November Catch Up

I can't believe December is here already!  Where has the year gone?  I've got a lot to catch up on though, that's for sure.  First I'd like to get the pictures posted to tell what we've been up to, mainly Steve and Nyles.

Steve has been finding some time to do duck hunting.  He's taken Nyles a couple times, and gone out w/ Zach a few times as well.  Luckily they got some ducks.

Zach and his dog Jesse ready to hunt.

Beautiful sunrise.

Steve and Zach excited to be hunting.

Nyles hiding in the bushes while hunting w/ Steve.

A few ducks they got.

Nyles loves to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house (either ones), and luckily the McGrath's live close by, so he's able to go pretty much every week.  The past few weeks he's got to help out with some fun stuff, like....

Putting up Christmas lights

And raking and sucking up leaves.

And helping decorate the Christmas tree.

We've got some snow a couple times the past few weeks and Nyles has LOVED it.  He said it must be Christmas time now and Santa is coming soon.  We didn't have much snow at our place, so they went up to Dave/Joann's to have more to play with ;)

Our first snow.

Second snow storm, driving on the tennis court.

Now at Grandma/Grandpa's place.

Before we got snow, Nyles enjoyed some time at the park.

Nyles enjoying some Music and the Spoken Word w/ his giraffe on Sunday before church.

Nyles student card, so cute!  Love his cute smile :)

Fun times at the Aquarium w/ Aunt Carrie, Lynsie and Grandma Joann.

Just taking a break reading the "maps."

Looking at the otters.

Look! says Lynsie.

Fun watching the penguins.  Steve said Nyles insisted on bringing his backpack.

Watching a 4-D movie at the Aquarium.

Riding the frog.

Playing at the playground.

Going across the rope bridge .

Showing us his cute smile for the camera.  I finally got a new phone after 3 years, so I needed to try out my camera.  Not bad ;)

Deer Hunt

On Saturday, November 14th, Steve went deer hunting.  He took Nyles w/ him since I was taking my practice test that day (6 hours longs), and of course Nyles wanted to go.  Dave came and picked them up just after 7am, and Rob met them here too.  They then went and picked up Zach at his house.  Zach had just gotten off of his firefighter shirt at 7am, so he quickly ran home to get his equipment (guns, lunch, etc).  After picking up Zach they got on the road.  They were going to the same place they went last year to hunt, Northern Utah to Paul Firth's place.  My dad does business with him and he wants the deer off his property, so he gives us a few tags to hunt the deer.  It's a win/win situation.  It took about 3 hours to get there.  After arriving and meeting my dad there, they started hunting.

Dave driving, Zach in the front

Rob and Nyles on the drive up.

Last year they were able to just pull up and shoot the deer right in front of the truck.  This year, they had to work a little harder for them.  Zach and Steve both had a tag.  Steve planned to let Rob shoot for his tag, but when it came down to it Rob got a little nervous and missed, so he asked Steve to try instead.  Zach got his around 3pm, then Steve got his around 5pm.  While Zach and my dad were skinning his deer, Steve and Rob went to hunt for another deer.  Nyles stayed in the car w/ Dave.  Earlier he had fun playing w/ both Grandpas.  He thought it was so much fun!

Nyles w/ Grandpa Dave watching the other Grandpa skin the deer.

My dad showed Zach how to skin the deer.  It was Zach's first deer.

Ironically after they were done w/ Zach's deer, Paul's brother-in-law shot a deer and asked if they could skin his too.  So they did.  While there were doing that Steve and Rob went to find their deer.

Rob looking at a rabbit.  They were so funny, they weren't really scared of them, they would just move a little further away is all.

The property.

Steve w/ his deer.

It was getting pretty late by the time they got Steve's deer skinned, so they hurried and cleaned up and headed home.  Nyles of course didn't have a nap the whole afternoon, so he fell asleep shortly after leaving.  Steve woke him up when they got to Snowville to get gas.  Steve put on the Cars Movie for Nyles to watch to help his stay awake.

Nyles watching the movie on the Ipad.

On Monday, Steve and Rob cut up the meat in roasts and whatnot then ground up the rest to make jerkey.

Zach ground up his too, so Steve had to try some.  Ironically Nyles tried it and thought it was really good, so he ate the rest that he gave them.  Steve said he only got one.  He really likes deer jerky I guess.  He ate a bunch from Grandpa Hegerhorst last year too.

Nyles enjoying the deer jerky.

Even though it took a little longer to get their deer, they all had a great time and had a successful hunt.  I'm sure they'll all be wanting to go back next year if they get tags again.  Good times for the boys!

Happy Halloween 2015!

Nyles had a few days of celebrating Halloween this year, and thus so did we.

First he got to make some fun cookies at Grandma McGrath's and got to watch a Halloween version of Blaze!

 

Then he got to celebrate Halloween at Preschool.  They had some fun activities for them, then they got to go around and get candy from the teachers.

Nyles trying on his costume at home, then at Preschool w/ his teacher (the one w/ the ostrich).

   

Nyles got a little warm, so Steve took off his costumer while they did another activity.

 Now getting candy.

Then we had my work Halloween Party for the kids.  They held it across the street at the Old Navy building.  Surprisingly, that was still a little small for the large crowd.  We had to line up outside the building before taking our turn going inside for the activites.  It was still fun though.  This time he wanted to wear the airplane outfit.

 Playing a game now, throw the ring on the spider leg.

  

Outside throwing a rock in the water; he couldn't resist.

We almost got Nyles to smile!

After my work party, we hurried home, changed, then left to Melanie/Brandon's house for their Murder Mystery Dinner.  Rob was nice enough to come over and sit w/ Nyles while we went.  The theme was called "Once Upon a Murder."  We each were a character from a Disney movie and had different tasks to accomplish and try to solve the murder.  Steve was Beast and I was Belle.  It was a lot of fun!  Steve loved wearing his long hair.  Surprisingly it looked good on him :)

Group photo.  Front:  Melanie (Snow White), Stacie (Grizelda), Phil (Ham) Dave (Axe man) Ryan (Dwaft).  Back:  Jeff (Hansel), Steve (Beast), Penny (Belle), Kim (Rupunzel), Joann (Grandma), Carrie (Gretel), Diane (Red Riding Hood), and Brandon (Prince).

Lastly, yesterday on Halloween, we went over to Melanie/Brandon's again.  We had pizza for dinner, then went out trick or treating around their neighborhood.  Nyles and Conor made it a little further this year than last year :)

London, Conor and Nyles getting some candy.

Nyles w/ Steve going into a spooky place.

Now coming out.

Another place....

And another.  Nyles is starting to learn to ask, "Does it have peanuts?"

Nyles and Conor practicing their "rrrrarhhh" skills. 

London, Olivia and Nyles.

Now back at the Lake house playing.

It was a busy week, now it's officially November!  Here are a few last random pics from this past week or so.

Since it was Halloween week, Nyles got to go to the dentist!

A picture of Nyles preschool picture :)

Nyles helping Steve get his "ducks in a row" before going out hunting.

Now out hunting.

And Nyles found the ATV in the trailer, had to drive it for a minute. :)

We hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!  Daylight Savings is today, and don't worry, Nyles got up right on time at 6:30am!  Again, no one tells the kids they're supposed to sleep in an extra hour!  Oh well.  Thanksgiving will be here before you know it!

House updates

We have been make some house updates lately.  Just for my record I want to write them down.

• Did some Fall Cleaning and took a load of stuff and clothes to the DI
• Got our carpets cleaned professionally, first time since we moved in 6 years ago
• Gave our couches to Steve's friend Zach Hannay, and got some from Dave/Joann, who got some from her dad Carl who is moving back to Arizona.
• Got new pillows for the couches.
• Got a new ottoman for the couches.
• Got a new lamp for the living room.  The lamp has a reading lamp, which has been great for study and readying stories w/ Nyles.  He thinks it's fun! ;)

"New" couches, ottoman, pillows and lamp.  

They are a little smaller than our old couches, so they fit better for the space.

• Got a new mattress for Steve and I.
• We rearranged our room.
• We rearranged Nyles' room.  We took down the crib months ago and he's in a big bed now.  Also put all his toys/books in baskets to try to keep them more organized and cleaned up.
• We finally got the TV from Steve's grandpa Carl Jensen.  We actually got a really nice HD one through my perk points, then returned it because it was turning itself on/off.  Then we heard Carl was moving back to Arizona and was giving his away, so we've waited a few months to get his.  Our old one was a 32 inch, which we thought was ok, but then we had the 42 inch one and it's so much nicer.  It's nice to have a bigger screen again.  Definitely easier to see!
• Since we got a new TV, we also got a new DVD/Blu-ray player, plus Modem/Router, in order to speed things up, plus a new cable box (ours was 6 years old and outdated as well).  The Blu-ray also has Netflixs on it and Amazon Prime, so we don't have to use Steve's XBox anymore.  

Our old TV and the new one.

It's refreshing to have a few updates, since we're not moving anytime soon. :)