Llamas, a Camel, Donkeys, and Pautues, Yee HAW!

Last Sunday Phillip had a talk to give in Primary. His sweet sister took some time before church to read his talk for him while he ate breakfast. Those little moments are so sweet and make motherhood so worthwhile. I stayed home with a sick Everett again. He ran a fever again with carfing all day. I was so frustrated I called his Dr again and demanded a new course of action. Monday afternoon I hauled all the kids in so Everett could get a chest X-Ray. He brought his monkey, now named Big, for a comfort item. He looked so small standing in the exam room getting his x-rays. The Dr called the next morning to inform me that Everett has pneumonia and has had it for quite some time. He is now on heavy duty antibiotics and singular (for a couple years). He is doing much, much better 6 days later.

Monday the kids and I drove out to Peetz to visit the Betony family. Nora is doing the best she can with all she can handle. Looks like her son's death was more than accidental and is currently open for investigation. While all that was happening her son's wife, who was staying with Nora, took her 6 kids and absconded during the night to move to Arizona. Nora is just devastated, she feels like the kids were kidnapped. Jimmy and Nora have custody of 4 out of the 6 kids. The mother wants the kids so she can get all of her husband's death benefits whenever the case is closed. Just kills me. While Nora and I were talking I looked over to find Evelyn sitting up. I laid her down on her back! She finally learned how to sit up all by herself. She was one proud little muffin. Monday afternoon I let the kids play with three bowls of pudding out in the yard. Amelia chose chocolate, banana, and coconut cream. I put one of the bowls in front of Evelyn. She was in heaven making a mess while eating the pudding. Everett freaked out when Phillip smeared some pudding on his belly. He was not a fan of getting dirty. I think Amelia won the prize for getting the most dirty. The best part was hosing the table and the kids off with the garden hose.

Wednesday afternoon we went to see the 4-H animals at the fair grounds. One of the little girls from our ward had a bunny to show. She was thrilled to get out her bunny and let the kids hold and pet it. She plopped the bunny on a table with Evelyn. Oh my goodness! Evelyn was making the cutest chortling noises ever as she explored the bunny's fur. Everett wanted to jump right into the pens with the sheep and goats. While we were in the sheep barn the rodeo Queen and Princess came to visit the animals. I thought Amelia would faint with excitement. She saw her crowned on Monday evening at the rodeo. While I edited some photos after our fun outing, the kids played trick-or-treat for the rest of the afternoon. This incredible games consists of dumping out toys and dress ups then depositing piles of toys across the basement. They had so much fun not one kid requested to watch a show. That is golden.

Sterling Pool. A great summer distraction. The kids were in the water from 1:30 until close at 5 pm. Their skin was wrinkled and bleachy clean after all that pool water. Evelyn loved, loved, loved the water attractions for the littles. She drank her fair share of pool water with a huge grin on her face. Phillip ran over at one point and thanked me for taking them to the most awesome pool ever. He kissed my ring in homage.

Friday morning I found the kids outside making "rock-o-s," taken from Elmo's pet rock, rocko. They each decorated several rocks with markers. The rest of the morning the kids played pet rocks. That is the best. I found fresh figs at Safeway. Oh my. They were perfectly ripe and tender, just like I remember as a child. I think fresh figs are my most favorite fruit. The kids even thought they were pretty delicious. My friend Sheena invited us over to her Dad's work place in Gurley to visit some strange animals. He is caretaker on a local farmer's property. He cares for the animals and the surrounding land. The Haley family came because they heard a lot about Fred the Camel. Sheena piled herself, two kids, me and four kids, and Alison and three kids into a Jeep! That was pretty awesome. We drove into the large grazing lot. A large herd of Llamas grazed near the entrance. They looked like walking Jamacian rugs. All the animals were incredibly curious. Mixed in with the llamas were donkeys, mules, and a mix called Pautues. The best was a two-hump camel named Fred. We then went to pet the horse and try to find a donkey named Jack the kids could ride. We walked through the donkey pens. It was relatively hot outside, we waited in the shade while Sheena's dad came back. The kids loved drinking out of the hose! Everett got a water kiss from Nora! Sheena even had a strange dog mix, lab and beagle. It had a lab's body with beagle legs. The girls rode on a 4-wheeler to find Jack. He was located and all the kids were able to sit on Jack. The stubborn jack-a** refused to budge. He stood there like a mule. All the kids were thoroughly impressed!

Uncles James, John, and Jared arrived late Friday night. The three guys flew out to NC to help John drive his vehicle back to Utah. They made it a food trip with a side trip to Southern Virginia University. We are all trying to convince Jared to attend there in a couple weeks. The punkles played with the kids in the morning. Justin got a text from Cabela's store alerting him that .22 ammo was finally in stock. All the kids and guys went to the store for ammo. We enjoyed an impromptu lunch at Oya Grill before the punkles finished their long drive home. 

**I also found Evelyn standing up in her crib after her morning nap on Wednesday. She was so very proud of her little self.