Mutton Bustin'- July 18 2010

This year Arco's big weekend, "Atomic Days," was July 17-19. Roudy got selected to go to Pugent Sound with work that weekend, but the kids and I headed to Arco and stayed with Roudy's parents anyway. Before Roudy left he tried to talk all the kids into doing the Mutton Bustin' at the rodeo. Trason was all for it, Jordy wasn't having any part of it, and Jaxon said maybe- he was sort of uninterested since he won it two years ago. Friday night we got to the Rodeo and none of the kids would do it no matter what I tried to bribe them with. So they watched the other kids ride the sheep and then both boys decided maybe they would try it on Saturday night.
Saturday morning Arco always has a big parade. A plane flys very close to the ground and drops 1000 ping pong balls onto Main street. The kids gather as many as they can and then after the parade is over they take them to the Sheriff's Office and receive a 50 cent piece for each ball they turn in. So, Friday night this was Trason's prayer, "Please help me to get lots of candy in the parade tomorrow. Please help me to hang on tight when I ride that sheep. Amen" It was so funny to hear what he had on his mind.
Saturday when we get to the rodeo Trason kept going back and forth on whether or not he wanted to ride a sheep. I signed both boys up anyway and thought they could back out later if they wanted to. I took the boys over to the shoots and let them watch a few of the kids ride. By that point Trason decided there was no way he was riding a sheep! So, I threw Jaxon down to Roudy's dad, who always helps with the rodeo, and he rode awesome! He got 78 points - the highest score of both nights! Then they were looking for another rider and none of the kids were wanting to go, so I threw Trason down into the shoots with Roudy's dad. Before he even knew what was happening he was on a sheep- and every bit as quickly was thrown off and rolled over! He was so mad! The announcer says, "Boy, he's not very happy with you, mom!" He had dirt up his nose, all over his face, in his hair...everywhere! He wasn't mad very long and decided that he was glad he did it. He was running back over to the stands where grandma and his cousins were sitting and he jumped up in the air and yelled, "I nailed it!" I about died laughing. He didn't "nail it"- got got 41 points!
Jaxon had to do a ride off with the other 6 highest scores. He still rode the farthest and longest, but he slipped a little to the side that time. After he finally fell off the announcer yells, "Man oh man that kids got some grip!" The whole crowd was screaming for him. It was pretty awesome! But because he fell to the side he only got 69 points. There was a little girl that rode after him who got 81 points because her sheep jumped when it came out of the shoots. She fell off, but I think they let her win because she was littler. I put some video coverage on because the boys wanted me to, but it's not good coverage. I couldn't go out into the arena to record because I had to be at the shoots with the boys, so I recorded from there. Plus I just recorded with my point and shoot camera.

Jaxon waiting for his turn during the "Ride Off." All of the other kids were dressed in wranglers and cowboy boots and hats and chaps and the whole nine yards. I love that my little city slicker went in there and rode the best! Two years ago when he won it, he was wearing a cut off shirt and shorts and sandals!

Excited to ride

Jordy Sue watching her brothers (and looking like a rugrat!)

Trason's face after he got rolled by the sheep! This picture really doesn't' even do him justice!

Pinewood Derby 2010

Jaxon turned 8 in December, which means he's now old enough to be a Cub Scout. With that comes the Pinewood Derby. Each boy makes a car out of a block of wood and then they race it down the track. Can I just say how silly I think this tradition is? There isn't a mother out there that would let their 8 year old son use the tools needed to make a car out of a wood. So the dad's get stuck with making the car, usually the night before "weigh-ins." All that being said, it's still a good time! :) Roudy took Jaxon's block of wood out to work and had one of the carpenters cut it into a "car." The guy that helped Roudy has made 9 winning cars and he's even won State once. (I had no idea there was "State" for the Pinewood Derby.) Jaxon had an awesome car and we couldn't wait to see it race.....except once we got there we realized that it wasn't rolling straight. It kept pulling to the left, which made it rub on the track. Needless to say, he didn't win any of the races. He got 2nd a couple times, but that was it. When we got home Roudy took the wheels off switched them around......and the car rolled straight. Oh well. Live and learn, right?

Jaxon with his car

Jaxon's Baptism- February 6, 2010

I was ready to completely abandon my blog. I've missed so much and the thought of trying to catch up totally overwhelms me. So here's a quick update. Christmas was good. Jaxon's birthday was good. We sold all of the really cute puppies. Roudy's been having health problems for about a month. I turned 28. Jaxon got baptized. Roudy turned 37 (It's almost time to trade him in for two twenties!) Valentines Day was good, but it marks a YEAR of me asking for nothing more than a love note....and still not getting one. (Yep...still nagging, babe.) I'm not even going to try and post all the pictures from the last couple months, but I am going to post some pictures from Jaxon's baptism so I don't forget this special day.

Jaxon in his new suit that Grandpa Joe and Grandma Mie got him. So handsome!

The proud parentsJaxon was baptized by his Grandpa Ray

Jaxon was confirmed by his Grandpa Joe

Grandpa Joe and Uncle Josh were the witnesses
Jaxon got his very own set of scriptures
And, of course, his scripture case had to be camouflage!All of the kids from the Anderson side
Jordyn, Haylie, Jace, Jaxon, Jozlyn, Madison, and Trason

Jaxon's great-grandparents- Sharon and Claude Storer

Puppies

Here's a picture of our puppies whelped Thanksgiving Day 2009! If you know anybody interested in a Chocolate Lab puppy send them over to pepsiaddiction.blogspot.com for more information.

The Tire Story

1. I'm thankful I'm married to a man that still gives me butterflies after 9 years together!

2. I'm thankful my mom bought all my kids their Christmas outfits for church. Now I don't have to magically come up with an extra couple hundred dollars !

3. I'm thankful that we didn't have to wait too long for our h1n1 flu shots. We were number 193 in line and we were out of there within 20 minutes of the clinic starting!

4. I'm thankful the city people had our road sanded before I had to leave this morning. There is absolutely no way I could make it up and down this hill without the road being sanded!

5. I'm thankful we found Roudy some (almost) new tires at a great price! Roudy has been needing new tires for quite a while. When he was hunting, he got a flat tire two different times from simply driving over a sharp rock. A friend of ours told us about this place that sells used tires at a fraction of the cost. So, Roudy went and checked it out and the only tires they had in the size he needed were crap. So, he put his name on a waiting list and kind of forgot about it. Meanwhile, we checked the price at Big O Tires for the same tires Roudy has now...$170.00 A TIRE. Holy crap how are we supposed to come up with an extra $700.00 for tires at Christmas time? So, we kind of blow off the tire thing for a while. Then, out of the blue, I get a call from the used tire place saying they have some tires that are the right size and there is about 80% tread left! I went and looked at them, because it's first come, first serve, and called Roudy to tell him the details. I told him, "They are BF Goodrich, an aggressive all terrain tire, blah, blah, blah." Turns out that is one of the best tires you can buy. So I bought them. $150.00 for all four! As I was paying, I told the lady, "I'm so glad you called me!" and she says, "Well, I've got a really long list of people to call and today I decided to start at the bottom of the list, so you were the first people I called." You can call it coincidence if you want......I feel blessed.