Independence Weekend

Reasons this has taken me weeks to post...

I've been busy.

I take WAY TOO MANY pictures.

I had to decide which pics I liked & which to delete.

I had to edit the pictures because I take crappy pics.

It takes FOR-EV-ER to upload this many pictures!

so...

We loaded up the kids

and headed 3 hours North to

We were fortunate enough to be invited to head up to the Hatfield's Family's Ranch.

It was a fabulous weekend!!!

the first thing she did when we got there

We LOVE Brooke and Tyler!

They are SOOOOOO patient with the midgets and took them on countless rides.

This old chimney sits on the property. It is actually a National landmark, along with the barn.

There used to be a house with it but all that's left is the chimney and rubble.

It was where people used to wait for The Grand Canyon Stage Coach.

She was a little disappointed we couldn't burn it

she wanted to ride all by herself.

playing in the barn

Just two weeks before we were there they finally had the fires under control.

The fire surrounded the Ranch Property.

Even came about a 100 yards from the Ranch House and Barn.

So of course that meant No Fireworks.

isn't this picture adorable?

It almost makes me want to get a dog... NOT!

Dana and Suz brought their dog and the baby midgets were in HOG HEAVEN!

Covered in dirt, she is still one of the cutest kids on the PLANET!

Cruisin' the mountain side

We had to climb on the pile of rocks we found

******

How dumb is a Deer farm?

I just don't understand the purpose however,

the midgets had a BLAST!

look how intense Lucious' face is!

a series of things we probably shouldn't have been doing...

strangling deer

heckling Llama's so they'd spit on us

pulling feathers out of animals inside cages

climbing on fences

"A REAL LIFE REINDEER???"

nice rack...

The baby Midgets were LOVIN' this place.

I was so afraid the deer were gonna trample them after these hugs

I shouldn't wear horizontal stripes.

YEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAWWWW!!!

******

We've been to Williams several times now and the more we go the more I like it.

It's just a fun little place.

We stopped in one of the MANY little Dives there

and enjoyed the BEST Milk Shakes EVER!!!

******

The extreme sporting NEVER got old.

That's all the kids wanted to do!

The Man reconnected with his inner Cowboy

These 2 pics remind me of the old song,

"A Country Boy can Survive"

The view from the front porch...

Seriously stunning.

chillin' out back

I know what you're thinking... and you're probably right.

Livin' on the edge... taking care of business...

another example of how filthy we were.

man o man, is this boy cute!

******

On Sunday,

INDEPENDENCE DAY...

we started off our day with a little devotional.

Suz was so fun and animated and my kids LOVED it!

Lucie holding the Liahona to help with the lesson.

after a quick photo opp,

we headed off to the TINY town of parks for a parade.

we waited for awhile for the parade to start...

some of us got in trouble

some of us were impatient

we parked our butts at the very end of the parade and

did a little Patriotic Chit Chat

we snapped pics of BIG Bruises

( seriously Jason, enough with the head trauma!)

some of us snuggled

some of us got invited to help lead traffic

learning how to signal

and finally the parade began...

Nothing completes a Parade like a firetruck!

Many thanks to our friends for letting us tag along.

It was soooooo much fun.

I Loved that I could send my kids outside all day and

didn't have to worry too much about them getting in trouble.

Tucked back up in the mountains with plenty of acres to mess around on... AWESOME!

If there was a Target and McDonald's close by,

I could totally be a Mountain Woman, raising my young on a Ranch.

So simple and pleasant!

PS-I need someone to tell me how to make my pictures bigger on here.

I'm talkin' gigantic!