But I Am a Navajo!

I just had to make sure I wrote down this story because I seriously thought it was hilarious. So, my parents were over the other night and I had made dinner for everyone. Well, Raylee started complaining that whatever it was she was eating was too spicey. My dad looks at her and says, "What Raylee? You don't like spicey? Well, Navajoes love spicey food, so are you not a Navajo?" She looks at him and then starts balling like a baby tears gushing out of her eyes, "But I am a Navajo, Papa!!!" I think I died laughing.

The 3 Amigos

Brett had a scout campout this weekend, so the kids and I got to hang out just the 3 of us. Friday night I took them to see the movie, The Croods, which was super cute. Then on Saturday morning we went for a little hike. The weather right now is awesome and we just love being outdoors.

Happy 6th Bday Mr. B!

My little boy has finally turned 6 and got to have his first friends bday party. Of course he wanted it to be a Spiderman party, so that's what he got. He invited some of his friends from school, church and soccer and had one fun party. His bday was actually on Wed so he wanted to take donuts for his class at school and then had his party that Saturday. This kid is obsessed with anything super hero. He loves watching all movies, the Amazing Spiderman, The Avengers, Batman, Real Steel, etc. I love to watch him as he acts out the movie. Whatever action scene he likes he will play it over and over again. Like in the Amazing Spiderman he loves the part where Peter Parker goes to the abandon warehouse to skateboard and try out his new spiderman abilities. First Bradock goes and puts on the exact same thing Peter Parker is wearing...hoodie, tennis shoes, a backpack...I mean he dresses just like him to a T. Then he leaps and jumps all over the family room making all the same sounds and noises as the movie. He even hangs off the couch backwards to pretend he is scaling a wall like Spiderman. It's hilarious and one of the cutest things to watch. Bradock has such a big imagination and one of the most caring hearts. He is such a pleaser, which I love and scares me at the same time. I love that he always tries to make me and Brett happy and will do anything to make sure he has your approval, but I hope that someday he doesn't try to please the wrong people. He is just so nice to everyone and mysterious in a way. He is super quiet and shy in big crowds or settings, but one on one his fun, little personality comes out. He certainly makes being a mom super easy and I am just so thankful for him. Bradock

E.B. (aka Easter Bunny)

One of Brett's employees raises bunnies to have, eat and feed to their snakes...kind of gross I know. Anyways, she promised Brett that when her next litter was ready she would give him one to give to our kids. The kids were so excited and decided to name him E.D...like the bunny off the movie Hop. He was just so darn cute, except when you happen to be cuddling with him on the couch and he pees on you...twice! Anyways, we had him for a couple weeks and Brett decided to let him test out hopping around in the chicken run. It was hilarious because our hens were so scared of him everytime he hopped. Well, I wanted to show Bradock how cute it was and as we were walking back to to see when I saw Maggie inside the chicken run with E.B. in her mouth. She immediately dropped him and I knew right then that he was dead. I started screaming and Brett came and grabbed Maggie. Poor Bradock was so sad and upset and I just felt so bad that he was crying. We talked about dying and what happens when we die. It's amazing how you have to have these talks when you seem to live on a farm. I guess it just comes with the territory. We buried E.B. by one of our big trees and Bradock seemed to calm down a little. Brett had to tell Brittany about the bunny the next day at work and she said that her dog totally did the same to one of her other bunnies. Well, now we know Maggie can't go anywhere near bunnies. Brittany also said we could have another one out of her next litter. Lets just hope we can keep the next one alive.

33 and Living the Cowboy Dream

Our friends, Laci and Clay, were going to be going on a cattle drive to round up their cows and then brand them and had asked Brett if he would like to come and help. Brett could not have been more excited. In fact, they were going to be doing the drive over the weekend just before Brett's birthday, so he said that was all he wanted...the best present he could ask for. Well, I can't stop a man from getting his ulimate bday wish. So on Thursday he headed down to their ranch and spent the next couple of days living his dream. He said if he could make a living being a cowboy he would. I'm not sure how many people would find riding a horse all day, rounding up stubborn cattle and then branding them with that awful smell the best bday ever, but I'm sure glad Brett did:)

My Dynamic Duo

This picture just melts my heart and total captures these two's friendship and love. Their 15 month age gap was super tough when they were young, but now I wouldn't have it any other way.

Conference Weekend

This was absolutely one of the craziest, most exhausting weekends of my life. Thursday I went down to Scottsdale to see Brett's friend who is an Endodontist. My toothache wasn't going away and Brett thought it might be a root canal retreat. He felt more comfortable having his buddy take a look at it then him fixing it. So, the endo had to drill into my crown and remove the old filling and then disinfect the tooth. He wanted me to continue on the antibiotic and come back in a week or so to finish up the process. Afterwards, I went and picked up my friend Mele and Cameron's two older kids, Phoebe and Everett. About a week or two prior Mele's back had given out and she was in a lot of pain. Well long story short they ended up finding a non-cancerous tumor on her L-1 and needed to do surgery on her. She never made it to her surgery date because her back completely broke. She then had 2 emergency back surgeries where they place a 9in rod in her back and put in screws and a titanium plate. I decided to help them out by taking their kids for the weekend. Well, it turns out Phoebe had thrown up that morning and Everett had been having diarrhea, but I figured it wouldn't be too bad. WRONG! Poor Everett had the worst diarrhea I have ever seen someone have and every night we were up cleaning sheets, blankets and pjs from all the mess. One of the nights he even threw up with all the diarrhea to make an even more disgusting mess. I just felt so bad for him. Phoebe was extremely homesick and missing her mom a ton. Those poor kids had been through a lot the past couple of weeks and then to be sick on top of it all was just so sad. Saturday all the Flaherty's came up, so we had a total of 18 people at our house for conference weekend. It was crazy, but the kids had a blast with all their cousins. On Sunday, Homer came over to watch conference too so he upped our total to 19...the more the merrier, right?!!! That evening everyone left and Bob and Terri took Phoebe and Everett back down to Mesa. I thought for sure I would have a full nights sleep that night, but just our luck Raylee and Brett were hit with what Everett and Phoebe had. That lasted a couple more days and luckily Bradock and I never got it. I, however, ended up with the flu and had the sore throat, fever, chills and all that fun stuff. Seriously, it was never ending. On the bright side, Bradock sure was excited for his bday gift from Grandma and Grandpa...his very own bow. Now he can be just like his dad...he couldn't be happier:) I love this little fashionista tomboy. This is how you will find her all dressed up then rolling in the dirt and holding dead birds outside...I guess she likes to keep it balanced:)

Bye Bye Woody

Ever since we got rid of that massive tree that Homer and Brett cut down we have all of a sudden had woodpecker problems. I guess they weren't too happy with us for cutting down their home, so they decided to start pecking at our house instead. Brett was finally fed up and went and bought a little pellet gun, so he could dissolve of the problem. Well, I must admit after killing a couple woodpeckers with that thing I haven't heard any since. The kids have had a ton of fun with it too and Raylee is sure not afraid to pick up those dead birds and carry them around...so gross!!!

Easter 2013

Easter was super low key for us this year. We woke up to find the Easter bunny had left some pretty cool loot for the kids and then we went to church. I had sharing time that day and afterwards we came home and just hung out as a family. Nothing too exciting, but it made for the perfect day. Here is Bradock and his friend, Trent, at school after they made their fun "bunny" ears.

Bend it Like Beckham

These two crazy, Grasshogs getting all pumped for their first soccer practice of the season. Bradock is actually the fastest, most goal scoring player on their team. I think he has found his sport. Raylee just kind of just trots along on the field with her head somewhere else and once in awhile will decide to kick the ball. I'm not sure sports are her thing...for now anyways. Either way these two have fun and I love that they like being on the same team:)

Dentist by Day. Lumberjack by Night

I had a toothache that all of a sudden flared up, so Brett told me to come on down and he would take a look at it. Well, I lucked out because Homer happen to stop by Brett's office while I was there. He also decided he wanted to assist Brett. So, I had my crazy, cowboy friend suctioning my tongue to death while Brett was trying to take a look at my tooth. Brett could definitely tell I had some soreness and was a bit swollen around the tooth that was bothering me. The xrays didn't show anythig, so he did a nice deep cleaning on that tooth and got me an antibiotic. Afterwards, both him and Homer came over to knock down this humongous, dead tree that we wanted to get rid of. To be honest, I was scared to death of that tree coming down, but those two boys went right at it. I decided to film the whole thing and it didn't take long for that massive thing to come tumbling down. It was actually pretty cool to watch...from far, far away... and I was so glad everyone's eyes and bodies were still in tact. We now have even more firewood to throw in our fire pit.

Highlight of Our Day

Up to about 9 eggs a day now #goodthingweloveeggs #easterbasketsarentjustforeaster Just after I posted this on Instagram we started to get between 14-16 eggs/day. Seriously, it is the coolest thing and my kids just love collecting them. My favorite part is walking by the eggs at the grocery store and thinking "Yup, dont need any of you!" There is nothing better than fresh, organic, cage-free eggs.

31

My 31st bday came and we had to change our plans just a bit. I really wanted to spend the day hiking with Brett, but my parent's sold their house in Pinetop so we went up there instead to help them move. I seem to be reminded a lot lately of why I hate moving. It was an exhausting couple of days, but we got all their stuff to our house. Then the next few days my dad, Chance and a little help from me cleared and graded the area where my parent's new storage garage was going to go. It was a lot of work and I had no idea what it took to clear land and tree stumps, level the ground and then get it nice and smooth so you could actually put a structure on it. I have a new appreciation for that line of work. Chance and my dad did an awesome job and the land couldn't have looked better. The kids had fun riding on the bobcat and Maggie seemed to enjoy basking in the sun watching ever do all the work. Here is a pic of Bradock, McKai and Raylee at the park in Pinetop. We managed to squeeze in a little play time while we were there.

My birthday certainly didn't go uncelebrated. I received the funniest card and awesome gift card to Sephora from my friend, Kjersten. Kimi sent me 3 pairs of the cutest earrings. My mom gave me money to spend in San Antonio and my sis, Sarah, got my some yummy Ed Hardy perfume. The next weekend I went down to Mesa to have a little belated bday celebration with my friends Rachel, Meegan and Camille. We ate at a little pizza join called Spinato's that Rachel and Meegan have been raving about forever, so I decided it was time they take me. We then headed over to Harkins to watch the new movie, The Host. I had read the book a few years back and was excited to see the movie. Of course, books are always better, but I had so much fun hanging with my girls I couldn't care less what we saw. We had so much fun and I'm so glad we got together.