This & That: Around Here This Week

So around here this week....

Things have been pretty crazy, mostly because my family has been going in a lot of different directions, both literally and figuratively, and they have been sending me the pictures to prove it. This week, my husband asked me to go with him down to the ponds for the annual "bringing the horses back to the home pasture" round up. It's not something I would normally jump at the chance to do, but he said it was a "You Come Too." thing.

You don't know what that is? Well, it's a line from a song that our boys have sung in the BYU Men's chorus on more than one occasion, called "The Pasture." It's a man entreating someone close to him (I interpret it as his wife) to come down to the pasture with him while he does a couple of mundane things, and it nearly always makes me cry when I hear it because it seems so tender to me. Here are the lyrics:

I'm going out to clean the pasture spring;
I'll only stop to rake the leaves away
(And wait to watch the water clear, I may):
I sha'n't be gone long.—You come too.

I'm going out to fetch the little calf
That's standing by the mother. It's so young,
It totters when she licks it with her tongue.
I sha'n't be gone long.—You come too.

It's actually a poem by Robert Frost set to music.

And here's a men's choir singing it. Maybe it doesn't do anything for you, and that's OK. It's a thing for me. It's nice to think that after all these years, he still wants me to come with him.

I was sitting in the truck reading while my husband and Evan were out chasing the beasts, when I saw this...

.....and this. Edward and Frederick had gotten out of their truck to pay me a visit.

These bigger boys are often off with their granddad on adventures, so it was really nice to have a little chat with them on my own.

Edward regaled me with horse stories from his time in the Wind Rivers with them.

And then the parade started.

Evan brought up the first group.

And my husband followed with another set. In the past this has turned into quite a rodeo on occasion, but this time it went really smoothly.

So smoothly that Edward took a horse and led him on his own. Actually, I'm not sure who was leading whom, but my eldest grandson is getting bigger and bigger by the day.

Why am I showing you a shot of my fridge? Well, we had a fairly epic event in that my daughter graduated from college. Her husband's family was traveling an hour or so to watch it and we decided maybe there should be food at some point after watching 1200 health science graduates walk across a stage, so we decided on a menu. I did most of the actually cooking while she took care of logistics. Things were prepped and ready to go into ice chests for transport.

There was a plethora of pictures sent to me from the kids and grandkids this week, starting with this one from Quincy's mama showing me his new favorite face to make.

Eric's family did a little traveling.

While it's true we live in the high desert country, we never see cacti like this.

And who knew those prickly things could be so beautiful?

Across the country, Collin's family were a couple of day late dying their eggs, but it did happen, and the kids didn't care which day it happened anyway.

I totally loved James' hand in this picture.

The egg story about David, in his own words....

David: "I cracked da egg!"

Me: "And what did you see inside?"

David: "A cheese stick!"

David also reported that he didn't eat the cheese stick because it was yucky.

It was James' half-way birthday this week, too, and his creative mama made him this requested giraffe cake. She called it short-faced. I called it better than I could ever do. My kids were lucky to get sprinkles on their cakes.

My Collin and Baby John.

Another sweet story....I got this picture from my daughter-in-law. She put David down for a nap and found James and John like this. James said, "I used all my strength to put the chair in the corner to read to John." :)

From Marc's family....the house they're living in right now is backed right up against a steep hill. There are some deer that like to wander down it into their yard on occasion.