Our Little Girl

We finally have the opportunity to raise a girl. And yes, she is as a big a pain in the rear as I thought a girl would be. We are too old for babies!!!!! Her name is Harley and she is feisty, hyper, cute and growing fast. She is a German Draahthar, so Jared hopes to use her to hunt birds. Her mom was a chocolate lab and English pointer mix and the dad was a purebred draahthar. She is as hard-wired for bird hunting as a dog can get!!! The boys love her and she is very spoiled. This picture was taken a few days after we got her. She has grown so much over the last few weeks it is amazing. Although we should not be surprised with how much she eats. I have never seen a dog eat as much as she does. She is already showing proficiency at fetching, pointing and tracking, so we have hope she will be a great bird dog. The training has not begun in earnest yet, but her days of being a pampered princess are numbered!!

Moosen (Brian Regan would be proud)

Parker went to get something out of the car for me the other night and came face to face with a "big" moose standing in the yard. What he did not realize, was that the "big" moose was the baby and that it's mom was standing just a few yards away. Luckily, our kids know that if they see any moose in the yard they are to go straight back into the house or find shelter. I'm glad he didn't walk between mom and baby or it could have been very scary. Ah, the joys of living in the country!!!

State Champs

Our kids did an awesome job at the state cross country meet in Helena two weeks ago. We had the 1st place runners for boys and girls. Our girls team took 2nd place and our boys took 1st place. Mitchell had the fourth fastest time on the team and took 23rd out of the whole race with his second best personal time. Mitchell was excited to go to state as a sophomore and can't wait until next year to fill some big shoes of the seniors who are graduating. Congrats to a fantastic group of kids!!!!

Yes. . .we do still exist!

I usually try to do photos with posts, but if I wait much longer to post, I will have forgotten everything that has happened in the last two months!!!

August--Kids started school: Mitchell-Sophomore; Stockton-8th Grade; Parker-5th Grade; Brigham-3rd Grade. Mitchell and Stockton are running cross country this year instead of doing football. I think they will really enjoy it.

September--Brigham starts flag football in Laurel 2x a week. Mitchell and Stockton are doing really well in cross country. Parker is getting ready for a 3 day field trip to Yellowstone Park with his class. Cub Scouts is starting up again. Luckily, I have turned the Cubmaster position over to Sue and will no longer be running anything, yeah!!!!!

October--Fundraising, fundraising, fundraising. We sold pies, coupon books, popcorn and magazines!!!!! Cross country is almost finished. Stockton's last meet was on the 16th in Joliet, he placed 9th, yahoo!!!! Mitchell has qualified to go to State!!!!! He is very exicted to go as a sophomore, he has the 4th best time on the varsity team. His beginning numbers were in the 20-21 minute range and he has improved so much he was switched from JV to Varsity in his first year doing cross country. He set a PR at the Yellowstone invitational of 19.09. And this last weekend at the Joliet home meet, he toasted that record by running an 18.31 race!! The state meet is this Saturday in Helena, so we will be going over for that race on Friday and staying in Butte with Jared's brother.

I am sick, again, the dreaded cough has returned. Although, this time I went to the doctor after a week instead of 7 weeks. Of course it is viral, but he did give me something to help me sleep. Apparently, it is deep in my lungs so he prescribed an inhaler for me to use for the next two weeks. I have had the thing for two days and I'm still not sure I'm using it correctly. Who knew it would be so difficult to figure out! Unfortunately, I think I gave it to Jared (who never gets sick). Hopefully no one else in the family will get it.

Cavemen

We hiked up to Timpanogos Cave as a family while in Utah. The boys had a great time in the cave looking at all the cool formations. Here are some highlights.

Ready for the hike (had to waste 2 hours before our tour)

The Heart of Timpanogos

Do formations get any cooler than this?

Southern Utah Sites

I has been about 11 years since we have been to St. George. The last time I was pregnant with Parker, yikes!!!! I have a picture of Mitchell and Stockton in front of the St. George temple from that last trip and wanted to let them experience that beautiful place again. We spent one day going around to all of the LDS sites in St. George and learning some important history.

Brigham Young Home

Jacob Hamblin Home

What a view

The boys and I spent a couple of days hiking through Zion National Park this summer while down in Utah for a family reunion. It was soooooo HOT, but we had a good time anyway. Here are some great photos of our adventures.