i finally did it!

I have been wanting to paint our white walls for years. I have painted the 2 bathrooms, but that is nothing much. So I finally did it! I bought paint last week and this morning I got busy. This is what we looked like at 9:30 this morning.




And now we have 5:00 pm. Yes, I moved the furniture - I like to do that quite often.

Matt had no idea I bought paint and had any intention of painting. He laughed when he walked in the house when he got home from work and said "You should have done this a long time ago, I like it."

I went to buy paint with CHOCOLATE in mind, but I felt I came home with MUD. But, I think I like the way MUD looks on my walls.

I plan on making new curtains for that window. The old ones just don't work with the MUD color. But I am pretty happy about how things turned out. I need to spiff up the baseboards now and attack a few more walls that need a fresh coat. It is funny how just a fresh coat of paint can spiff things up!

sheep

So a few Saturdays ago we headed to Greenwich, Utah. Yes, there is a Greenwich in Utah. Look it up. Matt's sister Mindy and her husband Will have sheep, many of them. Spring brings around a wonderful time of sheep season and that is docking lambs. My dad and uncle had sheep when I was growing up, so I am quite familiar with docking lambs. My dad and uncle would castrate the males, put a rubber 'cheerio' on their tales so it would fall off, and ear notch them as me, my siblings, and cousins would bring the lambs to them by a kicking back leg. I think we just ear notched and cheerioed the tales of the females, it has been a long time ago and is a blur. Sometimes those warm spring days with the smell of blood in the air and all over my arms and face got to me and I did block it out!!

Anyway, the time was now for the sheep in Greenwich. The kids and I went over to help and play. Emmitt deserves to live on a farm - one day buddy, one day!!



So here is Mace and Mindy, some of Matt's siblings. Mindy did not grow up raising sheep but cattle instead, and it seems she is quite the sheep mistress. She is amazing at her sheep raising abilities, among many others.

All the kids took turns either loading the tagging guns and 'cheerio' guns, or catching the lambs and bringing them to the fence where they lost the end of one ear, got ear pierced twice in the other ear (females), metal ear tagged (females), got vaccinated, cheerioed their tales, and cheerioed their manly gonads. They also got sprayed with an anti-tick, lice, and other nasty junk liquid. What a process! The guys were good enough to cut the ear tip off as the last step because that is when the blood gets ya! Will, his dad, and Mace had a great process down. We took care of ALOT of sheep that day!


The kids were wonderful helpers. Kelsey was somewhat concerned about her shoes as they got iodined, manured, and a few other nasty fluids on them, but got over that pretty quick because she got to spend time with her wonderful cousins and help out.


I am not sure how many lambs we did, 600 maybe? Mindy will have to give me the real numbers. All I know is that the next day my behind was sore from bending over, grabbing four feet, holding those sweet things up to the fence to be doctored, and then letting them down on the other side of the fence. If I could do that everyday, dang I would look good!



Ashley took a picture of my hands before I washed the second time. We took a nice break for lunch, and of course I washed up for that. So this is the afternoon's dose. The sun was out and it was a beautiful day.

After we finished the sheep in Greenwich, we headed to Salina to meet up with Matt. We met him to help feed the cows. Emmitt calls them "Emmitt's cows" thanks to his Grandpa Larry.

Kendal is daddy's girl when it come to the farm and the ranch. She loves feeding the cows, riding the horses and 4 wheelers, going to the "wanch", and just being with dad. Matt loves that they love it too. Kelsey is all about the farm stuff as long as there are cousins and 4-wheelers involved! We had a great weekend once again!

dirt roads

There is something sweet and wonderful about a dirt road, and living on one is even better. This is the road that leads only to my parents' home. When I was little this dirt road was REALLY long, especially in the hot hot summer weather. My grandma, and the rest of the world, lived down this dirt road. I swear just walking down this road to my grandma's house seemed to take forever! I do remember getting a little distracted with the red ants making their home on my dirt road. I would stop and poke and jab at them, but I was never mean enough to destroy their little house of perfectly sized rocks they gathered from this dirt road.


As I got older I was surprised at how short this dirt road became. I was also surprised at how short this road was when riding my bike! I have so many memories concerning this road.


-walking to grandmas
-walking down to the swing
-watching Glen and Chris drive Tonka trucks down this road
-playing gas station on our bikes up and down the road
-watching my friend Deeanna's mom walk up the road with a wooden spoon because she played too long
-walking down the road to get to the trail that leads across the hill to grandmas and to our sagebrush huts!
-walking down the road with my grandpa and his cane
-watching my cousins ride their horses up this road to my house, and then riding horses with my cousins down this road to freedom for the day
-watching my dad walk down the road to go do chores
-watching my older brother Glen disappear down this road with his friends
-driving my mom's Blazer for the first time down this road
-running down this road in the dark during our family reunions while playing run sheep run
-getting my car stuck in the snow when I was 17
-holding Matt's hand while walking down this road when we were engaged
-walking this road with my mom and sister and laughing at something Tori said
-watching Kelsey's naked one year old bum run down this road in the summer twilight
-watching Kendal and Emmitt walk down this road as best friends with a tractor in the background harrowing the field in spring



Seeing my own kids walk down this road makes me smile.

Just another day in paradise

Last week I took the kids down to my parents house for a couple of days. It was a good time. We always love going down there. We spent Friday at Capitol Reef National Park with my dad. We were about 10 days early for the apricot trees to be all in a profusion of blossoms, but it was still wonderful weather for us to enjoy.



The kids love to get out and run, and they could do just that for the day. Wait, there were a few spots that made me nervous as a mother, but that is the joy of childhood - hanging your head over a ledge and looking at the bottom far far below!




Kelsey asked me if I thought she was a city girl. I said "No, absolutely not." She then said "Do I want to be a city girl or not?" I said "No, absolutely not." She said "Good."


If you can imagine this scene 70 years ago, my great grandparents home would be in the background set against that clay hill. Now it is the Chesnut Picnic Area at Capitol Reef National Park. Crazy how time changes things.

Emmitt sure loves his grandpas. His other grandpa is currently in Missouri serving an LDS mission. My dad sure loved spending the day with Emmitt. Emmitt would copy my dad and this last picture shows him putting his hands in his pockets like my dad - it was so cute.

Marion's Daughter

What it means to be Marion's daughter:

When I was around 12 my dad asked me what I wanted to be when I was older. I told him "a nurse" and I was pretty serious about that quest. He said, "A nurse? Why be the nurse when you have the brains to be the doctor?"

My dad expects great things from people because he is a great person himself. He can also do just about anything. I mean that - he is a handy guy to have around. I grew up with him making or doing anything he needed, so that is how I thought the world was - you just figured it out and did it. I was wrong. My dad is one of a kind and the most self sufficient person I know.

There are many examples - he makes cabins, furniture, toys, fences, garages, leather saddles, wind chimes, basements, bathrooms, rocking horses for grandkids, corrals, engines, tree swings that make little ones laugh, and just about anything else you might need. He can fix anything and I mean ANYTHING! I could go on and on.

Anyway, I love my Matty, but he is not handy like my dad. He is a wonderful hardworker, an excellent father and husband, and the most amazing veterinarian, but when things need to be fixed around the house, I usually do it. It is part of being my dad's daughter.


So when we (I) were planning our basement, I wanted to run cat5 wire to the downstairs because that is where I wanted the computer to reside. I ran the wire the night before the insulation was done. It has been tucked away nicely in its little blue hole for 6 months now. It was time to tackle it. So this is what I started out with, and this is what I finished with.

Doesn't it look so nice? I put the cat5 jack ends on the two ends of the wires, one upstairs and one downstairs. I hooked everything up and it works! I did have to call my dad to ask why cat5 wire has 8 wires, and a few other questions, but I did it.




So now the computer is downstairs, where I planned it to be in the first place. It used to be upstairs, but now that space is all spiffed up for Matt. See how empty that desk is? Matt will fill that baby up in no time! Actually, the incubator is there right now with fresh trich samples in it that he collected today. Yeah, he overdid himself again and hopefully he will sleep well tonight.


Here is where the computer now resides, downstairs at the base of the stairs. I love it here. It is out in the open and much better than shut away in the far room like before.

Thanks Dad for teaching me that I can do anything, even tedious wiring!

peas in a pod

Since Matt has been on the mend, our sleeping arrangements at our house have been a little crazy. They used to only involve Matt and I, but now that Matt has taken over Kendal's bed, they involve all of us! Matt sleeps so much better in Kendal's bed; even better than the recliner and couch. So Kendal has been sleeping with me lately. Kendal and Emmitt are two peas in a pod, so that means Emmitt is not going to sleep in his own bed if Kendal is sleeping in mine.


Of course, he wants my bed too. So that is how we have been sleeping around here lately. After Emmitt conks out, I move him to his own bed so I can sleep in mine. This is how the two peas looked last night after I stayed up late sewing. They are just so stinking cute and the best of friends. I just hope we can all get back to our normal beds soon - I despise the game of musical beds!!



Just one more photo of my Emmitt and his soft fabric fetish. I just took this picture this morning after I got his shirt on. Yes, his legs are bare naked and they must love the feel of my bathroom rug wrapped around them. He cracks me up.

Emmitt loves my quilts

It was General Conference this past weekend and since we don't have a TV to watch it with, I listened to it on the radio. 8 hours of radio broadcasting, and it was wonderful. The only problem is that I just can not sit on the couch, look at the wall, and listen to the radio. So I got out my sewing machine, sat in the kitchen and sewed, and listened to General Conference. Matt and Kelsey watched it on the computer. Anyway, I got so much sewing done! I made my blocks of the month for quilt guild this week, worked on a quilt I am making for the Fort Buenaventura Rendezvous, worked on my round robin block for guild, and finished baby Aniston's quilt!


Aniston just turned 4 months old. I have never been that horribly late to finish a quilt! I have had the top finished since December, it was just getting that delicious Minky fabric put on the back and quilted that took me so long! So I am hoping to send it off to Miss Aniston Talbot today!

Emmitt will not be happy about that. He loves loves loves soft fabric and has taken a special interest in Aniston's quilt. He laid it out on the floor yesterday, added all of his blankets from his bed to it, got his pillow and gloworm, and smiled like crazy when he crawled into his own little bed.



A few weeks ago he fell asleep on this quilt I had just got back from the lady that quilted it for me. He loved it and it is plain old cotton fabric!


And here he is with the same quilt making a little snuggly spot to rest. He is so stinking cute. It makes me giggle at his fabric frenzy!

Here is the same quilt again, finally finished, well kind of! I started this in August and now I just need to add the binding. I had you vote on the layout of this quilt and I think you did an excellent job!