Feeding the Ducks

Mattie's Photo Shoot

Wyoming

We spent a little time in Wyoming last weekend, and the girls loved playing outside and seeing a few animals! It looks like Sid is going to be just as wild for living things as Mattie is - now if we can just keep them from loving stuff to death - they could both literally squeeze the life out of something!

Bucket Head

Sidney has decided that she loves things on her head - not cute hairbows, but hats and buckets and the like.

Well, Coop finally lost his two front teeth. ANd he is at the age where this is the best picture I can get of him. I do have to admit that I am not exactly sure when he lost them, but now, in June, they are starting to grow back in. He seems so busy these days, and I find myself more wore-out by his constant energy - and talking!

What?

Yummy! Mattie likes to sneak me chocolate!

Is there something on my face? I'm so cute!

Dunes - Dumont, CA

"BOOM BOOM - FIRE POWER"I think everyone at the dunes had a great time. I know for me, it is a place where I can turn my kids loose and feel good about it. Coop and the cousins rode their 4-wheelers almost non-stop. Mattie was rolling down the dirt hills, and Sidney was just wondering around checking stuff out.

Don't get me wrong, we also live the camping life of luxury: we turned on the A/C in the afternoon and put Sid down for a nap, the kids watched movies at night, etc., etc. How the pioneers made it is beyond me!

Shawn & Gavin, Wade & Mattie

The Little Explorer hard at it!

Mattie loves to go for rides. She sits in front of Wade with her feet up at the handlebars and holds onto the bars. I don't know how she can hold on so tight!

Coop and the cousins are getting scary good - especially Jace. Jace races dirtbikes and has the winning mentality. They are all plenty fast, and starting to cut corners etc. to get ahead of each other. It is pretty entertaining to watch.

Coop would take off his helmet and be drenched in sweat. Thank goodness for that shower in the camper!

We planned good meals, and all ate together, but Sid still thought she should eat a little dirt!

We went sledding in Parowan just before Christmas, and a good time was had by all! Really, how can you go wrong when all of your cousins are staying with you - it is like an ongoing party in Parowan. *For the kids, and the DADS!!

We had Christmas in Parowan this year, and I think Santa's sleigh had a hole in it - look at the massive dump of presents! On the other hand, this is 10 adults and 13 kids - gifts from both sides of each family, parents, and Santa. Does that make it seem better?!?!?

Sidney is now full on crawling. She still does the stink-bug walk quite a bit, but gets wherever she wants to go. We often find her in some random place just checking things out. She likes to cross her feet and click her tongue. She is so adorable!

We dressed as warm as we could, and headed out to get a Christmas tree for my mom and dad.

Sledding in WYOMING! Even Coop had a great time!

Wade and I went to the SLC temple this month. What a beautiful temple! It was such a blessing to watch one of my cousins be married there for all time and eternity!

Baby Blues

Need I say more?

Reading Time

These guys just love each other! AND I am loving the fact that Cooper can read her bedtime stories!

Deer Hunting

A fun time was had by all at the deer hunt in Parowan! We all got up early and went up the mountian with Wade. He and Kelby headed out early to find deer. Kelby dropped Wade off to walk and Wade saw this great little buck. A one shot kill, and the rest is history. . . And the history is . . . Pretty soon some of Wade's cousins came along and told him what a great master hunter he was, and asked him what the deer was doing when he shot it. Wade said it was just eating some apples. Apples? What would apples be doing up in the forest? Ha ha - Cousin Mike had packed 15 gallons of apples up there and put them out to lure in the deer - whoops! The nice part is everyone was really excited for Wade! And we are sure enjoying our deer meat and jerky! The nasty child strikes again!

The great bouncing machine! Coop, Mattie, and cousin Sadie.

Everyone was plumb wore out! We were headed home by noon!

Mattie's Wildness!

Well - I don't have a photo to go with the story, but I will never let go of the images in my head. . . There was a roping last weekend at the arena and Wade decided to rope in it one day. We went out to have breakfast (the yummiest breakfast burritos ever - made by the guys in the cook shack) and Mattie was instantly wanting to mount up! She loves every kind of animal imaginable - alive or dead, pretty or ugly - you get the picture.

After she ate, we headed out to find Wade. He was right there close with his horse tied to the arena fence. The horse was big - looking back the horse seems even higher than Wade's head. The horse seemed a little anxious, as all roping horses do. They are trained to be "cowey." I was holding the baby and standing next to my mom. Wade had untied the horse and was holding the reins. Wade set Mattie on top of the horse and her grin was the biggest ever! She loves horses and wanted to go for a ride.

The next several seconds seemed like long minutes and I get teary even typing them. The horse spooked - not just bucked, but went wild. We were telling Mattie to hold on tight as the horse scrambled back and forth - Wade was holding him as tight as he could - if he let go the horse would go on a dead run. He yelled to me to get her and I tossed the baby to my mom and headed towards her. The horse swung around and hit me with his butt, finally throwing Mattie off of the left side towards the fence. It knocked the wind out of her, and she landed withing inches of the fence and a chunk of broken concrete. As the horse scrambled to get away, his hooves seemed so close to her small body. I tried to let her lay and catch her breath, but as soon as she started to get up - I just scooped her into my arms - nothing broken, nothing bruised.

We were all shaken, but I truly don't think any of this has hit me until now. I have just refused to talk about it or have said it was bad, really bad.

I am just sitting here sobbing now as I think of how much our life could have changed in an instant. At first I was glad that we didn't have to spend the day, or weeks at the hospital, but then I realized how quickly our family of five could have returned to a family of four. I just adore our wild and crazy Mattie. She often brings the storm and the rainbows to our life, but she is ours and we cherrish her.

You can bet I have not let a day go by that I do not thank our Heavenly Father for our wonderful family and the love that we have for one another. I know that trials and tribulations will come, but for now, just a reminder of how truly blessed we are.

Mattie, Sidney, Cooper

Seriously - Cooper should be posing for JC Penny's - The kid can really turn it on!