OCTOBER 2016

Kyle is a dedicated hunter, which I totally don't understand fully, but for some reason he had to shoot a deer this year. That meant the pressure was on. We hunted a lot. We went hunted on Kolob and out at the Sands (passed the ranch). We were seeing a lot of big deer this year which is really unusual. The deer had moved to the Sands a lot earlier which was nice because Kyle could hunt muzzleloader without a lot of other hunters. We went out a couple of times, then one Monday night we invited his mom and dad to come with us. We all loaded in the Jimmy at the ranch and headed to the Sands. We turned to where Kyle had shot at a big 4 point the week before and not 100 yards down the road Kyle saw a good 4 point and he pulled the trigger. It dropped. I'm certainly glad Bruce was there because there is no way I could have helped with that big deer. The kids were so excited, and I made them say thank you to the deer for the meat. Shane Tooke our hunting friend also got a nice 4 point out at the Sands.

We were also spike Elk hunting. So we hunted a lot for that too. We went to Indian Peaks which is almost 3 hours away to spike elk hunt, we went to the paunsagaunt in Kanab (one of the prettiest places), we went to tropic, it felt like we were everywhere the first half of the month. I never saw an elk the entire hunt which is very disappointing to say the least. Gus, Oliver, and Jack love to be outdoors so it was fun playing together so much in the wilderness. We picked up a ton of pine nuts at Indian Peaks. We even took Ashlee, Corry, and Dylan with us one Saturday so they were able to get some as well.

Well, we had our first broken bone of the Ballard Boys and it was caused by me. I moved a filing cabinet inside that I had just painted and I was taking the dolly out. Summer's kids give each other rides with their dolly so I put Oliver and Jack on the dolly to bring it outside. All was good until the two stairs. Something told me to have the boys hop off by the door but I didn't listen. So after the first step the dolly kinda bounced, and I didn't notice Jack's foot had slipped under the metal plate. So on the next step the dolly plus all of their combined weight land on his foot. He screamed and clawed at me. I thought I hurt his back so I took off all of his clothes but couldn't see anything. I fed him and he calmed down, but when I went to set him on the ground he wouldn't step on that foot and cried. It was starting to get swollen at this point so I gave him some ibuprofen and called Amy to get him into the dr. I didn't think it was broken so I wasn't too worried. After a few x rays, sure enough he broke 3 of his metatarsal bones. He got put into a soft cast, and was told not to be on it too much. Then the dr. called and said that he needed a orthopedic to look at it. which scared me because I was thinking surgery. Good thing our friend is Dr. Anderson so I had Kyle call him and after he looked at the x ray he said to just wear the soft cast for 3 weeks and if it still hurts after that they will re examine it. It was swollen for a long time. It hurt him to walk if he didn't have the cast on so he lived in that thing. I cried and cried that night, felt like an awful parent.

We planted pumpkins at my moms. We got some pretty cute pumpkins too. We gave them lots of fertilizer and water . Next year we will plant the first of July.

Gma Linie got some awesome new cement between her and the Mcdonald's. She taught us how to wiggle car down it and its a new favorite. One day while doing it Jack (who thinks he is 13) hoped on his own wiggle car and went down. That kid is fearless

Gus lost his second tooth at school! When he got out of the car I told him he might loose it at school and sure enough he said it just fell out on his tongue. He went to the school office and they gave him a cool tooth container that is a necklace. I told him the school tooth fairy might come and sure enough she did. She brought twig crayons, and origami dollar bills. lucky kid

He is so sweet when he is sleeping

Gus lining up to go into school with some of his friends.

So one day Erin Woodbury told me that Jolee thinks Kyle doesn't like her. Something about seeing him at the temple and he wasn't very chatty or something. So I told Kyle and he said I love that lady, so we thought up a plan. I made this awesome sign that Erin and I hung on one of our walks. She text Erin and Chet later after she saw it and said obviously somebody said something. lol. 

Kids in the bath is the greatest. It actually is one of the more stressful parts of our day. Probably because it seems it is after their bedtime, and we are rushing. Kyle and I like our alone time so once we are past 8 pm its ticking down on our time. We have them bathe all together which is nice and chaotic in the same sentence. Gus is getting big enough he could shower by himself but he likes baths and we are always running around late for bed at this point. Someday they won't be cute little boys sitting in the bath together so lets just sit and cherish these chaotic bath rituals while we can.

Jack is at the age in church where he is a total monster. 18 months can't come soon enough. Well, our sweet sunbeam teachers April Gates and Jen Ashcroft told me to let him stay with them if he will. So Jack who thinks he is 13 all day everyday sat in their class like he owned the place. She said they ate cheerios and did the lesson and the only problem was he liked to take off the stickers they played with not put them on the page. Silly 13 year old, I mean 1 year old who is too big for his own good.

Jack loves sage, Sage doesn't really reciprocate the love, but nonetheless Jack loves him. 

Jack is a little tornado. I had just dressed him after the bath and was working on Oliver, and this little devil climbed back into the tub. There is nothing more frustrating as a parent than seeing your freshly washed and lotioned baby get back into the tub. Now looking back it is semi funny.

Every Saturday Linda walks Sage in the wee hours of the morning. The past couple of times I have gotten up to go with her. The vet tells her that Sage doesn't have very long which is very depressing so I wanted to take some pictures of them on their walks. He has been a good little companion for her, I'm sure glad we promised her we would take care of him and then left him for her to take care of. That dog gets fed a fried egg cut up in his food most days. He gets showered in a hot shower before they come home from Kolob, he is spoiled to say the least. 

There is a picture of a skunk because Kyle has set some traps. I think his tally of skunks is up to 5 now. He has the lucky skunk trap I guess.

Bruce turns 60 this year so I was rounding up some old pictures for the front of the shirt. It came down to this basketball one and the one we went with of him with his tank top, chain, and fro with fish.

Gus drew this awesome portrait of himself in school. His teacher has them laminated and hung up as you walk in. She makes them take their time, and teaches them how to do it. I thought Gus' was great.

Uncle Keith had surgery on his back again so he asked if we would take Halee to her horse lessons. They pay this lady $40 big ones every week for barrel racing lessons. The lady was a joke in Kyle's eyes. The kids lasted for 10 minutes watching her then we went and played on the slides. Her horses name is Makita and no surprise Jack loved her.

I wasn't really feeling Halloween this year. All of the kids were sick maybe that is why. idk. Even for our friend party we weren't up for it. Kyle just threw on his wolf shirt and I was little red. We had a lot of fun. Gma Linie was gracious enough to take our kids with them to Kolob while we went then we drove up after. We get there and Gus had pooped his pants and didn't dare tell Gma for a long time so he just cried. I felt bad for her and for him. So we get there and he tells me he pooped again in his pants. who knows how long he laid there. I felt so so bad. He started getting sick that night too, and woke up with a fever and coughing. Poor kid.