Micheli for Governor

My father-in-law, Ron Micheli, is running for governor of Wyoming in 2010. Obviously that is coming quickly, and lots of work has already been done on the campaign. This is very exciting, and will be a major part of all our lives for the next year and a half (and at least 4 years after that, we hope)! I think he will make an excellent governor, as I agree with his politics and KNOW that he has moral integrity. He will do the right thing all the time, and our state needs a leader like Ron!

The latest excitement on the campaign trail is our new website. Check it out at http://www.micheliforgovernor.com/ There you can learn more about Ron, read about his views, sign up to volunteer, and donate money to help with the campaign. Also, if you're a UW football fan, with every $25 you donate, your name will go in a drawing for 2 tickets to the UW/Texas football game this fall!

This is a huge undertaking, and your support will be greatly appreciated! We all know how important it is to have good leaders in all levels of government. Supporting Ron Micheli for governor is a way you can help achieve that.

Growing up WAY too fast!

Mariah is already 7 months old. CRAZY! There are both good things and bad things about this stage, like any stage, I suppose. The pluses: She can entertain herself quite well with toys, she is VERY responsive to people, there is a lot less messy liquid coming out of both ends of her (less scrubbing for me), she is getting into a good eating schedule which includes a bottle (!), and her sleep is pretty predictable. The downsides: She is scooting everywhere and getting into everything, she is a little whinier with the beginning stages of the weaning process, and she KNOWS what she wants now. One thing is for sure, though: She is stinkin' cute! I tried in my very amatuer way today to capture some of that cuteness. Here are the pics. I can't decide which one is my favorite. A little input, please?

RANCH Kids Say the Darndest Things!

Tonight after dinner, the usual happened. Tony and the kids ventured away from the table to the living room for a little rough-housing. This time, Connor and Mylie had a great new game to play: Branding Calves!

Tony would use his legs as a chute to trap their heads, then proceed to vaccinate, tag, brand, and dehorn them. This was done, of course, very rough and wildly, with a lot of tickling. Then Connor said, "Okay, Dad, your turn." As Connor put this new calf through the process, he vocalized each part of it. "Cut off the horns, tag the ear, give him shots, brand him, cut out the testicles." WHAT?!?!?

I instantly, not with anger--just surprise, exclaimed, "Connor!" He looked up at me with wide, innocent eyes, shrugged his shoulders and just said, "What?" Obviously he didn't quite understand the implications such an act would have on the future of our family! I didn't know quite how to respond. I suppose that in most homes in America, the phrase "cut out the testicles" would warrent a major talking to and possibly cause for concern about the child. But not with a ranch kid. I simply looked at Tony, smiled a little and said, "I guess we should have seen that one coming."

Game on! Next calf, please!

Work . . . and PLAY!

June is almost over! CRAZY! Well, our month has been great, with both our work and our play. My parents always taught me work comes before play, so I'll do the same with this blog post.

WORK

The first week of June, Tony started working on the ranch for the summer, Connor started summer school for incoming Kindergarteners, and I coached a middle school volleyball camp on Monday through Thursday. Also that week, I came down with a bad case of THIS that extended through the next week, and I'm still feeling the effects now. Here is the evidence:

In about a week and a half, with a little help from Tony, Connor, and Mylie, I planted about 8 flats of flowers, a couple bags of sunflower seeds, over 20 bushes, 6 trees, and 6 raised beds of vegetables. Crazy? Definitely.


Tony built these great beds for me, and hauled in the dirt. He also created the corn tent below. They don't look like much in these pictures, but anybody who plants a garden knows that with the seeds are planted a whole lot of faith and hope.

Connor is taking care of a calf again this summer. Its name is Trey Hardee, named after his favorite US decathlete. That's Connor for you! Here he is using his new hands-free feeding technique.

Mylie has loved taking care of 5 baby kittens! The mama kitty abandoned them when they were about 3 or 4 weeks old, so we were left with the task of getting them to drink milk from a bowl. She came back a week or so later. So, she's not only a hussie, she's a bad mother too. If there was a DFS for cats, I would have called on her awhile back. These kittens are adorable, though! We just gave away two of them, but we have two more to give away! (We just HAVE to keep Sparkles, the white kitten--Mylie says.)

PLAY

The second weekend in June, we packed up and hit the road. After about 16 hours of driving, with a few too many pitstops ("You have to go AGAIN?!") we arrived in Nauvoo, IL. We had an awesome time there seeing all the sights. Rather than bore you with a wordy play-by-play, I think I'll give you a photo tour of just our favorite things (which are quite a few.)

Prarie diamonds from the blacksmith shop

Dressing up like pioneers . . .

. . . and playing pioneer games.

The Nauvoo gardens and statues of women

Carthage Jail

Having fun with cousins . . .

. . . and bugging them, too!

Skipping rocks on the Mississippi. We rented a house (along with three of Tony's sisters and their families) right along the river, which was awesome!

Just relaxing and enjoying time together. Tony and I even got to go running TOGETHER twice! One was through some farmland, and the other on a road along the river. Great fun!

So far, our summer has been great. And with some more fun work and some more fun play, July should be great, too!

My Dad

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

Typically for Father's Day, I send my dad a card. Usually, it starts out praising his qualities, then turns around with a funny punchline that attempts to make me look like the most amazing daughter ever! And mine isn't the only card of this variety that he gets. It has sort of become a tradition in our family to give funny cards--and arrogance is a common theme. But this year, I thought I'd do something different, and just share a few special memories I have of the greatest dad ever--MY DAD!

When I was little, our family had a tradition of "date nights" with Mom and Dad. We rotated who got to go with whom, and who had to babysit. I remember a few particular dates. The earliest date memory was going out for a treat after doing my first sit-up, a very important accomplishment in our family! Another time, (I think I was about 8 years old), we had a goal setting date at the elementary school. I have always remembered talking with my dad about what I wanted to accomplish in school and life, but then a few years ago, I found the paper where we had written the goals. I had accomplished every single goal I had set for myself up to this point in my life! I feel like that simple experience with my dad was vital for ME to decide the direction I wanted to go.

Most of my favorite memories with my dad involve sports. The first BIGGIE was him taking me to a Utah Jazz game when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade. Danny Ainge played for the Kings, and that's who they were playing. I was so excited to see Ainge in real life. Sometime during the first half, I asked my dad why they were playing on half of a court. The players were so HUGE that it made the court look small to me. My favorite gift from dad was a Boston Celtics shirt he gave me for Christmas. The Celtics were my favorite team at the time (again, 8 years old). I still have the shirt, and Connor wears it quite often. For several years, Dad took me to basketball camp in Billings, MT, and put up with Tami and I giggling all the way there. When I got into high school, he was my coach, which resulted in both good and bad memories. But the week after our state tournament each year, he took me with him to Casper to watch the 3A-4A state tournament. I always loved that! And finally, just last summer, he took Tony and me to the NCAA track championships. It was a great time!

Every few years growing up--it seems like maybe it was after Mom had a baby--she would head to Alaska for a couple weeks, leaving Dad and the rest of the kids home. I had a lot of responsibilities while she was gone, but we also had a TON of fun! This trip usually happened during the winter months, and so us kids would all go to Dad's basketball practice. At the end of practice, we'd all put on our cowboy boots with the slick bottoms, and hold onto the car's rear bumper. Dad would drive as we would "ski" behind the car all the way home. There were some great wipeouts!

Speaking of wipeouts, Dad taught me how to ski, and we had a lot of good times skiing together. My very first day (I was 6 years old), he started me on the bunny hill. After he thought I had the hang of it, we went up the mountain. I'm not sure why, but he decided to take me on "Levi," a black diamond run, the first time up. Now Levi really isn't that bad of a run except for the very start of it, which is VERY steep. There were a lot of crashes and a lot of tears, but now, years later, Levi is my very favorite run at Pine Creek.

I could go on and on, but basically, I just want to say thanks, Dad, for all you've taught me and all the memories! Those are the things that will last forever. I love you! Happy Father's Day!

WARNING: The following images may not be suitable for all audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.

After our camera's untimely death, I figured the memory card inside was also a loss. So I didn't bother removing it. Yesterday, Tony thought we should at least check it out before tossing it, so we plugged it into our new camera and took a look. We were priviledged to see the last thing our poor camera saw before falling to its death. And I decided I'd share . . .

Don't scroll down if you don't want to. . . .

Since you've come this far, you may as well see one other disturbing image. I walked into the bathroom the other day to find this:

I guess Sleeping Beauty was having a hard time dealing with her friend's tragic death (see Poor Barbie post). If we had only known she was struggling so much. Maybe there was something we could have done for her. It really didn't need to end this way . . .

T-ball JOY

My first film with the new camera. I call it T-ball JOY.

Enjoy.