Go Rebels!

Max's very first soccer game was on Saturday so we finally got to see what our little 'Under 5' team was made of. Being a typical mom, my first thought was, "They're so dang CUTE!" Then I had to get my game face on and start cheering the little rascals on. Gary had to work, but we kept in touch over the phone so he could get some play-by-plays. It looked as if the other team was going to forfeit there for awhile, but they ended up showing up about 5 minutes late. We were just happy to play.

Max had fun running around, but didn't seem to have much interest in getting the ball. He was more interested in running with the pack, and studying blades of grass in between plays. There are a couple boys in the team who have been playing for awhile now though, and they helped carry our team to a 12-4 victory! I'm crossing my fingers that Max will grasp the concept of soccer before the season is over.... Go Rebels!

Modern Technology?

As if.

After nothing but problems with this stupid computer for the last.... what? Year? Since it was built.... Jeremy was finally able to diagnose the problem. Seems I've had some bad RAM in it, and it was causing Windows to crash all the time.

Gah!

Oh well. Back in the saddle.... so to speak.

Life is so, so very busy these days. It's a sprint to the finish. The girls are still in dance classes, Kelly began piano lessons and her church Activity Days, and Max just joined a soccer team. Looks like Gary and I only have a couple evenings a week where we can stay in and lay like broccoli. It'll be like this until the end of the school year. No, actually it'll be until the dance recital is over in the middle of June.

Ah.... the life of a parent....


Speaking of soccer, isn't 'Under 5' soccer cute as heck? It's not soccer, it's really 'Bunch Ball.' Just a bunch of tiny little guys running around in a big bunch on the field. I love it! Makes me laugh. I'll have to take some pictures at his next practice....

The Elk Hunt

First, for anyone who does not know, Gary has been trying for this Nevada Bull Elk tag for 20 years (give or take), so it's been a very big deal. It's the reason he bit the bullet and bought a toy hauler FINALLY! ;P He's been spending a ton of time up on the mountain- scouting, camping, hunting.... Uncle Blair was so generous as to let us keep the toy hauler on his ranch for the majority of the last month. (By the way- his property up there is beautiful!! We're so jealous!) That made things so much easier since Gary didn't have to haul the thing back and forth for each trip.

So for the first few days of the hunt, he had two of his hunting buddies with him. That was at the beginning, when it was still fun. Unfortunately, they both had to come back to town for their jobs, and Gary was left up there by himself. He came home for a day and a half, then went back up. Of course, by then the hunt was becoming more work than fun. Then of course, he started coming down with a cold. It's no fun to get up at 3:00 a.m., hike for hours on end, then come back exhausted and empty handed to a lonely trailer even when you're well, let alone when you're sick.

So when Gary called hom on Thursday night saying that he was about to just call it quits, I tried to encourage him. Exhaustion, frustration, and missing the family had all taken their toll. I talked to his folks that same night, and Gary's mom offered to take the kids for the weekend so I could go up and help out. HA! The only way I'd be able to help out is by keeping Gary company. I sure don't know how to hunt....

But would you believe, that as I'm loading the car and getting ready to drop the kiddos in Logandale, Gary calls and says he finally got his elk. Yay!

Wait.... we can't celebrate so fast. Now's the hard part. Getting it off the mountain. A mountain designated recently as 'Wilderness Area' no off-limits to any type of vehicles off of designated highways. You can't even bring in a wheeled hand cart for crying out loud. (Thank a ton, Harry Reid. No, really.) Ugh.

Again, Uncle Blair to the rescue. Uncle Blair came up to his ranch with his horse, and spent the entire day with Gary and I.... hiking up to the elk, helping load it, and getting it back down to the truck. It was nearly 4 miles each way. And I mean 4 miles of rough terrain. It was, by far, the most difficult hike I've ever done. Thank goodness that Tex was able to handle the majority of it. But Uncle Blair, Gary, and I all had metal frame packs full of stuff too.

Gary's pack was so heavy that he was forced to leave it after about 2.5 miles. We marked the spot on the GPS, and ended up having to come back early the next morning.

In spite of the difficulty of the hunt, I think it was a good experience. And we'll soon have at least 100+ pounds of meat in the freezer. I can't imagine having lived in the days before grocery stores, when families either raised or hunted all of their meats. I, for one, certainly prefer the convenience of shopping for it. But at least I can say that I know what to expect, should we ever lose that modern convenience and be forced to hunt for our family's game.

A few pics (coming), for anyone who is interested.

9/11 - NEVER FORGET

It never fails. Every year on Sept 11th I feel anxious for my husband. On the other hand, I know that we've shown that we can come together and fight against a dangerous enemy. God bless the families of all those who passed on Sept 11, 2001. Innocent victims, brave souls.

Never forget.

The most amazing video

The Sabbath seems to be the perfect time to share an amazing video I ran across on the web. Reflections of Christ is a travelling fine art exhibit that I believe is in Mesa, Arizona right now. If it comes here, I will be taking my whole family to it for sure.

Take the time to visit this link and watch the slideshow. It's one of the most moving things I've seen.

Reflections of Christ slideshow

I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

A Busy Week For Sure....

Monday was the first day of school. HOORAY! The kids have been so ready to get back. New clothes, notebooks, pencils, lunchboxes, and anything else they could get away with, were all chosen and ready for the big day.

And as an extra special treat, Grandma Robison drove into town just to walk to school with us! We just LOVE our grandparents!

Abby was thrilled to see Miss Kelli again, and Kelly was hopping with excitement to go into her new 2nd grade class with Mrs. Jones. For some reason my allergies were acting up that morning, because my eyes were kind of watery watching my biggest little lady walk into her class. She's gotten so tall, and she's so pretty. She holds her head high, and her heart on her sleeve. I'm just so proud of her. I'm so proud of all of my kids. If all goes well, Abby will be mainstreamed into kindergarten part-time this year. She's come so far as well. So very bright, and so very sweet. I felt so bad for Max... he began to cry when he found out he wasn't going to be able to stay at the school with Abby. It won't be too much longer though- he needs to stay my little man for a little while longer. Before I know it, he'll be just as big as Kelly.

As you can see, it was very difficult to get any decent pictures of the little turkeys though! LOL...








Saturday was Gary's big 40th birthday bash! Okay..... it was a moderate sized backyard barbecue with about 25 people showing up, and he made out like a bandit with the birthday gifts- the lucky dog. Gary's work schedule (his being able to take vacation) was up in the air for so long, that I wasn't able to set a final date for this party until about a week beforehand. And I'm the queen of disorganization to begin with, so I'm grateful to those who could come help us celebrate on such short notice. (Cassondra and Jake only had an hour or so!)

Not only had I been ferreting a bit of the savings away for awhile, but I'd also been saving my AMR paychecks for this. I was finally able to give Gary a few of those 'big ticket' items that he's been wanting or needing for so long. He got a nice mountain bike, a top of the line GPS device- along with some mapping programs, a new pair of binoculars, new speakers for his truck, and a telescope from the kids (they said it will work better to look at the stars than his spotting scope that he has been using!). Our wonderful neighbors made him a hand-made pillow from travelling (or chilling in the livingroom!), and the last present Gary opened was the one that got the most laughs. His good friend from church, Jake, gave him a box of Depends, and a card that said he'd make sure to tell him if he started getting that 'old man smell.'

Thank you to everyone who was able to come, and those who were with us in spirit!

Rapunzel, Rapunzel.... You're every bit as cute with short hair!

And so, so sweet to donate those lovely tresses for a good cause. Kelly's very happy for several reasons: First, she knows another little kid who doesn't have hair will get a wig now with her hair in it. Second, she finally gets a cute 'short' haircut like Abby got right after Christmas. And last, she gets cute bangs.

I don't mind trimming the girls' hair up, but I wasn't brave enough to do the bangs myself this time. So Kelly got to visit my hair stylist. What a treat!



Her hair turned out very cute. As an extra special treat for me, I got to kidnap her for another hour or so for myself. We went on a 'Girl's Date' to the Cheesecake Factory, and pigged out on lunch and sweets.



Just to finish off her hair story, we took a picture of her with her lovely locks, soon to be on their way cross country to begin the long process of becoming the new hair for a child in need. Then she personally handed the envelope to the mailman at the post office.






If anyone is interested in donating hair to Locks of Love, here is their official website, including instructions on how to do it, and pictures of recipients.

Well, I don't know why it's not showing up right as a link, but the website is http://www.locksoflove.org/