My litlle escape artist!

Yesterday we were at church minding our business in the nursery when I had to take a screaming kid to her mother! I told the other adults I was leaving and met the undisclosed mother in the hallway. My back to the nursery the whole time. When I went back I noticed right off the bat that Oakley was missing. Feeling a little panicked I asked "Where's Oakley?" The rest of the adults all replied..."He followed you...didn't you see him?" At that point real panic set in and I began running around the church looking for my little jail breaker! I finally found him in the other wards sacrement meeting. Luckily he had found my little niece and she was keeping a good eye on him. I can't tell you the relief I felt when I found him. It is funny to think about it all now...but I was one scared mom yesterday!

I think it ranks right up there when my little brother got lost (took off) at the state fair...the Winns ought to remember that one! he he!

Anyways we are all safe and happy now...Thankfully!!!!

Visiting Grandma and Granpa Bethers

Once a month we get the opportunity to go up to Idaho and stay the weekend. We pick Dakota up from school and head over to Grandma's and Grandpa's for a little memory making time. We love it in Nounan. There are very few people there...beautiful scenery...and the neighbors you do have...are GOOD people. We really enjoy our time there and we love our Bethers family! While we were there this trip we got to help feed with the chores. Dakota is learning to read, so she read her book to us many times over. She has to wear glasses when she reads and she looks so stinking cute and smart in them. I love it! Uncle Blake even came over for a short visit to show us his new puppy. It is a husky/german shepard mix. The kids fell in love as soon as they saw it. It was a good time had by all, but sadly, it had to come to an end.
















This is how they do chores up at Grandma and Grandpa Bethers! Isn't it Awesome?

















Dakota is looking so smart in her glasses!
























Blake's new puppy, Buddy!















This isn't the best pic...but this is how Dakota and Oakley are most of the time when we are driving anywhere. Especially when they know that she is going back to her mom's house. They love each other and miss each other so much. I hope that it stays that way throughout their lives.

Horn Hunting

When we went to get Dakota this weekend we figured we would spend some good quality "family time" horn hunting. Dakota was so excited. The whole time she kept asking..."Where are the horns Dad?" We would of course tell her we had no idea and we needed to look for them. Oakley kept yelling "Deer...Elk!" It was and still is so cute the way he says it. Anyways....we had a fun time, even though we didn't find much. James could have found a ton.... but it is hard to find anything when your packing kids. We held him back quite a bit. Lucky for us he is a good sport and takes us along anyways!

While we were there we saw a lot of these















A whole ton of these....to tell you the truth I don't think I have ever seen so many deer in my whole life!



















Most of the bucks had lost their sheds already. This is one of the few bucks we saw that was bigger than a 2 point. James was in HEAVEN!


















This is the kids when we made it back to the truck. I wish I had a small portion of their energy. Oakley walked at least a mile on his own. We was soooo muddy because we would trip over the sage brush about every tree steps. He was very determined to go everywhere that Dakota went though. He would get so mad at me when I tried to help him or if I picked him up when he fell down. He is the toughest kid I know. When we got back to the truck his face was all scratched up and he was looking pretty rough...but he wanted to keep going!





















This is Dakota's big find. Really James found it and hid it in the bushes for her to find. She was so excited and couldn't wait to show everybody what she found! Sadly it is the only thing we were able to take home. James found another one, but about rolled down the mountain trying to get it...so it had to stay where it was! My husband has such eagle eyes!
















Dakota showing Oakley her sweet find!

Spring Wagon Rides!

Our friends Ryan and Marie just bought this sweet team of Haflinger horses. We went up to Manila with them to pick them up and couldn't wait to take them out for a wagon ride. Ryan got the collars from his grandpa. I cleaned them and made a few minor repairs and the next day we took them out for a spin. It was Soooo fun! I know most of you are thinking...what the heck? But it makes for good quality family time and to tell you the truth it would not surprise me if our country HAD to go back to the horse and buggy way of life. Oakley kept yelling "Go!" the entire time we were riding. We have actually been able to go for a couple of rides because the weather has been so nice. I have to laugh at all the people that point and stare. One lady even got out of her truck and took a picture.....watch us be front page news now!
Me cleaning the collars.

My Hottie Husband posing for the camera!
James and Oakley getting to know Beau and Luke (the horses)

Me and Oakley in the wagon.
James took this of all of us in the wagon.

Still under the weather!

Ughhhh...Oakley is still under the weather. He was getting better until he picked up Dakota's gomboo...and now we are missing church for the third Sunday in a row because he can barely breath. I am betting that everyone thinks we are inactive. That bad thing is that I am in the nursery....By the end of this month they will be ready to release me for not full filling my calling. Anyways, I am soooooo ready for some warmer weather and for the cold and flu season to be over!:) While Dakota was here we did manage to have a little fun at the house. Both kids were sick, so we really couldn't do anything. Most of time was spent on stick horses running from one end of the house to the other. It was cute to watch Oakley and Dakota race up the hall. Oakley adores his big sister and wants to do everything that she does. They love each other so much....words can't capture their feelings. All I can say is, as a parent, that is the greatest thing in the world to watch and see. They truly get along better than any siblings I have ever seen!


















Why is it that ALL kids find it necessary to cut their own hair at some point in time? Is this an unwritten rule somewhere?

As you can tell from my ever so bold questions Dakota cut her hair at school the other day. This is extremely funny to me because two weeks ago she reamed me out about how "her mom" say I can never cut her hair. I assured her we had no intentions of cutting her beautiful hair other than a small trim when needed. She was so adimate that we not cut her hair and then she goes and cuts it herself.....makes me laugh....really! At least she cut it at the bottom so it could be fixed. I had Joce see what she could do to fix it. Dakota really didn't want to have to cut it off and asked if Joce could fix it without cutting it all, but it had to be cut. It turns out that Dakota cut off just the right amount of hair. Her hair wasn't really healthy and she took it to a healthy level! It looks cute as ever though and she was happy with the outcome! Thanks Joce for coming to our rescue!

Dakota's amazing hair cutting skills!


Joce's even more amazing hair cutting skills!

I didn't mean "cabin fever" literally!

Our poor little guy took my last post to heart I guess, because he ended up with a fever last Friday night. I gave him some Tylenol and put him to bed. When he woke up he was in the 102 range so we fought the fever all day Saturday. Sunday morning rolled around and I ended up calling someone to cover my lesson at church because Oakley's fever had reached 103.5 degrees. We went on a roller coaster ride with his temperature all day and around 11:00 that night I went in to check on him and he was on FIRE at 107.3 degrees. I told James to start the tub and we threw him in and then headed to the hospital...where we spent the night running test after test. Finally they decided Oakley has pneumonia and so they sent us home only to follow up with our pediatrician later that morning. When I got there, the doctor told me he has the flu and is anemic on top of everything else. The poor kid never puked, coughed, pooped....nothing that would indicate anything until tonight and now I can't keep any of his medicine down. He is to the point he screams when he sees the hospital...he screams when the doctor or nurse comes in the room...and he screams when he sees me coming with any form of medicine at all! He is way clingy to his daddy...(very good thing) and has spent more time in the tub than out of it. I feel so bad for him. Lucky for us, my sister Amber has coached me through everything. She as answered 100 calls from me and I am sure she just shakes her head and laughs when she hangs up the phone from talking with me. But...we do appreciate all she has done to help us...So THANK YOU Amber for all your help. We couldn't have done it with out you! Hopefully he will kick this thing soon...so we can all get some well needed R&R!





Saturday morning....Oakley was freezing so he brought James his coat, a beanie, and some PJ bottoms...to put over the top of the PJ's he was wearing. This is the end result. I think those pants make him look like he has frog legs!





Oakley and Dad are intently watching a coyote hunting video. Oakley wasn't feeling up to playing, but he was very intriqued by what he saw on the tube (You don't think he is anything like his Daddy to you?)



Here is my little Loch Ness Monster! This is how he has spent most of his time during the last 3 days! He has spent so much time in the water...I am beginning to think he is growing gills!

Cabin Fever!!!!!!!!!

UGHHHHH! I can't stand this cabin fever anymore! I am sooooo ready for summer! So is the rest of my family. Oakley keeps bringing me his gloves, hat, coat and boots so that he can go on 4 wheeler rides. I will be so happy when we can just go for a ride and not have to worry about whether his eyes are dripping or whether he is freezing to death. Not to mention, I am looking forward to taking Oakley on horse rides and most of all James and I are getting excited to hit the lake! We just sit and stare at our boat in the garage and wishfully think about warmer weather! SOoooo....hopefully it warms up soon and we can shake this cabin fever!