Swiming, fishing, first day of school and snakes

 Here's our little fish. She gets her love of swimming from her mom.

 1st day of kindergarten! 

Tylita was excited, Mommy cried, Keagan wanted to go, 

Daddy... stayed strong and didn't cry...

She is doing very well in school. Every day she comes home with a new book to read to us. It's fun to hear all her stories of the day and see her excitement and enthusiasm for school.

 For Tylia's birthday weekend, she wanted to go camping and fishing. Wonder where she got that from? So we went camping near Deerfield reservoir and fishing in the boat. They caught these fish on her birthday.

 Something else kiddos get from their mom is a love of reptiles. Jenni was more than excited to hold this little boa. Tylita is holding an alligator named fluffy. He doesn't look very fluffy to me.

 My hot wife caught this catfish after our trip to the temple.

Can I hunt in my front yard?

 These deer have been hanging out in front of our house. These pictures were taken across the street from our house. We've seen them in our yard a couple times.

Tylita shot the .22 all by herself. I'm proud of her!

Fishing pictures

 One nice thing about Rapid is there are several lakes within boating distance after work. We try to take the boat out at least once a week after work or on a weekend. The kids really enjoy catching fish and playing in the water.

 Kiddos were good troopers and hiked to the lake.

 Tylita and Keagan helped me in the float tube. Keagan stayed on for over half an hour. Surprisingly it wasn't that hard to fish with a kiddo on my lap.

Slacker

 It was not so gently pointed out to me that we have been slackers by not posting pictures of our cute kiddos. "Your brother posted pictures of his trip and little boy, he keeps up on his blog unlike someone I know."

....OK I get the hint, it has been a while.

The old man that told me I was a slacker doesn't really want to read my posts, he just wants to see pictures of his grand kids.

Tylita got really good at standing on my hand, and Ryker has followed in her footsteps.

 We visited James and Lauren for memorial day weekend. Tylita and Addy had a lot of fun together.

 Keagan got tired of eating.

 Ryker has the brightest smile! His bright blue eyes and dark eyelashes are very captivating.

 Keagan man is growing up to be a fun little boy.

Closing a chapter

With the exception of summers and about a year when we lived in Idaho, I have been in school during our whole marriage. Jenni has been very patient and understanding while I struggled with my academic addition. We laughed, cried and lost waaay too much sleep because of school. She was a single mother while I studied for finals, wrote papers and studied for evil bar exam. Going to school was definitely a team effort. She earned every degree that I earned.

On Friday I got a call from the Wyoming Supreme Court. I passed the bar exam and have been recommended to be licensed in Wyoming! It was the best call I have received in a looong time. It was like a huge load had been lifted off my shoulders. I needed to score 270 or above to get licensed in Wyoming. I was shocked to hear I got a 306! That tells me I studied waaaay too hard for that evil exam. Jenni said it was the perfect mother's day gift. 

We're grateful for all the help that everyone has given us and all the prayers said in our behalf. Thank you all for your help and support.

Hiking in the hills

 This little explorer has no fear! She ran up the trail and got a little too close to the edge for mommy's comfort. Like mother like daughter?

 Keagan man loves to be in the mountains. He walked the whole hike.

 The hills are full of cool rock outcroppings. Here is one that we explored. It had a bunch of narrow passageways, lookouts and places to hide.

 Good big sister, she likes to feed Ryker.

Ryker likes to do hand stands. He still loves to be held by mommy and daddy. His diet has expanded to anything he can reach (edible or not) and he still refuses to crawl or be on his own for more than 30 seconds.

Christmas break & updates

 During Christmas break we went to Utah, Idaho, South Dakota, and Wyoming. We put in a lot of miles. It was fun to visit grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles to celebrate the holiday season. One reason why we drove all over the place was because Brad had a few job interviews. He ended up with two job offers, one in Thermopolis, WY and the other in Rapid City, SD. We struggled with the decision, but ultimately accepted a job in Rapid City. We move to Rapid during the first week of March, right after Brad takes the bar exam.

 We enjoyed spending time with aunts Bug and Critter. They're growing up too fast!

 To keep with tradition, we took a picture of Ryker's first non-mommy feeding. As you can see, it didn't work out so well. It was hilarious to see him gag over the "food" we fed him. Personally, I wouldn't want to eat that stuff either!

 These two pictures are of the hot springs in Thermopolis. We loved the town! In the picture above, you can see ice waterfalls where the hot springs poured over into the river. In the picture below, the kiddos are walking on the board walk with steam rising up around them. It was really neat to see.

 Chocolate faces!

Here are the boys playing on our bed. The only way we can tell the difference between Ryker's pictures and Keagan's baby pictures is their eyes. One has bright blue eyes, the other has dark brown eyes.

Camping fun

 Wife and kiddos went hunting with me a few times. They loved camping and playing in the mountains. Keagan followed Tylita wherever she went. The love each other so much!

 We drove up some road to the top of a peak. We had a beautiful view from up there.

 Tylita and Keagan love playing with Ryker, sometimes a little too much.

Our litter

Halloween

 For my birthday, kiddos made me a cake. It was awesome! It had a fisherman and a hunter shooting a big buck. They had a lot of fun making the cake.

 Mini-Mouse and Donald-Duck had fun trick or treating with Tigger. They got waaaay toooo much candy! But hey, now I have snacks to take for lunch.

 Mommy was a mountain woman, and daddy was a deer. 

This picture has nothing to do with Halloween, but I put it in because it's cute.

I'm not sure how we ended up with two blue eyed babies, but we sure love them! Ryker likes to fold his hands together like this, it looks like he's praying. He's a very cute little boy.

Ryker's blessing / Tylita's B-day weekend

 It's always good to start with a little humor. Keagan apparently was having issues with his diaper. He didn't know what to do, so of course we had to get a picture.

 Tylita and Addy showing that they played "Pin the crown on the princess."

 Keagan hit the pinata about has hard as a fly hits a brick wall. But the pinata got him back...it swung back and hit him in the head.

 The whole family in front of the sunflowers. Ryker is wearing his blessing outfit. He doesn't do much now besides eat, sleep and poop, but he'll be a good fisherman when gets older.

 Hanging out with grandparents. Tylita is sporting her new Ariel dress that her grandparents bought her, she absolutely loves it! Tylita just said, "that's a pretty picture, and I'm the prettiest person in the picture!" I'm glad she has a good self-esteem.

Kiddos loved playing with their cousins.