Quick Re-cap of the last 9 months

I will skip the excuses as to why I haven't updated this blog since July 2010. There just isn't a good excuse that is believable. What I will do is quickly update you on what our family has been up to since last July. And I mean quickly . . .



In August Cody started playing tackle football. He ended up being a fairly good running back. We found that playing football really increased his confidence and his social skills - he is really shy. He was #95.






He played all the way to October, and by then the weather was pretty cold so we were glad it came to an end.










In October Sadie turned 13! Yes, we have a teenager! Here are some photos of her little party that she had. We found out that our small house isn't very good for having slumber parties in.

Sadie is just about ready to finish up the 8th grade and has decided that she wants to be an accountant when she grows up. She freaked out after the first trimester this year because one of her teachers gave her an A-, which brought her GPA down to a 3.98. I had to assure her for three days that colleges don't look at 8th grade transcripts before she would settle down

For Halloween the kids decided they weren't too old to dress up so Greg was "Dracula" and Cody was a zombie football player. Here are photos of those two. I guess my stage makeup skills are still in-tact. Jackson was a hunter but we didn't take his photo for some reason.

In December Jackson and Greg turned 9. They both earned their Wolf badges in cub scouts and now they are working on their Bear. The photo is from thier birthday. Jackson also got a "real" tent, and Greg got a mummy sleeping bag - exactly what they asked for.

In January Jackson started playing youth basketball and Brett coached his team. They had a lot of fun and Jackson enjoyed doing something just for him. He is #13.


In February the boys all had their Pinewood Derby for scouts. All of their cars did really well and they liked being able to make their cars with their dad. They were very individualized based on exactly what the boys imagined.



In March Brett and I had the opportunity to go to Orlando with his family (adults only). We rented a house, went to Universal studios, swam with Manatees and went fishing in the intracoastal area by Cocoa Beach. Will post photos of that trip later :)

After getting home from Orlando we took Jackson and Greg out of public school. They both struggle with reading and we didn't want the schools to just push them through to 4th grade unable to read. So I am working part time, and doing homeschool as well. It is one of the hardest things I have ever tried to do and I pray everyday that it will be successful!

Last month we finally took the kids to Disneyland. We were away for over a week and glad to finally get home, but we had a blast!

This is us waiting for our tickets to print out. For some reason the computer didn't want to work for us! Nice sunglasses Sadie :)

Here the kids are hanging out by one of the forts on Tom Sawyer's island.
Here we are waiting in line for the Thunder mountain railroad, one of our favorite rides there!


The kids enjoying the shade under Tarzan's Tree house.


Sadie loves Goofy so we just had to wait in line to get a photo with him.

Our entire family LOVED Pirates of the Caribean and we rode it over and over; during the fireworks was the best time!


So, now we are home. This past week we got two horses, Rose and Cloud (left to right below). Rose is a good kids horse and Brett is getting cloud broke. It is fun to finally have horses.

The other thing keeping Brett busy right now is the building of the "mansion" tree house in our pasture. The kids have been begging for one since we moved here three years ago and we are finally getting it built. Brett finished the floor on Saturday and we hope to get the railing and trap door done this week. It should be fun once it is all done.

So, that is my "quick" update. I am sure there is more that we have done. I will try really hard to be more organized and post things regularly. I know that relatives who live far away like to see what we are up to. Know that we appreciate all of you and hope you're having as much fun as we are!

Happy 4th!

Well - this won't be a long post, but just to update you all! We have been a busy family this summer. 2 weeks ago we went hiking in Yellowstone, had a wonderful time seeing beauty and pushing our limits (the kid's limits). Have been tending our garden which is huge this year. The kids have been finding that house cleaning every morning with mom isn't that bad, and when you do it everyday it goes pretty fast. I have been busy getting my board exams taken - AND PASSED!! Yeah. So glad that is done with - I am totally done with school, tests, everything! Now I will actually be posting about the family, not just me ;). I just have to wait for my license to arrive from the state so I can start working outside the home. Gotta get those student loans paid off!
Today we are taking it easy and tonight we will go watch the HUGE fireworks display in Idaho Falls. There are a ton of people there, but we figured, the kids aren't going to be around forever, so let's enjoy the time they are! Hope all of you have a great 4th of July! God Bless America, we need it!

Family Update

Just a quick update on what we have been up to. Last week we were kept pretty busy; me looking for a board patient, still no luck and the kid's end of school activities. Sadie had her spring concert for band and had a solo. Here is the clip of it - sorry if the video seems shaky, I started crying a bit when she started her solo - I guess I was just so proud of how well she was doing!

Cody had the chance to do an Idaho History Project for school this year. Every 4th grader in Idaho has Idaho History as their social studies for the entire year. Here is a photo of him sitting next to his project in his classroom. He skinned a beaver, just like one of the mountain man trapper's from early Idaho. For his display he made a poster of photos that were taken while he was skinning the beaver. Grandma and Grandpa Hawkins, while they were here,
helped him put it together. I thought it turned out great, and he got an A on the project so he was pretty proud. The furs that he displayed are ones that Brett has trapped and had tanned.
Last weekend we were able to make our annual CJ Strike Crappie fishing trip. We camped in the pouring rain and hurricane force winds - in a tent! That part wasn't very fun, but the fishing was still pretty good. Here is a photo of one of the big "small mouth" bass that Sadie caught. It was cold, thus the hat on her head.

That sums up the update! We are busy as usual, with more stuff to get done than we have time for. I am sure most of you can relate! Have a great Memorial Day!

Graduation and Relaxation

Me - Giving a little speach.

See how happy my family looks now? Yeah - Mommy is done!

Brett, Me and my Mom and Dad Graduation day - I thought it would never come.

Strong enough to get through this program? Then strong enough to do ANYTHING! Yes, I wore jeans and running shoes :)

So - It has finally happened . . . I have graduated! Some of you might not realize that I took my first pre-requisite classes for this program before my twins were even thought of - Now, 9 years later, I have a bachelors degree in Dental Hygiene. It has been a long time coming and I am so excited to be done. I am proud to say that of my immediate family I am the first of my 6 siblings to have my bachelors degrees (Sarah will be getting hers in a couple weeks and Kelly is working towards hers as well - keep at it!).
On Friday May 7th the Dental Hygiene department had a private graduation ceremony and because I was our class president for the two years of the program, I was privileged to say a few words, thus the silly photo of me at the podium. I didn't have 2 caps on, one is the shadow. I was very blessed to have my parent's come all the way from Oregon to be a part of this occasion. We were really excited that they came and that we were able to have such a great visit with them. We love you guys! On the 8th the actual university graduation ceremony took place. Now, I have attended these before and I know how boring they are, but I figured that I am only going to do this once so I might as well do it right. I wore jeans and my running shoes and I was so glad that I did. We stood around for over an hour and then had to walk to our seats, then when it was finally my turn - walk all the way across the stage. Wow - then it was done! Yeah! I think my kids and Brett are the most excited about this being over. They are really glad to have me home. Thanks to those of you who supported me along this journey, whether by notes of encouragement or especially by being my patients - I am truly grateful.

The Monday after graduation Brett and I took off for 4 days alone (my parents stayed and watched the kids) - in Yellowstone National Park. We stayed in West Yellowstone and explored the park during the day. We were so thrilled to see more wildlife than we ever have before. Here are some photos of our relaxing trip.

The first photo above is a group of otters that entertained us on our first day. The first Grizzly photo is of a 4 year old female. We watched her tear into a beaver hut to no avail. The second grizzly is a sow with her twin cubs from this year. They were all over her, but it seemed like she just wanted to introduce them to the public (the photographers were going crazy as is visible in that shot in the slideshow below). The black bear was a sow with her yearling twin cubs, which means that they were born last year. I have only ever seen one bear in Yellowstone before this trip, and that one had just ran across the road and disappeared. Brett had never seen one in there ever before, so needless to say, this trip was amazing. I think we will make this an annual event, and may even take the kids next time.
Overall we saw 7 grizzly bears, 3 black bears, 10 bighorn sheep, 5 otters, 1 coyote, 6 deer and countless buffalo, elk, antelope, ground squirrels and birds (too many raven to count). It was fun and relaxing and we are so grateful to have had the chance to do it.

Here is a slide show with some more cool pics. Enjoy!

Spring Happenings

Well, it is spring in S.E. Idaho which means that you never know what the weather will bring. Last week we had a day that was 77degrees and this week it has been about 40. Spring also brings some fun times.

Sadie has started doing track for school. She started out doing the 100 and 200 meter dash, the 4x200 meter relay and the long jump. After the first track meet the coach changed her to doing the 4x100 meter relay, the girls medley relay (200 meter distance), the 4x200 meter relay and the long jump. I guess he was impressed with how she did. So here are some photos of her first meet.

Sadie - in maroon - starting her 200 meter dash.

Running the 200.

Long jump

The landing - at least it wasn't a scratch.

Sadie also has been busy with her piano playing. She had her festival a couple weeks ago and scored 100 out of 100. We are really proud of her enthusiasm for the piano and know she will appreciate it later in life. One of these days I will video tape her playing another piece so you can know what I am talking about. She is really talented.

Anyway - tomorrow is my last day of school - then I graduate on May 8th. Tomorrow is also Cody's 10th birthday, so lots of things going on right now. I will try to post photos of that soon. My folks are coming from Oregon this next week and we are looking forward to catching up and spending some quality time with them. Well -hope all of you have as good a day tomorrow as I am going to. Thanks for all you do!

Passed My Boards!!!!!

For those who haven't heard yet, I received my National Boards results this week and I passed! Needless to say, I was very excited and it kept me in a great mood all week. Now all I got to do is graduate. 4 weeks until graduation and counting :)

Has it really been 3 1/2 months?

They say that time flies when your having fun . . . I don't know if I would call this past several months as fun, but the time has been flying. I can't believe that I haven't posted anything in 3 1/2 months, not even a Christmas posting (sorry for not sending out cards this year!) As for catching up; Christmas was great, the twins turned 8 and got baptized, new years brought in a new semester for me (my last one) and we played in the snow a lot. School has been a crazy ride and this semester has been full of busy work, more papers than I thought possible and a lot of community service work plus studying for national boards. Other than that though our family has just been pushing forward. Brett has really been exceptional since I have been in school. He has taken on the roles of morning wake up for the kids (plus getting them ready and on the bus), cooking during the week on my late nights (he is a really good cook) and chauffeur for Sadie now that she has started doing track after school - plus many more. He is good at not complaining (most of the time :) but is looking forward to not having to have so much extra responsibility at home when I graduate. I am so grateful for him. I don't know how I would have gotten through this without him.
This week has been my spring break which I started off by taking my board exams; 8 hours of testing makes for a long day. I won't know if I passed or not for several more weeks so keep me in your prayers (that I passed).
I will be graduating on May 8th - so I will make sure that I post photos of that blessed day! All I will have to worry about then if finding a board patient for my clinical boards in June. Anyone know somebody who hasn't been to have their teeth cleaned in 10 years and have tarter built up all over? If so, let me know :).
So far all I have talked about it me, sorry. The kids are growing up really fast. I just bought Sadie some dresses for church and Easter yesterday. I had to buy them from the ladies section because she is so tall now and growing up so fast. She tried them all on last night and she doesn't even look a little bit like a little girl anymore. It is kind of sad, I remember when she would stand in our living room and do a little wiggle dance every time I put on music. Man, I feel old all of a sudden! Cody has become pretty independent. He likes to cook and play basketball outside and recently he discovered that reading long books isn't any harder than reading short books; it just takes longer to finish them! Imagine that. He is close to finishing "Eragon" and he is really enjoying it. Jackson and Greg are doing good being in the same class in school this year. They love their teacher. Jackson has trouble not talking in class, he thinks that if someone talks to him he HAS to talk back. Greg is our family clown and thinks that dinner time is the time when he needs to make people laugh, much to the dismay of Brett and I. He also thinks that he won't get in trouble if he just puts on huge smile. Jackson has been growing out his hair because he likes to comb it in the morning so he looks "so handsome". His hair is really thin and gets really poofy long, so it is getting cut today.

Since I haven't taken many photos the last couple months here are some pics from when our kids where little - they really have grown a lot!


If you want to access this photo album and see the comments that go with each photo click on this link:

Looking Back - High family

Thanks for all your love and support. We think of you all often, just don't have the time right now to always act on those thoughts.

Fall turns into winter - catching up AGAIN

Just a little catching up. Here is a slideshow of some of the highlights from the last 2 months. Halloween, playing outside, Cody earned his Bear badge in cub scouts, the twins had a class play at school, Sadie shot a deer and had a recital - just to name a few of the things we have been up to.

We have enjoyed a lot of things the fall like playing football in the crisp autumn air, raking leaves and jumping into the piles, seeing the first snow fall and feeling the temperatures start to plummet. It has been crazy with school, but something that I have learned is that my family has to come first whenever that is possible. I can't miss school if the kids are sick or have a school party, but I can try to enjoy the time we have on my weekends and in the evenings.

This slide show is Thanksgiving and the day after when we went and got Christmas trees. We had a great weekend and had a lot of fun - the kids especially.

We will post our Christmas letter soon. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and that your holidays will be filled with the love of those around you, and those like us who are far away.

Sadie's Deer and Recital

Just real quick, back in October Sadie and Brett had the chance to hunt together for deer. Sadie's first ever big game hunting trip. She was a trooper. She got her deer after having to shoot it 3 times(2 of those shots were kill shots, it just wouldn't die). That had to be hard for a first time hunter as sensitive as Sadie is. So here is a photo of her and her first ever deer.

At the end of November Sadie had her piano recital. We were finally able to get Sadie started with a wonderful piano teacher back in June. On November 21, Sadie competed in a piano festival and scored 98/100 points. Then she had her recital on the 22nd. The following video is of her recital, playing one of her festival songs. We are so proud of her and her dedication to her playing. She really does love it.

Catching up

Well, time is flying by and here it is, 2 months since my last post. We have been more busy than ever so I will touch on some of the highlights from the last 2 months.

School started for all of us (the kids and I) at the end of August. Sadie is in the 7th grade, Cody is in the 4th grade and Jackson and Greg are in the 2nd grade. They are all doing great this year at helping around the house and being more responsible for themselves. I am in my senior year in the dental hygiene program at Idaho State University. I had an instructor tell us last week that our program has to be the hardest bachelors program in the nation - I would agree. I will not bother you with a list of why I am so stressed, just know that I am really busy and can't wait to graduate in May.

September was a good month. On the 12th of September I ran my first ever 5k. That is 3.1 miles for those who don't know. I had trained since July with my friend Tasha. We slowly worked our way up to be able to run that far and ran in a race together to say that we had. It was a fun, and exhausting day.

For anyone who knew me growing up you are probably a little surprised that I would do this. I used to think the cross country runners were crazy. I have to admit though that I really grew to love running and felt such wonderful benefits from doing it. I can't wait to get back into a routine with it after school gets done in the spring.

Here I am with Tasha and her husband Bob, and their oldest child Aliysa.

Before the race.
This is right at the start of the race. I was feeling a little competitive with all the people around, so we kind of started off faster than we should have.

Here we are at the finish line. We finished in around 34 minutes, which was great for us.

Afterwards, just grateful to have it done.

That same afternoon we had a family reunion for Brett's mom's side of the family. It was fun to catch up with people we hadn't seen for a while and meet some new members of the family.

Since then we have just been busy with school and Brett has been really busy with work. He is finally done with his field season, of course now he is just hunting a bunch so he isn't really home any more than before! He was able to go out this past Thursday and get his antelope. He got a really nice buck, I will have to have him post some photos when he gets home.

Sadie is excited to be turning 12 years old tomorrow. She has asked for a crimper for her birthday, which is kinda funny because crimping your hair was popular when I was in middle school too - pretty crazy. She is growing up so fast. She is wearing mascara now, (one thing at a time) and she talks way too much on the phone with her friends. We really are blessed to have such a sweet spirit in our home. She is so helpful with me being in school. She has even started getting dinner ready for us on the nights when Brett and I are both late getting home.

Anyway - life is pretty good for us Highs. We are so grateful to have such wonderful friends and such supportive families who help us out while things are so crazy right now. Thank you all! We would love to hear from you.

Mt. Borah, Idaho: elevation 12,662 ft.

Yesterday, August 22, Brett and I finally got to hike to the peak of Mt. Borah. It is described on a website about the "50 Highpoints" with the following statement:

"Mount Borah is the tallest mountain in Idaho and ranked 6th hardest of the state's 50 highpoints. Although the hike to the summit is relatively short, 3.4 miles, it gains over a vertical mile in that distance. The trail is very steep and unrelenting. There is only about 1/10 of a mile of the trail that is flat or a grade less than 20%."

Our adventure started on Friday when we dropped the kids off in Blackfoot at Brett's parent's house. We headed out from there and camped in our Suburban pretty close to the trail head. There were so many people right at the trial head that we decided to just pull off into the sage brush, away from the crowd, and go to sleep.

This shows us on Saturday morning as we are eating and getting our packs ready for the day. Yes, we both look tired, I know. We got up at 5am and were on the trail around 5:45.
Here is a portion of the trail right after leaving the parking area. I just wanted to document that it didn't start off leisurely, but was steep from the get go (I thought this was steep until later when I learned what real steep is). We headed from the trail head into the trees where we hiked a steady climb for about 1000 feet elevation.

This is one of the first views we got to see since we started in the dark. You can see the shadow of the mountains, showing the sun coming up behind us.

No, I didn't tilt the camera in this picture. This is when the climb really started. Brett hiked up ahead of me so that I could get him in the photo, then I made him wait for me to catch up. You can see up at the top of the photo quite a few people up ahead of us, including a scout troop from Meridian.

Here is where the trail came up out of the trees. It was this steep for a long ways and we rested as often as we needed to. This photo really shows how busy the mountain was.

Here is that same section, you can see the treeline, but looking down on it. You can see in the background the parking area (kind of a light "C" shaped area still in the shadow) and really get an idea how far up we are all ready.

This photo is taken from the start of "Chicken out ridge", looking back at what we had just done. The red line is the trail and the prior shot was taken at the very start of the line. It may look level, but it isn't. The blue arrow is showing where the trail comes up and over, that white speck is someones shirt.

First off, I don't know that guy in the shot, he was patiently waiting for me to take my photo and get on with my climb so he could follow. OK - Now I have mentioned Chicken-out-Ridge (COR) but haven't really explained what it is. It is a section of the climb that literally scares people into "chickening out" and turning around. It is a ridge of rocks that is very steep and has pretty much a cliff on either side. There is a trail that people have made along the left side of the cliff face that prevents them from having to traverse the rocks, but it is pretty dangerous seeing that it is loose scree and snow and if you fall there is nothing to stop you. Now back to this shot - it is the beginning of COR, not too difficult, I am looking back at it from where the climbing gets more difficult.

I am really humiliated to post such a photo of myself on the Internet, but it is the only one that really shows some of what we were doing. The plaque at the base of the mountain said that the rock climbing portion was considered a "class 3 scramble" (1=easiest 5=hardest). I actually found the ridge to be the funnest part of the entire climb and found my spirits lifted quite a bit once we had finished it. It really was fun.

This is looking back at COR. The scariest part for me was that part on the left of the screen where the guy with the red pack is standing. You have to back-climb and I couldn't see where my feet needed to go, that was kinda creepy.

This is looking back at COR. This photo really gives you a feel for it, seeing the people scrambling across the top.

Now looking forward. After getting off of COR the peak was in sight. The last portion of the climb is tough. It is steep and through really loose rock (scree). After you go over the saddle (where those guys are) you have an 800 foot climb. Remember that by this point you are at over 11,800 feet elevation and the air is starting to get thin. We took it slow (probably slower than Brett would have done alone) and stopped often so that I could get enough oxygen into my system but eventually (about 12:20pm) we made it to the peak.

Someone had left this neat flag for photo opportunities so we took advantage of it. We shared the peak with about 30 other people but found a nice spot to sit down and eat our lunch. We took photos of the surrounding views and then headed back down. At this point in time I was tired, but I didn't really think that the trip down was going to be as strenuous as the trip up. The following shots are all views from the highest point in Idaho. Really amazing.

A couple lakes visible on the backside of Borah.

Brett, enjoying the view (probably thinking about which mountain we can climb next).

Can you believe we are higher than these amazing mountains? The closer of the mountains are Leatherman peak and Mt. Breitenbach.Right here is where I should tell you that the trip down was not as strenuous as the trip up, but it was way harder. On the way up it was just pushing yourself to keep going up, taking breaks and catching your breath, but always feeling like - yeah, I can do this. Well, anyone who has ever hiked downhill on scree can imagine what our downhill climb was like. It was awful. By the time we got to COR I thought, oh good a break from the pounding that my knees were getting. What I didn't realize is that rock climbing is a lot harder when your legs feel like jello. At one point I was climbing across this rock face where you really had to reach and there was nothing behind you and I just locked up - like I felt frozen to the rock. I about completely lost it. Thankfully I was able to snap out of it and tell myself (out loud in fact) "Katherine, you can do this". I think I had Brett a little worried at that point. Anyway, by the time we hit the tree line my knees were killing me, but what can you do? There were thunderstorms lurking and the last place we wanted to be was on a tall mountain when lightning was striking, so I pushed on.
This photo is when we are almost back to the parking area. I desperately needed to use the bathroom and wanted to just crash. I am proud to say that I completed the hike without Brett having to carry my pack.

Overall, I am very glad that I did this and that we were successful. Would I do it again? Maybe if I had better gear like boots that fit right (you don't really know if they fit until you are going downhill like we were) and trekking poles. Being in better shape would probably get us up in better time, but we weren't in it to break any records. I am happy to say that I can check that peak off of my list. I think that next year we will climb Mt. Whitney in California (the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states). Anyone wishing to join us let us know. Right now I am just dreading my scheduled run for tomorrow - my legs are killing me!