Rodeo

Saturday the ranch had their annual bull riding rodeo. They also had some barrel racers and some mutton bustin'. The four oldest got to do the mutton busting. It was fun. We started watching the barrels at 9am and didn't go back home until 9:15 that night. It was a long day but we had a great time. The weather was beautiful. Some of us (especially me) got fried and all of us got filthy dirty. How much better does life get? Dirt, horses and concession stands! Anyways, here are a few pictures of the days events. I didn't get good ones of the mutton busting. I had help from an 11 year old with the pictures because I was holding a sleeping princess.
Princess Lala in her royal hat and boots! This was at the beginning of the day.

Zeke on the fence watching the horses and picking out all the ones he liked.

Dillon sitting on the fence post during the warm ups that morning. He, too, had several horses picked out that were his favorites.


Fried mommy and the sleepy little princess at the end of the day.

All the bull riders on the fence waiting for the rodeo to start.

Dillon after he fell off his sheep. He's not too sure he'll do it again next year. The sheep were "weally big and filfy," and the ground was "weally hawrd."

Maddi sitting in the dirt. She enjoyed it the most and was the only one who didn't get tears in her eyes from being "bucked" off. She's a tuffy!

Makenna in the process of being dumped. She definitely earned her free pop from the concessions!

I didn't get a picture of Zane but he was out there too. He was the first to go. He's got his eyes on the trophy for next year!

First Day of School

Today is the first day of school. They were all very excited to get to go. We went last night to the open house and found all their classrooms and lockers, met their teachers and put their stuff in their desks. During the night the Backpack Fairy came and left them a bag of goodies. Maddi and Makenna got a watch and treats and the boys got a toy and soem some treats and Olivia got some Dora coloring stuff with her treats. Michael and I had also gotten them each a new shirt to wear to school today. I took them this morning instead of them riding the bus. It was kind of strange to leave Dillon there. He has always been my little buddy and now he is off to school. The other kids I got to slowly work into it because they had half day preschool. Dillon didn't get to go that. I will miss having him around but it will be fun to have just Zeke and Olivia at home too. It will be fun to do things with just the three of us. I am hoping to get to go to the gym every morning - if I can get over my asthma, and get to ride or drive horses on a regular basis. We are also plannng some picnics and park days while the weather is nice. Anyways, here are some pictures from this morning.

Last Day of Summer

Today is our last day of summer vacation. Some of us are really excited and some are just sort of excited. Tonight we have the open house at school. They can take all their school supplies and meet their teachers. They are excited for that. Unfortunately, it's supposed to rain all day so they won't get to go outside and enjoy their last day of freedom.

Driving Hallie

Last night I got to go to the fair and drive Hallie in the ladies cart division. She is one of our draft horses. That was only my third time driving a horse and only my second time on a cart. It was a lot of fun. The lady I drove against had been driving all her life and her horses were amazing. I knew there would be no competition but it was fun to go out and get the experience. Plus, the boys think I am really cool now. They even said I deserved a new pair of cowboy boots:) I am quite lucky, this is the second time in one week that my kids have thought I was cool. Once for teaching David Archuleta Sunday school and one for driving the horse. Michael rode with me on the cart in case the horse acted up. He even gave up his opportunity to drive so that I could. I hope I get to drive more in the future. It is a lot of fun.

Catch up

Okay, this blog is catch up time. I finally got pictures donwloaded so I can show you all what we have done for the last month or so!

This is Olivia's hair straightened. We had extra time one norning so I did it to see what it would look like. It was wild! She sisn't like it straight either because it got in her face more. The curls kind of help keep it out of her eyes.

These are from when we went to pick up Maddi. We met Mom and Dad at the Mormon Trail Center. It was an exciting time. The bottom picture is of all the kids trying to sleep in a bed that the saints from England would have had to sleep in. Not too comfy!

Fun at swimming lessons. Olivia didn't take lessons but insisted on dressing the part. She was obviously having issues this day! They had fun and we are going to try to sign them up for lessons in the fall too.

We got the chance to go to the races one more time before the season ended. It was a lot of fun. Ben was there and the kids had fun torturing him on Friday night. Saturday we went back to the races and ended up seeing friends from Ivanhoe. One was one of Maddi's best friends, Mitchell. They had fun playing on the playground together and I enjoyed visiting with his parents. It was a great weekend.

This is Hunter, our new lab puppy. Isn't he cute? I must say, labs make some of the cutest puppies in the world. The kids love him, even Olivia and Zeke. Sassy gets along great with him, which is a huge plus since they share the same kennel. Dillon helped name him. The shelter named him Karter but we didn't like that. He is two months old and very sweet.

Well, that is most of the latest with the Christiansen clan. Hopefully I can keep up a little better now:)

American Idol Fans

I don't know how many of you are fans of this show, but if you are you will never guess who came to church today - David Archuleta! Yes, my kids were so excited. They know him. They watched him on Idol and they've seen him on several of their Disney shows that they watch. I even got to teach him in Sunday School. Maddi chased him down after sacrament and asked him if he was David Archuleta. He got a big grin and said yes. Then she got too embarrassed to talk any more and left. Not sure what he was here for. One of the missionaries said he had some sort of singing engagement and he had a cold so he had asked the elders for a blessing. Who knows. Anyways, how cool is that for the kids to see someone that they know from TV and love, and see him in church? I know it probably is no big deal for him, but it's something my kids will remember. It just goes to show that all of our choices can make a difference in some one else's life. We don't have to be famous, we just have to be trying to be obedient. I wish they would have had him do a musical number! Kind of glad my musical number isn't until next week:)