Halloween Pheasant Hunt!

6:00 a.m. Halloween morning we all dragged ourselves out of bed for the phantom and ghost pheasant hunt in Lehi. We arrived at the hunting club to find over 100 decked out trucks with gun racks, dog kennels, and ducks unlimited stickers galore. Here we come in our Honda Pilot with our two little kids and our dinky little Springer Spaniel. We felt a little out of place, none the less we walked right in shotguns pumped ready for the great phantom hunt. To begin the hunt they had a pow-wow where I have never seen so much camo and florescent orange in my life and then they let a pheasant go to signal the start. Immediately there were orange men running every which way to their trucks ready to get the best spot for finding the prized phantom and ghost pheasants. We finally made it back to our car and waited for the dust to settle before heading out to find our hunting spot. With Gus on my back and Jack hoofin' it, we lasted a little over an hour before wandering back to the car where we hung out waiting for Devon and Grandpa Wood to make it back with pheasants in hand. Jack and Gus had a great time playing in the dirt and hitting weeds with giant sticks. It couldn't have been a prettier day so it was a great experience and we will definately be taking the whole fam (minus Stella our gun shy Springer) out pheasant hunting again!

And the Flake Award Goes to...

ME!!  Recently I was called out for being a flaky friend, and after looking back on the past 29 years I now know that I have spent most of my life making, breaking, and avoiding plans.  I don't know if there is a true diagnosis for what I have but it is definately a case of Commitment Phobia.  I have always been afraid of making plans because once you commit you're stuck.  (At least that was my mentality)  When a friend says "let's do something on Thursday" and I say "Ok" what I am really thinking is "ummmm......ok........but.........well.......what if Thursday comes and I don't want to go."  So I sort of make plans, never mark it on my calendar, and hope that they forget until Thursday morning when I can decide if that works for me or not.  Don't get me wrong I have really fun friends who I love hanging out with, I think I just got so used to making plans with every intention of breaking them just because that is what I do.  I have always had a fear of hurting feelings by saying "no" but by not ever truly committing I have inadvertently hurt people I love more than I ever knew.  Thank you dear friend for bringing this phobia to my attention so I can deal with it and change my ways.  From here on out I am completely committed to... committing.  Love you all!    

Halloween

This is the one and only picture from Halloween! (What a horrible mother I am). I was too busy trying to get Gus to keep on the hat that went with his scarecrow costume. Jack was an "Engine Turtle"again. Yes that's right an "Engine Turtle". This is the same costume from last year which made things really easy. The funniest moment from Halloween was when Jack was ready in costume for his preschool party and was explaining his duds to me. "See mom, this is my engine pack" he said. "You're what?" I asked with a concerned giggle. "This thing back here is my engine" pointing to the giant shell on his costume. I couldn't help myself, I busted up laughing. All this time we thought he was saying "Ninja turtle" the wrong way, but for two years he truly believed that he was an "engine turtle" and that the shell was his engine. Jack is obsessed with the generator and engines on everything like the houseboat, four wheelers, trucks, planes, etc. which makes things even funnier because he was so proud of the engine on his costume. Devon told all his friends at work and all of our family that story so when anyone saw him in his costume they would all ask "Jack, where's your engine?" Just another Jackism to add to the books. Happy Halloween!

Check Please!

Dining out with kids these days has proven to be disastrous.  Last night was especially horrible when we went to Trio for aunt Brynnie's birthday dinner.  The moment we sat down at our table Devon and I looked at each other and through our expressions said "what are we doing here".  There we were in a restaurant filled with couples or groups enjoying expensive glasses of wine, hoping to have a relaxing dinner meanwhile Gus is hanging on his highchair, jumping on the benches, climbing under the table, squealing, and throwing his food.  Jack, on the other hand, was at the other end of the table by cousin Tate.  Jack and Tate decided tonight would be the night to scream pickle bum and all other manner of potty words across the table.  Oh, they were having a great time!  Jack and Tate were laughing so hard they had tears in their eyes which continued to fuel the fire.  We couldn't help but just laugh at the fiasco going on at our table even with the incredibly dirty looks we were receiving from the other diners.  To make matters worse, after we were finished eating our dinner we all ordered dessert.  Seriously WHAT WERE WE THINKING!  That...needless to say...was our last time eating at Trio with the kids unless of course we get the food to go and eat on the lawn outside the restaurant.  They have a statue and some tall curbing we used as a playground for the kids to burn off some energy after dinner.  CAN WE GET THE CHECK PLEASE!

Haircuts!

These pictures are from our Hale family party, but the boys got haircuts right before. Devon was a little upset that I chopped off Jack's crazy locks, but now you can actually see his cute face.

My Jackers!

Jack enjoyed Gus' birthday toys the most of anyone. This is a ballpopper which turned into Jack's leaf blower! Surprise, surprise the thing eventually broke after being stuffed full of dirt, rocks, and leaves.

Gusser's First Birthday!

It is pretty lame that these are the only pictures from Gusser's first birthday party but I guess that is what happens to the second child. We had the fam over for pizza, cake, and ice cream. The kids had a great time in the backyard playing "energy ball" (a game uncle Cam made up). Gus left the party early due to his 7:30 bedtime, but we all kept the celebration going even after his departure.

Gus really enjoyed ripping into that cake!

Grand Canyon Rim to Rim!

In May Devon, Ben Curtis, and I hiked the Grand Canyon rim to rim in one day! We started off at a really good pace. At one point we were actually running and Devon and Ben were planning next years rim-to-rim-to-rim adventure. We got to Phantom Ranch around 11:30, ate lunch, took off our shoes to empty out the sand, mixed up some gatorade, then hit the trail again around noon. From the time we got to Phatom ranch till we left the temperature rose about 30 degrees to just around 100. Our confidence dropped a bit when we began passing people on the side of the trail calling for help due to dehydration and heat stroke. We were still making good time until Ben realized that he choice of black hat, black shoes, black shirt, black shoes, and black shorts was not the best. He may as well have brought milk to drink. All of a sudden his face turned bright red and he said "I am sooo hot, I think we better stop for a minute". Well after hiking 18 miles if you sit down there is a good chance you may never get up. When I tried to get up after our break my hips felt like they did when I was pregnant with Gus! Between Ben's blackout attire and my pregancy hips we new it would be a long last leg of the hike, but we were up to the challenge. The last 4 miles is a really steep traverse back and forth to the top of the canyon. Devon had done the hike back in the day and warned us about the last part, but I really was not prepared for how hard it truly was. One step at a time, we made it to the top and were completely wasted. It was definately a feat, but not something I am ready to repeat anytime soon! Devon, however, is still sticking to his rim-to-rim-to-rim craziness!

Gusser's Mut!

Gus got his helmet on in February of 2009. He had it on until his one year birthday. The helmet was to correct his misshappen head which was caused by torticollis (neck muscle imbalance). Sporting some Spyder, Skullcandy, Smith, and Descrete stickers he could possibly be the cutest helmet child ever. It was bittersweet when we took the helmet off for good, it became part of him. He didn't even care when it was on, but when the weather turned hot in May the thing stank and undescribable stank. Goodbye helmet child hello perfect head...well...not exactly!