Back to Reality again...

We have been in Idaho again. We went with my parents and looked for a house in Boise. We finally found them the perfect house and they put in an offer and it was accepted. It wasn't quite that easy, but after some back and forth and some very sleepless nights, they have been able to secure this home that they love.

Congratulations, Ashlyn! We love you!

We spent some time in Blackfoot for my nieces baptism. That was really neat and so fun. I love baptisms! It was fun because my cousin Kim showed up. So sweet of her to come and especially since she is 9 months pregnant. What a trooper. I just heard that she had her baby, little Macy. She is beautiful, Kimberly. Congrats! I found this old picture of Tracy and Kristen and Me and Kimberly. Kim is on the far right and I am next to her.

We spent some time in Rupert with Jason parents and they really helped me out while I was looking at homes with my parents by keeping the kids for me. I was in Idaho for 3 weeks, but Jason was only able to come for part of that time, so it was really nice to leave the youngest two kids with the Allens so I could help out with the house-hunting.

One of the highlights was the Workman reunion. I was so bummed that I did not take more pictures. We reserved a big campsite on Willard Bay in Utah. There was a huge shelter, private beach and bathroom and lots of room for tents and campers. We had so much fun visiting with Jason's family and seeing his cousins and Aunts and Uncles. I took a few pictures of Kate canoeing with her second cousin.


While at Willard Bay, Jason also learned to roll and come back up in a kayak. This was pretty scary to watch. He loves learning new random skills and his cousin was a willing teacher. I was pretty sure he was going to die, but thank goodness he survived it.

After the Workman reunion, we went back to Idaho for the Lindsay reunion in Burley. It was so fun to see my cousins. My mom is the oldest of 10 siblings and eight of them were little brothers. It was fun to see Grandma and my cousins and aunts and uncles. We have such a great family. I am always so impressed by their kindess and selflessness. There is a story coming up that is a perfect example of what I am talking about.

Then we spent another day in Rupert with Jason's parents and then we headed back to Blackfoot to try to get most of my parents house packed in two days. Sandy and Josh had already packed most of the boxes and stuff, but we needed to load stuff and start hauling furniture.

Okay, here is the story about my awesome uncles. My mom's brother Clyde has a huge trailer. He offered it to my mom to use for the move. Clyde lives a couple hours away and we did not have a way to haul the trailer, but Clyde called the morning we were starting to pack to say he had it there and he would be dropping it off that morning. He was in Idaho Falls, because his wife (my aunt Becky) was there for sort of a last minute surgery. I was just so impressed that he thought of my parents when he had a medical emergency with his family. Just so thoughtful and generous.

We packed that trailer so full and so high and got all the furniture from the basement, beds, couches, dressers, chairs. We left my parents with very little left in the house to use over the next weeks till the move. We got it all tarped down tight, and tied on with ropes and My mom called Clyde to see if we could figure out a way to get the trailer somewhere out of the weather. He said he would see what he could figure out. He is in a very busy time with work too and with Becky recovering from surgery. What a saint! Well, Jason and I left Blackfoot, heading back to Minnesota and I got a call from Sandy saying that my mom's other brother, Craig had come and picked up the trailer and hauled it back to Burley so it could be parked in a big garage that Clyde has. I just think my uncles are so awesome and I am so grateful for all they do to help my mom and dad. It was hard to leave when I know my parents need our help with this move, but I was very happy that they are so well cared for by family there. I know Clyde said he has read my blog, so here is a big THANK YOU!!! TO Clyde and Becky and Craig and Kerri! I just love you guys.

Okay, some other things the kids have been up to this summer...

Will had a fantastic season for baseball. He met some great friends on his team and he got pretty good.


Also, we signed Kiley up for a performing arts class this summer. It was so good for her. She just loved it. They did a full out play of Jack and the Bean stock. She was the Bean seller and a cook. She had a solo part too. It was so well done.

We had a great fourth of July Celebration too. James turned 9 the day after the 4th, so here are some pix of the birthday and 4th celebration...

And a quick story about a tree frog. We found a tree frog stuck in our rain gauge on the deck. This was back at the beginning of July and the boys kept him as a pet for a few weeks, he was so cute and little. We let him go down in the yard in the trees. A few days later he was back in the rain gauge. We got him out again and let him go down below in the bushes. We left to go to Idaho and when we got back, he was back in the rain gauge and ENORMOUS!! Evidentally he likes it there and he gets lots of bugs obviously because he has gotten so fat. The kids call him rainy and I got some awesome pictures of him yesterday.

Today we are off to go swimming with some friends. We are really enjoying our summer and are happy to be home finally.

Hello Idaho...

We had such a nice visit in Idaho this past week. I haven't blogged about my plans because it was all a surprise for my mom, who just retired. As a surprise for her retirement we drove there and met Tracy and her kids, and Josh and Kristie and we rented a cabin in West Yellowstone. My mom thought my dad was just taking her there for a retirement getaway. She was very surprised to see us all jump up and surprise her when she walked into the cabin. We went to the Playmill to see the Secret Garden that night, and the next day we went to chuch in West, then we took a drive through the park. It was great.

Goofy Kids at Old Faithful

After a 2 day stay in Yellowstone, we spent a couple days in Blackfoot. We enjoyed being with Tracy and her kids and Isabella (Sandy's daughter).

My parents have been trying to sell their house and move to Boise. They had a showing last week and it went so well. They got a full price offer. We are so happy for them. They are going to be looking for a home in Boise. I hope to go back to Idaho in a few weeks to help them get moved.

We then went to Rupert and spent some time with Jason's family and visiting Grandma Lindsay. Jason's mom had this gorgeous rose bush in her yard. I just had to get a picture. I love roses. We enjoyed being in Rupert. The kids loved it when Grandpa Allen watered his lawn by irrigating the whole thing.

The girls had fun climbing the cherry tree. Kate loves to have her picture taken. She always tells me to take her picture.

We took a trip to the Shoshone Ice Caves and to the Shoshone Falls. Beautiful. Lots of water coming over the falls right now.

The night before we left Rupert, we were inside playing a game of Phase 10 with Jason's parents. The boys and Kate were outside playing in the yard and the windows were open. A great night, then we heard a horrible, scary screeching sound and rocks flying and metal and lots of frightening screeching and my heart just stopped. I followed Jason out the front door afraid of what I might see. A car had ripped through the corner of their yard and run right over a Dead end sign that was in the corner of their yard. Kate was 50 yards away, watching the from one angle, and the boys were in the cherry tree watching from 50 yards away in the other direction. The kids had been all over that yard, and Kate was just starting over toward the boys across the yard. I was so grateful to Heavenly Father for protecting my children that day. I know he was watching over them. The man was arrensted for DUI and wreckless driving. This was his third DUI, so he is in jail. What a scary experience. A good reminder for me of how precious and fragile life is and how much my children mean to me.

When I got home, I found even more pretty flowers popping up all over the yard. Of course I took some pictures...

Smart Little Graduate

Kate graduated from preschool last week. She is so excited to start kindergarten in the fall.

She made some very nice friends at school this year. Some of them will be with her in kindergarten next year. Kate got along extremely well with the boys. When the little boy on the right was making out his birthday invitations he told his mom he only wanted all boys to come to his party. "And Kate", he added. They have fun together. I love this picture. They had so much fun spinning on this tire swing and they kept refusing to get off and take a break. All of a sudden we noticed the look on the girls face, (she is directly across from the camera in this pic). We quickly stopped the swing and her dad (pictured in background) helped her off to a secluded place to puke. A little too much spinning. It was so funny.

One more thing. Jason says that he feels like we live in a tree house because the backyard is dug out a bit and the trees are so tall up by our house. There are trees and branches everywhere we look. I love it. I took these pictures from our bedroom, overlooking the view from up there. I really love this house. It is my favorite house we have ever lived in. I feel so lucky to have found it at a time when it was priced so affordable. Feels like Swiss Family Robinson.

I always wanted to live in a treehouse.

Spring has Sprung

I am so excited about my yard. I have always wanted to do more gardening and Jas and I always somehow end up in new homes and never stay long enough to establish a garden, or flowers, trees nothing. So this home is 20 years old and the previous owners planted so many beautiful flowers, bushes, trees, plants, etc. I am loving it. It is so exciting to see new things popping up. I just had to take some pictures...

We are also not use to having to deal with all the leaves and work that goes with a yard, but we enjoy being outside and we bought a trampoline recently for the kids, and it's fun to be out there together. We are hoping to plant some veggies in a little garden this weekend. Just warning the few people who do read my blog, you are definately going to get annoyed at my rambling about my yard and gardening this summer. This is just all so new to me... Sorry...

I had a nice mothers day. I usually get breakfast in bed for mothers day, but I waited and waited and my breakfast didn't come. Finally one of the kids woke me up and told me I needed to come down for breakfast, and I was thinking, What? No breakfast in bed? What is this world coming to? Then I came down and Jason and the kids surprised me with a new patio set, and they had breakfast all set up out on the deck. I was very excited. I have been asking for a patio set for a long time. I am really looking forward to this summer, with dinners outside on the deck.

We are getting the outside of our house painted this week. It was starting to peel and look pretty bad. It looks much better now. We have also been busy with baseball and volleyball. I have been coaching Ky's volleyball team this spring and we are starting our tournament this week. We have had so much fun with volleyball. AND now baseball is starting and we are enjoying spending our evenings at the Baseball diamond. Will gets to play some pretty cool positions that he has never tried before. Last week he played catcher for 3 innings, and got hit by the ball a couple of times. It is kid pitch, so the pitches are a little dodgey. He got hit in the back last week by one of the pitches. Left a pretty good welt on his back. He loves it though. At tonights game he gets to play first base and pitcher. He is pretty excited.

Jason's work was getting crazy. He was having to go out of town nearly every weekend for trade shows, but they hired someone to cover those now and things are really improving for him at work. Still a crazy amount of stuff going on, but we get to keep him on the weekends now. This weekend he is taking the boys to the Stake Father/Son campout, if the weather holds out.

I pulled the mothers day card on Sunday and guilted the kids into posing for some pictures for me...

And before I go, a quick shoutout to my mom. I am so thankful for my mom. I don't tell her thanks nearly enough. I hope she knows how much I love her and how grateful I am for her in my life. For teaching me right from wrong, for teaching me how to be happy and for teaching me how to be a good mom, for trying to teach me how to cook and sew (Ugg..Sorry mom...) and for teaching me patience and unconditional love. I love you mom. I am so glad to have you in my life. Happy Mothers Day.