Winter Stuff

We have been gone so much lately it feels like I am never home. We went out to Nevada for Thanksgiving and it was wonderful. We spent Thanksgiving with the Hulls.That is my mom's mother's family. It was fun to see people we hadn't seen in awhile. We had dinner at the high school in Alamo. It was weird to be back there. I think I have only been in that building one other time in the 10 years since I graduated. After dinner we made cards for missionaries and played games. Then we went to my Grandma Hatch's house for a visit. It was a fun day. On Saturday we went to the Wright reunion. Which is my mom's dad's family. I don't remember ever going to a Wright reunion before. Jeanne did a really good job of putting it on.



We have spent a few weekends helping my dad bring his cows in. We went out the day before Thanksgiving and we found two wild heifers. I had the tranquilizer gun ready but Dustin was able to rope one and tie him down and then chased the other until he could get her in the trailer. It was a fun day and Dalley had a good time riding the horse and gathering cows



The next weekend Dalley and I went out with my dad. Dalley and I drove a herd about 4 miles to the pond. He did really good. I was afraid he would get bored and want to quit but he is really starting to enjoy being out on the range. When we got to the ranch we unloaded the calves out of the top last and I had Dalley chase them up the alley. He thought he was pretty tough. We also split the wieners into groups. Dalley chased them around with my dad the whole time. He thought he was quite the little helper. He was really excited when I let him ride the horse bareback as I led him to the corral. I can't believe how big he is getting. He is going to be just like his daddy.

Dalley and Mommy

Dalley passed out while we were feeding

Handsome Husband

The first time it snowed Dalley and I made little snowmen, his hands were freezing by the time we were done.I bought him gloves so but it hasn't snowed again

My dad tying one of the wild heifers in the trailer

Dalley and Papa

I loved this picture,i think the mountains are so pretty out there.

Dustin was going to let Dalley pet one of the wild heifers but he would have no part of it

The first heifer Dustin roped

Dalley on Homer

I bought Dalley this hat with ear flaps, he looks like a little old man in it

Three cowboys checking the cows
Dalley feeding the horses

Dustin let Dalley lead Homer to the corral, he thought he was pretty big.

Daddy and Dalley asleep in the back of the truck on the way back to the ranch

Samoa

I have about 500 pictures from our month in Samoa, but as I was uploading I got really bored so I am just posting the cute Dalley ones for now and maybe at some point I will post some of the scenery type.

Our month in Samoa was quite an experience. I am very glad that I went but there were many times when all I wanted to do was come home. First of all, less than a week before I left I found out that I was pregnant. I was happy about this because we had wanted it but I was pretty bummed about the timing. I had morning sickness every day that we were in Samoa which made for some not fun times. On our field days we would hike in the 85 degree weather through the rainforest and I thought I was going to die. Not only was it hot but the humidity was always around 100%. I did get used to it after awhile. Well either I got used to it or I quit noticing how wet I was all of the time. The days that we would go surveying were amazing. The island we were on(Tutuilla) is very mountainous, so the areas that were flat is where the people lived. That left the steep areas for farming. The average slope was around 50%. It would take us about 3 hours to lay out contours on 1/2 an acre. At home that would take about 15 minutes. The landscape was so steep that we would have to move the level often.

Here are a few pictures from our adventure. They are in no particular order The first week we were there Stina, my sister-in-law/Dalley's babysitter, found a play group at the library. It gave her and the boys something to do a couple days a week.
Everywhere we went it was like we were with movie stars. They were not used to seeing white people, especially not little blond blue eyed boys. People would always want to get their picture taken with the boys.

A view of the harbor where we stayed

Stina became friends with a bishop of one of the wards and his wife. They were really good to us while we were there and treated us like family. This is Dalley with Bishop Matagi

Picking coconuts at Bishop Matagi's house

Our two cute boys

This is Bishop's wife Rita. She was a really sweet lady

Stina took the boys to a Halloween party at the library. They were dressed up as Samoan boys in their little lava lavas

They spent a lot of time watching a Dora DVD. It was a lifesaver.

This is the beach at our hotel. The boys loved playing in the sand

My handsome boy, everyone there said he looked like a little surfer dude with his blond hair and blue eyes.

A performer at a show we went to

Another dancer

The whole group

The boys getting their picture taken with Miss American Samoa

This is Eppi, she worked at the museum and became a good friend. The boys loved her

Dalley and Rita after stake conference

One of the weavers

Dalley sitting with the ladies that weave outside the museum

Cute boys in lava lavas

This picture was taken outside our hotel. We had a pretty spectacular view of the ocean.

Update From American Samoa

Around the end of July my work opened up an opportunity for an exchange detail to American Samoa. This meant someone from Utah would switch places with someone from the American Samoa office. For some reason I had a temporary lapse in judgement and signed up. I never thought they would select me to go. Well, I was wrong. I got the job. I called my sister-in-law and asked her if she would like to come with me so I wouldn't have to leave Dalley behind. Shawn and Stina gave it some thought and decided that she and their almost two year old would come with me. That was the greatest blessing. The thought of leaving Dalley for a month made me sick.

So 2 months after I found out, Dalley and I left on our Samoan adventure. We took a very long six hour flight from Vegas to Honolulu. We got there around noon and checked into a beautiful hotel on Waikiki. The next day we met Stina at the airport in Hawaii and took an almost 7 hours flight to Pago Pago American Samoa. Flying with two year olds is a very challenging task, but Dalley and my nephew Ira both did great.

When we got here we were both a little underwhelmed. It may be an American Territory, but it is basically a third world country. We were told not to drink the water, not to swim on the beach out back of our hotel, and about all the creepy crawlies that we could be sharing a room with. Needless to say I slept the first night with one eye open.

Now we have been here for three weeks and we leave in another week. The time has flown by and it has been quite an experience (I will go into more detail when I can upload pictures).
The thing that has made this trip the best is the people. The people here are so amazing. They are so giving. I have visited plantations where they live in shacks and have very little money, but nothing makes them happier than to have something to give. We have felt very comfortable since we arrived because the people are so wonderful.

Other Stuff

So I realize this is a post and picture overload. After all of these posts I have done today I don't think I will be posting again for awhile. Anyhow here is some of the other things that we have been up to. Dalley and I have spent a lot of time helping Dustin shoe horse and chase cows. It is fun doing these things together as a family. Dalley loves these kinds of things and is going to be exactly like his dad when he grows up. This is Dustin's newest toy. It is a riding lawn mower that doesn't mow. He loves fixing things, so this is the fifth broke down lawn mower he has brought home this summer. He was able to get it running but he needs a few more parts to get it actually mowing.

Dustin and Dalley making the bed in the trailer one of the nights we spent on the mountain

Playing cards before bed. We went camping a lot this summer and I can't wait for some fall camping. I like camping even better when it is chilly.

Dustin is into bear hunting lately, he has been getting up early on some Saturdays to go chase bears. This is one of the bears he chased with his dogs

Another picture of the bear

Riding Half-Pint

View out my front window

My little cheeser

Riding down the road

I took this picture the other night right after it rained. It is my new favorite picture. I love the contrast of the colors and image of the horse and the dogs. I love these boys

New Dogs

My husband is absolutely obsessed with dogs. As much as I fight it, he has to have a minimum of four dogs and sometimes a lot more. He is pretty good at training them. He has some that he has trained as cow dogs, some that are cougar dogs, and our newest dog is going to be a bear hunting dog. These are our two newest dogs. We got Clyde who is a six month old short haired border collie. The new bear dog is Lucy, she is a pure bred American Red Pit bull. Clyde is Dalley's puppy. Last night him and Dustin spent an hour in the yard trying to teach him to come to his name. Dalley and Clyde

Dalley trying to teach Clyde to come to his name

Lucy, I think she is a really pretty dog

Another picture of Lucy, she is a year old and already pretty huge

Dustin has been teaching Dalley to train dogs. He tied a rope to Clyde's collar and was having Dalley teach him to come. I took a video of it. It was pretty cute.