..feliz cumpleanos...a ti..

today is Ashlan is seven (7). today it is all about her. (until about 7 tonight, then it will be about mason and his pinewood derby.) i took donuts in to her class today. she was sooo excited! she got to stand up on a chair while her classmates sang "happy birthday" to her (with cha-cha's). and she got to be the first one to take a bite out of her yummy donut. does it get any better than that?

...on the special chair, while being sung to

...with her FABULOUS teachers...Ms. Hynes & Ms. Woodley (LOVE them)

...1st grade class

...with her group.

we love you Ashlan. thanks for bringing so much joy into our family!

..Feliz Cumpleanos..

..redding tournament..

last weekend mason had a tournament in redding, ca. his team took 1st place.
the fields where they played are called "the field of dreams." they are replicas of a couple of major league fields...they were in heaven.

the team with their trophy

each boy got an individual trophy. the baseball player in the middle is 3D...very cool

team picture

..expect the unexpected..

there are 2 cowboys front and center, Rocky is the one on the right.

Last night governor Palin was in Reno for a political rally. she had called and asked the pres. of the PBR (professional bull riding) to have two PBR riders come out for the event. (reno is also know to put on the "richest rodeo in the west") my cousin, Rocky McDonald (some of you know him better as Jason) was one of the lucky ones. i really had no intention of going to the rally since i voted early, but we really wanted to see Rocky since we are his biggest fans. so... i loaded up the kids, (matt was working late) and we drove down to the Livestock Event Center. when we arrived the line was forever long and it was sprinkling and it was cold. long story short, we were able to get a hold of jason, he got us in without having to stand in line, and we got to go down on the stage to help cheer on gov. palin! the kids were good sports. i was a little worried that the girls might freak out while we were on stage because we were standing for a while, but they did well. (and they were kind of hidden!) ..thank you rocky for a memorable night..

in this picture i'm towards the top holding malie. ashlan is right below the "country first" sign.
a special "thank you" to rachel hamrick for being there with her camera and capturing this moment for us!

..happy.halloween..

from 2 of the 4 bigler kids...
the boys ran off to trick or treat with their friends before i could get a picture of all of them.
they are much too cool now to go with the family.

both girls wanted to be cheerleaders this year.

the girls with their biggest fan...our favorite little cowboy, Hoyt!