Happiness is...

...a freezer full of beef.
I had a rough morning. Austin was into being "naughty" and disobeying. James was just his usual crazy monkey. And I really needed to get some errands done. So we finally got out of the house. Dropped of movie rentals. Went to the grocery store. I was less than happy there because grocery prices keep going up. :( Then toward the end of the trip, Austin starts throwing a fit (the first one he has ever done in the grocery store). So I was dragging him around, kicking and crying, while i finished up my shopping. (Luckily he was done after about 2-3 minutes--but it seemed like a long time) Then I had to go to the butcher to pick up our 1/2 beef. Got it loaded up, etc. Then filled the freezer when we got home. Ahhh. I am weird, but it just made me happy to see all the ground beef, steaks, roasts, etc. I am a simple woman----food makes me happy. (mostly when I have a large stockpile of it-hey, what can I say, I'm kind of a hoarder) Oh, I also got a ton of cereal last week for $1 a box or less and that made me really happy too.

Tagged

A: The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B: Each player answers the questions about themselves
C: At the end of the post, the player then tags 3 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
1. What was I doing 10 years ago... I was at BYU, studying Pre-PT, writing a bugarian missionary, working at a sports medicine clinc, and having too much fun--you know, crazy college kids.
2. What was on my to-do list for today? workout (done), go to Target (did it), plant the garden (mostly done--still need strawberry plants and tomato plants), do the laundry (working on it), there were a few other things that didn't get done but that's ok. I had to do some serious cleaning tonight that I hadn't planned on b/c the boys played outside and got sooooo dirty and brought it into the house. (Austin dumped lots of dirt on James head and on his own head. The tub had to be drained twice while I bathed them just to get them clean)
3. What would I do if I suddenly became a billionaire? First and foremost---take a vacation with just me and Cam. Then pay off the house, car, student loans. Gift a certain amount to all our siblings and invest the rest. We might buy a bigger house eventually too.
4. 3 Bad habits... I have blog post that talks about some of these but here are some different ones. (1)I have high expectations (usually too high) of myself and others. So I am often too critical of failures because I expect so much. (2) I love sweets and have a hard time turning them down. (3) I hate ironing so it piles up until I absolutely have to do it---like if Cam has no shirts left to wear. Then I iron for like 2 hours and get it all done until the next major pileup.
5. Places I have lived..... Mountain Home, ID, Rexburg ID, Pocatello ID, Provo UT, Houston TX, Boise ID, Kuna ID.
.6. Places I have worked... Albertsons deli, Kmart, Rick's college library, Mtn Home Airforce base hospital, Sports med clinic in Orem, a cleaning company in Provo, Nanny in Spanish fork UT, PT aide at an nursing home SNF in Orem UT, Physical therapist (at several places)--currently mom full time, PT part time.
7. 3 Things people don't know about me....I am very competative (especially in certain situations), I am a horrible speller (maybe you did know that from reading my blog--I should spell check it more often, I am a book finisher (If I start reading a book---I have a very hard time putting it down until it's done--I will just read for every space of time I have for 24 hours to get it done. So many times, I won't start a book til I know I can "afford" the time to finish it.)
I tag Diane, Kylie, Carrie

Just a little change

So, I've been thinking for a while, I have really long hair.  I need a change.  Something different.  But I don't want something high maintenance or ugly.  Hmmm.  So I thought, and thought.  Then I made a hair appt. last night and bam.  It's a change.  And I'm pretty sure I like it. 

 

Before

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are you ready????????????????????????????????????

 

 

After

 

Yeah, I do like.  Even Austin said he likes it.  (Although, he didn't understand why I had to go have someone else cut it.  "Mom, we could just cut your hair here.")

Branding

Every spring, a rancher has to brand his new calves.  Since I know a rancher (my dad), we usually volunteer for the spring ritual.  I used to get to help with the actual branding work but since having kids, I have now been moved to the chuck wagon crew.  However, my brothers and Cam usually jump in for the branding festivities.

 

Here is a picture of Cam (orange hat), my older bro Bryce (blue hat) and my little bro Blake (green sweatshirt), and another cowboy helping with branding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a pic of the kids watching the branding. (please note the extreme windy conditions--branding always causes the weather to turn either cold or windy, usually both.)

From L-R:  Calvin, Austin, Garrett, Caden, (then somewhat hidden are Josie and Kaitlyn)  My mom is at the fence getting blown away.

 

 

This pic just shows how many people are there helping.  (this doesn't include 4 ropers on the horses).  It's a lot of work but if you have good help, it usually goes pretty fast (they usually can do 130-150 in a Saturday, and we usually do 2 Saturdays)

The Grasshopper and the Ants Continued...

I am a worrier and a planner. So, I have always thought food storage was important and have wanted to get it all organized, etc. I just always put it on the back burner because we were students and living on a very fixed budget. However, in light of recent changes in the economy, I want to get our "house in order" and be prepared for possible economic downturn. In all of this, I have found that I have a major flaw. (yes, only one---o.k. maybe more than one) I am a panicky person. I recently had a conversation with my sister-in-law about food storage that went something like this:
K: blah, blah, blah, food storage, oh but since there is a shortage of wheat, it is really hard to get and getting expensive.
Me: uh-huh, uh-huh, WHAT? A shortage of wheat, oh no. AHHHH!!!
Then a different day, talking to Cam:
C: blah, blah, blah, food storage... a rice shortage so costco in California is rationing how much anyone can buy. The price is really going up.
Me: uh-huh, uh-huh--What? Rice shortage---costco is rationing! AHHHHH!!!

So you see, I don't keep up with global news very well, so I didn't know about the wheat and rice shortages. Then I start freaking out---"we need to drain our savings to buy food!!" So then I have to talk to Cam and calm myself down. I know, I'm kind of a freak. But that is just how it is. So now, the rational Suzanne, is still saying, we should probably cut out some other things so that we can build a little more in our food storage. (I think I will feel a lot better if we do that). SO I guess all in all---The Ants win! I will save and work for a rainy day. (Even if it is just to keep the psycho part of me quiet.)

The Grasshopper and the Ant

This is just random thoughts that I have had rolling around in my head for a few weeks. There is an Aesop fable called " The Grasshopper and the Ant" and basically the grasshopper plays all summer while the ants work hard to prepare for winter. Then come winter the grasshopper is hungery and cold and comes to the ants for help.

Austin was watching the disney version of this the other day and it made me think (no wisecracks here). The economic stimulus checks are going to be arriving to all of us pretty soon. Which, dang, free money, I love that. I want so many things--a couch, a bedroom set, pay off my car, clothes, etc. But as I thought about the Grasshopper, I don't want to be playing all summer then come to winter and have nothing to support my family on. Especially in light of the changes in the economy. If they have to send everyone money to stimulate the economy, I consider that a sign that the economy is going south. So we have decided to spend some of the money on things for our 72 hr kits or self reliance type stuff (maybe a wheat grinder, a tent, camping type stuff). Then the rest will go to the bank. I have always found a great amount of satisfaction by having some money put away, for a rainy day. Now I don't know what the rainy day will be but I would rather be like the ants on this one than the grasshopper. Maybe we will go have a fun family day with a little of the money to satisfy the grasshopper.

Easter

The pics are a little blurry but oh well.

Austin and James on Easter with their Easter shirts. Austin picked them out. Stating "pink is my favorite color" :)
I had Austin take a pic of me and Cam since I'm not ever in pictures anymore. He cut our heads off in the first one. This one isn't bad for a 4 year old ametur photog.

In over our heads

Well, we bought our house last summer and have had great plans for the back yard, so we have been working on it. First of all we took out a bunch of poorly placed cemet curbing tha was in the back. The next problem was the shed. It was built on the side of the house and blocked the wide gate (RV parking) that led to the rest of the yard. Plus the location of the garden ate up like 1/3 of the grassy area. So the plan was to just move the shed over to a different part of the yard, more out of the way. Then we want to move the garden to the "rv parking" and extend the grass in to the old garden area. No problem. Right. Fast forward to March. After much cosultation and brainstorming, the only way to move the shed is with large equipment.

Here is Cam and Bryce trying to get the shed up high enough to secure some 4x4s under the shed b/c it was not built with a very stable floor.

I had the hardest job---don't let it tip over!! (ok, ther may have been a support beam that I cropped out of the pic)
Next, with Cam driving the huge forklift, the shed is airborne. Oops--that is awfully close to the awning. Better stop and consult some more. "Can we get it around the porch without tearing off the cover??" Then Cam got back in the drivers seat and had my dad and Bryce coaching him on what to do (never mind that occasionally their directions were completely contradictory.)






Oh, whew. They made it around to the back. "uh, guys, why is the door facing the fence???"

Oh, well. So we got it moved. No real damage done. I do have a few large grooves in my yard from that huge maching but the shed is moved. Now it's time to paint it. :)

Austin is 4

Happy Birthday!

Austin is 4 now. This is a picture of his train cake. Just one of those great ideas until you sit down to actually make it and then you start wondering what you got yourself into. But it turned out.

Austin got this train from his friend Joseph. He was really excited because it is a Geotrax train and it has lights and makes train sounds. (If you don't know what geotrax is, it is the big train/street set. It has tons of different sets that add on to each other and lots of different trains and vehicles that go with it.)

It turns out that this ended up being a train birthday. Not on purpose either. A train cake. A geotrax set from Marnie and Pops, geotrax from Joseph and geotrax from mom and dad and papa and mimi.

He was getting really excited by this point. Hence the body slamming his present. This is the geotrax grand central station and it is a huge set. and the train has a remote control. Lets just say, he is still playing with it--constantly since yesterday. I'm sure the batteries will give up soon.


Marnie surprised us and decided to come visit for Austin's birthday. That was very fun. He was lucky enough to have mimi and papa and marnie here for his birthday. And uncle Bryce, Aunt Kathleen, calvin, kaitlyn, and josie.

It took a long time to get him calmed down for bed. At about 9:15pm. He was still hoppping everywhere. Even to bed. Very exciting birthday.

The boys and Marnie!

James is loving the camera right now. Anytime we get it out. He will stand in front of it and say "cheese" and keep inching forward until you take a picture. So, we have deleted a lot of seriously close face shots of him.

Have a seat

James decided that this spot in the refrigerator made a great seat. I guess that keeps you close to the food!