Theme Week

The week after we got home from vacation, before soccer camp and school started, we had theme week. I knew we weren't going to have much to do all week, so I made a plan. The theme days were pirate day, tie-dye day, dog day, and shark day. I also planned snorkeling day, but we got busy and didn't get that done until just recently.

On pirate day we made silver pirate treasure coins. A.K.A. rice krispy treats wrapped in aluminum foil. Then we had a pirate treasure hunt around the house to find them.

Tie-dye day we made tie dye shirts and ice cream. I have had a tie-dye kit in my craft tower for a couple of years and we finally used it. The girls loved it. They were so excited to get their shirts out of they dryer. We made it a family affair and Ridge even got a onsie. The tie-dye ice cream was vanilla ice cream dyed several colors and layered. When you scooped it the colors swirled around each other. That was fun, too.

On dog day we visited the humane society to play with the puppies and made rocket dogs for dinner. The rocket dogs turned out so cute, we might have to make them again next fourth of July.

Shark day was another cupcake day. We made shark cupcakes and learned about sharks.

We all had something to look forward to. We all had fun. And nobody asked "what can I do now?" Yeah!

Lemonade Stand

If you ever see a lemonade stand in the summer, STOP! A couple of fabulous people stopped for my super cute girls and they were so, so excited. It took a lot longer to set this up than it lasted, but they had a great time.

Father's Day

We had a great Father's Day barbeque when Jenny and Don were here. I thought Russ deserved his own little celebration, though. The kids and I made a plan to surprise him. The girls made him a crown. When he got home they crowned him and sat him down for a foot spa with his favorited drink, a peach kerns on ice. While they were doing that I made one of Rusty's favorite dinners, baked chile rellenos with sopapillas. After dinner we had an ice cream tasting contest. I found the idea somewhere on the internet. My plan was to buy the small little pints of ice cream, but they were almost as expensive as the bigger size. We still have leftover ice cream. I gave everyone a spoon of ice cream and they had to write down what type of ice cream they thought it was. Kyleigh won the contest. We also gave him this years pictures for his
D-A-D picture frame. Rusty is a great Dad that deserves a special Fathers Day.

Trip to Boise

Near the end of our trip we made our way back to Boise. The occasion was the sealing of our sweetest ever little niece. We got all of our families together in one place, and huge bonus, all of our closest friends were there, too. Jeff and Dawn flew in for about 24 hours and John and Wendi came from Utah for a long weekend. The sealing was beautiful and it was apparent that our nieces love us. We arranged to stay in the same hotel as the Giles while we were there. We made it to the park, zoo, out to dinner and ice cream, and the MK nature center. While we were at the nature center we saw a doe and her two

fawns. They are in the bottom picture, if you can see them. We had so much fun being with our friends and Hawaii family in Idaho. The post vacation depression set in as soon as we got home. The beach helps. Million dollar question, though, when do we get to go back?

The Babies. Ridge, Macy, and Aliya.

The little girls. Katelyn, Naiya, and Abby.

The big girls. Haley, Alyssa, and Kyleigh.

Yellowstone in pictures

Brink of the lower falls.






















First bear spotting. He was off the side of the road. We had to wait for the line of cars to move slowly past him before we could see him. Later we saw a momma bear and two cubs.


















We made a quick stop at Mammoth Falls. Amazing!

Wagon/horse rides for everyone out to a chuckwagon steak dinner with entertainment.

Kyleigh petting the horse that pulled their wagon. She loves horses.

One morning we ran into a group of buffalo on the road. They didn't have anywhere to go. One side was mountain and the other river, so they were running up the road. We literally could have reached out and touched them. They had a few babies with them also. This was a once in a lifetime experience.

Katelyn and Naiya love to pick flowers. This was on our 6 or so mile round trip hike to the lone star geyser.

Cute kids eating lunch at the lone star geyser.

The lone star geyser goes off every 3-5 hours. We just happened to get there about 10 minutes before it went off. It shot in the air for about 30 minutes. Some people had been waiting for hours and others happened upon it just after it stopped. We were so lucky.

Man, Rusty is exceptionally hot.

Papa and Katleyn at the mud pots.

Aliya had her first birthday while we were at Yellowstone. We tried to have a party for her, but she fell asleep. I guess that is what happens when you are out of the cabin at 5 a.m. to look for animals. Happy Birthday anyway, sweet Aliya.

















Other Yellowstone news:

We stayed in Island Park at the Mangy Moose cabin. We enjoyed it, although we weren't really there a whole lot. Gone by 5 a.m and back around 11 for 2 of the 3 nights we were there. It is so nice to have a place to cook, though. We would stay there again if given the chance.

The first night we were there we went to a play at the playmill. It was High School Musical. The girls enjoyed it, but the babies had to leave before intermission. Holly and Russ took the babies and got some extra shopping time in at West Yellowstone.

I had been telling the girls of the fabulous candy store in West Yellowstone, and how I had bought a monstrous jawbreaker as a kid. It took me weeks to finish that thing. They wanted one, too. Sure enough, they still had them there. Katelyn decided on something else at the last minute and Kyleigh bought one but has barely taken 10 licks on it. I suppose it will sit in my fridge for a year or so. I don't think she has my sweet tooth.

Rusty and I haven't been to Yellowstone since we went camping on our Honeymoon, and we didn't really see much of the park then. We are looking forward to going back.