Staying home

We get to stay home today, Hooray!! It has been a nice morning, we got a lot of cleaning done and the kids did a little coloring and now they are having their daily dose of CARS, Justin's favorite movie lately. The girls are good sports about it. It is laundry day, and we have tons of it, I feel so blessed to have so much laundry, truly, it could be worse, what if we only had one outfit a piece, then there wouldn't be much laundry to do. (I am obviously trying to be positive about the HUMONGOUS pile that is sitting up in the laundry room). It is getting smaller by the hour though. I washed the girls bed spreads and I think it took 15 minutes to dry out on the deck, it is a scorcher out there! I told Ryan that I was really enjoying this super hot weather, He told me go out and work in it for 10 minutes and you will change your mind. I am once again blessed to be able to stay inside with my AC running full blast keeping me and my kids nice and cool! Oh how I LOVE summer!!!

I am trying to get back into some bow tieing, it has been a while and I have bought some new ribbon, and seen some new cute ideas, so I need to get going. I did discover on Tricia's blog some super cute hair do's and I tried a couple of them out on my girls this morning. They turned out SOOOOO cute. I have been in a hair do slump lately, if you couldn't tell, and so I am happy to have a new source for cute do's. She even explains how to do most of them. Here are some pictures of what I came up with: Emma's Criss Cross hair doThe top of EmmaThe back of EmmaAshley's, this was called a double french twist, I think??

The back of Ashley

Well I better go get folding on all of that wonderful laundry!!

Lately...

Tonight I am the only one awake and so I am doing a little blogging for fun. Today we had swimming lessons and lunch at the park, then we had our Eddy cousins come from Nevada for a visit. They came over to the pool with Grandma Telford. It was a fun day with friends and family. The water was cold but the weather was wonderful. I am just LOVING this summer weather. The lady in Pipers (the grocery store) couldn't believe that I liked the weather, and that I wasn't complaining about the heat. I told her that I can still remember 2 weeks ago when it was blowing and 45 degrees. I just love warm summer days, it makes me so HAPPY! Anyway we had a fun day swimming and swim lessons, sad that it is over, but happy to be done. So the big girls went to Grandmas for a sleep over. (I hope grandma was up for all of that!) So I just had Claire and Justin this afternoon and evening. It has been very quiet and nice around here. Justin kept asking me where sisters were though, he misses them. Ryan is bailing hay. He is just rolling through it though. I am so glad, sometimes it seems like it just drags, but this first cutting has gone so quickly. We bought a new swather and so the two of them together can really knock down the hay, but in buying a new swather we had to of course buy a second new rake, which then we had to buy a second new baler, are we seeing a pattern here? I guess that is why it is all going so much faster than normal. Also the weather has been cooperating which helps tons too. Anyway so Ryan came in and went to bed also. So I guess now I am wondering why am I still awake???

Claire eating her first (of many I'm sure!) chocolate chip cookies, Ryan got in trouble for giving it to her, and he blamed it on Justin. So I guess Justin gave her the cookie and she gobbled it all up. A girl after my own heart!! Justin also took the bottom picture, it looks like it could have been one of mine, I'm not so good at the point and shoot thing...

No Horsing around here

We had the vet up today to "cut" two horses. It is quite amazing how they do it. This is the younger of the two. He was sleeping it off. He just layed there for 10-15 minutes until he finally woke up. Ben didn't lay around as long, he got up and headed back out to the pasture. We just have to keep a close eye on them now to make sure they don't bleed too much or get infected. poor guys!!

Happy Helpers

I have so many good helpers at my house lately. We started a simple chore chart that has really helped keep our house in order. We have been doing it for about 6 weeks and the girls do really good work. It is so nice to have such good helpers. I do hear quite a bit of complaining from Emma, but she still usually gets the job done. Ashley on the other hand scrubs every little spot and makes every thing shiny and nice. I hope she is always a good cleaner! Here are a couple of pictures of the kids helping me lately...
--The girls always want to help feed Claire, that is the most fun job apparently....----Justin, Claire, and Emma helping with dinner. --

Summer Days

Today was swimming lessons....AGAIN! I am going to be glad to be done, it has been lots of fun, but the every day running gets us all tired! Yesterday we stayed after and swam all day again. A nice grandma who was there watching her great grandson swim offered to hold Claire so I could get in with Justin. That was nice, but she started fussing so we had to get out, but she went right to sleep so we just kept swimming until she woke up. Today we just didn't have the energy, everyone is crying and sad, I think they are all just exhausted. We will stay tomorrow and swim one last time, I hope the wind doesn't blow like it is today. Yesterday was just right for swimming, although the pools heat pump is broken and so it is not as warm as it was earlier. They are supposed to have it fixed today, I hope it is. Today is also our cousin Kegan's birthday. We took cupcakes to the park and sang and ate and played. He is Ashley's age and SO glad to finally be 7! Here they are at the park:

---you have to LOVE those toothless smiles!!--

Anyway it was a fun day and lots of playing with friends and neighbors, the kids are making fun memories!

Most of the kids on the slide at the park; from the top: Brek, Olivia, Erica, don't know this boy?, Jared, Gloria, Serena, Jackie, Jordyn, Caleb, Conor, Ashley,Luke, Emma, Jade, and Justin. Now that looks like squishy fun!!

Jade, Jackie, Jordyn, ?, Caleb, Conor, Emma, Ashley, Luke, Brek, and Olivia.

Claire is 9 months

Claire is 9 months old today, She is getting so big. Some things that Claire is doing now are, getting down from a sitting position to a crawling position; she isn't crawling yet, but I think she will be by the time she is 10 months, (Ashley and Emma both crawled at 10 months, Justin on the other hand was walking at 10 months, boys are so different!) anyway, she is doing some patty cakes and so big, she is saying mamma, but dadda is her current favorite word, I am trying not to be jealous :) She hardly ever cries, but when she does she has a very high pitched girlie scream, she lets me know she is serious and needs some attention! She is such a fun baby, she and I have a great connection, I just love to hold her and rock her and she actually lets me, well for a minute. I love my Claire baby!

LIFE!

Life just keeps happening around here. I am just running from one thing to the next. Swim lessons is consuming most of our time which has been SO fun. We swam until 4:00 today, we start lessons at 11:00 and usually eat a free lunch in the park, (at least its free for kids, it is so nice), This week we have to pack our own, the lunch ladies have taken the week off, how dare they! But then we play at the park for an hour or so and then back into swim! It is hard keeping the kids slathered in sun screen, but it has been so good for them. Emma went off the diving board today for the first time, she was kind of set in the water, her head didn't even go under! It was good, I will post pictures when I have more time.
We had a fun, fun weekend. Mom and Dad came and Erica and Doug and all of their boys came it was a fun weekend! We just hung around here and ate; -Ryan putting together the BBQ grill-

and did the slip n slide and swimming pool;-Justin and Ren "swimming"-

-Emma turning the water up and down on the slip n sliders-

and rode horses;
-Doug, Kameron, and Cole moving cattle down the road-

I got some lawn work out of Ericas big boys that was nice! -Cole, Justin, and Renton playing in a hole under the deck, nice sandbox huh!-

Its just been busy around here. I have to go to Scout Day Camp tomorrow, ALL DAY! It is supposed to be 90 degrees, I hope I can keep Claire out of the sun and cool. I am a little excited, I have never been to a day camp before!

Another day on the Farm

This morning swim lessons were cancelled because the pool needed cleaning so we (I) was kind of glad to have a day off to catch up on laundry and house work. Mom and Dad are coming to bring Erica's boys home, so Erica and Doug are coming too, to meet them and get the boys. It should be a fun weekend. I am excited to have some company! Justin keeps walking around asking "wheres Ren?" I keep telling him he isn't coming until Friday. He keeps telling me he is going to share all of his tractors and pickups with him, I know better though.

This morning we had to go rescue Ryan. He got stuck down in the potato pivot. I was glad I didn't take the suburban to get him out, it was really muddy, and of course he wasn't even on a road, just out in the field??? Anyway he did come out really easy. The kids always, well not always, but often tell him when he leaves in the morning, "don't get stuck in mud dad," so they were quite concerned that we hurry down and get him pulled out.

The concerned kids looking out the back while we pulled him out.I had to document him being stuck so next time I get stuck I can gently remind him that it happens to him too:)

Claire doing SO BIG!

I didnt turn it the right way before I downloaded it. Hopefully you can still get the picture. We have been working and working on her patty cakes and So bigs hoping she would do something, and then this morning it happened!! YEAH Claire!!

Swimming lessons

Its that time of year! The girls are both in level 2 at swim lessons. I dont think there is any difference from level one, but that is ok, they are getting more used to the water. Ashley has no problem, but Emma is pretty scared, but she is getting better. Today we stayed after and swam longer,by the time we left she was going under really well. I should be doing mommy and me with Justin but I cant watch Claire and swim at the same time, so maybe next year I can do it with both of them-that sounds fun!

Outlaw Days Rodeo

The kids had lots of fun doing the kids events at the rodeo. They ran around buckets and roped the dummy, It was pretty cool! Ryan did well, he didn't have a head horse for the team roping so he healed and his partner missed. Jared ended up winning though, so that was good, he had like a 6 second run. It was good, he was happy with it! Ryan did get Jared and Mark to do the rescue race with him and with Jared he got first place, and with Mark he got second place. It was fun except Jared almost knocked him off the horse when he jumped on. It was a little scary, but not too bad. I am not looking forward to my kids being big enough to be drug around on a horse or jumping up on a moving horse. I'm too chicken! We got lots of wind and lots of sun, and it was nice to have a warm day, even though it was windy. After the arena events we came back to our house and had a BBQ. I still have so many steaks left from last years beef, so we BBQ'd steaks and had a couple salads and chips, it was yummy, Ryan did good Barbecuing. I have tried twice to get the pictures to upload and they wont, so sorry no pictures from the rodeo.

Outlaw Days Parade

Saturday was Outlaw Days. It was a pretty nice day, the wind of course blew during the arena events, but the parade was nice. The kids got tons of candy and had a great time with cousins!
Ashley and Emma waiting for the parade to start with their baskets on their headsClaire got a little sun burn at the parade, we were only there, well it was a little more than an hour, but she was in her stroller shaded and she still got pink cheeks!Justin really liked the parade this year, he just kept saying "now we go to the rodeo", he couldn't wait to be in the rodeo!

My new hobbies

So I might not have told the whole truth, I don't have writers block, I have a new hobby. (I am choosing to call it a hobby, then I wont feel so guilty about doing it). My sister Kristin just sent me 7 or 8 Jane Austen movies, they are SOOOO GOOD!!!! So instead of blogging like I should be, I have been watching them. Did I mention that they are SOOO GOOD! Ashley and I watch them together, Emma will watch for a while but then moves on to something else. Thank you, Thank you Kristin, they are SOOOO GOOD!
I have also started to run again, it is more of a walk than a run and I have almost decided to quit already too, just kidding, I think. It is so hard to run in the wind, well it is hard to run period. I do enjoy the time out of the house. We also just barely got the garden planted, I hope it is not to late. I wasn't going to plant, but our Bishop told us we should, not that I didn't already know that, I went to primary and learned that song, "The Prophet said to Plant a Garden" Ashley was a HUGE help for me. Well I promised the girls that I would watch Enchanted (while the little kids are asleep)with them and Emma is screaming at me, better go.

Ashley riding Showoff

I thought this was Ryan, it is Mark though, It is so hard to tell all of those brothers apart when they are all dressed in their hats and coats. Branding calves last Saturday.
Ashley and Justin riding Showoff. It makes me too nervous to watch, but yet I cant leave in case something happens, Oh the joys of being a mommy!!
Claire, she is in the house, I left the door open and the screen door shut so she could see out while the kids were riding and Ryan was working cattle, she loved to be able to see out, it is so WINDY here, I think we might blow away!!

Another day

Ryans birthday, I just noticed the yucky floor in the back, Ryan has now got it all installed, I should take a picture of the finished project, it looks so good!!

I am having a case of writers block...can that happen to someone who is not a writer?? We have just been doing the normal stuff that we do. Working more cattle, playing with friends, we have been to the dentist, just everyday stuff. Emma had her final appointment to get her last few cavities filled. She did really well until the last 10 minutes, I could hear her screaming from the waiting room. She had to get a few more shots to keep her numb. She does not do well with shots, at all. She is done though, and very happy to not have to go back until January. She is also a much better brusher, I hope this keeps up! Ashley is doing well, she has learned to ride a horse all by herself. I don't know if that is good or bad. Ryan just puts her on and smacks the horse on the rear end and away she goes. She does really well, he did teach her how to steer and back up and all of that. Showoff does a lot of the work though, he is such a good horse. So she may not have learned to drive a car this summer, but she has learned to drive a horse, she is getting too big! Justin is busy busy, he is into kicking, he kicks the door, the wall, his sisters, mom, the cat, you name it he kicks it. I hope this is just another stage, and that it will be over soon! Claire is so good, she is so shy, it is too cute. She loves to talk to people, but looks away when they talk to her. She is still very red headed, I think she might stay red, that would be fun.

The kids at Create a Critter, on Ryan's Birthday.Ashley's panther, her name is Flower Blackie Telford, doesn't she look like a flower!Emma giving her panther a bath, Her name is now Taloola Black Beauty Telford, (it changes on a daily basis)

Playing

We have been doing a lot of summer time playing around our house. It seems like we are just going and going. It is great. We had Ryan's bday on Monday and he took the day off and went with us to the DENTIST! So fun. We are about to be done with all of our dental work for another 6 months, Emma had her root canal and did great, she didn't cry or wiggle or anything! I don't go back when they work on my kids just because they do so much better when I am not there, we found that out with Ashley, and it must work because they both have done great with their fillings. I always go check on them though and the nurse kept giving me the thumbs up, so I wasn't too worried. Anyway Emma does go back for the last time next week. So back to our fun day, Ryan got money for his birthday to buy a new gun. He has been needing a gun for all of that hunting (he never has time to do) But he would like to do again hopefully sometime, so we went from Pawn shop to Pawn shop, the kids and I stayed in the car, (they are all kind of yucky and gross) Anyway Ryan came out with not one gun but two guns, so he was a happy boy!
The girls have finally saved enough money to go to Build A Bear and we did that also. They both got a black panther, I took pictures, I will have to post them later. That was fun for them. Then we ate dinner and did a little more shopping and came home. It was 9:00 by the time we got home, it was a long day for everyone, But we sure enjoyed spending it with our Dad!
Tuesday we hauled a grain cart to Gooding to get some more Oat seed, (yes we are still planting, it is a re-plant over some grain that just isn't going to have enough water this year) I was driving in front of one of our hired guys he was in the pickup pulling a cart too. So I didn't know where exactly this place was, but I could see the grain bins from the road, well there were two sets of grain bins and I didn't know which ones to go to, I chose the wrong ones and ended up on a dead end street that had fences on both sides. That means I had to back up, with the grain cart on, and I am a terrible backer, I practice all the time with the lawn mower and the trailer for it, and I do terrible with it too, well we had to back like 200 yards until we could get to a place to turn around, it was so humiliating. the hired guy just backed right up, no problem, then there was me, back, back, in the ditch, forward, back, back, in the other ditch, forward... It was so embarrassing. I should of just had him back it up, but I wanted to do it, I hate it when I am stubborn!!! I finally got turned around and unhooked from that trailer and drove away quickly! I made him drive the full one back home. It was an adventure for us. We spent the afternoon at a Relief society sewing day, I didn't take a project to sew, I had planned on it, but the morning had taken so much longer than I had planned, so I just took the kids to play and I visited, it was fun to visit with other moms and the kids had a great time.
Wednesday we had scouts in the morning. We are doing a boat brigade and so they got their boats and put them together. We will have the races next week. The boys were excited. My girls LOVE going to scouts, they think it is great. Then we went to the park for lunch with the Kents (our play day/pre-school) friends. That was fun. Ryan came and got the kids from the park to take with him down to Grandmas, I had to go to Mutual and it was all the way down in Hansen, (like 1hr 15 min) so I couldn't take the kids. The mutual kids are practicing for the Temple Celebration. It was awesome, I couldn't believe how many kids there are, it is great. It was cold and windy and rainy so I sat in the car most of the time, (I did have Claire with me). So it was a late night getting home.
We have some friends coming over today to play, they have two little girls and a boy, and the oldest is Emma's age, so we are going to just have lunch and a play day. I wish is was warmer so we could go out and play, but we are enjoying the rain. I have spent too much time already, I better get moving.

One more birthday

Today is Kiley's birthday! I think she must be 26? Does it really matter once you get past 18? Kiley and I have always been together it seems like. We slept in the same room until Kollin went on his mission and then we got separate rooms. I remember asking dad if he would cut a hole in the wall between our bedrooms so we could just talk through the wall. He said, why don't you just stay in the same room together? We pretty much did, we slept in separate rooms but dressed and did hair and makeup at the vanity in Kiley's room. We both would sit on the bench together at the same time and do hair. I am pretty sure she was in my closet more than she was in her own, I didn't mind sharing clothes, except she would put on an outfit and I would see that she looked cute and want her to change because it was mine, and I wanted to wear it. I think she thought she was a tag along because she went every where I went in HS, but I wouldn't have gotten to go all of those places alone, so I had to take her. I really didn't mind though, at least I don't remember minding, she might think differently. Kiley and I rarely fought, she probably just did what ever I told her too and that is why there was no fighting. I remember getting mad at her once I was laying on the living room floor and she tripped and fell right on my head, I got so mad, it scared me (it didn't really hurt)and I started crying and ran off to my room, but I think Kiley probably cried more than me because she hurt me. Kiley was always nice to me. She was fun to grow up with and I love it when she comes to visit now it is still fun to be best friends. Happy Birthday Kiley!

More Birthdays

June 2nd is a day of birthdays for our family. Ryan was born that day, and also my sister Tricia and brother Bret were born that day, funny huh! So happy birthday to Tricia and Bret. Trish and Bret were always so cool and popular growing up. I was so lucky to have the most popular kids in school be in MY family. All of the little kids in our school called Bret uncle Bert, and it was so cool! He was like the star football and basketball player, (I don't know if he really was, but I thought he was) and Trish was for sure the most popular girl, she was the student body president, which of course all of this matters now, (not really) but when you are a kid it is ALL that matters. Trish was the star of the basketball team too. I was always jealous because she and Kiley were really close I remember they even got matching dresses once, totally NOT FAIR! Trish also had the cutest boyfriends, I should know I had a crush on every single one of them! Anyway, both of them are great friends now, I am so glad that they are part of our family, and now that we are all adults, it seems like we are all the same age, (but I am still not as old as you two) I love you! (and Happy Birthday!)

Happy Birthday to Ryan!!!

So I am very late on this post, but we have been running like mad this week it seems like. Monday was Ryans 31st birthday and so I wanted to do a post about him. I discovered I don't have any pictures of him totally by himself, I need to take more like that, but it just shows what a good dad and person he is.
Ryan LOVES our kids and loves to hold them and read stories, and is really good at buckin bull. (They only get to play that when I am not home, I cant stand to watch) But Ryan is a teaser and is always teasing the kids, and me about one thing or another. They all have some silly nick name, thankfully most of them don't stick, but he is always threatening to cut off a toe or finger to make boo boos go away, or taking kids on motorcycle rides, or rides in the back of the pickup. The kids just love to go with dad in his pick up especially if they get to drive for a while because he sings them songs, and they are cool songs that they don't already know. (That was when I knew I would marry Ryan, when he sang me nursery rhymes on the way home from our first date, well maybe not marry him, but I thought I would give him a chance at that point!) Poor Guy! We are very blessed to have such a good dad who takes care of us and works hard so that we can have all that we do. Ryans 29th birthday, its a little fuzzy, He got his motorcycle for this birthday, hence the motorcycle cake.

Ryan LOVES his horses, he has always owned horses since he was a kid, his first horse (I think, I should know this stuff) was a mustang that he adopted from the fish and game or BLM or something like that. He has always liked horses and is a good rider, But I think his true love is really to rope. He is pretty good at that too. He team roped in HS and through College. It is probably his favorite hobby, (even more than snowmobiling) but the one he spends the least time doing. He needs to do it in the winter when farming isn't so busy. Us in Las Vegas 2 years ago at M&M world.


Ryan also loves ME! He is such a good husband and takes such good care of me. I appreciate how hard he works, It is his one major flaw, but the best part about him also. He is always fixing, or remodeling some kind of project that I have dreamed up, even after working a full day of work, I don't know how he can just keep on going. I am so glad to have such a good husband who takes care of us so well and we love him so much! I am so glad I get to keep him FOREVER!
Ryan and Justin working on one of my projects....