Preston Arenacross 2010

On August 14, 2010 we headed up to Preston, Idaho for the annual Preston Arenacross. We go every year to sell and race. It is always a good time up there. The support we receive in Preston for Ballz Racing is unreal! We stayed really busy when we were selling and after all the races we were swarmed with people! We are so grateful for all of the support that we receive from our awesome racing friends. We were able to go and throw some of our products into the crowd... that was really fun... but for everyone who knows me... it was really embarrassing! Haha.

Taiya ran the show while Ethan was racing and while we were throwing products into the crowd. She sold one thing while we were gone and she was very proud! She is going to be a business woman...

Here are some of Eth's pictures... He is 3rd from the right on the starting gate!
Ethan did awesome! He got 3rd place in his heat race and he got 4th for the main event!! He would have got 2nd place... but he crashed! We are so proud of how well he did! He has beautiful style and a good head on him. I think that he will go far. He has made huge improvements over last year... he was coming in second to last or last in all the races last year... but this year he sure has picked it up! I am so excited for him and what he will achieve in the future!

I am so grateful that we had a safe and successful weekend! I am grateful to everyone who supports Ballz Racing and our family! We have some great friends out there! I hope that everyone else had an awesome weekend!

Adversity!

I know a few people who are really struggling in life right now, whether it be marriage... kids... jobs... and/or health problems. I read this talk from President Uchtdorf and was very touched by it. I hope that it brings as much comfort to those who read it as it did to me!

"How beloved you are of your Heavenly Father. Though it may seem that you are alone, angels attend you. Though you may feel that no one can understand the depth of your despair, our Savior, Jesus Christ, understands. He suffered more than we can possible imagine, and He did it for us, He did it for you. You are not alone."

"In stories, as in life, adversity teaches us things we cannot learn otherwise. Adversity helps to develop a depth of character that comes in no other way. Our loving Heavenly Father has set us in a world filled with challenges and trials so that we, through opposition, can learn wisdom, become stronger, and experience joy."

I am so grateful that Heavenly Father has sent us modern Prophets and Apostles to guide, direct, and comfort us. I feel so grateful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I am so grateful to have the Book of Mormon in my life. We live in troubled times and I am so grateful to know that we can have the Prophets to give us advice, love, and hope.

Our Garden!

This spring we decided that we would try our hand with gardening! We own an acre and a half... so we have plenty of room for one. On Memorial Day we spent 10 hours prepping our garden and planting! It was a nightmare! The kids thought it was a blast to put the seeds in. We planted corn, green beans, peas, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, pumpkins, tomatoes, watermelon, and cantoloupe! It is very time consuming to have a garden! Weeding and watering takes forever! At first, I spent most of my days off weeding... but now I am sad to admit that the weeds have won this battle.

Having a garden has taught me a lot about patience (which I am still working on). We have had problems with mice in our garden... which means problems with Luna in our garden trying to get the mice (which means she has dug up most of our peas). The wind has knocked down most of our corn... and the grasshoppers... oh the grasshoppers. I have so much respect for the pioneers. At least I know that if my garden does not make it, I can just go to the store. They did not have this option... if their gardens died, it meant they didn't have food! Even though it is a pain to have a garden, I am so grateful that we have had one this year. It is so fun going out there and picking fresh vegetables!

Here are some pictures of our garden and some extras from this summer!

This is some of our fresh loot... this is just one picking... we still have a lot of green beans to pick!

Family Weekend!

One week ago today, my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and their kids came up from Elko, Nevada to stay with us for the weekend! I was so excited because we didn't get to see them very much when they lived in Montana... but now they are only 3 hours away! On Friday, I introduced Jess to my favorite store... Hobby Lobby! She dropped a pretty dollar there! Haha. Then they stayed overnight at a hotel and went and saw a friend cage fight... so we had their kids overnight! It was so much fun to have them! They are the cutest kids ever!

On Saturday after they got home from the cage fights we went to the Aquatic Center and went swimming! The kids were having the biggest blast on the slides and playing with their cousins. Brandon and Damon were loving the slides as well. Brandon figured out how to skip across the water when he went down and he had to stop himself so he didn't hit the steps! Everyone around the slide area was watching him and talking about it! Haha.

Kaidyn!

Brylie!

Braxton!

The boys and their slide!


Damon! (above)

Brandon! (above)

Uncle Damon was squirting water at Ethan through the noodle! They all thought that was pretty funny!

After we went swimming we took them to our favorite place to eat.... Fire House! Yummy! Our sister-in-law, Didgette, came too! So much fun and delicious food!

What my husband will look like when he is old! Haha

So tonight Brandon decided he wanted to buzz his head for summer. So my Sister-in-law Didgette started on the project. We decided to try out some "new" hairstyles on him!

Ethan is making sure Daddy holds still so his head doesn't get cut off!!

His side profile! Haha haha haha rofl! Isn't he hot ladies?

We all tried talking him into leaving it!


Me seducing my sexy beast!

It worked!!

So this is how the Ball family spends our Saturday nights! I don't remember the last time we all laughed that hard! Tears were rolling and stomaches were hurting from all the laughter! (Bring out the depends!) It was a night to remember!

P.S- I am not posting pictures of his new hair do yet... I want the image to last a LONG time!

Ethan's Accident

Saturday, June 19, 2010: It is SO easy to forget how life can change in the blink of an eye. Our family had a HUGE eye opener on Saturday!

Saturday started out like any other. Brandon was holding a riding school so Ethan went with him. Taiya had a birthday party in the morning and then we were planning on going out to the track to watch the boys ride. Then we were going to go grocery shopping, do yard work, and watch movies...

Taiya was at her party when Brandon called me and told me that Ethan's bike broke down, so he wouldn't be riding the rest of the day. Taiya and I still decided to head out to watch Brandon and see the track. We were half way there when Brandon called and told me that there had been an accident and that I needed to turn around and go to the E.R. He told me Ethan had gone on the track and got hit. I kept asking him if he was okay and he said he honestly didn't know and that he was jacked up. He kept telling me how scared he was. That scared me so bad because Brandon is one who never goes to the doctor unless something is broken or it is REALLY serious. I can't even begin to explain the horror I felt. I started crying and telling him I was scared. I could hear Ethan crying in the background. That was probably one of the hardest things because I wanted to be comforting him and holding him, but I was in another car and had no control. My heart was breaking. The drive to the hospital felt like an eternity! The Summerfest was going on so there was insane amounts of traffic. I hardly remember any of the drive now. I called my "other Mom" Linda and she flew up to the hospital and let them know what had happened... so they were waiting and he was registered.

Taiya and I got to the hospital about 2 minutes before Brandon and Ethan did. When Brandon got out with Ethan, I was in shock. He was covered in dirt... every inch of him. It was all over in his hair, his ears, his nostrils, his eyes, his mouth... literally everywhere. He had massive cuts all over him. His face was so bad and so were both of his legs. I just cried when I saw him. I was sick to my stomach. He was crying, Brandon was crying. It was the most heartbreaking sight. I honestly thought he was going to die when I saw him. He looked so bad.

They took him into a room and the doctor came in right away. They hooked him up to an I.V. and started looking him over. Then I heard the whole story. Brandon was doing some hot laps and Ethan was at the bottom of a jump watching him. This jump is about 80 ft. so Brandon was in 3rd gear (about 40-50 mph) Brandon was flying in the air when Ethan decided to play chicken and run across the track. Once he saw that Ethan was running across the track, Brandon flipped the bike sideways in the air to try and move some to try to avoid hitting Ethan... as soon as he touched the ground Brandon slid the bike sideways, but it hit Ethan at the same time. Ethan flew 45 feet and landed at the top of a different jump. Brandon threw his helmet off, ran to Ethan and scooped him up... he was not crying and that is what scared Brandon the most. (When Ethan gets hurt even a tiny bit he screams like it is the end of the world) His eyes were rolling and he was whimpering and groaning. Luckily there was a mom there from the riding school who saw everything, so she took them to the hospital.

I honestly thought I was going to lose my baby. I just shut down. I couldn't think, concentrate, and it was hard to even move. I just felt numb. They did CT Scans on his head, neck, and abdomen. They x-rayed his pelvis and legs. They did blood work and urine samples. Everything came back perfect! They thought he might have a fracture in his femur, but after reviewing it with a few doctors, they decided it was nothing! He didn't have to have any stitches either! The doctors were amazed that he was okay! They kept telling us that he had to have angels watching over him! There are not many kids who can have an accident like that and be able to walk away without any broken bones, stitches, or internal injuries! He is a miracle. I know that my Mom was protecting him!

Ethan was such a trooper. He was in so much pain. He has a huge burn from the exhaust and it was extremely painful. I was holding his hand and when he would cry he would reach up for me to give him hugs! I loved just hugging him and kissing him. You just want to pick them up and squeeze them and never put them down. It was so hard to just sit by him and hold his hand.

They decided to keep him overnight in case anything happened later. He went up to Ped's. It was so hard to see him walk because he was in so much pain! He could barely walk because his hip hurt so bad, as well as both his legs. He threw up a few times too. Other than that though he did really well throughout the night. Landon and my Grandpa gave him a beautiful blessing. That was so comforting! I am SO grateful that we are able to receive and give blessings. They are so sacred and so important to me. I am SO grateful that Heavenly Father has blessed us with that gift.

Ethan is now home and doing amazing! He is doing really well. Stairs are really the only hard thing for him. He is back to his happy personality too! I am SO happy that Heavenly Father saved him to be with our family! I am so grateful for all of the love and support that has been shown to our family. We have had so many visitors and we are so grateful for them. We are so grateful for all of the calls and prayers we received as well. Thank you to Natalie for coming straight up to the hospital and hanging out with us while we waited. Thank you to my Dad for driving up from Brigham to be with us as well. Thank you to Linda for taking Taiya and getting him set up. Thank you for being there to help me through another situation! I love you more than you will ever know and I am SO grateful that you were such a special part of Mom's life! Thank you to Landon and Grandpa for the beautiful blessing. Thank you to Grandpa and Grandma for the pizza! Thank you Taiya for being such a big help and taking such good care of your brother. Thank you to the amazing doctors... Dr. Plowman, Dr. Harris, and Dr. Harker! You all were so amazing! Thank you to the E.R. nurses and especially to the Ped. Nurses! They were so amazing and took such great care of all of us! Thank you to my sweet husband! He is honestly amazing! I don't know what I would do without him in my life! Thank you to everyone who has read this LONG post!

This is Ethan when he was first brought in and hooked up to everything. The pictures do NO justice! He looked 10 times worse in person!

He has cuts and scrapes all the way in his scalp and a huge goose egg on the back of his head! His neck is covered in scrapes too.

His knee was really bad... there are some tire tracks on this leg too.

This is his burn. There is a huge circle that goes halfway down his leg... you can really see it in this picture though. You can see more tire marks too.

After he got released we went to see the accident scene. When I actually walked the track it hit me at how lucky he is to be alive. If Brandon wouldn't have had all the experience he does, it would have been fatal. Luckily Brandon was able to more scoop him instead of t-boning him. Thank you Heavenly Father for all of the miracles we received this weekend!

Our Anniversary!

May 24th was our two year anniversary! I am SO happy that Heavenly Father sent Brandon to the kids and me! He has made the last two years fantastic! I never dreamt that I would ever have someone as special as he is. He is SO sweet, loving, hilarious, smart, hard working, honest, sincere, and faithful. I could go on for hours about what an amazing person he is. The thing that I love most about him is what an amazing father he is. I have never once questioned whether or not he truly loves my kids. I know he does! I know that they love him as their father as well. I honestly would be lost without him by my side. I am so excited for the day that we are all sealed together as an eternal family!

I am sure that most of you know our story, but I love it so I am going to tell it again! My Dad gave me money for Christmas so I was at the mall looking around with the kids. Eth had to go to the bathroom so we stopped so he could go. Brandon went in a few minutes later. They came out at the same time and Brandon told me that he helped Ethan wash his hands because he couldn't reach. He ask me if I was on myspace because I looked like one of his friends on there... but I didn't think we were. That is pretty much all we said and he parted ways. The next day we saw each other at church! He was going to the singles ward there and I was going to the family ward! We only talked for a second and then went our different ways. About a week later I get an email from him on myspace! It said, "I don't know if this is the Brooke I met at the mall, but if this is could you please email me back. I hope I don't sound creepy!" I emailed him back and we started emailing for a while. I went to his house once and he showed me what motocross was. For our first real date we went to Yellowstone for a race! That was the first time that I met most of his family! Haha. I loved how he was so close with his family and on the way to and from Yellowstone we talked non-stop. There were never any awkward silences.... I felt so comfortable with him right from the start!

We dated for 4 months and then were married! I knew right away that he was the person I was going to marry.

Branny Joe Poopenhowser, thank you for being my everything! Thank you for loving the kids and me the way you do! Thank you for supporting us. Thank you for working so hard so we can enjoy the things we do! Thank you for being my best friend! Thank you for always worrying about me! Thank you for all of the laughter and all of the tears! Thank you for your spirituality! Thank you for never giving up on me, even when I am being a pain! Thank you for not caring about my past, but focusing only on our future! Thank you for treating the kids and me with nothing but respect! Thank you for your amazing family... they have blessed my life so much! Thank you for always being by my side! Thank you for always helping out around the house and with the yard! Thank you for being close to my family! I don't know what I would do without you! You are my life, you are my world! I could not ask for a better life with more special people in it! I love you more than you could ever imagine and I hope that you never forget it! Thank you for being you! I love you FOREVER and for ALWAYS!!! Love, Your Wife

Some of our "dating" pictures! (above)




Our Engagement Pictures! (above)

I can't wait to spend the rest of my life and eternity with my best friend! I love you SO much! Thank you for everything!