Just to clarify

Hunter is still smiling.

Buckwheat jumped up on him and it was his claw that got Hunter.

So grateful it was not his eye or even could have tore his lip in half!
Whew!

Our second Urgent Care visit

So our first trip to Urgent Care was when Ben had pneumonia.
Our second trip to Urgent Care was today!

So the kids are all in charge of chores at the ranch house. Katie and Ben do the chickens and Hunter takes care of the dog. Buckwheat is a real hyper dog and gets overly excited when you come to feed him. He barks and jumps all over. 

So today, Hunter walked over to feed him and disappeared into the hay. Buckwheat is tied up over there to keep the elk from eating the hay. Katie also went over with the water for the dog.

Suddenly, I hear Hunter crying and screaming and Katie comes running out of the hay yelling that buckwheat got Hunter! When I see hunter, he has a pool of blood in his mouth and it is dripping down his lip!

The car was parked right there so I start grabbing Kleenex, told Katie to run to the ranch house and get a washcloth and wet it down and am trying to assess his lip.

I will just describe what I saw as white hamburger!

I thought for sure he would need a couple of stitches but you learn something new every day....and here is what I learned.

When you cut the inside of your mouth...unless it is a ripped apart situation in your mouth or your lip is torn in half....they just let it heal! So, although deep...no stitches!

I must say, great grandma Lucy was watching out for her "little Huntsy" today!

Sorry if the picture makes you gag Vanessa & Evan.....I can hardly look at it myself!

A vision

This was right before Scott got himself in a panic!
I still laugh when I think about him saying, a bit shaky mind you, "I need a little help here!"

Strike!

So serious!

Every time Hunter would throw his ball down the lane, he would stand with his arms crossed and wait to see how well he did!

Thinking of Poppa

Oh Ben!

We could not figure out when we went bowling why the pins kept getting reset.... until we looked at Ben who was blowing the sweat from his face off....apparently that button right under his thumb is the reset button!

Saturday

Total blizzard like conditions

Good morning Utah

So it was official! The road was impassable yesterday! We spent part of the day trying to get the diesel out of the snowdrift!
Luckily the county guy was up and plowing by 6am so we are not stuck anymore!

The best husband ever!

It was Scott's birthday and so we celebrated. Ben got him a pair of working gloves. Hunter got him a new hat which was desperately needed. And Katie got him a new zip up fleece.  I picked him up some new work pants, a coffee mug that will withstand the bumps on the road and not spill and a coffee bean grinder. I have to support my Barista!

Now we are off for some birthday bowling. Even better....they even serve beer!

Betty in recovery

Booties

These are our makeshift booties to keep her bandages dry from where her dew claws were removed. Pretty slippery, but works! 
The dew claws were pretty flappy and figured it was cheaper to have them removed then to have them ripped off one fun day of running through the field!

"I need a little help here!"

This area is called "Pioneer Names." It is called this because there are names written on the rock in axle grease dating back to the early 1800's. So we thought we would hike in and check it out. It was only about a half a mile.

As we arrived to the base of the rock, there were lots of people, kids included, who had hiked up to where the names were on the rock.  It look easy enough, so Scott lead the way, all 3 kids followed with Bob close behind. Personally, I was not really planning on going up.
So they all start to get pretty high and Deb and I are starting to get a little worried. I had a vision in my head of 1 of the kids falling backwards, tumbling down and us spending the rest of the day in the emergency room.
Scott decides he is going to go up first and see how it is. Now, just so you understand what kind of rock we are talking about -it was steep and smooth and there was really no trail to follow you just sort of climbed up the rock. Flat, smooth and slippery would be 3 great adjectives to describe it!
So Scott gets almost to the top, and he is just like an X plastered to the rock. And I can see that his feet are pointing in opposite directions and his fingers are clutching at the rock and I am beginning to wonder if this is a bad idea.  Meanwhile, all 3 kids are squatting on a little rock ledge! His feet begin to kind of slip and he says to the dad who is about 5 feet above him with his too young sons, " I think I need a little help here!"
So that guy reaches out, Scott gets his feet set and the rest of us breathe out the breath we all have been holding!
Later, when we were talking about it, Scott said he had this vision, which happened in a split second, of himself slipping and sliding down the rock, catching his foot on something and then tumbling backwards down the rock wall!  And he added that that vision in the heat of panic all happened in a split second.
I know it was a scary moment but it will be hard for him to live this one down!

The best lizard catcher around!

Almost!!

So much to discover....

So little time.

Deep in Jenny's Canyon

Next stop...Jenny's Canyon

The lighting was just about perfect as we hiked. The sun was almost dipping down below the rocks and the shadows were just starting to creep across the rock formations. I love the contrast between the green of the Yucca plant and the blue of the sky.

$.97

All that fun for less than a dollar. Just LOOK at Ben's face!

A view

Lots of beauty

This little guy was just sitting there along the trail.

A lava rock

Kings of the lava rock!

Lava Field

Here we are on our adventure in Snow Canyon. There once was a volcano here and the remains of the lava is still here so we went hiking through. It was pretty cool.

On the way to vet

The sisters

Manti Temple

On our way to St. George for a sleep over with the kids and the Noll's.
Looking forward to warmer weather! It was
COLD this morning.

Quiet at last!

I just realized something about myself....I think I have become that person who takes a ton of pictures of THEIR DOG!!!  Oh well, I suppose it is kinda like a new baby, but not really.  I suppose a new baby would NOT chew up their bed in the wee hours of the moning, or rearrange ALL the shoes in the mud room when we leave, or prance around most of the day and I cannot forget....eat cat poop - a real favorite!

Anyway, the kids are all down in St. George with the grandparents and having a great time.  It is a long, long, long overdue break for me!  I am spending my time curriculum planning, if you can believe that! But it is great to sit here with a cup of coffee in the quiet of the cabin.  And I love not having to tell Scott how many more bites he has to have in order to be done, or step on a lego, or pick up clothes that continue to get stripped off yet no one is ever naked.  I still am perplexed as to how this actually happens.

The snow is gently falling up here in the mountains, the fire is crackling and all is QUIET.  Well, except for the new baby girl, Betty, who seems to think this is play time and no one is agreeing so she is barking about it.

I found this great quote yesterday I thought I would share...

"Today I will start my day with a smile 
and let my soul shine through.
I will radiate positive energy to everyone around me
and will add color and passion to everything I do.

Today Life will be beautiful -
because that is how my eyes choose to see it."

So - on this quiet, lovely snowy day -
LET YOUR SOUL SHINE!

Thank God for John Deere

Glad we are not plowing the fields with THIS!

Poor little fat dog

She was like a snow plow! Sometimes if she came running at me, she would do a nose dive into the snow and it would come up over her head as though it were a wave of water!

Love her

Me

All alone in the mountains and not even afraid of the mountain lions!

Good times had by all

Leaving a little bit of love behind

I went snowshoeing the other afternoon for about 2 hours by myself. It was unbelievable. The day was pristine and amazing and I thought myself completely embraced by my surroundings and that I had a real taste of freedom, of happiness and just the ability to let myself BE in myself in a peaceful way.
I thought about how blessed and lucky I am to have friends and family that I do and I took them along with me in my heart as I went.

My path...

Emerson

Emerson once said "do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."
I have had that quote taped up to the bathroom mirror since we arrived because it is true and I often need to remind myself but although this place and life is all new and unfamiliar, life is what happens outside of your comfort zone. And it is all too short to live comfortably and be safe. 

Secure us from security now and forever amen!

Our front yard

I sent my dad a picture of the Utah mountains and sky the other day and his response back to me was that he wondered what God looks like. It is such a vast and beautiful country here I thought that response was perfect.

Dripping never looked so beautiful

A water update

I know it has been a long time since I have written anything of length. I suppose with my new phone, being with the kids almost ALL day, being exhausted at the end of that – I have just sort of phased out of that a bit. So, this will be a long one!! You've been warned.

OK – so an update....where do I even begin?

I suppose I realized that relocating would have its challenges, however, I never anticipated that they would be so many, from what we eat, how we shop, what is or is not available to buy, the different sort of culture present, and the list goes on and on!

I have not shared much for a while because there are days when things are really just overwhelming. For example, for the last few weeks the water has been frozen on and off. The first two weeks it was just frozen and there was nothing. And then the third week was off and on depending on the weather for any particular day. Of course, when I tell that to people I KNOW they are thinking about the toilet and the bathroom “situation”. So, I will answer that first in case you are curious.

We have about 5 five gallon jugs we fill. There is always one in the bathroom, one on the counter in the kitchen and one in the cooler (which we do not cool because, come on, you know how much power that would take!) When there is a “number 2” all you have to do is fill the tank and flush. You just have to pour the water! So, I guess the good news would be that I think I am getting some muscles from lifting those jugs for three kids. Oh and fun stuff....a new talent I have acquired is the capacity to be able to unplug a toilet without running water. I know it is weird, but I am kinda proud of that! With three kids, the toilet is bound to be plugged, not regularly, but Ben is still kinda getting the hang of wiping himself and when I go down to dump the water into the tank and all I see in the toilet is a mound of toilet paper....I suppose that is a rather good skill to have!

The sun, although shining WAY more than it did in Wisconsin in the winter, merely peeks up over the mountain and then slips down again. So, the solar power has been a little on and off, to put it nicely. There are some nights I just feel so bad for Scott. Like just last week, he had a meeting up north in Provo and returned to have to babysit the water situation and 9pm (good thing he is not afraid of the dark!). Now, on that particular day we were out of water because the tank actually ran out, so that means the following:

step 1: load the giant generator into the giant sled and tie to the back of the snow mobile.

step 2: slowly head up Rattle Snake Road to the pump house.

step 3: start pumping water

step 4: leave the generator up there to pump water all night and perhaps have to run up again at midnight to re-fuel it

step 5: then the power goes out, so just as he is walking in, I say from the deck, “sorry- the power is out”

step 6: lots of swearing and a snowy walk down the hill to the solar panels to run the other generator

Now, maybe you might wonder to yourself in that instant why I would say sorry, like saying that makes the news better or I might be that woman who just apologizes for everything. Well, that was not the case.

You see it WAS Wednesday and you know what that means....American Idol. And, yes, I was using (apparently) ALL the power to watch it!

We have water AND power today - so we will enjoy it while it lasts and see what tomorrow brings. (although I think Scott - a.k.a. "McGyver" - has it all figured out).

Moved right in

Get comfy why don't ya!

Love her

Do I have the word "sucker" written all over me or what?
I just could not help myself!
So happy we saved her!

Turkey town

This is on the road on the way up Nebo loop. There must be 100 turkeys! There were some on this side of the road and then there was a trail that went over to a place in the woods where there were about 50 more!

The baker

Big dreams!

We all wish for some fresh fish in this state!

Love this!

Christmas present from poppa Joe and Bubbie

Good morning Utah!

What's wrong with that?

Yes I do

Yup. It's true. Betty sleeps with a dolly!

Our first trip to urgent care

Ben had been up all night coughing with a fever. So we ventured out the next morning to the local clinic....which I was quite pleased with.
Pneumonia.
Got some anti B's.

Nature collage

Grandpa Bob made this for the kids for Christmas and we r already putting it to good use!