Wyoming - Funeral instead of Branding

This last weekend we were planning to go up to Wyoming for branding. However, Ramon Walker's brother Stan Walker passed away a few days before branding. The funeral was planned for Saturday and so they moved branding to later in May so they could attend the funeral. While we did not really know Stan, we decided to go to the funeral to support Ramon and Scott. We also had a bunch of things scheduled later in May and did not think we would make it up to branding later, so we decided to go so we could spend time on the ranch as well.

We were glad to support the family during the funeral.

After the funeral we headed to the house and then went out to do chores.

The most important thing we planned to do while we were up there was feed "Lydia's" cow. A few weeks ago Grandpa Great and Scott sent a marco polo to Lydia about this baby calf they were feeding. Then they told her she could have the cow at the house in our backyard. They were joking of course, but Lydia totally thought they were serious. Since then we have been trying to get up there to feed the baby calf. Once we were there everyone took a turn feeding the calf and it was so much fun.

Austin did not really want to feed the calf, so he found a comfortable spot to watch.

Lydia dove right in to give the calf a bottle.

I love these pictures with her and her Grandpa and Grandpa Great. They are so wonderful to give her time and attention and love. You can see when she has spent time with them, she is just glowing. 

Grandpa Great put Caleb on the calf to go for a ride.

Caleb's turn to feed the calf.

Lydia with a 2nd turn.

After feeding the calf we went out for chores. We were not much help, but we loved taking the kids out with us so they could see the cows and everything that was going on. Caleb and Austin rode with us in the ranger. Meanwhile, Lydia-girl is getting so big, she rode with the bigger kids on the back of the truck. 

Lydia learning from Grandpa to rope a cow. One of the cows had a new calf that needed to be tagged, so it was fun to see them tag the new calf.

Playing on the farm equipment.

After chores Lydia got a turn riding one of the horses.

Lydia on the tramp.

Also, since it was so close to her birthday I wanted to grab a couple pictures of Lydia. After that she went and found a cozy spot in the tree to read a book. It was so cute to see her there reading. 

We loved our time on the ranch so much and being able to spent that time there. The kids really love it as well and it is the perfect place for them to play and get dirty and run around. We are grateful for Scott and Ramon for all they do. 

April

Pictures from April, with some commentary:

This is my favorite. Lydia has started climbing all over the house. It is so cute and so funny because it is just like me. I was exactly the same way at that age. Austin has started mimicking her and will do the same thing on the wall between the island and the mud room only he will stretch is body straight out to reach. 

One Sunday after church, the kids and I got home and Shantel was still at church working on a few things. I decided to invite the kids to the Peaden Restaurant. I made menus with various few options and handed them out to make selections. They had multiple options for entrees, sides, drinks and even desserts. I added a few table decorations and then acted exactly like a waiter taking orders and making it feel very "fancy." It was so much fun. The kids loved it. Shantel made it home in time to make her own order and I made lunch for the three kids and her. After I finished I went up to change my clothes, and the kids and Shantel had made a menu for me and they served me lunch at the Peaden Restaurant. It was so cute and fun.

So funny. Lydia decided to take pictures of one of her stuffed animals (Tundra) so make a photo book of Tundra. She took hundreds of pictures of Tundra in difference places all over the house and it was so funny. Shantel is so good, she helped Lydia printed the pictures and made a tiny little photo book and Lydia was so happy.

Shantel and Austin.

Swimming lessons. I was so proud of both Lydia and Austin this year. Lydia moved up to the next level, but I feel like it was a huge step up. We missed the first day and a couple of others which made it hard. She just worked and tried so hard anyway. She was swimming the length of the pool doing freestyler, backstroke and is working on the butterfly. She has always been a really good swimmer, but this class was really hard for her and that made it so enjoyable to see her come across a challenge and not give up. She did not quite pass the level, but only had 1 thing that she did not pass even missing so many of the days. When Austin did his class last year, it was really hard for him and he was not totally comfortable in the water. This time you could tell he was much more confident and sure of himself and did an awesome job. He passed the level and loved being in the water.

Dinner.

Daddy and Lydia Pizza date.

Daddy and Austin car wash date.

Bed time with Caleb.

Yard work Saturday.

Snuggling in bed.

Planting. Shantel has been really excited about our garden this year (can we keep it alive when new baby comes!?). She worked with the kids to plant some seeds in some starter pots, so hopefully that will help those little plants. 

Not sure how this started, but it so cute. When the kids (Lydia and Austin, or Caleb and Austin) have matching jammies, they will say "matching" and bump there little tummies together, it is the cutest thing you have ever seen. 

Blogging catch up party. Somehow we fell behind on blogging, so here we are finishing up our posts for 2018 so we can print blog books. You might wonder why we bother, but honestly, I know that it is important. We don't keep journals, so this is our journal, our record of our family. It is important that we keep this record and so, worth a few late nights blogging to make sure we have this previous record.