September 2022

 

September 2 - Eastern Idaho State Fair! Blake, Aubrey and Declan went to see what they could find at the fair this year.

September 3 - Blake and I along with Brian's and Jared's families went to the fair. The animals are always a big hit!

It was a very hot day, so Maden and I decided we didn't want to stay at the fair for the rides, but the rest of them had a great time, just look at all those smiles.  Maden and I had real nice time with just the two of us, we played some games and went to eat at Tommy Vaughn's.

September 4 - Brian and Aubrey brought all the ingredients to make Hawaiian Haystacks.  Annie was a big help in cutting up the vegetables.

September 5 - Ryder got to be in the back of Randy's new pickup and help get the mower on the trailer when they went to mow Grandpa Early's lawn.

Blake, Brian, Aubrey, Jared, Nikelle, Molly and Hallie went to the archery range.  The  girls had fun shooting their little bows.

Blake, Brian, Aubrey, Jared, Molly and Hallie went to the green belt in Idaho Falls and rode the electric scooters. The girls loved it.

September 6 - A beautiful sunrise! Hallie's first day of Preschool at the Busy Bee's Preschool. She was a little nervous.

September 7 - Declan's first day of Preschool at Miss Kara's!

September 8 - A beautiful moonrise. My camera made funny little light squiggles when it took this picture. I'm just always so amazed and grateful to see these beautiful creations God sends my way.

September 13 - Another beautiful sunrise! And look at our beautiful roses! They have done so well, and I love them!

September 14 - There was a kind of creepy, but peaceful ground fog this morning. This plant that was given to me when Blake's mother passed away, decided to bloom, I don't remember it ever blooming before.

September 17 - Blake and Jared had a day of service.  First they went to Treasure Mountain Scout camp to help dismantle the camp.  Blake drove a little loader and took the debris to Jared and he picked it up in another loader and dumped it into a dump truck.  Then, they went to Johnson's and dug a pit to roast a pig in.  

September 18 - We celebrated Blake's upcoming birthday.  After dinner and peach pie, the kids played with some play dough and some games on the iPad. Then, as I was leaving my parents house, there was another beautiful sunset.

September 20 - I redecorated the front porch for fall! So fun!

 Another magnificent sunset!

September 22 - Molly and Hallie got to come spend some time, so we played some games. Then, another spectacular sunset.  I love the refection in the puddle.

September 23 - Nikelle, Molly, Hallie and I went up to the Red Barn U Pick Pumpkin Patch.  First, we had to take some pictures with the pumpkins.

Michael, James, Paul, Derek and Molly and Hallie had a great time in the little tractor roadway.

Michelle and boys and Molly and Hallie had a great time on the straw slide.

The kids had a great time in corn pit. Michael, James and Molly got to be models for an instagram post for the pumpkin patch.

We rode the little train, jumped on the jumpy thing, pet some kittens and Lynne, Rob and I rested in some chairs while the kids played.

After the pumpkin patch, we went to Leo's Place.  The kids were starving and ate all the pizzas. They had fun in the play area.

Brian and Aubrey went up to the mountain, and Brian was lucky enough to hit this deer with an arrow. Look away from the next picture, if you're squeamish.

September 24 - Blake, Randy and Brian are skinning and cutting up the deer.

We got to watch Ryder play soccer in Pocatello.  He's so quick and focused, so fun to watch!

September 25 - Brian with the deer horns mounted onto a plastic skull.  He's pretty proud.

September 28 - Molly has some beads in her hair for Native American day at school.  Blake thought his surgical hat looked like he was dressing up for it, too.

Just another gorgeous sunrise!

September 29 - Hallie brought some of the "babies" up from the basement, she played and talked with them for a good long time.

August 2022

 

August 1 - I went to Pocatello with Nikelle, Molly and Hallie. While Nikelle was shopping, the girls had a grand time in the play area.

August 5th - Look how long the grass is! It's so thick and soft!

August 6 - Randy needed to put some gravel by the side of his driveway, so they put Jared's dump trailer to good use, it worked really well.

Maden, Annie, Clark and Declan came down to spend the day, we had lunch on the patio, and then later went to McDonald's.  They were good kids, we had a fun day.

It's that time of year again! Summer sunsets! Oh how I love the colors and brilliance!

August 7 - Jared and Nikelle had a gender reveal party.  They had balloons on a board that had either blue or pink powder in them.  If there was more pink powder, it is a girl, or if there was more blue, then it was a boy.  The kids all had a turn to shoot and arrow at the board.

Then the adults that wanted to took a turn, with Jared and Brian taking some extra turns.

And, It's a GIRL!  We are so excited!

After we all knew what the baby is, the kids played.  Molly and Hallie were a little disappointed at first because they thought they were going to get a new brother, but they both decided another sister would be great.  I loved getting this hug from little Paul!

August 8 - It's the day to mow the lawn! It is so long!

You can really see how long it is as Blake mows.  It sure looks good though!

In case you can't tell, the top is before it was mowed, the bottom is after.  It looks so good! I love these coral roses that are in the front!

August 9 - Blake went with Brian and Aubrey to ride the electric scooters they have for rent in Idaho Falls.  He loved it!

August 10 - Blake and Brian went to the range for some target practice.

August 11 - We tried a new thing...Randy, Ryder, Blake and I drove west of Boise to the Schwartz Sturgeon Pond.  You can catch and release Sturgeon.  Ryder helped some with the pole, Blake and Randy had to help each other release the fish.  I helped by taking lots of pictures.

Some of them were really big, some just average size.  Ryder liked getting in the water to look at the fish. He and Randy really didn't love touching the fish. 

After they had caught a lot with the pole, the owner of the pond came and threw food out and Blake caught them with his hands, the owner called it noodling.  They are really interesting fish.

After fishing, we ate at Cheesecake Factory in Meridian, then stayed at The Holiday Inn Express.  Ryder loved the pool and hot tub.

August 12 - While we were in Boise, Blake got notified that the 4Wheeler he ordered in January had finally come! He and Randy went to Pocatello to pick it up. Then, Blake mowed the lawn again.  It certainly grows fast.

August 13 - Blake, Brian, Aubrey, Randy, Courtney and Ryder went up to check on the trail cams and the hunting blind.  Our new 4Wheeler came just in time!

Just some pictures of our house with clouds and sun. It's so interesting how different the colors are with different light.  I love the front porch and all the sunflowers.

Another beautiful sunset! Medicine to my soul!

August 14 - Hallie was so proud of her "Mukduk" shirt and wanted to send a picture to Cindy.  Jared traded the seats on ours and Brian's  4Wheelers, they looked pretty silly.

August 16 - Yep, mowing again! It seems like it needs it every 4-5 days!

August 17 - Ryder's first of 2nd Grade! He's going to Riverside Elementary.  And Courtney's first day of 11 years of teaching 3 grad at Riverside!

August 18 - Molly lost another tooth! And it was her Back to School day. Brian brought his tent down to set up for the camp out in the back yard the next day. Molly was a real trouper in helping to set up the tent.  Then we went to McDonald's. Blake and Jared took Molly and Hallie for a little 4Wheeler ride to look at the ditch.

August 19 - Before the cousin campout! Here's all our grandkids. Left to right - youngest to oldest.  Hallie (3), Declan (4), Brody Bear, Clark (7), Ryder (7), Molly (7), Annie (9), Maden (12). Oh how I love these little humans!

August 20 - A beautiful start to this day!

The annual Mountain View Hospital party at Tautphaus Park.  The kids love the bounce play ground.  Clark was really good at the bouncing from one big ball to then next.  

After bouncing and eating, we headed to the zoo. Of course, we had to take some pictures on the tiger and lion.

Molly, Annie, Brian and Jared liked the petting zoo.

More zoo fun.  

And, a beautiful end of the day, too!

August 21 - More of God's beautiful creations.  Nikelle took this picture from their driveway.  Just amazing!

August 22 - This sunset was absolutely breathtaking! It looked like the sky was on fire! Then, for a bonus, there was some lightning in the clouds, it was just incredible.

August 23 - Molly's first day of 2nd Grade at Groveland Elementary.  

Blake, Brian and Aubrey went fishing at the Shelley fishing pond.  Kind of smaller fish than the Sturgeon.

July 26 - Another trip to the Boise area, this time with Jared, Nikelle, Molly and Hallie. We stopped in Rupert, so Blake and Jared could paint a Pickle Ball court for the Coates family at their beautiful riverfront home.  We got to eat at Red Lobster Meridian! We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Nampa.  The hot tub and swimming pool were a great hit.

August 27 - Back to the Schwartz Sturgeon Pond so Jared could experience the fun of catching the huge fish.  Molly was a really good pole holder, while Blake and Jared were releasing their catches.  A funny thing happened, while she was holding the pole, there was a big sturgeon on the line and she didn't know.  Jared reeled it in, and it was the biggest fish they had caught all morning.

It got really exciting when they both got fish at the same time.

When it came time to do some "noodling" or catching by hand, there was some really big ones.  The bottom right picture is of a huge one that swam by them, but they couldn't catch it.  The owner hid some painted rocks for Molly and Hallie to find.  They were thrilled and called them "Brody Rocks".  When we explained to Jim, the owner of the pond, why they called them that, he got a little choked up. He was glad it was so meaningful to them.

August 29 - Clark's first day of 2nd grade, and Annie's first day of 4th grade at Summit Hills Elementary.  Maden's first day of 7th grade at Praxium Middle School. It's part of the District 93 Middle Schools.