Budding artist

These are the beautiful creations Aubree came up with during church. She was so proud of her work and named them mom and dad. We are so proud. The one on the left with the orange eyes is Brad. I am the one with all the fingers and toes.

Livvy has been so excited to have a loose tooth and FINALLY lost it last Thursday. She lost it at school. One of her friends pulled it out. She went to the office to get a sticker and a ring box. She put her tooth in the ring and wore it after school. We went to the garden center to pick up a few things for the garden and after we had been there about ten minutes, Olivia noticed that her tooth was missing from its box. She immediately began to cry. We searched the ground and finally came to the conclusion that we were not going to find it. I wondered what she was doing went she went and sat on the gravel and started to look through it. After we had paid Olivia excitedly came running up to me to show me what she had found. It was a little rock that looked like a tooth. I am glad that she knows how to cope with her trials. She sure looks cute with her missing tooth.

My cute baby turned two. We love her so much and can't imagine life without her. She makes us smile everyday. She is happy and fun to be with. She loves to be the center of attention and knows that she is cute. When she wants to get our attention, she says YooHoo. It makes me smile. Whenever I tell her something, she asks WHY. That makes me smile too. I feel so very lucky to be her mother. I obviously answered these questions for her to the best of my ability.

I feel happy when...my dad is near.
I feel sad when...it is raining and my mom makes me stay inside.
I like to play with...baby dolls.
My daddy is...amazing!
My mommy ... likes to cuddle me.
I love to...swing.
My favorite color is...yellow. (the only one I can recognize)
I like to eat...chocolate.
I like to play...with Aubree.
My favorite toy is...a baby doll.
It makes me happy when...I get to play in the car.
It makes me sad when...I have to take a nap.
I feel frustrated when...I can't get my shoes on.
I really like it when...I get a treat.
The best thing I do is...make everyone around me smile.
I am excited when...I go to the bathroom on the toilet.
I love me because...I am sassy and fun and happy and cute.
I don't like...eggs.
What is your favorite thing to do? Play outside with my dad.
What is the best thing about your birthday? Ice Cream
What is the best thing about being 2 years old? I am the queen of the house.
Do you like taking naps? No
What do you like to do with your sisters? Olivia - take baths Aubree - play outside
Favorite animal? Oso - the bear
Favorite song? The itsy bitsy spider and The wheels on the bus.

you know you live in a small town when ...

Yesterday was our irrigating day. We get to irrigate (flood our fields, lawns, trees, plants, and gardens) twice a week. In order to do this, I have to go back to the water box and stop the water by putting a long board down inside which covers the pipe. The water level then rises enough to come out of the box and into our pipes. The girls love this day. They get their swimsuits on to play in the water that puddles up on the back lawn. It usually takes about an hour to water the back lawn and then we water the rest of the yard. About two years ago, when we had just moved here, we decided to flood the area on the side of the house where all of the fruit trees are. Later that evening, we learned that we had made a great mistake. The fruit trees are planted next to the leach field (septic) and we flooded the leach field at the same time. The leach field filled up to its capacity and backed up into our unfinished basement. Not a good idea. Our house smelled rotten and we pretty much had to evacuate it and then we had a nasty problem on our hands. Or Brad did, I was about a week out from having Madelyn at the time. I grew up in the city and being a country girl has taken some time to get used to. I now love it and wouldn't want it any other way. But, there are a few things you have to get used to. Yesterday when I started the water on the back lawn, I decided to take the kids to the park. I planned on staying until Olivia got out of school. I could then pick her up and come home to change the water. I had friends at the park, the kids were being great, and my friend offered to pick up Livvy when she got her kids and bring her back to the park. I remembered that the water was on about an hour and a half too late. My mind filled with dread of coming home to a poo filled basement. I was greatly relieved when I got home and the only thing that had flooded was the wood shed. I can handle that! These things are some of the trade offs I take for living in the country.

This morning I drove an hour to get to the "city" where our closest airport is. I parked closer to the airport than most people get who drive through the terminal drop off area. We were running a little late, about 45 minutes before the flight was scheduled to take off. I worried a little bit about Brad getting his bags checked in and through security. There was no need to worry. There were about fifteen people in the entire airport. Madelyn stood in front of the escalators mesmerized as if she had never seen one before (which she probably hasn't). She kept saying wow over and over again. I could barely pull her eyes away from it in order to say good bye to Brad. The passengers who use this airport have to walk out on the tarmac in order to board the plane. I was thinking of all this as I was walking the girls out to the car when I scared a bunny rabbit out from underneath it. Only in the country!

Meet Oso

Oso the bear is another member of our family. He goes on vacation with us, usually runs errands with us, and is constantly by Madelyn's side. Every morning when she gets out of bed, Oso has to come with her. She throws him overboard and then picks him up when her feet hit the floor. When we aren't watching, Oso slips outside with her and plays in the dirt. Whenever I get a chance, Oso is thrown into the washer. Maddie doesn't like that too much. Every night at bedtime, Madelyn tells us who Oso is going to "get" (kiss) first. He usually ends with Madelyn and then stays in bed with her.

Now that the girls are getting older, and sleeping through the night, it is a lot easier to go camping. We were able to make it to Moab over spring break this year. We learned about some dinosaur tracks that we hiked to. It was really cool to talk to the girls about dinosaurs and tell them how the sand turned to rock over time and preserved them so that we are able to see them today. I leave the explaining up to Brad. You would think that he would have all this geology jargon in my head by now, but for some reason, it doesn't all stick.

We stayed up Oinion Creek. We kept driving and driving and driving our van up the canyon. All of the campsites were taken. The canyon is called oinion creek because oinion creek meanders down the canyon. The road crosses it several times. Lets just say, we were the only ones driving a mini van in that canyon. We got to the last "official" campsite and it was taken. It was getting later, we were hungry and tired, and we really didn't want to go all the way back out. (Side note: A couple of years ago, 5 to be exact, Brad and I biked the Kokipelli trail with our current bishop and his family. Lets just say that it is one of the hardest things I have ever done. It gives me a little anxiety just thinking about it. It is a trail that goes from Grand Junction, Colorado to Moab, Utah in the beautiful mountains and hills that run next to the Colorado River.) We knew that the further we drove up the canyon, the closer we were getting to our Kokopelli Trail campsite. We decided to try and find that campsite and stay there. When we pulled into the campsite, it looked very different to me. I didn't remember the rock next to the site being SO big. The kids instantly loved it. It turned out to be a wonderful place for us to stay. We were alone, the kids could run around wild, and there was nothing to worry about. Except maybe that they might fall off the rock. There was a tree growing out of the top of the rock and they made a tree house in it.

We cooked dinner, set up camp, and ate in the dark. None of the flashlights seemed to be working and we didn't think to figure it all out before the sun went down. April in Moab is quite dangerous as well. It is really hot in the daylight, but things change in a matter of minutes when the sun sets. I was scrambling through the tent, in the dark, trying to find warm clothes. Camping always seems to be an adventure.

Being married to a geologist definetly has its perks. If you have been to Moab and seen the beautiful red sandstone formations, which I have learned is of the Cutler and Moenkopi formations, then you can picture how amazing Oinion Creek is. We were driving up the canyon enjoying the incredible views when things instantly changed. It was like our car was lifted out of the canyon and we were dropped in a not so pretty place. I was thinking to myself how ugly things had gotten, and Brad was pulling out the camera fascinated by our surroundings. When we decided to go for a hike, I was thinking somewhere in the red sandstone and Brad wanted to go right into the heart of that ugly area. I have now learned that this area was formed because salt beds were buried by layers of rock. They are less dense than the rock deposits and rise to the surface. The salt squeezes upward and intrudes rocks where they are weak. This happens at faults and fractures. It bends and moves the overlying rock which causes really neat things to happen on the surface. So, I trusted in the instincts of the geologists and we started up the canyon. Olivia loves rocks almost as much as her dad does and this canyon had it all. She was finding lots of fascinating rocks and minerals. Brad was enjoying himself as well. I had to put number restrictions on how many rocks we would be taking back with us. We were walking up a dry river bed which was getting slightly damp the further up we went. We felt that we were greatly rewarded when we climbed up a small rock face to find ourselves in a small, damp, cool room with a spring seeping out of the rock. The girls absoluetly loved it!

Girls on the Run

Girls on the Run is a program for third to fifth grade girls. It is basically a self esteem program that covers many issues girls that age face, gossip, self respect, communication, peer pressure, etc., and teaches the girls how to deal with these issues through running. I heard about the program about four years ago and have wanted to get the program started here ever since. Finally, this year, I did it. Life has seemed to calm down enough and the girls were old enough, that I felt ready to take it on. And what a rewarding experience it has been. We had about forty girls sign up for the program in addition to our (the coaches) daughters. Even though my girls are far from old enough to be enrolled in the program, they were able to attend the practices and classes. Olivia has loved it. The girls in the program have been so sweet to my girls, they loved going with me. Last Saturday we had our final GOTR 5K race. All but 3 girls came out to the race and did great. We are the Cedaredge Jelly Beans and made jelly bean bandanas to be able to find our girls in the masses of people at the race. Olivia had to run with me because there were so many girls (1500) and I didn't want her to get lost. I had to stop once to help a little girl who was struggling to breathe and Olivia wasn't very happy that she couldn't keep going. We finished the race in just over 30 minutes which is a great time for her little legs. She had so much fun and asked me when she could do it again. Tony the Tiger was at the race signing shirts, they had music playing, lots of food, medals, and goodies. It is fun to run races with the kids because of all the excitement that goes along with it. It is a rewarding way to end a season of training. I am sad that our season is over, but look forward to doing GOTR again next year. I am excited that my girls will get to be part of such a wonderful program. Aubree is a pretty good runner as well and wants to participate in the race next year. She is up to about 1.5 miles and going strong. It is fun to take the girls out running. The great thing about running is that it is free. Not many things in life are free anymore.