Tis the Season

Travis had to take the kids to see Santa by himself, since I had just started my new job at the Snow College Richfield Library.  I was really sad to miss this.  I love this time of year.  The magic in the air, the excitement the kids have, everything about it basically.  I got some cute pictures sent to me at work though so I didn't feel too left out.  

Season of Gratitude

This year we spent Thanksgiving in Minersville. We tried to keep ourselves pretty busy, when don't we right?  Travis had bought some minnow traps that we placed down at the creek.  Those were fun to go check, although we did not catch very many.  We caught tons more over on this side of the mountain but it was a fun activity to go and do.  

We did have a little down time.  Sawyer likes to play with the big boys when they let him which is most of the time.  It is hard when we come home though and he has to remember he is not a teenager but just a little guy. Sometimes he is a little too big for his britches, haha. 

Tammy fixed a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, as usual.  She never disappoints.  It was great to get together with everybody.  We stayed a few days over there enjoying all that Minersville has to offer.  We even went shooting to show the boys what it was like to shoot some double buck shot or something like that.  It was hilarious to see people's reaction when we would slip one in the middle of the other 5 shells. It has quite the kick. We headed up to Beaver to the craft fair after shooting.  It was nice to catch up with a few people while up there. 

ANOTHER AGGIE FIRST DOWN.....

We buy our tickets to the Aggie's games in 2-packs, can't be missing a moment of a game.  We headed back up to Logan the first part of November which actually ended up being nicer weather than our other game we went to.  Jaylee was not going to sit still this game, hence why no pictures of her.  We had fun playing up top running and giggling. 

Halloweenie

For Halloween this year we decided to dress up all alike.  Sawyer picked pirates and I could not

have been more happy.  They were pretty easy costumes to put together.  To start our Halloween activities out we hit up the Assisted Living Center here in Monroe for some family games and prizes.  This was actually before the night of Halloween so it gave us a great time to rehearse with our costumes for the kids.  We had a great time but everybody kept mistaking Jaylee for a boy.  She reminded me of the girl off of Swiss Family Robinson that is captured by the Asian pirates and escapes.

Sawyer got to wear his costume to school the day before Halloween.  He thought this was awesome.  He would have worn it every day if I would have let him.
On Halloween we set out in our neighborhood about 5:45/6:00.  We didn't not think this was very early but apparently the other kids were not out yet because we were the first ones at a lot of peoples houses.  Sad, when I was young we always hit the streets at this time and everybody else was out too.  Stinking trunk or treat.  We had a great time walking around the neighborhood and collecting candy.  Jaylee soon figured out that the bucket of candy was all hers and refused to let go of it for anything.  We had to pry it out of her hand when we go home.  She is such a mini me.  We love our candy.  This Halloween may have broken our streak of sick kids on Halloween.  Hopefully I don't jinx myself.  Here's to next year!

Zombie Run

The Zombie Run was a whole new race for me this year.  I invited Mariah over to run with me because honestly who wants to be scared and running from zombies by yourself?  I was so excited when she said she would come run it with me.  The race goes like this: The zombie is let loose at a specific time, in our case at 11:40 to finish a 5K, and you want to beat the zombie to the finish line.  The runners can begin if they want at 11:00 or else at 11:10, 11:20, 11:30, but they want to beat the zombie.  Most of the runners in our race left at 11:00 and you could dress up if you wanted to.  I wish I would have. Back to the runners, I was a little disappointed that the runners all left.  I waited until 11:30 to leave, and there was only 3 others runners in my heat.  People were a little over cautious.  Along the course there were zombies that jumped out and scared us.  That was a little scary.  They got me a few times, I yelled back at them. Mariah and I both beat the zombie.  

The race was at the Fremont Indian Park and after the race we were able to go tour the museum for free.  We need to head over there another time when we are not hot and sweaty. 

The kids had a fun time playing while Travis waited for us at the finish line.  After the race we headed down to Circleville to visit the Grandparents and go fishing at Otter Creek.  We hit up the little cafe in Antimony for a hamburger.  It was fun to fish but I got cold so Jaylee and I hung out with the Grandparents in the truck while Sawyer and Travis fished.  We only caught two fish the whole time but I had a great time visiting with my grandparents.  I love hearing stories from their past.  They are so amazing. 

Hunting Season.....

This year THE DEER hunt landed on my dear sweet Grandma's birthday. It happens this way every few years and it also happened to be her 80th birthday so we needed to do something extra special. We decided to through Grandma a party with her friends on Saturday in The Gathering Place at Uncle Todd's. In preparation for the party we had to prepare all the food.  I was assigned to make my "famous" tortellini soup, this was all fine and dandy until I remembered that I needed to feed the deer hunters staying at my house as well.  I really need to invest in bigger pots.  I had to make two pots of soup which was not bad at all but one pot had one kind of sausage and one had another so each pot turned out a little different, when mixed though it was amazing. 

We headed down to my grandma's the night before and left the hunters to get ready for the BIG hunt the next day.  We were just in the way and distracting from the game plan. It was nice to get down there and get things together though so Saturday wasn't so crazy.  

On Saturday I was put in charge of decorations. Lovely, I was thinking some nice pretty fall foliage would look great but when driving around town I soon realized there was none to be had.  We improvised and I believe what we came up with looked great. Krista helped with the decorating after she got back from her long, long run.  Silly girl.  When I went home to finally get myself ready as I was walking in, my mom was finishing loading the food to the car, she took one look at me and said "I am going to take the food over, and maybe Laraine you can do something with yourself, " all while looking me up and down. This may not be funny to anybody else but it completely cracked me up. I was still in my workout clothes and my hair was in angles that are not normal, just funny for me, I get it. 

The party was a lot of fun and the soups were a hit because it was pretty cold. While we were at the party we finally got the text that the big hunters Travis and Julie got some deer.  Thank the good Lord. They got some really big bucks so their efforts really paid off.  Sawyer and the other boys were highly impressed with their kills. Back to the party, I think Grandma really enjoyed her party.  It was fun to visit with the ladies and have just a ladies day.  After this party I wondered why in the world we don't do this every year. 

 We had another party on Sunday with the whole family. It was fun to have 2 parties and lots of cake and food.  It was also fun to hear the whole story of Travis' and Julie's deer hunting stories.  They had a great time and were successful on the first morning.  Nothing is better on opening morning.  

Here is to more successful deer hunting morning and more ladies parties while the men are hunting. 

All the Pretty Fishies

We have to hit up the Canyon Pond as much as possible before the winter and they close. Sawyer loves fishing and Jaylee is a little skeptical.  Sawyer was a regular fisherman at Jaylee's age and I am a little excited that she is a bit of girl and doesn't want to touch them either.  

Go Aggies, First Home Game

We of course had to go to the BYU v. USU game especially since it was up in Logan again, finally. We made our way up to Logan, man that is a long drive.  We finally made it and just in time for lunch which was fabulous because we were all starting to get a little hungry.  Since Richfield area lacks in a wide variety of restaurants we decided to go to sushi.  We love us some good sushi.  Krista came and met us for lunch.  We filled our tummies and headed up to get some Aggie Ice Cream before the game even though it was freezing.  It was so cold.  We had to go buy Jaylee proper shoes before the game because sandals were not going to cut it. 

Travis went and to save us some seats since the game was sold out.  He had to wait in line so the kids and I went and did some shopping and found a parking spot. We had to pack the bags for the game too though, all of the warm stuff that had been in storage since last winter. It seriously seemed like we were moving in getting ready to go to the game.  When the time got closer Travis came to get us at the car because all the kids and the stuff was just a little much for this little mama.  

The game started out a little shaky but it was fun to watch. Jaylee is not as good of a sports spectator as Sawyer was.  We took him to almost every home game and he did great for the first two years of his life.  Jaylee was a bit restless and loud.  When is she not though.  I spent a lot of time up top walking around with her.  We put her coat on and she was not happy, she could no longer put her thumb in her mouth because coat was too fluffy.  She was like the little brother in "A Christmas Story".  She also got a fat lip because she fell down and hit her face on the concrete.  She was having a bit of hard night. 

We stayed at Kiffin's house for the weekend.  It is nice to have a place to stay up there and he is always a great host.  On Saturday Travis went to help Rory and Kiffin on Rory's new house.  I on the other hand went to the Pepperidge Farm Factory for goldfish and any other cookie they had.  I miss that place dearly. We went back to get Travis to head over to our friend's and old neighbors house Kenzie and Matt's.  It was so much fun to remisce and let the kids play.  We moved when their baby was just a few weeks old and they had never met Jaylee.  I miss living in that little neighborhood.  We had such great friends/neighbors.  We headed back to help more on the house and this time Jaylee and I left the boys to go shopping.  We were in desperate need of flats for family pictures. I will never take for granted that I live in the same town as stores again. 

We met everybody at Chuck a Grandma (Chuck-A-Rama)- according to Sawyer with everybody.   That is the best little kids place, there is something for everyone but if not then there is always the rolls.  We headed back out to Kiffin's to continue our talking without kids climbing on the the tables and all over the floors. We all stayed up pretty late but it is fun to catch up with everybody.    

Bear Scat......

Oh the perils of hunting season.  I told ya'll about the awful trip of hiking down into an abyss of scrub oak to set up the trail cameras to see if there are many deer in Travis' secret location.  Well then the problem is retrieving them to see if we got anything on the cameras.  This time we wised up a little and the kids and I just hiked with Travis to the top of the ridge, AKA the edge of the abyss.  Travis went down into the bowl by himself and left me and the kids with the gun because.......we saw bear scat on the hike up.  That was definitely not there the last time we hiked up.  I may have had a little freak out.  I know bears are in the mountains but I like to keep my distance.  

While Travis was retrieving the cameras the kids and I hiked along the ridgeline.  It was awesome.  It was so pretty up there and Sawyer was loving being a mountain goat.  We watched as Travis hiked to the three cameras.  As he was hiking up he was mad, so upset because some other hunter turned his cameras and broke one so he wouldn't be able to see the deer.  He was fit to be tied.  Well as it turned out, it wasn't another hiker at all.  Nope, it was a bear.  It thought the cameras were a great back rub and then apparently he couldn't stand the smell of humans so he had to rub some dirt on it.  Travis was freaked when he found this out and he didn't have gun with him.  Apparently, we need to invest in more hand guns. 

We had planned to have a hot dog roast on our way out of the mountains, because lets face it, that is the only way a hot dog tastes good.  Some of Travis' friends joined us. They were actually up there too scouting for deer.  We had a great little adventure and hopefully we never meet that bear. 

Hello Mr. Bear

Bear scat AKA bear poop