thanksgiving on our own

 Typically family holidays around here are spent with the extended family. But since everyone left us this year we tried to make the best out of our own family fun time and we weren't disappointed. We have a fabulous Thanksgiving Day with plenty of food and fun in the snow. It was the perfect snow for play time.  While the turkey was cooking we took the kids out to Wasilla High School's track and rolled snowballs to attack Daddy, towed the kids in the sled and and tried making a snowman. Ryan did laps on the track with his snowboots on. He said it was a nice soft and squishy run. Our snowman didn't turn out too well cause our snowballs got too big to lift (I know, I know even with Ryan's bulging muscles) But we were able to stack the smallest one that Eli rolled for the head onto the other 2 and took some pics. The kids said they had tons of fun which was nice to hear since when we got there we heard a little moaning and groaning from Eli about how there was no sledding hills. We brought Jersey the dog and she wore herself out. She was so covered in balled-up snow that she could barely run. It was pretty funny to watch her chasing after Ryan while he was running. We had a wonderful dinner when we got home and were invited for pie sharing at our neighbors with friends from church. We missed family, but enjoyed the attention we were able to give to our kids on this thankful day.

Good Morning Saturday.

Ryan and I came out into the living room this morning to find this beautiful sight! All of our children snuggled under one blanket with of course, Audrey holding the family dog. It does my heart good to see them happy, healthy and not arguing in such close quarters!  :)  They had put on their own movie so they would not disturb our sleep. How nice.  As for the blanket... it was much needed this morning with temperatures hovering around 10 degrees. I'm not looking forward to sub zeros this winter! Anyways, I love Saturdays and LOVE that Ryan and the girls are home every weekend with work and school left for weekdays. Can't wait till we add new baby girl to this mix.

Moose Hunt 2010: Another Good Year

They did it again. So thankful for the meat in the freezer one more year. Ammon was the shooter this year. Normally there is a barrage of bullets blasting towards the target. This year was a little different. Ammon was alone when he came right upon the biggest spotted bull of the area. He said he shot at it and it slumped hitting it in the front shoulder area, but it didn't go all the way down. So he took one more shot I  believe hitting it in the neck and that was it. He called out "Dad?" My Dad said "yeah?" in a questioning tone not expecting to hear these words... "I got em!" Out came a loud WHOOT from Dad and he ran over to inspect the aftermath. All of this happened the about 3pm on a Thursday night. Dad and Ammon worked as hard as they could to get it gutted out and ready for packing. But the daylight hours were short and Dad had to fly Mom out of camp so she could make it to work the next morning. At the same time, Dad was supposed to pick up Ryan and fly him in. Basically, Ryan missed the hunt, but was there for packing and hauling the meat back to camp. Dad was able to get mom out but it was too dark to fly back that night so he and Ryan slept in the cars and Ammon was left out in the lone wilderness by himself packing meat and sleeping with the bears. Cree-py! The rest of the trip went pretty normal except that my poor Dad got a kidney stone attack the day Ryan and Dad planned on coming home. He endured it well with some pain medicine and was able to get out the next day. But that had to be rough. I hear that kidney stones are worse than child birth!  We were very happy to see them come home safe and sound after a week. I realized once again how thankful I am to have an amazing husband home on a daily basis.


One of the most beautiful places on earth...Grandpa's lake.



My brother Ammon and Ryan

Ryan with the moose head the day after.



Always have to pose with the rack. They all look the same to me...but I guess they feel the need to document.


and one more- father and son


Ammon is cutting the rack off from the head


Dad packing the rack to camp

Eli and Kaci were excited to see the moose rack at Grandpa's house and were doing a little jig for the camera


You can tell Ryan was gone for a week with all that facial hair!

Dad is drilling holes in the bone so he can hang the meat

Here is Audrey and I. She was really scared of the meat hanging there. She kept throwing a fit if I got too close, which is why she has the crazy look on her face in the pic

Eli was the protector, zapping all of the flies that were trying to get at the meat.

Birthday Party!

Happy Birthday Son!

Eli is 5! What a joy he is in our lives. This year was his year to have a party. I told him we could have a party at the house with all the friends he wanted but he really wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese. So we compromised and he was able to pick 2 friends. We ended up heading into Anchorage with our 4 children, Eli's two friends and 2 of their siblings. (all cousins) It was an eventful day with 8 kids and Ryan and I!

This was the "boy car" with Ryan driving. Poor little Audrey stuck with all those boys.

This was the "girl car" with me driving.

Eli and his cousin Gabe waiting for pizza at Costco. We stopped there for lunch on our way to Chuck E Cheese.

The girls waiting for their pizza too!

and then...

Ryan had a kid that needed to go to the bathroom. He asked if anyone else needed to go...here is everybody that said yes. :) Thanks Ryan for being a trooper. They are all lined up waiting outside the restroom. I played with this picture on photo shop. I liked hoe it pulled out all the blues.

Later in the evening we gained one more little guy, Brigg. That makes 9 kids! Amber's birthday was the same day as the party and she and Glenn had tickets to Glen Beck. Very cool. They were even able to meet him.

The boys enjoying the monster truck.

Eli and her new guns.

A super nice new chess board that Ryan picked out for him! Eli loves playing chess. Not bad for a 5 year old!

One of the rides.

Jordyn saying "chuck e Cheeeeeeese"

Brothers, Gabe and Wesley.

Ryan with his baby girl... not for long though :)

This is a virtual reality roller coaster ride. Look how much Reese is into it in the background. She is really concentrating!

Jordyn loves her cousin Reese!

The big red dog!

Kaci and cousin Max.

Gabe looks a little excited over skee ball. This is my favorite game! Such a fun way to win tickets!

Eli and Max

Kaci and Reese with their cups of coins