My Little Ray

We had a fun day today at the Fun Park in Logan. Gabe brought his friend, Colton, and we had Auriana with us. But my favorite part was doing the portrait both with cute little Raygen.

Just a Reminder. . .

The past few weeks my counter tops have been full of cups of dandelions and various other "flowers" that Ridge has so proudly brought me. Today after mowing the lawn I guess dandelions were a little scarce so he started bringing me the flowers that are planted on purpose. Though I am ashamed to admit it, I cussed him for picking mom's flowers and told him to leave them in the flower beds. His cute little face dropped and his eyes filled up with tears as he said, "I'm sorry mom, I just love you." As I watched his tiny body walk away the thought entered my mind that in a year or two, the little cups of flowers will no longer sit on an already cluttered cabinet. I know that all too soon I will miss that small face looking up at me full of pride as he hands me a handful of lovingly selected weeds, hugs me and says, "These are for you, Mom!" So I have decided to enjoy each and every flower brought to me, regardless of where it came from. Because while my flowers will grow back year after year, my cute little boy will only grow up.

Hail Storm!

We have had a very wet spring so far. The other day we had a pretty good hail storm going on. Gabe and Raygen wanted to go out and play in it. I told them that it hurts to play in a hail storm. They didn't believe me, so I decided to let them figure it out for themselves. They had a lot of fun running around screaming like feral children.

Dance!

Well Raygen finished another year of dance. She performed in three dances and the finale. It was a lot of fun to watch her. She is really learning the dance moves and likes to be on stage. We gave her a bouqet of flowers and so did Aubree and Brianne! She got a cute dancer jewelry box from her teachers. We also got to see Ashlee perform in a lot of dances including her solo. She did an excellent job! This was her last year of dance so we were even more glad we got to see her! After it was over we took some pictures of them. Raygen took a picture with her friend, Abby, who looks a whole lot like Brooklynn! It was a fun recital and we are so glad Tyson is working in Montpelier right now so he was able to come too.

Daniel Boone!

For school Gabe had to do a biography paper on someone. He chose Daniel Boone. Last night he reminded me that he needed a costume for today. He had told me a while ago, but I forgot. So in between Raygen's dance practices, I searched all over Logan trying to find something that would work and ,more importantly, would make Gabe happy. I went to the DI and found a levi shirt that would fit him and a leather belt with fringe. Then I came home and spent a couple of hours cutting up some of Tyson's carhart pants to make fringe (we didn't have any leather). He put on a coon skin cap and was happy as could be this morning when he left. Guess I dodged that bullet!

Some Girls Get Flowers!

Over the past 10 years I have had to learn how to read Tyson a little bit. He tries really hard to do all the regular romantic things, but struggles in that area sometimes. However, the times I know he loves me the most are when he shows it HIS way. I notice when he buys me a "diamond" for Christmas, even though it is a bow. I notice when he orders me custom arrow wraps that he put a lot of thought into. (They say "Deney Weenys" and have the weinerschnitzel hot dog on them.) I notice how he looks at numerous stores trying to find me pink fletching. (they only had red) And I definately notice how he spends hours meticulously preparing a dozen arrows for me so they will be ready "whenever I feel like shooting my bow". I have learned that he does this not to force me to bowhunt, but because it is his hope that I will spend more time with him. He does it because he wants to share his favorite thing in the whole world with me. He does it because he loves me. So while it may seem strange to some, seeing the "vase" of a dozen finished arrows sitting on the cabinet this morning was a truly beautiful sight to me.

Easter!!

We had so much fun this Easter. It is great when all the kids are old enough to understand and participate in all the fun activities. We were lucky enough to have Grandpa Al and Grandma Tammy staying with us that weekend. We kept up with tradition and went to Baby Animal Days at the American West Heritage Center in Wellsville. We were a little worried about rain but it turned out to be a perfect day. The kids loved petting all the baby animals like rabbits, chickens, ducks, goats, cows, pigs, turtles, snakes, and even male honey bees and hissing cockroaches. Every year it gets bigger and better. Gabe learned how to throw an ax like a true mountain man and tried to climb a greased pole to get the money at the top. Raygen got to use her crafting skills on a pinwheel and Ridge loved jumping in "that big balloon thingy".
Easter morning was just as much fun. The kids found a note from the Easter bunny telling them to find their baskets and then go outside for the rest of their presents. They found their baskets in record time and then squealed with delight when they found baby bunnies waiting for them outside. After church we hid 100 plastic eggs and had our own easter egg hunt in the back yard. It was definately a great Easter holiday!!