LAKE POWELL 2008

Our anual Lake Powell trip was so wonderful this year. It is always a ton of fun but this year was the best so far. The weather was absolutely perfect. It was sunny and warm the whole time and the water was pretty much glass for the whole trip. We had 3 boats and 4 waverunners so we got to do tons of stuff. We:

Played in the Water

Played in the Sand and Collected Sea Shells

Found a Lizard

Wakeboarded

...Even Bauer

Tubed

Went to Rainbow Bridge

Cliff Jumped

and Even Took Family Pictures

OUR PIRATES

Well, it is time for the anual Halloween costume pictures. This year's theme - Pirates. We went back to Gardner Village and Wheeler Farm this year. Bauer and Paislee both had their ups and downs but we got a couple of cute ones of each of them. Bauer is such a stinker. He refuses to look at the camera and smile. So of course, we had to take a little potty break in the middle of pictures and while we were in the bathroom he said "mom, take my pictre. Cheese." It was the cutest smile I got all day. Darn kid! I sure do love those little stinkers though!

BAUER'S FAVORITES

I thought it would be fun to document the way a child changes by writing down Bauer's favorites every year. I think back-to-school time is as good of time as any since we are so busy the month of his birthday so here it is - Bauer's favorites September 2008...
Toy: Tools
Friend: Paislee
Food: Chicken Nuggets
Color: Yellow (more that he likes to say it than that he likes the color itself)
Thing to Collect: Money
Activity: Swimming
Sport: Golf
Treat: Smiles
TV Show: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Movie: Lion King
Shoes: "flop-flops"
Clothes: Any Kind of Sports Jersey
Animal: Lion
Game: Hiding (mostly under a blanket)
Superhero: Hulk
Word: Because

THE MIGHTY HUNTERS

Warning...pictures of dead animals.

Brian and I just went on our first antelope hunt and it was awesome! My dad talked us into going and we are so glad. We found a hotel in Bicknell that was just a short drive from our hunting spot so my mom, Angela, Collin and Bauer got to come with us. They stayed back at the hotel and went swimming while my dad, Brian and I went hunting. This was Brian's first big game hunt ever and at about 8:00 in the morning on opening day, he took his first shot. There were about 5 of them with the one Brian was shooting at that we were watching and after we watched them run away, we saw dust kicking up in the distance. Dad was on his motorcycle and drove out toward where the dust was while Brian and I stayed back, watching the spot so we could guide him. Dad got off his motorcycle and yelled "well, your hunt is over." We were so excited. Brian's first shot ever and he got his antelope! He was pretty funny gutting it. He wasn't sure he wanted to stick his hands up there and pull out the guts but he did it. Once we got Brian's antelope cleaned out and tied onto the four wheeler, we headed out to find mine. We rode around and saw quite a few herds before we found a nice antelope to shoot at. He would stand and look at us as we drove up within shooting range and then as soon as I was almost in position to shoot, he would run over a hill to where we couldn't see him. So we would hop back on the machines and chase after him. Finally the third time we caught up to him, I got a shot of him on the run and down he went. Then it was time for me to have the awesome experience of gutting. By about 10 :00 our hunt was over. We both got pretty decent antelopes. Neither of them were trophies by any means but to us they are because they were our first kills. We spent the rest of the day hanging out at the hotel, playing hide-and-seek and swimming. Bauer loved being able to go to the pool so much. He is such a fish! They went Friday night for a couple of hours when we got there while us hunters went to scout out where we were going and then they went in the morning while we were hunting and cleaning everything up, and then we all went after we had lunch. Bauer loved his first hunt. He was so fascinated by the animals. He loved to look at them. Every time we would pass the truck, he would ask someone to hold him up to look at the antelope. And after we had cut the heads off and cut all of the meat off and put it in coolers, he would ask to look in the cooler or at the heads. He didn't want to get close to them though. He just wanted to see them from a distance. He was so cute. I am so excited for when he can actually hunt with us. We had so much fun. What a great hunt! As soon as we are eligible we will be putting in for it again.

SLEEPOVER

Bauer had his first friend sleepover on Wednesday night. He has had sleepovers with family before but this was his first one with a friend. Yep, you guessed it – he slept over at Paislee’s house. He was so excited about it that he wouldn’t let us even say goodnight to him. From the time we told him he could sleep over until we got there, he was saying “I want to go to Paislee’s house RIGHT NOW!” Amanda had planned on setting up the port-a-crib in the spare bedroom for Bauer to sleep in but he and Paislee really wanted to sleep in the same room so she let them and they had the time of their lives! They stayed up talking to each other for an hour and a half. I am so glad that they are such good friends. They truly do love each other.

PICTURE DAY

Today's playgroup was picture day at my house. Amanda and I thought it would be fun to do a school picture kind of thing so we took a group picture and then an individual of each of the kids. It was pretty hard work but the kids were cute so we got some cute pictures. Bauer is horrible about having his picture taken. As soon as I try to take it, he will run to me and try to hug me so he doesn't have to take it. You would think he would get it by now that if he would just sit still and smile for a couple of seconds, he could be done. So needless to say, I didn't get as many cute pictures as I wanted of him. Here is the one that was probably the best:After all of the kids left, we took Bauer and Paislee back downstairs for round 2. We figured that since we had them all dressed up already and they were even matching, we might as well get as many pictures as we could. Neither of them wanted to have their picture taken anymore so we didn't really get a whole lot but we did get a couple of cute ones. For these pictures, we gave Bauer a flower and told him to give it to Paislee. We were laughing so hard because of their faces. You can see that Bauer is so excited to give it to her and then in the last picture, when Paislee finally has the flower, she is ecstatic. Here are a couple of the other cute ones we got of them.

Just a quick funny story. On Sunday we were at Gayle & Lorna's house for dinner. Lorna has a statue that looks a lot like this picture. Bauer was over looking at it and said "Hey, Jesus wears flop-flops like me."