Hawaii

We had so much fun in Hawaii!! I love being on the beach!! Jake got to spear fish and surf and we snorkeled together!! The fruit there was awesome and I miss it!! Its not so fun when your pregnant and craving something that it an eight hour plane ride away!!! Everything was so beautiful and the weather was wonderful!!

Sunset on the first day!!

Dinner at Dukes!! I tried the fish there and Jake was proud of me!!

Jakes Gimpy foot covered in sand. I have to admit that it is kinda cute when it looks like this!!

We stoped in this bay on our way to North Shore!

I loved the way the waves looked when it came over the rocks!

At the dole plantation!!

Jake learning to surf! It was his first time doing anything like this! He loved it! Next time he gets a chance he will be pro!! He is always good at anything he does.

I love the clouds!!

Last day on the beach!! Wish we didn't have to leave but glad we are home!!

Utah

We made it to Utah at about 7 AM!! It was a fun surprise for our family! The kids did such a great job on the drive. They slept the whole time and were awesome. When we got to Utah we went to Jakes parents house and dropped off our dogs and said hi then headed down to my parents house to say hi for just a sec! Then jake and I went up to his parents house to take a nap before we ran around like crazy that day!! The kids played with the new puppy we got and we slept!!
When we woke up we opened presents with Jakes family and had breakfast!! It was alot of fun to see all the cousins play together and play with all the new toys!! Then after that we headed down to my family's Christmas party and opened presents with all my cousins!! There were so many presents my kids got so spoiled!!
After Christmas day we were there to play and play and play with all our family!! Jake got to do his hunting quite a bit with his new dog!! Then the kids went down grandpa Stephens hill on their sleds. They had a blast!! Good thing Jake is such a good dad and went down the hill with them. At the bottom they made snow angels and played with miley!!
It was alot of fun being in Utah playing with family and friends!! We love going back and wish that we could do it more!!

Jake tumbling down the hill

Kate getting ready to sled

Tagg and dad

Tagg

Kate and Dad

Dad and miley

Snow angels

Kate making snow angels

Christmas "Morning"

Christmas morning was fun and early for the Stephens household!! We were driving to Utah so we decided to wake the kids up early and do presents!! They had alot of fun!! Kate took a little while to wake up and get into but Tagg was ready to go the min we told him Santa had come.
They are at the perfect age were they were so excited about everything they got and loved everything. It was a great Christmas and everybody got what they wanted!!
I love Christmas time and finally I was at the point in my pregnancy that I was feeling much better and almost completely over the morning sickness so it was a good time.
After everybody opened their presents and we played for a little while and then loaded everybody into the car and headed to Utah!! Jake and I drove all night so that we could surprise our family Christmas morning!!!

Santas presents to Tagg

Santas presents to Kate

Tagg

Tagg

Kates new dog

Kate opening presents

Santas visit

Santa came to our house to visit the kids!! They were scared of him at first but warmed up at the end! They were so excited that he came to visit them!! He brought them a little present and they loved it. Kate even got brave enough and drew him a picture to take home to his elves!!

Tagg and Santa

Kate drawing santa a picture

Chase, Tagg, santa, Jake and Kate

Kate not liking santa at first

Kate and chase

Elk hunt

I went elk hunting for the first time this fall with Jake, Chase Whitlock and Tagg. We went up Carter mountain hiking and looking for elk. We went up there a couple of time but never got anything. We saw lots of tracks and stuff but never saw any of the animals that made them!
It was alot of fun to do something with Jake that he likes. Its not something I want to do all the time but it was fun spending time with him up in the beautiful mountains.
Tagg enjoyed being out there too!! He loves doing stuff with Jake and Chase. Kate was in school so she was not able to come with us this time!

Tagg fell asleep on the hike

Tagg and chase

Tagg

Jake Tagg and Lindsay watching for elk

The baby!!

This is my new little munchkin!!! About an inch tall already!!! I have been really sick with this one and my mom came out here to Cody to help me with the other two little munchkins!! I am feeling alot better and now that I got a picture of this new little baby it makes me even more excited!! I am due on June 19th!! Just about 2 1/2 weeks after Kates 6th birthday!!
Kate says its a girl, Tagg says its a boy!!! I am just excited either way!! I have one of each so I have stuff for both!!
Tagg keeps asking me to take off my shirt so he can see the baby!! Its funny the way kids think!!!

Jakes Hunt

Bringing the elk down!!

Jake got to go on an awesome hunt last week!! They went up to the Thorofare on horseback for a week! He loved it!! I think he would live up there if he could! He went with 3 other guys who have never been up there before. It is a really remote place where not alot of people go without guides. But of course for all of those who know Jake......He was born to do this kind of stuff!!

I was home worried sick about him getting ate by a grizzly bear!! The kids missed him alot but were excited to see if dad got his elk!!

The first ride into the wilderness was in snow!! The morning they left it was raining at our house which means up there SNOW!! There are a couple of narrow cliffs next to the trail and those I am sure were fun on the wet slick snow! They made it into camp and for the first couple of days Jake and Chase had pretty cold wet feet!!!

Then their horses ran off twice they saw a black bear the day before the hunt opened, shot an elk, spent two hours trying to hang the elk on a meat pole 30 feet in the air, at some yummy Carmel made by chases wife, hiked to the top of some amazing mountains to look at the view and scan for animals, saw a grizzly bear that came to close for comfort, ate yucky dehydrated mac and cheese pretty much the whole trip, snored, snuggled and just had a whole bunch of fun for the week!!!

Tagg spent the whole week trying to find his dad on the map!!

Starting out heading up the trail

The first day of hunting!!

The grizzly bear they saw!

The elk Jake shot, (that is not Jake it is Joe but this is the best picture of the elk!

Chase enjoying the view

Scouting for potential kills!

Jake and chase ....who knows what they are doing

Jake with his Elk!!!

The trip back home!!

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