October Fun

 So my hunter husband was trying to teach Payton and Halle how to shoot a BB gun.  He is always calling me a city girl, because I don't love waking up at 5am to go hunting.  We had a contest to see who could get more shots on the target......mysteriously that picture was deleted from my camera.  Ya know, the picture that showed MY shots in the red and HIS shots outside the red..:)  Oh well.

 Kids love Halloween around here.  We had several dress up occasions.  (Don't know why I am missing those pictures.)  They had different costumes each time which was fun.  Payton chose to be Spider man each time, but Halle was Raggedy Ann, a princess, and the above picture is..well, I don't know-but she insisted on the wig and looks cute. :)  The Zoo has a celebration with dancing, crafts, and trick or treating called BOO Zoo.  It was probably their favorite until we went to the ward carnival and Halle won a goldfish.  I love the look on her face.  She was SO excited!  She tried 4 times and finally one.  Payton also tried a lot but they ran out. :(   He was amazing at the donut eating though!

The kids were so funny.  Halle kept talking to the fish like a little baby and took excellent care of it. It lasted a whole 10 days until I accidentally changed too much water.  Yikes! She was pretty upset, but again, this was months ago so we are obviously over it. :) lol

September Fun

 Yeah, I know this was last year....Sorry-trying to catch up for mom and the kids. :)
So unless you never watch the news-(Mike) you know that we had a major drought last summer.  It was actually kind of fun to have a big sandbar at the lake.  The kids could swim across and run and explore new places.  It got quite a lot lower than this and we weren't able to dock the boat at all.  Made for lots of running on the sand.  Found an old cellphone Andy had dropped in there a year ago.  Still haven't found one of the two wedding bands he dropped in there yet..

 My cute boys.  Payton loves the paddle boat.

 Nana and Peggy came out to visit.  We had a great time going to the zoo.  Perfect weather. 

 Andy enjoys the zoo OK, but he mainly goes there to feed the birds. 

 Decided it was about time to see the Galveston beach.  We'd never been there and I thought it was pretty nice.  Much better than I had expected.  Kids LOVED it of course.  I think we will have to go more often now.  Halle found plenty of sea shells to add to her 'collection'. 

 Excellent sand building skills here...

 Enjoying something new...waves. :)

 Lazy bums...........:) I love that they had to go home to COLD weather after this. ;)

 Seems like we only go do something when we have guests.  Y'all need to come visit so we can get out and do something!  NASA was pretty cool.  Not as cool as the price it costs to get in, but cool all the same.  Really bummed Payton had to miss it, but that's why we blog-so he can look at pictures!

 Famous, "Houston, we have a problem!" I think I want a red phone now. Pretty sweet. The 5 spy TVs in the background would be a fun addition at home also.

 Yep, that's my daughter, no idea where she gets that stuff. Seriously..

Missed Great-Grandpa Huntsman's 102 Birthday, so we called  him on the phone, sang him a song, and baked a cake in his honor.  Good times! 

Conference Weekend

For those of you who watch General Conference, just wanted to let you know about a great website I get my kids packets from. I've looked at several over the years and she has come to be my go to gal.  I haven't even looked at the others so I'm still assuming she has the best ones again. :)  If your kids sit perfectly and require no crayons at all then..............Honestly, I don't know who you are or what to say. :)  Awesome, so
take a look at http://foodstorageandbeyond.com 
If you are not familiar with General Conference, it is a great spiritual televised meeting presented by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Two wonderful days of uplifting talks this Sat and Sun.  You can watch it on line at http://lds.org or on television.  Have a great weekend!

Huntsman Reunion 2011

Every other year we have our family reunion and get to celebrate one of my most favorite people in the world.  My Grandpa.  We used to celebrate his birthday during Labor Day since his actual birthday is in Sept.  However, with a growing family, summer is a much easier time to get together.  Therefore, this July was jam packed with lots of family fun time.  Isn't he the cutest Grandpa ever!  Payton is definitely his daddy's boy but I think he also looks a lot like Grandpa H. Especially the smile. 

 Oh the kids had so much fun with all their 'new' cousins.  Every year they meet someone new.  They had such exhausting fun each day.  At the crack of dawn, they would head to some cousins camp and 'live' there most of the day.  Halle even told her Aunt Jodie that her mom doesn't feed her.  What! She always wanted what they were having and the thought of having to separate even for a moment was torture to her. ha ha :)

 We had a few craft tables and books and quiet time places for the kids.  I wish I could have a video camera to just follow them around the whole time.  They loved every moment.  It was so fun to see their imagination and all the little games they would play. 

 Halle was making delicious treats for the program that night.  A special present for the program she insisted.  Here she is presenting it to Grandpa.  He was laughing and thought it was cute.  I love Grandma's look.  She thinks Halle is crazy. She didn't understand why Halle wanted them to eat bark.  lol. 

 Payton was able to do lots of 'boy' things as he said.  Baseball, hiking, tag, diggin in the dirt and volleyball.  Every day they would say, "This is the best day ever! We got to play ALL day mom!!"

 We learned how to do all sorts of cool things, including making bags and wallets out of duct tape.  Yep, duct tape.  They had all sorts of colors and prints-they were very cool.  Wish I would have took a pic of the finished project. :(  The kids did bead work and other art projects, went on several hikes and joined in two plays and programs. 

                                    Such strong muscles.
She worked a long time on her 'treats'. She is so cute!

 Uncle Nick and the kids had done a rain dance.  (Man I really wish I'd had a video of that!!) Anyway, afterwards we had a huge down pour.  It lasted quite a while.  We had just got all the food sat out and everyone had to run for cover.  We kept thinking it would pass like the other storms but after 15 plus min of serious hard rain, we had to start moving quick.  Poor Grandpa and Grandma were sitting in chairs with umbrellas.  We were afraid Grandma would fall since water was rushing down the hills so C just picked her up and got them to the car.  Luckily we had purchased a better tent this year and lots of extra clothes.  The fire pit was full of mud and water and it was hard getting a fire started with wet wood.  Thanks to our Eagle Scout men for workin hard to get us warm again.  We finally had to throw gasoline to get it started and had our own little, "Wilson, look what I have done!" moment.
The rain didn't dampen our spirits though and we finished our delicious food and had a program where I have to say, I seriously have the most talented and funny family EVER! 

 It was wonderful to spend the week in the mountains again.  That's one thing we always miss out here.  But mostly it was so nice to just relax and spend time with family.  It's always sad to say goodbye, I love them all.  

 A 'few' of the grand-kids and Grandpa.  And a 'few' of the great-grand-kids with Grandpa and Grandma.
I may be off [if so someone will tell me I am certain :) ] but I counted 38 grand-kids, 108 great grand-kids, 2 great-great grand-kids, plus all spouses at 206 total.  11 have passed and we have 7 on the way.
Happy Real Birthday today Grandpa!! We love you and wish you a happy 102nd.  :)  We are so thankful that families can be forever.

Got fish?

Some people see a nice sun rise like this and they can just sit and enjoy it.  I most prefer to see it while looking out the window from a nice comfy bed.  My hubby..he is out an hour before the sun rise, with a pole in his hand.  Since Payton is generally in school, Halle is the first mate and gets to go on a lot of trips with dad.  She LOVES it!  She is a princess but this girlie girl is a dang good fisher-woman.  She is not scared at all and loves cleaning the guts out. 

 Catching a few perch at the pier. 

 All in a mornings work.  I love the model hands they have here... :) Like it's the 'Price is Right' showcase or something.  And yes, there are still plenty of fish out there! 

 When the cousins came to visit, they had a great time with Uncle Andy.  Even Boo got to go. 

 Don't you just love the blood on her shirt.  Nice touch I think. Gross to me!

 Payton is starting to like fishing a lot more each time he goes.  Mostly, eating them is his favorite part. 

 She could barely hold this fish, lol.  The one below was a 21lb catfish.  Got it behind the house, crazy! 

 Yeah, we go fishing once and a while....Hey, I could think of worse hobbies. :) 

June

 We have had rain only 2 times since February.  We are in a major drought.  This is #1 day of rain, several months ago.  The kids were so happy they had to run out and enjoy it. 

 This girl sure does love here dog.  Best buds. Payton loved sneaking in the hose too.  We miss rain.  I wouldn't even mind a hurricane at this point.  Our church stake fasted for rain, and Texas should be grateful! :)  WE were so grateful!  We had day #2 of rain last week.  It was so wonderful. 

 Daddy isn't around as much as he'd like, but when he's home he does a good job playing with the kids.  Morning time is Halle time.  I love the look on Andy's face.  He is so excited.  My battery died, but they were playing barbies after this.  :)  He wants to market a 'Swamp Barbie'.  That's how we play here.  Texas y'all. 

 Since it is so dang HOT here, we spent almost every week day at the pool.  Payton was in school this day, but Halle had fun at a little play date with the girls.