Home Bodies

Justin and Claire have been trying to stay busy at home, with not much success. We have watched a lot of Dora and Diego since WE finally get to pick the kid shows (no big sisters around who know how to run the remote.) Also a couple of lazy mornings in the bubble bath. *check out that farmers tan!!

Yesterday we rode around with Ryan all morning which was fun for me and the kids. Ryan is FINALLY home from the mountains. It wasn't that long of a trip, but when you cant even talk on the phone it makes it seem longer. We were glad to get him back! Besides he took us to lunch at the *new* restaurant in Richfield for lunch, lucky day! We need to start getting into our home routine, some Mommy school and fun stuff like that, maybe Monday.....

They're Off!

BIG first Day!

1st grade with Miss Beazley (they call her by her first name Heidi, different I know, Ryan does not like it at all, but that is how it is!) She is a really fun teacher, all of the kids LOVE her! Ashley never got to have her, we will see how it goes, I am sure it will be great!

3rd grade, Miss Robinson, this is her 2nd year teaching, she is also a really fun teacher. Ashley is really excited and will do good in her class I am sure!

Ashley and Emma went to School this morning. Justin and I were sad! The girls were jumping out of their skin trying hard to wait patiently for the bus. I was hoping it just wouldn't come, but it did.

Emma escaped with out getting that tooth pulled, maybe her teacher will pull it????

Claire's knock, knock joke

Our kids are all big into jokes, especially knock knock jokes, Claire told this one to me this morning, she is getting too big! She will be two in one month! Sad..... The girls are pretty silly on this also, bear with us PLEASE! They are SO ready for school to start, maybe I am a little too, I just wish it didn't mean the end of Summer, sad day tomorrow!

Emma's snaggle tooth

Emma is the worst at pulling teeth! She screams and makes a fuss so much that we don't dare pull it out. Ryan got mad at me for making empty promises to her like, "if you don't have that tooth out by lunch time dad is going to pull it" Ryan just couldn't bring himself to do it. Emma screams and turns purple and you would think we were cutting off her little finger, but no just wiggling her tooth! Needless to say the tooth is still holding on by a thread. I am too wimpy to pull it out too, not because of the screaming, but because I CANT pull teeth, it just creeps me out! I can not allow her to go to school tomorrow though with this snaggly tooth, it really is gross! She and I are both going to have to get brave and get it out!
Ryan is teasing her wrestling her around, he has his BIG pliers in his hand pinching them at her, maybe this is why she is so scared......

Flag Pole, Phase 1

Our very best neighbor Grandpa Bill Coffey is building me a flag pole. He came this morning to install the base of it. It is going to be 40 feet tall! Wowsers, I am really excited! (I am pretty sure I am going to need a bigger flag!) He pounded and pounded with a really heavy sledge hammer and got it in really deep and good so hopefully it will hold up the pole that he is making! This man is amazing, he is 88 years old!! He is one tough grandpa!! And we LOVE him! I cant wait to FINALLY have a flag pole. We are really making some BIG additions to the yard this summer. Cant wait for the new grass to start growing too......I guess I better get it planted first!!

Daddy's Boots

I think I have a picture like this with all of my kids, so why stop the tradition! Claire and Justin jumped right into Ryan's boots when he got in from work the other night. His water boots barely fit Justin Claire tried once to get them on but was not successful, she will stick to his cowboy boots.

While The Boys Are Away The Girls will Play!

Ryan and the men-folk in his family are gone on the annual pack trip up in the mountains for a couple of days. He was so excited to get away from farming for a little while, I was glad he could go....well sorta, it is never fun to be left home alone! But we haven't been sitting at home at all, today we took the kids and went to Hop2it. Super fun place! It is just a whole bunch of those bounce houses and slides and fun kid stuff. Sara and I were laughing at our agility, or lack of it! I think I may be sore tomorrow after all of that climbing and bending and sliding. It was a lot like that American Gladiator show that we always used to watch, that stuff is hard to get through and climb on! I am getting old! Still, it was a great time, we cant wait to take all of the men when they get home!E and Ash, I never even saw these two the entire time, they were just going and going! We were the only ones there most of the time so it was perfect for keeping track of kids because they were ALL ours!
Justin and Jaci buried in the ball pit, this was a fun spot!

Claire, BALLS!

jumping on mushrooms, I think, look at them laughing, we all laughed A LOT!



I did make it to the top of a couple of slides, I only had to be helped up one time, this poor guy thought I was hurt because I was laughing so hard, I just kept slipping and losing my socks, I was quite embarrassed when he offered to help, I climbed up and then he handed me Claire. I could do it just fine by myself, I didn't really need help.....how humiliating!

Trampoline Adventure!

THIS + THIS = THIS: The kids are enjoying the first addition to their back yard wonderland. Ashley and Emma slept out on the tramp the first night, this is them the next morning. All went well except Ashley's little mosquito bite on her EYE! Yes, we have all seen that one before, the poor girls' eye was swollen shut by Sunday morning. It looks much better tonight though. These two are fearless! I am not letting them know to be afraid at all and they are not! At one point the wind got really bad and it even started to rain by the time I got my robe on it had all stopped so they stayed out all night!

More Fishing!

Ryan took the kids fishing one last time. We had a great time. Emma caught two fish right off and Ryan was getting nervous that he wasn't going to get any, but then he found the honey hole! He caught about 3 in a row, then I told them No more! I cant stand to waste, cause I know I wasn't going to eat all those fish, plus we needed to leave some for the next guy who comes along, right?! We felt successful, Ash caught a little guppy and was the most excited about that. We had a little hot dog roast and then came home. It is nice living so close to good fishing!

Yellowstone

On the way home we stopped in Yellowstone to see Old Faithful and eat lunch. Emma was sick from Cody to Old Faithful, (like throwing up) I think she was car sick, she kept asking if we could just walk, no more driving, poor kid. She fell asleep and woke up at Old Faithful and then felt better, finally! I felt a little overwhelmed having my four little kids at this huge overly crowded tourist attraction all by myself, I was just afraid I was going to lose one of them. But we survived, Claire almost was attacked by a dog. I don't know why someone would bring a mean dog to a place with that many people around, we weren't even talking to it, we just passed in front of it, I actually didn't even see the dog until it was almost in Claire's lap growling at her. Tons of people turned around and stared at us, it scared me to death! We still had a good time and want to go again, just next time we will make our Dad come with us!Claire would NOT look at the camera, and yes we are all in our jammies. Justin WOULD NOT change I begged him, and Ash and Emma weren't feeling well so I didn't make them change, but lets face it, it took us 11 hours to get home, they needed to be comfy, so I didn't care too much!

Always exciting! We timed it just right so we didn't even have to wait, we ate our lunch went to the bathroom and we had four minutes to spare! The kids loved it!