Priceless...

I have somewhat of an affinity for the old MasterCard "Priceless" commercials, so I decided to create one of my own.

• New 4-wheeler, $7,000
• Gas for the ride, $15
• Beanies, $10
• Roasted Hot Dogs, Chips, and Pop, $10
• Realizing there are three of us in the picture...Priceless!!

Yep, you guessed it.  We're expecting our first on September 1st!!  We have an amazing OB, and we get to have an ultrasound each month!  Sometimes I wonder if I'm really preggers, but when we go to the OB and hear the heartbeat and see it, it becomes so much more real!!  Most days I wish I had a remote for life so I could just fast forward to the part where he/she is born.  I can't wait to see him/her!!  It's exciting to see all the changes from just a little "blob", as I would call it, to what looks like a fully developed baby.  Zach is extremely excited about all of it and wants to be involved in every aspect.  He has a strong opinon of what the room should look like (John Deere Tractors with Green walls), won't miss an appointment with the doctor, and has even nicknamed it already! 

As you may or may not know, Zach, Brandon, Allen, and I all bought colts last fall.  Zach named his Teddy and subsequently nicknamed our baby-to-be Teddy Jr.  So, if you assumed he wants a boy, you're right!  I have held that if we have a girl, he'd be completely devistated. 

Baby Teddy at 12 weeks.  We got a really good picture of Teddy's hand.

At our 16 week appointment with the doctor, we got a lot of special glimpses of our little one.  It was amazing to see how active Teddy already is!  Throughout the whole ultrasound Teddy was bouncing around and would not hold still.  I can only imagine how it will be when I can actually feel it!  I have a feeling I won't get any rest.

In the middle of the ultrasound, Teddy actually yawned.  It was the cutest thing I've seen so far!!  So, here's a picture of it.

We also got a glimpse of Teddy's profile.  It's kind of hard to see, but you can see some of the features of Teddy's face.  Just adorable!

We also were able to find out whether baby Teddy was the boy Zach's been hoping for or a cute little girl all of it's aunts and grandmas want.  Before I make the big reveal, I actually had a couple of dreams about it.  Kind of crazy, I know. 

In my first dream, all of my family was over, and I was holding a boy.  For some reason he would not stop crying.  I did everything imaginable but to no avail.  All the moms in the room tried to take him and tell me what to do, but I would have no part in it.  I was the mom, and I knew what was best.  Not ten seconds after I let everyone know that, he stopped fussing and was an angel.  Then, for some reason I was confused whether or not it was actually a boy and came to believe it was a girl. 

The second dream happened the night before my last doctor's appointment.  I can't really recall the details of the dream, but I do know feeling very strongly that it was going to be a boy.  When I told Zach of them, he was even more convinced that a baby boy was in our near future. 

To be honest, I don't really have a preference boy or girl.  I always wanted an older brother growing up, so having a boy first was ideal.  On the other hand, girls are so much more fun to dress up and have so many more cute things, hand bands, dresses, etc., so I also wanted a girl. 

We already picked out two names that we liked...for a boy Stetson Alva/Albert...and for a girl Tinsley Maurine.  But only one will survive...any guesses?!?

And now for the big reveal...

3...

2...

1...

It's a....



BOY!!! 

Now Zach can sleep well knowing his dream came true, lol.  

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.

My Babies

Friday morning we finally were able to bring home our babies!!  We got them from the Hickeys in Lone Tree and they are just adorable. 

My Colt :)

I couldn't decide which one I wanted when I got there.  There were about 4 that I really liked, but I was informed I was to choose a stud colt and NO WOMEN!!  The one I came home with was the only one that was a stud, but he was at the top of my list.  Zach also got a man, and Brandon lucked out and got his mare colt (partly because his dad said he could have one).  I think my absolute favorite colt there was actually one the Hickeys bred from one of their working stock.  He was a Buckskin Paint and was absolutely adorable.  We asked if they'd be willing to sell it, but they said we'd have to do some major wheeling and dealing.  Hence, I stayed with my cutie for the amazing price of $80.  I can't complain about that :)

Zach's Colt Teddy

Brandon's Colt

The only downfall of it all, is that these colts are wild and out of control!  The Hickeys weaned them off their mothers the day before and I couldn't believe how psychotic they were.  Unlike cows when you sort them, these colts would run right at you!  If you didn't get out of the way, you were toast.  I never thought I'd be more comfortable in a pen of adult horses over colts.

Boomer or Mr. Darcy

The saddest part of the day was just after they got our horses in another pen to put their halters on and load in the trailer.  They were trying to sort out a couple of colts that came into the pen with ours.  One made a b-line for the gate, turned sharp, hit a post in the barn, and broke it's back leg.  I felt awful!!  You could hear the pop as it snapped at what would be the knee.  Poor little guy.  After that I was petrified that one of ours might do the same as we loaded or unloaded them.

 Heavenly Being

After we got them home and was unloading Brandon's from the trailer, Zach's horse Teddy got the bright idea to bust out of this place.  There is a hole on the side of the barn that is about 4 1/2' off the ground where they haven't nailed the last piece of partical board.  Above it about 3' is a 2x6 that the board would be nailed to.  Well, Teddy lept through the hole, not hitting anything!  An amazing feat of itself.  I was pretty impressed.  Well, we hadn't fenced in the corner piece of the pen he jumped into and he bolted towards freedom.  Three attempts and three hours later, they were finally able to round him up and bring him back inot the corrals, but not after he cut himself up on some barbed wire fences he went through.  Poor guy, he had a rough day.

Teddy

Halloween

This year for Halloween our ward decided to do Trunk-or-Treating.  They had soups for dinner and then let the kids out to collect their yearly chocolate supply.  I went with Zach's mom since he was working and had a blast.  I love trick-or-treaters!  A few days earlier I was shopping with my mom in Rupert and we came across dog costumes and I just had to get one for Bells.  I thought it was the cutest thing, but Zach thought I wasted my money.  I'll let you decide.  Nella Rae, a lady in my ward just loved it.  When she saw her at the church, she got all sorts of hysterical about it.  It made me laugh.  Brand also loved it.  When he saw her, he said it made his day. lol...

Buzz like a hornet, sting like a bee :)

I also had a Halloween party for my Activity Days girls.  We played a guessing game where the girls touched body parts of a dead man and tried to guess what each one was.  These girls are what I would consider tough girls, but I had a hard time getting them to put their hands in the box to feel them at first.  They also played a Halloween Bingo game.  At the end I had gift bags for them and I made cupcakes.  I was really proud how they turned out.

Zach and I also carved a pumpkin.  We bought two of them, but we only managed to get one done before Halloween.  We tagged teamed on the event, I drew the picture and gutted it out, and  Zach was the master cutter.

 The final product

Elk Hunting

In the middle of October Zach, his brothers, and his dad made their annual elk hunting trip to Horsecreek.  From all the stories Zach's told me of elk hunting in October, it's always amounted to we froze to death, but we shot some nice elk and had an awesome time.  In my personal opinion, freezing to death does not sound like the most fun in the world that I'd come back every year to experience it.  Hence, I was a little hesitant to go.  But, to my surprise, it was lovely up there.  I think it averaged in the 50's or 60's for most of the time we were there. 

Campsite

The first morning we were there, Josh shot and tagged a 6-point.  I stayed in camp that morning because, as Brand would say, I was a pansy and didn't want to venture out in the cold.  They came back around noon and recanted their amazing hunting skills.  The next morning they went up, Brand shot and tagged a 5-point.  After they shot his elk, they planned on packing them both out.  However, Mouse, Zach's midget white horse beast, had other plans.  They packed on Josh's elk on Boogers and Cinnamon and went to put Brand's on Mouse.  But, as soon as they got the front shoulders on her, she freaked.  She put on a little rodeo for them all while Zach tried to contain her.  But, Mouse won out and threw the elk off of her and ended up breaking the ribs so they couldn't pack it off that day.  Needless to say, Zach's beast of a horse became the unmentioniable word and he's talked about getting rid of her since then. 

 Brandon's and Josh's Antlers

 Gutting Brandon's Elk

I didn't go with the guys that morning either.  I figured I'd clean up camp, do some dishes, and read my book and they'd be back around noon.  Well, noon came and went as well as one o'clock, two, three, and four.  I began to get a little worried and found it hard to fill in the time all by myself.  Around four thirty, I started to think about all the worst case scenarios that would have played out, and I started to freak myself out.  In all the times I've been hunting with them, they'd never been gone that long.  So, I decided I'd better say a little prayer and hope things were ok.  Not even two seconds after I finished, I saw Zach and Josh riding out of the trees dressed in their orange.  I was relieved and thankful my prayer had been answered so quickly. 

 Packing off Josh's Elk

Boogs and Zach with the back half

After spending almost an entire day by myself, I decided to go up with the guys the next morning.  I needed to see some action, even if I had to freeze a little bit to get it.  After we got to the top of the ridge, Zach told me to follow his dad and he'd meet up with us in a minute.  He also told me to have a tighter grip on the reins so if he shot, I could stop Rocky.  That freaked me out a little bit.  (If you haven't noticed, I am sort of a pansy.)  Not even a minute later, I heard a shot and Rocky just jumped a little.  No need to control a crazy horse, whew.  We didn't realize it was Zach that shot until a couple hours later when he showed up in a bloody mess.  He wanted to know why we hadn't gone and helped him gut it out, but all of us figured if he had shot something, he'd come and get us to help him. 

We packed out Brand's and Zach's elk that day.  I rode down with Zach and his dad with Josh's elk.  On the way, re came across a creek and I let Rocky get a drink.  BIG MISTAKE!!  When he was finished, he stepped in a hole and freaked out a bit.  He swung around and banged my knee against a tree, but he wasn't done.  He couldn't fit between the trees he hit my knee against so he kept pushing against the tree to rub in the pain a little more.  I finally got him to back up and go around, but not before the damage was done.  Later on down the trail, we were going through some thick dead trees.  A bunch of branches were in the way, and so I pulled on the reins to slow him down so I could push them out of the way.  But, he wouldn't stop and I got bushwacked in the face.  I think I should have stayed up on the mountain and helped Josh and Brand.  When we got back up the mountain, I told Brand he could ride Rocky down and I'd just lead Cinnamon down with Zach's elk.  I don't know what the deal is, but none of Zach's animals slash pets seem to like me.  Herbie has a vehemet hatred for me since the moment we met, Boogers doesn't mind me, and Rocky drives recklessly. 

  As we were putting the back quarters on Boogers, Brand thought it was only fitting that Boogs return to his desert roots, so he branded him with his hands.  Not only did Boogs get it, but Cinnamon as well.

 

This is probably one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip.  I think Brand looks like Elmer Fudd hunting waskaly wabbits.   And he's being assisted by his hesitant partner Josh. 

 Zach and I at the top of Prospect Peak

 Left: Josh     Middle: Brand    Right: Zach

Summertime...

Now that summer has slowed down and the weather has cooled off, I finaly have a moment to make a post.  Most of the summer was spent fishing, gardening, working on the yard and house, and getting firewood off the mountain (my least favorite thing to do). 

Fishing
I think overall, Zach and I kept six fish this year.  I think that's less than half of what we caught, but there aren't a lot of big fish where we go (mainly Longspark, Spirit Lake, and Brown Lake).  We did try fishing down at the Gorge but none of us caught anything.  Sad...  The last time we went down to Longspark, Zach, Brandon (his little brother), and I had a competition to see who would catch the most fish.  Zach and Brand both had two fish before I even had a bite so I immediately demoted myself as the loser of the competition.  I decided to move over by them to see if that would help and the next two casts I had two fish.  Beautiful!!  Zach decided he needed to step it up and got serious.  Afterall, a seasoned fisherman should not lose to a novice or a girl.  Brand was the next to catch a fish, but as he was pulling it up to the bank, it got away.  He and I both thought that should count but Zach was very adimit that it had to be in our hands for it to count.  Zach caught the next and Brand followed right after.  Of the lot, Zach and Brand kept all the fish they caught and I only kept one.  The two I did catch were pretty good sized, but I still had a fish in the freezer so I decided not to keep both.  The final tally was Zach 3, Brand 3, and me 2.  I still think Brand won, but Zach would not have it so it ended up being a tie for first. 

Here's a glimse of what we caught that day.

 Brand has an obsession with licking everything, hence the photo.

My fish is on the left and Zach's are on the right.

I did have my day in the spotlight, though.  Earlier in the summer, Zach, Brand, Josh, Sky, and I all went up to Spirit Lake to fish.  I think everyone got at least one and Zach got two.  But, being the amazing novice that I am, I caught three!  Haha...it was a good day to gloat, beating four boys who've fished their whole lives.

We also went ling fishing.  Apparently ling are not native to the Flaming Gorge or the Green River, and they're disrupting the balance of fish there.  So, if you catch one you are supposed to kill it immediately.  The best time to catch them is at night, so Zach, Brand, and I went to the Gorge around 11 pm and brought an arsenal of minows and crawfish sented goop (most disgusting smell you'll ever experience).  We all had a lot of bites, but came up with nothing.  When we went to real them in, all we'd find is a mutalated minow.  Brand got bored, so he decided to go crawdad hunting instead.  He found a stick and sharpened one end and went a spearing.  He caught quite a bit of them, and we used some of them as bait.  Once again, his obsession shows once again in the shot.

Herbie
We had Herbie, Zach's bird, at our house for a couple of weeks to retrain him to be a kind, loving bird.  Zach got him in Phoenix when he was going to school and had him trained to jump on your finger and sit on your shoulder.  Now, you're lucky if you can get close to him without him taking off.  Zach trimmed his wings so he couldn't fly as well and the training commenced.  Sadly, Herbie still isn't quite as friendly, but he got a little better.  One thing he did decide, though, was that he absolutely hates me.  Any time I walked by his cage, he'd jump on the side and try to get as far away as possible.  Not sure what I did to cause such fear but apparently it was unforgivable.  One day, we were working with him and instead of sitting on Zach's shoulder he decided to sit on top of his head.  I thought it was kinda funny so here's a pic.

Wedding

A friend of ours, Ben also got married this summer in Idaho Falls.  He married Zach's cousin Lacy, which Zach vehemently disagreed with merely because they were related.  He found it just weird.  Personally, I saw nothing wrong with it especially considering how we met.  While we were in Idaho we met up with a few of my college friends Alesha, Jimmy, and Brooke and went to dinner and hot tubbing.  It was a good time, both to meet up with friends and attend the wedding.  It was a beautiful day and the rain held off until after pictures and lunch.

At the reception all of the groomsmen had evil plans to decorate the newlywed's car, but they were a little slow at getting it done.  By the time they gathered up all they needed, Lacy's family had most of it decorated.  They were all a little upset about it because they felt it was their deal and no one else's.  They did get a few items they wanted done.  At the end of it all, it was pretty :).

Hunting-Horsecreek

Once again hunting season is here.  On the weekend of September 17, we went down to Horsecreek for deer hunting.  The weather was beautiful.  I think it was around the low 80's the whole time we were there.  This wasn't good for hunting, though, because all the deer bed down longer than normal.  Zach bought a wall tent, stove, and other camping stuff just for this and elk season, so he was stoked to go.

When we were there, I went with the boys (Brand, Zach, and his dad) at least once every day.  I think in total I saw a handful of deer, elk, and a few moose.  On Saturday, I walked up the mountain with Zach and we didn't see one single thing.  The next morning I went with him, his dad, and Brand on the horses up Prospect.  We saw a few bucks when we got to the top.  However, Brand and Zach were a little slow deciding whether or not they wanted them and by the time they decided they did, the deer were booking it through the trees.  After that, we split up and Zach and I saw three more bucks.  I would have shot the four point, but it wasn't "Mega Buck" so Zach just watched them until they ran off.  Later that day, we saw a couple more deer and some elk, but no shots were taken.  On the ride down the hill I was so saddle sore I thought my hind quarters were going to fall off.  I thought I was going to die it hurt so bad.  Needless to say, I didn't ride on the horses the rest of the trip.

On Monday, we went down to Daniel to get ice and some drinks.  On the way down, I asked Zach where a dirt road went.  He said we'd check it out on the way back.  When we came back we took the road and drove up it until we hit a road closed sign.  As we were turning around I saw a nice 4-point buck running across the hill.  I told Zach, and he frantically searched for his orange vest and grabbed his gun.  By the time he got it all, the buck had run over the hill and was out of sight.  He went after him, but never saw him.  The funny thing about the whole story was that I made a comment saying that wouldn't it be cool if we saw one here and shot the big one?  The thought came close to being realized.  We decided to go back the next day to see if we could find him.  We never found him, but we did see a moose in the same area. Overall, it was a good trip, but I was a little disappointed no one shot anything.

It was also my birthday when we went, so Zach got a coconut cream pie and we had a little birthday dinner Friday night.  It was nice to get away to celebrate my birthday and hunt all at once.  Sadly, I don't have any pictures.  I did want to get one of the boys riding on top of one of the ridges, but my camera wasn't in my saddlebags.  Oh well, another trip.

Hunting-Fields

Last weekend, Zach, Brand, and I all went out around the fields to hunt.  I told Zach that if he didn't find "Maga Buck" at the end of the season, then he'd just have to shoot the biggest thing he saw the last day.  Well, as we walked on the backside of a hill, Zach saw a nice 4-point and a 3-point. He told me to sit and wait as they got closer.  To my amazement, I heard three loud shots!  I didn't think he'd actually shoot.  Zach thought he only hit him on the first shot, but as he cut up the deer, all three hit him.  His first shot hit it in the lungs and he found the bullet when he gutted it.  When I found the deer, I thought it's antlers were very unique.  The back fork was very small, which you'll see in the pictures.  After they found the deer, we went up and got some cows from his uncle's corrals, and then we came back to gut it and hang it in the shed.  He measured the width of the antlers and I think it came out to be 24.5".  It's the largest one he's shot so far.

Storage/Mudd Room Update
Here is a photo of how much we've finished on the storage room.  We've got all the walls except the north side finished, the roof up, metal roofing up, flooring, and storage under the floor finished.  Last weekend we got insulation, so as soon as we finish up the last wall, we'll start working on the inside walls and shelves.  I'm excited to be able to put all my food storage in one room instead of all over the house!

Canning
All of our beets and green beans made it so, being the industrious woman that I am, I decided to can and freeze them.  We ate over half of our beans so I decided to freeze the rest.  There wasn't much left over, but I did manage to get a gallon sized baggie full.  I canned the beets and that was a long and tedious process.  First I had to rinse them all off and cut the ends.  Then, I boiled them so I could tear off the skins.  After all that, I washed the mason jars and sliced the beets up.  Then I boiled the lids and boiled water to put in the bottles.  Finally, I stuck all 17 jars in the pressure cooker and vwa la...canned beets.  It took almost the entire day to get them all done.  Saddest part of the story, I hate beets!  Zach loves them and because I love him, he has beets.

Bella Sue
And last, but not least, we have Bella.  Just this past week we decided Bella needed to be spade.  She had several male friends dropping by and although I love puppies, they are too expensive and I don't think a lab and blue heelers would be a good mix.  The morning I was to take her to the vet, she was no where to be seen.  I called for and looked for her but nothing.  Finally after ten minutes she came running down the hill from our neighbor's place (Charley has an australian shephard which is Bell's best friend).  By the time I got her collar on and put her in the truck I was late, ugh.  When we got to the vet, Bella was all sorts of scared which is unusual for her.  She's usually very energetic and happy.  She kept whining and tugging on the leash, which she normally doesn't do either.  I felt awful.  The vet came and talked to me and explained the procedure and took her to the back.  He said they'd start in about an hour and would call when he was done.  A couple hours went by and no phone call. So, I called Zach to see if he called his number, but he hadn't.  Zach just laughed at me and said she'd be ok and not to worry.  She was fine, but still I expected a phone call that he promised.  The next morning I drove back down to the vet to pick her up.  As I spoke with the receptionist, she said I had the nicest, and most loving dog.  I already knew this, but it was nice to hear from someone else :).  When we got home, Bells got treated like my own baby.  She loved it.  Ten days after I was supposed to take her back to the vet to get her stitches out, but I guess she'd had enough of them and took them out herself.  She's back to her old self now, and active as ever chasing bunnies, squirrels, and me on the 4-wheeler.

My nephew Wyatt came to my house earlier in the summer and was playing with Bells.  It was so cute I had to take a picture, so here ya go.