Pounds of Protien

For our combine YW activity Sister Rich, the YW President, decided to teach the girls about nutrition. She does this for a living. She teaches people about how to eat right with out all the gimmicks. You should see the muscles on this girl and she only works out 3 times a week she says. One thing she said is that we should be eating the same amount of grams of protein a day that we are pounds of weight. I won't divulge how much I weigh but that is a HUGE amount of protein. She did such a great job conveying to the girls about accounting for what they eat and that it is ok to eat stuff like ice cream you just have to balance. These poor girls have heard so many things in their lives about weight. People either talk about it too much and kids are obsessed with it or they don't get anything and are overweight. I tried eating all the food and protein she talked about but it was too hard. I guess I will have to take baby steps.

Wild Rivers

Back home this has been the scene in spastic purportions. This is out at my sister's ranch. It has been so lovely and green up there. One day she was driving home and said that it wasn't even hardly raining until she turned into your ranch and it was pouring down rain with these floods all over. So crazy cause we have been in such a drought. I love rain. It is such a gift from God even in these amounts it can be scary.

A No Eat All Day Kinda Day

My sweet husband has done most of the cooking since I started working. Not cause he has more time but because I really hate cooking and he doesn't hate it. I am so grateful for Doug. With school starting and I being the only one left to do all the IT at the school I hardly stop moving not to mention get to eat. You would think I would be thinner. When I got home he had this waiting for me. Deer steaks, fried potatoes and gravy. It was so yummy. This was after he worked all day, went grocery shopping and was tired himself. I think I will keep him.

Mullet Man

The day has come when my child has decided to grow out his hair. He wants to grow a mullet. Shock and horror... I hate long hair on boys. Hopefully this is just a faze.

Ireland

It is so green up in the White Mountains. It looks like Ireland. I did not want to come home to the hot ugly desert. We got up super early so we could make it back for our 10 am church. We got a new bishopric and we wanted to sustain them. It was such a beautiful morning and a nice Sabbath Day.

Our Red Headed Step Child

I invited Kamryn's friend, Jordan, up to the cabin this weekend. She is always at our house and we love her. I call her our red headed step child. I think we will keep her.

They painted cute little tick tack toe rocks that look like lady bugs. I forgot to get a picture but it is very cute.

Before and After

This trip up to Alpine I wallpapered. These ugly flower wallpaper is no more. I put up this brick wallpaper to match the real brick on the fireplace. It looks pretty good I think.

My Hero

I pulled the trailer up to Alpine to bring a bed we needed up there. When I got there it was way past my bedtime. When I got there Doug told me to back the trailer in but I was too tired and couldn't figure out how to do it so I just pulled straight in. The next morning I could see why Doug said I needed to back in. It was nearly impossible to now turn that trailer around. I called my dad to see what I should do. Doug was asleep. He came right up. He didn't want me to be stranded without a car. He got to work. We had to jack it up and turn it slowly. It took a few hours. We finished just in time before the rain started. Right when he left it started pouring. A few minutes later he was back. After the rain slowed down he got out and said his truck was stuck in 4 wheel drive. We had to crawl under the truck and with both of us jammed it back into gear. My pour dad already didn't feel good and this day added to his pain but he lessened my load for the day. My hero.

Fancy Lock

We got this fancy lock that requires a code to enter for our cabin for when we start to rent it out. Luckily Doug put it on the last time he was up cause Derrik took my keys and didn't put them back into my car so when I got up there at midnight I had no other way to get in. Doug remembered the master code and I was able to get inside. Only problem is I couldn't get any of the other codes I sent it to work. I hope I can figure it out cause it will be nice to give a code to renters other than keys that have to returned.

Guss Guss

We introduced the puppies to real food. It was pretty late compared to when we gave the last batch food but I just couldn't face the poop! When I put them by the food the fat white dog was going to town! She was digging in a panic in the food. She is the fattest puppy and now I know why. We had to pull her out so the others could eat. 

Dirty Derrik

This is my very dirty child. He has been doing landscaping for his employment this summer. I am always at work when he gets home so I never see him. One day he came to visit me at work. This is what he looked like. A real man can get dirty. When I went down stairs the receptionist commented on how dirty he was. I just hope he doesn't sit on my couch before he takes a shower every day.

The Guilt of Too Much

Since I was very very young I have had a problem of feeling guilty for having more than others. I remember distictly when my dad was the ward mission leader and he would bring home people that he was teaching that had less than us and feeling guilty that we had more than they did. They must have had very little if this was the case. I feel like I grew up poorer than most. Very small house. Never got new clothes. My parents worked hard to keep food on the table and our lights on. I went to the movies once when I was little and it was a sacrafice for my parents to come up with the money so I could go with a friend. We only ate out 1 time as a family that I can remember. I had large holes in my shoes and one day I remember the shame I had when a couple of boys were making fun of them in school. My glasses would always break and tape was the only option. Dispite all of this I still felt guilty for having too much. I don't recall my parents teaching this or acting this way but I did.

Fast forward I remember getting the hottest husband and loving him so much. Guilt...weird hu? Some people don't get to marry someone as good as I got. Then I felt guilt when we moved into our first house...and every house there after. I felt like it was too much for our needs. Too big. Too much money. Why? Many more people have way way more than I do. I love having what I have. I enjoy and appreciate what I have. I love the comforts it entales. So why do I feel guilty? I do try to share with and serve others. Why do I feel bad that I have a nice house, a nice car, a beautiful (not perfect but still wonderful) family? I feel like I am smart and funny and this brings me guilt.

We just bought this cabin in Alpine. It is for our retirement and our future. Why do I not want to tell others about it? Do I think they will think I snotty or rich? Rich is a bad thing right? It is not fancy by any means. We are not rich but we do well. I guess I need to study my scriptures more or pray harder so I know why I feel this way. I am grateful. I do share. Such a life long puzzle.

3 Days of Service

Our youth decided to do a 3 days of service challenge.  This is where they did as much service as they could pack into 3 days. The theme for this year is Embark in The Service of God. I love service. It has really been a comfort and blessing to me in my life both as a reciever and giver. I loved that Kamryn was excited about it as well. She started a plan with her friend Jordan on what they could do. This is the last weekend before a lot of them go back to school.

Frist thing on Friday morning I went outside to smell out new rain and I see this tiny bird. It was walking around so it was ok but very young. I thought PERFECT! I will serve this little bird and help it back into his nest. So I picked it up and I looked for its nest. I found one but it was pretty high up so I went and got Kamryn to help partcipate in the service. I gave her the bird and asked her to climb up the tree and help the little bird back into its nest. Then when she went to climb up the tree she DROPPED IT! on accident. Lets just say it didn't do so well after that.

Then I went to work and tried to serve as best I can. My job pretty much is serving all day so it wasn't no different. I helped people get there technology running smoothly. Kamryn and Jordan did a full day of service including putting nice things on the side walk for people to read and making cookies for neighbors.

Saturday we went to an Eagle Scout Project. We put kits together for the homeless.

Then we picked a few other girls and went to the temple to do baptisms.  It was one of the girls first times! It was so nice watching the older girls show how things work.

Then Karmyn had a big idea to go buy popcycles and hand them out to the people who hold and wave signs on the corners since it is so hot. We went to buy the popcycles but when we came out they were all gone cause a huge dust storm was coming. So then we decided to randomly hand them out. Fearless Kamryn went first and handed 1 out to the grocery cart kid. He was happy. Then one of the other girls chickened out giving one to a lady putting her groceries up. We gave them out to a cop. He got a kick out of us. We went around to people we knew who were sick or had surgery. We were unsuccefull handing them out in several places cause they were leary on our kindness. We did give them all out though. It was fun.

Kamryn gave foot rubs and backrubs and many more we didn't keep track of. 

We ended the weekend with a fireside. I was in charge of putting the video together. I only had 2 hours to put it all together. Lots of kids did some, some did none. I do think it was something we will need to do again and even more important do every day.

Road Trip

Time is such a strang thing. It seems to go so slow yet you can blink it is all gone. Derrik asked to go up to the cabin and wanted to go with a friend all by himself. I was not going to let him but his dad talked me into it. I guess they have to grow up sometime. 

So he asked his cousin, Dallen Slade to up with him. At one time Dallen's mom Katrina would have never let him do stuff like this but she has already let Dallen drive up to Eagar by himself so I guess she is a cooler mom than I am. Derrik left at 1pm after work and picked up Dallen. They then loaded up a coach I wanted to go up there. I didn't hear from him till 8pm! Doug said he texted him that he got tired and pulled over to take a nap! I guess it is better they are slow and careful than fast and crazy. I hate the worry part of being a mother. He is back home safe and sound and enjoyed himeself at the cabin.

Mom the Hairdresser

Kamryn has been trying to lighten her hair naturally for months. I remember this stage in my life as a child. Lemon juice, home made concoctions. They just don't work very well. So I said why don't you just let me color it for you. Well years ago when I would do this for my children they decided I wasn't very good at it. SO they quit having me highlight their hair. Well I have been practicing and have done it even on myself. She is broke and really wanted blonder hair so she let me do it.

Then I took her to get it cut. She has been working so hard at home this summer keeping it picked up, dishes, and cooking dinner. More or less being mom while I am working. I happily paid to get her hair cut. The hairdresser said she was very impressed with the color. I think she did a great job on the cut too. Kamryn thinks it is too short. LOL. I think it is pretty long still.

The Heat Is On

I just turned 39. My family (mom at least) has genes of early menopause. For some reason people don't talk about menopause. I am not sure why. Anyways I have early menopause. I have had about 5 hot flashes over the last year. Today I had a doozy. I thought I was having a panic attack because I was finding it hard to breathe and my heart was racing. I was just sitting on my chair doing nothing. Then I started to get super super hot. It is very hot inside but we keep the air conditioning around 78 so it was nice inside. Then I started to sweat like crazy. So much sweat all my clothes were drenched. My hands and feet everything. I kept sweating and finally had to change all my clothes, take a cold shower (which right now was still like 95 degree water) and I was still hot and sweaty. Then I was super shaky and was sick to my stomach for over an hour. I am hoping there is help for this cause if this happens while I am out or at work it just won't do. I also hope I don't have to deal with this for years like my poor mother did. I remember her being such a hag when she was going through this. I feel like my mood is better than when my kids were little so I hope that doesn't change either.

Stupid Owl

I hate owls. I really really hate owls. 

I went to bed and was awakened a few hours later when Derrik came in. He said something was wrong with Bisket. She was having a hard time breathing and he found a small hole on her side. We thought she punctured her lung. Derrik tried to pick her up to look at her and she uncharacteristically bit him then ran under my bed. I then tried to get her out and she bit me and ran into another room. Derrik and were able to corner her and get her into a kennel so we could take her to a 24 hour emergency animal hospital. Once we got there they said it would cost at least $500. I called Doug and he said to go ahead and get the help she needed. The rushed her back and were able to get a line into her lung so she could breath. Then they shaved her up and the vet said he could see where there were other holes and also found a small owl feather in her hair. DID I MENTION HOW MUCH I HATE OWLS? He then said he needed to get X-rays and it would cost about $1400. I did not know what to do and called Doug again. He said to do what I thought I needed to do.  While I was filling out the paperwork the vet said they were loosing her because the tallons had punctured her upper lung and it was filling with blood. He said that he could do surgery but it was very likely she wouldn't make it and it would really cost a lot of money. I decided to let her go and it really sucked. I cried and cried. Derrik and I said goodbye and left. I didn't want to watch them put her down. She was all drugged up. 

We had Bisket for over 5 years. I did not like dogs until she came. She was always my friend and loved to hang out with me. When I was having such a hard time with Sadie and spent so much time at home stressed out she was there with me. When I was home after being in the hospital she would lay with me and was sad that I was hurting. She always loved to play. She had the cutest personality.  I miss her so so much. I will forever hate owls.

House Sitter Nightmare

Sadie was asked to house sit for our neighbors because their dogs don't like to be alone at night. She was going to Eagar for the weekend so they had her brother stay those nights while we were gone. On Sadie's first night she was alone and was watching TV late into the night when she heard screaming and banging outside. She called me but I didn't answer cause it was 11pm at night. She then called the owners but they didn't answer either. She was pretty scared. Then she heard footsteps in the hallway in side the house. She saw a gun of some kind propped up against the wall but decided against it. Then she went out into the hall way and called out asking who was there. She discovered some young women who were in their late 20s in the house. They asked her if she was so and so's girlfriend and Sadie said no and they started apologizing profusely. When Sadie was telling me this story she was kinda laughing and I was getting mad. For 1 thing she handled this situation very very wrong.

1st off she should have not left any doors unlocked even the garage one. She might have locked it and they had a key but if she did that was bad. 2nd she should have not called me. She should have called 911. Especially after not reaching me she should have called the cops. 3rd she should never even consider handling gun as she has not been out shooting like her siblings and does not have the the proper training. 4th when she heard footsteps in the house she should NOT have gone out to see who it was rather she should have hidden someplace until those cop she called had arrived!
Those girls could have been killed. Even if it was their guy friend there he could have shot them. I hope Sadie learned a few lessons. It makes me scared for when she does move out and lives on her own. I think I need to be doing a lot more training with my kids on this sort of thing. And if I ever meet these girls I will be giving them an ear full!

Chainsaw Tricks

After Doug slept just a few hours he decided to get to work. Ya know Doug does everything in extreme. He works really hard, plays really hard, sleeps really hard. He does not do anything half way. I sure do love this guy.

He got a weekends worth of work done in just a few hours. He fixed all our plumbing issues we needed to fix. Most of them he had no idea how to do it but he is so smart he fixed all in just an hour. This included changing the guts of a faucet and sealing a drain drip.

Then he put all the air vents that needed to be drilled around the base of the house. This included crawling under the house in a very dark and small space. I was a very good helper btw.

Then he crawled up on the very wet slippery metal roof and swept all the pine needles. This is important because it helps your house to not be a target in a forest fire. Let us remember he only had a couple hours sleep from working all night and driving up to Alpine hours after he got there.

While up there he decided to cut down branches that were over hanging onto the roof. He then grabbed his chain saw. Just walking on that roof was a challenge now add a chainsaw. 

I think I know why women live longer than men.

Rain On Our Parade

Kamryn and I headed into to Eagar to watch the parade and meet Doug and the other kids. As we were driving in we saw a huge rain cloud opening up right over the parade route. I said "It looks like it is going to rain on our parade." I then started laughing because it was so ironic. I know have a better understanding of that saying. I was so sad for the people that worked so hard on their floats and for the many people who came to see it. Fortunately the show must go on and it was a great parade. It was nice and cool too.

We had our annual picture with Weston Wiltbank. The boy she shared her baby blessing with. He just got his call for his mission and leaves Wed. We had a great time talking to Sasha and Brent. We love talking with them when we see them.

Derrik decided to get in on the action and get a picture with Weston's little sister. They both didn't seem to mind. For some reason Derrik decided his 4th of July colors were camo.

I really missed my family while Kamryn hung out for a week in Alpine. It was so nice seeing them.

This warms my heart seeing them on the curb. They have done this every year since they could sit on the curb.

Sadie said that watching the kids grab the candy reminded her of the movie Hunger Games.

After the parade we went to my parents house. They had been cooking all morning fry bread and beans. It was still raining super hard so we had to squish into their tiny house. We had extras and my dad's brother and his family and my Aunt and Grandma Childers. My sister Krissy brought her friend and their family too. Lots and lots of people. It was nice to get out when the rain stopped. Krissy's friend's daughter was so happy to jump in the puddles. Kashley did NOT want to get in that puddle and get wet. The little girls was having pure joy jumping in that puddle.

Kashley did finally give in and got herself all wet. She then peed her pants. Might as well go all out. 

Then we went out back and played music. It was so nice outside. My aunt DeRae and dad played guitar. Krissy's friend Aaron and Robert played guitar too. Kamryn played violin on any songs we had music for and we all sang. It was so much fun. Kaeli brought a roommate home from school who is from out of the country and she said it was like she was in an old western movie. 

I love the 4th of July in Eagar. I hope I always get to go. Doug had worked the Friday night and drove straight up. He was very tired and had to go up to the cabin to sleep but he stayed for most of it.

Derrik and Colten later went fishing but it was raining so hard they decided to come in. Then they went into to Eagar to go to the Round Valley 4th of July Rodeo Dance. I thought there was one in Alpine so Kamryn and Sadie got ready to go to that. Later we found out they only have a dance in Luna over the 24th. We also found out they had fireworks in Alpine so they stayed and we all went to that. When we followed the long line of cars to who knows where but it was close. We backed out car up like everyone else having know idea what way it was facing. Then to our surprise the fireworks were right in front of us. It was so much better than driving to Eagar. We have fallen in love with our new little get away town of Alpine. Then the girls drove into town to the dance. They were not super impressed and all the kids drove home. I was a nervous wreck having them drive home so late with all the elk in the road and the rain. They made it ok but they did have to stop for a small heard of elk. Another super awesome 4th of July.