"BYU BLUE" AND THE "BOO HOO BLUE 'U' "

Each year we love to get together to watch the big rivalry
football game between the BYU Cougars and the Utah Utes.
Ben said, " Hey, the Utes will win!!!!!"

Anders said, "Hey, We will eat them alive!!!!!"


Ellie and Anna put on their game faces and.....

Tait made sure everyone knew what team he was cheering for!

Finn put on his cougar tracks

Zach and Lila cheered as the Utes scored!!!!

But the biggest surprise was when BYU made

their first score and our true blue fans showed their stuff.

We all laughed to think how hard they had worked

and that they kept that a secret until the "Y" scored!

"Take that Uncle Zach!!!"

We all cheered for our team but in the end BYU

pulled off a win in overtime.

We all had such a fun time watching the game and

watching the boys enthusiasm.

Katie was still cheering for the "U" and I am not

sure who Hans was cheering for.

As soon as the game was over our loyal BYU

fans had to head for home.....two Christmas

trees in tow...compliments of the Ranch.

We had a wonderful weekend.....What a wonderful

family we are blessed to share our lives with!!!

"STUFF"(ing) ABOUT OUR THANKSGIVING

Let the COOKING and washing of DISHES begin!!!!!!!

While that went on Zach and Lila took a nap

Games were played

And you KNOW there are really live animals in that homemade animal carrier.

Mikan and Anna made our delicious and famous "Mikan's Rolls"

This is the biggest turkey I have ever tried to cook and it actually turned out to be a very tasty "bird"

The table was set and our yummy "must have" holiday punch was made!

I won't show you pictues of us all eating because we know those are never very flattering to anyone so actually I have quit taking "eating the meal" pictures.....BUT
After the meal the grandkids treated us to our own special production of

THE THANKSGIVING STORY:

They sailed in on the Mayflower

Gave prayers of thanks for their safe arrival.

Chopped, sawed, hammer and chipped and made their new homes in a new land.

The turkeys came to the feast too!!!!

The Thanksgiving Day table was decked out with pumpkins and fruit.....while the turkeys lost their heads......

......so you guessed it....the roasted turkeys were served to all!!!!

And that was the end of a very wonderful, delicious, fun, and exciting THANKSGIVING DAY at the ranch.

Moose Update

The Momma Moose and her baby stayed right next to our house for about four days. Neil was even able to go out on the deck and BBQ and it didn't even faze them.

Neil thinks that this momma is the moose he watched being born about three or four years ago down in our pasture by the highway in our cow pasture. She just seems very comfortable around here and not too worried about us. At one point I thought I could have walked over to her and touched her and she would have just laid there. No, way would I have really tired!!! but she sure seemed docile.

After we hadn't seen them for about three weeks webegan to think they had moved on but when Neil went for a ride in the Ranger up on the very top of the mountain behind our house and they were up there! So, they are staying rather close to home for now. Perhaps we will see them again in the spring.

We've Gone From This to This

In June of 2007 we had the amazing experience of being in the horse pasture when our mare, Lady, gave birth to a new colt. The colt looked alot like a baby moose when she was born but instead of calling her 'Moose' we decided to call her Pepper after the look of her coloring. We both imprinted her as she was being born. Over the past two years she developed a little bit of a fiesty personality and so we decided to get her into some training this fall to help take out some of her vinegar. It was time for some tough love so we could feel comfortable with the grandkids being around her.

We found a trainer named Harold who has really helped her. He says Pepper isn't the quickest horse he has ever worked with but once she learns something things begin to move right along. He said she isn't the bravest horse either but she is doing really well.

Neil has had to learn to ride all over again and said it is alot more work than he thought it would be but he seems to be enjoying the entire training experience. It is kind of like golfing....trying to think of about ten different things to do at the same time.

We are looking forward to bringing Pepper home in a month or two and hopefully the grandkids will be able to ride her this next summer.

We really have a special attachment to this horse.

Mother Moose in Love.....with my pine tree!!!!!

Yesterday while watching the news I glanced over to see a very large animal staring at me through the front room window. Neil was napping on the couch and I grabbed his leg and very quietly told him to look out the window. We both scrambled for our cameras thinking the moment would quickly pass.

Little did we know!!!

We took pictures out of the window for awhile and then decide to sneak very carefully out on the front porch hoping we would not scare them off. No way!!!

This mother moose was so in love with my little pine tree that she seemed oblivious to us. She rubbed and rubbed up and down that poor little tree until she started to break the branches.
Her calf was kind of nervous that we were standing so close but pretty soon she was following the mother's lead and scratching and rubbing too.

Now I don't know a lot about moose but this momma was in an euphoric state either from a good scratching or the smell of the pine. She definitely was loving my poor little pine tree to death. Literally!!!! After awhile we just started talking out loud to each other thinking they would stop and leave. We were within twenty feet of these two!!! As we stood on the front porch I wouldn't let Neil shut the front door in case this momma decided to come after us because we were intruding on her make out sesson with that tree. Click on this picture above and see the expression on her face. So funny!

I thought these pictures showed just how clean and healthy they looked. And what an unbelievable opportunity to see these beautiful animals up so close.

We watched them for about fifteen minutes but finally had to shoo them away because I really feared for the life of my tree. They just took their time and headed on down through the pasture and on to the river.

So much for those stories about mother moose being really mean if they have a calf with them. We wondered if she could even see us or hear us she was so enthralled with that little tree. What an experience!

I had just published this post tonight and Neil said, "Here they come again to see you." We watched them come down the canyon and they went straight to the little tree. They didn't stay as long tonight but the momma spent some time drinking from the pond. Then they went and laid down just below the house for the night. I wonder if they will stay for the winter and we will see them alot? We will see. They certainly don't seem afraid of us.

FALL, FUN AND FIREWOOD

When the leaves start to turn we begin to think of firewood needing to be split and stored for the winter. Bret loves to have his family help with this job and this year Meg's parents, Mike and Sharon came to help.

After a hearty breakfast we all got ready.

The kids found their gloves and we headed for the hills.

The weather was absolutely perfect.

Everyone pitched right in and began to work.

From the youngest.......Hans

to the next to the youngest.....Finn

Anna and Elli grumbled a little but were really hard
workers and I think deep inside they really had fun!

Anders and Bret manned the splitter and

Tait never quit working until they were all finished. Anders

even took Tait on "an adventure" after the work was complete.

And many hands do make light work!