Christmas Happenings

The weekend after Thanksgiving, Zach, his parents, and I went up on the mountain and cut down our Christmas tree.  It's the first time I've ever actually gone out and cut down my own tree so it was exciting.  We went  up the the mountains a few miles from where we live and found our tree right away.  It was a cute little thing.  Zach's parents, on the other hand, were on the search for the "perfect blue spruce Christmas tree" and took much longer to find it.  On the way down the mountain, Zach's dad spotted one up on a hill next to the road.  As his dad was climbing up, we all had a good laugh and Zach made fun of the way he crawled up the hill like a little baby.  After he got up, he had Zach come up and bring the chain saw to cut it down.  The best part of the whole day was watching him climb up the hill just like his dad.  We had a good laugh about it all. 

The infamous hill they climbed to get the tree.

Cutting down the tree.

After they cut it down, Zach and the tree slide all the way down to the road and nearly took out the truck.  Below is a picture when he slid into the road.

And, last but not least, the final product!

Kids Say the Darndest Things

As you know, or if you don't, last year I was called as a Primary teacher for the 8-11 year olds in my ward.  In a nutshell you could say they are a rambunctious bunch who love rodeo, are obsessed with roping, and love horses.  Nearly every week there is a comment that floors me or that is probably inappropriate for church but hilarious.  To make matters even more interesting, the one who accounts for 95% of the comments is the bishop's son.  I will share a couple comments made over the last month.

Christmas Lesson:
For our Christmas lesson, one of the older girls in my class wanted to teach so I showed her what to do and she did really well.  In the middle of her lesson, we were talking about how Mary wasn't married when she became pregnant with Christ.  We discussed how this was looked down upon during that time and how blessed she was that Joseph was willing to stay with her.  In the middle of the discussion, the bishop's son asked very honestly,  well how do girls get pregnant in the first place?  Both the girl teaching and I were taken aback and were speachless.  I had no idea what to say to him other than, "Well, I think that's a question you'll have to ask your mom."  Hilarious.

Crackers and Niggas:
After class a couple of weeks ago, the other boy in my class asked me a simple yet surprising question, "Do you know what a cracka is?"  I said. "Sure, isn't it a white guy?"  He abrubtly corrected me and stated that it was in fact a man of color. 

Right after that the bishop's son proudly stated that his older brother calls him a nigga.  I asked if he did all his brother's dirty work for him to be called such a thing.  He simply stated that wasn't the case and that he just likes to call him a nigga.  This turned out to be a very educational class.

Skinny Dipping:
Again, the bishop's son is the culprit here.  Out of the blue, he confessed that his parents like to go skinny dipping outside, and they do it all the time in the summer.  He then informed me what that meant.  Where does this kid come up with these things?  If the show "Kids Say the Darndest Things" was still on, he'd be a perfect candidate.

Trench

This summer we've been working on putting in new corrals for the cows.  We finally got them built and the shed is mostly done, except for the siding and tin roof.  The most important part for me was getting in the water because last winter I had to drag 400 feet of hoses down to the calving corrals to water the cows and roll it up everytime so the water didn't freeze in the hose.  Needless to say, it was a major PAIN.  During the week of Thanksgiving Zach rented a trackhoe and dug a water line so I can water them without any hoses.  JOY!!  Zach wanted a few pics of his skills, and you get to enjoy them too!

 The trench is about 5 feet deep.  It's hard to tell from the pic, though.

 The man at work.

 Zach wanted me to get a pic of the large rock he broke and scooped out in one bucket.  I missed it, but you can see it on the pile.

 Josh & Brand putting in the water line.

My trusty helper, Bells.