When life gives you lemons, we make lemonade

We have had record snowfall this year, and a very cold "not yet summer", (I refuse to call it spring) then it heated up too quickly, so we have had some flooding here. We have been ok at our house so far, but the log home has seen a little bit of water, but we have been able to stop it before it got bad, some others haven't been so lucky;(
I thought we might as well have a little fun, so I pulled out my pontoon boat and let the kids ride down the burrow at the side of the road, they thought it was a ton of fun!

Tanner



Bryce



Austin



Sandbagging to try to keep the river somewhat in the channel and out of peoples houses



They had to cut out the road up the street from us because the 2 culverts couldn't handle all the water, this is usually just a small creek


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Heeber creeper

Yesterday was a field trip day for Austin, we went to the Heeber creeper, it is an old train and they take a trip up and a little ways around Deer Creek reservoir, then switch the engine and come back to the station. The kids have a great time...



Austin is at a stage where he wants me to come on the trip, but he also wants to hang out with his friends, some moms think this is wrong, but I was fine with it, he sat close by and came to see me often, I enjoyed visiting with my friends, and watching him have fun! I think it is great to see him being independent and I am glad that he still wants me close by!
I also like that the teachers and the train people let the kids wander, they are so young and curious, I love the way their little minds take everything in, and they were really pretty good, I didn't see any kids out of control, so I thought it was a great day for them.
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Lots of water

A couple of days ago, Jason and I took a drive up to Birch creek, a local reservoir, to check on the water situation....



- Not good. At the far end of the picture, is the damn, this area is below and is usually dry,
They call it the tub

This next picture is the tub overflowing



Good thing we have float tubes and a pontoon boat, we may end up needing them at our house...



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Playing catchup

In April, Bryce and Tanner got started on the long and expensive process of straightening their teeth. BRACES



Typical Bryce, he fell asleep reading (by his choice) a science encyclopedia.



My mom with the flowers we gave her for mothers day.



Jason and the boys made me strawberry and chocolate crepes for mothers day breakfast



Putting the metal roof on the cabin (finally)




We have had flooding in woodruff, our culvert over at the cabin was smashed so the water started pooling around the cabin, we pulled the culvert out and that solved the problem for now, but I am a little nervous of what is to come when the weather warms up and the snow in the mountains really starts to melt!


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Austin's 9th birthday

On April 2, Austin turned 9 years old, I can't believe my baby is getting so big! To celebrate, we got a hotel in Logan for 2 nights, and we had a party at Linda and larry's house (we also helped them re roof the back of the house) Jason's cousin Jessica came with her 2 girls, Megan and Lexi.


My mom and dad came down and brought my brothers 2 oldest girls, August and Addison with them. After the party, we went back to the hotel and let the kids swim.


They all had a blast, and made new friends, I think Addison found a new best friend in Megan!


It was a fun weekend spent celebrating, and enjoying family, (and a little elbow grease for the men up on the roof)


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Pig, pig, and 2 more pigs

We went to the pig auction today to get our 4-H pigs for the boys. This will be Tanner and Bryce's 2nd year, and Austin's 1st. And he is pretty excited about it!



This is Tanners pig




This is Bryce's pig




#7 is Austin's pig

We still need to get one more for our alternate just in case any of the others die, or don't make weight. We are ready for another summer of pigs!

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Oryx hunt

Jason drew out on an Oryx Hunt, he has been planning this trip for over a year now. It is on a missle range in New Mexico, and so being, they have some pretty strict policies, for this hunt. But I think it is one of the only places in the U.S. to hunt Oryx. Jason of course drew out the first year he put in for it (although some have been putting in for 20 yrs without drawing) He was only able to have 4 people in his party, him, his dad, a "guide", and he chose (with a little coaxing from me...which Tanner is still mad about" to take Bryce as his 4th person. they had a great time, and came home with a great Trophy.

And the Luck continues...

Remember when I said that we went to the Evanston SFW banquet (where Tanner won the gun and hunt) because Jason wouldn't be here to attend the Logan one... Well, they had advertised the wrong date, so we were all able to go to it! We attend this every year, and always have a good time, Jason's Parents always go with us, and sometimes others attend as well. This year Jason's cousin and her husband came. Good food, Good friends, Good family... and Oh yea, our little group walked away with....





Tanner-


a box of clay pigeons and a thrower(sp)


a Basket Ball


a 5-bird hunt


2 fishing poles





Bryce-


a sling shot


a fishing pole


a 5-bird hunt


A GUN!!





Austin-


a pocket knife


a hunting video





Larry (Grandpa)


a Gun


a Magazine





Jessica-(Jason's Cousin)


a Gun





Me...


a floor mat :(





We did buy a couple of things from the silent auction, I got $500 worth of Taxidermy for $400, and we also bought a fishing package (pole, reel, net, fillet knife, and board) we gave the fillet knife to Eric (Jessica's hubby) cuz he pouts when he doesn't win anything, and the rest of the fishing stuff to Austin, cuz he was bummed that Tanner and Bryce kept winning stuff and he didn't.


All in all, it was a huge success! Can't wait until Next year!

This is Bryce with the Gun he won, it was really amazing, cuz it was one of the main prizes, and he only had 1 ticket in the bucket, and they had chosen him as the kid to come up and draw the tickets of the winners, and he drew his own, really though there was probably at least 200-300 tickets in the bucket, so there was no way he could cheat! It was fun for him to win. We didn't keep this gun, because it isn't a kids gun, we sold it to a friend, and he is going to go pick out his own gun later.

Dress up days

It was a dress up week at school this week for Tanner and Bryce. Tanner doesn't like to dress up too much, unless it is sports related, but since Bryce is the student body VP, he dresses up, yesterday was nerd day...





Last fall, they also had a dress up week, and this was his caveman outfit



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Spring??? Maybe...

We went to Lagan today, and the weather was so nice, we told the kids they had to play outside for at least an hour before going into the house at grandma and grandpa Petersen's. They didn't mind at all! Austin and Bryce played on the trampoline, and climbed the tree, while Tanner was busy with the basket ball hoop!




As you can see, they still have some snow, but at least they also have lots of grass showing, unlike woodruff, where we still have at least a foot of snow over the entire yard... Oh well, it was at least fun to pretend that spring was almost here!


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Love is spoken here

Last night, we were all just relaxing around the house, enjoying the start of the weekend, I was watching T.V. when austin came upstairs wearing this mask and singing church songs.
I don't think they go together... What do u think?
The funny thing is, he wasn't trying to be funny, he was just playing around and happened to be singing some of his favorite songs!



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Like father, like son?? Maybe

I swear, Jason has to be one of the luckiest guys (he married me right?) j/k anyways, he has won some amazing prizes, he has won guns, special hunts, and even a 4-wheeler. Well a couple of weeks ago we went to a sportsman's banquet in Evanston, we usually go to the one in Logan but Jason will be on one of those special hunts that he was "lucky" to draw out on, anyways he decided that he didn't want to miss out so he found out when the Evanston one was and got us tickets. The kids always enjoy going and it usually is a fun night. They had a special drawing for the kids and you guessed it, Tanner won the prize... It is a Ruger 280 gun, and an guided cow elk hunt with lodging in Idaho! He was sooo excited! So, is he going to take after his dad? He sure hopes so!


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Pajama day

Today was Dr. Seuss's birthday, and to celebrate they had a
Pajama day at school where they could wear their pajamas, and at the end of the day got to watched a Dr. Seuss movie. Austin was so excited about it, that he got his pajamas on about 5:30 the day before just so that he was all ready for school. He also decided that he had to take his snuggle too.

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April Fools Day

I don't know what I was thinking, but I got a wild hair and decided to do some April fools pranks on my family. It started out not so bad, in the morning, I put a few drops of food coloring in the bowls before I put the cereal in, then when the kids poured in the milk, it turned colors. That was pretty good. Bryce, was confused, and I think Tanner was scared, because I put pink in his, and he didn't know what it was.

Then I spent the day in Evanston getting stuff for Austin's Birthday Party (tomorrow) and for Easter, and the rest of the stuff for April Fools...

Cute Cupcakes don't you think...

It is really meatloaf with mashed potatoes on top. But Austin was fooled! Then for desert, we had chicken pot pies (pudding with candy)

This is what was so time consuming, because I had to shape all the candy to look like veggies!

Then I made Sushi (AKA rice crispy treats with gummy worms inside, and wrapped in fruit leather.


It was alot of work, but it made the day a little more special, (Jason is now Cleaning the Kitchen since I am tuckered out!)

Hunting Expo

Last night, we went to a Hunting Expo in SLC they had all sorts of booths selling Hunting stuff, of course we had to stop at one for S. Africa, we would love to go on a safarii there! They also had lots of kid stuff, I wish I would have taken more/better pictures, but at least I did take some.

They had a Youth Fair, where the kids got to do some activities at different booths and get a stamp on their paper, then they turned it in for a prize, that is what these pics are from.

Then they had Yellowstone Bear World there with their new cubs that are only months old! They had 12 cubs this year, and they would rotate them so they weren't out all day. Of course Austin had to get the picture with them so that we could pet one.

A little Catch-up

Ok, so I know I haven't blogged since our trip to Yellowstone back on Memorial weekend, but we have had a really busy year! I will quickly catch you up to speed.

Tanner has been in the O.R. 7 times since last June, but he is doing great! He had his tonsils out in June, then in August he started having some orthopedic surguries to straighten out his crooked foot. There were really only 3 surgeries, but they also took him into the O.R. to do 3 cast changes (there they stretched his foot and casted it that way to keep stretching it) then he got a pretty nasty infection and they had to take him in again to clean it out. He has been through a lot this year, but things are going really well now, his foot looks good. Although he missed out on playing football since he was in a cast, he got to be the team manager. He was really hoping to be able to play Basketball, but he got that nasty infection, and only recovered enough to play the last 2 games, but he was thrilled to do that!

Bryce has been loving middle school, now if we could just get him to remember to get his homework done, and TURNED IN! He really does well, as long as he can remember those 2 things! We continue to be amazed at his reading and writing skills, he wrote a persuasive essay on why we should get him a Nintendo DSI it was great, the teacher even emailed us and said how wonderful it was! Although, I still think he can make do with his regular Nintendo DS!

Austin loves school, life, and yes still Scooby Doo, Oh, and we can't forget his beloved Blankie! We are all really excited about his upcomming birthday and baptism! I can't believe he is almost 8 years old! I must really be getting old! He has asked for a bird this year, I don't really think so, but who knows, I am a sucker for pets!

Well, I think you are all caught up, sorry this is so long, I will try to do better now that I am not running to SLC 2-3 times a week, but who knows, something always seems to come up! We are excited for summer to get here and camping season to start, so lets start planning!!

Yellowstone

I have been wanting to take the kids and go to Yellowstone for a few years now, but I am not good at planning things, something always comes up. So a few weeks ago, Jason was going hunting with his dad and my sister was still here from Korea and she is the expert at Yellowstone, so we decided to go.
We had so much fun, Tanner said it was better than Disneyland!
Now we want to go next summer with Jason and stay for a week!