Cowboy in Training

For months now, we have been talking about going down to Spanish Fork to visit my Uncle Jeff. He's my favorite uncle and recently got hitched. His wife and step-daughters have moved into his bachelor house so it's been a bit crazy for them. We knew Jackson would love seeing all the animals and riding a horse so we talked them into letting us visit when they probably weren't quite ready for us. The above picture is of Jackson feeding Bud. Bud is my Aunt Cindy's horse and he's such a good horse. So calm and friendly, especially when you have food! It was so fun to watch him. At first he was a little nervous, to be honest, I still get a bit nervous at first. But after some help from Jeff he was a pro!

Here Jeff is showing him how to hold the brush and how to talk to the horse. He didn't really say much to Bud, but did a good job brushing. Can you believe that Bud used to be black? Eventually he turned gray. What a pretty horse though!

Jackson brushing Bud.

Alexis fixing the saddle so he fit on it. I did a little video of him riding but I am not sure how to post a video so sorry you won't get to see it.

Look! We have a family picture! Cindy was so nice to give him some boots. He's so excited and they are a bit too big but who cares?! He's a cowboy in training!

These two were hanging out chatting and waiting for the horses and I thought it was so cute! I am in love with my boys! We are so happy that Jeff and Cindy let us come over. Cindy said she would teach Jackson how to ride so I think we'll be taking her up on that offer. We hope to have some land and horses of our own one day. One thing that was cute, after riding Bud it was time to eat. Jackson was washing his hands in the bathroom and Cindy was helping him. He looked around the bathroom (mind you, Jeff has been living in this house alone for 15 years) and it's decorated in Cowboy stuff. He asked Cindy, "Why are there cowboy boots everywhere?" She replied, "Cause Jeff is a real cowboy." His eyes got huge and he said, "He IS?" He loves the animals and was able to feed the rabbits, ride Bud, help Alexis feed and water the other horses, run around the yard with Maggie (their yellow Lab) and just be a boy for the evening. It was wonderful! I was just having a blast watching and taking pictures.

Batman Costume

For my birthday party, we picked up Jackson. He bolted out of the door and came running for the car. He was sporting a batman costume. His grandma was laughing and said to Paul that he insisted on wearing it. So I want you all to see my little batman!

Summerfest 2009

This weekend we had Jackson and Paul's sister, Liz, invited us to go to Summerfest with them. For those of you who are not familiar with Utah County, I will explain. Each town/city has their own little celebration week or weekend. Lehi has Round-up week (I only know this since I work for the city), Pleasant Grove has Strawberry Days, etc. For Orem, it is the Summerfest. This is the shortest one I know of since it is only Friday and Saturday. They had a carnival in the park and so we went to that. We had some delish and very bad for you food, let Jackson ride some rides with Seth (his cousin), and played on some old vintage army trucks. Sadly my camera needs new batteries (this is a recurring problem, I think I need rechargeable batteries cause I'm spending a fortune on them!) so we weren't able to take any pictures.

When we were just about to leave, some dark clouds were gathering. We didn't park particularly close, so we had a ways to walk. As we walked, it started to sprinkle. So we picked up the pace. Well then the rain started. Paul ran ahead to get the car. Seth wanted to come over and play so he was with us. I'll tell you what, I'm from Oklahoma where the best rain storms occur. Living in Utah is tough because there are no thunder storms. Usually it doesn't dump like it did on us that afternoon. It was crazy rain.

We got back to the house and the boys wanted to build a fort. Last time they wanted to build a fort, I built the fort. So this time, we gave them what they needed and I gave some suggestions but then we left it all up to them. We went downstairs and we could hear furniture being moved all around. Jackson came down and took all 5 of the blankets we have downstairs and we asked if he really needed them all. He insisted that he did. A little later they came down saying they were hungry and wanted a snack. I headed up. Man, they sure did move the furniture around. The kitchen table was pushed back up against the wall, all the chairs were in a circle in the living room, the other furniture was all moved around...it was pretty funny. They had been busy! The suggestion I gave them was to put the chairs in a circle and then to drape the blankets over them. Well they certainly did do that! The only problem was, instead of putting the backs of the chairs towards the middle of the circle, it was just the opposite. Then they had draped at least one blanket over each chair. So it didn't quite look like a fort. I asked if they wanted some help and they said yes. Just a few arrangements and BAM, we had a fort. As I looked around, they had gathered every blanket in the house, including the ones from our bedroom and Jackson's room. It was cute. What they weren't too excited about was the clean-up. But they were good boys and did it. :)

That night there was a parade. We went to watch and lasted an hour before the dark clouds reappeared and yet another downpour commenced. This time we were smart, though, we had jackets at least to keep us warm. All in all it was a lot of fun. Jackson had a good time and that makes us so happy. Tomorrow we are going horse back riding at my uncles, I promise to get some batteries and take some pictures.

Birthday Fun

Last Saturday I turned 28. Sometimes I think, really I'm 28? But really I don't feel old even though in 2 years I'll be the big 30. We had a nice day full of fun shopping. Paul didn't enjoy it much, but he was a good sport. Really I just wanted to look around at some kitchen stores to get some ideas. We went to Williams Sonoma, Let's Cook and the Bosch store. I didn't really find anything I really wanted there, but I did have fun looking around. The coolest thing I found was an ice cream maker that you can attach to the mixer...sadly not to mine. I might have bought it otherwise. Then we drove up to Salt Lake and went to Tai Pan Trading. I had never been there before and I could tell Paul was getting sick of all the different stores. It had some cool stuff but since I'm not trying to set up a home, we didn't stay long. Then we headed to Bed, Bath and Beyond and I got a few things there. We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and MAN it was awesome. We went all out with an appetizer, steak dinners and dessert. We were stuffed to the MAX! I love that place. If you have never been, I strongly suggest you do.

Sunday we had a little gathering to celebrate. My SIL Liz made me a delicious chocolate cake and lots of friends and family came. We had a Guitar Hero challenge and it took a while for anyone to dethrown me. It's a fun game. We were so happy Jackson could come to celebrate as well and hang with his cousins. I just love anytime that we get to spend with him. Overall it was a great birthday. Thanks for all the phone calls and birthday cards.