blue eyes and cherry pie

My wonderful Uncle Merrill passed away on March 25th. He was a wonderful man, very influential on me and all of my siblings.

He had a deep affection for the wonderful world that we live in. He loved nature and being outside. He took me on my first moose sighting trip, and the moose chased the Jeep! Nothing funner and scarier than a horse with ginormous antlers chasing after you.

He always had the best secret places to go and enjoy the mountains around us. He loved to view the world from the highest peaks.
I was so glad that I was able to share one last trip with him when we visited Whitney Reservoir last summer.

He loved to travel and went on some pretty amazing trips all over the world.

He was a very successful business owner.

He was the most jokey and happy person you could ever meet, a friend to all. He went through some pretty rough events in his life, but always bounced back with a smile.

He was a lover of pie, especially cherry. It was always delightful to take him a pie on our visits and watch his beautiful blue eyes sparkle with excitement.

We will miss him dearly.

At his funeral there was a very lovely poem that reminds me so much of him, almost as though he had made it himself.

God hath not promised
Skies always blue,
Flower-strewn pathways
All our lives through;
God hath not promised
Sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow,
Peace without pain.
But God hath promised
Strength for the day,
Rest for the labor,
Light for the way.
Grace for the trials,
Help from above,
Unfailing sympathy,
Undying love...

2 wheels are better than 4

it is official!
we have a talented two wheeler.
with just a couple days of practice with jed, bayli can ride her bike.

another milestone checked off-wahoo!!!

she doesn't even mind the bumps and scrapes she is accumulating, mostly.

she grins from ear to ear and is eager to share her wonderful news with everyone.

little brother is trying to get in on the action as well, if only his little legs were a little longer.

the results are in...

Well everyone can take a big sigh of relief. Bayli will not disown the newest addition to our family. She must have prayed pretty hard because her wish came true.

We are having a GIRL!!!

Peek-a-boo!!! Hard to tell but her cute little hands are cradling her face.

She is doing a lot of this right now, and it already hurts! Stretching out her legs.

Cute little back.

Picture perfect, what a cutie!

to catch a leprechaun...

Bayli has been having a good ole time prepping for the Leprechaun this past week. She concocted this very creative trap. A project which took her at least an hour.

I think she has watched a little too much Survivor Man. Shooooot...we got us here a Paiute deadfall!
At least it is made out of paper rather than rocks. I am sure the Leprechauns are grateful too!

She decorated it in the most fashionable green, "green is it's favorite color, next to gold, it won't be able to resist!"
Gently placed her upright stick, aka pencil.
And placed some tempting morsels, sure to catch her prey. She cut and decorated her version of a four leaf clover, pretty swell looking I should say. And then secured it to the base, "it will want to pick up the clover and then, snap!"
She placed a green treat to tempt a little further.
And for good measure, a note to that sneaky Leprechaun.

She checks her trap at least every two hours. Meanwhile, scanning the area for any Leprechaun activity. "Those Leprechauns are so sneaky, they have done very naughty things at my school!"

We can't get enough of our creative and very imaginative little gal. She cracks us up!

wishes do come true

my wish was granted (no not the audi).
it snowed! i only was able to enjoy one snow storm this winter. the rest, i was too laid up to care. or, the snow only threatened to come.
so when we woke up to a white and magical morning, well let me just say, i had to hide my excitement a little from the kids.


we hurriedly did our morning chores, the kids were a little faster this morning.
dawned our gear.
and headed out into a newly transformed winter play land.


we armed ourselves with a tote full of sand toys, at least as best we could. chase had a hard time grasping the handle of his shovel with his bulky mittens on. he was pretty frustrated. to the point that he shouted baby talk profanities and stomped on his shovel.

we had a delightful time building a snowman. or snowperson, for bayli's sake. we have to be politically correct around here. everything has to be female.


we had a wonderful time following each others footprints around the yard. and catching snowflakes on our faces.


i had a wonderful time relishing my lovely blue atlas cedar trees delicately draped with snow.


it was a wonderful morning.
and i am glad we headed out as early as we did, because everything began melting at record speed as soon as the sun broke through.

our poor snowman only stood for about 5 hrs.


oh well, at least i got my wish. now spring can come.

a girl can dream...

i never thought i would want a crossover.
don't get me wrong i love my Passat. it is in great condition, has low miles, gets great gas mileage, and is paid for.
then, we decided to have one more kid. which means, no room for friends. yes, i plan on being a soccer mom and toting around the neighbors. but, i don't need a ginormous vehicle to do the job. and, i am no minivan momma.

but alas, this lovely creature is way out of our budget for now. i shall have to dream.
i'll dream about the money i will be saving and the fuel i won't be wasting.

i will probably change my mind on vehicles 10 more times before we ever pull the trigger anyways.

but, she is still a very lovely audi Q7 tdi.

homegrown barber shop

jed insists on cutting chase's hair.
i would much rather take him elsewhere and let someone else do the dirty work.
but my handsome, cheap, and "do it yourself" attitude guy wants to do it.
so, chase, mom, and dad bear through the pain to get the job done.
only, we are not very consistent, letting his head turn into a mop before we finally proclaim it's time for a haircut.

i must say that these are the most torturous moments that i have ever had to bear through with this little guy. he is deathly afraid of the clippers! even when jed is clipping his facial hair, chase runs and hides. so you can only imagine the chaos when said clippers are right on top of him. not a pretty sight.
poor little guy is strapped into the highchair, mom is holding down his arms, dad is holding down his head. and the screams begin. and they never stop, until the job is done. the suckers we bribe him with are of no use. they just end up with toupees. and all three of us end up with fine baby hair on every inch of our bodies.

after chase's last haircut, sigh of relief that we all lived through it, i asked jed if he wanted to take him somewhere next time.
we both looked at each other and said, "they would kick him out and ban him from ever coming back, worst customer ever, no cut for you!"

so, we get to bear through the most torturous haircuts ever. chase gets a free daddy special, which i must say is looking better each time, still working out the tweaks. and jed will one day be able to add barber of demonic children to his resume.

best of all, we get to privately laugh that chase momentarily has a hairier back than his uncle rob.
(i know, only my family members can appreciate this. a photo would have been lovely, but we just didn't have enough hands.)