Random from July

The swallows have been terrible at our house, Dean knocks their nest down with a shovel three times a week. I decided to really let them know they were unwanted and sprayed their nests with a hose until every last drop of mud was gone. Next thing I know the kids are playing with a tiny baby bird that I had soaked and evicted from its home. They played with it for a while and asked if we could keep it, luckily Grandpa Fox came by and told them it would be best if we let the bird live in the barn and nature would take its course (leaving the kids to think its mom would come back and take care of it but we all know he ment the cats would eat it).

We had a tornado warning here is the mountains, I'm not lying a real tornado warning. There was no actual tornado but there was a heck of a windstorm and it ruined the big trees behind my house. Leaving us with lots of stick and branches everywhere, these two were mesmerized by the flames.

Josie and her friend Presleigh, I wish I would have got a picture of Trig too. My kids have been loving the weather lately, playing in the sprinkler under the tramp and them running to the sandpile and then over to ride bikes all day long.

I ran down stairs because Josie started screaming bloody murder but it was just because "the baby was getting all her stuff". Isn't this the best, her chubby little ankles and those tippy toes.

Josie is doing swimming lesson at Lava. One day after lessons we stayed to swim, not 5 minutes into our swim Quincy was chewing on a bandaid she had found in the pool, sick.

Of course a couple more trips to Bear Lake, I sure love it there and so do these guys.

Working cows with dad. It was well over a hundred and fifty degrees I was glad I had to get right home to the vacuum sales man.

I finally bought a Kirby!!! I love it, after buying 6 Walmart vacuums in seven years I decided to get serious and bought a Dyson, it was junk, I think there new ball technology is crap so I returned it and went with the Kirby. It was expensive but Lawrence is friends with the sales man and he gave us and really really good deal and 4 fuit trees!

Quincy is wild all the time but in the tub she just can't control herself it is seriously her happiest place but I don't even let her play very long because it just flat out dangerous.

I was doing my hair and Trig came to tell me about his pretend hunt. He found that binocular sling and attached it all by himself he just melts me.

I just wanted to capture a few favorites while staying at my parents. Trig loves to watch westerns with Grandpa, one of Josie's favorite things is when they let her type her own page, she just feels to important, and Quincy well she was asleep at the time.

Happy Birthday

My little helper turned 5. She was so excited to be 5, I kept asking her to stay 4 but she wouldn’t. She has been so fun to watch grow up. She has come out of her shell and is talkative and such a fun little friend to visit with. She is an excellent helper, in fact sometimes I have to remind her to go play and just be 5 not an adult. This little girl is a straight arrow she does not like a break the rules. She is very curious and asks lots and lots of questions she genuinely wants to know how and why things are the way they are. I worry about how much she worries. She has started taking music lessons that will eventually turn into piano lessons, and tumbling. She is happy as long as you are pretending exactly the way she tells you to. She and Trig are the best of friends but she is starting to invite friends over more because they play dolls better than Trig. She loves dolls, house, coloring, and being the boss. We sure love having her around.   

We was very adamant about having a birthday party with Rio. She didn't want a friend or family party she only wanted one with Rio. It actually worked out great because we were headed to Addy's the week before her birthday. She wanted a "Princess and the Pop-star" birthday so the girls decorated little princess cakes and opened presents. It was simple and quick but she was pleased. 

Josie's only request was a purple wig with a headband like Kira. She also got the movie and Princess and the Pop-star polly pockets, which she treats like gold and will only play with on special occasions. 

Josie loves to do extra chores to earn money to put in her piggy bank to save for college. She is really worried about having enough money saved to have her own "ra-apartment" for college. 

She drew this picture of me when I was a mermaid, so that was really nice.

She also loves loves loves for me to take pictures of her while she is sleeping and show them to her the next morning. She thinks it so funny and is always excited when I have a new one to show her. Oh I just want her to stay this little forever.

Cheyenne Rodeo the "Daddy of 'em all"

Dean and I went with our friends Justin and Sara Andersen to Cheyenne in July. Our first stop was the Prison in Laramie. It was really neat, I have a small fetish with prison living and Dean has one with Butch Cassidy so we both really enjoyed this stop. 

They like to make a really big deal about Cheyenne being "the best rodeo" and it being the "daddy of 'em all" and I wouldn't have believed it but after going I can really say it is an AWESOME rodeo. The stock is all fresh and the barrier is 30 feet longer than an average PRCA rodeo and it makes for a really wild time. I didn't take this picture but it illustrates perfectly how wild it is.

The rodeos are 4 hours long every day for 14 days. They go really fast and are fun to watch. They have lots of stuff going on between runs, trick riders, dinner bell races, and my favorite the wild horse race. It was insane, they bring out 10 horses that have never been handled and a team of three guys have to saddle and ride the horse all the way around the track, it was intense.

I was a little disappointed that besides the rodeo there wasn't a lot going on. They had a lot of vendors and an old pioneer village but you could have looked at it all in a day. We went to two concerts, Brad Paisley and Tim McGraw. Dean and I aren't really into concerts but they were really entertaining and I was glad we went.

Lane Frost memorial

Friday morning they had an amazing all horse parade. A bunch of stores had chairs sitting on the side walk that you could rent for $5 so we outsmarted them and sat on the curb. 

It was the only parade that I have ever seen and probably will ever see that started at 9 am and had a float full of obvious drunk people. There was more beer consumed in that town than I could ever comprehend in those 14 days. 

This is the only picture I got of any horses in the parade. They did have some awesome entries but I just wanted Josie to see this horse dressed up as a fairy.

They had a little indian village where we watched some dancing and bought Josie some jewelry. 

Addy was so nice to watch the kids. They had so much fun at her house. And she sent me lots of pictures so I could see all the fun stuff they got to do! She was brave and took them ALL swimming and did lots of crafts.

Bruce Hall Family Reunion 2014

Sunday night we all met in Bear Lake. It was so fun to see the kids run around and explore. I loved when I walked in and saw the handmade claims on each bed. They loved  making big plans and playing with each other.  

We had a good dinner and lots of time to visit. 

This game was a little mix of badminton and volleyball

Later we ditched the kids and played are real game 

 actually we played lots of games...

 

 

Monday we headed to the Lake for the day 

 Catherine said the trampoline had a 20 pound weight limit but Addy proved that wrong!

 JD and Catherine went out on the boat and Colette had a little fit. It was the cutest thing. I swooped in and saved the day by building a pool for her barbies (she didn't even have barbies at the lake but she was thrilled to have a pool for them).

 Josie kindly filled everyone of the holes in this water bed with mud

 Grandma and Jake built and sand chair

 Emilee let us use her kayaks 

 Max was an incredibly laid back beach bum. 

 Tuesday we headed back to the beach for another full day in the sun. 

Gretchen and Jake had to hold a long hug as punishment for fighting and they were not happy about me documenting it.

After Grandpa bought Quincy some Tylenol for her mouth full of new teeth she was a happy baby.

Trig could not get enough of the water guns. He was constantly squirting someone. Its ironic how bad people hate to get wet when they are in the water.

 Casey and CJ got him pretty good a few times so he moved to less of a target, Krey.

 I was happy to see these gals made their own circle to visit in away from the adults

 See he really is a happy little beach bum

Trig's eyes were a perfect description of us all after two full days in the sun, tired and red. He found this toy full of sea shells that Rio had collected. I snapped a picture of them right before that little stinker walked in the water and dumped them all out, so sorry Rio :(

 Wednesday morning we packed up and headed to Minnetonka Cave. Casey filled in on the mom roll of braiding Taylor's hair.

 We played games and fed squirrels while we waited for out turn

This day just happened to fall on the day of my parents 43rd anniversary. What a great example they are to all of us. They take such good care of each other and are best friends. This wasn't our whole group but a good portion.

Grandpa bought us all lunch before we headed home

We missed Alyson, her doctor put her on bed rest until Levi gets here. She wasn't very happy about sending me a picture but I told her we needed it for the memory.

What a great time we had. We all went home happy and exhausted. Thanks Mom and Dad for the great trip!