Cattle Drive

This past weekend we went to Idaho so that we could go on the anual Cattle Drive with Zak's family. We were lucky with the weather- hardly any rain, which was great, because we slept in a tent. The girls loved it, loved playing with Belle- the dog, playing with cousins, and getting horse rides. Blyss about wore me out keeping track of her, she would just run off- usually for the horses, she ran under one, but thank goodness nothing happened to her. Blyss also rode through a "buck", which means she stayed on the horse while it bucked. Blyss was sitting on Squealer, while Squealer was eating some grass, I was holding the lead rope, but it also had reins on, I was holding the lead rope, and watching Hallee play with her cousins, I looked down, right then I noticed the reins had fell, Squealer took a step, right into the reins with one of his front feet, he took another step which tangled him all up, he started to rear and buck, trying to get free, Blyss was holding on for dear life, I was screaming- which didn't help, but I was so scared, and I was trying to get her off. Finally I got her off, by that time Zak's mom was over there and got Squealer untangled. Blyss wasn't even scared, she just said, "Naughty horse." Zak arrived a few minutes later and she got on with him and rode about half and hour. Hallee also got to ride her Uncle Wade's horse, which now is her favorite horse.
After the cattle drive we went to my parents to get all cleaned up and hung out with them. Chase's fiance, Chlesea was there and the girls just love to be around her, which was fun for them.

Let's go Swimming!

We started swimming lessons this past week, Hallee was really nervous for swimming lessons, she told us she already knew how to swim and didn't need to go, that was her same response after her 1st day of swimming lessons. But know she loves it and thinks it is so much fun. Blyss and I have been doing the mommy and me class. All Blyss wants to do it jump off the side of the pool to me. But she is crazy, she doesn't wait until I count to 3, she jumps in the minute I put her up there on the side and she is fearless. She doesn't mind having her head wet. The place that we are taking swimming lessons at is awesome- Sports Academy. We have our lessons in the indoor swimming pool, then after swimming lessons, there is an outside swimming pool that you can play in. They have a 1 foot pool that Blyss loves, they also have a 2 foot, 3 foot pool which Hallee likes to be in to practice.

Girls playing in the 1 foot pool- I don't know how they do it, it was cold and rainy this day.

Hallee and Blyss right after swimming lessons

Hallee with some of the kids her is class

1st day of swimming lessons- ready to go

Wind Caves

Today we decided to hike a popular trail to go see the wind caves(since it was too muddy to work in the yard- thanks to all the heavy rain we recieved this week- it washed away all of our grass seed that we had planted). The trail was 1.8 miles to the wind caves and the route gains 1,000 feet in elevation from the canyon floor to the caves. So it was a pretty steep trip up, but great going down- except being tired by that point. Zak carried Blyss in a backpack and Hallee walked. Hallee is such a trooper- this hike was not easy- and almost 4 miles, she did incredibly well. When we were about back to the car she started complaining that her feet hurt and that she was tired, and all she wanted to do when she got back to the car was to take off her shoes, and have her blankie. We didn't see any wildlife besides a dead elk head. Hallee thought she saw a lion but just turned out to be someone's yellow lab. We hope to go on more hikes- maybe not as hard as this one though!!!! Here are some pictures of our hike. The arches of the cave were formed by wind and water eroding away limestone.

we had to cross this natural creek

this is the sight I saw the entire hike- Blyss' skinny little legs dangling from the pack- and yes she does have a dress on

Pretty view on the mountains around us

What we've been up too

Blyss is definately our little Miss Personality, she is always doing something silly. One day I found her in her room sitting on the dolly chair reading books. I really love that she can entertain herself.

This last week was Hallee's last week of dance. They had a little dance recital, then they were awarded with a trophy. Hallee is so excited over her trophy. Afterwards we went for pizza and she had to take in her trophy to show everyone. She is very proud of it.

We have been working on getting our yard ready to plant grass for about 6 weeks now. We have raked and raked, and raked some more. Hauled off tons of rocks, dug out giant rocks. So this the final step rolling it out before we plant grass. Zak was one popular guy, he has our kids plus the neighbors kids. They had a blast.

Here it is all level.

The girls having fun dressing up daddy. You gotta love it. If we ever have a boy, I'm sure he'll look like this all the time!

BlAcK and WhItE DaYs

This past week was the Richmond Black and White Days. It is a huge event, where people bring their Dairy cows in from all over the west. They have cattle shows, judging, milking cow judging, and the heritage cattle sale- where a dairy cow is sold from anywhere between- $3,000 to $13,000 or more (this is the range we saw while we were there). While we were there a cow sold for $13,000- isn't that crazy!!! I would be afraid it would die on me on the way home. The girls and I went and looked at the cows everyday (Zak was gone most of the week, so this was our little get out everyday).
Yesterday was the parade, my brother, Nick and his wife, Hailey came to the parade with us. Then we had a little barbecue, then went to the Horse Pull. Haley's brother, Nick Barney had brought his Shires, to pull. It was fun to watch these big horses and see how much weight they could pull. The winner team pulled 8,000 lbs., and that team weighed a combine totally of 5,000lbs, those horses were huge!!! Nick's team took 7th place, which was great.

Here is a picture of the parade, and the girls' and Haley with the horses.

Parade and Mother's Day

On Saturday Hallee was in the Health Day's Parade. She had to bring a bag of candy to throw, so she was pretty excited over that, when her float came by us, which was about 1 block, she had already thrown all her candy out. After the parade we headed to the park where they had booths, and jump toys to play on, and then Hallee and her dance group got to dance for everyone. They were pretty dang cute.

Getting Ready to Perform

Blyss on jump toy- they both loved it- it had a huge slide to slide down

Hallee

Hallee on the float

Here is a picture of the girls and I on Mother's Day before church.

Hallee gave me a cute little card that she made at preschool- it is about my mom:


How old- 5


Weight- 2 pounds


How tall- as tall as a dinosaur


Favorite Food- Burritos


Likes to do- Clean the bathrooms


This card gave me a good laugh, I wish I could be 5 sometimes, I wish I could lose 2 pounds, I wish I was a little bit taller, I do like burritos-especially from Cafe Rio, and I really don't like cleaning bathrooms. It is just funny what Hallee thinks about me!!!

Fun?

Happy Mother's Day to me and Happy Father's Day to my hubby!!!!! It really doesn't look fun, but we are exctied for our new treadmill. I started looking for a treadmill back in November to get Zak for his birthday, but I'm to cheap to buy a new one. I've been checking KSL and Craigslist almost everyday, and I finally found one!!! It was a great deal.

Pillowcases are the most entertaining things around our house!