Play time

Leaves are on the ground...Its time to play!!

Zachy is about to get caught by the daddy monster

And the weather is cooler at night, and it gets dark earlier...It's time to play!

Kimball and Brandon and Zach running away from Daddy

Matcheroo

These jammies have become the boys favorite pajamas, they run around like they are Iron Man. Thanks Kelvin for the fun bed time outfits!

 

Recently these two crazies were playing house. In their home, like most orderly homes, there were certain rules that you had to obey. I was listening in on their play, secretly making a list of their rules, which were laid out as follows:

1. Be quiet, our home is a library
2. Don't rip books
3. No wolves aloud
4. All dogs and cats that want to go in have to be on leashes
5. Share the toys  
6. (and last, my favorite) No robbers aloud

These kids of mine have such wonderful imaginations, not a day goes by that isn't made brighter by looking through their creative eyes. I went for an early shopping trip this morning and came home to my Kimball and my Brandon standing in the Kitchen. They asked where I was (they were worried about me being missing from my side of the bed) and then proceeded to tell me a funny experience. They came out of their room and started peeking in rooms to see what was going on in the house. After noticing that I was gone, they walked past the bathroom. I had left my pajamas folded up in the bathroom, they were sitting on the toilet lid. As Brandon walked by he thought the clothes were a monster coming out of the toilet!! As they retold this story they were just laughing and giggling at their adventures with the "toilet monster". I started off my day at home with a smile, I couldn't ask for more!

Fall Fun

Spending time with brothers

September, September! Where did you go? These pictures might help us figure out where our time went:

Chillin with mom

Going on a bike ride with Papa

Brandon going for a spin around the block

Kimball was so excited to go for a ride, he didn't forget Papa's promise to take him

Time with cousins, Sept 29th

You know what the crazy thing is? October is 3/4ths over at this point...this is a good thing and a bad thing. Good because soon the elections will be over (its getting old), bad because this is one of my favorite months of the year! Coming soon, a post on all things fall!! I want to share everything that I love about the fall, which mostly revolves around food (most important or favorite occasions in my life revolve around food, which is why I exercise I suppose so I can enjoy all things culinary and delicious).

P party

Meet my beehives, these girls are so lively and spunky and keep me on my toes every Sunday, mutual, and activity that I share with them. We recently had a P party, with all things p: Personal Progress, pancakes, pickles, peanut butter, pink, popcorn, pillows, pajamas, purple, pigs, and the list goes on and on! I am so grateful for my calling in the Young women's and the opportunity that I am being offered to love and serve these beautiful girls.

Kindergarten Kimball

Excited

Papa and kimball

It was a bitter sweet experience, sending our first born off to school!! He was so excited, but I was so not ready for him to be gone! His teacher's name is Mrs. Swan and he goes to school on Tuesday and Thursday, with alternating Mondays (I hate that schedule by the way). He has really excelled in school and he rarely complains about having to go to school, he is very good in that regard. If he doesn't want to go to school all it takes is for me to tell him that I am volunteering in his class that day and then he'll happily get ready for school. I have really enjoyed volunteering in his classroom, it is good for the both of us. I get to meet his friends, get to know his teacher and her style of classroom management and teaching style. He sees that I care about him and his education and want to see him succeed. I still can't believe that we have come to the school age years but we are enjoying it!

Proud parents

Mom and Kimball

All lined up and ready for school

Dad and Kimball

Standing in front of his Kindergarten class room, so excited!

Pine Creek

Thomas and Oliver enjoying their S'mores

It has been a tradition, as I understand it, to go to Pine Creek campground and enjoy a family get-together for about 30 years now. I was so excited to join in on this tradition this year. On Labor Day, September 3rd, my father and I took Kimball and Brandon on a trip up to Pine Creek. We were the first ones there and picked out the campground that looked good to us, and then went for a little exploration hike. Before we knew it, my grandparents had showed up, then Kurt my cousin, and then my twin cousins Sarah and Rachel with Sarah's two little boys, Oliver and Thomas. We enjoyed the afternoon chatting, watching the four mischievous boys exploring nature, and cooking tin foil dinners. I was sad to see the evening end, knowing that we needed to pack up and head back to Pocatello for Kimball's first day of school. I wish that we were able to stay over night, for a great camping trip, to send the summer out in style. I now have another tradition to look forward to each year, as long as we are in Idaho at least.

Sarah and Rachel packing up

Yummy!

My wonderful father, and two crazy boys with their hiking sticks

Mom and her boys

All the gentlmen

And all the ladies... and guest boys

Playing in the dirt and rocks

Pine Creek campground

The value of good friends

L-R: Angela Ferrara, Vanessa Knapp, Me, Cherene Bates, and Sarah Rogers

On August 31st, a group of my dearest friends decided to go out to lunch. The reason why we are dear friends is because we have spent many an early morning together at the church working out, sweating together, screaming at our oblivious trainers on the tv, and just bonding. Vanessa Knapp is one of those dear friends, and she and her husband landed a job in Utah and were moving away. We decided to go out to lunch together and send her off in a fitting farewell. It was sad to see her move away, we definitely miss her. Our workout group recently fell apart, and we had to "part ways". Cherene started a part time job, Sarah was getting farther along in pregnancy and her nerve damage was becoming unbearable at times, and Angela has taken over her son's paper route. I miss our old routine of working out together, but I am so grateful that I had that time to develop the habit of working out. I have been working out with Alisha Ellis at my home, and her home since our group disbanded. Alisha and I are hoping that by next May when school is letting out, perhaps we can get another group set up and have Sarah, Cherene and Angela join up with us again. I'll never forget those five months, May through September, working out with such strong and inspiring women!!

Fair Fun

The beginning of September is a wonderful time of year, school starts for the kiddos, the weather starts to turn, the leaves are changing, and the fair comes to Eastern Idaho!! I look forward to the fair each year, I am able to enjoy good weather, yummy food, see my kids having a blast on the rides, and take a stroll through all the displays and booths.

This year me, Kimball and Brandon joined up with my parents and went to the fair on its opening day, September 1st, which was busy but so so fun! Zachary and Dad stayed home and watched football, took naps, and studied for his pre-qualifying and  qualifying tests for the PhD program. I had a good time, I almost tossed my cookies a few times though. Brandon was not tall enough to ride the rides so I had to ride some of them with him... I am not the thrill seeker anymore like I was in my teenage years. There was one ride that was particularly horrible, but the boys had fun laughing at mommy. At least they enjoyed that ride:)

My favorite part of the fair has to be the Kitchen store (I'm not sure what the exact name is). I purposely left my wallet in the car so I would not be able to purchase any kitchen gadgets. Well, we ended up going to the kitchen store later on in our trip this year and I started piling gadgets in my arms, forgetting all the while that my wallet was not with me and I had spent my $30 already. I had all sorts of cool kitchen toys and I was getting really excited. That is until I got to the counter and realized that I didn't bring my wallet with me... for this exact purpose:)  I felt foolish telling the clerk that I wouldn't be purchasing my stash of items because I had successfully thwarted my kitchen shopping spree. Anyways, here are a few of my favorite pics from the fair this year:

Kimball and Brandon having a jolly time on a mini kids coaster

Thats right, my son chose to ride a Rooster on the carousel

Looking devilishly cute there Brandon

We couldn't resist a pic with a large inflatable Mario

Brandon riding a pony

Kimball on the pony

Kimball and Brandon putting their hands in the air

What took us so long???

We have lived in Idaho for quite a few years now, for me since January of 2005 and for Mike since May 2005. We have talked about going to Yellowstone every single year, and every single year we ask ourselves the same question, why didn't we go this year? After seven years we decided there would be no more excuses, we were going to Yellowstone!! And what better way to experience Yellowstone than with 3 people who have never been? I have been several times as a young girl but my hubby, his brother Nate and Nate's wife Mia haven't been. We invited Mia and Nate, seeing as how they live so much closer to us now that they have moved across country, Florida to Utah.

Our trip started on August 18th, before the sun even dared to give light. We made the four hour, two hundred and nine mile trip early, making it to West Yellowstone at about 10:30 (this included a stop in Rexburg to borrow a converter from my bro. Corey and donuts at Paradise Donuts...yum). We had to make another stop though, at the border of Montana and Idaho, a new state for our two Floridians.

We headed first to our "campground", if it could even be called a campground. It was an R.V. park that boasted on their website of having one tent site. It was the cheapest tent site within the city limits of West Yellowstone, so of course I reserved it (I admit it, I am cheap). Well you get what you pay for. This "tent site" was right next to the road, with all its light, noise and traffic. Oh well, it was a fun adventure, even though our sleep was not as deep as it could have been, had it not been for the ambiance of sleeping by a street in West Yellowstone.

Now that we had our tent set up, our bed blown up, and our bedding laid out, it was time for our grand entrance into the park. Here are some pictures of our adventures:

Mike and Nate hiking down a steep slope so they could get a better view of Kepler Cascades

What's a trip to Yellowstone without seeing any wildlife?

Catching Old Faithful's eruption

The four of us post eruption

Everyone around us was taking pictures by this sign, we had to do it as well:)

Quite possibly the most magnificent natural view of nature that I have ever witnessed! The artist's point view of the lower falls, in the Yellowstone Grand Canyon

Our last stop in Yellowstone, artist point of lower falls

How can one be in West Yellowtone and not visit Playmill? After we left the park, we had a small dinner at our campground and then headed downtown to window shop before the show at Playmill. We saw a musical within a play called "The Drowsy Chaperone." I was skeptical when I purchased the tickets because I'd never seen it, but we were very delighted with the show!  It was hilarious, we were laughing throughout the whole performance:)

What a great trip, we made so many good memories the four of us. Now maybe in the next 7 years we will take a family trip to Yellowstone so our boys can explore the beauty and wonder of the west.

A little trip to Logan

I was in desperate need of a break after Camp, and Mike and the boys needed to get out of the house so we headed to Logan. We stayed in Logan the whole weekend, August 10th-12th. Mia and Nate joined us on Saturday morning. We enjoyed going to the temple and being instructed from on High, good food together, games, swimming, and laughter. The boys had a ball with their grammy and grampy and aunt and uncle.While there we made plans for a fabulous getaway to Yellowstone National Park with Mia and Nate. Thanks Grammy and Grampy for putting up with all of us, we enjoyed every minute of it!