Many strange and wonderful creatures

Sounds interesting, no? Well it is! I am going to share the plethora of creatures found crossing the paths of the various game cameras Dustin and his friends have.

A big buck. This ones actually from last year. Disregard the date. ;)

Can you see this one? A coyote.

Rabbit.

Scruffy doe

A red fox.

Another doe

Snow. Not a creature per se, but fun all the same. Notice the date? This one is correct.

Humans, the wildest creatures of all. And I am pretty sure there is no hunting season going on at the time this picture was taken. hmmm...

Elk! Such big creatures.

Talk about big! Cougar.

Cow. Or bull. I think it's a bull. scary.

Fun, right? I love when Dustin brings home his memory cards. I get to see what's on there. Something new each time. My favorite is the picture of the coyote because if you just glance at it, you won't see it, it's camouflaged so well. I like the big kitty too. Cougars are creepy. One time Dustin and I drove up American Fork Canyon when it was closed for the winter, and parked at the gates they had across the road. We hopped out of the Jeep, and right on the ground, crossing the road were huge cougar prints in the snow. It was wild. Another time, we were driving back down Ophir Canyon in the Jeep with the doors and top off, and we heard a cougar growl. It was eerie as all get out.

The end.

They make me feel like a kid again

What, you may ask?
Kpop.

It's adorable. And I like it.














Miaya loves these. And we dance around to them often. I am not in the know, but I like what I like. ;)

When I'm feeling like my house is a piece of junk...

Before:

I look at before and afters. Awesome.

After:

Dustin has nice friends

So do your friends do stuff like this:

???

Mine don't, and I'm honestly fine with it. Dustin brought this container to his friend one time because we made funeral potatoes, and had some left over. His friend LOVES funeral potatoes. And so, when he brought the container back, this is how it came. He brought it back forever ago, and yet I can't bring myself to take it off, because it makes me laugh lots. And lots and lots and lots. hahahahahahahaa. His friend that made this cute little tag has large gauges in his ears and a lot of tattoos. Hahahahahaha. Just goes to show you never know how lovely people are until you get to know them. ;)

Oh what fun we'll have

Best thing in the world: a large cardboard box. Even better? Two large cardboard boxes. You know, Dustin always claims he has no imagination. And yet, I am constantly seeing a huge imagination in all the fun things he does and thinks of. 

He was at work, and they were installing ready made desks. (Dustin installs office furniture for the Steelcase dealer here.) They came in these boxes that were like six feet long. He thought it might be fun for the kids and so he brought them home. 

He cut windows and doors out of them, and tada! We had a couple of little houses.

Even Moose loved them. hahahaha.

 We even got to paint them. It was so much fun.

for Amma and Afi

I'm not even sure the words are right, but this is what she's learned from me. :D

My little american girls. Love them.

Spring Concert

Miaya's spring concert was last week, and it was a lot of stress, but a lot of fun. This year we were able to go to both concerts, because I wasn't having a baby for the second one. :)

Miaya basically danced for us and only us in this video. But it's so fun for me to watch. I giggled the whole time. Miaya is our little ham. hahahahaha.

 This is Miaya and her class getting ready to dance. She's all the way on the left. The caboose. :)

 Miaya's in the front with the blue gloves. Blurry, I know.

 Miaya is in the green on the right. She's kind of hidden.

Towards the right with blue gloves, and you can see her green sleeves a bit too. ;)

She has so much fun doing all her dancing.

Cheap movies for the summer

Okay, so you know how dollar theaters are generally kind of icky? Well, here is a link for some dollar movies this summer. I don't think you can buy the 5 dollar pass anymore, but you can still see some movies for a dollar a piece at regular theaters. I think that's neato. So check it out. I'm thinking of going to see something with the kids. And awesome thing is that they start movies at 10am, so you can go see one without worrying about if your kids are too loud. ;) That is a concern for me, because Sarah is really really loud. hahahahaha.

Graduation

Miaya is such an interesting creature. :) She is so outgoing and confident in so many situations. Getting up in front of crowds is not one of those situations. She does just fine when it comes to dancing in front of audiences, but not talking or anything like that. 

  So in May, Miaya graduated from her first year of preschool. 

 It took a lot to get her to go up and get the certificate. They did a whole program of singing and such before this, and she would not go up. I know how it is to be so painfully shy that you want to crawl under the chairs rather than get up in front of people, so I figured when she was ready, she'd go up. I didn't want to push her. Other family members that were there were pushing her, and it frustrated me so much. I let them know that I wasn't going to make her go up if she didn't want to, and I didn't.  It turned out just fine. She sat and watched her class sing and then when they called her name to get her certificate, she told Dustin she wanted to go up, and she did.

 I know these pictures are blurry, but I think you can kind of see how she's a bit uncomfortable. But she did awesome. And her teachers are so great too! Miss Margene, Miss Tiffany, and Miss Lydia are awesome. Miss Margene was so surprised when she saw Miaya not want to go up. Miaya is so outgoing in class, that it was a bit of a shock.

We're so proud of our Miaya girl. :)

Sarah is one

This is Sarah's birthday cake. The cupcakes say Sarah 1. I am so awesome, right? hahahahaha. Strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. So delicious.

Sarah loved them too. :)

After dinner, Sarah is sharing her birthday books with Miaya. It was so fun.

Hunting with Daddy

Before Dustin and I had children, and before we were even married, I knew that Dustin enjoyed hunting. Before Dustin I was VERY uncomfortable with guns in general, had never been wheeling, let alone hunting. After Dustin, I have done lots of new things that I NEVER would have done if it wasn't for him. I love wheeling. I know how to handle our guns, and I know about hunting. Having said that, I don't hunt myself. I don't like the idea of killing things. Only bugs. I don't mind killing bugs. Anyway, we knew before having kids that we wanted to expose our children to lots of things. Hunting was one of them. 

 Dustin has been preparing for the hunt this coming August for a little while now. He has set up game cams, and goes to check them every couple of weeks to see what's been in the area. This last time there were rabbits, a couple of doe, and even a coyote! Neat-o, huh?

 Dustin went out with Miaya and Moose, as well as his friend Keith and his family. Sarah and I would have gone too, but we no longer have a four wheel drive vehicle we can all fit in, boo hoo. So we stayed home.

 Looks like they had a blast, though, don't you think? I lobe them.

 So they drive on paved roads until they get to the general area where the game cams are, then they go off road for a hairy scary bit, and then they hike for another little while, and then they get to the game cams.

 Miaya is our little hiker. She loves to hike. It's awesome.

Such a beautiful area. And this year has been so rainy, that it's all green. Lovely. Sarah and I will be going along too as soon as we get another Jeep. :D

Easters, finally.

A while ago I said I would post Easter pictures. Here they are!

Miaya loves the Easter egg hunt! See her happy face. So much fun. :) Did you know that I am a master egg hider? I am.

 Okay, so I might not be a master, but I LOVE to do it. Love it! A few years ago the kids (my little sibs, Henry and Lete, who aren't all that little) were here for easter, and so I hid candy bars all over the yard for them to find. I was so excited. They were not. But they did go and find them! It was awesome.

 Do you like the Christmas basket that doubled as an Easter basket? hahahahaha. Anytime easter comes around, all the easter baskets we have floating around in the kids toys disappear! It's quite astonishing.

 See what I mean by awesome egg hider? 

Even Sarah had fun. She found this egg that was sitting on top of this chimney thing on the barbecue.

snails

When I was about Miaya's age, I LOVED snails. I remember living in Manly, which is in Sydney, Australia. We lived in an apartment building that had a gardenish area that had tons of them. I loved to pick them up and let them crawl (ew) all over my hand. And then, one fateful day, one was squished. I have been disgusted by them ever since.

Sorry about the wind noise. There is a jet engine just off to the side that was making all the racket. Just kidding, but it sounded good, right?

I was weeding our vegetable garden yesterday and came across a few of them. I almost threw up. It was pretty gross. Miaya, however, was fascinated. And so she picked them up and wanted to show her friend next door. 

 Her friend wasn't home, and so we put it in a nice little jar. I think the snail hated the jar. But it looked pretty.

And Sarah just enjoyed being outside. Oh wait, this pic isn't the same day. But she sure looks happy and cute.