Down at the Ranch

Nate gets three weeks of vacation this intern year. We decided to spend it escaping the stifling OK heat and head north to Idaho Falls to visit his parents at their ranch. Because of our new, ahem, financial situation, we decided to drive...in our honda civic...with five people...and our luggage...oh, and Nate's golf clubs! Wow. I don't know how we did it! About three hours into our drive, our cute little Jayci threw up all over the McDonald's playplace. Lovely. Luckily, nothing on her or her clothes. Then, she was at it again about an hour or two later in the car. Again, bullet dodged. She managed to fall asleep with a cup next to her mouth so when she woke up sick, there was no mess! She only threw up once more that day, at the hotel. She had the ice bucket nice and close, so no mess again. Griffey just stood by saying "Ew....YUCK" at her. She was laughing. Even with the vomit, the 20 hour car drive there was great! The kids were fantastic.

We were so excited to get to the Ranch, stretch, and see Nana and Papa!

Cuddling with Papa. Even though Treyton doesn't really like touching, our other two are great with affection. Nana made these cute prayer rugs with the kids. And boy, do my kids love crafts. They each got to decorate their own carpet to put next to their bed to kneel on at night. Guess what was the first thing they wanted to do when they got home?!

Griffey loved this play sink out on the back porch. He kept trying to drink the water, even when mommy told him it was yucky.Nate's little sister, Krisit, recently won the Regional Karaoke competition in Idaho! Wahoo. She then went down to Vegas to be on Karaoke Battle USA, which aired its first episode on Friday on ABC. So, it was fitting when she wanted to take us to the sight of her win and sing with us. The owners were so nice to open it up just for us. It was a blast! It was fun to see Kristi belt it out, the kids singing together, Nate's parents sing a beautiful duet, and the adults have fun.

Jayci and Kristi singing Baby together. Cutest thing. Nate and I were so surprised at how brave Jayci was and how much she wanted to keep getting up there.
Griffey just wanted to dance on stage the whole time.
Olivia, Treyton, and Makell singing "You've Got a Friend in Me." Treyton did NOT want to go up, but I made him. Nice, huh?
Nate sang Red Hot Chili Peppers and serenaded his littlest fan.

Griffey and his Papa making faces. The boy LOVES to give hugs. He just randomly calls out, "HUG" and opens his arms and then pats your back. He is adorable.
Aaron and Kris singing to a Josh Groban song. VERY musical family.
And everyone gathered round to hear the matriarch and patriarch sing a duet. It was beautiful.

Griffin had his first experience with animals this trip. He fell in love with Abby, the dog. He would take off for her kennel the second he got outside, yelling "Abbeh, abbeh." The kids thought it was so much fun.


He was so disappointed when she wasn't there.

Nate's parents recently had a huge area cleared out for parking cars, turning around tractors, boats, and building a little shop. Since it was only in the cleared out stage, Treyton had SO much fun climbing, exploring, finding worms, and building them houses, complete with different bedrooms, a play room, etc. Adorable.
My ranching husband. Nate got lots of work in on this trip, including: flushing cows, collecting embryos, implanting them in donors, shampooing cows, and basically whatever else his dad needed help with! He said he really enjoyed spending lots of time with his dad outside, even if the work made him tired and smelling a little less than desirable.
Treyton helped keep Griffin safe from the cows, which were intensely mooing and freaking him out.

Treyton especially loved the farm equipment: tractors, trucks, four wheelers, and the ranger.
Jayci was hilarious. She kept mooing as loud as she could at the cows. She LOVED them.
Riding Jim and Beau. I just have to tell you, looks are deceiving. These two horse are HUGE!! You should have seen big, pregnant me trying to get up. Nate had to give me a push! Okay, but the kids LOVED riding them. Treyton had been wanting to all week, since his favorite ranch animals are horses. He asked specifically to ride Beau because he is fast and brown, his favorite color.








Treyton just LOVED playing on this dirt wall. Too bad he didn't discover these "vines" until our last day.
While Treyton was a little more distracted from the fun of Ranch life, the other two loved the animals. Jayci would have loved them even more if they smelled a little more like Strawberry Shortcake.


There were lots of other great things we did this week that we didn't take our camera to. We boated on Monday afternoon. Nate got to wake board for his second time and we rode wave runners. Jayci and Treyton rode with their cousins on the tube. They loved spending time with their cousins and the lake. On Tuesday, we went out to lunch with everyone at Olive Garden. It was noisy, chaotic, and so great to hang out! Nana even took the kids to see the Smurf movie, which they had been dreaming about for months!

We had SUCH a great trip! On the way back to OK, we drove the Utah way, stopping to see my brother and his family in Spanish Fork and Nate's other brother, Ryan, and his family in Santaquin. Those pics will come in a post in a few days!