Better Outside

 

Brody

Well, I found out that Brody likes the air hose attached to the air compressor!

I thought he would be nervous about it but he actually liked it and wanted me to blow it on him.

I never know with him.

Cache County Fair

The Cache County Fair came and went!

We work all year with the kids and dogs and do a 4 day Dog Show. We have events in Showmanship, Obedience, Rally and Agility. We had 29 kids and dogs this year! 

I am so impressed with all of them. It is such a growing experience for them. 

Our judge Chris found a Crawdad in the arena. We think it crawled up out of a storm drain.

Chris is amazing with the kids. He is so kind and really helpful with them.

We met him when Victoria just started Dog 4H with Henry. Henry was being....well....Henry and Christ totally got down on Victoria's level and helped her work with Henry and use some tricks that he taught her. He made a huge difference and helped her in the program.

In between events, Victoria helped Doug maneuver the tables and wobbles. He did great but then again, it was probably because he had such a great trainer working with him. The awesome part of Dog 4H is that the kids go into the program as just kids with dogs and come out as trainers and handlers. It is an incredible program that we have built. It is the largest club in the State of Utah. I've managed to keep it going for the past 4 or 5 years. I can't really remember how long. Victoria has been in the program 9 years.

Douglas

Douglas came to be a part of our family in July. 

I love this dog!

He is mostly Great Dane, St. Bernard and Mastiff.

He's only 20 months old, so who knows how much more he is going to grow. He is the sweetest dog. It took MerkTavitch 6 whole days of keeping them separated to have him fully accept Doug. He just didn't know how to interact with him, he was so big. He came with the name Titan which we all had trouble calling  him that. So we made a long list of names that were fitting and we muscle tested to see which one resonated with his body better. Plus he answered to Doug.

We call him Big Doug, Douglas, Dougy, and just Doug.

He is totally chill which is what I absolutely need with already having high energy border collies!

So he is officially my dog. He pretty much listens to me best anyway.

He likes to sit on Victoria. 

He cracks me up. He is considered a dry mouth so he has less drool. We had to get a goat bucket for water because it would just siphon out the side of his mouth. His crate is HUGE. Jasper likes it best. And now, he plays so well with Merk. They LOVE eachother!

I found out on a morning walk that when he is hot....or not, he lays down in the canal. So I set up a kiddie pool that we have had for years when it is hot outside. He cools off frequently. He'll even go outside, cool down, shake off and come back in side the house! Thankfully he shook off outside!!

I think he is loving his new home!

The boys were on a backpacking trip through the Uintas so Victoria and I sent them pictures of the dogs on and in their beds! Merk always gets a little out of sorts when Kaleb isn't home at night but I will have to say that with Douglas around, he transitioned so much better than he has ever done. Douglas is Merk's Chill Pill.

 

Jasper

Victoria, Jasper and I met several families from the 4H Dog Program at Bear Lake for a fun water day.

We usually meet at Benson Marina for Dock Diving but I didn't want to risk it having an algae bloom or something so we came here. 

I love it here! 

This is my happy place.

Jasper isn't overly fond of water but he still had a great time. 

He slept all the way home!

 

Power County 4H Dog Program

I drove three of our 4H Dog Program Teen Leaders up to Rachael's 4H Dog Program to lead their Dog Camp. It was a lot of fun and a great experience for the girls. Victoria did it on her own last year but this year she had friends to do it with. They even got in some extra fun things like, riding Bursi and Rowan, riding ATV's and hanging out playing with Rachael's little boys.

They did an excellent job. I am really proud of Victoria, Olivia and Arnica. They really know about Dogs and the Program in each of the events of Showmanship, Obedience, Rally and Agility.

Mr. Aiden!

 

4H Classic

 Victoria won Grand Champion at the State Demonstration Contest on How to Tie a Wild Rag. She's in her official State 4H Ambassador blazer. 

4H Cleaning Day

These two can find fun in everything they do....as long as they are together.

Every Spring, I can't wait until the canal is running through the Fairgrounds. 

It means that we can wash the dog agility tunnels after a long winter of meeting in the indoor arena. The dirt gets everywhere. While we had equipment unloaded and Victoria and Olivia were washing tunnels, others were sweeping out the trailer. 

We have to have the nicest fairgrounds. We have lots of grass and a irrigation canal running right through the middle of it. And the fairgrounds is open all the time so you can actually use it as a park! Kids float down the canal on tubes, dogs play, horses cool off, it definitely gets used. We wash our equipment!

The crazy part is they get really heavy! When Victoria was much younger, we would have to have several kids hold on to the tunnel or else it will float down the canal.

 

Cowboy Church Camp in Paradise, Utah

In June we had Cowboy Church Camp! 

Wasatch and Cache Cowboy Church combined!

It was fantastic! We met new people and got to know others more!

We ate so much, I could easily go without meals. The food was so good!!

These people are all so friendly. They are like family. I am so glad we went!

Pastor Larry was in charge of handling the dutch oven cooking.

He is an amazing person. He has the kindest heart and very understanding of people. How they think, what they need. And he has such a way of speaking that you know his love for the Lord!

He doesn't let anyone feel like they are a stranger! Ever!

He will call you a Rascal, or Kid. He is the sweetest man. And his little wife Lily, is amazing too! When I say little, I literally mean little. She is well under 5ft.

Kirk and I were there a day before the kids came. The boys were working in Bear Lake, Daphne stayed home to take care of all the animals and Victoria was doing a training with the State 4H Ambassadors. So Kirk and I felt like empty nesters. It was awesome!

Jerry is on crutches because his younger self.....much younger self, felt that he could safely swing on the rope swing. Apparently it didn't go as he had hoped for it to go.

We even had a Baptism in the pond. It was beautiful! 

And everyone clapped and 

praised God when he resurfaced!

 

Merk

This dog cracks me up. He does this often.

 He just stands in the curtain and watches me dry my hair or put on make up.

Bear Lake and Goats

The boys have been building a Barndominimum in Bear Lake. The place is massive and well made!

Victoria and I headed to the boardwalk for a visit to the beach and then stopped in to see the boys and what they are up to. For being May, there were little signs of Spring.

We had lunch with them, sitting on the back deck.

Victoria...where she likes it best.....right between her two brothers!

Bonnie gave birth to her first baby in a freezing rain. She had twins but only Pearl made it. We tried to warm the other one up but it was just too late. Very heart wrenching but once again....this Year Sucks!

This is Pearl. She is very cute and sweet! Bonnie is a good Mama.

This Year Sucks!

March 29, Kirk had surgery for kidney cancer. They removed half of his left kidney. His belly looks like he got in a knife fight with 7 incision marks. We found out he gets super chatty with anesthesia. We discover a black melanoma on the side of his leg and then another spot on his right shoulder. So he was diagnosed with Skin Cancer now too! 

April 8, Victoria is in severe abdominal pain. We are thinking appendicitis until we get the results of her CT Scan. Crohn's Disease Loud and Clear! What the heck? We get her on pain meds and take her home to manage this new diagnosis! We knew this was coming because she and Daphne have had similar symptoms for years. We've been trying to keep this from happening for a year now but I autoimmune diseases win? Not yet!

Yeah, she's faking a smile. Really, she was pretty mad and upset! She knows what Daphne has been going through with Ulcerative Colitis this past year. She was afraid of what was ahead! AND, this happened one week before she was to Interview to be a Utah State 4H Ambassador. One of 8 out of 13 kids were chosen! She put in so much work! (She made it in!!)

April 12, my Mom had another back surgery! Amazingly, she did very well and recovered quite well. Which was good because I thought I was going to explode! It was just too much to handle but we all did and we all survived!

 June 20, we traveled to Murray, UT for Kirks Skin Cancer surgery. He was injected with dye and went through the whole radiology process to locate lymph nodes. That night in the hotel room, we get a call from the doctor saying she had Covid and his surgery got rescheduled to July 1! So we got our money back, drove home the 2 hours and did it all over again on July 1! So now he not only looks like he got in a knife fight on his belly, but his leg looks like Frakenstein! 

Can we please be done with this year?

Brothers

 2 Border Collies....just hanging out.....watching the neighborhood......