Ady's first camping trip

I took Ady on her first overnight camping trip last week. I needed to do some research on some camp sites and portages between lakes. So Rashel(Kasey's cousin), Ady and Grandma and Grandpa Haddock came along. The first day we got started really late because I couldn't get away from work. We didn't get to our first campsite till just before dark. Ady told me she loved cooking on the fire and sleeping in the woods in a tent. She was such a good sport. This is us by the fire while dinner is cooking.
We paddled 15 miles and portaged another 3 miles on day two. Ady was very cheerful most of the day and she will definitely be invited on a future trip. We took a side trip and hiked over to Johnson Falls. Many of our customers ask about short day trips so we made sure to visit one of the options.
Ady said that she liked the waterfall, but it wasn't her favorite thing. When asked what her favorite part of the camping trip was she will tell you that it was watching Grandpa fall in the lake. Yep, that is right. We all got a good laugh when Grandpa Haddock flipped the canoe over and took an unexpected bath. Fortunately the canoe was empty and he had some dry clothes. When Ady got back to the lodge, she immediately ran up and told Kasey about Grandpa falling in the lake. It was pretty funny.

Sorry we haven't been posting much lately. We have been very busy working 14-16 hours a day. We are trying to keep our lodge blog updated a couple times a week. You are welcome to check it out at http://clearwatercanoeoutfitting.blogspot.com/.

Ady decided that Summer is basically here. And since we live on a lake she decided that it was time to go swimming. The ice just came off the lake 10 days ago and the water temperature is probably not yet in the 50s. But here she is, ready to get in the water. She basically got herself ready. If you take a close look you can tell that she is prepared for anything. She has her towel, her bathing suit, a jacket in case it gets cold, sunscreen, a scarf(in case the water is as cold as mom and dad said it would be), her mom's flip-flops so that she can walk down to the water, and a beaded necklace thing so that she can look good. Kasey and I assumed that she would stick her toes in the water and realize how cold the water is and be done. She jumped off the dock in the shallows, had a somewhat surprised look on her face and got out of the water. We all laughed pretty good and then we were the ones who were surprised as she got back in the water. She stayed and played in the shallows for about an hour. I kept checking on her because I was worried about hypothermia. She says that we need to go swimming again, but this time everyone else has to get in also.
Brock is really starting to become independent. He loves to just walk around and get into stuff. He has also discovered the swings and loves to swing with Ady. As of yet he hasn't fallen off. Brock has discovered that the lodge has even more places to create messes than our old house. His new favorite activities include getting all the candy off the candy shelves, dumping out the cup of pens that is under the cash wrap, pulling out as many brochures out of the box as he can, messing up the postcards and leaving hand prints on any glass he can find. Brock is really sweet and has decided that he likes to give kisses. Wet open mouthed kisses.
Kasey and I are staying plenty busy trying to learn all the ins and outs of our new business. We generally start working about 6 am and try to be finished by 10 pm but often are still going well after that. Everyday it seems that we discover something else that we didn't know we didn't know. I was able to slip away from the lodge for 6 hours on Friday morning and took a short canoe trip through 4 lakes. One of the lakes had a really neat hiking trail that we hiked and discovered a really neat cliff that gave great overlooks.

Like Father, Like Daughter

Ady has become quite the literalist. I'll let everyone guess where she gets it from. Hint: It is not me, and I am positive it is genetic. For example, I will often tell Ady to go get her shoes on. She doesn't say no, doesn't say ok, doesn't move to do what I tell her. She says "They are not shoes, they are boots, Mom!" "Oh, of course." I say(because this conversation goes on everyday at our house). "GO GET YOUR BOOTS ON!" I just want action, and she just wants to make sure I'm right.
Another example. I say "Ady, go get in the car." She replies "Its a TRUCK!"
And finally the other day as we were flying to Minnesota, this was the conversation:
Mom: Look out the window, Adyson. It's all white; we're in a cloud!!
Ady: No. No we aren't.
Mom: Yes we are. Look.
Ady: No Mom, we're in an airplane.

Our Dream

Well, our dream has finally taken off. On Monday we signed papers to become the new owners of Clearwater Lodge and Outfitters. After many years of dreaming, much planning and a few shortcomings we finally closed on a purchase of a resort. The lodge is in Northern Minnesota and we are now preparing to open for business in 2 and a half weeks.
I snapped this picture of the main lodge today. Yes that is snow on the ground in a few places. Hopefully that is gone soon and the brown grass becomes green. We have so much work to do. Today we took out a wall in the lodge to extend the retail store and to put in a new grocery store. In the next few weeks we will be redoing the kitchens in a couple of the cabins and adding a loft to another cabin. Hopefully things go smooth and we can get the cabins to a point where they can be rented on a regular basis.
Here is what the store used to look like. And this is what we did today.
Kasey and I are so excited with this opportunity. Ady today told me that she is also really happy to live here because she has a swing set at her new home. We know it is a huge project and something that will take some luck and a few blessings to fully realize our dreams here. But we are just so happy that this finally happened. We've come so close a couple of times only to see things fall apart have been hard at times. But to have a chance to do something that we have dreamed about and worked hard for is an amazing thing. We would like to thank all those who have supported us in this endeavor and hope to see some of you up here for a visit someday. If you want to look at the website, it is www.clearwateroutfitters.com. If you would like to help us out and support us please find us on facebook, look up Clearwater Lodge and Outfitters and click "like" button. The more fans we have, the more easily people can find us through a search. Or if you really want to help, post a link to us on your blog, that will help us have a better Google rating. Thanks again for everyone for all of your support the last couple years as we have been actively working towards this dream.

Duct Tape

I was thinking this would work for one of those "you might be a redneck if" jokes. I began the long drive from Utah to Northern Minnesota and after about 12 miles the tarp was flapping and starting to move around. I had attempted to tuck all the sides of the tarp under the load so that the weight would keep it in place. Didn't work. So I pulled off the freeway in Henefer and bought some rope. This worked for about 700 miles. I had to readjust the rope a couple of times, but it held until the 30 to 45 mile an hour cross wind of South Dakota started shredding the tarp. Early on the second day the tarp got a rip in it and that was when things started unraveling fast. I adjusted the rope again, looked a bit like a spider's web when I was done. An hour later the first section of the rope snapped. Then another, and then another. So I pulled over, got a new tarp and re-setup segments of rope. After a half hour signs of the previous problems started showing. So I pulled over again bought a cargo net. 23 miles later the cargo net snapped. Now not only was the cross wind trying to push my 4500 pound box trailer sideways, but it was raining and I needed to keep the boxes in the back of the truck dry under the tarp. I swear that tarp was trying to get loose and was more of a sail than a protection. So I bought some bungee cords. Those broke too. Now, no where near a store and knowing that I had to do something I tried to combine the remains of the cargo net, the segments of rope and the remaining bungee cord. 3 miles later that failed. So in my frustration I grabbed a roll of duct tape and started trying to get the tarp to stay still while I worked on a way to keep it attached. After I got done with my moment of craziness I looked at the tarp and what do you know? The tarp wasn't flapping in the cross wind. So I tried to drive a ways, and when I checked it again in 15 minutes I began to wish I'd have just tried to tape it down 4 hours earlier when the first tarp ripped open. So after two tarps, 50 feet of rope, 4 bungees and several stops to re-adjust, duct tape was the answer. Moral of the story, always carry duct tape.

Brock's Birthday Party

Since we are moving to Minnesota again (I am already here, Kasey and the kids are flying up tomorrow) we decided to have a combined birthday party for Ady and Brock. We did on Brock's birthday and got together at Classic Fun Center in Sandy. The kids really seemed to enjoy themselves. We got them tickets to play on the giant inflatable bouncy things. Brock took a while to warm up to the idea and never did like the slides. But the others loved it. Oakley wouldn't even wait for her parents to go with her, she just kept climbing to the top and going down the slide.

Ady, Landon and Carissa enjoyed some of the kid rides. I like how Ady looks like she is trying to hang on because Landon is a bad driver.

Poor guy, you'd think the birthday boy wouldn't have to ride by himself.
No worries, Brock found a better game. Actually, this used to be one of my favorite games too. Just whack whatever pops up!
Brock found out that he loves cupcakes. And you have to like his technique; grab cupcake quickly before mom changes her mind, hold it with both hands in case mom decides to take away tasty big people food and shove it in your mouth as fast as you can.
Brock really enjoyed his cupcake.
Lately Brock has been obsessed with balls. Doesn't matter what type, basketball, football, foam balls and even Ady's pink princess kickball. So we decided that he needed to have his own ball to play with. Kasey talked to Ady and explained that Brock was going to get a present for his birthday and asked if she wanted to give him something. Ady was very interested in getting him a present so we took her to the store to pick out a ball for him. She was very cute, she made sure that he didn't see the ball and snuck it up to the cash register. He has really seemed to like having a ball of his own that Ady won't take away from him. Well, happy first Birthday Brock!

Brocks 1 yr cardiology check up

So here we are with Brock turning 1 and very grateful for a great check up at Primary Children's Hospital. After an echo-cardiogram and an EKG, Dr Su visited with us about Brock's heart condition. He was very happy with the results, which make us very happy also. Even though it took 2 procedures, it appears Brock's heart is doing very well. It still isn't perfect--the valves are still a bit thicker than normal, and his pressure from the right ventricle to his lungs is at a 15(normally under 10)but it is so close to being normal that we don't have another check-up for a year!
Last year, if we would have known that in one year we would have been having this kind of appointment, I don't think we would have believed it. We didn't know there would be anything wrong until several hours after Brock was born. That was the start of a very challenging week. With how crazy it was, I've wondered about the question "Would it have been better to have known about his heart before giving birth?" I'm still not sure the answer; in some ways it would have been easier, like not having to life flight our baby to Primary Children's and wait 3 days for his procedure, but in some ways it would have been harder, I mean, I am already completely incapacitated during any pregnancy, so any added stress of knowing my child might not be okay may have done me in.

I think Adam was the blogger during most of the "Crisis Year" we had last year, but I just wanted to add a few things I remember about Brock's birth and some of the things we learned. We had actually hoped to have Brock in Hawaii while Adam was attending BYUH, but things worked out, so we moved when I was about 5 months pregnant. I had been to the doctor and had a couple ultrasounds in Honolulu, I vaguely remember the ultrasound technician saying something about something (probly the heart) not looking quite perfect, but that it was perfectly normal that things don't look quite right and its common that things just get back to normal as the baby grows. It was nothing to worry about. So I didn't think much about it, but now when I look back, I think that this was the 1st time we could have seen that something wasn't quite right, but there was no real reason to see it, so we didn't.

Well, nothing more was ever discovered and Brock was born in the afternoon on a Monday; during the delivery, each time I had a contraction, Brock's heart rate would drop. This was really the 1st time I may have felt something might not be quite right, but the doctor assured us that nothing was too abnormal, and that a falling heart rate could be caused by so many things that it once again wasn't anything to worry about. So like the optimist I usually am, I just kept hoping things were normal.

Later, after being moved to postpartum, the nurse came in to check up on Brock. She was listening to his heart. She listened more, and then her lead came in and our nurse asked her to listen to his heart. At this point I was paying attention to them and thinking "Why are they continuing to check him?" This was the 2nd time i felt something might not be quite right. At this point the nurse confirmed to us that Brock had a heart murmur. But, like the other "problems," it was normal. Many people have heart murmurs, they usually grow out of them, and we were assured that it wasn't anything to worry about.

So later after family visited, we noticed Brock's coloring wasn't real great.(notice the feet above) This was the 3rd thing that made me feel like something wasn't quite right. Well, they told us again that it was normal for babies to take a while to change color, and that when they are born it is normal for them not to be "pink." Well, we are glad that that night we had them take him to the nursery, since we later learned that he would have quietly passed away while we slept had he remained in the room with us. We later learned that a babies PDA will slowly close after birth, which causes the color to worsen if a valve or something isn't functioning correctly. And since we would have been sleeping, and in a low light room the grayish color isn't as noticeable, his heart would have slowly failed that night. Babies aren't hooked up to anything and no alarm would have gone off if his heart would have stopped. Sometimes we think back on how close we came to waking up and finding that Brock didn't make it through that first night.

It was in the nursery that the nurse there noticed his worsening color and had him sent to the NICU. The next phone call to our room in the middle of the night confirmed my previous inklings that something wasn't quite right and started a very long next few days. A few days where I pretty much cried the entire time. A few days where I saw a much anticipated and needed relaxing postpartum rest, disappear and be replaced by fear worry and stress. A few days of a very stressed family, waiting for a procedure to see if our son's heart was fixable.

I think sometimes the thoughts we have prepare us for the things to come, even when we aren't sure what exactly is going to happen. Looking back, we learned so much and received so much comfort and care from others. The road with having a child born with a heart defect was a bit rough and trying sometimes, but we've made it and now are very grateful for a pretty healthy baby boy who brings a lot of joy to our family. Our belief in prayer and faith of others has increased as well as our gratitude for those who remembered Brock in their prayers.

Mellow vs. Wild

People say that no two kids are the same. I don't know about the superlative nature of that statement. But I do know that our kids are very different. Ady is full of energy and a touch past high strung sometimes. Sometimes we call her our wild child. She only has two speeds, wide open throttle and out cold. She sleeps in, and is a very deep sleeper. Brock on the other hand is totally mellow. He loves to chill out. And he is so calm compared to Ady. He wakes up at the slightest noise and never ever lets us sleep in. Don't believe me that Brock is super mellow? Check out this picture.
Yep, that is fingernail paint all over Brock's head and face. Ady decided that she wanted to paint Brock. And do you think that Brock objected, nope, he just sat there and let her paint him. Kasey and I were upstairs and thought, "sheesh the kids are quiet, too quiet". Went downstairs and there the kids are practicing their artistic ways of expressing themselves. Hopefully someday Brock will figure out how to say no to Ady, and won't always go along with her half-cooked ideas.
Once Ady realized that she was in trouble she decided that the best way to get out of trouble was to let us know that she also painted herself a little. She had a very small drop, that is covered up by her finger.
Well my winter traveling is over. I completed the last sport show for this year. I was in Minneapolis, MN this last week and in Madison, WI just before that. I enjoy the pressure and difficulty of sales, but am glad that I will not be spending several weeks on the road again till next winter. By the way, something funny that Ady said last night. Ady was acting up at Grandma and Grandpa Haddock's house and Kasey was telling her to knock it off. Ady said something back, and Kasey told her if she was going to be sassy, she wouldn't get to play outside with her cousins. Ady's response was "I'm not sassy, I'm Ady.

Ady has also finally gotten past naming her stuffed animals generic names like horse, dog, and mouse. She informed us the other day that her blue stuffed dog she got for Christmas from Aunt Melanie has the name of Rufus. We asked her why she named him that. After about 5 tries to figure out her answer, I think we figured out that it was because he says "roof, roof!" She also decided to name her pink horse Buddy. No reason that we can figure, except Buddy is what we call Brock a lot...

And even though Ady can be a handful at times, she still is great to have around and I'm glad she keeps me company while Adam is gone. She can and does do and say some very cute things. This week that Adam has been gone, we traded vehicles with his parents. I was driving home and getting used to truck driving and mentioned to Ady that "I miss my car." To which Ady immediately replied "I miss my Dad." She makes sure to always bless him in her prayers too. "Please bless Dad while he is away on the airplane" Someday she might realize he actually gets off the airplane, but I just think it is pretty cute that she remembers him so I don't bother to correct her.

Teething and Climbing

Somebody is definitely growing up. Luckily he is a little more cautious than his sister. He climbed up on his own and then decided he couldn't go any further, so he just kept grunting and whining until I finally got him down.

Next, I know you can only see the 2 bottom teeth in this photo, but he does have 4 on top too; it's just harder to get a picture of all of them. Especially when Ady decides she needs to take over the camera.


and for one last picture: no, this is not of Brock, but we were going thru some of the pictures we have because Ady often requests to look at the pictures we have of when we took her to DisneyWorld. Well, she was in the same age frame as Brock is now and we came across some of her. Funny thing is...she thought it was Brock. They look pretty similar huh? Definitely some different boy/girl traits, but we won't complain that they look alike. In fact, last year in Minnesota, people would see us and and say "Oh, you have 2 kids, and they look so alike. Are both of them both of yours?" like it wasn't normal to have 2 kids from the same parents.

Kasey asked me to add something to today's blog so: I wanted to share something that happened today at church, Ady said something pretty funny. The speaker was talking and I was half paying attention, and half trying to keep Ady entertained/quiet. I heard the speaker mention Alvin Smith and then something about his death, and then something else. I looked over at Ady and she had this pained look of terror. I leaned over and asked if she was okay. She said, "Daddy, if Alvin died, Simon and Theodore will be so sad." I hadn't realized the kid ever listens in church.

Life in General

Dude was so tired. And so hungry. But while Kasey was mixing some rice cereal, crash went his head and down for the count was this little man.

Ady has this thing for finding one of our cameras and taking random pictures. Here is one of her random pictures. Aren't we all glad to know what she had in her mouth?

Two weeks ago I was in South Bend Indiana for some business and decided to visit University of Notre Dame. I am so glad that I took some time for this excursion. What an amazingly beautiful campus and interesting pieces of history. This is the Golden Dome. They suggest that when you go inside to lay down on the floor to get the best view of the painted ceiling.

This is a picture of the interior of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, a cathedral on campus. Absolutely beautiful building. The stained glass windows, painted ceiling, the huge vaulted ceilings and all that devotion to Deity was awe inspiring. I was very grateful that they allow photos to be taken.

At various alcoves in the basilica are different displays or pieces of art. This was my favorite piece of art. No idea who it is done by, but neat none the less.

Last week I had a trip to Minnesota and while there I attended a dog sled race. It was pretty neat but would have been way better if the temperature could have been above zero degrees. The race was comprised of 16 ten dog teams. And yes the dogs are wearing socks.

Young at Heart

I heard the other day that the average human moves 11 times in their life. Well, Ady is 3 and she has moved 10 times. And we are probly moving again soon, so I hope she is well above average on this one, and will move a couple more times, cause while I love having the kids, someday she will need to move out on her own. Anyway, with moving so much(and knowing that we will be moving), we really haven't accumulated many things. We yard sell things because it is cheaper to buy them at the new place, rather than packing and transporting them. I hope we are getting closer to finally settling down, and being able to accumulate some things--like a kitchen table, instead of the flimsy card table we are currently using. Yah, that would be nice. But no matter. It just helps us remember that the most important things in life are not things, right?

So, what we do have is what we need and what was packed up in boxes in my parents barn during our time on the islands of Key West and Hawaii. Since we have moved so many times, Adam sometimes wonders why I keep some of the things I do, and I, likewise, wonder why in the world he keeps what he does. Well the other day I was going thru one of my boxes and found this cute Korean Han-bok that I got while I was there serving a mission(and have only kept it 7 years-but well worth it in my opinion.)

Ady fell in love at first sight. She was so excited to wear it to church. She had so many people tell her how pretty her dress was. What was funny though, was that on the walk from sacrament meeting to her primary class, she walked down the hall saying "Ola, Como Esta?" to everyone. She got some pretty funny looks...A girl wearing Asian attire, speaking Spanish. Thank you, Dora the Explorer. I tried to teach her how to say "Hello" in Korean, but "Anyanghashimnikka" is pretty hard to learn, and she couldn't quite get it.

Anyway...I have another funny story from church. We attend the ward where I grew up and Adam told me this after we finished our block meeting when the men and women split to have class. All the adult men were in a combined class and the teacher was asking who was the youngest there. He looked around the room, and saw a guy who was several years younger than Adam or me, and pointed and said he was pretty young, but then he looked around to see if anyone else was younger. Then the following conversation pursues:

Teacher: "Oh, I know who is the youngest, it must be this guy on the back row." He looks at Adam.

Adam(who has Brock sitting on his lap): "Me?"

Teacher: "Yeah, how old are you?"

Adam: "Uhh...29"

Teacher: "Oh(pause), Sorry, I thought you were younger"

Adam(under his breath): I guess its not the worst thing in the world to look younger than I am."

Then the 50ish-year old guy sitting next to Adam says, " I wish I looked that much younger than I am."

This is even funnier since recently it has become very apparent that Adam's hair is thinning and he is convinced that he is going bald. Adam claims he will soon be a fat, old, bald man. So proof that I am right and Adam doesn't have to worry yet about looking 40.

I guess when you have a husband who looks like he is still 18 when he is gonna be hitting the big 3-0 on his next B-day, its not really a bad thing. I guess he'll just have to keep carrying his ID around, especially if he wants to ever drive a rental or BYUH car(but thats another story.)

Well, no matter what one looks like, I think its more important if you still feel "young." And as long as Adam doesn't hurt himself at the local high school's wrestling practice, where he helps out, he is still young enough to play with the kids. Here is Ady making her Dad give her a horse ride--her and her elephant, and her dog, and her doll, and her stuffed horse.

Ady Style

Ady still isn't over Christmas. I am pretty much okay with it, since I like Christmas enough to celebrate it all year if my husband would let me. This morning again, she asked me if Santa came last night. A couple of days ago I came downstairs and Ady informed me that she made a Christmas tree. Here it is.

A stuffed animal & toy collage on top of some blankets on top of a pilates ball on top of a bean bag. I love it that she doesn't need much to do what she wants. (and its probly good for her cuz it fits our current vagabond lifestyle) Its like the saying "The richest man is he who needs the least."

Here is a picture of Brock, too. I can't believe how big he is getting. Ady and Brock love to play with each other.

And now that Christmas is over, I had some time to do a project for us. I embroidered our names on our Stockings!(finally)

I love being able to use my mom's stuff. My Mom and Dad actually took off this week for a business/pleasure trip, so I get to take care of my mom's store, and now that I know how to embroider, I've even been able to do some jobs that came in. Its just been a little inconvienient that Adam is gone the same week for business also, but all in all, we are doing good. Especially since Grandma VT came and helped for a couple days last week. I've always been amazed at how single mothers do it, but once again I am reminded how much being a mother takes if you don't have help! But I've also been reminded how much I love my kids...and my husband.

Growing up fast

We have been wanting to get a family picture taken, but as of yet haven't done so. Kasey even got us an appointment at a studio, but then I had to leave for a business trip the week that we had the appointment. But before leaving, I decided to take pictures of the kids to show how big they are getting, and how great they look. We asked them to stand by a wall that is blank and hold hands. So this is what we got at first.
Ady wanted to "help" Brock. We kept trying to get her to just let him be. But no, she wanted to hold both his hands and help him stand.

After some love unfeigned and gentle persuasion(commonly called threatening, bribery and pleading) we got her to let go of one of his hands. Of course Ady decides not to smile.

So then we get Ady happy again and she starts grinning and I take the picture and not only does Ady open her mouth, but then Brock decides to not smile. Come on kids, all I want is one nice smiling picture.
So in the end this is what we ended up with. Aren't they good looking kids!? And here is one of Brock by himself. When we got done he just kept standing there smiling so I took an extra one of him without Ady helping/harassing him.

The Last Couple Weeks

Lately is seems that our life has been filled with shoveling snow, making t-shirts, and cleaning up after two very messy kids. A couple of days ago I told Ady that she had to clean her room. She wanted to watch the Tinkerbell movie, so I told her she could watch when her room was clean. She got this funny look where her eyes get real big, opens her mouth and looks at me like I just asked her to turn into a baboon. "The whole room!?" "Do I have to clean it all by myself?" I told her that she made the mess and that I am tired of picking up her toys and clothes so yes she had to do it all by herself. We went up to her room and I got the box for her legos, the hamper box thing, and the toy box. I got a chair, put the boxes by me, and told her to put the correct items in their boxes. I've never seen anything so ridiculous. Ady would grab one lego and walk it over to the box. Then she would grab one sock, or one toy and put the item in its box. Sometimes she would grab two legos, but then she had to stick them together walk the 5 steps across the room, take them back apart and put them in the box one at a time. Took one hour and 7 minutes to do a job that should have taken less than 10 minutes.

I am tired of winter. I hate shoveling snow and miss winters in Hawaii and Florida. I for one can't wait for winter to be over.

Kasey loves working over at her mom's store. She has been learning how to use the embroidery machines and working with vinyl. I'm starting to worry that she is going to want to buy an embroidery or vinyl machine of her own soon.

Brock is all over the place. He has figured out how to climb up stairs and loves to climb up the stairs and then whine till we go up, get him, and bring him back down so that he can do it all over again. Brock can stand on his own now for a couple of seconds and we are worried that he will be walking soon.

Ady loves being in the sunbeam class for primary at church. Every night we try to sing a song with her before she goes to bed. We usually let her pick the song to sing. But lately she only asks for two songs, the Sunbeam song and Rudolph. I've tried explaining to her that it isn't Christmas time, but she doesn't care.
We have managed to find time to just relax and play around. Recently we got a couple of new Wii games. I bought Kasey the Super Mario Bros All-Star game for Christmas. And I had a Cabelas coupon and after combining it with a gift card from Melanie and Ryan, was able to buy the Cabelas Dangerous Hunts 2011 for 11 dollars. Kasey has decided that it is a pretty sweet game and we go on hunting safaris together. As you can see, Brock likes to hang out and watch with us. Tomorrow I am leaving for Cincinnati where I will be attending the 2011 outdoor expo and boat show. Then the following week I will be in Chicago for a business meeting and the outdoor expo there. I'm pretty excited for the shows and having several days to check out all the new gear and boats that will be on display!

Christmas Activities

I had the best Christmas that I can remember in a long time. Ady woke up and the first thing she said was, "did Santa come?" Grandma and Grandpa Van Tassell came to visit late Christmas Eve and Ady got to open her presents with both Grandparents watching. For several weeks now Ady had been asking for a red present from Santa Claus. Well, the jolly old man came through for her, both Ady and Brock got a red present from Santa.
No, those are not all Brock's and Ady's presents. We all went over to Grandpa and Grandma Haddock's to open presents. Grandma and Grandpa Van Tassell happened to wrap Ady's presents in red and Ady thought that she had died and gone to heaven. She got 3 red presents! here she is in this photo holding a couple of them. She didn't want to put down her presents.
The look on Ady's face when she opened her present from Santa was spectacular. She yelled out, "Look, a lego train and it has Toy Story too!"Brock was mostly just interested in climbing on the packages. Ady then handed out presents to both Grandparents, her mom and me, and to Blake and Leslie. And of course, Ady wanted to help, (ie. do it all herself), everyone unwrap their presents.
This is what Kasey and I made for our parents. Kasey thinks that people have a hard time remembering everyone's birthdays. If you didn't know Kasey thinks that birthdays are a personal holiday and is second only to Christmas. Kasey found a picture of a birthday calendar online and thought we could "easily" make one. Ended up being not nearly as easy as she predicted.
We have had quite a bit of snow this past week. And everytime we get new snow Ady wants to build a snowman. Sometimes she wants to build other things too. Like a dragon or turtle. The other day she wanted to build a sea horse in the snow. I told her to go and ask Blake to help her. So she did.
We went up to Bear Lake the day after Christmas with Kasey's parents and visited Kasey's grandpa. We also took Ady sledding. She had soooo much fun.
Ady rode down the hill the first few times with either Kasey or me. But then she wanted to do it all by herself. She would laugh and giggle the whole way down the hill. We were laughing pretty hard just watching her.
Today I decided to give Brock a hair cut. He had 3 inch hair in some places and not much in others. It was a pain to get him to hold still. He loves chewing on "his" toothbrush, but even that wouldn't keep him still. Kasey ended up restraining him while I buzzed his head.

Christmas fun

We have this village Christmas set that Kasey and I bought in an after Christmas sale our first Christmas. It has been in a box and hasn't been seen since then. So this year we decided to get it out. The kids love it. Ady likes to re-arrange, on a nearly hourly basis, the villagers and trees. And Brock loves to shred the fuzzy stuff that is supposed to be snow. If you look closely you will see that there are tress in the middle of the road, a cow out by the road and shredded fuzzy stuff all over the floor.