For spring break this year our family spent the week at grandma and grandpa Henrie's house in Antimony.
Rory and his kids spent the weekend there before we got there. This is what they woke up to Saturday morning.
Looks like such a great time, doesn't it!? 4 inches of snow in April! Who'd a thunk it?
So grandma stayed warm and cozy inside and made cinnamon rolls while the boys shoveled snow and worked on four-wheelers.
Roasting marshmallows with the cousins. Shay, Cade, Mason, and Sadie.
Poor Mason! His switch turned off! He was one tired little man.
Sadie and her favorite stool!!
And this is what it looked like 2 days later! Not a snow flake in sight. It turned out to be a pretty good week for weather. Grandma gave Shay a utility tool (like a Leatherman) and let him go to town. He and Ty both were having fun whittling away at sticks and boxes and anything else they could find to cut up.
Cade even had his own little 4wheeler to ride around on and pretend to be a "big boy". He loved getting to go fishing with his daddy and grandpa and brothers. Even though they never did catch a fish, he still had fun spending time with his daddy and grandpa.
Rylee and I stayed inside most of the time. It was a bit too cold to take her out, but on the days that it was warm enough I still bundled her up and we would venture out and help grandma picking rocks, or raking the weeds and dirt to get ready to spread grass seed.
Ty had a little shadow everywhere he went on his 4wheeler. Callie was right by his side the second he fired it up. She is quite the dog. We had fun watching her climb the fence like a ladder to get out and play with the boys. She loved to run after Shay and then bolt right between his legs making him tumble to the ground. Then she would run back and start licking his face. Shay would giggle and laugh so hard that he didn't have the strength to get her off of him.
Here goes Gavin to start his weeks worth of tilling the yard to get it ready to spread grass seed. It took him 6 days of tilling to get it all done. He would work about 4 hours a day just tilling the dirt. That's how much ground they have to clear. It was a daunting task, but he persevered and was able to get it all done, and still had time to go fishing with the boys, ride 4wheelers, shooting guns and hunt rabbits.
On Monday, we all went up Antimony canyon and had a picnic lunch and gathered rocks for grandma's yard. There was a little picnic area we drove to and all got out to shoot the .22s, eat sandwiches and snacks, gather rocks, and just enjoy the sunshine.
This place was so beautiful and had so much room to run around on. Callie and the boys were in heaven. And Rylee too. She was being so good to just hang out and watch us all do our thing. I think she was more in awe than anything. She would screech and holler to get anyone within ear shot's attention and then bust out giggling when someone would talk to her. Such a happy baby.
Here's Gavin helping the boys get their guns and chairs so that we could have a target shooting contest and see who could hit the most pop cans. Shay liked to shoot grandpa Henrie's single-shot .22 and was dead on every time. Ty liked shooting the .22 revolver. Cade thought it made him look like an old time cowboy. They love shooting grandpa's plethora of guns.
The boys found all sorts of sparkly rocks and rocks of all different sizes and colors. It was so fun seeing them discover new things and learn about the area from grandpa and stories from grandma from when she was growing up around here.
Grandpa loved just being with the grand kids and snuggling Rylee. Such a relaxing, fun experience.
That poor dog! She was so mauled the whole week we were there. I'll bet she was glad to get a break when we left. Although she probably did like the attention a little at first.
On our way back, we stopped by this old mine. There wasn't really a mine shaft here, grandpa says it must have been where they just crushed the rock after they mined it. I was walking around and looked in this hole behind a big rock and found a plastic candy jar with all sorts of weird stuff in it. We figured it must have been one of those Geo-cache things. So i put it back and put the rock back over it. ha ha hope someone finds it. It had some interesting stuff in it to say the least.
So beautiful!
The next day we drove over to the back side of the black hill looking for rocks. I found tons of old, unique bottles and rusty, antique metal cans and an old tool box and old tractor and car parts. I love exploring for antique stuff and this was the best place to find it. Antimony has such a rich, old history. I wish I could go back in time 100 years to see what all the old stuff looked like brand new.
We let the boys go hiking up the hill to see what they could find, (and secretly to wear them out ;)) Grandma told them stories about how she used to catch scorpions and so then the boys thought they had to be like grandma. I was freaking a little and told them if they did find one, that they were not allowed to touch it. Thankfully they never saw one but did find a lizard and spent the better part of an hour trying to catch it.
That it Ty way up at the top and Shay and Cade running to catch up with him.
Gavin and I were having fun together finding rocks for grandma's yard and finding antique things in the junk pile.
What a fun family picture. We do not have very many of these with all of us in them. I am usually the one taking the pictures and so it was nice to finally have all of us together.
That night grandpa lit a fire and we roasted marshmallows and grandpa told us stories of spending summers down in Antimony with his grandparents LaMawn and Amber Riddle. He is also who we named Cade after. He burned into the wooden benches the cattle brands of his dad, grandpa, and my grandpa Wiley.
Cade loved all the ground he had to wander on and ride around on his 4wheeler. That thing has been thru all 3 of my boys and is still going strong. Thanks to grandpa and his engineering skills. He's had to rebuild the handle bars and front axle many, many times.
Rylee was so good to just lay around and watch grandma and I work around the house and cook and clean.
One day we up Kingston canyon to find MORE rocks for grandma's house and have a picnic lunch. While we were there, the boys found another lizard. This time, with the help of their mother, they caught it and brought it home. Shay was in seventh heaven! Then, as we all came in for the night, Gavin, Shay and I parked in front of the TV to watch a show. Shay was sitting in grandpas recliner and Gav and I on the couch. Suddenly, Shay jumps up from the chair and starts carefully looking through his blanket, under his shirt, etc. Immediately I knew what had happened!! I said, "Shay!! Did you bring that lizard in grandma's house? Did you lose it in grandpa's chair?!" Grandma was sitting at her computer behind us and shrieked as soon as she heard what I had said. Shay instantly ducked his head. Then grandma started laughing and said you better find it before grandpa sits there tonight and it crawls down his shirt or something! So, Gavin and I started pulling apart the chair and taking Shay's shirt off trying to find the little escapee! Suddenly I turned around and let out a scream! There it was on Shay's pant leg. Gavin hurried and grabbed it and we put it back in the ice cream bucket it was supposed to be in outside.
Well those are all the pictures we had taken that week. We had such a great time making memories with grandma and grandpa and getting to bond as a family! I am so thankful for the opportunites we are given to be together and grow together as a family. We were very fortunate to get to spend all that time with Gavin as well. He was laid off for almost 6 weeks and I was so grateful that we got to make these memories with our children together. He works so much and rarely gets to go on family vacations with us because of his job. We are so blessed to still have our parents with us and blessed to get to make such fun and lasting memories with them. I love my family so much and I am so blessed to have such great people in my life!
