Branding Calves Last Weekend

Lydia watching the cows with Nana.

Last weekend Lydia experienced her first cattle branding at Grandpa Mecham's.  Every year we get together with family and friends to brand the calves. The cowboys head and heel and calves on the horses (or mules), and we always have a ground crew to brand, vaccinate, and well..."fix" the little bull calves, if you know what I mean. ;)  Lydia loved watching everything. I tried and tried to get that girl to take a nap, but there was too much going on and Lydia didn't want to miss anything. She stayed awake until we left!

Here is Lydia sitting on George the Mule with Papa Matt

She was more interested in the reins than anything else.

She looks pretty cute sitting on the mule with Papa, don't you think? This baby is destined to be a farm girl. :)  We're training her up already. It's never too soon to teach 'em to ride :)

Petting George with Mom

Here is our awesome ground crew. Rhett is holding down the calf. Brian's partner in crime, Nate Bird, is assisting. While Matt (Lydia's grandpa, Laci's Dad) is getting stuff ready. Great-Grandpa Milan and Brian seem to be doing a great job overseeing their work.

Brian was the official "brand master." He branded most of the calves.

I administered the shots while Rhett held down the calf.

Teagan and Lydia hanging out in the shade! These two have become buddies!

Teagan sitting like a real cowboy on George.

This kid was fearless! He kept trying to climb over the fence into the corral. He said, and  I quote, "I want to get in there and help" Or, "I want to rope the cow!" Or my favorite, "I want to ride a baby calf!" 

Nate and Rhett getting ready to brand.

Papa Matt just caught a calf on his faithful steed.

Rhett the calf wrester was always holding them down.

Nate looking stoic.

Lydia and her Papa

 Another year of branding is done. The calves are back in the pasture and the branding irons are put away till next year. Maybe next year Lydia will be old enough to say, "I want to rope a calf!" And this mama will be busy keeping her busy girl on the other side of the fence.

Rose Family Happeninings

Summer is FINALLY here! In honor of the season I've not opened my computer since the semester ended. A few days ago I realized that I totally missed Lydia's 8 month update! Since she turns 9 months in just a couple of weeks I'll  do a big post about her. For now, I'll give you the the Rose family update.

This is how Lydi Bug sleeps these days. Now that Lydia is quite mobile, (her crawl is getting more sophisticated) she just wears herself right out.

Lydia also experienced her first of many camping trips!  We went up Hardscrabble and had a great time. Brian and I sat around the campfire with the most awesome Mike and Whitney Rose, and Byron and Katie Anderson. We roasted marshmallows, starbursts, and anything else we had. We told funny stories about our significant others, and had a great time. Meanwhile, in the camp trailer Lydia just slept. Brian and I thought we had a natural  camper. We finally were able to pull ourselves away from the camp fire around midnight. We snuggled up in our sleeping bag, just about to drift off when...."Wahhhhhhhh!" Lydia woke up; and kept us up basically until sunrise. We finally got some sleep around 5:00 a.m.  We aren't quitting though! We'll make a camper out of this prissy girl sooner or later!

I love this cute pink snow suit! She wore it once when we went to temple square around Christmas, and it drowned her! It fits perfectly, and its so cozy. It's been perfect for camping. I'm glad I'm getting some use out of it!

Brian's Truck has been the most exciting thing to happen in our family these days. We feel as if our summer adventures can officially begin. To kick it off last night we went and saw Malificent at the drive in with a bunch of our friends. (The movie was really good by the way. I recommend it.) It was awesome to take our truck! We loved it! We can't wait to take it camping, pull the horse trailer and go for some rides, and basically look cooler when going up to do farm work. We usually look pretty goofy when we drive our Focus to a cow branding. Needless to say, our driveway looks way more masculine these days.

Frozen in May

Okay, okay, it's true everyone we just saw Frozen for the first time about a month ago. It took us until spring, but we finally managed to get around to it. I'm not sure if it was because we have been so busy with school and everything, or if the idea of a movie plot that includes a curse of eternal winter seemed so completely dreadful that I could not bring myself to watch it during those dark, wintry months. Now that the tulips are bloomed, the snow is melted, and spring if finally here I feel as if I can manage watching a movie about winter.

I was actually sick the weekend we watched Frozen. Brian borrowed it from his mom and made me chicken noodle soup, brought me Sprite and Chicken 'n' Biscuit crackers (the necessities when I'm sick). I was snuggled up in my blanket on the couch when Brian brought me my sickness essentials. He popped the movie in, and cuddled up next to me. I loved the music, and Brian laughed at Olof, Sphen, and Kristoff. Speaking of Kristoff, I just loved him! He's not the clean-cut Prince that most Disney Male Protagonists seem to be. His hair is kinda shaggy, he's a broad, tough mountain man, and he is kinda goofy. I was explaining all of this to Brian while watching the film. 

"He is just the cutest," I'd say, "He is so goofy."

"Uh, huh. Yep. Sure." Brian would reply while obviously trying to watch the show. 

I apologized and claimed that I would be quiet for the rest of the show. As I was watching the movie it dawned on me why I "loved" Kristoff so much. I'm married to him!

Ignore the facial hair, and tanned arms. But, the nose, the chin, the shaggy hair, He is so Kristoff! I thought it was just me at first so I asked member of our family if they think Brian looks like him, and they all laughed in agreement. Now all that's left to do is contact Disney for a cut of the Frozen profits.

 

I totally see it. If only Brian would dress up like an Arendelle ice delivery man and let me take his picture. I'm lucky he even agreed to pose for me. :)

Lydia Lately...

Better late than never but our little Lydi Bug is 7 months old! Where has the time gone! She is growing up so fast I can't even believe it! Lydia lately has been working on getting those two front teeth. They have cut through, and she was not thrilled with the teething process. Last week the nights were pretty brutal. It's been better now since they've cut through; we are all getting a bit more sleep. Thank Heavens!

Some fun things that Lydia has started doing lately is spending lots of time in her Jumper. Oh man, I love the Jumper. It is the best babysitter. It has allowed me to do homework, cook supper, and even fold laundry. Without it my busy baby would get bored so fast, and I would constantly be trying to come up with new forms of entertainment for her.

She squeals and screams CONSTANTLY! My goodness my baby is loud! We spend a lot of our Sundays out in the hall because she is always squealing at all the little kids! She squeals at them in primary, at the grocery store, and even at the doctors office. This is a video of her screaming while eating her prunes.

Recently Lydia has formed at attachment to her stuffed Zebra we named Zoey. She giggles and smiles at Zoey everytime she sees her.

Just yesterday we went up to grandma Rose's and she sat in the swing for the first time! She thought it was pretty awesome.

She also likes spending time looking up at the mobile with Zoey the Zebra.

We have been spending lots of time outside in this AMAZING weather! We love going for walks, and personally I can't wait to break out the summer outfits!

She loves doing laundry with Grandma Julie.

She also experienced her first easter!

This is Lydia after we found her egg Grandma and Grandpa Rose hid for her.

Lydia is meeting Rodger Rabbit for the first time. Rodger is her cousin Maylee's bunny.

Lydia's first Easter Basket

The Easter Bunny brought her bibs, sippy cups, a toy giraffe, a new binkie, and baby food :)  We were fortunate because the Easter bunny came early this year, and Lydia has been using all of her easter stuff all month long. He was nice enough to put it in the basket anyway so we could get some cute pictures.

Is Lydia more Brian or Laci?? We can't decide...

  As Brian and I have become parents a new favorite past time of ours is deciding who Lydia is most like.  When she particularly talkative and is jabbering nonstop Brian always asks, "Are you going to be a talker like your mom?" I just laugh because maybe it's true.

Though she may talk a lot, like her mom, she most certainly has her Dad's hair. There is no denying that!

Look at that blonde, stick-straight hair! Haha, I love that fuzzy head! And that hairline! She has a deep widows peak, just like her dad. What in the world am I going to with it when she gets older? (By the way, it's gotten a bit thicker since we took this picture, so it's not quite as fuzzy, but it still sticks up like that!)

Not only does she have her Dad's hair, she seems to share in his enthusiasm for the most epic story of all time.

 Yep, she's a Star Wars fan. This was her Halloween costume. Our cute little R2D2 baby; look how little she was! She was 7 weeks old I think, when this photo was taken.


Though her Dad is clearly rubbing off on her, she shares some similarities with her Mom. At the end of the day, this girl loves a nice warm bath.

She also likes watching basketball...like her mom :). She especially loves watching her Uncle Trevor play. Dad likes watching Trevor play too, but I've had to teach him a thing or two about the game. As a former wrestler, Brian doesn't exactly understand the fundamentals or why it's bad to foul another player. Brian can be heard yelling, quite loudly I might add "That's a foul?! You can't do anything in this game!" Luckily, we're teaching Lydia the game a young age, she'll have an advantage.

Lydia has a bit of both of us in her, that's for sure. The one thing we feel we both gave her, is her constant smile. We like to think this came from both Mom and Dad. Brian is known for his goofy, fun personality, and since I've married him, well, let's just say I've gotten even sillier. So,with Brian's sense of humor, and my silliness we are blessed with a very happy home. This girl's constant smile has made our home even brighter.

Weekend...The Rose Way

This is not a homemaking blog...I repeat not a homemaking blog! I cannot claim the title of master homemaker. One day perhaps I will wear the ruffled apron with pride as I cook up culinary masterpieces while simultaneously entertaining a house full of small children with Disney songs and homemade play dough. Right now however, it's just not going to happen. My cooking...eh...I get by.  My sewing skills...nonexistent. My crocheting is mediocre at best. So, when I get particularly domestic I must take the opportunity to share my accomplishments! 

Friday night I made homemade pizza! This week's pizza flavor was BBQ chicken! I even made the BBQ sauce! The crust was a quick, no rising, recipe that actually turned out! Let's face it..who has time to make pizza crust that needs to raise for two plus hours! I sure don't.

 While I did the pizza my husband Brian the Baconater, made sure the bacon was cooked to perfection.

The Baconater at his Best

Here is my delicious BBQ Chicken Pizza before baking! Be-au-tiful!

 Here is the recipe for the crust:

3 cups of all purpose flour                            1 tsp of salt
2 TBSP of active dry yeast                           1 TBSP of white sugar
2 TBSP of vegetable oil                                1 cup of warm water (110 degrees Fahrenheit)

Combine flour, salt, sugar, yeast in a large bowl and mix well. Mix in oil and water. Stir until the dough peels away from the outside of the bowl. (I ended up putting a little more water into my dough while I was mixing it in my kitchen aid.) Roll out on a lightly floured surface and spread onto a pizza pan. Top as desired.

Bake a 375 degrees for 20 or 25 minutes.

Mm-mm...homemade pizza, homemade sourdough bread, and asparagus. Perfect Friday night dinner.

 While we enjoyed our carbs Lydia ate yummy carrots. Just ignore my make-upless face.

It was such a nice weekend I just had to get out and enjoy the weather. On Saturday me and Lydia took a little walk while Brian did homework. The sunlight is a new concept for Lydia. Since she was born in September, we didn't get to go on many walks. She has spent most of her six months of life indoors. This has been her reaction while introducing her to the great outdoors...

  

She really does enjoy the walks. As long as the sun isn't in her eyes.

 When we got home from our little walk I ventured on another domestic journey and tried my first attempt at homemade baby food.

I just microwaved frozen peas with a little water until they were tender; about 8 minutes.

I then pureed them in my food processor. In this picture they were still a little thick so I added a bit more water and pureed again until they were a smoother texture. I didn't take any pictures of the next steps, but I scooped the pureed peas into ice cube trays and froze them. Afterwards, I put them in freezer bags. It was super cheap and easy.

To top off a wonderful weekend today we spent our Sunday with noisy Primary children. Then went up the Grandma and Grandpa Rose's to visit and spend time with the fam. It was a good day.

Happy Sunday everyone!