Rams

These rams were on the side of the road up North Fork.  They were really fun to see.  So close to the road.  There were about 50 of them. The kids really like to see animals!!

Christmas Tree cutting

We decided to cut our own Christmas tree this year!!!  We did last year and loved it so we went again.  We all bundled up and set out on our hunt!!  Jake took us to a beautiful spot that had lots of trees.  We ended up being really close to a heard of deer which was really cool.  We hiked and hiked and hiked to find our perfect tree!!  The kids were such troopers.  We were hiking through thigh high snow (thigh high on me) and the kids did not complain once!!  Kate was a dog most of the time and believe it or not she had the easiest time in the snow!! Brystol just loved being outside!!!

 Jake was so good to drag the tree all the way back to the car!! He is amazing!!

Kate and Brystol

Kate in the snow

Our perfect tree!!

 

Brystol kate and tagg

My beautiful kids in the beautiful mountains

Camping Fun

Brystol

We went camping with Sunny and Randy up in the big horns!!  It was so beautiful and the kids loved being up in the mountains!!  We had so much fun.  We went for a hike and went fishing and played in the dirt and saw lots moose.  I have only seen one moose in my life and on this trip we saw 5!!  Our family always has so much fun in the outdoors.  We love camping with the Merritts!!  The kids had so much fun together!!! Its always alot of work to get ready to go camping but its always worth it.  Its so beautiful and calming!!  There is no doubt in my mind that God created such a beautiful place, and we are so fortunate to be able to experience it!!!

Brystol all ready for camping

Dad and Tagg sitting by the campfire

Kash Tagg Kate Kali

Beautiful Kori

Brystol and mom

Jake Tagg and Kash catching a fish

Randy and Kash

The girls were wore out!!  Miss Kori taking a snooze.

Brystol Joining her.

Some moose we saw

Jake and Kate

Going out for a drive with the dogs!

We love going on drives with our family!! The kids just love being outside and hiking around. This Sunday drive took us on a small dirt road on the mountains east of our house!! We took the dogs with us to give them some exercise! It was a little chilly that day but it turned out really fun.
I am not used to telling my 5 year old to make sure she has her shoes on before we get in the truck to go for our drives, but for some reason this time Kate did not put on her shoes! So sadly she had to stay in the truck with me while Tagg and Dad got out to go for a little hike!


Jake and Tagg

Tagg following after Jake

Coming back with the dogs

Ginger doing what she does best

Fishing in the Shoshone River

We have so much fun as a family when we go outdoors!!! We love all the fun places up here in Cody!! There is just so much to do we never get bored!! While Jake was fishing in the River and the kids were playing with the rocks, sticks and mud I was sitting there taking it all in!! I forgot my book so I was just watching everybody do the things they love!! I got to watch my little ones play and was noticing there bouncing feet along the rocks! I got a little sad when I realized that there feet will never be as little as they are now!! They are just so cute and time is just flying by and my little babies are not so little anymore!!

Kates cute little feet

Taggs cute little feet

Kids playing by the river

Kate posing for the camera

The beautiful island we were on in the river!

Jake carrying us all across the river

Jake helping Kate cross the river

Jake trying to catch a nice fish

Kate playing by the water

Yellowstone Park

The mountains coming into the park

Buffalo

Way to close

Even closer

A few weeks ago Jake and the kids and me wanted to drive through Yellowstone park!! It wasn't open all the way through quite yet!! It was so beautiful. I haven't been there in a long time. The kids loved all the animals. We saw elk and deer on our way into the park and tons of buffalo while we were in the park. We can't wait to go back there when it is warm and there is not 15 feet of snow on the ground!

Camping

We love to go camping. We were able to go with some friends a couple of weeks ago. The kids had a blast. Jake had a Deer tag so we decided to go along and have some fun. We stayed in Shane's huge Camper and pretty much had it to ourselves during the day when the boys were out hunting. The kids loved being out side all day long. Tag did get stung by a bee but other than that there were no major injuries. It was so beautiful up there, perfect temperature. We even got to here the coyotes one night howling at each other. Jake got to chase a bear and see lots of huge bucks.

Kate and Tagg by the lake

Kate and Tagg showing off there rocks they found

Dad taught Kate how to shoot a sling shot. She got pretty good by the time we left.

Kate learned how to drive a 4wheeler by herself. She loved it.
Tagg liked to ride it with Dad

This is Taggs face every time he had to get off it.

BBQ with the Cotters

A few days ago we were ready to have a BBQ. It was still a little cold but we had alot of fun!!! The Cotters came over to enjoy the hot dogs and Marshmallows with us. They have been such good friends to us. We are really going to miss them. Kate and Kellen have become quite the little pair! By the end of the night pretty much everything was covered in marshmallow and everybody was tired. Thanks Cotters for coming over to enjoy the night with us.

Jake, Tagg, Kellen, and Kate


Kellen and Tagg

Aaron cami and Kellen

BBQ, Fires, and Family

A couple of weeks ago we had a BBQ down in the backyard of Jakes Parents house. It was a little cold but alot of fun. We roasted hot dogs and had marshmallows but after 3 hot dogs nobody felt like marshmallows. Harvey and kate loved playing out side and running around and Tagg just played with uncle Creeds soccer ball. Jenine and Brandon and left there Christmas tree in the back yard so Kate decided that we should put that on the fire. (She had decided earlier that she was the person that put twigs on the fire to keep it going). We got everything and everybody back so that nobody got hurt. Then Jake threw it on the fire. It went up fast and big. I looked around to find Kate and she was running around the corner of the yard with her hands on her ears!! She did not like that, and when it was done burning she told dad to move the trunk out so it would not do that again. It was fun!!

Kate and Tagg

Grandpa Stephens

Uncle Creed and Tagg

The chirstmas tree

Kate and Harvey