Mutton Bustin'

Jake, Emma, Warren and Mark meeting the sheep before the rodeo started.

We have been trying to convince Warren to mutton bust for a while now, all while trying to find a venue that would work well for him. He is a solid boy and we were afraid by the time he was old enough to ride that he wouldn't meet the requirements anymore. Lucky for us our local rodeo allows kids to ride between the ages of 5-8 and weigh up to 80 pounds. We found a rodeo that would work. I showed Warren a video of someone mutton bustin' and asked if he wanted to do it, he agreed so we hurried and signed him up then let all our family know he would be riding August 11th. We were so excited and decided that we did not want Warren to practice because we were afraid that he would fall off and get hurt or scared and not want to ride in the actual rodeo. We kept talking it up leading up to the event and I even offered to buy him a toy, the day before when he told me he wasn't going to ride, if he would ride. This turned out to be unnecessary because he did great and did not appear scared at all. We spent the day with family and they were talking it up to him the entire day. Warren was talking with Mike and asking if he had ever rode a sheep and Mike told him no and just talked to him about what an awesome experience and chance that Warren had and how he wished that he had been able to mutton bust when he was a kid. It was so great for Warren to hear encouragement  from someone else. Then at the rodeo my dad was talking to him and telling him about how he rode bulls and how he was so excited for Warren to ride. It was great. I was so proud of him. We found our seats and had a great time hanging out with family during the rodeo and before Warren rode. The mutton bustin' event was not until almost the end of the rodeo, there were four events before it and two after. Only one parent was allowed back with the kids so Zack took him over and told me he did great. Then they lined up the kids and took them inside the arena and then they looked around saw their parents weren't there and just kept standing in line because that's what they were told to do. Zack watched from the side lines as two guys held the sheep and someone else put the kids on. Warren's sheep was jumping around even before they got Warren on but they set him on and he rode for a few seconds. Zack and I were so proud of him for getting on, and to have him ride even if it was a quick ride was awesome. He scored 62 or 69 points I can't remember and got stepped on by the sheep right on his back. The person in the arena asked if he was okay, and the announcer said oh he got stepped on his back, you okay buddy, Warren shook his head and the announcer relayed that Warren was okay. Zack said he was holding hid back as he walked out but he never got a bruise and was okay. Zack took some pictures of Warren with his trophy and then they made their way back to us in the stands. I told Warren how proud of was of him and we all cheered him on and he showed us his trophy and he said, I didn't get the big trophy. The child who did hung on all the way across the arena and had to be taken off the sheep. It was such  a good night and we were so grateful for all the family that came  and those who we knew were supporting us but couldn't make it was awesome. Warren had all of his grandparents there, Krystal and Lance, Jessica and her five kids, Amy and Mike and their four kid, Mark, Robert and Ashley and a lady I work with and her family. I also found out later that another lady I work with happened to be there with her family and they were waiting to get a picture of him in case he made it all the way to the end of the arena. It was such a great night and we are so proud of Warren for doing something that made him nervous. We also loved all the support from our family that came far and wide to see and support Warren. There was so doubt he knew it was his day and that he was loved.

These three kiddos make such great friends

Our little cowboy

Zack, Emma, Warren, and Mark with the sheep

Some of our supporters that night, there were a few others I couldn't get in the shot.

I love this family of mine.

These two are such great friends

Warren and Grandpa Lore

Warren and Grandpa and Grandma Ludlow, along with Mark, Ashley and Robert as photo-bombers

Father and Son

May

May was a very ordinary and wonderful month. We were busy with end of year activities and just being together as a family. We celebrated Mother's Day and it was nice to not to be running a million different directions. I think we were home almost every weekend and just spent time together. We played outside, played with friends, Warren dressed up as a cowboy everywhere he went for about four or five days, and he graduated preschool. I cannot believe he will be going to kindergarten  in August. Time has gone so quickly.

Sunday selfies

Happy Sabbath

His chaps that he wore all over town. He got all sorts of compliments on them. Zack made these for  Warren two Christmases ago. Warren would play with them but now he loves them and wears them everywhere, school, out to eat the park, even to ride his bike. 

Preschool graduation. We loved his teachers and loved his preschool experience. They were amazing ladies and we are so grateful for all that he learned and how they helped him grow.

We also spent Memorial  Day weekend, well that Friday night, camping with my mom, Kyle and some of Kyle's extended family in Idaho. We slept in the back of the car, and went to open the back doors to let some air in and realized the child locks were on. It was crazy and we learned that with all three of us we do not fit comfortably in the back anymore.

We also got to have a silly string war with some friends and I learned that the Lord guides us and directs us to be in certain places at certain times. I went to my friend's house and ended up being there for her when a scary and uncertain event took place. Neither of us could have imagined or known this would have happened but because I was there she was not alone and had someone to help with her kids and be a comfort to her. We are instruments in the Lord's hands to help others and be angels here on Earth.

That's a BIG OLE' TRACTOR

One of the perks to being a teacher and having Warren so close to the school is that I can bring him back for some fun events we offer very quickly. I am good friends with the kindergarten teachers at my school and they let me know that our other colleague and friend's husband was bringing his big tractor to the school parking lot to let the kindergarten kids look at and climb all over. They said hey bring Warren over so I ran and grabbed him and brought him back. It took him a while to warm up to the idea but when all the other kids lined up to get a picture he decided it was okay to climb inside the tractor not just outside and all around it. The tractor was really cool and could be programed to drive itself in the field, and several computer monitors to help and all sorts of gadgets. Definitely not your grandpa's tractor.

March 2016

I am going to try and remember the fun things we did in March of this year. Luckily I have some pictures to help me but I obviously will not remember everything three to four months out.

The beginning of March I hosted a evening, well it was an all day event, to make freezer meals. I think we cooked for 7 or 8 hours and ended up with a ton of food.  I can't remember the specifics but it was a lot, and I wrote how much we made on Facebook. My stepmom and stepsister came and we cooked and chatted and the kids played with my dad and their dads, then they disappeared to pick up a truck and look at another one, I don't know exactly but I do know that by the end of the day my house smelled super yummy... oh those meatballs, and I was exhausted.

Most of the loot, some bags were already put away because we had over 90 burritos and a few other things.

In March my grandma also hosted her annual Easter Egg Hunt. These hunts are not for the faint of heart or for who you might think they are for. She still puts on an Easter Egg hunt for her grandkids so me and my siblings. My mom does the Easter Egg hunt for her grandkids. This year was more laid back but we still had to complete a word search before the hunt could begin and the winner got prizes. We then went out to find the eggs that Warren and his cousins hid for us. They would take the eggs back out of our baskets to hid them again. I think we found the same 30 eggs (big difference from most years with 120 plus eggs) about 3 or 4 times, but they had a great time.

Squishy finding an egg.

Yes that is a plastic bag, he had been painting with his cousins earlier and I didn't want him to get paint on his clothes. 

The adult Easter egg hunt!

Jessie can be ruthless!

Later that month Warren had had his first friend from school come over to play. I thought it would  be fun to have STEM activities planned for them, (that's the teacher in me, I had just completed a STEM course) but they just wanted to play, so we played with what I brought however they wanted, then played  with the trains.

Instead of building a tower, Warren just wanted to put the as many marshmallows on a piece of spaghetti as he could.

Mom was trying  to help guide and direct him to build some sort of tower to hold Oreo's.

But that didn't happen, so I built my own.

Tada!

Coloring Easter Eggs with Koolaid, it really worked.

 Warren with some of his projects that he worked on at school. He had an amazing preschool teacher and teacher's aide. We loved his preschool experience and so did he.

A bean plant and grass he grew at school. The grass got so long he cut it with scissors a couple times before it was time to get rid of it.

His bean plant he grew from a seed in a  2 liter bottle with water in it and the seed placed in the wet paper towel.

The last week in March was my Spring Break so Warren and I got to hang out all day. One day we made play dough and had some fun with it and cookie cutters. This picture was for me to send to Daddy and all the hearts were because we love him.

Warren's big ball of play dough.

It also snowed during Spring Break, actually several times. We didn't see much sunshine until midweek.