Stetson likes to move it!

Stetson's favorite movies are the Madagascar movies. He loves the music, especially the "Move It" song, and likes to dance to it. Quite often, while I am working on clogging routines, Steston tries to mimmick what I am doing. I have always been too slow to get it on video, but last night Stetson was in the performing mood. He climbed up on our wood box, and was really movin' it - and there wasn't even any music playing. Hope you enjoy his "clogging routine" as much as we did! (sorry about the quality and lighting, as noted before, I am not a professional)

Before I was a Mom. . .

My sister-in-law sent me this poem in an e-mail, and I liked it so much I had to post it - this is dedicated to all the wonderful moms out there - especially mine!
Before I was a Mom,
I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.
Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on, pooped on, chewed on, peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.
Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child
so doctors could do tests, or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.
Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because
I didn't want to put him down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces
when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small
could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.
Before I was a Mom,
I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small
could make me feel so important and happy.
Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night
every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love,
the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much,
before I was a Mom.

One year older and wiser too?

Well, I'm not sure about the wiser part, but I am a year older - I guess it happens to all of us. I don't feel any older than I did in High School, except that I have a few more responsibilities now. I remember my Grandmother saying, "I still feel so young, but when I look in the mirror I see an old lady!" I hope I feel the same way when I get old. For me, a birthday is a time for reflection; I have now been on this earth for 27 years - have I done any good? I sure hope so. My life has been touched by so many wonderful people - great friends, teachers, coaches, and the best family in the whole world! What more could a girl ask for? Thanks to all my friends and family, I love you all!

I had a wonderful birthday, as usual. Kenny got me a beautiful bouquet of flowers and had them delivered to me at work. My co-workers put together a wonderful - and yummy - navajo taco lunch, complete with homemade ice cream. Okay, the party wasn't just for me, there were two other employees celebrating birthdays this month - Happy Birthday to Curtiss and Betty! We went over to my parents' house where my mom made yummy Chinese food for dinner, and Kenny made frape for dessert. It was a great day, and I am looking forward to my last present - a date with my sweetheart on Saturday to see the BYU folk dancers perform! Yay for Birthdays!

Now They're Gone. . .

We have these two huge Elm trees in our backyard that are probably as old as our house (85 years or so). If you have ever had an elm tree in your yard, you know that they are very trashy! All last summer I would cringe every time the wind blew because I knew that my lawn would once again be covered in limbs. Also, I have little baby elm trees popping up all over my yard - no, I didn't plant them! Okay, if we would have pruned these old trees, they probably wouldn't have been so trashy - but still. . . The other problem was a very real danger to my house. One of the trees was splitting down the middle, and if it was to ever split all the way, half of that tree would fall right on top of my house (my bedroom, of course). Anyway, Kenny has been telling me for a couple years that he would cut them down for me, and hasn't gotten around to it. So with spring in the air, and the grass turing green, I started having these nightmares of raking my lawn EVERY day (or at least twice a week), and I decided that I am NOT going to do that again! So I called up Teryl Pugh, and he agreed to cut down the trees for me - for a small fee of course - but it was worth it to me! So of course he came while I was at work, and I was thinking, "dang, it sure would have been nice to get some pictures!" But miracles happen every day; when I got home from work they were cleaning up the second tree, and Kenny said, "hey look at these pictures I took" - Holy Cow, my dear sweet husband remembered to take pictures - yay! He said that when they cut down the tree that was about to split in half, right where it was splitting was a huge pocket of water - no wonder it was rotting out! Teryl stuck his arm in there, and the water went clear up to his elbow - pretty crazy! Since it is spring break and the kids are out of school, Teryl brought his whole family over to help clean up the trees, and they did an awesome job! They also did a great job of keeping Stetson entertained for the afternoon. He just layed on my bed and watched them out the window for the longest time - must have been pretty interesting. So, now they're gone, and I am looking forward to having a little nicer yard this summer - hey, we can always hope, huh?

BEFORE:

 DURING:

AFTER:



The Winter Range

Stetson and I have found that if we want to spend time with dad, we have to get in and go with him. So one day we went with him to put mineral tubs out for the cows in Point Lookout, a pasture on our winter range. It was cold and windy, so we didn't get to spend much time outside, but it was fun to spend the day together as a family.

Okay, so I am not a photographer, and Stetson's face is blurry, but I still thought it was a cute picture.

There's my boys! Man I love those guys!

Last Thursday we went with Kenny to Polly's, another pasture on our winter range, where last year we put in a well with a pump run by solar power. It hasn't been working like it should, so Kenny wanted to go down and turn it on to run some water into the tank. We took our dogs, Boots and Bo, and lucky for us, it was a beautiful, sunny day. Stetson had a blast playing in the dirt. He thought it was great fun to throw dirt and rocks into the water tank - sorry cows!Bo and Stetson, waiting for the tank to fillBo was a lot more mellow without his pal Ridge, and it gave Stetson an opportunity to play with him.
Stetson found a big stick and then perched himself up on this rock; it looks to me like he is King of the Hill.It just doesn't get any better than this for a little boy - covered in dirt, examining a stick.

Firsts

I saw this on my sister-in-law Alicia's blog and thought it was cute, so I gave it a try - enjoy:
1.Who was your first Prom date? Casey Spillman, sophmore year, 5 days after I turned 16.
2. Do you still talk to your first love? Every day - I didn't even know what love was until I met Kenny :)
3. What was the first time you drove like? Not too bad; I think we were hauling hay - that is a good way to learn.
4. What was your first job? I started teaching clogging in my basement when I was 12 - can you believe people actually paid me at that age? Crazy!
5. What was your first car? A Celebrity named Old Blue
6. Who was the first person to call you today? Jeanna
7. Who is the first person you thought of this morning? Stetson. He started crying at 5:30 am.
8. Who was your first grade teacher? Mrs. Roberts
9. Who was your first best friend, and do you still talk? My sister Candice, in fact I think she has always been by best friend; yeah, we still talk - ALOT!
10. Where was your first sleepover? Probably Debbie Laws'. Our families were good friends and we had sleepovers a lot.
11.Where did you go on your first airplane ride? On my honeymoon to Orlando, Florida - thanks Kenny!
12. Who was the first person you talked to today? Kenny. He was supposed to leave on the truck at 4:00 this morning, so when I woke up at 5:30 and he was still asleep I woke him up and asked him if he had missed his alarm - sure enough!
13. Who's wedding were you in for the first time? The first one I remember was my cousin Shaundra's first wedding - I was a flower girl.
14. What was the first thing that you did this morning? Made Stetson a bottle.
15. Who was the first concert that you went to? I heard the ones at the fairgrounds don't count, but since they are the only ones I have been to . . . Blackhawk.
16. First tattoo? Never!!!
17. First piercing? My ears on my 8th birthday (I had waited two long years after Candice got hers done!)
18. First foreign country you have been to? None
19. First movie you remember seeing? I have no idea, but the first time I ever went to a drive-in theater I watched Jurasic Park.
20. When was your first detention? I was never in detention, but I did have to stay after school when I was in 5th grade because my friends and I made another girl feel left out and she told the teacher on us.
21. What was the first state that you lived in? Utah
22. Who was your first roommate? Kenny (don't worry, it was after we were married! I lived at home until then)
23. First funeral you attended? The first one I can remember is my Grandpa Grover's.
24. Who was your first kiss? Brad Harris
25. What is the first thing you do when you get on the computer? Check my e-mail

My Joy

After kind of a rough day at clogging, I went to my sister-in-law, Suzie's house to pick Stetson up. When I asked if he had been good, she said, "Stetson is always good - you are so blessed." I smiled and said, "yeah, I know". But then on the way home it hit me! I really am blessed! Two years ago I didn't think I would ever be able to have children, and now I have Stetson. I know I am probably a little bias, but I think he is the best little boy in the world! He is so cute and fun and sweet and wonderful! I couldn't have asked for a better kid! He really is the joy of my life! Definately a miracle that I pray I will never take for granted!Last week Kenny volunteered me to feed the missionaries. It was a very hard thing for me because I am the world's worst cook, a terrible host, and I can't make conversation with people I don't know to save my life. I was nervous, but it went well. The missionaries were kind and friendly, and I was able to talk to them about the missionaries in my family. One of the missionaries gave Stetson a pass-along card with a picture of Jesus on the front. Stetson immediately recognized him and said, pointing to the card, "Jesus". The missionary, who has only been out a few weeks, was amazed, "he knows Jesus". Yes he does. From the time Stetson was tiny he has loved pictures of Jesus, and as soon as he could talk he would point to them say Jesus. I really believe that Stetson had a special relationship with his older brother Jesus before he came to earth. He is such a special little guy!

On Saturday Stetson and I went to the Middle School to watch my sister McKady play volleyball. We were sitting by several people from Doloras, Colorado. Stetson would walk up to them, look them in the eye, and smile until they made eye contact and smiled back. As you can imagine, he won them over. He played with the kids for quite awhile, and made several new friends. I really admire that because I remember as a kid, I would hide behind my mom and pray that no one would look at me, and especially that no one would try to talk to me! And here is my son, at 16 months old, making friends with perfect strangers. It was a long day, and I think he made it more enjoyable for all of us! What a great kid!

We can no longer keep Stetson in his crib because he can climb up on his changing table. But, I guess he likes it up there, and has fallen asleep up there several times. Isn't he precious?