Hun'in' and Fishin' and some puppies!

Hi Everyone!

I know I haven't been keeping up-to-date on the blog too well. But I thought, I can't let Kathy hog all the spot light! Especially since I just took some great pictures and we occasionally have some fun around here! Cyrus and I went down to Cedar City this weekend to hang out with Dad and Grandpa and to do a little Hun'in' and some fishin'. (Since we are in Utah we don't pronounce the "t" in either words, it wouldn't be righ'). Cyrus and I got in late Friday night, surprise surprise, and tried to get some sleep before the early wake up call. 5:30 comes pretty early and if you don't jump to, Grandpa might just leave you behind. There's deer to be caught! No sleeping in on the first day of Deer Season! Plus, it was Cyrus' birthday and we had to make the most of it. So we jumped out of bed, and with the help of a famous Dad breakfast, were out the door and soon falling asleep as we drove to deer country. Cyrus has been hunting with us once before, but he's still not quite use to waking up so early or driving like a "bat out of hell" up rocky mountain roads while passing ATVs and other pinheads who thought they could take our spot.

We got to see some beautiful country-side as the sun peaked out from the mountain tops. The quakes, pines and scrub oaks made a beautiful site for our bleary eyes. It was pretty chilly up in the mountains, but we were tough. Like unto the pioneers. Cyrus and Dad hiked around a bit trying to chase out some deer for Grandpa and me to shoot. Fortunately they had to cover a little bit of country so Grandpa and I got to hang out for a bit. And I got to practice driving over some rocks. I'm not quite as good as Dad is, yet. About half way over a small stretch of rocks in the road Grandpa leaned over and said, "Kendra, backup a bit, I think you missed one back there." While they were gone, I also got to practice my photography skills I've been learning in class. I'm not that great (yet, just wait), but I'm getting better and I'm understanding my camera and how to make it do what I want it to do. AND, gasp, take it off Auto and put it on FULLY MANUAL. Jump back. So here are some of my shots.

We hung out with some cows. Here's the redheaded one.

Here is my wide apeture shot, notice how only the foreground is in focus?

A Scraggly Tree

A pretty Tree Line

A Cow basking in the Sun

Another Cow

Some Dry Grass

Who's that coming out of the trees??

I see some Orange!
Why it's Cyrus and Dad! Coming back from their hike!

Sadly no deer, at least none that we could shoot. But lots of time to take pictures! So here are some more of my favorite ones.

Some of the pretty wild flowers

Very dramatic, if I say so myself.

This is my favorite picture of the day. A momma deer with her two babies. Dad moved some trees around so I could get a great shot.

I'm thinking about calling this one "The Trek" or "Mighty Hunter"

What do you think?

After not having any luck hun'in' that morning, we decided to try our hand at some fishin'.

We went over to a favorite fishing spot - Enterprise Reservoir

Unfortunately Cyrus and I didn't have much luck.

Dad and Grandpa on the other hand taught us a lesson. Fishin' fools?

Or fools fishin'? I'll let you guess which one Dad called us.

This is our empty Creel, have you ever seen such a sad sight?

Here is Dad, teaching us another lesson

Here's Grandpa, snakin' them out. I caught a smile.

One thing we did find in Enterprise is Mom and Dad's new home! Only 5 miles from the Reservoir and 10 miles outside of town!

Cyrus and I went home empty handed. Though, for the record, I did catch three fish. But they were so small I had to throw them back. A sad day indeed for a Fisher Price (Fox). We were pretty beat after a great day of hun'in' and fishin' so Dad and Grandpa turned in for the night. But the fun wasn't over! Saturday was Cyrus' 26th birthday so we hit the town to see the wild side of Cedar City. We ate at a little Mexican place and by the time we got done the only place that was open was Walmart. So we walked around Wally-world to try to get out of our food induced coma. Sorry, no pictures of that exciting moment. But we did have fun people watching. Cyrus did get some pretty cool presents such as the vibram 5-fingers, a stock pot (because he's always wanted one), kitchen knives, and a cool base layer for the cold winter ahead.

The next morning we got to go deer hun'in' again! This time we went on top of Cedar Mountain and around Brian Head. It sure was purty up there. I'd try to explain, but I'd rather let the pictures do the talking. I never was much one for creative writing.

Dad perusing the countryside

Spot any deer?

No deer, but pretty trees

Here is a little buck we saw. Dad says it's close in size of the one him and Grandpa got on Monday. Except I'm sure their's was bigger. Much bigger. Probably a 10-pointer.

Cyrus being cold.

Autumn in full swing
I liked the one little yellow tree standing out on the hillside

Getting up close and personal with nature

On the way home from fishing Dad took us to the Parowan Gap, where there are Indian carvings in the rocks. It was pretty cool. This plaque says the specialists have no idea what they mean.

Parawon Gap
More Indian Carvings
Indian Carvings

This is where the sun rises on the spring equinox

After we got home we went to check on the puppies that our landlord's dog, Rain, had just a week ago. She had 8 little yellow lab puppies.
They are so cute! We check on them every day.

They can't walk and don't have their eyes open yet.
This is Rain. Sometimes she seems less than excited about taking care of her offspring.

They are adorable.

Well, that's the end of my rant. That's all the pictures I have. I'll try to keep you updated on any more adventures Cyrus and I go on. Next week is Home Coming here at BYU so let's go Cougars!

Mommy time!

I finally got out to get a haircut - the cut I won in a bid on at the Huntington's Disease Society's fashion show silent auction - and I like it. Well, most of all I like having some time out alone and taking care of something that is quite the treat. Ahhhh.

9 Months

What's that I hear? Laura is already 9 months old?
A cute shot we got at Disneyland on Kara's birthday this past week. Our little pumpkin head.

Cousin Fun

This captures what a cousin playdate looks like quite well. Jared running in circles, Kayden playing with "Baby Wowah" and Laura soaking up the attention. Lots of smiles are around when Kara and Kayden come over!

Kara's Birthday

A perfect day for the Pearsons' first-time-at-Disneyland: Kara's birthday! We stayed mainly in Tomorrowland and Fantasyland and only walked through the others. By then, feet were tired and it was already time for bed! My regret was not taking enough pictures of both of our families together while we were there -- this is the best one we had from the super-fun day. Jared loved it all, of course. He loves being with his cousins. We were glad Kara was finally able to take us and the kids and show us around both parks. Corbin took Tom and me on the Big Bear rapids and we got SOAKED. It was fun and we were glad we brought extra shoes. It was a great way to do something special for Kara's day! Happy birthday, sista! And thank you so much for helping us have a great time (it's only taken us 6 years to get here with you!).
The Jedi Training show was really enjoyable for us. We ate lunch there and then were highly entertained by the kids getting "trained" by Jedi masters. Jared's eyes went HUGE when the Storm Troupers came running out, then again when Darth Vader came up out of the ground, then AGAIN when a fully-decked out Darth Maul guy came out. Each chosen child "battled" Darth Vader with their new skills. Very cute. Kara took this photo of Laura and me sitting by a scarecrow spot in Adventureland.
Jared LOVES being with Corbin, even when his skills don't quite match up to his older cousin's. He says, "Guess what. Corbin is my cousin AND my friend."

We had a great day -- extra horrays for the overcast skies, Kara's line pass and free tickets from Brother Fletcher! Here we are, wearing our "I'm Celebrating" pins we got because we were with Kara on her birthday.

Team Pearson!

Chrystelle - HDSA-OC's President, Rick - the VP, the Mayor of Irvine and me!
Sherrie, my visiting teacher, met up with me before the walk -- what a great friend!
Walkers getting ready at the start area - see Chuck Street's helicopter? That's one of our event "signatures".
Jared didn't know what to do around those cute Lakers Girls -- so he just made faces for the cameras and ran around like crazy so they would notice him.
Kathryn presenting volunteer and fundraiser awards at the event.

Saturday morning was the Team Hope Walk for Huntington's Disease. Team Pearson did a fantastic job -- we were one of the top fundraising teams (awesome! too bad I didn't win the Hawaii condo stay raffle the top people go in on -- next year!) and the event itself was a lot of fun. It was a lot of work, but worth it. My chairpeople were amazing. Hopefully we "found" and encouraged more families in the area who haven't been out before. It's still a smallish event -- about 350 people were there, plus our CEO, the Mayor of Irvine, 3 Lakers Girls, 1 Cheer Team, over 100 Volunteers and some great music groups -- but I'm always hoping for more walkers. Here are some photos of the big day! Whew. Only one more "official" planning night this week and my Fall Season will be quite different -- less on the calendar! More focus on the home! Back to normal...until next summer when we prep for Team Hope Walk 2010! Go Team Pearson!

Closeups

Ah, the joys of fruitsnacks. This particular brand, Florida's Natural fruit nuggets, are pretty much amazing. A-maze-ing. I love them a little too much and it makes me feel a little guilty that I'm snacking on kid's treats. But I'm not too old for those, not by a long shot!
My sweet, sun-kissed little man!

Reading and Writing

Today was Jared's first day of preschool! Notice his "special" shoelaces -- it was his choice to have one dark blue, one white. I figured, hey, why fight this one? It was fun to see him get his bag together, choose his lunch items, lay out his school outfit and be so happy to go. He looked like an old pro going in there. This is his 2nd year of preschool and the difference between last year and this is astounding. Look how big he is now! His teacher said he had a GREAT first day and from what he was saying on the way home, that was true. Highlights from Jared's memory: he enjoyed the story of a froggie who dreamed he went to school with no clothes on (whoops of laughter at this) but that wasn't true and he actually had ALL his clothes when he went to school and he had a nice froggie teacher. Jared also like painting and playing with the nice kids.

Catching Up

Laura at 7 months. This picture perfectly captures the way she and Jared are at home. He loves being near her, she loves him being around. Lots of smiles. She still has only the 2 teeth on the bottom and is almost standing up and walking. She needs props to get around, like her walker or a piece of furniture, but she is getting strong! What a fun and beautiful little girl.