Dreams Come True!

Last night at the Preston Rodeo Crew got to ride a sheep. I always said I would never be a parent who waited in crazy long lines for my kids, but I got up a few weeks ago at 5:30 am to go wait in line for the mutton busting registration! I am so glad I did! Dreams came true last night! Seriously. Crew said it was the best day of his life! And I don't think he was kidding!

The night before, he started asking, "Is it bed time yet?" He couldn't wait till his rodeo day came! So, when it finally did, he was up and dressed in cowboy get up at 7am. Unfortunately, we still had to get through our last session of swim lessons, I had a line of sprinklers I was going to get done, we had a lot of yard stuff to do, and the rodeo didn't start till 8:30pm. So it was a long day of questions about what time we could leave.

We finally got there and Crew could hardly stand it. He was so excited and had this crazy high. It was so stinking cute. They called the mutton busters over to the chutes and I brought both my video camera and a still camera and had already asked someone sitting by me if they'd shoot one of them for me. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten a memory card from my little video camera, so I shot video with my nice camera and didn't get any still shots. I'm so glad I got it on camera though. When they left, poor Drake was so sad. He kept saying "I want to ride a sheep with Kangaroo". And when I'd respond that he was too little, he would say "NO, mom, I'll be tough". HOW CUTE IS THAT? At this rodeo there is actually no age minimum, so we could have signed him up, but sometimes he gets really scared, so we decided we would wait at least another year. He was super sad about it. But loved watching his big brother ride his sheep!

Rett said he was probably more nervous than Crew behind the chutes. Crew was excited and had no fear or reservations at all. He asked Rett if he could say "Let's go boys" like Lane Frost did when he bucked out! He did lose his boots in the chute before he even left though. He had a ton of fun and was so excited! He won a bandana and a little belt buckle that had a sheep rider on it. He's so proud of it!




I had to post this picture. I think it is so cute. Rett really makes a great cowboy! I'm a little biased, but I think he's super handsome and hot! And it reminded me a little of how he was rodeoing when we met and gave me a little butterfly about how much I love him and how grateful I am to have such a wonderful husband who lets his kid do things because they wants to, even though Rett doesn't want him to!


Another great part of the night for Crew was that one of Rett's high school buddies, John Lewis, was a pick up man at the rodeo. Behind the chutes, Crew told Rett he wanted to shake a real cowboys hand. So he shook Johns. Then John gave him a little horse ride. And later, John came over to where we were sitting and told the boys if they didn't fight over it, they could have one of his ropes. Crew was so excited. He didn't let go of the rope all night. When I put him in bed, he didn't want to because I'd left his rope in the living room! Thanks Uncle John for being such a great friend and helping make our little guys night complete!

I honestly think that Crew felt like his life was going just the way he wanted it to last night. He was so excited that we got in the car, buckled up, and he was out cold from all the adrenaline of the day. One second Rett asked him if he blacked out when he bucked out of the chute like Rett used to, and the next second, he was out! Rett and I have talked a lot about the boys rodeoing. He says that back in the day, he would have loved having a little cowboy. But now that we're a little older, we are almost hoping he grows out of the cowboy stuff. It is so scary, expensive, and demanding. I don't know what will end up happening. I do know though, that it seems that the cowboy in Crew is totally bred into him, and I doubt if it will ever change. He is definitely more cowboy than Drake. Drake only wants to dress cowboy and do stuff at the rodeos and because Crew is. But Crew thinks about it non stop. Unless he's with his cousins, and then it's maybe only half the time. The honest truth is, we will let him do whatever he wants to do and support him in whatever it is he chooses to do. I can't imagine how poor Teresa felt having a kid ride a bull growing up. It makes me so nervous to even imagine it! But again, his dreams are all that matter! And I am so glad I was part of such a sweet night and seeing how truly happy and excited our little Crewser was!

Swim Lessons

We had the boys in Swim Lessons for a couple of weeks. Crew was excited because his buddy from preschool, Trayce was in his class. It was Preschool Level 1, so it was pretty basic. But they did great. Crew was a great student. Drake wanted to play in the water more than anything. But they both passed and learned a lot! And more importantly, had a TON of fun! They can't wait till next year to do it again.

Weekend in Lehi

Last weekend Tiffiny blessed her baby Michael. Rett had to stay home to be on the trouble truck, so the boys and I went down without him. Friday we were able to go out to Cedar Fort and visit with Grandpa and Grandma Cook. Then we got to go to a really fun concert with Teresa. The boys have never been to any kind of concert before, so it was fun to see them dance and stuff. It started a little late, and they got sleepy pretty quickly. But I am so glad we got to see Grandma Teresa and Grandpa and Grandma Cook even though it wasn't for very long.

We went to this random event in Lehi called Foam Days. Strange. The fire trucks shot foam all over in this park. My boys didn't really think it was that amazing. It kind of smelled funny and didn't feel good in your eyes. Besides the fact that there were so many people that it was a little overwhelming. But I guess we chock that up for a new experience we've never done before! This is Jarom Jones trying to decide if he should give a thumbs up or down and Crew a little foamy in the background.


We were missing my brother Jedediah and his family, so a couple of the cousins aren't here. But those that were there had a blast! We had Mahonri Jones, Drake Sage, Jarom Jones, Magdalena Frederickson, Crew Sage, Michael Frederickson, Samuel and Gabriel Frederickson, Emilynn Jones. The other two missing are boys as well! Girls are a little outnumbered in this cousin group!

We did have all the sisters in our family there again, which is great fun. We're a little crazy and all have that huge Wheeler smile. I'm so glad I got to spend some time with each of my sisters. They are all amazing! Jennifer Sage, Tiffiny Frederickson, Tierra Gallego, Janae Jones, Jolene Wheeler.

And Crew was the instigator of this huge water fight that started right as we were going to come home. It put us way behind our original plan to leave, but he had a blast, so it was ok. Here are Crew and Drake and Uncle Josh Jones. It started out with little squirt guns, but turned into cups and buckets and hoses.

I am so glad we were able to spend some time with grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins that Crew and Drake rarely get to see. I am glad we were able to see family that we do get to see more often. Family is so important to me and I am so grateful to have so many good family members in my children's lives. I feel blessed to know that they have great influences who would stop anything to help them with a problem, and who support them in their endeavors.

Grandpa Stark Wins!

On Friday, the 23rd I ran a 5k with my Grandpa Stark. He's my mother's Dad. It was the Pioneer Day Classic by run 13 in Provo. Also running were my sister Janae, her husband Josh, my brother Josh, and my brother in law Brian. It was a blast. I ran right along with my Grandpa. Who out there can say they ran a race with their Grandpa? I was so excited about it. And he did so well that he won his age division! YAY for Grandpa. We ran it in 28 minutes, which is around a 9:05 pace. For a 70 year old, you have to give some props for that!!! There were some fun parts of the race that I can't forget to tell. My brother Josh, who's in a wheel chair, is and has always been a little crazy. That's what made growing up so fun. In fact, my Grandma was just telling me a story about how she used to watch us while my mom and dad went to girls camp, and she was always so scared of us getting hurt. That was just life with a brother like Josh. So, in the race, when he was being a little silly and weaving all around on the road and tipped his chair over face forward on the asphalt, we all laughed while other runners gasped in surprise. They probably think we're super mean, but he knows how much we love him. I had to go help him back up, and he finished the race just fine. My sister Janae and her husband have just started running again recently. It was cute because Janae and I started off with Grandpa, and the others stayed back a bit. Janae jokingly said her only goal was to beat her husband. Well, I hadn't seen him the whole race, and all of the sudden right at the finish line, he came flying up by us and smacked her on her butt and they both starting sprinting as fast as they could. I think he beat her by half a step. It was really cute. We told Janae though that she won, because she looped back to run with him for a few minutes, and then caught back up to Grandpa and I. What a fun race though. I'm so glad we were able to do it and that we all had so much fun.

Yard Work

We've been working our tails off on our yard. It's coming...Slowly! I will tell you this much, we did not know how lucky we were to have the yard we did in our Saratoga Home. When we bought it the landscaping was completely done. And it was nice. But we will appreciate the sound of the sprinklers here a little more. Because we are working super hard to get them in ourselves! We rented a trencher and got the trenching done Saturday. And that was probably the easy part. Now we're working on the sprinkler pipe, valve boxes, and all that fun stuff.

We got some cool giant rocks hauled in and have some plans for where they will end up eventually.

I was super excited to see things start blooming in my garden. I have one squash plant with a blossoms, tomatoes, and peppers. It makes me happy inside to see something happening in the garden! YAY!



We're excited for one day when it's more maintenance and not so much install. But for now, we're getting some good calorie burn in! At least that's the positive we'll try to find :)

Wellington, Colorado

Last weekend we headed over to Wellington, Colorado for a Field Trial. This is the same town our trainer Kenny Trott is from. Actually, some of the trial was on his grounds. It was fun to get to meet some of the people that Rett met and spent time with while training with Kenny and Marcy in Texas over the winter. That's probably one of my favorite parts about the trials is meeting so many new people with different backgrounds. It is a lot of fun. And for the most part, people are patient and great to the boys. We drove there and back different nights, which was great for the boys, and a little harder on us. But it worked out ok.

Terrible story about our hotel....we can laugh now...We (Rett would tell you it was really me and not him because he would have checked reviews) booked a hotel online and when we checked in it was pretty awful. Seriously. The worst place I've ever seen. Apparently there was a lot going on that weekend in Fort Collins; the Greeley Stampede, a huge softball tournament, the field trial, and it was also the 4th of July weeekend. So back to the hotel - there were people outside and on balconies that were incredibly scary to me. The room was supposed to be non smoking, but had very obviously been recently smoked in. On one wall there was something disgusting smeared all over. There was an air vent on the ceiling that was black and super dirty. The beds were dirty and had cigarette holes in them. The floor was awful and gross. I couldn't even believe it. I felt like I was being punked or something! And the pictures on the website must have been 30 years old! After complaining, we were told we were accidentally checked into the long term stay rooms, sincerely apologized to, and moved to another room. It was a lot better. But Rett laid down to take a nap and when he woke up he had a few red spots on his chest and back! GROSS! He complained again to the hotel management. And after calling every hotel in town, we finally found a room with a king bed that wasn't too expensive. So around 9pm we checked out of the first hotel with a full refund and into a much cleaner hotel down the road. Luckily the new hotel also had a pool for the boys. We learned that we should probably always try to stay with chains that are known. And as Rett would tell you, we learned that we should always check reviews. Because the reviews of this place were TERRIBLE and SCARY!

The trials went well. It was a double header, and Zink didn't make it through the first one. He had a no go (Rett called his name to go to the memory bird, which is the second bird shot, and Zink didn't go). He took off the second time called, but then popped (Turned to look at Rett for directions on where he should be going). For the derbies, they only do marks, which is when the dog sees the bird fall. Later, they will do blinds, which is when the dog does not see the bird planted, and he has to take directions from the handler, but when it's a mark, he should be able to remember where the bird is. Obviously he didn't see it. Rett said he was looking around instead of watching, and that's why he didn't go right off to the second bird. As soon as I saw that, I knew he'd end up popping.

The next day, he did great and ended up taking 3rd place. He now has 21 derby points. Which is great! He has started a few weird things, and we have a ton of yard work to get done, so we ended up leaving Zink with Kenny and Marcy for a month, where they'll be able to get one more trial in before we would, and we'll pick him up before the next ones we had scheduled.

The boys had a blast. The driving was the best that could be expected. And the weather was great; Hot, but great. After the hotel change, it became a great trip.

This is Rett and Zink in the fourth series of the second trial. Zink just brought back the go bird, and is getting ready to hand it off to Rett.

Here he is taking off for the memory bird.

Marcy loaned us "Lochie" for the day. The boys LOVED puppy-sitting this cute little girl! And did a pretty good job of it! Every time the poor little thing tried to fall asleep, they woke her up. I'm sure she slept GREAT that night! And it was great entertainment for the boys. Sometimes these trials are so long and hard for them. They go from 8am until whatever time they finish, between 4pm - 8pm. So it was great both ways.


And the boys with the prize loot. They were so dirty and we were leaving to drive home right after it finished, so I'd washed them down with wipes and jammies were already on while we were waiting for the results. This picture was from Rett's phone, so it's not the best, and they were looking into the sun and hating it, but they were sure excited to get a prize!

Recent Projects

We have been working around the house in all our spare time recently. Most nights we've been outside till 9:00 or 9:30. I know, I'm screwing with my kids routine, but they honestly haven't had a routine since we left Saratoga Springs April of 2010, so I figure another summer of crazy schedules won't kill them! Our yard is finally pretty level, thanks to a neighbor with a land planer and willingness to help. Next step for the yard is sprinklers, but with it so hot, we figure we probably won't get planted till fall anyway, so that's kind of been put on hold for a few other projects.


In primary a while back we learned about faith and how it's like a seed. We planted seeds and all the kids took them home. I didn't hear a report from anyone else, but ours did great! I think it's barley. I wasn't sure what to do with a little cup of barley, so I threw them out the other day, but here's Crew with his growing like crazy!



And a couple of weeks ago it finally stopped raining enough for me to get my garden in. Luckily I didn't get it in too much earlier. A bunch of my neighbors lost theirs from frost. Sad. And the weekend I put mine in it did freeze, but my seeds were safe underground and I had walls of waters on my tomato and pepper plants. I'm not a pro at all. In fact this is the first garden I've ever done myself. It's not square at all, and my rows are really crooked, but I was lucky to get it done at all. We have pretty clay soil and I am sure it could have used a lot more soil prep, but couldn't get dump loads of compost or anything with all our rain and mud, so I got a couple of tractor scoops of manure from a neighbor and added a little sand, and we're hoping for the best. I'm pretty excited and hope it grows lots of tomatoes, peppers, and onions so we can have fresh salsa. Apparently we're a little behind up here. My Grandma and Grandpa in California just told me they've been eating on theirs for a while now, and she just planted her second group of corn. Warm weather has its perks, that's for sure! We planted tomatoes, peppers, onions, cucumbers, lot's of squash, beans, and peas. At fall time I'm hoping to get a lot of soil improvements and the we'll expand next year and try some more stuff.




Rett has been working his tail off on this little project. He added this lean-to onto the shop for the dogs so they could get some shade during the summer and cover from the snow during the winter. He's not quite finished with all the trim work, and then he's planning to build dog doors and houses inside the shop for them to have even more protection. That is all coming in the future. But he's done a great job so far. My older neighbor told me on Sunday that she needed to borrow Rett for a few days to get some of her stuff done. She couldn't believe how fast he had it up and how he worked on it sun up to sun down for a few days. I loved the compliment she gave Rett of his hard work. It's something I am very aware of, especially since you can't have a spouse who works their tail off and expect to be lazy. I don't think I've ever been lazy, but some days I'm ready for a break or to be done for the day, and he pushes us right along. Anyway, I love that he's such a hard worker and so great at finishing projects and taking care of the place.


There are many more projects in the works and soon to come. For now though, we're staying plenty busy with what we've got going on. I love to see the progress on the place. Next summer I'm hoping for a lot of maintenance work and lawn mowing!

9 Years!

Yesterday Rett and I celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary! Crazy! Sometimes it seems like we've been together forever, and sometimes it seems like it was just yesterday. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for watching boys so we were able to get a night out.


This is from some pictures that were the first we had ever taken together! It was right before I left to go back to Logan for school at the end of the summer that we met, in front of the duplex Rett was living at.


Wedding photos. Look how cute and happy we are! I love it! It makes me feel giddy inside just seeing this picture!



Our honeymoon in Yellowstone!


A trip to Seattle for my work.



Hunting Together! We sent this photo in to the Outdoors With Doug Miller Show and won a picture of the week! We were on local TV and won a dutch oven cooker thing. It was a pretty cool deal that we were super excited about. We titled it "The Couple That Hunts Together Stays Together".


When Rett and I met we were both living in Lehi. I was living with my big sister to get residency and working in the Lehi Albertson's. Rett was working for the church farm and living with his high school buddies in Lehi. He came into the Albertson's Deli to buy some lunch meat. Lucky me! We talked for a minute and I had to go back through the store so he'd ask for my number. He didn't call. I ran into him a couple of weeks later at the single's ward. He gave me a ride home from church because my little sister and her fiance, that would be Janae and Josh, ditched me and were late coming back to get me. I hated Albertson's Deli. But I am so glad I met my best friend and lover there!

I never want to let a day go by where I don't remind Rett of how much I love him and how much he means to me. He is truly my best friend. I am so grateful for him. He is such a hard worker and the best Dad ever. Last night we were talking about where we'd be in another 9 years and he said Drake would be 11 and Crew 13. It's crazy to think about, but it will come quicker than we think I'm sure. I love Rett so much! Happy Anniversary Babe!

Happy Birthday to Janae!

My little sister Janae was probably my closest sibling growing up because she was just next to me in age, and I had brothers right older than me. I love all my siblings, but Janae and I played high school volleyball together, were involved in FFA leadership together, and did lot's of fun things together. Today is her birthday! And I found some sweet pictures I had to share of her! She's an amazing wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend. I wished we lived closer so we could spend more time together! She's so cool because she is so laid back and doesn't get worked up about little things or things that don't matter. When I am crying about something, she's very calm and collected and always has great perspective and advice. She's a super great mom of two cute little boys and a darling little girl. She's so fun to talk with and hang out with. What a great example she's always been to me. We may have accidentally gotten birth order switched. She's always been a little more mature than I was. She got married before I did. And had kids before I did. And it wasn't weird or rushed. She was just ready before me. And she is one of my hero's!

Here's Janae and I at her baby blessing!


And here we are getting ready for prom or some dance in high school.


And this is really the reason why I posted these! I was looking through my old pictures trying to find a picture of my Dad and I at my baptism for sharing time and I came across a bunch of these pictures. I was a freshman at Utah State and Janae came and spent a week with me. We played a lot and made her a dress for a dance. And apparently thought we were super funny to do our hair and makeup kind of wild! It reminded me though of how much fun it was to have a sister so close in age and reminded me of how much I miss her!


This is of Rett, Janae, and I at her wedding. She's so beautiful. And her husband Josh is super fun. They are so good for each other. And I hope they have the happiest life together, they deserve it!


So Janae, I hope you have the best birthday ever! And I hope you know how much I cherish the memories I have of us growing up together! I think you are an amazing woman! I love you tons!

Weekend in Bellevue

Thursday after Rett got off work we headed up to Bellevue to stay the weekend with Mark and Gail Henry. Mark (South of Bellevue Kennels) did some training work with Chief and did a ton of Zink's early training. They are also great friends and super fun people to be around. They built a little bunk house that has turned out to be super cool and are so generous to let us stay there when we come up. So, Rett got a lot of training in and the boys and I got to do some playing and watching. It was a nice get away and a fun trip.

We had a couple of photo shoots too! This is Zink.


And here's Zink with his sire Shaq.


Here's Mark and Rett trying to get some training in, but as usual, my boys are wanting to be involved.


Crew fell in love with Mark the first time we went to their place and he was pretty small because it was during a tractor obsession stage and Mark took him on the John Deere for a ride. They didn't get tractor rides this weekend, but they got some four wheeler rides and that was probably their favorite part of the weekend.


Again, Mark and Rett. Mark's so great at teaching Rett. He has taught Rett so much!


Here's Rett sending Zink on a mark.