Dino Hunters

Friday after school we went on a family outing to Dinosaur Valley. It is a Texas state park and has real dinosaur foot prints in the creek bed. The kids had so much fun hunting down the foot prints! It took us a few tries, but we finally did find the dino prints! The water level was pretty high so that probably didn't help our hunting. The kids liked looking at the foot prints, but I think they were more excited about the huge dinosaur statues! They had a great time running around, reading, and just having a great time by them!

Since we just picked up the boys from school Grant had made turkey hats for him and his sisters (Mhari destroyed hers in the car) so that is why in the pictures Grant and Sandra have turkey hats :).

Here are our 4 little hunters!


After all of the exploring we hung out by the car and had a dinner picnic before heading home. Talmage caught a grasshopper that was visiting us during our picnic. Man he blends in really well with those rocks!


This is the beautiful sunset we got to enjoy while eating dinner. It started off really light and turned this great orange-red color! So cool!

Here is are some of the other fun photos of the adventure!

 

True Texans!?

There are a few stereotypes that you think of when you hear of Texas...at least I do. The most prominent in my mind are the longhorns on the cars, gun racks, and large cow pictures in the house. Yesterday we took care of one of the three listed above. We got a cow picture. We have actually had it for a while. I took the photo of a Scottish Highland Cow when Sharla and I went back to my mission in 2002. Quite a while ago a friend of ours enlarged it to a 24x30 size and then it has taken me way too long to make a frame for it. I couldn't come to spending the cash to do it. So I made one out of oak planks...

This is the back of the frame. They were some pretty big planks. The whole mounting cable thing was a bear to devise given the limitations of materials and tools. However, so far it is still hanging so it is a success.

We wanted to hang it up stairs in the family room. We have wall space up there. Our original intent was to put it above the T.V. but the picture was a little too big. So we decided to move across the room and put it there....

That meant we would need to displace our photo of the 2nd coming of the Savior. It is a small picture for a big wall. While taking down His picture, Sharla asked if it was bad that we are removing him from our walls, being so prominent, and replacing it with a cow picture. I said I think the Israelites did that a couple of times and got into trouble.

So in an effort not to be sacrilegious we decided not to take Him down but merely to "move" Him to just above the T.V. where he used to be. The theory is that we now have Him to look at while we watch movies. You will notice he is hung really low (reused the old nail holes). The T.V. didn't used to be there. We have just not put Him up higher yet.

Here is our Cow (pronounced C-ooo)

Now all I need to work on to be 100% Texan is a Big Truck, call it Gunther, with big longhorns and a gun rack to go with it. Maybe I'll graduate from school first for those.

Going by fast!

There's nothing too exciting going on that's blog worthy, but I wanted to update a little bit...



Life seems to be moving quickly these days. I think as a mother that really started to hit when my oldest started school. Where did the time go? I remember with my October baby thinking that it would be FOREVER before we were in school, but nope, we are in 1st grade now, and my 2nd one is in Kindergarten! That really was fast!





They were so little and cute! I remember having my two little boys and thinking that having boys was what life was about...







Now I have two little girls - who aren't so little anymore, but they sure are cute :).



It is hard to believe that my baby is going to be 2 next month! Seriously time moves along without you realizing it sometimes. I could spend all my time reminiscing about my dear little ones, but that's not the only thing going by fast these days ...


Jeff is getting close to the end of another semester already! Finals here we come. Once this one is done we are to our last year of school count down (as things are planned at this point). That really does seem fast! Wasn't law school supposed to be forever long? Wasn't I never supposed to see my husband again? Well, he's been so good about making time to be at home in the evenings. I know he is sacrificing some of his school dedication to be here more with us and I am grateful for all he does for us! I don't know how next semester will pan out with his classes so maybe it will get worse before it's over.


With all of this said I am so happy for the fun times with my kids, little, and bigger! They have been so fun! I don't want them to be little forever, but man I don't want to miss all the fun we share together! I know that sometimes the hard things, like school, seem to take forever, but in the end it's not a sacrifice for the benefits gained! I am enjoying all the fun, crazy, busy parts of life!

Big Kids!

Big boys still take naps with their huge stuffed dogs right?
Grant is just so sweet when he sleeps for quiet time!



The kids have really loved to "play" the piano recently. We don't do lessons yet, but they all want to learn. Sometimes it gets loud with the competing composers, but over all it's a fun experience and not too loud!

Isn't Mhari just too cute.



They always say that kids should be involved in chores....
Mhari's not too young, right? Well, she's been helping with our kitchen chores since forever it seems like. The other day I noticed that she is getting better with the big broom, not just the swiffer.



She even moved out the trash cans to be sure she was doing a thorough job! Look at her form - it's obvious she's been trained by the best.



Mhari is such a Big helper! Someday I'll have to fight her to do chores... I should enjoy it while it lasts!

Pumpkin patch? Nope - Cabellas

The ladies in our ward were getting together to drive out to this awesome pumpkin patch the week of Halloween. It was a beautiful day for the trip, considering it had been raining the day before. One of the ladies got there and phoned us while we were on our way to let us know it was closed because of mud. Bummer! Since there was a Cabellas right about where we were on the road we decided to turn it into a Cabellas trip. No pumpkins, hay rides, or bounce houses, but plenty of taxidermy :).

It was kind of funny to see such neat looking animals and not have them move... like at the zoo :). I think the kids didn't mind because they could see them all really well - they couldn't run away!


Here is Sandra with 2 of her friends - Angelica and Phoebe.


Mhari and Sandra looking at the antelope (I think that's what they are).



Let's go kayaking! It was popular for the kids to play on!

This display was beautiful to look at! I don't think it was a real elephant, but maybe - what do I know about taxidermy?

Something actually still alive! Check out these huge fish! Mhari was right up to the glass and loved looking at them. They came up to her and that kind of made her nervous, but not enough to get down.

We had a nice picnic outside and then headed home. It was an exciting morning, even if we didn't get to go to the pumpkin patch. It was my first time at Cabellas and my favorite part was the sample of fudge - mmmmm good!

Welcome to our Bar!

The counter top is now finished and is large enough to seat kids up to it... we have a bar! Yeah! The previous counter top was just glued down so once Jeff popped it off there was just a little clean up to do and then reglue the new one down. It was a pretty quick job all things considered. Jeff is planning on adding more supports later. It is amazing the difference the new counter top makes in our kitchen!

From the first photo to the last photo you can kind of compare the size difference (look at the light switches).


Before



Clean up



After!

It is now 12 inches deep on the side to allow for the kids to use for a bar or just more work space. Now if we just had some bar stools... another project to do!

Great job hunny! It looks fabulous :)

Off to Never Never Land!!

We were a theme this year for Halloween - Peter Pan! We had the crocodile, Tinkerbell, Peter Pan, and Wendy. All of the costumes were homemade (from the thrift store 25 cent day) accept the wings and the crocodile head. The kids had fun with their costumes :). Daddy got to be Captain Hook and Mommy was the mother in the beginning of the movie.

Friday night we went to the ward trunk or treat party. The kids got warmed up again for trick or treating. Mhari was good at putting her bucket up and waiting for the candy to be put in (not sure that she said "trick or treat").

For Halloween we went around the neighborhood trick or treating. We went down our street and visited a few friends houses - one that was a haunted house, no nightmares either. Their buckets were really full by the end of the night!


All ready to go!



Tinkerbell's wings :)




Captain Hook - so fearsome I know :). The trick or treaters had to get by him to get the candy :).




At the trunk or treat.



When we got home from trick or treating the moon was so beautiful Jeff decided to get the telescope down to get a better look.

It was a nice way to end the evening :).

We hope everyone else had a great holiday!!