Easter on the Prairie!

Jason and I have been waiting for spring and for the prairie dogs and squeakies to come out. We planned to take the kids camping for our anniversary weekend and to welcome spring. We went looking for them the first weekend in March and saw a few but obviously they needed a little more time to decide the weather was warm. So we postponed our trip to give them another week. However, we wanted spring here more than it was ready to be here; a winter storm was in the forecast for the weekend, and then another the next weekend. Easter weekend looked good - it had to be good, it was the beginning of SPRING BREAK!

We left Friday afternoon and stayed until Monday afternoon. The sun was shining yet the wind was blowing and cold. We didn't see any prairie dogs in our favorite spot, but found some new spots not far away.

Abriana was eager to shoot her gun! She took a few shots and then we remembered her sights needed some adjusting. When Dad adjusted her sights, she set up cans almost 50feet out and practiced. She needs a lot more practice, but she is getting there.

Saturday night we dyed eggs in anticipation of the Easter Bunny. Cheyenne couldn't decide if she wanted to be by the fire or make a mess with the dye. The other two didn't want to quit with all the stickers and colors. We found a camo dye set that had something like 147 stickers. Yup, they used just about every single one!



All day and all evening the girls kept discussing where the Easter Bunny was going to hide the eggs and where were their baskets going to be hidden. Well, he did a pretty good job at hiding those 30 camouflaged eggs. The grey colored eggs were actually the same color as the dirt! The teal colored ones turned out to blend really well into the sage brush. It was hilarious watching Cheyenne scream, "EGG EGG!" as she ran around following her sisters. I helped her out a little bit to find some of her own. She was so excited when she found some she took the two in her hands and smashed them together screaming, "AHOO AHOO!"

Since the wind was blowing pretty hard most of the night, the Easter Bunny found a clever spot for those baskets filled with goodies - inside the jeep! On the front seats were 2 Reester Bunnies (Reese's peanut butter and chocolate bunnies. Mmmm...) and 2 pudding cups - for Mom and Dad. In the back were the three sought after baskets (actually buckets) full of pudding cups, granola bars, fruit snacks, cheese and cracker snacks, a box of animal crackers, juice bottles, a solid chocolate bunny, bubbles and sandals.

Cheyenne found Dad's "feetball" in the motorhome and all three girls kept themselves entertained with it. And they entertained us! Chey kept wanting to get right up close to Bri when Bri was throwing it, so she would tell her, "Stay there." The little parrot that Chey is started telling her sisters the same thing when it was her turn. She'd clutch the ball under one arm, put her hand up with the other to signal to stop, and say, "Day dere!"

Then the kiddo's got goofy...

Maybe you noticed the tires on the jeep. Eh? New ones! Mud ones! So, of course, we went wheeling! We went up one of the canyons north of camp and found a little mud and some snow one day. The next day we went south, towards Moab. Jason was really wanting to find some area to test out the new tires and see how much we could tear up the jeep.

We had the maps with us, and picked our way by looking at the terrain at each fork, or from the top of a hill. We passed some old mines and found some rocks to climb. The tires are awesome! Now we need a lift...but then we'd need bigger tires, hmm. Well we ended up in Arches but really couldn't see much since we were on the 'wrong side.' I'm sure one could backpack through there, but there are no roads to speak of. We picked our way down the slick rock and found some cool rocks for the front yard. Then we came across a miniature grand canyon.


Jason jumped the crevice to get a better look at everything below. He was helping Kayla over when she looked down and decided NO WAY! It was about 2 1/2-3 feet wide and oh, 30-40 feet down. The rock wasn't sheared completely from the mountain and was 5-6 feet wide itself. And looking off the edge of that was a sight I didn't have the guts to see. I was fine with my feet being where they were. I am afraid of heights when I am not in something. That is most likely because I am a klutz and I know it, therefore if I have something to support me, I'm ok. Besides it didn't help me much when Chey was curious and wanted to look over the edge. My stomach did things I have never felt before!

I probably would have jumped over if I didn't have the kids with me. The over-protective-mom kicked in and I wasn't ok unless I had all my chicks under my wing. Cheyenne did jump over with Dad and even though she was safe with him, she wasn't under my wing and my stomach continued to do crazy things.

The older girls and I went down past the crevice and looked down. We all stood like 3feet from the edge, too scared to get closer, but it was still gorgeous. Trees and grass and a creek running through it all with what was left of someone's cottage from decades ago filled the bottom. You could see where the water would run off the edges and create waterfalls. Kinda wish there was a waterfall to see.

On the way back to camp, we were flying down a straight stretch of dirt road and I got some cute snapshots of the girls.

We had great fun. It felt so good to be out of the house. Nobody wanted to come home, not even the motorhome. It decided to overheat with no warning. Quirky thing will have to be fixed before our next trip in two weekends.

The Mitten

Kayla was in another play, this time with her morning class. They did 3 short plays to accommodate all the students, as well as, to illustrate the stories they have been reading in class. Kayla was the badger in 'The Mitten.'

It's a story about a boy who really wanted Grandma to knit him some white winter mittens. She refused because she knew he would only lose them in the snow and not be able to find them. After many pleadings, Grandma finally gave in and knit him the mittens he so wanted.

One day he went out to play and sure enough, dropped one of his mittens in the snow. During the night many of the animals in the woods saw this mitten and thought it would be a warm and cozy place to snuggle up. The mole was the first one to curl up in the mitten. Then the rabbit hopped in. The hedgehog crawled out of her burrow and into the mitten. Then the owl swooped by and joined the trio. The badger came out of the snow and said, "That looks warm and cozy. I'll want to go in too!" And she was able to cuddle up in the thumb of it.

(If you can't tell, Kayla is the one on the far right.)

A fox came to investigate and climed inside the mitten. And then the bear heard the commotion and thought he should be in there too. A meadow mouse came along and said, "Wait for me!" As the mouse scurried in, he tickled the bear with his whiskers and made the bear sneeze. The force of the sneeze shot the mitten up to the sky.

The little boy saw the mitten in the sky and ran towards it. He showed Grandma his two white mittens and she said, "I am glad you still have your new white mittens." However, one was kid size and the other was all stretched out.

~THE END~

Forgive me if it sounded a little broken up. Kayla helped me write it. It was all her words, I just tweaked some of them. She even insisted I write 'THE END.'

After the plays, the kids put on cowboy hats and sang a few songs.

I decided to see how the video worked on the digital camera and found out I couldn't zoom (that is the clicking you hear), sorry about the heads.

It was cute and again, she had a lot of fun.

The 1st Annual Thomas Tiny Ranch Round-Up

We are planning the family camp out for the weekend after Father's Day. We are hoping the weather will be perfect by then and that everyone can make it this year. We should also be able to find the camping spot we were in search of last year. You know, the one that is in the middle of no where surrounded by trees with the possibility of a pond or lake nearby and no fee.

I'm sure it goes without saying, but every one who has a wheeler should plan on bringing them. We, however, will be in our jeep.

So the dates...June 20-23. We are making a 3 day weekend out of it and hope you can too. We will let you know more details as we figure them out.

Grades are in and the girls are doing awesome. I am so proud of them!

Abriana needs to learn to keep the talking to a much lower level, as well as bring her homework home. But other than that, she continues to be a smarty.

Kayla was put in all day kindergarten since her assessment showed she may need a little help to pass at grade level. Well...it is working; she is above grade level! She is reading, doing math and learning how to tell time. She's so funny with 'the clocks that have hands.' It will be 3:20 and she'll tell us it's almost 4!

The grey line is the target goal, where they should be to be at grade level. The black circle is where they are at!

And as you can tell, I got the scanner working. Simplest thing. All it needed was a little reset; unplug for a few seconds and presto! I came upon that little tidbit on accident. Thought maybe the power strip was going out so I plugged the scanner into the wall and the candle warmer into the outlet the scanner was in, and all of it worked. So I put all the plugs back where they were to start with and I'm a scanning and printing now.

So Cheyenne starts screaming this morning, "MAAAAHMMM. BUUUUUG!" over and over. I go and get the bug swatter as she was scrambling up in the chair still screaming "BUG! BUG! MOM! BUG!" and found this:

I told her, "Honey, it's a sticker!" She looked down from her crow's nest and said, "Oh." then climbed down and had a much closer look at it. Her nose was about 2 inches away from it when she decided it was safe. She picked it up, put it on the table, and was off to continue to play with her cell phone.

Happy Birthday Kayla!

6 years old! Wow! Where do the days go?

If you didn't hear me say it before, I'm going to say it again; technology sucks! For some unknown reason, my camera decided to now tell me that some pictures I took are unable to view. So again, I am missing pictures; only one this time, but still... Not only that, my scanner/printer won't turn on. I had an awesome idea to create a slide-show of 'Kayla through the years,' but without the scanner I can't do much about it.

Yes, I checked the plugs and cords; everything is where it should be. I did find a spider's nest right around the plug going into the printer, so maybe the little buggers hatched and they are crawling around the circuitry creating mayhem inside the darn thing. If only I could turn it on, I'm sure it would fry those little demons. Talk about having a bug. Hahaha!

I didn't mean to get off the subject. It just so happens that I typed the first line and the idea struck me. So off I went on a photo search only to come back to my seat and discover my problem.

Oh, where is my patent-lawyer brother. Someone somewhere needs to invent a computer that would scan things into it by simply placing the object on the computer screen. That would be a lot simpler than having all these cords and plugs that intertwine and entangle themselves amongst the dog hair and dust bunnies. And, I would only have one power button. I guess then, one would need to also create a fingerprint resistant screen. Hmmm...I'd like one of those too.

Alright. I took a deep breath. Back to my younger daughter, my 2nd oldest daughter, my 6 year old Kayla.

This month's WSS was on Kayla's birthday. She loves her grandparents so much and misses them a great deal so it was a sweet way for her to be able to share her day with them and the rest of the family. She was so excited when I told her about it that Saturday night, as she was going to bed, she told us, "I will wake you up when I am ready." We asked her, "Ready for what?" She says, "For my birthday and WSS!" We both chuckled and Jason says, "Darlin, it's not Christmas."

As soon as we got to Grandma's, she says "Can we do presents now?!" I told her, "Let's get in the door first. Then we'll have waffles and then you can open your presents."


The Kellers gave her Moon Sand. She also got Moon Sand from Mom & Dad and her sisters.


Grandma Cindy and Grandpa Warren gave her some much needed snow pants and snow boots (the girl needs to quite growing).


Grandma Linda and Grandpa Allen gave her a goody-bag with puzzles, headbands, pens with interchangeable charms, a purse, a necklace, a princess cup, a color-her-own-princess-poster with markers, lip gloss, a flashlight, a 'hug-me' frog & dress-up shoes. Wow! She came home with a loot!

Abriana was the only one into playing dress-up. She kept modeling all the outfits.


Cheyenne disappeared and found a cozy spot to go to sleep.


When we got home Kayla told me, "Mom, that was such a great birthday!"

She says, "Thank you everybody for the cool presents!"

Technology sucks!

Sunday we decided to go look for sheds, but first stop by Redmond to see what it looks like. The lake is fed by a natural spring so we didn't know if there would be ice or what. There is very little ice.

As we were driving by just looking, we saw a guy hook up and start reeling. Jason says, "Oh, he's just got a 6 inch catfish or something small like that." But his pole was bending in the way it would with something big. So we spun around and watched him reel in; he had a Pike!

Once he unhooked his fish, he noticed us and Jason tells him, "NICE pike!" He replies, "It's been a nice day!" We asked if we could see his fish and he welcomed us all to come on down. So we trotted down the hill and found that he and his brother-in-law each had 3 Pike on a stringer. All of them around 2 feet.

We had a great time talking to these two 'good ole boys' that grew up in Salina. They have been friends since they were 'youngsters' and continue to cause trouble and just live it up. They are a hilarious pair. Did I ever say I love it down here? Well if I haven't, I do! Jason and I got such a kick out of hanging out with these guys. They were so friendly, funny and just Grandpa's at heart.

As we were talking, one of the poles got a bite, the one guy says to me, "Are you gonna get that or watch it?" So I grabbed the pole and got to reel in my first pike! However, the bugger flipped right when it got to shore and spit the hook. Oh, well, it was still neat.

Then another pole twitches and Milt says to the girls, "Who's going to get this one?" Abriana backed off playing at being shy, but Kayla ran right over, "I DO, I DO!!" I was surprised! Kayla is the shy one and one that gets bored with fishing so she doesn't even do it.

Now this is the part where technology sucks! I took pictures of Kayla reeling in a 27inch pike with the help of Dad and Milt. I took pictures of her holding her pike, with a huge grin and sun on her face. I took pictures of the next fish she was asked to reel in with the other pole. I took pictures of the gentlemen standing with Kayla holding the 36 inch pike she didn't have the strength to hold up. I took pictures of lil' Chey hauling boulders around; she was being a tough girl picking up the biggest rocks she could get her hands under. I took pictures of Abriana enjoying the sunshine and sliding down the hill. I even did playback to show everyone the shots I got. But when I got home, they were mysteriously gone. The only pictures on the camera were the ones of the rest of our day.

When it was time for the guys to head out, they gave us the pike Kayla reeled in and 2 more! It was a really cool afternoon at the lake!


I took this one of Kayla in the house before we filleted her fish.


Then Chey wanted to hold the fish!


After we left the lake, we went east to look for sheds. However, the snow was in the perfect condition to wheel and once we were done screwing around, it was a little too late to look. Besides, Cheyenne's legs are still a bit short to be walking around in the deeper snow where we needed to be looking.

So what did we do? We looked for deer - again! This picture was taken with Grandma Linda and Grandpa Russ in mind. How many deer are here?


I don't know how well it will work for you and how good it looks on your computer, but the answer is 7.

We were cruising down the road headed home and spotting deer way out there, when something appeared in the road. Turkeys!! There were four of them, but one took of the other way. The batteries on the camera decided they had had enough for the day so I couldn't zoom in. I was just snapping quick pic's to hopefully get a good shot before the turkeys were gone and the batteries completely died. I didn't do too bad.


Well, it was another fine weekend for all of us at the Thomas Tiny Ranch. Jason fried up the fish for dinner and we made plans to go catch our own pike!

Kids are funny.

Jason needed a little R&R from the brutal week of storms he drove through and got stuck in, so we stayed home this weekend. The kids, however, had cabin fever. So when we had a break between storms Saturday afternoon and the sun came out, we told the kids it was the perfect time to go build a snowman. They all bundled up and went out there with the best intentions, I'm sure. I took a picture of their attempt at a snowman, but the camera didn't like it and it didn't show up. There was just a pile of snow in the front yard! It was too cute.

They had given up pretty quick and were riding their bikes. So Jason and I went out there to help them. Well...Jason did the building, I took the pictures and the kids helped a bit. Cheyenne had more fun spinning the wheel she found.


We discovered the problem with the snowman Abriana and Kayla were trying to make: the snow in the front yard wasn't perfect for a snowman, so we went out back. Jason got the bottom of the snowman done and told the older girls to push it to the front yard.


They did get it moving, it just took them awhile, so Jason helped them the rest of the way.

Jason wanted a really big snowman since we actually had enough snow for one. Or so we thought. There just wasn't enough of the "good stuff" to roll up in a big ball. He got the middle portion as big as he could while Abriana packed as much as she could for the head.

It's a bit out of proportion but everyone had fun. Kayla and Chey had had enough of the cold though, and went in the house before 'man' (as Chey calls it) was completed.


Jason picked some dead flowers that grow in front of the house for arms and Abriana even found some rocks in the frozen ground to complete him. Let's just hope Ruger doesn't eat its nose like last time!


After we were all too cold for any more fun, we went inside. Abriana was telling me about an assignment she had where she had to unscramble words and how it was hard. I told her it wasn't that hard, so she read the questions off her paper to me to see how fast I could figure them out.

"Can you carry this r-t-y-a?" she asked.

I said "tray."

"Ok that was an easy one. This one's harder. 'Why are you l-a-y-w-a-s smiling'?"

"Always," I spit out.

She rolls her eyes but continues to ask me all 15 questions. I got them all in a snap and each time she'd sigh in frustration. She decided to make it harder for me; she would think of a word and scramble it up.

"Ok, Mom. Let's see if you can get these. r-s-s-a-g."

"Grass."

"Ok. o-t-t-a-y-l-l."

"Totally."

"Arrgh. s-e-g-s."

I said, so matter-of-factly, "Well if you add a 'u' then it spells guess."

She replies, "The answer is guess."

"Ok, the word guess has a 'u' in it."

"Oh. How 'bout a-t-l-f."

"Flat."

"NO! I got you, it's fault! HaHa! You got it wrong!"

I calmly said, "I don't think so. The word fault also has a 'u' in it. The letters you gave me spell flat, so I did not get it wrong."

"Well I tricked you anyway," she says thinking she's one up on me.

We did this quite a few more times until I was done playing this game. I told her she couldn't trick me or give me a word I couldn't figure out. So Kayla decided it was her turn to be funny. She asked, "Mom, what is your name?"

I laughed at the cuteness, "Mom."

She asks, "What color is the sky."

My first answer was purple, but then she told me to be 'sewious', so I answered blue. She then asks, "What is the opposite of down?"

"Up."

Abriana and Kayla just start rolling on the floor in hysterics, laughing, "Mom blew up! HA HA HA Mom blew up!"

I thought their reaction was funnier than the joke!

Deer pic's

Here's the pictures Mom took while they were down here.

Sophie sleeping on the wheeler making sure she won't miss out on the fun if someone takes off.


Deer, deer and more deer. There is is little 2 point buck in one of these photos. Just roll over the pictures with your mouse for a larger view.

I just love the wildlife we see and the scenery too.

Fun in the snow...well, for some...

We had another awesome weekend. We were able to go to SL Friday evening and sing a little song, do a little dance. It was a blast!

My parents came down Saturday with their wheeler and Dad's gun he hasn't shot. We took them to the area we have been watching deer and got out my target thrower. Dad is just as good of a shot as I am. It was really neat for me to be out there with my dad. I don't remember him going hunting or shooting when I was little, so this was a really special daddy-daughter experience for me. I hope my girls feel the same way with their dad when he takes them shooting.

Mom finally had the chance to take the wheeler out herself. I don't know who was having more fun, the girls or mom or Sophie! Sophie is 12 years old and enjoys sleeping and sleeping. If she wasn't on the wheeler she was chasing it all around! I haven't seen her run like that since...well, for years! (this picture was actually taken Sunday but it shows Soph in her favorite spot.)


When we were all frozen and had had enough fun for the day, we took the back roads home hoping to get a chance for Mom and Dad to see some deer. Oh and did we! We were thinking it was a little too early for them to be down near the road, and some of them were, but others were right there! Mom got some incredible pictures that I will have to get from her. We saw a good hundred deer or so. One group of about 8 were feeding just off the side of the road, and there we saw the first buck. Just a little 2 point, but it was nice to see some antlers. The last really close group was in the town of Mayfield, a momma and triplets standing in someone's front yard! It was cool to see those furry little ones so close.

Sunday, Eric and Leslie brought their truck and we fired up ours (which hasn't moved since the Elk hunt in early October) and Mom and Dad were on their wheeler. Thought we'd show the parents one of our other favorite past times. Yup, they got to see what happens sometimes when wheeling! We were leading the way up a little draw to get up on the ridge when we slipped sideways. Thought we just hit that big rock over there with the back tire. Nope, the big rock went under the truck and actually candy-cane striped the drive-line. OOPS! Eric tried to pull us sideways with little success, so he got in front and pulled.


The truck ended up sitting on top of the rock on the rear differential, the rear tires were about 3 inches off the ground.


As frustrating as it is to get stuck, and sometimes you are stuck bad, I think the guys like the challenge. Not only the challenge of wheeling something tough, but getting out of sticky situations, especially when they prevail.


So they jacked the truck up and put logs and rocks and Eric's trailer ramps under the tires.


And Eric pulled...


And pulled...Ta-Dah!!!


We got up on top and had a gorgeous view! Then we went to go find deeper snow to play in since there wasn't as much mud as we all would have liked. Yes, we got stuck again. The snow was so deep and frozen hard, the trucks had a hard time getting out of the ruts to turn around. Once we were all pointed downhill, we headed down.

Enough time had passed that the snow and mud down below started to thaw. We had some fun donut wars and a fun-filled weekend, again.

Poor Cheyenne had started with a cough just as the weekend began. She was miserable with it and her stuffed-up-runny-nose, but keeping a smile.


I took both Cheyenne and Abriana to the doctor on Monday. Abriana's strep culture came back negative, she just has a cold. Cheyenne has a 'bilateral' ear-infection (ear-infection in both ears) and a possilbe UTI. As miserable as she should feel, she sure doesn't act like it. What a trooper!

A great weekend...

So the girls have shaped up a bit, good enough to shoot their guns for the first time. We went out past Molen, a tiny little town in Emery County, and found a place to set up some cans. We thought we were going somewhere that had less snow, but we found more snow. Oops!

Kayla isn't quite strong enough or big enough for her Red Rider BB gun, but we were able to figure out a way for her to get some shots off. I think she was a little overwhelmed by the whole experience and she gave up fairly soon. But she did great and had a lot of fun.

Abriana did very well shooting her Cricket. The first cans we set up were about 30 yards out. She wasn't able to hit one because we found out her sights need some adjustment, but she sure was shooting in the same spot every time. So I told her to shoot at the closer cans that we set up for Kayla. Bam! Her first shot went right through the middle of the Dr. Pepper can! So she aimed at the Coke can, BAM, again right through the middle! I think I have a little shooter!


She was having so much fun, we had to tell her it was time to go when the rest of us got too cold.

Then we did what we do and love best - drove around exploring. And what a beautiful day it was!














You never know who or what you might come across out in the sticks. The long-horn on the left thought he was 'king of the hill' and was still there when we drove out hours later. The one on the right wanted to cross the road in front of us and was so close I couldn't pass up taking a picture, besides its horns are not normal. They are growing up and back, instead of the usual out and up.

When I first saw this rock I told Jason we need to plan a trip to Goblin Valley. Then when we got a closer look I realized it wasn't a goblin, it's Elmer Fudd petrified.

Cheyenne found a new way to entertain herself. She plugged her ears and was saying "AAAHHHHH" as we went over bumps. We all had a fun filled Saturday.


Sunday we went to SL for the first WSS of the year. It was so nice to see everyone and spend the day with one another. What a great idea! I was so tickled to see Cheyenne warm up to everybody - finally! everyone else can see how cute and crazy she is. And Grandma Linda got enough hugs and lovin' to make up for all the other times Chey was being a stinker. The kids can't wait for the next one when they can have more time with their grandparents and cousins.

When we came home we found these guys hanging out in our yard, freezing and starving. After talking to the neighbors and not finding where they belong, I have called the city to have them picked up. Since Kayla and I are allergic to cats and Ruger hates puppies, it's best for us to find them a place to be. They sure are adorable and snuggly though.