We Finally Got Away

This week I set my goal to clean out the office since I had managed to finish filing the company and personal papers, so the office was ready for some attention. Now I must confess that even though the office is cleaned out that most everything of what was cleaned out is sitting out in the hallway still, even after a week. Getting it out there is as far as I got, but it is progress and my strategy is that with it out there it will be in my way making me to have to put it away elsewhere. Don't you just love how I manipulate myself :) Monday night we cracked/shelled pecan nuts out at the flat for Family Home Evening. On Thursday the boys and I went with Adam, his dad, and Mark to the auction in Cedar City. Adam remembers going there once as a kid. He's been feeling the need to get some cows mostly for our boys as they grow up. He spent most of the auction just learning how it all works and the procedure of bidding. Right when he felt like he was ready to bid on some they were done, however they announced that there was a trailer en route with a few more, so we stuck around and ended up with four older cows. It was a good experience and Tyson and Lincoln enjoyed seeing all the cows come through the ring. After eating lunch there at the Market Grill, we headed out to load our cows and as I came around the corner of the walkway there was a white bum showing. Tyson took gma Stout's lecture to heart on it being okay for him to pee outside and that is just what he was doing. I kicked dirt over it and continued on. I took this picture of Lincoln last week when he was obsessed with these two basketballs and wanted to take them to bed with him, so that was a picture moment when I went to check on him. I did end up moving the top one away since it was right in front of his mouth and it made me nervous about blocking his breathing in the night. Friday Adam and I went with Stuart & Heidi, Kelby & Kathy Iverson, and Brandon & Susan Iverson on a trip to Ruby's Inn at Bryce Canyon for a Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers Convention. We made arrangements with Phyllis and Susie to watch the two boys and yes this was our first time since Tyson was born, leaving them over night somewhere. Glad we were finally able to do that since Tyson will be turning 4 in June. It was strange to have a night of sleep without any interruptions since that is very rare in our home (my boys do not sleep well, especially Tyson). We started the trip off Friday having Susie drop us off at Stu's and then Susie took the kids out to the flat while she went to work out. They stayed out there all day and then Susie took them home with her that night and had Tyson sleep in bed with them and Lincoln slept in a pack n play. She said it went fine and then they went back to the flat Saturday morning until we got home that afternoon. It was a great convention we attended. We got to know a few more people and we felt like it was nice to be with a large group of people that mostly have the same values as us and want a good way of life for their kids. The speaker was Trent Loos who is a sixth generation United States farmer with a passion for the rural lifestyle. He uses his laptop computer with the internet to record, produce and send his radio programs from wherever his travels take him. His radio listening audience of 4 million and can be heard on more than 100 stations across the country http://www.loostales.com/ . We all thoroughly enjoyed listening to him speak as I gathered from the discussion about how those who support the agricultural lifestyle need to engage with those who don't on a level of educating them as to what agriculture provides for them, not conversations of who is right and who is wrong. I came away having a greater appreciation for the opportunities in my life I had while growing up and and right now to have agriculture be a part of it. I truly feel that my siblings and I had instilled in us the desire of good hard work, discipline, and a very enjoyable lifestyle. Now I find this lifestyle continuing to provide those same opportunities for me and my boys. Whenever we gather as family we have great memories to share from the farm life and it makes those gatherings so enjoyable. The experiences Adam and I have gained and my boys are and will gain are priceless.