An ode to animals...

I was looking for a picture on our computer today, and while doing so, I found lots of pictures of all of the pets that Richard and I have enjoyed over the years!! It is incredible, the number of dogs and cats we have somehow obtained... Yet we never can manage to keep them!! So, here for your viewing pleasure, is a list of all the animals we have brought into our home in the last seven years!! (That does not include a beta fish, which my sweet sister Vanessa gave to me... that thing wouldn't die!)
That's Cookie... She was so cute, but she had really bad ticks and they kept latching to my children... She found a good home in San Antonio!
Here's Chewbacca... Cute as can be, but it turns out Chihuahuas don't like three year olds! He went back to his homeland...Cuidad Acuna, Mexico!
Meet Chip and Dale... Dale really did have a red nose, but Richard wasn't sold! They found a new home at the local cemetery. Don't worry, they are still alive, they just keep the rodent problems down!!
There's Celery. He was a vagabond cat from the neighborhood... He stole our hearts and then stole away!! We had him for a month or so and then he moved on!
That's George!! He was the most patient kitten... Well until he snuck out and ran away... He's probably alot happier though, just look at his expression!
Here's Rumpledoodles (named for the Heffalump Movie, of course!!) He was beautiful, but not fond of Kami's love! After he stratched her too many times, we decided to find him a new home! Isn't he cute, though?!
I don't even remember this ones name so we must have not had it for very long, but it looks sweet!!!
Rafferty and Commander!! We only had Commander as a puppy, my sister gave him a better home than we did, in fact, that's why ended up with a fish instead!
Here's Rafferty alone, he was by far our favorite, but we just couldn't give him the attention that he needed so he went back to his old home...We still have visitation rights, though!! There was one other dog we had, Ella... she didn't even stay long enough to get a picture! She couldn't stay off of our table! There is something not right about a huge dog on the kitchen table... now I wish I did have a picture!! Of course we still have Chocolate and Caramel, from down below, and it is my goal in life to keep those cats forever!! Oh the adventures of the Hunt Family...

FHE all day long!

Since Monday was MLK jr. Day, Richard and Kami both got the day off! YEA!! And since it was such a beautiful day in Del Rio, we decided to try GeoCaching with our new GPS! (Thanks, Mom Hunt!!) If any of you haven't heard of geocaching, it's like a treasure hunt with your GPS and map coordinates, it's super fun and challenging! Anyhow, we picked three geocaches from the website http://www.geocaching.com/ and away we went! No luck with our first two, actually the second one ended up being in a swamp and we couldn't actually get to it, but third time's a charm, all we had to do was trespass on to someone's property (great example for our kids!) But we found the treasure box and left a toy for the next family, and headed to lunch!! It was so much fun and I recommend it to everyone, at least to try once! The kids were definitely into finding treasures!

I walked into a swamp without realizing it... My All-Stars will never be the same!
Kami and Jeff walked right in after me! Dad was able to save them faster!!

There it is! Our first official find! We put Dopey in the jar, signed our names and went on our way!

And of course, Carter joined the fun too!

Why do kittens have to get big?!

For Christmas of 2008 Kami's Christmas letter to Santa consisted of just a few requests! She asked for a new bike, a baby sister (because I guess a baby brother wasn't sufficient), and a momma cat and three kittens!! So while I did think that four cats were just too many, we decided that Santa could bring two, because my kids fight over everything, and every cat needs an accomplice!! I took pictures of Caramel and Chocolate right after we got them, but never posted them, and now the cats are huge (well, not huge... but bigger!!) So I thought I would post pictures of the cats, but I have to show how they have grown! And, beware... The following pictures contain violence (kitten eating baby...)

Carter loves to eat Caramel...

...and Chocolate!!

Our three babies!

See how big he is now (the cat, not Carter), but don't worry, now Carter just likes to tug at their faces instead of eating them!!

She's gonna hate me for this!!!

So I went to put my Christmas pictures on my computer and this is what I found!! I love seeing what my family has done with my camera when I'm not looking! So, like the great sister I am, I had to post them for the world to see!! We love
you Vanessa!

Ice skating... Not for the faint of heart!

While in California, we each had our list of things to do, and while some of our plans were foiled by sick children, one thing that my sister Vanessa really wanted to do was ice skate! So, we got all bundled up and headed out to the ice rink for a morning of frozen noses and toeses! (I know it's spelled wrong, but rhymes!!) Actually it wasn't too bad, but Jeff was a fish out of water on the rink, so we rented him a sled! Kami enjoyed doing circles on the beginners rink and Richard has decided that he belongs with the professionals! Me? I am just proud to say that I didn't fall! (That's quite an accomplishment for me!)

Jelly Belly Overload!!!

California has so much to offer it's visitors... The ocean, the mountains, the Jelly Belly Factory... Oh yea, you can't think that we would visit our hometown and not take advantage of all the free Jelly Belly's our tummies could handle!! We snuck away from the clan for a day to take our kiddos to Fairfield to watch the Jelly Belly guys in action! We took the tour and sampled our hearts away, we even ate burgers in the shape of a Jelly Bean... Real burgers, not burger flavored jelly bellys!! Kami and Jeff seemed to enjoy themselves for the tour... It was the ride home they didn't enjoy so much!! ("my tummy hurts, it hurts so bad"!!!!)

Finally... The child has a name!!

If you happen to not be of a religious nature, I'll explain that as a newborn, at least in the LDS religion, you receive a name and a blessing, normally done by your father, where he officially blesses you with a first, middle, and last name, as well as offers you a sweet fathers blessing at the same time!! As I mentioned, normally this is done within a month or two of birth... not six! But, in order to have Richard's family with us for the blessing, we chose to wait and have the blessing when we were in California for Christmas! While I missed my family being there, I was grateful that so many member's 0f Richard's family were there! The blessing was beautiful and I am grateful to say that Richard didn't change Carter's name during the blessing (although secretly I have always thought that would be cool!)
















We filled the whole house with just part of Richard's family!!



















Richard picked out the outfit that we blessed Carter in, that was really special to me!!



















Twin cousins... Is that possible?! Well, either way, those two will be breaking hearts together!!



















Thank you Grandma, for the best blessing afterparty ever!

Of course he would have pneumonia...

Christmas!! What a wonderful time of year... Who couldn't love Christmas? Oh, I can think of one person... Carter Quince! Yeah, it turns out that having Pneumonia isn't the best way to spend your first Christmas!














Isn't that so sad? Carter had been getting sick, but I had no idea it was so bad! Luckily my sisters in law all talked me in to taking him to the hospital after we all opened gifts, so off we went, Richard, Carter and I to spend his first Christmas day in the ER... Fun!! But, indeed, they found pneumonia in his lungs, and so it was a worthwhile visit! Actually the trip to the ER wasn't too bad, it was the fact that the closest open pharmacy on Christmas day was 20 miles away, and had a three hour wait!! What an adventure!

The Sleepy Nutcracker...

Since this was an ON year for the Hunt family (which of course means everyone has to end up in Loomis by Christmas Eve), Richard's mom chose to keep us very busy so we could all be together! We went and saw the Nutcracker which is a tradition for the ladies in the Hunt Family! Once a girl comes of age she gets to go with the older ladies, and this year was Kami's first time! I was so excited to have her there with us... until she fell asleep ten minutes into the first act!! How could she fall asleep during her first Nutcracker performance?! Actually, I really can't blame her, I think I dozed off a little in the first act as well! It was beautiful though, and I while I am always a little skeptical of ballet, once it got going, it was great! No pictures though, I forgot my camera alot on this trip!