Haderlie Summer Adventures

We love our Haderlies and have had some great summer adventures with them. Here are a compilation of photos from our escapades over the past several months. 

-Dinosaur World meets The Gardens @ Thanksgiving Point (Don't you love their "Cousin Crew" shirts? I need to get Jenna and I "Sister Squad" shirts so we can match.) 

I usually feed four kids lunch. With the Haderlies, we double that number and feed eight. Sometimes we also do our babysitting swap on the night the Haderlies are here and then we feed ELEVEN kids! 


Father's Day and church with 7 kids. The sun was too bright for these poor little eyes. 





We did a Cookie & Rootbeer Taste off with the kids. Four different kinds of Chips Ahoy Cookies, three different kinds of rootbeer. (I made these little sheets for Jenna to give as a Christmas gift this year and we printed off some extras for us to do.) The kids loved it and we had a great time tasting and deciding which we liked the best. 

-Molly thinks I'm Jenna when she's in the baby carrier. It's a sneaky trick but I secretly love it. (However, David is the one that she really loves if she can't have Jenna.)

-Summer Swimming! I love that Molly is getting old enough to be in these photos. Also - it's important to know that the kids line up like this on their own. I just say "Let me take a picture before we go inside!" And the kids put themselves in this order. Now that they've started doing that, they'll never be able to stop. They'll be 20 and I will say "Line up for a picture!" and then demand they stand in order so that we can have hundreds of photos of them all lined up in descending order. 

-More swimming! Our Summer of Fun chart had us going to three different pools and the Haderlies came with us to the Lindon Rec Center. We went there together several years ago and loved it, but this year the kids weren't big enough to ride the big slides but were too big to enjoy the small slides and then it rained on us and the whole thing was kind of a bust - but we marked it off our chart and thought "Every adventure can't be perfect." Except that having the Haderlies with us basically makes everything better. 

-Fireworks. Austin bought fireworks with his own money and we shot them off together. 

Whew! We love this Haderlie family and are SO grateful that we were able to spend so much time with them this summer. 

Ellis Ramon Walker - Rodeo Grand Marshall

My wonderful Grandpa Walker was chosen as the 2022 Bridger Valley Rodeo Grand Marshall. We had a wonderful weekend celebrating with him. Below is the article printed in the Bridger Valley newspaper for the rodeo. I loved reading it and wanted to have a copy here. 

Ramon Walker, Valley native, has spent his life in the field on equipment and on a horse owning and operating ranches near Lyman
Tapped as the grand marshal for the 2022 Pioneer Days Rodeos in Lyman, Walker’s life has come full-circle, traveling much of the world and then being honored with this position at home. This year’s rodeos kick off with the jack pot roping and barrel racking on Tuesday, July 19. They will be followed by the Junior Rodeo on Wednesday, July 20, the Qualifier on Thursday, June 21 and the Fnals on Saturday, July 23.

Walker was born Dec 23, 1935, in Lyman. He is the oldest son of Ellis and Kimba Walker. He attended Lyman schools and graduate from Lyman High School where he enjoyed running track, (he held the Lyman High School record for the mile run for many years), playing in a jazz band with his friends, and from the stories he has told his kids, he enjoyed a lot of mischievous fun as well.
After graduating from high school, Walker served a stint in the U. S. Army in the 2nd Armored Division. After returning home, he bought his own ranch just east of Lyman. He married Verla Tingey in 1957, and they raised four children.
Walker now owns and operates both the ranch he bought after serving in the Army and the ranch that has been in the family for 124 years, a ranch he grew up on and helping his father. Walker raised cattle and sheep for many years but his true passion was Black Angus cattle. He got into pure-bred cattle and after several years of hard work, he had several cows that became path finder cattle (leaders in the Angus association cattle program.) He sold many of his Pure-bred Angus bulls locally and in surrounding states.
Walker also worked at FMC as a production foreman and was one of five foremen who started the mono plant. He retired from FMC after 27 years.
He is an accomplished mechanic and is considered a doctor of mechanics. He worked for many years as a mechanic and can fix just about anything, his daughter reported.
Walker and his wife Verla enjoyed traveling. He has been to 47 states, swam in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, the Gulf of Mexico, Gulf of Alaska and both sides of Hawaii. He has been an avid water skier and loves the outdoors.
Climbing another mountain, Walker climbed Kings Peak at the age of 73. He recently completed an ATV adventure, with his family, traveling from Lyman to the Canadian border and the Mexican border on ATV’s and taking mostly back roads.
Another talent Walker possesses is a quality bass singing voice and because of this has performed in several community plays.
A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Walker would say his greatest accomplishments in life are marrying Verla and being blessed with their four children, 20 grandchildren and 37 great-grandchildren.

Wyoming Life

Throughout my childhood, I spent a lot of time at my grandparent's ranch in Lyman, Wyoming. It's been really special (and important to me) to see my kids having this special place as a part of their childhood, too. We were able to spend several different days over the summer up at the Ranch. Here are a few snapshots of those treasured times.

The highlight of our Wyoming travel this year was when my Grandpa was chosen to be the Bridger Valley July 24th Rodeo Grand Marshall. He rode in the parade and the whole family got to join him on a wagon ride through the rodeo grounds before the rodeo started. (See the following post for the information printed about him in the Bridger Valley Newspaper for the rodeo.) It was a lovely day where his posterity gathered around him to celebrate him and enjoy the 24th celebrations as well.

There was a parade and a BBQ lunch and bounchouses. Then we came back to the house to hang out before the rodeo. Grandpa pulled out his old phonograph and we listened to music.

We had a great time riding on the wagon through the rodeo grounds. It was so neat to see the impact that Grandpa has made on his community and the incredible legacy he has created for his posterity. He sure has a bunch of people that love him. 

 Lydia and Austin got to participate in one of the age-separated kids competitions. Austin chased a chicken and Lydia chased a goat. My cousin, Jessica, was trying to get a 3 person team of girls together to compete in the "Wild Goat Milking Contest" and, due to my recent "Power of Fun" mindfulness I decided to jump in and do it with her. Jessica, Becca, and I ran through the dirt, caught a goat, and got a drop of milk from it. There were some sketchy moments but we did it! It was fun. And also hilarious. 

We stayed overnight because I wanted to be able to stay for the whole rodeo but I didn't know if Lucy would be able to hang. We rented a darling little cabin in Mountain View and the next morning we came to church with Grandpa. It was a great morning.  

We came back in August at the very end of haying season, just managing to squeeze in before it was all over. The kids got to see Grandpa's tractor, climb the haystack, and ride 4 wheelers through the field. 

Lydia had the really neat opportunity to go back, just her and my dad, and spend two days haying to finish the season off. She woke up with him early the first morning, drove to Wyoming, learned how to work a tractor for real (all by herself), and worked a 10 hour day with the crew. She ate lunch at Aunt Kim's, worked in the hayfield, and took a break to read her book on the top of the haystack. It was such a great experience for her and my dad can't stop talking about how proud he is of her and what a great job she did. 

(While Lydia was in Wyoming the other kids and I stayed in Morgan and I binge watched Noble House with my mom and grandma. David was out of town and this was the perfect chance to hang out with my mom.)