Quack Slaughter

I went duck hunting with my friend Tim, who is the other counselor in the bishopric. We went below Alexander Dam on the river. Daisy is my dog (she is the yellow lab), and Sadie (the golden retriever) is Tim's dog. They both had fun chasing down wounded or dead ducks and bringing them in. It was a cold blizzard today, but the ducks were flying low and we got a lot of shots. I couldn't take Kaden this time because he doesn't have any chest waders. We'll fix that soon though. I can't wait to go again.

"Grandma" Pat

When I was called into the bishopric, I was really worried about how Molly would survive sacrament meeting. The first Sunday that I had to sit up on the stand came along and Pat Preece came and sat by Molly. She sits there every Sunday and our family has really appreciated it. She is such a nice lady and the kids call her Grandma Pat. Every year she has all the kids in the ward come over to her house to see Santa. This is a picture of that night.

Santa Claus...already a fraud.

Our kids have seen Santa in about 4 different places this year. The first time was in the city park. They line everybody up at the pavillion in the dark and turn the Christmas lights all on when Santa gets there in a fire truck. Well, Gabe sat on Santa's lap and told him he wanted a football. Santa said ok and handed him a bag. Gabe looked in the bag and got really mad that a football wasn't in there at all...just a bag of peanuts and crappy candy. The next time we saw Santa was at the ward party. Gabe decided Santa was full of it, so he walked around all the kids in line and grabbed a bag of candy without ever talking to Santa. So, the idea of Santa is already a struggle for him. We'll see what we can do. This picture is the one at the ward party. See the look of defiance in Gabe's face?

Decorating the Tree

We broke out the stuff to decorate the tree. It was a good time and I think the kids had fun. It looked really good when we were done.

Christmas Tree Drama

This year we decided to be adventurous and get a tree from the mountains. We went up 8 mile road and parked the truck. Everybody came along, even our dog Daisy. She chased squirrels while we searched for our Griswald moment. We found a great tree and cut it down. Everybody had a good time hiking around in the snow. When we got it home, Molly and I trimmed it up outside and brought it into the house. Well, Gabe didn't think that was a good idea at all. He was pretty mad that the tree wasn't going to stay outside. He eventually cheered up though and I think he is ok now. Overall, it was a fun day. We'll do it again next year.

Zach's 4th Birthday

We still had the Thanksgiving crew here for Zach's B-Day. We went bowling and had pizza with everybody. It was fun.

Thanksgiving

We had a lot of family at our house for Thanksgiving. Jon and Kendra came with their five kids. Candice, Grandma Karan and Grandpa Jim, and Blaine and Jennifer came too with their two kids Mark and Emily. There was way too much food eaten and not enough sleep, but it was a great time and good to see everyone. Kaden and I took Jon and Mckay hunting in the morning and then we went to the shooting range. We got a flat tire, but made it home in time to carve the turkey and pig out. The afternoon was full of football, running kids, pie, and naps.

Zach and Dad, Hunting

This is what happens when you take a little guy hunting for pine hens on the 4 wheeler. Zach kept telling me to keep going until we were about 1/2 hour from the house. Then he said he wanted to go home. By the time I turned around, he was asleep. Of course, we only saw chickens on the way home....so I didn't shoot any.

Waving Goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa

Zach's birthday from Grandma and Grandpa

Zach loves his backhoe.

Zach-man

Halloweeen

Halloween was great. I was dressed up as a really ugly woman, Molly was a witch, Kaden was some wizard from Harry Potter, Zach was a dinosaur, Gabe was a lion, and Sadie was a dancer one day and a different dancer another day. All I know is that she took forever to get ready and she had to wear two different costumes for two different events. We went to the carnival at the school, the city trunk-or-treat, and also to several houses in our ward. I didn't post any pictures of me as a woman because I knew someone would blackmail me with it. When Gabe saw me he was scared, then he and Zach laughed at me for a while.

Pumpkin Carving

This was fun and work too. Kaden dove right in while Zach was a little grossed out by the "guts". Sadie painted bats and hooked bats to wires that stuck out of her pumpkin. Mom did a lot of the work. Gabe slept through pumkin carving this time. I think they turned out pretty good.

Fall Fun

The kids were bored, so we raked up a pile of leaves and they played in it for a long time. They rolled down the hill and jumped into the pile. Our dog (Daisy) had to join in too. She gave Kaden a bruise on his eyebrow when she tried to jump over him and didn't quite make it.

Fall Sunset

The Weekend Storm (part 2)

Sunday, I woke up to go to an early meeting and it had snowed so much that the tree limbs were starting to sag and the roads were pretty bad. I took these pictures on the way home at about 8:30 am. I can't believe there is so much snow on October 12th. The leaves haven't even fallen completely yet. On another topic, I've been hunting all weekend for deer. So far, no luck. All I see is doe after doe. I'll keep trying. This snow should help things a little.

The Weekend Storm (part 1)

Yesterday, it snowed quite a bit for October. It was enough to build a snowman and turn everything white for a while. The kids had fun.