June-Dubois Camping Trip

We were all so excited to go on our first camping trip this summer! We went up to Dubois where we have some friends that live literally out in the middle of nowhere!!! For those of you who have been to our house, you  might say that we live out in the middle of nowhere, but these friends truly do! There is no service out there just fresh mountain air and sunshine. It was too beautiful to describe! They live in an old farm house that was just recently remodeled for them so that they can live out there full time. The husband is a friend from Tyrel's mission that we have always kept in contact with and have been there for each other for the important events. Funny side story, I was actually with them on their first date, but my date was her brother. This was before Tyrel and I dated. They got married a couple months after us and have a girl the same age as Tytyn and a boy the same age as Halter. He is a full time ranch hand and spends his days taking care of several huge herds of cows. So we went up for a weekend to help them out and take in the scenery and it did not disappoint! I was ready to drop everything and move up there!

Tyrel and Zack are on the horses and the boys and I followed behind on a 4-wheeler to pick up any strays and take pics!

The pictures just don't do it justice!

Little buddy got tuckered out and fell asleep.

They have a stream that runs through their backyard so Tytyn had a blast seeing if he could catch anything with a net.

This is their backyard! So gorgeous!!!

It was a pretty hot day so the kids took matters into their own hands and dumped water all over themselves over and over again with a water bottle since there were no sprinklers.

These 2 played together really well. Some of the girls from his class at school made me dread the day that he would start liking girls and wanting to bring them around, but when he played with Oaklee and I was able to see what a sweet and good girl she is and how well they got along it reassured me that there are good girls out there and he will find one! I know probably a crazy thought considering he's only 6, but I'm your typical worry wart of a Mom!

We were able to take the 4-wheelers to explore and had a fun afternoon ride.

This was an old abandoned homestead even more out in the middle of nowhere! Old abandoned homesteads and building fascinate me!!! In another life if I could travel the world and photograph those I would. I wish there was a storybook to go along with all of these old building; so much history!

An old abandoned school house which we went inside and explored.

Two tired boys all tuckered out from an exciting, fun filled and hot weekend!

Spring 2016

Spring is usually a very busy time for us, but it was busy in a different way this year. Tyrel started his new job at INL and we got our house ready for pictures to be taken to get it sold. We also celebrated Tyrel, Tytyn and Halter's Birthdays and Tytyn eagerly awaited for his first school year to be over! Among other things were Easter, conference, Kindergarten graduation, sold our cows and just everyday life.

We watched cousins one day and they had a blast dyeing some eggs for Easter.

And of course they wanted a silly face picture :)

I almost forgot to pull my camera out for the Easter baskets, but caught a few real quick.

I don't put my boys in cages even though I'm sorely tempted to sometimes, but for some reason they like to play in them quite often with their poochies as they call them.

Conference cupcakes! It's becoming a little easier to listen with itleast one older child who is starting to get interested more. Tytyn really enjoys the conference packets and loves to fill it out while he's listening. They are a great idea for kids if you've never tried them! 

This is a candy bar poster we made Tyrel for his B-day. The big 3-0! ha ha ha not that I can laugh too much cause I'm almost there with him!

My sweet baby/big boy. Yogurt and homemade granola, one of his faves!

Tytyn turned 6!

I can't believe how fast it goes!!! He has brought so much joy to our lives and is the special child who made me a Mom:)

We sold our cows:( I really didn't think I'd be as upset as I was as we watched them drive away. I thought I'd done ok with not getting too attached, but who are we kidding here, I was fighting back tears all night! It was such a fun experience to do with our boys!

I went and helped with kindergarten adventure day. They had all sorts of activities for the kids to do all day. It was a rainy day off and on, but fortunately everytime we were doing an indoor activity was when it rained, so we were blessed!

Tytyn doing some bottle rockets.

They made a kite and it was the perfect windy day to fly them, but seriously when is it not windy in southeast idaho ha ha ha.

My little angel turned 2!!!

Halter loves balloons so we got him a pack of punch balloons for his b-day, which Tytyn enjoyed as well.

He was so excited for his giant cupcake and the candles!

This face was "Mom why aren't they blowing out!" He did eventually get them blown out and then had to do it a time or two again.

Yum Yum!

Handsome boy!

This was how he watched brother's graduation. 

I got WAY more emotional during graduation than I did when I dropped him off for the first day of school. It just went by so fast and he learned and grew so much, it just all hit me so hard. It was especially emotional when they read what each of the kids wanted to be when they grew up. They asked the kids this question a few days before and then read word for word what the kids told them. This is what Tytyn's said, " I want to be a farmer because thats what my Dad did and my Grandpa did. I will need tractors, a disker and some semis to load hay onto because that's what we did." It made me cry for more than one reason.

Our home is surrounded by fields so when its time to spray we get a really good view of the crop dusters. So good in fact that we can wave at each other. It makes for some pretty cool pictures and its always entertaining for the boys to watch.

Tytyn and his teacher. She was really awesome! I went and helped in his classroom and as much as I could and it was always so fun to see how excited the kids were to learn.

Halter and I ate lunch with Tytyn on his last day of school. These were some of his buddies.

Apparently all the end of school festivities tired him out because the next day he came and sat by me and fell asleep on my shoulder. After some snuggling I laid him down on the chair and let him have a nap because they're kind of rare anymore at his age. Sweet boy!

Halter was really eager for him to wake up though!

Cows and Horses Feb-April 2016

We didn't have the opportunity to do cows on a larger scale through the feedlot this year (long story), but we didn't want to miss out on going through that experience with our boys. We decided to buy some mother cows instead and it turned out to be lots of fun. We had a really good experience overall and would definitely do it again. I knew I'd be sad when we sold them, but I was dang near tears when I watched my babies drive away! I had kept telling myself I wasn't going to get attached, but apparently I didn't do a very good job at that. We've done cows for a lot of years, but never had them from when their born, that's just a whole different experience. You get a little more invested in their well being. So for the entire month of March and April we watched for babies and got to witness a few of the births which was really cool! Our first Mama to calf was actually Tytyn's cow. I was so sad because it was a school day so Tytyn missed out on it, but we drove him right to it when he got home and surprised him with the baby. Tytyn and Halter just couldn't get enough of the baby calves (neither could I.) Our first calf was the only one we had any issues with as far as it not being able to even stand or eat for a couple days. So we had to do some bottle and tube feeding, but thankfully after many prayers the sweet little boy was able to eat from his Mama on day 3! The rest of them were pretty smooth sailing and we just enjoyed being a part of it and doing it together as a family.

This was the first baby. The boys just couldn't get enough of it!

Baby #2

We fed and watered the horses all winter so the boys always wanted to get inside with them and play before we went home. 

This is Ted's horse (the white one) and for some reason she has this special little bond with Halter. Everyday when he'd crawl inside the pen to see the horses she followed him around EVERYWHERE and if any of the other horses even came near him she'd nip them away. It was kind of comical to watch him walk and run around the pen like a toddler does and see this big horse just following behind him. He loved every second of it!

He liked to play this game where he'd "paint" her with water.

Horsey Loves :)