Fun Farm Stuff

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...

What a fun Grandma!

She showed Max and Sam how to jump and roll down the hills...

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?

Uncle Jake giving Max a ride

And then Sammy a ride before taking it down to the farm and getting to work.

A different day, a different sparkling green tractor...

On this day Max, Sam and cousin Brooks got to ride with Papa to Whitebush and help him bale hay.

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.

Sam is driving!

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.

Max happily climbed on and smiled for a picture--but then he wanted to get right down!

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...

Gotta get June in the Blog Book!

Let's see if I can dust the cobwebs off from two months ago... I fully intended to post an entry for the month of June before we went to UT, knowing that while there I would take an insane amount of pictures and have a lot of fun experiences to blog about. Obviously, I didn't get that great plan accomplished. So, now I have a little catching-up to do before I get to document our awesome Utah trip.

In the month of June, Max graduated from the 2 1/2 yr-old's preschool class. They had a cute and short program where they sang songs and got their certificates. From his lack of interest/participation in any of the songs, it was obvious that Max did not inherit the Blane musical or performance-happy gene. He just stood there and fidgeted the whole time. I literally took a 4 minute video of the three or so songs they performed, and Max just stood there, uninterested. Oh well... it was still cute. I don't think he really understood what was going on or that he wouldn't be going back to preschool the following week. In fact, we saw his teacher a couple of weeks later at KMart and Max was acting really shy and wouldn't talk to her. When I asked him later why he was so timid, he simply responded, "It's okay, mommy. I will just talk to her again next week at preschool!"

Max and his "best friend" Luke. They get along so well and are so cute together. Too bad they aren't in the same class next year. Speaking of Luke, Max and he have had a couple of "drop-off playdates." Max went to Luke's house (and vice-versa) without their mommy's in tow. It was a milestone for me to just drop him off and leave--but Max loved it.

Another big event in June is Paul's birthday...

I literally slaved over his cake; it was a made-from-scratch yellow cake with lemon curd filling and lemon frosting--absolutely sinfully delish. He thought so too...

However, we were talking about it a couple of weeks ago and he had no recollection whatsoever that I even made a cake for him let alone what kind it was. So, I guess next year I will just buy one... (With lots of frosting for the boys to lick off--they love that nasty store-bought stuff).

Cute little Sam with a chocolate pudding mustache...

Cute little Max in desperate need of a hair cut...

Another really fun event in June was a visit from our good friends from Park City--the Taylor's!

Max and Lucy were best buddies basically from birth to a year and half old--right up until we moved clear across the country and they no longer saw each other on a regular basis. They got along wonderfully, though, and Max taught Lucy everything he knew about Spiderman.

Sam and Dylan are about 2 1/2 months apart and were very cute together...

Paul to Justin: "You wreck it, you own it."

Max giving Justin pointers before his solo attempt.

Justin, streaking around the yard yelling: "Hey Max, look at me! I'm so cool!"

Sam observing Justin's solo attempt, obviously thinking: "Wish I had one more ride before the bike gets destroyed..."

(To Sam's delight, Justin safely landed).

It was really nice to catch-up with Justin and Alexis and see their beautiful little girls. We also got to spend a night with them while we were in Utah.

Speaking of UT, Max, Sam and I spent the month of July enjoying the company of my family, seeing a few of our good friends, and playing and playing and playing. We were so busy that the time flew by way too quickly. As I mentioned earlier, I took an insane amount of pictures (no real surprise there). I think I took over a thousand pictures just from the month in Utah--of which I haven't even started to sort through. However, I will try to get the Utah trip posted before baby #3 arrives, (but at the rate I have been going I wouldn't count on it).