July 06, 2009

Weekend in Photos!

We had a great weekend!  I took most of my pictures while we were driving around the Desert, on Abert Rim and at Summer Lake.  The scenery is so much different from home, so vast, open and not near as many trees.  We spotted these antelope on our way to Summer Lake, grazing out in a field.  (you can click on the pictures to enlarge them)

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a couple of bucks came closer to the road...

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Then we checked in at the motel and drove around to the Summer Lake Hot Springs.  Gabe hadn't been there before.  The hot springs are inside this building.

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Gabe loved the warm water and wanted to hang out in there all day!

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They also have a little pool of water outside that he had to get in...

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Christopher took our picture...

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On our way back to the motel I was driving and pulled into the Summer Lake cemetery to look around.  Gabe took our picture.  Christopher is taller than me, but I was standing on the downhill side!

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Then we went and reserved our camp spot for August when we come over to go hunting.  We went back to the motel & restaurant for dinner.  Then we fished in the pond out back.  We each caught a fish or two but Gabe had more fun catching the frogs!  I think he caught close to 20 of them!

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Friday morning we headed to Abert Rim to scout for antelope.

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The big rocky rim is Abert Rim.  It's very big.  We were headed up on top of that!

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We stopped to do some shooting too.  Here's Gabe with his Chipmunk rifle...

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This is looking right out to the rim's edge...

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We were so high up that when we look towards the rim edge, we were seeing clouds, right level with us!

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There is literally nothing out there for miles.  So having a dependable pickup with plenty of fuel is a must-have!

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We spotted over 120 antelope in my hunting unit!  We were able to sneak up on a herd of 34.  Hoping we can pull that off in August!

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Friday afternoon we headed to Eagle Crest and met up with my parents and got to visit with my brother, Kelly and Kasen for the weekend!  I didn't take to many pictures there, and somehow ended up with none of Kasen!  Here are the pics I did get!  Here's the condo we stayed at...

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We enjoyed the pool, hot tub and the kids spray park!

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Gabe in the spray park...

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Gabe & Christopher in the 1 foot kiddie pool!

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My Dad, Gabe and Christopher in the pool...

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We had a great weekend!  Hope everyone had a good 4th!

July 01, 2009

Hi & Goodbye!

Sorry for no recent update!  I've just been enjoying the summer!  I had a great day of scrapbooking last weekend.  I did 11 layouts!  I am now done with the LOAD contest.  I did not make it to 30, but I did do 16 challenge layouts, 1 misc. layout, 8 cards and 1 mini album!  Not bad for one month!  Here are my recent layouts:

Baby Kasen 

Back to Nature 

Family circle 

Flag day 

Girlfriends 

Good times 

Odell Lake 

Pool fun 

Spring soccer 

Sprinkler fun 

You & me 

Tomorrow we are heading out to go scout around the desert for antelope.  I got a rifle antelope tag this year for the Warner unit!  Took me 10 years of applying, so this year I'm going to try for an antelope!  Wish me luck in August when it's time to hunt! 

Friday afternoon we're going to end up at Eagle Crest Resort and stay there for the weekend!  We've rented a house there for a few days and we'll meet up with my parents there.  We'll get to visit with baby Kasen again and Gabe is going to be in the Redmond parade with uncle Bill!  Hoping to relax, play in the pool and have a great time!

Hope everyone has a great 4th of July!  I'll be back next week!

June 23, 2009

Catch Up!

Yes, I've got things to blog about but I've been putting it off!  Here are pictures from Friday thru last night!  Enjoy!

Friday was our first visit with Kasen, our new nephew.  He is so cute and we loved seeing him.  Gabe was in heaven with Kasen!  I think Gabe probably held him the most, even more than my parents!

Kasen4-1 

Kasen5-1 

Gabe & Kasen2 

Gabe & Kasen4 

Addie, Gabe & Kasen 

Gma, Gabe & Kasen2 

Grandpa & Kasen 

Grandpa, Will & Kasen3 

Kasen feet1 

We get to visit Kasen again on the 4th!  Can't wait!

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Then we went on to Odell Lake where it was cold and windy all weekend!  We had a good time and the cabin was decent, we just weren't able to fish as much as we'd hoped. 

Too much wind = white caps on the lake = boat going up and down a lot with the swells = Addie not happy!  I prefer the boat barely moving!  But I did go out on Saturday morning and got a few good pictures before the wind picked up.

Lake 

my new favorite self portrait...

(my hat says 'It's my boat...I just let him drive'!!) 

Christopher & I 

my favorite shrimp boat captain...lieutenant Dan...or Chris...

Christopher in boat-1 

Momma and babies that we kept seeing around the dock...

Ducks 

Group photo right before we headed home...

Group 

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Last night Gabe and I headed up on the hill behind our house to take some pictures in the sunset, in the field of daisies.  He was a little antsy, so we were up there about an hour early, but we had great fun and still got some good pictures!  I took a blanket and a tripod and he was really worried about just hanging out in the woods!  He even said to me "Gosh Mom, you're not afraid of anything".  (Except those white caps on the lake and the boat bobbing around too much!)  We sat and watched the sun go down, talked and played with the dogs.

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what a goof...

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Gabe took this one...

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We set the tripod up and I guess Jack wanted to be in the picture too!

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Here's the best we could do! 

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Well I think that's it for now!  We're doing great!  I've been planning more scrapbook layouts in the evenings, hoping to get a little more caught up this weekend! 

June 18, 2009

And we're off!

We have a long weekend and we're heading to Redmond to visit Kasen(and his Mom & Dad)!  Here's a picture, he's so cute!  Can't wait to see him!

Kasen 

Friday afternoon we'll be at Odell Lake.  We rented a cabin there and we're taking the boat over for some fishing.  We're riding over with my parents and my aunt Jo and uncle Terry will meet us there.  We did a similar trip last year over Fathers Day weekend but we went to Crescent Lake.  Odell is just down the highway from Crescent and we're hoping to catch more fish than last year!  The forecast looks a little wet, but I'm sure we'll still have a great time!

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Last Sunday we took the boat to Cooper Creek just to ride around.  The boys dropped me off on this little point so I could take pictures of them.  It was all good until I started getting bit by little ants!  They were all over the ground, in the camera bag and climbing up my legs!  Luckily the boys came right back to get me!

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I have really been doing poorly in the scrapbook LOAD contest!  I am way behind but I did do the challenge for the 15th.  Probably only because it was my day to post the challenge, but at least I did something!

Facebook 

I will be doing some catch-up when I get back but not sure if I can make it to the whole 30 layouts!  We'll see!

Have a great weekend & Fathers Day!

To the Straws:  Have a great vacation!  Be safe and I'll be waiting to hear all about it!

June 14, 2009

Tayler's Grad Party!

Saturday afternoon we went to Eric & Sherri's for Tayler's party.  She recently graduated with honors from Willamette HS in Eugene and she'll be going to Western Oregon Univ. in the fall.  Our three nieces all graduated one year after the other.  So Tayler was the last one and like the other two girls, I made her a graduation scrapbook, but I forgot to take any pictures!  Oh well.

The party was great and the kids were able to swim, play air hockey and pester the dog!  Of course I took my camera and am really happy with some of the pics.

Gabe still feels most comfortable in his life jacket!  We tease that he'll have it on at the age of 20 and he's fine with that!

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Gabe1 

Gabe4 

Gabe2 

This is our niece Britt's boyfriend Bucky.  He does great playing with the kids in the pool and he keeps us all entertained!  I got a good laugh after seeing this first picture!

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Bucky2 

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Here Bucky looks like he's going to jump right onto Gabe...and look at Gabe's face!

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Gabe & Bucky series 2 

Gabe & Bucky series 3 

This is Sherri's dog Jose.  He doesn't always like the kids at the pool!

Jose 

Here's Jose chasing Race(with Sherri in the background)!  He was also chasing little Dougie but I didn't get any pics of that.

Race1 

I thought one of those boys were going to get nipped on the ankle, but they didn't!

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Bucky and Gavin throwing Race in the pool...

Throwing Race 1 

Throwing Race2 

Now for the posed pictures!  Here's Eric and Tayler...

Eric and Tayler 

with Britt...

Eric, Britt & Tayler 

with Paige...

Eric, Britt, Tayler & Paige 

Paige, Gabe & Britt...I love this picture!

Gabe & Girls1 

the four cousins...

Gabe & Girls2 

the three girls...this one turned out really good!

Girls2 

with friend Tessa...

Girls3 

Well that is most of them!  Now I need to get some printed off!  Have a good Monday!  I have Monday's off for the summer so I know I'll have a great day!

Gabe & Ashley--First Sleepover!

Friday night Ashley came to stay the night!  Gabe's never had a sleepover and him and Ash get along so well I thought it would be a great way to kick off the summer.  Ashley is my BFF Billie's daughter and her and Gabe are only a few months apart. 

Ashley came with her new fishing pole, which happened to be the same pole Gabe has!  The kids thought that was cool!  Friday night we took them down to our pond to fish a little.  They each caught one fish!

Gabe and Ash 

Gabe and Ash with fish 

Saturday I took them up to Rock Creek Fish Hatchery, such a great place to take kids and it's free!

Gabe and Ash at fish hatchery 

Ash at fish hatchery 

Gabe and Ash at fish hatchery2 

Gabe at fish hatchery 

big fish...

Bigger fish 

tons of medium fish...

Fish 

and I love the little tiny fish trying to jump up the water...

Little fish 

and after we used all our change to buy fish food, the kids went looking for more!

Gabe and Ash at fish hatchery3 

June 10, 2009

Last Day of School...

Tuesday night we had Gabe's soccer party where he received his trophy.  This was his first trophy and he's been wanting it since February when we signed up for soccer!  So glad he finally got one!

Soccer award 

Today was his last day of school!  Can't believe he's already done with first grade!  He had a great year and a really good Teacher.  Here he is with Mrs. Mosley...

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and here is one of her cute Teacher gifts we made (she loved it!)...

Teacher gift 

Today there was an awards ceremony and Gabe received his medallion for Reading.  He knew he was going to get this and has been waiting about 3-4 weeks for this ceremony.  He was so thrilled to get a trophy one night and this award the next day!

Reading award 

and the cake he saved and gave to his Dad!  Sweet boy!

June 09, 2009

Baby has arrived!

Kasin Willie Ankeny was born June 8th 8:52pm.  He weighed 6lbs.10oz and is 20.5 inches long.  Baby, Momma & Daddy are doing well.  Baby is very calm and laid back.  They'll get to go home tomorrow.  I'm still waiting for a picture!  I got one from the camera phone but it's not real clear.  Now I just have to wait until we trek to Redmond to go see him!

Hope you are all having a good day!  I missed out on scrapping last night.  We had a big batch of smoked salmon in the smoker....mmm, very distracting, the smell was great!  It tastes great too!

Tonight we have Gabe's soccer party, and hopefully that will be the end of soccer!  And school gets out tomorrow!  Gabe should be getting a medalion at the assembly for reading, then a picnic lunch and schools out at 11:30!  Yipee!  He's had a great year and I can't believe it's over.  He's growing so fast.  Have a good rest of your day!

P.S. Christopher, if you're reading this...we all know you think you're handsome and we're tired of hearing about it!

June 08, 2009

Weekend photos...

Saturday afternoon fishing at our pond...

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Gabe reeling in a big one!

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Oh Hi little fishy!

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Bullet & Jack, they both watch the bobbers and chase them!

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Jack...

Jack

Caterpillar and frog that Gabe found and is keeping for pets...

Caterpillar

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Frog

My scrap area I set up on the back patio yesterday...

Patio

Miles...

Miles

layouts I did yesterday...

Look Mom

Way to go

Okay, 2 posts in one day!  I'm done now!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Riley!  Can't believe you are turning six already!  Hope you have a great birthday!

My brother and Kelly are at the hospital and we're all anxiously awaiting the arrival of their new baby!  He may share a birthday with you Riley!

Happy Birthday to my niece Emily!  She turned 8 on Saturday!  Hope you had a great birthday Em!

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We had a great weekend!  I scrapbooked on Saturday with Dawn & Debi.  Thanks Dawn for having me!  I did a graduation album for my niece and put together 8 cards from a card kit.

Yesterday we were home all day.  Did some chores and took it easy.  In the late afternoon I scrapbooked on the back patio with the birds chirping and hummingbirds flying around!  It was really nice!  I did 2 layouts that I will post later!

Have a good Monday!