Becoming a trend

Oh how scary for me! I was perusing the pictures of Joni and have noticed that we have been taking a LOT of pictures of her sucking her thumb. We try to divert her to a binki in the hopes that if she does start sucking it regularly, it will be easier to take a binki away than a THUMB! Her favorite is when she is sitting over your shoulder like this. Her poor eyes get all red around the edges when we take a picture of her. This is how it all begins. She starts by sucking on the edge of her fist and then she finds . . . THE THUMB!

This picture is in her swing. She had fallen asleep and I found her this way after she had been asleep for awhile! What a cute little pill!

Funny story about this sequence:

1. I saw that she was sucking her thumb and so I gave her the binki hoping that she would just suck on it and be happy . . .

2. She works her hand around until she has got her thumb IN the hole and then she starts sucking on BOTH the thumb and the binki! Wouldn't that be my luck? I never have a thumb/finger sucker OR a binki sucker and now I get both and have to eventually wean her off BOTH!
3. PROOF! "Oh no, I am caught!" Whenever she starts sucking her thumb, we will say "Are you sucking your thumb? You naughty little girl" (with a smile of course!) and she will just smile! It is so adorable, right now.

Horse Judging

Too bad I can't get these events posted closer to when they actually happen! Logan and Carson got to participate in their first 4-H Horse Judging event on June 9. They were a little bit nervous, Carson more than Logan. It was a beautiful day, the rain held off until after the event. They had six classes which included Arab/Quarterhorse mares, pure Quarterhorse and some colts. They also got to judge a trail class and an equitation class. It was all new for both of them. Logan ended up getting 2nd overall in the Junior division and then his team got first! The team consisted of Brody, Logan, Harley and Jaycie. Carson was supposed to be on that team, but the organizers got it messed up and put Jaycie on instead. Carson was pretty devastated that he didn't get a ribbon. We were trying to convince him that he still has a lot of time ahead of him. Not a whole lot of consolation. :( He still gave it his best shot and he thought that because he didn't get a ribbon he didn't do his best. Just true to his character! My little challenge boy!

So studious! If Logan put this much effort into doing his house chores, we wouldn't have quite so many differences!

This is my effort to put a scrapbook page together. Ha ha! This is why I don't scrapbook, it is so hodgepodge because I get annoyed that it takes so long, so I just throw it together! Too bad it has so much potential and I didn't put my whole effort into it!

Monte didn't have to miss out on the fun. He brought his rope and had all the gates tied shut through the whole judging.

This is his 4-H leader. He is double checking with her, they have to sign off once they have their final placing.

Carson found that one of the boys in our 4-H club was in his group. So Brody had a permanent shadow for the first three classes. How adorable! My little Carson looking so grown up with his little clipboard!

Monte's Birthday

First, I must say that we are so THANKFUL that Monte made it to his fifth birthday! And a much anticipated birthday it was. He has known that it was June 7, but the concept of the actual day of it was harder. All week he would say, "It's my birthday tomorrow right!" "No Monte, it is on Sunday" Then we would have to go through the days of the week from the day that it was. He was so excited to have someone come to his birthday party, so a great big THANK YOU! to Grammy and Grandpa Covolo and Scott, Rita and Ceci! He had a great time trying to blow the "relight" candles out. I cannot believe that my little baby Monte is now five and no longer the baby! =( I am grateful that we have another baby behind him! I have been debating on whether or not to send him to school in the fall because of the summer birthday and as of right now, I am thinking that I am going to keep him out one more year and just do preschool at home. If anybody has any words of wisdom or advice, go ahead and let me know. Maybe it will give me a definite impression one way or another! THANKS! Here are some pictures from his party. We are going to do a friend party, so when I have the details I will let you know!

Spiderman cake!

Every little boys dream!

Carson gave Monte a few "little" gifts.

One happened to be this little piece of rope, that he was so thrilled to have!

Pictures with Grammy and Grandpa! Grammy says she thinks that Joni is ALWAYS sleeping! That's what her pictures indicate anyway!

Moon Sand from Grammy and Grandpa!
He also got some cool roper shoes that have a bucking horse on the side and they are light up!

More details later!

My how time flies!

Who knew that sixteen years would fly by so fast! Sixteen years, four children and many wonderful adventures! It is kind of fun to think back on all the accomplishments we have had and all the exciting (maybe not all good!) times we have had. There was a while that it was an annual occurence for Justin to have some type of work-related injury. It sure doesn't seem like all that long ago that we were making adult sized decisions about what to do concerning school after we were married, where to live and what life would bring during our married life together! Happy 16th Anniversary Justin! Thanks for all the wonderful adventures we have embarked on together so far! I look forward to what the next 16 years and beyond will bring!


And as promised here is the picture of Monte's mischeviousness and ingenuity from yesterday. (See post below)

Monte was good enough to do a picture of Logan, Joni and I. Notice, Logan was trying on the headbands for Joni.

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DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS AT HOME!

I really hestitate to post this because I hate remembering this moment, but I will so that I can tell you without repeating the story over and over.


Yesterday started out a great day (which is something you SHOULD attempt everyday!) Thomas Market had flats of strawberries on sale for $4.99! Smokin Deal! So I bought two flats with the goal of not losing ONE strawberry to mold. I did it! I didn't have to throw one strawberry away! I was so proud of myself. So we started processing them to make jam and I thought it would be a great idea to make some pies as well. So when I got the strawberries chopped for the jam, I got some pie crusts made and baking and had just enough of the sliced strawberries left to fill the pies. They were YUMMY!!!

Even Joni was pleasant through the whole process!

A Whole Load of Strawberries!

I guess I proved that I don't get hives from eating strawberries anymore! I ate my fair share and then some. Good thing they are healthy!

Carson pitched in by chopping strawberries.

Logan was slicing and Carson ran them through the chopper.

This turned out to be quite the assembly line.

Then after we finished processing them, we went into town for our daily walk around the park. We brought a friend home for Carson to play with. I got a call from Justin to meet him and switch trucks. So we went and got the truck and horse trailer from him and took it back to the corrals by our house. The boys ran to the house to go play while I got backed into the corral to dump the calf out. I was sitting there waiting for the guys to open the gate and I saw the Monte and Carson's friend riding on the go-kart. One moment later I saw Monte's seat belt flapping in the wind which meant that it was NOT buckled. Fear struck my heart to say the least. I got out of the truck and headed that way yelling for them to stop. Unfortunately, they did not hear me and when I was still about 50 feet away, the go-kart to a sharp left circle turn and to my absolute shock, I saw Monte bounce up and off the seat and out the side! At first I thought that his legs were still caught in the inside of the go-kart and he was going to be drug, but then I saw his legs flip out and it spun him backwards so his head was positioned right for the tire to go over his head - You guessed it! I saw the back of the go-kart bounce up signaling that it truly did drive up over his head. By the time I sprinted over to him, he was up crying looking around for me. Of course horrified would be the best way to describe how I was feeling at this point. He could walk and talk which I was grateful for. I carried him to the house and got the plastered mud and tire track washed off his face. I talked to him to make sure he knew a few facts, like that his birthday is June 7, who comes on Christmas and brings presents, how many fingers am I holding up. Everything was looking good, but I just felt like a professional should be looking at him determining that he truly was ok. So we called the clinic and took him in. The doctor did a thorough examination and found that every single thing that he checked out was just fine. Of course he was extremely concerned about the fact that they were not wearing helmets or seatbelts, which they usually do. Now by this point Carson was feeling overly responsible and especially when the doctor looked at me and said "I think you might be getting off easy this time." Carson thought he was directing that comment to him and when the doctor left the room to run it by the other doctor, he started getting teary eyed and said "He just told me I was going to get off easy" So I had to explain to him what the doctor's comment really meant.
We found this abrasion when we got to the doctor's office. He told us to keep an eye out for other injuries that we could have overlooked because we were so focused on the head.

I didn't really feel like taking pictures at the time of the accident, so this was the day after picture. He originally had mud embedded in his scalp and plastered all over his face, but it washed off very easily. By the time we got to the doctor, he had a mild headache and just pain on the exact location of the abrasions.

Now comes the part that you SHOULD attempt at home:

- COUNT EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOUR BLESSINGS EVERY DAY AND BE GRATEFUL FOR THOSE BLESSINGS THAT ARE PART OF YOUR FAMILIES LIVES. I know that we were truly blessed that Monte did not sustain any worse injuries than he did. Heavenly Father truly blessed us considering how bad this accident could have been and we are so grateful that Monte is o.k. He is back to his normal rambunctious and mischevious self.

Today he came in the house asking for the duct tape. I asked what he needed it for and he said, "You know that thing that sticks up on the front of the white car? It broke off and I need to tape it back on!" I will post the picture later!