First Lost Tooth

Oh yeah I almost forgot in all the chaos of the snow. Chase ended up staying at Jerry and April's for two days since we could not make it to day care. And on Tuesday afternoon. I got this pic. I guess Chase was showing Grandpa Jerry his loose tooth and he pulled it out. Then promptly gave Chase a dollar. Chase thought that was pretty cool. Then the tooth Fairy came and that was even better. His other bottom front tooth is barely hanging on but he won't let us pull it. So more to come on this I'm sure :)

Thanksgiving and the snowy vengeance of Winter

Well lets see first of all I decided to work on my blog tonight instead of working like I should be because I'm being a tired, burnt out rebel. Christmas season has officially hit and work and these 12 hour days are already starting to get to me.... does that mean I'm getting old??? And yet again I'm reminded why I hate Christmas but on a good note I have found a new spot to sit in customer service away from the speaker so at the moment no Christmas music for me yeah!!

Ok now that I have vented for a moment on to the real post. Well winter came back with a vengeance just about a week before Thanksgiving. Friday night the 19th is started snowing and it snowed all day Saturday and all day Sunday. If I were to guess we got about 7-9 inches at our house there was less than that in Rexburg and I have friends that live is Island Park and they got about 21" in that same amount of time. Then Sunday night the wind started to blow. And in Idaho that is never a good thing. The pictures below is what I woke up to Monday morning. I did not make it to work until a 10:30ish and the wind keep blowing for another day and a half. Needless to say I parked at the shop and walked to the house the next two days. Chase needless to say did not go all week the last part of the week way because of the holiday. When the wind finally stop blowing 3 days later Wednesday night I was a happy girl. Thursday was Thanksgiving and we had to jump a few drifts to get there but we make it to my Aunt's house and it was great. It was a nice meal and a quiet day. That was the last quiet day I have had since then. Friday was suppose to be a day off but had to got to work. Then Saturday and Sunday I worked from home to catch up on stuff for the upcoming week. Needless to say I'm living off mountain dew and jerky at work and little sleep. And on a good note I already have my Christmas cards and they are half addresses already. This is a definite improvement from last years new years cards I sent out in January. I guess working on mostly holiday lines all year is not all bad. LOL, well who knows when the next post will happen maybe after the rush at this point if I don't totally loose my mind.

The drift behind my car on Monday morning

Jerry's Tool Cat could not cut through the drift they had to get the big tractor out for this bad boy.

My 1st Grader

Here is my goodlooking 1st grader. In is Iowa shirt that is Grandma Lonna bought him this summer on our trip. He picked it out for picture day all by himself, he wears that shirt with pride cause he loves IA!

Halloween and New Pets

Well This year is flying by I can't believe it is November already. And I have a feeling that I say this a lot but it was another busy month. Last weekend we did the Halloween and trick or treating thing and then last our daycare Angie had some kittens that she was getting rid of they were outside kittens that have already learned to mouse. So Chase and I decided we would adopt one. Luckily the daycare kids had already names them so we brought Smokey home. He seems very well tempered. he sat on my lap all the way home from daycare without having an issue. So this should be an interesting adventure I'm sure more to come on this saga.

Smokey the cat not Smokey the bear :)

I let Chase and Brook bring Smokey into the house for a few minutes this morning since we had only been up for an hour and they had checked on him 10 times already.

Halloween and Truck or Treat

Chase and Kaleb

Chase the Ninja

October Hunting Report

Well October was a good month for the guys killing does and cows.

Colby and his doe

Forrest and his doe

Zane and his cow moose

Hunting Season so far...

So as I sit here and wait for my group of mighty hunters to come home. (Forrest, Rashelle, Zane, Talon and friends) I decided I would post the pics of the dead animals so far. Forrest shot a nice 5x6 bull on his birthday. This is his second "birthday bull" and I was happy to get a text 15 mins after getting to work that one was down and my freezer would again have meat in it. It has been a couple lean years lately and the freezers were getting empty. The grizzly bears and wolves have been making it harder to get elk since they are afraid to "talk" because the wolves will find them. Then the week after my best friend Rashelle shot the big huge bear we call Brutus she has been trying to shoot that bear for almost three years he is old smart and big because of it. This was a big victory for her and she has wanted him for a long time and she finally got him. So enjoy the pics and hopefully we will have more pics of other dead things soon!

Brutus on a game cam

Rashelle the mighty hunter with Brutus


Zane and Rashelle

Forrest and Rashelle

Forrest and his birthday bull

Granola Bars

For all those who have been asking I think I figured out the recipe to my granola bars so here it is:
Toast 5 cups of oats at 325 for 15 min once done let cool for a few minutes then add 4 cups of trail mix in a large bowl.
On the stove bring to a boil 2 cups of Karo syrup 1/2 cup peanut butter and 2 teaspoons of vanilla. Once boiling pour over oat mixture and stir till well coated place into well greased 9x13 pan press down till compact.
Cook for 15 min at 325. I usually cut while warm and then let sit overnight before packaging.

The Aftermath

So Kelby is doing so much better now. He now has is hard cast was cleared to start school this week and is back to his old self making jokes pulling funny faces and being rowdy. While Kelby was still in the hospital Forrest came up with a plan to have a benefit shoot to help raise money to help with the families medical bills. Forrest got to calling and emailing all of his friends in the archery world so of which know Rashelle because she works at Mountain Archery (the local archery shop). Asking for donations for a raffle and we called the local archery club and worked with them to borrow the range to hold it at. I was in charge of food taking the money for the shoot and selling raffle tickets. The shoot was this past weekend and it was very much a success. We worked hard and then had lots of fun doing it over the weekend. We raised lots of money which will help with the bills and finally got to spend time with friends before hunting season starts and no one sees anyone anymore. Here are a few pics. Thanks to everyone how donated or help pull this off it meant a lot to the family and us as well.

Chase was a trooper being out there for two days and he shot his bow and walked the range at least 4 times is those two days.

Kelby and a few of the kids that were there.

Talon (Kelby's brother) is the far Navy shirt shooting with some of the other boys

Colby shooting on Sunday as well.

Talon get off the phone you crazy kid!

All the raffle prizes that we gave away.

Thanks to everyone who bought tickets!

People out shooting

Rashelle, Zane and others shooting the last target all at the same time

The next chapter of the story

Ok, so Thursday night before we left IA to come home My best friend Rashelle's mother-in-law died. She had been having a rough fight with cancer it was a blessing the Joyce was not suffering anymore but still hard on the family. I was very glad that I was leaving Friday morning to come home to help and be there for Rashelle and her family. As I was driving home I was stuck in traffic in Omaha, NE and I get a text message from Diana one of my co-workers that was pregnant and due in Aug. she texted me " she is here Olivia Gene Hull" I was so surprised she was 3 weeks early and my parting works to Diana before I left was "don't have that baby until I get back". Well I guess that didn't work. We made it home Saturday evening and Joyce's viewing was the next day so we hurried and unpacked. Sunday came and went smoothly. Monday I went to work for a couple of hours and then headed to the funeral. The service was nice and then when back to the craziness of work. Got home and got a text from Rashelle saying that Kelby her middle son was in a 4-wheeler accident and his leg was hurt they were headed for the hospital. What horrible timing I thought with everything that they had been though this summer. Well a hurt leg was not the half of it. Apparently he fell off the back of the 4-wheeler and rolled head over toes down the road they lived on. He actually had a brain bleed, shattered ankle, a compound fracture in his leg, and all the tendons in his neck were sprained, the doctor said that if he had been an adult his neck would have been broken and he had road rash and bruising all over is body. Because of the bleeding on the brain they had to fly him on the life flight jet all the way to Salt Lake City to Primary Children's Hospital. That was the hardest night waiting to hear the next update worried about Kelby and wondering how Rashelle was handling it all, just waiting for the next text message to come in with an update. I felt so helpless just because I could not do anything to help. That night they did surgery on his leg and pinned his ankle back together and put screws in his leg bones. The next day they did another CAT Scan and the bleeding on the brain was not worse but no better but he was not waking up like the doctors wanted him to. At that point it was day to day. On Wednesday by lunch time he finally woken up, he was in a lot of pain but awake and talking and we were thrilled. Thursday was another good day got moved off the ICU floor and into a regular room. By Friday they decided that he could come home it would be a long road of recovery but he was well enough to make the 4 hour trip home. Because of all the stitches and swelling they were not able to cast his leg so they just wrapped and splinted it. So they had to be super careful with the leg. They would have to go back a week later to have the stitches removed and a hard cast put on and another nero evaluation because the bleeding was still there and had not started draining yet. So they made it home we were so happy to get them all home.

Kelby

Wed. therapy was getting out of bed and going outside

Two days home from the hospital with his baby cousin.

Who said babies are not good medicine.

Home for one week

July Pics

Attempting to take a pic of the big windmills with my phone camera while driving didn't really work but oh well.

Mom stop taking my picture every time we stop some where it's getting annoying :)

By the way this was in Sydney, NE in front of Cabela's

At the Blank Park Zoo

The View from the porch at the cabin

Grandma and Chase on the porch having fun

A Tree frog on the wind chime Chase though this was awesome who knew all that noise at night could come out of such a little animal.

Playing with Grandma

July

Well now that it is 8/16 I decided I better get my July stuff posted. So much has happened since we got home from Iowa it feels like I just got home but in reality it as almost been a month. So to catch everyone up Chase and I went on our first big road trip by ourselves. We drove all the way to Iowa to see Lonna and Mark. As is the custom when work forces you to take 10 days off each summer to "save money" but really just making a calm summer into a hectic one because you have to play catch up. Forrest had to stay home as is now becoming a custom because he never gets vacation time. Chase and I loaded up and drove the two day trek to IA normally we fly but this year plane tickets where way more than driving and it was nice to have an extra vehicle since Lonna and Mark are in the process of moving into their retirement cabin in Keosaqua. We got to spend time in Oskaloosa at that house that they are prepping to sell as well as going to the zoo in Des Moines and then we spent a few days down at the cabin as well. This was the first time I had been to the cabin and it is very secluded on 40 acres of trees near the river with lots of tree frogs, firefly's and cicada's all of which we don't have in Idaho. Oh yeah and don't forget the deer lots of those too but only Forrest is thrilled about that. Chase was an amazing traveler I had lots of things for him to do in the car and a rented portable DVD player also helped. But over all the two of us did alright on the road. We had a cooler in the back with water and snacks so we eat from that durning the day and each way back and forth we stayed in Sydney, NE. We made good time and over all I'm sure I will do it again my only complaint was no cell phone service in the majority of WY so nothing extra to keep me awake when the road got boring. Chase had some funny moments like when we finally made it into NE on the first evening and he asked " Mom what language do they speak in Nebraska". Only chase would like I had taken him to a forgein land of corn and cows :) Over all the trip was great I love the Mid-West and would love to move there someday and I'm sure I will return soon hopefully at fair time next year. Every time I go I get told the best time to come is when the fair is going. So maybe next year when there are not babies waiting to be born in my department but that is another story for the next post. More to come soon.

Summer Time

So Summer has finally come to Idaho and just in the nick of time we were getting tired of hanging out in the house all the time. This was the first Hot weekend I think we finally made it into the 80s and Chase got to wear shorts for the first time this week. Sad I know but what can I say this is Idaho so needs less to say we have not done lot lately but we will make up for it in July. We have just been working and going to daycare but we are planning to go to Iowa soon and we are going to drive so that will be an experience we have not had before. It should be entertaining. Chase has never been in the car for more than 4 hours at a time so more to come on that adventure later.

Grandma has a bunch of Dinosaurs to play with at her house so this summer we are doing a Dino exchange program a new one each week.

Having dinner outside on the lawn

Splash Park Fun!

Playing Rodeo at Rashelle's

California

So at the last minute last week I went to California with Forrest to the Redding shoot and trade show. The weather could not have been better I wore tank tops and came home with a tan. It was lot of fun very unlike me to pack and hit the road with just hours notice and my new boss at work actually let me do it which was way cool as well. Chase stayed with the in-laws while we were gone so that was nice to have a break. Here are a few pics from the trail shoot.

The first day

This is a 3 day shoot 25 targets the first two and 20 the second.

Grizzly Bears at 88 yards in a cannon.


Big Foot 13' tall you shoot him at 101 yards

Last Day of the shoot

Brooklyn

All winter Brooklyn has been going to dance classes and here are a few to the pics I have taken over the last few months I had to share because Rashelle and I are living through her since neither one of us got to do this when we were growing up.