A Game Warden's Job is NEVER Done

So the pictures are hard to see but it's a herd of elk.  Ben and I were going for a drive the other day and there was a herd in the middle of the highway.  Well Ben being the good game warden he is got out and tried to get them to move.  I was surprised at how much they DIDN'T care Ben was yelling at them and waving his arms.  Eventually they leisurely went across the road.  Well our fun was just beginning.  The not so smart elk kept heading toward the road all the way up the mountain.  So Ben would drive up the highway a ways, get out and push them away from the road.  We did this 3 more times.  Finally the elk got the hint and headed into a canyon away from the highway.
So that's what we did the other day.....herded elk!! What did you do???

Time to decorate the tree!!!

So for the past 2 years we've had "issues" decorating the tree.  Basically we get the tree RIGHT after Thanksgiving, get it in the house and up and even light!!  Well then......it sits there in all it's Christmas glory, undecorated for a few weeks!!  Yep weeks!!  So last night we finally said TIME TO DECORATE!!  The kids were thrilled.  And as usual the ornaments were in a nice 4x4 area of the tree.  But hey it's 15ft tall...so no matter what there aren't any ornaments the top 3rd of our dear tree.
So we got it done and I'm proud of myself it's BEFORE Christmas Eve!!

My BIG Cub Scout!!!

Tonight was Zach's first Pack Meeting!!  He got to do the state flag for the flag ceremony.  Then he got his Bobcat Patch and his Leave No Trace Patch.  It was so fun. Only having one son this is all so new to me and so neat.  I even got a pin and it was great having Zach be the one to pin it on. 

Thankful for Silly Kids!!!!

 So we have been blessed that our kids have VERY cute, funny and good personalities.  It's always been fun to watch as the kids grow, they start to figure out who they are and what they like.  Well here are a few examples of 2 of our silly kids -   Guess what Zach wants for Christmas????

So Dani.....oh Dani she has been such a joy and she's sooooo funny.  Well here's her Turkey from school of what she's thankful for. It says mom, dad, friends and.........DINNER!!  Now here's a funny story about Dani.  Every single and I mean EVERY SINGLE morning she wakes up, comes out to the family room after she got dressed and asks what's for dinner.  EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.  Now I have never forgot to feed her.  She has never missed a meal.  I make or order (ha ha ha) dinner every day!!!!  So I thought it was soooo very very funny that on her Turkey she had dinner.  Apparently dinner is very important to this little 6 year old.  But that's yet another funny thing from my funny silly kids!!!

Thankful for going out on a limb....

So this year the High School held a competition.  It was to design the game day t-shirt that students, parents and fans could wear on game days and to games.  It was open to all students K-12.  Michaela has always been good and trying any and all competitions so she got the forms and sat down to design a shirt.  The students were to design a front and a back and have them submitted and then judged. 
Now I'm a person who wants to encourage my kids but I also don't want them to get their hopes up and then crushed if they don't win.  So when Michaela showed me her design I thought it was really good and told her so.  I also cautioned her that it would be hard to beat kids a lot older than her.  She replied with a smile on her face "I know but I want to try"
So we've been waiting this last week on pins and needles for the Fall Spots Awards night where they were announcing the winner of the t-shirt contest.
At this point Jordynn said one day that she too had designed a t-shirt the day it was due and turned it in.  I never even got to see it.....
Well the big moment was last night.  They asked all the kids that had participated to come down and be recognized.  There was around 15 kids that had entered.  The judges did a neat thing where they picked a favorite front design and then a favorite back design so more students could win.  The judges had awarded a best design for each grade but there was only one winner.....Michaela got 2nd place!!!  OK so why is there a t-shirt with her design on it?  Well the booster club was kind enough to make a t-shirt for her so she could see what her t-shirt would look like.  And on that t-shirt was the girl that won 2nd place for the back design.  So although she didn't win she was soooo thrilled.  And she loves the idea that she has a one of a kind t-shirt.

I'm so proud when my kids go out and try anything and everything.  I tend to stay in my little cocoon and do what is safe and I'm happy to see my kids defy the odds and even though they may not win they at least can say they tried.

Thankful Notes

This year I'm trying to have more thank fullness in Thanksgiving.  I don't believe in skipping strait to Christmas on November 1 and I think that Thanksgiving is a great time to remind our kids of what they have and are blessed with.  And hopefully have some perspective before we are thrust into the throngs of Christmas Wishes!!!  So here's what I did, cut up cute Thanksgiving Scrap Book paper and posted them all over our french doors from our family room to living room.  Every day the kids and us parents pick a paper and write what we're thankful for.  One thing I've noticed is my children enjoy food.  Every morning as soon as she wakes up Dani asks me what's for dinner.  So it was no surprise when Dani wrote dinner as one thing she was thankful for.  It's been fun so far (9 days in) to see what my kids are thankful for.  I plan to save these and hopefully keep doing this for years to come.
One thing I'm thankful for is.....wood!  It's a pain in the butt to cut, split and stack but boy oh boy do I love it when my house is toasty warm on a cold winter morning!!

Got Deer??

This was Michaela's first year hunting and she got a pretty good buck - She was pretty excited - mostly she was excited that her buck was bigger than her dad's!!  HA HA HA  - another deer hunting season over!!!  YEAH!!!!

How's it GLOWING???

So we got to go to a fun Halloween Party last night and here are some fun pictures of the kidsWho Ya Gonna Call???  ZACH the Ghostbuster!!!!!

Dani and her best friend and twin Shae -

Jordynn and her best friend Lanie

Michaela was a Gothic Prom Queen..... 12 year olds.....DEEP SIGH!!!!

Ben was..... well.... SURPRISE, a Hunter - I was a lady bug, the eye makeup was VERY cool!!  I had LONG red eye lashes.

It's hard to belive October is almost done!!!

That one day of fall was lovely

 So today at school was hat day.  As you can see my only son is in fact wearing 2 HATS!!  And yes, I let him go to school like this....it should be noted the 2nd hat, under the camo hunting hat is a PINK Hannah Montana hat....strange boy.  P.S. Dani also wore a Camo Hat (her request, it was odd???)

Also, notice the snow?  Yep we have snow....this means hot chocolate, a fire, and a pork roast for pulled pork sandwiches in the crock pot.  Winter is here....remember yesterday when we had fall (that 1 day)?

never Fear....Crazy Hair is Here!!!!

So today is Crazy Hair day at the elementary school for red Ribbon Drug Week. The girls are easy but Zach....well he got a hair cut Sunday Night....so he got hair spray dye.  Oh well I hope it's CRAZY enough!!  Have a CRAZY day!!!!

Happy Fall Y'All

So fall has hit beautiful Manila.  It really is lovely with all the trees in bright yellow!!
School is in full swing and all is going good.  Michalea is done with volleyball and now eagerly waits for basketball to start. 
This is Michalea's first year hunting and she's been going out with her Grandpa, Uncle and Dad.  I'm not sure what will happen if she actually get a deer......YIKES!!!!
Because it's hunting season (my husbands busiest time of year) I plan on seeing my husband around New Year's!!
While I'm not looking forward to winter and cold,  I LOVE fall.  And becasue there is opposition in all things, I know winter has to come so we can enjoy the spring.  Now let's see how I feel mid January.

Here are this years NOT so good school pictures.  I can't for the LIFE of me figure out why 4 kids can't all look at the camera a normal at ONE TIME!!!  Is that too much to ask?

Oh what do you do in the summer time?

Michaela playing Volley Ball!!

 This past summer has been soooo busy but now we're all back and into the swing of school so let's recap summer shall we??

 Dani lost her FIRST tooth!! She's so cute -

 Ben's brother Joe married cute Heather!!  What a great day!!!

 Here's a picture of jaw surgery #3 - this one I didn't want to be knocked out for so....I'm AWAKE!!!
This was a long process and after 3 surgeries, 6 weeks of my jaw being wired shut, I'm MUCH better

 Ben rescued a baby deer who needed lost his mom.  He went to a rehabilitaion center.

 My first meal after my jaw being unwired.  I could only open it about 1/2" so even this bread stick was a bit ambitious

 Zach got baptized!!! 

 Michaela went to girls camp!!!

 Zach turned 8 -

                             Here's my jaw wired shut - NOT FUN!!!

 Summer cook out with S'mores after

                     Josh and his WHOPPER!!!!!

        The view from my hospital bed where I spent toooooooo many days           So while it was a busy, hectic, not fun summer I'm glad we're back into school and hopefully some sence of normalcy. 

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel...

So there's 1 week of school left and it's about time!!! But next week will be sooo busy!! With 2 kids in Dutch John and 2 in Manila there's double the field trips. Let's see, we have a trip to the recreation center, Lagoon, Field Day, PJ day, Awards Ceremony, Spring Concert and Year Book Signing. And this is NOTHING compared to what's going on at the high school. But I like the end of the year. I like how much I'm looking forward to summer. Even though I'm pretty sure 1 week in I'll be counting down to school starting again. But I'm really going to try to enjoy this summer. But first we need to GET RID OF THE SNOW!!! Yep it's been snowing for days and days!!!! But never fear, now it's just raining, and raining, and raining......

In other news last week I got to take my cute choir girls to the Opera!! It was a ton of fun and they all really enjoyed the opera. I'm glad they got the opportunity to see this great type of theatre.

So we soldier on and look forward to summer break and maybe even summer weather????

Happy Mother's Day

This mother's day was a blast. First my friend Trisha and I got to go to Boise for a few days to see WICKED!!!! So good. We flew there, rented a car and stayed the night

I woke up Mother's day morning to a fun creative breakfast!!

And after church we got to SKYPE my brother on his mission in Brazil!!!! That was so neat. I lloved being able to see him.

Busy Few Weeks

As always the Wolford family has been busy. Michaela is in the middle of track and we got to go to one of her meets. It was cold and snowy but fun. Here are some pictures....

We had a fun and slightly cold Easter, full of tons of egg hunts and a great dinner with friends.

The end of the school year is almost here and that means lots of end of the year school activities. This weekend I'm taking 3 of my choir girls to State Solo and Ensemble. I'm very proud of them and I think they're pretty excited. I have my end of the year concerts coming up and the kids are getting ready for a ton of field trips.

Then summer will be here and that's a whole new kind of busy!!!!