Life On The Ranch...

Last weekend we headed down to eastern Utah to stay with our good friends Adam and Angi Bradley. Adam works at the Castle Valley Ranch just down past Castle Dale. We had a great time! We caught up, talked about the good old days, rode horses, and shot prairy dogs and birds...of course when I saw WE I mean Adam, Dustin and Angi...NOT me! The highlights of our trip was seeing Dustin be able to get on a horse (he's always been allergic), watching Ko ride around on the horse with his daddy (he absolutely LOVED it!), and watching Adam and Dustin try to rope a donkey! Thanks guys for the great weekend! We can't wait to come down again!

A New Perspective on Life...

A friend of mine posted about this woman on her blog, and she inspired me to do the same...it is a must read! The author of this blog lost her baby girl to a tragic drowning accident in June of this year. She writes almost daily about her up's and down's, her good days and her bad days, and about her heartache and sorrow. She is a beautiful author and I found myself reading her blog for hours. She is an amazing woman, mother and wife! She is an inspiration to me in so many ways. Her faith is so strong and she has such an amazing testimony! If there is only one thing you get out of her story, it must be this....hug your loved ones, especially your little ones a little tighter tonight...you never know what our Heavenly Father has in store for us or for them in the future to come. It definately gives life a new perspective! Oh and a warning...it's a tearjerker!
adailyscoop.blogspot.com

15 Months, going on 2 years!!

We got Kohen's pictures taken at Kiddie Kandids last week. I feel bad because I have been a total slacker! We haven't had his pictures professionally taken since he was 5 1/2 months old!! The pictures turned out really cute, but the photographer wouldn't believe me that he is only 15 months old!! She swore that he had to be at least 2, maybe even 2 1/2 years old!! I must admit that he looked like such a big boy standing up on the little ladder! But when we got the actual pictures printed, I realized exactly what she was talking about! He looks like such a big boy! It makes me so sad to think that he looks like a little toddler instead of my little baby!! Anyway, here are some of the pics. We did a few cowboy shots to give to my grandpa (he's one of those total cowboys who never takes his hat or his boots off). They turned out pretty cute with his little cowboy boots on...thanks to Angi for the boots!

This one of him standing up isn't my favorite, but I just love how he is standing! It makes me laugh!!

July Festivities

Well be prepared for a lot of pictures. I can't seem to get the stupid slide show to work!!
July was a pretty busy month for us! We went on many bikerides, I ran the Draper Days 5K, we went to 2 rodeos, we played with lots of friends, Ko got a summer buzz, and of course there were many fishing trips! Sadly we have yet to go boating this year, but hopefully we can squeeze a boat trip in just once before the summer ends! For the 4th we had a BBQ at Dustin's sister's house. They cooked us a delicious dinner and we had lots of fun watching the fireworks! April and I were a little on edge during the fireworks show...Dustin and Blair thought it would be a brilliant idea to try to shoot fireworks at eachother (imagine!)! Oh and did I mention that they were shooting off illegals?! I was just waiting for the cops to show! We didn't really do anything on the 24th because we both had to work the next day. But we went to the Draper Days rodeo the weekend before and then went and watched fireworks at the park with our friends Clark and Jami. We had a great month and I hope everyone had a great 4th and 24th of July! Oh and I forgot to mention that I went to a pretty crazy birthday party for my cute friend Holly! Happy Birthday Holls!

4th of July

The little boys watching their dads act like little boys!

Heidi, Jami, the birthday girl, me & Ko

Ko loves playing with his friends Boston & Jordan!

Fishing with the cousins!

Fishing up American Fork canyon

Kohen and Rambo enjoying the bike ride together!

Draper Days Rodeo

Dad & Ko watching the fireworks

Did I mention there were LOTS of fishing trips?!

mY nEw EmBaRrAsSiNg MomENt...

So I FINALLY did it! On Saturday I ran my very first 5K! It was such an amazing and proud moment for me! Sadly one of my proudest moments turned into my most embarrassing one!

6:30 am- Thirty minutes before the race. I bought one of those energy gel shots and decided to try it...NOT GOOD! MISTAKE # 1! As soon as I put it in my mouth I knew I had made a huge mistake! It was so nasty, and it was stuck in my throat, just sitting there, waiting to be thrown back up! So I had to chase it down with about a half a bottle of water...MISTAKE #2! I usually can't drink water before I run cause it just goes right through me and I have to pee within minutes. And especially since giving birth to Kohen, it has become a lot worse!

6:50 am- Ten minutes before the race. We stretch out and I find the nearest bathroom to pee.

7:00 am- Race time!! Aron and Holly decided to take off, so Heidi and I ran together to keep up a good pace.

MILE 1- Feelin' good! Wasn't tired yet, and Heidi and I are keeping a good pace.

MILE 1.5- Oh crap...I have to pee! I knew I shouldn't have drank that bottle of water! I just kept on running and tried to just focus the music I was listening to, instead of my need to pee. Oh did I mention that some guy was out in his front yard spraying everyone with the hose...uh NOT HELPING!!

MILE 2- Still not really tired. My urge to pee was getting stronger. By this time I was squeezing practically every muscle in my entire body just to try to keep myself from peeing! I thought about going behind a huge bush in someone's yard, but I didn't dare...there were cops everywhere! I can just imagine.... How did your race go? Great except for the fact that I got a ticket for public urination!

MILE 2.5- I'm going to die!!! I've never had this kind of feeling before! I was squeezing my muscles even harder now, which made me have to slow down a little. Have you ever tried to do kagels (sp?) while running?! It's not too fun! Eventually the muscle squeezing trick had stopped working, and with every few steps I took, a little bit of pee would come out!! We were coming up on mile 3 and I felt like I just couldn't take it anymore! I asked Heidi to get behind me to see if it was noticable. The verdict...." Sorry Rachelle, but you can TOTALLY see it!!". Oh and did I mention that I was wearing GRAY spandex pants??!! What the hell was I thinking???!!! At that moment I was thinking to myself that I was so jealous of my friend Jessica for being able to have C-sections! She probably doesn't have this kind of problem!

MILE 3- I could run no longer. It was only .1 miles to the finish line, and I had to stop running. I knew that if I ran one more step my bladder was just going to EXPLODE all over and then I was going to be even more mortified than I already was! Heidi, Holly and Aron finished in great time, running the whole way. I still finished about one minute after Heidi, but there I was...walking instead of running. My first 5K...and I couldn't even run the entire way! All because I had peed my pants!!!

Dustin was videoing me right as I had to stop running...how embarrassing! To tell you the truth, I almost started to cry as I walked up to him and Kohen. I was embarrassed and not very proud of myself for not running the entire race! But my cute hubby kept on telling me that he was so proud of me, and it made me feel a lot better. Luckily now when I tell people about it, I can laugh, but at the time I was pretty upset about it.

So there you have it...my new embarrassing moment!!

Heidi, Holly, me & Aron

oOpS!!

Here's a little bit of background to my story:

When Ko was born, he was born with LOTS of hair! I was so happy that my little guy wasn't born bald! He didn't really start to lose it until he was about 5 months old, and when it came back in, it came back even thicker! I love it! But the only downside to is is that he has to get his hair cut ALL THE TIME!! If I let it grow out too long, it gets really difficult to do and I get really frustrated with it sometimes!

Okay, back to the present:

Yesterday after I got Ko out of the tub I proceeded to try to comb his hair....and it just wasn't working!! Have you ever had one of those moments where something is really pissing you off and if you don't do something about it NOW, you are going to just FREAK OUT??!! Well, I definately had one of those moments!! And this is the result....

OOPS!!

Mom got a little carried away with the clippers!! I swear I really didnt' mean for it to get that short! My sister says he looks like a little cancer patient! How sad! I guess it will grow back!

Playing with his cousins (after getting a good sunscreen rubdown on his big head)!

Helping daddy landscape Aunt Jenn's yard!

Uncle D was happy that him & Ko now have matching haircuts!

Babies, Babies, Babies!! and No Surgery!! (sort of)

This last week and a half I personally know 5 people that have had babies!! And I know 2 more that are due any day now! CRAZY!! And of course everyone keeps telling me...Isn't it about time for another one for your family too?! WHAT?? I think it's just so crazy how once Ko hit the one year mark, everyone keeps on asking when we're having another one, and that it's about that time for us. WHAT?? It can't already be that time! I swear I just gave birth to Ko! And after hearing all of these crazy stories about epidurals not working, I have made a decision....I'm never having another baby again!!! You girls have all got me freaked out! Sorry Ko, I guess you are going to just have to be a spoiled only child! HA! Okay, who am I kidding? Of course I will be having more children! If any of them are like Ko, I could probably have ten more! Okay, probably not ten...I think I would have to take crazy pills for the rest of my life! So back to my purpose of this post...

I just want to congratulate everyone that is either prego, due any day, or that just had a baby, whether it is your first or fourth!! Motherhood is such an amazing experience and it will change your life forever. Also for the few of you who are still trying to get pregnant and have yet to be successfull...keep trying!! It will happen when the time is right, and when you are least expecting it!

Here are some pictures of my beautiful neice Irelynn Frame. She was born on 6-06-08 weighing in at 6 lbs. 14 oz. and 19 inches. She is such a little sweetheart and I am so grateful to our Heavenly Father for letting her be born to such wonderful parents! Aspen wasn't so sure about her little sister at first, but she is doing much better now that they are home! ( I stole some of your pics Jess...sorry!)

I also want to congratulate Adam & Angi Bradley on the birth of their baby! She was so sure it was a boy.....

Remington Cole Bradley was born on 6-08-08 weighing in at 8 lbs. 9 oz. and 21 inches. Congrats to the Bradley's! I can't wait to meet her!!

Dustin had his appointment with the orthopedist on Wednesday to find out the fate of his collar bone. The prognosis....NO SURGERY!!! We were so relieved that the doc really didn't feel that it was necessary to operate! He showed us the x-rays and said that it was a pretty nasty break, but that it should just end up healing by itself.

But wait...we're not out of the clear just yet! Dustin had a follow-up appointment with another orthopedist on Thursday for his knee that has been bothering him pretty badly for the last 6 months or so. The prognosis...SURGERY!!! Somehow the end of his femur was badly bruised and some of the bone died. Some pieces broke off the bone and are now stuck under his patella. They are going to go in and take out some of the bone fragments and do some "cleaning" of his knee. Then they are going to take a piece of bone from another part of his knee and screw it into the end of his femur where the bone is missing. AAAHHH!! The poor guy can't seem to catch a break! So since he is off work for his clavicle, we decided to have the surgery in the next few weeks. Anyone know some good ways for me to make some extra money??!!! I am a great house cleaner..... :)