Grandpa Virg

My sweet Grandpa Virg passed away after struggling with Alzheimer's. He was the sweetest man and he always looked so nice and smelled so good. He took such good care of my grandma and was always kind. I love the memories I have of him from when I was little. He was the first to teach me that you could break the sabbath. He took me to Grouse Creek a few times and taught me things I probably would have never learned otherwise, like it is okay to cook with beer, leaches don't kill you, and to bite a stick while your grandpa pulls cactus needles out of your leg.  I also love the memories I have of him lately. When he first started forgetting he was so cute and when you would ask a questions he would say "O I know I should know that but I just can't make a full loop". He had a hard time remembering the present but had no problem telling stories from his youth, and he didn't skip a cuss word while telling them. I love how much he loved Dean, and how Dean loved to hear all of his stories. He gave Dean the last two pair of his cowboy boots because he wanted a real cowboy to 'keep them working'. He loved Josie and her red hair, it reminded him of his Sharon. He was so cute to my kids. O I just love Grandpa Virg and it was fun to see everyone at his funeral. I'm sure there was a great reunion in heaven!

Winter has come and gone

My basement is flooded from all the rain and its a real drag. Dean comes in covered in mud every night because there is so much mud and water everywhere. I'm happy that spring is on its way but Dean is sad to see the snow go. He didn't get to snowmobile as much as he would have liked due to the slow snow. He did managed to get a few coyotes, go to Alice Lake, get some good rides in, and bury his snowmobile in a small avalanche. 

When the snow started to slide Dean jumped onto the back of Dalton's snowmobile who was in front of him. They were able to beat it but it took them forever to unbury Dean's machine. I was surprised when he texted me these pictures, if I was him I would have never told me this happened. 

Dean took the kids snowmobiling in the field a lot this year. 

They both love going but Josie is defiantly more of a dare devil than Trig. 

Sara

Casey texted me to look at a horse on KSL and within 5 minutes I bought it and made arrangements for my dad to pick it up. Josie named her Roxy like the pony Roxy but when Dean brought her home she changed her name to Sara. She will probably change it again. We had some cold weather so we didn't get to try Sara for a few days but today we rode her for a long time and she is exactly what we need. She doesn't flinch at dogs or cows and does good on the road. She limps a little when she trots but still has enough gumption to go. We all fell in love with her today and hope she is with us for a while. She is 24 but hopefully will help Josie learn to ride and gain more confidence. It will be nice to have two kid horses so Josie and Trig aren't continually fighting about who gets to ride on front on Scout. 

Josie loved riding Sara and learning to make her obey. She loves to trot and Sara didn't seem to mind trotting from one end of the corral to the other a hundred times. Trig was trying to get Scout to trot like Sara but because he was riding in Dean's saddle I don't think Scout could even feel him kicking. I hit him on the butt and he took off, Trig lunged forward and yelled, "whoa Scout your a crazy horse".

Quincy went for her first ride today she didn't seem to care much once she was on but she has a pretty serious fear of anything with fur. She is afraid of cows, cats, dogs, and horses. Maybe it will be like stranger anxiety and pass with time; or maybe she will just stay in the house for the rest of forever.  

Dean took me snowmobiling on monday, we just went on behind our house. It was one of those days where you just feel completely humbled. I found myself in awe of my surroundings. I live in such an amazing place and though I complain about not living by a store I'm sure loving the backyard I have!

For me to Remember

Sometimes quotes just hit me. I read this one and I thought it was good. Later I heard Josie say something to Trig that I didn't love, it wasn't awful but it wasn't sweet and mostly it was the tone that bothered me. When I was about to correct her Dean, without knowing my thought process, looked at me and said, "who did that sound like". It was me. I know the way they see Dean and I react will be the way they react. I want so badly for them to be kind and collected so I guess its up to me.
Here are some others I would like to add to my collection...

A Treasure

A picture doesn't do it justice, but a sweet friend of mine (Teri Nicholas) did this painting for me. Trig with his crooked cowboy hat and his big blue eyes caught her eye at the fair this summer and she asked if she could paint a picture of him. I finally got around to getting her a picture this last month and she finished it in no time. I wanted Dean in it too because Trig idolizes him so much. It couldn't be anymore perfect, and I love to catch Trig looking at it.

9 months

Someone asked me if I had a favorite child. I don't, I like them all but this one is defiantly my favorite baby. Her first 4 months were miserable for us both but now she is so enjoyable. I love this baby, and I have enjoyed her the most through the baby stages. I say it all the time but I wish I could freeze time or at least just slow it down. Look at this little girl, I hope she stays tiny forever. She is seriously so happy. She is a good eater, she sleeps pretty good (except when she is teething), she is good in the car and usually pretty easy going. She is BUSY and she has already started climbing its amazing and scary at the same time. She knows how to throw a fit, the very second she decides she wants to eat you better feed her and then she quickly goes back to her smiley self. 

She loves water, she goes crazy in the tub and is fearless. I had to start bathing her with the other kids so she had less room to move. 

Emilee gave her her first sucker and she loved it, obviously. 

She wasn't very impressed with the first ponytail.

Josie

When people asked Josie questions, she wouldn't answer. She wouldn't talk on the phone. She didn't want to play with friends. When we went to play dates she sat on my lap. Because of all this and more I put Josie in preschool. I was worried that she was shy and needed to be tested so she would come out of her comfort zone. Preschool did the trick, she talks, and plays, and goes to friends houses without even saying goodbye. She does everything I was worried about her not doing, and now I'm heart broken. I made her grow up to quick, I realize now that all this would have come in time and I rushed it. I wish I could keep her little a little longer. 

I love Josie's little personality. She is so so smart. She is an analyzer and she questions everything. She loves dolls, barbies, and pretend camping. She loves to follow rules, make rules, and her favorite is to insist that others follow her rules. If she isn't the best at something she quits, (we are working on that). She is really conservative and won't try something she isn't sure of, but once she has made up her mind she is all in. She loves 4wheeling, riding horses, snowmobiling and is a little dare devil with her dad. She gets really frustrated when people tell her she is little, (she is not little she is bigger than Trig because he is 2 and she is 4). She is very obedient and wants to please her parents and is very worried about pleasing Heavenly Father. We asks about her birthday, heaven, the plan of salvation, or the resurrection at least once every single day. 

 Josie loves to play games and is AMAZING at memory.

Josie has always had a really sad 'Pretend Life'. It's weird because she plays pretend all day long but bad things are always happening in her pretend world. For example... she cries real tears because her pretend husband won't marry her, she cries real tears because  Trig missed shooting a pretend deer with his play gun and shot her instead, etc. This particular day she had a friend over, her friend was so cute and took all the Barbies to a movie and then they were driving to get ice cream but Josie said her barbie had a stomach ache and couldn't eat any ice cream or she would get the flu. I said, "What do you mean Josie its pretend, just pretend that she doesn't have the flu and can go with her friends to get ice cream". She stomped her feet and said, "no mom this is REAL PRETEND and her stomach hurts so bad so she has to go home and take a nap".
What a sad little pretend world, you would think she would stop pretending so much

 We have been having lots a play dates trying to make good use of our long winter days.

We took the kids to see Frozen and it was totally Awesome. Not the movie just the experience, well the movie was cute too. Dean bought Josie this bucket of popcorn and she couldn't have been more pleased. She loves popcorn and ate handful after handful for 30 min straight, I took it away so she didn't get sick but she wasn't happy about it.

We took Josie to see Santa twice this year almost three weeks apart. When we were driving home after the second time she said, "Well I guess Santa got a hair cut cause his beard was way shorter than last week".
She seriously notices everything and she remembers everything she hears, it's really dangerous.

These two are best friends, they fight, they cry and hit, and then they get over it and play again. I just love to listen to their conversations and I love when they zoom past me running somewhere to play together.

We were pulling out of the driveway one night and Josie said pointing to this bright cloud, "Look dad; that is where Jesus lives". She is always talking about heaven and she is incredibly worried about living with the dinosaurs after the resurrection (she came up with that all on her own).  

Josie and Trig pretend to visit Grandma Great a lot (they pretend she lives in my closet). I'm so happy they do because I sure love that lady.

I took the kids and a couple friends to play at the gym to burn some energy. They were playing soccer in the house and it just wasn't safe.

Josie drew me this picture. The 3 with hair are the girls (Josie, Mom, Quincy) and the 3 with the cowboy hats on are the boys (Dad, Trig, New Baby Boy). The middle bottom doesn't have legs because he is our new baby brother and he is just little, by the way I am not pregnant. I love this picture because of the awesome way she drew cowboy hats and  because she thinks our next baby will be a boy and I sure hope she is right.