Ashley's 3

Ashley turned 3 this December.  Chris and I were around for her actual birthday, but were suppose to be in Minnesota for her birthday party at POJO's.  However, with the cancellation of our trip, we were there for the party too.

Morgan

Ella

Ashley was so excited to ride on the carousel...until she got on the carousel

Morgan and Ella

Ashley won all three of these things on one try with the toy crane!  They were all tangled together.

Even the adult boys had fun.

Everyone helping with the candles

The group

The trip that wasn't

Chris and I had scheduled time off of work to go visit his family in Minnesota.  Two days before we were to fly out a blizzard was fore casted in the Midwest.  Once we heard about the storm we debated about still going.  However, since we did not have trip insurance, a cancellation on our end would mean losing everything.  Saturday we hoped for the best and got to the airport early.  Everything was still on time once we arrived so be boarded the plane for Denver.  Once we were on the ground in Denver and allowed to turn our our cell phones, I checked my messages.  Sure enough I had one from the airlines saying our Denver flight to Minnesota was canceled!  The earliest they could even try to fly us out was 8:30pm the next night, not only that, but after talking to Jody she was uncertain if we would be able to drive from Minneapolis to Rochester.  The storms were suppose to keep up all week, so we decided even if we made it to Minnesota there would be a good chance we would not make it back home. In the end we decided to get on another plane and head right back to Boise.
Now we joke that Chris is just such a thoughtful husband he decided to fly me to Denver for lunch and back!
Sunday we found out Minnesota received 20 inches of snow, part of the metrodrome collapsed, and even the snowplows were grounded.  That was was kind of nice to hear and know we made the right decision, but we are still both upset that we missed out on seeing the family. Hopefully our schedules open up enough for us to try to get to Minnesota again.

Boise St vs. Utah St

Chris had never been to a Boise State football game before so when Amber was unable to use her season tickets for the last home game against Utah State, her and her mom graciously decided to let Chris and I use the tickets in their place.  Luckily it was a 1 pm kickoff because winter decided to hit hard this year.  There was snow in the morning and forecasted rain for the game.  We dressed in lots of warm layers but luckily the rain decided to stay away. 

Boise State was on track to play in the National Championship game or Rose Bowl until their loss against Nevada last week.  I had been excited to watch what should have been the final step in securing one of the spots, but actually think it turned out better to be there and show continued support to Boise State.  The fans were great and Boise pulled off a great win.

Montana Snow

This is why the Montana clan could not make it for Thanksgiving....

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

My parents and cousin Scott where suppose to come to Boise this year for Thanksgiving.  However, thanks to a winter storm that hit both Boise and Billings on Monday and shut down part of I-15, they got stuck in Montana.  I was sad not to have them in town, but Chris and I still got to spend the day with Lynn, Kerry and the girls. 

Chris and I had a lazy Thanksgiving morning while we finished cooking our portion of the dinner.  I then took Drake on a very chilly run while he was loving the snow.  We then headed to Lynn's.  After a huge dinner (we had bought a 20 lb turkey), we took a little nap, then headed to the movie theatre to watch Tangled in 3D.  It was actually a pretty cute movie and even Chris said it was not too bad!  After the movie it was back to Lynn's for pumpkin pie.  Chris and I finally made it back to our house where we then put up our Christmas tree.

Morgan, Ella, Ashley

Ashley

Thanksgiving Present

Yesterday while heading home from work, Ella called me and asked if I could stop by.  When I asked what she wanted she merely said she had something for me.  I figured they made Thanksgiving cards and wanted to give me mine early.  When I showed up she very happily gave me a small present wrapped in brown paper.  When I opened the gift this is what I saw....

It is a painted and glazed tile of her hand print, a total parent gift.  It almost made me cry.  When I asked if she didn't want to give it to mom and dad instead, she said "No Morgan also made one they can have."  Morgan then piped in and added they could share hers.  I love it...  I figure I will display it this year and probably next and then give it back to Lynn and Kerry so they can a match set.  I was just touched Ella even thought of me.  I love those girls more than I could ever express.

Deer Hunt

Chris had a great deer hunt this year.  However, before getting a deer, Chris had to do some deer scouting that also included chuckar hunting with Drake.

Chris sent out and email telling everyone of his success, so I just copied it to add it to the blog:

I hunted hard the opening couple of days (Nov 1,2) but with temps in the mid 60's, nothing was really happening so I decided to head home and work for a few days before heading back out.  I headed back out Sunday and hunted until Monday night when I ran into this one.  He was courting a group of does and chasing around a smaller buck and I watched as I sized him up for about 10 minutes.  He wasn't the biggest buck I saw during my outings, but he was good enough for me.  250 yard shot and he went down in his tracks.  I shot him at 4:30 and had him quartered and packed out by 7:30.  The 4 wheeler's gas tank cracked on the way down Sunday so as usual I had to pack him out on my back!  It was a great hunt, and hunting solo in remote country made the success a bit sweeter.  For a hunt in a trophy unit this was not the buck I had set out for, but after seeing 31 bucks over the course of 2 weeks and only 1 of those being "trophy" size and on private land, this buck was plenty good enough for me.  Enjoy the pictures

My Nieces are 6!!!

Ella and Morgan celebrated their 6th birthday this past weekend.  It is crazy how quickly time flies by....

For their birthday we headed to Wahooz for some arcade games, go carts, mini golf and laser tag.  After that we headed home for pizza and cake at home.

Morgan with her cousin Emilee

Ella with her cousin Kyrie

Morgan got Ella leg warmers

Morgan got an American Baby from her parents

Lynnea made a cupcake cake

Barber to Boise 2010

Saturday was the 34th annual Barber to Boise 10K.  The weather was perfect for racing and never got above 60 degrees.  This race is usually my "fast" race so I was of course nervous.  I really wanted to get a PR, but knew to do that I would have to push myself.  I knew to have a chance of setting a record I needed to stay under 8:30 minute miles.  About every quarter mile I would check my watch to make sure I was keeping a good pace.  I felt great for the first 4 miles.  The last two were a bit more of an effort, but more so as a mind game.  I kept reminding myself that I was still feeling good and had previously ran this fast this far before so I was not asking for the impossible.  At the end it paid off.  I crossed the finish line at 51:48.225, a personal record by 47.268 seconds!  I came in 279th out of 934 total runners, 91st out of 550 women runners and 21st out of 107 females in my age group of 25-29. Overall I have to say I am very happy with the results.

For Kerry this was his first race in his five finger shoes.  Apparently the shoes worked well for him because he also set a personal record of 44:32.23.  He came in exactly 200 people in front of me at 79th place.

We again finished in Bronco Stadium. 

Kerry

Here I come...this year they started people in waves, mine started 2 minutes after the first wave, so the finish clock is off from my start time. 

And I am done

In the end zone

Morgan, Ashley, Me, Ella

Kerry and I (note Kerry's shoes)

Ella, Lynnea, Ashley, Kerry, Morgan

Chris and I.  This was Chris' first time inside Bronco Stadium.

Later that day the twins had a cheer meet at their subdivision's fall festival.  It was fun to get to see the girls in action.  You could tell they were concentrating hard on the moves!

What happens when the girls dress themselves

Ella and Morgan

Ella and Morgan

Ella and Morgan