Monday, November 18, 2013

Feeding the Moos

About a month ago, Ev load the family in the truck to get a "surprise." We went to our neighbors' dairy and got a little black bull calf. 2 or 3 days later, we did the same thing except it was brown. Why did we get the calves? According to Evan, it's for the kids. And for dog training. And maybe for eating. I told Ev, I couldn't eat a calf that was named.
 Introducing: Red Cowboy (Riley's brownish/reddish calf) & Rio (Hyrum's black calf).
 Ev & Hy used to have races to see who could get done first. That kind of ended with Hy freaking out. Especially when Riley beat Hy one day.
 It's fun to see the kids' personalities come out as they feed their calves. Hy: he knows it's cold, but he's got to do his work! He's gotta take care of his calf.
 Riley: HATES feeding calves. It's cold. It's so far to walk. The bottle is HEAVY. She wants to stay in the house in her nightgown. But once she's out there, it's all good. We occasionally threaten that we'll give "Red Cowboy" to Lins.
 Lins: as soon as someone even goes close to the door, she's putting on her boots. "Moo? Moo?" She follows the gang out there, taking her sweet time with her little legs. she gives the calves a handful of hay, pats them on the head, says "hi" to the dog and the kitty, and usually carries Riley's empty calf bottle back in the house.
I LOVE watching...sometimes I go out with everyone, sometimes I stay in and watch from the front window. But it always brings a smile to my face. Except for the one time Ev was gone for a week and I had to feed the calves (I definitely felt like Riley that week). I love these little things about my husband, my kids and my life! :)

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Happy 7th B-day Si-rum!


Since Hyrum's birthday was on Sunday this year, we decided to give him his gift on Saturday. Riley got up with us to wake up Hyrum. She ran down the stairs and yelled, "Hyrum, there is a green bike for you!" Ev tried to shoosh her, but Hy had already heard.
 
 He was soooo excited anyway!
 We all went outside to try out the new bike. That evening we had Brooke & Zayne Bingham over to ride bikes with the kids. I think Hyrum's legs fell off that day from riding so much.

 On Hyrum's actual b-day, we had cake & icecream with cousins & grandparents.
 (Yes, I've made this cake before, but he requested it again!)
 I love Logan's arm around Hyrum as he blows out his candles.

 Birthday Spankin's!
 Riley is enjoying this WAYYYY too much

 
We love our Hyrum and the great big brother he is. He always wants to do what is right and has a desire to be like Jesus. He LOVES to be out working with the guys, especially his dad. Anytime we go do chores, he has a shovel, a rake or even a stick in his hands and he is "cleaning" something out. He isn't a huge fan of school, but he works hard at it. His current dream in life is to be a farmer and a firefighter (and occasionally other occupations jump in there as well). He likes girls, but he says that he doesn't like to talk about them because it makes him feel awkward. And he is so fun to watch movies or Duck Dynasty with because he starts to giggle and it makes everyone else giggle too! Love you, Hyrum :)


Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Enlightened Words


We had a little neighbor girl over to watch her and she told Hyrum that it is her aunt's last year for trick-or-treating.
Hy: Why?
Brooke:  Because she's going to be 12.
Me: A lot of kids stop going trick-or-treating when they are about 12.
Hy: Why? Is that what it says in the Book of Mormon?

Uncle "Si-rum", the little girl that didn't get dressed up, Riley the Witch Mermaid (who didn't have her witch's hat)
 
Riley was looking at the clock and said, "Look Mom, the big "finger" is pointing to the 4 and the little "finger" is pointing to the 8." She also calls the iPad game "Church Run" instead of "Temple Run" (temple as in "Temple of Doom" from Indiana Jones "temple")
 
 
Lindsay loves the song by Blake Shelton when it goes "red, red, red, red, redneck". I was trying to teach her more body parts and said, pointing to my neck, "Neck." She pointed to hers and said "red, red, red, red, redneck!"

 Sister Martinez, Hy, Lins, Ri, Sister Calero (our missionaries in Malta)
 
Hyrum and I were discussing if his teacher would be at school or if she was getting a substitute for the day.
Hy: "Yeah, she (the teacher) likes to hire moms who own a kid in her class."
 
Riley was outside feeding calves with Evan. "My heart is beeping so I can get warm!"
 
One especially hard and long day, I was loading the dishwasher and getting close to the end. One of the older kids needed me, so I went off to help them for a bit. When I got back, ALL of the dirty silverware was gone and Lindsay was wandering around. I looked in the sink, I looked on the floor and I COULD NOT find it!!! Finally I opened the silverware drawer. Lindsay had taken out all of the dirty silverware and put it away for me. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. What a helper! :)
 
Lindsay had her little shopping cart and was pushing it around downstairs. I didn't really look at it until later, but she had 1 baby in the baby seat and two more dolls, headfirst in the basket--just like mom. There are so many kids now, that there is no room for food in the grocery cart. She really is the 3rd child.
 
And the most enlightening comment of all from Riley:
 
"Did you know dipping your pig in your egg hole is really good?"
 
Yeah, that one made Evan almost choke. Interpretation: she was eating her breakfast and "pig" means bacon. The "egg hole" is the yolk of the egg. So there you have it. :)
 



Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Harvesting Corn & Pumpkins

This year's corn crop looked so good and got so tall, we couldn't help but keep taking pics of it. It usually doesn't happen in Malta :)
 Morning of Harvest:
 Poor Hyrum was gone to school, so he missed out on the photo op. :(
 Dad, Evan & JC off to work for the day!
 About the only thing we grew this year were some pumpkins. It was fun watching Ev & the kids gather them.





Then, me, being the dutiful wife I am, forgot all about the pumpkins in the shed and we didn't even carve them for Halloween. Sigh. You win some, you lose some.

And just in case you didn't know that I was a nerd, I was all excited watching the choppers drive behind the house and had to get pictures so I could someday tell my grandkids about my glory days as a chopper operator...hehehe.