Tater's Earrings.

Tatum decided she was ready to have her ears repierced.  We had tried once before, but she changed her mind at the last minute, so we haven't talked about it much since.  A couple weeks ago she asked, "If we have time when we're in Utah, can I get my ears pierced?"
We had time on Monday, so we headed to the mall.  She was amazing.  She never faltered. They were pierced one at a time and she barely even flinched.  That is my little Tater.  Once she sets her mind to something, there is no going back.
 

 

 

Raspberries!!!

We headed out to a friends to pick raspberries this morning. My goodness, we were surrounded by delicious raspberries. It was incredible how many there were. We picked and picked until all of us were worn out.

Tatum liked to go deep into the middle of the patch to do her picking.

All the kiddos.

Jake ended up with raspberries inside his boots. Apparently a few fell in while he was picking! Look at the size of that patch behind him.
Yummy goodness! We ended up with about 4 gallons. Delish!

Huckleberry'n

It wouldn't be summer in Teton Valley without picking huckleberries. We didn't get out as much as we'd hoped, I guess I'll have to ration myself through the winter months. Anyway, we did all head out together, but with all the bear encounters this year, I was a little nervous.

Cambrie just getting started.

Evidence of success.

Although Jason kept teasing me about bears, he must've been a little worried, because you'll notice, he was packin'. I actually took bear spray and kept telling him that if we were attacked, I'd be better off. He still believes a gun is the way to go. Hopefully we'll never actually have to find out which of us is right.

Yummy goodness! Nothing is better than these babies!

Jake BuStEd!

Getting ready to head back home!

my little fisherman!

My very dear friend Wendy (knowing Jason as well as she does), gave this outfit to Jake when he was born. Luckily, I happened to be cleaning out his closet, or I would've forgotten about it (only because it's been nearly 5 years). Jake was there with me helping me sort into piles, keep, throw, donate, when all of the sudden he said, "Mom, where did this come from?" I looked to see what he was talking about, and he was grinning from ear to ear. "Mom, it's a fishing vest! We need to go fishing." He immediately changed into his fishing clothes, then proceeded to ask to go fishing about 50 more times. By the time Jason came home, I had moved onto the girls closet, but Jake was still undeterred. I asked Jason if he would please take Jake fishing (it was a tough decsion, help clean out our girls closet, or go fishing). He took Jake down to his man cave to get equipped and up they came. Jake now even had flies on his vest. He couldn't have been happier. Now, according to Jake, Monday is "Fishing Day." Thanks Wendy for knowing us so well and being so good to us.

mystery bug

We've had a hatch of some unidentified bug here and the kids have decided to make them their new playmates. When we're outside you can hear them chirping all over. The kids caught a few and decided to bring them upstairs to the play room and play with them. When I went upstairs, this is what I found.

They verified for me that the bugs were still alive, but according to Tatum, "They like being our friends so much they just hold still for us." They had a third one that was riding in the Littlest Pet Shop Ambulance with a tiny sticker band-aid on it's back while I took this picture. He was quite noisy, so they named him Mr. Noisy Pants. Now they are back in the bug containers and being toted around by Jake. Pretty hilarious.

slip n slide day!

Tatum had her friend Ellie over for they day and it was super toasty so we decided to pull out the slip n slide. Of course Jake and Jack wanted in on the fun too.

boys and their toys

Here are Jake and his buddy Jack.

They were playing today when I realized I hadn't seen or heard them for a while, so I set out to find them. I went into Jason's 'toy box' and this is what I found . . .



Totally classic. They were just hanging out chugging their pop!

Another year in Victor!

Another year has come and gone in Victor, Idaho. Things continue to go very well. I think we are always finding new things that we love about this place. Winter brought more fun in the snow. Tatum and Cambrie both found they love skiing and ice skating. All of us enjoyed snowshoeing and sledding quite a bit this year. We've got tons of firewood ready and are actually a bit excited for our evening fires again. Summer was amazing as always. We were so fortunate to be able to spend lots of time outdoors hiking, 4 wheeling and camping. We've loved having family and friends visit this year and sharing all this beautiful valley has to offer them. The kids are loving small town living. They adore their chickens and ducks and can't wait until more animals arrive (It could be a while). I love that they spend way more time outside than inside, no matter what season it is. A lot has changed in the 3 years since we've moved here, but I know with a surety, this is where we needed to be. We're getting so much better at going with the flow and slowing down to enjoy the little things in life. We are so blessed!

One Spoiled Rooster.

Here is Roady! This is Cambrie's rooster that she was going to show for 4H. She spent a lot of time this summer holding and playing with him so that he would be tame when it came time for the fair. Well, now he's all grownup!

Random fun!

When we were building our house, the plumber had a great idea to put a hose bib in the garage with not only cold water, but hot too. He said it would be great for washing cars and things like that. I'm sure he had no idea that it would be used to help make WARM mud, because who would want to play in cold mud. My favorite is when they have the HOT water on the slip and slide. But better yet, now when they look like this, they can actually hose themselves off with warm water. I definitely think the hose bib was more of a perk for the kids than the grown-ups.

Our little agile Tatum has decided she loves jump roping. Her favorite thing now is jump roping on the tramp. According to her, she can get more air that way. Here she is trying to teach her cousin Abby to jump rope on the tramp.

Of course she's usually wearing a skirt too, which isn't the best combination.

Teton County Fair

This year was our first Fair Experience. Cambrie was in Poultry 4H and was so excited to show her new rooster Roady for the fair. We even made sure we scheduled our summer trips around fair week. Well, after spending 2 weeks in California, we arrived home to find an unopened letter from the 4H office. Unbeknownst to us, you have to register to enter the fair. The letter had come just after we left, and the deadline had past before we arrived home. I was tempted to call and see if they would work her in, but the BIG, BOLD type that said NO EXCEPTIONS deterred me. Fortunately Cambrie took it very well. When I told her I didn't think she would be able to enter Roady in the fair, she just said, "That's OK, I still get to keep my chicken." As always, Cambrie is forever our optimist. So grateful for that.
Luckily our 4H leader told Cambrie that she could still enter some of her eggs in the fair. (Again, being new to the whole fair thing, I did not know this, but apparently anyone can enter whatever they want to be judged.) Well, she picked out some eggs and we took them in. She was so happy to be able to still be in the fair. As a bonus, she was awarded Grand Reserve and won a hug red ribbon. All in all, it was a great learning experience in more ways than one. Cambrie learned so much about our chickens while doing 4H and thoroughly enjoys telling anyone that will listen about every last part of a chicken egg.