My little Indians

Rylie has been collecting feathers for a little while and decided to craft with them today.  She helped the boys make their own paper feathers and headbands, then made one for Tirzah.  I was packing for our Thanksgiving trip and they were getting ready for the Thanksgiving play they were planning to do with their cousins during Thanksgiving dinner.  Rylie knew her class would be making pioneer bonnets and she and Mason also made some great turkey masks.  I wish I had taken a picture of them.

Happy 3rd Birthday Zach

Zach got a basket cake filled with gummy bears.

I think he was excited for this one.

He loves this new game.

I just happened to grab this at the store and it has been a huge hit.  They even share it very nicely with very little fighting.  Love that!!!

First Cereal

I love giving babies their first food.  I love the look of suprise the first time the spoon goes in their mouth and then when they discover the cereal on their tongue and try to manage it.  It is always such a messy event. 

It took a couple of weeks for her to figure out how to manage the spoon and what to do with the food in her mouth.  Now she loves it.

 

 

Pumpkin Patch fieldtrip with Rylie's class

It was a great day to visit the pumpkin patch.  It was so much fun for the kids.  They had several playthings made out of one ton hay bails that the kids could play on.  There was a pyramid with tunnels, mazes, an obstacle course, zip line, slides and other structures to climb.  They also had a corn box (a large digging area filled with corn kernels to dig in with shovels and buckets).  Each of the kids were given a small pumpkin to take home.

Zach thought he was a first grader and insisted on being in the class picture too.

A Day at the Park

Just enjoying some beautiful fall days at the park.

Zach and Tirzah

Don't you hate it when your headband falls down and your arms are too short to put it back up on your head?

Zach said he would talk to Tirzah while I finished what I was doing.  I didn't realize he would also join her in bed as well!!  She was quite happy to have him in there with her.



Happy 7th Birthday Rylie

The birthday girl choose this amazing dinner for her big day.

Snowy french toast trees and sun.

She had a water party with her brothers and loved it.

Happy Birthday cute girl.



Triceratops Hair

Mason is into fixing his own hair and really likes to make it spikey.  On this day he came to me with a big smile and asked if I knew what kind of hair he had fixed this time.  When I didn't get it right away he told me it was Triceratips hair and looked at me like-isn't it obvious. 

If you use your imagination you can see three spikes.

I love little people's creativeness and imagination.

Kansas City with my cousins

Over Labor Day weekend we went to Kansas City for a cousin party.  Ashley, Whitney, Cami and I got together with our very patient husbands and all of our munchkins.  We tried it last year and had such a great time we decided to do it again.  On Sunday we visited Liberty Jail.  The church has built an amazing replica of the jail.  They have such detail in what you see and hear and learn about that special place. 

These girls really remind us of ourselves many years ago.  Even though there is a year between each one you would never know it.  They are great friends every time they see each other.

Some of our crew listening to the presentation at the jail.

Liberty Jail



Ashley-Cami-Me-Whitney

We were able to convince a quilt shop to reopen and extend their shopping hours just for us.  These girls have some great smooth talk.  Of course then someone did have to buy fabric, but that didn't seem to be a problem as we came out with bags full of it!



On Saturday we visited a Farm/Petting Zoo/Old School House.  Here is Mason showing off his school drawing.





It is really hard to get a picture with all of them in it, but here are a few with their awsome cowboy hats from Whitney.



 Feeding the goats was way fun.  The best part was that we didn't have to buy any bottles to feed the goats.  There were lots with leftovers in them that the kids picked up and gave the goats.



Some goats became a little demanding if you ran out of milk.



Izzy and Rylie

Lydia and Rylie



She is such a good baby.



Our air conditioning broke in the van right before this trip.  We weren't able to fix it for the trip and so had to take the truck.  We filled every seat!  It was a 12 hour drive and I was a little nervous how it would go with everyone elbow to elbow.  Amazingly enough- it was fine.  I know there were a lot of people that were excited for us to get together and said a lot of prayers that we would all make it.  I think they really helped us and I am so glad we all did make it.

 

Can't wait for Omaha next year!

Thanks Cousins and Husbands for a great time!!

Bike Parade

We decided to plan a bike parade for our neighborhood the first weekend after school started.  It involved going door to door and passing out about 150 fliers the Sunday before.  Deciding on the perfect route.  Setting up big posters at the three entrances to our subdivision. And, of course, decorating the bikes.

Rylie wanted streamers and balloons.

Mason wanted stickers and balloons.

Zach and Tirzah got balloons.

We were all nervous we would be the only ones, but when it was time to start we had quite the crowd.  One of our neighbors said he counted 100 participators.  Along the way there were a few people cheering us on from their houses too.  The bike decorations were all great, however our balloons didn't make it to the starting line. 

It was so much fun I think we will try it again next year.

First Day of School

First Grade

Mrs. Johnson

We will miss your creative directing today.

We will miss your dynamic smile.

We will miss your happy adventures.

We will be anxiously awaiting your report of the day away from us.

Hiking the Teton

Devin had been planning to hike the Grand Teton during his summer visit to Idaho for quite a while.  He had two buddies that were planning to go too.  About a month before the visit Jacob found out about it and decided to join the group.  Growing up with the Grand in daily view we have heard many stories of people making the big hike.  It involves rock climbing, camping part way up, hiring a guide, difficult and scary paths as well as an amazing view and major bragging rights if you make it.  My Dad was able to go with a group a long time ago and he still talks about it with awe.  Devin did a lot of researching and decided they could do it without a guide and without having to camp.  Jacob started researching and they watched YOUTUBE videos of the difficult parts and each bought a couple books to take along.  Devin provided the vision and Jacob provided the resources (he had all the climbing gear).  I drove to Idaho a week early and enjoyed a long visit with Devin, Nicole and Brynlee.  Jacob, of course, had to fly in Friday afternoon and only stay for the weekend.  His plane landed about 4:00 Friday afternoon and they started hiking at midnight.  One of Devin's friends backed out earlier in the week and the other only went a few hours before turning around to go home.  Devin and Jacob continued on together.  They packed crampons, climbing harnesses, ropes, shoes and other gear, water, food, ice pickes and first aid kits.  Their packs weighed about 45 lbs.  Jacob started experiencing altitude sickness at about 4 miles into the hike.  They found a cave and decided to take a short rest.  They rested about an hour, then continued at sunrise.  At 1000ft. from the summit Jacob became too sick and disoriented to continue.   They would soon need to start using the climbing gear to reach the summit.  With Jacob not thinking straight it was not safe to continue.  So with their dream in sight, they had to turn around and start the long hike back down.  They hiked a total of 18 hours, 16 miles, and 7500 ft.  Devin admitted wanting to chuck his heavy pack off a cliff he was so frustrated about having to carry it all the way back down the mountain.  Jacob didn't get over his altitude sickness until about 3 miles from the end. 

Nicole and I were so anxious about our hubbies that we couldn't wait for them to get all the way home.  We decided to meet them at the bottom of the hill in Jackson.  That was probably not the best idea.  They were two of the most tired, disappointed, weary guys I have every seen.  We all wanted to go eat and hear about every detail of their adventure, but they could hardly keep their eyes open during dinner and just wanted to go home and crawl into bed.  Our conversation went over and over what they could have done to lighten their packs and overcome altitude sickness.  I was glad they were not driving themselves home after seeing them so tired.

Here are the weary hikers with the rescue party.

I didn't even take any pictures of our great time with Devin's family.  I drove straight to the cabin from North Dakota with the kids.  I was a little nervous about doing it by myself with Tirzah being so little, but that never stopped me before.  We loved our time at the cabin.  There was canoeing, four wheeling, bike riding, hanging out by the river, games and good food.

Then the boys went on their big hike and Jacob drove home with me on Sunday.

Brynlee and Zach

These two are about 9 months apart in age.  Brynlee has just turned 2 and Zach will soon be 3.

Look at that hair color!