On the bench

The last few days have been hard with Cooper, but today was the end of the line.  He is very independent and doesn't like to listen very well.  This evening we are in the car heading to a 4-H  BBQ and he decides to cut some of his hair.  Of course he cuts the very front, not to the scalp, but close enough.  Then at the 4-H meeting, he takes another little boys soda, drinks the last of his pop, and crushes the can, while the boys is telling him to stop it and don't touch his pop.  So at this point, after several days of belligerents on Coops part, I have had it.  There is a wood bench outside the building that I take him to and let him know that he is to stay on the bench until I come and get him.  I remember thinking as i walked away that 6 minutes should be plenty of time.  The meeting is wrapping up and dinner is going to be served soon.  I know that I am in trouble when Weston comes up to me after  the dinner is over wondering if Cooper is still supposed to be sitting on the bench and that he is saying that he is really hungry.  The only thing that comes to mind as a mother is GUILT.  Did i really just leave my child out on the bench for the last 30 minutes at least.  As i sprint out the door, he is still sitting on the bench just like i told him too.  I gave him a big hug and told him I was very sorry that I had forgotten him.  He said that he was really just hungry and that it was no big deal.  Great, now I have scared him for life.  Well I helped him get some food and asked him what he had thought about while he was sitting there.  His comment was that he needed to be nice, not lie (which we have been working hard on) and to never cut his hair again.  Maybe it was time well spent?!?!

Fiddle Time

Erin has been playing the fiddle for over a year now. She does such a great job and really seems to enjoy it. These are a few pictures of her over the last year playing her fiddle in different events. This first picture is at the school Christmas program. She suffers at times from some serious anxiety and at the Christmas program she had a really hard time, but was able to stick it out.

These pictures were from a fiddle contest that she competed in. It was in early spring and she did a great job getting up and playing her pieces that she had worked so hard on. The group in the photo is the Dillon Junior Fiddlers, which she is a part of. The fiddlers had a big performance in Butte this last Saturday (why we were not a Kenna reception) that they have been practicing for all summer. It was great, and I am not smart enough to get my pictures from my phone to my computer, so you will just have to trust me that she was beautiful as ever and played like a pro. She is growing up way to fast!! Love you Erin :)

Triathlon Team Picture

Carolynn, Susie, Me

Before and After

Before-     

After-         

He was so dang excited to be brace free. He had his braces on for 2 years so it was a great moment!! We went school shopping, got home and gave him a hair cut, and took him back to the ranch to work until the day before school starts. He has been working on the ranch for almost the whole summer. As parents we were not ready for this yet, but he has really enjoyed being on his own. He is the only one living at the main house, so he cooks, cleans, does laundry, makes his own lunch and gets him self up on time to be to work. I hope that these are life long habits that will stay with him. I just hope that he can handle being part of the family again when he gets home, and at least remember to wipe off the counter when he is done having toast. We sure miss having him around!!

2011 Trails Part #3

Coop on his first solo horse ride. he is definitly a natural!!

Grandpa Boyd doing trails with Layne.

Boyd and Ena brought Megan and Brittnee up camping with them. Erin was thrilled to have cousins to be with.

Grandpa striking a pose.

We did some target shooting. I did shoot a bow for the
first time and really really liked it. It was a ton of fun!!

Coop needed another ride before we headed home. He is excited to go on his first overnight horse ride with dad next week. What a couple or good looking guys!!

2011 Trails Part #2

Weston was Layne's right hand man this year. Randy is working on the Hansen Ranch up the horse prairie this summer, so Weston was the one to help Layne. He worked hard and loved being with Layne and in the mountains.

They got into about 200 head of elk one day. Layne said that they were running all over the place and that they had gotten pretty close to them. I'm sure that was the highlight of the day!!

When there is snow, we must try to ski. Wes had to give this patch of snow a run for its money. He did fall down, but tried a couple more times and had a blast!!

New Picture

The last picture didn't turn out, lets see if this is any better

2011 Trails Part #1

Layne had only 90 miles this year in trail contracts. Most all of it was right here in the mountain ranges that we can see from our house. We spent last week with him at Reservoir Lake camping while he worked. His folks came up for the week also and one of his brothers and their family. Layne's dad Boyd went for two days with him and I went with Layne on his last day. We were on the Continental Divided trail. It was so awesome!! We could see Salmon, Tendoy,and Wisdom. We could see for miles and miles in all directions.

There was a large metal marker in the ground showing the Idaho and Montana sides, so we put our camera on it for a picture. The Idaho side is behind us. It was beautiful!! So fun to be out exploring together.

This was the highest point of the trail that we were on. It was 9,730 ft. The rock slides were a little scary to climb up and down because they were so steep. Layne and his mule Wilson decided that they needed a picture. As you can see we did get into a little snow. There were 2 small patches that we had snowball fights in. I love to be in the mountains!!!

Triathlon Team

My friends Susie and Carolynn and I took part in the YMCA sprint triathlon today.  Carolynn was our swimmer.  We were very excited to have her because she was a distance swimmer at BYU.  She was the first one out of the pool.  It was awesome!!  Then Susie was our biker.  She did 13 miles on her bike and did a fantastic job also.  She tagged with me and I ran 3 miles.  It was a ton of fun to be a part of a team.  We are now looking to see what other kinds of runs we could train for.  I think that we might try the sprint next year individually, but Susie and I would both have to learn how to swim, and train very differently than we have in the past.  But to have a race to train for has been very motivating in our daily workout, because we sure didn't want to look bad.  Carolynn's and Susie's husbands also did the full race individually and they did a great job.  I think that Layne will defiantly do it next year.  It was a great morning.  Pictures to come when I get them from Susie

Slacker

I know that it has been almost 4 months since i last blogged.  No excuses, pretty much just a slacker. The summer is going by way to fast, but on the other hand I am always glad to get back into a routine.
 Wes and Layne are doing trails in the mountains right here in our valley which is great to have them closer.  They were in about 300 head of elk yesterday and said that it was wild. The elk were running everywhere. 
Randy had been working on the Hansen ranch which is about 10 miles up the road that you cross the Clark Canyon Reservoir on basically since he got out of school.  He helped with 450 bum lambs and then they asked if he would like to come back and hay for the rest of the summer.  I wasn't quite ready to have him living away from home for the summer, but it has been good for him.
Erin is loving having time to read read read.  She is loving the American girl series.  She is taking voice lessons and fiddle so she is keeping busy with that and playing with friends when ever possible.
Coop is enjoying riding his bike when ever he is awake.  He loves being outside and playing with his cars.  He is excited to take his lamb to the fair the end of August.
 I had my hair in a ponytail the other day and he looked at me and said, "Holy Cow that is a lot of gray hair!!  You must be getting old mom."  Then Erin saved the day by reminding me I have the stuff in the box that fixes that and I can be good as new tomorrow.  I love my kids!!

Going to State

Randy had District Music Festival this weekend and did awesome.  He was very nervous because he somehow broke his instrument and didn't think that he was going to get to play his solo.  A music company was there showcasing a bunch of new instruments and they offered to let him borrow a brand new baritone to  play his solo.  It was a totally different one than what his is like, but he practiced for a few minutes and then it was his turn. He was so scared because the band teacher told him to plan on about $1200 to fix it.  He was sweating bullets, but it was a minor repare and the school payes for it.  I think it was a good lesson learned that you can never be to careful with your instrument!!   He did a great job, got an 1 and is going to state the first weekend in May. 

What!?!

So when I blogged yesterday about the snow, i should have realized that I would wake up to 6 inches of snow this morning and a nice blizzard for most of the day.  The one good thing is if it is going to be cold and snowy, it might as well snow hard.  Happy Spring!!

NO!!!

Will it ever be spring in Montana???

Discovery Pictures Take 2

Don't know why the pictures didn't show, but here they are again!!

Game Warden

High school is great!! Randy came home yesterday with the best story yet!! He is sitting in band and they are discussing what they would like to be when they all grow up. Randy said that he would like to be a game warden, but when you say game warden fast it comes out a little different. The kids thought that he said that he wanted to be a "gay mormon". I thought that I was going to die laughing. Thank heavens Randy was also able to laugh about it. I'm not sure how long it will take to live this one down!! We sure enjoy having Randy in our home. He really is a great young man.

Discovery

We had last Monday off, so we decided to try out a new ski hill. Discovery is outside of Anaconda. It was awesome!!! Erin and Coop were still learning, and did great. They had a mini lift that the chairs were really slow and only went up the hill about 1/4 mile. It was perfect for Coop to really start learning how to turn. By about 11am Erin had moved on to bigger and better runs, while after lunch Coop also upgraded.

The Steadman boys and Kurt went with us. This is Layne, Ben and Coop( being funny) . Randy's just finished skiing backwards in this, but of course I missed the picture!!

Coop was practicing his turns and doing great. Sorry that there are no pictures of Wes, because I only saw him at lunch and then when it was time to go home. Him, Tyler, and Randy hung out most of the day and had a great time. I was sad because my camera ran out of batteries right after lunch, so no family picture :( We had a great time and Discovery is a great ski hill!!

Help- Anybody

This is the email that I sent to Randy tonight-

Hello my child!!  I hope you are having a great time at state! Sure missed you tonight when I had to milk the cow, bottle feed 7 new born calves, bottle feed 3 baby lambs, feed a bunch of ewes and cows, water the horses all after staying up until 4am helping Susie and the girls in Idaho falls.  Then coming in and helping Wes finish his poster for school.  Sure could have used you tonight!!  Love ya mom :)

I didn't put in the fact that I had to drive 4 hours this afternoon to get 5 of the 7 calves.  But a great bonus was that dad was in Butte and was able to meet me in Whitehall and travel with me to get the calves.  We had a wonderful time.  I love it when life is spontaneous and crazy.  It really wasn't as bad as i make it sound.  I did have Wes, Erin and Coop to try to help.  Feeding the calves was a huge sloppy job, but the funniest was when Cooper started crying because he was holding the bottle a little low and informed me that the calf was not sucking but trying to eat his privates.  I thought that I was going to die laughing.

Seattle

Yesterday morning, I sent Randy with 50 other students and 8 chaperons on two buses to go to Seattle for the All Northwest Band Conference.  He was so excited that their band was chosen to attend this conference.  They are the only school in Montana that were invited to come and they were stoked!!  I was excited for him also, but also scared because who is going to hold his hand and help him with all the different decisions that will need to be made.  I then had to remind myself that he will be gone in 3 years and he needs opportunities like this to see what life is like.  He did text me today to let me know that he has never seen such big buildings in all his life, and that he was feeling very claustrophobic.  It must be bad, because he said that 3 different times.  I think he is having the time of his life.  I just hope and pray that he is safe and smart!!  I Love you Randy- Be Good!!

Happy Valentines Day

We just got home from a wonderful dinner with mom and dad in Lima.  The Seniors at the high school have a fancy dinner  for their senior trip fundraiser.  I had some of the best steak ever!!  It was lean cut steak with a black raspberry glaze- Holy Cow, to die for!! :)  You had to reserve a table a few days before and then they give you the time that your table will be available.  It was great because the seniors kids are the servers.  It was great to be at dad and moms.  It had been a while since we were down that direction.  Thanks for a very enjoyable evening :)  Love ya

Getting Organized- Kinda

I have been trying to find a 6' bookcase for my office to hold some of my business supplies.  I found one at Target, not exactly what I was looking for, but should work out fine.  Now that I have put it together, the hardest part for me is getting everything in the right place so that my office looks like an office instead of the local landfill.  Wish me luck!!

Really!?!?

I can't believe that it has been almost 2 months since I blogged. 
Coop had his birthday on Dec 1. He is 6 so that makes him (according to Coop) officially older than me until I have my birthday in May and then I will be 36 instead of 35 hence making us the same age again.  (He is so funny sometimes, more like all the time!!) 
Randy is playing basketball on the freshman team, so he is very busy with practice and games.  He started the beginning of Dec and will be done the end of this month.  He has really improved and it is fun to watch him play.  He is a great defender!!!
Wes is in archery through the 4-h.  He is also doing great.  He had his personal best the other day with a 204!!  It was awesome.  He also is just starting 5th grade band.  He tried out for the drums and got it, so we are movin to the beat around here. 
Wes, Erin and Coop are all in a basketball clinic each Saturday at the college.  They also are improving a ton, but Coops group are defiantly the funnest to watch.
Erin is still fiddling and is getting ready for a fiddle contest the middle of Feb.  She should do great!!
Coop is doing good in school, he struggles a little with reading and attention, but don't we all sometimes :)
The holidays were wonderful for us. They were fast and furious, but we did get in more snowmobiling, skiing, and cross country skiing.
We have started our lambing season.  Yes the ram did get out early last fall and we are about 6 weeks earlier than we like.  We had a set born 1 1/2 weeks ago, which was fine because it was warm.  The set born early this morning are having a little bit of trouble with the below zero weather, but hopefully they will make it.
 I will try to do better at keeping up with things. :)