God's Country

Jason and Saiah just returned from their 2nd annual "God's Country" hunting trip. It's a special time for them to go out and hunt coyotes, rabbits, and this year, badgers. They both start eagerly anticipating their yearly trip. Saiah usually wants to pack things up a few weeks, or even a month before they depart. Our garage had necessities and essentials strewn everywhere for the past month or so.
This years trip had the addition of Jason's Mr. Heater, Big Buddy Heater, guaranteeing nice toasty warmth all night long. The first night it kept them toasty warm....until the rain and wind started blowing INTO the tent. At 2AM Jason was packing their things into the truck. Fun times! Funny, the cheapo Walmart tents with the oh-so-nice mesh screen for summer camping don't fair so well in winter like camping conditions. Not wanting a repeat of the first night, they slept in the truck the second night as well.
All in all, they had a good time, despite windy weather, which for those non coyote hunting type readers-that translates into bad coyote weather. Saiah was so excited to shoot her first bunny. This was the first time Saiah was able to hold the gun AND shoot it all by herself. They thought she had shot the bunny, but as Saiah said,"I shot a rock."
Due to the windy conditions, they had to be creative in finding things to do. Saiah enjoyed her time driving Daddy's truck. I guess she's a pretty good little driver...although she'll still have to wait until she's 18 to get her license!! They also explored around an old abandoned mining town and looked at mine shafts. No..they didn't go in any...phew!

Saiah, holding up Jason's 100th coyote!

The old mines

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Saiah and the Strikers

Saiah has just completed her 5th season of soccer. She really enjoys playing and has a great coach(Danielle) and assistant coach(Casey), not to mention her best little bud Mia is on the team. This is the first season in awhile that more of the team was new at soccer than before. The boys from last season moved on up, so Saiah and a few other originals welcomed in a whole new crowd of soccer players. It was fun watching them come together as a team and really play their hearts out. They have a great sense of team spirit and consideration for all out on the field. I truly appreciate Danielle's coaching and her style.

At the end of every season, Danielle is great at making sure they get a soccer party, with trophies and all. This year we met at her house for a brunch right before their game. Good times, good food and good friends.

Saiah and her good bud Mia

Loving the new look!


Saiah with Danielle - an awesome coach!

Mia, Ireland and Saiah..playing together for four seasons now

Saiah and Mia

Daddy and Saiah during the kids v. parents game (somehow, the kids always win;))!

Mmmm...Alfredo!

I somehow found the best Alfredo Sauce recipe here. After reading the reviews, I cut 1T of the butter out. It's so yummy...think Vinny's for us Medfordites. :) I won't ever buy the jar version again!!

A Biblical View on Voting

Not much else to say here except that this is a truly good article written by Lynn Barton, a woman from our church, on how a believer should look at political issues, all supported by Scripture.

"Vote and Vote Like a Christian"

Too Important To Ignore

The Momentous First Tooth...and the second...

At just a few weeks shy of her 7th Birthday, Saiah has FINALLY lost her first tooth!! It was truly a huge deal in our house. Her two bottom teeth have been loose for a very long time. In fact, behind both of her two bottom teeth were the adult teeth popping up, a case I found to be called "Shark Teeth"!

Neither Jason nor I had ever heard or seen this phenomenon. I did learn from a few friends, that they too had children that had teeth come in before they lost their baby teeth. Made us a feel a bit better, but still...the idea of the teeth not falling out and the adult ones not coming forward as should made us think...oh no...we see Orthodontia bills in the future!!

Now, we are not strong believers in bribing our children. But, with a daughter who refuses to wiggle teeth and the thought of dentist bills, Jason thought it wise to tell Saiah that if she were to get her tooth out that day, he'd pay her $5!! This caught Saiah's attention. As she was mulling it over in her mind, Jason asked to see her tooth. As Saiah opened her mouth, Jason went to feel the lose tooth and instead, quickly pulled at it!!! Was she ever shocked!! With that tug, a few roots came loose and Saiah was able to successfully work the tooth out on her own. She was very excited to have lost her first tooth, and quite the money maker at that!

As we put her to bed that night, I looked at Jason and said..we don't have any cash!! Not going the traditional tooth fairy route, we decided to write up a note of congratulations along with a check made out to Saiah Merrihew for $5.00. She awoke in the morning seeing the note and smiling her semi-toothless smile.

The First Tooth

That was last Saturday. Today....

Jason and started out with $2 for this tooth. It went to $5 and then the next thing we know, Jason promises her this NFL Football she wanted from Toys R U. Oh yeah...she was all over that!! With a little thought, she decides to let Daddy again yank it loose again. We got the reaction on tape this time and it's quite hilarious.

Glad to have the two teeth gone so the adult ones have room to grow forward. Oh, and yes.....it has already been well announced to Saiah that the future teeth will not be as golden!!

The Second Tooth

Boy oh Boy!!!

We are so very excited to say....we are having a BOY!!! Saiah so badly wanted a baby sister, but is now very excited to be have a baby brother. The ultrasound went very well. He was quite the mover, so we saw a LOT of poses. He is looking wonderfully perfect and healthy so far...praise God!