Merry Christmas

Our First Win!

On Saturday we fished Allstar Bass Couples first tournament of the year at Bartlett lake. There were 27 boats that fished. The morning was perfect a slight breeze on the water and about 75 degrees. We started fishing a steep bank and caught a couple of little ones and we decided to go up river to an off shore spot that doesn't get a lot of pressure and we worked it and worked and caught some little fish. I picked up the jig and Jo kept drop shotting. I felt that "tick" and set the hook and the fish didn't move. I yelled at Jo to grab the net because I thought it was a "good one", she came up boat side and jumped over the net and made a dive for the bottom, after a brief fight I had her boat side and Jo slipped the net under her and we flopped her in the boat and I just look at it going WOW! It ended up being 19.5 inches long and weighed 4.35 lbs! The biggest fish I have caught out of Bartlett and the biggest fish in a tournament. We knew that we just need 4 1.5lb fish and we would have a good shot at winning it. Well we fished and fished and caught one here and there. It was getting down to the wire and we still needed one good fish. With 30 mins left I decided to fish an under water island, that we had caught some decent fish off of the weekend before. Well with 15 mins left I finally get bite and set the hook and tell Jo this is the fish we need, as soon as it comes boat side get the net under it. It turned out to be the lucky fish culling out a 1.25lb with a 1.75lber. We finished the day weighing 11.01 lbs and big fish award for the 4.35 lber. They took pictures with the "wood" and with 3 of the fish. I reached in the bag and grabbed the two big fish and I think Jo purposely grabbed the littlest one we had... Second place had 10.47 lbs and a big fish of 3.57. It was a great day on the water with my best friend and wife. Thank you Babes for understanding and taking the time to figure out why I love to fish!

Breast Cancer

It's that time of year again to remember breast cancer. Please remember my mother as she passed away seven and a half years ago from breast cancer. Please donate you time in walking for the cure or donating money for the cure. Also, spend time with your family and remember what is the most important in life.

The rest of our vacation:

We won second place in our two day tournament. Our tournament was at Roosevelt lake first light was at 5:30AM and weigh in was at 2:00PM makes for a long day fishing in the HEAT. It was about a 100 degrees up there. The first day we weighed 14.21 with 5 fish our big fish was 3.58 and the second day was 10.68 big fish 3.32. We were a few ounces shy of first place. It was fun and great experience. It was great to be with my husband.

Here are some pictures from the weekend: We had some beautiful mornings. We were on the lake at 5:00AM. This was one of the sunrises that we saw.

Preview

A little preview of our vacation....

More to come when we return!

North Dakota

It was a tough decision to go on a week long fishing trip with my dad or stay home with Jo and Triton. It was a very very tough decision, but dad and Devils Lake, North Dakota won. I only had two weeks to pack and get everything in order before leaving. It was a crazy two weeks going threw all my tackled that was packed away into my "Wisconsin Fishing Tackle" after a couple of nights of going threw tackle boxes, I finally had every thing that I need to go target walleyes, nrotherns, and whitebass. The plane left at 1 am and Jo dropped me off, at 6 am I arrived in the Twin Cites and my dad picked me up from the airport and we began the next leg of the journey... a 6 hr drive to Devils Lake ND. Well we finally get to the lodge around 4 pm and checked in and un packed. We quick get to the landing dump the boat in to get a couple of hours of fishing in before dark. Well the fishing ended up being good, but the fish were on the small side. We ended up catching 50 to 60 walleyes a day and a hand full of northerns. About half way through the week we had figured out how to catch the white bass and the game was on. We caught fish on every cast for hours!! I almost had to stop and take a break because my arms were getting sore! It was a good trip, maybe next time Jo will be able to join in the fun! I did feel guilty leaving her home with Triton, but you know what they say "what doesn't kill you, will make you stronger".

Daughter of a King

You all need to read this book and listen to the song.

Fishing Fun!

Jason & I went to Lake Pleasant and found some boils of Strippers.

Holiday Weekend

We went to Flagstaff to spend the holiday weekend with family. I was able to talk Jason into pulling the boat up the big hill, but he was a little haprenshive. We left on Friday around 4:00 pm, traffic wasn't bad till hit the mountain right before Camp Verde and traffic went to stop and go all the way to the top. About half way up the truck started over heating and we had to pull over and let it cool down. We finally made it Brian and Faiths and headed out to dinner to catch up with them. The next morning Jason, Brian, and Kirby got up early(4:15 am) to get on the water and try and catch some fish. They went to run down the lake and the boat didn't have any power...it didn't like the high altitude and thin air. They finally got to fishing and Kirby got two fish in fairly short order and Brian got one not too much later. They ended the day catching 11 fish. Jason enjoyed catching something other than a bass!

On Monday we went back to the lake to play with the jet ski and pull the kids around on the tube. Brian's and Josh's familys joined us at the lake. We had a little picinic where we cooked up the pike from Sat. The kids loved the fish and wanted more! It was a nice weekend and can't wait till we do it again!

In Loving Memeory of My Mother

Seven years ago tomorrow my mother passed away from cancer. What a wonder women she was. So many thing,s the list could go on, but a few things that I want to share about my mother was she was so thoughtful, so kind, so loving, had compassion, very crafty, knowledgeable, taught by example, charitable. She was a blessed lady and I am very blessed to have her as my mother. I miss her dearly, but she will always be in my heart.

The Gila Valley Temple

Saguaro Lake

We went to Saguaro lake this morning, for a change of pace. The lake is unlike the other area lakes, it has tullies and weeds. Jason was excited because it reminded him of home! The fish were cooperative until the wind picked up around noon.

General Conference

Oh what a wonderful talk he gave. Elder Bednar quoted "If you give a man a fish and feed him for a day but if you teach him how to fish you give he fish for a life time." How true that is when we learn. The knowledge that we have when we learn and how important it is to learn all that we can.

Easter

This is one of my favorite pictures of the Resurrection. I am so grateful for this time to celebrate thy Son's life and to reflect on what he has done for me. He gave His life so that I me return and live with him and my family again. A great time to remember my mother and what she has taught to live by her example as well and that I will be able to see her again.

I was able to go to the Easter pageant with a family in my ward. I was so glad that I went, even though it made it for a long day. To be reminded again and to reflect on the Saviors' life and what He was send forth to do as the Son of God. The miracles that He did, the parables He taught, the life He lead, the service He gave, the LOVE He showed, the kind deeds that were done. He over came death so the we my live with Him again. He has risen.

Charity Foundation

Jason is fishing on Saturday with C.A.S.T. for kids. It is a charity foundation that takes mental and physical challenged kids to the lake for a fun filled day of boating and fishing. He is so excited to be able to share his love of fishing with these kids. I get to have a break and do some house work.

Fishing Tournament on Saturday

We left on Friday night to go to Lake Alamo. We lefton Friday night so we did have to get up SO EARLY in the morning on Saturday and drive there. It is about 2 hours away. We slept in the back of the truck on a air matress. We had a fun tournament on Saturday. It was a tough day. the wind blew about 25 mph til about 12 when it almost died, weigh-in was at 3, and we had 1 fish in the morning, but as the wind calmed down we were able to fish Jason's hot spots and finally got on a good bite. Lake Alamo has a rule that you can only keep one fish from 13 to 16 inches per person, which are called slot fish. The rest of the fish need to be over 16 inches or under 13. We found lots of slot fish but could only keep 2. Jason caught an over just 15 minutes before weigh-in. We had ended up weighing 4 fish. We weighed 5.446. The first place winner was 10.84. It was a tough day for us and just about everyone else. We are the youngest couple there fishing. I have only been fishing for 6 months and Jason has only been fishing the lakes here in AZ for a little less than 2 years and only 7 months with a boat, he is working hard to find fish, but it is alot different than fishing in WI. It has been a fun experience. We have one more tournament in May at Lake Roosevelt and a championship two day tournement in September. We have learned lots and continue to learn each and every trip.

This is a picture of my first time fishing. Jason has taught me so much about fishing, but there is just so much more to learn. It has been fun and a great experience.

Things Learned on Sunday:

This week at church:

1. Blessings that come as we sacrifice our lives in serving the Lord. We sacrifice many things to serve a mission. Sacrifice- doing without something or giving up something. Giving your life to the Lord to be able to preach His gospel and have His spirit. We need to rely on Him guide us.
2. Learned more on the story of Joseph that was sold into Egypt by his brothers. What are some things to learn of his trails that he went through?... 1)He was hated by his brothers, they were jealous of him, they didn't speak peaceable to him. 2)they wanted to kill him/ sold into Egypt. 3) unjustly imprisoned/ law of chastity. 4) he was forgotten by his associates in prison. Some things to learn from this is Joseph attitude towards hat happened to him. He looked to the Lord. He had a eternal perspective- His behavior depends what happens later. HE forgave, looked at the positive things, he arose to the top. In Genesis 41:15-16 He gave credit to God for his trials. Genesis 45:5-8 How does this change the way I look at my trials? What was his attitude? What should our attitude be? We need to look at the story of Joseph as a reminder to look to God through our trails He is there for us and wants to to LEARN, GROW, LOVE, FORGIVE, have CHARITY, have a greater FAITH, in Him. How do we know that Christ is the center of my life?
3. The Fall of Adam and Eve was a good thing. It brought forth the Atonement, to be able to be clean from our sins and to be able to live with Him again. We were able to come to earth to receive a body, we were able to experience joy, pain, heartache, happiness, sorrow, peace those things that Adam and Eve weren't able to experience in the Garden of Eden.

Things Learned on Sunday...

I am going to start Things Learned on Sunday post on Sundays. This is what I learned or was impressed upon today at church.

1. Missionary work- you give the best 18 months to 2 years of your life to the Lord in serving and teaching His gospel. The Lord will place you in a location where He needs you to serve. Even if we are not serving a mission we can still be an example of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
2. We need to have a humble heart to receive revelation. As we receive revelation we need to write it down and then go and do. Then blessings will come as we do what we were prompted to do. We are given certain promptings to help others. We need to be open to reach out to those in need as we are prompted. "Don't listen to me, listen to what you feel as we learn the doctrines of the gospel".
3. God created the earth for us to enjoy. He the Creator LOVES us so much that He made birds, grass, trees, bushes, flowers, clouds, fish, dolphins, animals, insects, water, light, darkness, stars, moon, sun, me, and you.

I know that this things are true. I know that He knows and loves me. I have felt it. I know as we reach out and do what is right he will bless us.

Spring

I am so glad that it is getting to be spring. A new life.

Fishing Tournament on Saturday

This is what we received on Saturday. It was a fun, but tough the water. We got 3rd place our weight was 5.27 with 4 fish. 1st place was 7.2 and the 2nd place was 5.92 with 5 fish. The limit is 5 fish and a 12 inch minimum.

Fishing Partner

Triton taking a break from the fishing on Lake Pleasant, it must be a tough life being a dog! Maybe some day Jo will give him some lessons.

The Cricut Machine

I love it!