The Westwood Trail

8 Months? When did that Happen?

2012-02-11T09:57:00.004-08:00

Our sweet Whitlee is 8 months old. I am not sure where the time went. We sure love her and think she is wonderful.
8 month stats:

I'm not sure how much she weighs but at her last appointment she was 14 something, so she probably weighs around 15 lbs.

She isn't crawling yet but she gets to where she wants to go by other methods. She is very mobile.

She loves Dalley and he loves her. I love it when i come into the front room and he is playing with her. He haws never had jealousy issues with her and has always been really good with her. I think it is because when I was pregnant with her he was convinced he was pregnant too and when I had her he thought she was the baby from his belly.

She doesn't say words but she can sure talk. If she is mad she will let you know. I have been cussed out a few times when she was mad but I'm not sure why.

She is a very friendly baby. She will go to anyone and she will smile at anyone who talks to her. Because of this A LOT of random people come up and talk to her. I am not the kind of person who talks to other people's babies so it surprises me when random people want to play with her. It is usually in the check out line at Wal-Mart someone will look at her and she will smile at them so then they start playing with her. I guess some people really love babies!

She is still (knock on wood) an excellent sleeper. She does not like staying up past her bedtime and she only likes sleeping in her bed. This makes church a little tricky because if she is being held she won't sleep as long as she needs to. But she is such a patient baby she will usually nap for about 15 minutes during sacrament meeting then she is good until we can get home and put her down for a nap. She likes to go to bed at 7:00 and she will sleep until about 6:00, which is perfect for me cause I like to leave for work at 6:30.

She LOVES her daddy. It is so funny to watch her when he comes into the room. If he doesn't pay attention to her then she will pout until he does. If he does pay attention she lights up and gets really excited. It is super cute.

She just spent her first week away from mom and dad and she did wonderfully. Dalley and she went to my mom's house while I worked in Provo for a week. It was really hard to leave her but she was so good for my mom and dad. She loves nana and papa and they love her.

Good Buddies
Daddy loves rocking Whitlee before bed

We were able to easily break her from the Binky. At about 7 months we quit giving it to her and she never missed it. She is so laid back I figured she just took it because we wanted her to not because she was ever attached to it.

LOVE this face

LOVE this smile

She loves her cousins

My two favorite kids in the world!

Christmas

2012-01-07T15:04:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. It was great to get to spend 11 days with my family out in Nevada. Dustin wasn't able to take that much time off so we missed him, but he came for all the main events. I was able to surprise him with a gun that he wanted and it wasn't easy. It took three attempts to get it bought. I must look like the criminal type. Dustin surprised me with a diamond necklace and he got me a Nook Tablet. Dalley had a great time with his new Lightening McQueen bike and of course animals with a truck and trailer. I love the Christmas season and I am always sad when it is over.

*I was too lazy to put these pictures in any type of order.

Dalley with Aunt Haley and Jax outside the temple. We were really happy that she came down to watch the kids until it was their turn to come in.
Dalley uses the Nook more than me. I bought a bunch of books that it will read to him and he loves reading them.

My family with Celeste. I was happy she was able to join us at the temple

The whole family, there is getting to be a lot of us

The kidlets on Christmas Eve, they are all ready to go to Great-Grandma's house for chicken and homemade noodles

Dalley playing up in the corrals. His favorite place to hang out on the ranch. I love this face!

Getting ready to sort some calves

Miss Whitlee in her cute hat

Shawn's family at the temple, Arvella is in a pack on Stina's back.

My cute little Whitlee Jane

Dalley and I tried to do as many Christmas crafts as we could fit in. One night we decorated gingerbread men. He had a blast and he got plenty dirty.

The three most important people in my world.

One of the days our craft was painting each other. Daddy got in on the action but he wouldn't let me post a picture of it.

Dalley and his new ride

Dalley with his cousin, Hunter

Dalley and Ira, best buddies

Cute kids on Christmas Eve

Shawn and I colored masks, I'm the one on the right

The snowman Dalley made with Ira and Aunt Stina

They also made marshmallow snowmen

Two little pirate cousins

Sitting on Santa's lap

An Awesome End to an Awesome Year

2012-01-01T21:54:00.000-08:00

This year was a pretty amazing year, filled with a lot more ups than downs. Last fall, when we found out I was pregnant with Whitlee, Dustin decided that he was ready to make the necessary changes in his life so that we could become an eternal family. It was something that I knew I could not force so I have been patiently waiting and I was over joyed when he made up his mind to do it.

In April he became and Elder. He became an Elder the same day that his father passed away. It was very special for him to be able to dedicate his father's grave. Kind of a daunting task for someone so new to it, but he did an amazing job. A couple of weeks later he baptized and confirmed his nephew. He is the only male in his immediate family that could do it and it was special that he could do that for his nephew. It was a very special day for his family.

In August he was able to bless our sweet little Whitlee. He did an amazing job. It has been so fun going on this journey with him and realizing the blessings that we are receiving. The greatest blessing came on December 30 when our family was able to be sealed in the St. George Temple. It was one of the most beautiful experiences I have ever been through. I am so grateful to my heavenly father for helping us get there. I am so thankful for the wonderful man I married. We have had some trying times when I wondered if he would ever realize the importance of these things and our family is so very blessed that he finally did.

It was beautiful to be in the temple with every one of my brothers and my parents. It reminded me of how blessed I am to have been raised in my amazing family. I really do have amazing parents and I am so grateful for them and the way I was raised. My parents are unconditionally supportive and are always there for me. I feel so spoiled and humbled to have people in my life who care about me so much.

A lot of other great things happened this year, including the birth of my angel Whitlee. She really is my saving grace. She is a wonderful baby. She is so good natured and just easy.She is exactly what I needed after all of the stress with Dalley and his medical issues. I wouldn't change a single thing about my Dalley bugs but it is kind of nice to have a healthy baby to balance out the stress. Whitlee helped me gain confidence in my ability to be a mother. Even though I knew there was nothing I did to make Dalley sick, it is hard not to blame myself for his rough time and I constantly worry about how his issues will affect him in the future. Whitlee brings a sense of calm to me. I am so sad with every milestone she passes and I am already missing her being younger. I also look forward to the joy she will bring to our family in the future.

My Dalley Bugs turned three this year and started pre-school. He grew up a ton after the first week. I am always amazed with the things he comes up with and I get excited every day when I pick him up to hear about what he did at school. He is my little terrorizer and my little lovey. He can destroy my house in five minutes but he is so sweet most of the time I don't mind. He has an amazing imagination and I love to spy on him when he doesn't know I am watching him. He talks and pretends and has a grand old time. He is good to his mommy and is an excellent helper with Whitlee. He loves his daddy and I love the relationship that they have. He is a blessed little boy to have a dad like Dustin. Dalley, Whitlee, and I are Dustin's whole world and he is great father to our kids.

I guess most of all I end this year overcome with gratitude. It is definitely a year worth remembering and it will be a hard one to top. I look forward to 2012 and I look forward to the blessings and challenges it will bring.

Wanna See a Cute Baby?

2011-11-09T14:07:00.000-08:00

Miss Whitlee is now 5 months old. I feel like time is flying by. She is a wonderful baby and a joy to have in our family. I am also a partial momma who thinks she is pretty dang cute!!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-06T17:54:00.001-08:00

Getting ready to carve pumpkins

My Scooby and cute little horse

Dusitn handed out the candy at trunk or treat

Dalley's friend, Batman

Dalley's friend, Sage

My super excited Scooby Doo at the trunk or treat. He was so excited he was literally bouncing.

Dalley and Gracelyn

Miss Terecea is a fun teacher

Some of Dalley's cute classmates

Playing musical chairs

Donut game at his class party

Proud of his hard work

Hard at work decorating Halloween cupcakes

Dalley with our finished pumpkins

This Halloween was pretty awesome. Last year we were in Samoa for Halloween, so this is the first Halloween where Dalley knew what was going on when we went trick or treating. He kept calling it Trick or hunting which I thought was hilarious. We started out by carving pumpkins and making Halloween cupcakes for Family Home evening a few days before Halloween. Dalley has such a strong gag reflex he couldn't be around the pumpkins until all the guts were disposed of. The smell of pumpkin guts makes him puke. I carved mine and Dustin carved his and Dalley's. It was my job to remove ALL of the pumpkin guts though. Whitlee sat in the bumbo and gave us moral support. After the pumpkins we decorated the Halloween cupcakes I had made. I took a plate to a lady I visit teach and Dustin took the rest to the guys he works with.

I was assigned as a helper on Dalley's preschool Halloween party. It was a lot of fun. I was instructed to make witches out of a pickle an olive and a piece of cheese. I had no idea how to do that so I just got mini cookie cutters and cut the cheese into Halloween shapes and put them on a toothpick with a pickle and an olive. The other moms went to a lot of work to make really cute treats for the kids. We played fun games and Dalley had a good time. He has such a great teacher and it she is also Dustin's aunt.

On Halloween night they had a trunk or treat. We went because it gave us an opportunity to hand out our candy, but after it was over we went door to door. Dustin loves trick or treating because it gives him an opportunity to b.s. with everyone. We averaged about ten minutes at each house. It was a really enjoyable night and we got to visit with a lot of people that we don't get the opportunity to see very often.

Dalley J

2011-10-21T08:15:00.000-07:00

Dalley Stats at 3 1/2

Dalley loves going to school and really enjoyed having dad come eat with him for National school lunch week. He really loves his teachers and all of his friends at school. He is a bit of a ladies man, got that from his daddy.

Dalley loves everything that daddy loves. He has gotten to chop hay with Dustin a lot this summer and he thinks he is big stuff. He loves riding horses and has very little fear when it comes to riding. He has spent a lot of time at the feedlot this summer and he enjoys going to work with daddy and hanging out with Kade and Josh

Dalley loves farm toys. I got him a wooden fence for being good at the dentist and he took that thing everywhere with him for a week. He even slept with it.

He has an awesome imagination. I love to sneak up on him while he is playing and listen to him talk to his toys. I am not sure if any of them talk back to him. he other day he was hauling cows in the living room and I called for him, I heard him say," hold on a minute, I have to go see what my mom wants" I cracked up.

He calls everyone son. I am not sure where he got it but it makes me laugh. We were heading over the mountain the other day and a cattle truck was having a struggle getting up the steep summit. Dalley looked out the window and said, "Get that bull wagon moving son" . We were on our way home from Salt Lake and we stopped in Levan to go to the bathroom and get Dustin a soda, a lady walked up to Dalley and told him he was cute. He turned to her and said, "Thanks son". The lady laughed and asked him him how old he was. He answered, " I'm five son, how old are you?"

He also calls people boy a lot. If i say something and he doesn't hear me he will say, "What did you say boy?" I laugh every time so that is probably why he does it

He is an awesome big brother. He loves his sister and he is very protective of her.

1/3 of a year

2011-10-21T07:30:00.000-07:00

Whitlee Jane is now four months old, and just as much a joy as ever. She gets cuter and sweeter every day.

4 month stats:

Whitlee weighs in at 12lbs 6 oz. She is not gaining very quickly but that is ok since she got a head start.

Whitlee is still an awesome sleeper. It is so nice to just get her ready for bed and then lay her in her crib and let her put herself to sleep.

She can take her Binky out of her mouth and put it back in, she is also starting to hold her bottle a bit

She is getting more interactive. She likes to explore the face of whoever is holding her, especially dad's facial hair.

She has rolled front to back and is really close to rolling back to front. She spends most of her floor time up on her side, she just needs the extra oomph to get her all the way over.

She loves her brother. It doesn't matter what Dalley says to her, it makes her laugh. It is harder for anyone else to get her to laugh.

She has been sleeping all night the last four nights, I do not have high hopes of it lasting though

We have started her on rice cereal and she is a pretty big fan. She still doesn't eat much, maybe 1/4 tablespoon, but she enjoys what little she eats.

She is an angel in church. Dustin has 4 mountain grazing permits to gather with very little help, so he has had to miss church a few times lately. She is always an angel in church when I am doing my calling. It also helps that I have a lot of people willing to hold her when I need help.

She has big beautiful eyes and she is quick to smile with them. I love how they light up when I go in to get her up in the morning or get her up from a nap

Zoo/Circus

2011-10-17T06:14:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, the kids and I went to Salt Lake with Dustin's mom, his two sisters, and their kids. We had a lot of fun. We headed up Friday at noon at took our time getting there. We stopped whenever we needed to and just had a relaxed trip. We stayed at the Crystal Inn on 5th south. As soon as we got there the kids all wanted to swim, so Haley and Jill took them swimming and I got Whitlee to bed.

Saturday morning we got up and headed to the zoo. Dalley loved the zoo. He especially like the monkeys and the elephants. My favorite is the giraffes. I am always amazed at them. Whitlee was an angel as usual. She hung out in her stroller the whole time and never even made a peep. We rode the carousel and the train. Dalley really like the carousel and surprised me by picking to ride the polar bear. We left the zoo around 2:00. Dalley said he was disappointed because he didn't get to see any wolves or dang coyotes.

Dalley and Whitlee and I went back to the room for a nap while everyone else went shopping. Then we all got ready and headed for the Circus. Dalley LOVED it. He would get so excited. He couldn't sit still he was so excited. He jumped up and down and squealed. He was more entertaining than the circus. He got tired a little bit after intermission and he and I headed back to the room early.

The next morning we got up and took our time heading home. We had to stop at Cabela's so Dalley could see wolves and dang coyotes. We were going to stop in Gunnison so the kids could get their pictures with Mater, but by the time we got there they were all asleep. It was a pretty fun trip and I enjoyed spending time with my kids and Dustin's family.

Dalley and Whitlee napping after a long day at the zoo

Hanging out in the hotel

Ready to go swimming
New Halloween jammies that Haley bought her

Eating at the zoo

Buddies

Belle pushing Dyan at the zoo

How do you measure up, Daisy?

Belle and Jax

Dalley Bug

Jax attacking the gorilla statue

Two cute kids

Beautiful Daisy

Dalley on his polar bear

Jill and her girls at the circus

Dalley was afraid of the clowns so he didn't want to get close enough to them to take a picture. I don't blame him. Up close clowns are kind of scary

At the circus

He isn't opposed to standing close to cute girls

Dalley and Haley with the strong man

Cutest Blanket Ever

2011-10-06T07:54:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to post pictures of the cutest blanket ever. My friend Celeste made this for Whitlee and I was really impressed with the amount of detail and time that she put into this blanket. The babies each have pearl earrings and bows in their hair. I think that the pacifiers are super cute too. She also quilted stars on the fleece blocks with yarn. The edge is tied fleece with yarn intertwined. I didn't take a picture of the back, but it is a solid panel of the greenish western fleece. I am almost afraid to use it. I think I am going to hang it on the wall in her room so it doesn't get ruined with baby bodily fluids.

Quilted star
Cute little baby appliqued and embroidered on

The little boots are made out of a material that feels like it is vinyl

Cutest blanket ever

Zoo/Circus Weekend

2011-10-04T19:35:00.000-07:00

Dalley and Whitlee napping after a long day at the zoo

Hanging out in the hotel

Ready to go swimming

New Halloween jammies that Haley bought her

Eating at the zoo

These two were best buddies on this trip, they did everything together

Buddies

Belle pushing Dyan at the zoo

How do you measure up, Daisy?

Belle and Jax

Dalley Bug

Jax attacking the gorilla statue

Two cute kids

Beautiful girl

Dalley on his polar bear

Jill and her girls at the circus

Dalley was afraid of the clowns so he didn't want to get close enough to them to take a picture. I don't blame him. Up close clowns are kind of scary

At the circus

He isn't opposed to standing close to cute girls

Dalley and Haley with the strong man

First Day of Preschool

2011-09-17T10:35:00.000-07:00

Dalley started preschool this year and he was ready. He saw his friend Trevor go last year and couldn't wait for his turn. I was afraid he would be scared to get on the bus but he jumped right on like it was no big deal. The bus driver told me he is a good kid and minds really well. That is good to hear, but I wasn't surprised because he is always good for other people. I can't believe how much he has matured in the two weeks he has been going. He is getting so big! We love our little munchkin butt! Getting on the bus with Miss Linda
My Handsome boy all ready for school

Proudly sporting his new backpack

He wanted me to take a picture of the backpack

Had to throw in a cute picture of Miss Whitlee

3 Months and one week

2011-09-14T07:38:00.000-07:00

So my baby is three months old already. It seems like it has been a long and a short three months. It flew by, but I can't believe she has only been a part of our family for three months.
3 Month Stats-

Whitlee Weighs in at 12 lbs

She is still a wonderful sleeper. She goes to bed around 8:00 and will sleep until 4:00. (I am pretty sure I could wean her off of night time feedings all the way, but I feel like I need to keep this feeding since I am working and nursing less often. )

She can smile and does it easily. She smiles at any one who talks to her. Even when she is crying if I pick her up and talk to her she can't help but smile at me.

She can laugh but that is harder to come by. She has a ticklish spot by her neck and if you work at it she will laugh when you tickle her.

She is working on her hand-eye-coordination. She is good at batting at things on her baby gym and she can successfully grab them about half the time. She loves to socialize with the little baby she sees in the mirror on her gym.

She is a very good traveler. If we are in the car for any period of time she is asleep. She especially likes Dad's truck because his straight pipe vibrates her.

She is a wonderful blessing for our family and, as Dalley would say, We love her more than popsicles!

Summer Happenings

2011-08-17T14:50:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more pictures of what we have been up to this summer.They had a birthday party for Dustin's Grandma Cooper. His Uncle Jimmy set up a redneck water slide on his back deck. Dustin can't resist a water slide so of course he went down in his clothes. Everyone got pictures but me, because right as Dustin was going down the slide Dalley fell out of the swing landed on his face and broke his front tooth.
Dalley on the mini tramp at the party

Dalley with his buddy, Michael

Here's a better view of the slide. It was a little bit dangerous

This is one of my favorite pictures of my smiley baby

Dalley loves the cartoon Spirit, but he has to ride his own horse while he watches it

Whitlee in her cute sun hat

Three cute boys at grandma's house

Whitlee's half smile

Whitlee's cute Rodeo outfit, she is wearing Dalley's old belt

New Hair Bow

Two cute kids, Whitlee's hat is still a little big for her

Ready for the rodeo

One week for FHE I convinced Dustin to go swimming at the reservoir. Dalley loved it and we had a really good time.

Skipping rocks, gotta love Dustin's white legs

Dalley chasing the seagulls

Dalley in the rabbit brush on at Bear Valley

Cute boy napping at grandma's. Whenever we are at the ranch he spends all of his time outside working with grandpa and he is tired by the end of the day.

These are Dalley's babies

He is taking his babies for a horse ride

We went to another reunion for Dustin's Westwood family. Here is aunt Jill holding Whitlee

This reunion had a redneck water slide too, but this one was a little more safe.

Dalley and Jax

Once again, Dustin can't resist the water slide. He went down this one with all his clothes, his hat, and his boots

Dalley getting ready to go down the slide

We tried on Dalley's Halloween costume from when he was 18months, it still fit him except it was too short for him. He has decided that I have to find him another horse costume or he wants to be Scooby Doo.

These are Dalley's pet rabbits. We call them our lawn rabbits cause they just live on our lawn. They are really low maintenance pets

Whitlee's Blessing Day

2011-08-17T14:27:00.000-07:00

Whitlee's blessing day was a very special day for our family. Last year, when we found out I was pregnant, Dustin set a goal to be able to bless our baby. He worked really hard and made some wonderful changes in his life and he was able to accomplish that goal. I am so proud of him. He is an awesome husband and a wonderful father.

We had a lot of family and friend's come to support us and we are thankful to everyone who traveled to be here. It really made the day awesome having so many people we love around us. Whitlee powered out in the bumbo while I was baking treats for all of the people coming to stay with us
Whitlee and Aunt Haley

Dustin and his Uncle Than

Dustin's Aunts, Marsha and Mary Anne

Uncle Roger

My BFF Anne

My handsome daddy

Kayce and L.E.

Luke's family

Rowdy with two of his kids

Whitlee and Grandma Dyann

Whitlee with my sweet grandma

My grandpa

Whitlee all dressed up for her big day. My Great Grandma Wright made this blessing dress. It is the same dress and blanket that I was blessed in.

Fun Weekend with Grandma

2011-08-05T22:11:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago my mom had to go to Hooper to a viewing and graveside for her Uncle. She called and asked if the kids and I would like to go with her. I had been wanting to take Dalley somewhere fun so I agreed to go. We headed up on Friday morning and got to Hooper in time for the viewing. After the viewing we headed to Roy to go visit Rowdy. We hadn't seen his family since March so it was fun to visit. Dalley had a good time with the girls. They played in the backyard the whole time we visited. We left Rowdy's house and went to Lehi to spend the night. We got up Saturday morning and went to the Kid's Discovery Garden at Thanksgiving Point. Dalley loved the wading area by the ark. We sat and let him play in it until there were too many kids, then we explored the garden. It was really pretty with flowers everywhere and lots of animals for Dalley to find. After we left the garden we headed to the Harvest Restaurant and had lunch then we went to the Dinosaur museum. Dalley is a big fan of dinosaurs. He calls them dinahorses. He ran from exhibit to exhibit and he was super excited. We also took him to the Physics room and he had a good time playing with all of the displays. After we were through we headed home. It was fun spending a couple of days with my mom. She is an awesome grandma and the kids love her!!On Sunday my mom headed home after church then Dustin and I headed for a drive up the mountain and we saw quite a few deer and elk. We ran into Dustin's cousins who we went camping with a lot last summer and spent a little time at their camp visiting. It was a great weekend with great memories made

Digging for bones

It was hard to get this picture because Dalley was too excited to hold still

In the "Notion of Motion" room

In the garden

He refused to look at me

Playing in the museum

Waiting in the car for grandma.The fun ark at the garden

Grandma and Dalley

My beautiful niece, Alyssa

Britnee, Tifnee and Dalley

Hugging Aunt Shauna

Dalley loves playing with Uncle Rowdy

Elk on the Beaver

Her first ride on the mountain

What a cool dude, daddy was letting him drive

Me and my munchkin looking slightly drugged

Fair Week

2011-08-01T22:12:00.000-07:00

I love fair week every year and I loved it even more this year because I was able to go to more stuff since I wasn't working. It started out with Water Day on Monday. Water Day is a really good idea. They set up a bunch of pools and water slides at the park and let the kids come and play. Dalley loves water so he was super excited to go. Whitlee was not too impressed, she slept the whole time.

Tuesday was the hoedown which I had to miss to go to the neurologist. I have nerve damage in my back from having Whitlee. I have no feeling in my upper butt area, I guess that is what you call it. The Dr. told me that it will get better but it would probably take awhile.

Thursday was the little buckaroo rodeo. It is the cutest thing ever. I love watching all of the little cowboys act like they are big stuff. It is so funny how they strut around with their numbers on their backs. My little cowboy was no exception. He had a great time.

Friday was the first night of the rodeo. This year Dustin decided not to ride a bucking horse, which made the rodeo more enjoyable for me. I didn't have to worry him getting hurt. It was also fun having him to sit by the whole time. Dustin's sister Haley and her son Jax came with us and they stayed at our house that night.

Saturday was a fun and full day. We got up and went to breakfast at Butch Cassidy's and then headed to the parade. Dalley of course got a ton of candy. He was so excited to get each piece. He was cracking us all up. His excitement only made the people throw him more so he ended up with a bunch. After the parade we headed to the midway. My favorite part of the midway as always was the purse booth. I got a couple of cute purses, I have a slight obsession. Dustin's buddy talked him into to getting feather extensions in his beard. It was a little funny. It was especially funny the next day in church. (I was worried about him having them when he blessed the baby a couple weeks later, but luckily they fell out before the blessing) Whitlee was an angel baby. It was hot and humid at the park but she didn't complain at all. She is a very easy going baby.

We stayed at the midway until 3:00, then we headed home for showers and naps. The last night of the rodeo was that night. Dustin did the wild cow milking which was pretty funny to watch. We usually go to the dance after the rodeo but neither one of us wanted to leave Whitlee so we just headed home after the rodeo. It was an awesome week. I love the fair and all of the activities. Piute County is really starting to grow on me.

This is Dalley's buddy Trevor

Seldon, Dalley and Trevor at water day

Jax and Dalley at the little Buckaroo. Jax spent the whole day with us and he helped me clean out the basement. He is a pretty good kid.

Dustin and Whitlee at the little buckaroo

Dalley and his sheep. Dustin didn't dare let him go by himself and he couldn't keep up with the sheep so he just pulled Dalley off. Dalley ran over to the guy running the chute and told him he needed to ride another one cause he didn't last long enough.

Dalley roping, I love the pure joy on his face. I also love the picture of Dustin coaching him on what to do.

He only caught one horn, but he had fun doing it

Dalley and his Buddy Trey, two cute little cowboys

Cutest Wrangler butt ever, Dustin insisted that she have Wranglers to wear to the rodeos

Dustin in his fancy shirt he borrowed from Josh to do the wild cow milking

Getting his feather extensions put in

The finished product, he looks like he should be riding a Harley

At the parade

Hunter and Jaden on the Pearson's float, they won first prize

Jaden and Clayton

Dalley and Jax sitting on top of the dog box, waiting for the parade to start

Dustin and Josh eating the Popsicles they stole from the kids

Dalley and Jax at the rodeo

Deans kids were in town for the fair so on Sunday night, before they went home, we had them over to make s'mores. I bought the huge campfire marshmallows and I found out they are just way too big for little kids. Dalley had fun roasting the marshmallows and playing with his cousins that he doesn't get to see very often.

Hagen eating a s'more

Dalley, Paige and Hagen. Dalley is filling a bucket to go water his dogs

My s'more with the marshmallow oozing out

All the kids roasting their marshmallows

My Amazing Family

2011-07-11T12:20:00.000-07:00

I am blessed with an amazing family. I can not thank them enough for everything they have done for us over the past five weeks. Whitlee's delivery was not the easiest and after I was home a few days I ended up back in the hospital, then I ended up going to get a blood patch that did not go well. It was a really hard time for me but my family and Dustin's family have been a great help to us. My mom was there from the beginning and stayed with me until I was well enough to take care of the kids. She does so much for us and I am very thankful to her. Dustin's mom came and sat with me for two days. She took care of Dalley while I took a nap each day and it was nice to be able to get some rest. Luke's wife Kayce has been there for me and has offered a lot of help and so has Dustin's sister Haley. After my complications Shawn's wife Stina decided she needed to come and help me. She flew down at the end of June and stayed for a week. She was a lot of help. We got a lot of projects completed that I had been needing to do for awhile. It was so nice to have her and my cute neice and nephew here. I am so thankful for everyone who helped us out. We are truly blessed to have such an amazing family.

The first weekend in July we had a family weekend and it was awesome. My parents came Friday night. On Saturday they took Ira and Dalley and Stina and I took the girls and we all went to Escalante for Kate's baptism. It was a nice day. We headed back in the afternoon but my parents and the boys stayed and went fishing. Dalley had a great time fishing with his grandpa and cousins.

On Sunday we went to church and then hung out and visited. It was a nice lazy day. On Monday we went to the parade and then Stina and the kids had to leave. It was really sad to see them go. After the parade we went home for a nap and then headed to the school for the game booths. Luke's family arrived just in time to go to the festivities.There were a lot of cute games for the kids. It was my first time in my life not being in Alamo on the fourth. It was pretty good but nothing beats your hometown celebration. After the booths we headed to The Robbers Roost for lunch then we went back to my house and hung out and played some phase ten. Then we let off our own fireworks and visted outside until the town fireworks started. They were really late getting started so Luke's family had to leave before they really got going. It was a really fun weekend and it was really hard the next day in my empty house after everyone had left.

Dalley and Dustin got in a water fight one evening, it was pretty cute
Dustin taunting Dalley

Ira and Arvella, I miss these kids already!

Cute little family minus Shawn

Dalley standing on the dog box in Dustin's truck waiting for the parade to start

Ira got a Cowboy hat when we went shopping and he loved it. We gave him some hnad me down Wranglers and boots to complete the outfit

These boys are best friends

Luke's kids doing sparklers

My crazy husband almost burnt his foot lighting fireworks without any shoes on

Kayce and Luke

Cute Kate

My Munchkin

I just love this view, last year it was corn this year it is triticale

Dalley's puppy chasing Kate

Dalley Loves his puppy

Robin Hood Lukie

Whitlee on her one month birthday. The little smarty rolled over on her one month birthday.

Dalley likes to put the binki in

Whitlee all dressed up for church wearing the cute booties and headband Dustin's friend made her

Meet Whitlee Jane

2011-06-18T08:44:00.000-07:00

I love the look on her face, she looks a little bit suspicious
A very proud big brother. He tells me she is his baby, but he will share her with me.

Proud daddy, nothing is more attractive than seeing my gruff husband holding our little baby

At the hospital only a couple hours old

Looking back the last two months flew by, but when I was living them they didn't go by that quickly. I was consumed the whole time with wanting to have my baby. Dalley was born a little early so i thought for sure Whitlee would be too. Not only was she not early but we went passed my due date. I never would have thought I would go passed my due date so the last few weeks drove me nuts. But finally I agreed to be started and on June 7 at 2:27 a.m., our sweet Whitlee Jane Westwood was born. She weighed in at 9lbs15 ounces and was 20" long. I about died when the doctor told me how big she was. When I was pregnant with Dalley they were worried about his size the whole time, but with this pregnancy they never once worried about her size and she was about two pounds heavier than Dalley.

So far she is a sweet wonderful baby and I am feeling very spoiled. Dalley was a little more high maintenance. He was on oxygen for his first month home so I was a nervous wreck with him the whole time. Whitlee seems to be so easy in comparison. Our first night home she slept six hours straight and the next night she slept five. I have found that she will sleep forever if she is being held so it is tempting at times just to hold her and get more sleep. I am trying not to create a bigger problem though so I try to not hold her when she sleeps. She is such a cuddly little thing it is hard to put her down. The only thing that isn't easy with her is eating. From the start she has not liked to eat and it is a fight every time. A couple of days after we got home I hemorrhaged and ended up back in the hospital for two days. During that she was exclusively on the bottle and it has been a fight getting her back to nursing. I know it just takes time, but those middle of the night feedings would be less frustrating if she would latch easier.

I am really excited that she looks a bit like me. Dalley looks so little like me I have actually been asked if I adopted him. I was praying that she would at least look like me a little. She has dark hair and darker skin but her features definitely resemble Dustin. I guess the Westwood genes are really strong. So far she is the only Westwood grand kid with dark hair and I hope it stays dark.

She already has a sweet little temperament and is quite patient with her big brother. He would hold her all day if we let him. We are all in love with her already and are so thankful she is finally here.

Two Easter Weekends

2011-04-30T17:26:00.000-07:00

Dalley and I were able to celebrate Easter two weekends in a row. The actual Easter Weekend was right after Grandpa Dahl's funeral. Dustin was on the desert chasing cows so it was just Dalley and I. We went to Cedar on Saturday and had lunch with my parents. When we got home I hadn't prepared to color eggs but I decided I wanted to do something with Dalley even though it was just the two of us. So we colored eggs with food coloring. Sunday morning we went to church after I gave Dalley his basket. After church we went to Dustin's mom's house and played cards for awhile. It was a nice day but we missed having Dustin there.

Dustin finally came home the next Friday. On Saturday Haley had a little Easter party at her house in Panguitch. It was a lot of fun. We had a bar b que and the kids colored eggs and got Easter gifts. Dustin surprised me by playing Rock Band on the Wii. He usually hates any kind of video game, so I am not sure how they convinced him to play. It was fun watching him though. They gave Dalley a little guitar and he really got into it. He was a pretty cute little guitarist.

All of the kids got hula hoops for Easter. Dalley even got a cute miniature one. Everyone had to show off their hula hooping skills. I was again surprised by Dustin's hula hooping skills. He was really good at it, but Jax was the best. He could go forever and one time he even had three going at once. All in all it was a pretty fun day.

Now Dustin is back on the desert and I will be glad when all of those darn cows are home. I am not a big fan of him being gone this close to my due date! Especially since there is no way to contact him when he is there unless he drives into Hanksville for some reason.

Here are a few pictures of our two Easter weekends.

Belle and Jax coloring eggs

Belle and Grandma Cooper

Dalley coloring Eggs

Dalley with his Easter Basket in his new church clothes

Dalley and the eggs we colored

Dalley's Eggs

A whole bunch of pictures

2011-04-11T17:55:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we had a lot to celebrate. My baby brother Ryan got home from his mission so my whole family, except Rowdy's part, got together for a reunion. Shawn and Stina were able to come from Washington and I finally got to meet their precious baby, Arvella. She is so tiny and so very sweet. I had forgotten how small babies were. It made me wonder if I was ready to have a baby again. I guess now that I am 8months pregnant there really isn't any going back. We spent the first day of the reunion hanging out around the ranch and having fun together. The next day we spent doing family history stuff and going on a historical tour of Hiko. My brother Luke is quite the historian. It amazes me the stuff that he knows about our family history and about the history of Hiko. He has really done his homework and it was a lot of fun learning from him. He even put together a trivia game made up of our family history. The third day was my day to plan. I had planned to go to the cabin but of course the weather didn't cooperate. We ended up doing my activities on the ranch and they were still fun. I had a scavenger hunt which turned out to be pretty fun. Then we had skeet shooting. We went through two boxes of skeet and a whole bunch of shells. It was really fun. I got three cameras worth of pictures so here are a few to show how the weekend went.

Ira and Dalley painting Dalley and Dustin

My mom and Dad with Ryan when they picked him up from the airport

We are turning Stina into quite the country girl, she is a really good shot

Kate with Arvella, Kate was the best little babysitter. She just loved holding Arvella

The boys feeding

We put some of Dalley's wranglers on Ira and he was the cutest little thing in them. He has quite the little strut

Lukie with the grand prize from the scavenger hunt, he was proud to be the winner

Kids waiting for Uncle Buck to show up at the airport

Stina and Arvella

Hey girls, he's single

Dalley on Homer Horse

These two are such good friends, I love that they are buddies

Luke's family at the old Hiko School house

View from Hiko cemetery

My handsome Dad

My handsome boy

Holding the squirrel Uncle Ryan shot

Ira loved wearing every one's hat, He got his dad in on the action

Dalley's Third Birthday

2011-03-02T17:40:00.000-08:00

Dalley turned three on Monday, February 28th. Since more people would be around on Sunday, we celebrated a day early. We went to church then after church we headed to Grandpa Dahl's house for dinner, presents, and cake. He kept telling everyone that he was turning four and he would hold up two fingers, I think he was a bit confused.

Dyann made a roast and potatoes for dinner. Jill, Mike and their kids came. Haley and Jax came up from Panguitch. After dinner we let him open his presents and boy was he spoiled. Dustin and I got him a basketball hoop, a book, a toy puppy on a leash, and a Leapfrog learning laptop toy. Grandma Dyann and Grandpa Dahl got him a shopping cart. It is really cute. It is just like the ones in the stores just miniature. I have never seen one like it before. His aunts and cousins got him a bug flashlight, a snake magnifying glass, and a 5 foot caterpillar tube that you crawl through. My friend Claudia gave him a Dodge pick-up that drives by itself. Nana and Papa Hatch gave him money. He was one spoiled and happy boy.

After presents we had the cake that I made. It was my first time decorating one all by myself. Well Dustin helped me but he just did what I told him to do. When I made the cake I forgot to put the water in so I was afraid it wouldn't be any good. So I made cupcakes too. Dustin and Haley decorated them and they were pretty cute. Dustin put brands on them and Haley drew boots and hats. The cake ended up being really good so we ended up with a lot of left over cupcakes. I let Dalley take them to the babysitter the next day.

I am so thankful for this sweet boy, I definitely do not know what I would do without him.

My big three year old

His caterpillar tube

The shopping cart, he likes to make car noises as he drives it around

skinny little basketball star

He was happy to get the book

Showing me his puppy, this kid is obsessed with puppies.

Cute cupcakes Haley and Dustin decorated

The horseshoe cake I made, Dalley requested that his cake be blue and white on the inside. Later he asked for a pink cake, but I ignored that request and just went with the blue one.

Dustin and Dalley with the cousins. I couldn't get them all to look at me at once

Just a picture of my, always naked,cute boy

Just a picture of Dalley lounging in my bed watching Diego. He looked so tiny in that big old bed.

A Really Long Story

2011-02-28T07:46:00.000-08:00

Today is Dalley's third birthday and I can't believe it. I can't remember what life was like without him yet it seems like just yesterday that we had him. This post is really long but I realized that I haven't ever written down the story of his birth and I wanted to do it because the details are starting to get a bit foggy. Dustin and I will talk about our delivery plans for this new baby and he will remind me of things with Dalley that I totally can not remember. I wanted to record it before I lose it altogether so Dalley will know the details some day.

First of all the were a few events leading up to my delivery that I know the lord had his hands in. I was going to a mid-wife in Panguitch and at the very end, due to a few scares that never panned out, they sent me to Cedar to an OB. At the time I didn't understand why we had so many false alarms, but knowing now that Dalley needed advanced medical care I believe the Lord had a hand in getting us over to Cedar. If Dalley had been born in Panguitch, we probably wouldn't have him now.

I was scheduled to be induced on Friday, February 29th. I thought it would be fun to have a leap year baby, but on Wednesday, February 27th I was getting ready to go to work and my water broke. I wasn't sure what was really happening so I called every woman I knew who had had a baby to confirm that is what happened. Nobody could tell me so I waited until 8:00 when the doctor's office opened and they told me to come in. I went and got Dustin from work and we headed to Cedar. After that my memory gets a little foggy. I know they gave me pitocin after a while but I never progressed. I remember my mom and dad coming and just sitting there visiting with nothing much happening. As the day went on nothing much changed but the contractions started to hurt. I know that I never progressed farther than a six but when I finally got to a six they gave me the epidural. After that my blood pressure dropped really low and they had to give me epinephrine. The nurses kept checking me and finally around 4:00 in the morning the Dr came in and said we had to get the baby out right away so he would have to do a C-section cause the baby was stuck. They took me into the operating room and I don't really remember the delivery. Dustin watched the whole thing and said he couldn't believe how hard it was for them to get the baby out. He said they basically beat the crap out of me and I had a lot of bruises to prove it afterward. They showed me the baby quickly then they had to rush him to get care. They told me he had swallowed the merconium (or whatever it is called) and had to be on oxygen and I could see him in a few hours. Every few hours they would come in and say he wasn't ready to be off the oxygen yet. I began to get frustrated. I had a lot of visitors who got to go to the nursery to see him but I still hadn't. I didn't get to see my baby for 12 hours after he was born and when I did see him I couldn't hold him. I still believed that it was no big deal, because that is what they kept telling me. Late that night the pediatrician came in and told me there were problems with his heart and lungs and they needed to rush him to St. George. He showed me an x-ray that showed his heart on the wrong side of his body and a large mass that appeared to be pushing it over. As he was talking to me he was so calm about it that I thought it was no big deal. He told me later that at that point he didn't think my baby was going to live. They let me, Dustin, Celeste, and my mom go in the nursery to see him as they got him ready for transport. My doctor told the nurses that Celeste was Dustin's mom so they would let her in.They finally let me hold Dalley before they took him away. The emergency transport people brought a disposable camera and took pictures of us and they took pictures of him on the transport and in the NICU, it is kind of neat to have those pictures.

My Dr. wouldn't let me leave the hospital because I had the C-section so Celeste and my mom went to St. George with Dalley. My brother Shawn and his friend met them at the NICU in St. George and gave him a blessing. Tom Simper and Doug Hansen two guys I used to work with came to the hospital and helped my brother Rowdy give me a blessing. I barely slept all night long.The next day was one of the hardest days of my life. Dustin's sister came and took him to St. George but I had to stay in Cedar at the hospital. Dustin and Celeste kept me posted on the progress. Dalley was having seizures that they couldn't explain and he had a bad infection which they thought was the mass on the x-ray. They took him for an MRI and discovered that his kidneys were also having issues, they are connected so instead of two separate kidneys he has a horseshoe kidney. They had him on a lot of meds and they had to put a tube in him to assist his breathing. It was really hard to hear all the news and have to stay there in that hospital even though there was nothing I could do in St. George.

Dustin's mom came to stay with me and my friends Claudia, Christa, and Tom came to check on me. It was hard for me to be social. The nurses had me pump but it felt weird since there was no baby to pump for. The doctor checked me in the morning and told me I couldn't leave yet and he would be back at 7:00 that night. I was determined that no matter what I was leaving that day. I got everything packed and was not taking no for an answer when the Dr. came. He finally showed up around 8:00 and released me. Dustin's mom took me to St. George. The hospital arranged for us to stay in a room just down the hall from the NICU. It was nice to have a free place to stay but there was no bed just a couch and a chair. I couldn't sleep because my incision hurt so much. I also had to pump every two hours and then take the milk to the NICU to go in the freezer. I pretty much didn't sleep the entire time we were there. The first two days Dalley was unable to breathe on his own and they had him on feeding tubes but as the days went on he got stronger and he quit having seizures. By the second day all of our family went home and it was just Dustin and I left. It was pretty boring but we got into a routine. We would spend the whole day sitting there with him. I usually would sit with him most of the night since I couldn't sleep anyhow. By the fourth day they took him off the meds that kept him asleep and took the breathing tubes out. I was able to try to nurse him and I was glad that I had the lactation specialist there the whole time. She was really helpful. He got better everyday and by the sixth day wasn't on any more meds just oxygen. On the seventh day they let us go. I was never so happy in my life to be able to go home. I called my mom and she came to St. George and followed us home.They sent us home with a list of five specialists that we were going to have to see and he had to be on a heart monitor and oxygen but at least we got to go home. I was scared to death going over the mountain because right before we got to the summit the battery on our heart and oxygen monitor died. I was afraid something was going to happen and we wouldn't know it but we made it home fine.

We had to keep him on the oxygen for a month but it seemed to go by quickly. We took him to all of the specialists and he checked out just fine. He has a few issues that he will always have to deal with but at least we know now that they aren't life threatening. These days you would never know that he has the issues that he has. He is a healthy active kid. He is a little on the skinny side and a bit small for his age but we can deal with those things. He is such a joy in our lives, and we are so blessed to have him with us.

All about Dalley

2011-02-05T14:31:00.000-08:00

Dalley loves gum. He will chew a piece of bubble gum for hours. We use a little gumball machine as his potty training prize so he is always chewing gum. He is the cutest little gum chewer that I have ever seen
He loves to give me big hugs and say, "I love my mommy soooo much!" It is pretty much my most favorite thing ever.
He loves horses.I have a ton of pictures of him on horses with his daddy and he can name every horse in the pictures. He even pays attention to horses color. If he sees a horse on TV or in a book he will tell me which horse of Daddy's that one looks like. "That one is the same as half pint." or "That one is the same as sorrely"
He is a big tease.He calls my mom Nana and my dad Papa. The other day I asked him if he wanted a banana and he smiled and said, "After I eat nana I well eat papa."
He loves the Lion King, but not for the reason most kids do. He likes to hunt the bad lions and the mean dogs on the show.Whenever they come on the screen he has to shoot them with his shotgun
He is really friendly and is always inviting people to come play with him. The other day he invited my visiting teaching partner and the lady who works at the assessors office to come play with him at his house.
He is a big fan of church. I think it is because of the social aspect. He walks in all by himself and shakes everyone's hand he sees. If I don't keep a hold of him he will just walk up the aisle shaking everyone's hands and saying hi.
When he gets mad at me or Dustin he will tell us that we are no longer his best buddies. When he is happy with me he will tell me I am his best buddy again.
He is always talking about Nevada. He has a lot of stories about roping cows, riding horses, and feeding in Nevada. One time after getting back from Nevada I walked in and he was pretending to give one of his toy cows a shot like "Papa does in Nevada"
He has quite an imagination. He loves to pretend like he is a puppy and to get daddy to pretend with him. Lots of nights I will have two puppies crawling around my living room.

Fun in the snow

2011-01-17T11:53:00.000-08:00

Dustin bought a snowmobile from one of the guys he works with. He decided that since our family was growing so should our snowmobile collection. He came home from work the other day and decided it was time to head up the mountain to try out his new ride. We rode to the top of the Beaver and it was beautiful! We lucked out and went on a day that was fairly warm so we didn't get too cold. I was afraid Dalley would get cold and hate it but he loved every minute. He is such and outdoors kid. I was glad to have some fun with my two favorite boys!

Dustin took Dalley up a steep hill and he loved it

Dalley and mommy

Dustin showing off

Checking the oil before we took off

Notice the different colored gloves. I just can't seem to keep track of his gloves, so we had to make do with what we could find

Top Ten of 2010

2011-01-07T10:36:00.000-08:00

Dustin was able to move home from Moab. He was gone for 6 months after getting laid off from the ranch, and we were so relieved when he was able to get his old job back.
Dalley turned two.
Dalley got a clean bill of health from the nephrologist. Now we only have to see her once a year and only have to test every two years.
Dalley had a good visit with his cardiologist and she decided to put off medicating him until she knows more about his condition. His situation is unique because they haven't treated a baby for this syndrome before since they usually don't discover it until a child is older. She has been reluctant to treat him when he hasn't shown symptoms yet. I was very thankful that she decided not to medicate him yet. I worry about the long term side affects of the medications he is taking.
After nine months of trying we finally got pregnant. I am due June 4th and we find out in two weeks, hopefully, what we will be having.
Dalley and I got to go on an adventure to the South Pacific with Stina and Ira. We loved spending time with them and are glad we got to make those memories.
We went an entire year without a hospital stay or an emergency room visit, Dalley's first two years of life were full of them so we are glad to go a whole year with none.
Dustin took an entire week off work to go and help my dad. Dalley and I haven't spent that much time with him since Dalley was born. Even though he hated not being at work, we loved being with him.
We were able to attend a Hatch Reunion, a Hull reunion, and a Wright Reunion. I saw a lot of people that I haven't seen in years, it was good to see how everyone is doing.
I was able to take two weeks off work in December to spend with family. Dalley and I spent the whole two weeks in Nevada with my parents. I am glad for these opportunities for Dalley to get closer to my parents. I also loved spending so much time with Dalley. it made me so jealous of moms that get to stay home with their kids. I have never wanted to quit my job more than when i had to come back to work.

Winter Stuff

2010-12-11T13:51:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-15T09:17:00.000-08:00

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

2010-10-28T18:32:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-31T20:12:00.001-07:00

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

2010-08-31T19:07:00.000-07:00

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.

Roger Hatch Family Reunion

2010-08-31T18:52:00.001-07:00

The second week in August we had my dad's family's reunion. It was pretty cool cause we had it in Circleville. We had a lot of people show up and it was a really good time. I saw people that I hadn't seen in awhile. It is always fun getting together as a family and seeing the people you love. Uncle Scott, my dad's little brother

My Dad, love him!

Little Kylie

Dar and Tasha with baby Brayden, he is a very sweet baby

My cousin Amy's husband JJ and Her little girl Aspen. Maddey is in the background

Cute cousins playing

Tyler and Zack

Uncle Denny serving food, another one of my Dad's younger brothers

My beautiful nieces

The cook, Allen

Other cooks

My family minus a few with grandma and grandpa

My dad and three of his siblings with their parents

The whole crew

Piute County Butch Cassidy Days

2010-08-31T18:22:00.000-07:00

As always the Piute County Fair was a blast this
year. They plan so much that the week is packed with fun things to do. Monday there was a water day at the park for the kids. They set up water slides, pools and slip-n-slides for the kids. they even had water balloon fights. Dalley loves swimming so he had a great time. On Tuesday night there was a hoedown with live entertainment. We were going to go but found out my grandpa had been rushed to the hospital that day so we got ready to head to St. George and then we didn't end up going but we missed the hoe down. Wednesday night was the family feud and movie in the park. It was quite entertaining to watch the stunts they had the families do. Thursday was the little Buckaroo. Friday and Saturday nights was the rodeo. Dustin competed in three events. He did the hide race, the musical chairs, and the bucking ranch horse ride. Saturday there was a parade, midway at the park and a dance after the rodeo. It was a fun but exhausting week.

Dustin getting ready to pull the hide. This is Josh's horse, he works with Dustin.I think this horse is beautiful and she is a fast little bugger too.

Dalley's friends Sage and Seldon in the parade

Hannah and Clint in the parade

The Piute County royalty in the parade This is Dalley's babysitter's float, they made ice cream cones out of brown paper and spray painted tumbleweeds, it was pretty cute and they won a prize

Dustin, Dalley, and Josh watching the parade and eating otter pops. I think Dustin and Josh each ate about eight Otter Pops!

Dustin in the musical chair race

Getting ready for the next round of the musical chair race, he got out in the third round.

Riding his bucking horse

My Little Buckaroo

2010-08-31T17:16:00.000-07:00

This year during fair week Dalley participated in the Little Buckaroo Rodeo. He was so excited to ride the sheep all day he told everyone that he was going to ride a sheep. When it finally came to riding the sheep, he screamed the entire time. He missed his nap that day so he ended up being miserable the whole time. He had a little bit of fun in between his fits of tears. I may be biased but I think he was the cutest little buckaroo out there.

Dummy roping

When it was his turn to do the stick horse barrel race he was too scared to do it so Dustin rode the horse and carried him, it was pretty cute.

Right after his sheep ride, still a little pissed about his hat falling off

Riding the sheep

This is after the chicken chase, he wanted the chicken but he was nervous with all the other little kids around

Chicken Chase

Start of the chicken chase

We let him have his very own soda from the concession stand. He thought he was so big getting his own, but of course he only drank about 1/4 of it.

More of the barrel race

More dummy roping

Playing with his cute little friend Sage

Proudly displaying his number

This is why I love my job

2010-08-16T11:25:00.000-07:00

The last couple of weeks, I have been doing field verifications with some of my ranchers that are being rewarded for being outstanding stewards. As I went from ranch to ranch i took a minute to realize how lucky I am to have the opportunity to work in this area and enjoy the beauty of it. Utah really is an amazing place to explore. Here are a few pictures from my travels last week. Keep in mind, I am no photographer. I am more of a point and shoot kind of gal. This is north of Panguitch looking south

Looking West across Panguitch Valley

Glendale Bench

Elkheart Cliffs Ranch

Steak of Utah Ranch

Driving into the Sorensen Ranch south of Alton

Sorensen Ranch

Buck in Broad Hollow

Brinkerhoff Ranch near Skutempah

Camping and More Lake

2010-07-18T18:37:00.000-07:00

When I was growing up we didn't do a lot of recreating. When you have cows and crops to take care of there isn't much free time set aside for having fun. We spent a lot of time together and it was fun but we had fun while we were working. When Dustin and I were dating one time we road horses all the way from Circleville to the top of Beaver Mountain. It took us 7 hours. It was the first time I had spent time on a horse for anything but work and it was the first time I realized sometimes people just do these kinds of things for fun. I remember telling my grandpa about it and he couldn't understand why would waste that much time doing something like that. The funny thing is that I married a man just like my dad and grandpa. He is always working on the ranch and his idea of a weekend off is going to my dad's ranch to help there. He is supposed to take every other Saturday off but if I don't get him out of town he will go to work anyway. So I have started planning things for his weekend off so that we can spend more time with him and we have had a lot of fun.
This last weekend was a weekend off so I told him we were finally going camping. He told me he didn't have time to get the trailer ready, but I was so determined to go. I got off of work early and pulled the trailer out and had it cleaned by the time he got home. When he showed up I had everything ready so that all we had to do was load the Rhino on the dually and head out. We pulled the trailer to a spot on top of the Beaver Mountain where a bunch of Dustin's cousins were camping. It is such a beautiful spot. The Beaver Mountain is gorgeous this time of year. We had a great time. We got up Saturday morning and went for a Rhino ride with Spode and Jayda. We ran into a bunch of guys who were chasing bears and we spent the morning following their dogs to trees where they had caught bears. One of the guys gave Dalley the sweetest little seven month old hound named Molly. She is really pretty but I am afraid she is going to get exiled to the other side of the river like Dustin's other hounds, because she loves to bark.
After we were done chasing bears we loaded up so that Dustin could shoe a couple of horses before it got dark. Then the next day after church we went to the Piute with Dustin's family and had a great time. it was a fun weekend and I am glad I could convince Dustin to take a couple days off!

Deer on Beaver Mountain, it is so pretty right now

So Handsome

Spode and Jayda

Once they told Dalley he could have Molly, he grabbed a piece of twine and he was going to tie her in cause she was his. He has already taken quite a shine to her.

This is sweet little Molly

Spode and Jayda ahead of us on the trail

View out our front window

Jayda really likes Dustin, Dalley, however is not a big fan of someone else taking up his daddy's time

Dalley driving the Rhino

Hopefully this is where we will be spending a little more time before it gets too cold

Dustin trying to get up on the knee board

The boys out on the boat

When we got to Piute, Dalley's friends Cache and Carter were there with their Uncle Allen

My little poser

Dustin was really good at the knee board, by the time we left he was doing tricks

Michael Mouse just floated around in his life vest. We lost him at one point but luckily we found him

It said "Dalley" till he tried to help

Daisy in her life vest, she loves swimming

Fishing With Grandpa Dahl

2010-07-11T19:08:00.000-07:00

Grandpa Dahl got a new boat so when they called to say they were going fishing at Piute Reservoir, Dustin and I invited ourselves along. It was a great time! No one caught any fish but it was still quite fun. Dustin and I didn't really care if we caught a fish, we were just along for the boat ride. We cast out a couple of times but didn't pay much attention. Dalley loved being on the water. It got really hot when all of the clouds cleared so Dustin, Jill and the kids decided to jump in. Dalley is quite the little water lover. It was my first time on a boat besides when I have been on cruises and it is something I think i would like to do more of, but I think next time we will try out the skis and the wake board! Daisy Duke enjoying the ride
Michael getting blown away
Michael doing a cannonball
Dustin's graceful dive

He is quite the diver

The water was so cold that when Michael first got in he could barely breathe

Jill enjoying the day

This kid really needs a hair cut

Dustin would dunk Dalley's head in the water and as soon as he would bring him back in the boat he would beg for more.

Tired munchkin

Cute little Duke

Aunt Jillers giving the stink eye

Dalley with grandpa Dahl

Daddy's Little Hunting Buddy

Dalley's first boating picture

July 4th and more

2010-07-10T15:02:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago we had the pleasure of having my mom stay with us while she was recovering from surgery. It was fun having her with us and taking care of her for a change. Dalley was so excited to have his Nana around and had to make sure she was paying attention to him most of the time.
At the end of her stay Shawn and Stina came down from Washington and took her out to Nevada with them. Dalley and I followed after attending the retirement party for my secretary, Christa. Christa was the most amazing secretary ever. She was old school and didn't mind taking care of everything that we needed. She even knew shorthand. I could call her in to dictate a letter to her and she would have the whole thing down as fast as I could say it. She is a little German spitfire. She immigrated from Germany when she was 13. She has some pretty neat stories to tell about living in Nazi Germany. I am going to miss her so much and I hope her replacement is at least half as great as she is.
After the party Dalley and I did some shopping with Anne. It is fun to have a friend I can do those things with. Anne is the best!
We finally made it to the ranch along with Luke and Kayce's family and had a lot of fun hanging out, visiting, and helping my dad around the ranch.
One of the days we had to haul cows to the range so we decided to take everyone and spend the day at the cabin. It was nice to relax and let the kids filthy. Dalley loved playing in the creek.
We celebrated the fourth by going to the parade and then sorting more cows. It was a HOT and DRY day. By the time we were done I was so dirty Stina said I looked really tan but if I took a shower it would all wash off.
We had a lot of fun and I am glad that we were able to spend time with Shawn and Luke's families.

Dalley and L.E. playing with the Lego tub. They are so cute together

This kid is in serious need of a haircut

Aunt Celeste helping the kids get candy, she even tried to sneak Ira a sucker

Aunt Stina at the parade

The munchkin buddies

At the cabin we have an old box springs with a rug on it that the kids use for a trampoline. They love it. That and the tire swing was the highlight for the little ones

Jumping on the "trampoline" I can't get Dalley to keep all of his clothes on

Getting ready for a 4-wheeler ride with Papa

The munchkin buddies sure love Papa

Cutest Ira I have ever seen, he is the third munchkin buddy

Dalley trying to get L.E. to swim with him

Kate was good to push Dalley and then Dalley would sometimes try to push her

Shooting clay pigeons, I had a nice bruise on my shoulder the next day

Munchkin Butt

I think this is one of my favorite pictures of Dalley, oh and those aren't freckles

Eating Caramel apples at the cabin

Ira with his morning sippy

Dalley and Ira were playing peek a boo through the drapes

Summer!

2010-06-14T16:37:00.000-07:00

It is picture time, I was having a few difficulties with putting pictures on my blog, but I figured it out so we are all good now. I love summer! It just seems like there is so much more going on in the summer. I am looking forward to BBQ's and rodeos. I love the promise of something new that comes with summer. We started out summer by spending Memorial Day at the ranch with Luke's family. It was so much fun. The weather was perfect and the kids had a great time playing at the park in Alamo, going swimming at Crystal, and playing around the ranch. Here are a bunch of random photos from the start of our summer.

Dalley and his best friend L.E.

Lukie/Shrek

Hugs!!

Little cutie patootie

Three handsome boys
Dalley and my grandpa

Lukie told me this was his sour face, they were eating mulberries off the tree in the back yard.

This kid is a cutie too!

Luke and his boys

Dalley all chocolate and pizza faced
Playing Aunt Kayce's piano

The two little Mozart's at work, dirty faces and all

I told them to put their arms around each other and this is what they did
eating lunch outside
Dalley and mommy pulling funny faces
This picture is to show how little he actually looks like me. Pretty much opposites!

family

2010-06-06T16:59:00.001-07:00

These pictures are from last weekend when Dustin and I helped put the cows on the forest. This weekend was hard because my grandpa wasn't able to ride with us. He is having heart troubles and is so weak he couldn't get on his horse. I could tell it was hard on him as well to not be able to get on a horse. He also felt bad about not being able to help us mark the calves before we put the cows on the mountain. I hate seeing him go through his illnesses and seeing him so weak. He worries me so much.

I consider my self fairly brave for posting these pictures, because I am very seldom seen without at least a little make-up!

Thankful for Talented Friends

2010-06-02T08:33:00.001-07:00

When I had Dalley I was very grateful to all of the wonderful handmade gifts that family and friends gave to me. It meant a lot to me that they would share their talent and give me something that took time to make. I was especially touched by a beautiful blanket and burp cloth set that my wonderful friend Carrie had made for me. She had put a lot of work into sewing and crocheting and it turned out gorgeous. So when I found out she was pregnant I wanted to make something for her in return. When I made this decision I forgot about the part where I am not talented when it comes to making things. I had heard that a self binding blanket was easy to do so I decided to make one. I really did have the best of intentions, but good intentions does not make up for lack of talent. I bought the material and I had it on hand for a good six months, but never had the courage to try. So last night I enlisted my other talented friend, Anne, to "teach" me by example how to make one of these blankets. She did a beautiful job. I think it turned out very cute and she even threw in a burp cloth. The only thing I can really take credit for is picking out the cute material. I might need to leave the crafts to my talented friends from now on.

It is hard to see, but this is the blanket with the burp cloth

All about Dalley

2010-05-03T15:25:00.000-07:00

No pictures, I just wanted to write down a few of my favorite things about my Dalley Bugs so I will never forget.

Everything is "my", my daddy, my mommy, my milk. I love it when he sees me and yells "my mommy!"
He is OBSESSED with tractors. He has about thirty, we can't leave CAL Ranch without at least one more every time. He has that Jason Aldean song, Big Green Tractor, memorized. He can't say all the words yet but he sings them anyway and it is really cute. I have it taped on the DVR and and we listen to it every night. He sings take you for wide on big gween twactor, we tan doe sew, we tan doe fasser. (i am not sure how to spell his language)
He love Chitchen (chicken) and he knows which is his favorite. He loves the chicken nuggets from schwan's, one time they were out so I got him chicken bites and cut them in small pieces like I do the nuggets and he wouldn't touch him. It has to be Schwan's nuggets.
He is OBSESSED with horses and cows, yesterday we went for a Sunday drive by the feedlot and some of the heifers were out in the field. He spotted them first and told his daddy he had to chase them in. Dustin was driving the truck and Dalley and I were herding on foot and he was hollering "hey cow" at the top of his lungs the whole time. Very cute! He still has zero interest in cartoons or other kid shows but he loves the superior livestock auction and horse babies. Sometimes when Dustin goes to pick up a load of calves from the auction Dalley and I will go so Dalley can watch a bit of the auction live while Daddy is loading the calves.
He loves shaking every one's hand in church, if I am not quick enoughwalking in I will lose him and he will head up the aisles shaking every one's hands as he goes. He is a very social kid so church is a lot of fun for him, if he didn't have to be so quiet all the time it would be perfect.
He likes to say Mommy repeatedly until I answer then when I say "what" He says I wuv you
He pulls the funniest faces. And he knows right when to do it. It is hard to get mad when he is pulling a face that is cuter than cute.
He is pretty smart, if he can't figure out how to do something he will do it over and over until he gets it down. He has more patience than I do. He is also creative. I was doing the dishes the other day and I would splash a little water on him, pretty soon he started splashing water back on me, at first I didn't think anything of it. Then I got to wondering where a kid that tall got water, yeah he was using his tub toy and the toilet. I should have figured that one out a lot quicker.
Every night when Dustin gets home from work , Dalley will ask, "Wope tow dad, wide horsies?" He wishes he could go to work with his daddy every day.

Weekend in Paradise

2010-04-19T19:37:00.001-07:00

This last weekend we headed out to Hiko for the weekend to help my dad. Since Ryan has been on his mission my dad has not had a lot of help getting things done. Running a ranch the size of this and working a full time job is enough work to keep three men busy. On top of the regular ranch work he has also been working on a pipeline project for the last few years trying to get all the old ditches converted to pipeline. Last Saturday the Hiko ward decided to make it a ward activity complete with the relief society providing a delicious lunch. It was really neat how many people showed up to help. I was really impressed by the good people in Hiko. It reminded me how lucky I was to have grown up in an area surrounded by such great examples. There were about 20 guys and they got the work done quickly. They had expected it to take all day but they were done by 11:30.
Dalley had a great time riding around with grandpa all morning. He loves being outside working. After lunch we saddled horses and paired up more cows to haul out to the range. I was nervous to have Dalley outside the corral watching because I couldn't watch him every minute, but he did a good job of staying out of the way. After we got them sorted Ross, Dustin and I hauled another two loads out to the range. We had one flat tire which is pretty amazing due to the rough roads. It is not uncommon to get a couple.
When we got back there were more cows to sort and we had to do a little finish up work on the pipeline. It was a good day. I love working with my family and helping my dad. I just wish we could be out there more often.

Dalley and Grandpa on the cement tractor

Lunch under the old tree in the horse pen

More people lined up for lunch

Dalley was really independent at lunch. He wouldn't let Dustin and me help him eat. He is getting so big!

My little cowboy
Riding Apache

Dad in the sorting pen

Loading the cows

I love him

My dirty faced little boy driving the truck

Fixing a flat tire

Garden Valley

My two favorite boys

Easter

2010-04-11T19:18:00.000-07:00

We were able to go out to Hiko for Easter and we loved every minute of it. It was fun seeing Rowdy's kids. We seldom get to see them so it was really nice. They are getting so big. Luke and Kayce were there too. Dalley and their little L. E. were pretty inseparable. Kayce calls them the twin tornados. They had a lot of fun together. On Saturday we spent the day helping my dad build risers for his pipeline. Dalley loved it. He stayed out and helped us except for when I took him to my mom to give him a nap. He fell in the mud and it didn't phase him at all. He loved every minute of working with grandpa and dad. Dalley with Rich and Bart in the wagon
The Twin Tornados

Lukie coloring Easter eggs

Dalley coloring eggs, he really got into it.

Easter Egg hunt on grandma's front lawn

Munchkin Butt

Dalley with his loot

Kidney Specialist

2010-03-23T17:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Dustin and I made a very tiring trip to Primary Children's for Dalley's tests and check-up with his nephrologist. He had to have blood work, a renal scan and a renal ultrasound. They found that even though his left kidney is still dilated, it has not gotten worse since the first ultrasound almost two years ago. His other labs looked good too so....... we no longer have to go up every 3-6 months. From now on we will only go once a year unless he has another irregular test. This means one less trip to Salt Lake!!! We head up next month for the pulmonologist and hopefully all of his labs will go well again!

Nothing much

2010-03-13T12:47:00.001-08:00

I feel like a bit of a slacker, but not much has happened lately. We are still enjoying having Dustin home. It is like he never left. Everything is back to the way it was before he got laid off. His job is going good so far. Work has been pretty crazy for me. I was able to get grants for four large acre range treatments. Two of the grants are for two large ranches on the Glendale bench in Kane County. It will be a 4,000 acre block that will be treated. The other two grants are for projects around 640 acres each.

We did get a surprise visit from my parents last weekend that was really fun. They stopped by on Sunday. They were on their way home from Britnee's baptism. Dalley loved having his grandparents here. I joked about him going home with them and I guess he took me seriously. When they left he was extremely put out that they didn't take him with them.

We have had a little issue with our septic system but thankfully Dustin was able to borrow the equipment from the dairy and pump it himself. That saved us a few hundred dollars. It wasn't a very fun job though.

On Friday night we went to Alton to pick up our new Catahoula Puppy that we bought from my friend Carrie. It was really fun visiting with her and her husband Klynt. She has a cute little pregnant belly and I am so excited for her to have her little girl in May. We had a little adventure on the way. There is a shortcut road to Alton that I always take when I work down there. For work I drive a four wheel drive truck so I can go most everywhere. Without thinking I took that road last night in my car. It is a dirt road and it is very muddy. We got going and the road was terrible.We were slipping and sliding all over the place. We almost turned around a couple of times but I kept telling Dustin that we were almost there. Then about a half a mile from town the road was no longer there. They had only plowed as far as the JD ranch. We had tot urn around and go all of the way back. It was pretty late before we got to Alton and my car, that I had washed that day, was covered in mud. The headlights were barely shining.

After we left Carries we went to Anne and Chiz's for pizza. We had a great visit and got home late, but it was worth it.

Here are a few pictures of the munchkin butt;

Posing under the high chair

An outfit he put on himself, just like his mom, the kid has no style

Sporting Grandpa Hatch's signature hairstyle

This is for grandma

2010-03-13T12:02:00.000-08:00

The birthday weekend

2010-03-02T20:28:00.000-08:00

Dalley had his second birthday this last weekend. I can't believe that it has been two years since he came crashing into our world. I still get a little emotional thinking about his rough entrance and I am so thankful that he is the healthy kid he is now. He may develop a little differently than other kids, but he doesn't let that slow him down.
We started out the birthday weekend with daddy moving home. Dalley is so excited to get to see his daddy every day now. I am starting to feel a little left out though. On Saturday we went to St. George to meet my parents. On the way down we stopped at CAL Ranch to get some tack for Dustin. While he was looking through saddle pads and stuff I tried a pair of chaps on Dalley. He instantly fell in love. They are the cutest things that i have ever seen. He didn't take them off all day. He even wanted them on with his jammies.
Sunday we went to church then over to Dustin's parents house for dinner. After dinner we opened presents. Then it was nap time. Daisy came and kept me company while Dustin and Dalley took a nap. Then we went and let Dalley ride the Bay Mare. She has a name but it isn't nice so I won't put it on the blog. He didn't want to get off even though we were all freezing. After riding we went back to Grandpa Dahl's and had birthday cake. By the end of the day we were all bushed.

My two cowboys walking into the Home Depot. Everyone we saw told us how cool Dalley looked in his chaps
Dalley chillin' in the cart at Wal-mart. He rode through the whole store lounging on a box of lemonade and munching on a chicken strip.

Pulling a face at lunch

Giving grandma thank you hugs for the visit and his birthday presents

Grandpa's turn for a hug

Kim Butterfield came over to Dustin dad's house to give Dalley a birthday present. It was some Angus toys and a chute. He gave Kim a big hug.

Dalley's first official photo as a two year old

Standing by his presents before we would let him open any

The arena and horse set that we got him

Chaps and PJ's, quite the combination

Opening all of his presents at grandpa's house, he was totally spoiled by his aunt's and cousins

Riding the Bay Mare, this was the only time all weekend that he didn't have chaps on, go figure!

The birthday cake

Dalley and his cousins

Beautiful Belle and Dustin, he was too grumpy to smile

Dalley, how old are you?

A Little Random Post

2010-02-21T14:30:00.000-08:00

It hasn't seemed like there has been much to blog about lately. I am getting really tired of the snow and cold. This winter is lasting forever. I still miss those mild Southern Nevada winters.

I do have a little bit of good news though. The ranch that laid Dustin off last October has hired him back. As of next Friday I will no longer be a single mom. I am so excited but I am trying to contain it because I don't want to jinx it. I tried not to really let myself think about it too much, but it has been really hard on us with him gone. If we had family around to help it would have been easier but it has just been Dalley and me these last few months, along with the most amazing babysitter ever. I was so blessed when I found Teresa. Not only is she so accommodating Dalley also loves going there I can tell that she genuinely likes him too. It is nice to have someone so amazing to help me out. That's not taking anything away from Heidi. She was and still is pretty amazing. She babysat Dalley basically as a favor and did it way longer than she really wanted to.

I am pretty excited for a little stress relief and to have a normal life where I go to bed with my husband every night. How cool is that going to be?

So here are a few random pictures of the Dalley bug. I haven't even taken very many pictures lately but his birthday is next week so I am sure an overload will be coming.

It seems like my babe always has a dirty face, this smile was too sweet to pass up

One Saturday morning we went up to Panguitch to pick up my new elliptical and to go out for breakfast. Dustin had Dalley all duded up. The waitress at the restaurant told me he was the cutest thing she had ever seen.

Another picture of my little cowboy

I thought this was so funny. One night I put Dalley to bed and he didn't want to stay in his own bed so he was crying. I told him he had to stay in his room and I went into the living room to do some stuff. He finally cried himself to sleep. I went back to check on him and he had passed out in the hallway. The thing I thought was the most funny though was that even in his distraught state he had to stop and put his boots on. This kid is very obsessed with boots.

Dalley Getting his groove on

2010-02-13T17:49:00.000-08:00

Weekend Re-cap

2010-02-07T18:50:00.000-08:00

I finally have my little munchkin butt home! He spent last week with my parents. I missed him a lot but I know that he had a great time with grandma and grandpa. He even got to drive the truck while my dad fed cows. He thought that was pretty cool. My dad said he stood up there and held the steering wheel like he was really driving. I started "driving" for my dad when I was his age too. He would bug my dad as soon as he got home to go out and do chores. What a good kid. I was so happy to see him. It was pretty lonely being without both my boys for a whole week. Dustin was able to come home on Thursday night. The first week of the month he has school so he gets the weekend after that off. Because he has been working so hard lately, I decided to plan a quick trip to Mesquite, so he could just relax and not worry about anything at home or helping out on the dairy. He got home Thursday night and we went to eat at our favorite restaurant in Marysvale Canyon called Hoovers. They have really really good food. My favorite is the scones even though it is kind of gross watching Dustin dip his in ketchup. Yuck!

Dustin's dad was in the hospital in St. George again. A few weeks ago he had most of his left leg amputated and it was healing very well. They ended up having to go back in and cut more of his leg off. We went down to visit him. He was funny, cause he had a toy fan with a sucker on it, that he had to show us because he was saving it for his "little buddy". Dalley know grandpa Dahl is always good for some candy.

After the hospital we headed to Mesquite. It was fun being there without Dalley, even though we missed him. I had forgotten what it was like to spend time with Dustin without Dalley in tow. We went to some stores and did some shopping. Dustin played a few slots then we headed for the arcade. I whipped him in skee ball, but he beat me at air hockey. I must be losing my touch because I used to be really awesome at air hockey. Around 8:00 Anne and Chizel showed up and that is when the fun began. We went and had some great seafood at the Virgin River buffet. Then Chizel taught Dustin about playing at a 21 table. Dustin got into it until I made them quit so we could go bowling. We had a really good time and we all were terrible bowlers. I think that made it more fun though. After bowling Dustin and Chiz went back to their table and Anne and I checked out a few more slot machines.

It was a much needed weekend of relaxation, thanks to Anne and Chiz for going with us and thanks to mom and dad for guarding Dalley for the week.

My handsome husband trying to figure out his new cell phone.

I was pretty proud of my $11 win

Anne showing up to her room

This is the picture that almost got me kicked out of the casino, apparently you aren't allowed to take pictures in a casino. An old lady who was a frequent gambler came over and told me not to take any more pictures or I would get thrown out.

The boys showing off their sexy bowling shoes. I am so not used to seeing these guys in anything but boots. They looked weird in shoes.

Chizel in action, he perfected a butt pump that helped him with his shot

Dustin in action, what a cute little hiney he has

Anne got fed up with guttering so she decided to try her hand at the granny shot

The final score, it was a hard fight, but Chizel beat me by one. We were obviously not the best crew of bowlers since none of us even broke 100

This is Chiz's pose he strikes when he does something good

Dustin's pose was slightly different

Rainy Days and SATURDAYS get me down

2010-01-30T19:53:00.000-08:00

I know it is crazy but I have the hardest time with Saturdays. It is the only day all week that I don't have a schedule and complete structure and that drives me nuts. Because of the lack of schedule and structure it also gives me time to think about Dustin being gone. It has been especially hard lately because not only has he been working with no days off, they are also working him so many hours that he goes straight to bed as soon as he gets off of work. This means that Dalley and I haven't been able to go see him because it is not worth it to drive all that way to see him for ten minutes. For the last forty-eight hours he has worked all but about 12 hours of them. They don't even give him much time to sleep. I can tell that it is getting to him and I feel so terrible that he has to go through this. When it gets hard for me I try to remember that as hard as it is on my end he has it so much worse. At least I have Dalley to make me laugh and to give me big squeezes and kisses. I only have to make it through one more day though. They are letting Dustin come home tomorrow night, then he goes to St. George Monday morning for his school week in St. George. Then next weekend we are going to go to Mesquite with Anne and Jason for some much needed relaxation time! I am so excited, to see my honey and spend time with him. I guess I didn't really accomplish much with this post but if Dustin ever reads it he will know that I am missing him.

Snow pictures and cuteness from Dalley

2010-01-27T17:46:00.000-08:00

We have recently been getting more snow than we usually get at once. Back in 2005 we had storms like this but it led to massive floods in the spring and a lot of damage. My agency spent the next two years after fixing all that mother nature had destroyed. We do need the moisture I just hope that this time it isn't accompanied by all of the flooding. These pictures are all out of order cause my mouse is malfunctioning.

Dalley's truck was stuck in the snow. He climbed in and tried to make it go with no luck. We had to dig him out and then he couldn't go anywhere anyway.
I think that this boy is way to skinny, I need some advice on fattening him up. He will be two in a month and he has only put on five pounds this year.

This is munchkin butt walking down the sidewalk after I scooped him a path. It is hard to tell but the snow hits him about at the waist.

These are Dalley's puppies that Dustin brought him last time he came home. They have straw in their doghouse but I still feel bad for them with this cold weather. Not quite bad enough to let them live in the house though.

Last Sunday i woke up and all of the trees had ice on them. These pictures don't quite do justice to how pretty it was.

The side yard and the swing covered in ice

This movie is mostly for my mom, so she can get an update on Dalley's cuteness, which I am glad to oblige. Please ignore the five year old's voice. Whenever I hear my voice on a recording I can't believe that is actually how I sound.

Holliday Pictures

2010-01-15T07:43:00.001-08:00

So I finally uploaded the Christmas pictures. It is very unlike me, but I only took a few pictures. I usually have about five hundred from each Holiday so this was a big change.

Dalley is a very expressive kid lately, he is always pulling the funniest faces, especially when he is in trouble and wants you to laugh at him and forget that he is being naughty.

This was the Saturday before Christmas he thought he was funny putting on my boots and wanted me to take a picture.

Circleville Town had Santa Claus come so the kids could go see him. Dalley wasn't too impressed but he was a big fan of all the candy they gave him.

He held on tight to his bag of candy, he wasn't going to let anyone take it away. When he finally forgot about it I hid it. It was way too much candy for a 20 month old

This was what my living room looked like before Christmas
This is what it looked like after. I think we were hit by a tornado or something
These are the cute Chap stockings I bought at the craft fair. I had our names embroidered on them. I loved how they turned out.

Dalley opening his Christmas Eve PJ's

Dustin and Dalley wearing their new hats. I had Dustin's hat made for him and Uncle Ryan gave Dalley his. It says "Daddy's Little Hunting Buddy"
Dalley LOVES his stick horse that Grandma and Grandpa Hatch gave him
Dustin and Dalley with all of Dalley's loot

One of Dalley's new shirts

Riding his horse on the mini trampoline

When Luke and Kayce came Dalley and L.E. played pretty good together. I took this cute picture of them sitting Dalley's recliner together. They got in together by them selves. It looked like they were getting along pretty good. Then this happened:

Christmas/New Years

2010-01-11T11:49:00.000-08:00

I haven't written about the holidays yet because I haven't downloaded the pictures yet. I decided I needed to at least write a post before I forget and I will post pictures later.
This Christmas was different than any other but still wonderful. In the last twenty-nine years I have never not had Christmas at my parents house. Well with Dustin working out of town he said that we were staying home for Christmas because after traveling home from Moab he didn't feel like traveling even farther to Hiko. I was bummed at first but then I came up with the idea that if I can't go to my parents house they could come here. It too ALOT of convincing to get my dad to come and he never did commit. A week before he was still telling me he would "probably" come. They did come and it was really fun.
I met parents in Cedar on the 23rd to do some last minute shopping and to pick up the hat I had specially ordered for Dustin. Then on the morning of the 24th Dustin and my dad went cougar hunting. They didn't find any cougars but they did almost get stuck in the deep snow. My dad said he still had a good time cause he got to see some new country. That night we went to Kingston, Junction , and around Circleville looking at all the Christmas lights. Dalley would point and say Pwitty. It was very cute. We went home and Dalley opened his PJ's. Then we watched a movie and went to bed. We got up around 7:00. Dalley got a big red wooden barn and some horses and cows to put in it. His favorite presents were his stick horse and his tractors. He also loves his truck and trailer. He was a happy kid.
I was a happy girl because Dustin spoiled me a little. I got a laptop, a blackberry, a jogging stroller and a trunk. It was the first time that Dustin has given a gift for me any thought so it meant a lot. He is a very manly man, but not a very thoughtful man.
That afternoon we talked to Ryan and it was great to talk to him. I think he talked for about three hours. He sent us a really cute DVD of what he has been up to, it was really cool. Around 6:00 that night Luke and Kayce came for Christmas Dinner. Dalley loved having all the cousins around. He plays really well with L.E.. Family really is what makes the holidays special.
Then everyone left the next day. Dustin left on Sunday and my house got really empty with just Dalley and I in it. I had another week off of work so we headed out to Hiko for the week. We were planning on staying through Saturday but on New year's Eve Dalley started getting sick. He was fine until he took a nap then he woke up croupy. I gave him some extra medicine and he was fine until he went to bed, then when I went to lay him down he woke up struggling to breathe. He kept getting worse and with his lung issues we can't take any chances, so off we went for the E.R. in Cedar at midnight. I didn't even notice that it was new years I was so worried about him. At the hospital they gave us some steroids let us go. I was kicking myself because I have an emergency supply of the medicine at home I just didn't take it with me. Anyhow we went to a motel and slept the rest of the night almost until check out time. Dalley likes to keep things interesting for sure.

Pure Dalleyness

2009-12-18T07:03:00.000-08:00

I wanted to document the cuteness that is my little Dalley Bug. I am terrible about writing down the cute things he does and I am afraid I am going to forget them. He is getting quite the personality. It is funny how much he reminds me of Dustin with his little attitude and his expressions.
Dalley loves to help me, his favorite thing to do is to sit on the door to the dryer and push the wet clothes in. Sometimes he even steals clothes from the clean pile to push in there so I have to watch him closely. He also likes to put things away. He just doesn't always put them where they go. Last night I asked him to put his boots in his bedroom and I found them in the tub. Another time I gave him a cup to put in the sink and I found it in the hamper. I guess I should just be thankful that he is at least willing to help.
He always wakes up in the best mood. Quite often around four in the morning he climbs in bed with me. Last Saturday I woke up to him patting my face and saying mama. I opened my eyes and he was about an inch from my face with a huge smile. I love his sleepy smiles.
He is a big tease, which has actually won him a few spankings. He loves to run away from me when I try to change his diaper and he giggles the whole time. It is hard to get mad at giggles. The other day I put his toboggan on him and turned around. I heard him say "mama, mama" I turned back around he had the hat pulled over his eyes so that he couldn't see and he was smiling so big, I could tell he was really proud of himself.
He loves horses and cows. RFDTV is a life saver. It is a channel for rural living and they always have horse training shows and other shows like that. His favorite is to watch the Craig Cameron horse training show and the Superior livestock auctions. I was at a friends house the other day getting some sewing done and he was getting bored. She told me I could put on some cartoons for him, I turned on RFD and there was a dressage competition. We didn't hear a peep from him the rest of the morning. Also we went to eat at Applebees with my parents a couple weeks ago. My dad had the waiter turn the channel on the TV by our table to the NFR. Dalley watched that all through dinner. He also likes to gallop around making clicking noises with his tongue pretending he is riding a horse or a bull. He always has one arm in the air and he must be a really good rider because sometimes he puts both hands in the air. He likes to get thrown off. He will pretend to get bucked off a roll around on the floor. Then he always gets back on. He is definitely Dustin's child.
He doesn't say a lot yet, but I love to hear his little voice. It is the cutest thing. It is so sweet to hear that little voice call me mama. He gives the best hugs and he isn't very stingy with them. If you ask for a hug he will run at you with his arms out and give you a big squeeze. My favorite thing is when he is on my lap he will put both hands on my cheeks and turn my face to him and give me a big kiss. It is a heart melter.
He has had a hard time with his medical issues, but to meet him you would never know it. He is such a trooper, he takes his meds every day like a champ and unless he is really tired he doesn't let on too much if he isn't feeling good.
I still can't believe that I the one heavenly father trusted to raise this little guy.

This little piggy went to market...

2009-12-10T08:30:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post with a picture that I thought was too funny. We were sitting around one night and Dalley was playing with the tape so I taped his nose up. He makes quite a handsome little pig. Then there is another picture of my really cute nephew Ira.

Thanksgiving Fun

2009-12-08T10:06:00.001-08:00

This year for Thanksgiving Dalley and I headed out to Nevada. We headed out the Saturday before Thanksgiving. We stopped in Cedar and picked up Stina then headed out. We stayed until the following Saturday. On our way home we got stuck in a snow storm and ended up spending the night in Cedar then got home the next morning just in time for church. Then that night Dustin got to come home. We were so happy to see him. We missed spending Thanksgiving with him.

Dustin spent the week in apprentice school in St. George then he had three days off. That is the most time he has had to spend with us for months so we were really excited. we went to Cedar Friday night and met my parents. My mom and I went to a movie while the boys stayed at the hotel. The next morning we got up and went to St. George to see Dustin's dad in the hospital. He has been having trouble with his circulation in his leg.

We got back to Circleville around 3:00 and immediately got in Dustin's truck to go tree hunting. Dustin and Dalley drove up the road and I hiked around in the hills. After about an hour of searching I found the most perfect Christmas Tree ever. It was a beautiful Blue Spruce. Perfectly symmetrical on all sides. I called to Dustin and he brought the saw up. On the way home Dustin was worrying about the white smoke his truck was blowing so he rallied a little bit and lost the tree. We had to turn around a go get it. Then a mile later he was talking on the phone and not paying attention and lost it again. Needless to say it is not as symmetrical as it had once been. His friend Kasey came and helped him put it up and once we had it decorated it was just perfect, even with the few broken branches.

Dalley and grandpa at the ranch, Dalley followed grandpa around the whole week. he would not let him leave the house with out him

I love this picture Stina took of Dalley checking out the cows

Dalley and Ira up at the corrals

Dalley and Ira on the hay stack, they were pretty good buds by the end of the week.

I like this picture cause Dalley's pants are sagging off of him

My handsome boy

Dalley's true love, horses

Stina took this picture of Dalley, he loved this tractor

Teasing mom with mac and cheese fingers

Dalley loves grandma

Two cute boys at bedtime

Dalley and Great Grandpa

Dalley and Great Grandma

I put a hair thingy in Dalley's hair. I thought it was too cute

My little hard worker ready to go do chores with grandpa

Stina and I painted my mom's kitchen so my dad took the boys to empty trash, Ira wasn't too happy about leaving mom behind.

Stina painting mom's kitchen

Ira smiles more than any baby I have ever seen. He is such a cheeser too.

Dalley being a cheeser

Dalley talking on the phone to dad, he thinks he is so big.

Wearing grandpa's wild rag

My Dad's deer

Dalley and grandpa and dead deer

The delicious coconut creme cupcakes Stina made. They were so yummy.

I just love Dalley's hair

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving I helped my dad load the tractor on the flatbed and then we hauled it out to the range. While we were loading it Dalley sat on this little blue tractor and played. He was content the whole time just to pretend to drive the tractor.

When we got to the range, we burned some brush piles that had been dozed last winter

We roasted a hot dog for lunch

Dirty Hot Dog Face

Dalley giving his buddy a hug

Shawn and Dad with all of the grand kids

The day after Thanksgiving we went back out to the range to do some more burning and some tractor work. We went to the cabin for lunch. The boys love this tire swing. It was all Lukie could talk about on the way out to the range.

Lukie and Dalley

The front of our old cabin

The Inside

This is one of my most favorite places in the world. I never feel as peaceful as I do out at the cabin.

The sunset we saw on our way home

Cheesy Ira, about to eat birthday cake

Dalley with his antlers

Halloween and other stuff

2009-11-16T09:39:00.000-08:00

So I was thinking that I should probably post Halloween before Thanksgiving comes. Dalley and I went out to Nevada for Halloween this year. I found Dalley a really cute horse costume and he loved it. We had only planned on taking him to my Grandma's house and my Aunt Maxine's but he loved it so much we ended up taking him to about 10 or 12 houses. He wasn't the least bit shy and it was fun. After we were done we went to my grandma's house to watch the PBR. Dalley loves bull riding. He would run around with one hand in the air acting like he was riding and then he would "fall off" and throw himself on the floor. It was so dang funny watching him.

The next Monday I left Dalley with my parents and went to a convention in St. George. I really missed Dalley while he was having fun with grandma and grandpa. Then on Friday my mom brought him to me and we went to Circleville and spent the night then got up the next morning and went to Moab to visit Dustin. We were so excited to see him. He bought Dalley a rocking horse at the store there and Dalley loved it. Dalley now has a rocking horse, a rocking bull, a bouncy cow, a bouncy horse and a really big John Deere Dump truck that he rides like a bike. He is really set up as far as riding things

Dustin was able to come home this weekend to do some stuff around the house. He watched Dalley and I went to the craft fair with Anne. I found some final decorations for my kitchen. I also found the perfect barn wood shelf to go over my stove. Dustin taped off my walls and I finally painted the red wall. It looks a lot different, but I really like it. When I get all my decorations hung up I will post pictures of my kitchen make-over.

Dalley's wild hair cut

Trick or treating with grandma

My dad drove us around all night. It was fun going with him and my mom

I got a lot of pictures of thier backs

Dalley's new rocking horse

Dalley's new hat on his new horse

Dustin gettting Dalley ready for the day

Dalley and Daddy

Dustin is Employed

2009-10-27T17:26:00.000-07:00

So a couple of weeks ago Dustin started a job with Wadsworth Construction building bridges. We were very happy for him to find a job, but we were not so happy that he had to move to Moab to do the job. He has been gone two weeks now only coming home for a little over 24 hours on the weekends. It has been quite an adjustment for our little family. I really appreciate him doing it though, cause I know as hard as it is on Dalley and me it is even harder on him. We don't have to leave home and have our whole lives disrupted. Not only that but he is working insane hours, the first week he put in around 80 hours, and yesterday he worked from 7:00 in the morning until 3:00 the following morning then went back in to work at 7:00 this morning. i am not sure how he does it. I am very proud of him and I am thankful that I married a good man who will do what it takes to take care of his family. He has been offered an interview at the Aspen Ranch in Loa, to help with their horse program. We are hoping he can get it since it is considerably closer to home.
Dalley has been such a trooper. He loves his daddy and clings to him from the moment he gets home until the moment he leaves. He loves talking to him on the phone every night and he always blows him kisses, it is the cutest thing. On Saturday we went to help Anne clean the house that she just moved out of. Dalley was so good during the cleaning process. He ran around the house and entertained himself with a plastic mixing spoon and my shoes. He was a little grouchy when we were done and at lunch, but I guess that was my fault for not giving him a nap all day. All in all he is a pretty good kid. We are going out to Hiko for Halloween/Nevada Day and I can't wait to put him in the little horse costume that I bought him like three months.

Last month when we went to the cardiologist she told us that Dalley needed the H1N1 Vaccine, the regular flu shot, and the RSV Vaccine. I called our Piute health clinic and they had never heard of the RSV shot so I called our pediatrician. They said they could give Dalley those shots, but we had to have pre-approval from the insurance for the RSV one. I took Dalley to Cedar to get the other two shots. When I got to the pediatrician's office I thought there is no point in coming back for the RSV shot I will just pay for it and get reimbursed by the insurance. It costs $700!! I could not believe it. I told the nurse never mind. I never could have imagined one teeny little shot costing soooo much. I guess that is why I have never heard of this before, it must not be very common to get one. I am so nervous about Dalley getting some form of the gomboo this winter and spending more time in the hospital. I finally decided that it doesn't do a lot of good to worry, all I can do is take all the precautions and pray for the best.

Snow? Already?

2009-10-08T09:05:00.000-07:00

So yesterday Celeste came over from Beaver and we went out to a place in the middle of nowhere in Kane County to work. The federal dirt roads in Kane County aren't maintained because of a dispute between the county and the BLM. Anyhow I was pulling a large enclosed trailer with a huge 6 seater side by side. The roads were so bad we decided to unload the side by side and just drive that to our different destinations. It was a good idea until it decided to snow. We were both dressed for Fall weather not full blown winter weather. We about froze to death. I couldn't believe that it was already snowing. I guess winter is here. There go my hopes for an Indian Summer.

Picture Overload

2009-10-06T10:03:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted any pictures in a long time so I have a lot to post now. These are just a few random pictures from the last month or so. Also just a note; we took Dalley to the cardiologist and she said that he is looking really good. She doesn't need to see him for another year, unless he has other problems.

Dalley at Grandma and Grandpa Hatch's. He and I went out there for a week and we had a great time. Dalley is his grandpa's little buddy. Every night he would go do chores with grandpa. He was always afraid grandpa was going to leave him when I made him go put his boots on. he didn't like leaving grandma's house very much but he was sure happy to see daddy when he got home. I had a great time having one on one time with him. He is getting so big

Dalley always has to be wearing boots. Even if he isn't wearing clothes. If he doesn't have boots on he will go find them and bring them to me to put o him.

Grandma reading to Dalley. Dalley doesn't have a very long attention span, but he loves getting read to for a minute or two.

This is the tarantula that my dad brought home when we were in Nevada. It gave me the heebie jeebies.

Dalley and Dustin swinging at the park in Circleville.

Dustin slicked Dalley's hair back and when he put these glasses on he was a cool dude.

I was trying to take a picture of the Beaver Mountain on the west side of Circleville. It was really pretty with all of the changing leaves but my camera doesn't have a very good zoom. Now it has frozen so much the leaves are mostly gone. Circleville is surrounded by beautiful mountains.

Dalley playing with his favorite toy, baling twine.

Dustin is breaking this horse for a local guy here. Dalley and I went with him when he saddled him the first time. After he got the saddle on he of course went to bucking. Dalley didn't like that one bit and after that he didn't want his dad going anywhere near that horse. Every time Dustin would get in the pen with the horse Dalley would yell uh-uh to his dad.

I love this picture because Dalley looks so happy, but he also looks kind of old.

This is Dalley all duded up for church, I thought he looked so handsome.

This is his first shiner, he lost a fight with the kitchen chair.

Belle, Michael, and Dalley, I thought that this was a cool set up with the swing by the old fence and the corn field in the background

Daisy, Belle, Dalley, and Michael, I finally got Dalley to look at the camera and Michael had his eyes closed. This picture was taken when the kids came over to keep Dalley and me company one day. We had a fund day with them. Dalley loves his cousins.

Dalley loves his boots and he loves dad's hat.Another Sunday outfit that I thought was too cute. Don't you just love my pink bathroom?

Dalley got stuck in the toy basket

Dalley loves to play with my clothes and put them on. I think he will be really embarrassed around age 15.

I love how his hair flips out, I think I will cry the day we finally cut it. He has really pretty hair. The boys are always luckier than the girls in my family when it comes to pretty hair.

Dalley with grandma and grandpa in Cedar.

When we spent the night in Cedar, when we were leaving the next morning Dalley insisted on taking the suitcase to the car. He pulled it all the way out there. It was pretty cute.

Dalley in the Saddle shop over to Sorensen's. He loves sitting on our saddles. I have my saddle on a stand in the living room and he loves to just sit on it and pretend to ride.

This is the old saddle shop on our ranch. I took a bunch of picture around the ranch when I was home last night, because everything is so pretty this time of year.
This is a picture of the pasture, I love the mountains that border our ranch. I think they are very majestic. This is my grandpa's old shop
This is a view toward the corrals and the silo, looking south.

this is a picture my dad took out to Pine Creek by our cabin, this is the old corral, and a whole lotta rabbit brush. It is pretty right now, but I have spent a lot of time trying to get rid of the horrid stuff.

This is a picture of the old house, the cabin is behind the tree, it is in better shape than the house is and it is older by a lot of years.
Just an alfalfa field

A different view on the south side of the silo looking north.

Dalley giving his grandpa a hug goodbye, he was sure sad to leave them.

The Only Constant is Change

2009-09-23T09:56:00.000-07:00

We have a had a busy couple of weeks lately. I can not believe how fast time passes these days. Work has been so busy for me it is ridiculous. We are working on some big projects for Livestock grazing that have been taking a lot of time. We have been going through extensive engineering investigations for two ponds that weren't compacted properly when the dam was built. All of this takes a lot of time and paperwork. Dustin and Dalley have been very patient with me through it all and so has our amazing babysitter.

We did take some time out to have a little fun though. A couple of weeks ago Dalley and I met my mom and dad in Cedar. We spent the night and did shopping and things the next day. Dalley loves his grandma and grandpa and he had a lot of fun.
The next weekend Dustin and I went with Anne and Chiz to the Bar G Wranglers at Bryce. The newspaper had a 50% off coupon for the show so it wasn't even that expensive. We had a really good time. There were a lot of tourists there that were amazed by our boys with their cowboy hats. There was even one guy at a table behind us who would video Dustin and Chiz when they weren't looking. I even got Dustin to dance with me a little during the show which is always fun.

A couple of weeks ago I was out in Kane County measuring some acreage that had been bull-dozed to take the trees out. It was really steep so I had to get off the wheeler to walk the area. The dirt was really soft because of the recent treatment and at one point I stumbled and knelt down. I didn't think anything of it until I got home that night and looked at my leg and I had a huge bruise. Well the bruise didn't get better and it started spreading down my leg. By the next Tuesday I was bruised from my knee to my ankle and if anyone touched my leg or I bumped it, I thought I would die. Claudia made me go to the Dr. and it turns out that the bruise had caused me to develop blood clots. They made me spend a couple of days staying off it, but anyone with kids knows that is easier said than done. They also gave me some high powered medication to get rid of it. Anyhow the swelling is gone and I think the clot is too. At least I am hoping so.

Finally the bad news. After working his backside off for the last three years, Dustin was laid off from his job last Saturday. It has been a little bit of a transition for us. Luckily he has been able to find work chopping corn for the dairy and he is going to do some day riding for some local ranchers helping them gather cows, but past that we are not sure what he is going to do. There just isn't much work around here. He is training a few horses which will bring in a little money and as longs as he is herding cows he can continue training a few dogs. We are just hoping that something will come up so that he doesn't have to leave us. Dalley is such a daddy's boy I am not sure he could handle being away from his dad for very long. So,if anyone hears of any job opportunities let us know.