An eventful trip, indeed.

On the trip home, Jaden made the comment that it was quite an eventful/lots to see, trip home. Looking back, it sure was. And I only got one picture. (I know I'm a bad blogger. Where is my commitment?) First off, we saw ice fishers on the lake and I listened to Jaden as he expressed how he wished he could walk out and do it to, while I was thinking, I WILL NEVER walk on a 'thin' layer of ice. Even if it is 10ft thick! A thin layer of ice at a skating rink is sufficent. I know there is solid ground just beneath it. I'd allow my toes to get a wet.


Next we saw this! HOW FUN!!!



....Anyone out there that knows what this is called, PLEASE let me know so that I can look it up and then wish that I had the upper body, arm, and leg strength to do such a thing.

After that we stopped at this super cool lodge, at the top of a pass, that had snowmobiles zooming all over. I almost felt out of place with my car, there were so many! Oh, how I wished that I was there snowmobiling.

Following that, Jaden noticed a HUGE bull elk (I know, Tom...I should've pulled over and turned around to get a shot!!! Regrets.) that was stuck between two small trees, up the side of a mountain fairly close to the road side (perhaps that's why it didn't continue walking. It would just get closer to the road and the "unnatural" things in its life). All it had to do was continue walking through the trees to get unstuck. I turned to look but only for a split second. (We were driving down a hill on snow covered roads and a semi in front of us. My priorities were elsewhere) but I did see enough of the animal to see its head. It was later confirmed by my mom and Kael that they too saw it also. And it was HUGE.

And the last thing we saw which was more of an unfortunate event but definitely demonstrated the dangers of driving on icy/snowcovered roads... (I LOVE my 4-wd vehicle even more!) A car that had rolled. We had to sit there in front of the wreck while the officer allowed the oncoming traffic to get through the one lane that was opened.

And in closing....drive safe this winter season! ;o)

Christmas break was spent playing with the new "goods" that Santa delivered and then right before we had to be back to school we went to visit daddy in "Dino-land".

While he was at work during the day, I took the kids to a dinosaur museum. I think they had a pretty good time! There weren't many people there so I was able to relax a little and just let the kids explore what they could.

They had a lot of interacting activities for the kids.

This is my favorite picture. Looks like Mr. Rex forgot to ask for his 1 1/2 teeth for christmas.

Can't imagine what it would've been like to get ripped apart with those things. Glad I was born when I was and not with the cavemen.

Dylan playing with the not-so-scary dinos.

Ok.... So, I'm a sucker for imprinted fossils and here, they had this HUGE wall of nothing but. During the short "10 minute video" at the beginning, it was explained that where water used to be, ANYTHING that fell into the water and rested on the bottom, the floating sediment would just "rain" down on whatever/leaf layering it in mud and eventually (with enough mud/weight, kept it preserved in that shape for like, EVER! So when the expedition took place, they came upon this "layer" and found all sorts of glorious things. EXCITING!

How much more perfect can you get, from a million years ago?

Mammoth

Raptor

Glow rocks ( For as dark as it was, I had to hold the camera as still as possible while the shutter allowed enough light in to take the picture. And for those who know me, I tend to shake a little. SO,I think it turned out as well as possible....for me. )

He was determined to get down himself.

Butterflies. There's just something about them being aligned so perfectly that I don't mind them being dead. Otherwise,I think they belong on a nice flower...in my garden...alive.

They had some cool American Indian artifacts, but my batteries were dying and the quality of pictures were declining/blurring. (But I do believe that Mykael may have gotten some. I'll have to steal those later.)

So...I keep coming onto my blog, thinking that I've posted since the "cold", but apparently I haven't. I believe Gwen had a moment like this not long ago. So here is the post to temporaily satisfy me until I get bloggin' for real! I do have pictures so don't move onto the next blog to stalk.... STALK ME! STALK ME! ;o)

It's COLD outside...

I wasn't the only one braving the cold this morning. I love this picture.

It's really been THAT long?

Because it's almost our anniv soon... I saw this tag on a friends blog, and wanted to share some tidbits about him/us. Not tag anyone. It's more of a momento for my sweet hubby.

*What are some of his nicknames: Papi, daddy,

* Where did you meet? On the internet

*How long did you date before you were married? 5 months

*How long have you been married for?6 years

*Who said I love you first?I think he did.

*When and where was your first kiss? Ummm in my bedroom. grrrrr

* Who kissed who first?I don't remember! I think we met in the middle.

*Who proposed? Jared.

*What's your favorite thing to do as a couple? Watch sunday football. (Never thought I'd EVER do that!!!)

*Do you have kids? Yes... many.

*What does he do that surprises you? Makes sure he comes home from ANY store with something for me. coke, chocolate, shirt...etc.

*What's your favorite feature about him? His hands.

*What's your favorite quality about him? Loyalty

* Does he have a nickname for you?Dree

*What's his favorite color?Blue, green or red

*What's his favorite food? Roast and mashed potatoes and gravy (or that's just what he always wants me to cook)

*What is his favorite sport? College Football

*What's a hidden talent that he has? Drawing

* How old is he? 34

*What do you admire most about him? The sacrifice he gives to provide for his family.

*What's his favorite past time? Reading.

*Who eats more? I do...

*Who is taller?He is but only by an inch.

*Who sings better? I'll have to say me cause he won't sing for me (although i've heard him in the shower a time or two and I was impressed.)

*Who is smarter? Depends on the topic/subject/situation...

*Who does the laundry?Me.

* Who pays the bills? I do, when he tells me to.

*Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? He does

* Who mows the lawn?I do...I love being in the yard.

*Who cooks dinner? I do

*Who drives? We both do. He has his car, I have my "family wagon."

* Who is more stubborn? Me.

*Who controls the T.V. remote? Who ever is furthest away from Dylan.

*Whose temper is worse?If you make him angry enough...he does. But I find the littlest things (which is most of the time) to be angry.

*Who does the dishes? The kids!!! Whoo whoo

*Whose parents do you see more often?Mine...He works with my dad.

*Tidbits about us;*One of my fondest "dating memories" was laying in the park on a blanket looking up through the leaves. Such a simple activity, but means so much!

*When I held his hand for the first time, it "fit"!!! It was the coolest thing.

* We "order" sunsets for each other.

* We both have a love for the outdoors and find it SO important to instill that into our children.

* Some day we want to go to Fiji for our "honeymoon".

* We both look our best in camoflauge. ;o) (ok...not really, but we love it!)

Thinking back to when I met Jared seems like such a different life because of how much we have changed. Not only in my constant expansion of produced children ;o) (btw...I'm done for now for those of you who may question) but the experiences that have brought us to where we are now. I will honestly say that it wasn't the most easiest, but definitely A LOT of growth and learning accompanied. It will be six years this monday and look forward to what the next six will bring! I love you papi!

I could use some suggestions of what we could do. The same old dinner date, just sounds so boring! He's working out of town so it might be tricky and may need to involve all the kids. (Unless you want to babysit!) ;o)

Merry Christmas!!!

Have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year.

LOVE, Audrey

Fish Update....

Before we start with the story...Just thought I'd throw this recent picture of Aaron, Omner, and Himni. They are STILL doing really great. Getting big!

I know it's been a while since I've discussed my fish, and it's not because I haven't had much to talk about...(for fish, they are VERY active. At least as a "community", this tank ALWAYS has something going on. Good AND bad!) So here goes:

The weekend of Thanksgiving, I lost 4 fish. I don't know why, but I just did. Two of them being the beautiful guppies I had named Tango and Orange. This post will remind you. (I forget which other two...seeing how I go through them SO fast!) BUT, because I had lost some, I felt that it was time, (I waited a couple of weeks!! That's good for me.) to buy more. We got 3. Two Ghost Cats (super creepy looking but I can't decide all the time what kind of fish goes in this tank plus a little variety makes it more fun to look at. Not named yet)

AND, yes...one more guppy! (The guilt of killing as many as I have, hasn't reached the Don't-purchase-any-more-because-you -can't-keep-the-poor-things-alive stage yet. So I picked a BLUE one out! He was SO pretty. Navy blue tail fin and blue lips. I LOVED it/him/her. I even named it Navy (yea, I thought it was a cool name too. ;o) Yesterday, a friend of mine came to visit/cut my hair and we talked about my continuous hobby of "Killing/keeping" fish. I was especially excited for Navy and just enjoyed watching that little fish swim around. Cute thing that it was! And continued on with my day.

This morning when I went to feed/stare at them, I couldn't find Navy. HOW WEIRD was that!? There really aren't that many places for a fish to hide in my tank (ok, NONE really!) and could not figure out HOW my fish came up missing. I had the thought maybe it jumped out and landed on the counter. NOPE, I looked. And then I noticed the net wasn't in the exact same position that I usually place it when I'm done using it. (Obssesive compulsive issue I seem to have) and knew that it had been touched. My next thought was....ELI! But the net was not wet at all. So now I'm totally going nuts and thoroughly confused. My only possible conclusion is that sometime yesterday afternoon/evening, Eli decided to go "fishing" (he's done it before AT THE PET STORE... caught poor little HEALTHY Navy and flushed him! (I had made the mistake once of letting Eli watch me catch and flush a fish after having found one dead.) I tried to question Eli about it, but the kid just doesn't communicate in an understandable way. (He mostly repeats everything you say.) But he did point to the net and say fish, then run to the toilet and flush it! GUILTY!

SO...now with all that said and much whinning to Bonnie about what happened, she took all five kids and sent me to petco with a couple of bucks to buy another one. (I wasn't ready to replace Navy quite yet...but I was excited for the fact of being ALONE. So, Korah and I went shopping.

I found a cute little green one, big, fat and active (I thought that meant healthy and hearty) and named it Kermit. (clever, I know) and brought it home to acclimate it in the water. (e.i. Let the bag the fish is in float around till the water temperatures are the same for both tank and bag...) I hung out on the computer for a awhile and then drove to Bonnie's to get the kids. When I came back to introduce the fish into the tank... WELL... I stuck the net in to catch the little bugger, I saw poop and lots of it (or so I thought) but then the poop started swimming around. HOLY MOLY! Kermit had babies! 12 of them!!!!!!!!! I called Bonnie and she said that I needed a nesting net. Of course she had one (the fish supply store that she is!) and quickly brought it over. Making my tank equipped with "fish nursery" and all. How excited was I! (actually I don't really know what I'm going to do with all of them. 12 is WAY too many for the size of tank I've got, but it will be fun to see what they look like when they get bigger. IF they survive! (You'll have to double click on the picture so you can see how cute and little they are!

In about 3-4 weeks I will be giving away guppies for anyone interested.