Blessing Day - Dec.26

We blessed Alexis in our old home ward while we were in Pocatello. This way at least some of our family could be there with us. She was so beautiful and the blessing was too.

Mom made the dress! It was perfect in every way.

Christmas 2010

We were so lucky to go to Pocatello for Christmas this year and spend some time with some of our family. Christmas just wouldn't be the same without the people we love around us and one week is just not enough time in my mind, but that's life. I am grateful we had that time at all.

Because our flight took us to Salt Lake, we were able to spend a few hours at Grandma Linberry's house with Aunts, Uncles, and cousins before our drive to Pocatello.

4 generations

Christmas Morning

My boys love their guns... I wonder who they take after.

Look how excited Alexis was for Christmas.

What a great babysitter!

They kids were so excited to have time with their grandparents, aunts & uncles, and cousins.

The Schley cousins

The Terry cousins

We blessed our Lexi-pie

and celebrated Valery's birthday.

Birthday Boy... Dec 17

Can't believe our little G-man is 2 YEARS OLD! His curious, smart, happy, loving, funny, playful, energetic ways just make all of us love him more and more everyday!! What a blessing it is to have him in our family!

We love you Grant!
He couldn't wait to blow out the candle. In fact he blew it out three times before we had the chance to sing happy birthday and take a picture.

Finally he waited long enough...


....to have Andrew jump in and do it for him.

Couldn't shovel it in fast enough!

who doesn't love opening presents?

My back yard... the ramblings thereof

Kinda like livin' on a farm... or at a zoo... or in the wild... take your pick.

While my family was last here we had an interesting experience. I was shaking the rug out in the side yard when what appeared before mine eyes, but a large cow moose. I had to blink a few times and stare for a while before I believed it. It startled me somewhat, I didn’t know how to react. I called my dad and my brother out. I didn’t have words. I just told them ‘come fast, there is something out here!’ They of course were really excited seeing it. I had tied Naci up at a tree right before the moose showed up. Naci spotted the moose and - trying to protect us, I think - ran after the moose, barking. Mrs. Moose didn’t like it so much and charged Naci until she couldn’t back up anymore and choked on her collar. I was getting my camera when I heard her yelp. I thought the moose hurt her, luckily that was not the case. The moose then proceeded to our Apple trees right on the other side of our driveway in front of the house. She hung out there, eating Apples for hours. Jake got home to see it there, parked at the end of the driveway and walked slowly to the house. The moose just minded her own apple eating business. She didn’t seem concerned about us, the humans, at all. She was our pet moose for a couple of days until, somehow, Jared scared it away on the way home from his morning run. She took off running never to return. Though we don't miss having a moose around, it was pretty cool, and scary, having one in our front yard for so long. This would never happen inside city limits.

We have more animals (and insects) around here than I care to talk about, mice; frogs; rabbits; racoons; birds of many assortments; coyotes; deer; obviously the occational moose. It's what we get for living in the country. Here are a few pics of some we are fond of...

This owl hangs out in our trees. Here it's watching the late summer sunset with me.

This county fair runaway came from Jake's friends.... SOMEONE found it in his yard a week after the fair was over and decided it would be a great idea for it to live in the country and a great gift for our boys. It's the thought that counts, right? Despite our disapproval, the bunny was left in our yard. We worried the poor little thing would get devoured by either the coyotes or the owl. Jake let it live in the garage for a while until he couldn't keep up with feeding it and opened the garage door a little for it to roam and eat the grass. Jake would see it run from the field back to it's hideout in the garage when he would come home from school. We never picked a name for it because we didn't know if it was male or female, so we just called it bunny. Good thing we didn't get too attatched because it can now be found grazing with the other wild rabbits who live under the barn. It fits in quite well. Hopefully it is surviving the winter cold and staying clear of the predators.

We are glad Naci is still around and alive. A couple of weeks ago we thought we lost her. She has the horrible habbit- as many country dogs do - of chasing cars, trucks, & tractors down the street. Unfortunately that is what kills many country dogs. I had let her out of her dog room to go potty one snowy day and forgot about her while I tended the kids. Jake later noticed she wasn't around and went out looking for her like he has done before. Usually she'll come running to the truck if shes too far from the house or she'll just come home on her own. This time she didn't. The Snow Plow had come by a little while after I let her out, so we assumed that she got plowwed into the snow, burried alive, and we wouldn't find her until spring. We were pretty upset all day and night. Our neighbor called Jake in the morning saying there was a dog that was chasing the snow plow and stopped at their house. They didn't know whos dog it was so they chained her up and took her to the animal shelter in the morning. We didn't have to pay the shelter because we picked her up before they had time to shelter her. PHEW! Lucky we still have our Naci!