More Mutton Bustin with Austin

Austin did some more mutton bustin' on Saturday at the Little Buckaroo Rodeo in Spanish Fork. He loves it and was so excited to try it again. He had a "wild runner" this time and ended up with a bruise on his leg. He thinks the sheep stepped on him and has been telling everyone about his battle wounds ever since.

The fan club...waiting for our favorite cowboy to ride!

Getting ready to ride with some help from Dad.

Austin with his ribbon after the wild ride....still smiling!!

A Visit with Santa Claus!

We had a family Christmas party last Sunday and got to see Santa Claus!!

Natalie wants a Nintendo DS this year.
Austin wants a Mobigo and a Deer Hunting game.

Makenna would like a present. I think Santa should be able to handle that one!!

New Family Pics!

We had family pictures taken a couple of weeks ago. We decided it would be easiest to just take them in my parents backyard. I love how they all turned out!!

Thanksgiving Weekend...

It's been a relaxing, fun and cold Thanksgiving weekend for us! We had a yummy Thanksgiving dinner at my parents house on Thursday and then went home and watched movies and ate popcorn. Danny and I had a great plan to go to Walmart's black friday sales. We have never shopped on black friday before, but Walmart had some great deals on a few things we wanted so we thought we would try it. He was going to go to the midnight sale and get a few things and then I would go to the 5 a.m. sale and get a few other things. Danny left at 11:00 and when he got there the entire parking lot was full, and so was the empty field east of Walmart. He finally found a place to park over by Pizza Hut. When he got inside there wasn't any carts left. They had the sale items still on pallets and people were lined up behind the stuff they wanted. Some people were already lined up for the sale that didn't start until 5:00. He saw all this and then turned around and left! I guess that's why we've never shopped on black friday before. Danny said it was like a hundred starving horses around one bale of hay!! He told me not to bother going at five.

Friday afternoon we went to Chuck-e-Cheese. It wasn't even busy, I guess because all those horses were fighting over the bales of hay!! Ha Ha! Then on Friday night we went to the light parade. It was pretty cold but luckily it was short and sweet.
Austin and Natalie had blankets and hot chocolate to keep them warm!
Makenna was so excited to see Santa Claus! It's going to be a fun Christmas with her this year. After the light parade we went to see the lights at the pond.
It really has been cold the past few days. The day before Thanksgiving there was a blizzard warning and I guess everyone was stocking up on supplies just in case. Austin heard Danny and his uncle talking about it and he made a list of things he would need in case there was another big storm. He packed a gun, knife, flashlight, food, and water in his backpack Saturday night when he found out another storm was coming.
Good thing he was prepared, it snowed Saturday night and we woke up to snow on Sunday. The kids couldn't wait to go outside and play.
They went out three different times throughout the day.

Their favorite part was being pulled behind the 4-wheeler by Dad.

On Sunday we cooked our own Thanksgiving dinner and everyone helped. Natalie and Austin helped with cooking and Makenna set the table. She worked on it for at least half an hour while we finished cooking a few things, Danny had no fork and I had 8 napkins, but she sure was proud of herself! I wish I would have thought to take a picture of our table.

Sunday while our turkey was cooking we put up our Christmas decorations. I was sad to see the weekend end, it has been so nice to just stay home and be together. Danny has been working out of town the last couple weeks so these few days together have been great for us!! Now on to Christmas....

Night at the Museum

Last week we went to a fun event at Natalie's school called Night at the Museum. Each 5th grader picked a historical person to learn about. Then they wrote a report, gathered props and a costume and made a background. They each memorized a one minute "blurb" that they would recite when someone came to them. It was fun to see all of the great costumes and props. All of the kids worked really hard and did a great job.

Natalie was Diane Crump. Diane Crump was the first woman jockey to ride in a parimutual race and the first woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby. Natalie was excited to dress in Danny's jockey clothes, she made a tote-board as a background and brought some pictures, a whip and goggles.

Austin and Makenna were so lucky to have their picture taken with Diane Crump. Some of the other famous people we enjoyed meeting were George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Ben Franklin, Pocohantas, Davy Crockett, Paul Revere, Orville Wright, John Wayne, Lucille Ball, and Walt Disney.

My baby is growing up!

Makenna is getting so big!

Today, Dad helped her change her crib into a big girl bed, she was so happy and kept hugging and thanking him. So far she has done a lot of jumping, and not any sleeping, so we'll see what happens tonight when it's bedtime.
Makenna also got her ears pierced last week. She didn't even cry, and was so excited when she looked in the mirror and saw her earrings.
I am also working on trying to get her excited about potty training, but so far this is the only thing she thinks her potty seat if good for. Funny girl! Oh well, guess we will try again in a few weeks. She is at such a fun age right now and is always making us laugh. I love watching her learn new things!

Happy Halloween!

It's seems like Halloween has been going on all week around here. Here's a rundown of all the spooky fun. Wednesday was our ward party which is always so fun for the kids. We had dinner, and then the kids played games and went through the spook alley. Austin said it was just a little bit creepy. They all won a cake or cupcakes at the cake walk, (hooray more sugar!) Then it was time for trick-or-treating. It's fun to be inside out of the cold and it's nice to be able to see all of the costumes.

Natalie the Jester

Superman Austin

Makenna the fairy.

Makenna was oh so happy with all of the candy she collected. And as you can see by her face, she started sampling it right away!!

On Thursday I helped out with the Halloween activities in Austin's class in the morning. There were lots of fun centers that we rotated through and a Halloween parade through the school. We came back later that afternoon and helped with Natalie's party too, they played games and then made spooky graham cracker houses.

Superman Austin and his friend Buzz. (thanks for the pictures Sam)

On Saturday we went to Salem's Trick-or-Treat and then went to see all of our Grandpa's and Grandma's. My Mom had made a yummy dinner for us. It was a fun night and Austin and Makenna came home with another bag full of treats. Natalie went to a friends house for pizza and trick-or-treating. We missed her, but we're excited to see her growing up and having fun with friends too.

Pumpkin Time!

Last weekend we headed to the Red Barn to pick out pumpkins and enjoy the great Fall weather.
The kids had fun running through the maze,

and posing with the pumpkins (ok, maybe Austin didn't enjoy it so much, see pic.)

Makenna loved running through the pumpkins and looking for the perfect one, she would have stayed for hours.

Austin and Natalie both found great pumpkins too, the rule was you had to be able to carry it yourself.

Later that night we had a gooey time carving our pumpkins.

Here are our jack-o-lanterns when they were all done!

We Go BOOOOOOO!!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Our New Baby

Danny took us to a horse sale the other night. I'm pretty sure he knew we wouldn't be able to resist bringing a baby home when we saw how cute they were. We didn't plan on buying a horse, and didn't even bring the horse trailer...well guess what...it's a boy!!! Yep, Danny knew what he was doing all along.
After much debate, we named him Dollar. (John Wayne had a horse named Dollar as any cowboy would know.) Other suggestions were 7-up, Football, or Hoss Cartwright (from Austin), Hee-Hee or Kenna (yep, from Makenna), and way too many suggestions to mention from Natalie. She has a 2 page list of great horse names which will come in handy when she becomes a vet and buys her 1000 acre ranch. She is planning to hire Danny as her assistant and he will "do all the gross stuff."
I'm excited for Danny to be able to show the kids what is involved in training and breaking a horse starting from when it's a colt, which is something he loves to do. So far they have already got a halter on him and have taught him to lead.

It will be about year before Danny can start riding him but I think this will be a great project for him and the kids. They are all so excited!!

1st Day of School!

School has started at our house!! No more late nights, sleeping in, or lounging at the pool! No more cereal for dinner! We're back to bedtime by 9, homework, carpool, lots of laundry, and my best buddy mr. crockpot (i did miss you). I wasn't ready yet, but here we go!!!

Natalie--1st day of 5th grade!!

Wow! I can't believe she is that old, I remember being in 5th grade like it was just the other day.
She brought her teacher an apple from our tree on the first day. He ate it and told her to bring another one tomorrow!! This is the first time she has had a guy teacher and she loves it because "he doesn't put up with anyone's crap."

My little Austin started Kindergarten and I'm a bit sad about it! He was very excited and has loved it so far, but today asked me when he could take a vacation. Poor kid doesn't know what he's gotten into!

Here is Austin hanging up his backpack on the first day.

Sitting at his desk, and waiting for Mom to leave. :(

Here is Makenna ready for the first day of school, she brought her backpack and everything!!

And here she is when she found out she wasn't staying!!
She and Austin are such good pals and she has really missed him. The sad part for me is that next year she really will be going to preschool and I'll be left all alone, at least for a couple of hours. At least I'll have my never-ending piles of laundry and mr.crockpot to keep me company!