Lesson Learned

Early Saturday morning we had an interesting and funny experience happen in our house. Jon and I were still in bed not wanting to get up when we heard the doorbell ring. Of course our kids answer it because they love to. Then Kiaya comes in our room and says "um, mom...there's a police man at the door!" So of course my mind starts racing a hundred miles an hour. Jon jumps out of bed to go talk with him and Kiaya comes back into my room crying hysterically! She kept saying, "I think I'm in trouble! I'm in BIG trouble!" totally sobbing. I'm thinking what on earth is going on?

The police man leaves and Jon comes back into the room holding the phone in his hand and on the screen was dialed 911 from our house!! Yes, Kiaya had called 911 and then left it off the hook so they were still on the phone while they sent an officer to the house to make sure everything was okay. The funny thing was, we found out later, that she had called them to come pick up Whitney because they had been fighting.

We had a good talk with her about when and when not to call 911 and the importance of it. Then Jon and I had a good laugh. Like I told Jon, I'm pretty sure she won't EVER prank call 911 again!

It's nice when you don't have to teach your children a lesson and they learn it all on their own. :)

All I want for Christmas is my THREE front teeth!!

Well, Kiaya has now lost her third tooth in a row! Poor kid has trouble eating anything she has to bit into. The Tooth Fairy is having trouble keeping up with all these lost teeth!

Still a fan of Twilight

Just my opinion.......I actually saw the movie Twilight twice over the weekend and was glad I did. The first time I came out of the movie I had mixed feelings about it. I know there is no way they can make a movie to meet everyones expectations to an incredible fantasy book. But I felt like they left out a ton in the movie. Like my friend said, it was more like a play than a movie. It was really choppy. I kept thinking to myself the whole time if you hadn't read the book you might not have a clue what was going on. It could of been a lot better with a better director and better acting.

The second time I saw it, however, I liked it a lot more! Maybe it's because I knew what to expect and I could just enjoy it. To me, Bella is just the way I pictured her and I liked the Cullen's a lot more. Edward tends to grow on me throughout the movie but I still thought Jasper looked like an idiot. To my surprise Rosalie was one of my favorite characters in the movie. I couldn't quite get into her in the books but in the movie I really liked her. I also liked James! Did anyone else think he was hot? I thought Carlisle looked like a real vampire and Alice was perfect for the part. Although, I was sad the movie didn't get into her and Bella's friendship more, like in the book. And I loved the baseball game scene!

All in all it was a good movie and I'm sure I'll see it again and of course end up buying it on DVD.

Way to go babe!!

For all of you who know my husband know that he is an avid hunter. This last Friday he woke up at 4 am to go hiking up the freezing mountain, above Coleville, in a foot of snow hunting for elk. Yes, sometimes I do think he's insane! But being the supportive wife that I am, I let him go have his fun....sometimes. :) His hard work did payed off though. He got this nice 5 point not long after they arrived. Hey, another year of meat in the freezer, right? I'll be honest though, I would have loved to been up there with him. Cody and Jon

(sorry about the gore)

Will & Heidi tied the knot!!

It's not every day that your best friend marries one of your favorite cousins. That's right, Jon's best friend, Will Packer, and Jon's cousin, Heidi Hale, finally tied the knot!! I wonder if Jon and Will ever thought they would end up being family??
The ceremony was incredible. Will's grandpa, Boyd K. Packer, sealed the two of them. It was a beautiful wedding and both of them looked happier than I've ever seen them. Congratulations! We love you guys!!

White Corn Chicken Chili = YuMM!!!

1 onion
1 garlic clove (diced)
4 cooked/chopped chicken breasts
2 cans white corn (w/ liquid)
2 cans white Great Northern
beans (w/ liquid)
2 cans green chilies
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. coriander
1/2 tsp. oregano
pinch of cayenne
3 cups chicken broth
3 T. lime juice or 1 whole lime

*Saute onion & garlic. Add everything together in pot and simmer for 30 min. (Calls for simmer 2 hrs.)

Self serve
*Place tortilla chips in bottom of your bowl before soup. Then add topping.

Top with:
-grated cheese (mozzerella or cheddar)
-sour cream
-guacamole
-salsa
-green onion
-cilantro

Catching Up

Boy, I don't know how some of you guys stay on top of your blogs the way you do.....impressive!! I've been a big slacker.

These past couple months have been pretty good. We've been doing some things that fall brings for fun things to do. One of our fun nights we went to the Pumkin Patch and afterwards came home and carved our pumkins with some of our friends while we ate homemade stew and Dick's glazed doughnuts, then later stayed up until 3:00 in the morning watching The Ring 1&2. It was a really fun night. My favorite quote of the night (by Heidi), "Does pumkin that you cook with come from real pumkins??" Gotta love that girl!

We had a great Halloween. It was a perfect Halloween night. Not too cold, a little drizzly, the wind blowing the leaves up just enough to make it spooky. We went to Aunt Cheryl's anual Halloween party that is always spectacular! Then Jon, Chad, Rori and Grandpa took the kiddos trick-or-treating. Afterwards, Grandma made us the BEST tortilla soup I think I've ever had!! I'll post the recipe. Great things need to be shared, right?

Chad and Rori

My cute parents

This picture is Hillarious! You might not of seen it right at first....look closely, do you see it? Yes, Jon has antlers! That is from the big elk hanging on our wall behind us. We didn't notice it until after we took the picture. What a babe!

Meet Trickett!!

Jon and I welcomed the newest addition to our family late Sat. night. That's right, our horse Asia finally had her baby! And when I say finally I really mean finally!!
We took her to get bread to a beautiful Paint stud last year which would of made her due the end of April. Well, April came and gone and still no baby. Maybe she's just overdue?? Another month went by and another. We couldn't figure it out because our usually trim horse was still getting bigger in the mid-section.
Finally in July we took her to the vet and he told us it should happen within the next month. That puts us into August. So obviously the pretty Paint stud wasn't the daddy.....it was our own stud at the time, Scout, who is now "fixed!" Better luck next time!

September 20th (five months later) she finally delivered....Yea!!! A little Bay stud colt. Uncle Clint came up with his name...Trickett.....cause he tricked all of us! Asia's a very good mama! She's always been the "mother" to all the horses we've had. It's about time she got to experience having one of her own. As for our other two, they just act like it's no big deal.

Look at these two cute, little babies!!

FAMILY

Family is everything to me! I would be lost without them.....any of them, which is how all of us have felt for a very long time.
Just recently my family was re-united with my oldest sister Kelli that we haven't seen or talked to in over six years!!! This has been a long, hard chapter in my family's lives.

(L to R): Clint, Dad, Cole, Reagan, Kelli, Mom, Rori, Brittany

The last time we had a picture with all of us together like this was when I was about 7-8 yrs old. That's almost 20 years ago!

Last week my brother, Cole, who is attending law school in Alabama, flew in for a couple days for an interview with a Supreme Court Judge and my sister Reagan flew in from California to be here with everyone as well. It was amazing to have all six kids here all at the same time again. We ate a yummy fiesta dinner that my mom put on, much caught up on everyone's different lives, played Ligretto-a family favorite card game, and laughed a lot!
It's amazing after so many years how there is still that family bond that ties you together with an unconditional love.

All of us again with a couple of in-laws, grandkids, and Kelli's boyfriend, Jack.

(L to R): Reagan, Kelli, Mom, Rori, Brittany

HaPpY 3rd BirThDaY WhiTneY!!

So, belated Birthday really. It was August 30th. I'm a little behind on this posting buisness.

It's crazy how life cruises by and way hard to imagine that it's really been 3 years since Whitney became apart of our family. What did we ever do without her! She is such a fun little girl....a Daddy's girl!! One of her favorite things lately is pretending to go elk hunting around the house with Jon, shooting them off the walls with her toy gun while wearing her princess dress at the same time. I love it! She is such a little tom-boy and princess all in one. She cracks us up every day with something new. She has such an imagination. Her nickname "Whity" definitely fits her little personality. Happy Birthday Sweetheart!!

Say CHEESE!!

This year Whitney had a Princess party with her little friends in the neighborhood and cousins. They all decorated thier own crown, played kiss the frog, read princess stories and had lots of pink cake!

Mommy and Kiaya had a lot of fun too.

Look Mom, dad bought me my first gun. It says that it's for children 8 years and older.

Oakley's Blessing Day

Our little Oakley was blessed August 3rd. It was a great day and she looked beautiful! All three of my girls have been blessed in the same dress which happened to be the one I wore when I was blessed 26 yrs ago. It's been a fun, little tradition we've started. But the question is now...which daughter do I pass it down to??

Turpin Meadows HorsePacking Trip

This past August Jon and some of his good friends went on a 9 day horsepacking trip up in the Teton wilderness. They had been planning it all year long.

There were 8 cowboys and 17 horses altogether. They rode for over 100 miles up through Clear Creek, the Continential Divide, Hawks Rest, Bridger Lake, head waters of the Yellowstone River, Woodered Pass, Crater Lake, Big Springs to Turpin Meadows....one big, fat loop. They all had a pretty good time...to say the least. :-)

Woodered Pass.....love the horse ears!

Bridger Lake

Will & Spence Packer, Trent & Brady Hansen and Jon

This was Scout's first pack trip......he was a little tired!

Will Packer & Jon at top of Woodered Pass. 10, 931 ft.

OooHh BoY!!

The Continential Divide. One river to the Atlantic and the other to the Pacific.

Before the men headed on their trip they asked the forest service if they could replace the sign for them because the old one was old and torn apart.

"Uncle Fred" Hale, Jon Walker, Will, "Chief" & Trent Packer

Fish Farm

We had a lot of fun going to the Fish Farm for family night with Grma & Grpa Richins. It's one of those things that every kid needs to experience at least once. Kiaya is a pro by now but it was Whitney's first time. They both loved it!

Oakley and Grandma spent some qualitly time together on the side lines.

Kids will be kids

Sometimes I just have to laugh at the funny little things my kids do. A few weeks ago 5 little baby ducks came to live at our house (under our trampoline, acutally). We'll eventually take them up to our family's ranch/cabin in Wyoming. But for now they just rome our yard. It's quite cute. We even have a kiddie pool for them to swim in that they love. Well this afternoon I was in my house and looked out the window to check on Kiaya and Whitney who were playing outside and saw Whitney sitting in the dirty, yucky swimming pool, with her clothes on and all, just hanging out. I'm laughing just thinking about it. I'm sure it was Kiaya that coaxed her to getting in, being the good
big-sister she is. :) Kids will be kids, right?