Ray's Birthday and Tony Grove

It's Ray's birthday, and he wanted to go on a picnic up to Tony Grove. I packed up the car with a blanket, picnic, drinks, and ourselves and off we headed up towards Logan. The day was beautiful, and the Autamn leaves are just beginning to make their full appearances. Tony Grove was really busy, and so we hiked around just a bit, and then headed back down the canyon and into Logan to the city park by the stream and had lunch, cake and drinks. Ray seemed to be quite content with how his special day turned out. Happy Birthday honey, I hope you have had a great day!!!

Old Town Pocatello

We went to Pocatello and walked around Old Town. It was such a beautiful day for a stroll through a nice little old part of town. The kids enjoyed window shopping, and going out to eat somewhere we normally would not eat at.  We also had fun looking through the old Library.  All in all it was a fun little Saturday trip with the ones I love the very most!  <3

Two Silly girls and Jake

Ellie had her friend Hollie over to play. They played littlest pet shop for quite a while in Ellie's room, then they decided to go outside and be silly with Jake. Not too long after they headed outside Ellie came back inside and asked if I would come out and take pictures of them being silly.

Jake loved that they let him play with them. It isn't everyday he gets invited to play with the girls, and he took advantage of every single minute of the playtime. :)

First Day of School

Yesterday was the kids first day of school. They woke up early, were both very happy, and got ready quite quickly. I took the first day of school pics and then we snuggled on the couch and talked about what would probably happen in their classes during the day, and where they needed to meet up after school so they could walk home together. As it got closer to time for us to go to school, Jake started getting a bit more nervous, and a lot more grumpy. As we headed out the door, he informed me that he didn't think he wanted to stay all day at school cause he would miss me so much, and then he got quite teary eyed. I told him he would be ok, and that if he needed me while he was at school, or if he got scared he could go to the office and call home. Well we pulled into the school, and Ellie quickly said her goodbyes, and assured me she could get to her class by herself. But Jake on the other hand told me he needed me to help him get to class. We walked hand in hand to his class and he paused and took a big breath before entering into his new class. I helped him get his backpack and lunch box put away and told him goodbye. As I left the school I felt a tinge of sadness knowing that I would be home alone all day long, and wouldn't have my kids here to keep me company.

As the end of the day got closer I headed down to the school to watch for them as they headed home just to make sure they were ok on their first day. Of course they were, I am just a worrier. I am glad both seem to have really wonderful teachers this year, and my prayer is that they will both do great in school this year.

Today when they got home they were full of stories, and exciting news about how the second day of school was just as good as the first day was. I am so glad they had a nice first and second day!!

2nd half of Craters Vacation

One of the best things about my family is that they let me take my camera everywhere we go, and they hardly ever complain when I want to stop during our adventures to take random pictures. I have gotten some of my favorite pictures because they let me do this. :)We ate at a little restaurant called Pickle's Place. The name got us to go in and give it a try, but the food was not at all good, and by the time we left all I wanted to do is ask for my money back. The Place we stayed at had a hill just like the Hurricane Hill where each graduating class left there year. I have seen it done in different towns but this one reminded me most of the H hill.This is a beautiful little wild flower bouquet Ellie picked for me. She is always doing sweet things like this for me. It's too bad they don't last long, or I would bring them home and dry them.We stopped in this little town at the grocery store and grabbed some stuff for a picnic, and then found this cute little reservoir with tables and awnings to eat lunch. The water was such a pretty blue, and we enjoyed seeing who could make the biggest splash with the biggest rocks. Maddi loved being able to explore as much as the kids did when we would stop and hike around.These little daisies were about the size of my pinkie fingernail. I used my macro lens to make it bigger. They were so pretty, and everywhere on the side of the road. Check out this guys beautiful eye. He was so handsome and watched my every move as I got closer to take some pictures of him.

Craters of the Moon

Ray and I took the kids on a mini vacation to Craters of the Moon. For those that don't know what Craters of the Moon is, it is a National Park in Idaho where there is lots of Lava Rock of different kinds, and lots of underground tunnels that you can hike through. It was beautiful and a little scary all at the same time. And best of all it is almost in our own backyard. :)



Ellie posing in front of her sign. It said wild caves. She wanted to know why it was so wild. lolWe are at the bottom of this cave looking up at the sky. The rooms were as big as a regular sized home, and they seemed to go on forever. All I could think about while in this cave was please don't collapse, please don't collapse. lol Ya, I was really scared!This is one of the caves that had caved in. I was a bit nervous having the kids run around some of these open caves. I guess I am a bit of a paranoid mother.

Here the kids are getting ready to climb down into one of the lava tunnels. Some of them still had snow and ice in the bottom of them, and the temperature was a lot colder than up on top. This is one of the many signs around the park. It explains how the park was made all those years ago.

I made Ray hold the kid's hand while walking up this path. The drop off/lava slide on the other side was like 200 feet deep. Really dangerous.

My little lava babies sitting in a little lava whole. :)

Dancing the Night Away

We headed to Burley last night to listen to Front Porch Flavor (Ray's cousins band) at a folk festival in the park. There were several different bands that performed, and boy did we have lots of fun. The kids enjoyed getting out on the dance floor and shaking there booties. Ellie met this little guy (age7) who insisted she dance every dance with him. They had the attention of the audience the entire time, and even got the bands playing good songs for them. Ellie made sure however that we knew he was NOT her type, and she was NOT his girlfriend. At the end of the night when it was time to head home this little boy came and asked for her e-mail address so he could write her a letter. lol