Son's First Pheasant Hunt

Don't fall over from shock cause I am actually posting. Life has been a little crazy since I got put in the Primary Presidency.

The 2 pheasants he shot

My 10 year old has been taking hunter safety and was promised that if he passed he could go to the pheasant farm with my husband and grandpa on their planned trip.

He worked hard and when we quizzed him for his final test that was the night before the hunting trip, he could quote the book practically word for word. He took his shoot test the Saturday before and knew he had passed.

He passed the written test by only missing 3 questions. He was set to go.

He was up bright and early to go at 5:30 a.m. Wednesday morning and told me he was leaving at 6:00 a.m. even though they weren't leaving until 7:00 a.m. He was ready for his first pheasant hunt that he was carrying a gun too.

He called me at 2:30 p.m. and had bagged his pheasant. He was pretty proud of himself, he even shot it out of the air so he is pretty excited about his prize.

Him with his prize bird

He wants to get it mounted and my husband made the mistake of telling him he could if it was a decent one. I think in his mind anything he shot would be decent.

Time Out For Women

I don't know if you have ever heard of the Time out For Women tour. It is through Deseret Book. Me, my mom and sister and a few cousins and aunts went to it this weekend in Salt Lake. It is the first time they have ever had it there. If you have never been, I would highly recommend going. It was a very spiritually uplifting weekend. It was like general conference, but all women and 10 times better.

One of my all time favorite people is Sheri Dew. I have read every single book she has written, except her President of the church biographies. She was one of the speakers. She is an amazing speaker.
I have never been laughing my rear end off one minute and crying the next minute. The speakers they had were so amazing.

They had a speaker named Kris Belcher. She has been partly blind most of her life and completly went blind from cancer a few years ago. She was so amazing at the kind of attitude she has about life. I can't even put all of their stories to justice. You can go here to find out more about these people and the schedule for next year though. If I get the chance I will definitely go again.

10 Years Old?!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DON


It makes me feel a little old knowing that I turned 32 and my oldest kid is turning 10 in the same week.

He is a great kid. I don't think we could ask for a more responsible or well behaved kid. He always does what he is asked (or most of the time). He always helps out with his brother and sister, and he is just one of those kids you can't help but love.

I don't know what we would do without our kid that has almost outgrown both of us.

He loves school, loves to read, and play soccer.

He is starting to like to hunt. He gets to take hunter safety next month so he can start.

We are so proud of Don. I hope you have a Happy Birthday buddy!

Got a New Church Calling Today

Have you ever just loved a church calling you had? That is how I felt about my Bear scout calling, after we got adjusted and the kinks got worked out. It has seriously been one of my favorite callings that I have ever had. 9 year old boys can be a little roudy sometimes, but one of those is my own so I guess it is nothing new for me.

This week when the Bishopric came and asked me if I would accept a new calling I really had to ask them if they were sure. They wanted to put me in as the 1st counselor in the Primary Presidency. I love Primary, but I have never been in a calling like this before and don't know what I am doing.

I had to really overcome my sadness of being released from scouts. I wanted to cry all the way through church today. My neighbor said to me that was way better than scouts, to me it isn't. I feel very inadequate for this calling.

Scouts is my realm, I can goof off with the boys and we had a great time.

I hope over time I will be able to learn. I will be over the scouts so I still get to be involved with them somewhat.

Grrandparent's

Last night Grandpa and Grandma Page came up and visited the kids for awhile. When the doorbell rang, Joslyn came running and screaming up the stairs so excited. We had dinner and they brought Don his birthday presents early. Don loves his presents. He couldn't hardly wait to open them and do them.

They had a great time playing with them.

I had told them after school that they were coming and they waited with anticipation for their arrival.

It reminded me of when we were kids how we would sit and watch out the window and wait for my grandparent's to arrive.

The other day me and my husband were driving by the neighborhood where my grandparent's lived. I haven't been by their since they both passed away. It actually brought a wave of emotion over me. I realized how much I missed being able to see them and how much my grandparent's meant in my life. We loved going to see them as kids.

I realized my kids don't get to see their grandparent's as often as they should. We need to make more effort in going to see their grandparents. It was always so much fun for us.

Fall Break

We went down to grandpa and grandma's for fall break this weekend. Well, just Friday and Saturday.

Grandpa's apple trees are loaded and the kids had a great time helping him pick apples and make apple juice.

Mostly Ty, he is the one that enjoys working, the other two help a little but work makes them sweat so it might hurt them.

This is the kids helping grandpa press the juice out of the apples.


We used to love these wax lips at Halloween time. Grandma bought some for the kids. Muffin thought hers were pretty cool. She wore hers most of the day.


We went out shooting the 22's on Saturday. The boys loved that. They had a great time. My oldest is taking hunter safety next month and it is about more than he can stand to start hunting. He wants to ask Santa for a .410 shotgun for Christmas, so he can start pheasant hunting with his dad and his dogs.

We are still working on form.

The guns are a little big.

While we were standing out there shooting one of my kids were saying how cool it was that grandma and granpa had the desert on one side of them and mountains on the other. The night before as I was laying in bed I had been thinking about how that was one of our favorite things about living down there as kids. My kids love going down there.


Thanks mom and dad the kids had a great time this weekend.

Ordering a Baby Sister

Yesterday after I picked up my Kindergartner, she was intently looking out the car window and then looked over at me and said,"Mom, can we order a baby sister?"
I told her we couldn't. She then went on to say,"I think we probably could."

My kids P.E. teacher at the school just quit because she adopted a baby. I think this has sparked some interest in my daughter's mind. I think she just might have thought her teacher ordered her baby and got hers. Now she thinks people can order babies.

My New Ride

I have been trying to talk my husband into buying me a car for about a year now. My SUV is a gas hog and we only have 3 kids. We really don't have a need for it, especially now that I am home alone most of that day now.

I have had my eyes on this car for about 2 months at the car dealership in town. It was a great deal and I test drove it one day. I kept telling him we needed it. I told him if they dropped the price I wanted this car. When we left town for the elk hunt they dropped the price by almost $2,000 dollars. I had to call him and talk him into it. He finally gave me the okay to get it.

I have loved having something small to drive. Not to mention it doesn't take half a tank of gas to go to Provo and back. The kids think it is a sports car. It is pretty funny. They think that the sunroof is the best part of the whole car.

We still have the SUV since it is paid off, my husband needs something to take into the mountains and it is now named our scoutmobile since we both do scouts and need something to drive our scouts in.

Thankful Thursday

I haven't done a Thankful Thursday post for a long time. I had to ride bikes to school with my kids today because somehow I misplaced my keys. On my way home I started thinking about a few things. Here is my list:

I am very thankful for vehicles, even though I do enjoy riding my bike( just not when it is 37 degrees outside)

I am thankful for proper bike equipment like padded bike pants (didn't have time to put new warm ones on that I just ordered for such occasions, or my shoes)

I am thankful the weather has stayed warm, I do not like the cold (that is kind of dumb to say for someone who has lived in Utah their whole life)

I am thankful I was able to get back on my bike for the first time in a few months

I am thankful for my kids, they were excited to ride bikes instead of being mad that I lost my keys

I am thankful for my husband who loves me and my kids and that is faithful to our marriage vows.

This is a random post. Thanks if you are still reading. I had a little time to think riding my bike today. I forgot how nice it is to get out.

My First Ever Antelope Hunt

In case you have been wondering if I dropped off of the earth, I kind of did. I haven't been posting regularly anyway, but last week my husband and I left to go on my antelope hunt that I drew out for. My husband started putting me in for it 4 years ago with my father-in-law. I always think I will never draw. That wasn't the case this year!

Me with my antelope

We have a neighbor that has hunted where we drew out and told us he would take us down on the hunt. From the stories we had heard of this hunt it was going to be go down Friday night and get up Saturday morning to hunt. You drive around and hunt and once you see an animal, you hop out of the car and shoot.

I was thinking we would be done by mid afternoon. Things did not work out quite that way. Our kids went with us and went out with us for part of the day. They had a great time.

I did have a shot first thing in the morning and was shaking so bad that I completely missed. The rest of the day we saw more antelope and I had a chance at one more animal but didn't shoot quick enough.

Most of the animals we saw the rest of the day we could not get in close enough to.

Sunday came around and still no animal. We took the kids up and met my mom so they could go to school on Monday.

We got rained on the whole entire day Monday except for maybe an hour. We hadn't planned on being there, so we did not plan on extra food. We had brought extra hot dogs so we got to eat hot dogs and the sandwich stuff for our meals the rest of the time.

My father-in-law got a shot first thing Monday morning and missed. That was the only thing we got close enough to the rest of the day.

By Tuesday morning I was ready to go home and didn't care if I had to shoot the tiniest buck on the mountain. We had a guy tell us about a different spot. We decided to drive down there. We found a buck standing on the side of a hill. He didn't even care we were there. We drove around the hill and snuck up the other side from him. We got up to the top of the hill from him and he was turned away from us. He was sitting there scratching at the ground. I looked through my scope and took the shot. Instead of hitting him where I should of I hit him in the back leg and broke it. He started walking toward us and my gun jammed and I couldn't reshoot. My father-in-law shot him the second time.

Mark,me and my antelope

He laid down and started to die. We had to shoot him a 3rd time since it wasn't quite dead. We never got the vitals. That was when I felt bad.

Cory, me and my antelope

My hubby cleaned it for me. I didn't have to do the gross stuff. I just had to help hold the legs. I have never smelled anything so gross in my entire life!!!! It is a beautiful animal. He isn't the biggest animal that we saw this weekend but I didn't care by then. He was the one that I could get a shot at.

My husband is making me get him mounted because it took so much work to get him.

There is one thing I have learned about hunting. I never tell men that when they go hunting, they are doing nothing. It is one of the most frustrating and challenging things that I have ever done. If your husband hunts and you have finished my story, you need to have respect for when he hunts. They are not our there playing. They are out there working there butts off.

Jon Schmidt Concert

My hubby took me to this concert on Saturday. If you like this, he is even better to sit and listen to. I never thought I would see the day my husband would sit through a 3 hour piano concert with me. It was awesome. Thanks babe for taking me. He is so good. It makes me wish I would take a little more time to practice and learn the piano.



I could listen to this all day long. We bought one of his cd's and my kids won't quit listening to it. It is nice to hear something different around the house.

Neighborhood Tragedy

This story is about the boy that lives across the street from us. My husband is his scoutmaster. It has been a long hard week for a lot of the kids that were there when this happened. If you saw it or go look at it, please pray for this family. They are going through a rough time right now.
He is still in critical condition at Primary Children's hospital.
The amazing part is that he is still alive though.

JDRF Walk for a Cure

Yesterday, Me, my kids and most of their cousins went to Wheeler farm and did the JDRF diabetes walk for a cure. They ended up raising $430.00 overall. They were pretty excited and ended up getting their shirts.

We stayed at aunt Heather's house the night before since she lives pretty close. The kids had

a great time.

The Jazz Bear silly stringed my nephews, the one is very shy, I am surprised he took it as well as he did.

We got to Wheeler farm a little early so the kids played in the bounce houses before we walked. Lance snuck on when no one was looking. He loved it.

The girls got their faces painted,

and some of the kids went and tried out the race car changing tires.

This is my little girl and her cousin holding a sign with my husband's name on it.

They have a lot of neat things for the kids to do. Dad had to stay home to help out with youth conference so he didn't come with us. Next year we will plan earlier and hopefully he will be able to come.

This is our nephew Drew that has diabetes, he came and walked with us. He is holding the sign he made that has his and my husbands name on it.

These people were dressed up as the Star Wars characters, they were a big hit with the kids. I don't know if they were part of the thing or if they were there with one of the families.

This is a pretty neat event that the JDRF organizes, we decided that we will try and do this again and organize a team for my nephew next year. He is the taller one in the JDRF shirt. I think the kids enjoyed knowing that they raised the money for their dad and cousin. The best part was they didn't get anything but the t-shirts in return.

First Day of Kindergarten

My baby started kindergarten today!

I think I am probably the only mom that didn't walk their kid into the school. She just wanted her big brothers to take her. I guess that means that she is really getting more grown up. It is weird to think she isn't a baby anymore.

She is showing off her backpack

I should be cleaning my house and I am wasting it blogging. I need to find a new hobby.

Another Owlz Game

My husband's friend had given us tickets for Saturday's game awhile back. Last time we went the boys couldn't get any autographs from the players. My husband found out from calling, you can go to batting practice at 5:30 and the kids can take any of the balls hit over the fence.

Joslyn with Hootz

We also discovered the players will give your kids autographs before the game and be very polite.

The kids waiting for autographs, Ty talking to

one of the players

My Tyler is usually very shy and will not talk to anyone. My oldest Don will talk to anyone. Not this night. The roles were very reversed. Tyler was going to get the players autographs. He likes one of the players named Tyler Mann, since they have the same name. He waited all night to get his autograph.

Ty about falling in the dugout

He was one of the last players to come out and Tyler was hanging out over the dugout watching for him. When he came out he started yelling "Tyler Mann," several times. One of the other players had taken Tyler's ball for him and sat it in the dugout for Mann to sign. He couldn't find it so he went out on the field to find the player and ask where his ball was. He asked Tyler if he wanted to have the other players in the dugout sign the ball too. He was very cute with our son. I loved how sweet the players were to our kids.

Tyler Mann

Tyler Mann getting Ty's ball signed for him

Tyler so proud of his signed baseball that he got

from batting practice

They made a definite fan out of me and my kids.

A Big Thank You

I just wanted to thank the anonymous donor to our diabetes walk. It really made my kids day. They are very excited to do this walk.

Fundraising Yard Sale

Today me and the kids had our first ever yard sale. They weren't getting any money on our donation page for our walk next weekend so I told them we could do a yard sale and donate our money to our walk. They were very excited today when we made $70.00 to donate. We have almost made it to $100.00. That is what they really want to get to. You can go here to donate to help them make their $100.00 even though we have a higher goal. We are going to do a diabetes walk next Saturday, they are very excited about doing it for their dad.

First Day of School

I have been a blog slacker lately. I didn't even put my kids first day of school pictures up. I must be getting old. I have a first, and fourth grader. Next week my kindergartner will start school. It is kind of crazy to think that I will have a few hours to myself and no kids at home.


1st grader
It is so fun to see my first grader so excited for school. We don't have to drag him out the door to get there. He didn't even like Kindergarten!

4th grader
Of course my 4th grader is ready for school. We had a slight mix up where they had him in all 3 fourth grade classes, but he got in the one we preferred. His teacher seems like she will be great. He has always loved school so I never worry about him.

My Baby is Turning 5

From Exported Videos

I can't believe my baby is turning 5 today! It was a joyous day when we finally got our little girl. She is a little spitfire and adds a lot of spark to our home. I am blog illiterate sometimes, so if you want to see the little birthday video I put together you have to click on the black picture to go there. I could not get it to go on my blog. Happy Birthday Joslyn! We love you!

I love this time of year

I love this time of year when you can finally walk out to your garden and get what you need for your hamburgers instead of having to go to the store.
Our tomatoes are finally coming on and my daughter is in heaven (so am I).

This is the first year we planted zuchinni. We have so much, even after making zuchinni bread, cookies and trying to find recipes for anything to do with it. I can't get rid of the crazy growing stuff.

I have been able to put up 16 quarts of pickles. Our cucumber plants are doing well.
We even have broccoli growing and almost ready to eat.

It is so much fun to go eat out of the garden.

Anyone have any good recipes for these crazy zuchinni's that I can't get rid of?

JDRF Walk

Today I was reading here about how Tiburon is going to do the JDRF walk for her son. She is very inspiring. My husband is a type 1 diabetic and we don't ever do anything. I was telling my kids about it and we decided we should do it too. We are going to join her team and walk for my husband and nephew on August 29. My kids are pretty excited about it. Their cousins are going to join them too. If you want to donate you can go here.

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

My husband has a friend that has season tickets to the Owlz games. His tickets are right behind home plate on the first row. Not that there is a bad seat there anyway. He gave us his tickets on Monday and since our daughter wasn't home we took the boy's.

They are learning a lot more about baseball, and they loved it. Our oldest sat and told me the rules the whole time as if I didn't understand what was going on. It was fun to see how much they got into it.

Family Reunion

We also had my husband's family reunion at the end of the week. My husband had to work so I took the kid's and went up to the cabin for a night. We have 20 kids between all of us, although only 16 were there. There are at least 2 of each age except for the oldest. They always have a great time.
I took my 2nd son and my little nephew fishing the first night. They each had a bite but never got their fish in. I love to see the excitement when little kids get fish on their poles. I still love the excitement of a fish on my pole.

The next morning I took my oldest son fishing early, that is the best fishing. We didn't even get a bite after 2 hours of fishing he finally decided it would be okay to go back to the cabin. We saw a nice little 3 point deer on the way home.

Seeing all of the wildlife is so much fun about going up there. The deer are never scared of you. They will just look at you and go back to what they were doing. They know they won't be harmed in there since noone can hunt.

I of course forgot my camera at home. So no pictures. My two youngest kids had so much fun they both had dirt mustaches when we got home. That is when you know they had a good time.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

I haven't been keeping up on my blog lately. We have had a very busy summer (or maybe I have just been enjoying spending time with my kids and have neglected it).

This week we met most of my husband's family at the Temple and took our kids through it before it is dedicated in a couple of weeks. It was amazing to see their excitement about finally getting to go inside of a Temple. This is the newest Temple that our church has built.

When we got inside our 4 year old started folding her arms and they were in awe. She doesn't even do that at church. It was nice to see them being so reverent.

All 3 kids in front of the fountain

When we got up to the sealing room that had a couple in there to talk to people about the reason we get sealed in our church. I love the mirrors in there. If you look in one you can see yourself and it looks like it goes on forever. Like our church teaches we are sealed together forever, even after death. We sat down in there as a family and I showed my little girl how you could see our whole family going on forever. It means we will be together. She got a little tear in her eye. It was a pretty special day to be able to take our kids and they got to go with their cousins.

Fiesta Days Rodeo

I have always loved rodeo's. I don't know if it is because I grew up in a small town and played on my neigbors farm and ate their cow's salt licks or what. Ever since I was young I have loved horses and to go to rodeo's.

My little girl's favorite part is always at the beginning when the royalty rides or (pretty girls) as she calls them. Although she did get into the barrel racing this year. It was fun to watch.

Muffin watching the rodeo

When we moved back to Utah we started going to the rodeo once a year and now it has become tradition. My 2nd son did mutton busting last year and wanted to do it again, except I forgot the deadline and we didn't get him signed up.

I love to watch how these men can stay on their horses and the people always there ready to rescue if needed, or just lend a hand getting down.

This was the entertainment after mutton busting. This guy has 2 brahma bulls trained to do several things, like jump through a burning hoop. It was amazing. Probably my farm neighbors again, but I remember them having them in their field when we would go play. We were scared to death of their bulls. Their kids were scared of them so I guess we were too. It was amazing to see bulls doing those things and a guy riding one like a horse.

My kids love to watch the rodeo clowns and always get a kick out of them. This is a picture of my oldest laughing his guts out at this crazy clown. It is fun when they get into it.

This poor girl's horse got hurt while she was barrel racing. It was very sad. Once the vet came to get her horse she ran off crying. You could tell she was pretty freaked out. At the end they said they thought it would be okay. It was just a sprain or small fracture.

We had a great night. It was a lot of fun to see how much my kids got into it this year. They are starting to understand the events a little more too.