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.

July 2022

 

July 1 - This is a picture that appeared in the photos in the cloud.  Looks like Blake was having a fun day at work!

July 2 - Brian, Maden and Jared played in a pickle ball tournament in Rupert.  Maden and Brian were partners, and Jared played with Nikelle's dad.  Blake went to be the cheerleader.  They said it was fun, and Rupert has amazing pickle ball courts.

After playing pickle ball, they all ate lunch in the park.  It was a good day.

Cindy and Ken came!  They got here about 2:00pm. Randy, Cindy, Blake and Jared were enjoying some cherries, while Ken looked on.  We gave them a tour of our house and got them settled in, then we went into Jensen's Grove.  Shauna and Troy hosted a pre-firework party at their 5th wheel again.  We had dinner, the kids played some games, and did some snap fireworks. We had a giant cake to celebrate Cindy's 40th birthday!

We all enjoyed the drone show and the fireworks, they were fabulous!

July 3 - Randy moved the trailer that was parked across the street from our driveway because it was in the way. Cindy, Ken, Randy, Jared and Brian went over to Jared's house to set up Brian's new tent.  It is huge!

Then Cindy and Ken were introduced to Pickle Ball.  They played in their flip flops!

Then a lot of us loaded into Brian's pickup bed and headed over to the Mortensen's. We wanted to see their baby horse, but we saw so much more.  Everyone was so impressed with this very nice cat.  

Here's the mom and baby horse, and another horse in the back.  We were all intrigued with this very nice Bassett hound.  

Brian was lucky enough to carry two kids around.  Everyone had a great time talking to the horses.

We saw many kinds of chickens.  Annie and even Nikelle held a chicken! 

We even saw some pigs! The kids had a great time climbing all over the wagon. We sure appreciated Kari, Lia and Mae Mortensen showing us around their little farm!

Back at our house, there was Egyptian games, Hallie had a nap by Annie and Cindy read a story that she gave Clark for his birthday.

July 4 - Randy, Courtney and Ryder went to Idaho Falls early and saved us all a spot along the parade route! We appreciated it so much! Jared and Nikelle had to be there early, so we brought Molly and Hallie up with us. They were very festive in their cute dresses.  While the kids were waiting for the parade to start, they played some soccer.

Here we are all at the parade.  Blake even took a little nap during the parade. We loved waving at Jared and Nikelle as they went by with the Miss Bonneville float.

We came back to our house after the parade and had hamburgers and hot dogs.  It is so nice to be able to use the patio! There was more Egyptian games, and tv watching.  We were able to take a picture of the 4 kids and Blake and I with them.

Cindy brought MukDuk head bands for the all the kids.  It was a big hit!

Later, some of them went to the Archery Range. So nice to have free fun!

July 5 - Cindy, Ken, Randy, Courtney, Ryder and I went to Shelley to see some Corgi puppies and their mama.  There were 10 pups! They were so cute!

Cindy and Ken got to meet Aubrey and Declan. Molly, Hallie and Declan played the funny new games that I bought.

Cindy brought Blake a really nice gift.  She painted (by number) this picture of Blake hugging Stormy.  The picture was taken in 2008, and is a favorite.  Blake loved the painting and quickly found a place to hang it.

July 6 -  We went out to Pingree to The Butterfly Haven.  They have two hot houses with thousands of caterpillars, chrysalis, and butterflies of many varieties.  

I think these are the cutest caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly of all!

It was all pretty fascinating.  

We all enjoyed walking around looking for butterflies.  Cindy didn't have to look far! It was pretty funny that this one landed on her cheek and shoulder.

July 7 - No, this is not just a picture of dirt, if you look really closely you'll see grass!!!! It's 1 week since it was hydroseeded.

The bears at Yellowstone Bear World.

More bear sightings! And measuring the kids to make sure they are big enough for the rides.

At the petting zoo.  Molly loved feeding the goats, Ryder kind of liked it, Hallie not so much.  Randy held her tight and finally got her to touch it.  Have you ever seen such a fat, pregnant mama goat?

I went on the bears with Molly, Ryder and Hallie.  Hallie went on the cars and the train by herself.  Ryder and Molly went on the roller coaster and the sky jump, but I didn't get any pictures of them.

We topped the afternoon off with dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse.  It was really good!

July 8 - Cindy and Ken left early in the morning, so I was up early enough to see this beautiful sunrise.

Even more visible grass!

July 9 - The dirt even has a green tint! The neighbors are getting a fence put in.

Maden and Brian played in another Pickle Ball tournament in Idaho Falls.  They were doing pretty good until Brian hurt his arm.  So, Blake stepped in and played with Maden.  People were so impressed that he would play in his jeans.  They had quite a cheering section.

July 11 - The grass is looking really good.  Blake is adjusting the sprinklers, so it can be watered well.

Swinging!

Brian bought a hunting blind, and is storing it at Jared's house until he can take it to the hunting spot. Then, they had to play around with the 4 wheelers on the trailer.

July 12 - The grass looks better every day, and the fence is in! More playing with the trailer and the 4 wheelers.  

July 13 - Well, the trailer saga continues! Blake and Randy decided that they needed an even longer trailer, so they traded it in again! I hope this is the last time.  Blake was putting the sealant on the wood, and the pan blew over and spilled on the driveway, so now we have a nice sealed spot on the driveway.

July 14 - Beautiful sunrise! Two week grass, it's looking like real grass! We got a cover for the sprinkler hole in the driveway.  An nice dog came to visit for a bit.

July 15 - Fertilizing the lawn for the first time.  New decorations on the porch!

Beautiful sunset!

July 16 - Blake and Brian went to check on the trail cams that Brian had put up in the hunting spot.  It looks like there are plenty of animals roaming around.

July 19 - The grass just keep looking better and better! And the Brody tree is blooming.

I went to Shelley to watch Molly and Hallie in swim lessons. I also watched Michael, James and Kenzley.  They were all doing well.  I love this picture of Paul hiding in Michelle's hair.

July 21 - Three week grass!! Some of the hydrangea plants are blooming along with the Brody Tree.  It's looking like a real house now!

July 21st was a really special day! We gained two new family members! Aubrey and Declan! This is the whole family all dressed up and riding in a limo on the way to the wedding chapel!

We are so happy for Brian and Aubrey! Such a cute little family. I love all these smiling faces!

July 22 -Another beautiful sunrise! Blake is knocking the top off of this little dyke, so it is more level.

July 23 - I went up and stayed with the kids while Brian, Blake and Jared moved more of Aubrey's things into the house.  They had fun playing some of the "new" games they found in the closet.

There was a little piece of siding slipping down, so Jared was brave enough to get high up on the ladder to fix it.

July 24 - Nikelle made this cute cake to celebrate the new Mr & Mrs. Purcell.  I really love all the smiles!

July 26 - Michelle came and helped me reorganize the office closet! It's amazing!

July 27 - We got to see Ryder play his last soccer game for this league.  He made 4 goals! He really does love this game. 

July 28 - Randy came to spread the fertilizer on the grass. It's been one month since it was seeded!  Molly and Hallie came to visit for a bit and went for a little 4wheeler right with Blake.

July 29 - Another gorgeous sunrise! And some pretty yellow roses by the patio in the back yard.

July 30 - Blake, Brian, Aubrey and Hallie went back up to the mountains to check on the trail cams.  We are not sure how how Hallie ended up getting to go, but she loved it! She even had a little nap on the ride down the mountain.