The boy is back in town!

I had to chuckle to myself when I would tell people that Taylor would be home on March 6th and the common reply was "Wow that went fast". Well maybe for them, but not for me. It has been a long four years with Greg out on his mission and Taylor leaving shortly after Greg got home. His flight was arriving at 9:30 am. We were at the airport with a 1/2 hour to spare. We knew he was flying in with another Elder and a Sister. A family had gathered by us and then all of a sudden one of them said we are in the wrong terminal and they all took off. So we checked the flight screen and we also were in the wrong terminal. I had called Delta earlier and they told me this flight was arriving at gate C. The board said the flight was arriving at gate B. We took off to the other terminal and when we got their the board said that their plane had landed. We waited and waited. Finally Taryn saw a sister missionary and no family to greet her so she went over to tell her that her family could be in the next terminal. She then informed us that Taylor and the other missionary were waiting in the Delta terminal. About that time Steve got a call on his phone with Taylor asking where we were.

Taylor said him and Elder Watson were both nervous to see their families and they got down the escalators and neither family was there. By the time we got there he already had his luggage and we were able to take off.

I was talking with Elder Watson's mom before we realized we were in the wrong place and both of us had dreams that our sons just took a cab home. Heather got permission from Braelyn's teacher to let us stop by the school and have Taylor surprise her. She was cute and screamed his name and gave him a big hug. We came home and fixed a big cabin breakfast and found out that Taylor had eaten so much on his mission that he hardly has an appetite anymore. I'm sure after a week it will come back.

Taylor was an awesome missionary and we are so proud of the way he represented us and his Savior. Many lives were changed because of him. I am so grateful that both of my boys were willing to serve. The cliche is true that you send out a boy and get a man in return. Welcome home Taylor.

Happy Anniversary to us.

29 Years ago on February 18th these two baby faced kids took the plunge into matrimony.

Here is to another 29 plus years and even more adventures.

Yoder, Wyoming

After driving across the country for three days with a five-year old, a three-year old and a three week old baby. Stopping at countless gas stations and trying to kill an hour while the baby ate. Sharing a hotel room with all five of us and a baby that got up twice at night and eating on the road. Nothing looked so much like heaven as pulling into my brother's house in Yoder, Wyoming. Luckily I had been to his house a month previous because the GPS took us on a back-dirt road and right by an empty field told us we had arrived at our destination. I did spy his house about a mile up the road.

My nieces Sammy and Karly were great. They took the girls and kept them entertained all afternoon. Cristal took the baby and me and Heather were able to sit on the couch and do nothing. We had a wonderful home cooked meal that night, that Braelyn loved and requested the exact meal for her birthday dinner.

It was a much needed break on a very long road trip.


That afternoon Russell took us out to feed the horses. Berkley was a little gun-shy and only stayed on the horse for a minute, but Braelyn climbed on in front of Sammy and rode for along time.

Families are great and the love and support of my Mom and brothers and sisters during this trip was so appreciated. I look back and still can't believe we did it.
Never thought I would drive 1,700 miles during winter with my daughter and three little girls. Arriving in Cedar Hills safe and sound I knew many prayers had been answered.

The golden trophy

For the past couple of years we have held a game tournament on Christmas Eve. We play 3 different games and the winner gets the beautiful gold trophy to display for the year. Last year I won and the trophy was proudly put in my curio cabinet for everyone to see. This year we played 9-ball. Greg won two of the three games by knocking in the nine-ball with another ball. I still can't believe he made the shoots. Then we went on to play memory. Yes this is a game that you play with pre-schoolers. We laughed so hard playing it because our memories are terrible. Of course Lauren won this game. Me and Steve didn't stand a chance.

Then we played spoons. We used to play this game all the time, but haven't for about 15 years. It took us awhile to remember the rules but then it got mean. Taryn won this game. Taryn, Greg and Lauren had each won a game so to see who took home the trophy they played a game of racko.

Greg ended up winning and I sadly handed over the trophy. But no worries because next year I will dominate.

Bellamy Moon Allred is here.

Bellamy Moon Allred came into this world two weeks early weighing 10 lbs and 2 oz. She was 22 inches long. Heather kept saying she was so big that this baby was going to be big, but when I would see her on skpe I didn't think she looked that big. Heather became allergic to this baby and had been itching for a couple of weeks. Her hip was bugging her and she was pretty miserable. Now we understand why. She went to her check-up and was dilated to a 7. They sent her to the hospital where she sat at a 7 until they broke her water that night. My daughter is a super woman for delivering that big of a baby. I can't imagine what Bellamy would weigh if she had gone full-term.

She has lots of black hair and those cheeks were made to kiss.

She was having trouble breathing so they immediately took her and hooked her up. It was a scary night for Heather and Kevin without alot of sleep. That morning she was breathing better and they got to hold her. She would forget to breath when she was eating and Heather said would turn a dusky color. They think she had swallowed some of the amniotic fluid and had an infection. They put her on antibiotics and she was kept in the NICU

Even in the NICU her sister got to go in and see her.

Braelyn told me that when she would talk to Bellamy, she would open her eyes and try to look at her. I'm sure she is very familiar with her sisters voices. I remember when my Mom had my brothers and sisters and we weren't even allowed to hold them, so it's nice that they got to be that close to her.

I asked Heather if she was about 3 times the size of all the other babies in the NICU and she said yes. I just talked to her and her infection is gone, but she has some blockage problems that they need to figure out. Yesterday she did not have a wet diaper. So she is back on the IV and they won't feed her with a bottle today until they figure out what is wrong. Thank goodness for modern medicine and the power of prayer. It's great to belong to such a big family and know that you can count on their love and prayers. We hope they can figure out this latest development and soon be home with her family. I told Heather that they better get all the holding in because once I'm there that baby is not leaving my arms. Love you Bellamy.

Time to close up.

I remember the first three years of building the cabin and come September we had worked so hard I was ready to close it up and rest for a few months. But now anymore. We both dread the coming of winter and having to say goodbye to our getaway. We made the most of fall and Steve got to play cowboy many times. Here he is with my Mom and two nephews. They brought the cows down. I did my part and drove the truck and trailer.

Steve usually has to go on a four-wheeler run to check out the deer. This first shot he couldn't figure out what was wrong with the camera and it came our pretty neat. This is what he was trying to take.

Finally the weekend of November 19th I made him blow out the water pipes and shut the place down. I will admit I was a pretty sad as we drove away. Steve came up with an excuse to head back out yesterday to install some parts on the electric baseboard heaters we installed. The good news is next time we open it up Taylor will be with us and in the summer we will get to introduce our newest Granddaughter to the cabin.

Best $99.00 I have ever spent.

I never watch infomercials. But the other weekend up at the cabin I was bored and flipping through the guide when I saw a show called never rake again. Each Fall raking our scrub oak is the worst job every and I do not look forward to it. So I clicked on the show and they were advertising the worx tri-vac. It's a blower, vacuum and mulcher. You do not have to change parts and you switch from a blower to a vacuum by pushing down a lever. It will also mulch down 10 garbage bags of leaves to one. I wrote down the name and thought I would call when we got home.

Looking at my leaves Monday morning, I looked it up on the website. It had a 4 1/2 star rating out of 5 so I decided I would give it a try. I ordered it on Monday and I had it by Thursday. The best part is the shipping and handling were free. Friday morning I got up to try my new toy.
This is what the scrub oak looked like before I started.

This is what it looked like 2 hours later. I spread some mulch on my garden and the rest filled a garbage bag and a half. Compare that to last year when we filled the back of the truck and our trailer with leaves It also would take me about 8 hours to rake it. What you can't see with the picture is all the new growth that catches your rake. That is why it took so long to rake. Most of the time I would have Steve take the trimmer and cut all the new growth out so I could rake it. I was able to listen to a book on tape while I vacuumed my leaves and wasn't even sweaty when I finished.

I love it! It was worth every penny and right now is my favorite thing. Can't wait for the apple and cherry tree's to drop their leaves.