Look out!

Last weekend Tyler and I went out shooting with some ward members and got to test some of their gear. It was fun!

Tyler and I are both calm, kind of quiet, especially at church. We kind of keep to ourselves, and I think most people know we are on the shy side. If you don't know Tyler well, you would never be able to read him, heck we have been married almost 9 years, and I can't tell what he's thinking! jk

I grew up with brothers. We went out shooting often. I was a kind of a tomboy... you wouldn't guess that looking at me today.

Anyway after the targets got hung up one of the ladies went first, she had never shot before, so Tyler says to me "You better do better then her." I think I made him proud. I am a pretty good shot and I guess that surprised them. One lady said to me, "I will never look at you the same, walking down the hall, looking frail..." uh, thanks, I think.

Then it was Tyler's turn, and by the time we were done they were saying. "We know who not to mess with!" There was just a lot of surprise, and that was awesome!

The next day at church I said to a lady I work in Primary with (whose daughter went with us) "We had fun with your daughter..." Her mouth dropped "YOU are the Monica she was talking about?!?!" She was completely surprised.

This is my target:
The highest one was me aiming for the head- could have been a little higher...

I got my .22 shots in the X or 9s, the .380 in the X and outer X and the .45 in the 9s. Not too shabby- the last time I went out was like 3 years ago.

This is Tyler's:

Can you see all those hits in the X- that was the .22. He was aiming for the 9 with the .380, and the 8 with the .45. He was expecting to .45 to have more kick (they kept talking about mussel flash, etc, but it wasn't bad)

We also went to town on some bottles with a 9mm but I didn't get any pictures.

And a special thanks to Tyler's fabulous sister who watched the kids while we were gone! You are the best!

Horses

Ava has been BEGGING me to ride a horse. Nathan has ridden a couple of times, and I rode here and there as a kid. Lucky for Ava we have lots of friends and neighbors with horses. I talked to my friend Holly, and she was more than willing to let us come out to the arena. Ava was thrilled! She couldn't stop smiling.

Holly walked right there with her but she was on her own for the most part.The horse the kids rode was Holly's from when she was younger, and is such a great kid horse. It was awesome! 

Nathan rode also but then he and the boys decided to climb the giant dirt pile and catch lizards. I even got to ride before we had to leave but no one took any pictures.

(girls on the giant dirt pile...)

We can't wait to go out riding again!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day came so fast! We set up the kids stuff the night before. They had so much fun making valentines for each other and us- and it was so fun to see what they came up with.







I got up early and made a special breakfast~ pink heart pancakes, heart eggs, chocolate dipped strawberries....yum.

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We had a pretty low key day. After Tyler and Nathan left, Ava and I ran a few errands, and just hung out. Then we had a fancy dinner at home with the kids. Bacon wrapped fillet minon, potato casserole, giant rolls, salad, and OREO truffles. I was so hungry that I forgot to take a picture!  It was so good.



I am so glad I get these 3 to love!

Reminders

Let me just start by saying I love my Nathan. He is such a sweet, tenderhearted, funny boy. He is also quite a dilly dally-er. I can tell him something and seconds later he is doing something else and has forgotten what I asked...this drives me crazy- especially in the mornings.

He wakes up way before any of us, but most mornings we are rushing to get to the bus on time. I was getting really frustrated and hated starting his morning off that way.

Our bus stop is a ways away, and there are no kids by us, so I drive him to the bus and our school is 10 minutes away, (on the highway) so it is not like I can say "Fine you will have to walk" or anything like that. (Although one friend said she makes her son pay her if she has to drive him to school because he isn't ready in time)

Then I happened open THIS website with a free printable checklist. I needed to add a few things to the list, so I decided to copy her idea and made these on illustrator. I spent way too long on them (making my own chevron background....) but love how they turned out. They have so far been a great help. Ava even uses them :)  If you have illustrator and want a copy to tweek for yourself send me an email.







P.S. I had the checklist printed at a copy place (my printer just wasn't making the colors as bright as I wanted), then I glued it to colored card stock and had it laminated so it can be used as a placemat. I think to make the 4 cost me like $3.

Almost

Yesterday we almost went sledding in Cedar...we had been planning it for a week or so and there was supposed to be a big storm moving through. Earlier in the week I took the kids to Ace and they each picked out a snow disc. They were SO excited!

We got a text from Melissa as we were getting ready to leave saying the snow they had melted and there wouldn't be enough to sled! It was snowing at our house when we left so we decided to take a chance and head on up. It snowed most of the way there but sure enough when we got to Cedar it was sunny. Luckily they still had a good amount of snow in their yard, and the kids had a great time.

So the kids got to freeze play in the fenced yard, while the adults watched and visited from inside. Can't beat that! Hopefully we will get another storm so we can try again in the mountains close to our home.

making snowballs

Ava's snowman

Luke and his gun

Nathan and Madelyn working on their snow castle

Ava helping

And of course a storm rolled in as we were getting ready to leave.  Melissa texted me later that night to say they ended up getting another 3-4 inches! Figures!

Thanks again Yoders for letting us come play!!