Scout Camp

Nate & Caleb with swamped canoe

A week of Scout Camp netted the boys a combined 11 merit badges, 9 mosquito bites, 8 sleepless nights, and one fractured clavicle. On the first day of camp, Caleb was swinging on a rope swing, when the knot came undone and he fell on his arm and shoulder. He toughed it out the rest of the week with only a quick visit to the camp medic, and a daily dose of Ibuprofen. A week after his accident it was finally confirmed by x-rays that he had broken his collarbone. I was surprised that Caleb stayed the whole week with his hurt shoulder. Steve reminded me how high a pain tolerance Caleb has-as evidence of his last injury, when he skewered his foot without any crying.

On Thursday, Steve and Grandpa were able to go up to spend the day with the boys. Grandpa probably showed them a few tricks he's picked up in his many years of scouting. The boys came home dirty and tired, and according to them, "are still recuperating from their week at scout camp." And I'm just recovering from the pile of dirty laundry they left me at the door of the laundry room.

Getting Old

Ashlyn with her Kindergarten teacher

Ashlyn graduated from Kindergarten on Thursday. After the graduation she requested a celebratory lunch at Wendys. At lunch when Steve and I were discussing how old she was getting, Ashlyn said, "I'm getting old, but not as OLD as you." (She bolded the "old"with her tone.)

She gave me a book for Mother's Day, that let me know how old she thought I was. The title of the card was "Guess Who." It said, "She is 33 years old. She is 40 inches tall. She weighs 40 lbs. and looks like this...

Picture of me saying, "Hi Honee"

She likes to red bx (read books). She doesn't like to hav babes. (Have babies-I think she believes that because everytime she asks me about having another baby I tell her, "NO WAY!" But I always had good pregnancies and loved being pregnant up until the 38th week.)

She likes to eat desrt (dessert). She does not like to eat selre (celery). She likes to wear her make up. She does not like to wear her klos with awt slevs (clothes without sleeves).

While I'm at school she gos shoping. While I'm at home she klens (cleans). I like it when we go shopping at the goshre stor (grocery store). Good guess Mom, it's you! I love you Mom! Hape Muthrs Da!"

So I'm getting old, but I'm loved.

Soccer Mania

We are nearly finished with our Spring soccer season. Caleb played his final game of the season last night...the championship game, which his team won. He was excited that now he had his own trophy, to add to the collection of trophies and medals that the boys have in their room. He needed a gentle reminder that it was okay to leave the trophy in the car for his brother's soccer game, and not carry it around.

Nate is almost finished with his season. He has been the center mid-fielder this year, but you wouldn't know what his position is, as he is always covering the whole field. He had two goals today, the first a header from a beautiful free kick. The second goal he got a break-away and went one on one with the goal keeper, kicking the ball to the left far post after a feint to the right.

Lauren has one game left in her schedule. She has only been to two games, as the weather on Wednesdays has been unusually bad this Spring, and her games have been canceled (thus no pictures of Lauren playing soccer this season). She is excited to play on a club team this Fall with her best friend.

This Fall we'll add Ashlyn to the soccer schedule. That should make things very exciting with all the overlapping of games and practices. I remember when I was in High School, I attened one cold and windy soccer game. I was glad to leave early and I didn't care to watch another game again. That was my first experience with soccer, and I never would have thought that I would eventually become a "Soccer Mom." But I am through and through, and I love it!

Branding Calves

Uncle Weston

Steve and the boys went to Idaho on Thursday, to help Uncle Weston brand his calves. It reminded me of the times I helped my grandpa on the Church Ranch brand his calves. Back then, we would get up at 3:30 in the morning so we could have our hair and make-up done before we had to leave at 4:00 a.m. My grandpa would just laugh at us, knowing that after a day in the dirt, grime and cow dung, our efforts on our looks would be useless. But, we had to look good to impress those cows (and the few boys who volunteered to help).

Just before the Nate and Caleb left I gave them a couple tips on handling calves, to help them look more like cowboys and less like "city" boys. Just as I expected, they spent the day pushing the calves down the shoot, since that is the job given to the youngest helpers. When they returned home, I asked the boys if my tips helped them. After a very short pause, Caleb let me know that my tips were all wrong.

In Tribute to Darby

Our first and best loved pet, Darby, died yesterday. She was nearly 10 years old. She died peacefully in her sleep, and for that we are grateful. She came into our family on December 5, 1998. Steve went to see her earlier, but he decided the cost was too great, since we had just moved into our new home. That was good news to me, since I didn't have any ideas of what to give him for Christmas, now the problem was solved. However, I didn't have the first idea of what we would need for a dog, so I visited Petsmart and they loaded me up with all the "essentials."

The kids and I did a 3 hour round-trip drive to pick Darby up and bring her back home. We tied a tag on her new pink collar that said, "On the first day of Christmas your true love gave to you...a dog to help you catch the partridge in the pear tree." We stopped at Steve's work and pushed her through the front door, then watched to see what his reaction would be when he spotted his Christmas present. It was better than I had hoped. He was so happy that he didn't even ask me how much I had spent on all the "necessary" items we had picked up for Darby. Since then she has been the seventh member of the family. We will definitely miss her.

Seasons

I love Spring! It is one of my favorite seasons. The best part of Spring is the tulips and daffodils that come up in the yard. The trees are amazing as well with their white and pink flowers. Here are a couple shots of the flowers around the house. Luckily there are no cows in the back field eating my tulips this year, so I'll get to enjoy them a little longer.

Spring Break

We decided to spend part of our Spring Break in Arizona visiting Grandpa. On the way, we stopped at Arches National Park and spent a couple hours hiking to Delicate Arch. This was the first time for the kids and they loved it. It was also a great way to tire them out for the remaining hours spent in the car.

Once we arrived at Grandpa's house, all the kids wanted to do was hang out with the horses. They fed and watered them each morning and evening. They even dug the brushes out of the shed to brush down the horses that would let them. There were two older horses that were quite calm and willing to let the kids come near them. The others were just over a year old and didn't like to be touched and wouldn't let us get near; except for one that would only let Ashlyn come up to it (as pictured above). She was very patient and persistent until it finally allowed her to touch him. She was pretty pleased and of course that was her favorite horse out of the bunch.

When asked what was the best thing they did on the trip, most of them said it was riding the horse with Uncle Ric. Each of them had a chance to ride around the fairground arena. Some were a little more daring than others, but they all loved it. It was fun to see their excitement and remember how much we enjoyed coming to Grandpa's house so we could ride the horses-the only chance us "city" kids ever had. Ric was great to spend his morning with us, and was so patient with all of the kids.

It was good to see Grandpa. You would often find Ashlyn snuggled up on his lap answering all of his questions (most of them asked repeatedly), or listening to all of his stories. And in keeping with tradition we made time to go to El Camino for dinner to finish our visit. We love visiting and can't wait for another opportunity to see Grandpa again!