Smiles, Solids, and Post Family Blues

Miss Z's new scrunch-up-the-nose smile.


After months of attempts, Zannah has decided to eat solids. I still can't get over how great it is that she opens her mouth for the spoon! What a delight.

World Championship Ranch Rodeo. This blessed event draws my family out of Idaho and into our neck of the woods each November. We LOVE it! Or should I say my dad, brothers, cousins, grandad, and uncle love it...it being the Rodeo. A huge tradeshow full of reins, spurs, chaps, boots, and hats is a cowboys dream, right? I just love that they come. I love that we fit 11 adults and 1 baby in our house, I love that we stay up late, eat lots of food, and thoroughly enjoy each others' company. I even love that my brothers tease me until I lose my temper. And of course I love that the girls got pedicures this year, maybe a new tradition?




I always miss family, but the couple days after being with them, I have serious withdrawals. This time my coping was to eat ridiculous amounts of pie and watch ridiculous amounts of Gilmore Girls and it helped a little.

Disheartening

Only the next 4 years will tell...... (Warning: Get some tissues)

Only 18 More Hours

Until I can trade this bed-partner in

FOR THIS! The one pictured below is so much warmer and responsive than the old .22

8 days have been way too long! Marcos has been in Israel for work, seeing really cool things like the Sea of Galilee, River Jordan, Garden of Gethsemane and such. I talked to him just before he began is 24 hour journey back and he sounded excited to be heading home.

And WHO wouldn't be excited to be coming home to this little munchkin.

Zannah Banana

I can't get enough of this little girl.

Any guesses as to what I am?? "Gum on the bottom of a shoe", it's okay if you didn't get it.

My twin Kabree was a deer, her hubby was the hunter, how cute is that?

You would never believe how often we get asked if we are twins or at least sisters. Kabree was asked during the middle of the ward party why she changed our of her pink costume into the brown costume.

Taggity Tag

5 Things I was doing 10 years ago...
1.) Gutting a deer (refer to last post)
2.) Playing sports
3.) Driver's permit
4.) Getting braces to fix that crazy snaggle tooth
5.) Still sneaking candy at piano lessons

*5 Things on my "To-Do" list today...
1.) Kiss Zannah's cheeks off like I do everyday
2.) Make cupcakes for ward Halloween party
3.) Make my costume for aforementioned party
4.) STUDY like my life depends on it, I am the world's best procrastinator
5.) Talk to Marcus, who is far far away on Judea's Plains

*5 Snacks I enjoy...
1.) Banana Cream Pie
2.) Fruit Smoothies
3.) Cereal
4.) Any kind of vegetables, I eat a sweet potato almost everyday
5.) Hot chocolate with whipped cream

*5 Things I'd do if I were a Millionaire...
1.) Buy Charlotte the perfect brick house full of character and charm
2.) Buy myself the perfect brick house full of character and charm next to Charlotte's
3.) Lots and Lots of food storage
4.) Buy Marcus season tickets to the Denver Broncos football games
5.) Buy land to expand the ranch, so my brothers can cowboy it up with my dad the rest of their lives.

*5 Places I've Lived...
1.) Malad, ID
2.) Rexburg, ID
3.) Logan, UT
4.) Kaysville, UT
5.) Amarillo, TX

*5 Jobs I've Had
1.) Forest Service Crew
2.) Road Construction Crew (No, not as a sign holder)
3.) Poem Typist
4.) Usher
5.) X-ray Tech

*5 People I tag
1.) Charlotte! (Is this as annoying as facebook?)
2.) Maria
3.) Tamara
4.) Libby Libby Lou Lou
5.) Monica

Rules: Each player answers the question themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment letting them know that they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person that tagged you know when you’ve answered the questions on your blog.

Deer Season

This time of year always reminds me of deer season. I don't have the desire to hunt anymore, that drive has long since left. (Except upon learning that there are wild pigs in Texas, and I MUST have a go at one of them and then I'm officially done, really.) But, once upon a time I hunted so here is the story of my first deer hunt.

I was 15 years old, sitting shotgun in Maryann's hail-damaged subaroo, Braun and the rifles in back, we were headed out to Bull Canyon to bag us our first big buck. First, let me introduce you to our hunting trio. Fearless Maryann escorted our hunts, she usually had a willing vehicle, always prepared and definitely the most knowledgeable of the group. Braun had a contagious laugh and he would laugh at EVERYthing. He called Maryann and I his "hunting dogs". No offense taken. I'm Lynsey, I'm pretty bossy and I talked on the phone alot, so I guess I was the group coordinator.

Our Freshman and Sophomore years we hunted almost daily. Birds, squirrels, skunks, coyotes, deer, you get the picture. We loved it or should I say we loved the atmosphere of it. We really didn't get that many animals. Boy oh boy, do I still remember the excitement of shooting my first duck and the thrill of shooting AT an albino pheasant---yup, we saw one, we shot at it, so believe it.

Back to the kill, we arrived at Bull canyon and started hiking up a draw single file. Not too far in, Braun stopped and started scoping something. I remember excitedly pulling my rifle up and looking in the scope and only seeing Braun in the cross-hairs, that scared the snot out of me. Finally after what seemed an eternity, a shot rang out, Braun had gut-shot a 2 point.

Braun fails to mention that the site of blood makes him queasy, so he heads over to a tree where he is near fainting. That left 2 of us to do the dirty work, luckily Maryann remembered to pack a knife (she was always prepared). After much arguing about where the first incision should be, who should do it, etc, we dug in. Maryann and I crudely gutted that deer from end to end with bare hands. The blind leading the blind. It took us an hour to saw through the sternum, because we thought that's what you did. And then we drug that deer out of there and put it in the back of the subaroo under the grocery cover because it stunk. (Is this where my love of subaroos and there rugged conveniences, like built in grocery covers, began?)

It was an experience I'll never forget.

Gory. Disgusting. Definitely un-lady-like. But it happened people and it makes me smile.

And then Braun miraculously revived in time to grab the full bladder and pop it on us.

The End.

My one and only ENEMY

If you are male, you may not want to read this. (Although, I'm not sure any boys read my blog, except maybe you, Scotty boy)

Many of you may have great inspirational, even spiritual questions that you want to ask when you get to the other side, not I. I just want to know the purpose of this uterus of mine. And if this uterus never houses a growing baby and therefore never has a meaningful purpose in this life, I am afraid I am going to be one bitter girl.

At 4:00 AM, Marcus asks, "Are you okay," I can't answer because I am standing over the toilet with the toilet bowl cleaner in my right hand scrubbing for dear life, while my left hand is covering my mouth trying to hold back the prior evening's contents. (I hadn't cleaned the toilet in awhile and for some reason at 4:00 AM, it was imperative that it be clean before I threw up in it.) 7:00 AM rolls around and I am still bent over that sparkly clean porcelain calling this uterus obscene names, threatening that if it doesn't do something productive in the next few years, I will not hesitate to have it surgically removed (much to my mother's horror). This isn't the first nor will it be the last time that I will be at war with my pelvic contents. At least this time, it wasn't while I was on call at the hospital, and I wasn't throwing up while in the middle of scanning a comatose patient's appendix. (That was really embarrassing, nothing like the doctor and nurses huddled around you instead of the patient)

On a happier note, what a great husband I have. Marcus got up and fed Zannah and played with her all morning while I slept and moaned and slept some more. He is even going to the grocery store for me this afternoon, I guess that more than makes up for being put together with an evil, no-good, mydol-resilient, pear-shaped organ.