Camping!

Well the Saint family took their first camping trip this last weekend. I am happy to report it was a success! We went up Friday morning and spent the whole day doing some fishing and setting up camp. Saturday was spent fishing, hiking, riding four wheelers and eating lots of good camping food. Plus a little alcohol consumption for the adults. We camped with some friends of ours who had friends and family of theirs there, plus more of Stephen's co-workers, so camp was fun and hectic! There were about 15 kids, 8 dogs and a million BUGS.




Unfortunately, while trying to remember all the food, clothes, cooking supplies, fishing supplies and everything else under the sun I forgot my camera. But we are going up again later next week, so I will get pics of our HUGE new tent (love it!) and the amount of crap it takes for 6 people to camp for two days.


Mary and Stephen caught two really big trout (especially for creek fishing) on Saturday. Both of them were very proud of themselves! Especially Mary, who really did catch it all by herself, because her mother didn't believe she was actually reeling in a "HUGE ONE MOM!" She didn't actually end up reeling,(she just kept backing up until the fish was out of the water) because she was too busy trying not to drop her little Micky Mouse fishing pole and promptly fell right on her butt when she got the fish up the bank. It was a classic moment :) Gabe caught two decent sized trout, and we all caught lots of tiny ones. The next time we go up, we will have lots of trout to eat! Sophie and Sara didn't fish much but they did enjoy annoying the people who were trying to fish by being loud giggling girls. I didn't fish much either, I was too busy keeping track of kids, baiting hooks and taking hooks out of fish.

We got pics of the fish as soon as we got home though!
Check back next week, we are going to have a very busy week ahead. Stephen's dad is coming, a trip to Worland for the Saint side of the family then off to Ten Sleep for his moms side of the family only to come back home and get ready to go camp some more! I am sure I will have lots to post about!

Fishing!!!

Today we went up to the Laramie Peak area to do some fishing and hiking. Great time had by all ...except for Sophie who does not love fish we learned today. Evidence below..

Other than that little freak out we had a GREAT time. All of us got a ton of fish and we had a really fun (about 5 miles!) hike up Laramie peak trail. Stephen and I were talking today about how nice it is to finally have all of our kids be old enough that they are truly enjoyable to take places. Not that they haven't always been fun, but it sure is a lot less work now.

All in all it was a great Family day trip!!

Update...after a year!!

Ok so I have been seriously slacking on the whole blog thing. But a few people have asked me to start doing it again, so I am going to give it a try.

I guess the most exciting thing that has happened recently is that we moved to Douglas. It's much smaller then Casper, but still close enough that we can zip over there in an hour to shop and of course see family! So far the kids are really enjoying it. Sophie is over the moon since she got her own room, and Gabe is excited to have a room big enough to turn around in. The little girls are just rolling with the flow for the most part. After the initial shock of not having Sophie to help them clean their room up anymore, they have gotten much better about not making HUGE messes in there LOL. Stephen and I are enjoying our huge master room and bath, not to mention the walk in closet. The biggest adjustment for all of us has been the fact that we have neighbors. While we are loving our new little home, it is very odd having people so darn close. My kids have no comprehension that they make enormous amounts of noise! Hopefully we will eventually find a different lot or a little piece of land in future. But for now we feel blessed with what we have!

Sophie's Room still in need of some curtains and Wall decor....

Gabe's Room. He is very excited about his new camo bedding!

For the most part we just enjoying the lazy days of summer. We have been playing lots of cards, spending time walking the river, and going to the parks. None of us are really sure what to do without all of the activities the kids are usually involved in. But that will change soon enough. Gabe starts football in August (which we are told is sort of a REALLY big deal here.), Sophie is going to give Girl Scouts a try and Mary is going to start Gymnastics hopefully. I'm not sure if Sara is going to do anything, we'll have to see how it goes. She might have enough on her plate adjusting to pre-school 3 days a week. One day she is really excited about it, the next she doesn't want to go. So her and I are like two pea's in a pod, because one day I am SO excited she is going to preschool and the next I am ready to bawl my eyes out because she is going! We are praying, that we can find a church we like with an AWANA program. All of my kids love it so much and even Sara can be involved which is Awesome!

The kids at Natural Bridge Park

May Madness! 2010 Edition...

Well, our house redecorating has pretty much been put on hold. I have not been home much this month with all of the end of school activities. So far this month we have had Sara's 3rd birthday, Mary's end of the year BBQ at the park, Sophie's Kindergarten Graduation, a trip to Rapid City for a weekend, Gabriel's end of the year reading program and the list goes on. This next week we have Track Day and field trip to the movies and then we are DONE! YAY! So I just thought I would share a couple of pics....

Sara Age 3



Sara at the park for Mary's BBQ\


Mary



Sophie at graduation

Gabe at his reading program

House Remodel!

We have been very, very busy this last few weeks! We decided that since we were going to be in this house for the next few years at least, it was time to fix it up. So after a quick call to my landlord we got after it. We got the girls' nasty wall painted and the bathroom done a few weekends ago. I still need to get curtains for the bathroom and take down the girls closet doors and put a curtain up there.

Since then we (and by we I mean mostly Stephen) have mudded ALL of the wood panelling and textured the whole living room and got it painted. I am working on getting all of the new trim we got primed and painted so Stephen can get it hung up on his next day off. And to complete the new look Stephen decided to buy "for me" a 52 inch flat screen TV with a new stand! Out of all of us, I think Gabriel is the most excited about the TV! After all of that is completed we are moving on to the our bedroom and then the kitchen/hallway. I am very excited to get all of the walls and ceilings finished so that we can move on to new flooring.

Happy Easter!

We had a fabulous Easter. My grandparents came from MT and the whole weekend got spent visiting with them at the ranch. Gabriel thought his Papa Mou was the funniest guy ever! All of the kids enjoyed seeing them very much, as did I.

The kids had a great time with their Easter baskets and hunting for eggs. Sara was a little stressed about some random bunny sneaking into her house in the middle of the night though. She is such a chicken! The whole time we were hunting for eggs she just kept saying "that bunny is so silly."

Papa and Mama Mou with their Wyoming Great Grand Kids!

Random Happenings

Last week was a super busy one for us. We had the Awana's Grand Prix which is a wooden pine box car derby. This was the first time we have ever participated in one and it was interesting to say the least. Gabe is way to competitive to enjoy anything like that, and it took every ounce of will power he had not to melt down when his car was eliminated. Sophie's car made it for quite a few rounds, but she could of cared less....

Sophie watching her car

Sophie had her last basketball game to cheer for this last weekend. She was sad to see the season end! We all had a lot of fun watching her cheer and have so much fun, but I am very glad that is one less activity that I have to worry about for the time being! So now she is back in Tae Kwon Do full time with her brother and is working hard to catch up with him!



Gabriel, tested for his orange belt the same weekend and passed with flying colors. While he is not big on competitive sports, he absolutely eats up Karate. He loves everything about it, but especially sparing. He is a quick little bugger! Now he is just working hard to get to green belt so he can start breaking boards with kicks!

Look at that balance! Just toes on the ground! (Second one from the right)

L

Mary is trying her hardest to be patient until a spot opens up for her in Tiny Tigers at the Karate Studio. EVERY single day she asks the instructors if it is her turn yet and EVERY single day they tell her pretty soon! I am hoping that she doesn't have a complete meltdown when they give her a white belt, because she is quick to inform everyone that she already knows how to kick and punch so she should be "wellow belt." She has been on a real dress kick lately and keeps asking when she can where her pretty dresses and "frip frops." She is just all about the accessories!

Sara is just busy getting hauled around non stop when her dad isn't home to watch her. For the most part she is a trooper, but some days she has just had enough. Even though I don't want her to grow up anymore, I am somewhat looking forward to her being old enough to participate just so I don't have to listen to her tell me "I NOT a baby, I want to do it too!"

She is looking forward to her 3rd birthday and really really wants a "fishy." I am on the fence about this as I am pretty sure she would kill it within hours of having it. The kid can not stay out of anything! But maybe she would surprise me...



That's pretty much all that is new for now. I am praying that it quits snowing and the temperature rises above 40 for Easter or my girls are going to freeze! So more pics of Easter egg dyeing and more to come soon!