Get Along Little Doggies....

Once again it's branding time. This year we had more than enough help so it was nice to see Grandpa take a rest a sit back and watch for a change. Even my 2 littlest cowboys got in on the action. Seth learned how to bulldog a calf...and dry heave when Gamma handed him some bloody calf testicles. And Cooper wanted to be right there alongside his Daddy, so who am I to argue with a toddler?! Kaiden's friend, Matt learned what it's like to roundup "Lackner style"...thank goodness there were no "Lackner fits" this day. I got to see my cow "Dandy" and her new calf.

Easter

I don't remember Easter being this cold and windy when I was a kid! I got some hair brained idea to go up the mountain to get away from the wind...little did I know the wind also blows on the mountain and its colder up there. Duh! I think we lasted 1 1/2 hrs before deciding to come back down the mountain.

Our New Playground

Okay, so I started doing this ebay thing. I found a bunch of crap that had been laying around my house, in drawers and the storage shed and I thought "Hmm. I wonder..." You'd be surprised what people will pay for old cowboy boots, outdated faux leather pants, and old scrubs. I made almost $1000. My original plan was to surprise my wonderful husband with a new rope horse or buy myself a new digital camera, but after some serious thinking I figured...yikes, another horse to feed when hay prices are outrageous and I'd feel guilty spending the money on myself - why not buy the kids something instead! So with my ebay money I bought my boys a new playground. After some hard work we had a jungle gym plus a new trampolene and we invited some friends over to help us try it out.

A Day With the Boys!

It's difficult to get all Gamma's boys together in one spot so when the opportunity presented itself I grabbed it. My sister was in town for some shopping so I took all the boys for ice cream and to the fair grounds to feed the ducks...apparently duck food is yummy for my youngest ate most of it. What was I thinking? Lol. 5 boys, 1 body of water, a jungle gym, a dozen ducks, and four directions. Thank God Kaiden was there to help me control them for they went every which direction there was but the same direction at the same time. I lasted half an hour then it was time to go to Aunt Sannon's house to cool off for a bit.

Happy Birthday!

My Bug is 1 today! For the first time I've really been able to enjoy motherhood thanks to my wonderful husband and boys. We had a small party at the house with Gramma and Papa Canter, Gamma, Pootie, Steve, and Kasey. Cooper needed no instruction, he dove right into his Winnie the Pooh cake. I think Papa and Pootie had the most fun playing with the toys, while the kids spent most their time amazed by the bubble machine.

Baby Steps

For weeks the Bug has been like the Little Engine That Could - I think I can! I think I can! And one night he did. He looked like someone that had had a wild night at the bar, but I managed to get at least one high speed photo of him stumbling across the living room.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

I'm somewhat of a scrooge when it comes to Christmas. Anybody that knows me, knows that I hate to shop. And Christmas music...well, just ask Dr. Bryce how I feel about that ;) But having Cooper has made it a little more bearable. He was old enough this year to enjoy...the boxes and wrapping paper! Still not into toys, lol. Anyways, we had a beautiful tree that had to be redecorated every day due to either the cat or Cooper. I took family pics in our red underwear...thank you Scott for being a good sport. Seth had a speaking part in the Christmas program at TLC, he did an awesome job. Cooper loved the Main Street light parade, didnt really care for Santa though. And to top it off Scott and I took Cooper for a drive to see the Christmas lights in town and the LDS Temple. All in all Christmas was good this year!

Look Who's Turning 9!

Happy Birthday Seth! So what is Seth's favorite thing...dinosaurs. And to celebrate his birthday we took him to the Az Museum of Natural History. They had an awesome dinosaur exhibit and we also got to pan for real gold! To end the day, Gramma and Papa threw him a birthday party with lots of cake, cousins, and a whole lotta fun.

It's Halloween! What's all the BUZZZ about?

Cooper's first Halloween. He wasn't really into the whole Halloween thing, but he had to suffer the trick of treating along with the rest of us. Seth was a ninja...again, and Cooper was a sweet litte honey bee. We hit one housing development and two churches for trunk n' treating. And no, I did not dress up as Sponge Bob this year regardless of all the requests.

Fair Photos

One of my favorite things to do is take photographs, especially of my family. When Scott and I first started dating he bought me my first digital camera, a small little 8.1 megapixel Sony cyber-shot. It has been the best camera and I take it everywhere afraid that I might miss some spectacular "Kodak Moment". Through the years every time I go to the fair (twice a year for the last 24 years) one of my favorite exhibits was the photography. So this year I decided to enter some of mine and I did very well, in fact all but one photo brought home a ribbon.