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Tuesday, September 24, 2013

My New Camera

At the beginning of each year I apply for the FAFSA to help pay for school. At the beginning of each semester I seem to get a check for more than what it cost me to pay for school. Part of this is done by me renting books and then returning them at the end of the semester instead of buying new books each semester. At the beginning of this semester I got a little more than what I was expecting. Taking that money and adding a bit too it I was able to finally buy a brand new Cannon 6d. I am sooooooo excited! Here are just a few pictures that I have taken so far. 

It hasn't rained this week but seriously for about a month we had rain EVERY day, ALL day! I love how I captured the "splash" of rain drops landing into a pool of water. My other camera would NEVER had captured this.  


Kylie has been really hard to capture lately. This girl is constantly on the move and won't hold still for nothing! My old camera is terrible with movement. Any movement at all no matter how small would turn out blurry. It was exciting to see that my crawling baby girl is not blurry with my new camera!


Last week was "Special Friends Day" at school. I snapped this picture of Miss Emily and was very pleased. It was a very windy day and I love that her curly hair isn't blurred out!


Miss Emily on the swing. Not blurry but wish I had focused a little closer to her!


My sister took this picture for me and even though it's not the best I love that it turned out. Most of my indoor pictures especially inside the school turn out very very yellow. The skin tones are still yellowed but not nearly as bad as it would have been with my other camera.

Thank you Grandma and Aunt Hanna for coming to our "Special Friends Day" this year! 


I am loving my camera! I just bought a photo shop program and I can't wait to start learning it. I seriously need life to slow down. I keep thinking I'm going to be so bored a year from now when I will have graduated from school, not have my current calling, not having a child at school half day and no longer being on the booster club. This next month I am helping each class make a craft to sale at our annual Festival of Tree's this first week of December. The crafts need to be done by Nov. 1. This is having me help 2 grades a week this upcoming month on top of  Red Ribbon Week at school, being in charge of our town's Halloween party and preparing for the Primary program. I think I'll need a vacation at the end of the month! 

Emily turns 7!

This past sunday was Emily's 7th birthday. Where oh where does the time go?
For breakfast she requested rice n'eggs instead of the traditional pancakes. 

 One, Two, Three, Blow.......

After breakfast we rushed to get ready for church and headed out the door. Emily was quite suprised to see her Grandma and Grandpa join us during sacrament meeting. 
After church we headed home to celebrate this little girl's birthday! Uncle Matt and Aunt Hanna came too.

Love her expression! She didn't know she was getting a new bike. This year everyone got a new bike for their birthday. Emily wasn't going to get one being her bike is still relatively new from the last birthday and she still fits it. However this summer someone was backing their truck and trailer up and ended up running over her bike. She can still ride it however the handle bars are now all crooked and she doesn't like riding it. So she was quite surprised when Madelyn brought her new bike in!  

 Not sure what this face meant?

Love this candid I caught of Aunt Hanna and Madelyn during the party! 

 Say cheese just one more time Birthday Girl!

 Emily asked for a Barbie cake. I've done 2 barbie cakes in the past and wanted something a little different.

 Emily searched Pinterest for many day's and came up with a similar cake to this.
She loved it! I loved it! And she was thrilled she got to help make the rocks, the snails and the flower's. 

 Happy Birthday sweet Emily!

Showing off her birthday present from Aunt Hanna and Uncle Matt
Fake fingernails and stick on earings.

Facts about Emily
Loves riding her bike.
Likes to play with friends.
Favorite dinner is lasagna.
Favorite breakfast is french toast.
Favorite movie, It Takes Two
Favorite color is turquoise
Favorite toy to play with is babies and barbies.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

School Is Starting

School has started at our house!
The night before school starts Daddy gives everyone their father's blessing. After waiting patiently all day long the moment has finally arrive to open up their special gift. Even though they all know it's going to be a new school outfit they are overcome with excitement. 

 Emily, Madelyn, Hunter and Brayden.

 Madelyn loves her neon colored shirt.

Even though Brayden kept hearing the gift was going to be clothes I think Brayden was a bit dis-appointed.

On the 1st day of school waiting for the bus to arrive at 7:04 this year. Love this kid but I don't understand why he must make a funny face in front of the camera. Hunter is starting the 5th grade. When he grows up he wants to own his own business. 


Madelyn is starting the 4th grade. When she grows up she wants to be a sign language interpreter.

Emily is in the 1st grade this year. When she grows up she wants to be a cow-girl.

My beautiful girls are growing up. I love it when we curl this girls hair. Looks so pretty.

 Brayden started preschool 2 weeks later. Since I'm behind on my blogging I'll add him too.  Brayden is 4 and this will be his 2nd year of preschool. He wants to be Spiderman when he grows up. He loves his teacher Miss Wendy. He get's to go to school 4 days a week. Unfortunately we live to far away for the bus to pick him up for school which is only held in the afternoons. So everyday I get the privilege of driving him to school. He does get to take the bus home with older kids. I thought he'd get tired of going to school everyday but so far he still looks forward to going. 

I also started my semester of school. The kids thought it was kind of funny that we all started on the same day. I'm only taking 2 classes this semester which seems to keep me busy enough with everything else going on in our lives. After this semester I will only have 3 classes left to when I earn my Associates. I can't imagine what I'm going to do with all my spare time when I'm not doing classes online anymore. I've been going to school for 6 years now with a 1 1/2 year break when we moved from AZ to UT. I would like to go on and further my education but I'm going to wait until all my kids are in school and I can take some of my classes in the class room. Having taken college courses in a class room and online I think online is much harder. It's harder to get question's answered in a way that I can understand without having to email back and forth many times. I also think I am given a lot more homework and other assignments because I am not in the classroom. I am thankful for online courses because otherwise I wouldn't have the knowledge that I have now. My kids are my priority and that is why I have chosen to do online instead of classroom. When I go back I don't want it to take as long as it's taken me to earn my Associates.

2013 Fair

It's Fair Time!!!!
Thursday night we loaded up 2 goats and 10 pigs and headed to the fair grounds to weigh in. 
This year our kids together had 2 goats and 4 pigs. We took the extra's down for some cousins.
Our pigs did not do very well this year. Minimum weight is 220 lbs with a 3% shrinkage meaning the pigs must weigh in at 214 lbs or can not be sold during the auction. Both girls pigs weighed in under 200 pounds (191 &170). We had to load them back into the trailer to take home. We knew they would likely not make weight so we had found some people who would be interested in buying them from us when we ran out of feed. The girls won't make as much as if they'd sell them at the fair but at least they'll make a little something with them. Brayden's pig which looked the biggest weighed in at 212. Knowing they gain 2-3 pounds a day and feeling sorry for us that our 1st 2 pigs didn't make weight they allowed this pig to slip in. They had the intention that this pig would eat enough over night to gain that last 2 pounds to make weight the next day. I thought they'd have us weigh it again but we never had to. Hunter's pig was borderline. We really didn't know if it would make it or not this year. We were all surprised and very thankful that his pig 
weighed 220lbs!  Thank goodness goats don't have a minimum weight.


Friday morning the kids and I headed down to the Fair Grounds for what feels like the longest day ever! Here's Hunter giving his pig a bath. Hunter's pig was our absolute favorite this year. This pig loved water. He'd dance, and run around in the sprinkler hose every chance he got! He was a very friendly pig.


Here's the girls washing Brayden's pig. We end up washing the pigs at least once and sometimes 3 times a day. So even though the girls didn't get to show their pigs they still got to join in on all the fun.
 When the pigs were ready to be shown we took a breather and watched some of the kids going before us. The 2 little ones occupied themselves by playing in the dirt.
 Here's Emily all dressed up and just waiting for her turn. The kids are strongly encouraged to wear dark pants, white shirt and the 4-H patch.

Emily's pig did not make weight but she was able to show Hunter's pig in her division just for fun.

 Brayden showing his pig!

In the end both kids got a ribbon for participating making them feel pretty special.

We had a short break between Pee-Wee and  the 4H show so we ran over to the event center to discover how the kids did with their craft projects we've been working on all summer. Madelyn's yarn art received a blue ribbon!

 Her swim suit cover was selected to go to the Utah State Fair! She was pretty excited.

Another blue ribbon for her flying bug.
Madelyn earned $15 from all her submission's.

Hunter's tin man was also selected to go to the Utah State Fair.

 He submitted a button art and his pine wood derby. He brought home $15 too.

We were kind of in a hurry and I must have missed taking pictures of the other kids. Brayden did a tin man too and took sweepstakes in his division ($15). He submitted a plate of cookies and a painted picture too and came home with a total of $17. 

Emily submitted 3 items, googly eye picture frame, a flying bug (like Madelyn's) and a plate of cookies. She is still in the Pee Wee division and each item is only given $1. She was dis-appointed that she only got $3 when everyone else got so much more.

We quickly ran back to the fair for Hunter and Madelyn to show their goats and pigs.
Cousin Gideon, Madelyn and Hunter 


Cousin Gideon, Madelyn and Hunter.
They did pretty good in the Showmanship and all received ribbons of participation.

That 1st day is always the loooonnngest! It didn't help that our Dad was at school and I was left to do it all with kids again this year. When I crawled into bed that night I couldn't help but think about were we are in our lives. I didn't grow up showing animals. We were lucky to have a pet dog. Having 5 children of my own I understand why my parents didn't want any animals. I would have never thought that I would have spent that day bathing pigs, chasing and straddling run away goats and helping young kids herd their sheep. Not something I would have seen in my future just a few years ago. I thought I was just a city girl who grew up in Vegas.

Saturday morning our family headed back down to the fair grounds for the auction. Our dad was able to come with us and boy did it make a difference having him there to help out. 

Here's Hunter showing his green glittered pig. He sold for $575.

Brayden's pig sold for $475. He was the 2nd to the last and I missed taking his pictures because I ended up in the arena with him. As we were getting his pig out of the pen Hunter's pig came running out and being in such a narrow walk way both pigs pinned Brayden up against the fence. He wasn't hurt, it wasn't done intentionally but it scarred him pretty good. He didn't want to go anywhere near his pig after that. I had to rush Brayden out into the arena while Dad was chasing Hunter's pig back into the pen.

After the pigs came the goats. When the animals go for auction the kids can dress their animals up a bit. Most kids shower their pigs with glitter and put a fancy/blingy collar on their goats. There are so many animals coming through that we needed to do something to catch buyer's attention and make our animals stand out from everyone else.  We definitely stood out this year! 

Madelyn's goat was beautified!
Together, us girls, made a sparkly turquoise and purple tutu with a matching flower to cover up that ugly looking tag. Madelyn wore her 4-H outfit but wanted to wear a purple flower to match her goat! The audience went wild. She received many shout outs, yells and whistles. 

                                               

She did a fabulous job. Her goat sold for almost $600 which really is just insane!


 Hunter didn't want his male goat beautified. It would some how be undignified to them both. He said he wouldn't be caught dead showing his goat in a tutu. hehehehe. I really never had the intention of doing this but did enjoy getting the rise out of him. What I wanted to do was make a super hero cape like batman and then have Hunter wear an eye mask to match but apparently he's too old for that. So we dressed his goat up the same we did for 4th of July parade which turned out pretty good I think.


 Hunter chasing his goat in the arena. Something we did constantly with this goat. I'll admit I didn't shed a tear when we left him behind for the very last time. This particular goat was a pain in my backside! Hunter made $525 on this little stinker!
                                               


When our kids were done selling we headed home for a few hours. Later that night we went back to the fair grounds, the 4th time in 3 days for the local rodeo.

Brayden wanted to ride the sheep and was quite excited and happy about it until he got thrown off. Dad was there to rescue him.

This year we were able to back our truck right up to the fence line. We brought our lawn chairs and made camp in the bed of the truck! We brought our camp chef and made kettle corn to share.  It soon got dark and my pictures taken didn't turn out! All the kids participated in the chicken chase and all caught either a chicken, duck or rabbit. Not wanting any more animals the kids got to give their catch away to friends who apparently had nicer mom's.

Madelyn talked her Uncle Klynt into participating in the hide pull with her and Hunter. Hunter made it in 13 seconds. Madelyn came in 1st at 11 seconds flat!  She was pretty proud of herself. That girl won $30!!
 Overall it was a great weekend. I'll admit I'm pretty glad we don't have this busy of a weekend too often. It will take a few days to recover from. Till next year...

End of Summer

The week before school started my sister-in-law Natoshia and I took our kids up on Cedar Mountain to explore for a day. We started off at the Ice Caves. Kory and I tried taking the kids here a few years ago but there was a swarm of bee's in the opening and being Kory's allergic to bee's we never did make it down inside. 

We had to climb down or use the rope to repel down. 
When we got inside it was smaller than what I was expecting. All the ice had melted so the floor was pretty much mud. Madelyn and the Achievement Day Girl's came about 2 months ago and there was still plenty of ice on the ground.

 There was a small cave that was too tall to be able to jump into and the rock was to slick to climb up to it. The kids wanted to crawl across the log but in the end they all chickened out! 
 This is Hunter repelling out of the cave.

When we were through with at the Ice Caves we went to Mammoth Rock. This is really a big hole in the ground that you can walk through for a good 1/2 mile. It's pitch black and everyone needed a flashlight!
 After going through the biggest tunnel the kids were able to explore a little in the main opening that leads to 3 different caves. 
 Brayden made me nervous. He's 4 but thought he could keep up and do the things the bigger kids were doing. 
 This is Madelyn coming out of the big rock!
 One of the tunnels at Mammoth Rock is very narrow. The ceiling is low that everyone has to crawl through it on your hands and knee's. Almost the entire way through.  In the middle of this tunnel it opens up for just a moment. Madelyn was so excited to find these bats there. I think this is the 1st time we've seen so many real bat's like this. 
While the bigger kids were running and playing through the tunnels this munchkin and I snacked on plums.
My baby's getting big!