more visitors!

we’ve been lucky to have more visitors lately {yes…if you haven’t noticed, having visitors is completely blog worthy in our world…don’t judge}. in fact, 2 weeks in a row! first was our ever so favorite Stokes clan. we neglected to take pictures because really we just sat around and stuffed our faces and chased children and watched movies and hung out. it was absolute bliss! we loved having them. see you in a few weeks :)

second, was the Mays from Texas. Pres. May was the branch president in the first area ry served in on his mission {exactly 9 years ago}. they went out of their way to come visit us and we were so happy they did. they are such a sweet couple and so fun to visit with. ry loved showing them his roots and giving them le grande tour of the ranch. they absolutely loved Harper {she was pretty taken with them as well}.

thanks for the visits!

piggies and cows and fried food, oh my!

we took Harper to the county fair to see all of the animals. she loved most of them, but wasn’t exactly sure what to think of the piggies {they were kinda loud and in your face, especially this one} -

Harper just patiently waiting…

…while we were waiting for this fried fair beauty {yes, I cropped myself out because, let’s face it, I looked TERRIBLE!}

And a lil family photo op to finish off the night. I love Ry’s “trying to make Harper smile for the camera” face at the camera.

daddy’s lil workin’ girl

About two month ago while it was still summer {yes, I know. this is LONG overdue!} Harper and I loaded up our stroller and took a 2 mile trek to go see daddy while he was working. We love taking walks around the ranch because, really, where else can you take a stroll with surroundings like this?

But mostly, we just love to ride the tractor with daddy. Harper loves sitting on daddy’s lap, holding the steering wheel and watching everything going on around her. She’s such a joy!

I took this shot as we were leaving to head back to the house. I love haying season {well, minus the awesome hay fever I get!}…

About 2 weeks later, daddy was cutting hay closer to the house {we could see him from the front porch, so MUCH closer}. We decided to walk over and go swath with him for a little bit. Harper, once again, was in heaven.

we reunite at last!

Did you notice any special visitors in the last post?

Ya…that’s right. Our besties Jeff and Kapri totally joined us for pioneer days. They were visiting Idaho from California during Jeff’s dental school break and were sweet enough to journey a couple hours to come see us. It was so fun to hang out with them for 24hrs and catch up after a long year and a half of being apart.

Over a year ago, Kapri and I found out we were pregnant just a day apart from each other. We were excited to find out at our first dr appts that Krew and Harper were due on the exact same day – December 6th. However, Harper decided to come 3 weeks early and Krew just wanted to stay cozy in mommy…he came 1 week late. Darn children!

Harper loved Krew {she has way too many boyfriends already!}. They had so much fun playing together. Harper was giving Krew the sweetest kisses. Check out the evidence:

don’t worry…she’s not an evil biting child. she was actually giving him kisses on his shoulder. so funny!

 

Come back soon! We miss you already!!!

Pioneer Days

here in civilization, they celebrate pioneer days every year. ry has always raved about what a party it is and we were lucky to get in on the action this year. they have stuff going on all week and I’m pretty sure the small population in this town more than quadruples.

we celebrated pioneer days with a bump n rub race, a pioneer program where one of the bedke relatives was honored, some deep pit bbq, a 10 year high school reunion, a parade, a rodeo, fireworks and a bedke reunion. it was a ton of fun {and it made it even more fun that we had some extra special visitors with us – see pictures below}. we can’t wait until next year!

pretty pretty harper girl

we took a few pictures after church today. now that I look at them, her headband is on crooked and weird. oh well! she can still put it off cuz she’s so darn cute!

hungry hungry calves

Harper and I helped daddy feed the motherless calves a couple weeks ago. Harper loved it {although you can’t really tell by her face}! Here are a few pics I took of our little adventure:

i’m finally a mom

a couple of weeks ago i looked down and realized i had snot all over my shoulders and puke down my shirt and pants from my sick little girl.

i almost got emotional.

not because my clothes were gross and i didn’t look very attractive. but because i had this overcoming sensation that…i’m finally a mom.

there i stood in that very moment with everything i had ever wanted.

lil water bug

we bought harper a lil pool to have up here for the summer. it’s mostly an excuse for me to put her in the adorable swimsuit i bought before she was born. i figured i should get my $5 worth out of it.

we put her in it this week for the first time and she just loved it!

notice the awesome sunscreen mohawk she’s sportin’.

i took more pictures than i would like to admit. so here are just a few of my very favorites:

 

I’m pretty sure she’s thinking “ok mom, that’s enough pictures already. can you stop making me look at the camera and just let me play? geez!”

I obliged.

duke, dixie and the unnamed

remember duke?

this is ryan riding duke OUTSIDE of the corral. he’s been riding him like this all week and duke has been awesome!

ry also started working with dixie and another 2 yr old colt {that is yet to be named} this week. he’s had time to spend almost all day with the colts so they’re making a lot of progress quickly.

got any ideas for a name for the unnamed colt?

ry is open to suggestions.

i was thinking Mister.

if he chooses one of the names you suggest, you’ll win a 5 night stay on this luxurious ranch. complete with horseback ridin’, 4wheelin’, gun shootin’ and dang good food {oh and some totally awesome hosts}. this is all-inclusive folks!

ok, you’re right. i’m just trying to trick you into coming to see us. but still…