I HATE MICE!

So, how many of you can relate? We have mice-again! We usually get them about once a year, when they seem to get tired of outside or the garage and want to spread their domain to the rest of the house. Although some of you might scoff at my, shall we say, disgust, for these little rodents, they just creep me out. Keith found a dead mouse a little more than a week ago, but it had been in the wall (we have a small area that doesn't have sheetrock) and he was rescuing some toys. He pulled that out too, and wasn't sure what it was, but when he looked closer he threw it down and came to tell me that there was a mouse in the playroom. I thought he was joking, but had Tyson go and check it out. Sure enough, there was a dead mouse in the middle of the floor of the playroom. Now we hadn't played in there for a few days, but I was still surprised that one would crawl there and then die. Had Keith wash his hands really good after that and the next day he told me that it really came from between the wall. Gross, huh?

Then Tyson told me he thought he saw a mouse run along the wall by the fireplace one night, but wasn't sure. Turns out, he really did see it, but didn't want to freak me out. Too late! So we didn't do anything and he left for the slope. My sister stopped by to get some traps from us and share the woes of the mice at her house, and that night, after the kids were in bed, I was down here at my desk, and I heard noise over by the fireplace. I was naive no longer! Not to mention that a few minutes later I actually saw the furry little beast run behind my shelves against the wall. I called to let Tyson know that it was official that we had mice. I then made the time that I spent downstairs limited, because I didn't want to be around them. I did get two sticky traps that we had and put them down here to try and catch the critters. And the next day, the kids said they saw a mouse run against the wall and the shelves on the other side of the fireplace (where Tyson had first seen the beasts). So we bought more traps on Thursday, put some out, and waited for Tyson to get home on Friday so he could rid us of the vermin. Keith loves to check and see and let us know when they are on the traps, but he is still nervous about them and doesn't want to be all by himself. If he does check it by himself, then he has to work up to it. But he walks around the house and when he hears an unidentifiable noise, he says he thinks he heard a mouse. And he has seen a mouse's nose too peek out from behind things. Can you say that his mother's paranoia is rubbing off? I think so. I try to be brave for him, because I don't want to scare him, but it is hard.

So we have removed 3 little, or as Keith says, medium sized, critters from our home. Hopefully the rest will soon follow! I just hate even thinking about them, but thought I would share with you all why I may not be at my computer very much until they are all gone!

Dipnetting 2007

This summer we were all able to finally go dipnetting after trying for the past several years. One thing or another had come up in the past (usually work for Tyson) and we hadn't been able to make it. But we went this past year. Got way more fish than we needed, so if you want some, just ask, I'm sure we have plenty to spare! We went to one place first that Dad had heard about, and it was perfect. Sunny, not too windy. Soft sand. Not too crowded. The kids were able to dipnet along with everyone else. But....no fish. Shortly after we got there, we noticed lots of boats heading out and setting nets, so we figured we weren't going to get much. So instead of setting up camp, we headed over to the "usual" spot, and set up camp there. Much more crowded. Kids playing on 4 wheelers all night long and close to our tents. Colder. But, fish at the right time. So at about 4 AM Tyson, Dad, and Shawn all headed out to see if they could bring in more fish than any of them really wanted to take home and eat! So when the rest of us woke up, they were about done fishing, and ready to start cleaning them. We fed the kids breakfast and then rode the 4 wheelers down to the beach to "help." I mostly made trips back and forth for items that were at our campsite to those at the waters edge cleaning the fish.

As you can see, they did a pretty thourough job cleaning fish. Tyson let the kids hold the eyes and whatever that is that Rachel is holding. I tried to put a picture of Keith holding some fish innards, but I guess I had exceeded my space by then. Just know that he got his hands dirty too! Anyway, after getting all the fish cleaned and packed up, we headed across the way to Seward to vacuum pack the fish at the military facilities there, because Shawn and Becca love us! After that, we headed home. It was a long weekend, but the kids did pretty well. They loved playing on the beach and in the sand. And on the playground while everyone else (except me because I had to watch them) processed the fish. A lot of driving for the weekend, but memories were made and these pictures prove it!

PS- I know some of the pictures are from awhile ago, but now that I am able to look at them, since my computer was recovered, I thought I would share some. I only have the ones from April of this past year on. All the ones before that were irrecoverable. So let me remind everyone, back up your pictures! Don't just put them on an external hard drive while organizing them expecting to have a copy in both places when you are done! You never know when technology will fail you! I have learned my lesson! Twice! I plan on using discs as a means of backing up, just have to figure out how to do that! I am not that computer literate when it comes to some things. New technological things scare me! Especially when there are lots of steps! But never fear, I will conquer!

Our Princess!

A visit to the ER Nature Center Summer 2007. We took some day trips with a little group of friends and this was one of them. A short hike down to the salmon spawning viewing deck. We didn't see any fishes, but we did see some bugs in the water. This big tree is fun to have the kids have their pictures taken in. This was shortly after Keith gave himself and his sister haircuts. You might notice that Rachel's hair is pretty short. It actually looked like a cute hair cut if you didn't look too closely! It was trimmed pretty closely on the right side. Just now is it about to the point that I can almost cut it and make both sides even! LOL!





The two pics of Rachel in the green coat are from a day that my mom and sisters and I went out to Hatcher's Pass with the kids this past summer. We took a picnic and had fun. The kids got lots of exercise running up and down the mountain. Keith was especially a mountain goat. Mom was trying to collect plants to use to make first aid tinctures and such. I just mostly relaxed and took pictures and Becca and Carolyn ran around with the kids. It was beautiful, but a bit windy, hence all the windbreakers we wore.


This picture is from a family hike up Thunderbird Falls also during the summer. Daddy was home, and he hadn't been up there, so we made a trip over there. Not too far from home, and the kids can do the hike by themselves. This is a picture at the top and Rachel is having a snack. She had put the headband on, and wanted to leave it on. We try to encourage her independence, but sometimes it does backfire on us! But I thought she looked pretty cute!

Mommy and Keith's Date

It has been so nice to have Tyson home from work over the holidays. We have been so blessed to have him here all the time. It is a shame that he and Rachel decided they wanted to get sick! But one of the nice things that we have been able to do is have dates with the kids. I took Rachel out to run lots of errands one day (one of which was her to the doctor!) and Tyson and Keith stayed home and played Hide and Seek. One of the kids' favorite games, but one Mommy just doesn't have the energy for lately. Hmmm, wonder why? LOL. But then the next day, Daddy and Rachel did finger painting (which turned out marvelously by the way) and Keith and I went to the park to play. As you can tell, it is still winter here. And I didn't do much playing. But he did get all bundled up and played on the playground equipment. I got some shots with our new camera. (You'll have to bear with me as I learn how to play with it.) Then we walked around the park track because Keith wanted to. We were going to try to do two times, but one was about all I could handle. Then we went to Jitters and colored and played Brain Quest while we had steamers and a special treat. The kids both loved these times. I only wish we could do them more often! I highly recommend taking the kids out on their very own dates. It made such a difference in their attitudes. They were so happy and excited. Of course, they had a hard time understanding that the special time their sibling had with the other parent was equal to their special time with the first parent. They both wanted to be able to do both things! I guess it is good when they want to spend time with us, right?

O Christmas Tree

Well, I posted pics of us getting a tree, so I thought I might add to those with pics of the tree being decorated, then after the holidays were over, us dismembering our tree. Tyson decided that instead of just taking it out and throwing it in our backyard (which is a miniforest) or driving it down to the recycling area in the grocery store parking lot, we would burn most of it.

So we did! Our tree was a very nice one, but towards the end it was raining needles inside. I would sit and read on the couch, and hear the drop of the needles as they fell off. I am not sure why it did it so drastically, because I kept it pretty wet, until the end anyway! Then I figured it was pointless, so I quit!

Happy New Year!

Just wanted to drop a quick note- because as you will see from the time, it is rather late, and I need to get to bed! I did have about an hour catnap while Tyson was working on homework, but I have lots and lots of hours of sleep to catch up on, and then even more to store for after Tyson leaves again to head back to work, and not to mention when the baby comes in February! It is coming closer!

I have just spent the last few hours jumping blog to blog and I must say there are lots out there! It is fun to read them though and see what friends have been up to- especially since I am a lousy correspondent!

Tyson has been working on getting my comptuer functioning, and we thought it was all working, he even printed off pictures on my new printer! It was so neat! The kids loved having at 8x10 picture of themselves, and Rachel hung her picture in her room, and brought the one that Tyson printed off of me and hung it in my room for me. Keith carried his around for awhile, then he decided that I could keep it so I could have a picture of him. How sweet! The only one I didn't get a picture of was Tyson. Hmmm, I'll have to print one off once he gets the computer functional again. For some reason, the new printer just started to "print" but nothing was on the paper. Tyson said it was possessed. He has now been playing with it for about 2 hours now, and says it is temperamental and I should never turn it off because it might not start back up if he isn't here. So if after he leaves, and I can't get to the computer, that will be the reason. It won't feel his vibes and will go crazy on me! I know that comptuers and cars have that problem. I always had it when I was growing up and only when my dad was gone would we all have problems. And it has continued on into my married life. Things feel Tyson's vibes and shut down and give me problems when he isn't here to keep them in line! Anyone else ever feel that?

Well, I am going now, but wanted to make sure to wish you all Happy New Year!

Holiday Summary!

Just thought I would give a summary of what has been going on with the Bundy family lately! Hmmm, most of the month of December has now passed us by. The kids and I were pretty busy keeping up with all the hustle and bustle. We had the normal stuff to do, like preschool, and church, and lots of trips to the post office to send Tyson stuff to help his time away from home pass more quickly. Then there were the extra things to do, like the kids got sick, and I started some physical therapy for my lower back which has been bothering me a bit for this pregnancy. And we decided to do the 12 days of Christmas for 4 families, so we had to get that stuff made and delivered each day. Then finally, on December 21, Tyson came home after being gone for 7 weeks! Yeah! It made my Christmas! That was all that I wanted! A few days before he came home, his computer decided to quit working for me. So I didn't have a computer. But that wasn't so bad, because I had lots to keep me busy. Just ask my dad! He likes to "comment" on my desire to make Christmas presents. And how years ago, I didn't do a very good job with finishing them all. But I have done pretty well on finishing them since I got married (except for a quilt for Carolyn and Curtis- sorry guys!) So I got those all done and mailed off.
Then we just had family time and some sleep time. Because ater 7 weeks of Tyson being gone, neither one of us had gotten much sleep lately. We are still recovering.
Then I had choir practice (I am the ward choir director) on Saturday for the Sunday program, then we had our Sunday Sacarment program that I was kind of in charge of, and Monday was Christmas Eve. I had to stand in line at the post office for almost an hour to pick up packages, after a PT appointment, and then Tyson and I took the kids to Walmart, so we could take turns swapping kids so they could get Christmas presents for each other and us. I was pretty wiped out by the end of that. Then that night we delivered our last days of the 12 days of Christmas, and some other things before heading up to my parents for the traditional Christmas Eve party/program. We didn't have a lot of people there like we have had in years past, but we were able to focus on Christ's birth which is the whole point. Then we went home and kids went to bed, and after getting the last of the presents wrapped and under the tree, we were able to finaly relax and calm down. Santa came sometime in the night, and finally at 9 AM on Christmas the kids woke up. You can tell they were tired! We were all really spoiled and got lots of nice and wonderful presents. My wonderful honey got me a new printer that I didn't fully appreciate until I opened a companion present for it, that was paper but was 13"x19"! It will print great big papers! And it will do a great job on pictures. For those of you that don't know, I have had a lot of heartache with pictures this past year. We had lost all of our pictures. So some of the best presents I got, were pictures in the time frame that I had lost. Curtis had gone through and printed off all the pictures they had that related to our family. And my dad, after lots of frustrating hours, was finally able to recover my hard drive that had pictures from April to about September of this year. And Bethany has sent me pictures that they had too. So if you have any you want to share, we would be greatful. And now with my new printer, (and all the hours Tyson is putting in to get my comptuer back up and running) I will be spending some more time on learning digital scrapping. But don't worry, I won't give up traditional because I like being able to do the hands on method too!

Okay, so this was supposed to be a summary, and there is way more info here than most of you want to know, so I'll wrap it up. We are vegging, trying to destress some. Tyson is going to be working on homework lots over the next week. I need to get the house cleaned and laundry done. In other words, we need to get life back to normal. But my parents left to head down to AZ and then they will be going to Mexcio after that. They must feel they need some sun! I know that feeling! But we are going to be getting ready for the baby to get here in February. So lots to do!

I think that is as much summary as anyone needs, and hopefully I will be able to get some pictures on here soon. I did get a new camera from my parents as well, which will help in my picture endeavors. So one of these days, plan on seeing some more here! But in the meantime, have a great week, and enjoy the New Year as it comes!

The Holidays are Here!

As you can see, we have been doing some of the Christmas things! Becca and I took Keith, Rachel, Cassidy, and Cayden to the season opening event at down town Eagle River and the kids all got to sit on Santa's lap. I did miss out on one picture because it was so cold, my camera had fogged up and didn't get it warmed up until after she had already gone. Rachel asked for a bike (which she has no need for and will more than likely not be getting), and Keith, being into instant gratification asked for a candy cane. He had seen the bucket of them, and thought he would ask for what he knew he could get. Smart kid! Then they all got to pet the reindeer. There were quite a few there, Prancer, Comet, Donner, Blitzen.... you know, the whole crew. The kids did notice that Rudolph wasn't around though. He must have been sick and trying to get better for Christmas! You can kind of see the tops of all the kids heads in the reindeer picture, if you look very carefully! Then on Saturday, we went tree chopping. Becca helped Keith and Rachel cut down their own trees (a branch). But Dad got a HUGE tree, we got one (of which I had all 4 of the kids- same as saw Santa- help me saw it down and Becca got pics on her camera), Becca got one (she calls it her Charlie Brown tree, but it doesn't look that bad), and Curtis and Cassidy even cut one down. So for $5, to get 4 trees, a pretty good deal! And not even too traumatic to go and do it. I only got high centered on the ice once! Good thing there was a good samaritain there to help pull me out. Dad had gone around to help, but we were free by the time he got there. Anyway, we will be trying to get our tree up tomorrow for Family Home Evening. Maybe we'll have a picture of it then for you all to see!

This is a picture of me and my wonderful hubby on a family vacation to Mexico last year. We had tons of fun, and the kids keep asking when are we going to go again! Boy do I love the sun, the sand, the beach, the ocean....Remind me why I live in the cold, frozen north? Oh yeah, Tyson loves it up here! And I want him to be happy. He just has to get me out and away from here at least once a winter. And he has done a very good job at that so far!

Initial Post

Well, here i go, to try and get started here. I have an account on Multiply, but wanted to see if I would like using this better. I am hoping to be a bit better in keeping up to date on things. This could be a very random blog, with stuff from family happenings, to opinions, to craft projects, and who knows what else. For now, I just want to see if this is pretty easy to set up!