Halloween

Here is the pumpkin that I carved for the Fall festival that we had at my work. I won first place in the contest, however; there were only 2 other people that participated. I call it 'Canibal Pumpkin'

Phoenix zoo

On Wednesday, I took the day off work and went to the zoo with Mom, the daycare kids, Ashley, Regen, Aubrey, David and Jackson. At the end of our visit I saw a sign for Camel rides, and how can I resist? It was $5 for each of us and since the rest of the gang ran off to ride the Carousel, I payed an extra $5 for a picture, but the best part was that Devon said "I like this big horse". I've decided that the Camel isn't nearly as comfortable to ride as the horses, but it's amazing how high up you are.

Cowboy in training pants

Here is 2 1/2 year old Devon. This is his second time riding on Charlie. Previously he would enjoy going to the stable and helping me to mix the supplements, but a couple weeks ago he said that he wanted to ride. I figured that he didn't really know what he was asking, but hey.. why not, so I saddled up Charlie and just as I was about done, the Jets from the Air force base (just a couple blocks away) were doing their touch and goes, it's extremely loud although the horses are used to it and it doesn't phase them. Devon stared crying and I thought that was the end of our adventure. After watching them for a few mins he decided they could be cool and I put him up on the horse and he made me walk him around for 1 1/2 hours... all around the property, up the street and he wanted me to go across the street and into the field, but at that time I was pretty tired. The next time I saddled up my other horse and lead Charlie around, which was a little nerve racking for me, but he loved it. I just bought him a helmet this weekend along with buddy stirrups, they go over the saddle horn and can be adjusted for tiny legs, we get to try them out this week.

The 'New' me

So, my New Years resolution for 2009 was to re-connect with my spiritual side and become active in church again. It's been several hard months, where at times I was too tired or too discouraged to get up and go, not to mention that the thought of sitting in a building for 3 hours trying to entertain a 2-year old was not my idea of 'fun'. So, I'm not really sure when it started to happen, but suddenly people started comming up to me and recognizing me, they discovered who my son was and that I was one of the "Juchau's". Dad teaches the Sunday school class, so I could usually sit in the back under the radar, until the week where he asked me to say the closing prayer... wow... praying in church for the first time in 9 years? I was a little nervous, but it turned out OK. Then, I was asked to say the prayer in Relief Society a couple weeks later, now I'm a pro. So then a couple weeks ago, the Sunday School lesson was on the organization of the Relief Society and how Emma Smith created the Hymn book, suddenly at this point, I'm realizing that the 3-hour church block really isn't long and that I'm feeling really good after I go to church. Devon is learning how to say his prayers, and if I forget when I put him to bed, he starts to get upset and says "On my knees mommy!"

So, two weeks ago, I find out that the bishopric is trying to get a hold of me and give me a calling. At this point I'm freaking out! How can I teach a class when I'm still trying to remember all of the basic gospel principles.. not only that but I can't fit in planning a lesson along with working full time, being a single mom and a full load of School!! And Horror of all horrors! What if they put me in the Nursery... so it is with a heavy heart that I walk into the bishops office to learn what my new stressor is going to be. I sit down and the First counselor asks me what I think about music. I respond that music is so important in my life, I feel closest to the Lord when I hear a spiritual song, it is my way of expressing my testimony. He then asks me if I would accept the calling as the Relief Society Chorister.... What?? That's a calling? What a great calling for me, I excitedly accepted this new task with much relief... I can do this!

Today was my second day leading the music and since it was the 5th Sunday, I got to stand infront of all the Relief Society and Priesthood, talk about trial by fire! I get lost all the time directing and then usually end up spelling my name until I find my place, but its amazing that I feel important. I feel like I belong and not just that, but the other ladies in the Relief Society are recognizing me and inviting me to sit by them. I wish that I had taken the time much sooner, it only took a couple months of me making the commitment to go before I finally felt like I belonged, in a way. Todays lesson was about the Temple and Eternal families, It's interesting that most people probably got out of the lesson that they need to do temple work, but what I got was an overwelming feeling that I need to pay tithing... funny how the spirit works!

Cowboy Up

Sorry, these are sort of random pictures. These were taken back in February. I found a horse trailer for sale out in Havasu city, which is about a 3 hour drive. Being the stubborn person that I am, I decided to drive all the way out there to pick it up by myself with Devon on superbowl sunday. Dad had a case of the sunday yucks and was staying home from church. Once he realized that I was driving all the way out there, he started to feel better and decided to go with. We had a fun drive all the way out and back and we ended up getting home right at halftime. I felt bad that he had to miss the first half of the game. So for his birthday, I took him out for a trail ride. These pictures showcase the natural beauty of the state in the early spring (or winter). This area is called the White Tanks and is about a 5 min drive from the boarding stable.

Here is dad on Charlie, you can see how tall the Cactus gets. This one would be several hundred years old.

Dad's trying his hand out at being a cowboy. He is grooming Charlie and you can see my other horse Scooter in the background

The big screen

Devon had his first movie theatre experience a couple weeks ago. We went to see "Night at the Museum". He was really excited to get his own popcorn and candy, but when it was time to walk into the theatre, all he heard was "boom boom rooooooaaaar". He started to cry and we had to wait for the preview to end before we walked in. Devon did remarkably well and enjoyed the movie. The next weekend we went and saw "UP", but he got bored halfway through and we had to go across the street and get ice cream while we waited for Grandma and Grandpa to finish the movie.

Summertime!

This is my attempt at a watermelon cake. Unfortunately, since all our cameras were destroyed by the evil ocean last weekend in San Diego, you are only able to see this via camera phone. I was trying to finish this up last night and get Devon ready for bed. I saw him putting his hand in the bag of chocolate chips and figured he was sneaking a midnight snack. I turned around 30 seconds later and he is shoving overflowing handfulls of chocolate in his mouth, it's all over his face, hands and pj's. He then starts running around squealing... instant sugar high!

Devon's Green Thumb

Devon and I went to Walmart and he told me that he wanted to get some flowers. So I asked him to pick out the ones he wanted and he chose his favorites. We came home and he planted his flowers... what a great job!

All done! I hope my Ma-maw likes it!

Terrible Two's

Since I don't want anyone to feel left out, I thought I would share a typical Devon Trantrum. This particular one occured on his birthday 3-21-09. He started out tipping the yellow plastic chair over and then falling to the ground, kicking his feet and screaming his head off... We then proceeded to roll across the floor, banging our head on the ground...

... Still rolling and kicking, here you get the full view of his face, turning red...

...And now we've rolled all the way to the table. At this point I think he was really starting to get upset because mommy was laughing and taking pictures.

Amazingly enough though, Devon's vocabulary has begun to grow by leaps and bounds, it seems that every day that I come home from work he's saying more words. Today, we had a good day and he only had about two trantrums, both of them only lasting a minute or two and mommy didn't end up with fat lip from him convulsing his body and throwing his head back at me.... Ahhh... I love this age!

Baseball to Hockey

Greg and I decided to have a "Sports day" on Saturday. We started out the morning with a Oakland A's vs San Francisco Giants Spring Training baseball game. Greg used to go to baseball games with his Uncle and family when he lived in California, and he is a huge A's fan. This was my second baseball game and I had just as much fun watching the game as I did people watching.

Greg is 6'3" and I am 5'3"...

Here is Greg finding out how fast he throws a ball... I think it was around 51 mph. I'm sure mine would have been around 3 mph.

Oakland A's Won!!

We finished the Baseball game around 4pm, and drove home to give Devon dinner and meet up with the baby sitter for the hockey game. Greg and I had to change our shirts.

We had seats up pretty high, but it was neat because you could see everything. Our seats had 'All you can eat' bracelets and we munched on Nachos, popcorn, hot dogs, and soda. Aubrey and David bought tickets for Mom and Dad for dad's birthday, so Mom, Dad, Aubrey, David, Alanna, Kris, Greg and I went to the game.

At the 3rd period of the game, my friend Leslie and her husband, who has season tickets, invited us to sit down with them on the lower level. We were about 10 rows up from the ice. They had this huge monitor and halfway through the game they show a 'kiss cam'. Leslie and her husband were shown on the moniter, it was too cute!

So, after our sports weekend, I'm exhausted and my cold is turning into something a little more serious... probably strept throat again. Regardless, I had the best time and I'm hoping to be able to attend a sports game at least once a month. Greg and I are talking about possible Nascar for next month.

So, it's been a little while since I've updated this blog, and seriously, I have really good intentions to get caught up. The next couple posts might be out of order so bear with me.

I bought a horse trailer with my tax refund for $900. Dad and I drove out to Lake Havasu city (which is about a 3 hour drive) on Superbowl Sunday, we made it home just in time for the last quarter. Anyhow, I've been using the trailer a couple times a week. On Friday, my friend Leslie (who is doing a half-lease on Charlie) and I drove out to find a cool trail ride, and we came upon this neat trail on the riverbottom. I took Alanna out there today to show her what we saw

This is my Horse Scooter. I beleive that he is a Morgan Mix, and I've had him for about 3 years now. He was abused before I got him and has a lot of trust issues, but once you get past them, he's an outsanding animal.

This is my brand new saddle. I got this for myself for Christmas and payed $500. It's the first leather saddle that I've owned. It's actually a roping saddle and I'm hoping to attempt some team roping at our stable.

On our trail ride, we came across two wild horses. They let us get fairly close, but Alanna and I wanted to get closer, so we chased them across a mountain. Our two horses were so excited they wanted to keep chasing them.

This is a cactus skeleton

Here is Alanna riding Charlie Horse, you can see the truck and trailer in the background. There is water that runs in the river bottom and Alanna and I rode our horses into the water. Charlie was walking and suddenly he hit a deep spot and was up to his belly in water. Alanna freaked out and made him climb the little cliff to get out of the water.

Here is the 'after' shot of Scooter. You can see how sweaty his back is from the saddle.

Here is Charlie's 'after shot'. You can see how dark his legs are from the water.