Too much fun!

Life here has been busy as always. Lots of life type decisions being made such as which college, which major, which photo for the yearbook. All the important things. But seriously we have been that good kind of busy that wears you out and makes you smile all at once. So here is the run down. Soccer season is over for a few months so we actually see Brenton before 9 at night, and Cody is back to working whenever he can with his Grandpa Jr. which is a huge good thing in my book. Half of the lambs have been sold (the kids had to deal with their first bad check experience but it turned out well), the ewes are off meeting with the bucks at the ranch, the other half of the lambs are eating lots and waiting to go to market soon! The two pygmy goats have been dehorned and we will never go thru that again. Don't ask even I was queasy about that ordeal and I never get queasy! Home education is rocking along though I still can't master Latin so Moira is taking that over. Cody has been accepted to Utah State and given a two year tuition scholarship, if he moves his ACT score up by one point he will get four years so we are studying! Liam is waiting to start basketball and considering a return to Irish dance as is Hugh though he refuses to even discuss playing basketball. Moira has a new project a ten day old Nigerian Dwarf goat, he is smaller than the cat! She is in love with the thing and bottle feeds it every four hours and spoils it rotten. Hugh is busy being Hugh and that is just great! Brenton is building a goat and bum lamb palace complete with insulation and wiring! He does nothing halfway that man! So life is good and we are so grateful to be a family even when there is too much laundry and not enough time. Have a happy weekend!

Marathoning and Turning 6!

Well no pictures for this note....I ran a marathon today and the only pictures from that will be the ones that the race photographer sells later. You know a picture of me and twenty or so total strangers as we run past the photographer! I am bone tired but must rally as the little man's 6th bday bash is tonight, I will post pictures of the little darling later. Quite honestly the timing is great, I don't have to cook or do the dishes. I thought a great deal about my family members whom have passed away in the past 6 years or so. All of my parents sibling are now gone and only two the siblings spouses survive; which makes me wonder if one heaven is not a bit louder (we were never a quiet group) and how will I keep their stories alive for my children and my brother's children? Yep, 4 hours of running can lead to lots of pondering! Well off to the pizza and root beer bash, the kid knows how to party....a few friends, good food, and a movie! Maybe early bedtime too?

Recent Happenings

I cannot remember the order I saved these pictures in so if the commentary is not in order consider it a brain exercise! This past week Moira obtained her learner's permit, but even more noteworthy is the fact that Liam and Hugh waited politely in the chairs at the DMV for over 30 minutes while she did it! We also made jars and jars of peach salsa which requires piles of diced onions. I cannot chop a small onion without major issues much less enough for all that salsa even with a food processor. So the solution I came up with a few years back involves ski goggles, open windows and fans going at full speed! My kids find it hysterical but you will notice none of them are helping at that point. The snake picture is one Moira took in the garden and then zoomed in on, she is great in the garden and amazing with nature photography! Sorry about the sideways picture but I am not sure how to turn it on the blog so consider it a yoga move to view it. Homeschool is rocking along and I am hoping for no more traveling for awhile. I just returned from Phoenix, I will write about that some other time. Back to the salt mines...........

oops

Ok the first picture in the last post was actually of Moira and Brenton as he was trashing the living room or as he calls it 'preparing for yet another scout trip'. And the picture attached here is of the kids and Brenton's mother Sherie at the falls on the way to the Matson reunion. It is late can you tell?

Matson Reunion 2010

We had a great time in Mid June at Idaho Falls with Brenton's mom on our way to the Matson family reunion which was just up the road near Rigby. The kids loved the falls and seeing Sherie's old stomping grounds, she and Herb were married in the Idaho Falls Temple. The farmer's market was fun but Hugh was pretty sure the guy with the pet wolf had 'a problem in his head', such a rancher's grandson. He also pointed out that wolves eat sheep and that is bad! The Matson homestead is still in the family and we were blessed to go on a sort of home grown tour of the area with some of the cousins, it was amazing and perfect. I have more cool pictures somewhere and will post them at some random point in time as I seem to be doing lately. The cute little boy with Hugh is Matt, Dee and Mary's grandson (cousins basically).

Ok, so it is no longer December 2009 but these skating pictures were too fun to leave languishing on my computer drive. Our neighbors the Wellings built a huge skating rink in their side yard and invited the whole town to stop by and skate whenever. They had us and several other families come for Family home evening and it was about 5 degrees outside! The kids had never skated before, Liam buckled down and pretty much taught himself, Cody was a natural, Moira did better than she will admit and the Leroy taught Hugh how to skate by having him push an old school chair around. Hugh and his little friend quickly discovered that snow boots are much steadier and therefore faster than skates and proceeded to tear all over the ice! What amazing neighbors we have. This makes all the mosquito bites I just got out in the lamb pens a little less itchy and my smile a little brighter.

May what May?

Ok, I never finished 'wrapping' up April and it is now June. I have a bad habit of not writing on this blog because I have always had a serious phobia when it comes to sharing my writing. My former students would really love to hear that I am sure. Anyway since I was last here we have done much, slept little, and even gotten a few things done around the homestead. Another 'issue' I have with posting things is that I am still trying to master my new camera and figure out how to do slideshows instead of lengthy scrolls of pictures. Back on track, May was busy with three family birthdays and numerous extended family birthdays. I celebrated 43, Brenton hit the big 39, and Moira is a glorious 15 (there will be a special post about her when I get it finished just so). Mother's Day was nice, and there were numerous dinners at goring Ranch throughout the month. Cody got his ACT scores back and is way too smart for me (I don't think I even knew the scores went as high as 31). There was an FFA banquet where Cody received an academic excellence award, there was a a soccer banquet where Cody received his varsity letter and there was lots of complaining about what a waste the last three weeks of school are. But much rejoicing in the fact that he (Cody) can take a million ag classes next year because he has been so diligent the past three years. We went to two Va'Del's competitions where Moira's group won everything in sight, one Irish dance innerschool feis (all did well, pictures soon), one dance review where the whole town darn near turns out, and one incredible Celtic Woman concert for Moira's birthday. I cried all the way thru Danny Boy and Galway Bay, I missed my dad horribly and conciously for days after. Brenton went to Jamboral for the Boy Scouts and then took Hugh and Liam to a fathers/sons camp out. Liam made Jamboral but was quite sick for the f/s camp out. He suffered admirably while I was at the dance review with Moira and the guys were camping he laid in bed and watched the Star Wars trilogy, repeatedly. What else in May? Oh yes twelve ram lambs moved in to the south pasture, 5 ewes moved in as well and delivered nine healthy lambs despite all the spring snow, hail, and rain storms. I was so grateful for no more bum lambs from that bunch. There are still seven bum lambs in that pen but they should be moving in the next week. Brenton claims that when the little darlings can rip the nipple off the bottle they NEED to go back to the ranch. We all started the branding /docking season and those 530 am starts are killing me. However, Cody and Moira always seemed to enjoy those days but man do they come home covered in blue paint and many unmentionable (and smelly) things. We put the garden in on Memorial Day and bought our very own roto tiller so now I am planning all kinds of tilling based projects. Well I now I missed a great deal of what went on, we did have school all month and Brenton and I even had a few dates that did not involve Walmart or Sam's Club. So I hope my millions of readers (mostly Becki and Carla) had great May's and that their June's are off to a rousing and sunny start.