Summer Fun

Just chillin' and eating otter pops. Not too often do we see all 4 of them this close and nobody is bothering anybody else. Love the moments like these!

Another way the boys like play with the pool. They love to race their trucks down the slide and see them land in the water and make a splash.

And He's Off

Ranger has been asking us for months when we were going to take his training wheels off so he could ride like Railey. We kept putting it off thinking he wasn't ready but he kept at us so we took them off this week and within just a few minutes he was riding on his own. He is still a little wobbly but he is doing great. I can't believe it. Way to go Ranger!! I guess that just shows us that each kid does things when they are ready.

Bradford Family Reunion

Last week we had our Bradford Family Reunion. We headed to Blanding on Wednesday. On Thursday we all went up to the mountain and we camped until Saturday. We had tons of fun. It was really great to see and spend time with family. The kids were excited to sleep in the tent and be able to run wild for a few days. We did lots of fun things. My sister Keri made a quilt top for each family and we decorated them while we were there. And then everyone in the whole family signed each quilt. We were able to tie and bind a few before we came home so now we have a new quilt and the kids think it is so neat. We also decorated t-shirts one day. Thanks to my sister-in-law Kayela who brought her cricut and spent hours cutting everything that everyone wanted. They turned out really great. There was a pinata one day and the kids were in heaven with all the candy they got. We had excellent food at every meal. One of my personal favorites was the potatoes. You can't beat my dad's dutch oven potatoes. They are so yummy. And mom's homemade rootbeer is incredible. Nobody makes it like she does. It was a wonderful weekend that just went by too fast. I think I am very lucky to have the family I have. They really are the best.
Ranger and my nephew Trey

My nephew Riley decided to climb clear up a huge tree. Crazy kid.

Our quilt top

Some of the nephews playing horseshoes.

The neices and Railey

My Awesome Parents

Everyone gathering candy after the pinata broke

Rise and Shine Sleepy heads

Catching Up

So I have been told by more than 1 person that I have been slacking when it comes to our blog, so I guess it is time to try to catch up a little bit. Life just seems to be crazy and busy all the time. The last few months have flown by. The end of the school year was busy with all the activites they did. Railey had field trips to the movie theatre and the swimming pool. They had parties and a fun day at school. I think the last few weeks of school were all play. She is excited about summer and about going into 3rd grade next year.
We got the garden planted the end of May. The first week of June Rob and I went to Estes Park, Colorado to attend the IHEA (International Hunter's Education Association) annual conference. It was held at the Stanley Hotel. (from the movie "The Shining") Its a neat old place. The kids went to Blanding to stay and Grandma and Grandpa's while we were gone. Grandma took them camping and they had tons of fun. We had some free time in between meetings and things we had to go to so we were able to go to Rocky Mountain National Park. It was really beautiful. We saw a lot of wildife and even got to go to the Continental Divide. There were places that still had 10 feet of snow or better. It was a long drive to that part of Colorado and back (a good 12 hrs each way) but it was fun to see and go through new places. The rest of June we pretty much spent working in the yard and garden and doing things at home. We stayed home for the 4th of July this year. We went to the parade and fireworks in Delta. Its hard to believe we are already into July.
They had a few of these trees carved to look like this.
We thought they were really neat.

This elk was putting on quite the show. We sat and watched him for a long time.

We were lucky enough to be there on a day when the sheep were spotted.
Rob hiked up and got pretty close to them and got some great pictures.

Nat's Nursery

This year we decided we wanted to try and grow our own starts from seed for our garden instead of buying them at the nursery. We found the seeds for 10 packets for $1.00 so we got a lot of packets. I think we have everything we want to grow and shouldn't have to buy anything if it all grows well. I found the trays fairly cheap and we can reuse them next year. We set up a couple tables in our basement and hung a shop light over them. They are in the same room as our fireplace so the room is nice and warm. They are looking really good. I also decided to try to do all my flowers by seed too. Those seed were also 10 for $1.00. For just a few dollars I have planted over 300 flower containers. Question is will they all produce something? I hope so. I have a lot of space in my yard. The more flowers and color, the better. I love to watch things grow and bloom. I love to spend the entire day in the yard and can't wait for it to warm up so we can. Let's just hope the starts continue to grow well and turn out to be great plants. Only time will tell.

Easter

On Saturday we went up to the park here in Oak City at 9:00 a.m. for the easter egg hunt. It was freezing cold and it had been snowing that morning. They hunted for eggs and it was over and we were home by about 9:30. They had fun, and they got quite a few eggs. They dove into the baskets and started on the candy as fast as they could. Robby was excited because he got a quarter in one of his eggs. We colored eggs in between the sessions of conference.
On Sunday they woke up to find that the easter bunny had filled their baskets with eggs and lots of candy. The boys each got a little baseball and a mit. Railey got a baseball and a bat. They love them and can't wait to take them outside to play with them. (if the weather would ever get warm enough) Railey left a note for the Easter bunny and it was full of questions for him. He answered it and left it in her basket. I forgot to take pictures of their baskets on easter morning.

The boys waiting to hunt for eggs

Hunt is over and ready to go home
showing off their loot after we got home from the park

coloring eggs

Railey

Ranger

Ryder

Robby

Meet Dayzee

Our female dog "Savvy" as many of you have already read about, had a couple of accidents that really banged her up. We tried to do everything we could to help her get better and heal, but just as she would start to do better she would re-injure herself again. This happened several times. She got to where she wouldn't even try to walk anymore. She pretty much gave up. She wouldn't do anything but just lay down and cry. She had started to bite and snap at everyone too. We finally had to make the decision which we felt was better for her and put her down. It was very hard but in the end we felt it had to be done. We will remember her and the good times we had.
But on a happier note, we got a new little puppy. She is actually Savvy's little sister. They have the same parents, but this puppy was from the next litter. We have named her Dayzee. She is brindle colored, and she is one fiesty puppy. She thinks she is the boss. She loves our other dog "Deke" and she pretty much thinks she is as big as he is. She chases him around the yard and she attacks him. And she does NOT let him take food from her. She growls and chases him off if he even gets close to her when she is eating. It is funny. He has learned not to even try. But they are friends and they cuddle and love on each other too. We think it was good for "Deke" to have her. He was bonded to "Savvy" and we think he would have been pretty lonely by himself.
They are a couple of fun dogs. Our kids love their pets.

DAYZEE

DAYZEE AND DEKE