Wide Open Spaces

Last Sunday, after church, we went up to Hilltop Canyon and had a picnic. The weather had been so nice that we were all really wanting to get out, so we went home and packed a lunch, grabbed a couple of the dogs, extra clothes because you know that someone will end up getting wet and a couple other kids-Killian and Caulin because the more the merrier. It was so nice and relaxing; the kids had a blast and Bryan and I just enjoyed the time spent together watching everyone play in the great outdoors.

Wide open spaces!!!! The view is breath taking-and goes on for a long ways. It was really green too!!!!

These are the Sheep Creek Mtns to the north.

This is past of the Shoshone Mtns where we were at.

The creek was really muddy from all of the run off from the snow storm the week before. It was flowing pretty fast too.

The mouth of the canyon to the right.

Down the valley. Hilltop and Battle Mtn are down there somewhere. Being up here is good and bad for me. Good because its good to get out with the family and the outdoors is the best place to do that; bad because i don't want to leave and i find myself lusting for the property that is for sale not far from here-just down the mtns a couple miles.

Lee had a good time doing what dogs do in the hills-sniff this, sniff that, stop at that bush and that bush etc.......

This was Hanks first time out and he loved it and stuck around like glue. He, like Lee, did a lot of exploring. Everyone, including the dogs slept really good that night.

Jessie and Marisa off on a big adventure.

Sweet Missy!!!

Sweet Jessie!!! The torture of having to stop them to take a picture-what was I thinking.

They found the creek. They were a bit disappointed that it was so muddy and mom said NO to getting in. They settled for throwing rocks in.

There we go!!! Pausing for a picture isn't that bad!

Yes, they were testing the boundaries of what does it mean to be "really in the creek".

I think Jessie needed a hat or something to keep her hair out of her face.

Jessie found this rock and liked it because it was striped like her shirt so yes, we brought it home.

Marisa has a jacket on now because like I said, someone is going to get wet; however, it wasn't because she fell in. Marisa likes to be clean and when she got some mud on her shirt she felt the need to wash it------in the creek. Surprisingly, despite the muddy water-it looked clean but know she was a bit chilled.

Bryan was putting some Pepsi in the snow to get it cold and yes, plotting on how to get some snow down my shirt. It was cold!!!!

Here is Killian making his way up from the creek and Hank chasing his shadow.

Jessie, Caulin and Marisa all making their way back for lunch.

This little patch of snow was fairly slushy and since it was on the slope of this hill it was really slick but Caulin conquered it just fine.

Marisa making her way up.

After lunch, the kids wanted to hike up a mountain. The hill that they picked was....steep-they crawled up it.

But they made it to the top with no problems. The dogs gave up after the first few feet. Bryan and I stayed at the bottom to catch any "roll-aways".

Can you find them all?

On the way down. Killian and Jessie came down on their feet but Marisa and Caulin slid down on their bottoms.

Comin' down one step at a time.

Comin' down one scoot at a time.

The results of scooting.

Missy and Caulin making their way back to the vehicles. Its time to get home and get cleaned up.

I am hoping this week to take a trail ride up her somewhere. I think that I am going to go down a canyon or two to Slavin Canyon. If it happens there will be pics and a post to come.

Don't Look

Time for some more photos of our four-legged, fury, manure chomping, long-nosed......sniffers, who have untiring energy and a great ability for mischief.
I always thought it would be cool to get a picture of all of our dogs sitting together and looking at the camera. After attempting this, I decided that I may need to use some of my "free" time and work on getting them to all listen to me at the SAME time.

Its almost impossible to get Azule to look at the camera. Lee does quite well, on his own, and Hank.....lets just say he is in his own little world at the moment waiting for a flash of light or little red laser dot to chase.

Azule: "whatever you do, don't look at it man-I have an uneasy feeling"

Lee: "thanks for the tip man; what if I just close my eyes"

Hank: "where's the flash, where's the flash"

ME: "Stay, Stay. Azule, quite whispering to Lee!"

Ummmm.........Azule!!! What did you tell Lee?

Hank: "I think I saw a shadow, or was it a bird or......." ( he has some seriouse issues)

I really think that they are deliberatly ignoring me. Well, we'll see who gets dinner tonight!!!

Hank: "There it goes, its over there now"

A Hank explanation: He is nerotic. He suffers from extreme ADHD. He loves to chase shadows, reflections, flashlights and the little red laser dot from a laser pointer. He thinks that the camera will provide one if not all of these things. Its really bad when I have the flash on. He also loves to chase flys, butterflys, and he feels that it is his duty to keep our property free from birds. He will spend hours making sure that no rest comes to anything that can fly or float. So, if you come over and he "meets" you while starring at the ground, entertain him and make your shadow move.

This Too Shall Pass

April showers bring May flowers!!!! Today is a perfect day to get caught up on some blogging plus some other indoor activities. Yes, the warm weather is nice, but so is the rain; especially when you are getting enough to water things so you don't have to drag the hoses out for a few more days. For those of you who are really ready for the hot summer, let me remind you of what we had about 2wks ago.


This was a little over 12hrs after it started. We had had warm weather prior to this massive storm so the ground was not frozen plus the snow was extremely wet.

Can anyone say.........I'm really concerned just how big this "puddle" is going to get when it all melts!!

This pic doesn't show it that well but we had drifts over 2ft deep.

Unfortunately, the horse pens are a couple of the low spots on the property; they don't like getting their feet muddy(not that I blame them). They did have dry places in their sheds though.

These "puddles" got bigger before they got smaller. I was wading in water to go feed. I still had small puddles in these pens before todays rain came-now they're growing again.

What a mess; but a very, much needed mess-I'll take the moisture in about any form we can get it.

Some of you may remember this picture from a previous post when we got our first big winter storm. Azule is not affected by the weather. I think he enjoys it. He has 4 dog houses to choose from plus the option to come indoors and he declines them all.

This is a true "snow dog".

My juniper bushes seem to be feeling a bit "low".

Normally they are taller than me but after the storm they were maybe waist high.

The front of the house had a huge, long drift in it.

After over 24hrs of blowin' snow the sun made its appearance so don't forget, this too shall pass.

Beautiful

I got these pictures a few days ago after the rain storms that we had. I think that they are a good reminder of how amazing God is and the beauty of His creation doesn't compare to the magnificence of His love and care for us.

There was still a "stray" shower going through. As you can see, my lawn is turning quite green and is actually in desperate need of a mowing. I love the shade of purple in this photo.

I like all the different shades of colors that were around with each of the mountain ranges.

This little creation is quite a beauty herself-and I think she knows it.

She definitely isn't looking like my little baby anymore.