Sharing the kids drawings

I thought I might add a few pictures of John's to the blog. I get pictures daily of he and I. This is one where he put Joe in it as well.  My hair took over.



This picture is of John and I out in the snow if you didn't realize that. We made a snowman.




This is a picture John made for Ty. They are having a conversation, and John is the taller one.




This is a picture Sammi drew and of course has a lot of detail. You might want to enlarge it and see the detail.


The kids are having tons of fun drawing and keeping busy. Last week the kids had a Christmas concert and the theme was Hawaiian. Sammi knows Jingle Bells in Hawaiian very well and I will post a recording of her singing it soon. At the concert Adam wasn't feeling very well and wasn't very energetic. We were able to capture those moments with the video camera. We are grateful to have that because I cherish the things they do and the sounds they make, make me smile.



Joe, Sammi and Adam

The season for bow hunting elk is now over. Joe has gone out every weekend during the hunt to try and get our family an elk. With not knowing a lot of the country and being our first time here to hunt, it can be very difficult, and anyone that knows elk they are very hard to hunt with the bow. Well, Joe had a 2 wk window to hunt in Dec, and the first time he went up for a few days with a friend of his from wk and stayed in his camper. This time Joe wanted to take the kids up. He only had a few hours to hunt so he thought it would be perfect to take them on a short hunt. The day was very wet and Adam got cold way too soon. They did see lots of fresh sign but no elk. So they hunted for a while and then they decided to play a little. The kids had fun trying to pull the bow back alone, and together. They had dad hit a tree from about 60yds away.They all had such fun and were so glad they took the time out in nature. We have really wanted to instill that in our kids. The love of nature, not being afraid to get dirty, learn how to enjoy being out. Nature will not be a stranger to them. Both Joe and I love hiking and cant wait to take the kids on long hikes for a few days camping. I really am grateful for the love of the outdoors, and am thankful for my parents and friends like the Grewes that took me backpacking.And all the years I spent at girls camp that I loved immensely.  The pictures of the kids and the elk, are a herd of about 80? that they got to see in a field on their way back home.

Fun in the snow

We had a lot of fun going up to the mtns a few weeks ago. There wasn't a lot of snow to be found, but we did find a great spot.

We have had trouble with the new vehicle because the fuel pump was bad, so the adventure to the mtns was in the borrowed minivan that was horrible in the snow. We have our truck back now and love it.

We went to the mtns with friends we have made here and had a blast with lunch and sledding, snow ball fights and ultimately finding them a fresh tree to cut down. I should have had the camera when we found the tree it was beautiful and large. you should always find one that is about your arms wide and not much taller than yourself in the field. We didn't do that and the tree now takes up their living room even with huge trimming that they did when they got it home. Not that we didn't approve of the tree, we helped find and cut it down. The deception of nature.

Thank you for the wonderful trip.