Boysenberry time!

5 years ago we planted 2 boysenberry plants. Now we have our front wall covered in plants. Over this past weekend we picked about10 cups of berries, enough to make two pies. Yum! The berries are very sweet and Beauchene loves them. I have to put in my 2 bits why I justify that I can eat this pie. The crust is made with ground whole grains of oat groats, millet, kamut, spelt, soft white wheat, and buckwheat and it is cut into non-hydrogenated palm oil, a healthy fat. Then the filling has only a small amount of raw sugar added to it. :)

Death trap!

This evening we set up our death trap. The kids are excited as can be. Matt spent a good part of the day on Saturday prepping our sand pit getting out all of the rocks. If you click on the picture on the right, you can see little faces through the filter holes.

Beauchene just broke through two more teeth on the front bottom making 4 total on bottom and 1 molar on the top making 5 total on top.

Matt's secret

Last night Matt told me that he was going into work early, but wouldn't be working until 9am. And he needed to take the camera with him. The thing is, was that he wouldn't tell me where he was going or what he was doing. He said that it would be easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission. When he got home he gave me the camera. I realized when the pictures were downloading that he had gone flying. A co-worker offered to take him flying in a private plane. He knew I would have been totally against it. He enjoyed himself very much. The picture on the left is a view of our neighborhood and the picture on the right is the heart of St. George.



These two pictures are of where Matt grew up.

Thursday's play group June 5th

Candy has put together a playgoup for the summer. Every Thursday we are going to go to a different place in the area. Today, as you can see, we went to a place called The children's forest at the kiln. It was about 30 minutes away. We weren't planning on them getting wet, but they did.

Weekend fun Ha Ha

Friday, Nate and Candy left to go to California for the weekend. I had their 4 kids for most of the day on Friday and then Candy's sister took the Friday night for the rest of the time. So I had 10 running around my house for the day. They watched a movie and then ate, played for a while, had reading time while I put the little ones down for a nap and watched more movies, then ate some more. By the end of the day, I was a little frazzled and relieved to send them back home to their aunt. (No offense Candy, I would do it again for you in a heart beat!)

Saturday we met up with Candy's kids again at the park where there is a ground level water area for them to play in. Then we spent the day getting our house back in order. I even pulled out the trundle bed in the boys room and got it set up the sleep Beauchene there. He did pretty well his first night sleeping away from his momma.

Today we went to a really good fireside about emergency preparedness. I learned my weaknesses and what I need to do to be more prepared. For one, I don't have any cash on hand. I need to make out a will. I was definitely motivated to do better.

Beginning of Summer

In our front yard we have 2 berry less mulberry trees. I knew there was a nest in one of the trees, but I hadn't looked in it until today. In the nest is a protective mother bird and two baby birds.












In the back yard, one of the kids let the hose run on our sand pit. So now I have a muddy sand pit and muddy kids. I am sooooo going to love this summer. (Yes, that was sarcasm.)

This afternoon Matt and I escaped for a couple of hours and went to see Prince Caspian. It was really good. We both had read the book a couple of years ago but couldn't remember much.

Memorial Day weekend at the Ranch

Welcome to the Heaton Bar-K Ranch.

We arrive to the Ranch Saturday at noon. Below is a picture of the pond. If you enlarge it, you can see the white specs. It was snowing on Memorial day. It was cold up there last weekend.



Once we got off the highway and onto the ranch road, we let Jileigh drive. On the way out we let Beauchene drive with Matt's help!

I took a few pics of the cabin and the scenes from it but the memory card was asking to be reformatted. I took it out and put in a new one. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that I lost all those pictures. Fortunately, I did have a second card to use the rest of the time. I just wish I would have retaken some of the pictures. I also lost a cute one of Beauchene with his Grandma H.

This is the basement or otherwise known as the game room. This is where we send the noisy kids to play.




Saturday night, we has a talent show. The girls did a skit about 3 princesses and a witch. The boys had a hand-stand contest. Talon won that by a long shot. Jaren sort of cheated by leaning against the beam. Jason helped the kids do a 4-person push up. Talon is in one and Jaren is in the other.


The kids sure had a fun time playing together. Jileigh played with Sara. Talon and Jaren played Candy's boys the first day and the with Jack and James and Dalton. Then on Monday they played with Kelsey and Isaiah.



















Angelique played with Morgan the first day and then with Abbey the rest of the time. Safia played with Emma and Sariah and Brandon.


Safia and Jaren had a mock wedding. It was too funny. Jileigh and Sara were the Bride's maids.



Dave spent a good part of the time putting up the new zip line. It starts nest to the old cabin and runs 500' down the slope to a tree next to the creek. Fun! The kids were on in non stop. Most of the adults went on it too. The one time that I went on it Saturday night in the dark, I screamed the whole way down. The adults were going over 23 mph (Ed clocked it on his GPS). Dave tried his hardest, but he could never convince Great Grandma Nora at 85 years to go on it.

The picture with Talon on the swing set has the old cabin in the back ground. It is mostly just a mouse house now, but the family had this one before they built the 3-story one that we presently use. Hydee and Jen, I promise I will do a better job of getting pictures of the cabin when we go back in July for our family reunion.

Most of the time there we just visited and visited while we cooked, and cleaned. Our family was in charge of cleaning the porches and the outside grounds. Grandma Nora was pretty determined to get the whole cabin cleaned, so I helped her clean the basement and the main floor. The Grylas "went to town" on the kitchen. They cleaned out every cupboard and even under and behind the stove. Lise - Carolyn mentioned that she missed having you there because you are so good at getting to work and cleaning out places.

As we were getting ready to leave after we had everything packed up, I went to the car and it was locked with the keys in the ignition. I had a flashback memory. (As we were leaving the house Saturday morning, I ran back inside the house for something. As I was walking out the door, I noticed our spare key on the key hook. The thought came to me, Take that key. So I stuck it in my pocket. Each day as I put on a new pair of jeans, I put that key in my pocket.) So finding that all the doors were locked, I reached down in my pocket, got out the key and told Matt that he was married to an inspired and smart wife.

Leaving the ranch was bitter sweet. We enjoy our time there so much, but it is always nice to come home. Our dog was sure happy to see us come home and so was our garden.

Matt found a couple of pictures of the cabin from previous reunions so I posted them below.

Last Day of School!!!

Today is my kids' last day of school. They started at 9am and finish at 11:15am and the school has to serve them lunch during that time as well. So the most they will get to do is meet their new teacher and do any final cleaning up. My camera batteries died again so Matt will be going to Walmart after work to get me some more. Jileigh took my camera on her field trip to Zions and took over 100 pictures.

We are going to the ranch this weekend until Monday evening. I hope everything goes well.

Cousin time

This morning I drove 30 minutes to Colorado City AZ to buy some raw milk. That is the closest place to get it.

This afternoon, Brandon and Sariah came over while Candy had scouts. They played very well with Jaren and Safia. Jaren and Brandon played with trucks and watched TV while Sariah was in the swing with Safia pushing her.

The weekend

Friday, Matt and I went to a movie, Iron Man, for our Friday night date. I was hesitant about leaving the kids, but they did just fine.

Saturday, Matt took Jileigh and Talon fishing out at Sand Hollow in the early morning. They met Matt's brother Ben and his two boys and their cousin David with his boat. They had a really good time. Talon and Matt both caught 1 fish. (It is catch and release fishing there.) When they got home, I put everyone straight to work and we got the house cleaned up, although it doesn't look it now. Then Matt took Jileigh and went to do a side job for a few hours while I made bread and a chicken noodle casserole for the neighborhood block party that evening. Matt and Jileigh didn't make it back in time so I took the rest of the kids and went to the party. It was nice to meet some neighbors that I didn't know. I was the only one there with little kids, so I really had to keep watch on them. I was able to bring home more food than I took and so Matt and Jileigh were able to eat when they got home and there was enough food for today's meals as well. Then at 9pm, Matt took off to Home Depot to get the supplies needed to get our swamp cooler working. By 11:30pm we had cool air running into our house. It went from the 70's to about 100 this week. We have had the cooler on all day today.

This afternoon my kids got a hold of our standing fan, took the cover off and decided to color it while it was on. It kept them busy and quiet for a long time. :) The fan was on and spinning when I took these pictures. The little nuts still seem to have all of their fingers.

Unstopable Safia

I forgot to write what Safia did yesterday while we were getting lunch ready. She was looking at me with that look to see if I was watching her, she took hold of a pencil, and stabbed it into our vinyl covered kitchen bench. What a little stinker. She got tossed into her room.

Then today while I was on the phone having a wonderful conversation with my sister-in-law Amanda, right behind my back Safia went to town in my closet dumping Matt's clothes on the floor. I seriously can not take my eyes off that child. She waits for me not to pay attention to her and then she strikes.

By the way, this afternoon, Safia locked herself in the bathroom. Matt came home and was finally able to get her to come out. Once again, I had a disgusting mess to clean up. Yuck!

Mother's Day

Our Mother's day started yesterday. We went out to Matt's mom's house. Matt replaced the weather strips on her front door which had been letting sand, tarantulas, and moths under it. It was a well appreciated service. Matt took each of the kids for a ride on the 4 wheeler and took Jileigh to the upper spring and beyond to the very end of the north fork. He talked me into getting on it too for a ride up the wash. I have to admit that it is kind of fun to have. It gives an opportunity for good bonding time for Matt and the kids.

At church in primary the kids were given a piece of paper to write a letter to their mom. I got 4 of them and Safia drew a picture of a rainbow. The letters were all really sweet.

This afternoon, we met at a park with Matt's family for a Mexican buffet potluck dinner. We had a nice time visiting with Matt's mom and siblings and thier families. The kids had a ball together with their cousins. Aaron, Matt's youngest brother who is now 30, finally has a girlfriend that he brought to a family event. It's kind of neat to see him be affectionate with a girl. The last words I had heard was that he wanted to be a bachelor forever.

Splurge purchase

So, we received our rebate check in our account and Matt received his last paycheck from his former employer which included his leftover vacation pay. Matt finally got what he has wanted for so many years. A 4-wheeler. It is used and we got a really good deal on it. (I am rolling my eyes and shaking my head.) We went to Cedar City to get it from a lady who is selling it so that she can have money to buy her year supply. He is out there right now giving each of the kids a ride. Boys and their toys!!!

Post for Nate and Candy - Their new backyard

Nate, Matt's brother, just hired a guy to turn the mountain in their backyard in to a workable place for their children to play. I wish I had a before picture but I didn't think that far ahead. Candy wanted me to put these pictures on so that family who don't live here can see it too. By the way, they did this in just three days. They ended up hauling away tons and tons of boulders.