Thanksgiving in Driggs

just a few highlights...

Grams enjoying the sun while it lasts Drew & Lander's snowman

Another self portrait. It almost looks like Jayden is picking his nose in the background. What are you teaching him Shelly?! :)

let it snow

For some strange reason, I have little boys that will NOT build snowmen, have no interest in snow forts, and generally try to stay indoors until Spring arrives. Fortunately, Jake forgot this when the first real snowstorm hit in November. He tired himself out rolling the HUGE base of a snowman so Josh & I offered to help. The tiny top of the snowman was the result. No matter how hard we tried, we couldn't get the snow to pack. I have no idea how Jake was able to make that gInORmOuS ball of snow.

Mesa Verde

On our way home from New Mexico (after Josh's hunt), we decided to keep the boys out of school for an extra day so that we could visit Mesa Verde. The timing turned out perfectly. The weather was warm, there were only a handful of visitors, and then to top it off, Jake's class studied Mesa Verde and other ancient American civilizations a week later. Jake was able to bring pictures and maps for his class to look it.

I'm glad that we didn't have to scale the rocks using toe holds like the Natives. Here Lander is climbing one of the many ladders it took to reach the old ruins.

Self portrait in front of Spruce Tree House

These are some of the stairs that have to be climbed to get out of Cliff Palace. I am standing just two steps below Josh.

Cliff Palace

The Mighty Hunter

Okay, okay. I've heard the remarks (when should I expect you Alan & Heather?) and finally got through my to-do list enough to finally start posting pictures. I thought I would start with Josh's elk hunt in Humphreys, a wildlife preserve near Chama, New Mexico (See Dad? Told you I would get to it....eventually). I wanted to post a picture with my dad, Dustin, & Angie in it, but the only picture I had was a little graphic for this audience--unless you have the stomach of a surgeon--so you will just have to take my word for it that they were there too.

Like usual, it took Josh (the Mighty Hunter) only a few hours before he found his elk.

Oct. 31, 2009

Josh's lunker

Josh has been working really hard lately. On Saturday he decided to take a much needed break after racing home from work. He & the little boys headed to the river for a few hours of fishing before dark, hoping to cash in on the fall brown trout that have been on fire. He caught the fish of his life!

Just kidding...

Our friend, Jeff, doctored the picture a bit. Here is Lander holding the real thing. Estimated at 6 1/2 pounds. This monster was 23 inches long and had a 15 inch girth.

Whoops!

Jake & his friend, Kaley, got too rough playing on a zip line a few days ago. Two broken wrists were the result.

Lander thought he needed a broken wrist too.

Stinky Uncle Alan

A conversation that I just had with Lander after hearing him play a make believe game with his friend:

Mom: "What are you guys doing?"

Lander: "Don't worry mom. I am the teacher. Dillon is stinky Uncle Alan."

Yeah, it's on my counter top

We caught this yesterday before school. I should get mom of the year award for letting the salamander crawl on my kitchen counter. (Visitors--don't worry. I did clean my counters!)

Stained Glass

Grams has been teaching Jake how to work with stained glass.

This is a nightlight that Jake made.

Thanks, Grams!

School Days (Dixie's Perspective)

Let me tell you...having both of the boys gone for an entire 6 hour stretch at a time has been really hard. Endless minutes ticking by. Time standing still. The house quiet, only my chores to look forward to.



WHO AM I KIDDING?

It has been wOnDErfuL! Better than a day at the beach, well, almost.


The house stays clean. Oh, the quiet house! I'm finally tackling my to-do list that I started in May. I feel like I am positively glowing. And the best part of all? I look FORWARD to my kids coming home!

First Day of School

Jake (3rd grade) & Lander (1st grade)

The bus stop crew.
Notice the alarming lack of girls.

(I'm sure I will be happy about that later on!)

Sushi

Heather & Mom came up in August. They took me to lunch for my favorite treat--sushi! Thanks girls!

Our self portrait. Gotta love camera angles & Dixie's double chin! Looks can be deceiving. This is AMAZING!

Dan & Em's Visit

I'm still so behind on posting....

Our good friends Dan & Emily stopped in for a visit in July for a couple of days. We didn't do much. The big boys played disc golf. Then we went to visit Grams. Last time they saw her, she & Gramps had stopped in for a visit in Cartagena. Grams was thrilled to have them up, and so were we! Hopefully we can return the favor next time....San Juan Islands anyone??

Lander & Noah throwing discs

Josh Dannit! Quite the duo.

Em & Dix
Blake loved his bugs (even though we could hardly find any--go figure!). This was the only decent, non-eyes-closed picture with Grams in it.
Dan goes for the putt at Freeman Park. Nice form, Dan! You must work out.

4 Wheeling in Cedar City, UT

Tiff & Chad treated me & the little boys to an off road adventure at Three Peaks near Cedar City, Utah. Mike & Amanda came along too. Josher got the raw end of the deal. He had to stay at home & work. (Thanks, Babe!)

There were a couple of times that I wondered if my kids would make it through the day unscathed. It didn't help that a government employee told us that people had been stringing fishing line between trees that had knocked two different people off of their quads. (One was hurt pretty bad.) I was worried that one of us would get clotheslined, but somehow we were fine. Well, most of us. Chad did decide to get a little rowdy on a sand dune, but he rode his bucking quad like a pro & saved himself from major disaster.

Lander Devin
Jake & Uncle Chad
Dixie, Amanda & Tiff

Bannack, MT

Bannack, Montana used to be the territorial capital of Montana. Now is it a deserted ghost town. We had planned a visit & were surprised to find out that it was "Bannack Days", an event that draws huge crowds. The crowds brought some fun adventures. Panning for gold and garnets, watching the soldiers shoot old time guns and cannons, horseback rides, you name it.

more from Montana

I know my blog posts are kind of jumping around, but try to stay with me here. Let's go back a few weeks into July so I can post a few more pictures from our camping trip to Montana.

Josh brings discs everywhere we go. He has thrown discs in Antigua, California, the Dominican Republic, Colorado, even Florida...pretty much everywhere he travels. The other J-sister in laws will understand this, I am sure. Camping in Montana is no different. And in case you are wondering what in the world is Josh doing? He's throwing one of his discs off of the mountain, aiming for our hammock.

Just for consistency, here is where the disc landed. Those of you interested will have to contact Josh about the stats. All I know is that it was a loooong way. Not too shabby, Babe.
Jake's hot dog was totally black from smoke and completely cold in the middle. Yummy.

The boys spent hours playing on a rocky mountain-side near our campsite (Grasshopper Campground). They named this pile of rocks the "gorilla rock".

Josh was quite the cook as my increasing size will attest.

Crib's Episode

Here is a sneak peek from MTV Crib's next episode:

...well of the fridge at least.

I love you, Tiff!!

Lake Powell

I spent years living in the desert, but had never made it to Lake Powell. Luckily, Chad & Tiff rectified that oversight. Josh was even able to escape from work for the quick trip. Here are a few shots from Lake Powell last week:

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Josh & Jake

Brianna

(Jake & Devin in background)

Proof that Dixie did it...if only for a second Josh & Lander ... and last known sighting of Josh's sunglasses
Jake & Lander in tube
(Chad in background)
Uncle Mike

TICK WARNING!

I hate it when people forward bogus warnings, and I have even done it myself a couple times unintentionally but this one is real, and it's important, so important that I thought I would place it on my blog to ensure it makes it to a larger audience.

Please send this warning to everyone on your e-mail list.

If someone comes to your front door saying they are checking for ticks due to the warm weather and asks you to take your clothes off and dance around with your arms up, DO NOT DO IT!! THIS IS A SCAM!! They only want to see you naked.

I wish I'd gotten this yesterday. I feel so stupid.

Crystal Park

We took the boys on a camping trip to Montana (near Dillon). While there, we dug for crystals at a place called Crystal Park. Josh found the grand-daddy of crystals & was the envy of all.

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Lander is pouting because Jake was holding the rock. So typical.

Oh, look. Now he's happy. ;)

The crystals come out shaped like the one in the picture. Some are long, almost 6 inches, but we didn't find any that large. Some are purple & other colors too.