"Fox, can I take the boys fishing?"

Hm, can the boys go fishing??

Twist my arm...

ok!

The spoils from the first "spring?" fishing trip:

Rulon thought his albino trout was cool.

But not as cool as the normal looking one.

Mads did NOT think his albino catch was cool, definitely creepy.

Mads had the moster catch of the day with his Lightening McQueen fishing pole, Take THAT!!

Nothing warms a mom's heart like happy boys!

Look out fish... the boys are warming up!!

Red Rock A-maze-ing!

Chester took the boys on a little outing to explore the red rock mazes so the boys could try out their new binoculars. Safe to say they had a fun time!

Rulon really loves the red color of the mountains and dirt in St. George, he watches for the first hint of red on the drive down from Orem and alrerts me to the fact that we are geting closer as he sees the color changing from brown to red. This time there had been so much rain that the earth was a much darker color than he was used to. As we got closer to St. George I could not believe Rulon had not informed me that we were getting close. No sooner had I dismissed this thought than Rulon asked, "Mom, what's wrong with St. George? It's all wrong." Had to smile at that!

Chester turns 34!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST CHESTER EVER!!!

How is it that moms and dads always get "help" opening their presents?

Mads gave Chester a new pair of ski socks to keep his old dogs warm!

Rulon is more of an accessory kind of gifter...

A new Red Sox Phiten necklace was in order!!

Just looking out for your chi daddo.

Chester is such a good husband and dad, he put up with me changing his birthday and Christmas this year. In order to spent the holidays in St. George with some of my family AND have our little family all in the same place for opening gifts together, we ended up celebrating Chester's birthday on the 27th and Christmas on the 28th.  I know it wasn't how it "should" have been but it was our own kind of perfect, thanks Chesty!

White Stuff

It seems as though my last post was a bit one sided, that is boy sided, so here are the pretties of the family!! Birdie and I stay nice and toasty warm together in the house while the boys teach the snow a lesson outside.  Seriously... they teach the snow serious lessons.

Lesson 1:

Utah snow will become Canadian if it wants to stay in our yard.

Lesson 2:

Why is Chester in shorts? Ok, not a lesson but whatever.

AND Lesson 3:

If snow dares to fall in our yard it will get "falled right back on" by 2 boys.

Faller Jr.

Faller Less Jr.

When the snow teaches the boys a lesson, like hey it's really cold and wet out here... the boys head indoors to do some hunting, mostly birds and small game. Occasionally a spider or ghost - but they are more elusive than you might think.  Full gear is always necessary, hydration as well, but that goes without saying.

I've warned them a time or two about Santa lurking about... heads up Mads.

Game face? check.

Boys Adventure!

Chester, Rulon and Mads went on a big adventure this weekend!! Chester was super excited to see the Raymond Comets football team play against a high school in Pocatello, ID.  Naturally he took the boys with him since he is an awesome dad!

Their first stop was at the Smith & Edwards crazy military surplus place... they saw old missiles...

sat on a BIG TANK!!! And Rulon finally got a belt that he can put his belt buckle on from the Piute county fair. (Is that right? The buckle the kids got at the Courthouse vacation in Junction, UT?)

The next stop was in Malad, Idaho at the cemetery where grandma Marie and grandpa Wally are buried.  Although neither of the boys knew their great grandpa (neither did I) Rulon does have good memories of his great grandma Marie.  He still sleeps, plays, and travels with his "Toby horse" stuffed animal from grandma Marie. I learned something new about grandpa Wally, he planted the trees that are so big and pretty on their plot at the cemetery, and my mom remembers when she was about 11 or so the trees were finally getting taller than she was, how cool is that?

They also got to see where two of their great great grandparents are buried!

It was especially neat because our little Mina is named after their great great grandma Mina Newhouse! How cool!

Then it was on to the football game! These signs were proudly displayed before leaving home just in case there wasn't a good photo of them later.

Now that's a happy boy!!!

Our nephew Nikora is #58!!!

YUP!! There he is!!!

Snacks too?!? What a treat! Not sure what or who Mads is scowling at but I'm sure he scared em off.

And a little clip to wrap up this report of the boys big adventure!!

Rainy Day FUN!

Chester told the boys they could go for a quick bike ride befpre the grey clouds made good on their threats of rain... well, they did go on a bike ride, and they got SOAKED! The boys loved it like crazy.

A little shelter form the rain in the dugout at Orem High School.

Rulon is pretty good at taking pictures... he took this one of Chester & Mads.

A little clip of the mad biking skills packed in the boys genes:

Boys Camping Trip

Chester gets my vote for the best dad ever.  He took Rulon and Mads camping up Provo Canyon Monday night and they had a blast! A little dirt, some fire, sleeping bags and a tent, a bit of fishing, raccoons, Spitz, a litlte rain... what more do you need?

Rulon took a picture of the fire. I include this great picture because he also got Mads in the top right corner...taking a leak :)

Rulon is getting good at taking pictures of people when they expect it too!

Mads is more focused on spitting out seed shells at the moment.

Not even rain can wash the smiles off these cute faces!

The next morning the boys hopped in the ol' Chev to drive to a good fishing spot.

I'm surprised Chester could get them back in the Chev to head home.

Chester may have been ready, but the boys were not.

(Neither was Julie back home in the nice quiet house with only pretty little Mina!)

New Bikes!!!

Mads upgraded from his Lightning McQueen car to Rulon's little bike... and Rulon upgraded from his little red bike from Mona & Gord to a cool bigger bike from Auntie Peggy!!!

Now they want to ride their bikes every day... it's pretty cool riding in circles on the driveway - for now :)

Sure Signs of Summer

Chester is the best dad ever, he has taken to boys fishing once (or more) each week for the past few weeks. It is great for the boys and such a gift to me since I still prefer to stay home with Mina. This is Rulon's little fish that Chester cooked up a few minutes after the photo... Rulon ate it up but Mads was not so sure about eating that ol' trout.

Today I agreed to water fun in the back yard... this was before the yelling and grumpiness started... they were yelling and I was grumpy :)

RedSox fevah

I had it in mind to get a good picture of my Red Sox loving family... this is as good as it got, can't ask for all eyes and smiles on my at the same time... they are great to humor me at all.

**A very special thanks to my Red Sox jersey wardrobe specialist over the last several years, that's right mom, this is a shout out to YOU!! :)