pioneer day in fairview

for the 24th we had the whole fam damily down to fairview. this was the very first time that we had ALL of the kids down there at the same time since we bought our lot 5 years ago. we had a great time and the weather was great!
thursday night i rode down with chet and tiff. friday we decided to take the kids down to the pool while we were waiting for everyone else to get there. kendyl was NOT going to go down the slide, so we opted NOT to get the slide passes. ryker could only get in the wading pool, so tiff and i just sat with him.

'ibert', veggin' in the pool



kendyl was very content in the small pool, but chet really wanted her to get in the big pool with him. he coaxed and coaxed. begged and begged.

finally, she said to him, "dad, your'e 31 years old! i'm sure you don't need someone to get in the pool with you!" . but she finally consented and did go with him to the big pool and actually enjoyed it.

when we got back up to camp, jeff, haley and the kids showed up. they put up their tent and we watched a doe nibble on the trees down by the swing. she didn't seem to be bothered by us. the rest of the clan showed up eventually, and got camp all set up.
the next morning, don, chet, tiff, kendyl, ryker, jeff and hunter got up early and went to scofield to fish. (the rest of us were too lazy to get up that early).

the proud fishermen and woman!

we all had fun riding the four wheelers.
"papa and ibert"

give the girls a box of make-up, and look what they can do!
(hours of entertainment!!)

falute and siona


auntie haley was a good sport, being the first make-over model.
falute, haley, kamryn and siona.

nothing like being initiated into the family with four little girls that mall you and then insist on a make-over for you, too. chelsey was a good sport.

kendyl, falute, chelsey, kamryn and siona

we had fun planting wildflower seeds ( i dought that they will grow, but the kids had fun planting them anyway.) we walked down the road and hunter found a butterfly. then of course, for the next hour, we were hunting for butterflies (the other kids, all thought that they needed one, too.)
hunter and ryker were good sports, because when we found one, of course, the girls wouldn't touch them and the boys had to catch them for the girls.

hunter, with his butterfly

looking for butterflies.
mostly we just found a lot of grasshoppers.

and as always, the kids love the swing! they love to be pushed to 'the moon'! kamryn said her favorite, was when grandpa twisted her up and then pushed her after dark.
this is all of them sitting on the bench down by the swing.

kendyl, falute, siona, isley, ryker, kamryn, and hunter.

(next year we will have another one to add to our #'s! someone is going to have to find a place to add another swing. after a while you get tired of hearing "but, it's my turn!".)

saturday afternoon, we had a big fish fry with the halibut that we caught in alaska. the adults enjoyed it, but i think the kids would have just have soon had hot dogs.

the last morning, don took some of the kids, tiff, mel, and sheila to birch creek to play in the water. it poured on them and they were wet, whether they waded thru the water or not.

falute, kendyl and siona

we had a great time sitting around the campfire, making smores (grandpa even broke out the story of "thump drag". at first, i wondered if he had lost his mind, but he changed the ending (i thought hunter was going to pee his pants, he was laughing so hard, and then he got everyone else laughing with his contagious giggle!) and the kids had him repeat the story over and over, until i about lost MY mind! it was fun to have everyone there. it's the pitts to have your kids grow up and have their own lives!

thanks, kids for all making the effort to be there!

updated post

i updated my post.
look at the post before my alaskan post for ryker's birthday post.
(just trying to be organized)

happy birthday siona !

our little 'ona bona' is 4 years old! i can't believe it. it seems like just yesterday, i was with mel when she found out she was pregnant with her. these are a few of my favorite pictures of 'ona'.

coming home from the hospital

with grandma ruth whom she is named after
(i absolutely LOVE this picture)

i think her dad put this bow on her.
(her ears don't usually stick out like that)

she is quite a natural when it comes to gymnastics

running thru the water at 'birch creek'

i took her shopping for her birthday last week. she wanted a "mermaid barbie doll" that changed colors in the bathtub, but kendyl had already got her one, so i had to talk her into something else. she was NOT happy with me. i told her that we couldn't get it because it looked just like kendyl's and they would get them mixed up. she had one hundred and one ways that they would be able to tell them apart. even still when she opened her presents last night, i said "see... now do you know why gramma didn't get you a doll like that?" and she looked at me and said "yes, cause you didn't want to get me one!". i wonder if she will ever forgive me?! anyway, when grandpa asked her where she wanted to go, when we take her to dinner, she told him she wanted to go to "CHIWHAWHAS". so i guess that means we will be taking her to CHIN WHAS.
happy birthday to you 'ona' ! we love you !

our trip to alaska

we had a GREAT time in ALASKA.
bummer part, is that we are home and it's like a memory that was long ago.
but it was great while it lasted!
once again, i out fished donnie. BIG MISTAKE! he said that he was going to make me stay home next time.
we stayed at "the salmon catcher" lodge ~ great place! it was a nicely kept place with all of the accommodations that one could think of ~ dishwasher, washer, dryer, bar-b-q grill, etc.
when we got there, we were informed that there had been a big brown bear hanging around the lodge and had ripped into the garbage can the night before. he actually came back the next night and got into the dumpster. NO walking around outside for the "hunters"!

proof of bear

we had one whole level of one cabin. two bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom and family room.

one of the other cabins. this picture was taken from our deck at 10:30 p.m. (NO flash!)
how can you sleep when it is this light outside and there's so many things to do and see?

the first day, we drove down to 'homer spit'
the fog was so dense, we couldn't see the ocean from the road.
(but it was still a pretty drive)

"firebush" flowers grow EVERYWHERE! along the roads, on the mountain sides, along the rivers and lakes. they are gorgeous! this picture does not do them justice.

just as we were coming into 'homer', the fog was lifting off the ocean.
(this is one of those timed self portraits, but hey! ya gotta get what you can get!)

at one time, 'doug miller' had filmed a program about 'alaska' and the fishing down at the 'homer spit' he talked up the 'salty dawg saloon', so don wanted to make sure he got a picture of him going into it. (nothing special, but it did have one dollar bills signed and stapled all over the walls, ceiling and everywhere else they could think to staple them. i bet there were over a thousand 'ones' in there.)

donnie and i down on the dock.
(we did find someone else to take the picture for us.)

everywhere in 'alaska' they have weird names for their streets (if you can call them 'streets', most of them are 'dirt roads'.) but we found this street sign and i had to have a picture of it.
(how would you like to live on "poopdeck" street?)

i have been to alaska twice and always seen these signs, but NEVER seen any moose. we actually saw a mountain goat and 2 caribou on the side of the road driving from anchorage to soldotna
sooooo... where are the moose?

this is donnie fishing on the 'russian' river.
the first day that we were suppose to have a fly out trip, the fog was too dense, so they postponed it until the last day and we had to find something else to do that day.

on our way back to the lodge, i FINALLY got to see a moose on the side of the road.

this is what we WANTED to catch when we fished on the 'kenai' river.
this is our guide, "chet" (how funny is that, that our guide would be named "chet"?). and this is the 'king salmon' that the lady that was in the boat with us caught. (it was about 40 lbs)

and these are the two 'kings' that donnie and i caught.
(the two small ones. they were 12 1/2 lbs. each)

fish from our halibut trip.
there were six of us fishing on our boat (with the captain and a first mate). the ocean waves about beat us to death, but only one girl lost her lunch over the side.

our fly out trip to the "kustatan river'.

this is where we landed.
it was amazing how the pilot was able to land into this slew.
(notice the 'firebush' in the background. it was beautiful!)


and these are the 'silvers' that I caught on the 'kustatan river'.
"skunked" donnie, AGAIN!

this was one of the bears we seen on our fly out to the 'big river lakes' at 'wolverine creek'

after he jumped in the lake after the bait on one of the fishing poles, he climbed up on this rock and posed for a picture.

this is one of the fish i caught at 'wolverine creek'.
we caught a ton of fish, but had to release all of them, because they were
too old and soft. (i caught the first fish of the day ~ what a fisher WOMAN!)

this is one of the many fish donnie caught that day. we had a riot catching them.


just to show you how cold it was.
(this is another one of those self portraits).
(i had on long johns, a t-shirt, hoodie, my carhart jacket, and my rain gear, and i was still cold!)


the last morning, 'bill', the manager of the lodge, came down and told us to come out side. this cow and her calf were out munching on his flowers. of course, my camera was in the car at the time. he went down and got it for me, and this picture was taken right off the deck of the cabin.

right after this picture, my camera died! i wanted to get a picture of our cute little candy apple red, "dodge charger" and picture of the lodge, but oh... well... what do you do?

anyway, we're home now and donnie is already saving for our next trip!

happy birthday "ibert"!

does this picture say "all boy" or what?!!

quess who turned two. our little "wrecking ball", ryker.! ohhh.... he is ALL boy! and reminds me to a "T" of his dad, when he was little. he is such a little character and is sooo mischievous!

this is him, on his blessing day

fishing day at 'cabelas' with his dad
(chet couldn't wait to get him out fishing with him)

helping gramma weed the flower beds

he loves his "gawmpa"

how in the world could you EVER get mad at the cute little face?

he loves to push buttons!
any and every one he can find!

he has his 'great grandpa alan's' smile.
(funny that he IS his name sake)

ryker alan

now, if you ask him what his name is, he will tell you "ryker". but if you ask him "who's is this?", and show him something of his, he will tell you it's "ibert's". where he came up with that name, no one knows. for a long time, he would tell you his name was "ibert". he is so dang cute, we just can't get enough of him. tiffany, for sure has her hands full with him. when she tells me the things that he does, it just makes me laugh, because his dad did the same things when he was little. "poppie" always said, that chet was "hell on wheels!". they say, what goes around, comes around. but, why is it, that the mom's have to deal with these things, when it is the dad that they take after?
oh well... we wouldn't want him any other way! he keeps us young and on our toes! 'ibert', we love you! happy #2 birthday, buddy!