Our Adventures from Bigger Sky Country....

Rewind back to last summer 2013..... Part 3

2014-05-13T21:38:00.002-05:00

Bow Fishing

My brother-in-law took the kids bow fishing one night. Bow fishing includes catching (spearing) Alligator Gar with a barbed arrow. See photos below to see what these (ugly) creatures are. The kids had a wonderful time.

Jessie & Ison bowed the same Gar

Jessie's (small) catch

A bigger Catch

The LARGEST Gar was bowed by Melanee

It was so BIG that they had it weighed and measured to see if it was the largest catch in Texas.

It wasn't the largest but it was a close second!

So Awesome!!

Games

Bill found one of their family's childhood games called "Skittles" created by Carrom. He got it all cleaned up so that we can start playing it. After doing some research on it recently I learned this is a game created in the 1920's. It is played with spinning tops, and 12 hardwood pins. You try to knock down as many pins as you can with the spinning top. Points are scored depending on which tops are knocked down. It's a blast and was a BIG HIT with everyone. Thanks babe for finding this game for us.

You can find this game on Amazon or Ebay if you are interested in getting one of these for your family.

Father's Day

I was so blessed this year to get to spend Father's Day with my Dad. It's been a few years since that has happened. It also happened to be the last day my parents and nieces were going to be here in Texas, so we had everyone over for dinner, games and fun times spent with each other.

Valerie, my Dad and my FIL in the background.

I don't know what mom was doing but I just love her tongue hanging out! LOL

She does this often when she is concentrating on something. It's cute isn't it?

(She'll probably kill me for posting this)

Just finishing up dinner and dessert. MIL in the background.

Valerie created a photo album for dad for Father's Day.

It was awesome!

Filled with so many memories.

Pretty sure my dad loves it!

Having my parents and my nieces here with us for a couple weeks really made my summer extremely wonderful. It was really hard for my dad to be here with having to have dialysis every other day, scheduled at a center he was not familiar with. He struggled a few times and did not feel well often. I am just so grateful that he came anyway, to visit and see our new home and our little FARMily. I don't know if he will be able to ever make it out here again so I just feel really happy and blessed to have him here with us.

RODEO

After my parents and nieces left for home, we still had another week or so with Jessie before he had to go home. We made some great memories that I will forever cherish.

Rodeo time! Jessie couldn't miss this opportunity since he himself is a rodeo boy back home,

bull riding of all things! So dear hubby, Jessie and I went to our local rodeo.

We had a wonderful time. I was very impressed with how rodeo's are done here in Texas.

They take the rodeo just as seriously as High School Football.

If you have ever been to Texas you will know exactly what I mean by that.

The rodeo grounds

Rodeo Royalty bringing the colors in.

We had a really good time and will definitely make this a tradition.

Jessie all studded out with cowboy hat and new T-shirt!

Pretty funny shirt if you ask me LOL!!

Jessie talked me into getting myself a cowboy hat.

It's a comfy fit! I like it!

Wonderful memories were also made at Joe's Crab Shack.

Love this kid of mine! So handsome!

And we couldn't miss out on stopping by Cabela's of Fort Worth

This is my new favorite photo. He wanted a photo so he can show off this new hat.

I just love the photo because it shows off my boy!

Having my parents, nieces and Jessie visit really made my summer special. I miss having these people around living close-by like we used to, so the times we do get to spend together seem that much more important, more special. So thankful for Memories that will last a life time!!

Rewind back to last summer 2013..... Part 2

2014-03-25T22:10:00.000-05:00

On another day I took the kids and my mom to the Ft. Worth Stockyards to watch the Longhorn Cattle Drive down the cobbled streets of old town Ft. Worth. It's a fun place to go. Kids love it and there is a lot to see and do in the area.

Cute cousins waiting for the longhorns

Parker & Mikayla with a young longhorn

Watching a wild west show and shootout

The Ft. Worth Stockyards is also the location of many museums, the Cowboy Hall of Fame and the Stockyard's Championship Rodeo.

This is the Cowtown Coliseum where the Rodeo takes place

This wall mural makes it feel like Jessie is right there hanging onto that Bull

Love this one of Mikayla and Parker as well.

Jessie being way into being a cowboy and a bull rider enjoyed the museum and coliseum. We had a great day visiting the shops and buying mementos to remember this visit.

The next few days consisted of roasting marshmallows for s'mores in our backyard fireplace while enjoying the beautiful June evenings, playing games, celebrating a birthday and enjoying spending time together.

Mmmm.... Yummy Roasted Marshmellows

We had the awesome pleasure of being able to celebrate Melanee's birthday while she was here. Aunt Valerie made that cool soccer cake. I hope she enjoyed her special day even if she was far away from home.

Wishing Melanee a Happy Birthday

As I reflect upon this time, I remember experiencing such joy and happiness to have a houseful of loved ones. We had such a great time together. I will tell you more in Part 3 coming soon.

Rewind back to last summer 2013.... Part 1

2014-03-22T15:54:00.000-05:00

Since I have a lot of catch up to do on this blog of mine I will start by going back to last summer because it was the best summer I have had in a very long time.

In June of last year (2013) my son Jessie came out to spend the whole month with me. I was so very excited. Also in June my parents brought two of my nieces with them and spent over two weeks out here visiting. Splitting their time between me and my sister Valerie who lives about 30 miles from me, Jessie and my nieces got to see and do so many fun activities with all of us.

Since there are so many things to tell you about I will have to break this up into different parts so as not to make one huge long post that will take forever to read. So this post is Part 1 of Summer 2013.

The first family activity took place on June 8th one of the first days after everyone arrived. We took the family to Mineral Wells State Park for some kayaking and fishing. Considering it was June, the temperature was very nice and tolerable. The kids had a blast! Dad and Mom seemed to really enjoy it as well. I enjoyed having everyone around and watching them have so much fun!

Later that week they went over to my sister's home to spend some time with them. She took them to Build-A-Bear where they were able to build their own bear.

I think it is cute that 17 year old Jessie chose a bear too. Over the last year he has taken an interest in being a cowboy and doing some bull-riding so he chose a cowboy bear. Don't you just love his styling outfit? I sure do! LOL

Jessie & his Cowboy Bear

Melanee and her Texas Bear

Parker & his Batman Bear

Mikayla & her soccer player bear (dog?)

Aunt Valerie also took them to the Aquarium and Swimming at the neighborhood pool. Fun times were had by all.

At the Aquarium in Dallas. I just love this photo!

Swimming Fun with Cousins

Thank You Aunt Valerie for making sure they had a fun time while I had to work.

This is the end of Part 1...... look for Part 2 coming up soon.

About Lilly

2014-03-01T15:21:00.000-06:00

Three weeks ago my beautiful 6 year old niece Lilly was diagnosed with Leukemia. It came as a shock for all of my family. It is so hard to watch her struggle and be so sick. I would take it away in an instant if I could. However, she is such a strong little girl even though she is going through so much right now. She is an inspiration to me.

You can follow her jouney here: http://bebraveforlilly.blogspot.com/

Please pray for her, her parents, and her little sister Emery as they make this heart wrenching journey to wellness!

Now maybe I can get back to blogging!

2014-02-19T08:36:00.001-06:00

You might be asking why I haven't posted anything for many months?

Well as you know I have been in school and working full time and that has pretty much absorbed my whole life for a few years now.

But guess what? I am now an official college graduate with a Bachelor's Degree in Forensic Accounting. Yee haw!!! So happy to have accomplished this, which I never thought I would.

So now I have created a task list of all the projects that need to get worked on, one of those is catching up my blog. I have so much to tell you about!

I hope I haven't lost all my blog followers? Hang on... I will be back soon with some updates on this past year. Thanks for all of you who have hung with me.

Good Deeds

2013-08-26T22:04:00.000-05:00

I have been wanting to write about this for a long time but just haven't had the time with school and work and all that I have going on right now. However, I feel that this story is important to share because it gave me Hope and a realization that there are still a lot of really good people in the world.

If you don't already know, I work at a bank. A few months ago one of our female customers who is on a fixed income and can't work due to a disability came into the bank. One of our tellers was helping her while I was helping another man. The lady asked the teller how much money she had in the bank for which the teller informed her that she had $8.50. The lady then informed the teller that she would like to withdraw all but the 50 cents but wanted to make sure that wouldn't cause her account to be closed. The teller gave her the money and the lady left.

Meanwhile, I was helping a man who happened to not even be one of our customers but was only there depositing money into an account that did belong to one of our customers. After I completed his transaction he opened his wallet and took all of his cash out and handed it to me asking me to please make sure it got deposited into that lady's account that just left. He said it wasn't much but was all that he had at the time. And with that he left. He wasn't a customer so we didn't even know his name. He was a stranger helping another stranger in need.

And with that both me and the other teller broke out into tears. What an amazing thing to do for a stranger! What he gave me to deposit may not seem like much to him, but could mean that lady may have enough for another meal when she may have had to go without. It was really touching! And it renewed my faith in people.

This example reminds me of a song by Alabama "Angels Among Us". Here are a few lyrics.

Oh I believe there are angels among us.

Sent down to us from somewhere up above.

They come to you and me in our darkest hours.

To show us how to live, to teach us how to give.

To guide us with the light of love.

I believe that man was an angel that day! His example makes me want to be a better person!

Because everything is bigger in Texas....

2013-04-10T16:33:00.001-05:00

Even the Texas State Flag!

Happy Wednesday to y'all!

The FaRmiLy

2013-04-09T23:06:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to introduce you to some of our FaRmiLy....

LLAMA LOVE

This is are studly male Llama, Caesar

Isn't he a gorgeous animal. Love his eye lashes.

-------------------------

We have had 4 Llama babies since November

Up front and center is Cinnamon and her baby Oreo is behind her.

Dotty is the white Llama and her baby is Brownie right there in the middle

Oreo was born in early November, Brownie was born about a week later.

Caesar fathered Brownie.

This is Baby Cakes and her baby Valentino.

Valentino was born on Valentines Day!

This is Pyam and in the background is Sebastian

Pyam is pregnant in the picture.

Sebastian is the father of Oreo and Valentino and the unborn baby.

He is quite the stud! Wish I had a better picture.

This is Cinnamon and Oreo a day or two after he was born.

And here are our cows. These beauties are all Brangus Heifers.

They are named after the Disney Princesses, Ariel, Jasmine and Mireda.

These are our future breeders.

And the newest member of our Llama family is this beauty named Mystique.

Pyam gave birth to her on March 28th.

The cows welcoming her into the world.

Each one got to give her kisses.

Surprisingly, mama Pyam allowed them to do this.

Very sweet!

And this is our cat Tangerine who as you can see loves our Daisy

Also very sweet!

And here is our little princess Abby at Christmas

There are still a few more members of our FaRmiLy that I need to get photos of. For instance we have 10 baby chicks that are almost big enough to go outside into their coop. Right now they are in the garage under a heat lamp. I will post photos of them soon.

Yes I am quite the Rancher, Farmer, Cow Girl nowadays.

My Grandpa would be proud!

Lovin' this Life!!

A day in my life

2013-03-19T07:52:00.001-05:00

I just love taking a few minutes in the morning to sit outside and watch the sunrise and listen to all the birds sing.

Great way to start a day!

Moo kisses

2013-03-15T12:23:00.001-05:00

Our new heifer, Ariel, loves dear hubby. She comes a running when he is out there and provides lots of moo kisses and lovin'! Its sorta sweet in funny sorta way. LOL

Will be posting more about our latest additions to the family very soon.

My babies are growing up!

2012-11-27T20:16:00.000-06:00

It was mid-October that I spent a few days in Utah visiting my kids. I can't believe how grown up they are getting. Shellise took me on a tour of SUU's campus and all three of us went on a fun drive up the "C" mountain. The fall colors were becoming amazing! I got some great photos of the weekend, thought I would share!

The red leaves on this tree were really amazing!

SUU's clock tower

It's hard to believe how grown up they are

I still think of them as babies!

LOVE these kids!

Looking over the Cedar valley

Climbing back up the mountain

I sure miss my kiddo's, but I am sure glad to get special times like these as often as I am able. It was so nice just being able to hang out with them.

Love You Both So Much!!

-Mom

Has it really been that long?

2012-10-05T21:02:00.000-05:00

Holy Wow! I just looked at the date of my last post and cannot believe it has been that long. I have officially been a blog slacker. No reason in particular except that I haven't been able to come up with anything exciting to write about. I haven't been on any adventures in months. I guess you could say other things have gotten in the way of life.

We got moved into the house about 3 weeks ago. Work is good... I LOVE my job! School is keeping me really busy. I was very happy about my first semester grades and being included on the deans list. This semester, however, is a different story. Intermediate Accounting II has become my nemesis. The school is trying out a new program for the assignments and quizzes and there are still a few quirks that are making it really hard to get a decent score, meaning my grade right now is not an A like I would like. I am working hard and hoping I can improve that before the end of the semester, which leaves me about 3 more weeks. My other class is a sociology type class where we are discussing America in the 1960's. That class is going great and my grade is where I want it to be. Wish me luck in my accounting class!

I enjoy living in my new small hometown, and like that my drive to work is now 20 minutes instead of an hour. However, I miss my sister and her family. I am just glad that I didn't move so far away that it would be hard to see them on a regular basis. They are only 30 miles away. And, they are coming over for dinner on Sunday. Yeah!

Since my last post, my kids are back in school. Shellise is attending Southern Utah University and Jessie is in his Junior year of High School. Crazy! I get to see them in a week-and-a-half for a day or two, and can't wait! I am so proud of both of my kids. Jessie because he is making some really great choices right now and turning his life around. Shellise because she is working so hard in school and is doing great, and because she is also making some better choices that is improving our relationship. They have both been trying to get jobs, but the market in that town is not good. They really need jobs though, so if any of you in Cedar City know of any place hiring, let me know.

I need to get back to my studies now, but promise I will be back a lot sooner. I am leaving you with a few photos.

Kitchen not quite finished in this photo

Family room looking into kitchen.

Shows the wood floors

From the foyer looking into front room

Closer look at the hand-scraped wood floor

A view from the patio

Back yard

And this is me!

I hope you will still check back once in a while, even though I am such a slacker these days!

Life is Good, Full, and Busy!

2012-08-08T22:45:00.000-05:00

This is just a quickie update.....

DH and I should be moving into our new home very soon. There are still a few small things that need to be finished and then waiting on closing, but not too much longer. I am looking forward to finally getting settled. I promised a photo so here it is....

Work is going really well. I love my job and I love my co-workers. I love the location (or I will once I get moved). I love how much I am learning and how a lot of what I am learning and doing in my job correlates with my classes at school.

I am at the end of my first semester for school and it is finals week. So its a bit crazy for me right now. I am doing great in my Humanities class and have carried 100% throughout the semester. However, I am a little worried about my intermediate accounting final exam. Right now I have an A- in the class so I need to do really well on my final exam so I don't drop down into the B range. Sad thing is I do not test well at all. Never have. The only reason I have an A- instead of an A is because of my quiz scores. I am a bit worried and stressing though. It's been a pretty tough class at times. Wish me luck!

I had the wonderful opportunity to speak to my cute daughter by phone for over 2 hours last week. Seriously one of the highlights of my life lately. It has been so long since she has wanted to speak to me that I was so happy when she called. It was awesome. I hope I get that opportunity again really soon and more frequently than in the recent past.

I Love Her!

And currently I am spending some wonderful time with my son who is visiting me this week. He and his dad are in Oklahoma City for a few weeks and I was able to go pick him up since its only a 3 hour car drive. We have been having a blast! Yesterday we toured the Texas Ranger Ballpark as well as the Dallas Cowboy Stadium. I took lots of photos but I will have to post those another time when I get them all edited and ready for posting. It has been a great week so far and will miss him when he has to go back.

I Love Him!

I will finish up my fun week with my boy and finish up my final exams and then I will have a little more free time to catch up on things like editing photos and reading your blogs.

I hope you are all doing well. See you soon!

Life Is Good!

M.I.A.

2012-07-10T23:42:00.001-05:00

You might have thought that I have been Missing In Action lately so I just wanted to write a little post to ensure you that I am not M.I.A. I have just had a lot going on. For instance.....

I started a new job. I work at Citibank. I drive almost an hour each way. The long distance driving is only temporary, thank goodness. As soon as we get moved into our new home the drive will only be about 20 minutes.

The house is coming a long nicely. We expect to take occupancy in early August. I will post some pictures very soon.

Also, I am back in school working on my bachelor's degree. I am currently taking Intermediate Accounting 1 and Art & Humanities. School and work keeps me very busy.

Dear Hubby's work schedule has changed and we are trying to adjust to it. It kind of really sucks! He has always worked 10-14 hrs per day 5 days a week, but before he would go into work anywhere between 8:30 and 11:00 pm and get home between 10 a.m and Noon usually. Now he goes into work between 2:30 and 4:00 a.m. and gets home between 2:00 and 4:00 pm. It all depends on where he has to drive to. He can usually count on a 600+ mile trip every day though. With the new schedule he needs to be in bed around 7:00 pm every night, so that doesn't allow much time for "us". Also, he has Sunday/Monday off and I have Saturday/Sunday off. Yeah it kind of sucks but we will adapt. Work sure gets in the way of life though!

Anyway... I guess I can say I have been adjusting to a bunch of changes right now. Hopefully I will find some balance in all things, including blogging. That is what I am striving for.

See you soon!

Graduation & Vacation Part 5

2012-06-18T22:22:00.000-05:00

After a slight delay, I am finally posting the final part of my graduation and vacation trip.

As mentioned previously, the morning of Day 9 we left a cold, windy, rainy and snowy Bryce Canyon to begin our trek home. A few miles south of Bryce Canyon off of Hwy 89 is a very small, rural town named Alton, UT.

So without further ado.... I would like to welcome you to Alton, Utah, population 119. The home place of my heritage in Utah.

This sign that welcomes everyone to Alton was donated by my family in 2008 at the 100th birthday celebration.

My maternal grandmother and her 4 sisters grew up here.

Please read this plaque.

Jonathan Heaton, the founder of Alton is my great-great grandfather.

Further down you will see the names of my great-grandparents, John Stanley and Clarrisa Amy Heaton Glover. They are the parents of my Grandmother. Clarrisa is my mother's namesake, only she was given the shortened version of Claire.

Only in a rural town! Ha!

Another reason for us to visit Alton was that it was Memorial Day weekend and we wanted to decorate my ancestor's graves with flowers.

The grave sight of my great-grandparents

Moi

My great-grandparents passed away shortly before I was born so I never got the chance to get to know them. However, I have been told some wonderful stories about them. I look forward to meeting them someday.

Another Ancestor

Cool Headstone

The Alton Cemetery is full of Heaton's, Glover's, and Roundy's. I am related to them all.

In fact if you have one of these surnames or know someone with these surnames and are from the Southern Utah area, I am most likely a relative.

The entrance to the Alton Cemetery

This view is looking at the cemetery.

Among the cedar trees and sagebrush you will find my ancestors graves.

Another view of the cemetery.

This is a view of the Alton valley looking from the cemetery.

Another view

This is the property where my grandmother's home used to sit. The house burned down a few years ago. It used to be next to that small red garage. Sad to see it is gone.

I have so many wonderful memories of Alton. There were many family reunions held here when I was younger, and my grandmother has shared some really fun and amazing stories about her life growing up there.

The welcome sign says it all. Alton, Utah... A pretty little place. The scenery surrounding this area is breathtaking!

To read more about it go here and here. And if you ever find yourself in Southern Utah, do stop by for a visit.

A few short miles down the road from Alton is Kanab, Utah. And right before you get into town is a place we wanted to visit called the Moqui Caves. This is a museum of natural history displaying life of ancient Anasazi Indians of Southern Utah, as well as many other artifacts.

As we walked into the cave we were greeted by a man named Lex Chamberlain. He begins by telling us about the history of the caves and about his father, Garth Chamberlain who originally bought the cave and turned it into what it is today. He explained that his father was an amazing artist (many of his creations are on display),and an ex-NFL player that played for the Pittsburgh, Steelers after being drafted from BYU. Next he tells us that his father was also born in Alton, Utah. When he told me this, and I let him know my family history of Alton, we began talking about our ancestors and learned that his relatives are also Heaton's, and discovered that we are cousins (removed a few times)! It was amazing!

He gave us a more personal tour and showed us all the family pictures he had as well as the works of art his father created. It was wonderful! Finding relatives you don't know about is really exciting! This place was amazing! I can't describe the feeling that I had on this day after visiting Alton and the Moqui Caves. We stayed much longer than we planned to but it was well worth it. I encourage all of my family and friends who have not visited this place to do so.

This was the last big stop of our trip. Our stopping place for the night was Gallup, NM. The next morning, on our 10th and final day was a 13 hour car drive from Gallup to Fort Worth.

Our whole trip was amazing! We saw my daughter and niece graduate, we got to see and spend time with many family members that we haven't seen in a long time, we got to meet family that we have never met before and visited places so spectacular that the memories of this trip will last a lifetime.

And the best thing is that I got to see and experience it all with my best friend and husband. Love Him! Can't wait to do it again sometime.

If you have never been to southern Utah I recommend that you get there someday. There are so many National Parks and neat places to experience.

The Weed: Club Unicorn: In which I come out of the closet on our ten year anniversary

2012-06-10T16:14:00.000-05:00

In this post I am linking to another blogger who writes on a very controversial subject. It is a very good read and I recommend everyone read it. I learned a great deal and know I will be more full of empathy, love and acceptance towards my fellow brothers and sisters in and out of the Mormon church who find themselves with these same type of attractions.

The Weed: Club Unicorn: In which I come out of the closet on our ten year anniversary

Still need to write up Part 5 of my vacation and get that posted... look for that really soon. See ya then!

Baby Baby!

2012-06-08T23:29:00.000-05:00

On Wednesday, June 6, 2012 at 1:59 pm we became the proud grandparents of a new grandson.

Jacob David Romney

8 lbs. 12 oz. 20.5 L

Welcome to the world little man

(I can't wait to meet him)

The new little family

We are so very happy for Natalie & David

They will be amazing parents!

Love You!

Graduations & Vacation Part 4

2012-06-04T23:42:00.000-05:00

Before I continue on with our trip to Bryce Canyon, I need to rewind just a bit because I forgot to include another stop we made while we were in Cedar City. As I have lived there before I knew about a place called the Parowan Gap which has a lot of ancient history including petroglyphs that are the work of prehistoric Fremont and southern Paiute tribes. It is also a place that has history of the first Mormon settlers to that area. Since DH had never been there I decided this would be another great stop. You can read about the history here.

Listed on the national register of Historic Places

I think this is an amazing place. So much writing on the rocks! I wish I could understand the meaning of all the pictures.

We saw these cool lizards... the one closest is pretty fat and may be pregnant?

They stayed right where they were the whole time and watched our every move.

Anyway... it is a pretty cool place so if you ever get down that way you should stop by and check it out.

The morning of Day 8 we left for Bryce Canyon National Park by way of Utah's Scenic Byway 143 called Utah's Patchwork Parkway. Very nice drive! It was a very windy day when we left Cedar City and it was very windy the whole day, even when we reached Bryce Canyon. We arrived fairly early in the day with the intention of seeing as much as we could that day before our evening dinner show plans that I will tell you about in a little bit.

We checked into our hotel and began our trek to see and experience all we could. Here are a few photos of our day.

Before you get there you go through a couple tunnels like this one. This is how they opened the road (many years ago) to make it easier to get there.

This is my 2nd favorite National Park next to Yellowstone

The landscape is so beautiful!

This is one of many bristle-cone pine trees that can survive the harshest terrain. Look where the roots are. Pretty cool tree if you ask me!

Look at all those "hoodoos"

The ones in white look like people to me

And this one looks like a church or a temple

I still can't get over the amazing scenery.

These look like castles on the hillside

This looks like a the backside of a group of people with their arms around one another

Mountain Blue Bird

Remember when I told you that it was really windy? Well it was SO windy that we were getting hit with rocks as we were walking from point to point. It Hurt! I won't even tell you about my hair... what a mess! It must have been blowing between 50 and 70 mph. It was crazy!

We decided to head back to our hotel around 4pm to rest and get ready for our evening plans. Being in the wind all day really takes a lot of a person! We were both feeling wind whipped and exhausted. We decided we would see the rest of the park in the morning before we left to begin our trip towards home.

To make our trip to Bryce a little more memorable we added a western dinner show to our evening plans as part of our experience. It was located at Ebenezer's Barn & Grill and was put on by the Bar G Wranglers. Let me tell you... this was the highlight of our trip. We had such a great time! We were seated by one of the wrangler's, Jay Evans, who I learned happens to be married to the daughter of long time family friends of my Grandma in Delta (for my mom - the Lowder family). It is always fun to run into people you know in the least likely places. After we were seated, two other couples were seated at our table with us. One was from Georgia, but the husband was originally born in Jordan. The other couple was originally from Houston, Texas but were living in Saratoga Springs, UT. They brought their 4 year old daughter with them. Cute! We had such a great time talking and getting to know one another. At other tables, there were people from all over the world.

We had a very yummy cowboy dinner and the entertainment by the Bar G Wrangler's was so much fun! They are really talented performers with their instruments and their voices. It was such a memorable night. We bought a few CD's and have a picture which they all autographed for us. So fun!

I highly recommend you including this into your Bryce Canyon experience when you go next. It will be a memory that I will always look back on fondly.

The next morning we went to grab breakfast and as we were leaving with our shorts and t-shirts on we noticed it was still windy, but now it was really cold with a rain/snow mix coming down. Crap! When we were done with breakfast and after packing up our stuff, we just decided to leave Bryce Canyon and begin making our way home. We had plans to stop by Alton, UT on our way out of Utah. This town is a very special place for my family. It is where my grandma was born and raised and where the roots of my family is from. I will tell you about it in Part 5 coming very soon.

See you then!

Graduations & Vacations Part 3

2012-06-01T00:03:00.000-05:00

On Day 5 we drove down to Delta, Utah. This is where both of my parents are from so I have tons of relatives there including my only living grandparent, my maternal Grandma. My brother, Kirt, and his family also live there. My niece Fiona was graduating from Delta High School on this day. I forgot my camera so the only photos I got were from my phone, which aren't the best, and then I "borrowed" a couple others in order to tell the story.

There was around 150 students in the graduating class

There she is!

With us!

(As you will notice my family consists of short people)

My Grandma, My Dad, Fiona, My Mom

After the ceremony everyone showed up at my brother's home for cake & ice cream and so that Fiona could open her gifts. It was really nice seeing everyone! I hadn't seen that part of my family in over a year. I was so happy to spend some time with my awesome grandma!

On Day 6 we left my grandmother's house and drove down to Cedar City, Utah where my children live, so that we could attend my daughter's graduation from Canyon View High School. However, we had a little excitement while traveling.

While driving between Hinckley and Milford we were passed by a car going 75 to 80 mph on a road where we had to slow down for antelope on the road. A few minutes later we were passed by another car. And then a couple minutes after that I saw a bunch of dust up ahead off the road. I knew one of those cars had gone off the road. As we pulled up we realized it was the first car that had passed us and the other car's driver was waving us down to stop (which I was planning to do anyway). As we saw the car way off the road in the desert, I had the sinking feeling there would be a fatality. It had flipped many times and there were car pieces and personal belongings everywhere. It really did not look like someone could survive, and if they did they would have had to been seriously injured. I was dreading what we would find.

DH and the other guy ran over to the car while I called 911. For some reason I was the only one with phone reception. By the time the guys got to the car, there was a woman trying to climb out of the window. They assisted her after making sure she didn't have back or neck injuries. They also made sure no one else was in the car or had been thrown from the car. Thank goodness this girl seemed to be coherent. While they were carrying her over to the other driver's car, I was informing 911 about the accident. We were able to get this girls name and found out she was just 19 years old and was coming from Tooele heading to St. George. It was about 10:45 a.m. and she says she doesn't remember why she ran off the road. In assessing her, she only complained of her foot hurting. It seemed to be broken. But other than that there was no blood, no other noticeable injuries. She was in shock of course and felt sick but she never lost consciousness.

She is very lucky to be alive! When the police and the emergency personnel arrived they were also amazed that she was alive. The Sheriff said that cars in this type of accident and in this condition usually are fatalities. While we were waiting for the emergency people to arrive I had spent time picking up her personal belongings that were thrown all over the place. I found her wallet, her cell phone, clothes, shoes, CD's, makeup and a picture of her family. She asked me to call her mom which I did but only got her voice mail. When the Sheriff arrived I gave all of this stuff to him. While they were preparing the girl for the ambulance ride we had to fill out our reports of the accident. And then we were on our way again. Still to this day I think of how lucky this girl was to be alive. I don't know if she had any other injuries besides a broken foot, but she had to have been pretty sore for several days at least. I am also thankful we were able to help in her time of need. Thankful to God for protecting this girl.

We continued on towards Cedar City where I had scheduled us to spend two days. After checking into our hotel and settling in for a bit, we picked up my son Jessie and took him to dinner and then off on some Geo-caching adventures. He was still in school so we only had just that evening to see him. We had a great time even with it being short-lived.

Day 7 was scheduled to meet up with my daughter, Shellise, for lunch in between her graduation practice and the actual graduation. I was pleasantly surprised when she arrived with some extra people in tow including her grandma and cousin on her dad's side, as well as her biological mom (whom I haven't seen since Shellise was born) and her biological maternal grandma. So with them as well as Jessie, my parents and us there was a bit of a crowd at this tiny sandwich shop we infiltrated. We ate, visited, exchanged gifts and took some photos. It was a nice way to spend time with everyone. Here are a few photos from the lunch...

My two cute kiddos

I love the look on her face after seeing the diamond necklace we gave her

That's my beautiful girl

Shellise with her cousin Brittany and her Grandma

Biological Mom and Grandma

Biological Mom

It's nice we can all be together for this important event

My Handsome Boy!

So Sweet!

The other half of the table including my parents

Excited about another gift

Funny cute girl

It was such an amazing time spent with everyone during lunch. It all went so much better than I ever thought it would. Thanks Shellise for making this time so special!

After lunch and before graduation, we took my parents to the cemetery so we could place some flowers on the graves of my grandma's sister and husband. After all, it is Memorial Day coming up!

My parents

Later on this day we arrived at the graduation ceremony. I am posting several photos of my beautiful girl at her high school graduation....

I just love the color of the cap and gown

All Grown Up!

(sniff-sniff)

Mother and Daughter

Shellise with her Grandma's

Shellise with her Grandpa (my dad)

I LOVE this picture!

Pomp and Circumstance

It's official! She is a High School Graduate!

I am SO proud of her!

Friends

Shellise and her best friend Kaitlyn

Friends

After Graduation

Ya... she really is all grown up!

The graduation ceremony was really nice! Shellise played the viola for the last time with her orchestra (sad), and then it was all over (sad for me). I can't believe she is all graduated. Where have the years gone? I am old!

Right after graduation the senior class was getting on some buses that would take them to Disneyland for their senior trip. Prior to leaving the PTA had ordered drug sniffing dogs to make sure there were no students who were packing drugs. They didn't expect to find one of the bus drivers with drugs in his system as well as packed in his bags. You can see the story HERE. Scary!

So thankful for God's hand in keeping a watchful eye over my daughter, as I pray for everyday. She was protected and was able to enjoy a fun Disneyland trip with her senior class. We are so blessed!

God sure has been busy watching out for our youth this week!

Shellise and her friend Kaitlyn had a really fun AND SAFE time on the bus after this incident.

My daughter has reached some major milestones this year - Turning 18, graduating from High School, and preparing for college. She left my nest a couple years ago to live with her dad, but I still feel that empty nest feeling every day. Does it ever go away?

I am so proud of Shellise and all of her accomplishments. I look forward to see where life takes her. She has some terrific plans for her future and I hope it all works out the way she hopes it will. But no matter where she goes, no matter what she does, I hope she will always remember that I love her and will always be here for her with open arms. Love you Bug!

After seeing Shellise off, we all went our separate ways. She to Disneyland, the rest of the family back to their homes, and us back to our hotel where we prepared for our departure. Because the next morning we left Cedar City for Bryce Canyon. I will write about that part of our trip on my next post. So check back soon!

But before I go... since this post is about graduations... I thought I would post a couple pictures of my degree that I received recently after my graduation.

See you back here soon!

Graduations & Vacations Part 2

2012-05-31T00:28:00.000-05:00

The evening of Day 2 in Moab was spent driving around the area, eating dinner, and walking through the town and visiting some of the tourist souvenir shops. Such a beautiful part of the country, and as I said before the town is really neat!

A good portion of Day 3 was spent at Arches National Park. It was pretty warm but the day was fantastic. Posting a lot of photos!

Moi

Dear Hubby

I thought this kind of looked like the Three Wisemen

Petrified Sand Dunes

I found this guy with a very long tail

Balancing Rock

All the balancing rocks people have formed

DH balancing rocks

The two windows

These photos are of the double arch

Enjoying some shade

In the middle of nowhere there was an old homestead of the Wolfe Ranch

Ancient Indian Art

Delicate Arch

This is the arch that is printed on Utah License Plates

This was a very cool tree I was sitting in.

Aren't the rock formations really cool looking? There are over 2000 arches cataloged in Arches National Park. Most of them must be pretty rough terrain to get to.

DH and I had such a great time exploring this place. If we had more time we would have done more of the hikes, but we had to get to Salt Lake by the end of the day to see the family.

Seeing the family was pretty great! It was so nice to see my dad doing so much better than when I was here in January/February. Also, my sister Alicia's, family were waiting for us to arrive at my mom and dad's house. Visiting with them and my nieces was so fun!

Day 4 we stayed with my parents not doing much except taking my dad to dialysis, going out to lunch with my mom, and later that night my brother Jay and my sister Alicia brought their families over for a BBQ. It was so fun catching up with everyone. However, I am so mad at myself now for not taking pictures of this part of my trip. I can't believe I didn't and now feel so sad! Thanks for the memories everyone! At least I have the memories.

In the next post I will write about the graduations that was the reason for making this trip in the first place. Check back soon!

Graduations & Vacation Part 1

2012-05-29T18:40:00.001-05:00

Just got back from a 10-day, 3000+ mile road trip to attend my niece and my daughters graduations in Utah, to visit family and feast upon the beauty of a few National Parks and other sights along the way. It. Was. Amazing! The entire trip was amazing!

My poor hubby really deserved a break from work. He has been working between 50 and 70 hours a week every week since we moved here last October. The funny thing is that the majority of those hours are spent on the road driving for his job with FedEx. So I guess he really didn't get a break from driving, just from work. Poor guy! I planned this vacation not thinking that he may just want to get there by air instead of by motor vehicle. In my defense, he was the one that suggested our visits to the National Parks as he had never been there. So I planned our road trip with that in mind. It's all good! We had a blast!

Day 1 we drove to Albuquerque where we stayed the night after about 11 hours in the car.

Day 2 we left Albuquerque with our sight set on Moab, Utah. Along the way we entered a town called Aztec, New Mexico where we saw a sign for Aztec Ruins National Monument and because we both love historical places, we knew we had to stop. I am so glad we did! Check out these photos....

These are over 900 years old!

He is much taller than the doors into these rooms

Makes me wonder... how small were these people back then?

It is interesting to get a glimpse of how they lived

Kiva - The place for religious ceremonies.

I wish the photo could have shown all the intricate details

This woman was painting a portrait of the place

So I just had to get a photo

It was a really fun place to visit and learn the history of the Pueblo people and how they lived.

After our stop here we grabbed some lunch and continued on to Moab, Utah where we stayed the night and for the goal of visiting Arches National Park. Even though I have lived in Utah most of my life, this is one place I have never visited. I will share our visit to Arches in Part 2 so look for that coming up. But let me just say that Moab is such an amazing place to visit. We could have spent days there if we had time. There are so many places to visit, things to do, things to see and experience. Next time, I will plan at least 3 or 4 days just to do a few of the things we would have liked to do. Next time!

A day in the life....

2012-04-29T21:12:00.000-05:00

Working around the property, making everything come to life.....

Making room for a new home

Iris in bloom near the pond

My hot and sweaty hardworking man!

Moving off old wood from an old deck

Cleaning up the back yard

Chasing critters

Love this area

Mom and Dad's years of hard work made a really beautiful yard

Hard working man!

And then last weekend there were a gazillion Butterflies....

Aren't they so pretty?

And this is a day of Daisy's life on the ranch...

Helping to replant trees

Helping Mommy water the trees and cooling off... she really did love riding around in the water!

Just a day on our life! We are Loving it!

A Canoe and a Refuge plus a Car and a Geo-cache equals BIG Adventures

2012-04-19T00:26:00.000-05:00

A while back DH and I enjoyed a weekend filled with our kind of adventures. We loaded up the Rav4 with our canoe, the dogs, the GPS and the Geo-caching bag and escaped the monotony of every day life for a few hours. First stop was the Waffle House for breakfast, followed by a trip to the Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge where we hopped in the canoe for a trip around the river.

Here are a ~~few~~ bunch of photos of our trip....

These are Buzzards

They are BIG

I have never seen buzzards (live) before I moved to Texas

It was a very pretty day

The gorgeous views along the river

The water was like glass... a mirror

This little guy was on a branch that was hanging way out over the river

Thank goodness he didn't fall in!

Peaceful

Tranquil

Relaxing

More buzzards

Ah... it's almost like I am there again

We saw all kinds of birds and animals in the wild

It is a refuge after all!

What a great way to spend the first half of the day.

Did I mention how relaxing and peaceful it was?

The next part of the day included a road trip about an hour or so west of Fort Worth out near Mineral Wells, Texas; where we included Geo-caching into seeing some new places.

We searched and found several Geo-caches, more than I have photos of.

One of the Geo-caches took us to Mineral Wells Fossil Park

We had no idea this place existed so we weren't prepared for digging. We will be going back sometime though!

Another Geo-cache took us to a really nice, old, cemetery where the bluebonnet's were in full bloom

Daisy enjoying the view

Every Geo-cache we go on takes us to places we would not have known about otherwise, usually with history or interesting artifacts. We have been on so many fun adventures since we have taken up Geo-caching as our fun hobby. You have to try it sometime.

Go here for more information

I should tell you about my getting lost adventure now. Yes... we did get lost for a time! One of our Geo-caches we wanted to find included a short hike through a wooded area that gained an elevation of about 900 ft. With Geo-caching you need a GPS to find the coordinates, and you learn that it is often a very good idea to mark on your GPS where your car is located before venturing out so that you can find your way back.

Well..... I had my handy GPS, and knowing how important it is to mark where we park, somehow it slipped my mind to do so on this one. So we venture off into the woods. We enjoy our hike and find the cache and start heading back before I realize nothing looks familiar and we are beginning to follow a path that is taking us in the wrong direction. We start back tracking a bit but still end up taking another wrong path. DH suggests I pull up the coordinates where our car is parked and I have to tell him I didn't mark it. That didn't go over so well!

Now it is a pretty hot and humid day and we had set out on this adventure during the hottest part of the day and didn't bring a lot of water with us knowing it wouldn't take us very long. So.. after quite sometime of seemingly walking in circles and becoming hotter and thirstier (water was gone at this point), DH suggests we go back to the Geo-cache find which is plugged into the GPS, and start all over again. I was becoming frightened we would never get out this wooded hillside! We located the cache and started out again only paying more attention to our surroundings and what looked familiar and what didn't, when we realized we had earlier missed a path that we had come in on which lead us finally in the right direction toward the right path that lead us to our car. Whew! Lesson learned! We would have been OK even if we hadn't been able to get out of there because we did have the GPS and could have told rescuers our coordinates... However, ALWAYS mark your car's location! I probably won't ever make that mistake again!

I look forward to the next time we can get out and enjoy all the fun adventures just waiting for us.

GRADUATION!!

2012-04-14T20:50:00.000-05:00

It's official!

I graduated today

Associates of Science in Accounting

with Highest Honors

GPA 3.95

Now about to begin another 2 yrs of butt whooping work towards a bachelor's degree in Financial Forensics.

I also just learned that I am a recipient of an academic scholarship that will get me a nice percentage deduction off my tuition. Woo!

Yes I am patting myself on the back today

after all it is my blog and I can brag about myself if I want to.

GO ME!!

I hope my kids will be as proud of me as I am, because I made the decision to go back to school 2 years ago partially for them. I want them to understand that if their mom can do this at my age, they can do just about anything they set their minds to.

Bluebonnet Tour

2012-04-12T23:49:00.001-05:00

Me and my sister, Valerie, went on a road trip today to Ennis, Texas to see all the Bluebonnet's in full bloom. Thousands of acres of rolling hills covered in Bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush. Such beauty and so fragrant. So fun!

The Bluebonnet is the State Flower of Texas. Ennis is the "Official Bluebonnet City of Texas" as well as home to the "Official Texas Bluebonnet Trail". And here are the photos of our day.... (There are a bunch of them)

Splendid Beauty

Amazing

Cute Donkey

Love the contrast of colors

I want!

Yep these also

So adorable!

Nice blend of bluebonnet's and paintbrush

I am in awe!

Good Ole' Texas Longhorns

Before moving to Texas I had no idea how beautiful and lush this place is... Tree's and green everywhere. I really do love my new home!

If you get the chance to come to Texas during April, the Texas Bluebonnet's are in bloom and are a must see! They really are everywhere, but Ennis has a huge conglomeration of them. It was well worth the drive and I look forward to next year!