Long Time Update...

It has been virtually one year since I posted here and I am dedicated to getting back so I can post pics of our little one. She has grown so much and is the light of our life. I cannot believe how much she teaches me everyday.

More Maisen!

What a little Ham! She makes each day the most profound and loving experience possible. Still 105% for height!

My First Piggy Tail

Hello everyone! I am now 8 and a half months old and can crawl. I also have two front teeth and wanted to show you my new Piggy Tail! Love You!

Spectacular

Some days a guy just has to get out. This Sunday was one of those days. I made a phone call and made an exploratory trip to some new water. The water was high, but the future looks bright and I know there are some big brownies down there calling my name!

Santeeee!

After a fun day of just chilling out with the family we decided to head down to the living nativity and then Maisen made her first visit to Santa with her cousins Eithen and Evvi. Maisen was so bundled up she couldn't move, therefore I don't think she even realized who was holding her.

We are going to be here in Hermiston through Christmas day and then we are heading to Portland for the Les Schwab basketball tournament. I will post some pics of Maisen in her Redmond Hoops hoodie.

Merry Christmas!

A Steel Grey Morning

Holy cow, life has been crazy lately and I certainly have had steelhead fishing on the brain. This morning Dave and I made the trek to the D and pulled out the spey rods for some action. As is the usual, it was slow. Dave took me to a spot he likes to fish and I had one brief hook up and release at about 7:00 and then hooked and landed the fish below about 8:15. While it definitely is a typical one-salt Deschutes Chromer, it had plenty of spunk choosing to go airborne several times. Dave and I left the water and headed home at 10:30 after practicing our spey casting, man I need some serious work. If anybody who loves me is reading this I think I want the John Hazel DVD on spey casting for Christmas. Maybe Maisen will hook Daddy up ;-) As always it was great to get on the water and Dave was as gracious as he always is on the water. Thanks to the Lord for a great morning trip to His beautiful creation.

Beautiful Girl~!

This is our beautiful little girls latest photo shoot. Everyday is full of new smiles and new things to laugh about. She is the joy of our life.

Picture Update~! We love our Macy Girl~!

Hey Everyone!

We have lots of new pictures and we want to share. Personally, I am looking forward to the Holidays when we will get some great pictures of Maisen's first holiday season. Enjoy the pictures! We love and miss everyone.

Sweet Giggles

Maisen is growing like a sweet... big... beautiful.... flower. I don't know which kind because I am not very good at botany. She is the sweetest thing on the face of the Earth! I can't imagine having boys, they could never be as sweet as Maisen. I guess God will prepare me for that when and if the time comes. Right now I am enjoying being the biggest dork in the world trying to make her laugh. I am also working hard on her shooting form! Our little three month old has some sweet follow through! :) I hope all of you enjoy the pics!

Look at my fancy shoes!

Brookies and Peace

You know how sometimes in life you second guess some of your past decisions? I am conviced that this happens we we failed to consult God and made decisions on our own. As many of you know I decided not to coach football at Redmond High this year and...........I have NEVER regretted it for one minute! Seriously, I love working with the kids, but this has been the most enjoyable, stress free fall I can ever remember. Highlighted by the fact that everyday I get to come home and spend time with my beautiful daughter, go fishing on the weekends, see my wife everyday, and actually have my lessons planned for weeks in advance!

An example of this new found freedom is a jaunt to one of my rapidly growing favorite places. My friend Dave, myself, and his brother Seth, decided to take a Sunday afternoon to a wonderfully serene place that I would never mention by name here for fear somone googles it and finds it ;) We sored lipped some brookies and just generally had the whole darn place to ourselves for the whole afternoon on a weekend! Now that is what I call sweet!

Getting Away

Is it okay if I am extremly vague yet udderly blunt in this post? Alright I will just come out and say it ... I hate what the internet has done to the lifestyle of flyfishing, notice I did not call it a sport or a hobby. You see, to those of us who truly understand the gift of fly fishing it is much more than a sport or a hobby, it is a deep seeded passion fueled by every glimmer of natures beauty and every adventurous experience with our closest friends. Luckily, I have an amazingly loving and understanding wife who while trying to be sincere, says she sort of understands where I am coming from. You see, the internet has concentrated the rookie to below average fly fishers in what used to be fisheries where you would find only those who truly understood what it meant to be a fly fisherman. Formerly, if someone went to a new place they heard was good and didn't catch anything they probably would not return, now they will return because they have seen others post numerous pictures of numerous fish and they simply say to themselves, "it must have been bad luck." The only bad luck I see is the amount of fisherman I see crowding me and my solitude in what were formerly my favorite waters. I will clarify however, there are some fisheries such as the one I posted below who everyone knows about and secrets really don't abound, those would be fair game in my opinion. Whew...........sorry I had to get that one out.

So with that said I have posted two pictures of what could be a thousand different rivers and will simply say I had an amazing time with one of my closest friends on a beautiful river.

Summer Blessings

Well, it has certainly been an eventful and wonderful summer. We have so much to be thankful for and our most precious gift from God is of course, Maisen, or "Bug" as I have nicknamed her. Each second I am away from her I find my thoughts drifting off to her gentle "coos" and the big smile she gets when she knows we are giving her undivided attention. To say the least Holli and I are heartbroken that we have to leave her each day in a couple weeks when we head back to work. However, we know God has an amazing plan for our family and we believe we are living in His will for our lives at this time. I have included some pics for you to see in case you haven't seen her in awhile. She is the joy of our life and we are amazed each day at the changes she makes. One change we pray for is that she will begin going to bed right after her 9:30 pm feeding. Currently she would rather stay up and watch late night ESPN Sports Center with Daddy. Don't get me wrong, I love my sports, but sleep has to happen sometime. Oh well, it is amazing the patience you develop when you have children, Holli already had them, God is doing a work in me each day. She is know 10 weeks old and upwards of 14+ pounds and 25+ inches.

You Grow Girl!

Today Holli and I took Maisen to her appointment with our pediatrician. We were excited to see how she has grown. She is now seven weeks old and weighs 11.7 lbs. She is also 23 3/4 inches tall, that would be one heck of brown trout! According to the national averages she is above the 100th percentile for height! Daddy really hopes that keeps up so she can dominate on the court:)

Montana 2007 - Slay Crew Time

Well, it has been some time since I last posted due to the fact that I have been on vacation for the past three weeks. The most recent week was spent on the banks of the Yellowstone River. Some people feel closest to God when they are at the beach, I feel that way in Montana. I will let the pictures do most of the talking, but suffice it to say Irv, Brent, Chris and I had an unbelievable time on the river despite stacking boats, hurricane winds, and a couple cases of the sleep walkers. We did indeed develop an intimate relationship with Salmo Trutta.

The Slay Crew - Slay One, Slay All!