fun in the snow

She is a dumb dog but atleast we found something she is good for!

poor ryan had the coldest hands!

Bikers Soar for Wildlife

This year the bike run was on Valentines day and we were lucky enough to be able to make the trip to the valley so Caleb could make the run! He has been able to ride all but the first year but we still attended, he just didn't have a bike! It is a lot of fun, and One day, I would really like to make the run with him, It is just hard because we have 2 boys and it is on a sunday so thats alot of work for someone! Anyway, they had a blast it was 80 degrees and BEAUTIFUL!

getting ready to leave the house....boys wanted to go too!

Caleb and his Dad

My Valentine and me, this was our valentines date apparently

One of the vendors was nice enough to give Ryan one of her balloons, it kept him busy for quite a while until he laid it on the rocks and laid on top of it and it poped!

Ryan and his Cousin Abby, cute little girl!

I was such a slacker with the camera this trip, I got to go clear over to queen creek to visit a friend it was so much fun to get to see her and her sweet kiddos who we haven't seen since last year when we came for the bike run!

I should probably stop doing that because it makes me miss her so much after I leave!

Who doesn't LOVE a wood burning stove?!?!

Lady dog LOVES the stove, she will lay in front of it and get so hot she is panting but won't move...she is a smart one ;)

In our house this is the ONLY sorce of heat. Its actually kinda nice, we don't have any utilities besides electricity and we can keep the house as warm as we want!

both boys LOVE to help get the fire going. Here is ryan blowing the fire


and these are the bellows that Caleb made. He is pretty handy, I'm thinkin about keeping him around :)

Cute little story about the artwork on the bellows. Caleb had to draw them out on the wood before he cut it and while he went to go get his saw Luke and Ryan decided that since Daddy drew on the wood, they had to do what he did too! Daddy wasn't too happy but to this day he has not sanded it down or painted it. I think it gives them character!

Oh! And with a wood stove comes the tremendous blessing of a CHAINSAW! Caleb has wanted one for a while, even thought he thought it was super funny when we first moved up here he would hear people bragging about how big their saws were and how much wood their truck can carry.....now he is one of them! We were really blessed to get a really good deal on this saw and have gotten free wood cutting permits for ceder (which lots of people don't like to burn but I LOVE IT! It smells so good!) And we have had lots of 'memories' going out cutting wood already!



Oh and this is for the last post, both boys love the bed in the kitchen!

The Cates move to TAYLOR?!?!!!

For Christmas (or rather new years) I got the best thing EVER! Some friends of my parents have a little house known as 'the cabin' that they rent out to family and friends. It just so happened that Caleb was working on cleaning up a fire in the home of the guy that was renting the cabin so we called and asked if they had anyone lined up for it after he moved out and lucky for us there wasn't! He had actually already moved out when we had called about it but hadn't told the owners yet....So for new years we got to move in! It is such a cute little house. Its only one bedroom but that one bedroom is HUGE! Anyway, we love it so much! We really appreciated the friends that opened their home to us for a couple of months while we figured out what we were doing after our house sold but it is REALLY nice to have our own space, our own schedual and our own dogs to deal with! No more dog poop in the house!

The side of the house, the window you see is the kitchen the part by the ladder is the living room and bathroom

This is the backyard. Luke is in LOVE with the 'treehouse with no tree'

our living room as you walk into the house....as you can see with the toys all over the floor, it is very lived in!

Kitchen, and yes you can see Ryan sleeps in the kitchen. His bed was too big to fit through the door of the bedroom and we were just too tired to take it apart and put it back together so there it has stayed.....but he actually loves it. When I cook dinner he wants in his bed so he can watch and when I cook breakfast in the morning he just rolls around in his bed and jabbers at me!

The view from my kitchen sink, not so fond of the laundry in the kitchen but it works!

Another view from my kitchen sink.....little stinker :)

Christmas tree '09

Since Lukes birthday is so close to christmas we usually try to go get a christmas tree for his birthday but it was on sunday this year so we met up with calebs parents to get their tree too! Its always fun to go out in the forest and play!

Grandma & Grandpa Cate with their tree

This one is PERFECT! he says now we just need it to grow about 3 feet for next year!

Helping Daddy cut the tree!

Ryno is ready to be done! Too much falling down in the snow makes COLD hands!

Happy Family

Wouldn't you know it, the only picture in which everyone is looking at the camera is the one that Luke is wearing calebs moms goofy hat! Ahhhh memories!