Moving

When I was little I remember one sleepless night laying in bed listening to the sprinklers in the field behind and our house, I loved that sound, I loved the crickets at night, I loved the smell of fish coming off of Murtaugh Lake with the late night breeze. That night I was sleepless because I all of a sudden realized that I had a long time to grow up, fear seized me that by the time I was old enough to decide where I was going to live that everyone in the world would realize how crappy it was to live in the city and they would buy up all the wide open spaces and I would not be able to live in the country. Deep thoughts for a young girl? I agree, but at a very young age I knew that my heart belonged in wide open spaces. I loved to run barefoot, I love the sound of tractor, I love the smell of hay, I even love the smell of farm animals. Why am I divulging all this? I feel like a have a screaming person in my head for the last month or so, screaming because I am moving AGAIN!
As many have heard me complain we have moved a lot, way too much. About 3 years ago I wrote in my journal that I was ready to find "home" that my gypsy soul needed to put down roots. I did not know that 3 months later Steve would be accepting a job in what I believe to be my dream area. From the minute we drove in to the valley I felt at home, Mountains surround us, wildflowers grow all over, I watch wildlife from my kitchen window. I have been able to learn and love snow shoeing, cross country skiing, learn to re love hiking snowboarding, biking. I go to bed at night with my window open smelling the pine trees in the wind, listen to the wolves at night, to me there could not be anything better. I ride my bike with my kids to the library where everyone knows you and you know them, then walk across the street to get ice cream at the local Ice cream shop. I know that this is not for everyone, with this comes over an hour drive to civilization, frequently having roads closed and not being able to get out of valley, more snow than you can seriously imagine, but with all that every time I came "home" my heart would sing, I would smile, I loved this town. Steve is taking a job that he loves and I am so excited for him to be able to grow, devastated because this means not only moving for the 16th time but this also means moving back to the city.
One of the hard things that come with moving is that you feel you can never truly love someone or something, because they are always in your heart but after you have gone and left you are nothing but a whisper in the wind, a faint memory, their friendships continue, there bonds grow and strengthen and you watch and listen from a distance, while making new friends but eventually saying goodbye to those also, and endless cycle of sadness. You get to the point that you see no point in making bonds, just to protect yourself.
My children are mixed, Sam has struggled here and hopes maybe moving she will make more friends, Lexi sobs her heart is broken, she cries that she loves the mountains and that she never wants to leave them, silently inside I sob with her, I understand exactly what she is saying.

The outdoors

I do struggle at times with missing the beautiful mountains of Teton Valley, but I also know that life is what you make of it so even though we have to drive a distance to enjoy the mountain every weekend we try to spend our whole Saturday enjoying the outdoors.  This Saturday Grandma and Grandpa Dalley invited us to go four wheeling.  It was a beautiful ride, so hot but luckily we were so high that the wind blew the whole time keeping us a little bit cooler.  We all had a great day.

Girls Camp

My baby attended her first girls camp this year.  It was tough for me to let her go.  I think I stressed her out with the constant reminders to brush her teeth her hair, not to chew with her mouth open ect..  I know a little crazy but I felt so helpless not to be their.  In the end I was grateful I did not go with her though, she needed to go and have experiences without me there.  I wanted her to go and to feel the spirit and have her recognize it, not me pointing it out to her.
She had amazing leaders and women that went with her.  So Grateful to those who sacrifice so much of there time to help.

The best part was her birthday was on Wednesday while she was there and they let us come up and bring a cake to her.   It was fun to surprise her.  It was also comforting to see that she was OK and and having a good time.  One of the older girls even made a Pinata. 

I am back!

I have negected our family blog for too long.  I stopped writing because I got nervous about some creepers, then I did not write because I was super busy, then I became super lazy, it happens.
I have made a goal to try and write again on Sundays.  I figure this is great way to remember all those small moments that my little brain has a hard time remembering.
A lot has happened since our last post, the biggest being our move back to Utah.  Yes we moved back.  I swore when I was younger I would never live here I swore when we moved I would never come back......  we are back.
One of the many reasons I decided to write again in the blog is because when I blogged I was very good about taking picture to blog about, since we have moved I locked my camera up and have not even tried to take pictures.  This will be good for me to start taking pictures again because I know that someday I will look back and be sad at the moments that I forgot to document.

Sam is now 11 but turning 12 on Wednesday.  She is getting ready for girls camp this week.  I am so sad I have always had some calling in Girls camp/YW and the first year one of my kids are going I do not.  It is best though that she goes and experiances it without her mother her first year. 
Lexi is 9 and full of a ton of life and silliness.  She loves to make people laugh, she has a big heart and a big smile.
Josh is 4 turning 5 in a week.  He has a ton of energy a love for farming and tractors.  We have to have at least one conversation a day that revoloves around tractors.  He is continously teaching me to have patience.  I work very hard on it!
Steve is now with Partner Fusion.  He loves this job so much and I am so happy for him.  He loves the people he works with he loves what he does and he goes home every day with a big smile.  That make me happy.

Triathalon

So proud of my little girl she did her first Triathlon. She at first was not a willing participate but I decided it was time that she worked hard for something. It all started with the school field days 2 years ago, it was her first and mine being an observer. I remember the days of my field days, pushing myself to puking determined to win every event(which I never did but I sure tried). I was so excited to watch my daughter push herself. To say I was shocked after the first event an understatement, I did not have tears of joy but I became one of those angry crazy moms that you try to avoid eye contact with at the soccer games. The first event was a 1/4 mile run, the whistle blew the runners were off my heart was racing I was beaming I started to talk to a friend of mine when I started to notice runners coming back I looked out with great anticipation expecting at any moment to see my blue eyed girl sprint through the finish line. I looked and looked and she was no where to be seen, I squinted across the field at what looked to be a girl doing pirouettes and leaps, it was Sam. I was so mad, I took off speed walking across the field got within a few feet from her, she saw me stopped gave me a huge smile and wave, through gritted teeth I told her she better start running and she better do it NOW! With not a care in the world she informed that she was not the last that *Billy*(name has been changed to protect the innocent) was the last one. I looked back at poor Billy, he was wheezing, I am pretty sure his lips were a shade of blue. With teeth clenched I told her that Billy had Asthma and had an excuse. The rest of the field day she did try which was nice, that is all I wanted was for her to at least try.
Field day 2010 was not met with much success either, this year I had both Lexi and Sam in it. I was positive that Lexi would do great because she is super competitive about everything from who ate more than her who did less chores than her ect..... I thought for sure she would be determined to try, once again I spent the whole field day grinding my teeth at the both of them. I just can not relate, I am competitive , I will push myself to the point of seeing stars, what is wrong with my GIRLS!. As I sat stewing I decided that I was going to make them work hard all summer, I thought that if they could see themselves working hard and succeeding that they would maybe want to try more. So enter Triathlon, we started Sam training in June, I was very impressed with how hard she worked, every day she would run or bike and almost every day swim. The day of the event I thought for sure she would chicken out, I know horrible but she usually does. She worked so hard, never gave up pushing herself above and beyond what I thought she could even do. She ended up taking 4th overall and 1st in the girls. I am so proud of her!

My awesome nephew Tanner.

The BEST week of my life! Soo not being dramatic!

Anyone that has ever known me knows that for as long as I can remeber I have loved horses. I use to dream about my horse someday, I even had names for it. I still dream about some horses but untill that becomes reality we got to go on the best vacation ever! We went on a 5 day trip back in the wilderness with the Teton Valley Wagon train. Unbelievable experiance. THey do such an amzing job, you are picked up and bussed to the starting point, there they feed you a HUGE meal. We were able to have 3 huge cooked delicious meals everyday. From there they set you up with safety rules, we were in the grizzly recovery zone so we had to be bear aware. We never even saw a bear which I was very disappointed that we did not but I never felt unsafe they are very prepared for any thing. After that we load in to wagons that take you to the first camp site. I can not even tell you how organized and prepared they are for anything because the first hour we were there we were hit with a huge storm and it got cold fast, they had ponchos for everyone and huge roaring fire and a canopy going for us. The week was filled with horse rides around lakes and to and from campsites. Every night you camp somewhere new 2 nights on a beautiful lakes that you can canoe on. We had hikes, and games, story telling around campfire, cowboy songs at night, and have I said beautiful horses to ride around. They also have wagon trains if you are not in to riding horses. Unbelievable! Did I already say that?! The kids enjoyed themselves so much, it is truly catered to families old and young. It was so fun to be away from distractions TV, phones, computers ect.. This was by far the best trip that we as a family have ever been on, it is a true "cowboy experience" There is no electricity running water but all you needs are met by the wagon train. So much fun! So if you are looking for a awesome experience for your family or yourself look them up.