horses, birthdays and dead animals

Tonight we went out to my cousin Austin and his wife Amy's house for Austin's birthday party. It was a long way out there, but it was worth the drive. Ryan says if he was to ever live in Tucson (*ever*) then it would be out in the desert like Austin's place. But then he realized it might be hard if he had an on call job....seeing as that it is quite a ways from civilization!





Austin has horses and we went and fed them apples and saw them. Austin even gave Kate a demonstration on riding bareback. I think she was pretty impressed!


She actually did smile and think things were cool a couple of times....although the majority of the time she had this scared look on her face! Horses are big and I can see why a little gal would be scared of them!

Owen is 3 and Kate started out being a little shy around him, but she warmed up to him surprisingly quickly, without much encouraging from her mom! All of a sudden I heard Owen say "Come on, lets go upstairs!" and she followed him! Here they are looking over the ledge together



This was also a fun time to get the "boys" together. Evan was born the end of March and then, of course, Ethan and Sawyer were both born in the beginning of May. They had some fun together, but Evan definately has the advantage being the only crawler.

Austin's house is decorated in millions of dead animals. He has a lot, I'm not kidding. This, too, created some envy in my husband....stirring up his desire to be a hunter. (umm...no thank you.) He thought this animal was especially cool. Austin shot it with his bow which, I think, makes it even cooler.

Happy Birthday, Austin! Thanks for inviting us! It was great and especially loved the fire pit!

Here is your birthday present from me....I elfed your family for you! Hope you enjoy it. I have to say, Austin, your face is freakin hilarious. And Amy...you are gorgeous in your freakin hilariousness!!