On the Road...

We are somewhere in Nebraska, the pavement lies ahead and the red dust of Utah has settled behind us. I was a little teary eyes when we were pulling out thinking about all the wonderful memories we have made and thinking about the "real" life that awaits us. It's not that we are not eager to get home, just really enjoyed our time together. I said to Scott as we were driving away that these last few weeks have been the most valuable time I have ever spent. And am excited to see what beauty grows from the seeds we have planted in our children and ourselves.
The night before we left, Katie, Scott and I stayed up late. Katie wanted to see her first shooting star. We laid a blanket down on the deck, brought out a pillow and wrapped ourselves in a snuggly blanket and just laid there watching and waiting. We saw 11!!! At one point, Katie turned to me and thanked me for keeping my promise. She did get to see a shooting star after all. Katie and her promises. Then she and I snuggled together ever closer and gazed at each other and both shared the same thought about "remembering this forever."
We had a BIG dillema about which kittens to bring home, if any. We finally did decide on two, Frankie and Spidy. We really know nothing about kittens and were so pleasantly surprised at what good little travelers they were-during the day. Not to mention that they completely kept Katie and Hunter occupied.
Katie was all excited to have her kitten sleep with her. At about 1030pm, I could hear something so got up to check on the boys, but it was Katie who was crying. She sleeps in the space above the cab. She was crying from exhaustion because her kitten was attacking her while she was trying to sleep. She said through her tears that every time she was about to fall asleep, the kitten would attack her hair. Then she started sobbing about wishing we would have picked one of the calmer ones and that maybe she picked the wrong one. Finally, she fell asleep. Today, she seems happy with her kitten choice again!
We drove last night until 130am and pulled off in Laramie, WY at their local Walmart along with about 30 other campers. Thank you Walmart and your free camper parking!! Scott and I were exhausted and looking forward to some sleep. But no sooner did we put our heads down on the pillow when we started to hear quite a scuffle! The kittens were attacking each other, rolling all over the floor, biting at each others tails. At one point, they even jumped up where Hunter was sleeping and were getting ready to pounce on him. So, between that and the scratching in the litter box, we did not get much sleep. We are tempted to just put them outside tonight and hope they stick around. Even the dog was looking at me at 2 in the morning like, "Are you kidding me?"
This will most likely be the last entry. Sorry about not putting up more pictures, but they really did take a loooooong time to upload. Besides, most of time, the pictures were unable to capture the beauty of the scenery and the fun we had or the real joy and happiness of living in the moment that was present in our smiles and laughter. We truly did have wonderful time and it will be a time in our lives that we look back upon with great fondness, a time that impacted the lives of our children and ourselves in such a profoundly positive way, a time that sparked curiosity, wonder and the potential for future passions for all of us.
Thanks for following along.
That's all!

The excitement never ends!

The boys were both sleeping. Scott was down at the shed. Katie and I were in the family room together. Katie had created a "scene" on an upside down tote and was just in the midst of a play. We had made several yarn dolls the other morning with the boys, they each made one and Katie decided to make a whole family. Her play was about a young girl named Daisy who walked out into the forest one day and decided to live on her own. After some time though, she decided she wanted to come home to her family. Anyway, in the midst of this play, Utah, the dog, is over in the corner rummaging around. There is a couch over there as well as several totes in the corner. She had her face all the way stuck back in there and suddenly heard her yelp. I know right then and there, there was something back there. I got the flashlight and looked under the couch to discover a gopher!! Now remember last night when I was talking about how great it was to leave the screen door open because of all the fresh air and no bugs...well, maybe that is not so great of an idea. But more than likely, it got in through the back door which does not seem to close all the way shut.
So, I have got the gopher in the spotlight of the flashlight and am keeping a close eye on it because there is no way I am going to bed with a rodent roaming around the house!! So, Katie is running around trying to find something to catch it with and I finally just told her to go out on the deck, call Scott and tell him we need some help here. He just could hardly believe it. The first thing he asked her was, "It's alive!?"
So he comes up and moves the couch but by now the gopher is IN the couch and we are going to have to tip the whole thing. Scott told Katie to run downstairs and get the kittens. Yes, all three of them! Katie comes running up the stairs with all of them in a bundle and sets them down over by the couch. She was spinning circles and saying, "I am kinda scared about this." and the next thing we know she is on the pool table!
The kittens were worthless, but I must say that they did catch another mouse in the mudroom last night and the gopher was about their same size! So, we are calling to the dog to attack the darn thing. It comes running out across the room and Utah gets it. One kitten was just sitting there, the other two batted it around a bit, but it was Utah who was our real hero tonight!
That is one thing I am eager to get home to is NOT having to share our living space with mice and obviously other rodents. We can even hear them at night racing back and forth across the ceiling! It sounds like a nightly relay race, God knows how many mice are here!
The other things I am looking forward to is having a washing machine at our house and being able to just drink some water from the tap, Friday fish, having the kids be able to soak in the tub, a big refrigerator and the driveway. The kids are eager to ride their bikes again. Also family and friends.
We shared a great afternoon together at the pool. I would have to say that this was the day Katie learned to swim without her life jacket. Would I trust her in over her head without one? No, but she was gaining a lot of confidence and really enjoying it. After a while, she was like a mermaid, just diving down into the water. Ben overcame his fear of jumping in from the edge of the pool. He would flop himself in and come up laughing saying, "Wath dis Hunta? I doing a bellyfop."
Then we rushed home, changed and headed off to a play, The Pied Piper of Hamelin. The show was put on in Fountain Green which is the closest town. It has about 500 people in it, one gas station, and one little convenient store which is not so convenient because the shelves are almost totally empty, but it IS a great place to buy candy! I love that despite that there is nothing there, there IS a community theater. The kids were so good and the play was wonderful. The woman doing the introduction got all choked up during it and I was touched to hear how much time and effort went into everything and everyone's heart was really in it. There were children, youth and adults. There was a dinner afterwards which was a fund raiser for the theater. It was great food and the kids ate great. I was glad to not have to cook and do the dishes. Oh, that is another thing I miss, the convenience of a dishwasher! How simple is that!!!
We are planning on heading out tomorrow night after dinner. Wish for our safe journey home and we are looking forward to seeing all our family and friends. Love to all and we just cannot wait to get home and see everyone. Katie just said that she cannot wait to get home and that we have spent the right amount of time here. She is staying up late tonight to hopefully see a shooting star. Scott and I saw the same shooting star the other night, it was awesome, bright and truly shooting through the night's sky and it just kept on going!! It was the night of our anniversary and it was as though the powers that be were just giving us this gift of knowledge that we are right where we ought to be. It was beautiful and a moment I will treasure with my husband for a long time to come.

What a wonderful day

Today was just an amazing day!
Although there has been a lot of cleaning and packing that has been going on - we still leave some time in there for a whole lotta play! Scott started the morning with the cattle drive. It happened WAY too early for the rest of us so only Scott was up and out the door. Let me just say that it was out of control! and Scott was just fuming by the time he got back. His comment was that it is amazing what a little team work can do and how things can come together so easily when people just take the time to work together, but when that fails, well, the cattle are tromping all over Highway 132! So, by the time Scott got home from that he needed a little quiet time and we were all glad to give it to him!
It may not sound like a great challenge, but one thing we did accomplish was raising the windmill 10 more feet to be about a total of 30 feet now. Scott was convinced that if we could only get it higher, it would be spinning more frequently. It was a great challenge on how to get it up. There was a lot of sitting and looking at it and thinking at first because the last thing we wanted was our investment crashing down! One idea was to connect cables to the pole and then attached that to the 4wheeler and then guide it up. After looking and thinking, doing some head scratching, Scott said he was not comfortable with that. I was glad about that because I was going to be the one on the 4wheeler slowly pulling it. Not a good idea. We started to do it this way and I told him I would pre-apologize about the looming disaster even before I got the 4wheeler in drive! Then we were going to use the truck bed and just walk the pole of the windmill up, but that was not going to work either. After more pondering, Scott thought he would just "hump it up" the ladder so he could be on the roof of the shed, then I would be holding it from below and walking it up while he was supporting it from the roof. Needless to say, the whole thing was rather intense and my muscles were shaking at the end from strain and my heart was beating a million miles a minute waiting for Scott and the windmill to come crashing down off the roof. It would have been like a super sized pole vault. Not good. When you are the only two around though, you just have to figure out a way to make it work and outsmart what's outsmarting you.
I do have to admit that when I look out at that windmill, I do feel much pride.
And it is refreshing to not have to run the generator if we want any power at the cabin!
All of us went 4wheeling and looked at a beautiful site for a future cabin. It was great to have the kids all hiking around and playing the "can you see me now?" game. We came upon a tree where there was a hawk's nest and sprinkled around the entire area were feathers. I even found a hawk tail feather. Katie and Hunter had hand fulls of them. I gave Hunter the tail feather I found and Katie was a little grumpy about that, but she had so many other feathers, I though that was fair. A little while later I heard Hunter catching up to Katie, calling her name over and over, and he gave her the tail feather. It was one of those parenting moments we were really proud of. Scott and I just watched them and smiled at each other. This has been such a great time for them to really begin to see one another as a play mate and it's heart warming when they get along, are thoughtful to one another and kind. I will not ruin it by telling you about when they are not!!
I was also proud of Hunter at the pool today. He FINALLY went down the slide and after he did it once, he just went over and over again! At first, he stood at the bottom, looked over to me with that determination he has and said, "I am gonna do it Mom!" You catch me." And I never even had to catch him. Even the lifeguard was cheering him on! Katie looked like a dolphin swimming and splashing and jumping up out of the water all glimmering in the sunlight with her hair flying all over. It was a fun afternoon.
On the way home from town, we could see all the sheep were close to the fence. A fair amount of land out here is used to graze sheep as well as cattle. Anyway, the sheep were practically leaning against the fence and there were two big white dog just barking and barking at something across the highway. They were just going wild and the sheep where just like ding-dongs tra-la-laing around. It was just a glance, when I looked over at what the dogs were barking at and I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw a coyote sitting there, just perched up on a high part of the ground, just drolling over the sheep. Okay-we could not see the drool, but it was just sitting there! We actually pulled over and sat and watched it...and then the sheriff pulled up behind us. Do you know what I said? "Oh, we aren't having any truck trouble, we're from Wisconsin and there's a coyote over there!!!" He just kinda tipped his cowboy hat and was on his way. The coyote, just kinda paced back and forth a while and went back up the hillside, but would not be surprised if there is one less sheep out there in the morning. He was just plotting his plan.
It's wonderful to sit here at night with the screen door wide open. I bet we will be carried away by mosquitoes when we get home. There are not really any here. It is too darn dry! I tell ya, Hunter's little dry patched he gets in the winter are started to get irritated again and the rest of us have just accepted the fact that regardless of how much lotion we put on, we are just kinda scaley looking! So, some hot humid Wisconsin air will be welcomed-for about a day. With no air conditioning, we will most likely spend the better part of the summer in our cool basement and at the beach!
Ben's dentist called today after he received the x-rays we had taken out here. Sure enough, he is quite certain he will need a pulpotomy or ectomy-some kind of pulp-something or other which I am disappointed about. But, hey, things could have been a whole lot worse. When I think about all the machinery Scott has been around and all the adventures we have been on, our trip has been pretty blessed. And, yes, I did just knock on wood.
Does anyone need a kitten? Now there are three up here at the cabin!!

Look what has happened to Scott!

The kids and I went into town to run a few errands. On the way, we heard the song "Time of Your Life" by Green Day and I just cannot get it out of my head. Those lyrics of "hope you had the time of your life," just keep playing over and over because we have! I think that in retrospect things will become even greater than they actually were this first year out.
I do wish in some ways that we would have given the kids more "jobs" to do. And they have had their "work" they have needed to do, but thought that really the "play" was so much more important that we let go of a lot. Besides, in thinking about it now, the most important thing is that they love it here as much as we do and they do!
Scott and I were talking the other night about all the things we will miss about Utah and the life we have been living here. He said that one of the things he would miss the most is watching the kids play together when they are all playing together so nicely, without all the junk but rather using their imaginations and the adventures that come forth from there. Katie said she will miss all the Nature, the deer walking through the field at dusk, along with the turkeys, the lizards and big sky and the mountains. I think for myself I would have to say that I will miss the whole peaceful atmosphere. The joy in walking down a dirt road and watching the kids run ahead looking for treasures along the way, the family hiking, watching the way the shadows move across the mountains and hillsides, just the freedom to have a full and entire completed experience without interruption.
I will also miss bedtime and the sleeping arrangements. The cabin is on two levels. The bedroom are on the lower level which is nice because they stay cool in these hot summer months. There are two bedrooms, decent size but on the small side. They are separated by a hallway, but the walls are so thin, we might as well all be sleeping in the same room. Katie and Ben share a room. Ben moved right out of his crib when we hit the road on the way out. He sleeps in a full bed and Katie is on a twin mattress on the floor next to him. The one thing I do have to say about Ben is he likes to stay up and twirl his blankies (yes, all four of them) around his head until he falls asleep. He really is not interested in having his back rubbed or being hummed to, just the twirling. But if you do not lay with him for a bit, the twirling gets crazy and he starts singing to himself and banging on the walls. So, we stay with him, but with our back to him otherwise he wants to smile and chat. Lately, I will be laying there wondering if he is finally sleeping or not and out of the corner of my eye, I can see a little hand rising up and then it rests on my shoulder for a while and then he begins to rub my shoulder!! It is so sweet.
Hunter sleeps on a twin mattress in our room. I should actually call it Scott and Hunter's room because although most nights I start in that room, I either end up on Hunter's mattress on the floor or sleeping with Ben. Hunter, although we thought he would be so exhausted by bedtime he would FINALLY sleep through the night out here, ends up crawling into bed with us. He has gotten so that in the night (which I should mention is pitch black out here short of the candle we leave burning in the bathroom all night)that he will, in a sweet little feeble voice say, "Somebody?? Somebody??" and then a little while later, we will hear, "Can I come and weep wif you?" And most times, between Hunter's foot on the back of my neck and Scott's snoring, I head into Ben's bed. It is really like all sharing the same sleeping space and I have gotten rather used to all of us being so close that when we get home, we will all seem so spread out in our house.
In the last couple of days, both Katie and Hunter have said they are ready to head home. Hunter was reminiscing about a little bridge we build in the fall over the ditch and said to Scott, "You member dat? Member dat ridge?" and Scott and laughed because he was saying it in a way that made it seem so far away. And Katie commented that she is missing "home". Scott and I feel this has been the perfect amount of time and although will be sad to go, are ready too.
The hummingbirds will miss us. They have gotten to be part of the scenery out on the deck. Actually, the other night Scott had refilled their feeder and was taking it back out and one came up, kinda attacked him (like "what are you doing with the feeder, dude?") and then landed on his hat! By the time I got there, he was wearing his baseball cap low and with the hood of his sweatshirt up telling the story of how he was attacked. Funny, because there is his picture with the shotgun!
As for the kittens, it is hard to leave them behind and it seems as though two have moved up to the cabin. They are outside all day and then stay in the mudroom at night. One of them even caught a mouse last night and left it by the door to show us! So, I think we might have expanded our family to two more. They are very sweet. Katie's just wakes up purring! And Hunter carries his around and she just loves it. He just cannot get over how much the cat loves him!
We are helping with another cattle drive tomorrow morning! So, that will be exciting again. I think the plan is to sell all the cattle so this will be the last time. We are moving them across the highway, that was where they decided to go the first time even though that was not the plan. So, hopefully the cattle will cooperate a bit better this time.
Other than that, it will be a lot of last minute things to fit in and a whole lotta packing!

How can we leave them in Utah!!??

I cannot tell you how many times today I heard Katie say how much she loves the kittens! We made the mistake today of bringing them up from the shop to the cabin. Although the kids were completely occupied all afternoon, their hearts just grew bigger and bigger with a great love for the kittens. I kinda have to admit it too. They are so sweet and cute and I had forgotten how playful and silly kittens are! They all snuggle together, play with each other's tail, and clean each other's faces. Scaredy-Cat even snuggled with the dog!
Katie created this little kitten bed made from a small tote top and some grass, leaves and other soft things of nature she could find and then collected all the kittens and set them all up on it and they all stayed! Katie spent the better part of the afternoon "selling" kittens at her pet store. The boys loved it even though she was charging WAY too much for them, like a hundred million dollars - but they do have great value to her!
So, I do have to admit I am a little, just a little bit, in kahoots (sp?) with the kids about bringing them home. I even think I have convinced myself that we might need our own shop kittens at home for the mice in our shop! Besides, the last three kittens Scott got at the shop all died and the thought of that is just terrible. So, I keep directing the kids questions about bringing them home to Scott - I think he said earlier today that he would let Katie bring one home. But then a little while later, I also heard him say that it was like a "animal mad house" up here. So, I think he might need to pet and snuggle them a bit more.
I wonder how they might travel in the RV?
Uh-oh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope it is not too soon to say, "Kitties, pack your bags!"

Has anyone seen the boys??

More WONDERFUL days together!
I know I must seem so overly sentimental but can hardly help myself. The time here is just shared in such a unique way. We got back from the town carnival and dinner with friends and discovered we have a couple new friends here at the cabin. There was a hummingbird feeder that was out here and we had seen a couple zoom by the other day so decided to set it up.
Scott and Hunter went over to the other side of the farm to help out one of the guys who was working (still cutting hay!). Katie and I stayed back. Ben was exhausted from a fun day at the carnival eating snow cones and dancing to the local bands, most of which were families. Very sweet to see a dad get up in front of the crowd with his 5 girls and strum "You are my Sunshine" while all the little girls sing along.
Anyway, Katie and I sat out on the upper deck and waited for the hummingbirds to come and, sure enough, they did! Katie got within 2 feet of one. It was magical! When Scott and Hunter got back, they joined us. So, there we all were, sitting together, perfectly still and quiet, cuddled together in a warm blanket, just waiting. The gentle breeze had grown cooler and we snuggled together for warmth and the quiet of the mountains settled over us. We just sat there - for like an hour or two! It is not as though we would have not done that at home, but the gift of NOW is so profound here, as though the next moments, hours, days and weeks are just too far away and unpredictable to worry ourselves with, so we just truly cherish these kinds of simple moments that we share together because really when you think about it, it is all we have. The rest is all just kinda out there still and the other is gone.
I realized something about myself the other day when I was at Bear Canyon with the kids. We had decided to go hiking for the morning. It was a place we had visited for lunch but did not get a chance to hike at all so went back to enjoy a little hiking. In my younger years, I would have had no fear. I would have been blazing the trail with my pack, headed to my "freedom" - off into the woods in search of peace and eventually myself. As we started down the trail, however, I started to feel fear and uncertainly. I know there are mountain lions, bears and other wildlife to be aware of but also have talked to people who have been here their whole lives and never have seen any of those animals. Maybe it is that I feel universally lucky and blessed that I think I would cross paths with a mountain lion or just a big 'ol scaredy cat, but either way...we did a lot of LOUD singing on the path. I wondered if I have just gotten old or now travel through this Life with some precious other little beings that initiated this feeling of fear. But the moment was marked as one of those where I truly knew that my life and my heart have opened and what has flooded in has been such an immense feeling of love. A mountain lion would not have stood a chance!!
We let Katie and Hunter stay up later than usual tonight and did some sparklers and baby fireworks. They each loved to have a sparkler in each hand and twirl them as fast as they could. I have this image of them laughing and smiling while their eyes are bright with the reflection from the light of the sparklers and with the excitement of something new.
The count down has started as to how many days we have left before we head back to WI. There are still many things we would like to do before we head back. I know Scott has a lot of farm work to accomplish so he will be busy this week. Lately, he has been spraying "white top" in the mornings until it gets too hot. I think the flower looks rather pretty, but apparently it's bad for the land and the cows. He also now have the cabin all rigged up with wind and solar power. He amazes me! Anyway, it will be a busy week and before we know it, we will be homeward bound.
And YES, it will take a while for us to domesticate ourselves again. Remember when I asked that question "What the heck will be next?" in one of the last blogs in reference to dead animal parts? Well, I did get the answer. A fox tail. And do not even ask me how we acquired it because I will most likely not tell!

Our own cactus garden.

We were all together checking some fields and came upon this area of blooming cactus. 

Location : Unnamed Rd, Mt Pleasant, UT 84647,



Location : Address not available

It's pretty dusty out here!

So much to tell!!
Poppa Joe left on Sunday but before he left we were all able to take a nice long and adventurous 4wheeling ride up the mountains. We were able to check out most of the ponds and they were all full. Water is a scarce thing around here and to see full ponds of water is a wonderful sight to see!
A fire came through a couple of years ago and we were all a little tense about how much of my dad's property would burn. The fire, however, only burned a couple thousand acres which in comparison to some other forest fires...that is nothing. Anyway, the land now is just gorgeous because of that fire. Fire weed, an orangy colored flower, is in bloom all over the mountain sides. And then there is a bit of blue and purple sprinkled throughout as well. And boy-do we spend a lot of time picking flowers.
As we were 4wheeling through where the fire had gone before us, it was clear the devastation to the trees, all the bark was burned off. There were these areas where just barren trees were left standing. But then there were the flowers and they were everywhere and much of the scrub oak and sage was burned away so new life could come through, like a new beginning for the land.
We said our good byes with Poppa Joe and no matter how Katie tried to convince him to stay a bit longer, he had to go home.
Later on Sunday, our adventure took a little turn for the worse and we had our first little "emergency" out here. Ben was playing and just tripped and smashed his mouth into a wooden table. He banged his teeth pretty bad. Katie called out and said, "Mom, Ben fell and I picked him up and was carrying him and now I have blood all over my shoulder." We saw Katie's bloody shoulder first and YIKES....well, ya all know how mouths bleed! After the bleeding finally stopped we could see that his poor little gun was all smushed up way higher than it was suppose to be. To make a long story short, after a trip to the pediatric dentist in Prove on Monday morning, the x-rays seem to indicate that he has lost the blood flow to those teeth and they will turn gray. He'll have to have some work done on the teeth and the nerve, so we will have to head home a little earlier than expected. I guess dentists go on vacation too-the last two weeks of July, so we had to take the appointment we could get. His cheek is still a little bruised but his mouth is getting back to normal and when he smiles we can see his little dimples again. The other morning I was checking for infection and Hunter just came up and looked in Ben's mouth and said, "BEN!!!! You teeth are rotten! Yuck!" and walked away. I reassured Ben and am hoping maybe the dentist was wrong and those little baby teeth will pull through this big bang after all.
The dog is holding her own out here. She spends the day running after the squirrels and chipmunks that tease and taunt her. They will probably do no such thing any more. She caught herself a small squirrel the other day and was parading around with it. I would suspect she was disappointed when I took it from her, but Katie's eyes lite right up as did Scott's. He said, "Great, some food for the kittens." She said, "Can I have the tail?" So, out came the Leather Man knife and off went the tail. And, YES, we have it...just sitting there upright in a bowl of salt. Katie can hardly wait and she has much concern about WHO will get it seeing as there is only one...oh, but there is so much time left. What else can we get?
Bird feet...yup, Scott picked up a fresh dead bird, a Curlew, someone had hit while cutting hay. Of course, cat food, right? Both Katie and Hunter had a hay day plucking the feathers out. Then it came-the question-of course, from Katie..."Can we have the feet, Dad?" and sure enough, out came the Leather Man knife and off went the feet, one for each of them. It was so disgusting later when we were back at the cabin and Katie had her little dead bird foot dancing around and pawing and scratching Scott's arm. I just buried my face into the couch pillow and thought, "What the heck will be next?"
We sure do love it here and have already talked about how sad we will be when we go. Katie looked at me, with those big and sparkling eyes, smiled at me with that big gap in her teeth where her front tooth is coming in and said, "I love it here! There is just so much Nature, not like in Wisconsin, they just do not have those kinds of forests (and she pointed up to Log Canyon) or those kinds of mountains (and she looks over to Nebo. When I get big, I am going to live here." I told her that when we get home Wisconsin will most likely seem pretty flat in comparison, but that there are beautiful places everywhere and that she was lucky she is one of those people who truly SEES them.
We went all the way up Log Canyon this afternoon for a picnic. It was wonderful because I had been wanting to do it since we got here and was glad it worked out where we all went together. I just had to focus on what was ahead of me because there were some parts that where WAY down there and the cliff was a little too close for comfort! And if anyone was wanting confirmation about those tracks, they WERE mountain lion tracks we saw that day I took the kids up! I sped up a bit through that area!
Lately, we have been getting extra dirty, our feet, our faces, just everything, but with all that dirt has come lots of hard work digging holes, making our "Hide Out" fort, and moving rocks. I looked over at Ben this afternoon and he had taken off his shorts, filled his boots with the dusty dirt that's everywhere out here and buried the better part of his legs. Just does not get any better than that for a 2 year old! Even if his little baby teeth do turn gray!

Hunter is 4

Poppa Joe arrived on Tuesday. We are all having a great time together. The farm is busy as the hay is all being cut right now so there is much to do with driving around on the 4wheelers and checking things out, such as the ponds, the cut fields and all the fencing. And, of course the kittens! The kids are just loving it!
This morning, I took the kids up Log Canyon road-this road goes up behind the cabin and is part of Uinta National Forest. All four of us on one four wheeler! But we All fit. Ben sat in the very front, then me, then Hunter and Katie all the way in the back on the attached seat.
When we first started out, the kids were just chatting away. But as we got higher up into the canyon, things quieted down. Hunter hugged me close whenever he looked over to the left down the steep cliff below. In this silence, it was as though the kids were just drinking in all that nature had to offer them. I would look back and both Katie and Hunter would have their heads tipped back, looking up at the way the canyon breeze would blow through the leaves on the birch trees or looking deep into the forest in hopes to see an elk or just being in the moment and in awe of nature’s beauty. It was a wonderful morning of truly just "being" together.
We went all the way to the top and kids played in the snow for a while. I am sorry we are a bit behind with the pictures, but having to run everything off the generator and being in the middle of the mountains- things just take a loooong time to upload. But Scott is working on it! We even thought we saw mountain lion tracks in the snow. Whatever it was, it was way larger than a dog or a coyote.
Hunter's birthday was yesterday. What a fun day! He LOVES the pool and asks to go every day. So we all went. I had taken the kids once before and both Katie and Hunter had the greatest time doing belly flops. They would stand at the edge of the pool, call out "belly flop" and flop into the water. I was laughing so hard! Even the life guards were smiling. SO, our older two kids have perfected belly flops. Hunter attempted the diving board but just could not bring himself to jump that day. But for his birthday, it was another story. I knew if Scott was with him, he would jump off the diving board and he did! Even I was too chicken. It was probably 5 feet above the water, but once he did it, he went on to do it over and over again.
He is really into the thought of buried treasures out here and making treasure maps so that is what we decided to do for his birthday surprise. Everyone took off on the four wheelers while Ben and I stayed back and made the cake. I did the best frosting art work I could and created a John Deere tractor design on the cake. He loved it and that was all that mattered to me. "Moooom, I wust wuv my cake!" And then I got a big hug!
Ben and I worked on the treasure map and then buried all his presents under a bunch of logs out in the field. We had him going all over and him and Katie just kept referring to the map and following the clues. Then there he stood in front of the log pile and was like, "this is it, where are all da presents?" So we had to remind him what a BURIED treasure really was. He could hardly believe it when he started uncovering them and the excitement on his face was sweet.
Alex took a break from cutting hay and came up which was a high light for Hunter! He, of course, brought a gift for Hunter. A bunch of little mini John Deere tractors and they were a great hit!
Hunter's birthday is on mid-summer's eve. And for those of you who do not know this that is a night of great festivities for all the fairies, elves and gnomes. And if you build a fairy house or place for them to come and play, they will visit that evening and leave little treasures in return for your kindness. So, Poppa Joe and Katie spent a good part of the early evening collecting great treasures and creating a beautiful fairy play place. And they came!!
We set a candle out to guide their way and by morning they had eaten all the little decorative tiny cookies we left out, brought over a bundle of fresh flowers and robin egg shells, sprinkled little gems all around, left several sea shells and even left a small fairy swing all sanded and smooth! The look on Katie's face in the morning was of magic and delight!
The dog is loving it here and seems to be getting back into her primal instinctual kind of dog ways. The other day we were in the midst of building a fort and she comes running out of the woods carrying something that looked like a small rabbit from a distance. I made her drop it and then could see that is was actually the back leg of a fawn!!!! It had the spots on it and everything! I had my working gloves on and picked it up to only immediately drop it because it was so fresh looking I actually thought it was still pulsating. Even now, I still get the eeby-geebys!
I do not know where our kids get this from but after the shock wore off, Katie started to ask if there was anyway we could preserve it and make it in to something, like a hook. No kidding. Then Hunter started and he wanted a deer foot hook too!! So, I looked at the dog and told her we had to go back and was curious if she would lead me back to where she got it in the first place. And she did!! Katie was going to go with but then decided she would stay back. I followed the dog up the mountain and got to a clearing where then all of a sudden she was just standing there with another leg in her mouth!! So, I am not sure what the plan with them is but as of now they are laying on top of the propane tank. Ah, the adventures in Utah continue!
There is such history here and am eager to learn, read and discover more. There is a place we stopped at the other day where there is a monument marking a place where the Ute Indians came and murdered a family. This family had traveled out from the east looking for a new home, a place, land they could claim as their own. They where all killed at this very spot. It was disheartening to think of this family never being able to pursue this land and what they believed would bring them such happiness, prosperity and move them closer to their destiny and life they believed they were meant to live. To have put such effort into taking all your belongings across the country and then to have your life cut short struck me as such a tragedy.
We talked about that no matter how long ago it may have been ,that everyone in this world seeks a place to call their own, a place to belong and feel "at home". I do believe we are truly experiencing that that place, our own place - our "home" - is far from our house or anything of material that we own but rather we are blessed with this opportunity and these daily experiences for our family to really know and feel that "our place" can be anywhere as long as we are together. There is just a lot of love there!
It has been such a blessing to slow down and surround ourselves with each other. For it seems as though within that newness and freshness of each day, we are able to get a better glimpse into the very soul and spirit of one other and appreciate the beauty that resides there.

Been working hard!

Scott laughed at me the other day after I told him I had done two "loads" of wash. But doing it by hand still counts as a load, right?
We have had an awesome couple of days. Today we had quite the adventure with the 200+ cattle out here that belong to Poppa Joe and his partner, Alex. Alex stopped up at the cabin this morning to ask if we could help move the cattle from one grazing field to the next. Of course, being up for the adventure and wanting to help, we did.
It seemed easy enough...corral the cattle together using the 4-wheelers, get them heading down the side of the highway and then a sharp left into the next field, probably a mile up the way. I had the boys with me in the truck and our job was to wave at the traffic on Hwy 132 to get them to slow down. Did I mention the speed limit is 65? I only had one cowboy stop. He was wearing boots and a HUGE belt buckle, really, to ask if I was in trouble. I am sure I looked pretty out of place with my hot pink flip flops on!
Scott and Katie were on the 4-wheeler. I told Katie that if a bull started to charge them to hide behind Dad. Several of them had fairly large horns and apparently they do not like to be moved.
Well, from down the highway where we were, all we could see was a huge mass of black and it appeared that mass of black was heading ACROSS the highway instead of just sticking to the same side. After all the cattle crossed, they walked through a field and then the 4-wheeling people had to corral them all back across the highway. Scott said some of them were so stubborn he had to give them a smack on the rump to get them moving! It was pretty exciting. Sorry for not having any photos of that, but we had nothing charged up. Go figure.
The few days before were really a lot of fun. I took the kids up the Nebo loop which took us into Uinta National Forest....so beautiful. The first day we hardly made it up the mountain because we stopped at a small river full of rapids rushing down from Mount Nebo. The kids had the best time just playing in the freezing water, collecting rocks and throwing things into the rapids and I did too.
The following day, we went back with Scott and did a little fishing and then headed up the mountain. We stopped for lunch at Bear Canyon and it was just breathtaking. I said that out loud and Katie turned to me and asked what that word meant. I told her that a person uses that word when they see something that is so beautiful it takes your breath away and you could just look at it for a very long time. Somehow that inspired her to talk about promises and how important they are to keep. I could not help but think of that John Denver song, "Poems, Prayers and Promises" - the things we believe in. It was one of the greatest moments I can remember in a long time and I will cherish that moment standing there with Katie on the bridge over the rapids gazing up at the snow capped mountain talking about promises.
Hunter had gotten so wet while we were fishing that he refused to wear his wet pants. So, he did most of his Bear Canyon hiking in his dinosaur underwear! Ben, happy as a clam, just clomped along with the rest of us in his muck boots.
We are planning to head to the city pool tomorrow. It's hot here but the heat is not nearly as bad as the dryness. All the kids had such chapped lips I got them all their own chap stick. I think Ben has already eaten his!
Tomorrow we are also heading back up to Salt Lake to pick up Poppa Joe. He's flying in and staying until Sunday.
Hunter's birthday is on Thursday. Katie and I are very busy getting things ready for his birthday. He justs wants to make sure Alex can come. He thinks of him as a real cowboy and often mentions how much he loves him and how he HAS to come to his birthday.
Oh, I forgot to mention the kittens! Well, we have some mice in the shop and so we got some kittens. They have been a BIG hit. Hunter named his Spiderman.
Love to all!

We got up this morning and aimed to have our first day of something that might resemble a "schedule". Scott is still working on the bathroom project (but the toilet is in which we are all glad about)so he stayed behind.
I do have a funny bathroom story but you will have to promise not to tell Katie you know about it. The other night - Hunter was up crying and moved into our bed and then about 15 minutes later, I could hear Katie crying from the other room. It does get awfully dark out here at night and figured she was afraid. I went into her room and she said she needed to go potty. Seeing as we still had no bathroom in the cabin I asked her if she wanted to go outside or in the camper, she said outside and just took off down the hallway. As I followed her with the lantern I began to wonder if she was really even awake and got my answer when I got to the mud room and saw her with her jammie pants and underwear down, sitting on a white plastic picnic chair. I had to call out her name and shake her a bit to snap her out of it. She DID end up going in the camper and has no recollection of that moment, but loves me to tell her the story!
I took the kids and we walked over to the wash this morning, a ravine where the water flows down from the mountains. They all got to taking their hats off and collecting as many rocks as possible. My mom made them these cute satchels we will have to bring along tomorrow. We saw one lizard, one mule deer, and four hawks. Katie was positive she found footprints in the mud from a mother elk and her baby and she just might have been right! I carried Ben for much of the way back which I was fine with. I can tell that soon he will just want to do it all himself so I enjoy the moments when he feels like he needs me.
It rained today and was actually so cold up here it started to hail. I held Ben for much of the thunder but then Katie wanted to hold him too. Scott and Hunter were in town picking up more parts for the bathroom. Katie insisted on having a fire and it was actually a great idea as it is still burning!
We are all really at peace here (except for the moments I am hollering at Ben to stop whacking Hunter with the plastic bat) but overall, Katie walks around being overly helpful, smiling, and doing a lot of happy sighing. Hunter is completely in his element. I encourage him to use his "big sky mountain voice" as much as he wants and he does and when he finds his quiet place he seems content and truly part of his surroundings. Ben is happy no matter what (when he is not protesting something!) but follows along in his own time and is glad to be part of all the happiness. Scott and I are happy as we quietly watch our kids interact and love one another while we sit back and feel that love and happiness that we are such a part of too.

Playing tag.

Here is a shot of everyone playing tag down in front of the cabin.  Sorry for the lack of pictures so far.  Slow internet so we are having a hard time uploading....but I am working on it.

Location : Unnamed Rd, Mt Pleasant, UT 84647,

Everyone commented at dinner tonight how much they love Utah and went on to list all the reasons. Katie's reasons were so sweet and true to her heart as she shared how much she loved collecting flowers, gathering all the beautiful rocks she can carry in her shirt, how we can save power (YES! she really said that as though she is a little environmentalist in the making!) and all be together.

The bathroom is still under construction -thank God for "Darby" the camper-so I spent the morning sanding and caulking. Lucky for Scott, I had forgotten what a terrible mess of a job that is! Anyway, should be done in a couple days.

We went walking in the field out front this afternoon. Utah, our dog, ran circles around us and we all started to feel a little more like sheep as she would take to running at the speed of light around us, lay down in the grass to rest, and pop back up just to go tearing around us all again. The kids continue to pick me bundles of flowers and am grateful the flowers are everywhere! Even when I can hardly hold one more in my fist full, I cannot help but feel loved when one of them pick one and come running to give it to me. Ben will say, "Here you go Mom." Hunter will come running as though he has made the greatest discovery of all and say, "Mom, I got this one just for you." And Katie will swagger up with a fist full and just stand there with her flowers out not saying anything at all but still speaking to my heart.

Katie and I did our first load of laundry by hand today and I have to admit it was my favorite part of the day. We were pretty proud of our first load hanging out to dry! She cannot wait to do more. I am simply the rinser, but she was sure into being the washer!

The boys enjoyed themselves driving the truck around the field. It was quite the adventure but they thought driving was the greatest thing. Although Hunter thinks his toy gun is the greatest thing EVER! It goes everywhere with us. We told him he can only use it for "hunting" so that is all he does. He just crouches down in the grass and pretends to shoot a mule deer. At first, we were not sure about this direction, but Scott and I both played cops and robbers when we were kids with toy guns and we turned out alright, right??

Let the fun begin! And let Hunter stop asking "when we get to Utah"

We made it! There is something special about the landscape in Utah. As we were driving, we just could not help but think about the times when the land was undisturbed and what it would have been like to look out upon its vastness then; to stand up on top a butte or mountain top and call out, "We're here!" After we saw this sign, the RV traveled up, then down, then up, then down, then up again. But good ol' "Darby" made it! The mountains are amazing! Hunter was beside himself with excitement when he saw they still have snow on the top. We are all looking forward to making summer snow angels.

Location : Coalville, UT,

First camping trip in the RV

This the trial run in the RV "Darby" at Ottawa Lake. Hunter and Katie on the beach.

Location : County Road Zz, Dousman, WI 53118,