Where's Waldo?!

My goofy son wore this shirt to his Ward Party and won the Ugly Sweater contest.  He is such a character!  The shirt was supposed to be for Courtney but he loved it too much.  

I thought he looked like Waldo!

Jaw Surgery...The LAST

The day before Sierra's surgery Savanna and I went to the Forgotten Carols together. 

We had fun together and enjoyed some of our favorite Christmas music.

This is right before Dr. Anderson came in and told us that he would be doing both the top and the bottom jaws.  We weren't expecting that at all and it was quite upsetting.  Thankfully, Sierra had to stew about it for only a couple of minutes.  Dr. A. decided to re-do the top jaw --for free--to get a more perfect alignment.  It was nice of him, but it would have been nice to know--maybe.  In hind-sight  we didn't stress too much about what recovery was ahead of us and that made my stress level much lower!  I just cried and cried wishing I could take her place because she has already been through so much.  

She is already such a beauty.

A familiar look, unfortunately.

Because so many people choose to have surgeries this time of year, the surgical floor was full so they put us in the medical floor.  They didn't quite know how to take care of her so we opted to stay overnight and come home the next morning.  I felt pretty confident that I could take as good care of her as they did. She is a tough cookie and I am pretty sure nursing is something I could have done, but glad that I don't have to do it all the time!

Dear Ginger and  Colette brought us yummy dinner.  It was nice not to worry about feeding us, as I have to fix something for Sierra every two hours or so.  Ice Cream gets old so we have soup broth, and yogurt, hot cereal, mashed potatoes and gravy, and anything else I can think of.  

Nibley's Live Nativity

Ginger and I decided to take out Laurel's to the live Nativity in Nibley.  This is Moses the Camel.

We only had one Laurel that could attend so we took the Mia Maids and Beehives with us. 

It was a balmy 5 degrees outside so we quickly walked through the barn and manger scene and got on the horse-drawn trailer for a ride back to the car.  It was fun to be together and a good way to start the season!

Emily, Brooklyn, Kiersten, Mady, Abigail, Megann

Playing Around at Home

Bryan is sporting Sierra's scarf.

Without any furniture there is plenty of room for "airplane rides"

Courtney wasn't terribly impressed by her airplane ride!

Thanksgiving at the Reay's

Jackson and Courtney

Courtney has an amazing arm!  She can out-throw me any day!

Sierra was trying to double the work-out by jumping on the tramp!

What a woman!

We spend Thanksgiving at my parents home.  It is a rare opportunity to gather all of us together.  We had all of my kids, Paul and Sherry Housley, Danny and Chelise, Dianna, her kids and Dale.  Kelly's family did not join us.  

We had fun throwing a football around after the meal, playing a few hands of Canasta, and just visiting.  Bryan left us to go check calves, but we all stayed around until later in the afternoon just visiting.  

Chelsie's Last Ride

Thirteen years ago I brought home a six month old puppy.  She could sit and shake and roll over.  I took my Cub Scouts with me to pick her up.  She was my buddy from the get-go.  She loved to move pipe with us, follow us on the horses and be in the house when we were home and snooze on the deck when we were gone.  She was always glad to see me and would sit in whatever room I was in.  

The last year she has had seizures, lost weight,  and generally gone downhill.  It has been hard for me to watch mu old friend suffer.  She couldn't come with me on the ranch because she would get worn out too fast.  I ask the kids if they wanted to know the day that I put her down so they could come say good-bye if it came to that and not one of them did.  They just wanted to make the most of her life.  

So, I called my dear friend who is our vet and ask her to meet me out to Charlie's to put her to sleep.  I went out early and Chelsie ran around and had fun while I dug the hole.  When Di got there I had already been crying most of the morning.  Brandon Baker came out to help dig the hole and then he stayed while the vet administered the medicine.  He even shed a few tears watching me fall apart.  

  The first shot just made her sleepy and the second was the final.  She went very peacefully and I carried her to her spot and cried some more.  I cried most of the rest of the day as I remembered Chelsie and the fun things that we had done together as a family.

Her favorite thing to do!

Chelsie's final resting spot.  The cinder block serves as her headstone.  It is a pretty place close to the barn overlooking the river.  I swore I would not have another dog.  

Never say never...

Johnny Appleseed?!

Bryan ask me to spread some pasture grass seed over on the west hills.  I thought he was crazy and kidding at first, but when he kept asking me if it were done, I decided he wasn't kidding.  So, I gathered some help and had Alma drive the truck with the seed on it across the river.  We used buckets and canvas pouches to hold the seed while we rode along scattering it.  It was a nice day and we had fun together.  After, we went to have lunch at the Cracker Barrel.  

Randi, Brandon, Sierra, Bonnie, Savanna

We took four horses across the river to live on our way.  We could carry 50 pounds of seed between the five of us.  Johnny Appleseed had nothing on us.  The true test will come next spring when we will be able to see if any of the seed sprouted.  

Randi loves to ride old Pancho.  He was a good boy for her, and Mouse took good care of Brandon too.   I was riding Chip and he kept wanting to eat the seed!  

Buffs on Donny's

We had three wild steers that we had tried to get down and all they wanted to do was run so we took up 5 cows to coax them.  While we were looking for them we found the herd of buffalo.  There is a cream colored buffalo in the herd.  It looks Charolais colored!  We found the cows and drove them to where the steers were and the steers came down the canyon much easier.

Turkey Trot

I talked Jackson and Savanna into running a 5k with me in Smithfield.  It was a beautiful 25 degree day.  Once we got running it felt pretty nice, but it was cool to start.  I finished in 25:40 and Jackson was two seconds faster.  I had him on the uphill, but he sprinted the last half-block and beat me!

Courtney was our best cheerleader since she has retired from running!

Savanna, Chantel and Mathew Swink all ran.  Savanna did not train and did not have fun and lost her breakfast after:(

Re-Decorating

So I found some fabric on sale and decided to cover the kitchen chairs.  It took about an hour to pull off the old fabric, and staple the new fabric on.  I love the way they look!

We also decided to get new carpeting.  I have hesitated because I didn't want to move the piano, but it wasn't too bad of a job.  The night before the new carpet was to be installed, Savanna talked me into painting!  We headed to Home Depot at 5:30 p.m. and bought two colors of paint:  a lovely soldier blue and a nice light grey.  By 10:00 p.m., we had the first coat on.  I got up at 5:30 a.m. and finished the second coat.  

We got new furniture that isn't quite so big.  

And while I am at it I got a new duvet cover, drapes, pillows and accessories for the bedroom!  This is the only time of the year that I am home enough to do any changing and it has been about ten years so I think it is time!