Joanna and I were given a wonderful night out for our 4th anniversary last night. My parents got us a night at a bed and breakfast in Willow. It was a rustic experience and included an outhouse.... in our room.... or would that actually be called an inhouse? Here's a couple of pictures... check 'em out now before she deletes them!

*Edited by Joanna*
*Disclaimer - I posed for this picture and had my underwear up, so NOTHING was exposed!!!!*

Current Leader Lance Mackey

Here's a couple photos of the current leader, Lance Mackey, shortly after leaving Willow.

Iditarod Restart in Willow

Fun in the sun and snow!

We had a fun day outside. Temps were about 28-30 degrees so fairly warm.

Here is Brandon headed down backwards.

Here is Logan coming down the little hill by the house.
Here is Austin and Grandma Sue going down the driveway backwards too.

Dave and my Father-in-law Larry.

Grandma Emma and Grandma Sue just getting back up the hill from their ride down on the sled. Grandma Emma insisted on going down and nobody could talk her out of it!

10 month preggo belly shot

Here is Dozer, our pregnant Mini-Mare. She is about 10 months pregnant, due to give birth Mid April to end of April. She has a nice BIG round belly and I am so glad we human aren't pregnant for that long!

I gave her a haircut today as well. She has massively bushy hair and it just got bushier with it shorter. Oh well. She is cute anyways!

Teens and letting go

Well, it is one of the most difficult things a parent probably has to do, but its necessary. At some point you have to let go and let God, as they say.....Let them go, have more freedoms, have more decision-making and experience the consequences for both to help them become reasonable, responsible adults. And at the same time, pray that they go down the right path.
I was really having a hard time letting Kristen do things with her boyfriend and friends and I had to really think about why. I had to remember what I was doing at that age and remind myself that I turned out pretty good (if I do say so myself!), so its not all bad and treacherous out there in the real world. It all came down to me wanting to protect her from all the hurts and pains that can come along with making a few wrong decisions, but in the end, she needs to experience some of that stuff in order to gain strength. The thing is, she is fairly good. She has had her struggles with stuff, but she doesn't drink, she doesn't smoke, she doesn't do drugs. Those are things she has decided for herself and I am proud of her for that. So, she needs to have a little more trust and freedom to start her separating, growing up process.
I feel much better about that now that I have "let go". I feel more content in letting her spend more time doing her things, whatever they may be and feel she may make decisions I may not, but they are her decisions. I do feel confident that most of her decisions will be good for her though!!

I also remembered during this soul-searching event that my own mother went a little crazy right around the time that I was 17 too. I couldn't understand why she was all of a sudden "hovering" and being weird and crazy and she finally confided in me that she was going through a "stage" with me growing up and all. So I am not all that out of line....its normal for parents to do this...at least normal for my mom and me. So that makes it normal, right?

Austin's Cast

Austin got his cast on yesterday. We got him a blue one and promptly added some personalization to it. He thought it was pretty cool that people could write on it.

As you can see, it hasn't dampened his spirits. He is still a happy, smily baby.

BUT, he was trying real hard to cut that cast off!

It's back! I'm back.

Well, it looks as if I was able to fix that annoying error. I just removed the music at the top....so no fine tunes for your enjoyment anymore. I know you will all be terribly sad at that loss, but too bad, so sad! I am back.

In other news....my littlest little boy broke his arm on Friday. He either fell or jumped (I am betting on jumped) off of Brandon's bed. Not sure how he landed, but he broke his left arm right above the elbow. I was more concerned for his mental state immediately after since he was acting a little funny. I wonder if he got knocked a little loopy to begin with. The doctor at the ER was NOT impressive. I think he would do better with dogs at this point. He didn't even want to do an x-ray, just thought he had a dislocated elbow and wanted so badly to just do this special "manuever" to fix it. He was a bit to eager for me and I instead insisted on an x-ray first. I could not believe he wouldn't want to make sure something wasn't broken first before agressively flexing his little arm. Either way, I was right. The one without the M.D. behind my name. Makes me scared for other parents who take their kids in to that ER and have to be unnecessarily tortured by that doc. I am going to file a complaint about him though, so maybe he will get a stern talking to. I sure hope he actually took something from that experience though and may be a little more cautious anyway.

So....Austin has a temporary cast/splint thing on his arm until tomorrow. We will go into the Ortho doc tomorrow for his permanent cast (well not totally permanent, lets hope!). I was so glad they have to call in the expert when something like this happens. I surely wouldn't have sat still for that dumb doctor to splint or cast it. I really liked the Ortho doc, seemed really laid-back and more importantly - knowledgable!

Austin is doing just fine with his bum arm. He has a bit of frustration here and there when he can't do what he would like as efficiently as he wants, but overall he is running and playing just like normal. Its a bit different at night. I am sure that is when the discomfort is at it's peak and its been difficult to settle down to sleep or to get long stretches of sleep without having to dose up on some motrin and/or tylenol. That seems to fix it though, which is good.

Other than that awful experience, things are going well in our house. Brandon kicked my butt in Tic today, he is very pleased with himself. He even hung up our score sheet on the door so Dad (Dave) could see it when he got home. Let's just hope he doesn't want me to send it off to Grandma Ione. Brandon also made some bomb ass (borrowed that from Anna!) peanut butter cookies. I am sure as soon as Dave gets home their life span will shorten dramatically.