The Only Constant is Change

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.

This is what we have been up to

So we have had a lot of fun the last couple of weeks. After the Piute County Fair was over it was then time for the Garfield County Fair. We ended up going to Panguitch and had a BBQ at Anne and Chiz's house with Chiz's sisters. It was fun Dustin even cooked the hamburgers. While we were there Dalley fell in love with Anne's niece. I tell you that kid finds women wherever he goes. He is quite the little Casanova. After the BBQ we went to the rodeo and Dalley rode his first sheep. He wasn't very happy with the crash helmet they made him wear but other than that he did pretty good. I am a little bummed though because the arena was indoors and it was so dark I didn't get a very good picture.
Last week we took Dalley to Primary Children's for tests. We met with the pulmonary specialist and he determined that Dalley probably has Immobile Cilia Syndrome. he also found that Dalley has a distended diaphragm. He said that it was really obvious on every x-ray Dalley has had and he was amazed that nobody has caught it yet. Anyway what that means is that on Dalley's left side his diaphragm is distended up onto his lung. This reduces his lung capacity and makes it harder for him to breathe. He said that as Dalley gets older we will watch him and if his breathing ends up being too limited they will have to operate to fix it. He also put Dalley on a twice daily medication that is supposed to make it easier for him to breathe. The next day we went to the kidney specialist and they said he is doing really well. His left kidney is dilated more than she would like to see but she thinks that we can wait until February to do more testing to find out why.
Then on Saturday we went to Panguitch and went to the Demolition Derby with Anne and Chiz. It was my and Dalley's first time at a derby. Dalley did ok until the first big hit then he didn't think it was so cool anymore. We then went to Dustin's grandma's house because they were having a party for her 84th birthday Dustin really enjoyed seeing a lot of his relatives he hasn't seen in awhile. After that we went with Anne and Chiz to play cards. It was a lot of fun.
Last night Anne and I went to Cedar to watch a play at the Shakespearean Festival. It was called Private Lives and it was roll on the floor funny. I laughed a lot and the actors did a really good job. It was fun to have a girls night, I haven't had one of those in years.

Here is a picture of Dalley eating a carrot right out of my garden. He picked it himself and didn't even bother washing the dirt off first. I wasn't too happy about that.

Here is Dalley playing with Desiree his newest love interest.

Dalley and Dustin watching the horses at the rodeo

This is Chiz's sister Heather. I promised her a shout out on the blog
This is my attempt at taking a picture of Anne and me, I guess it didn't work so well, but Anne looks cute.

Dalley has an obsession with putting on other peoples shoes. He decided to steal Anne's boots

Dalley in his cute new pajamas

Cutest little sleeping baby ever

This is a pretty cool picture Heidi took of Dustin roping one of Clint's bull

Its Fair Time

I love this time of year because it is when all the fairs are going. I love these small county fairs they have around here. Especially the Piute County Fair. They do a great job and it is a lot of fun. I have loved the fair since I first started dating Dustin. This year was no disappointment.

On Monday night they had a family water day at the park. They had big water slides and pools and activities set up for all the kids. Tuesday night they had a concert at the arena, we didn't make it because Dustin worked late. Wednesday night they had a family feud game and the Westwoods had a team. It was Dustin, his brother Dean, His sister Jill, Jill's husband Mike, and their cousin Spode. I was supposed to be on the team but when i saw what they had to do I chickened out. I am not big into public humiliation, but I am glad other people are because it was a lot of fun to watch.

Thursday was the little buckaroo rodeo. We kept Dalley out of it because it was a rainy day and I figured he probably shouldn't be competing in a rodeo less than a week after getting out of the hospital. Dustin had to go though because he runs the chutes every year. He loves it, for weeks after every little kid in the county says hi to him because they remember him helping them on their sheep or their calf.

Friday night was the first night of the rodeo. Our friends Anne and Chiz came to the rodeo with us. I was glad because then I had someone to sit by when Dustin was doing his events. Also because they are really fun to hang out with. Unfortunately they couldn't come the next night because Anne got really sick.Dustin packed a flag in the Grand Entry and he also participated in the wild horse ride, he didn't cover but thankfully he didn't get hurt either. I wasn't too sure about him competing in rough stock. I like it better when he just team ropes. It seems safer even though he did roll his horse over on him the other night when he was roping.

Saturday is the most fun day. It starts out with a parade then there are all sorts of activities at the park. We hung around the park for awhile and then we drove to Panguitch for lunch. We headed home to get ready for the rodeo. Dalley went with us to the rodeo on Friday night but on Saturday he went to Panguitch to spend the night with Aunt Haley and his cousin Jax. At the Saturday night rodeo Dustin packed a flag again, then he did the hide race and he won! Then he competed in the wild horse ride again, he didn't win that but his good friend Wyatt did so that was alright. The horse he was riding twisted in the air and landed on his back. I was pretty happy Dustin came off when he did or he would have been smooshed.

After the rodeo was the dance. They have a live band and it is a really good time. We headed over with my friend Heidi and we had a really good time. We stayed until 2:00 in the morning then we went back to Heidi's to sit around and B.S. for awhile. We didn't get home until almost 4:00. It was a good time though I am glad it only comes around once a year.

Unfortunately I didn't get very many pictures. Here are a few of the ones I did get.

Dalley and his cousin Michael at the Family Feud Night, they are buddies

Dustin doing the obstacle course in the family feud

Jill doing one of the Family Feud games

My handsome husband carrying the Ford flag in the Grand Entry. I thought it was funny that they gave him that flag because he hates Fords. He is riding Dalley's colt half-Pint. Isn't he a pretty little Bay?

This is a picture of my dirty faced little cowboy at the Friday night rodeo

Dalley and Dustin picking up candy at the parade

Dalley and Dustin in the back of Will's truck.

July in Review

So I figured it was about time to post about our July goings ons. It has been a fun yet busy month. There were fires near Panguitch and they put me on the BAER team. That took up quite a bit of time and I ended up working a lot of hours. Thank goodness I have an awesome babysitter. Here are some other things we did.

Panguitch has a balloon festival the last weekend of June every year. On Saturday night they do the glow, where they park all the balloons on main street and after dark they glow. Out friends Anne and Chiz invited us to go to the glow with them this year. It was a lot of fun. Dalley went to Grandma Cooper's house with Grandma Dyann and we hung out and had a great time. We ended up at Anne's Friends house sitting around the fire. It was a lot of fun. Here are my cowboys ready to go to the festival.

This is the only picture I got of the balloons glowing. I didn't want to look like too much of a tourist.

We went to the ranch for the 4th. We go every year. It has become a tradition to go and watch the parade at my grandma's house hang out all day and then watch the fireworks there as well. I was able to convince Dustin to take a couple of days off work so we went out early so that Dustin could help my dad with stuff he needed done. We went out Wednesday. Thursday Dustin helped my dad most of the day then we left Dalley with Grandma and Grandpa and went to Mesquite. While we were in mesquite we bought me a new car. It is a 2009 Ford Edge I have wanted one of these since they came out and now was a good time to sell my truck so we traded it in on a new Edge. I really like it. It gets a lot better fuel mileage than my truck did. Friday we went back to the ranch and Luke and Kayce came. Then we all went to the parade on Saturday and hung out at grandma's till after the fireworks. We left Sunday and came back to Circleville. It was a fun weekend.

This is Dalley doing his monkey face on the way to Nevada. We call it his monkey face cause he started doing it when we were at the zoo in Portland and he saw the monkeys. It makes me laugh really hard.

Dalley helping grandma load the dishwasher. He isn't as big of a help as he thinks he is.

I just love this picture. Isn't that just the cutest little face. This is my new car Dustin and Dalley with the new car

My Grandpa and Dalley watching the parade.
This is Lukie, Lukes youngest boy, he is such a character. They broke open a ball and he made it into a mullet wig then wore it to the parade.

Everyone watching the parade.
Dalley loves his boots

A couple Sundays ago Dalley and I went with Dustin to watch Clint buck his bulls out. Some of the bulls were pushing on the gate and of course it opened and they got out. It took the next two hours to catch them as they ran around Junction. As soon as they got out Dustin ran to the horse corrals and saddled two horses. It took him less than ten minutes and he was back on the chase. He was able to rope one in the field but the horse he was on wasn't strong enough to drag it so he had to wait there until they caught the others and came to help him. When they were done Dalley got to ride his colt Half Pint. He loves riding horses and throws a fit whenever it is time to get off. Here are two of the bulls running down the highway through Junction

Dustin out in the field with the bull he had roped

Dustin and Dalley on Half Pint. He is Dalley's colt out of our Bay Mare
A couple of Saturdays ago we went to Cedar to do some shopping. We decided to take the long way home and stopped at this restaurant for Dinner. The Hatch Express Engine Steak House.

It is starting to become a tradition for us to spend the 24th of July in Escalante with Luke and Kayce. We went this year and had a blast.Kayce does a great job of putting everything together. We went to the rodeo on Friday night. Saturday was the parade, the scout lunch, the town program, and of course fireworks. It was a great weekend.

Dustin and Dalley at the rodeo

Cody riding his first sheep. He did pretty good but when he fell off he got stepped on and was hurting pretty bad.

Luke held on to Lukie and the sheep went faster than they did

I thought this picture of the boys was cute. On the left Luke is hugging Cody and on the right my dad is talking to Lukie.

The 25th was Lukie's birthday. Dalley fell in love with this scooter he got.

My dad and Dalley watching the parade. Dalley loves his grandpa

Lukie and L.E. watching the parade in the stroller

The kids were excited to see Smoky the Bear. I didn't get a very good picture of him with Dalley.

Dalley is Home

So after a long week in the hospital they let Dalley out last Friday but still on a little bit of oxygen. Then yesterday I took him back to the Dr and they took him off the oxygen completely. We are so excited to have him home and free of the cumbersome oxygen tank. While he was in the hospital they did some tests because he has been prone to respiratory infections and they wanted to figure out why. They discovered that he has an issue with the hairs in in his lungs that are supposed to act as a filter to get rid of mucus. They are not working properly. They told us this is common in people who have the heart problems that Dalley has. This means that we will need to see a pulmonary specialist to see if there is anything we can do to fix this. I am glad that they finally found something. He has had his share of gunk between RSV, pneumonia twice, and this last thing. I hope that we can figure out how to slow these things down from happening.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers, thoughts, and calls.

Here are some pictures of Dalley's stay in the hospital.

The Panguitch Hospital doesn't have a crib so he slept in the regular bed. He looks so tiny in that big old bed.

Dalley and his Daddy.

Reading his Farm Book

Dalley Update

Just a little update for those of you who know about Dalley's issues and to tell the rest. Dalley has been in the hospital since Sunday. We took him to the emergency room because he wasn't able to breathe very well. He was struggling to breathe and he was retracting around his ribs like crazy. We took him in and they did an x-ray and some tests. They wanted to give him a breathing treatment but I told them I didn't think that he could have albuterol because of his heart. they called a cardiologist at Primary Children's and they told him they could give him a different breathing treatment. they gave it to him and his poor little heart rate went up to like 230. Then the cardiologist called back and said that he shouldn't have that medicine either. So they admitted him to the hospital and put him on oxygen. Because they can't do the breathing treatments we are just giving him steroids and waiting. Every time they try to wean him off the oxygen his saturation drops to 82 or lower. they can't take him off til he can maintain at 90. We are just waiting for him to improve right now, but it is a slow process. they have done another x-ray this morning and checked his white blood count. His blood showed that he is dehydrated but nothing more serious.We are still waiting on the results from the x-ray.
Anyhow I will update when I know more.

Random Pictures

Here are a bunch of random pictures of things that we have been doing over the last couple of months. I get such a build up because I don't ever put the pictures off my camera onto the computer. That is why there are so many.

The other day Dalley went to a water party and then when he got home he fell off the porch and conked his head on the side walk. I was trying to take a picture of the bump on his head, but I had to laugh at how funny this face is.

Dalley and his new boots. He loves boots ,but I am having a hard time finding ones that will fit his funny little feet so he is getting quite a collection.

This is Dalley winking. It is seriously the cutest thing I have ever seen. If you wink at him he will wink back. He gets really into it and concentrates hard. He is such a flirt.

Riding his new four wheeler Dustin just had to buy him.

The cute recliner we bought him in Cedar. He loves things his size so when he saw this little recliner he fell in love with it. It is cute to see him all kicked back drinking a bottle.

The very dangerous cow I bought him to bounce on. It is even too dangerous for Dustin's four year old niece. It is a major tipping hazard.

One day Dalley went to his aunt Haley's house. She had a bag of clothes for him and he found this shirt and wanted it on. After that he wouldn't take it off so he wore it all day. Even though it was long sleeved and a Halloween shirt.

Dustin's sister and brother-in-law came over for a bbq. I think this picture is pretty cute.

Dalley out in the yard posing by the pretty flowers. My yard has so many flowers in it. I love it.

This is Michael posing in one of our trees. He is such a good kid.

Daisy, she is so photogenic.

Belle in the same tree, She has a temporary tattoo on her forehead.

Sorry if this one is a little graphic. Dustin was shoeing horses for a guy here in town. The horse dropped his foot off of Dustin's leg and a nail that was sticking out sliced him open. I couldn't get him to go to the emergency room so he just had an EMT stereo strip it together. They only held for like 8 hours so now he has a huge scar from it.

Dustin should have been a barber. he loves cutting every one's hair, or rather buzzing every one's hair.

Dalley wearing Dad's old stinky hat

Driving the rake tractor with Uncle Dean
Sucking on a rubber ducky