One Nail at a time. . .

For 18 months this is what the carpet in my living room and bedrooms looked like. Six months after we moved in we replaced the flooded kitchen floor and took it down the hall and to my front door. Over a year later we finally have moldings and a finished wood floor. Dan also changed the handles on my fridge so they swing the correct way. Things are starting to shape up at the Woodland house and I am way excited.

This is the best part of Dan's spring projects. At Christmas time we went shopping for a new table because the kids broke ours while Dan and I were deer hunting. We couldn't find anything either one of us loved and so I mentioned that maybe he could build us a table. For my birthday he decided that he could attempt this and so he ordered the wood. This is the results. I love it. He is very talented and creative when he wants to be. I just wish he had more time for my projects instead of everyone else's. Oh well such is life being married to a contractor. With the slow economy I don't dare complain or whine. We have work and that is a huge blessing. So I will be patient and take things one nail at a time.

soooo Cute!

Andrew shares the same excitement for the baby cows as his Uncle Dan. He has been out to see them 3 times now. This time he brought Kolten, Kaityln, Ashlyn, Kaleb, and Carter with him. Thanks for sharing the excitement it means a lot to Uncle Dan. All of the nieces and nephews love to come to the cowboy house and we love having all of them come. You are all welcome anytime!
This little guy finally came. May 28th on the last day of school. Everyone came home and had a nap so Cort and I went for a ride and this is what we found. I was so excited to see him before Dan.
Oreo

Red
Aren't these little guys sooooo stinkin' cute. They are the newest edition to Woodland Ranch LLC. Oreo was born first on May 18th. Red came two days later on May 20th. Dan was a proud Rancher the kids teased him he loved the calves more than them.

Emotional Mother Nature

This spring has been quite a spring. We woke up to the most awful sound this morning. It sounded like the horses were kicking in their sheds. When Dan looked out the window some profanity came out of his mouth. I sat up and went right back to bed. Tina and I made a deal if the ground was white we went back to bed. The next thing I remember was a horrible sound of limbs hitting the roof over my head. When we finally all got out of bed. I told Kaci to go look out the window. She rubbed her eyes several times then asked, "what happened out there?" Our good friend said, "Holy _ _ _ _ Mother Nature has some major emotional problems this spring! When I talked to my grandpa he said, "well honey what is the problem?" I told him if this was Dec 24th it would be great but I just planted all of my garden and now it is all frozen. I hope they all survived. The snow wasn't to hard on things but that night it did freeze even though I put sheets on everything I still don't think I saved it all.

This is my garden with tomatoes and peppers blanketed in snow.

This is Zeak after having a mud war with the neighbor.

All of the broken limbs make an excellent hut for little boys!

Two Little Birds

My Grandpa Miller called a few weeks ago bragging about how he had just eaten his first red strawberry out of the garden. He told me my biggest trouble was going to be keeping two little birds (Jake and Kaci) out of my strawberries. My strawberries were loaded with blossoms but no strawberries yet. In between Farm Day classes I noticed two strawberries in my patch. From this view they look ready to pick but if you turn them over they needed another day so I took a picture of them. After the last farm day class I was cleaning up and noticed my strawberries were gone. Thinking to myself them darn little birds got my strawberries I went to find them. Kaci and the neighbor had been playing and the evidence that they were the little birds was on the ground next to them. In slight anger I said, "did you two eat my strawberries?" Ty looking a little scared said, "but they were red." I asked if they were sour because I am confident they were a little tart still. Kaci said, "mom they were red there was no green on them I promise." I came straight in the house and called my grandpa to thank him for encouraging two little birds to beat me to the strawberry patch. After a good laugh he confessed he really didn't get the first strawberry out of his patch my cousin Sheyanne did. I must have scared Kaci and Ty enough that they now ask before picking the strawberries and I did get the first red juicy ripe strawberry out of my patch this year.

ALL AROUND

This Cowboy finally did it he won an all around at a rodeo. Zeak was on fire Friday night. He not only did well in all of his events but he also helped run the rodeo. I think we might have him help every rodeo because he stays focused. He put in a lot of time and practice in the few weeks before and it paid off. He won the flag race, place in the top 3 in every event. We are proud of him and hope this continues.

Farm Day

For the the last 3 years we have had the awesome experience of hosting farm day for The Apple Academy Preschool at our small farm. Jake and I love to share our little hobby farm with others. We saddle a couple of horses and take all willing participants on a horse ride. More often than not we get them on and have a hard time getting them off. We let them gather eggs from the coop and feed the chickens. We usually have baby kittens to hold and puppies to love. It is so rewarding to share with those kids and teach them about animals and how they help us. This year we were suppose to have farm day on Tuesday When I got up that morning I was so sad it was raining and cold. After a quick phone call to Mrs. Blackett we decided to change and try for Thursday. Lucky for us Thursday was a beautiful day. The icing on the cake was we had two brand new baby calves to show the kids that we wouldn't have had Tuesday. Sometimes things have a way of working out even better than we plan. I think heavenly father makes the simple small things in life work out. Then we learn to have faith in him on the bigger things.

Spring Fling

Grandpa Craig dancing with Kaci and Keanna.

Jake and Kaci painting his surf board for the Spring Fling.

Jake in Surfin' USA

Zeak showing his skills in the May Pole.

Mona Elementary has a fun tradition of Spring Fling. Every year the kids learn a dance that they perform for the parents. The 5th graders perform the May Pole. Mrs Beck brought this tradition to Mona and I love to watch the kids weave the ribbons into patterns. They have to work together and have precision to make each design. This years group of kids did and awesome job. Jake's grade (1st) did Surfin' USA they each painted there own surf boards and dressed the part. Jake is quite the performer. He loves to sing and someday we are going to work on developing his performing talent.

Power

This power plant supplies parts of Utah. They couldn't tell us exactly where because once it goes into the grid they don't know for sure where it ends up. It has the ability to cover the western States if necessary. (Hope I understood that right)
Mr. Peay calling to get permission for us to come in. Power plants have a high security. FYI if you want to go all adults MUST have a photo ID. They are serious and wouldn't let the bus in because the bus driver didn't have her Drivers License.

Dan and I have decided if we went back to school now we would learn so much more. Yesterday I went to the power plant west of our house with Zeak and the 5th graders. I can not tell you all of the specifics of how our power is made but I am amazed. It is quite the process. I was impressed that they tried to emphasize the importance of staying in school and how our education applies to daily life. I am not sure any of the 5th graders understand or appreciate their advice but, as a mom I did. It takes different talents and skills to keep this world running and the more knowledge you have the more you are able to do your part. They believe in the . . .

"School of It"

If you break IT then fix IT.

If you make IT then see if someone will ______It. (eat, wear, ect.)

Try IT (only if it is safe)

Do It (only if it is safe)

What a fun day spent with my oldest!

A Girls Weekend

Saturday was a gorgeous day. I mowed the lawns we planted more flowers and garden and then I ran to the neighbors house for a minute. When I rounded the corner this is what I found. My 4 year old in her swimsuit laying out!!! I am so not looking forward to the teenage years with her. It was cute and made me smile at 4 but at 14 it might not be as cute! She kept telling me it was a perfect day to swim. So I hosed her down a bit and she quickly changed her mind. It was way to cold for swimming.
The boys went camping and riding down on the Sand Rafael last weekend so Kaci and I had a girls night. It was a lot of fun we had the Durbin girls, the Williams' and us it was so much fun. We can't wait for the boys to go again. We had yummy lasagna and Mexican cheese cake hum um good!
Thursday was our last dance review. This was Kaci's favorite dance it was the princess dance. The picture says it all!

Answers

Yesterday while I was venting about life I asked Kaci to go clean her room. She HATES to clean her room as bad as I hate to send her to clean it. I always give her my solution which inevitably results in tears. It got really quiet and when I went to see how the room was going this is what I found. These are my sentiments to cleaning as well. So the first Answer I got yesterday was just go to sleep and hope a cleaning fairy comes while I am sleeping. Unfortunately she never comes for me while I am sleeping. The real answer came last night. Dan and I went to Stake Temple Night. It was truly amazing D&C 19:23 is the scripture that the temple Matron quoted that touched my heart. What a simple answer. The gospel really is simple and the answers are even more simple if we just look and then ask for them.

Being a Mother

Well Mother's Day came and went just like most every other day of the year. I felt like I had run a marathon, not that I know what that feels like and have no desire to know. Three days later I am still feeling it and have to wonder why? Is this how a mother is suppose to feel? I know most of you know the feeling. Why do we do this to our selves? I don't know the answers to the questions I am asking so if any of you do please comment. For today I will pray for the sun to shine so the kids and I can go outside to plant the flowers and trees they gave me for mother's day. I am grateful for all of the mother's in my life. Thank You, for giving me the strength and courage to keep fighting and trying because you feel my pain too!

Dancing Queen

My little girl loves to dance. When asked where she learned to dance she always says, "my dad." I am not sure where she got her love of dance and her natural ability but I do know for certain it didn't come from me. I took advantage of Tina's gorgeous spring flowers as a back drop for my photo shoot of my favortie little dancer! She did so awesome the other night at her 1st dance review, one more to go.