Haley & Abbey's Violin Concert

Haley and Abbey had their first official Violin performance on Friday, Oct. 26th. They both played in the Southwest Symphony Halloween Concert. They have been working really hard on their pieces and we were very proud of them both. Grandma and Grandpa Baldwin came down to watch. They were pretty tickled because they had 7 grandchildren all perform that night. Grandma Houston came as well! The girls got to dress up in their costumes and played some fun songs. It was a good experience for them. I enjoyed it as well but realized that the symphony is not a place for a 2 year old and a baby. We will have to get a babysitter for the two rowdy boys next time.

Deer Hunt 2007

Well I finally have my "Mighty Hunter" back. John had a wonderful hunt this year. He and Taylor left Friday after Taylor got out of school. Taylor gave up a soccer game to go hunting with his Dad. For those of you that know Taylor and his love for soccer, this was a big deal! I was glad that Taylor chose spending some time with his Dad over his hobby. I met John after dark on Sunday night in Springdale to pick Taylor up so he could be to school the next day. Trevor decided it was his turn to go hunting with his Dad, so we swapped boys. Taylor talked 90 mph the whole way home that night telling me all of their adventures. He loved every moment of it!

We decided to go up for FHE on Monday night to spend with John and to bring Trevor home. John had dutch oven chicken and potatoes (my favorite meal) cooked and ready when we got there. Wow! John took all 7 of us in the truck road hunting! He knows how much I enjoy being up to the Ranch and I appreciate him letting us crash his hunt for one night! We all had a great time and saw a lot of Deer. John got his buck on Sunday morning, so I didn't have to worry about seeing him shoot one while we were there. Although none of us really wanted to leave, the kids and I headed back for home right after it got too dark to see anything.

I thought that the hunt might be hard on John this year without his Dad! He said it sure wasn't the same without him, but I think he still felt really close to his Dad up there. John said something that surprised me because John typically doesn't talk like this, but he said that he thinks his Dad was helping him out this year. He did enjoy being up there with his Mom, Brother, and Brother-In-Laws! I don't think he was really ready to come home, but I was ready to have him home!

San Diego Trip - September 2007

First Time Bloggers

Well, I got tired of hearing the word blog and not knowing what it was, so I decided to check it out! I am a little weary of just putting info about my family on the Internet and not knowing how safe it is. This is a great way of keeping some sort of journal on the happenings of our family though. I am terrible at writing in a journal, but I love to play around on the computer so maybe this will be a good way to start for me.

I even experimented with a slide show of our trip to San Diego last month. Looking back on it, we did have a great time, but it took me a couple of weeks of being home to be able to say that and mean it. It is a lot of work to do anything with 5 kids. We didn't really fit in our Yukon, so the trip there and back was pretty miserable, but we survived. We stayed in a fabulous hotel on Coronado Island. The beach was beautiful. We did Sea World one day and just hung out at the beach and hotel the rest of the time. Trevor loved the beach and especially liked chasing the Sea Gull's. It was hilarious watching him chasing those birds! The kids all had a great time! Even little Tyson did good! It was his first big adventure and we couldn't have asked more from the little guy! We are sure glad he is part of our family!