Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

Last year we had no clue about our small town and the fact that there are no tree lots near. If you want a real tree you have to get your tree tag the day after Thanksgiving, and then you have that weekend and the next to harvest your tree - we found this info out on the last day. So we had no choice but to put up our fake tree and burn pine candles. But as soon as the tree came down it went out with the garbage - sorry mom. Jason said that this would ensure we get a real one.

But of course, a year later, do you think we could remember all this? Luckily we heard a commercial, through static, that it was time to get a tag. Couldn't hear exactly where they were being sold so Jason made a few phone calls - SOLD OUT! They sell all their 1000+ tags in one day! However, I saw a sign in Salina and Jason had Monday off. He needed to go to Salina anyway to get a new pull rope for the chainsaw, so going there to get a tree tag was not out of the way.

As soon as the older two girls got home from school, we loaded up and headed up the canyon. We stopped and looked at a few trees we saw from the road and thought there's no way we are going to find a good one from the road. Jason wanted to get up higher and then look on the way down, sunlight was running out. The girls and I kept going AH there's a- and Jason would do his 'Dr Evil' SHUSH, SSH, ZZ, ZIP...But then we all saw it at the same time, a beautiful, skinny but stately, douglas fir.

(You may have to turn your head to see some of the pictures. I got too frustrated trying to figure it out so I gave up. OH well!)

We had a lot of fun, and stress, decorating the tree. Chey was SSOOO excited she just had to touch everything - then throw it. I gave her an ornament I knew she couldn't hurt; she walked right up to the tree and chucked the ornament at it, turned to me clapping and screams, "YAAAY!"

After we cut the tree and roped it up, we still had sunlight so we continued up the mountain. We were hoping to get a look at some wildlife and came upon a frozen pond. At first the girls were scared to step on it, even after Jason jumped up and down all across it. Then we couldn't get them off it! That is until Cheyenne was screaming ouhwee because her hands got so cold.

We did see quite a few deer - actually more than a dozen - in little groups of 3-4.
We had so much fun. Now I just gotta keep Chey from toting the ornaments around and swiping at the branches of the tree.

Exploring some more

I was going to post pictures of our wonderful Thanksgiving, however, I realized afterwards, that I was side-tracked in taking pictures and I only ended up with a couple. These things happen when one hasn't seen loved ones in ages and is also trying to stop the three rug-rats from screaming and running and climbing and fighting. Oh well, Christmas for sure I will get photos of everyone.

I did get a really great one of Chey. After everyone else had gone for the night, we stayed and played poker with Eric, Leslie and Michael. Cheyenne had found a nice place to settle down for the night:

Too cute! Who needs a bed when you've got a hearth? :)

Sunday we took a drive to explore more area around us and I was sure to take pictures this time. We went down I-70 towards Green River and took a ranch exit, only 60 miles from home, to see the country you can't see from the highway. We were looking for a place to call coyotes or see prairie dogs or rabbits and we found gorgeous sights! With no real plan in mind we followed some signs that we thought would be interesting, such as the Mussentuchit Sand Dune. It's nothing like other sand dunes we've been to, however, this one was quite amazing in that it is a mountain of pure fine sand in the middle of rock.


On the way to the dune we saw a couple buildings that looked like old mine shafts but they had windows in them. The girls thought it was cool that they could stand on the roof. And they would have if they could have but we told them not unless they want to bust their heads.


The geology that we came across was absolutely amazing. Makes one wish to have pursued a career in it...or maybe...I'll just raise one instead!


We drove through Cat Canyon and went through layers and layers of earth. The picture below does not even do the sight justice. It looked like black fins all along the brown and red ridge.


The layers of colors and the curvature sure gets your mind a thinkin'. We sure love it.


Since we detoured a few times, we didn't make it to the part we really wanted to see before it got dark. Next time we'll go in the way we came out to see it first. But this is what we do, and living down here makes it so much easier and more enjoyable.

A star is born!

We all knew that Abriana had a knack and liking for being center-stage. Ok, she's not quite 'center,' but here she is in her school program!


(our camera didn't like the lighting in the auditorium, but it sure is better than nothing)


The third-graders did a program called "Catch the Spirit" and dedicated to the 145th Battalion. They practiced for WEEKS and I was almost tired of the songs before the time was near for them to perform it. She was just so excited, yet being her dramatic self, feigned embarrassment and nervousness.


It was a really cute program and still the songs echo through the house as Abriana does her chores. She is 'Proud to be an American!'

Here fishy, fishy...

We met Grandpa Russ at Deer Creek Reservoir last Saturday after he had sent us a pix message the weekend before, his catch barely fitting inside his 18" wide sink. We hadn't been fishing for some time or seen Grandpa since the archery deer hunt, so it seemed like an awesome day trip.

We were late - as usual - but not by much (the girls do not function at 5:30 in the morning), and as we crest the hill in search of where Grandpa was, we saw Ruger already getting a good scratch around the ears. Russ said he watched Ruger, 30 feet away, making a bee-line along the rocks when, just as he was about to pass Russ up, Ruger made a sharp turn and ran straight to him. Ruger sure knows his people!

The fishing was slow going at first, fish weren't even jumping. So after teaching Chey to slide down the rocks and sand on her butt instead of screaming, the kids all started digging and playing.

Then Jason caught the first fish! Ruger came bounding over through the water to watch Jason net it and Chey squealed YEAH. Ruger licked the fish while Abriana and Kayla cheered Dad on, too. Chey kept clapping and screaming with excitement trying to get a close look at it, then it flopped. She shrieked and fell over in her haste to get away! But as soon as it stopped moving, she was leaning over it again. And again it flopped and she shrieked and...funny kids.

I caught the next one, which was just a bit smaller than the first one. Sorry, no picture of that one.

Then, as I was getting after Abriana to put her socks back on - "but my feet are sweaty! FINE!" - I saw her pole dive into the water.

"Abriana, your pole!"

"What!? I don't have my shoes on!"

Some people's children - oh, yea, they're mine. She finally got over there, saved her pole and reeled in a fish just as big as Jason's. She was so excited, she's never caught a fish that big!


Jason caught another fish proportionate to the other 3. My second one decided he wasn't going to let me win and broke my line. Abriana must've had the same one come along trying to satisfy his hunger for power bait, because she lost her hook with her second one. Russ kept wondering when it was his turn - I guess he forgot his fish call.

Again Cheyenne was over at the flip-flopping fish; screaming each time they moved and trying to touch them every time they weren't. Then she decided she had enough fun with that and now it's time to lay down. But oh, where was that binki? We searched up hill and down, under rocks and through sand castles, even along the shore line. Sorry missy, you're just going to have to lay down without it. Yeah, right! She cried and scowled and screamed, but finally sleep was too much to hold off, she curled up on Jason's jacket and accepted her defeat!

Russ decided it was time to take a walk. Jason and I were admiring Russ's pole; he was telling me that pole has got to be older than he and I put together, when it twitched. Jason hollered up the hill to get Russ to hurry as he set the hook. Russ arrived to reel in the long awaited fish, Jason ready with the net. It was close, almost there, but then there was a pop. Pieces of the reel fell into the water.

We tried for some time to get it back together and thinking we were missing a part, searched the bank. Nope, the reel is broken, not repairable. I asked Jason if I should've kept my mouth shut about the pole. His reply was that maybe Russ wouldn't have gotten a fish if we weren't discussing it. Who knows.

So we decided it was time to pack up. Everyone said their good-bye's and then Ruger hobbled over to us. Poor old dog somehow over-extended two of his toes, and it hurts too bad to put weight on it. We loaded the bunch up and headed home. After half an hour I started wishing I had brought some drinks. The screams and cries from right behind me for 'me-me' were getting to be too much; we still had an hour or so to drive. If it hadn't already been our goal to be done with it, I would've made Jason pull over to buy a stupid plug. She was already only wanting it at naptime and bedtime, so this was our chance, I mean, what else to say to her except "you lost it, it's all gone."

We got home, unloaded the jeep, and I was changing when Jason came in. "I'm such a bad dad," he said. I looked at him and said, "YOU have the binki?!" It was in his coat pocket. At the time of the search he wasn't wearing it, so he didn't think to check those pockets. We decided that we had already come this far without it, so we hid it well. I am glad to say that the crying for the 'me-me' hasn't been as awful as that first day. She still has not had it. And Jason isn't a 'bad dad.'

Well, nothing new or exciting has been happening at the tiny ranch. There is another fire near us enough that the air was thick with smoke; so much so, it burned my eyes. The kids wanted to play outside so bad - it was a day they didn't need to wear their jackets - so instead, they got out ALL their craft stuff! Oh the drama! Shrill sounds of 'Help me puh-leeezz!' and 'That's not fair' and the littlest one chiming in with 'MIIINE!' They are cuties though.

Chey loves to be in the middle of everything and be a little helper too. Here's a photo of her last year helping daddy install the new dishwasher. She was handing him tools until she decided something in her bedroom needed tinkering with, and took off with the screwdriver.

I'm not sure how much she was actually helping here:

I think she was definitely having too much fun with the styrofoam. There were little balls EVERYWHERE! When all three girls were completely covered, they decided to run through the house and chase each other and Ruger. Talk about vacuuming everyday for a complete week...nevermind, let's not. They had fun and that's what counts (can you hear me laughing?).

Well, until next time...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN...

Well, a day after anyway...after I got the kids fed and settled down for bed, I couldn't muster the energy to post pictures last night. So here they are! This one Jason took a couple nights ago. It seems to fit the theme of the week.


Last Friday the school put on a Halloween Carnival; the kids dress up and take their tickets from room to room for some fun games and prizes. Cheyenne was laughing at the older girls as I put their make-up on and when I turned to her and said 'Ok, it's your turn,' she ran out of the room screaming! I found her buried under her blanket on the couch, still crying. So we decided to skip her make-up.

Halloween night I decided to do Chey's face first. It worked out much better, until she realized she hadn't had a nap and she just wanted to lay down.


She cried and rubbed most of it off, but she was still a cute witch. Abriana was a dead bride and Kayla was a vampire.

The town gets together and does a trunk-or-treat and once we got there Cheyenne did a 180, she was screaming with excitement! When she figured out what we were doing I could not keep her next to me. She was running from car to car, butting kids in line so she could get candy - you could see it in her eyes and the little skip-hop she does...candy, candy, candy!

Abriana and Kayla were great helpers getting Cheyenne in and out of the jeep and up the porches of the few neighbors we visited. All in all, it was a great night and the kids had their buckets full in less than an hour!