New Guns

Ashlyn got a 30/6 for Christmas and Garrett got a new airsoft gun.  Today we took them to shoot.

 Kicks a little!

Christmas

All the loot! They must of been good kids this year.

 I was a little late smapping this picture and missed the best part of...Ash got a cougar tag and was so excited. She also got a 30/6, new cowboy boots, outfit, and a dress. (I may have left some out)

 Braden got a Nook, barnes and noble card, itunes card, clothes, wallet,

 Garrett got a green machine, two guns, two giant cookies, a gun sling,

I think everyone was happy with what they got and had a good day.

 

Dress Up

How many 16 year old boys do you know that will play dress up with little girls? Braden is so good with kids and they love him. We were delivering the Willden's Christmas presents and Zoey wanted help getting dressed up.

Ashlyn's New Room

Ashlyn's room was a little bigger than the boy's and had a bigger closet so we decided to switch. She wasn't very happy about it until we told her she could keep the deer heads! I seen this wall on a blog and have wanted to do it ever since. Matt thought I was crazy! It is done with pallets. After we figured out and easy way to take the pallets apart it wasn't to bad. We painted the walls in both rooms and laid new carpet in this room. Matt kept telling me it was ugly but when it was done he had to admit it was pretty neat. It feels so cozy in there and she loves it. She's even been keeping it pretty clean!

Gingerbread Houses

Matt and I got to go to the school today and help Garrett build a gingerbread house. We had a good time!

Cutting Wood

I don't think we've ever been able to drive to the property in December! We haven't had any snow. There's some piles of logs by dad's property so we headed up to get a load today. It wasn't even that cold. After we got the truck loaded the kids wanted to play at the pond. It had a layer of ice on the top and the kids would skip rocks across it. It made a really cool sound. A beaver has made himself a house on the pond and had the stream damned off. Then the kids got into the cat tails. What a mess. They would run their hands through them and they would shred into millions of little pieces that stuck to everything. You couldn't even breath. They had to take off their pants for the ride home cause you couldn't even wipe it off.



Black Friday

My first black friday shopping trip and this is all I got...

Lame. I don't think I'll be doing that again. The sale started at ten and there was one thing I wanted so I took Ashlyn and my mom with me and thought if I was there about a half hour early I would be okay. WRONG. They were sold out when I got there. A 1/2 hour before the sale started. We decided we might as well stand around for a minute and watch the madness. We grabbed a couple things and then seen the checkout line so we put them down and went to McDonalds and came home. (Nicole was shopping in Vernal and called me a 1:30 am to tell me they had what I wanted so I was able to get one anyway!)

4th Grade Program

In 4th grade the kids study Utah History and do a program about Utah. They can dress up in pioneer clothes or as Indians and they sing songs about Utah, show a slide show and tell about Utah's history. It is a really neat program.

We got a wood burning stove!

My dad is such a handyman! He has done brick mason work for years and when we decided to do a stove I wanted him to do the brick work. There wasn't much I could do to help but I liked watching him work and asking him questions.

 

The first brick going in!

 He probably wondered what I was doing when I kept taking pictures! I thought this mud looked cool when he dumped it on the board.

 Garrett had been wanting to help so bad. He would ask in the mornings if grandpa was going to be there when he got home from school so he could help.

 Then end of the first day.

The bricks all done!

 Our first fire...we love it! There's nothing quite like the heat from a wood burning stove. Much warmer than a furnace.

 

Volleyball

Ashlyn played city league volleyball. They combined 5th thru 8th graders on teams which was a little hard for the 8th graders since most of the younger girls hadn't played before. Coach Hillock was involved and had some of the high school players coaching and helping. He wants the them learning right so they can play for him in high school, which is a good idea. Ashlyn also tried out for the all star team and made it. They played a couple games here and went to Enterprise and played tournaments in Parowan and North Sevier. They did a good job and had a lot of fun. It will be fun next year when she is playing high school sports. She just has a natural talent when it comes to sports.

Garrett got pretty bored during the games and made quite a few friends!

Getting a Haircut

Garrett's hair was getting pretty shaggy so I decided to cut it myself. At first he didn't want it cut because he would freeze! Then he decided he wanted to cut it himself. So I handed over the clippers and he took the first chunk right out of the middle! We had to buzz it after that but it turned out okay.

Cuttin' up the Deer

Garrett wanted to help cut up the meat this year. He didn't used to like getting blood on him but he's coming around!

I Moustache Ask You a ?

Ashlyn had a volleyball tournament in Parowan today. They played really good and ended up taking 2nd place. They gave them tickets to SUU's volleyball game tonight so Matt and I decided to go with them. The SUU game was a lot of fun. Garrett thought it was better than watching Ashlyn's games. I wouldn't mind going again.

We went to pizza hut for dinner and G got the moustache from the vending machine. He thought it was pretty funny.

HALLOWEEN

Garrett wanted to be a zombie again this year, which was easy for me! With them being in the new elementary school they didn't parade down main street so I didn't get to see him during the parade. Braden and Ashlyn were off with their friends again, so it was just me and Matt and Garrett. We went to the trunk or treat, the grandparents and a few other houses, then home for the annual sorting and counting of the candy. Ashlyn and Braden never even carved their pumpkins. Garrett carved his on his own and did a really good job.

We dress up at the bank also so this year I went as Clark Kent.

Ashlyn's 1st Deer

Ashlyn finally got her deer! It's certainly not the deer she wanted but she wanted to get one and wasn't having much luck. At least she had fun.

 

Fall Art Show and Concert

Braden is taking chorus this year and loving it. Tonight we got to hear them sing and they are really good. They display the art projects in the cafeteria during the concert and Ashlyn had this picture in it.

Crazy Hair Day

Deer Camp

Who knew you could have so much fun with an old tire and a rope. Garrett threw this tire in the back of the truck when we were getting ready to go to camp. I couldn't imagine why he was taking it and told him to leave it home. They made a zip line, a tire swing and a sled. The dirt around camp was a fine powder when they got done and they were filthy. These boys had so much fun playing together. They even stayed at camp instead of hunting cause they were having so much fun.

 

He's always packin' a full belt load!

Getting up early, hiking, and playing hard sure wears you out!!

Deer camp was a lot of fun, as usual. We really enjoy camping and spending time with our friends.

Pack Meeting

All the kids took part in tonight's pack meeting; Garrett led the flag ceremony, Braden dressed as a vampire to participate in the skit, and Ashlyn and Lexi served apple cider. Garrett was pretty nervous but he did a good job. After the awards we played games and Matt and I got to wrap Garrett in toilet paper like a mummy.