paintings for the home and garden show

So, this is me and my kind of new boss Lisa at the home and garden show. It was pretty fun and we got quite a bit of exposure... so we will see where this whole painting thing will go from here. these are a few of the paintings that i did specifically for the show.

i thought they turned out kind of cute:)

Paige visits AZ!

Paige had a little mid-winter break, and we were lucky enough to get her for a few days. Thanks James! We played a LOT of scrabble - which apparently makes my ankles swell. We also played some train game. We went to the gym a couple of times to pump some iron and allow the studs to gawk at us. We also went to the zoo, and had a girls night shopping. The night we went shopping, we didn't find too much, but the next day, after the gym, we went shopping just to return something and ended up finding good deals! I was really excited at Neiman Marcus I found a super cute dress for Joss - originally $110 (no I did not forget a decimal), and we got it for under $9. Can't wait for her to stain it!


Here is Joss after Sephora - this makeup is used for Cirque de Soleil. It is super bright and lasts a long time. Apparently this pink is one of their most popular colors - can anyone say 80s revival?


Here is Joss trying to give Paige her chemo hairstyle again. She pulled most of it out by the end of the shoulder ride. Note that Paige is wearing the sweatshirt that spells Mom. Joss was clever enough to know that my ASU shirt spells my name. She also knows that D-A-D spells "Shawn".

We went to the sting ray exhibit. You can put your hands in the water and the sting rays will swim right up to your hand so you can pet them. It takes some getting used to. We did this last year when everyone came to visit. It's a fun spot.

Mike Holmgren - former coach of the Seattle Seahawks was at the zoo too, but he wasn't a planned exhibit. This is like the 3rd or 4th time we have run into him in person. What are the odds?

We love visitors! Reid is coming on Sunday for some Forest Service training. Not really sure where the Forest is, but we'll take it anyway!!

Even though we're far away, it's nice that we can have visitors. Joss and Jackson loved being with Ampy Paige. It's soo sad when she leaves, but it's even happier that she got to visit. We love you!

Steelhead fishing Feb 19

My friend Ben and I went fishing today. It was sunny and cold. We boated into a cove north of town and hiked a little over 5 miles in to hit a few spots and catch a few fish. We caught 3...actually...Ben caught 3. I had to borrow this one.

This is a picture at a lake 4 miles in. Obviously frozen, we skirted around its edge instead of hiking through the snow to fish the river that drained into it. I packed my 30-06 in case of wolf sightings. We saw no wolves, but there were two sets of fresh tracks over our incoming trail we noticed on our way out.


This is Ben with his secret steelhead catching weapon. It's a spin cast rod and real set up with a bobber and pink fly. It dominated my fly rod.

Son and Daughter of a King

For FHE we made crowns because Joss and Jackson are both a Son and a Daughter of our Heavenly Father. Joss got so excited and she wanted to put on her princess dress too.
Aren't they royally cute!?