Jeremy's Christmas Present

For Christmas, Jeremy got a brand new Craftsmen tool chest.

He was like a kid in a candy shop. It is something he always wanted but would never buy for himself.

Here is a picture of the beauty!

Here is how he organized his tools before!

Here is his organization now!

Can you believe he is so organized? He stole the mat that keeps my rug from sliding all over the living room so he could line his tool box. He doesn’t want it to get all scratched up!

Then he spent all day organizing his shop. Man! If this is all it takes to keep him organized I may just get him one for the house!

Macy Comes to Town

The Wickerts got their kids a golden retriever puppy for Christmas! She is a cute little thing. We helped watch her for a few days before she went home on Christmas morning.
The girls weren't too sure about this.

I think Kenai was thinking, "Great another puppy to try to follow me when I am hunting birds. Didn't we just get done training Sydney?"

And Shylo was thinking, "I just got rid of my own puppies and now I have to deal with another one. Oh well, I guess I better show her the ropes."

Awh, she is a sweet little girl most of the time!

I am not sure Christmas is the best time to have a new puppy in the house. Here Macy got a hold of my Christmas tree garland, she was tugging and growling and almost pulled the whole tree over. It was actually pretty cute. Kenai came running over to stop her before she got in to much trouble!

Our kids and their stockings!

We got up early Christmas morning and boy, oh boy were our girls excited it was Christmas! As is tradition in our family, we let them open their stockings right away! They were the happiest kids on the block.

Here are some pictures for the grandparents to see them opening their stockings! MOM if you click on the pictures they will get bigger!

Playing with their new presents!

Kenai was so exhausted after playing,she cuddled up with her new tiger and tiger stripped ball and drifted off to sleep.

Christmas Dogs

The other day I was getting the house decorated for the Christmas season and I ran across the girls Christmas hats. So I decided to take their Christmas picture for our Christmas letter.

Well, I got an ok picture but I wanted a better one so I proceeded to attempt a better shot. However, they just would not cooperate any longer. Before I knew it, there was a whole blown out fight.

This is how it ended…

Taking our children’s pictures can be quite daunting at times.

Lalanya Gets Engaged

Picture of Lanya, Kristi and Kylie was taken at our wedding rehearsal dinner!

Many of you know Kristi's best friend and college roommate Lalanya. I am so excited to announce her engagement!!!!!!

While on vacation in Mexico her boyfriend, Jeremy, asked her to marry him. YEAH!!!! Lanya and Jeremy have been dating for only 11 years so it is about time, but still a grand surprise!

CONGRATULATIONS LANYA AND JEREMY!!!!!!!!!!!

We can't wait until your special day! We love you guys!

More Puppy Pictures

These pictures were taken the first time

Shylo's babies went outside to play!

Here are some pictures of when the gang was a little younger.

Doing what puppies do best - sleep!

Shylo Puppy Pictures - FINALLY

My mom finally sent pictures of Shylo's puppies. These pictures were taken at 5 weeks. They are now about 13 weeks old and have all gone to their homes. My mom did ended up keeping one girl, I am not sure what color her collar was.

Thanksgiving with Da Baums

Thanksgiving at da Baum’s is never boring. This Thanksgiving morning we arose with the sun and Jeremy set out duck hunting. He took along two junior high boys and our two very birdie dogs. Boy, I am not sure who was more excited the girls or the boys!

The boys, Kenny & Austin, shot off about a box and a half of shells (that’s about 30 shells) but they never hit a single duck, hehe. It was their first time so you have to give them a break.

Every time the boys would shoot like mad the girls would go crazy. Shylo, over eagerly, kept diving off the boat. She isn’t use to ducks not falling from the sky after the shots ring out. But to her discontent no ducks were falling.


Lucky for the girls Jeremy helped them out. He shot one duck and showed the boys how it is done! My, oh my was Shylo, our lab, excited. She dove off the boat in search of the one downed duck. Meanwhile Kenai, the pointer, sat in the boat whining.

Then as soon as Shylo brought the duck back Kenai proceeded to steal it.


Shylo just can't get enough fetching in!

This is a picture of the girls after the big hunt.

Da Baum Life Lately...

Summer and the fishing season are over and hunting season is in full swing.

Jeremy has been out chasing deer with his bow. So far he has shot three bucks, only one more to go. But he sure is working hard for that 4th buck. Seems like everywhere he goes there is too much human sign or there are no deer. The other day he hiked for 6 hours and didn’t see a single deer in a spot where usually the deer are pretty thick. Instead he found a lot of garbage and marker ribbons. Pretty discouraging, but God is faithful and he will provide when the time is right.

As for Kristi…well I have been really busy with school and church. If I am not at school then I am usually at home being a wife, out having coffee with a girlfriend, out hiking or at some church function.

Life in Ketchikan is so simplistic and wonderful!!!

Florida

We made it back from another great vacation to visit Jeremy’s family in Florida.

Our first day fishing we took Jeremy’s sister, Jessica and her husband Ryan out. It was a blast. I limited out on Mackerel (2) and Ryan caught a Barracuda. Jeremy and Jessica were farming that day. Jessica couldn’t seem to get a fish to the boat and if she did Jeremy would knock it off the hook back into the ocean! Haha!

Ryan definitely was the hero that day. His son Cody was so excited to hold the Barracuda. He kept saying, “Aunt Kristi take another picture of me and the Barracuda.” That was after everyone had taken several shots of him and the giant toothed fish.

The parents took us to a state park, in Port St. Joe, Florida, to go camping and fishing. It was a blast and our highlight of the trip. I got to lie on the beach and Jeremy caught a 6’ tarpon – all on the same morning.

Port St. Joe was a neat place. Beautiful beaches just like Destin/Ft. Walton Beach and great fishing. We caught a variety of fish; from different types of bait fish to King Mackerel, Blues, Tarpon, Red trout and sea trout. It was a complete blast! We got up everyday at 4 a.m. to go see what we could catch.

Port St. Joe is also a butterfly sanctuary so there were literally millions of butterflies all over the place. The downside to this was the bugs were pretty bad because they don’t spray pesticides to kill all the nasty bugs because of the butterflies.

Here is a picture of our camping accommodations! Pretty nice camper they have. We slept in the bed that doubles as a table – not too comfy. My head was touching one wall and my feet, the other. But all the same it was cozy!

Florida sunset!