Tis the Season for. . . Birthdays!

November is a month full of birthdays for our family.  Grandma Beutler begins the month with her big day.  Doug was able to call her from somewhere in the frozen north and wish her a Happy Birthday, and she always loves hearing from him.  Next is Mady's birthday,  Grandpa Winns, then Cody and Grandpa Beutler share their birthdays.  The kids are always excited to share their birthdays with their Grandparents.  Mady turned 15 and didn't hesitate to remind me that now she can get her learners permit to drive.  (SCARY!!!)  Her birthday fell on a Tuesday night, and a workday for me, so we had a quick dinner out at Wendy's and off she went to Young Womens.  They always treat her right there and she came home with an arm load of presents.  That night after everyone returned home we celebrated with ice cream cupcakes and presents. 

Mady is all a glow.  It was hard to put 15 candles on 6 cupcakes. 

She received some new pants, a Western belt, a new blanket and book,
and some matchbox cars.  She is imitating the monkey on the blanket
and I think it is a very good likeness.  She also received money from
her Grandparents, which got her really excited over.

  The day after Mady's birthday is my Dad's, Grandpa Winn.  I won't give his age, but I can tell you that he is older than Mady.  Grandpa Winn in working hauling loads from Pocatello, Idaho, into Canada and hasn't been home for about two months, so we sent him a text with a silly birthday song, which I'm sure he loved. 

I'm not sure how I did it, but five days after Mady's birthday is Cody and Grandpa Beutlers birthdays.  A few years ago Grandpa and Cody had their birthdays together when Cody turned six and Grandpa turned sixty.  It was a really neat day.  This year their birthdays were on a Sunday and we had to wait until after church to celebrate.  Cody tried to call Grandpa during the day but wasn't able to get a hold of him, so we had a very small ice cream cake and presents.  Grandma Winn came over for dinner after her church and we celebrated. 

Cody didn't want a cake this year, so I got the rest of us the smallest
ice cream cake I have ever seen.  We all go a 2"X 2" piece, and Cody
ended up having one too.  It was just right. 

Cody received a Rodeo puzzle, a tractor for his farm set, and best of all
a pair of Chaps for his new interest of bull riding (which may not happen if
I have a say in things.) He was also excited to receive cards
from his Grandparents.   Happy Birthday Cody!

Now, onto the Holidays! 

All Hallows Eve

One of the most fun holidays is Halloween at our house.  The past few years we have hosted a Halloween party where the kids invite all their friends over and we do all kinds of games.  The biggest feature is usually the movie on the wall outside and LOTS of hot chocolate.  This year we did it differently because Halloween was on a Monday night.  I work on Mondays and don't get off until 5:30 or 6 so we couldn't do the party this year.  The kids all got to dress up and still had fun, however.  Here are a few pictures for us to remember.

Mady went all out and dressed up like Murdock from the A-team
and built herself an airplane with boosters.  We thought it looked like a dog
or a duck, but she loved it!

Because Halloween was on a work day I decided to add a few things to
my uniform and ended up being a little Ghoulish.  Poor Don in the
chair has no idea what is coming next.  lol

Here we have little Red Riding Hood, a ghoulish hobo and me.
We are ready to go trick-or-treating.  This year we went with some
friends over to Roberts Ranch, a neighborhood that blocks off their streets
and has spook alleys and lots of candy.

Dalyon and his trick-or-treating buddies, Dallas (the Bigfoot) and
AJ who is a video game character (I'm not sure of his name.)

Mady had a "few friends" over to help her ha.d out candy.
It ended up being a party and they all dressed up fun.  She was the
only one who didn't dress up.  What a girl.

Dougs Adventures in the North

A few months ago Doug got the opportunity to go to Idaho and move houses from the factories in Boise, Idaho to Wiliston, North Dakota for the oil boom going on there.  A lot of Dads from our area have relocated up to the oil fields for work, and come down every three or four weeks to visit their families.  We are lucky that Doug gets to move houses and keep our business going by moving homes up to the oil fields.  The small towns in North Dakota have been over run by workers coming in and setting up travel trailers anywhere, even though there aren't any utilities to hook to.  The city planners have had to enforce ordinances that require the men to live in organized mobile home parks instead of renting a small plot of land from area farmers for their travel trailers.  Doug says it reminds him of the pictures of the gold rush in the 1800's when so many men traveled west and pitched their tents anywhere they could.  Thankfully, the new ordinances are requiring manufactured homes to be brought in and that gives us work.  Even though it takes him away from us for a long while, we are so grateful that he is working.  Doug posted some pictures of his travels on Facebook that I was able to copy and share.  He has had good weather so far and has been able to get quite a few loads done.  Yesterday was his first significant snow storm of the year and I guess it really came down on him.  Being so far away from home isn't so bad for him because we have family that live in Southeastern Idaho and my Dad is also driving truck hauling steel from Pocatello into Canada and they keep tabs on each other.  Last night Doug was able to spend the night with his sister Katie in Pocatello and go to church with them today.  He really enjoys seeing them and playing with his nieces and nephews.  I really appreciate knowing that he has someplace to go with family there and that he can go to church with them.  Thanks for sharing your home with us Katie and Brett!  Here are a few pictures of Dougs travels before the snow hit. 

This is Dougs truck when he is delivering the home in Wiliston, ND.  This
is only one of many parks they are setting up for the oil workers.  They will have
utilities, and paved roads yet to come. 

They have over 300 homes to move from Boise, ID to Wiliston, ND so
the toters often run together.  Doug says he has never run in a
convoy of houses in the 16 years he has pulled them.  He is enjoying
himself being on the road and working with these guys.

This is Twin Bridges, MT.  A very pretty town. 

This is a "man camp" in Wiliston, ND.  Doug says that the farmers rent out
spaces in their fields to the oil workers, which is great except that there are no
utilities and some farmers allow too many trailers on their properties.

A sunset in Arco, Idaho.

Another view of the park Doug is moving homes into in Wiliston, ND

Usually when Doug has a flat the tread comes off and flies into traffic
or the tire rolls off into the wrong direction of the borrow pit.  This is the
first time the tread has "flowered" up like this and the tire stayed on. 

This is a company taking down an oil drill.

This is a finished well.

Home for the Hens



A few months ago Doug and Cody brainstormed and decided to build a new chicken coupe for my 19 chickens. They put their heads together and designed exactly what they wanted and built my ladies a really nice home with windows, doors, (for both the chickens and for people), a nesting area and a roosting area. They also designed a continuous feeder and waterers which will cut down on the amount of work we have to do every day. While Doug is gone we decided to paint the outside of it. I was hoping for multicolored stripes, or maybe pink, but Doug didn't care for my suggestions so we settled on a red chicken coupe and white trim. This proved to be a good project for Cody, and he worked diligently until it was finished. We all did a little bit, but Cody did the greatest part of the work. It looks great! 

Cody painting the white boarder.

Me rolling the red on.  Cody went ahead of me and got into the cracks
in between the slats.  That took a long time.

Dalyon and his friend Dallas helping for a minute.

Cami and her friend Harley not missing a chance to roll a little bit, but
it soon became boring so off they went to play. 

The front finished, now only 3 more sides to go. 
 Cody finished them after school the next week.
I think we should paint a big black "H" on it
in honor of the Hurricane Tigers. 

Good job everybody!  Especially Cody and Dad for making a new home for the hens. Thanks!!

Catching up

How time flies when you are having fun!  The past few weeks have been super busy and I realized yesterday that I haven't been updating my blog like I like to.  It was about three weeks ago that Doug left to go and move houses in Idaho, Montana and North Dakota and I guess being a single parent has taken up my blogging time.  He plans to stay up there for a while longer and work, because that is where the work is right now so I guess I had better start scheduling myself time for my blog. 

The past few weeks have been full of volleyball, football, and fun times with Halloween and other activities.  Mady finished her Volleyball season strong with the freshmen only losing one match the whole season!  Way to go!  In her last home game she played strong and was the star of the game by getting her moves and serves right on.  Her coach's Mom is a photographer and they shared some pictures with us. 

Mady has perfect form for her killer serves.

Freshman Volleyball Team
(Back left)  Mady Beutler, Ceirci Sundin, Alyssa Bohnne, Chelsi Cahoon,
Lindsay Kapcsos, Brooke Francis, Lindsay Quilter (Coach), Kelly LeBaron, Kaitlen Cooper,
 Kelsey Chesley, Shelby Copeland, MaKaylee Shea, and Samantha Stevens

We are very proud of our freshman team and their coach Lindsay Quilter.  Mady loves to play and I was really proud of her skills and precision as she played.  She is already signed up for Club Volleyball that goes from January to May.  I guess you can never get enough volleyball!!

 Mady also played in the Halloween Orchestra concert on October 27 with the Middle School Orchestra.  Everyone dressed up for the concert, and true to form, Mady out did herself and was unofficially voted the best costume.  She wore a t-shirt that said "This IS my Halloween costume".  Her dry humor never ceases to amaze me. 

Cody has also been busy.  He had an Orchestra concert on the same night as a football game and chose the concert to keep his grade.  I have learned that he is a very strong player (according to Mrs. Ferrin) and that he produces a great sound.  I could tell he really liked playing with his group, but he will never admit it to anyone.  He is nearing the end of the football season and is hoping to be chosen for the all stars.  He plays center, and lineman on both offense and defense and really likes the roughness of football.  He told me the other day that he can't wait to play Rugby, where there are no pads, and few rules.  Definitely something for me to look forward to! 

Kick off.  Cody is #66 on the line.

A very beautiful night for a football game.  Very cold, and the sunset was beautiful.

Three weeks ago Austin traveled to Dayton to pick up 220 sacks of potatoes that the FFA were selling to raise money for scholarships.  It was the first time he has traveled to Idaho without one of us with him and I must admit that I was nervous, especially because he took three of his friends with him. He took Darringer Scow, Kris Wilson, and Dan Thompson.   Austin did a great job driving and had a great time with his friends in Logan and on the farm in Dayton.  Grandma fed the boys really well and Grandpa let them take his jeep out four-wheeling and to play in Logan so they didn't have to take Dougs truck everywhere.  They have great pictures on their phones of their adventures, and got to work on Wes Beutler's potato farm sacking the very potatoes that they sold.  I think it was a good experience for everyone, and I was really thankful to have Austin return home that Sunday afternoon safely.  Doug left for Idaho/Montana the morning that Austin was coming home so they met in Nephi and had lunch together before they continued onto each of their destinations.  What a crazy weekend that ended up being.   

The Boys of Fall

I love fall.  I love the cooler air, I love sleeping with my windows and doors open, I love walking in the mornings, I love the leaves changing, and the thoughts that the whole earth is slowing down in preparation for winter. 

When I was in high school I loved it because it was football season and the drill team I participated in got to perform at the games.  Now that I'm older and have kids, I love it because I can go and cheer on the kids I know playing, and performing at the games.  Our son Cody is a football player on the 7th grade team and I love to go to his games and scream and yell for him.  Right now he is one of the bigger players on his team and plays both offense and defense line.  He plays center in most games, that means he hikes the ball to the quarterback to begin the play.  He loves to tackle and get physical.

Cody is getting ready to hike the ball. 

  A few weeks ago we were playing Enterprise on a Saturday afternoon and Cody's team was winning.  The defensive line was joking that it would be so great if they could make a defensive tackle, and not too many plays later that is what they did!  They were so excited!  We were all cheering and jumping up and down.  That is something that doesn't happen very often for sure.  During that same game Cody was on the defensive line, the other team was at the 10 yard line (their 90 yard line because our defense kept pushing them back) and their quarterback went to pass the ball and Cody jumped up and caught the pass.  He looked over at his coach to see what he should do because he wasn't supposed to run the ball as a defensive lineman, and then ran to the side hoping to get it the 10 yard to the goal.  Unfortuately, he got tackled before he got there, but the play was super exciting non-the-less!  Cody was walking on clouds the rest of the day from realizing what he could do.  

 He plays on the Hurricane black team and so far they are undefeated.  They have a lot of good competition this year so all the games are close.  They played Desert Hills last week and had to go into overtime with the score of 0-0.  Finally Hurricane made an overtime touchdown and won the game.  It was so fun!  Way to go Tigers!!  Woot!  Woot! 

Homecoming 2011

After having such a fun vacation it was hard to jump back into the business of my life, but whether we wanted to or not, we jumped with both feet because the next week was Homecoming for Hurricane High School. The kids dressed up nearly everyday for spirit week and I was surprised when Austin decided to dress up for pajama day. He and Jake Nielson, and Kris Wilson dressed up the cowboy way.

 They are funny guys.  Friday and Saturday were the two busiest days of the week with the homecoming parade and game, and the dance.  Because Austin is the president of the FFA he was very busy.  Their officer team decided to be involved in all the activities this year as well as with lighting the H the night of the game, which the FFA does every year.  They outdid themselves with the float, and lots of people wanted to ride with them, which was really good for membership recruitment. 

This is Chris Wilson and Clint Gubler in the bucket, I'm not sure who the farthest one is, or who the
girl is.  KC, Clint's sister is sitting on the hood in her Volleyball shirt.  Austin would raise them and lower them
while they were driving the parade.  It was very funny!

Austin was pretty happy to be surrounded by girls, and cheerleaders too!  This is KC Gubler on the hood,
the cheerleader standing are Shelly Stirland and Tonda (she clogs with Mady but I don't know her last name),
Natalie Bjelland is sitting on the right fender, and I don't know the girl on the left. 

To light the H the FFA had to gather #10 cans, get diesel donated from Interstate Rock, and
sawdust from Woodcarver Cabinets.  They cleaned the H earlier in the week, and set out the cans and filled them
with sawdust earlier in the afternoon on Friday.  During the football game they filled the cans with diesel
and at halftime they lit them on fire.  It was really cool to see the H forming, and then to see the little 12 on the side for the 2012 graduating class. Way to go Austin for putting it all together!!

Austin and McCarty Amy, Jake Nielson and Jessica Stratton.  Jake and Jessica rolled their four wheeler into a barbed wire fence during their day date and spent the afternoon in the instacare.  Jessica ended up with 6 stitches in her wrist and both had a lot of scratches.  I was so glad they were OK and still able to go to the dance!

Darringer Scow and Keisha Howard.  Both look very nice!

This is Chris Wilson and his date (to the left of him) and in front is Coy

Gubler and his date (to the right of him).  I wish I could remember the girls names.

They were funny because they didn't know how to eat a fancy place setting, but

we helped them out with which fork to use and what to do with the cloth napkin.

The whole evening was very fun.  I was grateful to all the moms who helped put the dinner together at the last minute.  We had apricot chicken and vegetables (me), Britta Nielson brought salad, Chris's mom Liz bought the chicken and vegetables, Coy's mom Marvene brought desert and drinks, and Darringers mom Cindy did the appetizer, all of which was really yummy!!!  Doug put the lights up for me around the veranda.  I was hoping for a single string of white Christmas lights, but he didn't want to dig that deep into the light box so he found three strands of icicle lights that only half of each strand worked.  He kind of threw them up around each table and it looked hideous in the daylight, but at night it seemed OK.  For not having a lot of notice, it turned out really well.  Chris's mom and dad also took their pictures in our back yard.  I hope to get copies of them soon.