The Ice-Fishing Shack

Meet our new ice shack:

Kendall noticed it setting in someone's driveway this fall.  Later he noticed a new one setting beside it.  When he saw someone outside, he stopped in and asked about the old one.  They told him to take it away.  So he did.

Kendall has been wanting an ice shack for awhile now.  I tried to explain to him that first of all, our family should try sitting in the bathroom for a whole Saturday and see how much fun it is to be in a small space.  He was undeterred.  (And never did take my bathroom advice.)  So he fixed up the shack and here it is out on the ice.  He and the boys may even try sleeping in it sometime.  I may pass on that one.
Here my great outdoorsman fries up some moose steaks for lunch:

Yes, it got hot in there with the woodstove:

And Eli was proud of his shirtless state:

Eli and Evan loved being out on the lake, even though we went home without any fish.  At one point Eli said to me, "Dad sure is an outdoorsman.  I'm glad you chose him."

Me too.

Learning the Art of Sewing

Here I am being a very domestic seamstress. My peace-loving children sit nearby watching me sew, learning the art.  It's such a beautiful picture of our life together.

Of course, if there were audio with this photo, you would soon realize the truth.  These two peace-loving wonderful children have emptied the sewing box and set up a war zone.  The spools of thread are the warriors.  The battle is fierce.  You would hear things like "You shall now die!"  "Attack!"  "Here's my light saver!"  (Mom: "It's a light saber.")  "Here comes the calvary!"  (Mom:  "It's cavalry.")  Don't ask me why I bother to perfect their battle vocabulary.  I should just let them talk about Savers and Calvary.  Maybe it would help.

Date Night

Kendall and I were blessed with a last-minute date night tonight. The boys were invited to a friend's house, so we were left with a free evening. We were going to go out on the snowmobiles, but then Kendall found out he had to meet someone at some point in the evening.  So we needed to stay close to home.  Plan B it was. 
Plan B was deep-fried food.  I am happy in this photo because I love deep-fried anything:

Yes, friends, that would be deep-fried onion rings, deep-fried broccoli, deep-fried mushrooms, deep-fried dill pickles, deep-fried zucchini, deep-fried jalapenos and deep-fried shrimp.  With a delicious horseradish sauce on the side. 

It all started with the idea of a bloomin' onion.  I was going to bake it because I never deep fry anything.  (Found out tonight that I've really been missing out, by the way.) Then I decided to fry the onion.  Then I thought, Hey, since we're getting out a pot of oil, we should fry lots of things!  It spiraled out of control from there.  And it was so yummy. 

And so fun to cook together.  It's not something we do very often and I'm not sure if we've ever done it for a date night.  I highly recommend it.  Except if you do deep-fried everything like we did, it doesn't make for the most romantic date.  Afterward, all we could manage was a side hug.  Our bellies were just too full for contact.

My Favorite Valentine of the Day

Just in case you can't read it, it says, "To: Lidea"  "Love: Evan"  "Have! a! Happy! Valentines! Day!!!"   And on the back it says, "A now born!!"  (As in "A Newborn")

I love it.  And no, no name has been chosen.  The boys learned that we liked that name and that both of them would have been Lydia if they were girls.  So that's what they've stuck with.  Personally, I like to think of her as Twila Fern.  A great combination of the grandmothers' names.  Of course, before we get too stuck on any feminine name we're waiting for one more ultrasound on Thursday afternoon.  I'm holding off until then.  If 2 out of 3 ultrasounds say the same thing, we'll cautiously go with it.

And judging by her activity level, I do think Twila Fern had a Happy! Valentines! Day!  Of course, if I'm judging by her activity level, it would appear that Every! Day! is a Happy! Day!  Yesterday at my appointment, the nurse practitioner couldn't get a good count on the heart rate because the kid wouldn't hold still!  Ay yi yi.  Here we go.  As Eli said, "Mom, I don't think it's a girl.  Or else it's a really hyper girl!"  Yes, yes.  Maybe we just produce crazy active children...

Snowmobile Pros

This sweet sight warmed my heart:

Right now we have two little snowmobiles from the 1970s.  (While we try to sell one.)  They don't go fast and they're small- perfect for 2 awesome boys.  Evan's too little to handle it through the trees, so Kendall gets them down to the lake and sets them loose.  They love it.

But I can go faster.

Dog-sledding

Last Saturday we decided to visit the neighbors across the lake, so we harnessed up the dogs and off we went.

Oh wait.  We don't actually have sled dogs.
 
But we did get to go for a ride!  There was a visiting team of dogs in town.  Eli's class got to go see them on Friday and we all went on a beautiful Saturday morning.  They were just down the bay from us.  We could see them out on the bay from our house as they ran their route.  So we went to where they were set up and even enjoyed hot chocolate and bannock with the friends and neighbors that were also there.

After the kids got their rides, the adults had a chance too.  This was my vantage point:

If I turned around, this was my other vantage point:

Yes, I risked my life with this inexperienced, but dependable, driver.
If you look really closely, you can see our house across the bay.  Well, maybe not, but it's there.

And the boys got to hold 2 sweet little huskies.

Snow Cave

Eli and Evan have a super duper snow cave thanks to their Dad.  It's quite deep, but there's no room to sit up.  Even brave Dad just about lost it when he was in head first with a shovel and both boys tried to crowd in with him. :) 

Eli and Evan also have super duper cat-dogs thanks to their Mom.  Both cats are still alive thanks to their Dad who built an insulated house with a light bulb inside to keep them from freezing.  I call them cat-dogs because they are cats that think they are dogs.  They run to greet us when we get home.  They follow the boys to the bus in the morning.  They lick.  They stand up and put their front paws on you.  They are very friendly.  Unfortunately, although the boys refer to the cat-dogs as their daughters, they are still banished to the outside and we don't really know their names.  We just call them "Evan's cat" and "Eli's cat."  I know that's weird.  Eli and Evan might know their names if they can remember what they were the last time they named them.

Anyway, here is the snow cave:  (notice the cat-dog licking Eli's glove)

Evan crawled back in the cave.  Here he is being attacked by "Evan's cat."

Then Evan took the camera and snapped a photo of Eli and me on the outside.  (Sorry, not going in that thing.)

Evan wants Kendall to sleep in the snow cave some night with him.  Good luck.