Time flies!!

When you're having fun, right? I can't believe it's been so long since I remembered to update this. Real life has just been so darn busy. :D

Christmas came and went in a flash of light it seems. We had our last family get together the middle of January with our "rent-a-daughter" and her family near Santa Rosa. Talk about a zoo! Howard and I took our trailer, Lesley and Bryce took theirs, and we had Doug, Tara, Elliot, Charlie, Emily, and Mikaela with us. Add that to Blaine and Joe with their four Peter, Brie, Jordan and Tessa and you have a real life zoo. Kids running everywhere, parents trying to keep track, oldies like Howard and I trying to keep up and block out some of the noise and confusion. (Pretty much 100% impossible though. lol)

Now that spring is here and the weather is finally turning nice, I've found that the new knees have opened doors that have been firmly shut to me for years and years. I'm outside almost every day mowing grass, raking leaves, playing with the horses, taking turns around the back pasture in my Rhino to run some of the energy out of our "puppy". Yesterday she (Willow the 120 pound *cough* puppy) decided that two laps around the back pasture deserved a side trip into the water trough. Apparently it's warm enough that she can only run for about 5 minutes without needing to take a dip. I'm seriously going to have to get a camera out and take her picture when she does that. She leaps in and then just sinks down til only her nose and eyes are out and there she lays, in all her glory. :)

Lesley and Bryce (our youngest daughter and hubby) are finding out what it's like to have a houseful of their own. About a month ago they had two sisters placed with them. The older one is 4, younger one is 16 months old. About the time they were settling in with those two, the little girl they had last summer was brought back into the system and they got the call to see if they would take her again also. /faint !! So now they have a 16 month old, a 2½ yr old and a 4 yr old. Poor Bryce is surrounded by females! (Even their dog is female hahaha) Lesley is finding it a challenge sometimes to get out of the house in a timely manner and has said more than once "Mom, I don't know how you did it!". I think it's a bit easier to deal with when you don't get three all at once. As hard as it was for me when they were all little ... at least I had a few months in between to learn how to cope.

Last weekend we took the trailers to the sand dunes just north of Winnemucca, Nevada and had an absolute ball with the ATV's. I just love my Rhino and now that Bryce has added the back seat, gramma races all over the hills with the grandkids. The funniest part of the weekend was the baby falling asleep in the back seat, not just once but twice. Bouncing around all over the sand dunes ... all the noise of the different engines and she just zonked out. Lesley said she wished that happened in the truck as easily. hahaha

Time for bed, but I plan to try keeping this more current again! lol