Happiness is...

...a freezer full of beef.
I had a rough morning. Austin was into being "naughty" and disobeying. James was just his usual crazy monkey. And I really needed to get some errands done. So we finally got out of the house. Dropped of movie rentals. Went to the grocery store. I was less than happy there because grocery prices keep going up. :( Then toward the end of the trip, Austin starts throwing a fit (the first one he has ever done in the grocery store). So I was dragging him around, kicking and crying, while i finished up my shopping. (Luckily he was done after about 2-3 minutes--but it seemed like a long time) Then I had to go to the butcher to pick up our 1/2 beef. Got it loaded up, etc. Then filled the freezer when we got home. Ahhh. I am weird, but it just made me happy to see all the ground beef, steaks, roasts, etc. I am a simple woman----food makes me happy. (mostly when I have a large stockpile of it-hey, what can I say, I'm kind of a hoarder) Oh, I also got a ton of cereal last week for $1 a box or less and that made me really happy too.

Tagged

A: The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B: Each player answers the questions about themselves
C: At the end of the post, the player then tags 3 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
1. What was I doing 10 years ago... I was at BYU, studying Pre-PT, writing a bugarian missionary, working at a sports medicine clinc, and having too much fun--you know, crazy college kids.
2. What was on my to-do list for today? workout (done), go to Target (did it), plant the garden (mostly done--still need strawberry plants and tomato plants), do the laundry (working on it), there were a few other things that didn't get done but that's ok. I had to do some serious cleaning tonight that I hadn't planned on b/c the boys played outside and got sooooo dirty and brought it into the house. (Austin dumped lots of dirt on James head and on his own head. The tub had to be drained twice while I bathed them just to get them clean)
3. What would I do if I suddenly became a billionaire? First and foremost---take a vacation with just me and Cam. Then pay off the house, car, student loans. Gift a certain amount to all our siblings and invest the rest. We might buy a bigger house eventually too.
4. 3 Bad habits... I have blog post that talks about some of these but here are some different ones. (1)I have high expectations (usually too high) of myself and others. So I am often too critical of failures because I expect so much. (2) I love sweets and have a hard time turning them down. (3) I hate ironing so it piles up until I absolutely have to do it---like if Cam has no shirts left to wear. Then I iron for like 2 hours and get it all done until the next major pileup.
5. Places I have lived..... Mountain Home, ID, Rexburg ID, Pocatello ID, Provo UT, Houston TX, Boise ID, Kuna ID.
.6. Places I have worked... Albertsons deli, Kmart, Rick's college library, Mtn Home Airforce base hospital, Sports med clinic in Orem, a cleaning company in Provo, Nanny in Spanish fork UT, PT aide at an nursing home SNF in Orem UT, Physical therapist (at several places)--currently mom full time, PT part time.
7. 3 Things people don't know about me....I am very competative (especially in certain situations), I am a horrible speller (maybe you did know that from reading my blog--I should spell check it more often, I am a book finisher (If I start reading a book---I have a very hard time putting it down until it's done--I will just read for every space of time I have for 24 hours to get it done. So many times, I won't start a book til I know I can "afford" the time to finish it.)
I tag Diane, Kylie, Carrie

Just a little change

So, I've been thinking for a while, I have really long hair.  I need a change.  Something different.  But I don't want something high maintenance or ugly.  Hmmm.  So I thought, and thought.  Then I made a hair appt. last night and bam.  It's a change.  And I'm pretty sure I like it. 

 

Before

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are you ready????????????????????????????????????

 

 

After

 

Yeah, I do like.  Even Austin said he likes it.  (Although, he didn't understand why I had to go have someone else cut it.  "Mom, we could just cut your hair here.")

Branding

Every spring, a rancher has to brand his new calves.  Since I know a rancher (my dad), we usually volunteer for the spring ritual.  I used to get to help with the actual branding work but since having kids, I have now been moved to the chuck wagon crew.  However, my brothers and Cam usually jump in for the branding festivities.

 

Here is a picture of Cam (orange hat), my older bro Bryce (blue hat) and my little bro Blake (green sweatshirt), and another cowboy helping with branding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a pic of the kids watching the branding. (please note the extreme windy conditions--branding always causes the weather to turn either cold or windy, usually both.)

From L-R:  Calvin, Austin, Garrett, Caden, (then somewhat hidden are Josie and Kaitlyn)  My mom is at the fence getting blown away.

 

 

This pic just shows how many people are there helping.  (this doesn't include 4 ropers on the horses).  It's a lot of work but if you have good help, it usually goes pretty fast (they usually can do 130-150 in a Saturday, and we usually do 2 Saturdays)