It's finally me!

Well I have neglected my blog for the last 6 weeks and I feel terrible. Last night I finished the 41 magnetic memory boards and 82 Christmas cards that I was making for my mom. I have to say as grateful as I am to have a little extra money at Christmas and am also grateful to have it daone. I kept putting it off, you know usual me. I am hoping to make like 15 posts in the next 2 days to try and catch up on everything that has been going on. When I have my blof book bound I don't want this chunck of the holiday's nmissing. I will do my best. In the mean time I got this funny vidoe and I don't know about you but I feel like this has been my life. I got a good laugh out of it. Enjoy!

The Mom Song from Northland Video on Vimeo.

Where has the time gone???

Yesterday was Ethan's 6th birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BUDDY!!! I still can't believe he's already 6. I have to look back sometimes and ask where the time went. He's gotten so big. He's not in that little toddler/baby stage any longer. Now, when he throws a Kung Fu Panda punch, it actually hurts (even though I can't let him know that). But, he's still not too old enough to hang out and snuggle on the couch with his daddy, so I guess that's all that matters. It's almost kind of disturbing knowing that I can't get any of that time with him back. It's already gone. All I can do is savor the flavor. Here are some of my favorite pics of Ethan over the past 6 years...

Ethan loves to go to his Papa's house and ride his uncle Scotty's longboards, so for his birthday we got him his own Tony Hawk board. This wasn't the easiest decision I've made, as I have scars on my chin and elbows from skateboard incidences, and Ethan's uncle Mark also broke his arm on a skateboard when he was younger. I almost feel like I've set him up for distruction. But, I did cover him head to toe in skate gear, so let's just hope nothing breaks.

Sorry for the bad pic... All I had was a camera phone.

Last night we went out front to let him ride in the street for a little while, and it's fun to see how fast he picks up on things... leaning back and forth, learning to balance, and trying to turn. He has a hard time with turning as his little 45lb frame doesn't put a whole lot of pressure on the trucks of the board. So, he's already started learning to kick the board around by leaning on the tail. He does love riding his new board, but I hope this one doesn't turn around to bite us both.

Anyways, Happy Birthday Little Man!

B:

0-fer the Weekend

Well, since Jaime is still a little "too busy" to post, I will take advantage again to take up a little more space on "our" blog. Jaime always threatens me and tells me not to post any of my dead animals on "her" blog, so I will refrain. Not because I like to follow orders, but because we went "0-fer the weekend" on our hunt. In other words, for those who don't get my lingo, we got NOTHING! Oh, but the opportunities were there... yes they were... We just didn't capitalize. Brad Henderson refered to himself, Dale, and I as armchair hunters, as we sat about 2 miles away up on a hill, glassing down at my brother Mark and Daryl Christiansen about 100 yards away from an absolute MONSTER BULL that was casually walking through the middle of what appeared to us to be an open plain. We sat there screaming "Shoot it! Shoot it! What are they doing! It's right in front of you! Shoot it! I don't understand why they don't shoot it." I guess from our point of view it was hard to see the different ridges that "supposedly" kept them from seeing the bull at all. I guess the reason it was so frusterating was that they had walked back and forth 3-4 times past the same bull the day before, but never saw it because of the same terrain issue, so they say... 100 yards away, and they never knew it. It was a fun hunt, but it was cold. For those of you who know me, know that I don't do cold. After a long hike, the cold temp would turn your sweat into pretty much ice and quickly turn you into a frozen cube. Fortunately, the adrenalyn of a monster bull kept us going. It was a fun hunt, we saw pretty much everything (does, bucks, cow elk, even little bunnies) from a shootable range, just no bulls. Better luck next time Mark. I guess everyone gets a lesson in HUMILITY, even if they don't want one.

Half Way to Retirement

Since Jaime hasn't posted in... oh, I don't know, almost two weeks, I figure I'll keep the life of this blog alive. She keeps saying she has so many posts she needs to do, but keeps piling them up and hasn't found time to do them. I keep telling her we are turning into one of THOSE people. Yeah, so this week was my 31st B-day. They say your prime in life, for a man, is about 35 years old. That is suppose to be when everything starts to move back downhill. Why is that hard to believe... I'm still 4 years away and after shoulder surgery, reconstructive knee surgery, and arthritis in pretty much every joint in my body, I think I may be one of those fine print exceptions. I do try to hit the gym a couple times a week, which I never even considered doing at 25, and I have to say, it doesn't feel like I am moving towards my prime. In fact, I think this is the first year I have ever had to think beforehand about standing up s-l-o-w-l-y after I have been sitting for a while, so that I don't pull something in my back again. Yeah, that didn't happen at 25 either. Heaven forbid someone break into my house at night, as I would have to carefully roll out of bed and take a couple minutes to stretch out, so that I wouldn't cramp up and tip over in an attempt to protect the fam. Every time I watch one of those Home Gym commercials now where they have some bum saying, "I'm 50, and I'm in the best shape of my life.." I think, yeah, maybe you've lost a couple hundred pounds or so, and can now see your shoes, but don't bend over and try to tie them or you may never get back up. I guess 31 is the year that you actually start to feel old. It is half way to retirement though...

Other than the pain that comes with age, the overall birthday went well. Jaime took me out to breakfast at IHOP with Spencer and Lizeth, then we rushed to Kayley's (Jen & Jerry's daughter) birthday party for a couple hours, where there must have been a hundred kids. I haven't seen that many people at a birthday party since I was a kid and was invited to a friend's "mexican siesta". Afterwards, Mark and I ran to Ben Avery to sight in our rifles for his elk hunt which opens on Thurs (Thanksgiving). Oh yeah... And we all know how important it is to have a sighted gun, right! Hopefully, we will bring home a few hundred pounds of "dark meat" for Thanksgiving. Later that night, Jaime took me and invited Mark, Brooke, Spencer, and their spouses to an improv comedy club called Jester's. It was pretty funny. I had heard of it, but never been there. I was impressed with how quick some of the comedians could come up with on-the-fly skits and actually make them hilarious. If you've never gone, I would definitely check it out. Thanks Jaime.

This week's hunt should be pretty cold. Last year, it got down to about 11 degrees. That's too cold, especially for me. It's funny though how adrenalin and excitement seems to numb physical pain. Dale (my father in law) just got back from his hunt this weekend up north near the border by Kanab. Both him and his buddy Daryl hit a couple trophy bucks. Congrats! (Pic below) Hopefully we can keep the trend going for Mark's elk hunt.

Kayley's surgery went well

I wanted to post a couple of pics from last weekend. We wanted to do something fun before my niece Kayley had her hip surgery. She will be in a body cast for a while. We had a big picnic at the park and let all the kids play. Everyone had a great time.

Rylie and Kensley
Kaleb

Kayley, Landon, Allie, Kaleb, Madison , and Ella

Braden and Ethan

Kaleb and Kayley

Surgery Update:

We went and saw her last night and everything went well. Kayley is such a trooper. She ended up with a pink and purple stripe cast. SO FUN! Her doctor had good news and said that it will most likely be off before Christmas. Yea! She has to stay in the hospital for a couple more days, but she will be home soon. Allie is really looking forward to watching movies with her.

They're bangles mom

Allie always seems so much older than 41/2. Most of the time when I am talking to her I feel like I am talking to an adult. My sister in law Jaymi always says that Allie is an old soul. Anyways, the other night I called Allie down stairs for dinner. She came down wearing all these bracelets. I told her that she needed to take off the bracelet's and go put them away. She proceeded to inform me that they are not bracelets, they are Bangles. Well EXCUSE ME, my little smarty pants. I have no idea where she picks this stuff up but she always makes me laugh.

Last Years Pumpkins

Here are some pics of last years pumpkins for those who think this years 10 minute "Smiley" pumpkin was anything but ordinary. They definitely look better, but they just take to long to do, and I was just too lazy this year to get motivated. I like compiling different templates and ideas to try to get the graphic to go at least half way around. The only downfall is that they seem to shrivel pretty fast (24-48hrs) since there isn't much pumpkin mass holding it together afterwords. Enjoy...

Halloween

Well Halloween has finally arrived. My kids have been so excited. My Mom and Dad, and Loni and Chris came out to celebrate with us. We put the kids on the couch for a group picture before we left for trick or treating. As you can see Kaleb made a perfect Eeyore. We tried so hard to get him to smile but he was not going to cooperate. The kids had lots of fun trick or treating, and got lots of candy. Rylie was just along for the ride. Ethan and Allie were old pros. They knew just what to do. Kaleb wasn't so sure about the whole thing. He rode in the stroller for the first street, then he realized that he was missing out. By the time we were on our second street he was leading the way to the door and was the first to say TRICK OR TREAT and then thank you of course. All in all, it was a great night.

Ethan was spiderman
Kaleb was Eeyore

Allie was Aurora

Rylie was the cuttest piglet EVER!!!

Kindergarten Halloween Party

On Friday my Mom came out to my house to watch the kids so that I could help out in Ethan's classroom. His class was doing all kinds of fun things for their harvest party. I figure I should help out now while he's young and still likes his mommy to come to his class. Before we know it he will be saying, Mom drop me off here and I will walk the rest of the way. It was lots of fun . He has a great teacher.

Pumpkin Carving

Last night Brent decided to carve a pumpkin with the kids. The past couple of years he has carved some really detailed pumpkins. It has been more of a spectator sport for the kids. This year the kids helped with the carving. They had a great time.

The finished product. I'm impressed, Good Job guys!

Puff Paint

Several weeks ago I read a post on Tara's blog where she had made this fun puff paint with her kids. She got the idea off flipflops and applesauce. Last weekend when Brent and Mark were both gone hunting, Jaymi and I decided to get together with the kids and do some fun things. We decided to try the puff paint, and the kids loved it.

Here's the recipe if you're interested:

1/4 cup self rising flour

1/4 cup salt

water

food coloring

*You mix the ingredients and then add water to make a thin paste, then add food coloring. You apply it using Q-Tips. When your done you pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds, it will puff up and harden. So Fun!

Kaleb and Kensley
Allie and Kayley

Ethan and Kaytlyn

Allie with her masterpiece

Ethan made a fun smiley face

Kaleb's Shaving Already!

Last Thursday I was in the bathroom getting ready, when I turned around to see Kaleb gearing up to shave. Thank goodness that Brent's razor is put up in the medicine cabinet. He has watched Brent shave so many times that he new just what to do. Boys will be boys!

Hunt Week

This year's deer hunt almost went empty handed. It was a long weekend. Long story short... always make sure your rifle has recently been sighted in. Fortunately, I brought a back up. Unfortunately, this year I had to settle for little Bambi. I guess I've been a little lucky for the past couple years, so I was due for an under average hit. I got him on the last day of my hunt. He was a fun hunt though. Mark spotted his little group across the canyon about a half mile away and we started hiking the back side of the entire valley, only to find once we were almost to the other side that they decided to cross over to where we originally spotted them. So, we had to hike all the way back. We could have saved a couple miles and an additional hours workout had we just stayed in the same spot. Gotta love it. I've been pricked by so many cactus this weekend, I can live without ever seeing one again. I've still got a couple thorns that need to be dug out. It turned out to be a good hit at about 200 yards.

Here are some pics of my 2007 Elk Hunt. It was a blast. Mark, my Father in law, Dale, his buddy Brad, and I had a workout carrying this "little guy" out of a couple valleys.

My 2006 Deer Hunt was a good one, too... Good 'ole Darell Christianson spotted this beauty about 2-3 miles away and Brad helped me track him down.

He was definitely a keeper... and now he graces my hunting room with his splendor and glory.