Cow Folk

Last weekend we went to Lund to help Grandma Brown and Papa Chuck do some work on the boys school at the Ranch.
Before heading out Papa saddled up Babe for us to give the kids a ride.
Soph had been talking about this all week and when we pulled up to the corrals she threw her hands in the air and said "Ride a horsey!!"

....

 But then it was her turn...she was a little less ready for the actual getting on now...

 

But as soon as Papa turned Babe around she found her excitement again they even went into a little trot:)
and she rode again with Daddy
and again with Mama.



Then there was this natural born Cowboy who needed little instruction (and a really great horse) before he got the hang of it and took hold of the reigns himself.
He went with Papa first, then by himself, then with Kenny and then by himself again...and wasn't ready to get off even after taking her around quite a few times.
We walked her, lead her in, around, out of the corral and even got her to a trot a few times on his own (we aren't sure but the first time that happened might have been by mistake:)

Codee kept telling me how proud he was of Jackson all weekend, he worked behind a shovel right alongside all the other "mans" all day Saturday.
My kids are troopers in the car and I couldn't be more grateful for that on weekends like this one.
Soph even slept great both nights on those terrible tiny mattresses snuggled up next to me and Jackson of course slept with Ga. It was a hard workin' weekend but we were glad to do it and glad it went so smoothly.
We loved seeing the kids on Babe...we might even make the trip back again sooner than later.

Nice Warm Park Day?

"Suh-pise!"

This is now what is known as "suh-pise"



We got her this barbie make up case for Christmas and I pulled an old favorite trick and tucked it away in a closet till about a month ago.  Her and I were a little bored one day so I told her to go in her room and close her eyes and I would bring her a surprise.  She gladly followed my instructions.  When I got to her room she was anxiously sitting right in the middle of the room with her eyes as tight as she could get them and a HUGE grin on her face.  I said "surprise!" and she was ecstatic! So, now you will know what she is headed out for if she tells you "wait here,  I get my suh-pise".  Which she often does say to me and if time will allow it is followed by some beautiful new looks.

*p.s. I have (literately) 100 pictures I want to blog about right now, so after our weekend in Lund starting tomorrow, I will possibly be posting something everyday...and they will most definitely include this same girl. If you have had too much of us I suggest you stay away for a while...if you can;)

We (went) To DISNEYLAND!!!

We talked about it for too long and I couldn't take it any longer!!! I booked a hotel, bought our tickets, tried to put away a little money (pricey trip) and off we went!!!

We were all so excited...
but no one could match my excitement.


I had waited too long to finally take my own kids to the Happiest Place On Earth.
I couldn't wait.
(It was almost a month ago and I am getting excited about it again right now) 

We pulled into Anaheim just before midnight but still managed to get inside the park nice and early.  We had a good start with breakfast then hit Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion since they were right next to us...not the best choice for my 2 timid kids so we ditched the eerie, dark rides and hopped on the train to Fantasy Land! where It's A Small World got us back on the right track!  Sophia LOVED it!! She sat on Codee's lap and danced along and waved to the girls and came out of that ride ready for more.

We hit Toon Town for a visit with Mickey...a strangely intimate visit with Mickey actually...anyway.  Soph loved his house and meeting him and still talks about how "Mickey give me kisses, on my cheek".
After that she really wanted to see Minnie but we were not about to wait in line an hour for that so we waved from afar and settled for meeting anyone we ran into on the street. Good enough for us. 

If you can't tell by the pictures above Jackson got picked for the Jedi Training...guess what his favorite non-ride part was...yeah.  It was way cool, I am so glad we got to do that for him.  They gave them a cape and light saber, showed them some moves so they would be ready for when Darth Vader came, Jackson's face when he came out was totally priceless, I caught it on video, I am so glad I did too cause it is hilarious! He defeated Darth Maul and got a Certificate of something something(?) and was in Heaven.  He and Codee went on Star Tours twice and he got to make his own Light Saber.  He couldn't have been more Star Warsy pleased.
I loved seeing the kids on the classics, the Submarine, the Merry-Go-Round, Small World, Jungle Boat, watching the parade and Soph walking up to the Castle (she was totally smitten).  But it was also so fun seeing all the things that were new to me with them, for the first time! (My first time to California Land, or whatever it's called;) We all loved Mr. Potato Heads ride and Soaring over California (well, not Soph) my favorite part was when we landed Jackson said "swwwweeett" and that is exactly what it is and I don't want to cry or make anyone else cry but just ask my mom what my dad said and it makes you love that ride even more...oh well, there goes that plan, I am crying anyway.  I already can NOT wait to go back, of course.
This is just mostly the first day of our THREE (which I highly recommend) because even though I bought new memory cards and charged up both my camera batteries I couldn't get myself to step outside of the fun to take a picture of it.  I didn't want to miss a thing!
Maybe I will see if my mom has some pictures I can steal and post some more:)

*notice how sleepy Sophia looks on the Jungle Boat ride? That's because she didn't take a nap Day 1. Such a trooper!

*OH there is just too much to tell!!! Jackson went on Indiana Jones with Codee and Eric, he got a little scared but I was so proud of him for being brave and going!

Me

I don't normally blog about myself and I really don't post pictures of myself, I don't normally like to brag or go on about totally unimportant things...BUT...

I am totally lucky!! Today is my birthday and I am/have been getting totally spoiled! Yesterday Eric said to me "how old are you going to be?", me,"29!" him "usually by this point your birthday isn't that big of a deal." He doesn't know how wrong he is!!! I hope I never feel like my birthday isn't a big deal, scratch that, I hope my amazing SISTERS never feel like it isn't a big deal and that my husband won't come to a point where he can't be convinced that it is a big deal:)

Jamie, Karen, Sis and Mom took me out to dinner and a movie on Friday night, then Codee took me out for a hot stone massage, dinner and shopping on Saturday night! I was showered with gifts and love from all directions. I was just trying on a few of my birthday gifts when I realized how fortunate I am. I almost took a picture of all of my lovely gifts, that's so 28 year old though. Then I realized that even more than I love all my gifts (and I seriously love them all!) I love the reminder of how many people love me and care about me, want me to be happy and to be in my life that I love back and love having around me so much!!

Today my Mom and Soph and I went to Lily and Peyton's track meet, then met Jamie, Sis and Karen for lunch and a cupcake at 25 Main (SO GOOD). Afterwards mom, Soph and I loaded into Jays car and drove around looking for somewhere closer to us for them to live (as close as possible actually). It wasn't much and nothing out of the ordinary, but I love it. We like playing visit and having delicious lunch:) So happy birthday to me and no I don't think 29 is old, I feel a lot older than that actually...it must be because I am so wise...n't.

Way Back When...

Way back when I tried to blog about this for the first time and couldn't figure it out, again because of the stupid-dang changes to Picasa, I probably had the whole shebang story and some cool facts about this ghost town Dela Mar that we rode our four wheelers to the last time we were in Alamo. BUT since I have this SO TOTALLY AWESOME rememory all I got now is, the last time we were in Alamo we rode our bikes to this mining ghost town Dela Mar. sweet.
I don't even remember why we were in Alamo.
huh.
Oh well, good thing I at least thought to take my camera.

Dee has been coming here for years and has watched the buildings and mining structures that are left slowly crumble away. He gave Jackson all kind of lessons and mostly all kinds of new questions to later ask me...a lot of which I could not answer...."let's remember to ask Papa next time we see him."

I love any time we get to go on a little family ride.
Jackson apparently loves his helmet as he would not take it off the entire time.

There were rows of "houses" built just like this but about 1/4 the size of this one, this was one of the mining buildings with what Codee and Dee think is a secret basement of some sort?

Jackson really thought these caves were pretty dang cool. He wanted to go in one but Codee wasn't going any further than this, I agree but was surprised that Jackson wanted to walk in it, they were pretty small and creepy I thought. He was intrigued with the whole blow up the mountain and get gold concept.

and

This kid really, REALLY wanted us all to have a snowball fight.
There wasn't that much snow but he did not let that stand in his way of trying to get everyone envolved.

I was the targeted subject but somehow I managed to talk him into keeping me out of it.

Papa, on the other hand, couldn't resist...

We alsoly saw these wild horses, Russ jumped on his bike to get up closer to them, they didn't really like that. Who knew? Kind of a neat thing to see though.

It's nice to get to do things with this kid, he is pretty funny and he really enjoys being outside and on four wheelers, especially if his Papa is there.

a full little moon.

I wanted to do a test post since picasa changed and I couldn't figure out how to blog from there for a while, looks like I got it figured out now:)

What better picture to use?