strawberry...

briggsy, wondering what the heck is going on!

for the 'labor day' weekend, we headed out to 'strawberry' to fish. and... because donnie has an elk tag , he wanted to do a little scouting, and oh yeah... cheyne had an archery elk tag, and that hunt was going on then, too. anyway... we pulled our trailer out and chet pulled the boat out. [this is the very first time the boat has been out of the barn, this year.] jeff and haley pulled their trailer out, as did cheyner. chet, kendyl, and ryker slept out in their tent. tiff and briggs slept in the trailer with us. jeremy (hunter), alisha and their kids were out there, too. [jer also had an archery tag].  

why is it that the grandkids like to take pictures with MY camera?
is it because i let them?

great picture...huh!

ryker and hunter

k.j.

kamryn

donnie, living his dream.  i wanted to sale the boat years ago, but he wanted to keep it so that he could take his grandkids fishing, when he retired.  well, he's not retired YET, but at least he gets to live part of his dream.

briggs and tiff

lucky gunner (lamb)... we invited him to come along.  he wanted to go hunting with cheyner, but i think after the morning hunt, he was done!  so he went fishing with the rest of us.
[probably wished he would have gone back out hunting with cheyne]

ryker, playing with the rope
 [ he had been told at least a hundred times, to leave it alone1]

can you see the mischief in his smile?

jeff and haley were the smart ones... they stayed on the bank with jack, to fish.  we had all the rest of the kids with us.

briggs... doesn't he look just like the 'gerber' baby?

sophie, playing 'sport toss'

hunter.
[ i think he is about to bite his tongue off.]
conner, taking it all in.

ryker, learning to ride his 2 wheeler.
[at least he's riding it in this picture.  most of the time, he was just pushing it around camp, following hunter.]

ryker and conner

gunner and sophie
[i'm sure sophie is telling gunner some 'amazing' story]

conner, kylie, and sophie hunter.
[jeremy and alisha's kids].

our camp.

sophie though it would be funny to lock uncle don in the bathroom.

of course, conner and ryker had to help!

don trying to get out and the kids thinking they were really funny.

the 96 crawdads the kids caught down on the boat harbor.

we had a great time and the kids thought it was the 'bomb' to have the "other" hunter cousins to play with!  kylie was great for kamryn and kendyl.  they followed her around like they were her shadow. sophie entertained us throughout the weekend.  she is such a fun little girl.  the boys loved having conner there... [some one to help them with their mischief (like they needed any help)]. 

we sat around the campfire at night and grandpa had to tell kylie, sophie and conner about "thump drag".  conner didn't want him to tell them, but sophie was all for it, until "thump drag" was

opening the screeeching door.  then she put her hands over her ears and yelled "that's enough!  i DON'T want to hear anymore!"   our grand kids have heard it so many times, that they just giggled at sophie. 

it was a bummer to have to come home, but the holiday weekend was over and work and school were waiting.

and the 3rd one is a charm...

leila jacolyn

briggs mack

jack murray

are all 3rd babies this happy and content?  i know that my 3rd one (haley) was.  just wondering if 3rd babies have to be, because mom is too crazy taking care of the other 2.
and.... i just had to show off my little cuties!

book cliffs...

cheyne, on a scouting trip on the 24th of july

 cheyner drew the archery book cliffs deer tag, this year. he and zac drove the grueling 5-6 hour drive on the 24th of july weekend to scout around.  he found 2 really nice ones and bedded them down.

we left thursday night to drive down to the book cliffs.  don and i had never been down there before.  cheyne told us that out of 'oray', it was at least a 2 hour drive on a dirt road to get where he wanted to camp.  well... about 10 minutes on the dirt road, cheyne had a flat tire on his truck.  he was pulling the wheelers and don was pulling cheyne's trailer.  we stopped and fixed the flat, then called chet [who was coming down the following night] to tell him to make sure and bring the compressor.  he noted, that he had barely 6,000 miles on his tires and would be alright [but he would bring it anyway].  when we finally got to where cheyne wanted to camp, sure enough, there was already a camp set up.  we turned around to drive back up the road, where we thought might be o.k. to camp in.  so by the time we got there to set up camp, it was 3:15 a.m.  (why does that not surprise me???  i don't think we have ever been able to set up camp in the light of day.)

the next morning, about 6:00, the guys got up and went scouting.  cheyne was positive that the bucks he saw on the 24th would still be in the same place.  and.... i hate to admit it, but he was right!  don asked him if they shouldn't split up and see if they could find some other deer... just in case.  but cheyne was adamant that he was going after one of the 2 deer he had been watching and that was that!  they got back to camp, and had found a better place to set up camp.  so we secured things down in the trailer and off we went to set up camp... again!  that evening, it was off to scout [or watch his buck] again.

cheyne, finding the deer he had scouted out on the 24th.

here he is..."the big 4"

jeff, helping cheyne find 'the one!'

beautiful sunset on the 'book cliffs'

million $ question... should he try to shoot this one?

chet and ryker came down friday night.  about 8:00 p.m. we got a text from chet, that he too, was changing a flat tire... just about the same place cheyne had his.  they finally showed up, set up their tent, and we all got settled down for a good nights sleep.  sometime in the night, cheyne's friend devin and his friend showed up and set their tent up next to cheyner's truck. where they set up their tent was actually right next to the trailer in the other camping spot.

chet brought ryker in to snuggle to me early saturday morning so that he could go help cheyne [so much for sleeping in!]  8:00 a.m. came and he was just like an alarm clock!  we played for a little while, then he wanted his dad.  i held him off for a couple of hours, then we got on the 4 wheeler on headed off to see if we could find them [which is a scary thought, since i didn't know my way around, at all!]  we eventually found don.  he told us that cheyne had hit the big one first thing that morning and had hit it a couple of times.  it had bedded down and now, don had him in his spotting scope.  he was  telling me to come and look, and just at that time, it jumped up and don lost him in the scope.  cheyne had been hiking around for hours, tracking this deer, in his stocking feet.  [we were pulling cactus thorns out of his feet for days.]  it cooled down and started to rain just after we got the deer loaded in the truck to head back to camp.  i actually captured a picture of the rainbow after the storm.  i must be getting old, because i appreciate things different than i did a few years ago.

his perseverance paid off!

jeff, stevie, cheyne, don, jacki, ryker - with devin cahoon in the back.

can't wipe the grin off his face!

cheyne and ryker...
thumbs UP!

donnie, chet, ryker, cheyner, and jeff.



showing off his trophy!

it was a longgg drive down there, but where we finally ended up camping was a pretty spot.  we saw deer everywhere!  cheyne left to go home that night.  he wanted to hurry and get his deer home to justin parduhn (the taxidermist). [ he was worried about the velvet sluffing off.]  we decided that it was too long of a drive to just stay 2 nights, so don, chet, ryker and i opted to stay another night, before making the journey home.... i would have never made it as a pioneer!  but... it was a fun trip!

CONGRATULATIONS CHEYNER!  ON A JOB WELL DONE!





the 'highland fling'

we were actually home for the 'highland fling' this year.  All of the kids came to watch the parade.  we always have a yard full of people, [since we live right on the parade route].  and...  every one's lives are soo extremely busy nowadays, so it's always fun to see old friends as they gather to watch the parade.  kamryn thinks it's fun to sale 'otter pops' to all who gather.  (usually, she makes the most $ off of grandpa.  but hey!  what are grandpa's for?)

kamryn and her cousin ally

jack and briggs

briggs is not sure whether or not to be excited that jack is so close.

briggs - always happy!

melanie had her baby, leila jacolyn on the 1st of august, and this was her first official trip out of the house.  the sauvao's stayed until after the parade and after a trip [for some of them] over to the park. they went home to rest, for the afternoon.  they came back in the evening to watch the fireworks.

leila jacolyn... first time out

the rest of the kids stayed all day and we made a party out of it.  the kids played in the water, all day.

hunter, soakin' in some sun.

and cheyne tease them all day!

never!  can it happen. 
peace and quiet ~ when you mix cheyne with the grand kids.
[i think this comes from the torture his siblings caused him while i was not looking.]

here is hunter, after his very ingenious mother came up with face painting of her own.

instead of waiting for hours at the park for face painting,
haley came home and painted hunter into a tiger
[notice the tail on his leg?]

kamryn and kendyl had fun painting their own faces. by the end, they turned out to be completely 'blue'

kamryn and kendyl opted for the "do it yourself" art

they did a pretty darn good job!

jack was contained in the house for part of the day, but he wanted to be outside, with the 'big' kids.

jack is trying to escape through the blinds.
[note his face painting, too.]

we love it when we get to entertain our grandkids (and kids).  and... we love to see old friends.  we missed a lot of them this year.  hope they were just out of town and not ditching us!  the fling is just another excuse to get together.  love it!!!