Winter Camping!!!

Aidan and I went with a friend of mine to Lake Rufus Woods (past Grand Coulee Dam in the middle of nowhere). We camped for 3 days \ 2 nights. My friend Peter stayed 1/2hr away in a motel. For some reason he wasn't fond of the idea of sleeping in a tent in the middle of winter in Eastern WA.

I was very proud of Aidan. He was a trooper (again). Not once did he whine or complain. I never felt like I needed to entertain him. If he got bored, he'd grab my camp shovel and go exploring. He'd look for little trinkets to bring home to Becca (snake skin, baby cactus, cool rocks, etc). When another family with kids showed up one day, he quickly made friends and had them join him on his adventures. My friend was also very impressed, noting how Aidan never cried when falling hard on the rocks while reeling in a fish or getting cut by stickers on the trails. And especially when Aidan didn't once whine or complain coming or going on the 4 hr drive each way. And how Aidan was always very quiet and polite - saying 'please' and 'thank you'.

I'm also very proud of my wonderful wife who held up the fort at home with the remaining 6 kids!!

A few pics from the trip:


Aidan and I enjoyed watching the eclipse. Aidan also got to see his first (and eventually 5th) satellite and shooting star as we listened to the night sounds of owls and coyotes.


Banks Lake - a huge lake we drove past that is frozen over with thick ice:


Aidan was a fish catching machine!




Aidan fishing:


One days limit for Aidan and I (2 fish each a day is all you get). We ended up with over 50lbs of very tasty trout to take home.



Aidan getting ready for the cold night at camp (temp in the upper teens):

Happy Valentines Day!

My Valentines present to us~a glider for the babies room!

To anyone reading, I hope your day was wonderful, that you were shown love and gave love. I'm really not a big valentines day person. I love having heart shaped chocolate chip pancakes and chocolate milk with whipped cream and valentines at each of the kids places in the morning. And I do make a bigger deal about how much they are each loved and adored on Valentines day. But really I think spontaneous, just-because love and gifts are the best. A wise sweetheart taught me the value in that. But it is a great break for the dulldrums of February.

Another way I combat the February funk is by beginning spring cleaning early! Hopeful, optmistic me. I am so longing for those always-open windows with a crisp breeze, and long afternoons at the park. Today it was so nice out that I allowed four kids to jump on the trampoline because I could keep the windows open. I was thrilled to find something I could do and still hear and see everything they were doing~I cleaned out all the windows, tracks (yucky WA mold/mildew!) and window sills. I then moved on to all the appliances and cabinets, finishing up with the dinning room windows, table (why did I buy a black table anyway!?), mirror, front door and sweeping all the hardwoods. Whew, I feel a little more in control, as long as I don't go into the master bedroom where there is another couple hours of work!

We've had some busy few days and I'm realizing I must stay on top of things, organizationally speaking. Chad came home with a little hint last night. ;o) But he also brought roses so that took the edge off and kept him out of trouble. I love you bud.

Back to our busy couple of days... Tuesday we went to Kayak Point in Marysville and had fun despite some heavy rain. But at the end the sunshine came out and it was gorgeous. Hope never complained a bit; she was wrapped up and quite cozy in my jacket. Thanks to Lena, who watched Halle, Chad was able to fish and we had an extra spot in the suburban to bring home a 12 year old named Angel. So the last bed is filled in our home!

T~Bella collected just a few purple shells! ;o)

The sun was welcome but not necessary for our fun trip!

This new climbing structure is awesome!

Almost as awesome, a non-manmade structure to climb on!

My cuddle-bug!

Happy girl!!!

Here is an absolutely amazing quote for today...

"Heaven is not here, it's there. If we were given all we wanted here, our hearts would settle for this world rather than the next. God is forever luring us up and away from this one, wooing us to Himself and His still invisible Kingdom, where we will certainly find what we so long for. " Elisabeth Elliot

At the river

A foggy September morning on the river:


A soggy December day floating the river with my dad:

Cascades:

A few shots with Mt Index in the background:






Side channel of main river frozen over:


Huge log jam left over from fall floods:

Looking down the tracks along the river:

Found a few more pics of Ethan fishing

This fall, Ethan catches some nice salmon while Ryland works the net:

Ethan lands it and Ry nets it like a pro:

It's getting dark, but Ethan is a fishing machine and the fish are still biting!

Does Ethan like fishing?

Ethan LOVES to drive the boat :)

Ethan reels in a fish on our favorite little farm pond:

And another fish being reeled in by Ethan:

Here he is at 2yrs old - yes 2!! Fighting salmon nearly equal to him in size :)

Fishing Buddies

Aidan battles a nice salmon while his buddy Simmy get's the net ready (Simmy's dad Josh in the background).


My friend Richard get's his first chum salmon after a fun float down the river in Watermaster rafts.


Me and my best fishing buddy ever in Mexico :)


My dad lands a nice salmon off a Puget Sound beach:


Me and Josh, my "Little Brother" from the Big Brother's program (he's all grown up now):


I took 2 brothers from our old Church in North Bend fishing for salmon. They had a great time hooking up with huge fish :) These troopers didn't let a little nasty November weather stop them from having a blast!

Thinking of summer

With the snow, wind, rain, and dark days of Jan\Feb, I thought I'd post a few summer pics to warm things up a bit.

These are from our favorite little pond tucked away in the valley not far from Monroe. It borders a big corn feild that is lined with 1/2 a mile of black berry bushes. We'd go spend the afternoon in the little boat fishing, then head out to pick berries.