Cadens new favorite past time

Caden spends most of the days now (especially since its been really wet) outside digging in the ground,and moving the rocks to look under them.

To find these little guys (well, some not so little)! Pretty sick huh? He will gather and gather them and keep them all in his hand until his hand is so full they start slipping out from between his fingers and he tries pushing them back in. He gets so excited when he finds one. I can hear him laughing and squealing with excitement. I know its really gross, but it keeps him entertained!


When his hand cant hold any more he loves to go feed them to the chickens. They go crazy for them and Caden just laughs and laughs watching them! This kid is 110% BOY!!!

Cedar Valley wind storm

A few weeks ago we had a pretty severe wind storm hit Cedar Valley. The guy that works for my dad and lives at the ranch said he actually saw a funnel cloud touch down. Here are the results from that storm...

These sprinkler lines are supposed to be in straight line (obviously)

These 2 lines hit each other and are all wrapped around each other.

Not exactly in a straight line :)

All tangled up.


Most of the ends look like this.. The metal just twisted itself all up and eventually broke off.

Yea, this is supposed to be in a circle.

My poor dad had over 500 lengths of pipe damaged. He had sprinkler lines from one end of the ranch to the other! They went over fences, all over everywhere!! Whats crazy is they were all blown in different directions. We found one length of pipe that was from a couple fields down in a different field which makes it seem like it was a tornado.. It didn't just blow in one direction- He had sprinkler pipes spread in all directions. It took a lot of time and work just to get them somewhat gathered and off the hay fields so the hay would grow! I don't think they will be running their sprinklers anytime soon :(

CRAZY!!

Jiggs, NV

I forgot to stick this picture in there. This isn't a super good picture but its of Briggs driving a truck. We had so shuttle trucks up to the branding pen so Dave was driving this nice mega cab cummins and put Briggs in it while he walked around to put Caden in the other door, came back and briggs was going crazy driving it. He had his feet in the bottom of the steering wheel and his hands on the top of it going crazy. Dave said it was the cutest thing ever and we better blog about it because its probably as close as he will ever get to driving a nice truck :)

Last weekend we made a little trip to Jiggs, NV which is about 30 or so miles out of Elko. Every year Krista and Kole and their family go there to brand some of his bosses cows, and each year it seems they talk more of us into going. My parents and Amy and her family usually go to help, and this year they all talked us into going. We weren't really much help- there was plenty of help but the kids sure did have a great time. The weather wasn't exactly the best, but it still made for a good time. It was good to just get away and kick up our feet.

Here's a picture of what we went there to do..

Kaylee was helping my dad supervise to make sure they were doing it right.


MMM.. dinner!!! Those of you that have perhaps castrated calves know what that is! The Indians that came to help saved every last one and fried them up on the fire from the brander and ate them. They are also known as "Rocky Mtn Oysters" (I know.. sorry to make you hungry!)

Our nephew Kale eating a raw one!!!!

(Just kidding!! Hes the only kid I could get to pose like this for the picture and it almost made me throw up to take the picture. Some of the kids did eat them after they were cooked, but not us!!)

The girls spent a lot of time on the horses. They really liked them.

Especially Kaylee. That's all she wanted to do while they were branding!! Shes really into writing books right now and I bet I have found a dozen books shes written about her riding her cousin Kandices horses named Stanley and Denny and how nice they were and it was so so so so so so FUN! (that's what she writes in the book)

We went on a few little hikes.. But we forgot the pack for Briggs so Dave made this out of our jackets so we didn't have to carry him. He actually really liked it.

There was a Hawks nest on the other side of this rock so Kaylee and Dave wanted to see if there were any babies in it so they had to climb out on this big rock and look over the big cliff. But there were no babies.

We did a lot of this. Just off this hill there were a ton of pot guts, so we would all line up with our guns and it was like playing "whack a mole" It was way fun. There was one that was like 10 feet away that kept poking its head up and Kaylee would try getting it. She came pretty close but I don't think she ever got it. Oh, and that sheep thinks its a dog :)

Sunday we went for a drive to see some beaver ponds and so some fishing. It was a pretty event full drive out to them. It was probably a 45 min drive on dirt roads and my kids get car sick. Kaylee rode with Krista and she was nice enough to let her sit up front so she was fine. But us in my dads truck, quite a bit of us packed in there- not so good. Aspen started puking.. luckily my mom was holding her and found something for her to throw up in so it didn't make a mess. I was trying to find a wipe to clean her up when Briggs who was on my lap started throwing up everywhere. Then it kept coming, and coming, and coming. I don't know how that little guy fit that much in his belly!! Needless to say I was covered in puke!! (One of the many joys of mother hood- right!) I couldn't even open my legs or the puddle on my lap would get on my dads seats! And of course I had put the wipes in the back of the truck. Dave was nice enough to give us his sweater to wipe us up a bit. But we made it and it was super cool!!

Caden showing us where a beaver had been chewing

One of the beaver dams.

My dad found a nice comfy place in the grass after the little hike in to take a little snoozer..

You can imagine in the desserts of Nevada there are lots of crawling things! The older kids caught all kinds of snakes, a few lizards and some scorpions. They were nice enough to let the younger kids take turns holding the snakes. There was also a baby pot gut they had and made a home and Kandice I think brought it home. Its name was Alvin and they loved playing with him, and feeding him lettuce.

Here is Caden holding a snake. He really liked it and was so proud to show grandpa!

Aspens always been afraid of snakes, this was really her first time liking them that I know of. She got to really like it and wanted to hold it a lot.

Kaylee with one of the bigger ones they caught!! - Sorry for putting Krista in a panic attack. (She has a serious phobia of snakes- although she does manage it really well :)

The rest of Sunday we went on a drive to see an old homestead that looked really fun and some more beaver dams but just as we got there a serious blizzard hit and it was snowing like crazy and cold and windy so we didn't even get out of the truck. A few of the guys did to take a quick peek then we headed back to the bunk house. It was a great little get away. Thanks Krista and Kole!!!

Easter / B-day Camping 2011

So last weekend we did our annual "Easter camping" as the kids call it. Kaylee was extra excited since her birthday fell on Easter this year and that is all she wanted was to go camping and have a giant smore for her cake. The weather wasn't the best, but it wasn't horrible. We didn't wake up to snow again like last year or like a few weeks ago when we went camping. Here are lots of pictures from the weekend. Prepare yourselves... its a long one (mostly for my scrap booking reasons)

This was the night we got there, Briggs all tucked into his princess chair.

The next morning my mom and sister wanted to give Kaylee her Birthday present. Shes so funny... We told her to come sit down so we could sing to her but she made us all wait while she went to get her birthday crown she got from school. Anytime we even mentioned her birthday she had to go put it on.

She got some riding gear to wear while riding her motorcycle. She was super excited! Shes showing them off.



All of the excitement was just way too much for little Briggs..

Ready to try them out.. She went out riding for a while then came back and told me that she had crashed but it didn't even hurt because her new gear had protected her. It actually gave her a lot more confidence in her riding which I say is bad.. she was already crazy enough for me, but I'm sure her dad was cheering her on!

Caden roasting a marshmallow

Pretty Aspen

Caden did a LOT of this. All we had to do was to dig him up some soft dirt so he could shovel and load his dump truck or tractors up.

And Briggs did a lot of this. And crawling around playing with anything he could find. He was such a good happy boy out camping.

We finally talked the kids into taking a little brake from riding their motorcycles to come and color some Easter eggs.

On Saturday all of the smith family came out. My grandma and grandpa and my aunts and uncles. They came and had lunch then did a big egg hunt for the kids. It was so fun seeing them all and continuing the same traditions I grew up with!

Kaylee did a LOT of this. The kids built a jump and they would just go in circles. over the jump, circle around and do it again. Who ever wasn't on the bikes was standing right next to the jump cheering on everyone that went over the jump. They seriously did this for hours and hours a couple of times a day. She got pretty darn good at it.

Aspen was a brave little soul and scared the crap out of her mom, but made her dad proud. She tries so hard to keep up with all the older kids and did everything they did, including jumping her motorcycle. She had a few hard wrecks over the weekend, but was so tough and never wanted to stop riding. She loved it. And we love her to pieces.

Briggs chillin with his grandpa. Looks like hes pretty happy!

Saturday night we had an egg hunt with just our immediate family. My parents and their kids and grand kids.

Aspen looking for eggs

Caden finding some

Kaylee found the grand egg for our family! My awesome mom put a live chick in and egg for them to open. They were surprised and excited. They went to live at uncle "kools" until they get a little bigger. The one we got will lay colorful eggs. The kids cant wait to bring her home.

The kids holding their baby chicks

Caden blowing bubbles he got as a prize from the hunt.

Saturday night we had Kaylee's main B-day party. We sang happy birthday while she roasted her big honkin marshmallow for her "smore cake" It was a little rough trying to get it in her mouth. I cant believe our girl is 7 now! Time FLIES!! Dave and I were talking yesterday saying from the time I got pregnant to now, we are half way to her being 16 and driving, dating and all that crazy stuff. We love this girl so much. Although she is 7, she shows the responsibility of someone much older. She is our little helper. She changes diapers, she cooks breakfast, she packs her dad lunch. She does her homework and chores everyday without even being asked. She is the best big sister. For example today: Dave was gone to meetings, I was just getting out of the shower when I heard Kaylee talking so sweet to Caden "ok, buddy we almost got it, just a little more" I peek out of the shower to see that she had changed caden out of his pjs, changed his diaper, got him in his church clothes, including his tie and was wetting down his hair and putting gel in it. This is just one example, she does these kinds of things all the time without ever being asked. She is always paying attention and noticing what she can do to help other people. We Love her so much and are so glad she takes such good care of all of us!!

EASTER MORNING

Even though we weren't home the Easter bunny still was able to find us. That morning the kids woke up pretty early (actually we all got woke up to Caden being a little stinker and trying to shove Aspen off the bed.) But they all got over it quickly when they noticed we had a visitor during the night.

Caden with his basket

Aspen with hers

Briggs with his

And Kaylee with her stuff. Notice the crown.. This was her official birthday so she had to wear it. :)

Cadens new favorite thing to do.

On Easter my poor hubby was super sick. He watched the kids open their baskets, then when we were getting ready to eat breakfast he was done for. He went up and crashed on our bed in the camper for the entire day. The poor guy. Luckily this was the best day temperature wise so we just played out side all day. In the afternoon we went on a ride to a little track on the way to manning canyon and Kaylee was crazy. She did have one pretty good crash. A little ways away there was some pretty big, steep hills that my sister Alexa went up, well, Kaylee followed her over there. I said, no way will Kaylee go up there, well she did. She made it up great the first time, and back down, then she wanted to try it again. She made it about half way and her motorcycle wouldn't go anymore. She was in too high of a gear. So her and her motorcycle took an goo head over heels tumble down the hill I jumped on the wheeler to asses the damage. She worst of it was on the top of her foot where something had hit her, so I said lets ride back to camp in the truck and let someone ride her bike back. OH NO! she wiped her tears and refused to ride in the truck. She wanted to ride her motorcycle back.

This is her coming up a steep little dip, and jumping it off the top. She would come just flying over it jumping and from where I was standing I could hear her just laughing!

Again, another great weekend of camping. We all had a great time and cant wait until the next trip.!!

WOW, its over, that was a long one!