Trip to Florida February 4-8

Finally our trip to Florida. Austin and I had the opportunity to go to Orlando, Florida the first weekend in February. We had a really good time, the weather, the food, the company, and the conference was all great.

We had a little time to sight see so one afternoon we went to magic Kingdom and Kyle and Jessica joined us there. It was fun. We weren't there long, however, it was long enough for me to see that my kids really weren't missing much. It is all about Disney movies and TV. My kids don't watch enough to even get that excited about it. I told them the rides at Lagoon are way better.

We took this picture for Addler he would have like the Fronteirland, I have mentioned before he wants to be a mountain man.

Kyle and Jessica came the first night that we were there and stayed for two nights. It was so fun to see them and spend time with them. We went to Disney Downtown with them one night and Magic kingdom the next. And when we had meetings they had planned things they needed to get done in Orlando. It turned out great and really made our entire trip. Austin loved seeing Kyle and spending time with him, we don't see them near enough.

I took this picture of the Swiss Family Robinson tree house for Maestin. He has read this book and loved it.

This was my favorite. It was a 3-D show of Donal Duck and Mickey mouse going through many of the Disney movies. It was so cool. Jessica actually squealed out loud a few times, and I ducked from a flying flute that I swore was going to hit me. So funny!

We took the whole committee out to eat one night in Downtown Disney at the T-Rex something or other. It was full of dinosaurs. This was the light above our table. Austin and Brittney Chandler posing for a picture.

The last day there we went on a tour of the Deseret Ranch (owned by the church) and Kempfer Ranch & Sawmill, a family business that raise Brahma cattle. We loved both tours. Both ranches are huge. Deseret ranch was very impressive in how they are able to manage with so few people. They are efficient and very successful. They are the biggest cattle ranch in the US, a rare opportunity to get a tour of the ranch itself, we loved it.

Austin loved the working corrals, it had a round sorting design. It is designed for one guy to stand in the middle of the circle as the cattle come down the alley the manager yells one-two-three or four the guy in the middle pulls a lever and the gate opens up to that number of pen. They can work a lot of cattle with only three cowboys. Each pasture has 1300 cattle with one foreman and 1 or 2 cowboys, needless to say, Austin was impressed and wanted pictures. An idea in the making.

Deseret Ranch has a rodeo grounds and they put on a rodeo with the contestants as the employees, a favorite for all on the ranch and the surrounding towns each year. And of course we LOVED the sign Eat More Beef!!!

Had to get a picture of the purebred Brahma cattle-they were cool. The Brahma breed is very tolerant to the Florida hot weather.

Yes, there were Alligators! And I held one, this is a one year old. They are a nuisance to the ranchers, because they eat their dogs. This family on the Brahma ranch had just recently lost three of their best dogs, the two brothers caught this one and I was the first off the bus to hold it! They do have big ones too!

Austin wanted another picture of the cows, he loved the tours! Have a mentioned that we loved the tours. :)

There we are at 4:00 in the morning up early to catch a plane home. This was at the resort where we stayed there was a huge Lagoon behind us that the rooms surrounded. We enjoyed the time together and love each others company more than anyone else. As a matter of fact, this has been a huge stretch for us to socialize so much with other people. We have enjoyed it though and have really grown. But we still love hanging out with each other the most! We had a great time, a thank you to Shancy for having her baby early so we could go and once again it would not be possible without both of our parents and all of their support!

Trip to Atlanta Georgia

You are thinking trip to Atlanta would be at least a little warmer than Idaho! Wrong! We were there for history making in Atlanta. Austin and I had the chance to go to Atlanta the first of January for Farm Beareau. The first day was ok then a storm hit and the city shut down literally. This is a picture of a group of us from Idaho after dinner the night the storm hit!

In conjunction with the national AFBF conference they had the Ag Expo. This was huge. there was well over an acre of space used for all of the equipment. They had every farm equipment you could imagine. Austin loved this and we walked through the whole thing numerous times. It was amazing to see it all indoor. And to see stuff that we don't use like a cotton picker bailer all in one. So with that they had an exhibit of the real trigger and bullet from the Roy Rogers show, a little weird but we got our picture!

We stayed in the Merriot. It was nice and very large, it had a hallow center with the rooms going around the outside. the bottom picture is of the elevator going up! There were 4o floors. The employees that were there when he storm hit had to stay there they had been there three days when we finally left.

We went to an Atlanta Hawks basketball game. This is us at the Phillips center

Inside and outside CNN-Chris Dalley, Kendall Keller, Austin

Coke Museum this is where Coke started top picture is of Kendall Keller

Our plane got delayed on day, but we did finally get home. It was crazy to see a town shut down like that. The restaurants were running out of food, and there were not stores open. The power was out in some places because of the freezing rain. I just wanted to be home in my home with my food storage and candles and wood stove all prepared. I know Mormons are thought to be a bit weird about all that, however, I saw first hand how comforting it is to be prepared.

The conference was good, we had the opportunity to listen to Mike Rowe of Dirtiest Jobs, it was great and he is a huge advocate of Agricultural and helps fight our ever growing battle with people like PETA, Human Society, EPA the list could go on and on. He saw first hand our battle and now he is battling with those of us in Agricultural!

Once again a huge thank you to Grandpa and Grandma Tubbs and Price we wouldn't be able to go without you watching the boys! You are the best!

Random pictures of the boys in January and February

Addler and Holdan made a fort in the back of the toy room under the stairs. These two play together a lot.

Addler's two front teeth came loose. Addler hates pulling out teeth, they were both so loose that he could not eat anything. The other teeth were coming in already. He finally asked me to pull out this one, so I pulled and he was happy. We will get him to pull one out eventually.

Addler and Holdan playing the mobie-go on a quiet winter evening. Holdan amazed me with his ability to play this game. Our winter evenings are spent either reading all of us together or alone, other times we can be found playing some other game, I can usually get things calmed down. I love the seasons in that it allows time to come together to bond and learn-or work and play to prepare for the season to come.

Addler found these two yellow squares that were intended for a quilt wall hanging thing. He asked if he could sew a "hunting" bag. Yes, I know sisters you don't think I can but I can (I just don't like it), I helped him put this little bag together and yes we sewed! He was so happy, and proud! He promptly put his bullets, knife, and whatever else boys pack around and headed out for an adventure. The mountain men carried around bags like these, yes he is still convinced that is what he is going to be! Go for it Addler!

My Newest Nephew!

Well because I know my sister on a good week would not get around to posting a picture, I knew for sure that she would not get around to posting on her first week of the Zaner man and baby Hal as a part of her new and exciting life. I thought I would post some pictures that I got. I know that a few of his aunties that live too far to just come down for a quick peek would love to see the new baby boy Lusk and the Hot momma. I will leave the important details to her to post but here are the pictures.

Doesn't Shancy look great, she acted so happy to not be pregnant. You did a fabulous job mommy of two now!

I got to the hospital just in time to see the baby before they were headed out the door, I need to make a trip out to hold the little guy VERY soon. Kade told me I couldn't take him out because it took him way to long to get him buckled in.

Tell Zaner if he is still in denial of having a brother he can come live with us!

Moving Cows in the Winter

I am not a fan at all of moving cows in the winter, on the other hand, this was a beckon of light for my boys. Winter is hard for the Tubbs crew. Every time we see grass any where Addler says, "Oh man they are so lucky they have grass." They do spend time outside but not as long as they would like. This was a most anticipated event. Addler and Ruxton made plans for days who was riding who, what they were going to wear, the whole nine yards. This was towards the end of January. Some of the cows were down in the meadow lands and we move them across the valley to our place, so that they are closer. I drove in the pickup and trailer, happily, while the boys couldn't wait their turn to ride Holdan included.

Holdan rode until he feel asleep, it wasn't even 20 degrees out side. He was pretty fired up when he woke up not on the horse!

Holdan ready to ride

Ruxton with a wave to mom.

The crew

These two had to wait their turn, they endured it pretty good!

I thought this was a cool picture-Austin

Addler and Grandpa Tubbs

Maestin and Bronco

Bronco was ready to go, he was as excited as the boys.

Holdan happy to be a part of the day!

Addler

Random pictures of January

I have a bit of catching up to do. These are just a selection of random pictures of the goings and comings around the Tubbs home.

Holdan brought the camera to me one morning and wanted me to take a picture,the boys were just relaxing and reading quietly, so I told Holdan to go sit down by Add and Mestin and this is what happened. Addler actually started the silliness.

Maestin was the Denner is his cub scout den. He had the opportunity to wear this cool yellow rope thing for a week he thought it was so cool.

This is a picture of my boys before we had to go down to a fancy banquet for FB YF&R in Idaho Falls. We took the boys with us to our Leadership conference there in January. They had fun swimming, and watching TV! It was near impossible to get his picture I finally gave up after 5 tries.

Not only can the three big boys tie but Holdan is putting forth a good effort too.

Holdan can play the mobie go too, he likes it more than any of the boys.

Dad finally hooked the sled up to the 4-wheeler and took the boys sledding. I went out to take a picture all 4 boys were riding together, but when I got the there this is what I found. Bet you can't guess who that is on the back...yep Ruxton. A little story about Ruxton and the new 4-wheeler. Austin started letting the boys go on there own. They would take turns driving the 4-wheeler. One day I was in the house they were out sledding and every once in a while I can hear the 4-wheeler just a going, maybe a little too fast. I am thinking to myself I better go out, it is Ruxton driving. I walk out there and Ruxton goes flying by on the 4-wheeler and no one on behind, then the other three are walking up to the house and start complaining about Ruxton that he is just too crazy! Ruxton does not drive anymore! I think that in his mind he doesn't see the need to be responsible all the time he has two older brothers that are really responsible, so he likes to give them a run for their money! Although he does surprise me more often than not when he is getting after someone for not doing what they are supposed to be doing.

Ruxton's Birthday

On January 12th our Ruxton turned six years old. He had a fun filled day and made sure he got the most out of it being his day!

A typical picture of Ruxton, he was unhappy about something just before we sang to him. He wanted a baseball cake and he got it.

Holdan ready to sing Happy Birthday

He wanted rice pudding for dinner his favorite!

He got a Mobi Go Vtech for his Birthday and has loved it. He also got a cowboy hat, piggen string, and some games to go with his mobie go.

A little bit about Ruxton. He is our mighty hunter, he has now shot three rabbits with his BB gun. He loves to go out and shoot. He is very patient and can spend a lot of time on one thing until he has it figured out. He has done this with not only shooting but other things as well. One of his best efforts has been learning to rope right handed, he had that down two years ago, he can now do a lot of things with his right hand. He is a very determined little boy, he thinks and is convinced he can do anything anyone else can. He is a rhymer and when you say or ask him to do anything he will go off with string a rhymes. The things that come out of his mouth are mostly hilarious and not too outrageous! He is real tough and I never know if he is hurt or sick, I have to figure it out on my own. He puts on a real tough front, but is very soft inside he is always watching out for mom and takes care of me. He carries his emotions close to the surface. The other day when Bowd came home at the airport after the initial hellos and excitement were over he turns to his dad and says, "see Dad I knew I was going to cry." We love Ruxton he is so much fun, he is always game for something fun. At his stage he can do anything the big brothers can and sometimes much to their dismay better, so to list the things that he is doing would be endless. So he is a wonderful six year old going on 12 much to the dismay of his mother. We love you Ruxton Earl Tubbs