An Offical Snorkling Cowboy!!

Third Person Perspective:
As most of you know, Mike had never ridden a horse until we met, now he comes and rides with me on a regular basis. Today we decided to go for a little ride and Mike got bucked off! He was riding our colt Sierra, and I guess Sierra was just having an off day but took off running with Mike (Mike hates to run!) so Mike was doing his best to stay in the saddle when Sierra started bucking. Mike did GREAT! He stayed on for a few bucks and then decided he was done and wanted off so he let go of the reins and as he goes flying through the air, HE PLUGS HIS NOSE!! It was the funniest thing I have ever seen. Mike is a water skier and is used to bailing from a tube into water, not a horse into snow. So as he plugs his nose and goes flying through the air he very gracefully lands on his feet in the snow! Jake and I were laughing so hard we both about fell of our horses. He can now say he is an offical cowboy since he has been bucked off a horse :)

First Person Perspective:
I have never been bucked off a horse. This morning as we were driving in the car to the horses Steph reminded me of this fact. So, I would like to thank Steph for ginks-ing me. :) We got the horses saddled and ready to go. I noticed a problem I had with Sierra's saddle and fixed it. I was confident that there was nothing that would go wrong.... We all took off on our horses to the field across the street. As we went into the snow Sierra was acting really weird. He would turn even when I didn't ask him too. He would even turn away from the other horses which is unlike him. Then I had us go right behind Steph and Jake, so Sierra would be following someone. He was walking really weird at this point. He was going as slow as a turtle and kept turning left and right when I never told him to. Next thing I know I feel Sierra just take off. I really really do not like to run on horses, not only is there minimal room in front of you on the saddle, but there are a lot of things that could go wrong. I scrame "$*#&!!!!" Jake and Steph told me to turn him in a circle, but I had a hard time doing that as one hand was fastened to the horn of the saddle. After about 30 yards I felt like we had the hang of things and I was just going to get him to settle down. Then he turned the other direction and started to buck. I could feel my feet start to come out of the stirrups. I don't know if I was bucked off or if I bailed, but I had the feeling you get when you know that the tube you are on behind a boat is going to tip over. I can't go under water without plugging my nose. So, as I came off of Sierra I unknowingly plugged my nose. I flew to the ground and landed on my feet. I thought to myself "Why are you plugging your nose? I hope no one saw that." I turned and watched Sierra run clear back to the barn. I learned very quickly that Steph and Jake saw my plug before the plunge. If only we caught it on tape. :) Steph rode Sierra after that and he did just fine.

Update

So poor Lindsey has not been feeling well for the past couple of weeks. It started out about a week and a half ago with an ear infection, so we put her on antibiotics. Then between now and last Friday she has gotten 3 teeth with one more trying to come in. She has been such a sweetheart through it all. She is really clingy during the day and just wants me to hold her but she has still been sleeping all night (which is very appreciated!) It has been a crazy week and my poor kids are kind of getting ignored. We basically had to get Mel moved out and us moved in with in two weeks so I have been busy. Mike and I wanted to say thanks to all those who have come and helped! We have a great family and ward and appreciate all the help. Mike finished another semester of school (GOOD JOB SWEETY!!)I am so amazed at how he dose it all. Hopefully once we finish with the moving we can have a little break from all this craziness!

The Never Ending Trials!

So this past weekend was not a good weekend. To start the weekend off, on Friday the 13th my sister-in-law, Melanie, was diagnosed with Leukemia. She has been sick for about 4 weeks with what they told her was the H1N1 Influenza. She just wasn't getting better and after a trip to Logan Regional Emergency Room she was transferred to the LDS hospital by ambulance. It was there that they decided she had leukemia. At first they thought it was Burkitt's or ALL, but after getting all the pathology tests back, they said it was BAL (Biphenotypic Acute Leukemia) which is a combination on ALL and AML Leukemia. There is a 70% she will go into remission and a 40-50% chance that she will stay in remission. She has started Chemo and as soon as she goes into remission she will have to get a stem cell transplant. So please keep her in your prayers, we have a long road ahead of us but Mel is a fighter.
Friday my girls and I headed to Heber Ut with Krisann to watch my brother Aaron ride in the RMPRA Finals, he did awesome Friday night and tied for 3rd place. We decided to drive to Wyoming to stay at my parents house and then we would drive back to Heber Saturday since it was a two day finale. Saturday my brother-in-law Jake called to tell me that he and Niki had taken my horse for a ride and Niki got bucked off, dislocating her shoulder and breaking her scapula. She is working on her masters degree, and was suppose to be flying to Alabama on Monday for her finals but couldn't go and now has to take an extra year of school because she missed it.
And finally Saturday was snowing off and on all day in Wyoming and when it came time for us to leave for the rodeo the interstate was closed due to several accidents and weather, so we didn't make it to Aaron's rodeo and I couldn't go home until Sunday afternoon. So it was not the greatest weekend in the whole world but life goes on. On a more positive note, my sister Erica will be here this weekend and I can't wait to go home for Thanksgiving. I will have 7 out of 8 siblings home for Thanksgiving!!

Halloween!!

Ok, so my third post of the day is Halloween!! We had so much fun this year and it was so nice outside. We couldn't have asked for better weather. In the morning, my sister Niki, her husband Jake, and her two girls Jordan and Jessie, and then Mike and myself decided we wanted to go for a horse ride. So we loaded up her two older horses and my colt Sierra and headed out to Wellsville to pick up their colt Silly. After getting her loaded we headed up Sardine Canyon to Rattle Snake trail. We were a little nervous because Siera and Silly are both really young and inexperienced and its kind of a harry trail, but they did great!! Jordan rode on back of Mike on Misty and Jessie rode in front of Niki on Annie. Mike isn't much of a cowboy, but he was the leader and did a great job. We all had fun and nobody got bucked off or fell off so we were excited!
After wards we went to Mike's parents house and played some games with Greg and Charise, Mel and Kaden, and Mikes parents. We had a great time. Taylie was waiting patiently all day for us to take her home and get her costume on. She was Cinderella this year and she looked beautiful!! She held perfectly still while I put her makeup and jewelry on and she would walk around holding her dress up like so it wouldn't get dirty. She is such a girl! Lindsey was a dragon and looked so cute. We went trick-or-treating with Eric and Tate and it was so much fun. Lindsey stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Balls because she has had a cold but Tate and Taylie had fun taking turns in the wagon and showing each other their candy. Thanks Bodrero's for letting us go with you!
Afterwards we ran up to Niki's to see her kids and Mike was dressed as a scary goblin. He went down and hid in Bryants room and when Bryant came home and went walking in to his room Mike jumped out and literally almost gave Bryant a heart attack! It was so funny. We had a great Halloween and can't wait til next year!
Sorry we didn't take many pictures.






Don't forget to check out the other two posts!

Tate and Taylie's fun play day!

So a couple of weeks ago Tate came over for a few hours to play. Taylie is in love with Blue's Clues and her favorite episode is Blue's birthday. So after Tate and Taylie got done watching Blues birthday, Taylie came up and asked if they could have a Blue's Clues birthday party. I was trying to think of what I could do that would be like a Blue's Clues birthday party and we decided we could make a blue cake! So Tate and Taylie were my little helpers :)





They were having so much fun, and then came the frosting! I don't think either one of them put any frosting on the cake! They were just sitting there eating it the whole time! It was so funny.







After we got done, we put two candles on so they could sing "Happy Birthday" to "Blue" and blow out a candle, they had a lot of fun! Tate and Taylie truly are best friends and are so cute together. We love having Tate live just around the corner.

Update on Lindsey

So Because I have been slacking for so long on the blogging department, I have a few updates so there will be a few new posts today!! Here are some pictures of Lindsey, she has been great at eating baby food, and then I tried beans and she was seriously gagging! I thought she was going to throw up.







The rest are just some fun pictures of Lindsey. She is crawling all over and can pull herself up on things so she is standing. Taylie has a storybook chair that plays music and reads a story when you sit on it, and Lindsey loves it!!

Picture Time!!!!

Here are some of the pictures we had taken of Lindsey and Taylie. Sorry, the quality isn't the greatest because we had to scan them in. :(

Update

Ok, so we have been horrible at keeping up our blog. I don't have any pictures, but I promise they are coming! So just for a quick update, Mike is just busy going to school and working. He is always busy doing homework and studying for tests. October is a busy month because he is gone every weekend hunting. He hasn't gotten anything yet, but maybe this weekend he will have more luck.
I have been busy just being a mom. I got my horse back from the trainers so I have been riding alot lately and have been very pleased with my horse. He is only a 3 year old but is so laid back that my niece can hop on and ride him around.
Taylie is such a stinker but a cute one! She is the smartest kid I know. The other day she came up to me and said "Mom, I don't have a brother, I just have a sister." And I said yup, you just have a sister. And then she said "But I do have a brother, Jesus is my brother" She is growing up so fast. I was sitting in primary last sunday and it hit me that she was going to be a sunbeam in 2 months! I love that little girl and can't belive how fast time flies.
Lindsey is the happiest baby ever. She wakes up in the morning and I can hear her talking in her crib so I go in to get her and as soon as she sees me she just smiles and gets so excited. She loves her food! As soon as I put her in her high chair she starts kicking her legs and smiles. She is crawling around everywhere and can pull herself up so she is standing. It dosen't matter how many times I sweep or vaccume, she always finds something on the floor that she is not suppose to have. It dosen't matter how many times Taylie kicks her in the head, throws something at her, or closes the door on her head, Lindsey still loves her big sister.
We have been so blessed, we have the greatest girls in the whole world. We got there pictures done a few weeks ago, so I will post them soon.

Hogal Zoo!

Sorry, we have been slacking in the blogging department. A couple weeks ago we decided to take Taylie to Hogle Zoo. She loves animals and it was going to be our last family outing before Mike started school and we never see him. Taylie was so excited. We were going to go down Saturday but things didn't work out and we couldn't get away from Logan in time so instead we went down to Greg and Charise's house Saturday afternoon (thanks guys for letting us stay at your beautiful house!)We had a great time, we took Taylie to there little park and went and played pool and horse shoes and Charise's parents house. Sunday morning Taylie was wide awake ready to go to the Zoo (I know we broke the Sabbath!) It was actually a perfect day to go, it was overcast so it wasn't too hot and we didn't get sunburned! Taylie was most excited to see the elephants! Lindsey was so good being in her stroller all day, she loves to be outside. It was so funny, at one point we decided to take Taylie on the carousel and she got on a giraffe and then got scared and kept saying "I'm too little, I need a new one!" Mike moved her at least three times before it started and he told her she had to stay on. Once she got going she loved it! At the end we all went for a ride on the train, and even though Mike got a little nervous when we went through the Buffalo pen (because they were loose right by the track) everyone loved it!! Also there was the cutest baby giraffe and baby snow leopard.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAYLIE!!!

Today is Taylie's birthday. She is now officially 3 years old. We had Grandma and Grandpa Balls, Niki, Jake and their family, Cami and her gang, and Mel and Kaden over for cake and ice cream. Taylie was really excited to eat her cake. Steph made an awesome pink sand castle cake. It was really yummy! (Thanks Mel for helping with the frosting). Grandpa had to help her blow out the candles of course. After cake Taylie opened her gifts. She was so excited. Her face said it all. She got a princess dress and some Joni candy from Cami, a Snow White doll and necklace from Mel, some magnet dolls and a dress from Grandma and Grandpa, some My Little Ponies ponies and a movie from Niki and Jake (and a ring from Jessie :) ), and a princess laptop and some movies from Mom and Dad. Thank you everyone for celebrating her birthday with us. It was fun to have everyone over.

Just Something Fun!!

So Mike and I thought it would be fun to go back through the years and see what we could have looked like! Some of them turned out pretty good :)WARNING: There are alot of pictures!