Weekend in Paradise

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

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

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

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;

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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

The birthday weekend

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

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.