Jan. Birthdays 2011

Lyn likes to go find the Winter Elk

A herd of 75+ are up behind his parents house.

Lyn's 38th B-Day!

He got new "Toys"

Knee pads

A gift card to Cabella's

Lots of fun stuff

Bekah made this pop-up card for him. Very creative!
He had a great birthday!

Ray's 6th B-day!

Ray had a Ninja go Lego birthday!

Ninjago: Kye cake

Blowing out 6 candles

Favorite present-Ninjago battle arena

We have started taking the just the birthday child out to eat for their birthday, Ray picked the Dragon Star, a local Chinese favorite.

He's getting really good at using chopsticks.

The Toy Room Project!

So for Christmas we decided that the kids needed a playroom for all the toys that continued to clutter their rooms. So around Thanksgiving we decided that maybe we could finish the toy room by Christmas. Well, we didn't start totally from scratch, Lyn had been working on the down stairs room for a little while off and on. We had been trying to decide the kind of lighting and he had put up some of the sheet rock. However, it still hard a lot of work to be done in 4 wks.
We forgot to take pictures before we started the project, but we did take some along the way.
Here is the Rock Work for the stove/fireplace. Lyn did it all himself, with the kids' help. We used some left over rocks from our friends(the Lances) house, that they just built. I really like the country look.

First few rows

It's looking really good.
The Insulation took a couple of bids, but we finally went with Hansen Insulation out of Lehi. They did a great job and were able to work us in fast.

We put the blow-in insulation in for better sound proofing, that way we don't have to hear the kids when they are in the playroom.

Putting up more of the sheet rock.

Ready for the Mud!

Our friends, father(Grandpa Dennis) came and did the mud and texture for the walls. He did a awesome job! He added the texture as a surprise, cause he doesn't usually do texture without his crew. In the closet, he had the kids put their hand prints in the mud it looks really cool.

Ready for paint!

It really like this color, it's called "Baked Scone" before it dried it was kinds of peachy, and I was worried but it turned out perfect.
Lyn found half of the trim in a dumpster at a job in Park City, and was lucky enough it find the rest to match.

Here is the pad all layed.
My brother Corey, changed out the carpet in his house right before Christmas, so we were all to use their old carpet and pad.

One of Lyn's friends and former boss, Jose, came and helped Lyn lay and clean the carpet. He did such a great job!

We had a lot of friends and family who donated their time and skills to help Lyn to put this toy room together for our children. We truly appreciate all of your hard work!

Lyn's mother, Susy found us the couch from one of her friends, and bought Lyn the pillows for his birthday. I really like the dk. brown couch in the room.

The rock work turned out great! I love it!

Organized toys!

The library, my "special" books are on the top. It took a lot for me to put my favorite children's books in the playroom.

So y'all will have to come over for a play date. We didn't finish it by Christmas, but it was well worth it. This weekend we are supposed it get our new entertainment center, another freebie from a friend. Then we will be all set for company!

Lyn's (1/2 way to retirement) Birthday

For Lyn's birthday we didn't go on our annual sledding trip this year however, we did spend the time finishing the basement playroom instead. I was working on this quilt of Lyn that I didn't get finished yet. (it still needs a few borders to be queen size.) So I layed it out, and said Happy Birthday anyway!

He really liked it! YEAH!
So after we finished up the playroom(pictures to follow)All the Epperson clan went down to Cabela's for Lyn's birthday, we bought Frosty's on the way down for the treat. We had a great time at Cabela's, and the highlight as always was the shooting range.

Ellie

Weston

Bekah and Dad

Ray and Dad

What a great shot Lyn is!

Tiesha

We had a lot of fun, and were lucky enough to get all our tokens for free!

Even Grandma Susy took a turn!

We celebrated Lyn's birthday on Sunday night.
Here he is opening his presents!

A coupon book from the kids!

A big box of goodies from his parents.

A big spatula for the grill,

and a Belgium waffle maker!

He had a pretty good birthday, we will just have to go sledding a different day!

RMNR '08 Hawk Throw Competition

There are a lot of different competitions at Rendezvous, like muzzler loader shoots, pistol shoots, primitive bow & arrow shoots. Our Favorite is the Hawk & knife throw. Weston is pretty good at it, and so when Lyn went down to throw this time he took Weston with him.
The great thing about these competitions is that anyone can try, it doesn't matter if you are experienced or just learning everyone gets to compete, and then the won with the highest score in men, women and kids wins. The other great thing is you throw the course in a group of 8 participants and everyone encourages and helps everyone else.

This was Weston's 1st time to stick it in the log, and he scored 1 pt. for this throw. Everyone in the group had been giving him pointers the whole course and were genuinely happy for him when he finally stuck it, and he was so proud!
This was 1 of Lyn's many sticks through out the course. They both did a great job and we are proud of them both!

Pre-1840 Classes-OPTIONAL

At Nationals they offer free classes in different Pre-1840 subjects for adults and teenagers to take. Usually they have kids games for the children(3-12) during the time of the adult classes so more people can participate. I am usually involved in helping with the kids activities, they get to listen to Indian legends, bead necklaces, learn to play and make games like Turtles & Bears, and learn what kids did in the pre-1840's

This year I was asked to do kids trade blanket instead, so the only pictures of kids games I took were of the last event,

the Candy Cannon.

Candy cannon is a small cannon loaded with wrapped candy, a little black powder, and the plug. It's noisy and the kids love it, except for the pieces for candy that got blow apart by the black powder.

Lyn went to 2 classes this time. One was on shooting Primitive Bow & Arrows, which he is been thinking about getting into. He said the class was very interesting and informative. He also went to a Survival Class, and got a lot of good ideas of stuff to take not only to Rendezvous, but also when he is hunting.

This is Howdy teaching the class on bow & arrows

My favorite class took was the class for Quill Work. The demonstration was free, but the class cost $15. We received hands on instruction from Jean, and got to quill this medicine bag. I learned 2 different stitches, and also learned that I enjoy quill work. Our instructor Jean, said that my work was pretty good for a 1st timer, and that my stitches will get better with practice. Now all I have to do is find someone to shoot me a porcupine so I can salvage the quills, and get to work.

12 Years of Wedded Bliss(whatever bliss is)

Yes, Lyn and I have been married for 12 years!

(I know it is hard to believe, since we look so young.)

It has been a crazy wild ride so far! Our 1st anniversary dinner, I was pregnant and just getting over the nausea stage. We went to dinner in Midway and then left the doggy bag in the truck to go next door to rent a movie. When we got back into the truck, the smell of the left overs made me so sick that we had to stop on the way home so I could throw up all over Lyn's boots! Well, anniversary dinners have gotten lots better over the years. This year we needed just a quick get away. So we got a discount room from KTMP for the Timpanogos Inn in Lehi. We left Friday afternoon and went down to dinner at Chili's, it was good food and it had been a while since we had eaten there. We took our dessert back to the suite and relaxed in the jacuzzi. It was good to get away, even if it was only one night!

Thanks to Chris & Tiesha for watching the kids.

One crazy week!

On Sunday Jan. 13Th, just three days after Lyn's 36Th birthday, Lyn came home from church with the flu. This "flu" had him down flat the rest of Sunday, and all day Monday. On Tuesday he woke up and his right shoulder was swollen and bright red. So I sent him to Doc. Berg to have it checked. Doc. Berg said it looked like cellulitis and gave him a shot in the butt, and put him on an antibiotic. By Wed. the redness was growing so he went back in and Wes Webster, put a shunt in his arm and from Wed. to Mon. Lyn had to go in every morning to have his I.V. of antibiotics. On Monday afternoon they did an MRI an when they got the results back on Thursday Doc. Berg sent him to a Gen. Surgeon in Provo , because they had found that one of his lympnodes was swollen. So on Friday we went down to see Dr. Thomas in Provo. After reviewing his charts and the MRI. He decided it was most likely just an infection, but given his family history,(both of his Dad's parents passed away from a form of cancer) it was better to do a biopsy and rule it out than to wait and have cancer spread. So Monday Jan. 28Th Lyn had biopsy surgery on his right lympnodes by his neck. He had to go under, because of the delicate spot of the lympnodes, right next to a major artery and many nerves. Anyway, the surgery went very well. Dr. Thomas has preformed many biopsies, and said that this one didn't look like cancer. They took out the most infected lympnode, it was oozing puss and said that there was two other ones that were infected but not as bad. Anyway it is GOOD NEWS! :) The biopsy results will be back next Monday and that's when we go down to have the stitches out too. But everything looks good, and he'll just have to take the antibiotics until the infection goes away.

Lyn has always been very healthy so it's been strange for him to be sick, but we have many things to be thankful for. Like not working for Heber Appliance at this time, since Lyn got paid on commission and didn't work for about a week. By being part-owner of his company we were able to deal better with that. We have truly been blessed by all the prayers and support of our family and friends. It has brought us such peace at this difficult time. We have grateful for the priesthood holders in our families that were able to given Lyn wonderful and inspired blessings, and for the peace and comfort that came with them.:) Thank you to everyone of you for your love and support!

Can you believe where Lyn was 20 mins. after we left the Surgical Center?

Yep! At Sportsman Warehouse looking at the Guns!

His big buff shoulder is really just the ice pack on his incision!

Family Sledding Party for Lyn's B-Day '08

Every year for Lyn's B-day, he takes half day off and we go sledding as a family. We had more fun this year because we found somewhere close by, so we got to play longer! We had a blast and even dug a snow cave! It is a fun family tradition, that I hope we can keep doing!