year, but at the end of our last branding I did start wrestling the calves as the ropers brought them in. They were our babies and only about 100 lbs or more. The ones we branded earlier that week were 200-250 lbs. I had a hard time holding big ones down.

Seth working a branding iron.

Rylee can go up to a horse and feed it grain and just stand around while they buck and jump around her, but if a bawling calf comes near her she freaks out. We helped her get over her fear by having her sit on the calves after they'd been wrestled. She even helped give a couple of shots. We'll make a cowgirl out of her yet!

This is my horse, Saturn. Seth gave her to me as a wedding present, but she is still a little wild for me to ride. Her foals are mine, though, so hopefully we can make a tame little kid pony of her colt that Seth's breaking this year.

Seth has been to a lot of our neighbor's brandings and probably worked about 1200 calves this week.

Wes

Our friend Garret decided that he could ride a cow. He got a couple of guys to rope it and bring her to the ground, then he hopped on.

He wasn't on for long.

Seth thought he'd try, and that wild cow just plodded along for him, although he looks like a rodeo cowboy. He had to spur her just to get her moving:)

Too bad Garret, good job Seth! Garret decided to try again on another cow, to pretty much the same results. This video is hilarious, I only wish I had gone to watch! All in all, a fun time of year.

I am a builder...

2009-04-18T07:02:00.001-07:00

If any of you have a calling in Primary or have children, you may have heard the song "I Am a Builder". We had a primary activity day based on that where the kids built some snacks and cardboard box cars. Seth and Rylee really got into it, and since she's been wanting a pink cummins turbo diesel, they built one. All the kids were jealous of her awesome truck, but she stunk it up at the races. It's weight to Rylee ratio was pretty high, plus it was three times as long as her. But it was a comfy ride to sit in during the drive in movie.