Christmas tree hunt

It turned into quite an adventure, but the girls & I got the tree all on our own this year.  Our neighbor let us go up on his land to find a good one - thanks Dave!

Shelby & I searching for a tree

Pepper is a little camera shy

Shelby & her walking stick

Photo bombing - what a face Shelby!

A beautiful view of Caribou from around the other side of Beavertail

forcing Pepper to pose for a shot ~ we have never figured out her fear of the camera

Success!!!

We got one home & it is a beautiful tree ~ the work has just begun ~ now for making it fit & the decorating!

Oh Christmas Tree!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

wolves

Thanksgiving morning we had an interesting pack traveling through the valley.  The coloring looks like coyotes, but I'm not sure.  If they were coyotes, they were by far the biggest i have ever seen.  Jim caught a glimpse of them wandering through Jug's place just north of us.  We got out the binoculars & zoomed in as far as we could with the camera.  Here are the shots we got:

they were making a b-line for Blue Mountain

it is hard to tell from the picture, but they were huge!

crossing the road right by Jug's place

Then we spotted another one coming & Mara took off in her car to try and get a closer shot.  She kind of headed him off, but got a closer picture.  He was by far the smallest of the group & wasn't too happy about being separated from his buddies.

this was the smallest of the 4 - he was pretty thick

I've shown several people the pictures & they think that they are probably coyotes, but I'm not so sure.  They were huge & were making tracks for Blue Mountain.  The walked in a straight line  & it was not the typical pouncing around that we have seen coyotes do.  I sincerely hope I am wrong, but will never know for sure.  The idea of having a wolf in the valley when we are calving is just a little spooky.  Definitely not who I wanted to have over for Thanksgiving dinner.

Soda vs. Marsh Valley

I had to go to Marsh Valley on my way to Boise for the school board convention to watch Shelby's team play ball.  It was a close game all the way through.  I will have to check with Shelby, but I'm pretty sure that we have never beat this team - if I remember we always lost by about... oh, let's just say 30 points or so.  It was not even close to that kind of game tonight.  Shelby says didn't have her best game, but look at the videos - the girl she was guarding was a good 6 inches taller.  I think she did awesome - scoring is not always the most important job on the team - defense is just as important.  Everybody wants to score though, right.  Here are Shelby's highlights from the night:

This is kind of a fun shot - It has been so nice to have someone coach Shelby that has played her position.  Thanks coach Madie:

 One successful - one not from the foul shot line:

She got this rebound!:

Final Score:

Wheeew!!!!

Woot, Woot Cardinal C-team!!

Cardettes 1st Basketball Game

The Cardettes have been working hard to be ready for basketball season & their upcoming competitions.  It is fun to see them on the court vs. the football field.  You see their faces & it is just funner to watch them close up.  Megan has been really enjoying the dance team & has learned a bunch.  Their first performance was this Friday night at the girls basketball game.  Check out my cute Cardette:

anxious to take the floor - hey that's Kammi playing ball

looking good Megi

wiggle, wiggle - she is going to kill me LOL

woot ~ woot

you are awesome Megi - facials are not a problem for Miss Megan

Nice job girls - you are beautiful!

I think I finally figured out how to post a video via youtube - check out the dance!

                            

They also performed on Saturday night - a hip hop routine.  It was good, but I liked Friday nights even better.  I think it is mostly the uniforms - not my favorite, but they still did a good job.

So here are some pix from Saturday night at the girls game:

ready to go - Megan's cousin Sierra is on her right

yes they do look a lot alike - they get comments all the time

go Megan.. go Megan.. go Megan!!

hip - hop is kind of fun - check out the shiny shoes

The end

We will be busy - lots more performances and competitions coming up in the next few months!

Back to the Gym

Well, it's that time of year again ~ my butt will be on the bleachers again at SSHS.  Part of me is excited & another part of me can't believe it is time again.  Shelby is excited to officially be wearing the Cardinals uniform.  It is a dream come true to be playing high school ball - so here comes another 4 years of basketball updates from mom.  

It was an exciting first night of basketball.  Shelby started on the C-team - all five starters were Freshman.  They were excited, nervous... all kinds of emotions.  They came out on fire - left me wondering if they were the same girls from TMS... LOL  don't be mad at me Shelby.  First game was against Sugar-Salem.  Halftime score was Soda 20 vs. Sugar 1 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shelby ready to catch a pass

Look at her post up

Can you tell she loves this game?

no foul right? 

give me the ball!

This one is for Seth - his coaches having a good time watching the game!

This one is for Seth too - keeping up the Stoor tradition :)

Final Score

Saturday night Bear Lake came to town.  We have always been pretty evenly matched with the Bear Lake girls, but not this time.  I mostly did video that night so check them out:

only 1 foul?  how does that happen?

Final Score

Crazy score right?  It was absolutely loop-sided & we were a little stunned!  Shelby had 10 points and I couldn't even count the assists - that is if you get to count an inbound pass to the guard who shoots immediately and assist.  It was a fun night, but I don't imagine we will see scores like that all season.  I will try to keep the blog updated, but who knows - we don't have another home game until December 5th, so lots of traveling coming up.  Good thing I like basketball!

shipping day

It's that time of year again - time to ship the calves.  I got to stay home from work for the morning and go with Jim - it was chilly, but a nice day & things went well.  I took the camera along.  Too bad I don't really know how to run the thing - everything just looks blue.  It was a cold morning, but just beautiful.

Jim bringing in the last pair

the sun finally started coming up & melting the morning frost

everyone has a job to do - Sissy is helping too

Jim - counting as they make their way to the semi

waiting for her turn on the scale

Caribou is always picture worthy

the view toward home

It is nice to be able to go out to the company and spend a little time with the cows.  I sent these pictures to Seth & maybe that was a bad idea.  He gets homesick easily & I think I understand why.  There is something so peaceful about being so far away from town.  He is missing that a bunch lately & missing the solitude that comes with living on the ranch.  Can't say as I blame him - I love people, but I also like being alone.  Living in the country has its perks!

Election results

The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued the following statement Tuesday: 

"We congratulate President Obama on winning a second term as President of the United States.

After a long campaign, this is now a time for Americans to come together. It is a long tradition among Latter-day Saints to pray for our national leaders in our personal prayers and in our congregations. We invite Americans everywhere, whatever their political persuasion, to pray for the President, for his administration and the new Congress as they lead us through difficult and turbulent times. May our national leaders reflect the best in wisdom and judgment as they fulfill the great trust afforded to them by the American people.

We also commend Governor Romney for engaging at the highest level of our democratic process which, by its nature, demands so much of those who offer themselves for public service. We wish him and his family every success in their future endeavors."

Best post I saw on facebook last night was a picture of my dear prophet and was titled appropriately :

I still believe the country would have benefited and headed in a much more positive direction with Governor Romney as its leader, but all I can do is vote & I did.  It is a sad day in my opinion and I believe the country will suffer for the decision made yesterday.  It makes it even more important to listen to our prophet and work on being better prepared and self-reliant.  We have been told that things will get much worse before they get better; I guess this should not be too shocking.  So I guess I will do my best today to follow him and get back to my own work of raising my kids & praying hard for a nation that is headed for even more troubling times.

Twirp 2012

TWIRP was this past week.  That is a girl's choice dance around here - just in case you didn't know.  Megan asked Til & they went on a triple date with friends.  They spent Tuesday night playing games & watching a movie at Grandma & Grandpa Petersen's house.  Then on Friday they headed to Pocatello for a little laser tagging & an all you can eat buffet.  They then came back to grandma's & spent a little more time before the dance.  I took a few pix of the cute couples:

CRUD - a game the cousins taught us has become a favorite activity for date nights.

Til Christman & Megan Stoor

Derick Pitcher & Amy Brown

McKaylee Lowry & Caden Kempe

posing for a group pix on Grandma's couch ~ can you see the super hero theme they have going?

And they are off to the dance!

Megan has a good group of friends that have a bunch of fun together - now we just need to get them back to studying & school.  Too much playing!!!