I am quickly running out of time to get our fun-filled summer documented before this baby arrives. On the one hand I am SOOOO ready to not be pregnant anymore--EVER AGAIN!! (In fact, due to a broken foot, a hernia, constant back pain, incessant reflux/heart burn, relentless discomfort, and out-of control hormones creating an overall foul mood, I have started to gather my long-sleeved/cold weather maternity clothes to give away--I never want to forget how I never want to be pregnant again.) But on the other hand, I have so much left to do and only 2 weeks left to do it. My actual due date is just over 3 wks away, but my doctor wants to induce me on the 9th of September so that he can deliver the baby this time and Paul can relax and enjoy the birth of his third baby boy. Hopefully (for Paul's sake) things go according to plan...
Our exciting and memorable trip to UT during the month of July was definitely one of the major highlights of our summer. We packed a lot into that one month--we were busy! And my did those 28 days FLY. It was a little rough at the beginning, I think we were all a little jet-lagged and homesick (Max, especially, missed home). But, after a couple of days we adjusted to the busy, schedule-free life of summertime on the farm and enjoyed every single moment.
As I stated in my previous entry, we took a lot of pics in Utah--over 1,100! It took me forever to sort through them all and narrow down those I thought were blog-worthy. That is always the hard part--narrowing them down, mostly because in my (biased) opinion any picture of my family and home need to go into the Blane Blog Book. But, I tried really hard and managed to single out about 12% of the pictures to use for the blog. Not bad for me. However, in order to make it a little less daunting I have decided to post in increments (at least two). Here is Part 1:
The Hawbush Stack Yard...
This serves as sort of a home-base for Hawbush Ranches, LLC. This is where they proudly stack their perfect bales of hay and park their sparkling green tractors and attachments. (I say sparkling because during my one month in Holden they washed their tractors more times than I have ever washed my car).
Just east and slightly south of the Stack Yard are huge piles of sand. These are the sand hills that we usually play on at Easter, but since we Blane's didn't make it to UT for that holiday we decided to take the boys there in July. Of course they had a BLAST! And, it was MUCH warmer this time of year (at Easter we are in coats in blankets)--we went in the late afternoon and the weather and temperature were beautiful .
A picture of Holden, nestled up against the mountains, taken from the sandhills...
Thanks Uncle Jake for saddling Peppy just so Max and Sam could have one more ride before heading back to the city--they had a great time!
And then she even managed to get them back up the hill! (Paul did help a little).
But Dad and I just enjoyed the peacefulness and beauty of our surroundings. It really is calm and serene out there...
The mountains are one thing I really miss. Even Sammy was amazed by them. When we first got to UT, he kept pointing and saying, "Mountain, mommy, mountain!"
We stayed until after the sun went down. Sam was fascinated with the sunset in the wide-open sky (we don't really see many sunsets in PA with all of the trees I guess).
A sparkling green tractor! How great is it that my two boys from the 'burbs of Philadelphia get to climb on, ride in, and even drive John Deere tractors?
Then they got to climb all over it and pretend to drive.
And another day, same sparkling tractor as before...
This time Max and Sam are helping Papa bale in Hawbush.
Summertime doesn't present a lot of opportunity to see cows since, for the most part, they are all up in mountains, eating grass and living the good life. We did get to drive up to Oak Springs where Papa and Jake were in the process of pushing the cows a little farther up the mountain and check them out for a little while, however.
And of course we couldn't let a month go by without going on a horseback ride! The first three photos were taken on our second or third day in UT, and the boys were still a little skeptical of the horses.
On the other hand, Sam was not happy when we first put him on the saddle. He was quite scared of all the animals (and I guess just the unfamiliar environment in general) during the first week or so of our trip. But after Papa led him around for a few minutes he really enjoyed himself.
Then, toward the end of our visit, the boys were so comfortable on the ranch that nothing scared them. I think they were starting to think of this fun place as their new home.
These last pictures are from our last day in UT. Uncle Jake rode with them and led them around for probably over an hour. Paul took these pictures (and probably several hundred more that I had to whittle down), so there are a lot, but they were all so good...
Thanks Uncle Jake for saddling Peppy just so Max and Sam could have one more ride before heading back to the city--they had a great time!
Okay, this is long enough for first installment of our UT trip. This pregnant mama needs to get to bed! Hopefully I can finish more before life as I know it is changed forever...
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