Have Yourself a Happy Snow-day

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Snow for December

It's been a long fall... Even though we would like to get a few more things done to the outside of the house, it was nice to see snow fall for December. It now feels like the Christmas season. Enjoy the video!

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Ward & School Halloween Costumes

 

Happy Halloween

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26.2 miles at the Top of Utah

 

Saying Goodbye!

After a long week of long hours on the house, we spent Friday morning with the kids. They loved painting Easter eggs with Grandma and Grandpa before they departed back to Utah.Brennan found a constant friend in Grandpa as all he usually said was "Gwampa, I NEED you!" before dragging him off in one direction or another.

We don't feel like we made the usually fun-filled memories while they were here, but we did make it out to dinner Thursday night, and enjoyed their company during the long work filled days. Mom and Dad Smith were angels to open their home to them to sleep at nights (as the cabin can get a little tight for too many people and only 1 bathroom). This week flew by so quickly. The clock struck 10:00 and a few tears and hugs and kisses later they were on their way home. Thank you so much for the week!

Jess' Grad pics

One of the breaks I took this week was to take Jess out to some ruins on the Smith Ranch and do a little photo shooting! She's looking for a few to send out with her Graduation announcements this year. After about 5 outfits, a little gopher hunting for me while she did wardrobe changes, navigating through cow manure, fighting with the glaring sun and 217 picutres later, here are just a few of our results..




What a beautiful young lady she has become! Love ya Jess!

Send in the reinforcements!!!

This last week was a heaven send! Mom & Dad Buckner and Jess drove 11 hours from Utah. To do what? Yes...work on the house...gotta love'em. They arrived Monday afternoon and even after driving since 6:30 came over and worked on the house until around 10p.m. That's what I call devotion, undying sacrifice, service, charity, love, and the list goes on. Just when I thought I couldn't continue to work any more, they came and gave me the boost I need to make it to the finish(hopefully). We worked on patching, priming, sanding, taping, masking, more sanding, more patching, more priming, and still more and more sanding. They seemed to feel new muscles that they hadn't felt for a while. I was impressed as dad even jumped on Nathan's painting stilts to cut in the ceilings, and didn't fall. Talk about skill.

They kept us on our toes and constantly working from sun-up to sun-down. (Although Jess and I did sneak away for a few hours to do her "grad" photo shoot -I'll post a few pics on that next). For us Buckners to get together and not include a games night is pretty rare, but this trip was pretty much all business, and we love them for it!


Thanks Mom, Dad and Jess for your love, patience, and hard work...we couldn't have gotten this far without you!

100 Things I May Have Done

Just copy the list and bold the ones you have done...

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (Rock Band, heck ya!)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a Praying Mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in movie
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Talked your way out of a ticket

Date at the Smith Ranch

Saturday came with plans of more and more painting....only to find us too burned out to actually do any. We didn't have our sitters scheduled to come until noon, so we decided to make a morning of going out to the Smith Ranch. We took the kids out to visit Grandma Belle, Aunt Susan, Aunt Marcheta and Uncle Ricks. We had a wonderful time chatting away the morning while we waited for the weather to warm up a bit. We brought our binoculars for some bird watching and our guns for some gopher hunting.

I know, I know... I never thought I would be able to shoot any living thing with anything other than a camera, but when it comes to a ranch I am learning how troublesome these little creatures can be to cattle. They create holes that cattle step into unawares and break their ankles, essentially killing the cattle. The gophers also eat the grass, taking it from the cows..I think Ricks told us 20 gophers can eat as much grass as one cow.(don't quote me on that, I can't remember the numbers exactly) So in order to protect the herd a little gopher control is always in order.

Since we chatted away the morning with the aunts, we only had about 20 mins for the kids to get a chance to shoot the guns and bolt down to the barn store for the traditional "Mountain View Ice Cream run", before the sitters made it to our place in Cardston.

The kids each shot about 3 shells with Brennan saying "Again! Again!" (He was shooting into a hill of snow and loved to watch the snow shower everything once it was struck.)Then we had to run. We made it home to meet the sitters and drop off the kids. We grabbed our painting clothes and took off. Nathan suggested going back out the the ranch for a little while so we could have a turn shooting as well, then we would come back and paint.

For the next 7 hours we were lost in the world of John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. We met up with Ricks and Cheryl (and Brandi and Kole were with us for the first hour or so). After sighting in the guns, and testing them out on the targets we were ready to go. And GO we did as we raced each other in the trucks back to the Ranch house for lunch. With Brandi & Kole on the back of Ricks' flat bed truck, and Nathan and I in the lead, I wasn't sure whether we were going to lose them off the back or me out the window first. I was officially scared and ready to kiss the manure covered ground by the time we reached the house.

We stopped for some amazing lunch with the Aunts and stayed to chat some more. Cheryl and I kept hinting at getting back out to do a little hunting while Nathan and Ricks were carried away in conversation. Cheryl and I finally stood up and started saying our good-byes in order to get the guys moving.

We loaded into the 2 trucks and made our way out to the fields to do some gopher patroling. I chuckled to see two trucks driving through the fields with a gun out each window...can you say "You might be a Red neck?"

I earned the nick name of "Sharpshooter", but I owe any shooting skills to Nathan's teaching skills and his work on sighting in my Marlin so well.

What an amazing day off and date time! I think it was the first time I have been out with Nathan without construction tools in hand. Can't wait for a repeat of the day!

High as a Kite

Well, we have finally made it to the painting stage at the new house!! Yippeee, or should I say "Wowsers"....Friday night we were able to spray out our Trim using a product that is an oil based primer/sealer called Kilz. You can tell by the pictures that it does a good job of covering things!





Yes, Nathan's wonderful make-up job was a result of wearing a headsock and respirator, while spraying tight spaces like closet shelves. Even though both of us had on respirators, It only took a couple hours to start feeling light headed and numb around the lips. We slowly developed a case of the giggles, and had a hard time walking. We did make it home to our poor babysitter who didn't know what to think about us anymore. Needless to say, this house has created memories that will be hard to erase!

Saving the world one poop at a time!

As of late, Brennan has become a little stripper. He is in the process of potty training, and so if he ends up going in his diaper he will take it off as soon as he is dirty. Well the first Sunday in March as we were slowly waking up from a lovely Sunday Afternoon nap, we heard Taylor scream upon entering the Livingroom. We rushed in to see this...



Which upon a closer look was this:

Needless to say, I'm not quite sure whether he was using Spiderman to rescue him from his poop, or whether he was attempting to rescue spiderman from the poop monster...anyways, we will know who to call the next time the poop monster decides to attack..."Never Fear....Spidie's Here!"

The first of many...

All Gymnasts know that gymnastics is not a sport without risk...Taylor experienced that first hand this last week, as she sustained her first major gymnastics injury. She was up on the high bar in a front support and did a roll over to a long hang down from the high bar. Miscalculating how close the low bar was, she wacked her heel on the low bar as she was coming down.

Of Course, mom was right there and watched the whole thing. Being the combination of coach and mom that night I told her to sit it out the rest of the night and we would see how things looked in the morning. (Thinking of course that she would shake it off and be fine by morning)...Morning came and to the ER we went for X-rays. The X-rays showed a slight fracture in her growth plate(the small bone that looks like a crescent moon -right behind the major bone in the heel). Taylor loved the idea of being able to go to school with her crutches the first day. But after her arm pits were rubbed raw and she got frustrated with the number of things she couldn't do, the crutches got old-fast.

The swelling has continued and it still pains her to put any weight on her heel, but she is moving around much quicker these days. She will be out of gymnastics for the rest of this season, but I'm sure this injury won't keep her down for long and she will be bouncing all over the gym again in no time.

Updated Photos on the House

Boys in Hats

 
 

New Sleeping Bags

 

















Gen and I are slowly working on backpacking gear for a trip to Juan de Fuca just South of West Coast Trail in B.C. next spring. Our sleeping bags came just the other day... a little different than most bags. Check 'em out for a good laugh. We are hoping to get a number of backpack trips in this summer in Waterton and possibly Utah to prepare.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

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The Not-so-updated Update

Well, these are pics of the basement before we framed it up. Over the past couple of weeks, we have both framed and boarded it. It's amazing to watch it take shape, and we are glad to be getting the mudding and taping out of the way before we move in... it'll keep the dust down. I think we were most excited about getting stairs in.

 

These Boot Were Made for Walking

Just thought I would throw a couple pics up since we haven't updated our site for a while. The boys were just trying out our snowboots. It kept them busy for a while.

 
 

Taught 'Em Everything I Know (took a couple of minutes)

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Don't Be Jealous of My Moves

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Tay Gets Her Ears Pierced

My little girl is finally growing up! For nine years she's never wanted her ears pierced and has been too scared to do it. But last week she came home asking if she could finally get her ears pierced! I have to admit that I was extremely proud of her as she worked hard to earn her own money to get them done. Friday afternoon she had enough money saved up and called her Auntie Cheryl to come hold her hand, and we made our way down to Barb's Glitter N' Glitz. All the way down there in the car she kept telling me that she was too scared. I gave her the option to not do it, but she wouldn't hear of it. So 15 mins later we walked out of the store with a grown up Taylor, who was overly excited to tell & show everyone what she did! I was impressed with her courage and drive to pay for it herself. That night we had a girls night and had to paint her fingernails to match her earrings. What a day to remember!

Davin's First Winter Camp

 

Davin and I got back fom his first Winter camp today. He was quite a trooper. He held in through the cold wind, snow and rain. I was proud of him.

"I want to do the BREAD thing!"

This year's New Years Eve party was all about the kids. We did an early evening countdown with all the works... balloons, noise makers, bubbly, and a toast from Taylor. All the kids got right into it, and we were glad for an early bedtime. The next morning, the kids all climbed into bed with us. We were all wishing each other a happy New Year when Davin asked if we could do the "bread thing." We were a little confused by his request which he repeated a number of times. When given the chance to explain himself he said, "The bread thing... where we hit our glasses together." Needless to say, we had more than one type of toast that morning.

On New Year's Day

Nothing like celebrating the new year by working on our house. Enjoy a couple of pictures from today's drywall adventure.