Valentines Day at the Atnip House

The weather was cool, but inside the Atnip House the mood was warm and cheery. I arrived home to find the most scrumptious red velvet cupcakes I've ever had in my life! I'm not normally a big cake person...but these ones topped the cake! (Pun intended :p) 

They had the table set beautifully with china, and some chocolate on each plate. Its late enough after Valentines Day that with my scrambled gushy organ they call my brain I can't even remember what we had for dinner,(Besides the cupcakes...yeah, they were that good!) but I recall thinking it was good :)

Beside each plate they had cut out a paper heart, glued tiny little red hearts for decorations, stuck an individual Bible verse on the bottom of each (customized for personality) decorated the edges and wrote "Things we love about_____________"

Sad to say as much as I looked around, some of the paper hearts are missing. Maybe these certain people hid them in their drawers to remind themselves what people think of them when they're down, or maybe they scoffed and threw them away before I could get around to stealing them, but I thought it would be fun to write down a little of what each one said. :-)

 Things We Love About 

Dad

--Missing--

:(

Mom

You're very lovable/loving

You teach me

You married me!!!

 (Betcha can guess who wrote that!)

You help me cook :)

Joe

You're very very very SMART

You make us very proud!

You help others

You don't make me do school 

You do my work

You are the joy of our home

Kind

Hard worker

Julie

 You help me with things and understand

Glad you didn't get married yet

Very Very understanding

She is hardworking

Very Pretty, and generous, and good tastes!

You ride my horses "sometimes"

Top of the line cook

Pretty

Karissa

--Missing--

:(

Duane

U are fun to be near!

You work so I don't have to!

You're very very very SMART

Funny

You help with a lot of things! 

You are cool

You have a lot of common sense 

Kaylena

Hard worker

You're very very clean

You are generous

You keep your hair and clothes nice!

You are a very good cook and baker

Pretty

You fix me FOOD!

Luanna Joy

You are so very smart! 

You're very thoughtful

You are an easy child cuz you do your school without being told, and do  not cause much trouble :)

You take care of my Bud with me! "Oops, wrong person" You play piano for me 

(Haha, I loved that one!)

Smart

You help with school and work

JaLynn

You are loving to your family

You help do chores :)

Very smart and work fast!

Sweet

You are loving

You take care of my bud with me!

David

I love to hear you laugh

Good worker

You're very generous

Funny

You are cuddly and nice to everyone!

You are ambitious

You're as sweet as a pumpkin!

You are my BUD!

I am SO THANKFUL for my family! It's impossible to think of any member of my family without special memories and thoughts accompanying them. They (And the Lord) are the joy of my life!

Atnip Phone Directory

Busy Days=No Pictures

I just realized today that it's been over four months since I've last updated our never-read-anyway blog, so I decided to give a quick update to put it on record that we ARE still all alive out here!

During our trip I had so many events and happenings that I couldn't wait to post as soon as we got home (Because of the never-ending search for stealable internet :p) But as time went on other things just happened and I obviously never got any of it posted before I forgot the majority of it all. Soooo...yeah, that's all old news now!

Last week I had the coolest opportunity to buy the most awesomest horse! He is a (registerable) 4 year old Tennessee Walker gelding that not only is a half brother to the foal I'm expecting, BUT related in three different ways to Roy Roger's horse Trigger (Jr.) The part that I liked the best was that he was extremely cheap :D So, I did what all smart people do and bought him!

However, I have been struggling with making sure my priorities are in the right place. Because of taking reigning classes with my mare the past 6 weeks I've spent an extreme amount of time riding and working with my horse. And even though that in itself is not wrong, I've started feeling like I've been placing that above some other things important to me. (Like spending time with my siblings, or doing my share of the work) So after praying about it I decided to place it on the Lords hands, and be willing to do whatever He wants me to do.

I heard my Uncle was looking for a horse, so I decided that I'd sell it to him for the same price I bought him for, and if he bought him, fine, and if he didn't I'd train him for a few months and sell him at a nice profit later on this year (Or next :)) I asked the Lord to lead in whatever way He wanted for me.

My uncle did end up buying him, and as much as I'm tempted to be depressed because I like him so much and feel like I gave up a deal of a lifetime, I am also glad because I do know in my heart that I decided to give it to the Lord, and I feel like this is His answer to prayer. It's better for me, my family, and definitely for my uncle, of whom I may tend to be a teeny tad bit jealous of :p lol

I'm so grateful for the Lords leading in my life! He is an AWESOME Father to us not-always-so-understanding children.

Today it started raining and snowing outside. I guess summer isn't quite here yet.

I need to start watching out what I say about the weather because the poor lady I work for who is a paraplegic and only gets out of her house once a year said that she always knows exactly how the weather is/was because if it's bad I always end up complaining about it. The ironic thing is I have a sticky note posted on the screen of my computer saying "Never complain about anything, not even the weather." So much for THAT reminding and keeping me from complaining!

Well, I've got a bad headache today, so I guess I'll call it a night and head on to bed early. (I'm not complaining by the way! :p)

Hope all of you have a blessed day full of grace and peace from the Lord :-)

*Winter Happenings*

Winter is here! Whether we like it or not :p I'm not much of a winter person myself, but since it instists on coming as an uninvited guest we may as well make the most of it. In reality it can be a fun and beautiful time of year. (It's just the wimpy ones of us that finds pleasure in complaining about it!)

Because Kevin and Kim came out for Thanksgiving we went skiing the weekend after Thanksgiving. There wasn't a whole lot of snow yet, so only one lift was open, but it was fun!

Somebody was telling me we had just as much snowfall this year as we did total last year. (At least down below the mountains) I'm good with that. If it's going to be cold we should at least get to have some fun with the snow!

JaLynn just started taking piano lessons, so she did a Christmas recital. I thought she did really well for the short time that she's been playing. <3




Kevins cousin came out to Wyoming to work for a couple weeks. She stayed with us on the weekends. It was a lot of fun to have her around! She truly has a servants heart, and did a lot of cooking and dishes and such at our place on her days off.

She is/was such a blessing!


























David's 5th Birthday was in November. We decided to have a little surprise party for him (Before he grows up and decides they're stupid haha)


It is hard to believe is growing up so fast!




The other day Duane told him that if he sat on the girls lap he was a 'baby' and instead of jumping off really quick like we all expected he said "Well if I'm a baby then I get to be like Kandis (His niece) and cry whenever I want! Nahhh!"

Brothers...

Uncle Terry came out awhile back to go horseback riding for a few days. I was able to go along one day. It was TONS of fun to get to go up in the hills. Its probably the only day I'll ever get to go riding in the mountains this year, so I'm glad I *ahem* invited myself to go along with them :D

Both Terry's and Dads horses had more energy than you could shake a stick at! My poor horse thought he was going to die for sure!

(I have since ridden dads black mare and am super impressed with how she can go-go-go ALL DAY LONG! What I wouldn't give to find a horse like that! Along with the fact that she's beautiful heehee)

So, now that the weather is getting colder, and I am pretty much stuck with the reality that -no matter how much I dream about getting to go out again this year- its like so not going to happen. I'll just sit here and look at the five pictures I got and hope and dream for next year...and marvel at how much my dad and Terry look alike :p

Big Brothers

Big brothers are so cool!

David loves trains, and for Christmas last year he got a train track set. His normal track would be a circle or oval, if he can get one of the girls to help him it might be even a little better...If he can get Duane to help him its way cool!

It goes up the mountain, and down a steep hill, around a couple little bends, and then you can even decide whether you want to go around a little loopy or not :p

David can wait to grow up and be just like his big brothers! (While we are hoping he stays right where he is for awhile :p)

Who's Somebody?

Somebody has been messing with the camera!!

After deleting about 50 pictures of the ground (43 to be exact)

I started getting some hints.....

Yep! I think this is pretty good evidence, don't you?

(You can be sure your sins will find you out :p)

May Happenings

Its hard to believe that May is almost over! Its been so busy that we haven't really been able to spend much time enjoying it--or maybe that's because its been to cold and rainy to enjoy it much :)

Joe went to taxidermy school for a couple weeks the end of April and part of May. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of his adventure on my computer, so you'll have to go without looking at the dead animals :D

Moms sister and her family came out for a few days. It was so fun having them around! To bad it rained practically the whole time they were here. We had fun anyway though.

Ever since we were way little its always been sort of a tradition to play games on the trampoline
Playing 'Running waters-Still waters'

Bowling

I have been complaining a lot about the weather. This year it seems like we've had a lot more rain than we normally have, but I actually love it! Gives me energy when it rains. I just don't like the mud!

We did have some nice days though :)

David found the spray paint can and decided to try his hand at repainting Duane's marking on the ground. Obviously he ended up getting himself instead. Hey, have you ever seen orange eyelashes?!?! Its stylish!

Family togetherness <3

Hiking up Heart Mountain with Ben and Alyssa.

You can tell I've done nothing but sit around all winter because I was super sore afterwards! I know, its absolutely ridiculous!

Too bad I didn't end up getting pictures of more. Time flies by so quickly I'm sure that even a year from now I would enjoy looking at some pictures...but, guess that's how it goes.

Now to get out there and enjoy some more of this weather!! :D

Have a Beary Special Spring!

This is wishing you all a 'beary' special spring!

It seems to me that we've had a colder spring than normal, but maybe its just because I'm a whip in the cold and would prefer it be warmer out :)

We've had it nice compared to so many out there. With all the tornadoes and floods I can't imagine all the loss that so many have had to face this year! We certainly have no reason to complain!

I will try to post some more on our happenings later on :-)

Sledding up Northfork

I couldn't resist taking a picture of the sheep on the road while we were at it :) THIS is what happens when Karissa tries to sled :p

Trying to climb over the snowbank by the road...