Crazy Family

 Kaleb walked in from work with his hard hat on.

It is this boy's dream come true to be wearing it. He collects stickers to stick on. 

I saw it sitting on the bench in the kitchen where he happens to shed  the many layers of his work garb....that is supposed to be in the laundry room.

I saw that he had written on the inside brim. It made me smile.

I sure am proud of this kid.

And then he took the hard hat off to eat dinner!

Holy Cow he needs his hair cut!

 Here is the daughter that is supposed to be resting a sprained MCL. She claimed that this stunt doesn't make it hurt. I kind of believe her. If she wasn't a figure skater, she probably would never know that she sprained her MCL. It only hurts when she jumps and lands on the ice or when she squats super low to do a sit spin.

 I was working on the computer when she says.....

Mom....Mom....Mom.....

I should have known!

 Victoria happened to have some of the lego drawers upstairs when Kaleb walked in from work. He didn't make it very far. Some habits are hard to shake.

The temptation was too great!

 I guess Lightning thinks the wood tray is for him to lay in while we eat dinner.

You have to be an animal lover to live in this house.

 We moved the exercise bike out of the basement so Victoria could use it to rehabilitate her knee. 

This is how skinny guys stay skinny while eating ice cream! 

 Victoria dressed for 4 degree weather. Out to wrangle goats.

She has no sympathy for any of her peers who say they are tired, or that it is cold, or that they have to empty the trash or something, when every morning, rain, snow, ice or shine, she is out to feed goats, and bring her babies hot water after taking a sledge hammer to knock the ice out of buckets.

She's a tough girl.

 Tess was the best medicine after Victoria having a bad day between her knee and headaches from a  head concussion. She was at the ice rink even though she wasn't skating and Tess, of course, kept her laughing the entire time. She is the funniest girl and filled Victoria with happy thoughts.

 Kaleb texted this picture to Kirk just after he built this rod in our laundry room as a temporary place to hang wet clothes etc... Kirk almost died because it isn't strong enough for Kaleb to do chin ups!

 Typical big brother bugging the little sister. 

I guess he's checking to see if she is still ticklish.

 Kirk and I were talking when I told him to turn around and look at Jasper.

Having a house full of people for 27 years can feel daunting. But I wouldn't like it any other way.

I love that we still have a full house. I love hearing about their day, the good and the bad. I love cooking dinner for all of them and I love that they will wash the dishes. 

Kirk and I are pretty lucky that we have such awesome kids.

We have a wonderful family.

Couch Potatoe

This has been a little stressful Fall/Winter for many reasons....

Just when you think it can't get any worse....

We need Santa to bring Victoria a bubble to live in.

She just started 6 weeks off the ice. 

You try telling a very physically active person to not do her favorite thing.

Just when you think she will adjust, she fainted in Jill's barn onto the 

cobblestone floor and got a head concussion. 

Seriously???

Now she has headaches to go with her frustration of not being able to Ice skate, snow board, ride bikes, snow shoe, run......

Now Victoria is rehabilitating her knee and her head.

God has an intense way of slowing our lives down. 

Snow...snow...and more snow.....

Wasatch Freedom Classic

Both the girls were supposed to do the Wasatch Freedom Classic but Victoria pulled out of the competition when her knee continued to worsen. Daphne skated beautifully and received a medal for First place. Victoria did Daphne's warm up while Daphne's coach was busy with another skater. It gave Victoria something to do and get her mind off the fact that she wasn't skating.

Winter Show

Both Daphne and Victoria skated in the Winter Show this year.

Daphne was very excited to be almost Jared's 6'3"

Victoria skated to "Mary did you Know" by Scotty McCreary. She sprained her MCL back in August. After the Winter Show, she will be in a heavy duty knee brace and off the ice for 6 weeks while doing physical therapy to rehabilitate her knee. She was really worried about her program because they had to take out all jumps out of her program. She only did fancy foot work and spins. She pulled it off and skated beautifully. I don't think anyone even noticed that she didn't do any jumps. 

We are so proud of Daphne. She skated to Dancing in the Light. She did some moves that she didn't feel comfortable doing and was able to do it well. I'm so glad that she skated her program for the show. She was beautiful.

Kaleb announced the entire show. I love hearing his voice over the loud speaker. He announced Daphne as his Beautiful Sister and Victoria his Firey Tempered Sister. It was awesome!

Victoria loves her coach Julie!

Julie is the best and really understands teen girls really well, especially for being a Mama to 4 adorable little boys!

No Electricity

We forgot that we had a scheduled power outage, so we really weren't prepared.

We have a funny joke with our good friend Rachael that when the going gets

tough, you eat French Toast. Especially, French Toast from Kneaders.

So Victoria, made french toast on the wood stove.

This is where the old men hang out when the wood stove is pumping out heat!

Friends for Life

Jill is an amazing person!

She constantly gives of herself to others....especially to kids.

She is probably the most generous person I know and we love her.

She is like an Aunt to Victoria since she has been in the

 4H Dog Program since she was 9 years old. She has helped Victoria through

a tough year. We feel so blessed to have a friend like Jill.

Ski Dog...

Oh wait....

I've been corrected

I'm Not a Ski Dog Mom.

I Snowboard!

Okay, okay.....

T-Touch Target Training

Most people won't keep billy goats, because....well, they are stinky, they pee on their face, they blubber, and will bull you over every chance they get. I have stopped going into my baby's pen because all he wants to do is head butt my shins. He is just too strong for me.

Our friend Jill taught Victoria how to train Jacks using Target Teaching, with phenomenal results!

He is so much easier to handle now!

He sees her with the target and would rather come touch the target to get his treat then some mischievous move that ends up in a fight with a goat with horns.

Victoria compiled all her results and entered it into the Science Fair for her Agriculture Class at the high school and got First Place! Woo Hoo, way to go Jacks and Victoria!

Messing Around

I don't know what it is about these two and sunglasses.

They see a wall of sunglasses and then have to try them all on.

It's actually kind of funny.

Victoria and our friend Rachael are exhibiting their "manes" after being 

drenched by rain at the Dog show we were at.

Rachael was so funny, she said she had "the hair" too!

Freestyle 4 Competition

I love watching Victoria skate.

She is so graceful and beautiful on ice.....

and trips on the sidewalk constantly!

We have discovered that figure skaters are notorious for tripping on 

the ground but never trip on ice.

Hanging out with friends waiting to see what place they got!

Carrots

Finally!

I have successfully mastered the art of growing carrots!

It takes freeze cloth to germinate them effectively and

 then a mini hoop house to shade them until they get going! 

I can't wait until next growing season!

Bike the Bear

So Kaleb Biked the Bear, a 50 miler around the lake in September. Kirk and the girls went to a Breyer Horse Show in Farmington. Jasper was going to be home way too long for a mischievous guy so I brought him with me to hang out beside the lake while Kaleb peddled his way around the lake in 3 1/2 hours....on a Mountain Bike. Most people had road bikes. This kid is going to smoke bikers out when he finally breaks down and gets himself a gravel bike.

It's hard getting a selfie with a dog who doesn't sit still.

Jasper has so much expression. We had a great time together.

He is enormous for a border collie at 72 pounds.

 They aren't supposed to be that big.

Kaleb is awesome!

He is full of adventure!

He has so much energy and powers it into hiking, biking, backpacking, working....

after every bike race he does, he holds his bike over his head.
This old guy was amazed that Kaleb rode a mountain bike and completed 50 miles in 3 1/2 hours. He wanted to hold his bike up over his head too but said forget it! 

It was pretty funny, the guy said...I'm too tired!!

I wanted to go hiking so bad. On the way home I had told Kaleb that we would have to come back to Limberpine and hike another day. He didn't want to wait, so we went hiking too!

It was awesome! I love spending time with this kid.

We have wonderful conversations and love being out in the wild.

I love having someone to go on adventures with and

 who is always up for some of my wild adventures!

New Friends

Blossom and Ezmerelda are our newest furry additions to our animal clan.

The goats were especially fascinated by them and discovered quickly that they ate food that they want. They have mastered sticking their heads deep into their feeding hutch to 

lick any fallen alfalfa pellets that they might be able to reach.

 Both bunnies have gotten out twice and both times, they have returned. 

Christmas (the turkey) will make a fine dinner...

actually, we really like him. He is a very nice turkey and his head and beard are very soft to the touch.

Though the chickens don't like it when he accidentally steps on them and they can't move, squawking for dear life until he moves his foot. (update...Thanksgiving is only 6 days away and Christmas and Thanksgiving (our other turkey) are still walking around on two feet which means that there isn't going to be any turkey for Thanksgiving unless "somebody" goes out and does something about it!)

Chloe Belle and Blossom checking each other out for the first time.

Beautiful

I love the morning sun...

especially morning hair.

Oktoberfest in September

Victoria loves her coach Julie!

She has given Victoria back so much confidence lost with her previous coaches.

She skated her best ever to Touch the Sky, which is pretty obvious because she got first place.

Our dear friends originally from UT that moved to Illinois were in town and came to the Ice Rink in Cottonwood Heights for a visit. It was wonderful to see them.
We miss them !! It's hard to believe how much the kids have all grown!

August Dreaming

Summer was way too short!

I long for those days at Bear Lake that force us to just

stop

relax

experience

and

rest...

July Happenings

Our wildflowers in full bloom.

I'd love to have a miniature horse like this little one!

Hiking to White Pine lake.