4-Wheelin' at Dead Horse Caves

We took a fun 4-wheelin trip today to Dead Horse Caves in the hills outside Gooding. It was just a short trip that took a few hours with a picnic, but the kids loved it. Here are some fun pictures:

This is Me and the kids at the opening of the cave.

Shelby and the kids inside the cave. We left our flashlights sitting on the counter at home, so this was as deep as we dared go, but it was still sooooo dark.

On the trail back, we found this great big mountain of rock that had huge crevaces and canyons through it. This is the kids exploring one. They loved it!
However, to get to the cool crevace pictured previously, they had to JUMP over other crevaces that were not "cool enough" for Shelby. It very nearly scared the crap out of me.- Grandma Wendy- DON'T LOOK!

It was such a fun trip for the kids to explore and get outside on a nice day and so fun to have some adventure together.

Sweet Little Grace

This is one of my roomies and best friends' (Amy Nessen-see their blog link on the side) sweet little girl Grace Holly Nessen that I finally got to meet. They live in Texas and I was so excited that they were going to be in Utah last weekend visiting family while we were there. She was so sweet and lovable and looks just like her Daddy! I just had to post this and rub it in to all the other roomies that I SAW HER FIRST! And she is perfect.

Countdowns....

There are several things that I am very excited about and looking forward to at the moment and I just had to give you the final countdowns.....

Grey's Anatomy NEW episode- FINALLY- 32 hours and 19 minutes.

Twilight Book Signing and Girls' Trip to Park City and then Salt Lake with most of the BUNCO crew- 3 weeks and 2 days.

Meeting my favorite girls of all time- my roomies from BYUI for our first annual reunion in Las Vegas- 4 months 1week and 5 days.

I love having things to look forward to. I am also very excited for some fun camping trips this summer with family and friends. Can't wait to lounge out at the Wendell Swimming Pool.....The list goes on and on.

Funny Wyatt story

The other night for family home evening, we were talking about "Following the Prophet". I was trying to teach them the Primary song (just the chorus) and we were coloring pictures of President Monson. I thought it went pretty good, the kids can kinda fumble through the song. Success. Then Shelby took Wyatt outside with him to feed the dogs. He got a little side-tracked and peed his pants. When he came in to change, I asked him (a little bit frustrated) "Wyatt- why did you pee your pants?" He told me, sadly "Because I wasn't following the prophet." Ha Ha. I busted up laughing and it still makes me smile to think about that answer.

Family Trip to Willow Park Zoo

We went to Tremonton this weekend to visit Shelby's family for his birthday, and on Saturday we took a little stop at the Willow Park Zoo in Logan. We had a little picnic in the park and let the kids play on the slides and swings for a while before we went into the zoo.

Here's Shelby, Wyatt, Livvy, and Grandma Wendy looking at the ducks.

Livvy was so excited to feed the ducks. She was throwing the food in by the handfuls and giggling when they ate it up.
This one was so close that they could almost reach out and touch it, but I was sure little fingers would be munched!

Livvy had the best seat in the house. Here she is telling us what the coyote sounds like.


The kids sure had fun seeing all the monkeys, deer, elk, peacocks, bobcats, birds, and even turtles! It was a fun day together.

Happy Birthday Hubby!

Happy 29th Birthday Shelby! I have been telling everyone all week that he is turning 30 just to drive him crazy, but he cannot be ruffled. So I am setting the facts straight- he is really only 29! There that should make him feel young :) Here is a little bit of info about my hubby:

What are his hobbies? Bow hunting, trapping, riding his four-wheeler, working on old crappy trucks, snowmobiling, breaking colts, and more....I can't actually list them all- he has more hobbies than anyone else I know.

Occupation: He is currently working for our family company C Turner Inc. as a manufacturing engineer and hopefully will take it over one day as a partnership with my brother Austin.

My first impression of him: I knew from the moment that I met Shelby that he was the one I was going to marry. I met him at Country Dancing night up at the college and my brother had been trying to get me to meet him for weeks. His hot blue eyes and rippling muscles totally did it for me. I went home and announced to all my roommates that I would be marry this guy......and I did. Mission Accomplished.

My favorite things about him:

He refuses to fight with me. No matter how grumpy I might be, he always remains calm.

He loves to spend time with his kids. It doesn't matter what we are doing, Shelby can make it so fun for the kids. He truly enjoys spending time with them and is always happy to take them wherever he is going or let them help him.

He is so handy! He can build just about anything or fix whatever is broken. I LOVE not having to call a repairman or take my car into the shop. I have my own handsome repairman at home.

He would rather spend time with me. Shelby is slightly anti-social :) and sometimes it drives me crazy (as I am NOT), but it is really nice to know that given the option, he would always rather go on a date with just me, or stay home and hang out with kids.

He is one of the hardest workers I know. It doesn't matter how many hours he has to put in or what kind of task he has to do, he will do it to the best of his ability.

He loves me and only me. He makes me feel beautiful and loved every day. I can't think of anything better.

NOOOO- This is torture!

So- in case you haven't seen it where you live for awhile- let me introduce you to my new enemy- SNOW! We woke up this morning to find this lovely snowstorm. The flakes were coming down large and pretty, and I probably would have enjoyed it if it were the 1st snowstorm of the winter- instead of the very possible last thing I wanted to see this morning. SPRING- WHERE ARE YOU???

Wyatt's New Bed

Wyatt's bed that Shelby made him for his birthday. I had several family members that hadn't seen it yet ask for pictures. Shelby worked really hard on Wyatt's tractor bed and it is complete with working lights, a steering wheel, a gear shift, a hood that opens. Wyatt thinks he has the coolest bed ever and he's right! He had no trouble at all transitioning to his bigger bed when it was this cool of an option!

Support Group Info.

I have recently discovered these two great Yahoo! Groups that give support and advice for parents of children with developmental delays. I am very grateful that there are wonderful places like this to go to find advice, help, or just people who understand to listen. If your child has special needs, or you suspect they might, sites like these are great for knowing that you are not alone, are not going crazy, and give you great information and ideas for helping your child. Wyatt is such a sweet little boy with the biggest heart and most wonderful spirit. He would never do anything to hurt anyone EVER and is such a good helper for his mommy. But there are days that are truly hard- there are things that we work on every single day that are so easy for so many other kids his age- and there are days that break my heart.

The groups' sites are: (I think the second one is the best)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/childdevdelays/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OurSpecialNeedsChildren/

My new quote I found to help me today is:

"Happy moments, PRAISE GOD! Difficult moments, SEEK GOD! Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD! Painful moments, TRUST GOD! Every moment, THANK GOD!"

Wyatt is such a blessing in my life and truly here to help me grow and be a better person. He may have special needs, but he also has special talents and is truly amazing.

Riverview Wardites

I received the sweetest phone call tonight. At first I was really unsure who it was, although I recognized the voice, and I was really confused when the person asked to talk to Wyatt. It turns out that it was his Nursery leader from our old ward in Tremonton. Her and her husband were missing my kids and wanted to talk to them. His teacher Julie, started to cry when she heard Wyatt's voice and Wyatt was so excited that he was almost hyperventilating saying "Julie on here Mom- Julie!" It made me even more homesick for my incredible family in the good ole Riverview Ward. I just wanted to give a 'shout-out' to all of those people that treated us like their own kids, grandkids, sister, etc. I miss them all and for sure they can never be replaced. Sherry, Lynette, Amie, Julie, Annette, Judy, Robbin, Diana...... the list goes on and on. I love you guys!