The Gouker's

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Hunter! You're a whole hand now, and we love you so much! You have made the last 5 years so much fun, and I can't wait for more memories with you!

Our top 5 favorite things about Hunter:

* His wit. Hunter has such a sharp sense of humor, and he always keeps us laughing.

* His love. Hunter will drop whatever he is doing to give hugs, and he is a great snuggler.

* His helpfulness. Hunter is always the first one to volunteer if anyone needs help.

* His cheesiness. Hunter will do anything to make you laugh. He loves being silly.

* His love for the dogs. Hunter likes to just sit outside and pet and talk to the dogs. He also loves to give them treats.

With his little potato he grew in the back yard

Tree

This evening, we lit and decorated our tree. The boys love hanging their ornaments on, and Brinley had fun trying to take them off and stealing candy canes!

Del Mar

After getting all of our trees, we drove down the road a few more mile to the Del Mar site. Del Mar was a huge mining town over a hundred years ago, and now of course it's just ruins. But we love to see that kind of history, so we really enjoyed going out there. On the way there, we found a shaft that went straight down, and the boys and Cahl had fun tossing in rocks and listening for them to hit bottom so they could figure out how deep the hole was. The kids all had a great time seeing the old stone buildings and mining cars, and running around finding treasures. We packed a lunch with us, so after all the exploring was done, we took a break and ate. We also checked out the small cemetery on the way back.

Vertical Shaft

Tristan found an old glass Gatorade bottle

Really cute spout on an old oil (?) can

Safe

What we think is the bank safe

Mining car

Tristan and Hunter

Old Cemetery

Tree Hunting

Yesterday we headed up toward Caliente to go tree hunting again this year. We got 5 trees- 4 to decorate the front yard, and one for inside. We decided to go to the same area as last year, and the kids all had a lot of fun running around finding their trees. We even ran into 2 little bucks on the way up the hill.

Hunter found his tree

Cahl carrying out the house tree

Jasen helping cut down his tree

Brinley was just happy to run around

Hunter pulling his tree to the trailer

Tristan bringing his tree out

Ta-Da!

School Awards

Today was the 1st trimester awards at Tristan and Jasen's school. Jasen received both the Attendance award and the Straight A Honor Roll. Tristan also received the Attendance award, as well as making the A-B Honor Roll! We are so proud of both of them!!

Jasen

Tristan