Bow Hunting in the Boulder Mountains.

We went down to the Boulder Mountains on Thurs. to get ready for the opening of the Deer Hunt which was on Aug. 16th. We had an enjoyable time with my parents, Sharla, Jacqie and Elam. We decided to fish one of those days. We hiked 3 miles in to Deer Creek Lake and Green Lake and hiked 3 out. I have not hiked that much in a long while. But they are gorgeous lakes. Austin and DJ hiked in with us, they were good troopers. I of course wore the wrong shoes so my feet killed, but it was worth it and I was the only one to catch a fish so I out skunked everyone. At Green Lake it is a volcano type lake and the water is so clear you can see the fish swimming everywhere. But they are hard to catch, some weigh 5-8 pounds. BUt of course not mine. But it was good tastin'.

On Saturday started the big hunt. My dad hit a 4 point and tracked it for hours but could not find it. So they came back to camp to get help to find it. So then again I hiked 2 more miles up and down hillsides so by this time I was really hoping I have lost 10 pounds but when I got home to my dismay I didn't lose any. So opening day no one got anything but we did see quite a few bucks, doe's and fawns.
Sunday Mark was successful with a cute little 3 point. He said it didn't take long to track it. He hit it in a good spot like always! He was excited and so was I so that he didn't have to go hunting every weekend now until it is done.
We love the Boulder Mountains, It is so pretty up there and peaceful we try and go every year. Congrats Mark!

School has started!! Yippy!

So, Austin started 1st grade today at Creekview Elem. His teacher is Mrs. Cox. He was so excited today that I made him breakfast and I went to go get ready to take him to school that I when I was done, I came down stairs to find him no where, I couldn't see his back pack and the front door was unlocked so I looked outside to see where he was. He walked up to the new bus stop without brushing his teeth or getting his hair combed. SO I know how excited he really was to head to school. He was so cute, it is quite funny in our case, how much they mature each year you just never know if they will ever grow up a little. Not that I want him to grow up to big, but just a little would help.
He has many friends in his class like: Zac, Carter, Kendra, Emily, Esp, James, and Brayden O. SO I know he will quite enjoy school if he can stay out of trouble and listen to the teacher!

DJ turns 4 years old!

DJ turned 4 years old yesterday! What a fun Birthday we had. We ended up sleeping over at our Friends The Hursts in Stansbury Park after we got off the plane from Oregon so we could wake up and go to Lagoon.
Everyone had a good time. I got to ride all the rides I wanted plus the kids rode all the rides they could and we only spent about 5 hours there. It is so fun to see the kids enjoy the rides. DJ would always say after each ride " Mom, that was soooo fun lets do it again." Zaydree would say "tickle mommy tickle." She would go on all the rides her brothers did. And Austin didn't know what to think of the scary rides I went on, he would say "I'm not riding that mom, you are crazy." He must take after Mark because he just watches the kids while I go on all the fun rides, He really don't care for heights or rides. But Mark got his fix after we went to Cabela's so he could buy his Archery stuff for the hunt next weekend.
We are so thankful for DJ and the example he is to us. He is such a fun loving boy and so easy going. Today we had cake and ice cream at my mom's for him and he opened his gifts. He got some Diego toys from us and school clothes and shoes, Race car set from Jacqie and Elam, School clothes from Grandma & pa Tolley, and money from Grandma & pa Emerson, and a Texas football and shirt from the Guest's. We sure had a good time. Now he says that he is 4 years old he wants his training wheels off his bike, so that is something we need to work on here shortly. Take care.

Pictures of Oregon

Vacation in Oregon!

Boy am I exhausted!! I never thought vacation or in my case vacationsssss would be so exhausting. I thought they were for relaxing, great nights sleep, shopping, pure enjoyment with friends or family. But not so much in our case, I have been away from my nice and wonderful bed wayyyyyyy to long. So I am excited to sleep in my bed tonight and have one night that Zaydree will sleep through the whole night in her bed. But I shouldn't complain because it was an amazing time in Oregon. Not everyday do you get to see whales right out your condo window within 50-75 yards. (I have many witnesses to that to) We had our Potts family 4 hr reunion up in Oregon. And yes I really mean only 4 hrs. It consisted of us going to the Oregon Aquarium in Newpor and having a dinner after words and walking on the Beach and taking Pictures. But it was worth it to see the many things that we saw up there.
I havn't been there since I was little and Mark use to always go up there with his grandparents for summer vacations so we knew our kids and us would enjoy it.
We went to the Portland Zoo the 2nd day we got there and It was 10 times better than our SLC zoo, it has tons of shade and a whole lot more animals and it is not just focused on the while alligator or elephants. But driving in Portland isn't that easy also, Mark is a great navigator and when he gets lost or turned around in many directions it doesn't make it the easiest of our travels. Then the next day we went to the waterfalls and the Gorge and it was gorgeous but it was a rainy day, so we headed down to Depoe Bay where our condo and reunion was.
Saturday was the big reunion day and I told you what happened there.
Sunday we went to the light house on a self guided tour, shopped down town shops and spent to much money, and had the Potts family over for family night to watch the whales and go swimming. Yes I said swimming, not in the ocean which was way to cold but the swimming pool in the condo and that wasn't the first or last time of our swimming it went on for 10 days straight. I think kids don't really care for vacation they just want to swim 10 times a day all day long, at least mine do.
Monday we went to the Hatfield museum with many fish that was hands on and we had a good time there, Zaydree just loves fish so I think this vacation was just for her.
Tuesday my Parents flew out so it was just us so we went to the underseas museum, Wax works and Ripleys believe it or not. And let me tell you a funny story at Ripley's we have all our kids and the girl that was checking us out was hitting on Mark which I thought was funny but, then turns to him and says those 2 boys look just like their Dad.(Austin and DJ) Is the girl yours too? Mark just said yes and didn't want to ruin it for her on the boys and make her feel even stupider for the comment she made and the flirting she was doing. Put now everywhere I go people always just assume Zaydree is the adopted one and not the boys so I fill everyone in and let them know all of my children are adopted so no one is left out they are all special to us.
Wednesday we walked many Beaches looking for sand dollars, sea shells and anything else we could find. Mark found a sand dollar that had only a tiny part broken from it so that was cool, I found so star fish and a bigger crab that wandered up to shore and we took pics, Austin found some cool sea shells that we kept.
Thursday we went into Lincoln city and went shopping and the Tangent Outlets like the ones in Park city and got some cute clothes and shoes for all of us and ate at many wonderful seafood joints. Being on the coast and loving seafood are two added bonuses because their clam chowders, crab legs, halibut, salmon, shrimp were to die for.
Friday we flew out but before that we made sure to have a stop at Chuck E. Cheeses for the kids and for DJ's birthday.
Word of advice when flying especially with a 2 year old always fly coach and not first class because when you do you get many unfriendly people that want to kill you or kidnap your child, lesson learned always use sky miles for coach and not first class.