I know I have been a bad blogger the last month. Life has just been too crazy with the holidays and everything else that has been going on!
We spent New Years at the cabin with our neighbors, the Peterson's and their kids. They were going to help chaperon a Laurels retreat with my young women, but only one of the girls could come (their daughter Jenny,) so we had a party anyway. It was a lot of fun! We played cards until 2 AM on New Years.
It was really cold at the cabin. Poor Mark got frost bite on his face! Thank goodness that was the only causality with all of the snowboarding, sledding and snowmobiling that went on.
We have been taking care of five horses for a guy named Rick Flohe, who used to live by us. He was moving up to Casper, Wyoming and didn't have anywhere to put them after it snowed because he had to get them off of the mountain where he was keeping them, so we were helping him out. While we were gone to the cabin over New Years, his stud, Hawk, chewed up the wire to the heat lamp on the water trough and it froze up. The boys and I spent hours unthawing and chipping away the ice. I was so mad, I called Rick and told him we were going to have to do something different because it was wearing me out taking care of the extra horses. I also asked him if he would be interested in selling his big black horse named Rebel. He told me he would have to get back to me about it. A few days later he called and said because we had been so nice and helped me out, he would just give me Rebel. I felt so guilty for telling him he had to move his horses. He is the nicest man and can't afford to move them and then he just gave me his prize horse. I was humbled and ashamed for being so selfish. I couldn't believe it! This is a horse that is worth some money and he just gave him to me! He was in one of The Work and The Glory movies and a civil war reenactment movie so he is a movie star. He has a long beautiful black mane and tail. He is part Tennessee Walker, so he has an amazingly smooth ride. I have ridden him more in the past two weeks then I have ridden any of the other horses since September. I love him like I loved Lakota. It is hard to describe this to people who don't love horses. I can't wait to go to the barn to see him and it doesn't seem like a lot of work to get him saddled up to ride. I feel pure joy even when we are just trotting around the arena. I told Rick he could leave his horses here as long as he needed to because I was so grateful.
The first week of January, we received word that Brayden could have his Eagle court of honor so we had a big ceremony on the 9th. Bret VanLeeuwen, who is the founder of Koins for Kenya that took us to Kenya for Brayden's project, came out to speak during this ceremony. He is a big BYU fan so he brought two football players out with him to ride horses. One of the guys named Ross, got bucked off of Sancho Juan Pablo. I was really surprised because Sancho is usually so mild mannered! I told Ross it must be because Sancho is a U of U fan like me. They had a blast riding and it was fun to see Bret again.
Our good friends the Tolberts also came out to support Brayden. Lori is an amazing caterer so she took over in the kitchen to help prepare all of the food. We made different kinds of chicken with sauce, pot stickers, rice and steamed veggies with oyster sauce. RayLynn McCormick made a huge cake for Brayden with an eagle on it. I was so busy trying to get all of the food out, sadly I didn't get a picture of it before it was devoured. I appreciated her sharing her amazing talents and for making Brayden feel so special.
The Tolberts were having so much fun they decided to stay all night with us. We hadn't seen them for quite a while so it was fun to get caught up. Lori introduced me to Koins for Kenya so we talked about Kenya for hours.
On the 11th,Brayden and I went to Salt Lake to talk to my friend Tracy Hansen's ninth graders at Church Hill Junior high where she teaches, about Kenya. The students there are going to do a fund raiser to try to earn $2,000.00 to build a water cistern for the school children in the village of Gona. The first day of the fundraiser, they collected $135.00 in coins! Brayden was amazing talking to the kids and I think the students really enjoyed hearing from someone their age.
We rushed home so I could help set up for our young women's New Beginnings night. My wonderful Laurel advisor, Becky Dastrup, came up with an amazing activity. It was called the Value Mall. Each of the young women leaders took a value and was assigned a "store" to try to sell the value to the girls and teach them why it is an important part of personal progress. I had the value of virtue. My store was Kay Jewelers and I gave each of the girls a sparkly butterfly necklace and I told them it reflects the light just as they should reflect the light of Christ and live their lives in a way that they would not be embarrassed if he was standing next to them.
Once again, RayLynn McCormick, my guardian angel, shared her amazing talents and helped me have an activity the week before to teach the girls how to make her yummy cinnamon rolls. So at the end of New Beginnings we had everyone meet in the "food court" and they had cinnamon rolls and orange julius. It was a lot of work, but the girls learned so much and enjoyed it immensely!
Last Saturday, my good friend Lynette came out from Salt Lake to see me. It was so fun to sit down and talk about all of the fun times we had together. She is so fun and I miss her tremendously!
Yesterday, the boys didn't have school so we took the snowmobiles up Dry Fork canyon and built up a fire then roasted brauts and had a little picnic. The sun was shining and it was warmer than it has been in a long time. Kennedy drove his own snowmobile and did great! He was being pretty brave until he went over a jump and smacked his knee when he came down. After that he stuck to the basics and didn't try anything crazy like his brothers.
I'm ready for a vacation and to escape the cold weather. Dar and his brother started a little oil business called, "Goat and Guppy Oil," with a friend named Mike Rice from high school a few years ago. We are going to meet Mike and his wife in San Antonio this weekend to talk about their business. Even if it is only sixty degrees in San Antonio, at least it will be above freezing! We have been to San Antonio several times and we always love the food on the River Walk. This time we are hoping to make it to the temple.
Here is the recipe for the orange julius. It's pretty basic so of course I can make it!
Orange Julius
In a blender, combine one 6 oz. can of frozen orange juice. Add 1C. milk, 1C. water, 1/2C. sugar, 1t. vanilla and eight or nine ice cubes. Blend until smooth and serve.
