Piney Creek Hunting Hideout

Welcome to Piney Creek Hunting Hideout...

A few weeks ago the boys found an area not far from the house that they thought would make a great fort.  After taking us out there to show us, Caleb told them that on his next day at home he would go out there with a chain saw and help them make the inside more open and show them how to use branches to build walls on the outside.

Colton watching.

They worked for a good portion of the day making sure that their new place was perfect.

Once all was complete they moved in all the important things.

Of course food is necessary for boys so they brought in a table and chairs.  

All little boys have to have their wagon and tools because you just never know when you may have to dig something up and haul it around. 

My personal favorite is our dog Tess.  I love how she hangs out in there with the boys.  

Having the first of many snacks in their new hunting hideout.

After much discussion they finally decided to name their new fort/hideout, Piney Creek Hunting Hideout.  Layton had some VERY different ideas that only a boy would come up with that Caleb and I quickly told him to come up with something different.  Colton on the other hand thought just Fort would be great.  Layton wanted something to do with hunting and Colton wanted it to have something to do with nature, so that is how they finally came up with Piney Creek Hunting Hideout.

Many good times and interesting stories are sure to come from their hunting hideout.

Thankful

     The other day I looked out and this is what I saw....

Two boys playing and the family dog keeping watch...

As I watched them play from a distance it hit me that this is it.  This is our dream come true.

Way before Caleb and I were married we use to talk and dream about what we wanted for our future.  We dreamed about living out in the country.  We dreamed about having children.  So here we are living out in the country on a beautiful piece of property with our twin boys.  Of course having twin boys makes the dream even more perfect and having the family dog is the cherry on top!  Yes,  I am thankful for dreams coming true.

Every day we worry.  We worry about what we don't have.  We worry about getting that next job to make ends meet.  But how often do I stop and thank Jesus for what we do have?  I look around me and I am surrounded by things to be thankful for.  Most of all I have been blessed with a beautiful loving family.  I have a husband who goes above and beyond to provide for us and children who have brought so much love and laughter into our home.  Like I said before I am thankful for dreams coming true.

Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Boys and their jobs

We finally had a weekend at home with no where to go.  Over the past month I haven't had a whole day at home with the boys.  Either I've had to work or they have gone to work with Caleb.  Today I was able to get caught up around the house and the boys spent the whole day outside working various "jobs."

Their first "job" of the day was working on making a path from the house to the chicken coop.

The shirt says it all.

Job sight #2.  Before lunch we took a walk down to the creek to see how much it changed after the rain we had yesterday.    At first they wanted to build a fort but then it quickly turned into a "job".
So it was back up to the house for a quick lunch and a chance to pack up their tools to go back to work.

All packed up and headed back down to the creek.  

A close up of what they packed.  All kinds of crazy odds and ends.  

The minds of little boys and their imaginations...

 Just about every piece in this wagon had some sort of purpose for their "job."

Little wrangler butts melt my heart...

My hard working boys. 

Watching TV on our bed rarely happens.  To make it even better, Hogs Gone Wild (their all time favorite show) was on.
It was a good day.  I'm looking forward to the week of Thanksgiving when the boys have the whole week off.  What a treat that will be with most of those days at home.

Happy Halloween

We had a fun filled Halloween weekend over here....

We started the weekend off on Friday night over at our friends, the Laricks for a pumpkin carving party.

Saturday we spent the afternoon over at our local volunteer fire department for a costume party.
This year the boys picked out motor cross costumes out.

Today at the school was one big Halloween party.  All the kids wore their costumes to school and had a parade.  

This picture is of kindergarten through 6th grade (7th and 8th grade are in Yosemite this week).

#1 I love how the whole school fits in one photo.

#2 I love the background.  What school do you know has this amazing view from the playground?

#3 I love this school and and so happy that the boys are able to go there.  

Hope you all had a safe and happy Halloween.

What happens when you leave the boys home alone

I had to work today and Caleb actually had the day off so the boys stayed home with him.  

I think it's safe to say that this is not a typical sight to see when a mom comes home at the end of her work day.

Hold your breath...

Here comes Colton down from the attic!

Now it's Layton's turn...

 

I shouldn't complain right?  After all they could be sitting inside doing nothing but watching TV.

Leave it to Caleb to come up with something crazy and fun like this to do with the boys.
Now who wants to come inside and do something exciting like bake cookies with me?
Anyone...?

Its Friday!

Friday has a whole new meaning for the boys now that they are in school.  Especially over the last two weeks since school has become full time.  For the first month the kindergarten class was only part time (from 8:30-12:30).  Starting in October they are now full time students along with the rest of the school (8:30-3:00). 

With a full day at school, chores and homework there it not much down time for the boys to just chill out and play, even more so on the days that I have to work.  They have chores to do before school and after we get home in the evening it's all about getting homework done and getting ready for the next day.  Before you know it, it's time for bed.

I am working on trying to make Fridays extra special for them after all the hard work that they do during the week.  We started our Friday as soon as I picked them up after school by heading back into town for a milk shake.  

As soon as we got home they went into what Caleb and I call "twin mode"  They shut themselves in their room and played.   They tune everything else out and the only thing that matters during this time is each other....

and a snack...

Since there isn't much time for TV on school nights I picked up a DVD for them today.
You can tell that it's been a long week when you see these two hanging out like this.
Although it didn't last long, as soon as the movie was over they were back at it.

Just incase you were wondering what they were up to in their room....
Climbing of course!  Why use a ladder like normal children to get to the top bed when you can pretend like your rock climbing.

The same goes for coming down...
Oh!  Excuse me, it's not "coming down, it' "repelling."

The weekend is off to a start, at least for all the boys.  I work tomorrow which leaves the big and little boys home alone.  I overheard a conversation between the three of them about something to do with repelling from the attic.   I probably should be a little worried but I did hear the word climbing harness.  That's good, right?

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Climbing trip in Yosemite

Last weekend we packed up and headed to Yosemite to go camping and of course rock climbing.

The first day there we got up in the morning and went for a hike to take a look at the sequoia trees.  Seeing the size of the trunks of these trees was absolutely breathtaking. Some of the branches were the size of a normal tree.
After our little hike we went back to the campground to wait for our fellow campers to show up.  We had 7 other friends camping with us. (2 of them were Grandpa Hal and Auntie Jessica).

 Caleb climbing.

I think he is kind of awesome....

After doing some climbing we all headed down to this little pool in the river.  It was very cold but very refreshing.

This was the boys first experience with Jiffy Pop.  Once it started popping and growing their squeals of surprise and excitement made the popcorn even taste better once it was done.

Of course the next day was nothing but more climbing.  We had several different routes set up so I was actually able to get a shot of the boys both up on the rock.    Here Layton is headed up and Colton is repelling down.

A rare picture of me climbing!  (thanks Jess)

At one point during the day I happened to look over and Layton and Colton were playing with a rope that we set up.  They were taking turns climbing and belaying each other.

This is kind of like peeking into the future.  I can see them going off in another 15 years or so (probably less but keeping my fingers crossed  that it's at least 15) headed to the Pinnacles or Yosemite,  just the two of them to go rock climbing.

So that was our four day weekend.  It was fun while we were there but now it's back to work, school and all the other day to day stuff that needs to be done.

15th Wedding Anniversary

 

 Today was our wedding anniversary.  The past 15 years has been about living, loving and creating our beautiful, one of a kind family.  Fifteen years ago we dreamed about going back to Colorado where we honeymooned to celebrate  our anniversary.  Well, overtime dreams change, children come along and the economy takes a dip.  We did have a beautiful evening right here at home.
We told the boys that our anniversary was coming up and they asked what an anniversary was.  The best way to describe it to them that they would understand was that it is kind of like a birthday of our wedding.  Of course all birthdays have to have a birthday party so that is what we did.
 I decided to surprise Caleb and set up a table outside for a special dinner I made.

Welcome to Piney Creek Rustica.  Best described as rustic outdoor dinning, complete with local entertainment by the Piney Creek twins.  On the menu this evening was grilled ribeye steaks topped with blue cheese compound butter with creamy polenta and steamed artichokes.

For dessert I made our all time favorite, buttermilk panna cotta topped with fresh raspberries.  

I wish I could say that over the years everything has been peaches and cream but there have been a few bumps in the road along the way.  I can say that 15 years later I still look forward to sitting down and having dinner with Caleb just as much as I did at our first meal together.  

Our evening was memorable.  The weather was perfect, the views amazing, the food was yummy, and the entertainment was hysterical.  We even got to watch a live bike performance after dinner put on by the twins.  

What's a party without sparklers?  Colton found a pack of sparklers left over from the 4th of July which he insisted that we light before the evening was over.
Layton said it perfectly when he told us that this was "the BEST anniversary ever!"

Grandpa's Little Darlings

A few months ago my cousin Trista got married.  This past Sunday her dad (my Uncle Tom) had a party for family and friends to celebrate her marriage and meet her new husband Ryan.

It was a wonderful afternoon visiting with family.  I can't even remember the last time that we had that many cousins together.  

Trista, Jocelyn, myself and Stephanie.  Unfortunately we are missing one little darling which would be my sister who had to work.

 Grandpa and his little darlings.  We all love him very much and are proud to call him our Grandpa.

Cousins... minus Maya, Justin and Corey.

Finished concrete countertop

The last few days leading up to our big summer party were crazy!  Cleaning, decorating, grading roads, grading areas for parking and of course Caleb's main focus was getting the bar done.  Which turned out amazing.

He decided to do a concrete bowl go along with the countertop.  I love the rustic texture of this bowl.

This is what it looked like once he pulled the forms off before he started grinding it.

He spent hours grinding away.

Here it is!  The final result.  We decided to donate it to the boys school for the silent action that is coming up.

Here is an up close picture of it.  This is my favorite part of the counter.  I love how the rock blends in with the two colors.
I'm a little sad to be parting with this creation but happy that it is going to a good cause.  Hopefully it will be bring in some money for the school.

Concrete Countertop Day One....

It's the count down to our big summer party.  It's been a few years since we have had a party out here so we have been working extra hard getting everything looking good.  Last week we had a few workers over cleaning up the landscaping.  Today it was all about helping Caleb with a concrete countertop for our outside bar.

Here is the mold that Caleb designed for the counter which will sit on top of two wine barrels.

This is the first time I've watched and helped Caleb do a countertop.  It really is a science.  Everything has to be weighed to the exact amount to get the texture and color to be just right.

He had us all working hard, shoveling, scooping, scraping and all that other stuff that comes with concrete.

Well, we all were working hard except for Tess.  Concrete is kind of boring for dogs.... doesn't smell good, doesn't taste good and most important you can't chase it.

Colton manning the switch on the concrete mixer.

Here is one half of the bar top... it's the white wine side.

Caleb measuring the color for the red wine side.  I think that my hands will forever be stained this color.

With the left over concrete the boys made a "sidewalk".  You can tell by this picture that they have seen many sidewalks poured before.  Caleb always said that he would have his boys finishing concrete by time they started school.
Tomorrow we will see how the countertop turned out.