Momma McGee and Her Boys

Making "Fun" in the Winter & 30 Weeks and Counting!!!

2012-02-06T09:51:00.000-08:00

This winter has been very long and very cold. Probably seems long because I am pregnant and tired. But it is definitely cold!!! We've had several weeks where we ping pong between negative 40 and 50.

Anyway, out of desperation for something "outdoors" to do without being cold. I turned up the heated floor in the garage and the boys went out and rode laps on their bikes.

Okay, so actually they rode laps on the "too small for them" bikes. They both refuse to graduate up to the next size of bike. Hopefully this summer we will accomplish ourselves and Hunter will ride his big two wheeler and Chance will move up to the little bike with training wheels.

I guess when you have no where to ride and it rained all summer last year, it doesn't leave much room for improvement in the biking arena.

Anyhow, the boys both had a GREAT time riding bikes and were laughing and having a fabulous time. I think they were out there a good hour and a half!

Last but not least, I had Kelly take a "30 Week" picture of me on my way out the door to church.

Overall I feel pretty good, but I feel HUGE. That is pretty normal! The only other thing is the heartburn which is ridiculous, but normal for my pregnancies as well.

Natalie is definitely a mover and a shaker, she loves the right side of my ribs.

Here's to the last 10 weeks of healthy, happy pregnancy!

Now and Then

2012-01-12T15:00:00.001-08:00

You might remember this little guy-- so cute!

You might remember me saying that he LOVES to eat.....

THESE!!! Not cooked, just fresh out of the freezer.

The guy LOVES frozen things! He can often be found eating ice cubes or frozen fruit anytime of the day. So here is a taken in the last few weeks, still going for the same YUMMY frozen vegetables.

Some things may never change!

Scenes from Christmas (and a few from before and after too)

2012-01-09T17:10:00.000-08:00

December was a really fun month for us! We were finally feeling like we were really moved in and settled in our new home- so it was more relaxed than it has been the last couple of months.

It was also REALLY cold (surprise) outside for most of the month, in fact it was so cold that we couldn't even play outside too much. Hunter hardly had recess the days he was in school because any colder than -20 (yes that is negative twenty) they won't let them go outside.

Hunter was BIGTIME into playing board/card games this last month and couldn't get enough. So much so, that after he whipped the pants off of whomever he was playing (mom) he kept playing and said he was playing the "computer". In fact, one day he had a buddy over and they started playing and game and didn't have time to finish, so Hunter gladly played both players :)

Funny Kid!

In making sure we were properly bundled to run out to the bus, I got a little carried away one day and didn't catch on quickly to the fact that my poor little kindergarten boy couldn't see anything. We laughed pretty hard about that one.

What would the month of December be in North Pole without a trip to visit Santa Claus. He was as jolly as ever, and so happy to see us. Hunter asked for a Tebow (Denver Broncos) jersey, and Chance asked for a helicopter, tank, and a cemetary. ( I guess the boy knows that w

ar seems to end with death.)
I had to take a picture of Hunter in the washing machine. He and some friends were playing hide and seek and he had THE BEST hiding spot ever. (Of course he kept the door open, so all was safe.) But, he came up with the idea on his own.

I believe on this day it was only -14, so we decided to go out and shovel the walk to our front door, and while doing so we discovered that this cool shovel worked as a sled as well. The boys took turns riding down the driveway as well as me pushing them around the front walk.

We do own a sled, but this was just as much fun and already outside!

Hunter was a good sport and took quite a few turns pushing Chance around.

For those of you who were interested, here is our home and we are so grateful to be in it.

An all to RARE occurance, the boys and Kelly were watching some Military channel and Chance just cozied right up and fell asleep on Kelly's shoulder.

Geek-a-rama arrived at our house just in time to bake sugar cookies at our house. Neither of the boys were super excited about mixing and cutting out the cookies, but Marianne was a good sport anyhow.

It was fun to have a staircase to display Christmas cards this year.

Although this isn't a good picture, I found a cute idea in a Christmas book of tying bows and then at the bottom of the ribbon hanging a large Christmast ornament. It looked great in this big front room window.

We always love the smell of the cinnamon pinecones, so I transformed this basket with bows and red lights and it looked so festive and beautiful especially at night. The boys always made sure it was turned on.

I always love this nativity, to remind us of why we celebrate.

I loved that I could do some "garland" this year. I looked for some beautiful greenery, but it all looked too cheap, unless it was too expensive. :)

Decorating sugar cookies.

I think we all ate our weight in cookies that night, but boy it was fun!

Christmas Eve brought a yummy dinner, new jammy pants from Grandma Lillian and

DRUMROLL..... a Tebow Jersey from Mom and Dad!

Look at the excitement!!!

Chancey was less thrilled than Hunter, but still trying to hold back a grin.

Go BRONCOS!!!

Christmas morning brought a crossbow and lots of games for this guy.

Kids on Christmas morning are so much fun!

Chance's wishes were all granted. Notice the cemtary on the back of the chair.

Santa worked some spray paint magic!

The helicopter is worth its weight in gold.

Our last Christmas as a family of four

Geek is one special lady to these two boys.

Geek gave the boys each a pair of night vision spy goggles.

They look pretty cool!

Last but not least, I made time for a few "fun" projects to add to our Christmas decor.

The first was a pillow that I saw a picture of on a pattern website. I'm too cheap to buy the kit, so I invented my own. I think it turned out cute.

I also finished this project. It was all done, it just needed to be sewn together and stuffed.

*Just to let you know- I did the front of this pillow in 2003. RIDICULOUS!!*

But, it is super cute, made out of felted wool and I'm glad I have it done.

We had a fabulous Christmas and month of December- hope you did too!

Thanksgiving Day and 20 Weeks More

2011-11-25T19:44:00.000-08:00

We had a lovely Thanksgiving this year and we DO have LOTS to be Thankful for!

We are blessed to be able to celebrate in a "NEW" house this year, and we are all healthy and happy.

We started off the day with a new tradition. Hold on to your seats, 'cause we ate PIE for BREAKFAST!!!

We had some friends in Bethel who had this tradition, and we decided it was time for us to adopt the same idea. I mean, you go to all the work of making the pies only to have your tummy too full to be able to enjoy them. Why not start the day off the RIGHT way.

This year I told the boys they were each in charge of helping and learning with one food item. They both chose to help with pie. So, Chance was my pumpkin pie maker and Hunter was my Alaskan Blueberry pie helper. They both did great and are pretty good in the kitchen.

So, here is Chance in his jammies enjoying his own creation.

Kelly gave his approval for pie in the morning.
Hunter said the blueberry was berry delicious. Those blueberries just stained everyone's mouth that they touched. They were well worth it!

Two Cute Boys

Enjoying the FEAST! The boys both begged for drumsticks, so they got them.

Kelly made the MOST wonderful mashed potatoes.

Chance and I even made some cute place markers for the table.

Gertrude, our gratitude turkey looks like she is lacking some feathers this year. Due to the move and the busy-ness of it all, we got a late start. She still looks good though!

Last but not least, here is my first pregnancy picture. I am exactly 20 weeks in this picture. So...I have 20 weeks left.

And we are having a GIRL!

Too Good Not to Share

2011-11-16T10:32:00.000-08:00

Last night I made a lovely dinner of herb baked salmon, a plentiful garden salad, corn, and some delicious oatmeal pumpkin cookies.

I intended for our meal to take less than a 1/2 hour to eat, because it usually does. However, the canned corn was a showstopper. We rarely eat corn- so it is kind of a treat if you will. There was all sorts of talk and commotion at the table about these kernals of corn. The corn transformed into pirate teeth, children's lost teeth, the tooth fairy, captain hook, tinker bell. Let's just say it was funny, but dinner took FOREVER and we were kinda in a hurry.

Finally, we got most everyone's food down them and we cleared plates. Hunter scraped his own food into the garbage can, but most of it ended up on the floor. (?) Chance finished all of his but a few kernals of corn that I asked him to throw away while I finished cleaning up. We finally got out of the house to go do our errands, and then we got home late.

After we arrived home, we scurried upstairs to tuck kids in bed. Hunter was exhausted and quickly got dressed and under his covers. Chance on the other hand tends to lollygag, and so he was doing his usual. Then he started in for no reason on how everyone hates him. I of course reminded him how much we love him, and that no one hates him and that he is such a special little guy. I said, "Why would anyone hate you?" He marched over to his pillow and lifted it up. Underneath was the said pile of corn kernals from dinner that he supposedly "threw away". I looked at him and said, "Why did you put those under your pillow silly?" He looked at me and said, "I was trying to trick the tooth fairy!!"

I LOVE IT! You can't beat the funny thoughts and ideas of a four year old :)

Stay tuned, I will have an exciting announcement soon.

A New Idea

2011-08-02T10:53:00.000-07:00

Since my blog and internet struggle so much....I have decided to send out a friends and family monthly newsletter. This newsletter will include all the fun pictures that the blog would have, it is just quicker for me to upload them in email form.

If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, please email me

mcgeemom@gmail.com or leave a comment with your email address.

Thanks

Ridiculous

2011-07-08T22:52:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have looked at the post below this one....

You should know that there is a problem!!!!

Blogger is non-cooperative so it is pictures (all spread out) only- if you want pictures of our lives please email and I will send you some :) I am taking a blogging break!

GRRRR....

Lots to Show and Tell

2011-06-15T19:45:00.000-07:00

I have a lot of catching up to do. I always put off my blogging because it takes so darn long for the pictures to upload- and then I end up with a ton of pictures so it literally takes days to get a blog put together. Oh, how I dream of living somewhere (in Fairbanks) where I can get this done in less than a day.

So, this blog entry is composed of March 2011- May 2011.

Sopmewhere in the middle of March we took the boys down to Anchorage and Wasilla and theHunter competed in his first wrestling tournament. He had a lot of HEART, but didn't come out on top. It was a great experience.

Chance isn't old enough to compete yet, so he just wrestled friends in the group of wrestlers. He was particularly embarrassed that he got pinned by a 5 year old girl- we still tease him about it.

Momma Llama's 57th Birthday

2011-04-26T10:43:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe my Mom would be 57 this year- oh how I wish she were here.

We've missed a lot of fun years- but I am thankful for GREAT memories!

These pictures are a random compilation of her younger years, but they are so fun, so I thought they would be fun to share.I think of my Mom multiple times everyday- often it is while I am doing "motherly" things like laundry, dishes, making dinner, or reading stories.

I wish I could tell her how grateful I was for her and for all she did and the sacrifices she made in behalf of her children. Sometimes you don't realize how much someone is doing for you when you are young. Now that I am the Mom, I know how much work it is-- and I don't even have an "outside" job or college courses to add to the work load. She must have been exhausted.

Maybe I have blocked it out, but I don't ever remember hearing her complain too much about how much there was to do. She always made time to spend with her kids and family, because that was a priority.
Often, there would be dishes overflowing both sides of the sink and onto the counter, work to be done, but she would read a story, or snuggle on the couch, or just visit with us about our day. Because we were more important!
My Mom always made the most simple things lots of fun! Like pizza and movie night- It was tradition to lay a sheet on the living room floor and have Shasta Soda, Pizza, and carrot and celery sticks while we watched a Friday or Saturday night movie. Sometimes she would even let us pull out the hide-a-bed and have a sleepover.

Holidays were special and Mom always did the homemade jammies for Christmas Eve, or new Christmas or Easter dress. It was special and we knew it- and we knew she loved us because she took the time to add her special touch.

She was a thoughtful gift-giver. I loved opening presents from my Mom. She would always listen and watch and see what we were interested in before birthdays or Christmas. Or, she just knew us so well, that whe knew what we would enjoy (most of the time). I always was excited and could hardly wait to see what surprises she worked up for us.

(I still love surprises!!)

My mom loved animals, and let my brothers have all sorts of creatures. We had rats, dogs, cats, lizards, chickens, frogs, tadpoles, fish, and I don't know what else at different points in our childhood. She was really good that way- she never could understand why I didn't LOVE animals, especially when it came so naturally for her.

(I'm working on this now that I have boys and a husband who love animals)

My Mom was one special lady!!! I can't wait to see her again, but for now I try to incorporate the lessons she taught through example into my life. I try to love more, give more, and care less about the things that just don't matter in the eternal scheme of things.

Happy 57th to my dear Momma Llama!

Folding the laundry is fun to do, fun to do, to do to do!

2011-04-11T22:13:00.000-07:00

I decided the time had come to teach the boys a new household job.

Folding towels and washrags is completely age appropriate, so there you have it

Chance is my washrag folder He is VERY good at it!

And Hunter is my towel folder

They both do a pretty good job.

The folding isn't quite perfection...YET, but every week it gets a little bit better.

It is fun to watch the boys learn, grow and gain new skills.

A Birthday to Remember

2011-03-20T22:00:00.000-07:00

I knew a surprise was coming my way when Kelly asked me who TWO of my friends from our ward were. I told him a few options, and then I knew he made a couple of phone calls. I had 5 days of anticipation and suspense to see what he was planning.

Well, he planned a GREAT afternoon for my friends Courtney, Emily and I. We showed up at a VERY nice day spa, here in Fairbanks and he snuck (with a cooler and a laundry basket covered with a table cloth) back into the back area of the spa. When my friends and I walked back there, this is what we found. A DELUXE spread of fruits, nuts, chocolate dipped strawberries, supreme brownie bites, and a cooler full of fruity drinks and waters.

Of course he brought enough food to feed an army, and we didn't even come close to consuming all of it, but boy I felt like a queen for the day. The reason he set up for us to come to the spa is for each of us to have a pedicure and manicure.

YOU CAN'T BEAT THAT!!

Emily is going to hate me for putting this picture up, but after I took pictures of the food I forgot to take anymore pictures. So, I hurried and snapped this picture of Emily while she was finishing up. (She really is a darling girl, so don't be confused by the blurry picture).

This was the pedicure chair, pretty nice huh?

Another blurry picture taken after the fact.

On my REAL birthday we had Hunter skip preschool and we all went cross country skiing. It was the first time for the boys and the 3rd or 4th time for Kelly and I.

Hunter was a pro and LOVED it!

Chance was really good too, but was tired out pretty quickly.

After skiing, we went to wrestling and then came home and had a little dessert. (Kelly's embarrassed that I didn't have him make a cake or something, but I told him icecream sounded good. So, I got a #3 and two individual candles to represent my 32 years.

It was a fun couple of days for me. Kelly is a very thoughtful planner and gift giver.

I am lucky to have him, and I think he likes to spoil me- it's
GREAT!

Happy Birthday to Me!

If anyone is interested, my sister (step-sister) Emily did this funny post with TERRIBLE old pictures from the past.

Here's the link: http://emjayandtheboys.blogspot.com/2011/03/in-honor-of-my-sister.html

Day of Green

2011-03-18T10:55:00.000-07:00

On the 15th of March, in anticipation for the upcoming holiday, the boys collected several of their toys that had green on them so the leprechaun could see all the wonderful

GREEN!

Chance gets really excited about any and all holidays. In fact, he started combining birthday party with St. Patrick's Day.

(He is wearing a b-day hat from his cousin Turner's party- that Aunt Chelsea sent to us from Idaho)
Hunter always cracks me up with his unbuttoned jammy shirts. Now all he needs is a few black chest hairs poking out :)
On the morning of the 17th, we awoke to Lucky Charms on the table, and a trail of shamrocks leading us to the Magic Treasure Box which is full of LOTS of GREEN things.

This year the trail of the leprechaun led to the fridge, where they found the box full of things like Key Lime Pie yogurt, Pringles, green frog pens, green post it notes, green shirts for each boy, and green notebooks. It was funny because after they found the box in the fridge Chance was looking for candy hidden in the living room. (Again combining holidays Easter/St. Patrick's Day this time).

Here is Hunter modeling his new green shirt. He decided he wanted to look pretty nice so he tucked in his shirt and wore a belt. What a guy!!

Chance was really stuck on the idea of eating only green things, so lets just say he ate LOTS of Sugar Snap Peas.

At dinner time, Chance decided it would be appropriate to finally put on his new green shirt for our annual Green Dinner.

Dinner was super yummy! We had Shrimp Alfredo with Green pasta. (Sauce and Noodles were dyed green), and then we had LOTS of Green broccoli and some carrots mixed in. For a drink I colored some lemonade green, and then for dessert everyone had their very own.......

POT OF GOLD !!

It is always a fun day for the

McGee's

Oh what do you do with a Saturday???

2011-02-20T18:43:00.000-08:00

This last week was SUPER busy, and I'm not bragging :) I'm complaining.

I truly don't like to be so busy. I like to have plenty of time to just be at home and hang out with the family. So, after the "busy" week we had a Saturday that Kelly was working and we had ABSOLUTELY NO WHERE TO GO, and NOTHING WE HAD TO DO.

So.....

What do you do with such a day?

Well, the boys started the day watching cartoons for an hour, while I exercised and straightened the house a little bit. I happened to be in the room when the boys saw a commercial on how to make a Kai Lan pillow. The boys said they would like to do that, so we changed up the designs (they aren't big into Kai Lan), and made pillows.

Hunter wanted a circle pillow and Chance a heart pillow. I let them choose thier fleece color and then had them sew with me. Then they got to "stuff" thier pillows.

They both decided they wanted zombie type creatures on their pillows. So they each drew out on piece of paper what their zombie should look like and then I helped "design" with the fabric.

They got to do the fabric gluing. They thought it was great!!

Here is Chance with his final product.

Hunter was very specific about colors and shapes of eyes and mouth.

Nice hair! That red stuff....Oh yeah, it is a bloody zombie.

Great!!!

What else did we do with our Saturday? Well, we took pictures of feet,

and crazy boys,

and pictures of ourselves blowing "saliva bubbles"

What a great day!

Valentines Day 2011

2011-02-19T20:59:00.000-08:00

We love the holidays at our house! In fact, sometimes we can't wait until the actual day like this Valentines Day for example. It wasn't me this time though, it was Kelly calling it early this year. The boys came out with Kelly and gave me a nice card and some chocolates, Kelly gave me a nice card and a pedicure set (including a 1 hour pedicure from him).

It was great, but I thought we should wait to give the boys their "gifts of LOVE" till the morning, but Kelly guilted me into atleast giving them their chocolate treats.

Sooo........

A Giant Hershey's Kiss was what they got!

They are both big fans of Chocolate, but as you can see from the picture, one has a more pure love of all things chocolate.

This is Hunter heading straight into a chocolate coma.
(No, I didn't let him eat the whole thing that night)

Valentines morning, we generally have pink pancakes or something of that nature, but we had just had German pancakes and so I didn't think we needed a sweet breakfast. So, I used my genius creative side and came up with heart shaped scrambled eggs and ham. We also had a banana. I thought it was obvious that the eggs were a special shape, but apparently it wasn't as noticeable to a 3 and 5 year old.

The boys each got a card from us with a little chocolate heart.

Chance was so excited that he couldn't hold still for a picture.

(Hence the blur!)

Funny Kid

This was my final "craft" for V-day. I was originally going to make it a wall hanging, but discovered it was the perfect holiday hotpad.

After a crazy, busy day of preschool and wrestling we came home and had a yummy heart shaped pizza for dinner. It was fun!

Last but not least here is my junior version of the paper heart garland.

It was kind of a funny V-day this year due to a sick husband, and sick kids the night Kelly and I were going to go out for our "romantic evening". But, all in all we love eachother and are so happy to be a part of our little McGee family.

What we've been up to....

2011-02-12T21:19:00.000-08:00

Chancey and his friend Nelson built a fort in the bunk bed and had snacks and read books.

The boys started wrestling, and we all think it is great.
I especially enjoy that I don't have to sit and freeze at "Polar Ice" watching hockey practice.

Chance doesn't particularly like warm-ups, but he knows he has to participate in order to wrestle.

This is Hunter enjoying a computer game so much that he doesn't know that he has
Mint Chocolate Chip icecream dripping down his chin.

Hunter has been taking lots of funny pictures. Here is one of Chance and I being goofy.

We saw a moose right out our front window. In all the commotion of me screaming (happily) to find the camera and get out the front door to take a picture, he got a little further away.

As usual, the boys put together some new costume combos

Chance had an accident. He bit his tongue when he rolled off of his bed(he was supposed to be napping.)

Ummm....it was pretty disgusting!

Hunter got to celebrate his 1/2 birthday at preschool (since he has a summer b-day) and it was space day so he got to wear his jammies.

I was a cool mom and let Chance eat macaroni and cheese (leftovers) for breakfast.

The boys both participated in a practice "take-down" tournament.

They all had a great time and everyone got a medal.

My two wrestlers

So far, it has been a pretty good year.

Queen of Hearts

2011-02-09T11:33:00.000-08:00

We've been doing our part to celebrate the

month of LOVE.......

I saw this cute "rocket" valentine on someone's blog.

It is made of rolo's, hershey kisses, foil, red paper, and yellow paper.

EASY!! We will give these to some of the boys good friends
for Valentine's Day.

I saw this cute heart garland idea on Our Best Bites. I had my friend Melanie over and we had a fun afternoon of talking, sewing, and creating.

It maybe is a little "elementary-ish", but it is cute and fun, and perfect for the age groups we have around our house. AND it only took an hour or two to put together!

More Garland!

This idea came from Family Fun Magazine. Chance helped to measure out the yarn in 1 ft sections, and he TRIED to help with the messy part, but he didn't like it cause it was "too sticky". The magazine didn't show to use the hearts as a garland, but I thought it would be a great idea. So, I backed the hearts with some cardstock and then glued the hearts onto some ribbon, and it looks great.

This idea I found on my step-sister Katie's blog www.tellingbells.blogspot.com she said she got the idea from Better Homes and Gardens. Truthfully, I think I did it how she did, but I didn't look too closely. Either way, I think it was cute and simple-- just my style.

I also used mini hearts as a short garland for my upcoming Enrichment Meeting at Church.

(now known as an Additional Relief Society Meeting)

Last but not least, here is our WALL OF HEARTS which is our yearly tradition.

Everyone fills out a heart that says, "I Love (Dad) because.... Love, (Chance). So everyone fills out four hearts which includes on for themselves saying, "I am loveable because...."

We started this tradition in 2008, so we are up to 64 hearts on our wall this year.

It is a GREAT tradition! It is fun to get the hearts out each year and see what we have said in the past years about eachother. Kelly suggested that we laminate them, so they will hold up for a

LONG time.

These are just some fun ways to make the holiday extra special and extra fun, especially for the kids. It is ALL about the memories.

Up and Coming Artist

2011-02-02T09:18:00.000-08:00

Alaska Blueberry Milkshakes make great purple mustaches.

The boys and I were driving in the car the other day, and Hunter says, "Mom you and Dad could become the artists you've always wanted to be." I kind of knew where he was going with this but I wanted to play it out. So I said, "Really!?! How would we do that?"
"Well," he said, "You just need to call this number and they will send you all the information that you need. Before long you will be able to draw dog faces, pumpkins, and a bear face. Wouldn't that be awesome?"
"Yes!" I said
And he continued on...."And you get a free paint pallette. What is that Mom?"
So, I told him what a pallette was used for, and he thought that was interesting, and that was the end of the conversation.

We had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

2011-01-03T20:17:00.001-08:00

December was so much fun but tends to be a little exhasting!

(Both boys sound asleep on the floor after a late night)

The boys started the month off by having a sleep over in the craft room.

They LOVE having sleepovers, and always bring Chena and Douglas along.
Oh, Christmas tree!
We LOVE fresh trees for Christmas, but they don't seem to last long enough.
They sure do smell good though.
We endured some cold temps. in December, but found ways to stay warm.

We did a few Christmas crafts here and there to get into the spirit.

And of course, we drove up the road to see good Ol' Santa

Hunter asked for an ax and a spear (nerf style) and Chance asked for race cars and a hammerhead shark.

The night that Geek came to visit, we were all pitching in to clean up our house. However, Chance didn't want to do his share so he got supervised toilet duty!

(He did a darn good job too)

We saved making and decorating sugar cookies for when Geekarama showed up. This is McGee family tradition from Kelly's side. So, we ate and decorated and ate, ate, ate. YUMMY!

All of Kelly's cookies were very artistic and included Dodger or Bronco Logos made out of sprinkles.

"mmm....my favorite!"

I got to be Chancey's lovely assistant.

When I was done helping him frost, I let him at it with the sprinkling part of things.

He went a little wild!!!!

Or maybe REALLY wild!!!

Only in Alaska would this girl go out of the house like

THIS

Christmas Eve was lovely, filled with Christmas crab, baked potatoes, virgin strawberry daquiris and a big yummy veggie tray.

Kelly and Marianne

Huntoo and Dad

Chanceroni and Da being pigs

McGee Family 2010

Hunter is a crab eating machine

Geek doesn't really like having to work so hard for her dinner.

"Break that leg!"

As tradition would have it, Grandma Briner sent the boys new jammy bottoms.

Chance had "Cars" on his

Hunter had "Wow Wow Wubzy" shapes on his

Christmas morning is always so much fun with our two little guys.

But, after Santa gifts were sifted through we had a furry surprise for the boys.

We made them shut their eyes while we put these on their heads:

FOX HATS
Made from fox that Kelly trapped in Bethel.

Chance loves being Buzz flying all over the house.

Isn't it funny how kids want to sleep with their new toys.

Hunter slept with his Ax

Chance slept with his Mace

Several days after Christmas we decided to build a town out of the new Lincoln Logs, and then some tinker toys and legos. It was great until Hunter bombed EVERYTHING!

Kelly and I being a little "FOXY"

We had to make sure we got a picture of Marianne in a fur.

The boys keeping the trapper spirit alive!

Marianne took these pictures of the boys. I think she couldn't believe that I was letting the boys wear these hats in public.

Hunter wore his hat into Wal-Mart and got a zillion compliments on the hat.

It was a hit!

We wanted to do something different for New Years, so we went to a hotel just down the hill from us and went swimming, hot tubbing, and playing.

It was great! We ate Chinese food for dinner, watched a few fireworks out our hotel window, and went to sleep. It was a great way to bring in the new year.

Geek and Her Guys!

Geek and Her Guys

The Formal Version

We loved having Marianne her for Christmas, it made it feel more Christmas like since it is about family and love. She was a good sport and endured the cold, the dark, and two rowdy boys.

Giving Thanks

2010-12-09T13:12:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving week was kind of a funny one. Monday morning Kelly left for work and it took him 1 hour and 45 minutes to get to work!!! YIKES!!! It usually only takes him 15-25 minutes to get to work, but we had FREEZING RAIN. For those of you who don't know what that is, here is a picture.

This is a pure sheet of ice on the road in front of our house. Kids were literally ice skating in their ice skates down the street. Funny! Anyhow, so we had a ton of snow in Fairbanks the week before and then of course they plowed the road. Well, then it got warm ~30-35 degrees and rained on top of our beautiful snow. So, it made every road, parking lot, driveway a sheet of ice. They cancelled school (NEVER happens here), closed the military base (has NEVER happened EVER), and state offices closed. Needless to say, after Kelly's drive to work and drive home, Sam's Club Pharmacy was closed Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for the holiday. We couldn't leave our house!!! The main roads got taken care of, but the little back roads like ours stayed bad till it got cold and snowed again.

Now for Thanksgiving morning.... We woke up and watched the Macy's day parade (not Kelly he HATES parades) and started making a few things like the rolls for our dinner. I had DVR'd the parade because it started before we woke up so we could fast forward through commercials and all the silly commentary.

The boys both helped do a few things to get ready for dinner. Chance made the grape juice to go into our punch. He is very helpful and enjoys helping and tasting in the kitchen.

After the parade was over the boys in our house (all three) played video games and ate a ton of veggies and dip.

Hunter has really found a love for red bell peppers.

Chance and I decided it would be fun to dress up like the pilgrims and the indians, so we made ourselves some little costumes.

Momma and her boys

Dad and his buddies

I'm not sure what is up with the serious faces.

My indian boy playing his indian drum that he painted.

This is a picture of Hunter being "full".

Chance said he was full too, so this was his "full" face.

This is our Gratitude Turkey for the year. I decided to stick with the orange/yellow color this year and I think it turned out beautifully.

The funniest thing about our whole Thanksgiving happened while we were all laying in bed in the morning. The boys got into bed with us and were trying to get us up, but instead we all stayed in bed and talked. Kelly shared with us the Thanksgiving story. He told about the King who wouldn't let people make their own choices, and he wanted them to believe and act a certain way and he wanted everyone's money. Well, Hunter pipes up and says, "Hey, that sounds like Obama!!" Kelly and I were laughing so hard that I snorted!

Last but not least, I wanted to share Chancey's "costume of the month". This kid comes marching into the kitchen looking like this. I love him so much! What a guy!!

Buckets of Fun!

2010-11-01T20:47:00.000-07:00

**NOTE** This is a Halloween post, however our Alaskan Halloween is different than most of your "lower 48" Halloween as we have SNOW and it is usually in the upper teens or low -20's temperature wise.

This is my good man Hunter shoveling the porches and steps. This is one of his school year chores.

We did several different holiday crafts.

Here Chance is doing a "stuffed pumpkin" he made a really cool Jack o' Lantern face on it.

Hunter did a fall leaf tree.
They are both very artistic!

Hunter was very particular about his branches. He also made sure to include some piles of dog poop at the base of the tree :)
The Wednesday before Halloween was our preschool party day.
Chance was Yoda and Hunter was Obi Wan for part of the day and Plo Koon for the other part of the day.

They were able to fit in a little bit of Light Saber practice before we left the house.

(notice Hunter's beard)

Thursday night we did our pumpkin carving. Chance was on my team and said he wanted to carve Yoda into his pumpkin. So....we did it, and he liked it!

Three year olds are so forgiving with a mother's artistic abilities.

Hunter and Kelly did a more complicated pattern called

"ichabod's fate"

Good thing there weren't too many seeds....we may have been there all night.

Chance loved to pull the seeds out.

Hunter was sure to get Dad to be his helper. Hunter is old enough to know that I am not cool or talented artistically.

Chance and I were a good team. Notice him hanging onto my arm while pushing the knife in :)

OOeey GoOey Seeds and GuTS

Master Yoda

Master Yoda and his "pig nosed" football helmeted carver.

This kid is somethin' else!

SPOokY!!!

sCaRY!

For lunch on Friday we decided to have my friends and their kids over for lunch.

(The kids who are my boys' age are girls. Hunter and Chance aren't big fans of having "THE GIRLS" over, but they put up with it.)

So, I have always wanted to do a really fun themed lunch.

So, we had:

Bones and Blood (Breadsticks shaped like bones w/marinara sauce)

Monster Jaws (Apple quarters with eyes and teeth)

Mummy Dogs (Hot dogs with crescent roll strips wrapped around them)

Ghosts in the Graveyard (cupcakes with nutter butters frosted to look like ghosts)

Witches Fingers (string cheese with knuckles and sliced almonds for fingernails)

Bats Blood (Apple Cranberry juice) thanks Lora

Skeleton (Veggies shaped into a skeleton) thanks Peggy

Saige, Ali, and Julia

Hunter, Chance, and Evelyn

Chance, Peggy in back w/Elias, Evelyn, Saige, Lora w/Hayden

Friday night was the ward party, and it was lots of fun. Hunter especially liked this game where you could throw a wet sponge at the guy poking his face through a piece of wood.

So, if you couldn't tell, we went with a Star Wars theme for our costumes this year. I was Aayla Secura, Chance was Yoda, and Hunter was Obi Wan/Plo Koon (can't wear a mask at church) and Kelly was a Jedi/Kit Fisto (can't wear a mask at church or work)

Kelly came to the church party after this picture was taken, but he was there and we won the family costume award!

All my sewing paid off :)

My little YODA love his green face and kept asking if it was still there.

At the party we played games and went trunk or treating. The boys thought that the trunk or treat was the greatest thing ever and couldn't believe how much candy they got.

(Good thing they have small bags to carry their candy in, because then it looks like a lot)

We didn't trick or treat on Sunday, but our land lord wanted to see our costumes, so we took the opportunity to dress up again and Kelly and Hunter could wear thier masks.
This is our fabulous Halloween picture 2010

MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU!!!

All Things Halloween

2010-10-07T20:18:00.001-07:00

We have been so excited for Halloween this year!

Chance is excited about it enough for our WHOLE family.

So, as soon as the last week in September arrived.....

We decorated!

I think that the holidays are so magical for children, and the memories we make for them and with them are the ones that they will carry fondly throughout their lives.

So we do several holiday crafts together.

These little pumpkins were so simple, yet cute and something the boys could pretty much do on their own.

Chance is actually holding Hunter's and vice versa, but they had a great time regardless.

Aren't these darling? So quick and fun to make, yet add so much.

I put candles in mine so it is fun to see the little candle flicker.

I saw these on several websites, but I think the originator was

www.notsoidlehands.blogspot.com

My friend Christie and I got together and with her woodcutting skills, we made these pumpkins.

www.brownpaper--packages.blogspot.com came up with this one.

I LOVE that other people have great ideas, and that they are willing to share them with people like me :)

I also took the boys pictures this fall, and got them up. I love the way the fake leaves add to the picture wall.

More Fall colors, and our Halloween book stash.

I think I need to add to the Halloween books because I am beginning to memorize the ones we have.

Last but not least, we have our "Hall of Ghosts and Bats"

The boys love this, and Chance says our house is a

Haunted House.

I am not super extravagant with my holiday decorating, but it is fun for the boys

and that is all that matters.

** You should also note that we have homemade, hand drawn, and halloween clipart

EVERYWHERE you can think of in our house.

Our own Halloween Museum of Art

You know it is going to be a GREAT day when.......

2010-10-05T06:58:00.000-07:00

This is NO JOKE!!!! So, being the wonderful wife that I am I was making Kelly and egg/bacon/cheese sandwich to eat on his way to work. So, I pulled out the eggs and whisked them up in the pan. Somebody needed help with something, so I left the stove for a minute. When I came back, this is what I saw looking at me.

It is a good old fashioned smiley face.

Really, that is a sign that it is going to be a great day!

Then in the evening Kelly showed up with 3 dozen roses (1 dozen not pictured).

Aren't they beautiful? I knew it was going to be a GREAT day!

While The Cat is Away.....The Mice will Play

2010-09-22T20:56:00.001-07:00

Kelly is the BEST dad!!!! Which in turn, makes me not the COOLEST mom.

When I leave to go out of town Kelly makes the time with his boys

SO MUCH FUN!!!

They do everything from going out to eat, wrestling, staying up late, ice skating, ice cream, playing video games, watching TV most of the day, etc....

The boys don't even really miss me while I'm gone because they are having a blast with a Dad who doesn't have to go to work, or do anything for that matter!!

So, in an effort to be a "cool" mom, I had a few tricks up my sleeve while Kelly was away on his hunting trip.

I sat down with the boys and made a list of what they wanted to do with me. It looked something like this:

Go to McDonald's

Rent movies from Blockbuster

Have a sleepover

Stay up late

Pizza night

Play at the park

Get ice cream from Hot Licks

Play baseball and Swords

Read LOTS of books

We accomplished ALL of these things, and had lots of fun!

But, rest assured that I am still not as much fun as their Dad!

Well, here are some pictures of our movie night.

We started off the night with a Papa Murphy's pizza, celery /carrot sticks, and some soda while we watched our Blockbuster movie. (We use Netflix so it is a novelty to go inside a building and rent a movie).

After the first movie,I took the boys twin mattresses off of thier beds and made a GIANT bed in the middle of the living room. The boys each got to choose one candy from Wal-Mart that they would like to have for the movie night.

(I chose two)
So we got jammied up and started up the next movie while we pigged out on candy and popcorn.

It was LOTS of fun! I love hanging out with just me and my guys.
We stayed up until 1:30 watching movies, it was great and we were all exhausted the next day!

We also did a little bit of creating and painting. This is the boys spaceship and Chance is disguised as an alien.

As I am typing this post, I asked Hunter if that was fun just to hang out with Mom and do soooo many fun things and he said, "Not Really!"

Oh well, I tried.

This is just an addition of a little art project that Chance and I did for Fall.

I painted a tree and then let him sponge stamp some leaves.

It turned out beautifully, and he was proud of it.

Happy Fall!

What to wear???.....What to wear???

2010-09-05T22:43:00.001-07:00

Hunter started preschool this year, and has been very excited about the first day.

One day, before school started, he came out to the living room wearing this outfit:

and said, "This is what I am wearing for my first day of school!"

I am pretty sure he was serious.

I laughed and told him that it was a really fun outfit, but he'd need to dress a little warmer.

Then Chance came out and said, "This is what I am wearing for MY first day of school."

I guess it is better than the "one eyed Batman" outfit.
This is what they actually ended up wearing for their first day of school.

Hunter thinks camo is the coolest, due to the fact that Dad wears a lot of it.

And Chance ultimately decided on the Alaska tourist shirt based on the fact that he thought his friends would think the bears and moose were so cool.

Hunter tried to wear his camo pants both Wednesday and Friday and I told him he had to rotate, or people would think he was gross!

Lesson learned!

BOU SLAYERS!

2010-09-04T21:13:00.000-07:00

This has been my long awaited fly-out caribou hunt. It has been planned three times now, but due to partners dropping out and a sick/dying Dad it had been put off for too long. I was actually set to go do this with my cousins on the Tibbitts side.....something that I would still like to do. I called the outfit that I was wanting to go with. I am pretty picky with who I let fly me to the remote places of the world, and I found out they were completely booked. Extremely disappointed, I informed my cousins that we would have to wait til next year. The gal asked me if I would like to be placed on a waiting list....of course I would. A couple of months later, I received a phone call from the outfitter about a cancellation. They had an opening again. I was back in business. At this point my cousins, Wyatt and Rhett couldn't get the time off. Rhett's wife was having a baby too. Probably better to choose to stay home with her (good call Rhett). I started going down the list of guys that are always hounding me to go hunting up here. I am finding out that when it comes time to get the time off and pony up the dough, there are a lot of big talkers but no one willing to step up to the plate. I finally got on the horn and called up one of my best friends, Dustin Henderson. Dustin is a mission buddy and roommate from BYU. We have had a ton of laughs over the years and have hunted Idaho and Alaska together before. He is someone I trust being alone in Grizzly country with and so I put out another invite. After clearing it with the wife (THANKS EMILY!!!!), we started planning. The outfit we were flying out with uses cubs. Cubs, for those of you that don't know, are two seaters, single prop planes that could arguably be called single seaters. The nice thing about a cub is that if you have one lunatic flying it and another crazy man riding aboard, you can actually land on a ridgetop. I kid you not. A nice 60-70 foot drop on one side, and a 50 foot drop on the other. This type of landing is great for adrenaline junkies, not so great for 2nd chances. Well, lets get some pictures going.

Now I would like to explain something to my critics (of this picture), I may look a little out of shape in this picture. I will grant that I am not at my fighting weight, but these guys put a 50 lb weight restriction on your gear. When you consider a tent, ammo, sleeping bag, food for 6 days, and other hunting gear, 50 lbs goes really quick. They did say that whatever you could fit on your person, they wouldn't count against your weight restriction. In their own words, "we don't care if you have a chunk of cheese in your %$#&*!" I didn't smuggle any cheese for the record, but I filled pockets and loaded my belt up! I have ammo, knives, bone saw, lighters, and etc in my pockets and on my belt. I even managed to hide 4 cokes in my coat and cargo pockets. My ankles look big? That is because I have about 3 layers of clothes on, and an underarmor baselayer wrapped around each ankle. Wow. I felt like the stay-puffed marshmallow man. We had to lose a couple of mountainhouse meals to make weight officially. Hope we kill something or our food situation is going to be slim.

This picture is a shot of the cub I flew in on the landing strip. What you can't see is the drop off about 10 feet past the cub. There is a valley on the other side of the airplane that you can't see. It is actually the valley where we spent a lot of time over the next several days

Down in the middle of the trees you can see our tent (green/gray). The forecast called for only about 20% chance of precipitation for each day that we were there. We learned very quickly that the weatherman should have said 99.9% chance instead. I purchased that tent the week before I went on this hunt cause of it's light weight (6 lbs) and it's water rating. We got rained on the entire 6 days we were out there. It probably didn't rain for about 12-15 hours of that entire week. That tent is a mountain hardware skyledge 3 and it was worth every penny! Not one drop of moisture entered that tent. It sure is nice to have a dry place to retire to when all of your gear and yourself is wet. We picked this spot for our camp because it was fairly open and it was close to some water. My pilot and I flew over a pretty big grizz on the way in. It was pretty cool. He stood up on his hind legs as we flew over and chomped at us. I was thinking he was a pretty big boy and the pilot laughed and said he was just a little guy. We landed less than about 2 miles from where we flew over that bear. We wanted to be able to see a little ways away from our tent. The unit we were in required no tag for grizz for residents and you could shoot two of them per calendar year. This translates typically to a bear problem.....so we were literally loaded for bear. One of us was adamant that we bring a bunch of jingle bells to rig up all over camp on wire or fishing line viet-cong style as an early detection signal in the event a bear came into camp. Let's just say Dustin now sometimes goes by kris kringle. :) It was a good thing we didn't put them up, between the wind and the rain we experienced, it would have sounded like santa was landing on our tent all night long.

These are some pictures of the mountaintops we called home for a week in mid august 2010.

It was just gorgeous up there. It was a good thing that we took some pictures of the views on day one, cause at about noon of day two the clouds rolled in and we didn't really see a ton of them after that. In Alaska when you fly in hunt, it is illegal to shoot the same day that you fly. Murphy's law is always in effect. That night we had a huge caribou bull walk right through our camp. It's antlers were tall and the fingers on the palms were very non-characteristic. They started to point straight back down at his head. Very cool rack to say the least. I was tempted severely to shoot that animal that day. If it hadn't been for Dustin telling me to hold off til tomorrow, I may have shot him. We went to bed right about then and hoped that big boy would be waiting for us in the morning. We weren't that lucky though. When we woke up, he was long gone and there was actually no sign of any caribou. We were having flashbacks to our moose hunt back in 08 when we saw 4 bulls the day we flew in and then didn't see much the rest of the time. We did get one bull moose then but that hunt was definitely in the back of our mind. We sat on a ridge in a pretty stiff wind for about 2 hours and then due to lack of movement and animals we decided to move our position to a spot that would allow us to overlook a different valley. I was a little ahead of Dustin and as I came up and looked over a rock outcropping, lo and behold there were about 50 caribou on the other side. They were all cows and calves. We watched these quietly for a little bit. I decided to climb up this little peak about 50 yards away to get a better vantage point. I left my pack there and took my rifle and my binoculars up. When I got to the top, I got my glasses out and started looking all over. About a mile away I could see one bull on a ridgeside feeding. I couldn't tell exactly how big he was, but I could tell by his silouette that he was decent. I got back to Dustin and told him there was a bull and that we should go down and check him out. Dustin was organizing his gear and said to go check it out and he would follow. I took off. The way the bull was feeding, he was dropping down out of site down in a little valley. Unfortunately, that valley would go left or right and a fairly good distance in between. I knew I was going to have to make a choice which way to go and go fast. I dropped my pack in an open area and went to get my binos out to try and see if I could tell where he was headed. About this time, a smaller bull popped up right in front of me about 50 yards away and was just checking me out. I didn't want to scare him so I just held really still til he headed back down in the valley. This is when I saw a group of cows heading up out of the left handed side of the valley. I figured if this bull was worth shooting he would be right behind those cows. I was right. There he was. I pulled my scope up on him and took a look at his antlers. Before I went, I decided that I wanted to shoot a bull with really nice palmation/fingers on his top beams. This guy was exactly that. He was now trotting further and further away. Memories of seeing animals the first couple of days and then seeing nothing for 8-9 more days on my moose hunt encouraged me to make a decision to put this nice bull to rest. I ran down to a little tundra ledge and got prone. Took aim and BOOM. He went down. It wasn't the cleanest kill that I have ever had, but it did the job. I went down through some alders/willows and got to about 8 yds away and he saw me and tried to stand up. I hit him again in the neck. He dropped permanently.

This is a picture of a pretty happy kid. This bull wasn't the biggest ever but he was what I was looking for. I, truthfully, hadn't even looked at this guys brow tines. He had great upper beams and a couple of fingers that were 16 inches long on the back. That was good enough for me.

Here are a couple more shots at the kill site

This next shot shows a little of the nice "fingers" on his upper beams.

Now you see where the coke came into play......CHEERS! We spent the next several hours cutting this guy up and gutting him. It is much easier to do this job on a hillside so you can let gravity help you out. I had no such luck with this guy. He died in the flats. About the time we were finishing gutting this guy, it started pouring rain. By the time we got back to camp I was soaked and covered with blood. Not something you want to be taking into your tent in bear country. We covered my bull with a poncho to keep him dry and vowed to come back and finish the job. It was about low to mid forties, pouring rain, and the fog was rolling in. Dustin and I were soaked and I was covered with blood from the morning activities. Dustin got into some dry gear and got in the sanctuary of the tent. I had the pleasant chore of stripping down "Bear Grylis" style and washing all the blood/fat off of myself in this freezing cold rain with a bar of dial soap. BRRRRRRRRR. I was glad I had brought a towel as part of my 50 lbs of gear. I got dried off and in dry clothes and got warm in my sleeping bag.

It took us a couple of days to finish the job of cutting him up. You aren't allowed to take the antlers back to camp until all of the meat has been removed from the field. This is the last trip back to camp. These are some cool packing pics.

We actually had to cut my bull up in two different segments, because while we were eating some granola/blueberries (getting ready to go finish cutting my bull up), we saw a herd all the way across a valley. We had seen a group of caribou in this same place the day before and knew where those animals had ended up. I asked Dustin if he wanted to run over there and see if there were any bulls with that group. He said he was pretty sure there were no bulls in the group. We headed up to the ridge that overlooked the valley where I had killed my bull to see if any bear had found the kill site during the night. There weren't any. I asked Dustin again if he wanted to go cut that herd off, he reluctantly agreed. It was the best decision we made on the hunt. Dustin found that the herd actually had 3 bulls in it and one was very nice. When we landed one of the pilots had told us that he wouldn't shoot a caribou this far from camp if he were us. We looked at each other, looked at the bulls horns again. I said, "Dust.....we have my bull down and 4 more days till they pick us up man.....we could get it done if we needed to." That was all the convincing Dustin needed. I stayed up on the ridge while Dustin dropped down into a valley to cut them off. I was secretly hoping that Dustin wouldn't like the biggest bull in the group and we would go off to find more. As I was realizing that we were about 4 miles away from camp and that most of that hiking was water/bog/hill climbing.........I heard BOOM. Oh *^%$^&^#! The hunting trip was relabeled in that instant, "One Crazy Guy, and a Really Good Friend!" Dustin may argue that I was the crazy guy, but I am not the one who shot my animal 4 miles from camp! :) Pain is temporary though (that is what we kept telling ourselves). I don't think I sucked so much wind in several years of soccer, football, wrestling as I did in that final 4 days hauling the meat and antlers from the second kill site back to camp. I lost 7 pounds on that hunt!! I earned every last one of them too. Dustin ended up with a really nice bull. The rack was nice and wide, had nice upper beams and had awesome brow tines. The only thing wider than his rack was his smile.

Nice job Dustin! He even liked my coke picture so much he decided to do one of his own with a little twist.....He calls this shot, "DEW THE BOU!"

It seriously took us the rest of the trip to get all of the meat and horns back to camp. When we got it all back to camp, and I did a little shawshank redemption twirl. It felt so good knowing I didn't have to load 50-60 lbs of bloody caribou to my back and hike up and down hilly bog country again. The last night around the fire, we worked on our horns and I cooked up some of the tenderloin from my bull. I asked Dustin if he thought I needed to cook more caribou meat than I was. He thought that would be plenty. He was wrong. I ate the whole thing, minus one piece. After you have eaten rehydrated freeze dried backpacker meals for a week, fresh cooked caribou is DELICIOUS!!!!

Here is a packing shot of Dustin and his antlers. Classic!

In Alaska, the law requires that you get ALL the meat off the carcass. If you fail to do so, they issue citation for "wanton waste", this includes fines and jail time. No thanks. I was pretty thorough. You may wonder how the fish and game would ever know whether you did or not. I had a buddy that was a fish and game cop out in Bethel and that is what he would do is fly his cub out to these remote hunting sites and make sure hunters were abiding by the rules.

Not much left but bones, hide and guts when we were done with him.

It had been cloudy all week and we were actually getting a little nervous as to whether we were going to be spending a few extra days in the boonies. We had one backpacker meal left and a lot of caribou meat thank goodness. The clouds parted and our pilots brought three planes in. One for the meat, and two for Dustin and I and our gear. It was a beautiful trip out. Big puffy clouds and rock/dall sheep covered crags.

This is a pretty cool shot of how they get your antlers out of there. Hope they hold on!

There is a line from the movie YOUNG GUNS, where I believe they are talking about good friends and they leave a sign or something that just reads...................PALS. Dustin is a pal for sure. We have had some adventures together over the years. Thanks for coming and making the trip so memorable. The pain from hiking meat is gone and all that is left is smiles and memories. I grew up hunting in Idaho and have some great memories of those times, but it isn't and won't ever compare to hunting the land that I call home now. Alaska is an amazing place that demands your respect and preparation at all times. Hopefully, this is only the start of many such adventures for me and my boys. Hunter and Chance are already begging me to take them on my next adventure. I told hunter that he could probably come with me when he is 9-10 years old. He asked if that meant that maybe he could go when he was 6. :)

PALS!

The Big 3....6!!!

2010-09-04T11:10:00.000-07:00

We got to celebrate Kelly's 36th birthday this year!

We think he is getting wiser as he is growing old :)

The boys helped me make this poster for him as a surprise in the morning when he woke up.

We pasted a few of his favorite things on the poster.
Kelly requested cheesecake with fresh blueberry topping.
It was YUMMY!!

We needed a candle or two, so I just opted for the giant candle to cover all 36 years.

The boys thought it was great!
One of Kelly's gifts was the Star Wars set of movies (all 6), so we've been getting our fill of Star Wars.
Happy Birthday Kel, we love you!

DISNEYLAND.....HERE WE ARE!!!!

2010-08-29T17:33:00.001-07:00

After waiting, dreaming, hoping, planning, and talking.....

We finally made it to Disneyland and it was

SO MUCH FUN!!!

These pictures are all out of order due to the fact that I forgot I had two files and it takes

FOREVER to upload the pictures.
So here we go!
Silly boys! I wonder why Chance has his tongue out in almost all of his pictures.

Hunter loves his Geek (short for Gee Gee stemming from McGee)

He's not sure about smooching her on Nemo's Submarine though

She's going for it anyway :)

These boys love Pooh's Honey

This was on the Winnie the Pooh ride.

It was Chancey's Favorite!

Both days we were at Disneyland we went back to the hotel to have naps, but apparently it wasn't soon enough on this day. He really fell asleep on his shoulders!

This really had to be one of the funniest things that happened on our trip.

We went to one of the little themed eating areas for lunch and had all you can eat ribs, cornbread, beans, and coleslaw. After Chance had enough food he got down and was walking around our table. And a bird just happened to poop on his arm. None of us saw it happen, but it was so funny when he walked up to the table and said, "A bird just pooped on me!" in his scratchy little voice.

A little rest on Goofy's Toon Town couch

Another favorite ride of Chancey's was the Buzz Lightyear ride where he got to be a space ranger and shoot the aliens and Zurg.

Kelly was really into this ride and was a level 5 space ranger.

AWESOME DUDE!!

BUZZ

Look! Pluto and Chance are both sticking thier tongues out!

It was fun to have Geekorama on our vacation.

This was on the Jungle Cruise ride, that is really quite a lame ride.

However, Chance was scared to death of the whole thing.

He calmed down though, once he got his driver's license and could drive his own car in Autopia.

Marianne and Kelly on Small World

I think Small World was my Favorite ride.

Hunter was very excited to go on the Tea Cups.

He really wanted me to ride with them, but I have terrible motion sickness.

I gave in and did ride the teacups the second day, but I didn't let them turn us very much.

Apparently Chance struggled with our crazy schedule, and once again didn't make it back to the hotel for naptime. A garbage can at Disneyland is just as clean as any hotel bed!

The boys each had "Disney Dollars" that they earned by doing extra jobs, or being helpful or good at home. They could choose how to spend their $$, Hunter spent a little bit on some cool Mickey lollypops.

Classic!

The boys loved the characters and had no worries about standing next to them.

Flying high on the Dumbo ride

Chance was truly in character with his Mickey Pirate ears.

Overall, our Disney experience was excellent! We were there for two days which I think was perfect. We went to the park between 7:30 and 8:00 both mornings, stayed until 1:30 or so, went to the hotel and took a 2-4 hour nap and then came back to the park and stayed until 11:30 or midnight.

I do have to say that it is a fun place, but Chance has really had nightmares since we left there. He does speak of the experience fondly though. Also, a fun surprise that happened before and during the trip.....Chance officially never sucks his fingers anymore!!!

Hunter went on EVERY adult ride that was opened. He liked the Indian Jones ride the best, but was very disappointed that Indie didn't help us out more than he did.

Hunter was a VERY good sport and had the full experience that Disneyland could offer.

Five and Three.....How can it be????

2010-08-12T22:03:00.000-07:00

Oh my, how time flies. I can't believe I am a mother of a five year old and a three year old. They are the two of my most loved people. They bring happiness, love, joy, splendor, hope, and occasional tears into our lives.

Hunter is the big 5!

He is so sweet, thoughtful, loving, and caring.

He is an official reader, always sounding out new words and reading new books.

He counts to 100!
He starts preschool on September 1st, and is so looking forward to something new and exciting in his life. (He says I'm boring!!)

Chance is three and full of LIFE!!! I always say, "If it's not Chancey's idea, it is not a good idea!"

He is a sweet boy who loves to read stories, wrestle, jump on Dad, eat snacks, play superheroes, and dress like superheroes.

Chance loves to cut paper, he counts to 10 and occasionally to 12. He knows his shapes, colors, and ABC's. He likes to be like Hunter and "sound out" words.

So, the boys got to celebrate their birthdays at SeaWorld while we were in California.

They were happy about that!
We have studied and read a lot about sharks, so it was fun to see them up close and personal.

Playing with the Starfish

Daddy held up the sea urchin for us and let us feel.

We got to do a fun ride above Mission Bay.

The Killer Whales were fun to watch, but we were sad that the trainers don't get in the water anymore.

Poison Arrow Frog

The colors on these things are amazing!!

Flamingos

Sea lions were fascinating

This guy trying to warm up on a 68 degree day

We got to do a few rides at Sea World. Here are Kelly and the boys making themselves sick!!!

After a fun day at Sea World, we asked the boys what they wanted for their b-day dinner.

Hunter immediately said he wanted shrimp.
So, we typed in the GPS that we wanted seafood and it took us to a pretty nice restaraunt where we had....SHRIMP.

Hunter had grilled shrimp and fruit.

Chance had fried shrimp and carrot sticks.

What a funny boy!

Hunter decided that he should get to take a few pictures of people too. So, he told us just how to smile and pose. Doesn't Geek look great?!?

When the waiter came and took our food order, Hunter gladly announced that it was their birthday today and that he was five and his brother was three. The waiter took note, and this is what they got.

Creme Brulee, fit for two kings and their accompanying adults.

The table next to us even joined in for singing the birthday song.

Holy Moly this was so rich, and sweet.

Hunter had to get a picture of me too. Three and five years ago on July 30th, I was busy birthing children.

This picture is such a great representation of how we all felt by the end of this night. Tired and crazy.

A Birthday to remember

Fabulous "Fourth" 2010

2010-07-14T23:56:00.001-07:00

This little bit of a bloody incident happened the afternoon before our holiday celebration. It really was a bleeder. Chance is just the right height to run into the back of Kelly's tailgate. He must have been running just fast enough to slice his head. I thought it needed stitches, but Dr. McGee disagreed and did an "at home" treatment.

All turned out OKAY!

Now, onto the celebration! I wanted to do something special for the holiday, but we didn't do a big BBQ with friends or anything, so I needed to do something "simple". I have always wanted to do a "cookie on a stick", so I thought this was the perfect opportunity. And they turned out GREAT!
It was fun to share our cookies with friends that met us in Nenana, for "Nenana Days"

(These are the smaller cookies that aren't on sticks)

The boys and I decided to do some firework art, this is how it turned out.

Hunter (left), Momma's (middle), Chance (right)

Like I mentioned before, we went to Nenana for the 4th, which was really the 3rd. We did this last year as well. It is a small town, but they do races for the kids and some for the adults. Everytime you race you get .25 cents, 1st place gets a dollar, and second gets .50 cents. It is fun and the kids think it is great to have some money to put into their piggy banks.

Hunter was going to do the 3 legged race with Chance, but his brother chickened out on him.

So, here he is with some random boy. They started off pretty shaky, but by the end of the race they had it down.

Dad and his boys getting ready for the "sack race". Chance still wasn't too sure about the whole thing.

(By the way, doesn't it look like those girls in the left of the picture are checking out my husband?????)

HE'S TAKEN!!!!

JUMP.......JUMP......JUMP!!!!

Kelly did the jumping for Chance, and Hunter took it at a nice easy pace.

Hunter was looking forward to the "potato race". He did it last year and was so excited to do it again. They run and get the first potato, bring it back, get the second potato, bring it back and cross the finish line. He did great!

Look at that run!

Last but not least, was the sawdust pile.

They start the kids at a starting line and they race around the block and come to the sawdust pile and DIG, DIG,Dig for money.

Chance had some luck, but Hunter didn't do so well.

Kelly also had a chance to participate in some of the Nenana activities. He and a friend of ours did the egg toss. They were doing awesome, until the egg hit one of their wedding rings and cracked. They had fun anyways. I participated in the 3 legged race with my friend Lora, and it was so fun!

After Nenana we stopped by a fireworks stand and picked up a few smokebombs, sparklers, pop-its, and a couple of fountains. We came home and had a good night with fireworks and a steak dinner.

The boys love the sparklers.

By the end of the night they were comfortable enough with them, that they were trying to catch bugs on fire.

It was fun weekend for us. We are so proud and thankful to live in such a beautiful place, in a wonderful country.

A Few Fun "Awesome Dudes"

2010-07-10T10:11:00.000-07:00

Do you recognize these guys????

If you guessed Michaelangelo and Leonardo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles......

YOU ARE RIGHT!!!!!
The boys wanted TMNT masks a while back so I just tore some fabric and cut eyeholes. However, due to threads EVERYWHERE they requested more official type masks.
So, I made some little ninja masks. (which still have a few "eyehole" problems)

I've been working on a few projects lately that have required the boys to be patient with me and eachother. So, as a surprise reward I made them turtle shells to go with their masks. They thought it was fun and everyone was happy.

Now I'm a "RIGHTEOUS" Momma!

A Fly-In Fishin' Trip

2010-06-23T19:13:00.001-07:00

My sister, Christy and brother, Andy came to visit us for a week in June. While they were here we decided to splurge and take them on a "fly-in fishing trip". So the 6 of us boarded this plane and flew for 39 minutes to arrive at Dune Lake.

When we arrived we took all the gear up to the cabin that we would be staying in and then got right to fishing. Kelly was very patient because 5 of us aren't great fishermen.
Here's Christy fishing from the shore in her wader boots.

Christy and Andy fishing together, or maybe we should say they were tangling their lines together.

Dad was teaching his boys the basics.

Chancey and Momma being patient

Before Andy learned to drive his own boat, Kelly took Christy and Andy out on the lake.

The boys and I hung back and played. We made sand castles, and the boys did races into the water to see who could run the furthest without falling.

Both Chance and Hunter ended up in underwear, shirts, and lifejackets.

Andy decided that he should learn to drive a boat, so Kelly gave a brief lesson and then Andy had a BLAST!!! Christy was getting nauseous because Andy was having so much fun.

What a handsome Boat Captain!

Chancey caught one!!!

Nice rainbow trout

Hunter caught a nice rainbow too. I didn't believe him when he had something on the line. I thought for sure it was just a snag of "lake salad".

I was wrong!

Dad giving instructions on how to gut a fish. He forewarned the boys that when they turned 10 they would be taking care of their own fish.

Hunter ate a couple of eggs that fell out of this one.

After a fun day of fishing, this is how we found Hunter sleeping in the morning.

(Perpendicular to the bunk and not in a bag!)

I woke up looking as beautiful as ever.

The morning we left Andy caught his first fish EVER!!!

Yipee!

We left the lake having caught 5 rainbows and 1 silver salmon.

It was a great time, so serene and beautiful. And we didn't see any bears...phew!

The plane came and picked us up around noon. It was warm in there and the ride was a little bumpy. Andy and I were in the very back of the plane where it was the most warm and the most bumpy and we got sick. I was able to hold it together, but Andy had a different story!

Yuck!

I guess and Oreo and a Soda aren't the best combo for a bouncy plane ride.

Run Baby Run!!

2010-06-14T23:24:00.001-07:00

The running club in Fairbanks put on a very informal cross-country run for kids. They could choose to run .75 miles or 1.5 miles.

We told Hunter about this opportunity and he seemed pretty interested. So, we clocked what .75 miles would be in the car, and then we had him run it on the treadmill. He liked it, and he thought it would be great to run in a little competition.

We took his friend Ian with us, and thought he might enjoy running too. Apparently, it isn't "his thing."

However, Hunter was so AWESOME. I was a very proud Momma! He was pushing hard, and focusing. He was very excited that he passed TWO Dads (who were running with their kids).
He is sure that the Sketchers had a lot to do with how fast he ran. He finished his race in 9 min. and 10 seconds. He was just so cute all red faced, out of breath and proud of his accomplishments.

I congratulated him and then sent him back to go get Ian and push him in. He really almost had to DRAG Ian in.

It was a fun evening and he can't wait to do it again.

The Lost Boy

2010-06-13T19:19:00.000-07:00

It is a sad day in my life that I have to share a "lost child" story, but it happened. The tale has to be told. We LOVE our library and they have some really great things going on in the summer. So, naturally we go to the library activities a couple of times each week. Last week they happened to have a petting zoo. There were goats, rabbits, chickens, and a lamb. We had a great time and as you can imagine. Lots of our friends were there too, so after we got done with the animals the boys played, and I visited. Three of my friends and I stood at the edge of "the woods", which aren't really woods- just some sloped hills with lots of trees in a small area. The kids were running back and forth and then they were playing hide and seek. All the mom's were keeping an eye on all of the kids as they would pop in and out of this tree area.
Pretty soon this boy Jackson, in the yellow shirt above, comes and says, "We can't find Hunter!! We were playing hide and seek and he went to hide and we can't find him anywhere!"
At first I was thinking he just was in the middle of one of the bushes and wasn't coming out, so I circled the area two times and there was no Hunter. I ran to two other ladies I know and told them Hunter was missing and what he was wearing.
I frantically ran alongside a pretty long fenced in area of land around where we were. However, I knew that there were crosswalks at both ends of the fence so I just thought maybe someone ran fast and got away with him. I was so panicked, but tried to keep my cool. But, I just kept thinking about some dirty old man with my darling son, and how he'd never be the same Hunter again (If someone really had him). And how you can't report "missing persons" for 24 hours (at least on tv) what kind of stupid rule is that??
So I ran up to scary people and asked if they had seen a boy in an orange shirt and gray sweat pants, I just didn't know what else to do except run the perimeter of where he could be.
It felt like eternity, but it was probably 10 minutes, when someone came up to me and said, "We found him!"
What a relief!
He came running up this path to me. I didn't hug him first! I wanted to hear the story.

So, his story went like this:
"Mom, we were playing hide and seek and soon I couldn't see you, so I thought you left. I decided to go look and see if I could find the jeep and see if you were still here. So, I walked out to the parking lot (quite a way from where we were), and saw the jeep so I knew you were here somewhere."
I gave this cute boy a hug, and told him I would never leave him. I reminded him that Chance was still playing over with him too, and that I wouldn't EVER leave them!!
So, I'm sure you are dying to know how in the world I didn't see him and he didn't see me, when I was standing right by where they were playing.
The answer is this.....there was a big white truck parked to the right of me and he must have been at just the right angle to not see me and so he took off to the parking lot. I of course didn't see him walk past because he was on the other side of the truck.
Anyhow, to his defense it was a good idea to see if the jeep was still there (if he was a teenager). It wasn't a great idea to leave his brother if I would have been missing though :)

Hunter now has a new plan of action if he ever can't find me. He should stay in one place and find a grown up, with kids, and tell them he can't find his mom or dad.

Glad I found my lost boy!

Catchin' You Up on Life With the McGee's

2010-06-09T18:27:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I know.....I haven't been keeping up with the blog. SORRY!

We have been doing things, and having fun too. So, here is the lowdown!

We got a chance to drive through Denali National Park in our own vehicle, before the park opened to the public, and the tour buses. We thought it would be a fun way to spend the day. It is about a two hour drive to get there, and then we drove probably about and hour and a half once we got to the park.

We didn't know if we would see much wildlife, but low and behold as we were getting ready to take Chance potty.......

We saw this guy coming down the road!!! AMAZING!!!
He was about 5 feet away from our truck, he bit at the post of the outhouse, scratched his back, and looked around a bit. Then he was on his way. IT WAS SO COOL!! He wasn't near as big as I thought he should be, but Kelly thought he was probably only 2 or 3 years old.
The boys were going nuts about it. I'm just glad we weren't already in the outhouse and came OUT to find him standing there!!

When we got as far as the public traffic was able to go. We got out and ran some energy out, looked at the scenery, and took some pictures.

Mom and her cute guys :)

My 3 handsome boys.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch it was life as usual. One night Chance was really struggling with eating, first he said he was tired and we wouldn't let him down, next he said he was cold so we gave him a blanket to put around his shoulders. I was cleaning up and Kelly was on the computer. I looked over and this is what I found. Chancey sneakily put his fingers in his mouth, put the blanket over his head and went to sleep.

Snug as a bug in a rug.

Hunter had preschool graduation in May. The Mom's planned this really great field day/picnic and awards ceremony for the kids. It was pretty fun, but very cold.

The girl on the left is Hannah Wappett. She announced to her Mom that she and Hunter will be getting married in the Anchorage temple, and she will be wearing a beautiful purple dress.

Hunter said he is fine with the idea!

Each of the Mom's got to say something great about their graduate. I told everyone that Hunter is so smart and is always learning new things.

We celebrated Mother's day! I am so glad I have my two boys, it is amazing how much a person can love two little Monkey's. Kelly made some yummy lasagna for dinner, wrote a nice note, and I got a lovely salad spinner as a gift. (I've really been wanting one!)

On June 8th we celebrated our 8TH anniversary!! (This picture was not taken on that day)

WE went out to a lovely dinner the Saturday before, talked about fun memories and the future that lays ahead of us. We've been through a lot together and hope to be through even more.

Well, there is a quick catch up for you.

Happy 56th Birthday Mama Llama!!!

2010-04-26T22:40:00.000-07:00

There is always so much that goes through my mind when I prepare to write these birthday blogs for my mom. She means the world to me, she was the best mom I could have chosen for myself. Look at her in this picture below: She is toward the end of her life and she knows it. She hated that life was coming to a close and she was doing all she could to "be well" (juicing nasty greens for an afternoon "snack"), but she's still smiling. I LOVE HER!!

I am so glad that I had her for an example/role model for my life. When life gave her lemons, she not only made lemonade but she made Raspberry Lemonade!

Here we are in a hospital bed. I think she was dehydrated and they had to give her fluids after her usual treatment. She always shared, and even when she was sick she shared her bed with me. And she is still smiling!

Here she is with her sweet "Jamey boy" aka James. She did all she could to take care of our needs and quite a few of our wants. There wasn't much money, but she made it happen.

Look how beautiful she is!

Church, testimony, and religion were always important to her. When I read the story of the 2000 Stripling Warriors I think of my mom.

"We did not doubt, our mothers knew it."
There have been plenty of times over the last couple of years that I begin to doubt, but then I remember my mom's testimony and I am quickly reminded of the truth.

Here we are in front of the Provo Temple the day I went into the MTC.

She was so happy to see me go on a mission and serve the LORD!

Mom and Ben on Christmas morning. (Look at his homemade ninja turtle jammies). She always enjoyed doing for others, of course Christmas was no exception. She always was very thoughtful with her gift giving. Trying to sew a lot of the gifts she gave. Quite often these gifts weren't finished, but she gave them with a rain check to get them finished. :)

Check out her awesome purple glasses!

I think about my Mom EVERYDAY of my life, and I suppose I always will. I am so thankful for dear memories to reflect upon often.

Today we talked about "Grandma Nanny" quite a bit. My boys said they were sad that we couldn't call her. I know she would have loved them, and they would have thought she was the greatest! I am sad that I can only imagine what their relationship would be.

None the less, we sang Happy Birthday to her tonight and ate Mint Chocolate Chip Hot Fudge Brownie Sundaes to celebrate her life.

No one will ever be able to fill her shoes, (in my eyes), but I am thankful to my good friends and family who share their love with me.

Happy Birthday Mom Bob :)

Love always and for eternity,

Tammy Jo Bob aka Tammy Lamby

We Did IT!!

2010-04-13T23:02:00.000-07:00

I have not competed in a fun run since 2002! I have a couple of friends who enjoy running/marathons/triathlons, who mentioned the Beat Beethoven Fun Run.

I immediately jumped on the opportunity of all of us running together.

It ended up just being 2 of us running, but we had a good time.

We are approaching the finish line in the turqoise and salmon shirts.

Almost done! The boys were cheering Peggy and I on.

"Go Mom Go!"

We got done with our 5K (with one big hill and several littles) in a little over 28 minutes.

Everyone was happy, because Momma did her best :)

So, because I Beat Beethoven I have a free ticket to the symphony! Yipee!

Easter....Sweet, Sweet Easter

2010-04-12T10:34:00.001-07:00

We kicked off Easter week by making these cute little bunnies out of a pair of my socks.

We found the idea in Family Fun Magazine, and thought it was doable.

The insides are pinto beans! So, if you ever need a bite to eat......

We had fun choosing ribbon for their ties, and what size eyes each of the boys wanted their bunnies to have.
Kelly found a cool easter egg dye kit with superheroes. The boys were so excited to dye the eggs and then put their favorite superheroes on the eggs. However, the darn stickers wouldn't work. Their were no directions and we were too silly to figure it out.
So, it was a little disappointing but we had fun anyway.

Hunter did a lot of testing and mixing of colors. He is my scientist.

Notice the sloshes of dye on the table.

Maybe he is a "messy scientist"!

Easter morning was really lovely. Conference starts at 8 am in Alaska, so all I can say is how grateful I am for the DVR. The boys came into our room around 8 or so and we layed in bed discussing the meaning of Easter and remembering the FHE lesson we had earlier in the week. The boys were really good to remember why we have Easter.

They both decided to get dressed before they did the hunt. They came out and saw a few little superhero gifts that the bunny left for them, and then we let them have at it.

It is so much fun to watch these little guys.

"Hmmm...there should be an egg back here somewhere!"

SssTttRrrEeeTttCccHhh!!!!

GOT IT!

They did pretty well if you ask me. It's a good thing they did because those eggs provided, breakfast, lunch, snacks and then we ate a sensible dinner around4:30. Of course that sensible dinner was followed by more candy for dessert! YIKES!!

We had our friends The Harrison's over for the afternoon session of conference and Easter dinner. It was a nice day for all!

While Mom is Away, the Boys Will PLAY!!!

2010-04-08T00:42:00.000-07:00

These pictures don't even BEGIN to cover the fun and craziness that happened while it was just Dad and the boys.

I know for a fact that there were nights that they stayed up until 4 am playing video games, and went for days only eating sugary foods and garbage.

Here are a few pictures of the party time:

Crazy Donut Eyes

Who is that guy??

I'm sure they were dressed up like this 80% of the time.

Yes, that is lipstick around Kelly's eyes.

There were a few moments to kick back and read a good book.

One of the most important and exciting things that happened is that the boys beds were converted into the bunkbeds they were meant to be.

**No Broken Bones as of YET!

They ate out several times, but Dad did break it up with a little cooking.

THE FAVORITE.....Shrimp Pasta

**Someone asked me how Kelly did while I was away. The truth is that they have a GREAT time. The boys didn't even want me to come home, they were sad that Dad had to go back to work. No doubt, Kelly would love to be a stay at home dad. Unfortunately, it would cut our income down to 1/4th of what it currently is. Besides that, kids definitely need their momma's around during the formative years. (Atleast that's how I feel.) I'm glad my husband affords me the opportunity to do that.

So, until next year....they're stuck with ME :) (and that's not so bad!)

Girls Week 2010

2010-03-28T00:07:00.001-07:00

Finally I am posting pictures of my "Girls Weekend" with my Aunts in Reno (Verdi), Nevada!

ON my first night there, we went and did a sealing session at the Reno temple. It was a nice temple and really looks quite similar to the Anchorage temple on the inside. The sealer was funny, yet spiritual and it was really a great experience.

Becky and Tammy

Valerie and Tammy

Sisters, Becky and Valerie

The next morning we went to The Spa Toscana.

LOVE!!!
This place was awesome and I felt so pampered and relaxed. It was so great, I will definitely go back.

The spa had the most beautiful painting throughout.
We however, wore no make-up so we aren't so beautiful!!

I called this the fountain of youth. It was gorgeous and warm. We didn't get in it, but did dip our toes and thought we should do some funny pictures beside it.
We all have swimsuits on underneath these plush robes, so we aren't really as naughty as we look :)

Becky was most definitely comfortable keeping herself covered.

This is the secret garden where you can sit and listen to the music, the water, and just rest.

I wanted to go to sleep! Off to the side of the secret garden there were tables overlooking the courtyard. That is where we ordered room service and had a very tasty lunch.

Another beautiful painting

After having 90 minute massages, and pedicures to die for (I fell asleep in my chair), we went in the steam room and the sauna. Then we got in the hot tub, but to cool ourselves down we put ice water wash cloths on our heads. WE looked silly, but felt great!

The gals who worked at the spa told us that we needed to get into the cold bath at the end of our experience to "seal" in all of the moisturizers. So, in we went one at at time.

BRRRRR!!!!

"Oh my goodness!"

"Eeeek!"

After all 7 hours of being at the spa, it was time to shower, and primp and we each had our own little station to get ourselves ready.

The next morning we sat in the hot tub and relaxed some more.

REALLY?!? Like we weren't relaxed enough??

After a nice slow morning, we did some shopping. I found a nice bedding set for my bedroom.

So, after calling Kelly I mad the purchase.

Sunday we went to church, except Becky who was sick, and then came home and sat around. Then we had a "Favorite Things Party". We each had questionairres asking some of our favorite things and then we had to guess who was whose.

We also exchanged a few of our favorite things with eachother. So, we each got to open two gifts of the other two people's favorite things. Here Valerie is modeling some fuzzy socks.

Becky went above and beyond and bought each of us a pair of gold hoop earrings. These are special to each of us, because this is the style that my mom wore most frequently. In fact these earrrings are identical to the ones she wore, so that was a fun treat.

We each took turns cooking and sharing some of our favorite recipes with eachother. It was fun to cook together and learn new things. Valerie is always so creative with her "tablescapes" and always goes the extra mile to make things special.

Pictured below is a simple, yet yummy salad. It is spinach leaves, fresh berries and pineapple, spritzed with a balsamic vinegarette.

One night we stayed up till 3:30 or 4 making aprons. I went to bed before my two crazy aunts because I was worried I was going to say things I shouldn't :)

(It is not life threatening as to where a pocket goes, or what color of rick rack is on the top!)

Valerie surprised us all with matching jammies, so here we are modeling them.

I love these girls, they have always meant so much to me and I have so many memories with them. I am blessed to have them as my Aunts for so many reasons.

See you next year!!!

**The funniest thing we did was go bra shopping!!! All I can say is that I won the prize for wearing the correct size bra to begin with. :)

Top O' the Mornin' to Ya!

2010-03-17T15:03:00.000-07:00

The Leprechauns came to visit us in the night! We made a magic treasure box and left it out on the couch hoping they would come. Sure enough, they did!

They left a magical trail of shamrock greens to lead us to where they hid our treasures.

We followed the trail.....

We found our box in the bathtub full of treasure!

Each of the boys got a green shirt, a green apple, green Wrigley's spearmint gum, and some sour cream and onion chips.

On the kitchen table they left us some Lucky Charms, which we NEVER get to eat.

(although Hunter said he had them once at a hotel)

Later on in the day we played "Color the Shamrock"

You had to roll the dice to see which number you could color in next. It was pretty fun.

Chance really like to roll the dice and make it roll onto the floor. It made a pretty fun sound.

We will do a little more celebrating tonight. We are going to have spaghetti with green beans and a green salad, and green mint chocolate chip ice cream for dessert, and we are going to eat this green dinner on a green tablecloth, and green plates.

I am flying out of town for a week, so I will post the end of our St. Patrick's Day pictures when I get back.

This, That, and The Other

2010-03-08T16:27:00.000-08:00

I just had to share a few funny things that go on in our lives.

These kids make me laugh!

Hunter has become a bit of an entreprenuer. He has this lovely collection of rocks that he has collected over the last year or so. Recently he has come up with the idea of selling them to become rich enough to buy his own toys. Originally he thought he could sell them for $90 each, but we talked him into just selling them for a quarter. However, when he went sell a rock to the neighbor, he bumped the price up to $6. She was able to negotiate him back down to $1. So here he is with his first dollar he's made from selling his goods. Watch out because he might try to sell to you next.

Laundry Day

Sometimes I do laundry all in one day. Sometimes it is once a week, and sometimes it is everyother week. This picture happens to be taken on an "every other week". I don't know how you do it at your house, but at ours we collect all the socks from each batch of clothes in a basket. After all the loads of laundry are done and put away, we have a sock matching party! Fun huh?!?

I just can never believe how many socks there are!

Hunter made a mountain in the basket of socks. He was working hard so they wouldn't fall over.

There is our lovely "sock mountain". Believe it or not, we very rarely have strays when we do our socks this way.

Funny Guy!
So, I got lunch on the table one afternoon and Hunter put the silverware on for me. I left the room to go help Chance and when I came back, Hunter was holding his fork and spoon like this and said, "Look Mom, it's a SPORK"
:)

This poor guy, just can't seem to stop getting hurt. This newest ouch is from a fall down stairs in a home that is currently being built. We can't be sure exactly how it happened, but Hunter said Chance fell down 10 stairs. We are probably lucky he didn't poke his eye, or break a bone. We think he might have a little scar though.

Pretty impressive

"Mom, don't wash me! I am a bad guy...grrrrrr!

While I was sewing, someone was disguising himself as a bad guy.

This is what he came up with. Of course, I washed it off, but washable markers don't really wash all the way off the first time. (I've learned it takes 3 times usually!)

Watch out! This guy will give you a run for your money if you mess with him.

Arctic Man and the trapline..........

2010-02-19T20:47:00.001-08:00

My boys and our "Trapline"!

I had a ton of fun running a trapline of sorts out in Bethel. Unfortunately, we had to sell our snowmachine when we moved to Fairbanks. We plan on getting another in a year or two after we get into a new home here. In the meantime, we decided it was time to get a trapline going around our home. What is it that we trap you ask?????? PESKY VOLES!!!! We set up about 10 traps and after they had robbed our bait....them voles is smart! We altered our tactics and Dad pulled some tricks out of his sleeve and Voila.......SUCCESS.

Chancey and the 3 Voles getting some personal time..................

Hunter and the 3 voles..........note what Hunter calls the "DADDY VOLE" in his left hand.
Nice work Huntoo!

ME and my BOYS!!!

This is what it is all about.

Hunter and I had been planning a night out in the cabin during the winter. We waited until we got a stretch of good weather......a balmy 2 degrees above zero. Shorts and sandal weather I have always said.

Arctic Man....you got nothin on me and Huntoo!

Chance was gonna sleep out with us, but when he saw how cold it was outside he decided he would "stay inside and protect Momma". Way to take one for the team Chance. I got Hunter situated in his -20 bag with some toe warmers and some blankets. Other than an icy face and frost all over the inside of the cabin we slept snug as a bug.

Some Things Never Change

2010-02-13T09:48:00.000-08:00

I can hardly be upset about something like this.....

or this.
When I did something like this......

(Gina, Rosy, and Me, circa 1984 in our downstairs unfinished basement Denver, CO)

and this

(Ben and Me probably '84 also)

Some Things Never Change!

A Trip To Sardine Land

2010-01-27T23:07:00.000-08:00

If you've watched "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs", you would think that this post was inspired by the said movie. However, you would be WRONG!!!

In an effort to increase his good cholesterol, my husband has been increasing his Omega-3's, so avocados, walnuts, and yes even sardines are on the menu!

HERE THEY ARE!

The boys thought the idea was cool, because they saw the movie and all of the people eating sardines. They thought they should give it a go. Both Hunter and Chance are up for Dad's adventures because Dad is so cool.

Chance may be a little reluctant at this point. The stink probably hit him right about here.

Dad is showing how it is done

Hunter enjoyed a sardine/cracker sandwich

Just as delicious as he thought it would be!

"Ummm, what was all the excitement about? This is disgusting!"

"Can I spit it out?"

You will be sad to know, now that Daddy knows Chance doesn't like sardines, they are a punishment for not eating his dinner.

Sorry Chance!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-08T15:06:00.000-08:00

For being so prepared for the month of December, it ended up being a lot more crazy than planned. We were SICK!!! Everyone had a turn, but the boys got the worst of it! It continued through the whole month, but fortunately after 5 am Christmas morning, it let up for us to have a nice Christmas Day and then came back to visit through the rest of the month.

Our McGee family traditions for Christmas were even changed this year. No one felt up to our usual Christmas Eve Crab for dinner, so we had crackers, cheese, fruit, vegetables, beef stick etc.. So we didn't waste our yummy crab on yucky tummys. However, tradition did stick that each of the boys got to open their new pair of jammies from Grandma and Grandpa Joe.

Hunter got cool pirate jammies.

Chance got cool bug jammies

(You can tell that we don't see Grandma often enough by the length of Chance's PJ's)

Christmas morning brought throw-up and Santa presents.

This is Mom's stash

Santa was really using his thinker when he brought me a steam vac. He must have been able to smell the puke in our carpets all the way in North Pole!

Dad got some cool toys to play with the boys.

Chance and his treasures.

(Notice the change in jammies, the bug one's had a rough night.)

Hunter was so excited about the "Batcave"

Santa wrote a nice note and drew a picture on Chance's new art easel

We have had LOTS of fun with these nerf swords

"I HAVE THE POWER!!!"

We had a very nice Christmas, hope you did too!

It's ICE TIME!!!! HOCKEY VIDEO CLIPS.......

2009-12-20T14:16:00.000-08:00

You wanted it you got it. Here is our own little Gretzky in the making!!! Everyone has been requesting more hockey stuff so this is as good as it gets! VIDEO FOOTAGE!!!

This is pretty funny too........

Most of Hunter's team prefers to skate forward...I think Hunter prefers to skate backwards. His coaches always ask us if we put him up to it and the answer is no. He does what he prefers! Looks like we got a defenseman on our hands! We thought you might appreciate that Doug!

Here is another one!

Our little slasher has come a long way from the days of slithering as an ice slug. We kept telling him he would get better and sure enough he has!!!

We love you Hunter Buddy!!!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

2009-12-16T16:08:00.000-08:00

We LOVE Christmas!! What could be more wonderful than beautiful smells, colorful lights, and giving to others?

We found a beautiful fresh tree to add to our decor, and we even found a REAL tree stand (see December 2008 post) this year too. We also purchased our first star to go on top of the tree. It is a beautiful tree full of homemade ornaments and a few store bought ones. It reminds me of the tree that I grew up with. The boys enjoyed decorating, and still enjoy re-arranging some of the ornaments.

One of our annual traditions is making REAL Gingerbread houses. We of course grouped into teams.

Team Daddy and Chance and Team Hunter and Momma

we had a great time.

This team doesn't even have their house stuck together yet, and one of the participants has chocolate and goo around his mouth already.

Hunter was excellent at hanging the "lights" on our roof. He was very patient with it.

......still eating!!!

Hunter was getting frusturated because the other team kept saying how girly our house was since there was a girl on Hunter's team. They kept telling him that Barbie lived inside our house!! I had drawn a frosting heart above the door to put some red hots around, but before I could even get the red hots on, Hunter smeared it!

We did end up putting candy cane "cannons" and "lasers" on top of our roof. We also put a US Flag on the side of the house. We decided it was the "married" military housing. There were also cinnamon bears out front to keep an eye out for intruders.

Team Daddy and Chance put the marine symbol and a gun on the side of their house. Their house did turn out very MESSY...oops, I mean MANLY!!

And guess what???? Chance is still eating the candy off the house every chance he gets.

Last but not least we went straight to Santa Claus' house in North Pole and told him what we wanted for Christmas. He told the boys that he had been waiting for them, and that they were definitely on the good list. They were very happy about that!

Chance told Santa that he wanted a Shark and a Motorcycle.

Hunter told Santa that he wanted the Batcave.

Both boys got a candy cane and were very pleased with their visit to Santa.

One of our traditions when we go see Santa is that each of the boys get to choose an ornament to represent that year for them. Hunter chose an eskimo riding a polar bear, and Chance chose an Olde World style Santa ornament.

The best part of Christmas is the element of surprise and anticipation of these little boys. Hunter said to me, "Mom, everytime I sleep I just dream of those presents, and the day I get to open them." He also keeps asking me if he can just open one present, and then he'll say, "Just trickin' since he already knows the answer.

We have also had FHE about Christ and why we celebrate Christmas. They love to look and touch my nativity scene, and talk about what happened on the night Christ was born.

This is "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!"

Giving Thanks

2009-11-27T19:22:00.001-08:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday at our house this year! We got to sleep in (just a little bit), and then we started our day by watching the Macy's Parade on TV. Before we knew it, it was time to start working on the "Feast".

Kelly did a great job peeling Yams AND potatoes. He peeled a ton of potatoes because he really LOVES mashed potatoes and I don't make them nearly enough for him.
Now Kelly has enough mashed potatoes to feed him until the middle of December!!!

This is George the Gratitude Turkey. During the month of November when we sit down to the table we think of things we are thankful for and then add the feather to George. So, he started out as a "naked" turkey and now he is in full bloom.
This is what we were grateful for this year:

Alaska, loving husband, cabin, Gee Gee's garden, Grandpa McGee, sweet treats, family, water, hats, food, planets, preschool, world, zombies, chickens, Gee Gee, wrestling, snow, truck, soup, washing machine, Aunt Valerie, electricity, memories, ice cream, Halloween, video games, Chance, Hunter, beds, Mickey Mouse, trees, cookies, teeth, toys, bugs, music, reliable vehicles, Batman, fish, Joker, broccoli, sweetheart wife, warm home, good friends, Ryan, string, airplanes, Grandpa Joe, showers, sharks, Our Countries flag, USA, outerspace, bacon, stars in the sky, milk jugs (milk duds), fun days with family, clowns, yummy smells, auto start, soda, books, days off, our bodies, hulk shirt, snacks, job, broncos, movies, toys, cereal, stuffed lion, our minds, dump trucks, cartoons, The Gospel, Thomas Train, Brandon, hugs, kisses, fingers, clothes, health, The World, Momma, Dad, Button (a guy Kelly works with), hockey, good landlord, health, football, Dodgers and NAPS!!!!!

We are VERY fortunate despite the sad things that have happened in our extended families this year. We are very aware and grateful for the blessings we DO have.

While dinner was being prepared, the boys did a "color by number" cornicopia picture,

and took turns playing games with Dad.

Handsome little Chance

Brothers

Dinner was very delicious and all turned out well. It is tricky however, to get the timing down so that everything hot at the same time. Maybe next year I will get to be thankful for a double oven!

While we were eating we noticed that Chance grew a bit of a goatee. Apparently when he was wiping his face, the napkin stuck to the marshmallow goo on his chin.

We got a pretty good laugh out of that!

Little goatee guy

My "LUV"

After dinner I was ready for a nap, and Kelly was ready for football, and the boys were chomping at the bit to watch the "Thundercats" DVD that came from Netflix.

Everyone got to do exactly what they wanted....it was NICE!

After football, movie, and nap, it was time for pie. We had chocolate velvet pie, and pumpkin. The were both very delicious. Hunter chose to eat his pie with his hands like pizza.

Yum!

At the end of the day Kelly was most grateful that his Broncos won!!!!

It was a lovely holiday for our family, a time to reflect and enjoy eachother's company.

Memories & Dreams

2009-11-08T10:10:00.000-08:00

Do you remember growing up when the toy catalogs started coming in the mail, and it was getting close to Christmas? There was a certain magic and excitement in the air, and the dreaming began.

We received our Toys R Us catalog in the mail on Wednesday, and I think it has been read, studied, searched, and flipped at least 100 times so far. Hunter, even last night spent over 1 1/2 hours looking through it again. It has also become a good learning book as we learn about 10's and 100's and practice identifying numbers and their placements.

Hunter decided that he REALLY wants the Batcave listed for 34.99. He even cut the ad out of the magazine and has it stashed in a "secret location". He will ask Santa for it when we go to the North Pole in December. He is really excited!

It has been fun to watch the boys and see them turn the pages of these magazines over, and over. The other day I received the American Girl magazine. Can I tell you how many times I pored over this catalog from the ages of 9-15!?!?!?! I dreamed of having the dolls, the clothes, the accesories, but it was soooo expensive, I knew that I wouldn't ever get one.

It was so fun to DREAM!
This is the doll that I wanted (below) her name is Samantha. One year for Christmas I got her book collection, I am sure my Mom would have loved to have given me the doll, but on a single gals income it would have caused a financial struggle. I still have the Samantha book series and hope one day to pass them on to a daughter or a grand daughter and hopefully she will love them as much as I did.

So, as I flipped through this catalog, it was fun to think of the memories of all the times I used to look through this catalog in the "old days". Now you can buy the American Girl that looks like you, I found the one that looks like me, that was fun!
While I was sad to never get the Samantha, I got something better, I got the chance to dream.
THAT IS ONE OF THE BEST GIFTS!!!
While some of you might think I still am looking at the catalog everyday, I really only looked at it twice and then gave it to one of our friends little girls. I told her they were expensive, but it is a fun magazine to look at :)

DREAM, DREAM, DREAM

"I've Told You Three Times!!"

2009-11-04T20:43:00.000-08:00

For preschool today, we were lucky enough to get to go on a field trip to the firestation.

Here are two of the cutest firefighters I know.

This is Firefighter Andy. He gave us the tour, and reminded us how strong a fireman has to be. He also taught us to call out for help if we are ever in a fire and to stay down low to the ground.

This is Chance inside one of the big fire engines

Hunter and his good friend Brandon loved pretending to be firemen.

You always hear little boys say that they want to be firemen when they grow up. However, this is the conversation that went on in our family....

Mom: "Hunter, do you want to be a fireman when you grow up?"

Hunter: "NO! I've told you three times...

(with a look on his face like, "don't you ever listen?")

Hunter continued: ......I want to be a Dodger and NOTHING else!!!"

So there you have it folks, Hunter will be a Dodger and not a fireman.

October!!!

2009-11-01T20:34:00.000-08:00

October started off with a bang, or a punch I guess. Kelly thought it would be fun for the boys to box him and eachother. It was pretty funny- but a little rough.

Look at this little "Tough Stuff"

Hunter puts up a pretty good combination
and gives his Dad a run for his money $$

Our neighbors REALLY love Halloween. In fact, they love it so much that they were married on October 31st, 20 years ago. Anyhow, they go all out in their Halloween decor both inside and outside the house. They also have some fun costumes on hand, including this horse that fills up with air when you put it on. Hunter thought is was pretty cool.

I really love to have a few store bought, but mostly homemade crafty decorations for the holiday. I bought these little pie pumpkins for the boys to draw spooky pictures on, and then we displayed them on our bookshelf along with a big Jack 'O Lantern basket. It looked nice.
Hunter really got creative and made his own skeleton on his pumpkin without me even suggesting the idea or how to draw it. This is what he came up with. I thought it was pretty good for a 4 year old.

Chancey's is a mixture of Momma's help and his own creativity. He knew exactly what he was drawing even if we didn't. He was pretty pleased with his pumpkin and would often be found toting it around all month.

It ended up that we were sick for about a week and a half before Halloween. It was really awful and hit all 4 of us. It just so happened that Kelly was quarantined from work for 7 days, so it was nice to have him home to help me with sick boys around the clock. He also let me have a couple of 3 hour badly needed naps.

Since we were sick we missed 2 of our planned Halloween festivities. So, we made due at home! We had our annual dinner in a pumpkin early for something to do. Along with the fact that Kelly had to work Halloween night, so we wanted him to be around to do something Halloweenish.

(Come to find out Kelly doesn't like our traditional "dinner in a pumpkin" guess I need to come up with a new traditional Halloween dinner...any ideas??)

Hunter looks enthusiastically sick.

Daddy pretended to be "meat guy" which is Chancey's word for a Zombie.

We got double use out of our decorative pumpkins. They were really yummy and still decorated for the occasion. Kelly was thankful for the extra carcinogens that were baked into the pumpkin dinner.

Ghosts and Goblins pretending to be excited for "dinner in a pumpkin"!

The next night after this picture was taken was the ward party. We thought we would actually make the party until about 5:00 pm when Hunter said, "I feel HOT!" Sure enough, he was 102.4. Sheesh!!!

So we stayed home, carved our pumpkins, and trick or treated our bedroom doors.

The boys walked back and forth between bedrooms knocking and saying "trick or treat" and they made out like bandits. Who needs trunk or treat anyway???

Not all bad came from being home sick. Chance is now officially DAY and NIGHT potty trained. How nice!!! Let me just say to how much easier it is to potty train when you don't have a newborn baby, and when your husband is home to help. Anyway, he did it! I have TWO big boys now. Yippee!!!

This is Chance enjoying a fresh out of the box giant chocolate bunny, yes from Easter that no one ever ate, for doing his first GIANT POOP!!! He was pretty excited and proud of himself :)

ME TOO!

By the time Halloween actually rolled around we were all well except for the occasional sniffle. So, we went to hockey practice in the morning, came home and napped, got up and ate "Dunch", got dressed in our costumes and headed out the door. Chancey was spiderman and had a cute spiderman hat to wear, but didn't want to put it on until later. I barely got his costume on because it was a full body suit where he has no access to his belly button. He likes to be able to rub and play with his "outty" button.

Hunter was the most excellent Batman and Chance was the most angry Spiderman.

I decided I didn't care to go trick or treat door to door in 16 degree weather, so I opted for the indoor mall trick or treating. First we went to see Kelly at work, and his co worker loaded us up with some goodies, then we went to the mall and got treats from about 12 different stores. It was really fun because you could actually still see the kids costumes because you didn't have to put snow gear on them. It was perfect since I was taking them myself.

Finally,we went to a "Cool and Not Scary" Halloween party at our friends house. There were games, LOTS of candy, food, and dancing. They boys had so much fun with all their super hero friends, playing and dancing and talking. I had fun being warm and having other adults to hang out with!

*** I did dress up, there just were no pictures taken. I decided to keep with the superhero theme that the boys had chosen, and I found some wacky colorful patterned clothes to wear. I put my hair in pigtails with a giant bow on top, and I put lots of blush and freckles on. Hunter asked me what I was and I said, "I'm supermom!!!" He said, "There's no such thing!!" He is probably right, but I can always try :)

HOCKEY TIME!!!!

2009-10-12T15:16:00.000-07:00

IT'S HERE!!!! It is now time for hockey. Neither Kelly or I have even played and we barely skate ourselves. But, we put Hunter on the ice in full gear......

and boy did he look good!

(He has a helmet, it just isn't on yet)

Unfortunately, skating didn't come so easily as did his good looks. He is the middle kid on the ground that looks like he is TRYING to get up.
A lot of the kids looked like seals or beached whales most of the time. It was pretty funny!

Chance wished he could be out there playing too, but he was a good sport and played in the stands. He sure was happy to be there!

They gave the kids buckets to hold on to and skate. Hunter mostly went around in circles.

There were definitely tears shed, but that happens. We reminded him that we had told him it wouldn't be easy, but it would be great once he got it. We came home and practiced walking in his skates in the living room for an hour. Hopefully this coming Wednesday he will feel a little more confident about the whole thing.

In Honor of A Man I Love and Admire

2009-10-07T23:14:00.000-07:00

This is My Baby Blessing Picture

April 1979

To those who did not know, I lost my beloved, sweet Grandpa West (my Mom's father) this last month. He will be greatly missed by me and others too. I wrote a letter in March to him because I knew his time was coming to a close here on earth and I wanted to share with him how special he was to me.

Dear Grandpa- March 6, 2009

You are a wonderful man. My life has been richly blessed because I was able to have a Grandfather of such noble stature and character. You are wise, intelligent, patient, thoughtful, kind, sweet, fun loving, giving, humble, self-sacrificing, selfless, and funny. What more could a girl ask for from a Grandfather and Father figure? I am so glad we mostly lived close to you growing up, so that you could be part of our lives. I have been thinking of all the fun memories that we have shared over the years, and what I have learned from you. Really, there are too many memories to write down, but I will always treasure them in my heart.

Some of my favorite things that I remember about you was that you always made me feel special. You always called me TJ or Tammy Jo, and I loved that you had special names for me. I also loved getting out of the bathtub and having you rub your big thumb on my arm and telling me that I was "squeaky clean". You also always gave me big hugs and rubbed your whisker face on my cheek, it was great!

One of the memories that sticks out to me the most happened one fall. You, me and my Mom got into your red and white car and went out by the old barn to the pumpkin patch. I don't remember the specifics, but it seems like we went out to get a pumpkin just for me. I looked, and looked while you stood patiently waiting. Finally I found the perfect pumpkin! We opened the hatch of your car and loaded the pumpkin in. Apparently I must have been standing in the way of the exhaust pipe and something blew out at my leg. I know it had rock in it and it was really hot and burned my leg a little bit. You picked me up and loaded me into the car and we went into the yellow bathroom and you and mom cleaned up my leg. Now, I'm not sure why that memory pops out so easily, but I think it is sweet.

Grandpa, you were always so kind to look after my mom. I am sure she had a special place in your heart, especially being your firstborn and a daughter. I know you were always trying to make her life easier. One thing you did for her, among many, is to pick me up for zero hour classes my freshman year. I believe I had to be at the school by 6:50 am. So, that means that you had to be to my house by 6:20, which means you probably had to get up around 5:40 or so. But, because you are you, you gave your time, sacrificed your sleep, and used your money for fuel. I appreciated the rides every morning, and I know Mom did too. I loved spending that time with you. I don't remember talking a lot on the rides to the school because I was still waking up at that hour. I do know that when we did talk you would ask me about school, and my home life, and took time to get to know me. I treasure those rides.

You are a great joke teller. I remember going to your house and you sharing joke after joke. Now, the jokes were good...I remember laughing, but better than that is the memory of you laughing. Your whole body moving up and down, your big smile and squinty eyes. Your laugh was contagious! Even if the joke wasn't so funny, when you started laughing, everyone else did too. I could always look forward to a good joke from Grandpa.

Along with your joke telling abilities, you were also a great story teller. I will always remember the story of little Grandma and the mountain lion. I don't know how many times I heard it, but I knew I couldn't get enough of it. All of the geneology stories, you told with such emotion. Sometimes it was with excitement, but a lot of time it was with tears of love or sadness. The love you have for the people you have linked together is tremendous. I hope someday that I will grasp onto the geneology bug the way you did. You are a tremendous example to all of us of what we should be doing in that way. I remember living with you and every Friday night, off you went to the geneology library, and that was even after a long days work at your office. But you would go without complaint!

Of course I can't leave out the memories of "Farmer Grandpa" there were always tractor rides, corn picking, corn husking, corn selling, and weed pulling. You were always so good to teach us work along with the fun we were having. Grandpa you are one of the hardest workers I know. Always working on some project. You never kept "idle hands" you were always busy with something...except when you were napping!

Grandpa, I think what I love about you the VERY most is how much you loved Grandma. I loved her very much too, but you and I both know that she wasn't the easiest woman to live with! From the outside looking in, it looked like you tried and tried to please her, but she was a tough one. She has no idea how lucky she was in the husband department. You were a WONDERFUL husband. I don't think a girl could ask for more. I loved that you would kiss Gram EVERY evening when you would get home from work, I thought it was so sweet. I think of that often.
Bouquets from you were always a favorite. Whether it be for a holiday, a birthday, or just to please the eye, you were quite the florist, and still are. I loved coming to your house and seeing your beautiful flowers outside, but also inside. After Gram stopped going out, you were always so good to bring TONS of flowers in so she could experience their beauty too. When I think of Grandpa, and flowers I will always think of your sweet peas growing along side the driveway on Locust Grove. They were always so lovely!

Last but not least I just want to share with you, that people LOVE Nathan Dennis West. You are such a hero to so many of us. Whether it be patients of yours, church going friends, neighbors, acquaintances or family, everyone loves you. I am always happy to say that I am Nathan West's grand-daughter. It is a label I can wear with pride.

You keep saying you are "winding down" and that may be the case. It is hard to think of life without you, but I know death is part of life and the eternal scheme of things. At least I know you are going someplace where there are plenty of people who will be so happy you are there. I can just imagine the lines of people who will be waiting to hug you because you did their geneology and got their names to the temple. You will be rewarded for your excellent work!
Grandpa, you will always hold a special place in my heart. You are MY HERO, and I am glad you were my Grandpa. I love you forever.
Love,
T.J.

Dr. Nathan D. West 1925-2009 Dr. Nathan D. West, 83, of Meridian, passed away at his daughter's home in Verdi, Nev., on Sept. 10, 2009, after battling bone cancer. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m., Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009 at the Cloverdale Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, located at 190 South Locust Grove, Meridian. The viewing will be held on Friday, Sept. 18, 2009 from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. at Cloverdale Funeral Home, and on Saturday from 10 a.m. to service time at the Cloverdale Ward. Burial will follow at Cloverdale Memorial Park with a reception to follow back at the Cloverdale Ward. Nathan was born Sept. 18, 1925 in Roy, Harding County, New Mexico, to Charles P. West and Lila R. Sales. On Jan. 1, 1950 he married Connie Mitchell in Weiser, Idaho. They were later sealed in the Logan Utah Temple. Nathan graduated from Southern California College of Optometry in 1953 and moved with his wife to the Treasure Valley where he practiced for the next 40 years. He participated in the community as a PTA president and was active in Toastmasters. His passion was his family and his farm where he taught his children the value of hard work. He loved working on family history and served in his church for 13 years in the family history center. Nathan is survived by his children; Claude West of Middleton; Valerie (Greg) Monette of Verdi, Nev.; Robert (Jennifer) West of Boise; Jonathan (Marissa) West of Boise, Rebecca "Becky" (Dave) Niblett of Meridian; 14 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. He is also survived by his sisters; Vera (Bill) Rose of Nampa; Lois (Curly) Myers of Star; and Gloria (Steve) Butts of Newnan, Ga. Nathan was preceded in death by his parents Charles P. and Lila West; his "Dear Sweet Wife" Connie Mitchell West; his brother Luther Claude West; a daughter Natalie West Briner; two infant children and one infant granddaughter.

Fun With Gee Gee

2009-10-04T11:55:00.000-07:00

Grandma McGee, affectionately known as Gee Gee, Geekmeister, Geekasauras, Geekapotamus,

Geekarooni, and just plain Geek came to visit us in Fairbanks for about 2 1/2 weeks.

We LOVED having her here and we did so many fun things.

Chance took this picture right before Kelly and Marianne left for their fishing trip to Valdez.

We stopped by Santa Claus House to visit the red suited man, but he was in his workshop apparently, so we sat in his chair anyway.

Kelly and Marianne came home with 5 of these salmon after a long day of fishing.

Apparently it was a little slow that day!

We went cranberry picking at Birch Hill ski trails.

We came prepared with Ice Cream buckets and all.

This is Evelyn and Julia, some friends of ours that picked berries and ran up and down the trails with us too. It was LOTS of fun.

One day we went on a formal goldpanning tour and got to ride a train and listen to a presentation. However, on this day we went to a little creek that had some "paydirt" close by that we could pan for. Kelly found just a little bit.

Hunter is very good at panning for gold and enjoys it too.

Kelly is REALLY addicted though!

This is Marianne yelling "Big Money, come on Big Money!!!"

(That's not really what she was saying, but it was funny anyhow.)

Chance mostly just liked to throw dirt and rocks and splash Hunter.

Hunter and Chance found this big hole and with Dad's help they filled it up with water and it became a .............

SWIMMING HOLE!!!!!!!

Marianne became the official storybook reader in our house for two weeks.

She also did lots of dishes, swept floors, folded laundry etc... I didn't intend to make her work, but she did and I ENJOYED and APPRECIATED the extra hands.

This HOT MAMA turned 61 while she was here and we celebrated with homemade REAL BLUEBERRY pancakes for breakfast.

Chance was sad that it wasn't his birthday, but did enjoy singing to Gee Gee.

Hunter had his first day of preschool while Marianne was in town. He is really enjoying spending time with friends and learning new things.

This HOTTIE turned 35 the day after Marianne's birthday. He requested BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE for his birthday dessert. It really was delicious.

Happy Birthday LUV!

Kelly also decided that he was tired of giving himself a haircut and the boys should do it for him.

So they did, and boy did they have fun!

Turned out great...don't you think?

We played lots of hockey while Geek was here to show her our MOVES.

We improvise for skates on the laminate flooring.

Chancey prefers his high heel Fisher Price stacking rings.

These two are something else.

We tried to take some cute pictures, but somebody needed a nap (hint: it wasn't Gee Gee).

This is the best we ended up with for now.

We love having Geekarooni come and stay with us, we hope she will do it again and again!!

This One Can Go In The Record Books!!

2009-08-24T13:53:00.000-07:00

It was a nice peaceful Sunday evening. Chance was tired for lack of nap, so while we waited for the lasagna to cook, I let him take a little rest on me. It was sweet and SWEATY!

Chance is a HOT sleeper.

It was nice to have some quiet time together before this happened.........

Yes, look at that!!!! One big whoppin' goose egg!!

It looks like he has an extra piece of bone on his head from this view.

Lovely!

So, here is the story. Chance and Hunter were playing superheroes. Chance was spiderman, with a cool outfit and mask on. Well, Chance was running full speed ahead into his bedroom when he tripped over the legs of the costume (it is too big for him), and slid into the leg of the bed, right on the corner.

Kelly was in the room when it happened, but thought that he just bonked his head a little bit, but when the cries came out they proved to be something more than a little bonk. Kelly took of the mask, and it was AMAZING! Really, we have never seen someone's head get so big, so fast.

It was really so sad!

Later, after he calmed down and rested for a minute we took him to the bathroom mirror so he could see the damage. The look on his face was PRICELESS! It was the "Oh my word, I am so embarrased by this huge knot on my head, what am I going to do? There is no way I can go out in public" sort of look. He really looked disgusted with himself.

He looked up from the mirror still mad and we smiled and he started laughing, and looking in the mirror some more.

He seems to have recovered okay. He points at it and touches it occasionally, it really is still quite big. And I really do think this one is for the record books!