Conference Weekend {and an encounter with bears)

I love Conference weekend!  Spending time together as a family while we relax, eat good food, and listen to our church leaders feels like a mini vacation.  On Saturday, Randy and I had to divide and conquer so we could be at Marcu's soccer game and Ethan's football game that happened at the same time so I huddled under my umbrella, with my phone held up to my ear, and listened to General Conference while I watched football.  It was awesome!  And Ethan played awesome too.

Cutest little player ever

I spent a couple hours in the kitchen Saturday night making yummy cinnamon rolls for our a special Sunday morning breakfast.  Sleeping in, waking to warm cinnamon rolls, and listening to Conference in pajamas was the best.  We did our long-standing tradition of candy in the buckets with buzz words written on each bucket.  When the boys heard a buzz word they got to take a treat.  It quickly became obvious that the words said most often were faith, happiness/joy, and Jesus Christ.  I woke up Monday morning feeling optimistic about the day and about life in general instead of the typical Monday blues that make me wish the weekend hadn't ended.  Conference weekend was just the pick-me-up I didn't know I needed.

Day 2 and the Legos are still going strong.  And can I just point out how beautiful that wall of windows is?  I love it!  There is nothing but woods (and bears) out there so we never have to close the blinds

This cinnamon roll was divine! 

scrambling to get candy from the buckets

After conference ended, I took the younger boys on a walk.  We walked through the woods and came upon Second Chance Farm.  I know nothing about this farm except that the signs said we could pet and feed the animals and so we did.  Ethan climbed an apple tree and collected a few apples so we could feed the animals and the boys squealed every time a tongue brushed their hand.  I don't know what it is about kids and wildlife but whenever the two are together I want to take pictures.

Seriously, how beautiful is this little lane we walked down?!

Second Chance Farm

This cow was HUGE!  I tried to act like it was no big deal to be that close to it so the boys would be brave

I was pleasantly surprised these aggressive goats didn't bite Parker's fingers off

Meet Cowboy the cow

Speaking of wildlife, I finally had my first bear siting this weekend.  It was thrilling!  My neighbor texted saying there were a couple bears in our backyard eating from our apple trees.  Before I tell you what happened next, I want you to think what you would do in my situation.  Know that we live in an area where we see deer in our yard almost daily and go to sleep at night to the sounds of coyotes howling.  Our house is surrounded by woods so naturally we see a lot of wildlife.  When I heard there were bears, naturally I grabbed my camera and ran outside.  {Later on, Randy told me this was the wrong choice.} Ethan stayed in the garage, watching and whispering frantically for me to come back inside.  I ignored him and took photos.

Can you see Mama Bear on the ground behind the tree?

The mama bear was on the ground, snarfing down apples with her cub next to her.  It took a minute to realize another cub was up in the tree shaking apples off the branches for it's mother.  What a hard worker! I stood on the lawn and snapped a few pictures, keeping my distance.  The mama bear saw me and slowly stood up, looked at me, then turned and walked away with her cub.  They hadn't gone too far when the other cub in the tree realized it was being left and he hopped down.  When he finally saw me he scrambled to climb up a huge pine tree.  I didn't move and after a moment it bounded through the woods after its family.  It was epic!  Now Randy wants to take down the apple trees to prevent further bear visits but I want to take down the trampoline so I can see the bears better.  I think it's so cool!

Mama bear, cub and if you look closely you can see the cub in the apple tree

This is the cub running to the pine tree to escape me

Here he is hanging on for dear life until he realized how silly he looked, then he jumped down and ran away