Oakley's First Accident

On January 20, Oakley was in her first car accident.  She had finals that day and didn't have anything 1st hour so she slept in and then was running behind by the time she got ready and got a notecard finished for her math final.  I knew the roads were slick and told her I wanted her to drive my suburban.  She told me she is much more comfortable driving the little car, especially in the parking lot of the school.  The suburban is so big to park.  I knew the roads were slick but had NO IDEA how bad they really were so I let her take the little car.

Just 10 minutes after she left my phone rang and it was her.  I didn't even say hello, I just asked, "are you okay?" I knew something had gone wrong!

There was a lady and her son sitting at the stop sign as Oakley turned into the school parking lot.  She hit ice and locked up her brakes and slammed right into the ladies back door.  Everyone was okay.  The lady did have to crawl out the passenger side since her door wouldn't open, but they were both ok.  The teenage boy that was with her jumped out and told Oakley, "If I'd have been driving I would have pulled up a little and let you hit the snow bank behind us. My mom didn't think to do that though!" I sure wish he had been driving. Hahaha!

 For how much damage was done to her car we only had a few minor scratches. 

As I jumped in my suburban to run into the school to meet her and the police officer I couldn't believe how slick the roads were.  I called her and said "Oakley, you should have turned around and come home for the suburban." After seeing the damage though I am actually grateful she was in the little car.  I think since she locked up the brakes she would have hit the lady in my suburban too and would have done so much more damage and maybe even hurt the lady with how big the suburban is.  So I think it was actually a blessing she was in the little car.  The police officer was so good with her and told her he had been at the same corner just 1/2 hour before with another accident just like it.  He did ticket her for going to fast for the weather conditions.  Which is ok.  It helps her to learn a lesson and she had to pay the $90 ticket, which is also good for her. 

This was also good for her parents.  We are new to this teenage parenting thing and so Ryan was trying to figure out a punishment for the accident and I was trying to get him to see that the damage done (to her mentally), plus paying the ticket was punishment enough.  Ryan and I were raised very differently and so seeing eye to eye (like in every other marriage I'm sure) is sometimes a little tricky.  We decided the best idea instead of punishment (thank goodness!) was to give her the knowledge of what to do next time.  So I suggested Ryan take her out in the slick driveway and let her try locking up her brakes a few times...and see just what it feels like when she does/doesn't.  It actually was good for her and her daddy to spend some time together teaching her.  Accidents happen SO FAST and we know this was not an intentional thing and just so glad it has all turned out okay.  Glad to have our first accident down....now hopefully we never have another one again. Hahaha, wishful thinking! ;)

"Mom, We are Stuck!"

 PHONE CALL

Dallin: Hi mom, Rhett and I got the 4-wheeler stuck in Luella's field.

Me (babysitting 2 of the neighbors babies): Did you call your dad?

Dallin: No, dad will be mad at us!

Me (knowing that he is right): Bud, I'm in the middle of watching these babies.

Dallin: Mom! We've even tried to use boards to get out. (He is such a smart kid. He has watched his dad closely growing up on a farm and knows all the tricks. So Proud!)

As I'm on the phone the baby girl tips over and her headful of hair lands in Oakley's just newly painted hot pink toenail polish.

Me: I've gotta go Dallin. (More yelled than anything!)

After scrubbing the baby girls hair with fingernail polish remover and then washing it so she wasn't the stinky kid when her mom picked her up, I left the babies with Oakley and Laiklie and grabbed a garden hoe (couldn't find the shovel) and headed to get the boys unstuck.

They had the sled behind the 4-wheeler and had tried to go up over the dike in the deep, deep snow.  It was quite the hike from where I could park my suburban and my hoe wasn't a great help, but it was all I had. I worked until I was sweating and then after a few attempts and using the boards Dallin had tried earlier and a little team work we were successful.

 

This is a terrible picture of me.  You can kinda see the tracks where they were stuck in the background, but we had to do a quick Snow Crew Selfie. :) I love these two little knuckleheads.

January 4, 1999

On January 4, 1999 THIS happened!

January 4th is kind of a special date around here.  Ryan left on his mission January 4 and then January 4th a few years later he asked me to marry him.  We were just babies. I LOVE that we had a camera that night and got a few pictures.  I still love this guy, 17 years later, more than ever!

Rhett's Dare Graduation

Our school participates in a Drug Awareness program when the kids are in 5th grade called DARE and Rhett got to participate this year. It is such a good eye opening program for these kids and they love graduation night.

 Rhett and his friend Zander. So grateful for good friends!

 This is Rhett shaking the Principal, Mr. Page's hand.  The whole school has a nickname for Rhett, aka Flat Stanley.  His 3rd grade teacher started it when he told her one day, "You can call me Stanley!" HAHAHAHA! What a funny kid! So when Rhett went through the line Mr. Page announced him as "Flat Stanley."

So proud of this little guy! He has had a great year so far in 5th grade and came home with STRAIGHT A'S at the end of the semester.  Yay!!! So proud of all his hard work!

Cow Time

This year when we hauled the cows home we hauled them all to Stan's house since we were building our new house.  It made it easy for Dale to take care of them while Ryan was busy building.  But this year was a little different in that we decided to push calving back to February.  We have calved in November/December for a lot of years now so this was a big change.  As it got closer to calving they decided we have a better set up for calving so they hauled them up to our house at the first of January. We preg checked them just a couple days later and are getting closer and closer to calving.

As much as I hate cows I do love being a part of all of this crazy farm life! And I love my kids being a part of it too!

Stupid, Stupid Cat!

I've told you before that our cat is super sneaky and is constantly sneaking his way into our house.  Well on the first day back to school after Christmas break Oakley's friend Lauren was going to give her a ride to school and just before she was suppose to get here we got a phone call from Lauren that she was stuck in the snow just before our driveway.  So Ryan, Oakley and I go running out to help her get unstuck and get the girls on their way to school.  It ended up being a bigger job then just pushing her out and lucky for us Dale showed up just in time to hook onto her car with his truck and pull her back on.  After the girls were off and Ryan and Dale headed to work I went back in the house and found this........

 The stupid cat sitting ontop of the bird cage TORMENTING the poor bird! We have NO IDEA when he snuck in AGAIN! He wears me out! Dumb cat!

Hawkins Build a House Update

Building a house has definitely been a new adventure that has taught us patience and gratitude and hard work.  It has been neat to watch this house come together and know that we have been a part of it every step of the way.

 It took SEVERAL guys to put the roof on. Chase and Bryce Munns (our framer and friend) spent most of their day in the sky with Ryan and a handful of other guys managing everything on the ground.

 This is Chase and Bryce with Bryce's dad, Mike, in the loader.  Just after I left they switched out and Dale climbed in the bucket.  I guess Mike turned around in the loader to close the window and bumped the bucket lever with his elbow and down Dale went before he even knew what happened.  Mike had NO IDEA he had dumped Dale and felt terrible! Dale landed on his back with the level hitting him in the head as he went down.  He was ok, thank goodness!

 We were SO EXCITED to see sheetrock go up on the wall right at the first on January.  Here we are at the first of February STILL working on sheetrock.  This has been the LONGEST.....SLOWEST...process.  So annoying! It really has tested our patience! Our guy doing the mud on the sheetrock just does it with him and his wife.  He ended up hurting his back and so there have been several days where it is just the wife.  Then their kid ended up needing appendix surgery so then they were both out.  We understand things like that for sure, but this has been so hard to be patient.  We are praying by he end of the week they will be out and we can start trim and painting!

 Of course we ended up pouring the front porch concrete on one of the coldest/snowiest days! Stan was working on a water project and they had extra concrete so he had them run the extra up to us. So we got a great deal....but on a terrible day.  We were all freezing and soaked by the time we got it poured, covered and in.  Glad it is finished!

 And once again we had a whole crew to get a job done.  Pouring the garage floor was a HUGE JOB! Thank goodness Ryan and Chase are both great at working concrete.  And so thankful that Nick and Zack have been the back-up crew for everything when it comes to building this house.  We are so grateful Stan has provided us with great help to keep the working going.