Dedicated Scoutmaster

Rob didn't make it to Puppy Prime Time because he was camping with 11 scouts in 10 degree weather! They had a great time though and made some awesome food in the dutch ovens: pizza, monkey bread (my favorite!) and an egg souffle. The boys are becoming familiar with the dutch ovens and are enjoying trying different meals in them. After breakfast and some sledding, they broke camp and headed home to thaw out!


First campout for Chandler Jamison as an official boy scout!



Trevor Stroh checking on breakfast.




Jacob Farman, Brother Selby and Matt Selby

Babe Magnet

Cooper was in dog heaven Friday night. Kaylyn invited him up (and the rest of the family too) for "Puppy Prime Time" in the dorm. It was a chance for the students to interact and play with a puppy. They don't get an opportunity to do that very often. They loved him!! And he loved them too!! Some of the comments were:

"That's not a puppy! That's a full-size dog!"

"What kind of dog is he? What did you say? What kind? What was that?"

"Oh my gosh! He's so BIG!!!"

"Look how big his paws are!"

He definitely likes being a Pirate Puppy!!!!

Cooper saying hello to everyone.

"A Pirate's Life for Me!!!"



"Oh yeah, right there. Oh, a little higher... over a little more..."

Puppy Kindergarten

Well, this was Cooper's second week of puppy kindergarten, or "Stupid School" as Rob calls it, and I have to say he's doing pretty good. Of course, his attention span is about as long as my pinky finger! He loves having his best buddy in the class with him. We're just not sure if Carli makes him feel more comfortable there or if he's just tryin' to look good to impress her. At any rate, "recess" is his favorite part of class.

"Excuse me, you two! Will you keep your puppies under control please?"

"Did I do that?"

RECESS!!!!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!!

Grandma & Grandpa Plumb, we hope you have a wonderful anniversary, you love birds. 57 years - Wow!

Stair Surfin'

Cooper was bored so we thought we'd show him a good time.

Insulation Woes

Rob is pretty sure, no - absolutely sure, that he would not like to work with insulation for a living! We had some pretty serious ice dams on the back of our house and then when the snow starting melting, water starting running down the outside walls and was finding it's way into our family room and bedroom. So after peeling back the carpet so it could dry, Rob ventured into the attic to try and get to the root of the problem. Turns out, when we built the house 10 years ago, the insulation guys didn't quite finish the job. They forgot to insulate over part of the back of the house!

So lucky Rob got to cut a hole in the roof sheeting in the attic and drag 3 big rolls of insulation up there, lay it out on the rafters, cut it, and then try and shove it and himself through the small opening. Thankfully he survived and hopefully this will solve the problem. I wonder what else didn't get finished or done on the house that we thought did and paid for!

Is Winter Over Yet?

We certainly feel as if we've already had four months of winter, but it's only Jan. 2!!! Uggh! That's it - we're moving south. Okay, maybe not quite yet but we're definitely thinking a snow blower might be a wise purchase. Either way you look at it, we would be better off: if it snows, we blow, if we buy one it will never snow this much again! Perfect. We did have our neighbor take pity on us though and plow our driveway. What a Saint.

We woke up to a winter wonderland this morning - another 6 inches last night. We can't even tell you how much it's snowed, only that it's broken all existing records for everything. It was absolutely gorgeous outside though. Take note of the stop sign in the picture. That gives you an idea of the snow depth and that's after we had about a foot melt off.

Hopefully everyone had a fun and safe New Year's Eve. Kaylyn and Lexi went to church dances so we were home with the other two. Rob and I are not old enough to go out and party so Aleah and McKenna stayed home to chaperone. We invited the Novakovichs over (they are not old enough either and they only had Zoe) and of course Carli. So we sat around most of the night watching the dogs play and drool on each other. The little girls were sacked out by 11pm so there was no chuggin' the sparkling cider with them. We did manage to get in a few exciting games of "Hot Potato" though, before they conked out. (Really, this $4 game has been the catalyst for a lot of laughter since Christmas!)

Drool Soup, anyone?

"McKenna's ready for Hot Potato!"

And of course the Legofest continues to roll on. I'm just wondering what's going to happen when everyone heads back to school. No, I know what will happen - NOTHING! I will have legos in my dining room until next summer at least!

We loved hearing from so many friends and family at Christmas time. It was great to read all the newsletters and see the family pics. Thank you and Happy New Year!