How Time Flies!

We have still been very busy! Since my last blog - Hayden and the 5th & 6th grade football team won their championship game at WSU in Pullman....they were undefeated for the season! Hayden went right into wrestling without taking a break. He wrestled for both club and Middle School - he had a great season in both! He took 2nd place at Middle School districts after overcoming a rocky start with a 15-20 lb weight disadvantage (most of his opponents were that much heavier than him). He placed 3rd at club championships! He is now enjoying is time off from sports and getting ready for 4-h season. Taylor finally talked her dad into getting her a horse..."Pepsi"...she is a Quarterhorse/Paint and she is one of the nicest horses that I have been around. We are boarding her at a friends house and Taylor can't wait for her to come home and be in the pasture so she can ride her all the time. Taylor is also staying busy with Tap/Jazz, Gymnastics & twirling...she is getting ready for her recital performance in May. She says that this will be her last year in dance, but I can't see her giving up being on stage! This girl loves everything about being in the SPOTLIGHT! We spent Thanksgiving in Cabo with my grandpa and Janice. We had a great time and it seemed like the week just flew by! The kids had a blast...Hayden caught a 30 lb Dorado (Mahi Mahi), Taylor got to swim with the dolphins, we ate great food, meet nice people, swam/snorkeled in the Sea of Cortez and enjoyed the warm weather. We are really missing it and can't wait to return. We are hoping to go yearly now. We have a new addition to the Skinner family....my brother Charlie and Jill welcomed a baby girl to the family in January....we are grateful that she is here and that everyone is doing well. She is so cute and Hayden and Taylor love her so much! Hayden turned 12 in January and is now legal to shoot deer. He got a 243 rifle for his birthday and can't wait until hunting season rolls around! He has sighted it in and I must say is a pretty good aim - deer watch out.....! Dennis and I have been busy with our jobs.....right now is the slow time for both of us, but we still manage to stay busy with Booster Club, Jr Show & Sale, Saddle Club and running the kids here-there and everywhere! We have managed to go snowcatting up in Avery twice this year and are anxiously awaiting our trip to McCall in a couple of weeks. There is not enough snow here to ride much, so we are hoping to get some good riding in while we are in McCall. We should have 7 new additions to Tayden Lake Ranch shortly after we return from McCall....the cows should be calving and hopefully we will have 7 healthy baby calves! Hayden has 3 4-h steers to choose from this year and he also purchased a breeding heifer this year....along with raising pigs and a survival class! Needless to say, I think almost every weekend for us is booked from now until after the fair (IN AUGUST)!!!! We hope everyone is doing well and I will try to do better keeping this updated!

Pictures & Update

So it has been awhile again since I posted.....Things are still as busy as ever at our household.

Hayden's last football game is tomorrow. They are undefeated and are playing in the championship at WSU in Pullman. The kids are so excited....hopefully the weather will straighten out for the fans and kids. Hayden was elected 6th grade class president for his class and was also named Student of the Month for September.....he was pretty excited to get elected by his peers. He started wrestling practice for both the middle school team and club team this week. He is also in the process of picking out his market steer for next year's 4-H project. Oh - and he also bought a pickup....a 1972 Chevy - I will take some pictures of it this weekend and post them....he found the pickup in Spokane all by himself and is pretty excited about his purchase. I drove him to school in it on the first day and it has been out one or two times since then - but other than that is parked. He has been a busy boy.

Taylor did decide to take dance lessons...she went from none to 3! She is taking tap/jazz, gymnastics and twirling. She is done with horse lessons until the spring and is missing her good buddy Copper.......She has decided not to participate in cheerleading this fall and has said that she wants to dance at the Shock game again this summer. She got a perm two weeks ago and absolutely loves her CURLY hair! She said she nevers wants straight hair again! She has decided to be Taylor Swift for Halloween!

Dennis and I are still staying busy with work, running kids, and all the animals. I am anxiously awaiting snowfall so we can get the snowcats out and also go snowboarding. We are taking the kids to Mexico with my Grandpa and Janice for a week over Thanksgiving next month...the kids are soooo excited...that is their Christmas present from us. It will be nice to be in warm weather for a week during the cold!

Hope everyone is having a great fall.......

SLACKER

So....I guess in the blogging world I am considered a SLACKER!!!! LOL!!! Life has been very busy for us since the Christmas season....

Dennis has found a new hobby....He is raising cattle....this small adventure started out as a couple head of cattle (mainly Hayden's two 4-H market steers) and has now grown to 11 head...with the market steers. He has learned that bottle calves are too much work and he won't try that experience again....HAHA....I tried to tell him that midnight feedings were no fun...guess he had to learn for himself - while he tried to feed 4 all at the same time. He is staying busy with wokr, helping Hayden with 4-H and football season has officially started and he is coaching Hayden one last year.

Hayden has been busy raising steers, pigs, rabbits, dogs, cats, going fishing and watching hunting videos....where this kid gets all his hunting and fishing ambition - boggles me.....this kid loves the outdoors! We just completed with the fair....Hayden did great...he received a purple in fitting and showing for his steer - Red Rock and a blue for quality. He received a purple for fitting and showing and also a purple for quality for his pig Appaloosa....pretty darn good for a 2nd year 4-her.....he also completed a cake decorating class with a red ribbon and the vet science class with a blue ribbon. He is anxiously awaiting school to start.....that means football and wrestling are right around the corner too....his first football game is tomorrow morning and he is very excited. He starts school in the Middle school this fall.....WOW!!!! My little boy is a 6th grader...man where does the time go.....He has taken an interest to cattle farming as well....he is going to buy a heifer this fall for a breeding project for 4-h.....he also wants to take his hard earned money and buy a car.....I know he doesn't even have a license or can barely see over the steering wheel....but I guess he earned the money...so that is not such a bad way to invest it.

Taylor finished her 4th year of dance this spring and also got the opportunity to dance with the Spokane Shock at one of their home games at half time.....SHE LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!!! My little rock star.....dancing in front of 10,000 people didn't bother her one bit. She has also been taking horse lessons and participated in one of the local O-Mok-Sees this summer. She is having a blast riding and can't wait for her dad to get her a horse of her very own......
She will be in the 2nd grade this year and is debating on continuing with dance....she is in horse mode now and I think it is a hard one to break....She also participated in the fair last week....she got a blue ribbon in cake deocrating, a blue ribbon showing pigs and a reserve grand for showing a bottle calf. She loves the fair...mainly the ribbons...the bigger the better :)

I have been really busy...In May I left my job at St. Maries Realty and Dennis and I purchased Big River Designs - the local screenprinting, tye-dye and vinyl shop......WOW....I don't think I have ever been this busy and tired. The business is doing good....alot of learning and trials but completely worth it. The kids are anxious for the business to slow down - so they will see more of me....I made it a point to take last week off during the fair to be with them.

Dennis and I were able to escape for a few days for a quick trip to Seattle at the beginning of the month to see Kenny Chesney.....it was a great show....wish we could of stayed away longer....but jobs, kids and animals depend on us.....so back to work it was!

We have had visitors the last couple of weeks......Daniela (our exchange student from Germany 2 years ago) came back to visit - she brought her sister Frani with her and we had a great visit with them, went to the Demolition Derby in Lewiston and to Silverwood.....They are such neat girls....now they say it is our turn to come to Germany.....

I will post some pictures as soon as I can.....been so long since I have been on here that I have to re-teach myself....HAHA! Have a great weekend...enjoy the weather!

Christmas Letter

For those of you that I missed...here is our Christmas Letter for 2008 that we sent with our crads. I will get more pictures on here in the next couple of days.



We hope that this letter finds you all well and enjoying the holiday season. We have had a busy 2008 and are amazed that the year has came to an end so soon. We are still living out of town and are enjoying every minute of it. The kids love being able to play in the dirt, eating raspberries, riding four-wheelers, snowmobiles, hunting and fishing.
Hayden will be 11 years old next month and is in the fifth grade. He is doing great in school and was on the A/B Honor Roll for the first quarter and also got Student of the Month. Hayden kept busy this year with hunting, fishing, football, wrestling, basketball and 4-H. The football team did great this year…they had a tough season but ended up in 3rd place. Hayden just completed his 6th season with North Idaho Wrestling League and he did great! He medaled at every tournament and placed first at State with only 2 losses all season. His first year of 4-H was a great experience for not only him but, for all of us. He participated in Market Swine and received a blue ribbon at the fair, he also participated in Cooking and received a blue ribbon in that as well. We started off a little on the rocky side, when his 4-H pig passed away in June and he ended up taking his alternate “Rosie”, he acted very strong all through the fair but was a little emotional when “Rosie” was not coming home with us. He decided that his first year of 4-H went so well that he is going to do it again…this time with 3 or 4 pigs, 2 steer (Toby Keith..aka TK – Taylor named him and Red Rock), Cooking and maybe survival. This kid is a regular farmer….he gets up every morning and goes out and feeds the steers, visits with them and reads the books and magazines that we get on raising them – he loves them too death (we do too) and I can only imagine that if selling a pig and only having it for 4 months was that emotional – how is he going to handle selling his steer “Red Rock”.
Taylor will be 7 in April and is in the first grade. She is quite the reader and math student. She had great grades as well for the first quarter and her teacher put her on some advanced math homework – and she is doing great at it. She is in her 4th year of dance class, and decided that she wanted to take a ballet/tap class and hip-hop class. This girl loves being on stage! She has also just started cheerleading at the Nazarene Church in their Upward Program. She still loves horses, she has not talked her dad into a horse yet, but I think he is wearing down and might give in soon. She participated in the activities at the fair this year as well….She was in Open Class Market Swine and received Reserve Grand Champion and she also participated in Open Class Dog Showing, she received a blue ribbon for showing our dog Darla. She is already excited for the fair next year and said that she is going to participate in the following open class events; market swine, rabbit, dog, cooking and scrapbooking.
Dennis is still busy with the trucks and loaders. He is still loading full time and seems to enjoy it. He also helped coach Hayden and other children in football, wrestling and basketball. I am going on my fifth year as office manager at St. Maries Realty. I have stayed busy this past year with work, the football and wrestling program, 4-H and of course being the kids’ chauffer.
We only went camping once this past year and that was during the week of the fair…we stayed in the motorhome at the fairgrounds. We went on a few snowmobile rides last winter and are looking forward to them again this year. Hayden even went on one ride and rode a snowmobile by himself…he decided that the 60 mile rides are a little long for him. We even got to ride snowmobiles at the house the end of April last year in 70 degree weather and wearing shorts and t-shirts.
We hope that you and yours have a wonderful holiday season and a splendid New Year.
Happy holidays from our family to yours.
Dennis, Mary, Hayden & Taylor Humphrey

Tayden Lake

Well....If you have not guessed it, the name of our house is Tayden Lake (1/2 Hayden's name and 1/2 Taylor's name). When we first moved to this house in October 2004...we named it the "POND house". Then Tayden Lake stuck....

Life At Tayden Lake

Well....I decided to JUMP on the bandwagon of Blogging......The kids are soooooo busy with everything that I thought this would be the best way to keep everyone up to date on our life adeventure!!!!