My Parents Save the Day

On my prior post I informed all of you how bummed I was about not being able to get Gracee a little recliner....Well my parents saved the day and I AM SOOOOOOOO HAPPY. My husband actually had the brilliant idea, but my parents took my grandparents (my mom's parents) to Spokane today for my Grandma's Dr's appointments and he said I should have them check and see. So I got online to find the nearest store and called to see if they had any in stock--they had tons w/ several different colors to choose from, but I had to convince them to take a trip to the valley. I am not so sure they did it for me, but they will do ANYTHING for their grandchildren. Good thing Krae does not read very well or read my blogs because this is actually a santa gift to go along w/ his BB hoop.

My other happy moment today was when sears was able to work w/ me after I lost a gift card and for the life of me can not find it--its in one of those really good hiding spots. So I called and told them that my reciept was w/ the card (which it is) and asked if they could look it up by using the debit card I used to purchase it (I found out by the people at shopko that everyone can do this--so why are there so many stingy places like target that are sticklers about returns). Guess what a new gift card is waiting for me to pick it up at sears. Oh happy day!!!!!!!!

I included the pictures of our visit w/ Santa:


Here we are as a happy family since both of our kids were trying to be difficult--doesen't Santa totally look like a high schooler--good thing my kids had no clue.


This is Gracee before mom and dad got to be in the picture--the rest of the night when I would ask her about Santa she would just whine.

December Update

I decided to update my blog since I woke up at 3:30 this morning and could not go back to sleep (crazy I know) but I startd worrying about if work/school was going to be delayed and I knew someone form wk would be calling me etc, etc, etc. Once my mind gets a working I have a hard time getting it back to sleep and because I never find time to blog--here I go--starting back at the beginning of Decmeber.

Did I mention how much I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the holidays? Not a fan of winter in general because when I was growing up that meant being outside from the crack of dawn until after dark doing stuff for those stupid cows (like cracking ice to their water, bringing babies in so they would not freeze to death, and feeding those moma's, so they could survive), while I no longer could feel my toes or nose, and all the old farm rigs had NO HEATERS. I am sure part of the joy comes from my Dad being a huge fan of them also, busy man and all but he always could find time to do the annual christmas rituals-- boat parade, driving around looking at christmas lights (when we really were suppose to be christams shopping), decorating our house until there was no wall space (I am sure they have enough decorations now to decorate 3 houses), listening to Christams music, and getting to unwrap Christmas presents on Christmas Eve (in our house that is when santa came) and all the other things we found to do. I also have to say that I have a boss that LOVES Christmas also. He loves to ask everyone if they have been good and what there list for santa consists of and if he actually had any control at the office (w/ 15 women) he would start listening to Christmas music in October.

So here goes what we have been doing:

beginning of Dec 6th-- Ladies day to Spokane to see the Nutcracker (a 1st for me)

Quarter ended dec 12th--survived round 1 (I think) and onto round 2-- I have been trying to finish power points on the last couple of chapters

Dec 12th--Attempted to be in the boat parade- I have always watched the boat parade on the river but never been in it although my Uncle Corey has entered his boat several times. On the particular night I decided to go the wind was blowing like crazy (I was on pins and needle the whole time becuase this is a LARGE boat (actaully a yatch w/ 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, living room) and the wind was throwing that thing around)and the darn thing got cancelled once we made it to the blue bridge because of wind gusts-- I was happy and bummed at the same time.

Dec 13th--Baked 9 different goodies for Christmas platters w/ my sister-in-law Crystal. Showed up at 10 am and did not get done until 5:30 and then went and watched the boat parade from the shore.

Dec 14th-- started wrapping the 1st round of presents-- Gracee has already attempted to open 3--probably come time to unwrap presents she won't have a thing to do w/ them. Later in the Afternoon headed down to Hermiston to Ryan and Amy's for Gingerbread house decorating party and had lots of great food-- did not leave Hermiston until 9:00 when it was snowing like crazy and had to drive 40 MPH home.

Dec 15th--school got delayed and we got to sleep in (since we got home late).
Finished Christmas cards. went to town to finish some Christmas shopping but did not get a whole lot done.

Dec 16th-- went to town to do more christmas shopping and came home mad because the gift I was dead set on getting Gracee was all sold out (little reclining chair). Went to Burbank BB game to visit santa (fundraiser for baseball)-- both my kids were crying ( Krae was too cool to sit w/ santa once he got in front of his teachers and Gracee was freaked out)and the whole family had to sit w/ santa (poor high school kid).

That brings us to now-- it has been -6 to 15 degrees and we currently have about 6 inches of snow and counting. Until next time...


Gracee and uncle Wes who smeared frosting all over her face, but she was too tired to even care

Krae and his tree that he decorated (notice he is actually smiling normal). He won the event for the night--thanks to rigging or everyone feeling sorry for the child

Jake, Krae, and Laney-- notice Krae's smile here-- this is why I had about 15 photos to choose from for our Christmas card and not a 1 of them turned out--either Krae was doing this rediculous smile or Gracee was not facing the camera


the 1st day it snowed we took the kids out to play in it and Gracee LOVED it until I finally made her come in and her hands and face were frozen. As a matter of fact her brother chickened out and cam in before her


Here is my Aunt and Uncles boat-- that would be a helicopter on the front there


A few days before it snowed and got freezig cold Gracee found a new love-- riding the 4-wheeler, now everytime she see's it she thinks she needs on it.

Long Thanksgiving Weekend in Review

Weds: I worked but, Jake had the day and stayed home and watched the kids and smoked a bunch of meat from all the game he has killed. When I got home I made an apple crisp and apple pie of which turned out great ( I have only ever made pie 2 other times so I was happy).

Thurs.: We spent the morning relaxing and then went to Jake's sisters house for Thanksgiving. We ate lots of great food (except the pumpkin pie that the sugar got left out of) and played catch phrase.

Fri: For the 1st time in my life I shopped the Black Friday and honestly could say I do not think I ever need to do that again. I was at Kohl's at 4 am and did not get home until 2. I am a very impatient person so standing in line for 45 mins to an hour and a half does me no good. On top of all that I dont think there we any GREAT deals, for the amount of time you spend standing in line and all the sleep you lose, that 5 extra bucks you save is not worth it for me. One good thing about the whole deal is that I got 90% of my Christmas shopping done. The only GREAT deal that I got was the gift thta Jake and I decided we were buying each other and that was a flat screen TV.

Then Fri evening we decided to head to Dayton for their "beginning of Christmas season kick off". We walked through all the shops and watched some fireworks, that we not that bad for a little old town. We went w/ my sister-in law and her family and met up w/ my parents and their friends who have a cabin that was close. We also ran into our friends Chip and Cherie (Chips a grad. of Dayton).

Sat: Jake went hunting goose hunting w/ his friend Clint and my brother Ryan. I then went to lunch and to see Twilight w/ Jess, Amy, and Bobbie. I definately think the book was a lot better because it did not seem so vampirish, not that the movie was bad. The only disappointment I had was the character that played Edward should have been Emmett--because Emmett was HOT. While I was at the movie, Jake dug the tree and and got it set up for me so when I got home that evening we decorated the tree. I forget how hard it is to keep those little hands off the tree. It is going to be the death of me. I thought I was set to go because Krae has a little tree that I let him decorate and redecorate daily and thought that would keep Gracee away from mine but she does not understand why she can touch one tree and not the other.

Sun: We finished decorating the rest of the house (except for the outside). usually I decorate the house while Jake's at work or gone but I don't ever think I will do that again after yesterday. It was nice to have the whole house done (minus the tree) in 2 hrs and not all day.

And to end sunday, beginning of Monday my little princess decided that she was not going to sleep last night. I think she has been talking to her friends Emersyn and Delaney. I think they gave her the scoop on how they wake up all through out the night and their mommies are at their beckon call because she decided that at 2:30 she needed some help so I rocked her and put her back down for her to wake up a 1/2 hr later so I decided I would hold her and sleep in the reclining rocker in her room. she sat there but never really slept (and neither did I) and finally when Jake's alarm went off at 5 I informed him that he got to take care of her while he got ready and I slept. Weird thing is he did not question it and he managed. At 6:15 she decided she was tired and he put her down but I then had to get up to get Krae off to school. Lets hope she just happen to have a bad night because I need my sleep and plus she is 15 months old.

Happy Turkey Day Everyone

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. When I went into Kraeton's room this morning to tell him Happy Thanksgiving he said "man I wish it was Christmas" so I got after him a little and told him why Thanksgiving was so important and then asked him what he was thankful for--His reply "I am thankful for my family and I am thankful for God". I thought that was petty cute and thought I should share it. I guess they might have had this conversation at school.

Weekend Madness

Apparently I was super ambitious this weekend because I got a lot done. It started on Fri. night when I decided I was finally going to paint an accent wall in the new livingroom, something I had planned on doing since we added on almost 2 yrs ago (in april). For those of you who do not remember or do not know the rest of the walls are tan. Since that was completed Fri. night, I then decided I might as well do the accent wall in the kitchen, that is where I went wrong. I did not do all the proper researching before I started it, and little did I know that when using a red you may have to do up to 4-5 coats. So I am on coat #2 and think that I will for sure need 3 if not 4, so hoping that I would have it done yesterday or even today is probably not attainable. Oh well to late now I already started, at least it is finally getting done. Oh did I mention that Jake is not crazy about the color in the kitchen, so who knows I may get done w/ this whole thing and we may end up changing the color or should I say HE.

The livingroom--try to look past the messy couch full of folded clothes


the kichen-- the rest of my kitchen is a yellow, I think they call it burnt toast



I had to add this picture of Gracee from this morning wearing Mr. potato heads glasses--she has been up to no good--its probably because she can sense that I want to get something done and she just is not going to allow that.

Finally

Poor Krae has been waiting for this day for sooooooooooooooooooooooo long. Last year in kindergarten he came home one day in tears "because everybody has lost a tooth except for me, Mom" I doubt that was all true, but he probably felt that way. I myself was begining to wonder if he would ever loose one because about every week or two he would have me check for a loose tooth and no such luck until a couple of weeks ago. I just kept reassuring him that it would happen someday and had to explain to him that the later he lost them the better (try getting that point acrossed to a 7 yr old). So on saturday after his BB game we ate pizza and in the middle of eating he starts crying because his tooth hurts. I said "now wait a second boy, you have been waiting for this day forever, don't you dare start to cry." Anyways come tues. same thing happened during dinner at home. With a little convincing and not as many tears as I thought, 5 mins. later it was out. I am sooooo glad it was a good experience for him so that next time he may let us help him from the begining instead of being so scared.

I CAN DO IT !!!!!!!!!

For those of you who do not know I have very LITTLE artistic ability. I had to prove this to my MOM (who is pretty crafty) in Jr High when I took an art class project home and I could not for the life of me get the correct angles on those stupid sail boats I was trying to draw, and after she seen me put a good 2 hours of trying into it, along with her coaching and it still looked terrible, she finally agreed w/ me and realized I just don't see it. My Mom, brothers, husband and even my son have the artsy brain, I on the other hand do NOT.

So the last 2 weekends while the "boys" (Jake, and Ryan) were helping my brother Wes try and finish his Kitchen my Mom decided the "girls" (Amy, Beth, and myself) should do a craft project. When she first told me about it and showed it to me I looked at her and said "Are we just using 1 color and no blending right" her reply was " no Fran its like 3 colors and you can do this" Much to my surprise I did and I love the little thing, its so cute I now want to make more. I think we were all surprised by what we did.

Here is my little guy. I still have to put my name on the sign that the little snowman is holding and add faces to the snowmen, but we have to assemble them first, so I guess that is week #3.


Here is what they are suppose to look like



Amy's is on the left, Beth's in the middle, and mine on the right (my poor mom never got to work on her's, she was too busy keeping the little ones happy and making us lunch (both times).

Kiddo's Update

It has been a while since I have posted anything specific about the kids, so here it goes:
Krae had conferences last week, and overall is doing good. His teacher said he is a respectable little boy who plays well w/ others. He does have a downfall and has had it since kindergarten and that is-- completing his tasks. This is going to be the death of me and him. Everyone has said it is just because he is a BOY but he has to have someone at his side at all times reminding him of what he is suppose to be doing or else he spaces off into la la land. Th poor thing is easily distracted and would rather watch others do it than do it himself. I got a bunch of his writing papers the other day torn out of his spiral notebook because for the last 2 weeks he has been writing in his science notebook and not his writing book. So while all the other little kids are pulling out the correct notebook Krae is probably to distraced by watching them and forgets what he is suppose to be doing and then realizes and by that time just reaches in his desk for whatever is available. I feel so sorry for his teacher because she probably feels like she has to be his own personal babysitter. I sure hope things get better quick.

On a different note, Krae's latest adventure is basketball. At first, I was hesitant to sign him up because that means commitment but, it actually is not that bad. He has always been into football and t-ball, but has never done BB. He is thoroughly enjoying it even though he is not that great. I am amazed at what a couple of these 1st graders can do--maybe that is what a year can do because the 2 I am talking about played last year and this is the first time for all the other kids. Krae was overly excited about his game this last saturday because he actually made a basket along with a couple steels. He is becoming more aggressive and undestanding the game much better. Its amazing what a difference a couple of games can make. They are just too young to get the whole concept though--like this last game the score was 12-14 w/ 10 seconds left and out team gets the ball and this particular kid decides he is going to take full advantage of finally getting the ball and practice his dribbling skills as the crowd is screaming "shoot the ball"--too funny, so yes we lost the game.

I am not very good at action shots, so here is what I did get a picture of. He is #10





As for Ms. Gracee her latest is BOOKS. I know it is suppose to be a good thing to like books, but there comes a certain point when I finally say "Gracee no more books" or "go read your own book". This girl likes magazines, sunday ads, birthday cards-- anything that looks like a book. And yes she would rather you just look at them and talk about the pictures, none of that text crap. So here is a shot of one of her many rounds of looking at books today and it only is 1:00, I still have another 50 to look forward too. Other than books she is walking around like a mad women getting into everything she can get her hands on to. She is talking a little but just recently is undestanding a lot. Like when I tell her to go get her shoes she goes and finds them, or when I say "lets eat" she heads for her high chair. Her lastest though is that she no longer takes a bottle as of Friday night and so far is doing wonderful. I can now say my kids are the easist to wean from a bottle--a binky on the other hand is a different story and yes she still has hers.


I had to get a picture of this. The other night she found the toilet paper and strung it fromt the bathroom to the kitchen--oh a good 20-30 feet. Then she proceeded to shread it into little pieces--thanks to her dad who thought it was so cute

Halloween Fun

As much as I hate Halloween, yes I still took my kids trick-or-treating. Usually I do the driving and I make Jake take the kids door to door, but this year it was actually pretty warm so you could say that we "both" took the kids. I am not sure why I dread Halloween, but I think because it usually is freezing cold weather. One good thing about it is that we have not got Krae into the habit of going to 100 houses so he is perfectly fine w/ the 10 or so houses that we do go to, butif you looked at his bucket you would have thought that we went to 100 houses.


I had to include this picture--she is screaming mad because Jake is trying to set the bucket down so that he can buckle her--Do you think that my 1 yr old knows what candy is....good thing her Mom is a dental hygienist. Actually to be quite honest she had very little candy last night.


A picture of the finished pumpkins. I gutted mine last weekend but never got around to carving it so when I got home yesterday Krae and Jake were carving it for me. Can you guess what one it is?(I told you my husband is creative)


This is the only half way decent picture I could get of the 2 of them. I have had a heck of a time lately being able to get any of Gracee now that she is on the move.





Does he look happy or what?


Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween.

Unfortunately out here in Burbank we had 2 high school boys lose their life to a car accident (and almost a 3rd). Damn semi's blow the red light ALL THE TIME. So a little FYI, if you are ever in Burbank NEVER procede through a stop light without looking both ways, even if it is green. I personally did not know the boys (who happen to be brothers), but it still makes me feel so bad for there families.

Pumpkin Carving Pary/ Bonfire

On Saturday night we had some friends and family over for a pumkin carving party (not contest) and good food. I did a taco/nacho bar (w/ the help of others)thanks guys.

Here is Gracee's 1st encounter w/ a pumpkin. She dug right in and it did not bother her one bit. Her brother on the other hand at this age did not want to have anything to do w/ it.


Kraeton and his neighbor friend Ashley. See his frankenstein pumpkin (not quite finished) by the end of the night frankenstein had a terrible tragedy-- he lost his face because Krae was packing him around everywhere and sure enough he dropped him. I thought there would have been some tears shed, but there were none--AMAZING (I swear this kid cries over everything)


Jake concentrating very hard (I am suprised his tongue was not sticking out). He takes this seriously and is very creative. He free-handed a witch on his. Sorry I forgot to take pictures after they were all done. the others in the pic are Jakes sister and family


Notice that the guys are way too busy to even look up, but not the girls--by the way Bobbie has this face in every picture I took


Here is another table full of pumpkin carvers: Chip, Cherie, Clint, Deanne, and Mike


Jes and Bobbie showing off all the fun and excitment they had

Happy 7th Birthday Kraeton

It seems hard to believe (or at least for me) that my "first" baby is 7 yrs old. Last night before Jake and I were going to bed Jake said " 7 yrs ago today you were in hospital getting ready to have Krae, can you believe it? Does it make you sad?" Anyways he was making fun of me because that was what I was saying a few weeks ago about Gracee turning 1. It is sad when you slow down to think about it because things happen so fast, but all the happy times far outway the sadness of the kids growing.

We had a birthday party yesterday for Krae because he was determined to go to basketball practice tonight. Yesterday turned out beatiful so we had it outside. That is the one thing I hate about having my kids in the Fall, you never know what the weather is going to be like, so you do not get to have fun outside parties usually.

So today I made him homemade noodles for dinner and we had some leftover cupcakes that we will finish up later tonight. Oh and I also went to school and had lunch with him and then he got to have a little birthday party with his class. First graders crack me up, enough said!!!!!! One little girl was inviting him over because she has a new underground swiming pool and another little girl said "so Tahya, Krae has a horse at his house". The things they will say.

HOLY CRAP

So yesterday my husband calls me as I am walking into work and informs me that he found a baby bull snake in the middle of the kitchen floor when he woke up and was getting ready for work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am glad he did not tell me until after I left the house and I kind of wished he never would have told me because I HATE SNAKES, they freak me out. I was so worked up about the deal I was shaking (for those of you who know me well that takes alot) and I was minutes away from starting lecture so I had to inform the girls that if no words came out they would be coping from a power point. well, I was able to talk, but half way through class I asked them "anybody still thinking about snakes cause I am". I already have bad dreams from time to time about them being in my house and I am always so releaved to wake up and realize that it was just a dream.....not anymore. I think my husband put it well saying that it almost makes you feel violated. By the way he HATES snakes also, he would rather not touch them but if he has to he will and when he usually encounters them he kills them. He said he walked down stairs and saw what appeared to be a twig in the middle of the kitchen floor but as he got closer it moved, so he grabbed a kitchen towel and threw it over the snake and grabbed the snake by the tail and took it outside and slammed it against the pillars and then took it a couple houses down and fed it to the neighbors chickens.

So today we have done some major rearranging (moved beds, stove, fridge, washer, dryer, etc, etc, etc) to see where the rest of the babies are, no luck (thank goodness). At one point we thought we might have found one because there appeared to be somthing under Krae's bed that was brown and light tan....so jake grabs his leather gloves and it turns out to be a necklace. When we were moving the refridgerator he heard a hiss and freaked himself out--like I said he really hates snakes.

We think that he entered the garage because when we are home we usually leave the garage open because we are in and out of there so much. The door from the garage into the house does not always latch properly and gets left open from time to time especially if the kids are using it. All I have to say is that there had better not be anymore DAMN snakes in my house or I might just put it up for sale.

Its all about ME

This post is strictly about me and there are no pics so you may find this boring. Well yesterday marked a first for me and I decided to share it all with you. It was my 1st day teaching a didactic course at CBC and ALL WENT WELL. one down 11 to go. I have been teaching in the dentsl hyg. dept at CBC for over a yr now but I have been in with the students in clinic where they are on patients. In that class someone else is the head instructor so all I have to do is show up (and not come up with a lesson plan, make copies, nothing). I generally have 4 students while they work on their patients, making sure to let them know if they have done something wrong, but also praise them when they do something well. For everything that the student does, I have to come back in and check and make sure that I agree with what they found, have etc. This is why it takes 3 hrs to get your teeth cleaned at the clinic.

Anyways so I am doing the clinic teaching in addition to the radiology course. Yes that means that the last month I have spent making power points, notes, schedules, quizes, tests, etc, etc, etc, and I finally know what it feels like to be a teacher. I have way more sympathy for them now knowing all the time they put in that is not paid for ( that is the worst part). I have 18 girls (yes sometimes there are boys but none this yr, there were 2 last yr) and they all thought I was the best yesterday because I brought them donuts, who could hate an instructor that brings you donuts. Hope they are not planning on that every week, that was just to butter them up and make them think that I am the best, I am sure that will all change as the weeks go on and I bring them tests and quizes instead of donuts. so from here on out if I post something about school you now have a little insight.

The Big Birthday Girl

She officially is considered a toddler, but I will continue to call her my baby (I still call Krae my baby from time to time). It has brought many happy moments for Gracee, but some sad ones for me because I am not ready for her to be a big girl. But ready or not its here-- I would say she is officially walking. she began taking a few steps at the begining of the month and last thurs. she started taking 5 or 6 and today she has been able to make it clear across the living room. As a matter of fact she thought she was a big girl tonight and felt the need to carry her PJ's around w/ her which did not help much because she kept falling, but she kept right at it. she is enjoying her freedom to move about freely. she still feels the need to run though and not walk, so that is the majority of her problem right there.

We celebrated her B-day on Sunday so that friends and family could come. It got a little crazy with all the kids that were there but it was tons of fun also. We had it at our house out in the garage and surprisingly it turned out to be a nice day-- the day before it rained all day and the day after was windy. Today- her actual b-day we spent in town w/ cousin Laney and Aunt Amy getting pictures and then GG and Aunt Diane met up w/ us to have some ice cream. I saved her cake that she did not finish for today but was not brave enough to pull it out. I figured if I sugared her up right before bed I might be up w/ her all night where as the other day she ate it in the middle of the day.

This picture here is of all the babies that were born w/in the year that are either friends or family (except the 2 girls standing on the left). yes, there are 2 sets of twins, one set is my cousins girls kennedy and katori, and the other is friends that jake went to high school with that were born the day after gracee Ayla and Addison, the others are jess little one Emersyn, my niece Delaney, Jakes cousin's kid Logan, and my friend kristins boy Colin and of course Gracee- the only one who did not want to cooperate at all for this picture.

The Birthday Girl

Her beautiful fairy ice cream cake

and of course I could not leave out her messy face-- she did not dig right in like I thought she would but once she was shown how and got a taste she had no problems at all. On Kraetons 1st b-day as many of you know he was not a big eater by any means, so he just sat there and looked at the cake and did not want a thing to do w/ it, so i do not have a messy face picture of him on his b-day.

"Hunting Camp"

So after years of trying to convince me Jake finally got me to go to "hunting camp" up in the blues near Waitsburg, Walla Walla, Dayton. I had always had excuses: last yr I was 9 months pregnant, the yr before we were working on our addition to the house still, and the list goes on. In the Waters family "hunting camp" is for the whole family--mainly because the majority of the girls in Jake's family like to hunt. As a matter of fact the "buck" that you will see was shot by his cousin Tera. Not only did she shoot the first deer, but so far is the only one to get a buck. So we arrived friday about 4:30-5 and by 8:00 jak had come back with this doe, so I was thinking "hey we can go home right"-- no wrong. The other part of the story Jake left out was that it is also bear and cougar season (yes both of which have been seen up their by his cousins in the last week, kinda feaks me out a little)and as of tody elk season, so needless to say Jake has an excuse to go hunting the rest of the season. I should have known better that it would not be over because they always hav late hunts and then something else will open up etc, etc, etc. I swear there is always a reason to hunt. I probably would not hate it so much if it was limited to 4 weeks or so, but no soon there will be something else to hunt for. Ok enough about that. Did I mention "No I will not be eating this animal" For some reason I do not like game-- no matter what you try to tell me and convince me I am not going to eat it or even try it, the end. Surprisingly my picky 6 yr old will, so he and his dad will get to enjoy it.

While the boys were out hunting saturday we (Jake's cousin Sheena and her 2 boys Logam and Aiden) decided to go to the Dayton fair. It was a nice little fair with no carnival but had a rock climbing wall and a mechanical bull for children that was free, and a little kid coner where they could color, paint or get their faces painted. It gave them a little something else to do other than ply with dirt and logs and anything else they could find.
Here he is riding the bull, thank goodness this was free because he loves to ride this thing and I was going to tell him no until the guy anounced that it was free- I guess that is the perks of having a little fair--some wheat farmer probably paid for that.

Here is Krae on the rock climbing wall and he decided that was all the further he was going because he was scared, so I guess that was a waste of $6

The kids at camp wrestling

The boys Aiden who is 2 but looks 4 and yes sometimes he can beat Krae up and then logan who just turned 1 but looks 2.

Finally pictures of the deer Jake shot archary(?) hunting or as Krae was asking "What tree dad" he thought Jake was saying "our tree". Krae was mightly disappointed that he did not get to shoot any thing with his bow and arrow but jake did take him out 2 different times and let him look for animals with him and tried to teach him a thing or 2 about hunting like staying quiet.

Jake, Krae and cousin Jimmy

All the guys giving their advice on how to gut a deer, this was Jake's first time doing it.

Here is the poor thing hanging. So they all made fun of Jake because when they were cleaning the deer they realize that she must have been pretty old becuase her hooves were worn and flat and her teeth were black and rounded off and so thay accused him of shooting Bambi's grandma and the other joke was that he must have had his hunting partner Mike go and knock the walker out from underneath her and then took a shot.

So we all survived and it was not as bad as I had put it off to be but I told Jake that I was not coming up next weekend. I could not stand the kids being so dirty and then the poor kids ran out of things to do so it seemed like all they could do was gt into trouble. And because A play pen does not fit in our camper poor Gracee did not sleep as well as she does at home. So if i go back it will be without Gracee.

"Happy Anniversary"

Yesterday was our 6th anniversary, but also it marks that it has been 9 yrs since we first started dating-WOW how time flies. If I had a scanner I would have posted some pictures but since i don't I will bore you with words. Jake and I went to dinner and a movie without the kids for once (no actually I think that is only the second time we have left the kids to do something for ourselves). Normally when I leave them both it is to go to work, so when it comes time to do anything else I feel guilty about leaving them and thus the reason Jake and I have only done something twice since Gracee was born. Maybe I should clarify- we do things all the time we just always have our kids with us. We went to dinner at P.F. changs (it was ok) and then went to stepbrothers, which by the way was good. And remember that really good christmas idea I had a few blogs ago, well Jake absolutly thought I needed it now. So I now have a new camera and was able to give the other one back to my mother. For those of you that do not know I HATE giving each other gifts for anything but christmas and our b-days, and for those of you who know Jake he would probably come home with a gift for me everyday if I would allow him to. I just think it is a waste of money, I would rather just go to dinner and do something fun. needless to say we did both, so yes Jake won, but now he will have nothing to get me for christmas so ultimately I won.

First day of 1st grade

Yep, thats right my babies first day of 1st grade was yesterday (Krae hates it when I call him my baby and informs me that Gracee is my baby, but I always tell him "you were my first baby and I will always call you my baby".)He was really excited to go and had a great time. When he got home I asked him how his first day went and he said " I liked it because I got a lot of recesses and the chicken nuggets taste just like McDonalds!!!". Good to know that all he cares about are lunch and recess. Last year that kid lived for kindergarten just so he could ride the bus, so I guess he has moved on to bigger and better things. All I have to say it that I am super happy that my picky eater is actually interested in a few hot lunches. Obviously chx nuggets were a hit and tomorrow he plans on trying pizza. I will keep U all posted on how well he likes school in a couple months because I am sure it won't be near the excitment.

One of my favorite times of the year

Yes, it was fair this past week and I still love going. I know most would say I am crazy but it must have been all those good memories that keeps me coming back. On Tues. we went and watched some showing. My cusins Kira and Makinna show sheep and then 6 of my dad's steers were being shown of which one of his got grand champion, yeah. Krae did not so much enjoy this day because all he kept asking me was when he could go on rides and when he could get something to eat, both of which I clearly explained to him that we were absolutely not doing that day. Thurs and Fri. we went to the rodeo and on sat Krae got to finally ride the rides and we looked around the fair.


Krae riding the mechanical bull-- another one of those things he can do everyday after the fact that I had already explained to him that he was only doing it once.

Krae and his cousin Quinten

Gracee was not a happy girl but I really wanted a pic of her cute outfit.