13 Already

On October 28, Brent turned 13. Wow! I can not believe that I have two teenagers.

Everyone says that you have to worry about girls more than boys. I completely disagree. With Racheal, I really never worried about boys at 13. Brent already has a girlfriend who is a year older than him. He has already kissed a girl. (I am sure he will be mad if he reads this. )

Brent is affected a lot more by what people think. He tries to make everyone happy. So my concern as the parent of a teenager is he will be more willing to listen to his friends. Brent does however have a very strong conscious. He really tries not to sensitive to others.

He has really grown up in the last year. Not only by increasing his size, but he has become very independent. That is really hard for me. I want him to be independent but I felt more useful when he relied on me more. I am sure most parents go through that same conflict.

He has decided he is going to try wrestling this year. So far he has been really responsible with it. He gets up 2 days a week at 5:45 to go to weight lifting. Now we just need to make sure his homework stays caught up.

Even though he is a teenager, I am really lucky as a parent. Brent is an honest kid. I really mean it. He even tells on himself if he has done something wrong. Who could ask for anything more than that!

Qualified for Nationals

Well, life may be getting back in order after Racheal's accident. She is getting a little better each day. However, it is taking way too long for her. She wants to be better now.

So I wanted to start getting up to date on my blog. The weekend before her accident, we went to a 3 day rodeo for National Little Britches in Panguitch. Racheal and Brent are trying to go to the National event. It will be held in Colorado in July 2008. They both had a a fairly good rodeo overall.

Brent had a rough start on Friday. In his first event Breakaway roping, his horse stopped faster than he anticipated and Brent rolled off of her. Luckily, he was not hurt and went on to place 2nd in the Flag Race and he had his best goat time yet. Saturday he did better. He placed 3rd in the Flag Race and 3rd in Breakaway. He did not fall off the second day and roped his calf great. Sunday, he placed 3rd in the Flag Race and 2nd in Breakaway. He also beat his best goat time from Friday. So Brent qualified for Nationals in Flags and Breakaway.


Racheal had a pretty good rodeo on Friday. She placed in Barrels and Poles. She came out to win it in the Breakaway roping. She roped the calf in about the 2 second spot but she barely missed her slack and the calf ran through her loop. It was such a pretty catch. I wish she could have followed through.

Saturday was a completely different day. Sometimes when you start off on the wrong foot you stay there all day. She missed in the Team Roping for the second day. Actually, I will take that back. She caught both days and both days missed her dally. It really put her in a bad mood. So since she was convinced the rest of the day needed to end up like the first event, it did just that. She could not put it back together mentally on Saturday.

After a little tough love discussion on Sunday about taking a rodeo one event at a time, she came back better on Sunday. She placed again in Barrels and Poles. She beat both of her times from Friday. She also placed 3rd in Breakaway. She drew the worst calf and still came out and roped him in 6 seconds. I was proud of her for getting back on track on Sunday. She is also qualified for Nationals in Barrels and Poles. She only needs to place at one more rodeo in Breakaway to qualify.

The weekend was cold but a lot of fun. We spent the weekend with a lot of good friends and some new ones that we met at the rodeo.

Life Can Change In An Instant

Last Monday, we had the scariest moment of my entire life as a parent. I was doing normal tasks shopping at WalMart when Wendy called. I did not think much about and decided to call her when I got out to the car. When I listened to the voice mail, my heart stopped. She said Racheal had been thrown from her horse and I needed to call her right away.

When I called her, she said she had called Coy and he was on his way. So I called Coy and he said that he was right behind the ambulance and he would call me soon. I was flying down the freeway about 90. The next call I got was to go straight to the hospital.

So I rushed home threw the groceries on the counter and got to the hospital. No one prepared me for what I would see when I got there. Racheal was strapped to a back board and her neck and head were immobilized. That was scary but not the worst part. She could not see me. Actually, she could not see anything. She kept asking why she could not open her eyes but they were wide open.

She went back and forth between being scarred and being mean. She would panic and try to rip everything off of her. We had to hold her arms down. We were only at a the hospital for 10 minutes and they decided to transport her to Provo. So I climbed in the ambulance with her and Coy got in the car behind us.

The entire ride was horrifying. I was trying to be as calm as I could for her. It was so hard. I kept trying to get her to relax and breathe. She could not remember anything from one minute to the next. She would ask where she was, what happened and if we could take these things off of her again and again and again. Then she would ask why should could not open her eyes. Then she would tell me she loved me. She kept asking me not to leave her like that was even an option.

This is where I have to say my first of many thanks. I knew one of the EMTs in the ambulance. She kept me calm and told me it was normal for someone who hit their head that hard to not be able to remember and ask the same questions over and over again. Without her in the ambulance with me, I would not have made the ride.

When we pulled in to the hospital and opened the doors, there stood Coy's brother Troy. I have no idea how he got there before the ambulance. He told her that he was there. The ambulance people said look Rach it is your dad. But she knew. She said that is not my dad that is my uncle Troy. I almost celebrated because she knew who he was.

When they got us to the trauma room, they tried to get Coy, Troy, Amber and I leave. I guess you are only allowed one person in the ER. I just looked at the nurse and told him I wasn't going anywhere. He turned around and walked out. So I went through X-ray and CT Scan with her.

Around 10:30 p.m. she could start to see colors again. Then about midnight, she could recognize faces up close. She started to know where she was.

We were very fortunate. There was not a single broken bone. I was sure by the size of the dent in the side of head that her skull was fractured but it wasn't. There was also no bleeding in the brain. I could not believe how blessed we were.

They admitted her to the hospital. Then she started throwing up. I guess this is also common for someone with a head trauma. So threw up until late the next morning. By Tuesday afternoon, the throwing up had subsided. They watched her until Wednesday and then let her come home. There is not greater feeling after an incident like this to have your family all home together. Racheal and I both slept when we got home for awhile.

She is getting better each day but it may take a month for her symptoms to let up. She has a hard time with light, noise and concentrating. She can not ride for six weeks. I think this is the worst part for her.

Now to the many thanks. You really know that you are cared about and that there are really good people in this world when things like this happen. There were so many things left up in the air when we took off for the hospital. Brent was riding the horses home. When he got home, Wendy helped him put his horses away. She put my groceries away and took care of Brent till his grandparents came to get him. Everyone offered to take Brent for the night. Someone else went and got Coy's truck from the fairgrounds and brought it home. Someone fed our horses the next morning and took our garbage to the curb. People brought us dinner and so many gifts for Racheal. I could not even begin to express how much that meant to us. How important it was not to have to worry about all of these things and just focus on Rach.

My very first thanks though has to go to Preston, Devun and Wendy. They were there when it happened and they got Racheal the help she needed right away and stayed with her until help was there. They are truly her angels and my heroes.

New Indulgence

I usually read mostly non-fiction books. They are usually focused on improving yourself. However, every once in a while I do take some time for entertainment.

My friend McKenna recommend Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1). This is the most amazing series. I was totally hooked in the first few chapters. I completed all three books Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1), New Moon (Twilight, Book 2), and Eclipse (Twilight, Book 3) in less than a month.

When she first told me that this was a book about a young girl who falls in love with a vampire, I thought there is no way I would be interested in a book like this. I was completely wrong. Not only was it interesting, I completely fell in love.

I don't want to give any spoilers. But, you will be in love with Edward Cullen by the time you finish the first book. You really need to read it for yourself. So take some girl time and indulge.

Of course Racheal and I started reading it together. Before we were part way through the first book, Coy was hooked too. But don't tell anyone that he liked.

Racheal is going through Bella and Edward withdrawals. I miss them too. I can not wait for the fourth book. It does not come out until 2008.

Sweet 16

Racheal turned 16 on September 30. I am not really sure how to react to that.

I am happy and sad to see her grow up. I don't want to let her go but she is turning into such a beautiful person that it is exciting to see what she will become.

I am very proud of her. She is genuinely nice to people. She has a strong sense for what she wants from life. She does not let others take advantage of her. She works hard. She is trying to complete all of her high school credits early so she can work on college credits her junior and senior year.

I am really lucky to have such a great teenager. I know most parents don't say that, but she is pretty honest with us. I am sure she has some secrets. We all do. She lets us know what she is doing and who she is with. She helps us with all of the horses and a lot around the house. Thankfully she is not completely boy crazy yet. She likes them but keeps them in perspective to her other goals.

The next couple of years will be interesting but hopefully we can continue to work things through.

Top 5 Finish

We went to the High School Rodeo in Richfield over the weekend. It was not the best weather to hold a rodeo.

Racheal has been really stepping up her roping practices. On Wednesday at rodeo club, her uncle Larry gave her a really good suggestion to help with her breakaway roping. It worked great. She was catching almost everyone in practice after that.

So Friday in Richfield she was really focused. She roped her calf in 3.63 seconds. She placed 5th in the breakaway out of 115 ropers.

We were very proud of her. That is 2 rodeos in a row with points and qualifications to go to the State Finals.