{Riding, Riding, Riding...}

Saturday Derrick, Brock, Kaleb and I went on our first ride with the Sand Rock Ridge Riders ATV club. We've been talking about joining for quite awhile, but never did it. Sheri ended up signing us up when she did their registration for this year. Thanks Sheri! We went to the San Rafel Swell area outside of Castle Dale, along with 65 other bikes and 82 other people! We ended up riding 67.4 miles and 65 of those miles were great, but the other few I could have done without. At one point we dropped 1, 800 feet in elevation in a mile and a half! Derrick didn't think it was all that steep, but it was steeper than I like. About three fourths of the way down, my hands and arms were killing me from riding the brake and I finally just pulled off and made Derrick go down the next steep part and then climb back up and take me down. What a good guy he is, he didn't even complain that I was being a baby, and in my defense, I did ride 90% of it. Ann and Suzanne, you'd have been proud of me.... I bought a new helmet just for the ride and I wore it the entire time. I have to admit, I started out wearing it too keep my ears warm, I really didn't want an earache, but there were a few moments going down the steep stuff that I wondered if that helmet may end up protecting more than my ears! I was surprised that the boys did as well as they did, it really was a lot of riding, but they were troopers and did great. I was glad that we left Carlie home, it would have been much to long of a day for her and she had a much better time having a sleepover at her cousin Addie's. I have to say looking forward to the upcoming rides! We really saw some pretty scenery that we would have never found on our own.

Dad and Brock checking out the scenery.

Chimney Rock. This is where the steep stuff was. See the ridge in the background, that's what we came down. The picture from this angle is deceiving, the back area is actually taller than Chimney rock.

Stopping for a little break. Check out the hot new helmet!

This rock says.....

John H. Averett H.A. Petty

June. th. 6th. 18.81

Holy Cow, 1881, that's crazy!

Pretty cool Indian petroglyphs.
Derrick, Oct. 25th, 1990
For some reason Derrick doesn't recall being there?
Many, many rocks to be climbed by two cute little boys!

{Flashback Friday}

Lisa & Monica ~ 1978

This is one of my favorite pictures of Lis & I. Weren't we ADORABLE in our beautiful crocheted dresses made by Grandma Ainge? My Grandma made the most beautiful dresses for all the granddaughters and great granddaughters. I was so excited when we found out Carlie was a girl, because that meant she got a dress. What an amazing and talented woman my sweet Grandma was!

Derrick & Nick ~ March 17, 1979

I thought I'd add a flashback of Derrick today too. This picture was taken when Derrick was 3 1/2 and Nicholas was 3 days old. We don't really have all that many pictures of Derrick when he was a kid, but I thought this was a cute one!

Who do you think our kids look more like?

{Funny, Funny....}

I just had to share some of our funny pictures from the last few weeks. My kids sure keep me laughing!

Last week it was crazy hair day at school. I'm not all that creative when it comes to boy hair, but I don't think I did all that bad! We came up with four stripes for Brock, every other one was painted black too. Kaleb got 9 spiky ponytails all over his head. What handsome little punks I have!
The boys came running in last Friday and said Carlie had fallen off the trampoline...yup, right on her head! That's the first time I'd ever seen grass stained HAIR! Try explaining that one to the neighbors, oh wait, Lisa had to! Hehe
I guess the bath toy bag is the hottest new hair accessory! Maybe I need to get me one of those. What a silly girl!
For the most part, my Dad is a pretty well dressed and I'd have to say handsome guy. I guess the fashion sense all went out the window right in time for the family Easter egg hunt....Yep, cowboy boots and slicker pants, a winning combination, if I do say so myself!
**I do have to add in my dads defense, he would NEVER leave the house like that (ok, the yard), the boots were just the closest shoes he grabbed to go out and watch the kids!**

Kaleb has always been my best sleeper. When he's tired he either goes into bed or just lays down where he is and goes to sleep. Yes, his head is hanging off the side of the couch almost to the floor......and he slept like that for over an hour! I sure wish I slept that good!

Ok, this one may not be quite as "funny", but it's crazy all the same. My mom called me yesterday afternoon, and said in a very panicky voice "Mo, send Derrick fast!" Yea, instead of being the good daughter and just sending him and then asking questions, I immediately said "Why? What's wrong?" "There's a snake in my living room!!!" Yea, I sent him quick! My poor mom is terrified of snakes, and to have one in her living room, not good. Derrick saved the day, and then promptly BROUGHT IT HOME TO MY HOUSE! My kids loved it, especially Kaleb who thought it would make a spectacular pet.....ummm, nope, not in my house!

{Easter Weekend Fun}

Did all of you have a good Easter weekend? I hope so, because I know we did! It was spring break for the kids and Mr. Hubby, they've been out of school since Wednesday, and I think it's going to be hard to get up for school in the morning for all of us. Our little town always holds an Easter Egg hunt which the Primary is in charge of, but our poor little primary took a hit when we lost half our teachers to the new Relief Society Presidency and the Easter Egg hunt kind-of got left till the last minute. Lisa and I picked up the candy and eggs last week and we managed to pull it off. I truly enjoyed visiting with Tanya and Lynda as we stuffed the eggs. I feel blessed to be able to work with such great women in Primary.

This was my family room floor on Tuesday night....500 eggs and lots of candy. The kids, ok Carlie, couldn't understand why she couldn't eat all the candy.Unfortunately Wednesday afternoon was cold and windy and we were almost frozen after throwing out the candy and eggs, but the kids were happy and I think it turned out pretty well! Actually, I'm really just glad it's over with, I stress too much!
I think Kaleb got plenty of candy....don't you?

And a few eggs too! On Thursday afternoon, our GREAT neighbors, the Mundy's called and invited my kids to another egg hunt at their house with their granddaughter. Derrick and I were going on a hot date, so Aunt Lis took them along with her kids. We are lucky to have such fun neighbors who are always inviting us to things like that.

We decided this year to ask the Easter Bunny to come on Saturday. It just seemed like it would work better with Church and hopefully help us remember what Easter is really about.

Brock and Carlie were pretty excited with their new sunglasses. Brock even snuck his to church and put them on during Primary with his suit.....he looked very "Men in Black" until his mean Mama took them away! They also got books, flip flops, some more candy, swimsuits, and a few barbies for our girlie girl.

After Easter basket fun, we went to another egg hunt in Fillmore, which was also cold. From there we went to Dearden Equipment and had lunch. Later in the day it was time for the annual hunt at Gram and Papa's. As soon as we all got there, it started to rain, and it rained hard! We ate, and waited. Gram played Bingo with the kids, and we waited. Finally it stopped long enough to go and find the eggs. There was a $10 money egg for the girls in the side yard and one for the boys in the front yard, but somehow Carlie ended up with both of them, LUCKY GIRL! To be fair we did let the boys draw to see who got the money that was meant for them.

The boys were pretty serious this year and were racing all over the yard.

Papa even got tricky and hid some up in the tree!

We did get some new chicks this year again. Five of them, that will be white when they get bigger. Carlie has been loving them and is constantly asking to go see the "kickens".

Easter Sunday turned out to be a nice day and we hurried and snapped a picture before we ran out the door to Church. Grandma Jeannie made Carlie a new dress this year which looked cute on her. And the boys looked pretty spiffy in their birthday suits, ummm, I mean the suits they got for their birthdays, they would have felt pretty silly at church in their birthday suits!

Sunday afternoon, I had the wonderful experience of attending a special devotional held the in Priesthood room at the Manti Temple for our Stake. Last year our Stake Presidency placed an emphasis on family history and temple work and set a goal to double the size of our stake through Temple work, which was about 3,500 names. We not only made that goal, but far exceeded it, by almost double at, I think, just over 6,000 names. Because of the great effort made by our Stake, the First Presidency granted permission for this special devotional to be held on Easter Sunday in such a beautiful and amazing room, a first as far as the Temple Presidency knows. I can't even begin tell you what an extraordinary experience it was, and it truly made made my Easter Sunday complete.

{Flashback Friday}

Are you ready for Flashback Friday Easter style? Well, here you go!

I'm not sure how old I was in this picture. I have such good memories of Easters past. Our little town always had an Easter egg hunt, we still do, I was in charge of it this year in fact. We also spent many, many Easters at Grandma and Grandpa Ainges cabin and I remember hunting for eggs there too with the cousins and my grandparents friends grandkids. Grandma Beckstrand always had an Easter Egg hunt for us too. What spoiled kids we were!

Kyle, Lisa, Shad & Monica ~ 1985

This particular year, at the town Easter Egg hunt, they also gave away live bunnies. If I remember right, my mom wasn't all that happy that I won Fluffy the bunny. If you look close you can see Lisa's pink basket. Grandma Ainge crocheted one of these for each of the Grandkids the inside was a cool whip container and I truly loved mine.
Grandma Jeannie took Brock to see the Easter bunny when he was about 14 months old. I can't believe how much he's grown up and how fast the years have gone!

Kaleb, Carlie & Brock ~ 2007
What cute kiddos! This is the same park that the picture of me and my brothers and sisters was taken at, fun traditions!

{This & That... Along With a Bit of Randomness}

Are you ready for a bit of this and that, and some plain old randomness? Well, this post is for you! Lisa and I took a mom's day off yesterday and headed to Provo. Our friend Laina was having a Cents of Style party and that was as good an excuse as any to get out of town, right? I picked up 2 cute pair of earrings and some sassy black patent shoes, all for under $25... SCORE! I also came home with a few much needed articles of clothing. You see, I may, or may not fit into some of my clothing right now (and NO, I will not be soon announcing anything) anyhow, my goal was to get some things to get me by, but not spend much moola. I thought I did pretty good, but I learned that sometimes, a good deal, well, might not have been as good as I was thinking?

I picked up these pants for a whopping $6! Yep, $6, and they actually fit me pretty great, which doesn't happen all that often. How did I not notice that one leg is a whole 3 1/2 inches shorter than the other leg? I even tried them on twice. Yep, true story....Lisa is now calling them the Ca-pants! Mom, can ya do some hemming and fix them for me? That's not just random, it's ridiculous and hilarious too.

We did come home with some cute shirts (that were even sewn correctly), a headboard, foot board, box springs, a mattress and hopefully enough Easter candy and plastic eggs for the whole town, along with all the regular trip up north stuff, crammed in the back of my Tahoe! Fun times!Today between General Conference sessions, we went to dinner at my Ma & Pa's. The whole fam-damily was there, all 18 of us, plus my Grandma and Grandpa. Can you say chaos? After dinner the kids went outside with instructions to "Stay out of the mud", (which they didn't) and somehow ended up in this giant hamster ball. Ok, it was really the frame for a paper mache earth my brother and his wife made for a parade last year, but doesn't it look like a hamster ball? They rolled it, (with them inside) down the side farm drive and down the road to our house and back, silly boys!

Here is another random for you. The other night I went into the kitchen at 10:30 pm, or thereabouts to grab something, and I hear my garage door opening?!? What? Derrick was in the bedroom and the kids were asleep, and I know the cats can't jump that high. Derrick, my manly man, did some checking and nothing..... Hmmm, can we say creepy! Brock got the chance last week to do his first Great Brain project. He decided on the Solar System and I have to say I was thrilled, since that's a subject I know nothing about, but Derrick on the other hand knows a bunch! Brock did such a great job on everything, his display, the report and his presentation, and he really learned a lot, not to mention he loved doing it with his Dad! And last but not least, Brock earned his Wolf badge! It's a good thing he has great Scout leaders who keep him on track, it really is a lot of work....Thanks, Dayla and Alicia and YEA, Brock!

{Flashback Friday}

So, obviously I've been in a bit of a blogging funk..... I haven't had anything spectacular, or even interesting for that matter, to post, and comments have been few and far between, I'm sorry, I really do love you all, truly I do and I will do better, I promise! I was talking to a friend yesterday who said she loved it when I did Flashback Fridays. You know what? I did to! I loved to sort through old pictures, laugh at fun memories of long ago and then share them with you, so why has it been so long since we had a Flashback Friday? Well, wait no more...... This flashback is to Christmas of 1994. Derrick and I had been dating about 6 months, and I was a freshman at good old UVSC, we were married about 8 months later, and yep, we look pretty young! Fun times and good memories, enjoy!