Family Pictures 2010

Well our Friend Ashley got us our pictures today. Here are a few that she took. It is cool to think that these are our first family pictures, Jon, me, James and even Sage!!

Hope you enjoy

Cookies!

It is really now feeling like the holidays. Christmas tree is up, some presents are under it, decorations are up. And lastly the baking of Christmas Cookies have started!! Now I will confess that technically it started a few days ago. See I thought I could get a way with making sugar cookies out of a Betty Crocker bag, but no they just did not taste right.

I promised Jon I would take the time and make them from scratch. I did that today, and they taste so good!! Now I need to make sure I do not eat them all, by the time Jon comes home :)

Oh Christmas Tree

Christmas would happen to be my favorite holiday and season! I love getting and decorating the tree, I love the fresh smell they bring into the house. When I have more money and possibly bigger house, my wish would be to have a decorated tree in all rooms of the house :)



(Sorry the picture is not doing the tree justice)

P.S if you look closely at the top of the tree, in the background you can kind of see the difference in paint.

Preview

I have a friend who is starting a photography business and needed people to photograph to build her portfolio. So I had the idea, it would be fun to get some winter pictures of us, and possibly use them for a Christmas card. Right now she has only one done and sent it to us. When I get more I will post them. I am really excited. I am pretty sure Jon and I are not the easiest to photograph, but I think she got some good ones :)



Oh and don't worry we did get some of Sage, but she had her moments of cooperation.

More Paint

I have the most wonderful husband ever!! He has started working Friday's and Saturday's, which makes for a really long week. Well today he was lucky to get off. So what did we do...we painted our living room! I had to use some of my birthday money, cause painting the living room was not a high priority on Jons list, but he did it with a smile on his face. I would post a picture but I can not get one that turns out great. It is a kind of tan/ rosy color. We both love it. I did have to promise not to push him to paint the hallway yet, but hopefully it will be done before James gets here. Needless to say I love him!!

Also he made my day even more by taking me to go cut down a Christmas Tree. There is only 1 'U-Cut' place I found in our area. We didn't have very much time, but we got one. I will post a picture once we get it decorated.

After all the hard work Jon did for us today, I let him have the evening off!!

Turkey Day

We decided to go to my parents house for Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun, but really different. Garrett was the only one home with us. Surprisingly there was not a lot of focus on the food. The focus was moved to a game: Settlers of Catan Cities and Knight expansion. We must have played that game at least 5 times!

Mom and I cook dinner in between turns, and since the table was taken up by the game we set up a card table in the front room and ate real quick so that we could start another round.

The funny thing for me is that for the last few weeks I have been wanting to play more games. It is just so hard with just Jon and I. It was awesome that my family played so many times, no one got up in the middle of the game and left. There was a lot of laughing and learning.

There was also a first for my mother. I got her up at 4:30 AM to go shopping. I was surprised that she agreed to get up with us. BUT we all got our shop-vac. Mom and I both had nightmares the night before that we would not get one. We shopped until about 8:30, and the Subaru was packed!! Even if we wanted to we could not go anywhere else. Jon and I dropped mom off at the house, and unloaded the car, and took of to one other place.

When we were not playing the game, Jon and Dad were off hunting. Yes I know shocker!! Jon bought a 3 day duck hunting license. They took all opportunities they could, and got NOTHING. They both agreed that they need to do some target practice to get the ducks!

Overall I guess this Thanksgiving I was really Thankful for family, and soon to be our future family.

Home Stretch

I am now starting my third trimester!! I seriously did not think it would come this fast. For me, my pregnancy started out so slow, but now I do not think I am ready.

Last week at my appointment everything is normal. He has a great heartbeat, and we are normal for all measurements. I now have the joy of going to see the doctor every 2 weeks!

The baby is moving a lot now. It is really funny cause Jon doesn't see/feel him half the time he moves. But the other night we were laying in bed and I cuddled up with Jon, than the baby did a big kick in Jon's back. But he felt it!! It was really funny.

Get your fortune..

On Saturday night, Jon was gone hunting. But I got invited to go out to dinner with some ladies from the ward. I only knew 1 of the 4, but I figured I wanted more friends, and the way to do that I needed to get out.

We went out to eat at P.F Changs (not my favorite, but I was out voted). After dinner they give you fortune cookies, and usually they are random things that never ring true. BUT I hope my comes true, this is what it said...

" Remember three months from this date! Your lucky star is shining."

Hopefully that means that James will join us on February 6. Only 8 days before his due date. How awesome would that be!!

Another Hunt

I know you are probably getting tired of all these hunting stories and pictures. But the season is almost done. Plus I remind Jon that not all years are going to be like this. Next year he will have a son around, and he wont be able to leave us so much. Needless to say Jon has been soaking up as much as he can.

Dad had one elk tag left that was only good the last week of October. So of course he invited Jon to come along. Now it was a Hare tag - which means they could shoot a cow, bull or spike.

Sage and I missed this experience and went to Portland instead.

The funny thing is that this hunt lasted about an hour and a half!! I know right. Dad and Jon left camp heard some elk, followed them, sat and waited. Now I can not give this story justice for 2 reason: 1) I was not there, so it is all second hand 2) It is just something that you have to see for yourself.

As Dad and Jon were sitting there, they kept seeing elk coming out of the trees into an open clearing. This is not just like 10 elk, a lot more kept coming out. So Dad and Jon were showing patience waiting for the one they wanted. (they decided that they would shoot a bull). Enough had come out that they thought there window was closing. Just as they thought this, they heard a load noise and some of the elk scattered. It was a big bull that was crashing his antlers against the trees. And guess what happened...more elk came out! So they took a shot at one that was a really good size (or at least they thought) and it went down. A few elk scattered, but not enough.

Now Dad and Jon did not want to spook the elk since the local rancher and friend were hunting the next day. So they just sat there. They sat for like an hour watching all these elk around them. Just behind them 40 yards were 2 cows laying down. Now Dad guesses that there was around 100 elk!! That is just amazing.

After waiting they finally got to go check on their kill. I would say it was a nice 6-point kill, if I do say so myself.





So what do you do the rest of the trip when you have completed the hunt the first day?? Come home early!! They were home by Friday, which mom and I were not quite ready, but it was nice. Than we spent Saturday cutting up meat. It was nice to end the season filling all tags. I do not know the last time Dad did that. And we are fully aware that it will probably never happen again.

Duck Hunt

Sage got her first duck!!!

Jon has been out a few times, but never got something. So Tuesday morning before he left for his big game hunt, he decided to go duck hunting. All they got was one duck, but that is OK (we don't really need more). Sage actually went out and retrieved the duck. I think she had fun!!

Baby's Room

Jon finally let me paint a room in the house!! So we started with the baby's room. The colors are amazing and the picture really does not do it justice. On the top is a kind of pale green, than a creme strip and ending with a milk chocolate.

We chose these colors cause they match the bedding. If you really want to see what adorable bedding we got go here: http://www.burlingtoncoatfactory.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=532530&SearchedProduct=t

We will be getting the crib shortly, and slowly start adding things to the room. When we get more "stuff" I will post anyother picture.



One thing I want to add is that I love that this is done. It is really starting to feel like we are having a baby, and the room is really bringing a spirit into this house, making it more like a home. LOVE IT.

Fall Fun

My dad always goes hunting the first weekend in October. Since we live so close he invited Jon to go. And we all know that he would not say no. After that I got wrangled into going, with a role of "camp cook" (appealing I know).

For that weekend we had 3 tags, 1 mule deer and 2 cow elk. We did not have to fill all three out this trip. One did end that weekend, but they could shoot all 3.

Dad and Jon hunt in the mornings and than evenings. Which was nice that I was not alone all day.

The first morning hunt they came back and had shot a 4 point buck. That is a decent size, but good/big for the area. The funny thing was the pursuit of the weekend was the elk, and if they happen to see deer than that would be great. The fact that they got the deer first was kind of a laugh. But hey on a positive note we could have left that day, because we had gotten something.



Jon and the Buck



Skinning the Buck (notice Sage and how bad she wanted to help)

The rest of Friday and Saturday were uneventful. It was hot during the day, so we knew our time was quickly coming to an end for we needed to get the Buck home. Jon and dad did some clear cutting. They were cleaning pine trees that had been infected with mistletoe. It is a nasty flowering plant that lives in/on the pine it has sticky seeds that it shoots out. Jon was fascinated with the seeds. And by the end of the day Jon and Dad were covered with them.

We did spend some time at the pond. Sage just loves swimming! And dad had a project to start on.



Sage taking a break from swimming. She has this thing where if she is out of the water long enough she needs to roll in the dirt.



Jon waste deep in the yucky pond ( I do not think anyone else has voluntarily gone that deep in the pond). And of coarse Sage is right there to help him.



Here are our onlookers. The cows stayed in the shade, but had to check out what this little animal was and why it kept jumping in the pond. They would not take their eyes off of her.

Sunday morning our last morning there, the last shot to get the elk. And lo they were successful with 2!! I wish I could relate the whole story. It was an amazing sight apparently. Dad and Jon were sitting by the fence watching for some elk. They ended up seeing about 70 of them. And a bull came walking by them, about 40 yards away! Jon said when they shot the first elk, some ran away, others ran towards them. Some did not even move. With the elk running towards them it made for an easier shot for the second one.



Dad and an elk



Jon and an elk

It was a pain getting the elk back to the truck. Dad and Jon both drove an ATV and I drove the truck in as close as I could. Than we had to use the ATV's to bring out the elk. But we did it

I will have to say I think Sunday was the quickest camp had been broken and everyone packed and ready to go.

Jon and I felt a little bad that we were sending dad with all this meat to cut up, but you know when someone is that good, you just gotta let them do it.

It has been an amazing year that my father has been able to fill all his tags that he has so far this year. And my family is set with meat for a long time, this will for sure help out the grocery bill.

Yummy Rolls

My Grandmother has an amazing cinnamon roll recipe, the tricky thing is it is not very easy. I have made her rolls a couple times before. Once with my aunt and once with my mother, but never on my own.

I think it is the pregnancy thing, but I was really really craving them. So I decided to be brave and try them out. I will admit I had a first attempt Sunday before, but they did not turn out. I talked with my mother and got it figured out.

From the picture you can see that they were a success!! A little bigger than they are supposed to be (or at least I am used to). BUT they tasted really good!!! Jon was even happy, he was tired of cereal in the morning for breakfast.

I still have a long way to go to have them as good as my Grandmother, but I would say I am off to a good start!

Its a Boy!!!!

His legs are spread apart, so we know for a fact that he will be a he!!!



We are really excited. Honestly all we wanted was a healthy baby, but it is really fun to know that it will be a He, and we can stop referring to him as an "it".

We do not have any names picked out. We were waiting til we knew what he was going to be.

Sundays

Today first started off with Jon dressing up Sage...



And than after church I loose my spot on the couch for our Sunday afternoon naps...

Labor Day

We went camping/hunting with my family to their property (which is right by Rittter, Oregon 40 miles north of John Day). Parker had a bull tag to fill and a cow tag. My father had a bear, coyote, and cougar tag (later this year he will also have bull and cow tags). So we know what we had a to get. Now there were 2 areas they were hunting. One was for the bear and the other was for the elk. Both areas have trail cameras, so we knew they were coming through. Paker's bull tag was an archery tag, everything else was rifle. But the boys wanted to try first with the bows, and than have the guns for back ups.

The first day out scouting and sitting in the tree blinds, Jon got a coyote with his bow at 40 yards away. You can see from the picture that it is not very big. Sage is bigger than the coyote. But non the less we got one, and with his bow.



The next morning Steve and Parker went to the elk stand to try and get something while Jon went and sat in the blind that was set up in the general area of the bear. They got there about 5:20 (still a little dark). After Jon got settled he heard some huffing. Yes 30 yards away is a black bear walking around. All he had was his bow, and it was just a little to dark to see through the peep sight to get a good shot at it. So he let it got. When the boys met up again, Steve got really excited that the bear was still coming around. See he really wanted to get this bear. So that night Steve and Jon decided they were going to sleep out in the blind, in case that bear came back. And wouldn't you know that morning just as the sun is coming I heard a gun shot at camp. Well than 40 minutes later they came back to camp empty handed. They saw where it went down, but than it ran away. They could not find tracks or a blood trail ( and since Jon is red/ green color "confused" he was no good at finding blood in the grass). So we all ate breakfast Sunday morning and ran over there. After about 2 hours walking around Megan found some blood. We followed it in the wrong direction for about an hour and a half. It lead back to where it was shot. So Steve called a local rancher who is our friend, Kelly, he has about 30 dogs who hunt with him.(since Sage is just running around not knowing what to look for). He came out with 2 dogs and with in 20 minutes they found the bear under some bushes. All in all it took 4 hours to find that bear, but we did. He was a black bear about 6 feet. Once we got back to camp Steve and the boys skinned it. We tried the back strap for dinner, it was actually really good, you could not tell it was bear.



(Steve and the Bear)



(Group photo)



(Cutting up the bear at camp. You just have to love Jackson's face)

Now that excitement was over it was time to focus on what we really came to shoot, some elk. The boys went out Sunday night and Monday morning, no luck. Monday afternoon Parker and Jon decided they would walk a different area to see if they would have any luck. They left camp, Steve decided he would go sit in the tree stand. Well I did not want him there by himself so I told him I would go with him. We were getting a few things together from camp, got in the truck, drove like 70 yards away. All of a sudden Parker comes running after the truck. They had heard elk bugling above camp. The boys are running off trying to find them. See our property is very hilly so sometimes the echos can throw you off. 2 hours later at camp we hear a gun shot, and than another, and one more. That makes 3. We were getting very nervous. We had a 20 minute rule at camp, that if you heard a gun shot you would get things ready and drive over there and be there in 20 minutes. So we start getting the kids ready and Parker comes running up. They got a bull, and hit a cow but were trying to find her. We drive over. Parker had hit the bull with his bow, and Steve hit the cow, but the cow did not go down. So the next 3 shots were trying to get her down. Steve and Jon could not find her, so we got the elk back to camp and took care of what needed to be done. The next morning Parker, Jon and I went out to try and find the cow, but we just could not. We think he gut shot her, which means she could have run for a long time. We could not find any blood or any trail.



(The 6 point buck)



( I am sorry I did not get a picture before they cut it up. Or a picture with Parker and the elk)

So by noon on Tuesday we were all packed up and ready to go. Parker and his family went to my parents house, because my dad cuts up all his meat. Lucky them they get to spend today cutting up a 1100 pound bull. Jon and I had fun and were very glad that we had some success. Lucky Jon and Steve have 2 trips planned to go back in October, when Steve gets his elk tags.

Mt. Adams

Jon and I heard that Mount Adams is always (in season) covered with Huckleberries. Being new to the area we had a lot of research to do, on where to go, camping and any regulations. At first we thought it would be a good day trip, but later found out it is like 4 hours to Mount Adams. We than decided that we could do an over night trip.

With all this panning going on, we also decided that it would be fun to invite some friends. Our neighbors Britton and Jessica and their kids came along with us. We left on Friday, and got there just in time to set up camp and make dinner. We camped by a stream. On Saturday we went and played for a little before we went picking. We had a couple maps, but were still not quite sure where to go pick. As we were driving we saw a lot of cars just pulled off the side of the road. We found a side road and pulled off. Now we found out after talking to rangers that usually the mountain is full of huckleberries, but for some reason this year they were a little bit more sparse. We picked for about 4 hours, and all we have to show for it is 2 quarts. Now I will say Sage did not make it easy, any bush with berries her height, were gone by the time we got there!

After we picked we stopped in this small town where we saw a group getting ready to raft a river. We stopped and talked to them. The river seems really fun. We did find out that some rapids on there were class 4 - 5. If we get the chance to go down them, we would have to go on a guided trip at first.

All in all it was a fun trip. Some times the short trips are the hardest. There is so much to plan and prepare for that it seems you only get a few minutes to enjoy it. We plan on going back next year, but maybe giving it a few more days or a couple trips.

About Time...

( Sorry that the picture is a little off, it is the best I could do)

Improvements

This week has been very busy, but really good. We finally got shelves in the garage. Now all we have to do is get them painted and than organize the garage and fill up the shelves. Jon and his dad did a really good job, and they look amazing!!



We also were able to do a little work on the front yard. I was excite to get something done, so than our house does not look like every other house on the block. I can't wait to see when my plants bloom, but it still looks good. Also we decided to put bricks around the tree. I must give credit to Jon who picked out the stone and the design. Now all we have to do is get some flowers to put around it. I just love getting these projects done!!

Backyard

We finally have a back yard!!! There is only a little sand left. Jon spent a few days putting in the sprinklers (and did an amazing job!!). We decided that since we have the dog we should sod. Our friends had just finished laying sod down, and that inspired us even more. We did it on a Friday Jon had off and invited a few friends over to help.

It looks good even now and even with a little devil that wants to play on it. We have only one section left that we will be finishing soon.

Before Pictures







During Pictures







After Pictures







It is so nice to be able to see grass when I look out the windows. I am also really surprised how much cooler it makes it. But what I really enjoy is that we do not track in as much sand :)

Little milestone

Ok so this is a small accomplishment. But I finally found out how to change the post date. It was really starting to bother me, since it takes like weeks to finally post what we have been doing.

From now on I will have the correct date on when the activity occurred.

One point - Aubrey

Camping

Jon and I both love being so close to the property. So when Mom and Dad are going down they give us a call. It seems every time they do our weekend frees up. We had a lot of fun as always. Now the weather was so HOT. Which is funny cause Dad always complains that he goes when it rains, well we did not get rain, just sun. We actually got a to play a lot. For those who don't know camping at the property is more like working all day. There is always things to be done and fixed. Which we all enjoy, but sometimes it is nice just to enjoy nature.

We started out cutting a few logs so that Mom and Dad could take them home for firewood. But that just included Jon and dad going crazy with a chain saw. I say more fun than work. We did fix Dads camera. That was very important, see hunting season is coming up so this helps us see what really is walking around. And the other really important thing we did was restock the pond. We go fish small fish out of the stream, put them in buckets and dump them into the pond. Looking back we did do a lot of work, just the fun work.

The whole time I kept telling Mom how weird it was that Dad would hang around camp with us, and that he was not rushed or in a hurry to go get something done. But this trip won't happen every time. Labor day weekend, when the boys aren't hunting we will be fixing a fence again.

Now those who know my Dad might think I am making some of this up, but I am not I even have pictures of him having fun!!



Jon has not used his chain saw for like 5 years or more. Dad kept making fun of how small it was. Upon returning home, Jon would now like to trade his chain saw and get a bigger one!



Dad got a new camera, so we put that up.



Because the deer and elk won't leave it alone the boys put barbwire around it so that they won't knock it down.



Jon and Sage fishing



Dad working very hard.



So Dad put down his pole to go dump the fish they had already caught. So my Mother being so scared of fish decided she would try and use the fly fish ( of course never doing it at all before). So as you can tell she has perfect form and it is a wonder why she did not catch one. It was probably a good thing she didn't, I am not sure what she would have done if she caught it.




And I can't forget Sage. She did such a great job running, and swimming. She swam A LOT that day!