It has been a beautiful Sabbath day. We all went to shrsh with the exception of Mo, and a helper...Jazz and Rooshkie traded off to keep him home because he has had some horribly goopy eyes over the last few days. Poor little Mo. Thomas Sharpe is also staying with us, and attended shrsh with us.
Over the past few weeks, there has been a ton going on. We have had the Bundy standoff party, the Bundy Easter party, the fair, drill team tryouts, a track meet, and we have had Grandma Great a day, we have also had Mo's birthday. All of this stuff has kept me as busy as all get out, especially the fair. Really, this fair stuff is all new to me, and it was a ton of work. Way more work here, than at the Iron County Fair. The girls have had to keep meticulous records, make crafts, do interviews, and have their steers ready to show. Luckily, our steers were quite reasonable this year. The bad part about the fair, was that it was during the Bundy standoff party, and that was a huge undertaking. I have to admit that I was little to no help, although Ryan worked on it for weeks. He had to smooth out roads with tractors, fix flags and poles, locate sound equipment and trailers etc. He had a ton of help from Ammon, and Briana, but yeah, I had to help the girls with steers. And for the most part, I needed Ryan to help the girls with their steers. I vow never to do the fair again...or to do something like pigs which seem to be a little easier, even though the girls swear they will not show anything but a steer. Yep, we have to do the most difficult of all of the choices...so typical of my kids.
The Bundy Easter party was fun, but was busy. They held it on General Conference Saturday, and it just happened to be the day that the Bundy hay was needing to be hauled and stacked. I ended up in trucks most of the day, driving around the hay field, while the men hauled the hay. Part of the day was spent in Ardeeno's tricked out truck, and wow...it isn't the easiest thing to drive. Especially in a hay field. I enjoyed listening to the prophets, and trying not to rev the engine in that truck to the point of distraction. I regret that I actually missed the cute little egg hunt that the family puts on every year. I know Sags helped Mo and Chlo, but I believe she got 0 pictures. This makes me frown, but I have learned over the years not to dwell and regret things that just cannot be changed. Anyhow, Chlo and Rebecca made a cute "secret lab" in the brush by the pond and had a nice candy fest during the day. Salem fell asleep while Kirk Sessions was holding her and had a nice long sleep, and I just enjoyed Confrence. We did color eggs and had a hunt at home the next day. Usually we color eggs and make deviled eggs out of the colored ones. However, I was horrified and shocked to catch Mo feeding Aggie the eggs one by one. He had fed her all of them but one when I found him, and I really wanted to cry. Boo to messing with our Easter Deviled Egg tradition Mo!
The wildflowers were out in full force for a very short time too. That is the problem with spring in the desert....it is so short lived. Everything is dead and brown now, but for awhile we had a beautiful carpet of green grass with beautiful splashes of wildflowers. Ryan kept hounding us to get out and enjoy the flowers because in a short time they would dry up and die. Finally, on a Sunday afternoon, we decided to go out and have a nice cobbler bake in the desert. We went out to Gold Butte because that is usually where the wildflowers grow the best. It was a serious fiasco getting out there. Oak, is seriously a great little guy, but he delights in bugging his sisters. Loud noises, loud sound effects, and anything to annoy. It gets really difficult because all of the girls...especially Sage doesn't want to deal with his obvious desires to get them mad...in the process, they get mad. I really felt like I was going to scratch my eyeballs out by the time we got out there. We also stopped at a spot called the Devils Throat out there. It makes me sick to my stomach, because it is a huge sink hole. I am talking the hole is deep to the point that it is almost impossible to see the bottom. To have my kids flitting around the Devil's Throat made my stomach tingle. I couldn't handle the danger possibilities, and so I finally made them get back in the van.
Our cookout was nice, but we had only brought stuff for a cobbler. The kids began climbing rocks, and we were by a nice spring. It was obviously the site of an old homestead because there was an old corral, and an old home foundation. The cobbler turned out almost inedible, which is surprising to a large degree. Ryan is an excellent cook when it comes to dutch ovens. We even did dutch oven dinners commercially for a short time. Anyhow, he couldn't find the baking powder, and dumped in way too much baking soda instead, and the cobbler was bitter to the extreme. We ate what we could, and enjoyed the nice evening in the desert though. The next chance he got, to redeem himself he made another cobbler. Seriously the best I have ever eaten too. Anyhow, we enjoyed the flowers and each others company. The ride home was sheer torture again. No lie....sheer torture with all of the bawling and fighting.
The next day Ryan took the three J's and headed to Carson City. Ammon, had been working tirelessly to try to pass a bill in the Nevada legislature that would take back Nevada land for the people. He has invested a ton of money and time, and effort. He had arranged for a bus to get as many people out to show support for the bill that he possibly could. For awhile it was the most popular bill on the docket. Anyhow, after our lovely trip to the cookout, Ryan and I knew that we couldn't handle all of the kids on the bus for eight hours up and eight back. It was good for my girls to see the whole state assembly and it's process. There were people there to speak for the bill, and against it. They all agreed after all of their hours of travel, that it was a good experience, but that the ride on the bus would have been too much for the little kids. Unfortunately, in the end, our bill got hijacked by evil conspiring people. They changed the whole intent of the bill with an ammendment. It had to be killed on the floor, and fortunately it was. We always get so much opposition when we try to make a difference in our freedom. My kids have learned a ton. Sage got to watch live the process in the voting, and the killing of the bill. What a year, we have had as a family. We have prayed and fasted together on so many issues. I love the Bundy family.
The fair was a ton of fun, but extremely busy. I felt completely out of control, because so much of my focus had to be with the girls and their steers, and yet there was so much for the other kids to be entertained with, that they would scatter and I would spend most of my time trying to locate them in a panic. Luckily Huxty was there one day, and Gary came up, and they proved to be a ton of help. Somehow my family always steps in when I have gone past the end of my rope. Of course Gary spoiled Jazz with an all day pass for rides, and Jazz is still talking about the fun that she had. We also celebrated Mo's 3rd birthday at the fair. I tried really hard to make a big deal out of him, and we rode the little train together, and I bought him an ice cream. He also wanted a strawberry cake, and so I made him strawberry shortcake. He also ended up scattering strawberries all over the house, and demanding that the "wrappers" (stems) be removed. Ryan alsotook him to the little fishing booth at the fair, and it is pretty cool because they actually let the kids fish for actual fish, and not some Oriental Trading prizes. I hope he had a great day because I felt pretty scattered and exhausted. The girls had to show their steers for market that day, and the steers had to be in beautiful condition. This fair stuff...wow...new to me, and kind of a trip really. At the fair Ryan and I kept feeling like we should buy a pig from a young man that is in our Sunday school class. I kind of argued with the spirit a little on that one, because we aren't big pork eaters, but Ryan follows promptings. We bought Tyler's pig and we should be getting it back from the butchers in a few weeks. Tyler was actually a ton of help during the fair. He bought a snow cone, and shared it with Mo, and helped me with Salem when she grabbed the ice cream off of my cone with both of her little fists. Salem, was met up with the cold and sticky mess and howled her little head off. He took her while she was howling, so that I could go and find some napkins to clean her up with. There was also some random friend of Jamie's that took Salem while we were frantically trying to get the steers ready for the showmanship contest. Helpful people who are there when I need a hand. I don't forget that stuff. I will always be grateful.
Since the fair, we have just been trying to get the house work and farm work under control. The weather from now until July will be hot, super hot, and hot and windy. Those are pretty much the only choices. The windy days are kinda taxing for some odd reason, plus we have had the crappy cold with the goopy eyes virus to deal with. Little Salem has been a little crabby because of these conditions. I cannot say that I blame her much.
Jams also decided that she wanted to try out for the drill team. She had actually heard someone scoff at the idea of a Bundy on the drill team. Wams has actually been in a lot of dance classes, and did a beautiful job. She made it and will be a VVette for the the 2015-2016 school year. Go Wammer girl!
We ended up at the ranch for a cookout the other evening. We had decided that we needed to unload the horse trailer of our belongings because there is a round up scheduled next weekend. We decided to build a fire and throw some tinfoil dinners on while we unloaded stuff. Well, Ryan ended up irrigating until it was too late to do much unloading. The kids had swam with Arden all evening at the headgate and everyone was hungry. I had also brought shmallows to roast. Rooshkie kept being really sneaky and quiet. I could see her head peek up out of the alfalfa and I wondered why she was spying. She had also somehow stole the shmallows and hid them in some hut that she had created in the alfalfa field. I must admit that I saw her spying but didn't realize that she was wanting to hoard the shmallows. She finally reluctantly brought back the shmallows. She also joined us when we were able to pull dinner off the fire. Chlo on the other hand refused to eat what was cooked. She just wanted the shmallows. Ryan finally put his foot down and told her that she couldn't roast any marshmallows until she had eaten some taters. I knew she couldn't and wouldn't. She basically ruined the whole evening by bawling out in the toolies the whole evening. Seriously....it is hard to enjoy family time when one of the kids is bawling the whole time. Chlo bawled the whole time. No taters and no shmallows for Chlo. Just drawn out and forlorn engine noises in the back ground while we tried to actually spend some time together.
Some generous citrus grower in California has come to the ranch for the past two years, and brought boxes and boxes of mandarins, grapefruit, oranges, lemons, and avocados. He believes in the Bundy fight and comes to talk with Cliven. Seriously, I was needing some citrus and have enjoyed his donation a ton. I did, however, have to frown at Mo. He was rolling the mandarins in ketchup and mustard and then rolling them across the table where they would land in the corner. I have no idea what is going through his head when he does stuff like this. Luckily, I was able to wersh off the excess ketchup and mustard, and the mandarins were still delish.
Along with this yucky cold that is going around the family has been a ton of snot....yeah, I know its gross, but it is what it is. The three little ones especially cannot seem to keep their little faces snot free. I cannot tell you how many times they have run up to me, and wiped their noses on my pants or shirt. Salem's little nose has gotten very sore by being wiped over and over during the day. Sager wasn't too happy the other day while we were riding in the car. Salem was wiping her own nose and slapping Sage in the arm with her little hand. Sager didn't appreciate the snot slaps for some odd reason.
Also, the kids have been kinda cranky all around. The other morning, Mo and Chlo just kept fighting over all kinds of dumb stuff. It was a continual round of petty arguments that was accompanied by slaps and kicks. One of them would end up bawling and upset nonstop. At one point I overheard Chlo tell Mo that he was following Satan's way....She needed him to follow Jesus Christ's way. Too true my Chlo bird..we all need to follow Jesus' way. I finally knelt down with them and told them that they should have a prayer. Neither one of them wanted to say it, which just shows the amount of contention that they had dealt to each other all morning. Mo usually loves to pray, and refuses any help whatsoever. It is really cute to hear him pray for all of his siblings one by one....please bless Jasm and Roosha, and Jamie...etc. Anyhow, Mo finally prayed for his siblings and included Chlo, and they played happily the rest of the day.
We ended up with a bunch of avocados for dinner last night, thanks to our California supporter. I love avocados by the way....anyhow, all of the kids wanted to take the pits from the avocados and plant them outside. Oak on down took pits and went to find suitable places to plant their pits. Mo came in with his pit, that still held a little bit of avocado clinging to it. He began begging me for a shirt. What???? It isn't like Mo likes to wear clothing of any kind ever....he had never asked for a shirt before. I finally got skeptical and asked why he needed a shirt. His desires were to have a shirt that he could clean his pit off with...are we hillbilly's or what? I finally handed him a nice paper towel to clean his pit with so that it was ready to plant. We shall see if we get any avocado trees anytime soon.
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