Who Is Your BFF?

This weekend was mad house! But I LOVE that kind of stuff... The kids screaming and squealing and running. The TV on, the music on the phone on, the computers and kindles blaring our game noises. (Okay, not all the time I love it, but most of the time I do.) Mom and Dad had the missionaries over for supper on Friday and invited Ava and I to eat with them. I had picked James up earlier and since I was to be in Woodville anyway, I asked the missionaries if they needed a ride out to Odomville. They readily accepted, seeing as how three or four trips out to Odomville that week already, their miles were limited. Suprise, suprise - Jarom and Elizabeth show up with Aubrey and Jace. On top of that, Mom and Dad had Claire and Lindon for the weekend. At one point, right after supper, the kids were doing just what I enjoy hearing...it was crazy noisy. I patted Ava on the knee and said, "Welcome to the family, Ava!" He giggled the only way Ava giggles - preciously! I just loveses him! :) Jarom and Elizabeth ended coming back out to Odomville Saturday with Aubrey and Jace and stayed the night. All came to church on Sunday! YAY! I had Lindon in Sunday School with me. I was feeling in for our Junior Primary teacher. We were discussing Joseph Smith's first vision and some of the truths he discovered/was told. One of them was that our Heavenly Father loves us and cares for us and wants us to know that we can come to him at any time and ask for things we need or even for things we want. Lindon raised his little hand said, "Heavenly Father my best friend...and Parker, too!" (Parker is his cousin.) How stinkin' cute is he?! Very stinkin'!! I love little kids!

~So This Is Love~

So this is love, hmm So this is love So this is what makes life divine I'm all aglow, hmm And now I know The key to all heaven is mine My heart has wings, hmm And I can fly I'll touch every star in the sky So this is the miracle That I've been dreaming of Hmm, hmm So this is love Yeah, not much more needs to be shared!

Mormon Wedding Venues

The thing about LDS wedding venues is that #1. they're free, #2. they're all gorgeous, and #3. they're for time and all eternity, which right now, is looking pretty freakin' sweet! I'm still on such a high from these past 15 days and however many hours, minutes, and seconds! I'm so happy! So very, very happy! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Just an update: Ava and I went to my sister, Sarah and her husband Kevin's house for supper. I tried to warn him of her amazingly awesome kiddos. I don't think he was trully prepared. They were off the wall! (I like it that way, though. They're kids, right?!) Five year old, Claire, had no trouble crawling into his lap and showing him everything she could get her hands on and talking a mile a minute. :) Lindon, though, was a bit more slow to warm up, but did so suprisingly fast! He doesn't let too many strangers hold him, especially ones he's first laid his eyes on. Sarah, Megan, and I were in the kitchen finishing up the dinner preparations and he was kind of getting under foot. Ava came right over, scooped him up, and took him into the living room. He sat with him on the couch and distracted him...and Lindon let him! (That's gotta mean something!) After supper, Ava and I were sitting on the couch holding hands (my favorite (even more than smooching) part about dating) and Lindon came over, wriggled his little hand between ours, gave Ava a dirty look and told him, "My Auntie Em!" HAHAHAHA! Gotta love it! Then Lindon proceeded to crawl into him lap and talk with him about his LeapFrog. Again, that's gotta mean something! OH! And the best part... Claire was sitting at the dinner table with us and she told us all that she told her coach that "...I can't wait to get home to see my Auntie Em and her new boyfriend!" We laughed so hard! She is precious! And totally honest! I love that! I have been waiting for this man for ten years! Ten long, lonely years! And he's here! I can't believe. He catches me just staring at him... :) I stopped by his work after church yesterday and asked me, after catching me looking at him, "What's wrong?" I kind of choked up, which I catch myself doing a lot. All I could say was, "Nothing. I'm just really happy." I have been so blessed! So very blessed!

Running Circles

So this little Uh-Oh! is turning out to be a wonderful joy! Who knew a baby miniature foal could be a blessing, right?! Haha! Today he is six days old and just as precious and cute as can be!

I've had Dusty and him in the larger goat pen behind my house to 1. Keep them safe from the two stud horses she's been pastured with, 2. to make sure she's getting all of her feed, and 3. to really get him tamed down and exposed to everything.

I have this baby horse book by John Lyons that teaches you to desensitize your foal things and how to imprint and all that jazz. I have to say it has been 100% successful with all our babies.

Anyway, I've not that for three or four days in a row and I didn't think we were getting anywhere. I have Miss Dusty Rose tied between Grandpa's house and mine so she could graze and decided Megan and I should take him to Grandpa's real quick so he could get another look at him and see how much he has grown.

Wait, let me back up. Everyday I've tied Dusty out he immediately starts running these big circles around her...and away from her. He stays "close" and always comes back when she nickers at him.

Back to the story - So when Grandpa was done loving on Uh-Oh! I told Megan to put him down just off the porch and see how quickly he'd return to his mama's side. We figured just a split second of two... Nope! That little stayed with us (while Dusty was screaming and pacing and pitching a fit to get him back). He played with Megan, let me rub all over him, he played with the puppies, he jumped and bucked and reared.

We literally had to walk him back to his waiting mother (sorry Dusty)! He really is going to be something else. But I've said that about all our babies...but still...he will be an amazing little guy!

Penciling It In

I was approached by my cousin, Mandy, on Sunday about going on a date with a man from our little branch. I'm always willing to go on a date... Oh my gosh, if it wasn't the hottest man there! A native of Samoa, Ava (ah-va), wanted to ask me out.

I gave my number to Mandy to give to Ava and at around 4pm he called. We talked for about 10 minutes. Given about half of it was him apologizing and trying not to hyperventilate. (Cute!)

He told me somethings that I have to say, I enjoyed hearing. Things I'll share at a later date. Very sweet things. Could this be it? Could he be The One?

If I can be extremely honest for a second - I've only been on 3 dates and I knew from the time they started that those men were not meant for me. They were good men, just not...a perfect fit.

I don't know about this one...yet! I'm so nervous! He's so nervous (precious)! I don't know...maybe!

I will not rush into anything that's for sure! But stay tuned...you (and I) never know... this could be the beginning of the end of my single days!

He's going to call me again today (ugh, I hate talking on the phone!) to let me know when we're supposed to be going on our date.

Excited! Nervous! Anxious! Butterflies! Happy! Pumped! Scared!

Did I mention he HOT?! Did I mention he's a bit older than me? Like about 15 years! :) Did I mention he's so sweet? And he's spiritual? And he's soft spoken? And he's gentle? And his accent is too cute?

Stay tuned and I'll keep you posted!

Uh-Oh!

After two years of guessing and second guessing... Dusty has given birth to a little gray stud colt! Several months back I told Megan that if/when Dusty foaled, regardless of gender, the foal will be named "Uh-Oh."

So...without any further delay (thanks FaceBook for screwing up...again!), lil Uh-Oh is here! More pictures to come!

Equine Event

Saturday was AWESOME to the max! I need to note that I am now an expert (well, almost) at backing up the livestock trailor!

A sweet man who, honestly, tried to help put the wrong light hook-up on the trailor and since I refused to pull the thing (again) without lights, I backed the thing up in Mom and Dad's front yeard for him to swap out the hook-up. Then for some reason Megan drove the truck and trailor to Grandpa's house (when her horse is at Mom and Dad's...). Again, I backed it up perfectly!

Got to where Megan's group was gathered - they had enough room to turn around, thank goodness! Parked at Dollar General, still didn't have to back up! YAY! Then, Mom and I see a family from church and the mom went on to tell us about how her 16 year old daughter barely made it to Woodville from Ivanhoe to ride and she wasn't sure how she'd get the horse back home and that all the numbers her daughter's group gave her are full or not going in that direction. Made me kind of think she wasn't going to ask, but wanted us to offer to take her horse home. Fine with me...really. I just needed to know if there was a place to turn around. And I meant "turn around" not "back up." "Sure, sure! Plenty of room to turn around." Good! I have nothing else to do, really. I'll take ya home.

Megan's horse Fancy is...funny...particular...kind of a dork! We put up the divider and wait for the girl to ride up on her horse. WOW! BIG HORSE! Poor boy...he barely fit, semi-comfortably. Get to their house...oh, there's room to turn around, but "stuff" every where in the way... By stuff, I mean: glass, tin, and other sharp and big objects! Backing up it is!

I did AWESOME! Again!

Mom needs to pick up her baby donkey on the way home. I know they have a circle driveway - easy peasy!

The baby they've been working with for a couple of weeks...?? Turns out, not so working with her...at all. No skills what so ever! Though, she did allow us to put a rope on her once she was hemmed up in the small stall.

Backing up...again. Down a hill surrounded by buildings, trees, stumps, and other obstacles. But you know what?! I did it! Backed up to her shoot and got that baby donkey loaded and went on home.

And to wrap up the awesome backing up...I backed up the trailor perfectly straight where the trailor goes when no one is using it!

I. Am. Amazing. Just saying...