Going to Fall Creek for our Xmas Tree

GREAT Weather!!! We did our annual Saturday after Tgiving Tree adventure. We headed up to Fall Creek (just before Swan Valley, Idaho), our normal spot. We spend a lot of time there in the summer hiking, camping, and fishing. The good thing is it's only 40 minutes away.


We went up with Christian and Tammy...and their kids. We parked at the usual spot and hiked up the usual hill. It's getting easier every year as the kids are getting much more adventurous out in the mountains. The girls are now great hikers, climbers, and fun to be with on the trail.

Had some beautiful weather this year. No snow on the roads, just spots here and there in the grass and mountains. Last year we all were slipping on the hill due to about a 1/2 foot of snow. But, the snow is coming here this week...

VIDEO: Hiking up the hill for a tree


We cut the tree down, hiked around and let the kids explore the tree groves and canyons, then headed home. The tree is up and the cats will begin to freak out due to a tree being outside. Have a great week!





Photo SLIDESHOW


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Thanksgiving fun and games

Just a few Thanksgiving photos and a video. Graycie lost her second tooth on the top on the night before TGiving. She did good by pulling and tugging until it came out. We had a great tgiving. The usual crowd attended the feast and we had a few tournaments, some traditional. Frank, Dave, and Brandon got out for their 8th annual Tgiving Disc Golf game at Tautphaus Park, just a few blocks away. Game ended with Brandon -1, Frank even, and Dave +4. Oh well, there's next year.


Brandon, Steve, Seth, and Jessica came over to eat and watch some football. Joe and Amber walked down for our first annual tgiving croquet game in our backyard. The air was a little chilly but clear skies and sun beating down on us. Amber ended up winning the first annual and we all had a blast with a little wine in hand.






Really not much going on here. Slowly getting the Xmas stuff done. Lights are up and we've got our tree from the mountains. Other then that, notta. Just getting ready for the snow which is supposed to dump on us tonight, tomorrow, and the Friday.

VIDEO: Graycie pulling out her second tooth!



Mia was able to go to the Museum with her school class. Amber was able to help out and go along with them. The theme right now is the Prehistoric beast from way back. It was a real nice display, they did a great job and all the kids had a blast.



Frank and Joe were able to get out on Friday night and go to the UFC / ECF (elite / ultimate fighting / combat fighting) matches held at the local Bonneville HS. It was most outstanding, quite a few ass-beatings, and great family entertainment :) We had a good time. Cory and CJ Beard who Amber and I are friends with fought in the last 2 out of 3 matches. Cory beat down his opponent, CJ at nothing but leather in the third round. The UFC is going to be sponsoring 3 more fights in the next year. I'll be at all three.



Webshots Slideshow


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Getting ready for Turkey Day

Not too much going on the last two weeks. Weather has been incredible mild, today making it to 60 degrees and nice. They've been predicting snow for the last week but so far nothing except that one freak day of snow!

VIDEO: Walk around neighborhood







The girls have been able to play outside for most of the days except for a few days last week where the highs were maybe 35, and the lows 16 degrees. We've only had the fire burning a few days last week which normally we have one going daily by now.




VIDEO: Mia Scared of Santa






We've got the house prepared for winter this weekend... wrapped the outside pipes, winterized the sprinkler systems, raked and mowed up the leaves, split and stacked wood and the girls helped with hanging winter decorations inside the house.

VIDEO: Graycie giving Olivia Rides







We've had some great sunsets that we've snapped a few photos of. Here's a few photos of the kids, the family, around the house, bunny hunting, hanging xmas decorations, festival of trees, blah blah blah. Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!







VIDEO: Girls Disco Dancing downstairs


Webshots Slideshow
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The Best Halloween Ever

What a great day and night. The weather was perfect, Amber didn't work, Frank was off at 1100 hours. This was one of the best Halloweens we've had, doing just about everything we possibly fit in during the day... and night. We finally made it back home about 8:30.




School Time and Parade of Costumes

After the parade of costumes, we were able to bounce back and forth to Graycie and Mia's class helping out with each of the classes Halloween party. What a total screw-off day it was for the kids and teachers, but they all looked like they had a great time!

VIDEO: Mia parading at Graycies class








VIDEO: Frank and Amber out at recess


Kids Class Halloween Parties

We were both able to get to the kids school in time for both classes to parade around the other classrooms. Each class took turns touring the classrooms showing off their costumes. Pretty neat too watch 500 kids walk around, each with different costumes. Amber's sponge bob was a huge hit, everyone knew sponge bob! Amber made the costume at home by painting the face on a cardboard box.







VIDEO: Inside Mia's classroom



Time to go Trick or Treat!

The girls had such a good time trick or treating. The weather was a little nippy but perfect, no clouds, no wind, no moisture... perfect. There were tons of people in and out of the neighborhood. We set off with the Joe and his girls and had a good time. The kids each got about 5 lbs of candy, which most of it will find its way lost. We filled up our cups full of wine, grabbed Pinot, and headed off throughout the neighborhood. We must have hit 50 houses last night. They kids had a BLAST!

VIDEO: Kids handing out candy










If you use the Webshots Desktop / Screensaver, you can check out the photos on Webshots, here is a small slideshow...