This week has been pretty stressful to say the least.  I am not even sure where to begin.
     Last Tuesday, Ryan and Sage went to Cedar City.  Sager had school at GPA, and Ryan wanted to get some cleaning done on the garage up there.  It is crazy to think that we have been slowly moving out of that house for nine months.  We really need to start getting some money from rent.  Anyhow, needless to say that things went all awry that day.  Ryan also had court because he had been cited for having a vehicle that was out of registration on one of our properties.  Never mind the fact that the vehicle was just sitting, and not even on the streets or anything.  We were not even sure which vehicle they were after us about, because Ryan has a few vehicles parked around.  He filed a motion of discovery to try to pin down exactly which property and which vehicle.  Anyhow, they ignored all of his motions, and so he shows up to court unprepared because he isn't really sure what the problem is.  Well, they bring up the fact that he has another outstanding citation that he has ignored, and so there is a warrant out for him.  Again, he tries to question what the original citation was about, and they ignore him and handcuff him, and arrest him.  Because he questioned them, they also tagged on a resisting arrest charge.  Seriously?  Could the day get any worse?  When he called, I offered to come and bail him out, but because he did not know what the charges were, he didn't want me paying anything.
      In the mean time, Sager had been picked up by Bart, and was way upset.  Thank goodness for good friends is all I can say.  I have probably not seen Bart for a few years, but he was a ton of help through this whole ordeal.  He had picked her up something to eat, and offered to keep her for the night.  I was really torn, because I wanted to just run up and get her, but I knew that I wanted to try to get Ryan out too somehow.  I had her stay with Tim and Tammy, and she seemed quite comfortable with that idea, and I ran to Cedar as soon as I could the next morning.
     I truly believe that judges and police personnel should have to spend a few days in jail.  It is so easy for them to just put people there that they don't want to deal with.  Ryan is tough, and he handled it okay, but I was up most of the night concerned about him...never mind all of the public shame that has been heaped upon us since.
     When I arrived in Cedar, I was not sure how to proceed.  I immediately went and picked Saggers up, and my parents showed up wondering how they could help.  They took the kids to McDonalds, and I went up to the jail.  I asked if I could see my husband (no, visiting hours are not until tomorrow) and I wondered if he had changed his mind, and wanted me to bail him out yet.  It is so frustrating to just wonder how someone you deeply care about is doing.  He has always carried a phone, and although he is pretty awful to communicate with on the phone, I have always been able to call him if needed.  If Ryan had done someone some real damage, then we deserve some punishment.  What was so frustrating, is that we didn't even know what the tickets were about. 
     I really didn't want to leave Cedar without him, but because I didn't know what he was thinking, I decided to go and help Bart clean our garage (seriously? he and his son worked on our garage for two straight days!) and leave after a few hours.  I still had kids coming home from school that day, and I figured if Ryan wanted me to bail him out, he would call me.  Anyhow, after about an hour, he and another gentleman came walking up to the house.  The judge had met with him via teleconference, and apologized.  She also dropped most of the charges, and didn't make him post bail.  The other gentleman had been in for being caught with some marijuana that he had grown for medical purposes.  He has a license for this, but got caught in the wrong state with it.  He had been locked up since Thanksgiving.  He had no money, and no ride.  Of course, Ryan purchased him a bus ticket and bought him dinner.  That is my husband.  He helps whomever, whenever, no questions asked.  He is such an example of Christlike love.
     Anyhow, the next day the story hit the papers.  The Bundy's are a bunch of unintelligent law breakers.  They made it sound like it was a full on court room brawl.  The comments were what killed me.  Wow...have I learned not to make fun or judge anyone after this!  The newspapers have to make everything sensational in order to sell it.  Most of the stuff they say about us is completely baseless.  People were calling Ryan every name in the book, dragging Cliven's name through the mud, and making fun of Ryan's appearance.  I kept begging Ryan to turn it off, but curiosity always gets the better of him. He kept insisting that it didn't bother him, but I saw pretty quick that it definitely was.  He got extremely quiet, he hasn't slept very well since the incident either.  One thing that I have definitely learned too, is that I have friends and family who stand by me, and help me even when we aren't too popular to be with.  I have truly learned who really cares, and who cares about what all of the rumors say.  I am going to try super hard to be more sensitive to other people who are going through tough times.  I have friends and family who are very thoughtful and helpful.
     Since then, we have decided to just try to be the best people we can possibly be.  I am trying really hard to try to see other people and their needs instead of my own.  We can always do better, but is Ryan a threat to society and other people?  Never.  He has never wanted to hurt anyone.
     Gary came up to Utah to spend some time with my parents.  It was right after our horrible week being slandered.  I wanted desperately to go and spend some time with my family, but knew that Ryan didn't need to be alone at that time.  Needless to say, my brothers met me in St. George for a wonderful day.  I love my family.
     Ryan has been working on water for cattle on the mountain.  A lot of the lines got torn out by the blm, or there was a huge rain storm in the summer that plugged a lot of them.  I went with him on Saturday, along with Bronco and Oak.  Of course Salem was with us too.  We did make some progress, but we had to plow across country in the truck which caused a bunch of flat tires.  Always an adventure is had with Ryan, that is for sure.  Oak and Bronco boy were good help too.  They are nice cousin friends.
     Moroni has been interesting lately.  He is still coming in our bed with odd objects.  Ryan complained the other night about sleeping on a wooden truck.  Sleeping on a wooden truck cannot be good for the bones.  Anyhow, I have been trying to gear up for months mentally for the potty training of Mo.  I was dragging my heels largely to the fact that this house is nice, we are in here temporarily, and I didn't want to do any damage to carpets etc.  Well, it turns that I did not give the Mo enough credit.  I purchased a huge bag of peanut butter m&m's.  This was a treat that he picked out. I told him that he could get an m&m every time that he sat on the potty like a big boy.  Those first two days he would go in and sit on there again and again and again for the reward.  By the third day, he didn't have any more accidents.  Seriously, he caught on way fast.  He really likes his rewards though.  It has worked like a charm so far.  He did come out of the bathroom once slathered in a light green, gooey film.  I was quite disturbed at his appearance.  I finally had to have him come over so that I could smell what it was that he had spread generously all over his body.  He had also covered the toilet seat with a nice layer of it.  Anyhow, it turned out to be cream rinse.  It had a nice and fruity fragrance to it.  I asked him why he had chosen to waste the conditioner and he just mentioned that he figured it would not hurt to be slathered in the stuff.
     The other day at shrsh I failed to comprehend that he had brought a large, poison green monster truck with us.  Not a good toy for setting a good example, or feeling the spirit.  I was quite happy when the dumb thing lost a few wheels.  He has also been seen using a mug for a boot, and he and Chlo were having an interesting conversation about ghosts having no desires to eat a person's legs.  That is always reassuring news.
     On Saturday, our new brother Booda is getting baptized.  This excites me to no end.  I love the Gospel, and what it does for people.  Booda came out to help us during the stand-off.  I truly love all of the good  hearted people who came out when they could see that we were in need.  Seriously, the best of the best people came.  They have taught me so much about putting other people's needs first.  Booda is just a prime example of this. He is a marine that was trained to be a sniper. He offered himself as Cliven's personal body guard and has not left us since.  He has studied the Book of Mormon, felt the spirit, and decided to be baptized.  I am so grateful to have seen his conversion take place.