Jacob's Birthday!!!!

Jacob has always wanted "real" camouflage so........ I was at Walmart and saw a complete set for only $3.00! The deal was too good to pass up even if the size was 55 large. He was so surprised he couldn't stop smiling.

Sisters

Here is a picture of all my sisters in the snow.

I love to see the Temple

Here's a nice picture of the Mesa Temple we got from Heather's grandma. In our ward our bishop asked us to go to the Temple weekly for 3 months and then report our experience in sacrament meeting. What a blessing it was to have this experience. I've learned to never go to the Temple without a question in mind. It is said by many that a Temple recommend is a passport into the Heavens.

Holidays

Heather and I have been really busy during the holidays, which is surprising since we each had a lot of time off of work. Leading up to Christmas and the break, Heather was hard at work in the dentist's office and I was working hard getting ready for finals. We made it through and I got pretty good grades in my classes. The weekend that finals ended my elk hunt started and my Dad and I went up to Pinedale, where Heather's family has a cabin. We got up there Thursday night and Heather came up on Friday with her dad, younger brother and sister.

Saturday, at the end of the morning hunt, we were walking back to the car following some power lines. Just as I turned around to say something to my dad, an elk walked out in front of us. I was a ways ahead of my dad, preventing him shooting, so he yelled to me, "Shoot it! Shoot it!" I spun around and saw a beautiful cow elk standing less than 50 yards in front of me. A perfect shot, except my gun was still on my shoulder. I immediately slipped my gun off my shoulder and started taking my glove off so I could pull the trigger. Unfortunately, my sudden movements startled the elk and it took off running followed by another cow and two yearlings, any of which we could have shot because our tags were for any antler-less elk. What a disappointment. It would have been the perfect kill because the elk were at the top of the short hill we were on and the car was just on the other side, less than 100 yards away. Oh well, at least it made for a good story.

Christmas number 2 was fun for us. It was small, but we made up for it last year. We enjoyed it so much because we were able to just spend time with family. We also got to talk to Heather's brother Fletcher who is serving a mission in Barcelona, Spain.

After Christmas we went to the cabin with Heather's family and went snowboarding. It was a blast! Sunrise had a ton of fresh snow and more was falling while we were there. Heather and I both snowboarded and I was doing pretty good for it only being my second time. My family joined us at the cabin later that week so my dad and I could finish our hunt. Unfortunately my dad was sick on Friday, so Heather went with me and she spotted more elk than I did, two.

New Year's Eve was spent with Heather's family playing games like Wits and Wagers. The rest of the week we've been decluttering our condo and I've been working on my online class. I decided to take an online class over the winter break so I wouldn't be overloaded during the semesters. It's the history of the United states up to 1865.

Thanksgiving Hockey

Every Thanksgiving morning I get together with some friends and play street hockey. It's a lot of fun, especially when Heather plays with us. This year we had a decent turn out.

For the size of court we play on (Emerson Elementary School's parking lot) 3-3 or 4-4 is best. That way everyone gets a part of the action.

This year we had some sweet goals that one of the guys made. It was nice than the orange construction cones we normally use. It's hard to see but there are nets on the goals. They were made out of the netting put around trees to the birds out. Unfortunately, the netting wasn't quite strong enough to keep the ball from breaking through.

We usually play every few weeks throughout the year but haven't this year. You don't realize how out of shape you are until you go for a fast break and run out of breath.

Kiddie Pictures

There are only a few baby pictures of me that I am actually wearing clothes. The rest of the pictures are me in some kind of mess. Maybe the horror stories of my past are true. At least Jacob was a wonderful child who never caused his mother grief. Our children have hope.

Here is Jacob with some sticky fingers.

I'll never forget my favorite horse or the boots I never took off.

This is Jacob's messiest moment in his life. Not bad. I'm sure he used his napkin after this bite. I'm glad his mom captured this rare moment.

Busy Times

Things have been busy for Heather and I. She's been doing most of the posting, but we've haven't had the chance to update this for a while. I recently had an interview with Boeing for an internship position and am still waiting to hear back from them.

Heather enjoys her new job. The office is only open four days a week and it's set up so every other week has a four day weekend. This will be really nice now that she has finished her dental assisting class which met on Saturdays.