A visit from Jolly Saint Nick

Santa didn't have far to travel this year. . . .and Tater must have been good enough, for his stocking was full.

And he also received what he had wished for. . .just how does Ol' Saint Nick know? 

May the magic of Christmas be experienced by all and the reason for the season be remembered and treasured.  Merry Christmas to all from the Sturdivant's!



Ice Fishing

It was a beautiful morning when we headed out to go ice fishing.  No wind, not many other people and the temperature was at about -10F.

We drove the pick-up out close to our selected spot and then pulled the sled over to where Eric chose to drill his fishing holes. 

We used some good old fashioned power to get our holes drilled (we sure are feeling it today).  We estimated the ice to be about 36 inches deep at this time.  I am sure in a month or so it will be thicker.  And of course Tate added in his support and moral cheering as we drilled our holes. 

The first hole was easy but each one after was not quite as fun.  At times seemed never ending, but at least we stayed warm while exposed to the elements.

We are all set and ready to fish!

The troops are snacking, still waiting for a bite. . . .

. . . And finally a bite!  Just a little trout, but it was landed and made the good spirits re-appeared.

Gingerbread House

The last 4 years we have kind of made it a tradition to make/decorate a gingerbread house.  This year Tate did alot of it on his own.  The frosting was a little thick so we helped him frost where and how he wanted and he did the rest.  Here are the boys starting to get things built.

 And Tater showing off his work in progress, looks very neat and particular!

 An the finished project. . .but everyone stay back, this gingerbread house is for SANTA!



First Ride

It has been a while since I have posted something. We have been getting moved into our house and situated as much as we can. With no internet at our house it has been about impossible to get updates on here, but hopefully now I can stay up-to-date.

This last weekend we went on a ride down to the river. It is just about frozen over, so we kept close to the edge. It was cold out (5 degrees) but we were bundled up good and had alot of fun. The sun was out when we started so we could see Pioneer Peak right beside us or at least the base of it. By the time we headed back it was pretty low clouds all around us. But we sure had fun and plan on doing it again soon. It's pretty handy when we can just leave right from our house and not have to worry about trailering our stuff around.

ARRRR Maties!!

This was hanging around our house at Halloween waiting for any lost sole to come along. (sorry it is sideways, I need to remember that next time when I take a video on my camera)

Happy Birthday

We celebrated a birthday the other day and had some yummy cake!

New House

Well we have finally bought and closed on a house. The process was long once we found the place, but finally it is ours to move into (well after all the work we need to do).

This is a shot of the back side. As you will notice by looking at all of these BEFORE photos the previous owners did not take too much care in how they occupied their lives. But overall the house has good bones and we can work with that.

The house was built in 1930 as a community building/church for the Colonists in the Butte area. So there is some neat historical significance to the house, and I hope we can keep some of that. So this is the West end of the house, which used to be the main entrance to the building, but not anymore.

This is the bathroom. It has a large walk in shower, with some very interesting "trinkets" around the archway.

And this goes to show how bad the people lived previously, but nothing compared to other parts of the house.

And these are some of the many "trinkets" that live in the bathroom. They will be coming down at some point in time, but until then maybe we will be able to identify all of them. (bird, seashell, bonnet, top of a red pepper, dragonfly, broken plates, pie, girl, orange, etc.)

This is a shot of the living room/dining room/kitchen. It is one big room, but we love the old hard wood floors. Can't see the kitchen too well, and I missed getting a good shot, but it is open and spacious. All the countertops even have butcher block on them. The first two doors lead to bedrooms. Then the bathroom and then the laundry room.

So that was the house tour. There was a lot of junk and trash everywhere, inside and out. And I am sure we will be spending all next year after the snow clears finding more trash and treasures.

So this last picture is of an old green house that is around back. But most recently it was used as a chicken house. So I guess stay tuned till later and see what we turn it into. It is also filled with lots of trash and treasures.