The Great North Western Celebrity Alpaca Tour

Mom, Dad, Aaron I spent last weekend touring the mecca of alpaca ranches. We were able to see some of the best alpacas in the country in the likes of El Ninio, The Godfather, and Kahuna. The setups of the ranches were incredible and they were HUGE. We enjoyed the green country and experiencing some of the Oregon rain, not too much though. The best part was learning from and visiting with the Aussies at Pucara International. They were very nice down to earth people with a lot of experience, not to mention good food, to share. It was a great motivating weekend......

Masked Matty

Matthew made his dad's day with this picture. Anyone who knows Matthew knows he loves costumes, year round. He frequents the breakfast table dawning one of his masks. We love having a little boy and are obviously having a hard time letting Matthew grow up. Maybe it is time we have another.....maybe not.

Matthew will always be welcome to eat breakfast, with a side of Dorritos, in disguise. After all, who doesnt like eating breakfast with a superhero?

Some of our favorites......

Welcome Baby Hannah

Congratulations to the Olsens on their beatiful new baby Hannah!

Hannah was born Thursday March 27th. We were able to visit with the Olsens last night and take these pictures of their sweet girl. Gavin was looking at the pictures this morning and the first thing he said was "Wow, that babies head is perfect!" She truely is a beautiful girl. Heather and Gavin are more baby hungry than ever.

Who is more tired.....Mom, Dad or Hannah

Happy Easter!

We have spent Easters in Bloomington where it has snowed before but it melted by mid-day. This year there was several feet still on the ground with temperatures in the teens in the morning. We brought basketballs, footballs, laser tag and other outdoor spring games but traded them in for gloves, hats, sleds and late night board games. All of the snow and the blue skies made for a beautiful and fun Easter. The kids enjoyed hunting eggs on the frozen tundra. It was easy to hide eggs in the boot holes and snowdrifts. Most of the boys had fun doing a geo cache for their Easter candy but not as much fun as Heather and Seth had creating it, including getting stuck in the snow. We spent some time at Ollies' where Ian and Aaron also found some treasure. We loved being together as a family and missed Jenny and Justin. As usual, it all went too fast but we have some wonderful memories...

Happy Birthday Heather!

One of my many favorite pics of Heather

Today is Heathers 32nd Birthday. It was beautiful weather for a beautiful birthday girl. Unfortunately she speant more time with Barbara than with us. Although Heather had to work, we had fun going to lunch at the Olive Garden and it seemed to make Barbara's day to. We are planning on celebrating Heather this whole week. The boys are excited to take her to see 10,000 B.C. this Friday. We are so thankful for Heather's loving nature, beautiful smile, and frequent off color comments.

Jr. Jazz

Matthew and Andrew's basketball season has come to an end. Both enjoyed the season and improved dramatically since the beginning of the year. Matthew was thrilled with his gold medal while Andrew was disappointed they didnt make it to the championship. I guess as you get older you realize that winning is all that matters. If you don't win, it isnt any fun!
Matthew is now ready for spring football training! He has been thoroughly brainwashed by his dad that he will be the one that truly loves football!


Gavin also had his Jr. High band concert tonight. He is enjoying and improving on his drumming.

So much for 19 and 0! Congrats Uncle Dookie and the NY Giants!

The holiday of all holidays! It does'nt get much better than this. We celebrated the Giants upsetting win, JoAnn's birthday, and the League of Fantasy Connoisseurs team party all in one fantastic evening with friends and family. With amounts of good food that only Thanksgiving can rival; only substitute wings, brats, little smokies and nacho cheese for the turkey and yams. Thanks to all of you who made this possible!

Tonights MVP's were JoAnn, Uncle Dookie, Ryan Olsen, and the Bratwursts!

Congratulations Fantasy Football Champs Tooele Wild Mustangs!

St. George in January

This past week we were able to spend a few days in St. George. While still a bit chilly, it seemed tropical compared to the snowy frozen tundra of Tooele. Heather particularly enjoyed the weather. It was a temporary break from her annual winter depression. Thanks to the Wihongi's we were able to stay in a beautiful condo for two of the three nights. Seth was considering leaving his wallet this time to see if we could get a few more free nights next time.

While Seth was touring the southern utah desert via a big brown truck, the boys and Heather swam, went hiking and watched almost every episode of the three seasons of the office. We especially enjoyed the hot tub on the patio. Matthew swam so much his skin was visibly burned by the chlorine.

It was a welcome break for the boys and heather and while Seth was still working, it was a nice change of scenery.

Below is a picture of the boys in the desert we took in 2003, how they've changed.

Thomas Gavin Is 13!

Today we celebrated Gavin. He is officially not a "pre-teen" anymore. In Gavin's words, "It feels pretty good to be 13". I suspect he has been looking forward to this day for quite some time. He has long since felt he is ready for girlfriends, cell phones and watching bloody horror movies. Sometimes he tends to think he can skip ahead to his 18th birthday.

We took Gavin to get the best steak in town, which also happens to be the only steak in town at Applebees. He was thoroughly embarrassed by the singing waitresses. We are so thankful for Gavins tenderness and thoughtfullness. We don't know what we would do without him in our family. Let us not forget who he is named after. Happy Birthday Grandpa Piggott! Happy Birthday Gavin!

Check out that hair!

Happy New Year 2008!

We are sad to see the holiday season gone. A lot of time was spent with family, friends, football games in HD, and a little too much time at the hospital. We loved having all of our family at our house for Christmas and were sad to see them go when it seemed like they just arrived. New Years Eve was loud, exciting and Dad showed everyone his secret pool playing skills. Who knew he was such a pool shark. Our entire family made it until after 3:00 A.M., including Dad, and we are all still paying for it.
All of us are now experiencing a case of the post holiday blues and find it difficult getting back to the grind. However, we are optimistic for 2008 and look forward to spending more time with our families. Happy new year to all of you.

Blogging?

Well it's Monday morning and I have a ton of things to do so I'm not sure why I'm sitting at the computer typing this silly message. Yes I do. I want to be cool like my Sister-in-law Stephanie. I finally viewed her blog and decided that I needed one of my own! Hers is so Darling! I have no idea how to do this but we'll see how it turns out.