Into the Woods

I have a feeling that this may be a rather lengthy post. I guess we'll see...

Obviously in Alaska, we are always going out "into the woods," so that is why I decided to name the post the way that I did. I guess I'll give you a little update of who has been going "into" the woods and who has been staying "out of" them lately.

Devin and Dillon-"into"

Boys are always going into the woods. It wasn't too hard this day for Dev and Dil because they just took their guns to the woods in the backyard.

Tara-"out of"

Tara has been keeping way to busy to be going into the woods these days. Her and her friend Deb have been very busy with a few projects they've had to get done lately. One of these are these super cool notebooks they made for the Young Women in the ward. Yep they're made just out of regular food box containers.

Another project was the Mother's Day gifts for the women in the ward. They made these cute bouquets of paper flowers, which took hours.

Tara also stayed out of the woods-so that Micah could go into the woods-by making her a little red riding hood costume. (Read on...)

Micah- "into"

Micah really did go "into the woods" lately. Actually she was just in the play Into the Woods at her High School, so I guess it's basically the same thing. She was Little Red Riding Hood-like I mentioned-and did such a great job!

 

Brooke, Rhea, Tara and...TANK -"into"

So last week, the above listed people (and dog) went into the woods to see this way cool eagle's nest that we had heard about. We weren't going to take Tank, but decided that he might have a rather enjoyable time, so...this is what happened:

You can see how much he LOVED putting his head out the window for that fresh air.

And when we got there, he was running around like it was Christmas morning.

Tank is the little speck of bright gold on the ground. The eagle's nest is on top of the right-most telephone pole. I will show you a zoomed in picture below.

Cool, huh? We plan on going back soon with better shoes, in hopes to get a closer up picture, and possibly a view of the eagle, and the little babies since they are usually born in May. 

On our way out of the woods Tank could not wait to get home, so we let him get a little exercise and race us to the house.

Mr. Bear-"out of"

As I'm sure you all know from my last blog update, poor mr. bear definitely came out of the woods, and home to our house. Here are some pictures of part of what's left (the other part is coming up) of him, and Tank's reaction. By the way, I am not posting the "somewhat" graphic pictures directly, for those of you who do not want to view it, and may have sensitive-ness to this like me. (I am getting better though). So if YOU WANT to see the pictures, feel free to just click on the underlined links, and a page will open up to show you the picture.

Bear Picture #1

Bear Picture #2

This is Tank wondering what is going on. At first he thought it was a dog.

He looks a little sad, doesn't he? I was too.

Mike and Lane-"out of"

So this afternoon, the "other part" of the bear was brought out. I walked upstairs all peppy and walked to the table where it looked like some kind of "craft project" was going on. [A sheet pulled across the table, a cutting board, a big canvas bag in the middle] I said, "Oh what is everyone making?" A little chuckle from the Styers family. And they asked, "Well what do you think is in the bag?" And then I looked at Mike, and he had 3 knives laying on the table in front of him. Ya, that would be Mr. Bear's "other half." I said, "Oh I see," and quickly walked to the other side of the room with my nose and mouth covered by my hands. (I may have said that I am getting less sensitive to this, but not by much. Trust me). Let's just say that I stayed away from this scene as much as possible, and Tara took these pictures. Again, I am screening them, so if you want to see the pictures, then just click on the underlined links below. 

Other half #1

Other half #2

Other half #3

Other half #4

Some of the pictures aren't TOO bad. Just like something you would see at the meat department of a grocery store. I was told that the meat doesn't taste too bad. In response to that I said, "Maybe you better not tell me ahead of time when this bear will be dinner, and then I can just find out later, so I don't get too sick before we eat." Still working on not being so sensitive with this stuff...

Brooke and Rhea-"out of" The Boys-"into"

So today, Rhea and I undertook a little job to help the boys out for tomorrow. You see, we came "out of" the woods to clean the boat, so that the boys can go "into" the woods and fish tomorrow for the first time of the summer. Bring on the fishing!! (Don't worry, I'll be out there fishin' soon enough, but I am not quite ready to wake up at 4:00 a.m.) Devin had to go to work this afternoon, so I volunteered to help him out and get the boat all cleaned up for it's big outting tomorrow. We swept, vacuumed and Rhea wiped down all the seats to get the boat lookin' spic and span. 

BEFORE: (actually taken mid-way through the cleaning)

 

AFTER:

All ready for tomorrow!!

Stay posted for our next trip into the woods! :)