Children's Village

Louie's preschool class was invited to the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Children't Village (a botanical garden for kids). Kessie and I tagged along and loved it, so I took all three kids back this last Saturday! Once again, I used my new camera...oooh, love it! By the way, Louie told Lanny we were going to the mechanical garden!

Love the sack races, as do my kids. Thought it was funny that they were both pulling a Michael Jordan!
There is a place for kids to perform a puppet show for others. Kessie loved this little bunny.
I was waiting in line so the kids could get a balloon. They tried to find some shade to sit in while we waited. Aaron and I are getting more and more concerned everyday about Louie, we know we're in trouble. She can't help but be beautiful. Yes, once again, I know it is sideways, and I can't figure out how to fix it...remember, I'm technically stupid.
Thought this was such a cute pic of Kessie, patiently waiting while the man made her a balloon butterfly. He was pretty awesome. P.S. All the balloons were at least partially popped by the time we reached the truck (about 4 minutes). So glad I stood in that sweltering line for 45 minutes!

Brought to You by Canon

So I still can't figure most of my camera out, it is very complicated and can do a ton of amazing things. However, I sort of, kind of cheated so I could get a couple pictures up. Someday when I have time I'll go over everything carefully and learn to be a pro...until then....This was the first day I had my camera, I took over eighty shots, just of Lanny's game. He had just been told he could play defense, which he likes the best, and he jumped in the air with excitement!
I love the look of determination on his face and I love my telephoto lens that lets me capture it!
I love this picture because of the angle of his body...can't you just tell he's at full speed after that ball!

No Pictures

I still don't know how to upload pictures yet, but soon, soon! Until then, Lanny had a great birthday party! His friends were all very generous...he loved all his gifts, but my favorite are his "Talkie-Walkies"...that's how he says it, so that's why they are my favorite! I loved seeing him happy and excited!
On Sunday our wonderful neighbors brought us over some smoked ribs...ooooh delicious! We had leftovers for lunch on Monday. Louie liked them, but couldn't remember what they were called. I had told her three times when she looked at me and said, "What are they again? Ankles?!?" Well, that's what they're going to be from now on!
Aaron ground up some of his elk meat last night. Oh, by the way, he got an elk this year with his bow! He was pretty excited, and so was I because now he doesn't have to leave in October!!! Kessie was pretty upset at the sight of the meat and said, "Daddy, I hate alien blood!" I do too! I never would have sent Aaron off to hunt if I'd known it would be an alien that he brought home. Oh well, we just won't tell you what we're feeding you when you come to visit!
The missionaries moved in yesterday! We're pretty excited! They are great missionaries and very kind and friendly! The noise level at our house hasn't diminished, so we'll see how scripture study for them goes! It should be an adventure anyhow!
Pictures, I promise, soon, but that's all for now.

9/15/09

We have been super busy once again, don't know how it happens. We go from nothing to do, to holy cow, there is no time left in the day! A few highlights from this past week. Lanny did great in his soccer game. The boys really worked as a team---and I got a beautiful, amazing, fabulous (are you getting the picture)new camera. Even having no idea how to use it, I got some fun shots of his game. Stay tuned for those, as soon as I figure out how to get them on my computer you will see them. Yes, Aaron spoils me rotten! He must really love me!
Mr. Boingo had his big event on Tuesday. If that last sentence made no sense Aaron and I have done our jobs well. Aaron came up with the name "Mr. Boingo" to represent Lanny, and "Big Event" to represent his birthday. That way we could discuss birthday ideas without him knowing...of course, he caught on pretty quick. When Aaron first said the code phrase, I burst into laughter, he surprises me all the time with his wit. So, Lanny is now seven!!! I can't believe it either. He got up at 6:00 on his birthday and couldn't go back to sleep. He opened several of his presents, but his favorite were a dinosaur washcloth and some bouncy putty (both dollar store items). Why did I bother with more expensive gifts? He's having a birthday party on Saturday, so I'll take most of the pictures then, but here is one that I took on Tuesday!
Yesterday, the girls and I decided to look through the garden and see what we could pick. Here is what we came up with. It was so fun! Louie put everything in a little basket to transfer it to the house, then we took some to the neighbors. We used two peppers and the tomato last night in our tacos! Wow, I love having a garden, or I did for a couple of minutes until I had to go out after dark to water it. (I'm still terrified of the dark in case you were wondering.)
Hope everyone's week is going well.

That's all Folks!

Don't be sad, but this is the last of my pictures. Actually, I took about 150, but you'll have to come visit us to see them all.

I found these two Quakies that I loved. They had some of the bark stripped away and were so beautiful and rich with color. I made Aaron pose next to them. Sorry ladies, he's taken. Seriously though, I do love this shot...he's pretty handsome in his element.

I was glad Aaron brought a bucket to carry all of the fish he was about to catch. Well, he didn't catch any, but it came in handy when I wanted to set up a timed shot to capture the whole family.

This is Aaron's "illegal fish". He let him go, but for a fish it's a pretty one.

Give Me More!

You want em', you got em'. Here are more pictures from our trip!

Don't know how this got turned sideways, but oh well. Kessie was such a good helper collecting wood for the fire in her beautiful dress. Even princesses work hard!

We all went on a bear hunt, which was pretty stupid since there was an abundance of them this year. We didn't see any, but Lanny sure looked hard. He was my protector!

Yeah, I have a thing for shadows. This is us, minus Aaron-he was fixing us breakfast. Can you tell who's shadow is whose?

Whitney caught a cute little fish, don't ask me what type, I don't remember. She was pretty excited. We had all pretty much given up and decided to go back to camp when she caught him! Yeah!

This is Kessie with her bear hunting, charge, go forward, onward and upward, stick! She was pretty cute up there and had the best vantage point of us all!

Anxiously Waiting

I know most of the millions of people who read this blog have been anxiously waiting for pictures from our camping/hunting trip over Labor Day Weekend. Okay, so most of the two people who read this blog didn't know we had even left town, but here you go anyway.
We went over to High Savory Reservoir(might have misspelled that, but I don't really care), which is about 3.5 to 4 hours away depending on how fast we fly over the mountains. Just to let you know, it started off alright...we even got to see three huge manly mooses while driving, but then the trip went slightly south when we also got to see a naked man skipping through the forest! Seriously! That is the one part that Lanny is telling everyone about...luckily it was just his backside.
We camped from Friday through Monday and Uncle Derek and Whitney joined us. It was Uncle Derek's turn to get flat tires this year. Not to be outdone by us (we got two at the same time last year while hunting) he also got two flat tires, but not at the same time. Aaron hunted with his friend Nick and Lanny. We all did a little fishing, I just carried the snacks actually. And we all enjoyed sitting around the campfire with friends and family. It was, print this out and save it because I will never admit to saying this, pretty fun! Aside from the messy hair and dirty fingernails and threat of bears!
The Kokanee were starting to spawn, so we did get to see some red ones. Aaron snagged one accidentally, and since that is technically illegal, he released it...but I got a picture first. Aaron didn't get an Antelope, but I see that as one of God's "tender mercies".
Kessie asked Aaron this morning if we were going camping again tomorrow. All the kids loved it, and I think they could camp forever if I allowed it...probably because baths are not an option and brushing teeth and hair is iffy at best. So without further ado, here are those pictures everyone has been waiting for!

Busy, Busy, Busy

It has been a crazy week. Lanny lost another tooth. That makes 5 altogether. He was pretty excited about it and also thought it was hysterical that apparently the Tooth Fairy accidentally went into the chicken coop and was attacked by Ducky! She wasn't too happy about it. He also had a soccer game on Tuesday and practice on Wednesday. Our big event, however, was that Louie started her school. She was scared, but went anyway and ended up having a great time. She had a huge smile on her face and was bouncing up and down when I went to pick her up. I was so excited that she had a good day. She has new teachers this year that I don't know, but they seem to be pretty nice. Lots going on, so I don't have a lot of time, but I thought I'd share her pictures. Kessie was pretty traumatized that she didn't get to stay at school too. I pacified her with some Cheetos!

This is how Louie was really feeling at the beginning...she cheered up quickly!