Madison is one!!!!!

Last Saturday we had a birthday party for Madison. She turned one on January 9th! Some of the pictures didn't turn out very well because of the lighting, but anybody who has young kids needs a donkey like the one in the slide show! Hilarious!!!!!

AQHA Awards

Another year has come and gone, and the results are in! The AQHA awards were held this January in Boise Idaho. Dad won runner up jockey of the year for the state of Idaho, and my one of the horses that my brother trains won horse of the year. Also, one of the owners that Kyle trains for won owner of the year. It was a great year, and although my dad claims he has retired from riding, I can't help but hope that he does it again this year!

Visitors

Ben's brother and his family were able to come visit from the great state of Texas this last week. We were only able to spend a little bit of time with them, but it was really great to see them. They have a 1 year old that we hadn't seen since last June and I can't believe how fast they grow! She is so cute and has a very lovable personality. We wish they would move back to Idaho but I can't blame them for staying when things are going so well! Keep in touch guys!!!!

Christmas

Holy Moly! I blinked and Christmas passed me. I cannot believe how fast Christmas snuck up on me this year. I didn't really get the chance to enjoy the pre-Christmas traditions this year. We did however, have a wonderful Christmas. First we celebrated on the 22nd with Ben's family. His grandparents come from California every year and we are priveledged to have them stay with us. Then we spent Christmas Eve and most of Christmas day with my family in Inkom. All my siblings and their kids came both days as well. Ben and I had a really good time. We were planning on leaving fairly early on Christmas day to drive home to spend time with Ben's family, but we got snowed in. My folk's live in the mountains so their road was snowed in. My dad and brother worked for about 6 hours on the fourwheeler to clear the road for us all to get in and out. BUT......the interstate was closed. Eventually the interstate opened back up and we decided to chance it. It was SCARY!!!! They should not have opened the road, but we made it home safe. Thanks to everyone for the wonderful Christmas!

Twilight Madness

I am 100% guilty of being a Twilight fan! I loved all of the books in the series so naturally I couldn't wait to go see the movie last night when it came out. I have never been to a movie the night that it premiers and now I remember why. It was a madhouse! Of course I was prepared and bought my tickets a week in advance which helped a little with the chaos, but nothing could have stopped the hoards of CRAZY people. You know when you go to the fair and people appear from out of nowhere? You know like all the white trash people come out of the sticks to make an appearance and your thinking, "I have lived here for (however long) and I never knew that these kind of people lived around here!" It was a similar feeling last night. People came in all sorts of Twilight apparel sporting all sorts of creative makeup and accessories. Even the guys...that's right guys in black eyeliner! However that is probably an every day occurrence for those boys! The difference in ages was another phenomenon. There were kids the age that should have been home in bed, the normal throng of teeny bopper high schoolers, middle aged women, and surprisingly grandparents. The excitement in the air almost made it hard to breath. I have never seen anything like it. I was glad that like many other women, I drug my wonderful husband along to protect me from the maddening crowd! Now as for the movie, it definitely needed to be longer to add all of the important parts from the book. The whole movie seemed very rushed. The special effects were not the greatest. When Edward is in the sun shining and glittering he is suppose to be beautiful. However, in the movie he just looked like he had stuff all over his face. I must say that I expected that the movie would not be as good as the book, but you just can't help to fall in love with Edward and Bella no matter what so I will probably be adding this movie to my collection when it comes out. Oh one more thing, never would I have thought this movie would be "funny" but it did have some humor in it that made it easier for the men to stay awake until the all too short fight scene. I hope that they make the other books into movies and soon!!

Halloween Fun

Pictures sure are hard to take with kids. You have about .02 seconds to get a picture before they start squirming or crying. I obviously need to work on this.

ARRRG!

I know I am really late posting these but I hope you still enjoy! Ben had to go out to protect and serve the wonderful city of Twin Falls on Halloween night so I loaded Woody up an headed home to Inkom. We went to my sister Kayla's house to party. Thanks Kayla and Cody for the wonderful food and fun! Mom and I dressed up with the kids. Mom was a pirate and I was a surgeon. Braxton was a skeleton, Taya was Cinderella, Tate was a ferocious lion, and Madison was a precious pumpkin. Also in the group picture is my dad, brother (though he is hiding behind the lion) and my grandparents. My sisters and their hubby's are taking pics. Oh!!!! How could I forget my own child?!?! Woody was a Jack O' lantern.