Tallan Schow Family

Hey fam, 
 
This week has been beautiful other than a few windy days. Spring has arrived and things are blooming. My dogwood tree out back is gorgeous right now. We have been doing a lot of work in the yard and Chad surprised me by ordering a couple Topsy Turvy tomato growers so I planted those today.  I'll let you know if they are all the commercials talk them up to be:) This weekend the girls and I tagged along with Chad and Brenner on their turkey hunt in Dayton, Washington. Spring in the mountains is our favorite.  No bugs and not too hot. We saw lots of elk and deer and lots of turkeys that know just exactly where all the private land is.  The locals up there like to feed them so they are very comfortable hanging out right in their yards.  I would probably do the same thing if I lived up there.  A couple of Toms put on quite a show for us trying to impress a hen.  You can see her in the bottom left corner running away in one photo.  I also had to include a photo of a grain silo we thought looked like a badminton birdie.

love-Tal

Schow Family Update

Posting these from my cousin Tallan because Raleigh enjoys reading this blog and he’ll enjoy these pictures and stories about his cousins.

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Okay,  I have to share a few more photos and stories... We were surprised the kids found three different types of frogs.  One was as green as the moss growing out of the rocks, one looked like your typical mountain lake frog and we found the tan one near the lake but the kids insisted on letting it go in the water.  I think it was more of a forest land frog....  Pretty amazing for the kids to find such different looking frogs on one trip.  Wish I would have gotten photos of the others.  Last night we experienced an exciting mountain lightning thunderstorm for about 30 minutes.  We found the discarded tire and decided to make a swing out of it. The girls put Ella in it and we thought she was having fun until she started yelling in her tiny voice "Done".  We brought it home and hung it in our birch tree  but this evening Hailey and Addison broke the rope in mid-air. Glad we don't have any broken bones around here :)  
Tal

Kysa Riding Circles Around Me

Link to the Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxjd6fb20Ds

Off to the Races

Yet another embarrassing day for the Shippens at church. Kysa and Shay just had to go to the bathroom about halfway through sacrament meeting. After washing hands, I told the girls as I pushed the restroom door open, "Now let's go back in and be quiet and show dad how good we can be." But what they heard was, "On your mark, get set, go!!!!"

Without warning they took off in a full sprint down the long hallway back towards the chapel, and the only thing I could do was PRAY they would slow down. No luck. They RACED in to the 3rd row pew where Ty and Raleigh were sitting, with Shay yelling, "I win, I win."

By the time I made it to the foyer, Kysa was laughing and running back out of the chapel towards me and I could hear Shay crying. Ty then had to haul her out. She was crying because he managed to grab ahold of her and wouldn't let her follow Kysa. If only Grandpa Jer-Bear or Grandpa Emmett would have been there--there would have been beatings. :)

Fish Stories

The girls were talking about the fish tonight and I asked them what happened to lucky.  (Raleigh’s old goldfish that I accidentally killed while cleaning his tank.)  Kysa said "He's in the sink".  I reminded her that Ty flushed him down the toilet, and added, so he could go to the ocean (Nemo).  Then Shay piped in, "Cuz that's where he belongs."  Kysa looked puzzled, and Shay repeated "That's where he belongs, in the ocean!"  Then Kysa explained her puzzled look, adding, "Yeah, with the poop and the pee."  Oops.  I had to tell Kysa I was just kidding about the whole toilet leading to the ocean thing.

petting the horses

Kysa has always loved animals.  Tonight I took her out to a dinner / rally for Governor Otter at Frank Vandersloot’s Riverbend ranch.  She was NOT interested in eating her hot dog and cheetos.  Ky knew she was at a ranch and she wanted to “pet the horses!”   Unfortunately the wind was blowing 25 MPH outside and it was COLD, plus it was muddy.  Horse petting was just not an activity her mom would entertain.  On the way home we passed some livestock, and of course she urged me to stop.  Finally I gave in and pulled over at Reed’s Dairy.  It wasn’t good enough to look from the car—Kysa had to get out to see the cows.  I don’t know how good her vision is.  She was just positive the cows on the opposite side of the corral were horses.