Pop's lap and a cold drink

This is my favorite moment from the day. Owen was tired and crawled up on Pop's lap for a cold drink. They sat on the pickup for a long time taking a break and enjoying the day. Love it!!

Here is my little roper. He loves playing with a rope. He can throw a rope for hours and is learning to throw and coil it. One rule, he can't rope his brother or Bridger. He only does it when he thinks I'm not looking.

The Burner

Gabe was telling his dad on the phone all about the branding. He was explaining to him what everyone did and how it worked. He said "you know dad, Pop was the burner". Yep, Pop's job was "the burner". I've never heard it called that before but here is a picture of him burning a brand into those calves.

Everyone had a job (except me, my job was to keep an eye on all the children I brought). These jobs are very important and this branding ran like a well oiled machine. Didn't take long to brand all those calves. Here are some pictures of each job.

the Burner (aka Pop)

Ear Tag Loader (aka Cedar and Claire)

Babysitter (aka Bren)

Record Keeper (aka Jennifer)

Wrestler (aka Trystan)

Hoyt Branding

The smell of burning hair, screaming animals, good food, good friends, and lots of fun. It's BRANDING TIME in Wyoming. My boys first branding. It's been many years since I've come to a branding at the Hoyt's place. I have such fond memories of them as a kid, I didn't want my boys missing out on the fun. So, three blond Dahl boys experienced their first branding. When we first arrived, they were a little in shock. They stood in one place without saying a word for at least 1/2 an hour. Here they are, standing and starring. They can't quite figure out what we are doing to those poor little calves. After the shock wears off, they run off and play. We had a wonderful day outside with some wonderful people. Here are some snapshots from the 2010 Hoyt branding.

Here is Pop making sure the branding irons stay hot.

Owen enjoying a peanut butter and honey sandwich.

Here is the boys playing (Gabe, Trace, and Caiden) on the fence.

Here is my two favorite girls having a very serious discussion. Don't they look alike!

Poncho Via

It's finally spring! Spring means Pop gets the horses out and ready for polo. It also means that Poncho gets to take the kids for a ride around the pasture. Yesterday afternoon right after a spring thunderstorm we took the old guy for a little ride.

Poncho was my horse when I was a kid. He was born on 6/6/86. That makes the old guy 24 years old. I remember him the day he was born. He has always been a very special horse and I feel so lucky that my boys get to know him as well. And, I have to thank Pop because he brought Poncho back to the El Rancho so the boys could ride him.

I was very proud of the boys this afternoon. They just hopped up on Poncho and away they went. They were true little cowboys. Owen cried a little bit when it was Gabe's turn. He could ride all day but they each took turns and we had a really nice afternoon. Eli also enjoyed the horses from the stroller.

Thanks Grandma and Pop for the wonderful afternoon!

The Palm

OK....Here it is. I'm so excited about my new toy. It's an out of date, nobody uses them, sitting in some one's drawer for years, Palm Pilot. AND I LOVE IT!!

It's the perfect thing to organize my life. I used to have one in Denver when I worked at Denver Options and loved it then. I'm so excited to have another one. No, it's not an itouch or a blackberry but, it's FREE and just what I need.

Free? Thanks to my wonderful brother in law it was free. It just fell in my lap (Ron actually brought it to the house) and and it's the perfect gift. Thank you so much, Ron. You have made my day.

All my appointments are in this little gadget, along with some new pictures, and contacts. I'm ready to tackle this world and not forget anything anymore. It's the little things that make my day!

Tomorrow I'm going garage saling and can't wait to find all kinds of other good deals. The first garage sales of the year and I'm ready (it's in my calendar)!!

Assumptions

Brothers totally engrossed in their sucker. Ah, simple pleasures.




Taking a break. Owen and Gabe are watching Go Diego, Go Diego. The cartoon is telling the boys to waddle like penguins. Owen is such a cute penguin. He waddling around the TV room while he brother is laughing at him. I'll be sad when the boys grow out of these silly cartoons. I love that they can watch something cute on TV and I can have a small mommy break.

Outside my window I see rain, puddles, and cloudy skies. When the sun decides to make an appearance everything is going to be so green. We have gotten a lot of moisture the past three days. Rain, Rain, Rain.

Kids always surprise me. When I think they are going to react one way, they do the opposite and I'm left with a wrong assumption. Gabriel did this to me today. I thought for sure he was going to react one way and he did the exact opposite and it made me smile.

You see, we had a busy morning. First we went to the pancake breakfast at the YMCA. The pancakes there are delicious and the kids really enjoy the breakfast they have there once a month. After the breakfast, Gabe went to Preschool and Owen and I went to MOPS (mothers of preschoolers). Pretty normal so far. The problem happened when I let time get away from me. Gabriel's preschool ends at 11:00. At 11:15, I looked up at the clock and realized that I was really, really late to pick up Gabe. Off I ran to get him. I knew he was in good hands but I felt awful that I had forgotten to pick him up in time. I imagined in my mind that he would be so upset by the time I got there. The worst case was running through my head. By the time I was halfway to his preschool, I was in tears. I called Bryan and irrationally cried about how upset I was and what a terrible mom I was. I even told him that he had to come home because I couldn't handle all this myself. I imagined my little boys face. His sad eyes and tears streaming down his face. His mom forgot him for goodness sake. I rushed into the Y, wiping my own tears. When I found Gabe, he was sitting with his teacher laughing about something. This is not what I expected. Gabe's teacher told him that I was probably stuck in traffic from the rain and they were calmly waiting for me. Gabe wasn't upset. When I told him that I lost track of time, he looked up at me and said "mom, you don't have to worry about me, I'm fine". Then, he gave me a big hug. Wow, he surprised me. I called my husband and was an irrational mess for nothing. By the way, Bryan, thanks for listening to me! I assumed the worst and then realized how mature my son really is. I could have saved myself a lot of heartache if I would have been more rational, realized I had made a mistake, and not gotten so upset.

I did learn something today. I need some kind of organizer for my life. I can't run my life with three boys without some sort of reminder system. So, I spent the afternoon looking at all my options. Blackberry, Palm Pilot, or other cell phone. I need something with an alarm that will help me remember all the things that I need to do and places that I need to go. I can't depend on my own brain when I have so much to remember and to do everyday. I'm confident that this will help. So, I'm off into the world of technology to find an organizer that may save myself anymore humiliation because of my overreactions.

Mother's Day with Family

Look at these beautiful roses that I got for Mother's Day. They are so perfect, they look fake. Josh Smith brought them to me. Thanks, Josh! Mother's Day was just as sweet as these roses. I had a wonderful time.

I was able to cook dinner and have my family over for a nice lunch. My mom and dad, Megan, Ron, and Amaya, Linda (Ron's mom), and Josh and Lauren Smith all came up to the house after church on Sunday. I feel very privileged that I was able to do something nice for my mom and Ron's mom. They are such wonderful women! It's such a blessing to be able to spend time with my family and also Megan's family. It makes life so much more fun to have a big extended family to spend time with. I'm looking forward to many holiday's with the Cooks and Smiths.

The day was perfect except for my missing husband. Without him, it just wasn't the same. I'm holding strong and can't wait until he can come home!

Enjoy the pictures of our day. Doesn't Megan look so cute pregnant? She is just beautiful. She is going to have that baby soon. Her due date is May 23rd. And, what about Amaya the movie star? Love it!

Mom's Day Game

A little baseball game before our big mother's day dinner. We had a great time playing ball with the kids. Here is Gabe playing outfield.




Amaya getting ready to hit a home run (with a little help from dad).




Lauren hitting the ball. "Is this right, dad?"

winter white

Woke up this morning to a Wyoming spring storm. Here is some pics of our spring storm 2010. So, the kids and I are staying inside getting cabin fever. It made me wonder, why do I love living here in Wyoming? Most places at this time of year are warm and green with blooming trees and flowers. We get 1 foot of snow. Then I remembered living in Denver and dealing with all the people. All this snow, wind, and cold chases away all the people that want to move here. Here in Wyoming we can enjoy the beautiful mountains and we don't have to share it with a million other people. We have to take advantage of everyday that is nice and in exchange we can take the kids to the lake or mountains and don't have to share our special spots with anyone else. Wide open spaces with no traffic, noise pollution, or neighbors. I think it's worth it and am so glad that a million other people don't agree.

Wind

I'm sitting here tonight listening to the Wyoming wind howl through the cracks in our windows and doors. It's been so windy here for the past two weeks, I think that I live in Laramie. It brings back really bad memories of trying to walk to class at a slant.

We live on a hill. I love our house and our hill. The view is amazing but the wind is really horrible up here. Our trampoline blew over and is in sad shape. Our lawn chairs ended up at the other end of my deck this morning and our swamp cooler has also moved about 3 feet. I'm not kidding about strong wind.

Besides surviving the Wyoming wind, the boys and I have been busy. Gabriel is really excited about baseball right now. His two favorite teams are the Rockies and the Indians, in that order. He has been battling the wind just to go out in the front yard and practice batting and throwing. He really tries to get Owen to play with him but he just ends up getting frustrated because Owen has a hard time taking turns and running to the right bases. Besides, Owen always wants to bat and ends up crying if he doesn't get his way. Yes, this 3 year old doesn't realize that there is no crying in baseball...yet. The boys will start T ball in the next couple of weeks.

Eil is also very busy. He is rolling from his front to his back and grabbing for things that he likes. This afternoon Gabriel was sitting in his exersaucer and Eli didn't like it. It was the funniest thing, he started screaming and reaching for Gabe. You could just see what he was trying to tell him. "Hey, that's my toy, get out". This little man is starting to fit in around here and thank goodness because he will have to stick up for himself if he is going to see his 1st birthday. His favorite thing to chew on is his soft baby spoon. He can sit in his bumbo, chew on a spoon, and watch his brothers for a long time. It's really cute.

Owen is getting a little better each day. He has been such a sick little guy. He isn't completely healed but getting better. I can't wait to have my little Owey back to normal.

Me? How am I doing? Sometimes I don't slow down enough during the day to even wonder how I am doing. There are those rare nights when everyone is in bed that I think to myself...Kris, how are you? Tonight I'm going to be honest and say, I'm not sure. I am so caught up in all that needs to be done that I don't have a lot of time to think about how I am. I know my life always won't be this crazy and soon my little guys will be grown up but, right now I'm feeling a little lost. I guess I will have to figure out who and how I am when I have more time on my hands. In the meantime, I have a million things to do.

Eli is Baptized

Eli Paul was baptized on Saturday, May 1st 2012. What a blessing it was to see him welcomed into the church and to share that special day with our family. It was a beautiful ceremony and a very special time. When I think back to this day, I will remember all the wonderful people surrounding us for little Eli's special day. I want to especially thank his God Parents, Jeff and Kelly Rickett. They are two very special people. Eli is so lucky to have so much love surrounding him....someday he will be thankful also.