Branding

Last Saturday was branding day.  The boys spent the night in Snowflake the night before so they could be there bright and early to help.  Bruce had to work at the PO so he couldn't go.  Shavan had a girls party the night before so Tylinn and Kaylee spent the night there.  Saturday morning I went over there so we could all head out on the range.  We got there and they were hungry.  It wouldn't be a day of branding if the wind wasn't blowing.  We ate on the other side of the horse trailer to try to block some wind from the food.

Wouldn't be branding without a calf getting away.  This was the special calf this time.  We had just pulled up as it took off.  Reed and Rex took off on their horses to try to get it.  It ran a long ways away then took off another direction and went through the fence then back through and took off again.  Reed the ropin boy he is as Rex said it - he was going super fast and the calf was a long ways away and he got it!!  Rex was quite the cowboy too keeping up with Reed chasing it.  They Rex got off his horse to help drive it a little bit while Reed tried to drag it.  There were almost back to the corral here.

The calf table was at the windmill and the cows weren't by there so we branded at 10 mile.  Dad said he was going to try to get the calf table moved but Reed knew he couldn't do it by himself and just suggested that we throw all the calves to brand them this time.  Well the first probably 30 everybody had smiles on their faces and were having fun.  Of course they were the 30 smallest calves too!

It went pretty fast because there could be 3 groups of us at a time holding the calves down waiting for them to get branded, shots, and castrated.  I didn't know it could be so much fun jumping on calves necks trying to wrestle them down or grabbing their back legs when somebody else had their necks.  Let's just say all these mornings of running and working out paid off that day!

These little kids had so much fun by the tank building a fort.  They had to come back for a drink of homemade root beer. Kaylee, Cayden, Tylinn, Austin, Trever, Layton

Rhett took a dive under a calf - well he was on top for a bit then the calf ended up on top and Rhett in the dirt - face first!  He was a trooper!

Rhett, Dustin, Brandon and Taylor had fun out there together!

Despite all the bruises from being kicked dirt in every crack and crevice in our body and Reed cutting his hand castrating the last calf it was a very good - DIRTY day spent with family making memories.  The only problem was Bridget and Bruce couldn't be there. Bridget was at work at Blondie's and Bruce at the PO. 

Riding

Last weekend we went to Snowflake to do Baptisms for the Dead and to visit Holli and family that were there.  They were in town so we could brand the next day.  We got this new horse of Grandpa's saddled up and let the kids ride around for a while.  They had lots of fun.  Here are some pictures from the day.

Field Trip

Yesterday Bruce and Kaylee went on Kaylee's field trip to a science museum in Mesa by the Temple.  I always tried to go on all the field trips with my kids but now that I am working I can't go to all of them.  I just mentioned to Bruce about going with Kaylee and Tylinn next week and he said sure he would go.  Here are a few pictures from the day. 

 

Solo

Bridget played a solo in the orchestra program the other at the PAC.  She did a great job!

 

Bridget and Megan

 Dustin and Chandler were there as spectators.  They were getting ready to go play ultimate Frisbee so I had them take a picture with the Frisbee and Dustin thought it was pretty dorky but he thinks most things I do these days are dorky (thank you teenager!!)

 Picture of some of the 8th graders there.  Kay, Dustin, Kim, Chaylene, Emily

 Bridget, Jordan, Sienna

Vacation

We are going on a vacation this summer - actually in about a month.  We got it scheduled and didn't tell the kids that we even had anything planned.  I just wrote on the calendar "trip" so I would have it on the calendar.  Last week Tylinn was looking at the calendar and saw trip on there and wondered where we were going.  We gave them a hint but they still couldn't get it.  I just told them we were staying in a motel so I knew they wouldn't get it.  I was thinking all week of how to tell them where we were going.  Bridget heard Bruce say what state it was in so she kind of knew.  I decided I wanted them to know so they could be in on the excitement of planning on it.  We wanted to have a little fun with telling them.  So I made cookies and put papers of letters of where we were going.

 The kids ate lots of cookies trying to get all the papers out.

 Cookies and milk.

 Dustin trying to get this figured out.

 Still trying.....

 Once the little girls found out Bridget figured it out they were not too happy!  We will see when the rest can get it figured out.......to be continued!

Look Who's Driving!!

Yep it's crazy but true Bridget got her permit today!  What is even more crazy is that I have a kid that old!!  Today was a late start.  We had just the right amount of time to get there right when they open, have Bridget take her test and get home in time for school at 10:00.  We headed out for Holbrook (we have heard it's better to go there then Showlow.  I forgot to grab Bridget's birth certificate and student ID.  It was no use in going without that so I called Bruce and we turned around and we met each other.  So we were now behind about a half hour.  We were just pulling into Holbrook and a train was just getting there that we had to wait for.  Bridget said "maybe we were supposed to come today for a reason".  We got to MVD and there were lots of people there.  We walked in and they said their camera wasn't working so they hoped they could get it going or we couldn't do it today.  We sat to wait.  When they called us up they said not good news - they would start her paper work and see if they could get the camera going.  Well they got it going and Bridget did her test.  She got finished and PASSED!!  They hurried to print hers and said they were turning the camera off to reinstall a program on it or something at 9:15 and it was 9:13.  It's a good thing Bridget took that test so fast!  So everything worked out!  Bridget thought about driving home but we were in too big of a hurry so I drove until we got to the road to Snowflake and pulled over and told Bridget she was driving.

 

 Here she is driving down the road.  She has driven around our neighborhood a little bit and back and forth to the church a few times so I thought she would be fine but it is a little nerve racking when your daughter that has never driven before is on the highway driving with other cars going 55 mph.  I held on to the wheel when cars were coming - not steering but just in case.  She did really good!  She drove us to our drive way.

 As you can see she was way excited!

The day that Nelson came...

Last Friday Bruce was going to Paradox CO to a bull sale with my dad.  He has been before with him but Roy was here and stayed later then planned and for some reason Bruce just said he wasn't up to going - which was fine just kind of weird.  Well our ward is in charge of cleaning the church right now - we didn't sign up but it's always good to go help so Bruce took the 3 youngest to go clean.  I had been running  and I saw there were no cars there.  I had gotten back and was down at the high school talking to Pam and I told him they must have done it a different time because there weren't any cars there.  He went to the church anyway to go check things out.  When he got to the church there was a man by the door.  He immediately came up to Bruce and told him his name was Nelson and he was from El Salvador, he was illegal, and he was trying to get to CA to the rest of his family - he just wanted a ride to the Valley.

Bruce automatically felt sorry for this guy.  He went down to the high school and told me about him and wondered what I would think about him bringing him to our house.  He called White Mountain Lines to see when they would be making a run to the Valley and they said not till Monday morning.  Bruce thought if we couldn't find another ride he could do on that Monday.  We got him some breakfast and Bruce took it back to the church to see if he wanted to come to our house and work for the day so we could see what we could do for him.  He was more then willing to come here and work all day for us.  Bruce did ask him if he had a gun and he said no that he could search his pack but Bruce took his word for it and brought him home.  I was surprised he was cleaner then I thought he would be.  He was clean shaven and his head was shaved.  He worked outside all day with Bruce - it was great because there have been piles of boards around and a few things that I have wanted something done with from our addition and Bruce has been too busy to take care of them. Well this Saturday all those disappeared. We asked some people if they knew of anybody going to Mesa and nobody did. We brought him in the house and had him take a shower and we washed clothes.  He at dinner with us. Baum's had a wedding reception that night that we went to. We had to take Nelson with us because we couldn't leave him home.  We gave him a Spanish Book of Mormon before so he sat on the couch and read his B of M while we were in the reception.  Bruce talked to Ed and he said he had a son that would take him back Sunday at 4:00.  He was thrilled with that.  He was willing to stay at the church all day while Bruce was at meetings and church waiting for his ride.  That was part of the deal is Bruce wasn't leaving his side.  Saturday night we got him all settled in the shed to sleep.  We felt kind of bad not letting him in our house but we couldn't do that with a complete stranger.  He was thrilled to sleep in the shed. We had a foam pad in there and some blankets and a little heater.  The night before he slept by the dumpster at the church with a sheet over him.  So this was great to him. We told him good night and I made sure every door and window was locked that night tight.  Although we figured if he was going to do anything to us he already would have.  We found out from him that this was his 4 time trying to get to the states.  Him and his family were in CA all legal and he went to Salt Lake to work and they took him back to El Salvador and wasn't supposed to but then he couldn't get back across.   He tried 2 other times and both times he had gotten caught and had to spend 3 years in prison because of it.  Because  of this he hadn't seen his family for 8 years.  This time he crossed at Wilcox and walked at night - eventually made it to Globe.  He walked for 20 nights straight  - the whole time it was dark.  He couldn't walk in the day light because they would find him.  He was hoping to go from Globe to the Valley but whoever gave him a ride told him he would be better off going to Heber and up to get away from the border a little so they dropped him off at the church.

Well we had this ride all set for him.  He was a happy man and went to bed.  Sunday morning he was on his phone to his brother - we told him to come in to eat breakfast and his brother was going to meet him in the Valley but then just told him it would be better if it were Flagstaff.  I guess the border crossings are better that route. Did we know of anybody going to Flag.  We told him no that not many people go from here to Flag.  Well we got to thinking and remembered Roy was in Joe City and was going to Phoenix at noon on Sunday through Flagstaff.  Bruce called him and he said he would take him.  Bruce didn't have time to run him to JC because he had Bishopric meeting he had to be to so he asked Scott if he would run him there real quick.  So we fed him breakfast and packed a lunch for him and Scott came to pick him up.  We wanted a picture with him so we didn't forget about him.  We learned a few things from Nelson that day. We learned how valuable family is, how to be a hard worker and how blessed we are to live in the United States.  Nelson wanted Bruce's phone number so he could call him when he got with his family. Roy dropped him off at Little America in Flag and text Bruce and told him - he is one happy man!  His brother was supposed to be there in a few hours to pick him up and he would take him to be with his mom and kids.  Well Sunday at 4 we were getting out of church and I looked out the window thinking about him waiting for the boys to finish emptying the garbage and noticed 2 police officers driving through the church parking lot.  I don't think they were there for Nelson - Dustin said he said 1 had a car pulled over but either way if Nelson's 1st plans would have gone through that is the exact time he would have been getting in with his ride.  He is terrified of cops because they don't want him to take him back across the border.  He would have freaked out and probably wondered if we had part of that so I was glad he was very well on his way to Flag.  He called Bruce Monday night after we were already in bed so Bruce called him back Tuesday morning.  For some reason his brother didn't show up in Flagstaff.  He was pretty bummed.  Bruce couldn't understand what he was saying why he didn't show up.  He was on a Grey Hound already in CA just on it going to where ever his family was.  He was very anti Grey Hounds because they catch so many illegals on those.  He couldn't do that or hitch hike because he would get caught.  So he was either that desperate or he thought he was far enough away from the border.  Tuesday evening Bruce got a call from him and he was with his mom.  He said his mom wanted to talk to Bruce but she can't speak English so she couldn't talk to him.  We were thrilled that he made it back with his family.  Some wondered about us helping somebody illegal - No we don't like illegals here but he is one of Heavenly Father's Children just like us and how do you not help somebody that needs it so bad that is just wanted to be with his family!  I am not sure why Bruce took hold of this guy but he felt from the beginning he was harmless.  He didn't smoke or have any drugs or anything.  He was just a good guy that needed help.  There were many tender mercies that happened through that couple of days that we know it was meant to be!