Check out Chad and Tyus on YouTube

So if anyone is interested in checking out Chad and Tyus on YouTube go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fA7uCTFk6Oo

Our neighbor Mark Lee came over last night and wanted to know all about our "Chicken Farm." It's kind of fun to see them on YouTube. Tyus really enjoyed seeing himself on the internet.

Buying our new 4--H pigs

Yesterday was the annual pig sale in Randolph. The kids have been looking forward to this day for a long time. Chad's cousin Kalon Downing raises pigs and then sells them. Chad and the kids have been helping him a little with the pigs, so they have gotten to be around them. They were anxious to be able to by a couple of them for their own. Bailey is the only one old enough to raise a pig and sell it at the fair in August, but Tyus and Peyton will also raise a pig and show it at the open class pig show.

We ended up with 3 of the pigs and are very pleased with the 3 we got. We hope they will be good pigs in the end. I'm sure they will be.

Tyus and Bailey at Kalon's helping with the baby pigs. (Before the sale)

Tyus waiting patiently for the right pig to buy at the sale.

The kids welcome home their new pigs!!!

Peyton's pig is the pink one he has his hand on. (I'm not sure what he named his yet)

Tyus' pig is the other pink one that he has his hand on. He named his Spot for the time being. I'm sure that it will change a few times until he gets the perfect name.

Bailey's pig is the biggest of them all. Thank goodness. Hopefully we won't have to worry about it making weight like we did last year. She is such a friendly pig and loves all of the attention. I hope she stays like that. Her name is Lightning Bolt, or just Bolt, because when she was little she got a cut on her back and it healed in the shape of a Lightning Bolt. Kalon has called her that since, so Bailey is going to keep that name for her.

This is my niece Machesney. She also bought a pig at the sale. Her big sisters are going to get pigs too, but not for a couple of weeks. They didn't want this baby pig to be alone so it got to come to our house until they get their other ones. Machesney isn't to excited about not having her pig at her house with her. She has been out 2 times today just to check on it. She is such an animal lover and is so cute with them. I think she has named her pig mouse, because he looks like a little mouse.

Wow, Raising kids is hard work!!!!

Why couldn't kids come with instruction manuals??? I know there are ups and downs everyday, but it seems like when there is a down it seems to stay a lot longer then wanted.

I remember the heart aches of growing up, but as much as I was effected by them I now know the effect it had on my Mom and Dad too. I remember those talks we would have and the concern they had for me and my brothers and sister. Sometimes I thought they were crazy, and didn't understand. My mom would see things and tell me and I would tell her "It is my life and my friends and everything is fine." When she could obviously see that I was hurting and it wasn't fine. I now look back and see the things that she saw that were in front of my face that I choose to ignore. I feel like I am doing that now with my kids.

Our pre-teen 11 year old Bailey has been faced with a lot of peer pressure that she hasn't made the best choices. We have had a lot of long talks and tried to explain to her how we see things. She is doing the same things that I use to do. Imagine that!!! In a few years she will be sitting at her computer writing the same things about her daughter and see where her dad and I are coming from. But until then we will just keep trying to help her make the best choices possible.

The heart ache doesn't stop there. Our 8 year old Tyus has had a hard time going to school the last few weeks. He always seems to have a tummy ache or a tooth ache or anything else that he can think of to ache so that he can try to get out of going to school. We have been working with the people we feel we need to to see if we can get to the bottom of the sudden change in him. I hope it gets better soon. It is so hard to see your kids pain!!!

Our unlucky dog- Blaze!!!

This is our poor dog that only has one eye, and now has a broken leg. What will be next?!?!

We have had our dog Blaze for about 1 1/2 years. He was only a couple of months old when we got him. I didn't think that an animal would be harder to raise then my kids, but he has. He has had more happen to him in his short life then more dogs do in a life time. In November of last year I let him outside and a couple of hours later he came back in and his right eye was hanging out of it socket. I just about died and rushed him up to the vet. They said a dozen things could have happened, but they weren't sure exactly how it did. The only thing they did know was that the eye was not savable and they had to take it out that day. He had to stay the night and then wear a "lamp shade" on his neck for 2 weeks. We obviously don't have insurance on our dogs, so we ended up paying about $400.00 for this surgery. I don't even know if I have spent that much on one of my kids. Thank goodness for insurance on them!!!

Our second episode with the poor dog just happened on Friday. I got a call from Chad while I was at. He told me that him and Peyton decided to go look at Kalon and Amanda Downing's baby pigs and they were backing out of the shed, Blaze was behind them and Chad ran him over with the truck. He said he felt the THUD and looked to see Blaze running into the field. He tried to get out and see the damage, but as you could imagine Blaze wanted nothing to do with him. Can you blame him!!!! After returning from seeing the pigs he checked him out and could tell that he had a broken leg or hip. He took him to the vet and they did x-rays and found it was just his leg. They put a cast on it and kept him over night again to make sure that there were no internal injuries. He also has to wear that dumb "lamp shade" thing around his neck again. (I think that is the most annoying thing for the poor dog) No insurance again, and $250.00 later, I'm not so sure we should keep putting money into this dog. I'm afraid with his luck, he might not make it to the age of 2. My kids love him to pieces and he is a good dog, so we feel like we need to do everything we can to keep him around. I just have to keep reminding myself that it is worth it.

First time being a patient at the Dentist office!!!

So most of you know that I am a dental assistant for a Dr. in Randolph. Well, I have worked there for almost 10 years, and other then the usual cleaning and check ups I haven't been a patient in the chair. The other day I got my teeth x-rayed, cleaned and checked and they found 2 cavities. I was so sad. I have only had one other filling in my life, and I was young when I got it, so I don't remember getting it done. Thanks to my mom and her making me take fluoride when I was young, I have great teeth. So as you can imagine my friends that I work with at the office where so excited that they finally got to work on me. I don't know if it is worse to go into it knowing what is going to happen or not. I was a little nervous just because I have always been on the other end of it. My good friend Julia that works with me told me that I needed to get the N2O. (Laughing Gas) She absolutely thinks it is the best stuff in the world, so I took her advice. Wow!!! What a trip. I can't even imagine getting hooked on that stuff or anything else that makes you feel like that. I don't remember a thing that happened. They told me after I came to that I was "Out Of It." I guess they would try to talk to me and try to get me to answer and I wouldn't. They would have to turn it down and let me come back to the real world before I would answer. Julia took some pictures of me while I was in the chair, but I haven't gotten them from her yet. I bet they are pretty pictures. I can't even imagine. Anyway, I do recommend getting the laughing gas when you go to your next dentist appointment, especially if you want to just go to your own little world for a little while. I don't know if I liked it enough to get more cavities, so I guess I will keep brushing and I am going to FLOSS better. Hopefully my next cleaning visit I will be told what I am use to hearing. NO CAVITIES!!!!

Always on the go!!!

We were gone again this weekend. Chad commented that it is about time to stay home, and I agree. It is a lot of fun going and doing things, but sometimes it is just nice to stay home.

We went to Richfield again for the Boys State Basketball Tournament. The tournament started on Wednesday, but we didn't go until Friday. We told the kids that we would go if the basketball team won their first 2 games, and they did. Friday morning we got up and headed down for the 3rd and 4th games that they would be playing. We got to the hotel around 3 pm and the game started at 6 pm, so the kids got some swimming time in before the game. They also swam after the game until they all got kicked out at closing time. They had so much fun with all the kids that were staying there too. All the parents sitting on the side watching the swimmers ended up as wet as the kids in the pool. They started a water fight and it ended up turning into a water/snowball fight before it was done. One of the parents went outside and got some snow and then the fun really began. The games were really good, but didn't go as we had hoped we ended up loosing the last two games and took 4th over all.

Tyus swimming!! He would turn his head every time I tried to take a picture.

All of the kids from Rich County in the hot tub at the hotel. The kids all have a blast with their friends when we go to State B-Ball.

Peyton and his friend Jeremy enjoying the freedom in the swimming pool.
Thank goodness for life jackets!!!

(I didn't get any pictures of Bailey swimming, because she wouldn't go because she was afraid of who might see her in a swimming suit. Silly girl, she is too young to do that already!!! As you can see in the picture above most of the ones in the picture are boys. She actually went and hung out with her friends in the hotel halls.)

We played Escalante High School the first night and my best friend from High School, Cristy Kennedy, married a guy from there. They just happened to be there watching too. Chad ran into her and sent her my way. I was so excited to see her. We talked through most of the game that night and then I also saw her the next night at the games. It was so fun!!!! I hope to keep in touch with her a little better. She has got such a cute family and her kids are getting so big. That is what happens when you don't see each other very often.


While we were down in Richfield we took the boys to Salina to a Wrestling Tourn. There were a ton of people at it and we weren't sure if it was ever going to end. Once they got going and things seemed to get more organized it went a little smoother then we had thought it might. Both boys did a great job and we were so proud of them.

Peyton wrestled 3 matches and won all 3 by points. He was so cute. Last year he didn't quite get the concept of wrestling and just rolled around, but this year he actually knows what to do and he wrestles. It's amazing what just a year will do.







Tyus also had 3 matches and he won all of his by pins. He is a great little wrestler and is very aggressive. It only took him seconds to pin all of his matches. He hasn't been as interested this year in wrestling and we have kind of had to fight him to do it. I don't know why he has been this way, because he has really liked it until just the last couple of weeks. I don't know if someone has said something to him or what, but he is a good little wrestler so we are hoping he will decide it is ok and have a little better attitude about it.

Wrestling Practice

So it seems like I have a ton to write about. I am sorry to you that follow my blog, but I have to write all of this down when I can. I don't ever write in a journal, and I really should. So much happens in our lives and so much of it is forgotten because I don't write it down. I am planning on publishing this sometime, so a lot of the things I post is more just for me.

Anyway, Tyus and Peyton have started Little League Wrestling. They are suppose to have their first tournament in Evanston on Saturday, but we decided to go to Richfield for the Boys State Basketball Tournament. We have been waiting to see how they would do and they have won their first two games. We decided to go cheer them on to a State Championship we hope. So that means that we will be missing the wrestling tournament. The boys have both been practicing very hard and are very excited to wrestle at a meet. We just found out that there is a tournament going on at one of the High Schools down south and our wrestling coach got it oked for the kids down at State Basketball to go to it, so I guess we won't have to miss out. We are going to go to the Salina Tournement while we are down there. It should be fun. A couple of the other wrestlers from our school will be there too and the coach is going to go also.

Tyus and his friends getting instruction before they start wrestling

Peyton getting help from his Coach, Mr. Larsen
(I don't know why the picture is so blurry, Sorry)

The Jr. Rebel Wrestling Crew

Bailey's State Report (HAWAII)

Bailey is in the 5th grade this year so she got to do a state report. (I don't know if it is something most school do, but our school has been doing it at least since Chad and I were in 5th grade) She got to choose the state she wanted unless someone else in the class wanted the same one. Her first choice was Hawaii and she was lucky enough to get it. For our 10th anniversary Chad and I went to Hawaii and Bailey has always had an interest in it since we went. She has been working on a written report and she also had to give an oral report. She turned her written in a couple of weeks ago, but her oral was this week. She did a great job. Her dad helped her do a power point on the computer to help with the oral. I went to watch her give it, so I took a bunch of stuff that we have and decorated a table for her. She had to take something for the whole class to taste that represented the State. Hawaii was a very easy one because they have so many things. She gave them Pineapple, Macadamia Nuts, and we had Mr. Brown (her teacher) crack open a coconut. The kids all liked the food we had them try, but some weren't to sure about the coconut. They had never seen what a real coconut looks like and they were expecting it to be sweet like the coconut in the bag.

Bailey was really lucky because my sister, her husband and kids and his family went to Hawaii just a couple of weeks ago. They brought back a ton of stuff for her to use in her oral report. They brought a couple of coconuts, Macadamia Nuts, Sugar Cane, and the favorite for the class was the Shell Lei's that they all received from Bailey thanks to them bringing them back for her. Thank you so much Chad and Katie for getting all of this for her. The class thought it was so cool that it all came right from Hawaii.

She got 100% on both reports and she is relieved that this big project is behind her. Good job sis, you did a great job.

Bailey talking about Hawaii from the power point

Peyton learns how to blow a bubble

Peyton has been practicing on blowing bubbles. He finally got it and was SOOO proud of himself. I took a picture of one of the first bubbles that he blew. It isn't very big, but it is a bubble. In fact, it is a double bubble. Good job Peyton.

I have to tell you about a funny thing he said when he was chewing this gum.... He asked me if he had a king on this tooth, and he pointed to the tooth he was wondering about. I asked him what a king was and he said "One of these," and he pointed to one of his teeth that has a crown on it. I said, "No it doesn't but they are called crowns." A few minutes later he said, "I really think I need to go get a KING put on this tooth because it tickles when I chew gum on it." He just really thinks they are kings. It was so funny the way he said it. I hope he doesn't have a cavity, but I am a little worried that he might. We will have to see and maybe he will have to get a king.

Wow!!! Look At The Hair

A few moms in our community decided to do a preschool this year. We have 8 kids that are in it and we each take turns teaching. We have to take a turn once every 8 weeks, so it hasn't been to bad at all. I have really enjoyed doing it and it has saved us a ton of money. We talked about teaching at our own houses when it was our turn to teach, but we had an extra room in our house so I turned it into a little preschool room and we have it there every time. It has worked out really good. The only problem I have had with it is that Peyton doesn't think that he has to get ready for school. Sometimes he doesn't want to even get dressed. On the day that I took this picture I barely got him dressed. I tryed to comb his hair and he threw one of his fits. I decided it wasn't worth it and let him go looking like that. Since this he has had a hair cut so if this happens again maybe it won't be SO messy.

Peyton's Preschool Class

Basketball is over

Bailey and Tyus has been doing little league basketball for the last 6 weeks. Saturday was the last day. Now we have started little league wrestling with Tyus and Peyton. It never ends, it's just one thing after the other. The kids love to be involved and that is ok with us. We like them to be involved it whatever they are interested in.

Bailey's Team: (Coach) Dwight, Cami, Emily, Reagan, and Ashley

Peyton wishing that he was old enought to play too

Both teams only had 5 players, so Bailey's coach asked Tyus if he wanted to play on their team. He was on cloud 9 and had a grin the whole game. The other team had to ask a kid that was close to Tyus' age to play with them, so he wasn't the only boy on the court.

Tyus kept up with the older, taller girls. He didn't let the size or age differents both him. He did a great job for the team and actually scored a couple of their points. Good Job Tyus!!! (He is always on the go and every picture I took of him was when he was running so they were all blurry)

Bailey and her team members trying to make a plan to stop the other team from scoring. They won every game all season except this one. They lost by 4 points. Good try!!!

Sleep Over at Grandpa and Grandma Ericksons House

Jackson, Peyton, Grandpa Cleve, and Mayson

Grandpa put the tent up in the Living Room for the boys to sleep in

Grandma Annie babysits Peyton for me on Thursdays and then on Fridays he stays home with Bailey and Tyus because they only go to school Monday through Thursday. This last week they held school on Friday, so Peyton got to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house Thursday and Friday. After I got off work on Friday I went to pick him up. Chad, Bailey and Tyus went to a boys basketball game at the High School. When I got to Evanston, Susie and the boys were there and we decided to order in Chinese for dinner and then play cards for awhile. Grandpa set a tent up in the Living Room for the boys to play in while we played cards. Of coarse their little minds got turning and they decided that they needed to have a sleep over. We told them that we would see, but just to go play in it for now. Grandma popped them popcorn and they watched Matilda, there favorite movie. The adults played a game of Hearts while they watched the movie. About 9 o'clock we were still playing cards and the boys still wanted to stay pretty bad, so Susie and I decided to let them stay and we would just have a sleep over with them. We had so much fun. The kids played so good together and my Dad, Mom, Susie and I had a great time playing cards and laughing late into the night. We will have to do it again sometime!!!!

Pictures of the flood

So I finally posted pictures of our small flood. I downloaded them in the opposite order that I should have. Oh well!!! I'm too lazy to reorganize them. You get the picture right???? You can just start from the bottom and work your way up.