The Burrs In Our Saddles

Madison is on the Robotics team this year. She has really had a good time helping build and program their robot. Last Saturday, the team had their first (and only, I think) competition. See here . The team did ok, but it was a good learning experience for them. My friend, Denise and I volunteered to help serve concessions. Good times were had by all. I especially liked the turquoise aprons we got to wear from the kitchen at the school. They really brought out our best features. And yes, Santa did come help us in the kitchen.

I was at rehearsal/performing almost every single night. Exhausting. Monday night it was rehearsal for The Nutcracker with the Eugene Ballet Compay. Tuesday it was 2 matinee shows for elementary schools for the aforementioned show from 9am-2pm. Tuesday night, it was the actual show that we (I mean Colby) took the girls to see. Wednesday, free (Hallelujah ). Thursday, rehearsal with this guy who rocks: If you don't recognize Collin Raye, you are really missing out on a great guy. Super musician, super show. Friday, show with same great musician. Saturday, 2nd show with same great musician. And I took my violin to the doctor today. Diagnosis: cracks. Rx: stay for 3 days. Triple M aren't really upset about it because they're tired of me being gone. And to be quite honest, I'm tired of being gone. Now maybe I can catch up on on the things that have been put off. And to top it all off, our oven's igniter went out last Monday. So I haven't been able...

For Thanksgiving, we went to see my mom. My oldest sister (not implying you're old at all, K!) and her family came up from Thousand Oaks and my youngest brother (not implying you're young, C!) came home from Fordham in NYC. It was lots and lots of fun to see them and we loved spending time with family. Colby made a visit as well, staying for about 2 hours and not eating a single bite of dinner before he left. Crazy man. Saturday (my birthday) we went to the BYU-Utah game. It was a BLAST! but I can't seem to get my microSD card/adapter to work the way they are supposed to so I can post photos. Needless to say, we had a great time. At first it was just the "adults" and Will, but at the last second, Grandma called with another ticket for Madie. So we all jumped in the cars and headed off to the game. Unfortunately, I didn't grab any coats and we got pretty cold toward the end of the game. Thank heaven for the BYU Gear Store where we bought hats and handw...

This year, we had Grammy and Granddad come down for our pizza dinner. Then we went Trick-or-Treating with our friend from across the street. I won't tell her name because we don't have any pictures (digital, that is) of her. Madie was a Native American ( not and indian), Mackenzie was a Monarch Butterfly, and Meriden was a Butterfly Fairy. Meriden had a party and parade at her preschool, and the big girls had their annual Spooktacular. Both were loads of fun and we ate just enough candy to get REALLY excited about Trick-or-Treating.

I can't believe Christmas is here. As is the tradition in our home, Grammy sends 12 days worth of presents to lead up to the big day. Yesterday was day 1, but I've just gotten to posting. Here it is.

So, a couple momentous occasions: 1. My 100th post. Pretty sad it has taken so long to get it posted, but it's done. 2. Madison got her braces off on Tuesday. She woke up at 6:30 am because she was so excited. I saw the happy dance a couple of times, and now she looks older. This is me wiping the tears off my cheeks because she is growing up way too fast. So sad but exciting at the same time! I love my kids. They are good (most of the time) and fun to hang out with. Today they didn't have school because of Parent/Teacher Conferences this week and we went to the Museum of Idaho to the Abraham Lincoln exhibit. It was a lot of fun and they enjoyed it too. What kids want to hang out at the museum on their day off of school? Apparently mine. Before we went to the museum we went to the mall because Madison needed some warm/wintery church dresses. She has plenty of summery dresses, but no wintery. Although "wintery" isn't technically a word, you all know wh...

A new post. Coming soon. I've been busy with life. I swear I'll do it...after I get a couple...hours.....of.........sleep........

How long has it been? Too long, so I'll start now. Today is Kezer's 7th birthday. Man how time flies. She is in 2nd grade, and really likes her teacher, Mrs. Gerard. She is on the competition team at gymnastics (for now) and is so good at it that it makes me sick she wants to quit. It could change tomorrow; we'll see. Today I feel like such a horrible mom. I had to be at work (like every Friday) and didn't have time to take a birthday treat in for her class. But we had Grammy and Granddad come down for birthday dinner (Rootbeer Pulled Pork), presents, cake, and ice cream. Her friend Mitchell (who has the exact same birthday; we always joke that they were twins separated in heaven) came over with a present of MAKEUP!! and tons of it. And candy. Tons of it. I'm going to have to talk to Mitchell's mom about that! She and I went on Tuesday afternoon to a store that I knew Kenzer would love the second I walked in. It's called Beautiful Girl, if the n...

Stacie and her family came up this past weekend to visit us. It was a lot of fun for the girls to be able to see each other. We went to our Stake 24th of July celebration and the kids got to be in a parade and sing "Pioneer Children" and wear some pretty sweet bandanas. We ate watermelon, scones, candy and corn on the cob (and that was after we ate Subway for dinner!). Fun times. Stacie and I played music together--she on the violin, me on the piano. It was a lot of fun because we haven't ever been able to do it before. She got piano music that was easy enough for me to sight read and play along with her. It was neat. We planned menus for our big family reunion coming up. I can't wait to go; hopefully the record breaking heat will subside before we get there in 2 weeks! We also played a little Guitar Hero, though I have no photos. Stacie and Martin took some I think that I would really like to post (hint, hint). We'll see what happens :-) My girls wer...

Last week Colby took a day (technically 2) off to go to the cabin and fish with the girls. We all had a ball and thought I'd post a couple photos. We went up Monday night and C, M3 and I got the boat out so we could take it down to the lake just to make sure it worked. We threw out some lines and fished for about 45 minutes before we had to get off the lake. We got a couple bites, but no catches. Bummer. Tuesday morning we got up and out of the house by 7am. Not bad for our family that consists of 4 girls that really don't mind sleeping. We stayed out until about 1030am when, after 0 bites and 0 catches the girls were done. It was still a lot of fun and it was nice to get away and have some time with Dad. Meriden also had a good time helping Grammy plant some flowers in the big pot.

You must forgive me--I was talking to my sister on the phone while I was "watching" the girls. Never mind the conversation I'm having. It doesn't make sense unless you are Kristin and remember what we were talking about. :-)

We got the girls a Slip-n-slide last week and they had a blast with it the other day. And I'm going to apologize right now--we had to take the computer to the doctor and Fat Geek did a great job (yes, that's the name of the company). But he gave me a new picture organizing program (Picasa for those of you who want to know) that I don't know at all. So I'm playing and trying to figure it out. We'll see if I like it. I may have to go back to my old ways. If you have any helpful hints, let me know.

was pretty lame this year. We went up to the ranch with every intention to come back to IF and watch fireworks at the Freedom Festival by the river. At the ranch we had to move cows from one field to another. I know, good times. I committed to playing in an orchestra and had to come back down, but no one wanted to come with me. So after playing in the orchestra, I started to watch fireworks (by myself) and realized that they aren't much fun without the family to share them with. So I left and drove home. I watched the grand finale in the rearview mirror of my car driving down the road. I think next year we won't do that again. The kids didn't see a single firework or light a single sparkler. We did, however to the Pop-Its a few days later. The girls really enjoyed them. Pretty pathetic celebration for all the men and women who fight and have fought for our freedoms. But thank you anyway. I really appreciate it.

Before the girls went to Grammy and Granddads house, Meriden and I put hot rollers in our hair. Thought I'd share cute photos. Oh, and she hurt her finger.

My in-laws took all three girls to Arizona. Wait, let me rephrase that. My father-in-law drove from Idaho to Arizona with all three girls by himself. He's crazy and it sounds to me like the kids were in about the same boat by the time they got there. But they're all gone. And I'm not entirely sure when they're coming back. So "What to do?" is my mantra. Not really--I worked all day (until after 8 pm) on Thursday and worked Friday. And (can you guess it?) worked Saturday morning. I tell you what, it's a good thing I like Dr. Burr or we'd be in a lot of trouble. Last evening we went up to the ranch to check bear bait. Nada. This morning we saddled up the horses (doesn't it sound like I'm a cowgirl? I even wore my boots!) and checked the cows. My sits bones hurt. We found 1 dead steer. Don't have a clue what got him. I didn't fall off the horse this time and he was pretty good about listening to where I wanted him to go. M...

A couple Saturdays ago, I found Meriden had had an accident while we were outside. She took off her pants because really, who wants to be in pee saturated denim shorts? I wouldn't. But instead of going inside to get new unders and pants, this is what she did. Sorry about the wrong dates on the photos; I had to put new batteries in my camera and didn't want to miss the photo op. And it's either that or this:

With school after Memorial Day, we had a lot going on. I was at the school for PTO way too much. On Tuesday, we had an Accelerated Reading party for all the kids in the school who achieved their AR goal all 4 quarters of school. Both the M's got to go. I didn't get a chance to take any photos because I was busy making snow cones, but there was live entertainment and everything. Wednesday night I was at the school until 3 am getting the sweatshirts and yearbooks ready for Thursday. (All the students that get 200 or more AR points get a sweatshirt. So we were getting sizes divvied out and ready to give to the kids at the Awards Assembly on Thursday.) Of the 545 kids in our school, 75 of them got at least 200 AR points. Not bad. Of course, the M's were 2 of them.) They both also got awards for attendance. Madison had perfect attendance, and Mackenzie had faithful attendance (she was tardy a few times ;-)). They are such good kids most of the time that I can't ...

For Memorial Day weekend this year we went up to the ranch. I know, it's a shock, but we did it. Broke away from the mold. But really this time we did. JB bought cattle and over the weekend we got to work them. We got to ear tag, vaccinate, brand and turn out 239 head of cattle. The girls were really good. Madison helped put the ear tags on the tagger so Austin, the hired hand, could pierce the cow's ears. Mackenzie and Meriden did a great job holding up the haystack. There were a couple times when we turned around and there was Meriden, holding down the haystack with no pnts or underwear on. Nice. The first time she had to go potty, she and I drove to the house and ran out of gas in the Rhino on the way back. Maybe she didn't want us to run out of gas again. Who knows. We had 2 'sets' of cows we needed to tag. 4Creeks and Diamond J. I'm not entirely sure which cows belong to whom (though they are all in the family) but my father-in-law got to ...

So what school doesn't send at least a class or 2 to the Zoo? This year, Meriden and I went to the Zoo with Mackenzie and all the 1st graders. It was a bunch of fun. We got to watch them feed the penguins, feed a baby camel, play at the playground, and see a whole lot of animals. Including 2 Red Pandas. Flamingos, Emus, Kangaroos with joeys, Lions, a Tiger, Camels, Dingoes, Monkeys, an Alligator, and of course there was a petting zoo that no one in my group got to go into. ;-) After we got done in the zoo, we went across the street to have lunch at the park. We ate sack lunches (always a treat) and played on the playground equipment. At one point I couldn't find Mackenzie on any of the equipment and started to get a little bit worried. Then I found her helping put together a 3-D alligator puzzle. Nerd. But I love her. After the zoo, Kenzie and the rest of the 1st grade got to go to the sand dunes and play. Meriden and I went to the doctor where she weighed in at (...

On May 13, Colby had a birthday. I'm not going to write anything gushy to him because a) he doesn't read this blog, b) he doesn't like cards that are long winded. Get to the point, people! c) I don't know what c) would be except why have a list with a's, b's, and c's if you only have 2 things to name. Needless to say, he's great. He pretends he doesn't care about things even though he does. You can tell when 'it' doesn't go the way 'it' should and he gets frustrated and obviously annoyed. That won't make any sense unless you've seen 'it' in action. ;-) He is a great dad; the girls love to wrastle and play with him. He encourages them to be their best. He's a super provider for our family and I love him. Do you like the detail on Dad's cake compared to the details on Meriden's cake? ;-)

We had a really big weekend on Feb 8-10. Meriden had her first Gymnastics "Meet" aka show off day. She did a great job, though I didn't really like the setup. They did fine when the kids did their individual skills, but the last part was chaos. "Follow your toddler through the circuit of tricks!" So everyone was right in front of you, blocking your photo ops of your own kid. Annoying. Maybe I'll give them a few pointers for next time. Usually this is what Meriden looks like when we go to Gymnastics. She comes out of her room (after getting herself ready since she is so excited to go to gym) and says, "I feddy, Mom!" I love it. Especially her pink cowgirl boots that Dad bought 2 sizes-too-big-since-that's-what-they-had without socks. Awesome. Oh, and the unders hanging out the sides. So we went to her "meet" which Grandma, Grammy, and Granddad all came to. Thank you for coming all this way to support your grandkids! An ass...