Dave's hunting trip

Well Dave made it home yesterday after a LONG trip. Sadly - he & our brother-in-law both missed out on getting an elk, but enjoyed the trip nonetheless.

Here are some of his pictures....

This is the area they hunted in...

Here is Dave getting ready to go up the mountain to set up camp - this was his horse DJ :)

Here is Bill (our BIL) getting his horse packed with gear

Here is Tom (their cook - :o) Dave & Bill

Their trek up the mountain

Dave & Bill all camo'd out... you can hardly see them, can you?
The lake by where their camp was -- beautiful isn't it?
Here's Dave when he got home -- his beard represents 3 1/2 weeks of growth.... Needless to say, Dave can't really grow a full beard :)

In honor of his coming home, the kids got to have their faces painted... Here's hailey - getting her face done
Derek w/ his :)
And finally, both of them, ready for the hunt!! :)

We are SOOO glad to have Dave home, and are glad he had a nice relaxing trip :)

The meaning of 2 1/2 hours...

Well, today is day 5 of Dave being gone hunting, and we all really miss him! I especially miss him around the time that he usually gets home. It's my sane time, my regroup time, and sometimes my stay away from everyone time. It's so funny, that really -- during the week, the difference of him being actually physically gone is really only a few hours... 2 1/2 hours to be exact of the kids awake time. Why is it that I can be totally fine to rally after kids all day, and run, feed, entertain, repair etc. etc., but for those last 2 1/2 hours it's like the bubbling over time. Maybe it's just because I'm used to having the tag-team option... but it really seems harder at the end of the day.

Anyway - that's my rant for the evening -- (ahhh, now that the kids are in bed :))

Our fun weekend

Well, Dave left for his bow-hunting excursion on Thursday after work, so this was our first weekend with him gone. My sister Christine was sweet enough to come spend it w/ us. We had a really great time -- especially the kids. They LOVE their Auntie Chris!

Saturday we went to the Farmer's Market down at Pioneer Park in Salt Lake. I hadn't been there before, but it's such a great place! There is such a variety -- in the booths, the food, the people etc. We stocked up on some DELICIOUS items that we cooked with on Saturday night. And -- on top of all the produce being absolutely in season, it's very reasonable. We got a variety of heirloom tomatoes, fresh basil, an artisan loaf of molasses brown bread, fresh peaches some baby carrots & dill (which we forgot to use in our cooking - rats!!), and my bargain of the day -- two eggplants for 75cents each. BARGAIN!

RIght when we got there we came across the balloon granny (her name) -- she made the kids some fun balloon hats & sword for Derek.

After finding all our fresh produce - we hit up the park there, and ate some tasty gelato while the kids ran amuck :)
Jenna was a real trooper -- she just got carried along while we were there, and slept through most of it (even me spilling my snacks on her head -- OOPS!)
Saturday evening Derek & Auntie had a VERY fun time with his new octopus play-dough set that she got him for his birthday. Here is their creation... it's Derek in a boat, on the ocean with all the ocean-life surrounding him. It was hillarious -- Derek was cracking up about having the play-dough man being named Derek.

Here are the first stages of the pizza we made -- I should have gotten the final shot, but we made a delicious crust, topped with ricotta cheese, tomatoes - freshly sliced basil, ground sea salt, italian seasoning, mozzerella, romano & parmesean. It was SO good. Christine (my sis) is such an inspired cook -- she brought my dream to fruition! Thanks Chris!

Anyway - we had a really great time, and it was so great having her help out with the kids. Now -- I only have to brave another 8 days before Dave gets back... I'm hoping he "catches" (as I like to say) - his Elk soon & comes home early. We'll see though :) In the meantime, I'll be doing some serious organizing this week to kill time. :)

All about my Darling Derek

Today is my sweet (not-so-little) Derek's THIRD birthday. As he's my only boy - he's really the little man that just melts my heart. The things he says and does just astound me. Here are some of my favorite Derekisms:

"I sure love you"
"Snuggle-mommy - you're my favorite"
"We should probably, maybe do"... followed by whatever he wants -- a way to ease into getting his way
"I'm so excited (said cited) about..." (he's excited about everything!)
"I'm really glad that..."
"We should probably, maybe go to the C-R-U-K" (his spelling for P-A-R-K)
"I need a little treatie (his word for treat)"
always asks to drink "Cha milk (aka Chocolate milk)
Other fun things he does are...
SNUGGLE! He always gives great loves & hugs
Sings songs - he has quite the assortment
CONSTANTLY says please and thank-you ( yay!!)
Races to the top of the stairs & will yell "I win" even when he doesn't
Gets excited, raises his hand up & yells "Yes-Sir!" (I have no idea where he got that from, but it CRACKS me up!)
Plays the piano & sings along to his own tune
Loves to answer the phone & have conversations with whomever it is
Likes to make phone calls - especially to his Mimi & Gramma
Likes to boss Mandy (the dog) around
Helping me cook by sitting on the counter & asking for tastes of all the ingredients (even gross ones -- he does NOT like ginger -- he says it's "Svicy" (aka Spicy) :)
Derek is the light of my life :) It's been rather different since Jenna arrived to give him the time that I'd like to, but he's so manageable & is happy to just hang out w/ the both of us. He is a great big & little brother. He's so much fun to be around, and he always has us cracking up at his own way of doing things.
Here are some of the pictures from his day of celebration~~ (all out of order...oops!)

Here is Emily & Olivia - they met us at the fun discovery park for pizza & cupcakes :)

Me & my BIG boy!!!
Derek SOOO excited about his new spider-man car :)
Kids chowing down (Carter, Derek & Cambrie)
Cupcake time :) (Carter, Ryan & Derek)
Isn't it SO funny when little kids open presents that all other kids totally flock in to check it out. It always cracks me up at family parties, that all the kids are in a tight little circle so they can be in on the present action -- I love it!
Heather loves it too :)
Mel holding Ms. Jenna
This was Derek this morning - he got to open his presents before breakfast (Yes, for his b-day breakfast he wanted Cinnamon Toast Crunch -- I'm the best mom ever!! :))
He was SUPER excited about his new computer... he couldn't get over it!

And his Aquadoodle :) Kids love these things -- can't you tell by the look on his face? :)
More pictures from the Discovery Park...
King of the tower!
SOOOOO big!

I think Derek has really enjoyed his birthday, and we've enjoyed celebrating. More pictures to come later.... :)

We love pictures!!

We got family pictures done this past weekend - and I LOVE how they turned out! We loved our photographer -- Dana Holcomb (www.danaholcombphotography.com) She did such a great job! Here is a little sample of some of our pics...

This one may be my very favorite -- SO CUTE!

One of our family snaps..

I really love this one... can you see it w/ the caption in vinyl

"Teach me to Walk in the light"

Angel bum! Isn't this one adorable!!!!

Derek's Birthday Party

We celebrated Derek's birthday with our families today. The big 3!! He was so excited for all of the festivities -- but most of all, he was excited for the candles on the cake!! He got hooked up with some fun toys!

Here -- he got a bow & arrow set! He LOVES this -- he can be just like his daddy now!

His Aunt Lisa got him a cute cowboy hat & cowboy set!
Here he is (w/ Aunt Lisa) in his full cowboy garb! (I love the red scarf!!)
Ready... Aim... FIRE!
Here was the best part -- he loved blowing out the candles! The week of his birthday festivities has officially begun!!

Family visit

We had a nice quick visit with my family that were in town visiting this weekend from Az & OR.

Here is my Aunt Harriet, Cousin Dave & Cousin Candice

Uncle Ray & Uncle Thyce
Jon (my cousin's hubby) & Jon-Jon (my nephew)
Dave, Jenna, me & my cousin Lacy (can you see the resemblance?)
Eli (nephew) & my Aunt Linda.

We had a really nice visit -- We don't see my Aunt Harriet & Uncle Thyce too often since they live in arizona, and I haven't seen my cousin Lacy & her hubby since their wedding -- like 6 years ago. Anyway - we had a really nice time hanging out -- passing Jenna around :) Everyone loves smooshing a new baby!

This week~

We've had another fun week between school, preschool & Jenna. Here are some of the highlights...

Jenna got her first real bath -- post her little cord falling off. She didn't care for it too much. But she loves her soft hooded towel -- Thanks Sharonda!

Derek has been trying to be like his dad - who is getting ready for the bow hunt. Derek had an elastic bracelet that he got for school, and he was using it as a bow, but it snapped. He had a full-fledged meltdown. He was sobbing, and kept saying that " that doesn't make me very happy". Then when Dave busted out his practice shot thingy (below), derek was so relieved to be able to "shoot my bow". :)
Army-Derek. I got Derek this army set on our way back from Oregon this summer. Just recently he has been playing with it a ton. He has a big knife, binoculars, a badge, etc... He loves it!
I didn't get a picture in of Jenna yesterday when she was officially 2-weeks old, but today is close enough. At her check-up yesterday she was 7lb 15 oz. and 21 inches long. Hooray for her chunking up, but she's still only in the 34th percentile for weight, and 74th for height. We just get long skinny babies. I hope she gets chunky -- I love baby rolls!

Here, she's getting ready for bed with a nice big <>
And, she's awake, and content. She's really been a great baby -- no colic or anything - I'm really grateful!
Tomorrow we have Jenna's pictures getting done, as well as some family shots -- should be fun!