Volleyball

My family loves sports, but we all especially love volleyball. Karter can't stand to sit on the sidelines and watch any game being played and he can't wait until he's 12 so he can play church sports, but the kids were just messing around the other night so Karter joined in. I must say, he's a great volleyball player. He's already got a fantastic overhand serve going on and he isn't bad at bumping either. Ally is going to be great too.

Serve it up, Rookie!






Kenyon loves to play with ANY kind of ball. He is going to be a sports fanatic, for sure.


Kai makes a party everywhere he goes. This kid just has fun anywhere. He talked Cassie Houston into swinging him.


Whatever big brother does little brother does too, ya know?

Wasps....YUK!

I'm a killer. Yep. I'm a big ol' killer and proud of it!

I've killed a ton of wasps nests in my yard the last couple of days. I still have a few to go though. Dang I hate them! And, my kids are terrified of them. Kai and Kenyon have been stung alot this summer. Kai got attacked and stung 4 times at once, one day. He was just screaming and I asked him where he was stung and he just screamed..."AAAAHHH!!! ALLL OVER!! They were allll over me!!!" Awwww...poor dude!

The Menace...ewwww I hate them!


The Nests-
I killed them in every post of my pipe fence (right next to the gate that goes to the back yard on both sides too), there was a huge nest in the propane tank lid, they were in the playhouse, swingset, under the deck, on the house, in the eaves...everywhere! The nests looked like these-




As much as I hate them though, I'm still glad I didn't find THESE WASPs in my backyard. lol That would be truly scary. Raaarrrrrr!


Dude...you KNOW you're rockin' out now. Gotta LOVE 80's hair bands! lol

Home now!

Yay! Teddy's home!



She was so cute! She smiled and laughed at us and talked to us in her squeaky little voice. It was SO good to see her. Poor Cindy is so tired and worn out. I hope she and Teddy both get some good rest this week to catch up.

Coming home!

Teddy is coming home tomorrow! Yay! She'll be so much happier at home and so will Cindy and Grizz. Thanks for all the prayers so far. Please continue to pray for a good recovery. So far, she's doing wonderfully.

Doin' Great!

Our little Teddy is doing great! She's recovering beautifully. She's unhooked from everything- no tubes, no wires, just an IV port, but she's not hooked up to the iv. She is only getting Tylenol as a pain med and she is even eating formula again. She doesn't trust it at first, but once she gets a taste she's alright with it and she chows down.

She is definitely on her way to being released and coming home. We're hoping she comes home by Tuesday the 23rd or Wednesday the 24th.

We have Smiles!

Yay! We have smiles...sorta. All in all, Teddy had a much better day today. They took her for a little walk, she played on her belly for a while, they backed off the pain meds a bit, and she just had a much better day. I think they may start her on clear liquids tomorrow so that should perk her up even more.

About those smiles...if you've never had a child who has undergone surgery you may never know just how much those little smiles mean. But they do, those first post-op smiles are so reassuring, heartwarming and just so needed for parents. I don't think these kids will ever know the power of their smile on their parents.

When Karter was just 4 months old he underwent surgery to repair a tethered spinal cord. There were nerve fibers coming off his spinal cord that were attatched below the spinal column and would've caused many problems later in life such as no bowel or bladder control, atrophied leg muscles, and limited movement. So, at 4 months old, he had the surgery to clip thos tethered nerve fibers. When they wheeled him out of surgery he was so swollen and had tubes and wires everywhere. It was so upsetting to see my little baby like that. I was just so worried and upset. I nearly started crying, but just as I was about to turn on the water works, the nurse lifted the blankets so I could see him better and I smiled and said, "Hi buddy." and he gave me this little dopey, half smile and at that moment I knew he was going to be just fine. That smile meant the world to me...and still does. Grizz felt the same way about Teddy's first post-op smile. It's all in the smile, kids.

1 day post op

Teddy is doing great. Her vitals are good and everything is going very well with her recovery from surgery so far, but she's mad. She's hurting, she's hungry, she's just mad. Poor lil' sweetheart! She can't eat for a couple of days and she is uncomfortable. It's hard for Grizz and Cindy because they're not sure whether she is hungry or if she's in pain. She's on some heavy pain meds for a couple of days and that seems to help.

Please, once again, keep her in your prayers. Grizz and Cindy too. Who, by the way, are holding up very well and are just there, being the amazing parents they are. Grizz says you'll never know how much your prayers are appreciated.

Teddy Surgery Update

As I write this, Teddy is still in surgery, but they should be finishing up soon. They did have to take a kidney. The tumor is very big and was all over the kidney. They could have left it and done chemo, but we're hoping they can get it all without having to put her though chemo. They are not saying there will be no chemo, but that's the hope. She's doing great through the surgery. More prayers for continued strength and lots of "not much pain" vibes for our little sweetheart, please.

Well, Teddy came out of surgery right around 4 pm. She was in surgery for about 4 hours. She is doing fine and will spend the next couple of days on some pretty heavy pain meds. It was quite an involved surgery and will leave a rather large scar on our girl, but they think they got the whole tumor. Chemo is still not being ruled out, but we're hoping they got everything with the surgery.

I will keep updating on her condition as I get updates.

We Did It! Well, almost....

The Uintah Basin Back Country Horsemen hold a charity horseride, auction, BBQ and raffle every year to raise money for the Children's Justice Centers of the Uintah Basin and the goal this year was to raise 20 thousand dollars. We just barely missed the mark and raised about 19k. How awesome is that though? We're just a bunch of cowboy hicks on horses but, cowboys and cowgirls with generous hearts (and a few fat checkbooks) and many friends who like to help out a good cause as well.

Here's my honey, dealing poker hands. My kids LOVE the poker part of the whole benefit. Karter had the high hand this year with 4 Kings. He got his pick of the prizes and he went straight for a knife/flashlight set he'd had his eye on from the second he arrived at the campsite. Way to go, you lucky kid you!


You don't have to ride to be a part of the event, but it sure is fun. We ride the Lake Fork Trail just North of LaPoint, Utah on the way to Paradise Reservoir.

Riders heading in.....


One of my favorite cowboys, Kent Morris


We tease Kent alot, but he's got a huge heart. Every year he brings alot of money to spend and he always buys the doll Jackie Robbins crochets. He'll spend between $400 and $500 on her dolls, just because it's a good charity and we like raising money for the CJCs. Kent and all his dollies...*giggle*. Wonder what he does with them all?


Kent in action at the auction...


Where there's smoke, there's fire and when there's fire around Ed Peterson's BBQ, you know it's going to be awesome. The meal is the BEST part of the CJC charity event. Wish I had some of Ed's Excellent BBQ right now. mmmmm mmmmm mmmmm GOOD!

That's Ed on the right with UBBCH member, Ray Messer.


Brandy and Kenyon love Ed's awesome BBQ too. How cute are they? Brandy is my cousin/bestfriend for life. She's Sierra's mom.


More BBQ lovers-
Sue Sawyer and Donnie Sawyer(her brother in law)


Kathy and Rod Harrison (and some guy I don't know)


These are the hicks I'm talkin' about. Good guys! They come with their pockets loaded just to spend money at the auction. They'll easily give $1000 for a handmade quilt or $800 for a handcrafted bench and sometimes they donate it back to auction it off again.





The Wild Bunch...


Ally, Brandy and Wade Robbins


Ally and Darin- cute cousins!


Karter and Kyle Hanke had a great time. They worked, played and we taught Kyle how to play poker. Hope his dad, the High Councilman, doesn't care. LOL


Just as soon as the sun dropped behind the mountains in the West, the temperature dropped too, and the full moon began its ascent out of the East. A beautiful day turned into a very beautiful night.


Hello hat! Where are you goin' with that cowgirl? (Gotta love Kathy Harrison! The funnest cowgirl around)



Just a little FYI- The Children's Justice Centers, in a nutshell, are places where kids who have been removed from an abusive situation (sexual abuse and physical abuse) can go to be in a loving, homey, comfortable environment to give police a statement, get counseling and the love they need after such traumatic experiences. Alot of times, their testimony at the CJC is taped and they aren't forced to endure the scary experience of sitting on the stand in a courtroom, facing their abuser and reliving the trauma that has already been inflicted. Great charity!

Big Scary Football Players....

Awwww! They look pretty sweet to me! Not like scary football players at all.



Weston Horrocks, Karter, and Kyle Hanke mess around after a tough game in Altamont. Karter played center and snapped the ball very well, Weston tore em' up on defense as he recovered a fumble and got several tackles, and Kyle helped out on offense alot. Kyle even took a hard hit that absolutely just leveled him, knocked his feet right out from under him, but he got right back up completely un-phased. Kyle also made a miraculous looking catch in their last game as wide receiver. Tough kiddos and might I say it's just so cool to watch them become such good, competitive athletes. We've got many years of ball playing and watching in our future and we are looking forward to every minute of it.

Run, Ally, RUN!




See...she's fine! They may be tough, but they're gentlemenly enough to take it easy on little sisters.

Growing Menace....

One night, I was awakened at about 4:30 am from a peaceful slumber by a noise in my kitchen. I groggily got up to see what the noise was, flipped the light on in the kitchen only to find cats scattering everywhere in my dining room. CATS IN MY HOUSE!!! ACK!!

My cat, Fluffy, who is quite talented at getting the back sliding door open, had gotten the back door open and led all the other cats into the house. There were 8 cats in my house. The wild baby kitties were all 4 in and quite amusingly ran for the door as soon as I hit the lights. They were skidding and peeling out on the laminate floor and it was actually quite humorous. I would've found it alot more funny if there hadn't been 8 freakin' cats in my house.

BTW...I only have 2 cats of my own. I never had a cat in my yard and had a mouse problem two years ago when I got McGally and Fluffy. As soon as I started feeding my two cats, the whole neighborhood shows up and starts multiplying. Lovely...just lovely.

Look at this...they're growing. And eating more and more each day. And they're still quite wild. Havahart traps anyone?



At least they provide good entertainment for Teddy. She loves to watch the kitties.

Girl's Night!

Ok...so we totally suck at taking pics of Girl's Night, but Ally, Sierra and I had a fun girl's night. We ate pizza and other junk food, painted toenails and watched chick flicks. It was great!



Orange toenails! Yay!


WARNING! Product plug coming in
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The Ped-Egg! OMGosh I love mine! If you don't have one, you've got to get one. I never thought it would feel so good to have my hard, cracked heels cheese gratered off, but the Ped-Egg works wonders and my heels look TONS better. Thanks, Ped-Egg!

Cuteness...

How cute is Teddy in her lil' pink cowgirl boots? I'll answer that..she's dang cute! I stole this pic off Cindy's blog. Thanks Cindy! lol

Tough Guy....

Football bruises...gotta love em'. Karter absolutely loves playing football. He's playing center and is doing a great job snapping the ball. He's also playing defense and is undaunted when it comes to taking on those bigger guys. He loves playing the line. He says his favorite thing about football is "knocking people on their butts." Oh yeah!


If you look closely you can see the bruises on his arms.




Kenyon's tough too...


And so is Ally....


Kai-Kai only LOOKS like he's been playing football, but really his sister "accidentally" squirted hand sanitizer in his eye. Ouchie!

Words We Hate to Hear

You know...there are just some words you don't ever want to hear in relation to your loved ones, especially children. CANCER is one of those words. But after the initial shock of hearing that word wears off, there will inevitably be other words that make you cringe just as much.

Teddy is at Primary Children's Hospital today and the words the surgeon is using are, bone marrow aspiration, biopsy, surgery, chemotherapy, kidney removal, risks of surgery, spleen removal, tumor growth, tumor board, very large tumor, suspicious spot on leg bone....the list goes on.

Teddy had 5 vials of blood taken last night and was a lil' sweetheart throughout the whole ordeal. Grizz said she didn't even cry. She underwent a bone marrow extraction today and the tumor board recommended surgery so they scheduled her for surgery to remove the tumor on the 17th of September. The surgeon said some of the risks of the surgery include: removal of a kidney and/or spleen and that she will probably have to spend about a week in the hospital. Of course he'll do all he can to make sure they don't have to take her kidney or spleen, but apparently he's dealing with a large tumor here. And this kind of cancer doesn't follow the rules or any pattern (you know...some cancer is first a tumor, then in the lymphnodes then in the lungs) well this cancer can spread anywhere in the body and it moves rapidly. So, if the cancer has spread to the bone marrow, that could throw the surgery date off because they would first do chemo then surgery later, but this is what is scheduled for now.

Hopefully surgery is all she'll have to deal with in her battle with neuroblastoma cancer. Keep her in your prayers.

1st Day Pukes...

Kai was SO excited for his first day of school in Whiterocks. He goes to Head Start (a Ute Indian Tribe program) and his classroom is in Whiterocks this year. He could hardly wait to get there. He picked out his cowboy clothes to wear the night before and got his back pack ready and everything. He was all set.

See..notice the boots. He said, "I bet I'm the only cowboy there today, Mom." (and he was)




He got to school and he was so intent on what he was doing he didn't want to look up for a picture.


He said, "MOM! STOP IT! I'm focusing!!"


SO, Kenyon and I left him there and came home. Kenyon was enjoying being the only kid home. He got a popsicle and was watching "Barnyard".


But then not even halfway through his movie I got a phone call. Kai was sick and puking. So away we went, back to Whiterocks, to get our little puker.

Poor Kai-Kai! Heckuva first day.