Giving Thanks

We spent a wonderful Thanksgiving day with the Kroontje side of our family. Tom and Dawn's great hospitality made the day cozy, relaxing, intimate, joyful and delicious!!!


The newly-extended sun-porch was able to seat all 34 guests comfortably. Heat from the woodstove during the meal meant that we were all warmed from the inside and out!




There was no shortage of babysitters. Here are two of the enthusiastic care-takers, Grace and Vi.


Kohl and Michelle take a turn with the kids.

Fiona


us

Our day last Thursday

These are just random pictures that I took throughout the day last Thursday:



Hale playing with the laundry basket in the morning. He likes to tip it towards him...


...but sometimes it rights itself with Hale still attached.





Hale not wanting to nap.

After bath:

Tubing at Mount Baker

Last Saturday Josh and Tarelle got a group of people together to go tubing at Mount Baker. This was Hale's first experience in the snow! We had a great time with the group - Hale had lots of little friends to play with!


Nash, Rocklyn, Libby, Cameron and Hale on the ski lift (which obviously isn't running yet).


Landon and Hale get ready for the first time down the hill:


Hang on Hale!


He liked it!

Becky, Landon,Hale, Josh, Rocklyn and Tarelle

Late Season Deer Hunting

From Landon:

This year I was fortunate enough to draw a late season deer hunting permit. Last weekend my dad and I headed over to the Entiat GMU (Up the Entiat River Road off of 97A in between Chelan and Wenatchee). Let me explain a little bit about the special tag: normally during the regular season you head to your special hunting area hoping to see deer- and you are really hoping to spot a legal buck ( in most of areas I have been hunting lately that means a deer with at least three points on one side). Anybody can buy a tag and come out for regular season and usually the deer are pretty scarce (and seem to outwit the masses of hunters). The special permit, on the other hand, is a drawing that selects a certain number of hunters (52 this year in the Entiat GMU) to hunt at a date later in the year (November 1-18). This time of the year also happens to be the mating season when the bucks are in the rut and looking for does. This makes them a little less wiley and easier to spot. So I guess what I'm trying to explain that this hunting trip was one where we saw plenty of deer. We were not shooting at the first legal deer we saw- we spent our time trying to figure out the best buck to shoot. This may seem easy but you have to realize that it is a gamble. When you find one you have to decide if it's the biggest buck you're going to see or if you might see one bigger the next day. But if you wait too long you risk going home empty-handed because you can't guarantee that you will see a buck the last day of your trip. Anyway, my Dad and I saw a lot of deer and got a couple of pictures of nice bucks.

The first one we spotted looked really nice. It was really tall and looked great however only 16 or 18 inches wide.

At dusk on Saturday we decided to take a nice 4 point. It wasn't the monster buck that you really hope for in the late hunt but it was a very respectable. It took only one shot from about 150 yards. It's funny how we were really excited but also disappointed because the hunt was then over.

So after a nice evening of skinning the deer we enjoyed some steaks. We headed out the next morning to do a little more looking and unfortunately we found a big one. It was a 3x3 but at least one side had a point busted off so it would have been at least a 3x4. Anyway we spotted at over 1000 yards so the picture you see is shot through a 60 power spotting scope. The first picture you see is of where we first spotted it. The deer was at the right arrow. We did make a stalk on it and ended up around the left arrow before we called it a day and headed home. We figure it was probably about 26 or 28 inches wide and a nice tall rack as you can see. We wasted most of the morning drooling over a deer we couldn't do anything about since we already had our tag filled back at camp. It was still fun to look though.

November boredom

It's been little while since I last posted. Basically it's because we've had a really quiet few weeks. Well, Landon did go on a hunting trip last weekend. I'm sure we will post some pictures soon, but I am waiting for Landon's collaboration since I don't really know what to say about deer pictures.

Even though Hale and I have been around the house I haven't picked up the camera much lately. I have, however, been doing some creative work. Below is a banner that I recently created for our church foyer. Our church is going to be a part of Advent Conspiracy - a movement to focus less on the commercial side of the Christmas season. It's not a campaign against gift-giving, but promoting giving in ways that are not limited to material gifts.






Today, after finally finishing my church banners - I did take a few pictures. Hale was napping so I got the idea to try to take a few self-portraits. The results weren't great. Standing in my window, with the camera at arms length, all I could think was "I wonder what my neighbors are thinking of me right now?"

Here's one. Don't think I'll be using it as my facebook profile.

Then Hale woke up so I took some pictures of the funny face he makes when he is first awake.

He was kind of grouchy.

His grouchy demeanor turned into sobs as I started taking pictures.





And then he took off his sock and waved it in forceful protest.






But eventually he got over it. He always does. :-)

Happy Halloween!

And happy one year to our blog! Thanks to all our friends and family for all the good feedback you've given us about our website. We really enjoy sharing our updates with you!

Halloween was rainy and cold- but we had a wonderful evening seeing friends and family. We dressed Hale as a cow. I was a little concerned because the costume I found was actually brown and white - not black and white like the traditional Holstein. It got Landon's approval, though, because he reminded me that some holsteins are brown and white - and then they are known as red Holsteins. There was even a red Holstein in the calf barn - so we went to visit her!

Here is our little red Holstein:

Is it almost time Mommy?

A cow and his tractor:

His feet said "moo".

Hale and the little red calf in the barn:

A couple other cuties we saw on the way. Grace "Wendy",

Emmy "Robin", Libby "Scooby", and Fiona "Peter Pan".

Hysterical Hale

Landon likes to tickle Hale's tummy as he changes his diaper. For some reason Hale thought it was hilarious tonight...I think he was a little over-tired!