happy birthday donnie mack !

chet, don and cheyne on the antelope hunt last week

today is donnie mack's birthday. i won't tell you how many this is for him, but for all of you mathematicians, he WAS born in 1950.

some things about don for those who don't know him. he is very smart ! ask him... he can tell you anything. and most of the time he is right. he loves his family. he loves being a grandpa known as

"papa". he thinks the 'staples' of life are #1) his dreyers fruit bars, #2) diet pepsi, and

#3) rice krispie treats (if i send him to the grocery store, this is what he comes home with). he loves to go shopping IF it's at 'home depot' or 'cabella's'. he loves to hunt and camp ! (thinks he has to live up to his last name, and i'm afraid he's past it to his boys.) he is honest in his dealings ! if he tells you he will do something you can know that it's going to be done and done the best he can do! (maybe that's prideful, but that's how he is, if his name is going to be put with it, it better be done right!). he likes to do almost anything if it involves his kids or/and grand kids. (he told mel, when she asked if he was going to come to the hospital when she delivers her baby... i wasn't there when you conceived, why should i be there when she's born?) oh yeah... did i mention that he should have been a comedian? he is the BIGGEST tease i have ever known. it took me a while to get use to his teasing, now i can just shut it out. he has a testimony of the gospel of jesus christ and loves his heavenly father. he is a wonderful husband, father, and grandfather. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DONNIE ! I LOVE YOU !

happy fall y'all!

don got home from antelope hunting friday night and we had some guy coming to hook up 'direct tv' (for the 2nd time) saturday morning. saturday morning when the tv guy got here, they had sent him with the wrong order - once again. so don and i decided to bag everything else, and run (well, we actually drove) down to fairview to watch the b.y.u. football game with craig and ladawn... and also so we could bring 'ol yeller' (my four wheeler) home to sale! YEAH!!! the drive down was so relaxing and beautiful! especially when we started up the mountain. i was sooo mad, cuz i left my camera home this time, but ladawn did have hers. so after b.y.u. humiliated u.c.l.a. (58-0), ladawn and i went around and took a few pictures of the autumn leaves. when we go back down in another week and a half for the muzzle loader hunt, the leaves will all be gone from the maple trees. who knows, there could be snow down there by then. so goodbye summer and hello to fall and all of the fun that comes with this beautiful season!

the millioin dollar question!

what do a white down comforter

"dreyer's fruit bars"

the middle of the night

and

popsicle sticks hidden in my bed


have in common?

let me relate a little story to you and maybe you will figure it out on your own.

...one morning, as i was making our bed, i threw all of the blankets off onto the floor ~ (i do this every morning!) ~ then i straightened the sheets all nice and neat, and when it came time for the comforter, i noticed something red on the carpet. what?? it kind of looked like a strawberry? i didn't have my glasses on (so it could have been anything for all i knew!), so i wasn't sure. i went over, picked it up, looked... looked again, smelled it ~ yep! it was a strawberry! where did it come from? puzzled, i took care of the mess and then continued to make the bed. i pulled the comforter up onto the bed... AND now i am NOT a "happy homemaker"!

more strawberries! all over my WHITE down comforter! but wait! there's more... a popsicle stick was right in the middle of the strawberries. these strawberries were at one time, a frozen fruit bar! okay... donnie has this little ritual that he goes thru EVERY night (at least once, sometimes more) he gets up, goes to the freezer, collects a "dreyer's fruit bar" (or 2... or 3), then comes back into bed to eat them. well... this time, he actually fell asleep eating his "dreyer's strawberry fruit bar" and it melted all over my comforter! YES! and it has happened more than once ~ and to add insult to injury ~ every time i make the bed, still to this very day, i find popsicle sticks stuck between the box springs and mattress or on the inside of the bed frame.~~~

sooo now, do you have the answer? if you have guessed...............

"DONNIE"

you are absolutely positively right!

wyoming antelope hunt

tonight the boys left to go to wyoming, antelope hunting. they are going for 3 maybe 4 days. there was 4 of them, with all of their gear, going in one truck. one would think, "no problem!" not when you go with donnie!

he thinks he has to take everything, but the kitchen sink! get the picture? yup! when my guys go hunting, it's nothing but the best! you know the queen sized over stuffed airbed, tv, vcr, (well it gets dark early and they need some kind of entertainment). first of all, they put cheyner's shell on the back of donnie's truck, so that they could load it up with all of their gear and not have to worry about it getting wet. you should have seen them trying to fit everything in the back of the that truck.

everything was smashed in there as tight as they could possibly get it. needless to say they didn't have room for all of the luxuries they are use to their dad taking. and they even decided that maybe they didn't need that 10 gallons of drinking water after all, took it out and dumped it, then tried to shove another bag into it's place. after they slammed the window of the shell shut, donnie remembered that they hadn't loaded his gun in yet, and he hadn't loaded his 'freshly starched fresh from the cleaners, shirts. so they started loading things into the cab of the truck, too. hopefully the sides of the shell don't split open as they are driving down the freeway.

(and donnie wanted me to go with him. what was he going to do? tye me to the top of the truck like they did with aunt edna in chevy chase's movie, national lampoons vacation.)

donnie, chet, cheyne and zack

happy and ready to go!

thad's peak

i'm just getting to writing about this experience, because my arms finally don't hurt anymore from going up over 'thad's peak' last weekend.

so... last monday was labor day, and we had spent the weekend down at the trailer with siona (the first 2 nights), chet, tiff and their kids, jeremy and loni wattlesworth, and their 2 boys. saturday after breakfast (about noon), chet and jeremy took off with siona to the b.y.u. football game. don and i went with craig and ladawn for a four wheeler ride. we decided to go over the mountain to see joseph and marilyn (l's sister) at their cabin in fairview lakes. you see, they have cut in a new emergency escape road from skyline mountain out to the skyline drive road. no problem... right? but when we got up to the road entrance, the gate was closed with a big sign that said "anyone caught trespassing would be fined $500.00". so craig and don decided that we shouldn't go on that road and instead, go up over 'thads peak'. craig headed up first, i followed, with ladawn behind me and don bringing up the rear. okaayyy, for those of you who have no idea what 'thad's peak' is like... just think of a going down (or in this case, UP) a toilet bowl. there is actually a place called "the shute". it is steep and scary!

a few years back, ladawn and i swore that we would NEVER, ever go over the mountain on this trail again. well... so here we are going straight up the trail, powder dirt, rocks, BIG rocks, roots sticking out all over the trail, me on my 400 polaris that isn't jetted right for that altitude, and ohhhh sh(&#$)*#&)@(*($_@)(**_+++! 'old yeller' gave up! now craig is all the way up the trial and ladawn and don are behind me. i am holding on for dear life! my knuckles are white from gripping the handlebars so tight. i knew that i was going over backwards, my butt cheeks were sqooze so tight to the seat, that it wasn't going anywhere without me on it! ladawn pulled up behind me, and now, she has to stop on this gosh awful steep hill,too. then don comes up behind her. he has to get off of his machine, hike up and give me a push. then after i got up the shute, i have to decide between 2 different trails, one going more straight up or the other going around the side hill. neither is a great choice! anyway i took the side hill and met ladawn coming up the other trail. both of us ~ not happy campers! we decided then and there, that $500.00 is alot cheaper that $10,000.00 in hospital bills or being DEAD. we decided then, that we WILL take the chance coming back! and we did..............

the next day i couldn't figure out WHY i was so sore. (it didn't take me long to figure it out, and yes, the guys are still teasing us, asking if don and craig made us hike over 'thads peak'!) i know craig is our stake president and all, but this is one place i will NEVER follow him (or anyone else!) again!