Kansas City Field Trial Pic

Marcy took this super fun picture of Zink with his ribbon from the Kansas City Field Trial Derby. Zink took third, which is him with the yellow ribbon. Riot in the middle took first, and Libby, Zink's sister took second! Way to go Horsetooth Retriever Dogs!



I also got the privilege of driving out to pick him up yesterday. Rett was going to get him originally but couldn't get off work. I went alone to make the trip easier. It was about a 7 hour drive and I went straight out and back. I left the boys at a neighbors and got home at 2am. But it wasn't a bad trip at all. And we both arrived home safe and sound. Crew woke me up at 7am this morning to ask if his Zinky was home and was super excited to see him! It was really cute. Although I wish I had gotten a little more sleep. Oh well, there's always tonight for that! Drake hasn't woken up this morning yet, but we'll see what his excitement level about having his dog home is. It's funny, because they love Chief, but not like Zink. We decided it must be because they were around when we first got Zink and he was a puppy, so this is their first dog that they have been around from a little thing.

Zink is entered in the Salt Lake City trial this weekend. It was supposed to be small because it's just a Derby and the pro's don't usually want to go to a trial that doesn't have all the events. But it's turning out to have a ton of dogs entered. So we will let you know how it goes! Hopefully well, but Zink hasn't run for Rett at a trial yet, so who knows! Since Rett's been working SO much we're going to send him home with Mark Henry for a couple of weeks or so. That way he can get some good training in and not lose everything that's been put into him while Rett is working crazy hours.

I know some of you think we are absolutely insane! Especially those of you who aren't dog lovers like we are. You have to know how much of a passion this is for Rett though. He LOVES the dogs and the training. And even though some of you think driving for 16 hours to pick up a dog is crazy, I was happy to do it because I know how much it means to Rett. (Ok, so maybe I am a little excited about the brownie points it gave me :) But mostly, I did it because I love my husband and want to do whatever I can to help him out. So, again, I'll say to those of you who think we're crazy, If this is the worst thing I have to put up with in my marriage, than I am pretty lucky! And driving alone for so many hours reminded me of how much I love my family and missed being with them! I'm so blessed to have a wonderful, hardworking, and loving husband, two of the craziest and most fun boys ever, and yes, two very spoiled and hyper black labs that love us just as much or more than we love them!

Boys, Bumps, and Bruises

Monday was a little bit of a rough day for us. Drake woke up at 3am to get in bed with us. He fell on his way in, but because it was the middle of the night, Rett just cuddled him and he went right back to sleep. It wasn't till he got up for work and realized he had blood all over his white shirt that we found out that Drake actually fell and hurt himself and wasn't just crying. He must have hit his chin on the edge of our bed. But he's ok, and it really wasn't that big of an owie.



Crew also had a little accident. He was playing on the chaise in the office with a little spiderman toy and it fell behind the chaise. He was leaning down to try and get it and smacked his cheek right on the corner of a magazine rack. OUCH! He has a little bit of a black eye now.



They wanted to send pictures of their owies with my phone to family and I felt like someone would start thinking I beat them. They are always covered in bruises! The boys found their baby books I did for them for their first years of life. Since we were dealing with the little owies, when Crew saw the pictures of his first REALLY BIG owie, we had to tell him the story. And I hadn't started this blog till after this happened, so I'll tell the story now, it is kind of a sad story.

Crew was about 14 months old. I was working still. Rett picked up Crew from the babysitter and met me back in Lehi to take him to the parade and then to the rodeo. After the parade we decided to go get a drink and since we had both vehicles, I set Crew in the back seat of the truck and ran over to my car to grab my purse and then ran back to the truck to get in with the boys. I opened the back door to see if Rett had buckled Crew or not. Rett had started the truck, and silly me, I yanked the door open without even thinking. Crew was standing on the back seat and leaning against the door. Apparently Rett was trying to tell me not to open the door, but with the diesel running, I didn't hear or see anything. So, Crew fell off the seat of the truck onto the sidewalk. And really, I think onto the curb. It was AWFUL! He had blood everywhere. I was kind of freaking out. We were trying to get him cleaned up and see if he was ok or not. We finally decided he was probably ok but were not going to take him to the rodeo. I told Rett to call his mom and see if they wanted our tickets since we already had them and I headed home with Crew. His nose bled for SO long. But he survived. And here is an owie picture to show the damage. His whole forehead was bruised. He had road rash from his forehead down to his chin. If there ever was a sad and guilty feeling mom, it was me!



Luckily, knock on wood, we haven't had much worse than these kinds of bumps and bruises. Last summer Drake fell out of the back of Bampa's pick up truck and hit his head, but was ok, just had a goose egg. I kind of expect things like this to happen with little boys at this point. And really, they haven't nearly caught up with crazy Uncle Josh! And let's hope they don't! We love him, but before he was an adult he'd broken nearly every bone in his body. I think mom's of boys get a little used to the crazy things boys do. I'm just glad my boys haven't done any serious damage! I sure love the little crazy guys!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! We hope everyone had a wonderful day filled with lot's of fun and family. As well as the love of our Savior and the knowledge of his sacrifice for us.

Here are my cute little Easter Bunny boys! They had to put this on one day at the store!



Rett has been working WAY too much lately. They have this big job at work, and I've gotten spoiled since we moved to Idaho because he hasn't been working much overtime. So now that he's working 5am to 4pm, and he worked Saturday and Sunday this past week, I have been missing him terribly. Not to mention the boys. So Saturday I took the boys to a little community Easter Egg Hunt. They got way too much candy and I've had to confiscate it and give it out when they are extra good or after they've eaten all their food. Anyway, they were super excited for when Dad got home from work Saturday evening so that we could dye eggs. Amazingly, coloring eggs was fun and not too messy! Crew really wanted to eat one, but the boys were all ready for bed, so I didn't let them. But the next morning, he asked for one for breakfast. I'm not sure how much he's actually eaten boiled eggs, but he LOVED them. I had to cut him off because he kept wanting more and more. I was excited for deviled eggs for dinner because I thought he'd love them, but he didn't. So I'm not sure if it was a fluke or if he just likes plain old hard boiled eggs.





They got these little kites in their baskets Sunday morning, which is a funny story. Not the kites, but their baskets. I was planning to get up with Rett at 4:30 Sunday morning and set their baskets out then, but since we weren't planning for him to work all day, and I wasn't staying up to workout (Which I have been doing every other day that he's been going into work at 5! My old workout and running buddies would be so proud! It just makes for early nights around here! We've all been falling asleep together between 8 and 9!) Anyway, so I didn't manage to get out of bed, just got a sweet kiss goodbye from my hunny and fell back asleep. Crew came into my room around 7:30 and said he couldn't find his Easter stuff. I told him I'm sure they were there, that maybe the Bunny just did a super good hiding job! I told him to stay in my room while I went and looked :) I found them! What do you know! And the boys were really stoked. What a slacker mom though! For a dollar something kite, these actually did really well. And the boys loved it. We did get them tangled together a couple of times. And Crew lost his once, and was upset because it stayed up in the air FOREVER and he didn't think it was coming back down. But when it did, he went running for it. It was so cute! There was the perfect wind for flying the kites. And tons of open space, which was also perfect! I just love the openness of the country! So nice for things like this! Someday there will be some grass around here too. Speaking of which, we have had a couple of bids for sprinkler systems and UGH! We were spoiled when we bought our first home because all the landscaping was done! But at some point, we'll get some green instead of just the brown dirt!






Bampa Kip and Bamma Deb came over for a simple little dinner and helped with the kite flying. It was really nice to just be here at home with our family! Makes me grateful for such a great husband who works so hard for us and for two crazy and amazing boys who teach me everyday and who love me even when I'm the crazy one! Life just doesn't get any better than quality time with your family. And that is my favorite part of life!

Kansas City Field Trial

Zink had another pretty good weekend! This time he was in Kansas City, Missouri. Seriously, this dog has been to more states than I have! Lucky little guy! Anyway, he took another 3rd place. The really cool thing is that our trainer Kenny, swept the derby. Riot took 1st, Zinks litter mate, Libby, took 2nd, and Zink took 3rd. All were dogs off of Kenny and Marcy's truck! We don't have any pictures since we weren't around, but may get some from Marcy later, and if we do, you can be sure you'll see them! Anyway, YAY for Zink and his consistency!

Crew is 4 Years Old!

Crew is 4! I can hardly believe it! It seems like just yesterday that I found out I was expecting my first baby, then we found out he was a boy, and he was born. He has been such a blessing in our lives. We love Crew so much! And we are so glad he is part of our family! I hope he continues to grow up to be a healthy and happy kiddo.

Here's a few things about Crew that I want to always remember:
-Crew is a cowboy through and through. We always say we don't actually want him to be a bull rider when he grows up. But I'm not sure we'll be able to stop him. We get really big smiles from people at the grocery store and everywhere else because he rarely goes out these days without his hat, cowboy shirt, bandana, boots, and spurs. I love that he's so passionate about it though! And if it helps him learn to work hard like his Daddy, I'm ok with the cowboy thing. When Rett gets home from work, Crew and Drake love to ride him like a bull and get bucked off.
-Crew loves his family. He loves his Dad, Mom, and Drake so much! He gives great hugs and kisses. He loves his Grandparents, his Aunts and Uncles, and his Cousins! He always asks to call and talk with family on the phone. And he LOVES company at the house! When family comes to visit, he gets so excited, and can hardly contain himself.
-Crew is learning so much so fast. He's almost done with his first year of preschool and has done so well. He is a natural leader in his class. All the other boys want to do what Crew's doing. Two of the other cowboys in his class always want everything he has. Their parents have told me they've had to go buy work gloves, spurs, chaps, and all kinds of cowboy gear because their boys want to be just like Crew. And he loves play dates!
-Crew was due on tax day. But I was happy when he came a little earlier!
-Crew loves to play with Drake. Together they imagine some of the cutest and silliest things. He loves puzzles and games. And I hope Crew and Drake continue to be best buds all through their lives!



While living at Bampa Kip's this summer, Crew found his new hero - Matthew Quigley! He LOVES this show. Half the time he won't even respond to me unless I call him Quigley! Bampa only had a VHS and we don't even have a VCR player, so he's been super sad that he hasn't been able to watch it. I've been looking for this movie for months and couldn't find it in any stores. I looked everywhere I went, and other family members were looking too! So, thanks to Amazon, Crew got his current favorite movie for his birthday! And he was SO excited when he opened it!


Crew couldn't decide what kind of cake he wanted this year. He really wanted to do superheros and cowboys. Then we decided on superheros for at home, and cowboys for school. Then he couldn't even decide on which superhero. So, I decided to give them his three favorite and do cupcakes instead.




And here are the cowboy and horse cupcakes we made for him to take to school the day after his birthday to share with his classmates and celebrate his birthday with them. They were kind of difficult to make. And started to fall apart. But I still think they were super cute! Thanks everyone for helping me look for the disgusting circus marshmallow peanut things to use for the heads. We have lots leftover, and would love to share if anyone likes them! The cowboys were way easier than the horses, and lasted looking better longer too. But Crew loved them. And thanks to Grandma for watching boys and helping me when I needed it. Also, the other Grandma who sent me mini m&m's for eyes! While I was making them, I got one finished and he walked over and said, "Mom, the horses are looking good". It was so cute. I'm glad he liked them so much.


This was Crew's birthday last year! Cowboy all the way!


And here's number 2! He got a cake in Oregon that year because we were there for Tierra's surprise 18th b-day and hers is the day before Crew's. Then when we got home we made him a tractor cake. He was so into tractors back then.



For his 1st birthday, we took a little trip to Mesquite, so we didn't even do a cake. Looking back, I feel really bad about that. But we went out for Mexican and got him a fried ice cream, and then they gave him the sucker!


This was his 6 months cake. I saw a cute idea to make a "half birthday cake". It was really cute. I just felt terrible that while we were trying to take pictures, he ended up throwing up on it and no one who came over got cake! But I love the story, it makes me laugh!



I had to put this on to remind me of the big belly Crew gave me! It is scary for me to look at and even think about getting pregnant again, but there you have it! It was worth all the pain and weight to get the sweet little cowboy!


I know, this is the longest post, but I love being reminded of the little guy!





Thanks family for all the gifts. He loves all of them! He was spoiled rotten! And thanks for the phone calls! He loved getting them and it helped make his special day even more special! We love you all!

Undies, Dirt, & Presents

Beside the obvious underwear on the head, Drake cracks me up. Look at his outfit. He's a cross between three different super heros. And he totally knows it. He has on superman pants, spiderman long sleeve shirt, and batman t-shirt. Then the kid decided to top it all off with Diego undies! I love it, he danced around for a good while like this! So silly! Something else silly about this boy and undies is that he really doesn't like to wear them. I have undies on him, and a while later I notice he doesn't have undies on anymore. With jeans too. I think it seems uncomfortable, but he always ends up taking them off.
Commando boy!

Here's the silly undies boy!


Thursday we had the best day weather wise all year. It was great! Nice and warm. Ok, some of you will make fun of my weather, but in the fifties is feeling pretty warm right now! We had a friend over after pre-school and the three boys spent ALL day playing outside. We have dirt. Lot's of dirt. And they played in it A LOT! There are still a couple of dirt piles for leveling the yard, and they rolled down them, jumped on them, climbed up them, rode stick horses on them, played cowboys on them, and who knows what else. I gave the boys a bath, let the water out, and forgot about it. This is what I saw when I went back in the bathroom. YUCK! That was what was left after the water washed who knows how much dirt down the drain! I called the mom of the boy who was over and apologized because she hadn't picked him up, but I'm sure she was wondering if I let them swim in dirt today. I'm sure she didn't mind, but just wanted to let her know what a good time they had in the dirt. Then Friday we walked to the park with some neighbor kids and we got sunburned! Saturday it snowed again. Crazy weather! It is really cold today. And the rest of the week looks like rain and snow showers. You've got to love the spring time teas of nice weather for a day or two, then back to cold.


This is one of our huge dirt piles. It's been so great, we don't know what they'll do after we get it all leveled out this summer!


And here's the nasty tub!


And we had to do another quick lonely night. Rett was asked to be a safety person for work and had to go to a couple of days of training in Idaho Falls. At first we thought we'd go with him if his hotel was nice and had a pool, but he left one morning and was coming back the next afternoon, so we decided it'd be more hassle than worth the trip. When we were saying goodbye to Rett and giving him hugs and kisses Drake asked if he would get presents this time too! Silly boy! He's going to start thinking that every time Dad comes home he gets presents! We told him no presents this time. He wasn't too disappointed when he didn't get them :)

Texas Loot

They boys were super excited for Rett to get home. Not just because he told them on the phone that he had presents for them. They really did miss him. But they were extremely excited about presents. I had a talk with them about how we don't ask people for presents, that it's not polite. But of course, the minute Rett walks in, Drake said "I want presents"! Silly boys. Let's hope we get enough practice on Dad instead of on other people. Maybe by then they will understand it's not polite. And Drake was super excited when Rett walked in. He had the biggest smile on his face and was so happy! These are the long awaited presents! Texas shirts. And what better shirts for our boys? Of course they are wearing them today! They love cowboy stuff, so these work great! And Crew's is super cute. It says "Lone Star Texas Rugged Wear Tough Clothes for Tough Boys". I love it! This isn't the best picture. They are such cheese balls. And they don't really know how to smile cute without being over the top. They are cute though!

Rett's Texas Update

Cajun Riviera Louisiana Field Trial
Zink entered his first field trial last weekend in Louisiana. He did awesome and took 3rd place! Here he is with his ribbon. That means he has two points! We were so excited! YAY! I'm not as competent in this stuff as Rett is, so he may hate this post because it's not as good as if I'd had him write it, but I'm giving it a try. I'll repost if he hates it too much! Anyway, the field trials are a little different than the hunt tests we did with Bell and Chief. The hunt tests are just a pass or fail. The field trials are a competition against the other dogs. At any rate, he seems to be doing really well.


Rett took a trip to Texas and promised pictures to some of you. These are pictures of the training grounds and set up. Zink is with Kenny Trott and Marcy Wright now, who are actually out of Colorado, but take a training trip during the winter down to Texas. Marcy is the one we bought Zink from as a pup, and she owns his mom. We had Mark Henry do all of Zinks early training and he did a great job. Rett has learned so much about training through the last five years or so. He did a lot with Zink before he went to Mark's too. And I'm sure he's in good hands with Horsetooth Kennels now. He's turning into a pretty sweet dog.







This is Danny Farmer's place. He's a pro and has trained some amazing dogs. Rett just informed me that he's trained more field champions than anyone. I don't know that much about him, except that Rett has a dog training DVD that's by Danny. And if he's got a sign that says he's responsible for the training of these dogs that have been National Field Champions, he's got some major bragging rights.


Well, everyone says everything is always bigger in Texas. And football seems to be one of those things. These pictures make me laugh. Mostly because of the area in which we now live, and the area I grew up in, who couldn't even call their football fields real football stadiums. But, here you go.
This one's a high school football stadium.

And this one's a junior high school football stadium. WOW!


Texas is warm. That's the main part I was jealous of with Rett going on the trip himself! I want summer to be here! Anyway, Rett had this trip planned for a long time and I did tell him I was jealous of it. I didn't go mostly because of the expense of it and the boys. I'm happy to support Rett in something that makes him so happy though. It's amazing to me the passion he has for the dogs and training them. He calls me a dog hater sometimes. But I'm really not. I do love Chief as my running partner. He let's me set the pace, doesn't talk about things I don't want to hear, and is happy no matter how my run is going, even if I start to walk because I'm a whimp! But in all seriousness, I'm really not a dog hater. I just like a super clean house, and sometimes when the dogs come in they leave hair and paw prints. I've gotten really good at cleaning it up though. And I don't hate them, I just don't love them as much as Rett does. But back to my original point, I'm happy to have the dogs around, and even in the house. Because I want Rett to be happy and enjoy himself. He works so hard for our family, and so that I can be home with the boys. And, like I'm always saying, if it's the worst thing Rett does that I have to put up with, I consider myself pretty lucky! I may moan about the messes, having to feed them in the bitter cold, the expense of it all, and Rett being gone because of it, but deep down, I do love it, because Rett loves it and it makes him happy. And that makes me happy!

Grandma Fishy and Worms

It's fitting, don't you think, that the grandma the kids call "Fishy Grandma" helped my boys dig up worms? After everyone left but my mom, she took the boys on a little walk over to the neighbors to see the cows. We actually sent them on another mission too. Crew had the W Bucket for school the next day and we filled it full of lot's of things from around the house that started with W, but they wanted worms for the bucket too. It had been raining so we were sure they could find some, but our house has zero vegetation around it, and so back by the neighbors cows they also have some raised garden beds. The cute neighbors sent out plastic spoons and cups for them to use to help dig. They had a blast. Mom even convinced Crew to kiss the worms. Gross! Drake wouldn't really touch them. He would get really close and then yank his hand back and make silly noises. But they were a hit at pre-school the next day! I was so glad they got to spend a little time with grandma. They don't see her too often and she's a pretty fun grandma. (Who am I kidding, all their grandma's are super fun grandma's!) They loved digging up the worms and the cups of worms are still sitting on our counter. I wonder if they are even still alive? Anyway, Thanks mom for helping the boys have a fun little experience with the worms!

Grandma Simon

Last week was a difficult one. My Grandma Simon passed away on March 11. She was my father's mom. She was an amazing woman. She traveled a lot when we were small. She served a mission. She was a temple worker at the Seattle and Portland temples. She was a secretary for Governor Ronald Reagan in California. She has been through many trials in her life. I think she was ready to go and wanted to be with some of the people who went before her.

I am so grateful to a woman who raised her children so that they would have the strength and testimony to be strong in the gospel. She led a life of service and love. She loved the gospel. She was a beautiful woman inside and out. We will miss her.

Here is a link to one of the obituaries: http://www.newportnewstimes.com/V2_news_articles.php?heading=0&page=74&story_id=27188

This picture is from Easter at my mom's house in 2009. I'm sure some of my family wouldn't like this picture, but I love that she's smiling!


This picture was taken in August of 2007. It's baby Crew and his Great Grandma!


I love this picture because it is my Grandma and my cousin Cherie. My cousin also recently passed away. I know they are together. It was taken at the brunch after our wedding in 2002.


I don't know the date of this picture, but what a beautiful woman she was!


We decided to leave our kids home since it was going to be such a long, fast drive. My boys were so excited to stay home with Bampa Kip and Bamma Deb. I think they were spoiled rotten! Thanks Bamma and Bampa for helping us with last weekend. The boys had a ton of fun and it made our trip tons easier. We made the long drive from here to Newport, Oregon for Grandma's funeral. My oldest sister Tiffiny and her husband Brian, my brother Josh, my sister Jolene, and Rett and I drove the minivan. It was a nice funeral where we were reminded of what a wonderful person she is. We left on Friday morning early, early and then left Saturday after the service. We brought home my baby sister Tierra with us. We got home Sunday morning at 7am after driving all night. Rett's a trooper and did most of the driving on the way home. I was glad we were home Sunday because it was our ward conference and I was uplifted by attending it. The group of us who traveled together stayed at my home and Tiff and Bri's kids got a ride up. It was a wild house for a day and a half, but we loved having them here. Sunday evening the boys went to Pocatello to pick up my mom from the airport. It was a lot of traveling, but was so nice to be with family.

Monday morning we had a graveside service for my grandma here in Preston. It was a really neat service. It was a little chilly outside, so after we dedicated the grave we headed over to my stake center for the rest of the service. My favorite thing was that we had each person there tell a little about who they were, how they were related to Grandma or how they knew her, and some shared stories. It was like a little family history lesson. It was so neat. My grandma was born here. She moved back here and had my dad here. She had a little boy who died of luekemia when he was two and he was laid to rest in the Preston cemetery. It's so interesting to me that Rett and I have relocated back to this area. How neat to live in an area where my dad and grandma spent a lot of their childhood. I want to learn more about exact locations of where they lived and other things. My ward was so sweet to take care of a luncheon after for us. They hardly know me, and didn't know my grandma, but they jumped at the mention of needing help. I am so grateful for their efforts. I just got my mom back to Pocatello this morning to fly home. Luckily, I have a wonderful neighbor who took Crew this morning so he could get to preschool today. I got back just in time to pick him up!

I am so grateful for family who I am blessed to know and be a part of. I am so grateful for ward members who give so freely to help others. I am so grateful for parents and grandparents who taught me of the gospel. I am so grateful for my siblings. I cannot express how grateful I am for Rett and my boys. I am so blessed!