spring?

the SUN is shining...sort of!

and the award goes to...

Josh is officially awarded the "Dad of the Year" award for finding this Rip Stik (Jake's #1 item on his birthday & Christmas wish list this year) at the thrift store. $7 baby!! Now, what am I going to get him for his birthday???

Jakey, hardly able to contain his excitement

Lander's first attempt didn't go so well

Lander wanted me to point out that if you look really close,

you can see the start of his bruise

(middle of his shin, for those of us who are near sighted!).

HELP!

The boys (Lander to be specific) are out of control. This is their room 5 minutes after they cleaned it.  It was getting so bad that we had to have a family intervention!

Artwork by Lander

Look what I just found on my camera. Apparently, Lander really liked his picture that he drew.

It's Baseball Season!

Jake huddling with his team

what to do, what to do?

The dilemma? How to transport a life-size manikin, a very expensive--cost nearly as much as my car--manikin? Here was my solution:

Boy, you should have seen the looks I got.

baby Liam needs help

My cousin's baby boy is in trouble. He began having seizures just days after he was born. Nothing has been able to stop them. Without surgery he will die. Here is the blog for anyone interested:

www.liamrileyhowe.blogspot.com

Hurry up!

Is anyone besides myself getting impatient because they haven't posted a preview for Eclipse yet? I mean, come on! It's February already & the movie is out in June! The winter is dragging in Idaho & since I can't go somewhere tropical (hint, hint Josherboy!), I plan on using Eclipse as my vacation!!!

Beth P., Shanie P., ME(!), & Heather

We took this picture while we were waiting for the rest of our friends to arrive at the midnight premier of New Moon. (Nov. 21, 2009)

Snow King Resort

The little boys got to go sledding at Snow King Resort (a ski hill in Jackson, WY). It was really fun!

Jake riding the tow rope

a HaPpY Lander

stroll down Memory Lane

Check out this picture that I just found of Josh & I

with Dan & Emily! I think it was taken in 1997 or 1998.

(Can anyone help me on this one???) Talk about a blast from the past!

Pinewood Derby

Jake had his first Pinewood Derby last week. Here are the boys modeling their cars (Caleb H., Lander, Jake, Job G., Jorge G.).

P.S. Jake really is happy (this picture was taken before the race which explains why he was happy & not crying), but I just couldn't resist posting this particular picture. Lander's expression is HILARIOUS!!!! :

And, the race is on:

Wow. Better luck next time?

Captain Jake Sparrow

Jake: "Mom! Guess who I am?"

Mom: "I don't know? Maybe Captain Jake Sparrow?"

Jake: "Oh man! How did you guess!?!"

Lander's Favorite Thing

Every morning you can find Lander here, hiding in the bathroom, playing with his toys while the heater cranks away. The tiny bathroom usually feels like a sauna!

Jake's Brownies

Jake decided to make brownies, something he learned to do in school last month.

melting chocolate & butter next some eggsand some sugar

blend it well

add the chocolate

and some flour

then baking powder & vanilla

bakeThey were really yummy! Good job, Buddie!

Jake's Brownies

2 Squares Unsweetened Chocolate

1/2 C. Butter

2 Eggs

1 C. Sugar

3/4 C. Flour

1/2 tsp. Baking Powder

1 tsp. Vanilla

1/3 C. Chopped Nuts

Do not preheat oven. Melt chocolate & butter. Beat the eggs and add sugar. Add the chocolate and butter, beat. Add flour and baking powder and beat. Add vanilla and nuts. Bake in greased 8" pan at 300 for 55 minutes.

since we are talking about food...

It actually felt like Christmas today when I picked up my first order from the local fruit co-op. For $15 you get whatever assortment the co-op is able to purchase. It varies every time.

This was my $6.00 "Italian" basket. (2 zucchinis, 2 red onions, 2 yellow onions, garlic, mushrooms, oregano, basil, Italian parsley, eggplant)

And here was my $15 fruit/vegi basket. (10 Braeburn applies, 3 lb pears, 6 tangelos, 8 bananas, 2 mangos, Romaine lettuce, strawberries, broccoli, russet potatoes, spaghetti squash, orange bell pepper, 6 red onions, 3 roma tomatoes)

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree

We decided to do something different this for Christmas--cut down our own tree. Here we are, looking for the "perfect" tree on Packsaddle Loop, just a few minutes drive from Gram's house. It turned out to be a lot harder than we expected. Finally. 2 hours later we found one thanks to Todd.
"You're doing a great job, guys!"

(Lander, Dixie, Uncle Jarrod, Jake, Drew, Jayden)
Todd securing the tree.
Was it worth it? Depends on who you talk to. But we would say definitely!

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!