Guests at Deer Hollow

Tuesday night we had some of our favorite peeps spend the night here. Dave, Valli & little Madeline. This cute little family currently lives in Tennessee. Dave will be shipping out for another 1 year employment to Afghanistan in a few more months. We have known Dave and his family since he was just a boy. We loved having them here and had a great visit with them. Valli has a pretty facinating background and from the minute Mark heard her say her grandparents & parents both homesteaded in Alaksa . . .well that was all he needed for a long interigation session. Poor Valli, she hardly got a bite of her dinner down her. (at least while it was still warm!) Valli very graciously shared some really facinating stories of her childhood and what it was like to live with no indoor plumbing - a dog that chewed up electrical wiring to their home - and some pretty crazy bear stories! We love to visit with people! Thanks D,V & M for being such fun and gracious guests. They are also fellow bee-keepers and we had a little honey exchange! How sweet it is to have such wonderful friends. We wish them both luck and blessings as they journey through their next year united, yet apart. Love you!!

* * *

The next morning after snapping some cute pics of the bright eyed beauty ~ baby Madeline - Dave, Valli, & I were watching a little flock of Pheasants out the window. We saw a few deer and were commenting on what a great place this is! As we glanced over to the neighbors yard we could hardly believe what we saw! Two bucks having a little sparing competition! Whoa! Never seen that in your yard before. Of course I was off scrambling for the camera and our new little Flip and actually we caught a glimpse of it. I wanted to see how easy it was to upload video ~ it was VERY easy and you can see a little snip of what we witnessed below. The funniest thing to me was that Dave just happened to have his turkey caller and his deer caller in his bag out in the car. So off he went to grab them and I was totally entertained by how they work. I think we could have us some fun if we were to have a few animal callers of our own! You know, there are some wild turkeys running around Logan these days...and who knows what might happen!

"She's mine, I tell you!"

Guess that is the end of it. "I'll be leaving now."

Ok so kinda lame-o. You can't click on these to make them larger.

What's that all about.

In this last one, watch for the third one
on the upper right center of the screen.

January is ticking away...

January at Deer Hollow. Saturday we had a gorgeous day with blue skies and a visit from Jack Frost. It was beautiful. We have had a family of deer frequenting our yard. There are triplets and they are very cute. The one pictured here was having a good look at me through the den window last Friday. The sweet little bird was a hard catch. I snapped this photos through the kitchen window. We have bird feeders hung in the tree near the deck. There have been so many little feathered friends around this winter. (Guess they feel more comfortable here with our two cats gone.) I need to find out what kind of a bird he is - I feel a new hobby coming on! Do you realize how chatty the birds are this time of year? I guess I haven't always listened for them, but they are alive and doing well in our neck of the woods. I have plans for some more bird photography.
I love them!!

Below are a few photos from our December...We had a houseful of happiness!



A few pictures of Molly and her happy parents.
Papa wrote the sweet list of words on the chalkboard
the day after Molly arrived on earth.
We love her.


On the lucky years we have a special treat here in Cache Valley
we have a really neat ice skating rink at Merlin Olsen Park. Camber
and I took Liam down to try it out while he was here. He loved it
for a minute and then decided it was too slippery. We had a good time with him.
It was fun to see everyone there enjoying their evening at the rink.


I am having a hard time uploading photos. I can get these collages to work just fine, but anything from iphoto is just not working for me. You can double click on any of them for a larger view. We hope you are all finding lots of fun things to do this winter.

We sure enjoy the seasons.

What a treat it is to live in such a beautiful place.

Knighthood...And MORE!

Family History fascinates me! It's such a thrill to put personality and purpose to a name printed on piece of paper. I am currently taking a Family History Class through BYU that requires me to write a 25-40 page paper covering two generations before my birth. The time has come to decide who to write about and I decided to look into the life of Amos Herrick (5 great grandpa's back) who served in the Revolutionary War under George Washington. While poking around I discovered Sir William Eyrick (Herrick) and his wife, (Lady) Joan May. William was knighted in 1605. Turns out that he was a goldsmith for King James. William was born at Beau Manor Park, Leicestershire, England in 1557. "He was a successful coureir & politician from 1575, when he first attached himself to the Court of Queen Elizabeth by whom he was commissioned on an important embassy to the Ottomon Porte." (Whatever all that means!)

Williams parents where John & Mary Heyrick (Herrick). I found the following epitaph (exact spelling kept) on the tombstone of John Heyrick in some of my readings:

"Here lieth tlie body of John Heyrick, late of the Parish, who departed this life ye 2d of Aprill, 1589, being about the age of 76. He did marry Marie, ye daughter of John Bond of Wardende, in Countie of Warwicke, Esquire, and did live with Mary, in one house, full fifty-two years; abd in all that tyme, never buried man, woman, or chiild, though they were sometimes twenty in house-hold. He had yssue by ye sais Marie, 5 sonnes and seven daughters. The said John was mayor of this towne in anno 1559, and again in anno 1572. The said Marie departed this life ye 8th of December, 1611, being the age of 97 years. She did see before her departure, of her children, and to the number of 142."

So Daddy, Neil. You and mom, only number posterity to 57

- you have a little time ahead of you! :)

Beaumanor is now a convention center. (We printed this booklet out and it is very interesting to read!) It stayed in the family hands until just preceding World War II.

The present Beaumanor is at least the third house in the same spot. Now a trip to Leicestershire is on my bucket list.

Another neat fact is that the Manor was used as a intelligence center during World War II. A little bit about that here. There were several buildings on the Herrick's 6,000 + acre property. Ye Olde Bulls Head is rumored to be haunted by the ghost of a servant girl. (See #1. on the link)

Here is someone's rendition of what the family crest was like.

The motto "Virtu Omnia Nobilitat" translates to

"Virtue Ennobles All Things"

Another neat link is here. You can read a little bit about the history of the Herrick name and its origin and also about Beaumanor Hall and Park. I have printed off pages of the history of "our Herricks" from this site if you would like a copy I am happy to share.

Now we can speed up time and jump to Salem Massachusetts in the late 1600's. Here we meet Henry Herrick and his lovely wife, Editha. (Jake & Lindsey: should this have been a consideration for a name? Kidding.) I read somewhere last night where they started a congregation and were very religious people. Check this out about our great, great, etc uncle, Henry's brother, Joseph.

Now lest I bore you all with my ramblings I will close leaving this food for thought. Hope it was interesting to someone in our family. :)

One more thing before I get back to my research -

One of Dad's (Mark's) ancestors hated snakes (imagine that!) His name was Matthew Young. Whenever he saw one he would yell,

"Hi cha rubisha besta!"

I really want to know what that translates to!

Happy New Year & Happy Birthday!

What a beautiful way to bring in the new year!

We'd like to introduce you to the newest addition to our family. Lindsey & Jake's adorable little daughter was born this morning at Logan Regional Hospital. She weighed 7 lbs 5 oz and is 19 inches long. She has little bit of dark hair and great big beautiful eyes. She looks pretty good in this photo just a few minutes old! Newborns change so quickly and this sweet little face has won our hearts! Lindsey did great and they are both doing well. We are anxious to know her name. Mom and Dad are still pondering it over.

Lindsey did great. What a miracle birth is!

Grandpa was lucky enough to get to check her out from head to toe.
She is perfect!!

This is one very happy little family!
Thank you all for your prayers and for your
kind wishes of welcome. We can't wait for you to meet her in person!
Wow...Once in a blue moon!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

It's Going Too Fast!

A bit frustrated here...we have been trying to upload photos since Christmas Day and keep getting the 'failed to open page' So sorry Portland kids! We put a few on facebook and we hope one day blogger will cooperate with us.

The holiday season is really going by fast. Wish is would slow down just a little. We are all enjoying our time together especially with Liam here. He sure keeps us laughing and shares a wonderful energy that only little children possess. We saw Avatar today with Jason & Paul and loved it. We are all anxiously awaiting the arrival of Jake & Lindsey's little baby and our New Years Eve Party. Did you all know it is going to be a 'once in a blue moon night' ? Pretty cool!

Enjoying December

I must say that I really do love the fact that it was just yesterday, the 7th, that we received our first Christmas card in the mail. It makes me very happy to know that everyone else is busy too and getting things done in the best way they know how. It's the years we get a dozen on the day after Thanksgiving that makes me feel like I just can't get my act together! This year we are in no rush to get the halls decked. We are taking it slow and enjoying the process. Friday night we put up the tree and covered her in sparkling lights. Saturday we admired her simplicity. We haven't had a real Christmas Tree for a very long time and it is a real treat! She is a Lodge Pole Pine from Idaho. (We support the little guys!) In the daylight you can see the beautiful pine cones covering her branches. Camber thought it would be great if we left her up in her nakedness all year long. She really is a sweet tree. Sunday night we watched a Christmas movie and strung popcorn - it's a family tradition - that silly, popcorn + cranberries. One year while we were living in Idaho and we had a very busy life with lots of little ones, I tried to save it so we could save some time the following year... the little mice found it to be a wonderful winter snack!

Mom's not really not sad, she must be concentrating...

A cute, messy stringer.

Lookin like a pro with that needle in her mouth.

Draping it on - glad to have Dad around for a minute on Sunday evening! We will most likely break family tradition this year and keep our traditional ornaments tucked safely away and only use gingerbread men and a few hand crafted elf people that we fell in love with in this months Martha Stewart magazine. It felt like breaking a cardinal sin, but only for a moment. I think giving our cats up for adoption has been a very freeing experience for us! They are now living in Missouri with a very loving lady and we do miss them - but not the cat hair!

They really were great little cats ~ it was just time.

On Sunday, Lindsey & Jake took our annual "family photo". If you want to call it that - "family photo". We have shrunk! When we were trying to think back if we actually had a pic of our entire family together - it would have been that one we took last December at Mark's parents 50th Wedding anniversary. Wow. Kinda sad, but it's the way life goes. Lindsey said, Mom - you just need to do you, Dad and the girls. that's your little family right now :) And we love this little family right now! What a simple life we are enjoying! In any event - the process of the family photo shoot was still pretty hysterical. I may have to post about all the out-takes or bloopers from every family photo shoot we have ever had some day. They really are hysterical and at the time may not have been to funny but over time become very endearing. You all must know what I mean. Every family has those photos and memories to look back on with fondness, at least I sure hope they do!

Happy Holidays!

*enjoy each and every moment*

it's going by way too fast!

(And one of these days we will contemplate

the annual Christmas Letter!)

And The Winner Is . . .

S P R I N G !

Congratulations!!

Her comment was:

Happy 100th Blog! You guys are so cool! Much love to your family! I will blog if it involves winning something, it's the Vegas in me baby!

She won the fashionable Santa Hat, $20 Movie Theater Gift Certificate,

Candy Canes, Lindor Truffles & Hot Chocolate! Enjoy!

A little bit about her reaction ... she was so thrilled and said it was perfect timing as she is right in the middle of preparing for finals. She was also anxious to know how many had entered - you see, she is taking a statistic class and found her win intriguing! :) When I delivered the gift basket to her I saw their beautiful nativity set on the table in her entry way. As I told her how much I loved it, she pointed out a special piece that I might not have noticed. When her 18 year old son was a little boy, he would place one of his little army men in a strategic place to guard baby Jesus. So now, each year the little fellow is packed away with the nativity and is there to keep the babe safe and sound.

Lindsey & Jake helped me and Lindsey was having so much fun watching Jake pull out the winner that she decided we should draw to see what order everyone came in. We have been informed by a farmers-almanac-junkie-friend that this year we are in for a real treat! On new years eve, the beginning of a new decade, it will truly be a 'once in a blue moon' moment! We can wish you all better luck then. For now, you can look below to see how it all shook out. Thanks again for your faithful following (hee hee) and for having some fun with us! Enjoy your weekend. Looks like we will be having a beautiful blanket of snow while we finish decking the hall!

1. Spring

2. Lisa G.

3. Danielle

4. Jake & Lindsey

5. Donut (the name Liam has given his new sibling in utero)

6. Kris

7. Joan

8. Scott & Lisa

9. Tracy & Alyssa

10. Debi

11.Kaycee

12. Audrie, Audrie, Audrie, Audrie :)

13. Liam

14. Jenny

15. Nate & Starlie

16. quippish endeavor

17. Alycia

18. Shelley

19. Brady

20. Nemesis

21. rarely David usually Lisa