The Night Luke Found Love at the Rodeo

We were fortunate this year to get the last 3 tickets for the Friday night Lehi Roundup Rodeo, not to mention we had great front row seats and it was a perfect night. So I was just sitting there thinking how lucky we were when I look down, and there's Luke with some little stranger, getting a little lucky himself!! Talk about a good night for a 1-year-old!! I don't know who this little girl is, but she and Luke hugged and kissed and danced in front of the whole crowd for a good half an hour. People were seriously watching them more than the bull riding. It was the funniest thing ever. When we got in the car later, Dallin told me, "Mom, that was just making me sick watching them hug and kiss. I thought I was going to barf." But, other than being grossed out by the little lovers, Dallin had a pretty good night himself. He's been asking to go to the rodeo ever since we went last year, and he was thrilled to finally be there. And not only that, but he and Luke got to be in the parade for a whole two blocks with their faces painted like tigers with our ward float (thank you, everyone, for not telling them that the parade didn't end at Chad and Shelli's house - it was 97 degrees outside and I don't think I could have pushed that stroller any farther!). Then Dallin insisted on wearing his tiger paint to the rodeo. Jason washed Luke's off before we went, but apparently Luke still had a little bit of tiger in him. The dad of the little girl kept turning to us and saying in a really manly voice, "Must be like father, like son, heh heh." I was like, "ok, now I think I'm going to barf..."

How many bear stories can one blog have...

Yes, that's right, I have another bear story for you. But this time, it involves my precious little 4-year-old, Dallin!!! It's not the 14 dogs, 5 armed guides, chase a bear up a tree so you can shoot it with a bow story that I told you last time. So it is not quite as amusing. If I were my dad, I would say, "Bear with me, as I tell you the tale." Here's what happened: Last Monday morning Jason took Dallin with him to scout for deer up American Fork Canyon. He drove up to Mill Peak and they started hiking about 6:30 am. They saw a doe at the ridge, so they followed it up and heard some crashing through the bushes. When they were almost to the ridge, Jason stopped for a second and heard a strange noise. It sounded like a loud huffing and puffing. "Hmmm," he thought, "That sounds just like that bear up in Idaho last month." Fortunately, he recognized that there might be danger, so he picked Dallin up and proceeded with caution for a few steps. The sound continued in the brush, and then suddenly he heard it coming from a tree right by him. He looked up, and practically at eye level was a little baby black bear cub. Now this is not a good situation to be in, especially with a 4-year-old. Dallin saw the cub and said, "Oh, he's so cute, he looks just Luke!" And although the cub was cute, Jason didn't think this would be a good time to stop and take pictures. Especially because the loud huffing was still coming from the brush where they had just come and they had no choice but to continue past the cub and head out for the ledge. The mountain dropped off on either side and there was basically nowhere to go, so Jason tried to hide Dallin by a rock and started yelling at the bear and throwing rocks. It was at this point (about 6:45 am) that I received a phone call (who knew Jason's cell phone had service clear up there, thank you Verizon). Imagine out-of-breath whispers here: "We're at the top... We just went by a bear cub... The mother is circling around us... I can still hear her... Dallin's under a rock... Don't worry, I've got my tripod in case she comes after us... Well, I better go, see ya later..." Well, that wasn't a very comforting conversation. So, you've got Dallin under a rock and you're going to fight off a bear with a tripod. Great, I guess I'll go back to sleep now. It was an hour until I heard from him again, and you can imagine all the pleasant scenarios that went through my mind. Not to mention the fervent prayers. When he finally did call me back, they were almost to the truck. He had yelled and thrown rocks for about 40 minutes and waited for the bear to circle to the other side of the ledge, then he grabbed Dallin and started running and made it back to the truck. Miraculously. The whole thing gave Jason quite a scare, especially because he has only seen one other bear in AF canyon his entire life, which crossed the road in front of his truck and was not quite as traumatic, and he's been up there hundreds of times. So of course the time he would find himself in between a mother bear and her cub, he has his 4-year-old with him. Being a rational person, you would think that would discourage him from going up there for at least a week or two. However, two days later he went back up to the exact same spot with a trail camera to mount in a tree and some molasses to pour on the ground to try to get a picture of the bear. And then, on Friday, we actually went camping about a mile downhill after he convinced me it was completely safe and bears never attack people who are camping unless the people try to attract them to the site... Then two nights later, this happens, just a few miles away:
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=1363845
Talk about your blood running cold.
This picture is from last summer when we all hiked up there: I think I see a pair of eyes peering out of the trees behind us, how about you?

IT'S A GIRL!!!!

Yes, that's right, we found out today that we are having a baby girl!!! I didn't want to get my hopes up because I love my boys and I would have been thrilled to have another one, but I am so excited it's a girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The ultrasound showed that my due date of October 3 is accurate and the baby looks completely healthy at this point, which is all that really matters. But I am so excited it's a girl!!!!!!!!!! Dallin has said all along that it's a girl, and when we picked him up today at Alison's house after the appointment and told him he was going to have a sister he just looked at us and said, "Yeah, I already knew that." Like we were the stupidest people in the world. I guess we should trust him more. Four-year-olds usually know more than their parents, right? So I guess this means we have to name her "Minnie Yates," which is the name he has had picked out all along (the next boy, of course, will be "Mickey Yates"). And a shout out goes to Kristen for dreaming that I was pregnant with a girl before I knew I was pregnant. In her dream, she was at the hospital with me and a little girl that looked like Luke... So she's got 2 parts out of 3 right so far, we'll have to see if she's really here for the big event... I hope so!

Hot Minivan Mama

Well, actually I know for a fact that it is impossible to be a hot minivan mama, but let's pretend for a moment, shall we? It will make me feel a little bit better about turning 30 and getting a van in the same year. With child #3 on the way, we decided it was time to "upgrade" our vehicle in terms of size. What actually happened was a downgrade in coolness. But that's okay. We were never that cool anyway. "At least it's paid for!" we yell out the window to neighbors who give us looks of horror as we peel out of our driveway and fly around the corner like a silver bullet. And truly, Jason is in his glory as we burn the streets of Lehi. To quote him: "I have never looked at a minivan and thought, 'Wow, that's an awesome minivan.' It doesn't matter if it cost $3,000 or $30,000. It's still a minivan." So, we opted for one that was a lot closer to the first figure and joined the leagues of minivaners.... And it isn't that uncommon. It's actually quite popular among the sensible, confident and/or clueless members of society around here (we just never really thought we would join them - it's kind of like joining the band your senior year after making fun of them your entire life). We have an identical twin in the neighborhood, and the first time we drove it in public we realized that we were the third in a caravan of silver Dodge Grand Caravan Sports driving down Main Street (so we turned). I'm getting a lot more used to it now and I do like the space and being able to put my kids in different rows and all that fun stuff that comes with a van. ("Van." The word is still a little odd on my tongue. Kind of like the word "maturation." I don't know if you ever get used to it, even if you are teaching the class.) And when Dad brought the little beauty down, he told me, "It's a Grand Caravan Sport, but I don't really see what's so sporty about it." Well, I do. It's real, it's silver, and it's spectacular.

Going on a bear hunt... I'm not afraid....

OK, yes, I was afraid, and for good reason. I almost died like 900 times on this trip and I was only there for a day. I guess that is part of the excitement of hunting... kill or be killed? Last week I accompanied Jason for the first day of his three-day bear hunt in Mackay, Idaho and I learned a lot of things. #1 was that I am not a hunter and, sorry honey, I probably never will be. But it was incredible to be out there in the WILD and see so much beautiful scenery and a huge variety of wildlife, some of which I had never seen before. Like this rattlesnake, for example, which brings me to the #2 thing I learned: you just have to put yourself out there and hope for the best. Enjoy nature. Play with the snake before you kill it. Try to make its last moments enjoyable. This is one of two rattlesnakes we saw on our hike up to the bear, and it is not dead in this picture. I repeat, it is alive and rattling away and someone (not me) is touching it. Right after this picture was taken, he reached down and cut off the rattle (9 rattles, one for every year of its soon-to-end-life) and handed it to me!!! It was a little awkward, really, and I tried not to make eye contact with the snake. Um, sorry about your rattle? Good luck with everything else? Please don't bite me? See you later...

This was definitely a new experience for me. In addition to the bear and the snakes, I also saw a moose, lots of deer, elk and antelope, and a pack of wild horses. I didn't even know wild horses existed any more until Will, the hunting guide and rattlesnake tamer, pointed them out, galloping along the horizon. It was very cool to see. So #3, sometimes you just have to go along with something, even if you don't really understand it, and it might actually be be kind of fun. I mean, just look at this picture (I had to do a little fancy footwork to make it upright, thanks to blogspot not having a "rotate picture" option). I'm wearing camo, carrying a bow (which belongs to Jason's friend who just shot the bear and is dragging it down from the mountains you see behind me), and I'm also leading/being dragged by a dog. If you know me, you know I am not exactly a dog person, but I didn't really even mind this one. I even gave it a few virtual pets (I wasn't about to actually touch the filthy little sucker).

So you see, even someone who is opposed to the sport of hunting can enjoy the experience. I really loved seeing the bear in the tree only a few yards away (he was so cute, I mean just look at him), and although what happened next made me cry, I have since found this little organization called PETA which stands for "People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals". I think I might join, because I am a person who is for the ethical treatment of animals, and even though I do support my husband in his hunting, I kind of want to, I don't know... make it illegal. Just kidding, Jason, it was great, and I loved being there with you. And congratulations on your bear. I wish I could have been there the day you got it. I'm just proud that I went hunting, I lived to tell the tale, and I didn't even have any ticks when I got home! Now that is my definition of a successful trip.

Here, kitty kitty kitty...

Dallin and Luke were thrilled with the chance to meet a very large kitty on Saturday. The kitty was less thrilled to meet Jason and his bow & arrow in Provo Canyon earlier that morning. Jason has been cougar hunting all winter and luck was finally on his side. The other day he was up Provo Canyon helping a friend hunt for turkeys (it's like a wildlife death camp up there) and they came across a cougar track in the mud. So he called another friend with cougar dogs and the next morning they went up the canyon near Vivian Park and found this little guy about 100 yards from the cabins and playground. Jason thinks the turkeys attracted the cougar because they go out on the playground and peck around in the grass and are easy prey for the cougar, much like small children playing on the playground would be. So, note to self, don't let kids play on playgrounds with turkeys. Very dangerous. Also, Jason's expert cougar friend misidentified this "tom" as a female, and the taxidermist had to set him straight. Jason had to endure a lot of flack from his family about not knowing the difference, yada yada. I guess with cats it's hard to tell? Or something? But, in Jason's defense, I would be a lot more worried about my husband if he actually were an expert on cat crotches. That's all I'm going to say about that. I'm just glad he finally got his cougar and lived to tell the story.

Um, don't burn the barn down...

We were eating dinner tonight and Dallin looked out the window and saw tons of black smoke coming over the rooftops behind our house. Being the ambulance-chaser that I am proud to be, I grabbed him and we ran out to do some investigatory reporting. It wasn't a house, thank heavens, but a barn (that was dangerously close to a house) and the flames were incredible. It was just south and west of us about two blocks away. The fire trucks weren't there yet, but we could hear the sirens coming. We ran back to our house and told Jason to grab Luke and get in the car for a closer view. We drove over as close as we dared while still maintaining our dignity (close enough to see, far enough to avoid the glares of the authorities). The flames were so close to the house that I can not believe it didn't catch fire. The house is in our ward, but I don't know who the people are. I bet they were having a few moments of fervent prayer, though.