My first look at baby Mara.
Chris showing Dax his new baby sister.
Mara and her baby friends. A couple of my friends had their babies the same week.
Mara's first birthday was so fun. I think all of the other kids had way more fun opening her presents. She loved her new couch.

We were brave and made blue frosting, She looked like a smurf whenshe was done.
A HUNTING WE WILL GO
Chris had his big hunting trip with his dad so I decided to take the kids and go visit his mom. Taylor stayed at home with my parents so she didn't miss any school or homecoming. We left on Wednesday right after Taylors volleyball game and got back Tuesday night. We had a great time. It was good to see all of the family, and I got to do some shopping in Bend, so that was fun. We went and saw Chris at Elk camp and Dax stayed with him and had some man bonding time. He got a new pocket knife for his birthday so he got to use it to help Chris skin his bear(sick!). On the way home we stayed a night in Boise. We were bringing a dog home for some friends so we stayed in Motel 6, SICK!!, I am all about saving money but it was gross and still was $70. We had to sneak the dog in and then I could see that it needed to go potty. Chris couldn't take it out because the guy next door was getting arrested(nice huh) so there were cops standing outside our door so we couldn't take the dog out. So needless to say the dog pooped 4 times in the hotel and Chris was running around like crazy gagging and trying to find something to clean it up with and I was dying laughing. He ran in and grabbed towels, Hello who cleans poop up with towels?, so then he grabbed a plastic cup and TP he was gagging so bad I thought I was going to have to clean up his puke. You may wonder why I just laughted at him instead of help him, are you kidding? I have 4 kids I clean poop up all the time, it was his turn.
These pictures are from a reception we went to. Lyn bought the girls matching outfits, so I did my best to get a good picture of them, but did not succeed.
Chris had a good hunt. He got his elk and then heard something "woof" at him. He looked aroung and saw a bear 35 yards away. All he had with him was his bow and 3 arrows, no room for error. All three arrows ended up in the bear. I don't think he stayed aroung long enough to see if the bear was dead he ran as fast as he could to go get his dad. He has always wanted to get a bear so getting it with a bow is quite exciting. His elk and his bear were 100 yards apart.