My Cowboy

Yes, this blogging week does seem to be all about Michael, doesn't it?  So fun!

I had a lady come and tell me that Michael was the most genuine cowboy of any kid she had seen all day.  She wanted her camera just so she could take billions of pictures of this adorable kiddo.  Luckily, I had my camera, because I think he's adorable too.

After seeing this horse, Michael told me that he is a cowboy, and that is a cowhorse.

I took all the kids to the Livestock Festival in Cedar because I knew Michael would LOVE it!  He did, but I think we all had a great time.  I liked it a lot more than I expected I would.  I think our favorite part was the sheep parade, where they herded 1,000 sheep down Cedar's Main street.

This is Adelyn's nervous face.  We participated in the kids tractor pull and Adelyn won 3rd place in her age category.  You hop on the pedal tractor and pull a certain amount of weight, depending on your age.  Both her and Michael did great.

I wish I had taken a picture right after their primary program, because they both looked great in their Sunday best.  But I thought I might as well put this one here because Michael is never out of cowboy gear very long.  He likes to pose like a cowboy(preferably against a fence post), drink soup like a cowboy, have a grain of wheat poking out his mouth like a cowboy, lasso like a cowboy, shoot like a cowboy, and talk like a cowboy.  I just don't know where he gets it from.  Not me. 

Our Seeing Eye Kids

So we had these three kids eyes checked and they're all awesome!  Thank goodness, because mommy is so blind.

Michael went because the school said there might be a problem.  We are so happy the school is wrong, and the only glasses he needs are the coolio ones from the eye doctor.

We took the babies because my friend told me about the InfantSee program for babies under 12 months.  I have been worried about the babies vision.  I think they're at a little higher risk for having vision and hearing problems just because they're twins.  So happy they checked out perfect.

The only difference is that HE IS 6!

Michael woke Joey up early on his birthday to tell him he was 6.  He was so excited about being 6.  However, after he thought about it he decided, "I'm still the same man that I always was.  The only difference is that I'm 6."  I'm so glad he's still the same man.  He is a great guy!

We had a fun birthday breakfast where Michael all of us pancakes.  He loves to flip pancakes and cooked us some perfect pancakes.  We even let the babies eat some of them.

It ended up being a pretty busy day.  We made special birthday treats with some chocolate molds we found at JoAnn's.  He was so excited about getting to be the leader in his class, wear the birthday crown, and get a birthday train from his class.  I am positive that this is a tradition from even before my day in Kindergarten, and the kids still love it.

Michael chose to go shooting for his birthday activity. We took the family and Jeffrey up to the shooting spot and shot at a few targets. We were all astounded at how well Adelyn and Michael were able to shoot on their own. They used BB guns and all hit the sheet of paper we were using as a target. Mike taught them, with the aid of YouTube. Mike won the overall award for the night, although I have to say that we had to have a shootoff because him and I tied the first round.

Although he wanted a surfing cake, he changed his mind the day before, or the day of, and said he wanted a sports cake. Since I hadn't bought anything for the surf cake, we let him switch (it is his birthday afterall) and created a trophy cake. I liked it, it was the fastest cake I have ever created, and he seemed to love it.

Check it off the bucket list!

I love to make birthday cakes and have always secretly wanted to try a wedding cake.  My brother mentioned that they weren't going to have a wedding cake.  I figured, this is my chance.  If I fail, they won't have a cake, just like they planned.  And if it works out, then bonus sugar for them.

Mmmmm.
Click here for recipe.
I found tons of people selling edible leaves on etsy.  Etsy is pretty fun to browse on a crafty day.

First Annual Hunting Trip

My tough man, Mike, decided he wanted to literally "bring home the bacon" this year and go hunting for some lean, healthy elk meat.  We're all way excited Tyler helped him shoot his first animal ever (unless you count the hummingbird he shot back in the day with his BB gun).

I have to add a small caption here: yes, this is a cow elk.  Yes, he shot a mama elk.  This wasn't by accident, I promise.  He got a special permit tag.  Everyone who sees the picture seems to need this explanation, and I believe half of them are still tempted to turn him in even after my explanation.

Here is Mike explaining to Michael the intricacies of life by showing him an elk heart, the size of a football.  Yes Michael, this is where our food comes from.  For the next year, we will be eating 300 lb (-ish?) of elk meat fortified by this very heart.

I hope it's okay to tell this little side story.  You can tell from the picture that Michael is totally squirmish.  He enjoyed the hunt, but totally didn't want to be around when Mike cleaned the elk out.  When Michael was telling Adelyn about how it went, I heard him telling her that he totally helped gut the whole thing.  I thought it was so cute that he wanted to appear so tough.

And at this very moment, this chukar bird is sitting in our refrigerater waiting to be cooked.  Mike is convinced he should be shooting any meat that our family eats.

Annual Fall Traditions

IRON COUNTY FAIR

Our Little Oreo Stacking Champ.  I think he came in second overall (even beating Michael and Adelyn.  Loved watching him!

Iron County Fair means Family for us.  Mark and Mandy spoiled us by coming and doing all the usual stuff, including the Rodeo, 5k race and the Parade.  We all went crazy with treats and enjoyed late nights (in this case, playing Atari).  Ruth and Tyler joined the festivities with some fair food, carnival rides and parade.  They even bought some yummy goat cheese.

I got to be in the parade this year on the city's float entitled, "Double the Tradition."

Joey was too scared to climb to the top.

BYU FOOTBALL

The kids all got their faces painted at the pre-game.

Yes, the kids were all sick, the game didn't start until 8:15 at night and we have 5 kids under the age of 7 who are all up past their bed time.

We made it to half time.  Pat on the back.  The kids have fond memories I do believe.

Bundling up for the coldest game thus far in the season.  I guess they had their fevers to warm them up.

FALL DRIVE TO YANKEE MEADOWS

The most beautiful weekend ever!

The traditional picture of "our" rainbow tree.

Yankee Reservoir

There were too many folks at the Yankee to get our traditional fall photo, so we stopped here for a group shot.  This was the first year exploring with the mini van.  It was an adventure I'm not sure if we'll decide to take next year :)

When Life is a Peachy Beach...

And here they are, in no particular order, pictures of 2 different lake trips (One in Sept, One in Oct)

Adelyn finally says she will go on the tube, and then chickens out after she's already sitting on it, so I held her down and the boat took off.  Over the course of the next 10 min., not only did she overcome her fear of tubing, but started doing tricks galore.  Standing, Rolling, and our very own invention (as a "tube trick" anyway) the Dead Bug.

Michael was also proud to be able to stand up.  This was one of the pictures he wanted to showcase when he was the leader of his class.

The babies got rocked to sleep by the boat.

Joey tried tubing and a little kneeboarding with Dad.  "Knee" board is just a nickname in this case, since he laid on his belly the whole time.

The kids enjoyed the lovely beaches of Sand Hollow and made a sand castle and a bathtub.

It took a long time for these little fellows to venture of their security mat, but here is Braden testing the water.  Reminds me a little of the great adventurer, Christopher Columbus.

Michael wins the All-Sport award for our first trip.  He tried kneeboarding, skiing, and tubing.  When he saw the skis on the second ski trip he said, "not that again!"  I guess we'll wait a few years or so on that one.

Joey, my middle man

Sometimes I agonize for this little guy.  This picture of Joey and the babes says it all.  When the older kids are home, they monopolize activities like the Wii because they have more grown up skills.  When the older kids are away and Joey is home, the babies ruin his games by pounding on the balance board.  He gets so sad sometimes.

The babies trying to go outside with him.  Nelson is getting his head out the door before Joey can shut it.

And then other times, I think he's pretty spoiled.  The Brother Babies often sleep while Michael is at Kindergarten, and for a few short hours, Joey and me get some great one-on-one time.  We talk and work on projects together.  He shares the joys of ninja guys with me, and I teach him about hard-boiling eggs.  We enjoy spontaneous trips to the library and fun getaways to the gym when Mike is home and able to monitor our sleeping boys.  Now that the kids are in school, I feel like I am catching up with Joey.  It has been a bit of a whirlwind around here, and I'm happy to see he didn't get swept away.  He's right here with me, and I love it!