Rapid City

 For spring break most normal people fly south or somewhere warm. We've never been accused of being normal. We headed north to Rapid City to find an apartment for the summer. I have a summer internship with Black Hills Corporation so we needed to find a place for us to call our home away from home for the summer. We're really excited about the internship! I'll be in their contracts department, so I'll get to use my MBA and JD degrees. 

While we were in Rapid we did a little touring around the Black Hills. We enjoyed fishing, hiking and sight-seeing. There were some really nice houses in the hills that I might have coveted. We really liked it up there! 

If you look closely at the pictures you can see that parts of the stream are still frozen. The ice was thick enough that we walked right up the middle of the stream. The kids thought it was so cool that we were walking over moving water.

True to form, Tylita led the way up the trail. I need to get her a backpack so we can take her backpacking too.

Keagan is a true Bond Boy. Despite the cold he stood at the edge of the stream and fished and fished. He loved it! He's not very proficient at it, but hey becoming a master fisherman like his daddy takes time. Give him a couple more years and he will be out fishing his uncle James (not that James is a great fisherman, he catches more trees than fish....just don't tell him that, he's sensitive about those things).

Here are the kiddos and wife at a park in Rapid City. This park has running trails for the wife, playgrounds for the kiddos, and fishing for the daddy, what more could you ask for?

 Best friends. 

On our way home we stopped to visit some friends in Hulett WY. Jenni babysat this little girl for over year when she lived here. Tylita loves her!

Wild turkeys! There are tons of turkeys in the area. We saw the white one and wanted to get his picture, as my daughter puts it "those turkeys look tasty." 

We stopped at Devil's Tower on our way home. It's a cool big rock near Hulett.

It's a ....

Boy!!!!

We tried to post some pictures, but the computer was fighting with me. After a long hard fight, the computer won. So you don't get any pictures tonight, better luck next time. At least you know we're having another trouble-making, boat-loving, fish-catching, gun-slinging Bond Boy. OK so I'm a little excited about having another pack mule to go exploring with....

Boycotting winter

It's that time of year again. We get spring fever and decide to boycott winter. We decided to go to Lake Hatti, right now it's more like ice-burg Hatti. Another month of warm weather and we'll have the boat out on the lake. It was just such a nice day (40 degrees and no wind) that we had to get out.

 Here's Keagan Man throwing rocks in the water. 

 Tylita ran all over the place, up and down the shoreline, she had to explore EVERYTHING every rock, bug, crawdad claw, animal track, boat dock, ice chunk, spillway, mud hole, stick....she had soooo much fun.

 Here is mini-stud, just as happy as can be. He has his own cowboy hat, but he wants the one daddy wears.

 See that little pink dot? Yeah, the one that is about a mile ahead of Keagan and almost to the ice... that's my daughter. No fear, explorer, runner, fisher-girl, will-go-anywhere-anytime. I can honestly say that she gets it from her mother. Love that little girl!

This is our kind of Tailgating. No noise, no crowds, no football game, fresh air, cute kids, peace and quite, love it!

Broken guitar?

Keagan is just as much a part of this video as Tylita. They're both cute little rodents.

Singing Cowgirl

Tylita loves to sing. She sings at home, at church (she gets some really good looks/laughs), in the grocery store, or any other random and embarrassing place.

The Finished Product

About a year ago I got some plans to make a rocking horse from my uncle. I started working on sometime during the summer. I hoped to have it finished by Tylita's birthday in late August. Well, as most projects do, this one took a little longer than I hoped. Needless to say I didn't get it finished by her birthday. So I set a new goal to have it done by Thanksgiving, but pesky school got in the way. (school can ruin your life!) Didn't get it finished by Christmas either...but it made the perfect Valentines gift! Tylita is willing to share it. Keagan has declared that the horse is his. How do you tell a 2 year old that he has to share his horse with his sister? It's like telling a teenage boy that he has to share his truck with his sister! That just doesn't go over very well. But, as you can see, the kids love it. Hopefully it will last long enough for all the kiddos to enjoy it.

 

Here is my faithful "helper." He decided it was warmer to be in daddy's coat than to sit on the porch. 

Wedding in Summer 2012

 Last August we attended a wedding of one of Jenni's cousins.  We had a great time.  The bride was beautiful, the groom was handsome, but I might be partial to the two cutest people there!  She was a flower girl and he was dressed like his daddy.

 The happy couple!

 Dancing was fun!  Especially when the kids got involved!

 The golf course had a bridge we had to get a picture on!  We love bridges!

 The mother of the groom and my mom!  They are sisters at heart!

 A picture I grabbed of my parents.  Still a happy couple after 32 years!

Our Third is on her/his way!

No longer secret for anyone.  We are finding out the gender next month.  Father and daughter are enjoying a little friendly debate on girl or boy.  I hope healthy like the first two.  Daughter says girl and her name will be Sarah!  Father says he had a dream it is a boy!  Daughter says she also had a dream it is a girl and her name is Sarah.  I can tell you one thing for sure, her name is not Sarah! Beautiful name but there are already a few in our family.

On another note this pregnancy has been amazing.  My first and only symptom thus far is that I am showing!  Daughter loves to kiss and adore my growing belly!  Super cute. 

Downside is the temperature is 0`F.  I can't go running in that very easily, so I have found the best website for workout videos.  They are just as inspiring to get out of bed for as running.   Thank goodness I want to be in shape when the weather gets back to 30`F.  The website is http://www.fitnessblender.com/. I have had relatively great pregnancies and labors.  I believe it is because I have stayed in shape! 

Anyway continue scrolling to look at more interesting pictures than my ramblings.  Thanks for reading.

Fun Family Life

 Yea, our kids like to go hiking!  They collect rocks and sticks and we just smile!

 We went shooting when the weather was kinda nice.  I don't know how I caught that sweet smile but it does reflect her enthusiasm for shooting.  She told us several times "Mom I love this!" She had fun blasting the bottles and watching them explode and fly into the air. We'll have to get her a gun soon.

 Playing at the park with cousins is always fun!

One of our stops this summer was to the Logan Temple.  Those sweet smiles light me up every time!

Summer in January

 

You know us.  We blog when we want to and not when events happen.  It was -4`F today and not expected to improve the rest of the month.  The freezing cold makes me look at summer pictures.  We did get to go sledding and shooting in 30`F weather this week. 

 

Our little daring Princess loves to try everything.  She told us she wants to have a pink horse someday.  Daddy will do everything in his power to get her one, we'll see how that turns out.

 

 My brother came home from his mission in May 2012, and our kids think he is cool.  Keagan has the most charming smile!

 Tylita and her "best friend." She loves her and always tells me how much she misses her.

 Keagan's first experience with flood irrigation, here he is with his aunt Bug. One of the advantages to being at Grandma and Grandpa Bond's home on Tuesdays in the summer is we get to play in the water.

It's addicting!

Last week we decided to go to the Snowy Mtns. I'm usually the who does all the fishing while mommy keeps the gremlins from doing too much damage. Well this time we switched. Jenni got to fish while the rodents and I explored. The midgets had a lot of fun! They threw rocks, sticks, and whatever they find in the water. We played hide-and-seek in the trees. It was fun.

Meanwhile, Hot Stuff was fishing. She caught two brook trout and a few rocks. She thought about joining us, but she was having too much fun. "After I caught one, it was addicting. I wanted to catch another one!"  Who would have thought? Fishing? Addicting? Maybe that's why we have about two dozen fishing poles. 

Tylita wore her brown cowgirl boots. She loves her cowgirl boots, she wears them whenever we're up in the mountains. She also has a black pair of cowgirl boots, but "those are my church boots." Wonder where she got that from?

Keagan loves to throw rocks in the water, at the dirt, at daddy, or at anything he sees. He loves to be up in the mountains. He's a Bond boy.

Couldn't get any better. A hot chic fishing in a stream in the middle of the mountains. They don't make them any better than that!

 This picture reminds me of Pennsylvania.

Summer Fun

Playing with grandma's goats.

 

 Keagan loves fishing.

 They love to swim in the pool!

 Tylita caught a fish at Huck Fin Pond. 

She was excited, "are we going to take it home and eat it?"

This is just after Jenni's marathon in Colorado. Good job wife!!

 Tylita got to run in a big ball. She loved it.

Here's how Keagan always looks, very happy!

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