4th of July

The 4th of July was a blast! This year we actually participated in our community's ritual celebrations they hold here each year. Plus we got to enjoy it with my fam! My parents lived in Middleton with us, so we all went to their house for some good country food. Plus Allen and Maria got to be here with us. However, we really missed Juliea, Darin, and all they're beautiful kids as well as Mel and Curtis!! Each year Middleton has a Huge street fair with free hot dogs, drinks, and bouncy houses for the kids. The local police put on a dog handling show, followed by a nice community parade and a huge "hose down" from the fire department. At the end of the parade the fire department turns on all their hoses and everyone gets wet! Lets just say it was the biggest water fight I have ever been apart of. On both sides of the street there are trucks spraying each other, as well as some driving down the road with hoses and one guy up on a huge latter in the middle of the intersection spraying everyone! Just take a look at the fun pics!

This summer!

Ok, so I'm totally behind in blogging and summer is over now. But the kids are asleep and so is Hugh and it's about 9:30pm......I put ALL the "kids" to bed, FINALLY! Now I have time to blog. We went camping at MansCreek for a weekend, borrowed Casey's boat, and had fun fishing. It was Libby's first boat ride. She liked it and wanted to walk all over the boat. The boat was small and if it got off balance to much we would all be swimming for our lives, so I made her stay put! However, I did take some great pics. Funny thing was, it was Libby's first time camping when she was old enough to know what we were doing. Before we set up camp we spotted a Doe with her fawn eating some nice grass. We all excitedly sat still and watched. Libby was a little scared of the Deer and when it got dark she worriedly said; "Deer coming!" Of course, I explaned that the deer went nah-night and we don't have to worry. All night she kept asking me with the question tone of voice; "Mommy...deer nah-night?" Then when it was bed time she was very upset to learn she would be sleeping in a tent. She would say, no mommy my bed, go home! It was a rough night followed by a fun day. One of the pics is of a deer swimming across the lake! It was so neat to see that!

Our House.

Here are some very recent pics of our house. Since I took the last pic we have done a few things different. This spring we got a nice return on our taxes and our neighbor was bugging us about a fence. So, we put up a fence, and we did some trade with our friend Burt to get some nice concrete curbing done. Here it is!

Update on the Garden....

Our Community Garden did very well! We had more tomatoes, corn, potatoes, zucchini, squash,onions, peppers, carrots, green beans, sweat peas, watermelon, and honeydew than we knew what to do with. Our freezer is full! Here is a pic of all the potatoes, the little girl on top is Ali. She is one of the "community garden" family kids. We grew reds and purple viking potatoes. They are so big! I have never seen ones this big in the store. All of these potatoes are feeding three families, and our portion is probably too much. We have already given lots away and have plenty more for the winter. Our Strawberries we only grew in our back yard. They were a huge success! We got about 6 bowl fulls and a few stragglers through out the end of the season. I froze some but we went Berry wild and ate them everyday. They were the best tasting I have ever eaten. I do have tons of canned tomatoes, as well as peaches. We found an empty farm house that has a peach tree just loaded with peaches. We and some friends went and picked them. We made peach salsa, peach pie filling, and froze the rest.

Hunting!

Hugh took me out on a Cow Elk hunt this last month. I was hoping we could get it all over with in one day because it was a very busy week for me. He took me to what he and his fellow hunter men call "The Arena". It is shaped like a stadium. You start out at the very top steps (hill) and it has a range of hill circling a very beautiful canyon full of trees, bushes, and Elk. We hear the Elk bugling first thing in the morning! It is so loud because of the shape of the mountains, it echos off of them. We are able to somehow sneak down through the trees to give us some cover from all the watchful cow eyes. As we get closer to a specific bugle sound we have to belly crawl through the tall grass. Looking down I see a monster Elk and his cows are every where. Hugh is whispering; Janess, that one right there, wait, no, that one over there....... Suddenly I see a really big cow. She steps right in front of me. I scope her out, while Hugh tells me her range (about 140yards). I put my cross hairs on her close to the front shoulder and squeeze the trigger. BANG! Looking up from the blast, all I see is the elk running everywhere. We wait a while and then head down to find her. No blood trail. I was positive I hit her. Still no blood! An hour later we founder her at the bottom of this canyon dead. Still, no blood. I thought she died of a heart attack. While we are cutting into her our curiosity is growing..how did she die? We finally find a tiny hole right on her shoulder. It turns out that the bullet hit the bone, and went into the heart (She was standing at an angel) and fragmented into her lungs. The bone broke up and caused the hole to be sealed, not letting any blood out. So, she bled internally. Then we hiked (it took about four hours) to get out of that canyon with all that meat. I think next time I will hit the smallest one. It was great because it all happened just as I had planned! Enjoy the pics.

Colton!

Colton likes to read. He is really good at reading the scriptures during scripture time. He also loves to read mystery books and anything that tells you how to build fun things. He is still our little bug lover! He has a stink bug in a fish bowl he is keeping as his pet. He feeds it apple slices, any kind of juicy fruit, and the occasional grass hopper. Every where we go he looks for bugs to find. The other day while walking to the park, Libby stepped on a spider. Colton was furious with her! He gave her a good lecture about all wild bugs being part of mother nature and the gifts that Heavenly Father has given us, so we shouldn't Kill them" just because"! Of course Libby decides it would be best to step on every bug she sees just to make Colton mad. If Colton gets the opportunity to go hunting with his dad he is so excited, can't sleep, and has the best attituded I have ever seen! He does everything you ask him and is very attentive when your talking to him. This is very unlike Colton. Last time he got to go with Uncle Seth, Howard, and Hugh Antelope hunting. Howard was very impressed with him. He didn't complain about all the walking, or his very cold feet, and he got a very good anatomy lesson when they quartered up the Antelope. School is very different. Colton has discovered being the class clown is way better than listening to the teacher. He also talks way too much. He is worse than a girl. He can literally talk a leg off a donkey! He is a very smart kid too. I just wish he would let all his smartness out in his school work and not on me!

Libby!

Potty training! Libby loves to go potty when its a community effort. She is a very social girl. If Kolbyn or Bella is going potty Libby wants to be right there, encouraging them and taking turns. When it comes time to do it all by herself, when no one is around (except boring mom) she just won't do it. So, here is Libby and Kolbyn washing hands after taking potty turns. I think it is just adorable! Libby is our little attitude girl. She knows what she wants and exactly how to get it! Weather its finding the gum, or cuddling with Daddy, she is a pro. Don't ever underestimate her abilities to manipulate, find, or sneak away. She most recently has figured out she can blame things on Colton. Of course she has learned from the best (Colton), it took Colton a lot longer to figure that all out. I guess having an older brother to learn from helps. She also loves men. If she meets a a man she has never seen before (like at church) she will let them hold her and she is very friendly. When it comes to women, she is quite the opposite! I am very worried my parenting skills might not be good enough to keep her out of some serious trouble when she is a teenager. She is still small for her age, well below the weight chart (she's not even on it), and looking at the pic above you have to remember Kolbyn is only a year and a half! She is 5th percentile on the height chart. This 2 1/2 year old is only 24lbs, but definitely smarter than a 2nd grader! Don't get me wrong, she is very lovable, and sweat, but that is why she is so dangerous. Its hard to get mad at her, she just loves to smile and laugh which often throws a wrench in our efforts to discipline.