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.