The Phillips Phamily: May Fun, Branding, and SUMMER!

When I'm behind on the blog (which is all the time) I tend to just do HUGE way too long posts. I know its not the best way, but its the way its happening again today, so grab a snack.

klp put this headband on all by himself (no small task when you consider he only uses one hand) so he could play basketball!

The kid can dribble!

Sometimes klp needs a little nap to help him through tough days, so I'm usually the lucky one who gets to lay down with him while he falls asleep. Not a bad job at all. As long as you don't mind sharing a pillow. He gets as close to you as possible.

Jaylie directed me to these clothes one day. She was proud. And a hot mess.

I love it when the cows are all looking in the same direction. The light was kinda bad to actually see the cows faces, but I just love the bright colors and the growing calves!

Q taking a ride on the hay arms. I have no clue what they're called. That is the official name I have given them. I'm sure there's a "right" name for them I just don't know it.

One afternoon, Susan kept Jaylie so I could take Q to lunch just me and him. We went to a little soda shop place on Main street. We got to sit on the bar stools and everything. He was very excited. We sort of got lost in a high school kids out for lunch rush and they lost our order so we waited for a long time. Q finally left his seat and went and layed down in front of the TV. I stopped him right before he took his shoes off. I couldn't let him get THAT comfortable. Another funny thing from that day was that I let him have his first "coke" he chose "Orange Coke" aka Orange Fanta. He took a drink and wasn't sure what to think. He said, "Mmmmmm spicy". After sipping it for a while, he burped. Then he said "Woah mom. I burped and my whole face got SPICED!" haha! Our long wait got us a free meal and ice cream!! Totally worth it!

I missed 2 of the branding days while I was in Texas, but there was one more the weekend before Memorial Day. Clint, Sydni, Sayler, and Hayven all came in for it so it was fun to have the cousins together. Here's Sayler with a lap full!

Branding day was beautiful and sunny. Maybe even HOT!

Cousins!

Here's a few of the people hard at work. They send the calves through the chute, down to the end where Kory is. They hook them to this table thing and then it turns over so that they're laying on their side so they can brand, give meds, etc. Then they turn the table back over and the calf walks out.

Kory ran the branding irons that day. He smelled stinky at the end of the day. Burnt hair. Mmmmmm.

Hayven and Quinn watching

They took a lunch break at our house. Susan and Sydni helped me with lunch and it was really fun to have everyone over and enjoying the beautiful weather. Here's Kory, Jaylie, Bob, Fae (kory's grandparents) and Susan.

The rest of the branding crew (and their families). What a fun day! Thankful for healthy calves, good help, great friends, beautiful weather, and food to fill our tummies!

Towards the end of the day we went back out and the kids found the dirt in one of the sheds. It was amazing how dirty they got.

I'm not posting this because its the most attractive picture of Jaylie, I'm posting it because THIS IS WHAT SHE DOES WHEN I TELL HER TO LOOK AT THE CAMERA????!!! Not cool Jaylie June. You gotta find a better pose.

Glasses were covered in dirt.

Here's the apple brand Kory was branding with that day. That was his grandpa's brand and Tye and Kory are both using it now.

Not sure what to say about this....but I think its safe to say Don't Mess with June.

The pictures don't do justice to the filth that was my children. I stripped them down before even letting them in the car. And that says a lot because my car is pretty filthy on its own!

A beautiful view of a storm over the mountains.

jjp being a good mommy.

This is another one of her favorite poses. Yikes.

This was our calf count. Starting with the very first calf, we wrote and dotted the total number of calves born each day. It was fun to watch and do everyday but it dragged out for almost 3 months. I was running out of space! By the end of it all, it was kind of a mess, but it was a fun thing to do each day.

We had a nice picnic and little walk down by a creek in town....fun evening with my favorite crew.

Somehow Juney girl thinks she's a teenager.

We spent Memorial Day at some friends' pond fishing. We didn't catch much, but we had a great time.

The pond was stocked with Trout. I'm having to learn lots of new things about animals and wildlife up here!

Merrick was in town and Jaylie LOVED having her to herself!

Shannon and her little girl Ray Lynn. She's a week younger than Jaylie so they are cute little friends.

Speaking of Jaylie the teenager, she insisted on carrying the bag out of the store the other day. It was so heavy she had to drag it but she did NOT need help. There was a hole in the bag by the time we got to the car, but she did it!

Kanyon can write his name!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kanyon's class got to go to the fish hatchery the last day of school.

Here are his PreK teachers. The one in the red jacket is an aid in the PreK room in the morning then she goes with Kanyon to the other school for Kindergarten the rest of the day. We love her. We had a great semester here at school. We are very very thankful.

Here is Kanyon with his aid Mrs. Shelley (again) and his Kindergarten teacher Mrs. Smith. Great teachers!!

Some of my recent favorite drawings by Kanyon. I love the cars at the bottom and the curved arm reaching up to the table at the bottom left.

Here's a guy with rabbit ears. And also a great example of his facial details. He never forgets eyebrows and he only draws 2 dots (nostrils) for a nose. Funny boy. Love it!