Salt Lake State Rodeo (or Radio)

I remembered about a rodeo event last night just as we were finishing up dinner, and just as it was about to start.  As soon as I mentioned it, the kids were eager to put on their boots and hats and head out the door.  There was no way we would make it on time and the tickets cost too much for their frugal parents, so the kids were momentarily disappointed about not going.  That is, until I told them to put on their cowboy/girl stuff anyway and just have their own rodeo in the backyard.  Let me tell you, the rodeo that took place last night in our own backyard was my favorite I've been to so far. 

After much preparation of the arena and cowpokes, plus the purchase of tickets, the evening began with this little announcer welcoming us to "the Salt Lake State Rodeo!"  She made herself a microphone from a toilet paper roll, a piece of paper towel and a rubber-band.

She then mounted her horse and rode around the arena while waving a flag.  Jason and I did our best to sing a lovely rendition of the national anthem, complete with hands over our hearts.  I'm sure the neighbors enjoyed it.

Meanwhile, Jack ran around directionless with a bucket.  No one was sure what his role in the rodeo was, but it seemed to be rodeo clown.

Yup, rodeo clown for sure.

The first event was barrel racing.  Addie maneuvered around the buckets with great speed and agility, still waving the flag around from the anthem part of the rodeo.

Jack's idea of barrel racing was to "barrel" right into the barrels.  And, if you missed and slipped, you simply take a swing at it to knock it over. He was successful with all three barrels.

 Next up after barrel racing came the barrow racing event. The cowpokes did both double-rider barrow races and single-rider barrow races, but the double was the favorite.

The final event was bronco riding.  Here's Addie (and her coach) in the pen and awaiting the fake gunshot signal to begin the ride of her life.

 

 And she's off!

 What a fantastic ride!  She stayed on for the required eight seconds, plus another 120.  Ride'em, cowgirl!

 Jack was up next, and ready to get wild.

 His horse gave him a pretty good buck and down he went.

 Thankfully, there were no injuries and our clown was able to participate in the rest of the "radio", as he called it.

The rodeo ended with one last barrow ride around the arena, with flags in hand, to thank the audience (me) for coming.  The audience (still me) went wild with cheering and clapping, and felt that the twenty-five cents spent on admission was well worth it.  

Our announcer then invited the audience (yes, still just me) to the front yard for snow cones and pop-its.  Best rodeo ever!  I'm definitely going again next year.

Addie Pie Pants

POST UNDER CONSTRUCTION

We love our Addie Pie Pants, and (being seriously behind on blogging, surprise surprise) I decided to do a post all about Addie during the past year. 

Addie is a spunky and bright kid.  She's so kind to her little brother and shares almost everything with him, including candy that she brings home from school.  She's a great student (reading and spelling are her strong points), and a good problem solver.  She makes smart observations, like one day she pointed out that even when the juice looks like its almost all gone in the bottle it still fills up the cup all the way. She reasoned that it must be the size of the container that changes how much juice it looks like there is.  She loves art and making things, but she gets frustrated to the point of tears if something doesn't look right.  Her favorite things to do are ride her scooter and watch movies.

She's funny (and sometimes frustrating) when it comes to getting dressed in that she can't stand tags, bumps, or anything too tight or too loose.  Something she'll wear one day, she suddenly can't wear the next day.  She can get pretty dramatic about it too, throwing herself on the floor and yanking off the offending clothing like it has wounded her beyond healing.  She once tried on six different pairs of underpants, trying to find one that didn't bug her, before she could even begin to get dressed for the day.  She really only likes to wear skirts, but will tolerate a select few pairs of leggings.  Absolutely no denim and, until very recently, no socks.  Her feet used to stink like sweaty popcorn everyday until one magical Sock Day at school.  Now she will wear them, but she likes them mismatched.  In short, we are both at our happiest during summer, when she can wear skirts and sandals everyday.

Yesterday I took the kids on a bike ride while Jason stayed home to get caught up on homework.  Addie insisted on wearing a skirt, and so I'm certain that nearly everyone heading the opposite direction on the parkway trail got a glimpse of her underwear.  She wore her favorite blue boots that she has worn nearly everyday since we bought them.  I recently had to sew a portion of the zipper back on because of how much she has worn them.  She had in a ponytail, her requested daily hair-do these days, with her favorite blue bobby pin on the side to keep the few too-short strands back.  She rode her little purple beach cruiser bike and carried water bottles for her and Jack in her basket.  She wanted to be the leader, so she rode in front and was in charge of saying, "Passing on your left!" to people we passed along the way and alerting us to approaching bikers.  I rode behind her with Jack in his seat on the back of my bike.  Addie has made up little games that we do every time we go for a ride.  When we go downhill we yell, "freeway!", and when we ride over a crack we yell, "Crack!".  When we ride through a tunnel we make animal sounds, and when we ride over freshly patched sections of trail we shout, "Black out!"  If its a long section of new asphalt, then you have to hold out the phrase until you reach the end of it, so it sounds like, "Bllllllaaaaaaacccccckkkkkkk OUT!"  Even Jack participates from the back of the bike.  We are noisy riders.  People out for a quiet afternoon stroll probably grimace when we're within earshot.  But, in between all the required yelling, we get to have little conversations.  Yesterday we discussed the phragmites that grow along the river banks; Addie wondered if they were a type of reed, since they grow near water.  As we passed Gardner Village, Addie informed me that she knows someone who lives there.  Then we talked about how Dad will be graduating from school soon, and then he won't have anymore homework.  Addie said, "Cool!  Then he'll get to come on bike rides.  And then what's next?  When does he graduate from work?"  So then we had a discussion about retirement.  Then I told her we were getting close to a park, and asked if she had enough energy to go further.  "I am getting tired, but I'll never stop until I get to that park!" she declared.  We made it to the park, played firefighters on the playground, and ran along some trails we found in the tall reeds on the riverbank and followed them as far as they could go.  The trail opened up to a small sort of beach, where we rock hunted.  We also discovered a fish skeleton, and Addie thought of all the possible causes of death.  It was sunny, but not hot.  There was a slight breeze, and the scent off the river was a bit ocean-y.  It was a beautiful day, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.  We peddled back home, Addie still the leader, and she pointed out every picnic spot along the way for future bike rides. When we made it home, we all went out into the backyard for foot races and swinging contests.  It was the sort of perfect day that you wish came with a rewind button. 

Merry Christmas from the Evils

We had a relaxed Christmas at home this year. Here's a run-down of how it all went:

 Ellie, our Elf on the Shelf, visited for the entire month of December.  The day she arrived she brought cocoa fixings.  She's so thoughtful!

Santa left all sorts of things for the ultimate snow fun: sleds, shovels, snow pants, gloves, snowball makers, snow brick molds, and a snowman kit.  The kids were excited and couldn't wait to play with them all!  And, even into February now,  they're still waiting to play with them all due to the shocking lack of snow this year.  Silly Santa, doesn't he know about global warming?

 Here's Jack shoveling the kitchen, a much easier alternative to shoveling snow and always readily available.

Addie with her new piggy bank and a look that says, "This is almost just as cool as the Barbie carriage I've asked for for two years in a row now, but that I forget to ask for until right before Christmas."  A look is worth a thousand words.  Hey, with all the money she can earn and fit into that bank she'll be able to buy two Barbie carriages!  It's the teach a man to fish/ teach a child to work principle.  Merry Christmas!  You get to buy your own presents after you work for the money!

The kids started a band with their new recorders.  You can't even imagine the sweet, sweet recorder duet music pouring out of our house on Christmas morning, the kind that continues to ring in your ears long after the last note has been forcefully blown out like a screeching banshee being hurled into an echoing elevator shaft.  It was simply lovely.

Addie recently went to a friend's house to hear her play the violin.  On the way home I asked Addie if she would like to learn to play an instrument, too.  "Yeah, I want to get really good at playing the recorder!" she announced.  That's my girl. 

The first present Jack opened was a pack of 20 matchbox cars from cousin Stetson.  He couldn't be bothered to open anything else after that. 

The few times he did put down the cars for a moment to open another present, he wouldn't stick around long enough to see what he had opened.  He was very surprised, for instance, to discover that he had gotten a pirate ship a few hours after he had opened it.

Addie got an United States of America puzzle, and was awesome at putting it together.  I know, this is starting to look like a really lousy Christmas for Addie.  But, before you all start putting belated Christmas presents in the mail for her, let me also mention that she received an American girl doll, the complete Mercy Watson book series, and a purple unicorn scarf she had been admiring.  See?  We're not boring parents that ruin all the fun of getting presents!

 Jason and I are either old or cold, or both.  We unknowingly gave each other a bathrobe for Christmas.   It turns out that we are also both old and cold enough to actually really love getting bathrobes for Christmas.  Jason also surprised me with a shotgun (by giving me one, not by aiming one at me...just clarifying) and he got 3 bolo ties (because one is just never enough).

It was a fun and happy Christmas.  What more could you ask for?  Oh, and I saved the best for last:

The kids left out a treat for Santa on the kitchen table the night before Christmas.  In the morning Addie ran in and discovered this letter from Santa.  She read it aloud for us all to hear, " Merry Christmas Addie and Jack!  Thanks for the treats and milk, and thanks for being so good this year!  The evils and I thought that you would have the worst fun with some new snow toys.,,,"  Here she stopped reading and had a confused and slightly horrified look on her face.  Jason and I just cracked up, and I still laugh so hard just thinking about it!  It was a priceless moment that will be remembered every year, I'll make sure of it!  (Come to think of it, there is some truth to her version of the letter since we haven't had any snow...)

Mermaids Eat Sharks

 I have a long list of funny things my kids say that I have been meaning to include in a post.  Well, today is the day folks! I hope you enjoy this, but even if you don't, I know I will years from now after I finally turn my blog into a book.  If anyone has a great tip or suggestion of a place to do that, by the way, please let me in on it!

Addie and I have started playing Pictionary lately, which is so fun because she knows how to read now.  She just scans through the cards until she finds one she can read and then draws it.  Like this one, for example:

I guessed a few things until I finally landed on: "No tea?" "Yes!", she says, "You got it! See?" and she shows me the card.  The card said "note".  Don't worry, she still got the points.

Here's the end of a story that Addie told me one night before bed: "....and the prince and princess mermaid were about to kiss when they saw a shark!  The prince mermaid took his sword and killed it.  Then they cooked it and ate it, then finished getting married.  Because mermaids eat sharks sometimes, mom.  The end."

Addie came home from school the other day and plopped on a chair.  "Well, "she says, "I finally found a club to join."  I had no idea she had been on a long search to find a club.  "Really?  What is it?" I replied.  "The Monster Hi Club."  Sounds like a winner to me.

The other day Jack dumped his bowl of cereal all over the floor, and not for the first time, either.  "Jack!  That's it!"  I said.  "No more cereal for the rest of your life!"  "WHAT!?!" He immediately answered, with his eyes big and his brows raised (which, to be honest, is how he looks most of the time anyway).  It cracked me up so much that I repeated, "No more cereal for the rest of your life!"  "WHAT!?!" he exclaimed again in exactly the same way.  I don't even think he knew what I was saying, but his response was perfect and hilarious, and made me not feel so irritated to be cleaning Cheerios off the floor...again.

A few months ago we were reading about commandments when Jason asked Addie, "What are the commandments?  Do you know?"  "Yes," she answered, "They are: Obey mom and dad, Don't hurt your brother, Don't eat off the floor, Obey the Holy Ghost, Read scriptures, and Don't blow cigarettes."

I asked Addie to clean up the mess she had made on the floor one day, and she replied, "Am I like Cinderella?"

Another time Jason asked Addie to clean up her room, to which she exclaimed, "But dad, it's too heavy to pick up!"  She's a clever one, that Addie Pants.

I can't remember exactly what we were talking about one day, but it was something about old furniture or an old house.  Addie shared her opinion on old things with us:  "I love old stuff.  Remember that time I ate all the old crackers?"

This was a little while ago, but it was on my list and I don't want to forget it.  We were visiting with some friends of ours who were expecting a baby at the time (Zach and Liz).  When they were getting ready to leave Addie said, "Bye!  Have a nice baby!"

Sarah, my soon-to-be sister-in-law, asked Addie what her favorite animal was, and she answered, " My favorite animal is a buffalo because I like the way they taste." ( I may have already included this one in an earlier post somewhere, but since I can't remember for sure.)

Addie asked Jason during dinner one evening, "Dad, who is your master at work?"

Anytime someone coughs, Jack is quick to ask, " You okay?"  If he is the one that coughs, then he'll follow it up with, "I'm okay."

For some reason, Jack always wants a hug in the middle of dinner.  Usually when his hands are the messiest, too.  "Hug, " he'll say, and reach for you with his grubby little hands.

Jack likes to play "Bobbies" with Addie.  To the rest of the world those dolls are called, "Barbies".

Jack calls diapers "bipers".  He also calls milk "Mowk" or "Mowki" and still loves it with great fervor.

Kids are awesome!

Red Shoes, Fairies and Cowboys

 This entire post is about events and moments in January of this year because, yes, I am still behind.  But I am getting close to catching up! Before you and I know it, I will be posting about current things!  Hurrah!  Well, that's the dream anyway.

One Saturday morning I was putting Jack's shoes on when he said, "Hurts!  Hurts    my     toes!"  (I put additional spaces between the words because that more accurately describes how he speaks).  I checked the ends of his shoes to see how close his toes were, and was surprised that they were crunched in there.  Hey, didn't these shoes fit twelve hours ago?!?  Suddenly the agenda for the day became: find Jack some new shoes ASAP.  So, we went to a few stores with no luck and rapidly diminishing energy. 

We decided to try one last place: Old Navy.  I am getting old, as it turns out, because I thought the music in there was too loud and irritating.  Anyway, I found only two pairs of sneakers in a size 6.  A blue pair of low-top velcro sneakers, and a bright red high-top pair with elastic laces and velcro.  As soon as he saw the red pair he reached for them and shouted (probably because the music was so loud), "Red    shoes!  Red    shoes!"  So we put them on and off he ran across the store, stopping only twice to bend over and point to his shoes while saying, "Red    shoes.  Red   shoes."  I then tried to have him put on the blue pair, but he wouldn't have it.  The search for shoes was finally over.  We bought the red shoes and he wore them home, talking about his red shoes all the way there.  For the first week or so he brought them into our room every morning and plopped them onto my pillow next to my face, and then announced, "Red    shoes!" 

Here he is so pleased with his red footwear, the first thing he's ever picked out at the store.  For only being 18 months old, he does have pretty good taste.  I can hardly wait to see him wear them with shorts! 

Jack and Addie love to dress up and run around the house.  Jack is almost always a cowboy and Addie is usually a fairy or a pirate... or a mermaid... or a princess... or a chef....or a combination of two or more of those.

oOoOooo! Dum dum dum, oOoOooo!  Dum DUM DUM!!!

These two have such a good time playing together!

Jack put himself down for a nap, which he occasionally does when he's really tired, but usually he climbs into his bed.  This time, however, he chose to nap outside my bathroom door.  You can tell he intended to have a nap because he bothered to go and get all of his stuffed animals out of his bed first.  This kid likes to hold as many stuffed animals in his arms as possible when he goes to sleep.

Jack got to go on a shopping trip with Dad to Scheels for some new arrow tips.  He also got to have animal taxidermy encounters.

I find these pictures hilarious because he has the exact same expression in all of them.  He seems so confused and unimpressed by it all.  He had the same look a week ago at a play date when another little boy got right in his face and made weird noises and gestures for a good three minutes straight.  Jack didn't even flinch or back up, but stared at him with great stoicism.  I should teach him how to play poker...

Duck, Duck, Goose

  Jason really got into waterfowl hunting this past winter, both with a shotgun and with a bow.  He did bring home quite a few birds, and we ate every one of them.  I am by no means an expert when it comes to cooking up waterfowl, but I did learn a few tricks and turned out some tasty meals.  For instance, did you know that waterfowl meat is more like beef than poultry?  There's a fact to tuck away in your brain for some future conversation, or if you happen to come by a duck or goose that needs cooking.

The best part of his temporary hobby (the season ended at the beginning of February) wasn't the additional meat, but that Jason had such a great time doing it.  I'm telling you people, you have never seen a man so excited to see a flock of geese as this man was.  He would even get giddy spotting a few geese in a parking lot. He had the entire family scouting for birds whenever we were driving in the car, and usually had a pair of binoculars on hand for closer examinations.  He spent so much time looking for them that it got to the point where he started recognizing individual geese.  That's pretty serious.  Good thing there's an end to the hunting season or Jason might have joined a flock and began living life as a crazy Goose Man.

Anyway, now that you have some background on his passion for hunting, you'll be able to better enjoy/appreciate his successes documented in the following photos:  

 

 This was one of the first birds of the season, a mallard duck. 

After many weeks of effort and many YouTube hunting videos, he finally got his first geese.  I thought perhaps it would satisfy his desire to hunt them, but I was dead wrong (no insensitive pun intended).

 
I think this was his first goose taken with a bow.

 Here's a view of the duck hunter's dream.... too bad they're all decoys!

This was the prettiest duck he brought home: the Golden Eye duck.

Aptly named, as you can see.  We kept his beautiful black and white feathers, but I have yet to figure out what to do with them.  Supposedly this type of duck does not make for good eating, but we thought it was pretty good.

So, I guess I shelve my cookbook until next season.  I wonder what's next on the menu?  With Jason, you never can tell.

December and a Christmas of Bliss-mas.

Jack and I built a little snow dwelling one afternoon.  He's happy in this photo, but for the most part Snow and Jack did not get along this year. Every snow experience went something like this:
1. He wants to go out and play in the snow so badly, especially if Addie is going out.
2.  The suiting-up process, which takes a good twenty minutes to accomplish, ends with an already sad kid laying in a puffy heap on the floor.
3. Once outside, he spends most of time falling in the snow and crying.  At some point (probably 15 minutes later) I would decide this boy had enough snow in his boots and was NOT having fun, so it was time for him to go back inside.
4. Once inside he would spend the next several minutes pressed against the sliding glass door and crying because he had to come in.  It's rough being little.

 Now for a little Christmas, right this very minute!  We celebrated Christmas three times this year.  The first one was on December 21st at our own home.  The kids woke up and were excited to find tents in the front room!  Addie had recognized the wood from the wood she had seen downstairs, so I was quick on my feet and said, "You got me!  The tents are from dad and I, but they were too big to wrap.  So, I just put them out last night before Santa came so they would be here in the morning for you kids."  Whew, patched that one up.  Guess I'll have to get even sneakier next year.

 They were thrilled to find little toys and gadgets in their stockings such as cars, putty, jewelry, games, balloon helicopters, harmonicas, kazoos, and:

silly straw glasses!  Everyone's a winner in a pair of these.

 We enjoyed eating our delicious orange bow-knots and watching the kids' drinks swirl around their eyes before going in their mouths.

After breakfast we proceeded to open presents.  Jack got his first tool set, a serious milestone in a boy's life.

 Oh the joys of a having some holes and things to put in them!

Addie got what every little girl hopes for on Christmas: a Barbie princess carriage Snap Circuits!  Okay, so she didn't get the thing that no one knew she wanted until the night before Christmas, but she seemed excited by her present anyway.  Plus, she gets to play with electricity and make fans and alarms.  She's already got her electrical leprechaun trap planned for St. Patrick's day!  Jason had a lot of fun with this toy too (which is good, because its the present I picked out for him to give to her).  

Addie also got a set of Elephant and Piggie books, which she can already read completely by herself!  I love these books, so I'm glad she also loves these books (because I can hardly stand to read any more Barbie or Dora books).

Jack got a large box of wooden slice-able food, or a "Jack Pot", if you will.  (Oh, and Jason got home that morning from working a double shift, meaning 5pm the day before to 9am that morning.  He looks hammered, but rightly so.  What a man to be willing to punish himself physically for the well-being of his family!)

Jack spent the rest of the day slicing and dicing.

After a day spent in training, he was ready to open shop.

I ordered some bread, and he sliced it for me on the spot!  Now that's service.

It was a relaxing and fun pre-Christmas Christmas Day.  We ended the day with popcorn and a movie, and the kids watched it in their tents while mom and dad got the whole couch to themselves.  (Score!)

The next day was the Sunday before Christmas.  You know, the one where you make your kids wear cute clothes that they can't wait to take off?  I took a picture (well, several pictures... but this was the only one with kids holding still in it) of my cute Christmas kids before church.

 After church we went to my parents' house and began the festivities for Christmas 2.  Jack got a train set, so he couldn't be bothered with any other presents.

Addie got this fold-out Barbie house and a Ken doll from Uncle Eric.  She promptly named the doll Eric (Oh, what an honor!) and got busy playing.

Jack was willing to be pulled away from the train set once he laid eyes on this bigger train that grandpa had made for him.  (Nowadays Jack loves to drive that train up and down the hall, and occasionally haul dominoes in it.)

Then he noticed the Barbie house and thought the furniture looked just his size.  Everyone was pretty amused by his efforts, except for Addie.  (Uncle Stevie is the bearded guy, Sarah (soon to be Aunt Sarah once she marries Eric in April) is on the couch, and the legs and red shirt belong to Uncle Eric. )

It was a grand second Christmas!  Oh, I should mention Jason received a goose call, which he unfortunately practiced using in the house for the next several days; and I was lucky enough to get a Kitchen Aid, so now I have supreme mixing abilities.

The next day we traveled south for Christmas 3 (the true Christmas).  All of Jason's family was there, except for dear Elder Colton...although we did video chat with him, so in a way he was still there.  Anyway, everyone together amounts to sixteen people total, which in turn equals one long, week-long party!

We started with a live Nativity (which Addie kept calling a Nay-activity) at Tuacahn.  They even had camels!  We then drove around and looked at Christmas lights.  That was followed by games and cheese balls as is the tradition of all of our family gatherings.  We did that every night we were there, and its one of my favorite things! 

 Christmas morning began with stockings and presents (in an incredibly large pile since we had so many people) and a doorbell ringing.  Caitie went to open the door and was shocked to see a pony standing there.  Behind that pony was yet another pony.  Merry Christmas, indeed!  Caitie, Cami and Nate spent the rest of the day (and most of the week) tending to their new ponies and getting familiar with them.  It was the highlight of Christmas, even for little Addie.

What could be better than riding around on a pony with your awesome aunt?  The weather was warm and beautiful, perfect for outdoor Christmas fun!

The sisters-in-law started a new tradition: going shopping and leaving all spouses and children behind.  It was so fun to have some time to bond and get caught up on each others' lives.  I don't have any sisters, but these women are close enough.  I love them!  Our only regret was that Jesse wasn't able to come, too.  We ended our awesome afternoon out with a commemorative photo-booth picture.

 And, of course, we went shooting.  This time Cami and Megann both had smaller-sized shotguns, so all the girls got into the fun and had a shooting contest.  As it turns out, I rather like shotgun shooting!

Three Christmases in a row sounds overwhelming, but it was my favorite Christmas season yet!  I'm not sure what made this Christmas seem more pleasant than all the rest, but it was all just so enjoyable and full of happy moments.  I'm so glad we have a whole bunch of new awesome memories to treasure!