A few pictures from Thanksgiving

I was able to still a few pictures from Thanksgiving... still don't have any from cutting the trees but hopefully soon.

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving in Monroe with Logan's family. Of course I'm an idiot and forgot to take my camera but hopefully Shallon and Caleb will get me some pictures. The kids love being in Monroe more than anything and it always takes a few days for them to recover from playing so hard and staying up so late.

Saturday we went to Richfield to visit with Santa Clause. Jadyn was a little hesitant to talk to him but I think she understood how important it was to be brave since He would never know what to bring her if she didn't tell him. Cooper wasn't even about to get near Santa, he just held on to Logan for dear life. Jadyn was so worried about Cooper not telling Santa what he wanted so she went back to Santa and said, "that's my brother, he wants a truck with a trailer for Christmas." It was so cute to see her so worried about her little brother.

We also went to cut down some Christmas trees Saturday afternoon. Logan and I personally opted out of cutting our own tree because last year he said he was never putting lights on a tree again. So I guess that leaves us with the option of buying a fake one. I didn't think he would ever want to give up the real tree but he said as long as we still went with his family to cut the tree we didn't necessarily need to get one for us. The kids love hiking in the snow to find the trees. It always seems so peaceful on the mountain in the snow and we are always lucky enough to get snowed on. I'll post some pictures as soon as I can get some from Shallon. But we had a great time!

Happy Halloween and Happy Hunting

I wasn't too thrilled about the idea of going deer hunting this year after our little adventure in the Uintas but the guys decided it was worth it to wake up early to look for the few big bucks they had seen. So the kids stayed with my Mom and Dad while Logan and I headed out for an early morning adventure. We stopped at McDonalds to get breakfast but they didn't give us Logan's food so we stopped at Burger King too. We decided that the best way to start out a hunt was by going to two different places for breakfast. 

After about an hour and a half of looking for the deer, Logan spotted this buck coming up over the hill we were watching. I of course had no idea how big it was, I only knew that Logan kept saying "shoot it.... shoot it.... shoot it" It took a minute for me to get it in my sights but I finally shot... I think I missed the first shot so I shot again, this time I hit it but it wasn't slowing down so I told my uncle Mark to shoot it so it didn't get away. But after his shot it disappeared in the thick oak and we had no idea if we would ever see it again. Logan went looking and quickly found the blood trail and right below where we were standing the deer was down. Apparently I had hit it much better than I thought and it didn't go far at all. We were all cleaned up and back to the ranch by 10:30. My idea of a hunt.... quick and successful. 
The mighty hunters, Logan, Shayla, Mark, and Raquel
The kids were not cooperating very well on Halloween to get their pictures taken. Plus, we were late for the trunk or treat and Logans dog ran off so I was feeling very rushed to get the dog back and get going. Hopefully Uncle Jace took some better pictures of Peter Pan and Tink. 
Grandma Payne's Halloween party is always a highlight of the year. Cooper only lasted in his costume for about 15 minutes but I did get some cute pictures of him. Jadyn refused to hold still long enough to get any pictures worth keeping. 
Cooper loved his boots and his little sword. On Halloween his fascination was with his hat which kept falling off his head but he wouldn't let me hold it... he had to wear it. 
For the last month Cooper has asked me, "Mom, what am I going to be??" I would remind him that he was going to be Peter Pan and he would get all excited and say, "Ya, I'm going to be Peter Pan!!" Funny thing about is that he doesn't even really know who Peter Pan is. But apparently its someone cool. 

I builded that for you Mom

Cooper and I were driving down the street today when we had the following conversation:

Cooper: Mom, who put those lines on the road?

Me: The people who built the road put them there.

Cooper: Oh, I think that I put them there.

Me: Did you build the road?

Cooper: Ya, I drove my gator down here and builded the road for you so you can drive fast! I'm a good builder huh mom!?!

Coming home from Church Jadyns asks: Mom, how did Heavenly Father build gates... cause gates are REALLY hard to build! (It may help to know that Jadyn has been working on perfecting her block building skills, attempting towers, barns, fences, and of course gates.) 

More Catch up From September

By far our most exciting news of September was our goat hunt. Last spring Logan informed me that I had drawn a once in a life time Uinta goat tag. We started planning our trip and finally the time arrived for us to go. I was excited to go but would have been more excited if I hadn't been 5 1/2 months pregnant. The unit was in a wilderness area which meant we had to walk or ride horses to get there and for those of you who don't know where mountain goats live they are not easy to get to!

We were lucky to know a guy who has some horses!! We were also lucky that that guy was Logan's dad and he loves us and was willing to do a lot of work to make this hunt successful. After getting lost on our way to the camp ground we finally got around to packing up the horses and beginning our 10 mile journey up the mountain. The hike up wasn't too bad until about 3/4 of the way up when it started to rain really hard. Everything we owned was soaking wet, our tents, our sleeping bags, our food, everything. By the time we had camp set up it was dark and time for dinner. Since our food was wet we decided to bag dinner and go to bed but our beds were so wet we froze all night. When we woke up in the morning all the mountains around us were covered in snow and I was sure my toes would never be warm again. We were so cold the best solution we could come up with was to get moving up the hill. So we crawled on the horses and started going up.

It took us most of the first day to find where the goats lived. We were able to find one that was a good size and I tried to shoot it but couldn't ever hit him. So we called it a day and went back to camp. By the end of the first day I had been so cold and we had walked and ridden horses so much my whole body hurt. I wasn't really looking forward to the next day and swore I would shoot the first goat I possibly could so we could go home. 

However, the second day was not nearly as bad as the first as far as the weather was concerned so I wasn't as uncomfortable. We found a goat to shoot early in the morning since we knew where they were. After trying to hit him well enough to kill him we realized the scope had fallen off the gun. To make a really long story a little less long we ran out of bullets after the goat was wounded so Logan ran back to camp to get more while Perry and I tried to find the goat. We found the goat, climbed up the face of a cliff like spiderman (I'm quite sure I've never been so close to falling to my death!!) and finally finished him off. We never could have made it without Perry... Logan and Perry pulled the goat off the cliff while I walked around to a place that wasn't so steep and we made our way back to camp.  The next day after another very long 10 mile hike we made it home. It was our anniversary but I'm afraid we worked too hard all week to be feeling very romantic. It took a few days for my pregnant body to recover from hiking so much and riding horses so much in such a short period but after I was clean, fed, and warm I decided the whole trip wasn't too bad. However, I am very thankful it was a once in a life time experience. I wish the goat was a little bigger but I am mostly just happy we came home successful. The goat will always be a trophy to Logan, Perry, and me because we worked so hard to get it.             

I think I can now say that Cooper is potty trained... he still has accidents but they are getting less frequent. He has started wearing clothes again instead of just running around in his underwear.  

We took the kids to a rodeo and Jadyn decided she was tough enough to ride a sheep. Sure enough she held on tight, rode a long way, and didn't even cry when she was bucked off. She was very proud of herself for being a real cowboy!!

A bit of August Catch-up

 I know, I know.... behind as usual. Here are some of the events of August.

Towards the end of July Jadyn started taking piano lessons. She is doing sooo well. I'm really quite amazed how quickly she is picking it all up. She can read the notes and knows right where to put her fingers. She doesn't even complain too much about practicing.

Logan's brother-in-law has a cabin at Bear Lake and we had the opportunity to go spend the weekend with them. I had never been to Bear Lake and so I was very excited to go. Unfortunately the weather wasn't great but we did find some time to play on the beach. We also rented these big four wheel bikes to ride around town in. Of course we weren't really tough enough to go too far... I couldn't believe how hard they were to peddle. 

This picture is a bit out of order but I couldn't get it to move. Jadyn started school the last week in August. She loves it and is learning so much. She was excited to wear her favorite 'blue pants' and she even got a hair cut. 
This was the first time in a while that all 6 grand kids were together. We tried SOOO hard to get a picture with all of them in it but this was the best we could get. There were way too many distractions.
Caliber, Jadyn, and Tucker were all worn out after playing in the sand so it was time for a little sucker break. 

"Mom, are my lips blue??"
Cooper was pretty excited to go "wake boarding" He kept yelling, "Look at me, look at me". I was actually really excited to see him wanting to play. He was sick the whole time we were there so him and I spent most of our time just sitting in the chair wrapped up in a warm towel. I was a little paranoid about him getting too close to the other kids because I really didn't want anyone else to get what he had. He also tends to be extremely difficult about everything when he doesn't feel well. 

24th of July

I realize I'm very behind on the activities of the summer but we really haven't been home long enough in between to get anything done but the laundry. 

The 24th of July is always a highlight of the summer. Monroe comes to life with people, parades, and lots of food. 

Ice Cream at Tuckers party was a hit for sure!! 
Cooper looked so cute in the parade. He would ride up to everyone on the street and say "I'm a cowboy!! YYEEEHHAAWW" And, he was so proud to be riding his bike like the big kids.
I never even saw Jadyn during the parade. She took off and rode as fast as she could through all the people. She was a very cute indian on a pink bike. 
The kids loved being in the children's parade and they had a great time catching candy in the real parade. Even Logan and I participated in the festivities this year with him playing basketball until 2am in the 3 on 3 tournament and me running the 5 mile milk run.