There's no place like Grandma & Grandpa's

I don't know which is more obvious; a) that I got my computer back or b) that my parents are out of town and I'm finding more time on my hands. I'm happy about the computer, but I am missing my Mom and Dad terribly. They are relaxing in Hawaii this week.

I snagged a bunch of pictures from Nicole today and found some from a day at my parent's house last month. My Mom and Dad live in a rural area of Ogden and it always leads to great fun to go there. You just never know what will transpire. On this particular day, we spent most of the day outside. Ethan rode his bike, while the rest of us lounged and took pictures. Once Ethan was ready for 'computer time' and Mason was down for his nap, Nic, Ellie, Dad and I went for a stroll. Let me paint a small picture, although it will do it no justice. There are no sidewalks where my parent's live. No curbs, no street lights, just houses and fields. That said, there is quite an assortment of animals available in the 'country'. We set out to feed apples and carrots to a neighbor's horses. We've said for years that we were going to, but this was the first year we actually followed through. Sadly, the horses wanted nothing to do with our offerings. They would give them a sniff, but no bites. While we were at the neighbor's (who we've never met, even though we visit their horses often) the woman of the house came out to give us the tour of her barn. Okay, not really of the barn, but of the half-hour old colt that was tucked away with it's mom in the barn. It was great to watch the little horse wobble around and follow it's mom. Ellie found a dog that loved her. Unfortunately, it was a puppy and liked to nip at her. She was not so fond of this treatment. We picked her up quickly and kept reassuring her that the puppy was 'nice'. You could tell Ellie that the Devil himself is okay to go to, as long as you used the word 'nice'. After the horses, we moved on to see the buffalo. Yep, that's right, a whole slew of buffalo live around the corner. On the way to see them, we found a couple of goats. One of them finally indulged us by eating our dang food! As you will see by the pictures, it was a 'nice' goat. Ellie got closer than I imagined (and closer than I cared to). Goats just look demonic. It's no wonder they're used as a pagan symbol. Anywho, back to the story. Once we got down to the buffaloes (thanks to spellcheck, I learned that there is an 'e' in the plural form of buffalo), Ellie and I called to them out in the pasture. We're not pros or anything, so it consisted of 'here, buffaloes. here buffaloes.' Try listening to a 2 yr. old who can barely speak say that. It's hilarious and sounded more like 'he buffy-yos'. There are a couple of fences separating the buffaloes from us, so we didn't get too close to them. They are so massive. I'm surprised how social they are though. A whole herd of them came trotting over. Once it was time to head back home, I started to walk out of the buffalo area. All of the sudden, pain. Sharp pains in my feet! I was wearing flip-flops and what seemed like zillions of 3-pronged puncture thorns were poking straight through. Nicole and my Dad laughed and laughed and laughed some more. (I had asked before we left if I should wear my tennis shoes and Nic assured me that that wouldn't be necessary.) They continued to walk and swing Miss Elle as I plucked thorns out of my shoes. I kept giving up and taking a few steps, only to shriek out in pain. This only caused my family to laugh harder. Sick, cruel people!! I was finally able to move forward and we eventually made it home. I have since retired those flip flops.

Imagine, all of that in one day! We have so much fun with my family. I am grateful that we are so close. Enjoy the show.