The Pheasant Hunt

Christmas 2008

Christmas is a very exciting time! I love spending time with family at this very special time of year! We have a very busy couple of days filled with fun and events. On Christmas Eve we go to my Mom and Dad's and eat snack food and the kids dress up like the nativity scene and my Mom reads a little nativity story. She usually has us watch a movie something that will help bring the spirit of Christmas to us. Then we go home and have Christmas with our own families, Christmas morning is always so exciting, the boys can't wait to see what they got! This year they both asked for guns. Branson got a shot gun and Carson a BB gun. Then at 10:00 am we go to eat breakfast at my Grandma Kent's house, we have been doing for as long as I can remember. My Grandma won't have it any other way. She is such a sweetheart! My cousin said it is like putting 40 people in a mini van, and it's just not healthy. I said we aren't very healthy people anyway! I can't imagine not being able to go to Grandma's on Christmas morning I have been doing it my whole life. I will miss it when we aren't able to do it anymore! Then we go to My Mom and Dad's again for lunch and to open our gifts from them and give them our gifts. This year one of our favorite gifts that Dad gave was a popcorn cart for the Grand kids that stays at his house. The kids thought it was so awesome. My Dad had to push snow most of Christmas Day, we missed him! Then later that evening we go to Roberta's house to be with Rod's family. She is very considerate of everyone and has her party in the evening so that we can get to all of our family activities. We had a great Christmas, we hope all of you do too!

Boy's Night at Aunt B's

Boy's Night at Aunt B's is a very exciting time! I love to have all the boys over and they have such a good time when they are together! I am missing two boys in this photo shoot. Newly's Lance and Kati's Payton. There have been several occasion's when I have had them all at the same time. Branson has his friend Wyatt over too. One of their favorite things to do is pretend that they are riding bulls, Bailey is usually the bull. He is a good sport. I love all my BOYS!!

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS MY 2 FRONT TEETH

Santa came to Fielding Town Hall last Saturday and Carson was so excited to sit on his lap and tell him what he wanted. Santa said I bet all you want for Christmas is your 2 front teeth. Carson said no I want a BB gun and a new saddle and a sled and.... OH BOY!
Branson on the other hand didn't want to sit on Santa's lap this year. Instead he wanted to take pictures. I gave him my camera and he went around snapping pictures of everyone. He tried to take a couple of himself with other people. What a kid. The older people thought it was great!

Salt Lake City

We went to Salt Lake this weekend on a mini vacation. I went to the Temple with Rod's sister Karen and her husband Travis, they were sealed to their children, it was such an awesome expericence! I am so happy for them! While I was in the temple Jacki toured Temple Square with my boys, they had a lot of fun. They did it all. They have never been to Temple Square. Jacki took them to eat in the Nauvoo Cafe while I went to the dinner. Rod had to work so he didn't get to go with us. That night we went to the concert at the Conference Center, that was really neat, I have never been inside of it and I was so amazed at how big it is. The concert was quite a show, more than I expected and the boys enjoyed it too! We stayed over at Little America and then went to the Gateway the next day, we were going to shop but we ended up just eating, because Jacki and I were worried about the snow. We had a lot of fun together. Thanks, Aunt Jacki. This was probably an overdose on birth control for her!

GINGERBREAD HOUSES

Rod's Mom makes gingerbread for everybody in the family. The couples get one to share and the kids each get their own. It is a lot of work for her, but she really enjoys doing it for everyone. We put our houses together the first Sunday in December every year.

The boys love to do this! Carson's favorite part is putting the house together and decorating it. That's what he said anyway, I think he really enjoys eating the candy too.

Branson's favorite part is eating it on New Year's Day. Rod remembers eating theirs on New Year's Day when he was a kid. I think it is kind of gross, because it gets dusty, but boys don't really care about that. Branson even put candy inside of his and said that it is a secret vault only to be opened on New Year's Day.





This is ours, however I did all of the work, Rod does'nt really get into it. Mine always looks about the same every year, this year I tried wheat thins on the the roof for shingles. I don't get to creative, I like to keep it simple. I like mine to be color coordinated of course in Red and Green. This is a fun tradition. Thanks Roberta for all of your work!

TAGGED

Mandi tagged me so here it is:

RULES:

1. Go to your pictures

2. Go to the 4th file & upload the 4th picture

3. Post & tell about the picture

4. Tag 4 friends

Carson & Great Grandpa Udy's Birthday Party in 2005.

Carson & Grandpa Udy's Birthday's are one day apart. May 2nd and May 3rd. I remember when I was expecting Carson and Grandpa was hopeful that I would have him on his Birthday. We were at Grandpa's Birthday Party the night before and I knew I was getting started the next day. At the party I started having labor pains and Grandpa was hoping that I still might have him before midnight, but I still had to get started the next day. I am so blessed two have these to special people in my life. They both know how to make me feel special. My Grandpa used to make me feel like a princess when I was a little girl and Carson always lets me know that I am loved. He always says "I love you so much, Mom!"

I tag Angie N. , Janiece, Sari and Sandy Jo

GROCERY SMARTS

I went shopping for the first time in my life with coupons, Thanks to Jacki, she introduced me to the grocery smarts program. I have really been sitting on the fence about this because it just seemed like a lot of work and time, which I don't have. Jacki called me last week and said that their was an awesome sale at Albertson's in Logan and I should try my coupons out. She said Friday night they restock everything, so she went to check it out to make sure everything was stocked up for me before I made the trip over. Then on Friday night at 9:30 pm Carson and I started over to Logan to meet Jacki so she could help us figure this thing out. It is a little complicated and since she had done it before she was the pro. Anyway I spent only $77.83 and saved $275.66 that is a savings of 75% which means out the 95 items I purchased i spent about 72 cents per item. I even got 10 bottles of All Laundry detergent. Now that is a huge savings! I will probably do it again but only if their is a good sale like this one.

HALLOWEEN FUN

We had a fun week of Halloween events! We went to our ward Halloween party on Tuesday Night. We decorated pumpkins and ate dinner. On Thursday night we carved our pumpkins. The boys always love to do this. I think it is because they get to use a knife. On Friday we dressed up for work and school, I even dressed up like a witch for work, my friend Janet also dressed up like a hunter. We decided we needed to do something fun at work for stress relief. Branson dressed up like a vampire for school and Carson dressed up like a ninja, check out his moves. Then for trick or treating, Branson dressed up like a girl, yes that is Branson, he made a beautiful girl, he has nice eyelashes. Then of course after trick or treating we went to Grandma Kent's for Chili and Sugar Cookies and life long family tradition. I love Halloween, it is so much fun!

WAY TO GO BRANSON

Branson showing off his Belt Buckle,

he won for 2nd in the All Around, Junior Division.

We traveled to Panguitch, Utah this weekend to participate in another 4-H Working Ranch Horse Competition. Branson did so awesome!

He made a goal that he would improve a little at each competition.

So he practiced every night with his Dad and it paid off!

We are so happy for him! He was so exicted!

I did get a tear in my eye, can you beleve that?

This is Branson and Chastin Hortin who took 1st, he won a saddle.
In the competition these kids are judged in five areas. They take a written test, sort cattle in a round pen, head and heel a dummy from horse back five times each within a time limit and do a reining pattern and call for a steer and show they can hold it on the fence. Branson improved in every area this time! There were 15 kids competing in the Junior Division.

Branson and Rod getting ready for the Dummy Roping.

On Friday night Rod and Branson also competed in their first Ranch Rodeo, they did pretty good they took 7th out of about 40 teams in the sort with 47 seconds on 3 head.

Branson even caught a heel on the roping.
(I dont have pictures of that though, they did'nt turn out bummer!)

These are the kids from Box Elder County that went down to Panguitch.

They traveled the farthest and we were the County with the most kids there. WoW!

Left to Right Front: Chett Udy, Cody Noyes, Branson Bywater, Bailey Soto, Baxton Udy
Back Row: Cody Coombs, Jake Udy, Wyatt Misrasi, Tate Coombs

They all did so Great!!

Grandpa Rick pulled his trailer down for us to sleep in!

We had a big slumber party

Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Kati, Bubba, Carson, Branson, Dutchess, Mom & Dad!

Good thing Grandpa got a new bigger trailer!

Grandpa Rick cooked us a good breakfast both mornings.

He is so awesome, he watched the whole long slow moving show from start to finish.

He is not used to timed events, He is used to those 8 second rides and then going home.

I told him he will have to get used to the timed events, cause that is what his next generation will be participating in.

Grandma Lynn, Branson, Bailey, Carson & Aunt Kati

CARTER'S CRAZY CORN MAZE

We went with the King's to Carter's Crazy Corn Maze

for Family Home Evening.

It was not haunted! Thank goodness!

Branson and Carson were watching out for their DAD.

poor Carson was pretty scared. He was always hanging onto someone.

Rod thought he knew where he was going, he would stay ahead of us and then end up behind us scarying us half to death. I am glad he was there though, last time I took the boys to a corn maze by myself and we were in there a long time, I thought we may never get out!

Today was a great day! We went with our 4-H group to the Working Ranch Horse Gathering. Rod is the 4-H leader to about 15 kids in the WRH program. I am so proud of our boys that went to the gathering they all improved from last year! Almost all of them placed in the top 5 in one category or another. Rod said the most important thing is that they did their personal best! He is so awesome, I have to say that he impresses me alot with the way that he works with these kids, he is very dedicated to this and is sincerely interested in each kid and their growth. We have a little awards assebly at the end of the year and he sits down and tells me what he wants each kids certificate to say. He is such a great Dad and this is a wonderful way for he and my boys to make a connection.

Oh my heck! I can't believe that I am starting a blog! I didn't really ever think that I would do this, but since Mandi & Jacki have been doing it I have become much more interested and it is kind of fun to look at others blogs and see what they are doing. So what the heck! I was showing Rod blogs tonight and he was quite interested. He encouraged me and actually helped me set ours up.