Antelope Hunt 2013

After 13 long years, Grant and our good friend Dan drew their antelope tags. They packed up enough  for 10 days of camping and headed east on a Thursday night. Saturday the hunt began and when I received a picture of Grant and an antelope 3 hours into the day, I could hardly believe it. He is an awesome antelope that we are having mounted.....I mean how can you not after a 13 year wait?!?! We have made burger and steaks and so far the meat has been very mild & tastes great. Dan got one on the following Thursday and I believe both hunters came home happy!

While the Mr. was gone I tried to have activities for the kids because we all get a little stir crazy when dad is gone. Here is a quick run down:

 

Friday ~ Dinner out with Nana, Gram & Pop, Aunt Carol & Uncle Rod, Tara & Bailey and Tia. The kids had fun getting to choose their own food (it was a buffet) but the highlight was the dessert area. Who needs food when there is sweets around, right??

 

Saturday ~ I headed North with Maverick to celebrate a Webster wedding. Grant's cousin Kelsey married her sweetheart Ryan at a beautiful lodge venue. The wedding was fantastic and it was so great seeing all the Webster side. Maverick was a little out of sorts being away from his brother and sister and therefore wanted me to hold him. Not ideal but we made do. Congrats Kelsey and Ryan!

 

 

The happy couple!

 

 

My awesome sis-in-law & husband (aka Aunt Shannon & Uncle Joel)

 

Hmmm....decisions, decisions

 

Sunday: Low-key day at home and then met Honey at the park where we played for almost 2 hours! Tara, Bailey and Tia joined us as well. We then headed to Costco for hot dogs and more play time at Honey's house.

 

Monday: Second session of swim lessons start and cousins Hudson and Finn are able to join. Baron had a rough day (really rough) but thankfully he snapped out of it the rest of the lessons. We then headed to a water play area that evening with cousin Bailey and Aunts Tara & Tia. After playing until it was too cold, we headed to dinner. I had happy and tired kids.

 

 

Baby planking?

 

 

 

 

Tuesday: Swim lessons and I am really not sure but I think we played at home and ran errands.

 

Wednesday: Swim lessons and park with Tara and Bailey where Baron rides his bike almost the whole time. Weather is hot and muggy. Baron is really starting to miss his dad. He tells me he needs to see him.

 

 

Thursday: Swim lessons in the morning and park/dinner with Trav, Katie and Brady. Dan shoots his antelope and Grant tells me they are packing up to head home on Friday. I am ready for my husband to be home.

 

Friday: Clean house in preparation for husbands return. He made it home safely in the afternoon. We are so happy he is home safe and sound!

 



 

Napping Buddies

Blueberry Saturday

Saturday we loaded the kids & dog up and headed to a local nursery with the intent to buy berry bushes. Leaving the house it was decent weather, cloudy but dry. By the time we arrived at our outdoor destination it was pouring buckets and we had a sleeping toddler (which never happens anymore). Great timing, right?? So we sat in the car for awhile trying to wait out the wall of water that seems to be falling. When it became more of a drizzle, Grant and Baron ventured out while I waited with Maverick for the sleeping princess to awake. Mav "drove" while I sat back and took adorable videos/pictures (trust me it never gets old). He was especially mesmerized when it began to hail and I was just hoping Baron and Grant were under cover.....sheesh!

 

About the time it stopped raining and Maverick's patience wore thin, Elliott awoke and we were ready to go. So I loaded the twins into the double stroller (after almost being charged by a killdeer - apparently we had parked near her nest & if you didn't know, I have a slight fear of birds) and headed out to find the big guys who had been shopping for about 45 minutes at this point. We found them at the check out and I was slightly surprised to see how grown up Baron looked from a distance. He was wearing Grants beanie and with his jeans/sweatshirt combo pulling a cart, he looked much older than 3. He had fallen down at some point and was a little muddy but I just chalked that up to raising a boy and secretly it made my heart happy :) Dad and his helper picked out 7 blueberry bushes, a gooseberry bush, a granny smith apple tree, a hybrid apple tree and a hybrid pear tree. If all goes well, we should get some fresh fruit in another year or so and we are looking forward to it.

 

I do have to say that Baron may be overly enthusiastic about "digging the blueberries" as he calls it because I catch him outside with his Baron-sized hand shovel all the time digging around the blueberry plants. When I told him no for what felt like the 75th time yesterday, he responded with "Mom, I'm finding hidden treasure".  This kid is completely awesome. Dig on buddy, Dig on!.....just not in the blueberries.

 

Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of Baron and Grant. Something about the rain and not wanting to say cheese, etc. ;)

 

Coloring Eggs

Baron coloring eggs with Grant....I think he was a little excited!

 

Great Wolf Lodge & Birthdays

A couple weeks ago Grant and Baron headed to WA and met his sister & her family at Great Wolf Lodge to celebrate our nephew Griffin's 8th birthday while I stayed home with the twins to celebrate my sister-in-laws 30th birthday. Baron had a blast and came home wanting to go back to the green & purple slides at the "big pool".  He apparently also loved the wave pool.  Our friends Adrienne, Kyle and Luke also went since Luke and Finn share their birthday. Adrienne watched Baron when he was a baby for the year I went back to work and she told me he was having her hand feed him pizza & that he had her trained. I would venture to guess he was loving being the youngest again ;)  Happy, Happy Birthday Finn and Luke!

 

I stayed home and had a pedicure with Katie (sis-in-law), Nicole (Katie's sis-in-law & my good friend from high school) and Sheri (Katie's mom).  We then went and had a yummy dinner at Trav & Katie's courtesy of Dale (Katie's dad). Happy 30th Katie!

 

 

 

Love!

Picture this:  It's Sunday and the kids are fresh out of their bath. Baron is standing on my bed after getting dressed so he is face to face with me. Grant comes in and asks Baron for a kiss. Baron says no and instead places his little hands on my cheeks and gives me a kiss while saying "I give mommy a kiss". And so we begin a game of Grant giving me a kiss and Baron pulling my face away so he can give me a kiss all the while laughing at the greatness of this game. I hope I remember that moment forever!

(This pic is from Christmas when Mr. B was helping dad out with decorations-I love his drill!)

The Beginning of Swim Lessons

We began a new stage in our lives with Baron on Monday 01/07......swimming lessons. It's one of the many things I had planned on doing a year ago but like so many others, it just didn't happen. So we started now. That Monday I called to gather all the details of swim lessons and was informed they were beginning that night and they still had openings. Grant was on board and since this is a father/son activity, we signed up. Night #1 was a whirlwind of registering at the pool after work, running around getting swim diapers (even though he is potty trained....really??) and picking up dinner. Poor guy was not even done eating when we rushed him out the door again and by the time he made it into the water, he wasn't a fan.  There were tears, a few "get me outta here's" and "I'm all done mommy" but he stuck out the half hour swim lesson with dad (thanks in part to a super cool rubber duck) and we made it home with a semi-smile on our faces. 

We tried a better approach on Wednesday and the lesson went much smoother. We talked about swimming in the "big pool" all day and by the time they needed to go, we had a little boy standing at the front door more than ready. And I was rewarded with a "I had fun mom, I had fun" when he walked in the door (which Grant says was not prompted). We just ended week #2 and he is ready to go again!

Anniversary #7

Happy Anniversary to my husband. I feel truly blessed to be celebrating year #7 with you and know there are many more to come. You make me happy every day. I love you!