Dallin's Pigeons

About 4 days ago Dallin went out to check cows for his dad (we are calving) and came running back in after just a few minutes so excited to tell me he had caught 3 little pigeons.  The pigeons had got into the barn and when Dallin went in he was able to sneak up and catch them with his hands.  He hauled them right over to our old turkey coop/run and strawed, grained and watered them.  One got hurt just 2 days later and cut its neck open pretty good.  We thought she was going to make it but she ended up dying. :(  He still has the other two and absolutely loves having birds of his own to care for. 

Priesthood

Dallin received the Aaronic Priesthood on November 9, 2014.  Ryan was able to do the ordination.  It was a special day that both grandparents, Uncle Dale and Aunt Katie and kids were able to make it to.  Dallin is the kind of kid that I know will honor his priesthood in a pleasing manner to his Heavenly Father.  We are SO PROUD of him!

Dance Competition

On November 8th Oakley and Laiklie had a dance competition in Salt Lake.  It worked out great for our family because we were down there for my nephews wedding anyway.  We sent Ryan and the boys home with my dad and my mom and niece Ali stayed with me and the girls.  Oakley and Laiklie both danced great that day.  Laiklie came home with four 1st place awards and one 2nd place.  Oakley danced several more dances than Laiklie and split hers - several 1sts and several 2nds.  I am proud of both of them.  This is always a tough competition.  One funny thing happened that day that I want to remember.  Laiklie was up on stage doing her solos.  When it got to the traditional solo she was looking down at her feet the whole time.  We had talked that morning about how important it was to look at the judges and smile and she hadn't done that on the other solos.  So when she came down when she was finished with all her solos I told her she did great on all of them but that on the traditional she forgot to look at the judges.  She said, "I didn't forget to look at them.  Right when I got on stage a booger came out of my nose and I didn't want them to see it so I just looked down the whole time!" I laughed until I cried! It was hilarious!! She still got a 1st place on the traditional booger or no booger. :)

Jacob & Chelsea

 On November 7, 2014, my nephew Jacob, that lived with us for a summer a few years back, married the love of his life Chelsea in the Mount Timpanogas Temple in Utah.  I am SO PROUD of him! Jake is a great kid.  He had ALOT of growing up to do between the time he was with us at 17 years old and now and he really has done a lot of that growing up.  He still has a ways to go.....don't we all though. :) Jake worked on this temple not long after he went home from living with us.  He was able to do some of the gold leafing on the Angel Moroni.  How cool is that?! What a beautiful temple and a beautiful day. What made it even better is that my dad is a sealer in the temple and was able to perform the wedding.  What an incredible thing for your grandpa to be able to marry you!

 I made the girls in my life pose for a picture.  I sure am lucky to have them as not only my sisters/mom, but my best friends as well.

 Of course some wedding selfies! :)

 If you look close you can see them coming out of the temple. 

 My sweet babe. 

The weather was BEAUTIFUL and the warm sunshine felt SO GOOD!

 I absolutely LOVE this picture of Jake! & I absolutely LOVE this boy! It is a little different when they have actually lived with you! It makes it more like one of MY BOYS getting married!

 And here is our 12 year old birthday boy on the wedding/birthday!

 McAllister Family

When you leave your phone on the table and walk over to get some cake you get MORE WEDDING SELFIES! bahahaha! See why I love these two sisters of mine?! What a great day spent with family.  I am grateful for the knowledge that FAMILIES CAN BE TOGETHER FOREVER when married in the right place by the right authority!

Dallin's 12th Birthday

Dallin turned 12 on Nov. 7th.  You can tell from the pictures we had a "hotel" birthday. :) His cousin Jake got married on his birthday so we spent it in Utah.  He had mixed emotions about that.  Having to wear church clothes on your birthday sucks! :) Hahaha!

 Most people photo bomb from the back....not in our family! Rhett photo bombed from the front.  What a crazy kid!

 Dallin asked for a chore coat, warm gloves and wool socks.  What a good kid.  He loves to be out working with his dad.  I decided those weren't super fun gifts so we got him a bow and arrow and we stopped at Cabela's and let him pick out a hunting knife.  He also got to swimming at the hotel on his birthday and loved it!

Dallin received the priesthood on November 9th.  We couldn't be more proud as his parents! I will post pictures of him in the new suit later. So Handsome! We sure love Dallin.  He is an incredible kid and his dad's right hand man.  He loves to work and works hard.  He is doing great in school this year and is learning and growing so quickly.  Love you bud! Happy Birthday!

Grandpa Jacobson

Back on the evening of October 6th my grandpa had a fall while outside by his dog.  He ended up needing his hand stitched up and by Thursday of that week was in the hospital with a blood infection.  He has been there for 4 weeks now.  My faithful little grandma has not left him even once since they got there.  For 4 weeks she has stayed day and night at the hospital by his side.  He was doing well and seemed to get over the blood infection so they moved him upstairs for rehab to help him get his strength back but instead of getting better he seems to have more bad days than good. :( It has been SO HARD to watch!

 I wish these would rotate so you could see how cute grandpa and grandma are!

 And this is my FAVORITE picture of ALL TIME! This is my cousin Sabra's husband Travis who took a full-on SELFIE with grandma!!! Hahahaha!! We were all sneaking pictures when we were there, but not Travis! :)

After 4 weeks grandpa and grandma are not only physical exhausted but emotionally exhausted too.  The family has been having to stay with them 24/7 because of how confused grandma gets by the doctors and her surroundings.  Grandma's short term memory is horrible and she gets very disoriented very quickly.  She doesn't want to leave grandpa (& after almost 70 years of marriage I DON'T BLAME HER!) and grandpa doesn't want her to leave so we have been making it possible for them both to be there together.  Tomorrow they move grandpa to a new facility where grandma can visit but not stay.  It will cause new issues I am sure, but we are a big (very big!) strong family and will work together to get through the new challenges.  We are constantly praying for grandpa to get better, but we understand he is 92 years old and has lived a good full life and we know the Lord is in control and accept whatever His will is.  What a blessing both of these two are in my life and what a blessing it has been to be able to spend so much time with them these past few weeks! I love them both!!

Halloween Trunk-or-Treat 2014

For trick-or-treating this year we went to the ward trunk-or-treat again.  It always has a great turn out and the kids loving seeing all their friends.  We were lucky enough to have my sister Arnica's kids Paige, Tyce and Danica with us this year too while Arnica and Jody went to Boise to watch Kaden and Ali run state cross country.  They kids thought that was EXTRA FUN!! Cousins make EVERYTHING better!

 Rhett and Dallin Duck Dynasty, (I was just happy Rhett dressed up at all! He is funny about that kind of thing! It only lasted a few minutes though.  As they lined up to get their candy Tyce thunked Rhett in the nose on accident and we had a bloody nose and blood on the beard and off it came.  No more costume.  Oh well! We tried!)  Laiklie a fairy, Danica a kitty cat, Paige an old farm lady, Tyce Mickey Mouse and Oakley....just Oakley.  She is too big to trick-or-treat she has decided and her mom agrees. :)

It was a beautiful day.  After the trunk-or-treat we ran into my Grandma Murdock's assisted living facility and did the usual trick-or-treat there.  We love going to visit her as part of our Halloween tradition.  Such a great night!

Pre-Halloween Excitement

We had a lot of pre-Halloween fun going on around here this year! We had the School Halloween Carnival!

 Laiklie and her friend McKenzie

 We had Halloween Parties at Dance - Laiklie and Sage

 And we had the annual Hawkins Cousin Pumpkin Carving and Chili night at our house.  It is so fun to get together and so nice to keep all the mess contained! We are getting to be a crowd though! :)

 Oakley had to leave for dance and missed the cousin pictures, but what a fun night! These are just a "few" of the pumpkins we grew in our garden this year.  Some of them were monsters to carve and so heavy even when cleaned out!! This is seriously why I do a garden though! I love these fun jack-o-lanterns SO MUCH! & love these kiddos even more!!

These are my 4 kids pumpkins lit up after the cousins headed home.  So much fun! I absolutely LOVE the holidays and this is just the start of it all!

Hunting, Hunting and More Hunting!

Ryan and the kids started hunting the middle of August this year because Oakley and Dallin both had early antelope tags.  They have been hunting and hunting and hunting every day since!! When the general hunt opened Dallin happened to get this beautiful buck on opening day! He was SOOO EXCITED! This is his first year hunting and he hit it with one bullet right in the heart.  He took it straight up to the taxidermy to get a head mount done.

 Rhett also got to hunt this year as a 10 year old because of the regulation changes.  He had one year to hunt without hunters safety with an adult.  He had to go a few times before he was able to get this pretty little buck, but he got one and we are so excited for him!! He is planning on getting a European mount with his.  He was happy to donate the meat to gram and gramp Jake who needed some in their freezer. 

Oakley also had a tag but was set on either getting one bigger than Dallin's or not getting one at all.  Hahaha! Sibling rivalry at its finest! :) So she came home empty handed.

Ryan has a late hunt tag and is still hunting day after day.....driving me nuts! I feel like the single mom trying to keep all the balls in the air all at the same time.  I will be so glad when he either gets one or hunting season gets over! :) Ryan doesn't ask for a lot though and hunting is so much his thing that I try to grin and bear it because I love him! Just a few more days, Right?!!

Pumpkin Painting 2014

 Every year Grandma Hawkins has the grandkids come help paint the pumpkin out on her lawn.  They love it.  Oakley had to miss this year because of volleyball.  She is old enough she didn't mind too much. ;)

 One of the favorite parts of painting the pumpkin is climbing on the pumpkin.  Hahaha! These kids are getting too big!

 

This year we had an absolutely gorgeous day to paint.  Usually we are bundled up and freezing but this year we were wishing we were kayaking. :) What a fun family tradition for the kids to get to be a part of. Thanks grandma!

District Volleyball Championships

 This school season Oakley made the freshman volleyball team.  The team went from 8 players to 6 before the end of the season.  Because of that we had some highs and lows....but they are incredible girls and were in it to win it this year!

The district championships were in Madison this year and there were 8 teams in our district.  We showed up with our little 6 player team to play against teams that had up to 12 players so they never had to play a tired player.  It was an ALL DAY tournament and after defeating team after team after team and playing their guts out our little team came home the DISTRICT CHAMPIONS!!

 Coach Susan Piquet, Katie, Oakley, Paige, Kayla, Megan, Lauren, Kaitlyn (hurt ankle) and Kolt Piquet Assistant Coach

YAY!! So proud of these girls.  They worked hard, played hard and deserved this Championship Win!!