Does anyone know what this is???

It is a chocolate moose of course!

The next question should be , “Why in the world is she posting a picture of a chocolate moose?”

Warren received a chocolate moose and a really nice screen printed shirt for his 3 month anniversary at Nosler!

He has been with the company now for almost 6 months and he is doing such a great job!  Hunter and I are so proud of him and we think this is all really cool.

Thank you for taking such good care of us honey.  We are so happy that you have a great job in a wonderful company with people who really appreciate you!

Sporting Clays @ Redmond Rod & Gun Club

A couple of weeks ago we were able to join the Shaver family for some sporting clays at the Redmond Rod & Gun Club.  It was 50 target “you pull”.  Warren and Hunter shot with Carl, Sharon, Brandon and Cheryl.  I went along to take pictures and observe.

This is Hunter with Carl on the  first station.  I like this picture a lot because I caught the shell in the air after it ejected.

This is Brandon and he was manning the throwing station.

This is Cheryl knocking the clays out of the air.

This picture shows the station where the clays practically got straight up and come straight down.

Here is Warren shooting while Carl gives him tips.

 

This is a picture of everyone at one of the shooting stations.  It is also the only picture I managed to get with Sharon in it.  How did Sharon manage to evade my camera for hours????

This was a really good time for the Espinola’s and we look forward to going again.

Practice Does an Archer Good

This is what I see all the time when I go into the barn.  Hunter has been practicing his archery very diligently and it is paying off.  He is now punching the centers out of targets.

He has tightened his groups and smokin’ everyone at 4-H.

Hunter’s target is on the left – this is at 4-H.

The rest below this are all at home in the barn.

 

I hope he keeps practicing and improving.

ATCs for Valentine’s and More

As usual, I have been working on ATCs on and off and here are a few pictures.  I have more to share later after I get the pictures taken.

This heart locket went to a swap out of Minnesota and the theme was HeART which was open to all art forms.  I think there were 75 participants but I didn’t make that many.  You send in 3+1; 3 for the swap and 1 for the hostess.  You get 3 back in return of various art forms.

I also made these for one of my scrapbook swaps – double duty works out great!

This was for one of my swaps out of Idaho and it was for Valentine’s Day.

I also sent this one into the Minnesota swap so I ended up getting 6 back.  I think this one also went to a scrapbook swap and saved me a lot of time.

This card was made for a swap about creating a postage stamp.  I was able to create this in my Corel Draw program and then just cut it out with decorative scissors.  I like the way it turned out also.

Thank You Cards

I was lucky enough to get some paper stacks on half price awhile back and I grabbed the stacks called “Citrus” for something different.  I made 2 cards this size and 2 cards like the one below; all out of one sheet of 12” x 12” for the patterned base.

I like how they turned out and I think they are very cheerful.

A card class of a different type

I also took another type of Valentine card class through a LSS (Local Scrapbook Store).  I made 3 cards for the same price but did not get envelopes. :-(  As you will see, the cards are very different but nice.

 This card would be nicer had I not dropped it into the dishwater when I was trying to set it up for a picture!  I believe it is called a pivot card.

This one took forever but I like the results.  I stamped the paper first, cut it into strips and cut the strips.  Of course I had to ink all the edges to  make it look like a brick wall when I finished.  After all this was completed I had to attach pop dots to the backs and stick them down.

This was my favorite as far as simplicity and that it jumps right out at you.

Unfortunately I am a big fan of getting things straight.  These cards with all their tiny pieces do not lend themselves well to my need to be straight.

So much for Valentine cards until next year…

Beautiful Cards – Stampin’ Up Class

I really enjoy going to Jan Farring’s  Stampin” Up! demonstration classes.  Here projects are always wonderful and I usually like them so much that I have a hard time sending them out. 

This time around it was a Valentine’s card class and I was participating in a card swap so it worked perfectly!

This class was really special because I got there and she had everything cut out, embossed and ready to rumble!  We just moved from station to station making 2 cards at every stop.  Check them out…

 

I had 5 cards to send for my swap and I made 10.  It worked out perfect because I get to keep a set for next year!

Thanks so much for the class Jan!  I can’t wait for the next class…

Puzzle Swap April 2010

Here is the latest swap  that just went in the mail today.  I really like doing the ATCs so I thought I would give this a try.  This puzzle has 12 pieces so you need to have 12 people sign up for the swap. 

The hostess purchases the puzzles, collects the puzzle money and shipping costs from each participant.  She makes a list of each person's theme and which number they are.  She then goes through all 12 puzzles and numbers the backs of the pieces so we know which piece to decorate for which theme.   Then they are mailed out to be decorated and we put our information on the backs of each piece.

  Once decorated they are mailed back to the hostess and she will swap the pieces so each person has a complete puzzle that has pieces built upon their theme.  Of course my theme was purple and my piece is on the top left of this puzzle.

The other ladies asked for movie stars, a movie, a play, something scrappy, something outdoors, flowers, Paris, something to match a kitchen.  My picture is on the top right piece because that swapper asked us to put a small picture of ourselves on the piece.  I wish I would have thought of that!

This was fun but a little more time consuming than ATCs.  I think I might do another one if I see another swap come up over the summer.

I should get this one back by mid May so I will post an “after” picture later.

Hunter's Safety Certification Class

This is Carl Shaver.  Carl, along with his wife Sharon, hosted a Hunter's Safety Class in January and February of this year.  This is a picture of Carl reading instructions on the Hunter's Safety Class Field Day.

Our son, Hunter, took the class this year in conjunction with Y.H.E.C. (Youth Hunter Education Challenge) that the Shavers also host.

Shooting with a rest and shooting with out a rest.

Casing\Hull identification.

Carrying a gun in the field with hunting partners.

Carl and Sharon discussing results.

And he passes!  Watch out world!  He is ready to live up to his name.

A big THANK YOU goes out to Carl & Sharon Shaver for training these kids to be safe in the field!

Great Job Hunter!

The Mailbox Incident

I don't know how many people drive by our house every day but it has to be a lot.  We have a real bad corner before our driveway if you are headed to town.  People need to SLOW down but every once in a while someone loses control.   Thank goodness the house is at the back of the property!

This time last year someone rolled their jeep through our fence a little before midnight.  Warren was able to scab the fence together enough to keep the animals in until morning.  The next day he and Hunter spent the majority of the day fixing fence in the pouring rain.

This year someone came around the corner too fast on a late afternoon.  They missed our fence but took out the mailbox by shearing it off at the ground and got the neighbor's fence.  As if that was not bad enough, he got out to survey the damage, got back in his truck and took off!  We were looking right at him and were just heading down there when he left.

Kind of ticked me off so I called the sheriff and they happened to be in the right place at the right time.  They caught him at the bottom of the canyon and took him to jail.

Probably goes without saying but we needed to get a new mailbox; we have been dragging that one around for at least 10 years.  I got a real shocker when I saw the replacement price for our old box was $80!  So, we ended up with this jumbo model and I know this gal that does vinyl graphics.....

So, that gal being me...I designed, cut and applied the vinyl for the mailbox.

I wanted the business name out there anyhow and I guess this was a great opportunity to get that done.  It also solved the problem of the mail lady having to drive up to the house all the time to leave stuff that would not fit in the box.

The box is almost big enough to accept a miniature horse (definitely a few baby goats) now and I kinda like it.  I needed a change and I guess I wished loud enough... 

Probably better watch out for what I wish!  Wouldn't want that pile of money I've been thinkin' about just laying around on the porch when is it delivered since the mailbox isn't big enough. :-)

Hunter makes it to his next birthday...

We had a birthday at the beginning of March and Hunter turned 11.  Here he is lighting the candles on his cake.

It is flat amazing how quickly they learn and grow up!

Of course then there were presents...

There are lots of shotgun shells in this bag from a special Aunt Sheree & Uncle Ron.

Coins & flashlights from Grandma & Grandpa

Some of the guests...

And finally, the Baking Queen, my niece Jenn!

This is the one who makes all of the beautiful cakes in this family like this one....

Thank you so much!  It turned out just awesome and it tasted great!

Beginning to look like Rescue Heros

A picture of Boone and Maddie babysitting while Brandy is getting a bite to eat.

Martha and Millie began to start walking\wobbling after 3 days of us physically exercising their legs.  They reminded me of the little Power Rangers toys Hunter to used to play with - their feet were way to big for their bodies.

At this point I had to drag out the old puppy fencing that was long fogotten.  Fencing, a painter's drop cloth and all those old towels that I save just in case I need them some day.

The bottle feeding moved to every 3 hours and they began to take on more milk at each feeding.  Unfortunately, what goes in must come out.

Washing 2 loads of towels a day and having their little voices bang off the walls began to get old.

They graduated to outside, in the stall where they were born, when they started knocking over the puppy fencing.