Happy Birthday Michelle!

Wednesday was Michelle's 17th Birthday. For her birthday party yesterday we went bowling. Fun was had by all.

The Birthday Girl, is she pleased with her performance or not?

Devin taking his turn.

Jamison bowling for the first time, with the help of his mother and cousin Michelle.

Connie and Chanel chilling out waiting for their turn.

Monte, Linda and Ashlyn.

Ashlyn taking over Grandma's cane.

Jim getting the hang of it.

Two cuties: Ashlyn and Michelle

Two more cuties: Abi and Jamison taking a ride in the fire truck.

Monte and Tom taking advantage of the arcade. No surprise that they picked the "shoot em up" game.

Cool Stuff

Monte and I have been blessed with some cool new stuff from our friends and family. Everything from a Kitchen Aide mixer (thanks DD and Josh) to an Ice Cream Attachment for the mixer (thanks Brian and Robyn, it works GREAT! We love it) to a lemon juicer (which we use almost everday) to lots of other great kitchen gadgets and a cool digital photo frame (thanks Tom and Connie). Just to name a few. All of which is making our life easier and better, so thank you very much everyone. Here are picutres of a few things that words can't describe.

An awesome water cooler from Linda and Jim. With everything from hot hot water to cold water. Even a "beverage" cooler on the bottom.

Krista got us (I have to say that getting used to this whole us/we thing is hard) some great serving platters and a pitcher. We were able to use some of money that was given to us for some new kitchen canisters.

This is a closeup of the flower design on the platters.
Mom made us this quilt using her favorite log cabin design and we love it.

The quilt on our bed, looks pretty darn good if you ask me.

A view that is a little closer.

A view that is a lot closer. Please notice that the log cabin light is on, every cabin on that quilt has its lights on. Mom said that the fabric she got it from had half with the lights on and half with them off. That is what I call dedication. Thanks mom. You are the best!

Road Trip

Danielle scooped most of the moving pictures, but here are a couple cute/funny ones that she left out.

Lydia spending some time with Daddy. Danielle and I certainly enjoyed the hours upon hours of "Daddy?", "Daddy?", "Daddy?", "Daddy?", "Daddy?", "truck", "truck", "truck", "Daddy?".

Danielle is excited to be reintroduced to the snow. She thought she had until at least October, but Mother Nature thought it should be sooner than later.

Josh messing up an awesome photo opportunity, but wait... maybe it is better this way?!

Lydia playing in the empty cupboard. A fun game she learned in Phoenix.

Baby Bear in her cute bear hat.

Hunting Season Again

The boys went out turkey hunting and they were successful. We cooked it up the other night and it was pretty darn tasty. Hopefully in the next couple weeks I will get a chance to go out before the season closes.

Tom and his birdie.

Monte and his birdie.

Okay, Okay!

After some intense and passionate encouragement from my lovely big sis, I have decided it is about time I update my blog. It seems like we have been going none stop since last fall, however I don't have a great deal of pictures to show for all the hard work. Never fear I will make up for it over the next several months with Chanel gradutating, and camping season right around the corner.

Life Back to Normal

Not long after the honeymoon it was back to the normal life...

Chanel getting ready to leave for the prom.

Chanel and her friend Holly.

BABYSITTING THE KIDDOS:

Ashlyn trying to crawl up Uncle Monte.

Chillin in the chair with Uncle Monte.

I think it might be time for bed.

Where is Ashlyn? Oh, there she is hiding under the towel.

Viva Mexico

My camera must have gotten lost in the shuffle of wedding stuff because I didn't end up with too many wedding pictures. I suppose that is why you hire a photographer! I will leave the candid wedding photos to Danielle and Robyn they got some very good ones. However, my camera was the only one on the honeymoon, so I guess that means it is up to me to show you all what fun we had on our Mexican cruise.

FUN ON THE SHIP

Monte playing guitar with the putter. I was actually playing mini-golf, or at least trying to because the wind was blowing so hard it was moving the ball.

Monte rock climbing, he made it to the top and the fitness instructor didn't have to pull him up the wall either. I actually saw that more than once. We also ice skated, but I didn't have my camera for that activity.

PORT UNO: CABO SAN LUCAS

Need I say more?!

The happy couple on their way to snorkel. That was my first choice for an excursion. It was such a blast, I loved it. However, I forgot the waterproof camera on the ship, oops! We swallowed enough water that we both met our monthly sodium intake. We also ran into the father of one of students that Logan Brown coaches, go figure!

Cool rock formation on the way to the snorkel spot, we also spotted several whales, which was pretty cool.

PORT DOS: MAZATLAN

Me infront of a waterfall in the shopping district of Mazatlan. I think I have a picture of Krista and I infront of the exact same waterfall about ten years ago. We spent most of the day on the beach, with the camera locked safely away, sorry no pictures.

PORT TRES: PUERTO VALLARTA

Monte's choice for an excursion was swimming with the dolphins, which was completely awesome. Dolphins are amazingly powerful. We couldn't have our cameras with us while we were swimming with them, so you have to settle for us posing infront of the dolphin statue.

Monte decided that he wanted to ride the dolphin.

After we swam with the dolphins we had access to the waterpark. This slide looks unimposing, but don't let it fool you. It is "The Slide of Death" and that is all I have to say about that.....

All in all the honeymoon was a total and complete blast and we can't wait to go on another cruise.