First Day of School

We Got a BOAT!

We finally broke down and bought a boat. It has been awesome! The kids thoroughly enjoyed it at the lake and did not even "covet" any of the motorized boats they saw flying around the lake. Who needs a motor when you have paddles!

It was great for mud fights.

And, for dumping each other out...after the mud fight.

Mariah liked showing use how she could be a whale with that gross lake water!

Cayden and Mariah spent a great deal of time working on a "sand something."

Dayton spent a great amount of time in the middle of the lake just tied to a branch.

The Peterson's came again for supper and because they found out we "had a boat!" They were impressed and we were more than happy to let them take it out for a spin.

Bob Peterson brought a groovy tube and they all took a turn at trying to flip over backwards. It seemed to be o.k. if you actually made it over, but if you didn't, I think all that you got was a giant batch of water up your nose.

Here's Bob even trying to help Dave over.

Here's the hot and sexy beach shot...by...the...BOAT! We put the tube behind it because we think next year we are going to pull people on the tube....behind the BOAT! :)

Squeezing In a Camping Trip

We had promised Mariah a camping trip all summer so we made sure to get that in. She was so excited to make the reservation at Steineker for us. We went right to our old spot and Cado got to work making a Bear Gris (?) cooking stick for his elk steak and Dayton got right to work trying to imitate Keven Ercanbrack's cobbler.

We went fishing afterwards, but no one had really checked the tackle box and we found that we were severely "under prepared" for the fishing. Dave did buy worms and each kid caught a massive fish with them at least!

We Can Poop Now!

That is a glorious phrase! We no longer are running to the camper each time we have a "bathroom" event. We finally gave up on our septic system and got a new one. Once again, not anything we were excited to spend our $$$$ on, but going outside to the camper in the winter would have been even MORE painful.

Dave and Cado did all that they could to help and the whole thing was done in about 6 hours. We now "flush" with joy. Unfortunately, Dave's newly planted field is going to have to be completely planted AGAIN! That seems to be the way we like to do things around here! ha ha

We Found Our Texas Roadhouse Rice!

We love to have the sirloin kabobs at Texas Roadhouse. WE have finally decided that it is the RICE that makes the dish. This copycat recipe is very good. Be prepared though, this rice has a KICK! Dayton was sweating when he ate it...but he is a WIMP!

Make sure you marinate and then grill some great sirloin and veggie kabobs (green and red peppers, sweet onions and mushrooms) to go with it. The Yoshida's Marinade and Cooking Sauce sauce from Sam's Club and Costco is perfect.

Texas Roadhouse Seasoned Rice (copycat) recipe
2 c. white rice
½ c. butter (1 stick)
2 tsp garlic powder
½ c. soy sauce
1 large white onion, diced
1 c. parsley, finely chopped
1½ tsp cayenne pepper
4 c. chicken stock
2 tbsp paprika
½ tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
In skillet, melt butter, add rice and let brown 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally until lightly browned.
Once rice is cooked, add rest of ingredients and bring to a boil for 5 minutes.
Turn down from boiling and simmer for 15 minutes until rice is soft.
Makes 6 cups of rice (approx. 8 servings)

The Duschesne County Stock Show

The stock show was a little more successful this year than it was last year. They actually had "buyers" there and it seemed like the economy was picking up. There were 13 kids in Dave's 4-H group and every one of them go at least $65o for their lambs. That put some extra big smiles on their faces!

Here's Mariah trying to hold her lamb AND smile at the buyers.

Here's Cado doing the same. We always say that the cute girls get more money, but Cado reminds us that HE has made more money than Mariah...every single year!

Nate Wallace was our newest and most dedicated 4-H member this year.

Suzie is our "longest" or "most veteran" member!

The poop pen clean up always has to come after the thrill of the sale.

Sheep Shearing Time

Braxten Nielsen made a new shearing stand for the sheep this year. It is awesome!

We think that Landon Winn really liked washing Gavin's sheep. That must be why Gavin keeps bringing him everytime he has to wash it.

Gaving and Cado finally decided to help him out.

Our New Mantle Pictures

Cado has been complaining about our kid pictures mainly because his has not been updated since sixth grade! So, I did. Here are our new kid pics. We have Bob the Builder for Dayton, Bob Marley for Bo and Jimmer for Cado. Mariah is still her true self because I haven't figured out who her alter ego truly is. So far, everyone seems quite pleased with the new update!!!

UBIC Parade

Brooke came to enjoy the festivities of UBIC and to see what Roosevelt life was like. She got to gather eggs, shear a sheep, go to Bottle Hollow on our KMart boat, eat dutch oven cooking, and go to the parade. We had warned her that the Roosevelt parade was a little different than city parades. Our goal was to bet on and then count the number of floats that were actually in the parade. Then we had to clarify what constituted a float! "Does a big tire constitute a float?" We decided "NO." The criteria for a float was that it had to have some "BLING." An hour later, we had counted 8 floats, mainly because we decided that the floats with "tents" and buffalo heads" DID qualify.

Cado was in the parade for winning the 3 on 3 soccer tourney. That was right after he tied for first for the 3 on 3 basketball tourney as well!

The Subway float created a little controversy as we decided if it was a float or not. Well, it had some BLING so we decided to count it!

Dave and I ran the first annual UBIC 10K as well.