Airplanes and trails

Just a note to show some of the fun we have been having. A couple weekends ago we went to a free air show up in Rexburg. It was a beautiful day and the planes were amazing. I think all the kids left wanting to become pilots, and so did I. We left the air show and went up in the hills to do some fishing and hiking as a family. We had a lot of fun being outside and together. Sadie helped her brothers by putting the worms on thier hooks. The photo is a silly one on the trail by a cool tree we passed, the kids called it the "U" tree. By the end of the hike they were all pretty worn out from a busy day. Our family was asked to speak at church last Sunday but somehow there was a scheduling mix up and we were only left 15 minutes for our entire family. None the less, the kids all spoke individually on Fathers and the priesthood and Brett and I had a little time left to say a couple things. The bishop said that he would have to ask us to speak again soon since we really didn't get to give our talks. One can only hope that he forgets, hee hee. Other than that we are just busy taking care of our animals and our property - no automatic sprinkler system here, so that keeps us hopping. I was so spoiled in Nampa. This last photo is taken from our front porch of the sunset last night. Makes me grateful for all the beauty that surrounds us. Enjoy the wonders around you.

Busy Spring

Hello all! Spring sure has turned out to be a busy one for us. The snow finally left us alone and the sun came out - temporarily (it has been raining for weeks it seems). In early May my parents came out from Stayton, Oregon to visit. We arranged to have Cody’s baptism for while they were here. It was cool to have all of Brett’s family and my folks all there for that special day. Cody really loved having them there for that. A couple days after his baptism we had a birthday party with his friends from school. He wanted a “cool” cake so I whipped this one up for him. He has skateboarding aspirations - which I don’t know if I am too excited about.

We haven’t decided if we are going to get TV yet (no reception without cable) and so our evenings have been all about playing or working outside together. Here are some photos of Brett playing football with the kids. He and Greg against Sadie, Cody and Jackson. The photo below is of Greg running in for a touchdown. They have a lot of fun. I spent last week building our raised bed gardens and then we got them put in this past week. I am going to finish planting them today. We also got our cow last week. Brett’s brother Brandon got him for us before we moved and has had him at his place. They called him Donkey and our kids decided they like that name, so we have a cow named “Donkey”. Weird, I know. He is missing his herd though and will follow us around the pasture. It is pretty cute. Sadie will be getting her sheep for 4-H this week and we are all excited about that. None of us have ever been around sheep before. It should be fun. We are also going to be getting a bunch of chickens next week. You can call Brett “Old MacDonald”. Another thing that we have enjoyed has been bird watching out our back window. We have several feeders out there and even the kids have gotten into it. In fact the boys just got back from a bike ride and told me that they had seen a new bird, described it and then they found it in the bird book. They were so excited to have found it on their own. I have been trying to get everything ready for school in the fall. I went and got a bunch of vaccinations today and get to do CPR certification on Saturday. I also just got called to be the Sunbeam teacher in our new ward. It will be perfect for while I am in school because the 3-4 yr olds won’t know if I am prepared or not as long as I bring something to color. Well, hope all is well in your neck of the woods. We love where we are and feel so blessed to be here and have so many wonderful friends and family out there who care about us. Keep in touch.

PS - If you click on the photos they will come up full size so you can see them in better detail.