Friday, October 5, 2012

Alturas Lake: Labor Day

 Here is a small glimpse of the fun we had at Alturas Lake over Labor Day. It was a nice weekend of fishing, swimming, sitting by a fire, eating, and chillaxing. The water was freezing cold, but that didn't stop us! The days were in the mid 80's but the nights were in the low 40's! Needless to say, we weren't quite prepared for the colder weather. At times, we had on every cold weather item that we brought. Glad the forest service let use have a fire within designated rings.
Here are a couple pictures of the the success that we had. I truly enjoy the expression on Elayna's face as her and Aunt Amy hauled in a nice rainbow. Ed, however, was experiencing some difficulties catching a trout, but when he finally had a hit and reeled the fish in, his expression was also priceless when he saw the lips of a big sucker coming out of the water! Once he moved off the lake and into the stream, he started catching real fish...kokanee Salmon!

Lastly, here are the animals that we saw on the trip. Some we brought with us, others we saw along the way. The woodpecker and the squirrel let me get quite close to them! The praying mantis Ed saw while we were stuck in construction from across the highway. The frog jumped off the bank right in front of Hannah, so we caught him and held him for a moment. It was cool to show Hannah all the bright red salmon. They were everywhere in the stream!
 
Posted by Picasa

Thursday, September 6, 2012

August Catch Up...A Month Late!

As soon as we moved to Boise, we decided that it was about time that they girls got a hair cut. Besides the fact that it was ridiculously hot, both Hannah and Elayna were starting to look a little scraggly! This would actually be Elayna's FIRST hair cut...not even a minor bang trim had ever been done to her. Not bad for a three year old! Hannah decided that she wanted a short hair cut...she definately got what she wished for. Elayna also wanted a short hair cut (mainly because Hannah got one) so I asked for a hair cut that was still long enough to pull out of her eyes, but short enough for her to notice! They both LOVE it.

Even though it had been quite hot, we still managed to get outside and play at the new park off of Eagle. It has sprinklers that turn on and off randomly, so it keeps the kids guessing...there is no rhyme or reason to their pattern (at least I didn't see one). Elayna loved to get wet, Hannah prefered to swing (she just learned how to do it herself) so she never got in the sprinklers. Not sure what it is with kids and sitting on sprinklers, but it is sure entertaining for the watching adults!
Mid August, we went camping to Stanton Crossing in the middle of Idaho. It was quite dry, pretty dusty and very smoky, but we still managed to pass the time fishing, swimming, watching the dogs and pulling out teeth! Beau was a little unsure of himself when it came to swimming, but between Hannah, Holly and Cooper, he "manned-up" and joined the swimming group. He finally decided he had had enough when Hannah took him riding down the rapids. Elayna wanted to ride the rapids, but got nervous once she entered the water and quickly ran back out. After we were all truly tired, we went back to the camper where Hannah successfully pulled out her first tooth (she had been trying for more than a month!). Needless to say, the tooth fairy had to find her location to the camper in Stanton Crossing.

This year was like my Kidergarten for Hannah...even though it was first grade. Since the time Hannah was three, she has been at the same school as me. I watched her through the preschool year, pre-kindergraten year, and kindergarten year. This year was the first time I sent her to a different school! The worst part was that I couldn't even take her. Her school day starts at 9:00 and mine starts at 7:30, so Ed had the pleasure of getting her there. HOWEVER, with our schedules so staggered, I can pick her up every day! As she walked out of class, she came out with the biggest smile I had seen in a long time. She came out screaming "I LOVE MY SCHOOL, and my teacher!" I guess knowing that she was enjoying life, it made it easier.
 After the first week of school, we took the girls to the fair. Elayna is still too small to ride most rides, and Hannah is barely too small to ride the adult rides, so we were quite limited on the amount of rides we could ride. Somehow we were able to stay busy riding the rides, feeding the animals, eating pronto pups and snocones, and visiting the butterfly gardens. I am pretty sure Hannah will be riding the Zipper with me next year since Edward refuses to !
                                        
Posted by Picasa

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Porter Park Carrousel


After we finished playing at the splash park, the girls convinced "little grandma" to let them ride on the carrousel. Ironically, they didn't have enough $1 bills to make change, so they asked if they could give us cotton candy instead of  one of the dollars. REALLY! You ask that in front of my kids...how can I say no to kids begging and hanging off of both legs! Oh well, they thoroughly enjoyed the ride and the unexpected treat.
Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Porter Park


As the sweltering lower 90* heat with no humidity crept upon us, we decided to drive to Rexburg and play at Porter Park. For those of you who have never been there, it is a free mini waterpark that the kids can enjoy. Mostly safe, unless you have a child like mine who invents new ways of hurting herself. As you can see from the far left middle photo she is crying. In the bottom right you can see Hannah sitting on one of the water spouts. With five spouts in all, as you sit on one, the others get higher. Elayna became the victim of one such incident. As she walked past one of the water spouts, a kid blocked another one resulting in a stream of water blasting its way up her nose! Hence the tearful picture. From my prespective, it was rather entertaining, but having inhaled water before, I know she was in temporary discomfort. Besides that, and one slip on the steps resulting in Elayna skinning a toe, all was well. The kids enjoyed themselves, and truly wore themselves out!
Posted by Picasa

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Fireworks


Besides the games, here are a couple of pics with the girls in their new swimsuits and lighting fireworks with Aunt Mamy and Uncle Ryry. As the fireworks started, you could see the fabulous expressions on my kids. I also was able to get a picture of my dad flossing while watching the fireworks, and Lincoln sewing his pants (with his Mike's Hard Blackcherry Lemonade) at the BBQ.
Posted by Picasa

Game Time


For the Fourth, we had a little BBQ at my parents house. As is tradition, we broke out the yard games. We played Polish Horseshoes where the stand out champion was SiRan (and Lincoln, her partner, but he was literally no help)! Every turn, she sunk at least one washer into the board...WHO KNEW??? After everyone attempted to defeat her, and failed, we moved to a different game...Ladder Ball. This was a little more even. Teams rotated in and out giving everyone a game or two to experience success! As the night sky faded, and the kids became antsy for the fireworks, we walked down to our normal parking spot to watch the fireworks.
Posted by Picasa

Princess Party


Both the girls were invited to a princess party. With all our stuff in Boise, we did what we could to find princess outfits. We happened to still have both girls' Easter dresses so, Hannah went as Tiana from Princess and the Frog, and Elayna went as Aurora from Sleeping Beauty. Ashley had crowns for everyone, so that helped. Finally, I had to take a picture of the cake...quite a cute idea with the ice cream cones. I will have to use it for a future cake!
Posted by Picasa

Monday, June 25, 2012

Vandal Night at Chukars Game

 
Posted by Picasa
Last Friday was Vandal Night at the IF Chukars Game. So Amy, Ryan, Ron, Ashley, Chase, Hannah, and I decided to go and enjoy some baseball fun. Well,  Hannah was chosen to race the mascot around the bases. Apparently I need to explain what run means because she started out with a slow jog...Finally, the mascot started catching up to her and she kicked it in gear, but completely missed second base. None-the-less, she ended up finishing first and won a Spiderman fishing pole. A couple innings later, Coach Akey came down to our section and visited with many of the alumni. Of course, never missing a photo opportunity, I snagged Chase and had him snap a quick photo! It was a great night and as always...GO VANDALS!

Ears Pierced

 
Posted by Picasa
I promised that once she was a first grader AND could ride a bike without training wheels, I would get her ears pierced. She was quite nervous for the initial piercing. Before we entered the store I told her that it was going to hurt, but she had to be brave. Once they snapped the earring in place her upper lip started quivering. HOWEVER, she kept conving herself that she was brave and although it hurt, she made sure she wasn't going to cry. Since, she has been very diligent about the cleaning process and has already started putting many different types of earrings on her Christmas list!

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Chalk Ladies

 
Posted by Picasa
Monday we made chalk pictures of ourselves...These were the outfits we were wearing! Love it!

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Turning 6!

 
Posted by Picasa
Well, this is the best picture that I can do for Hannah's birthday. Her big gift was a SD card for her camera. We tried it out for her birthday and the pictures turned out great...however, she experimented with too many buttons and accidentally erased ALL of her photos, so this is the ONLY photo I have for her sixth birthday. Thank goodness I sent one to Ed via my phone!

Monday, June 11, 2012

Scooters!


The other day I decided to take the girls for a scooter/walk. It was actually quite a long distance for the little ones...about half a mile. Both of the girls got a scooter for their birthday but we haven't actually been able to test them out much. We have been riding them around the driveway, but this walk proved to be a stretch. Elayna was pushing the scooter by the end and claiming that she was exhausted. She did make it the whole way though! Hannah started getting her balance and is now pretty confident with her scooter skills...now on to the bike without training wheels!
Posted by Picasa

Monday, June 4, 2012

Middle School Crater's of the Moon

 
Posted by Picasa
We went to Crater's of the Moon before school ended. Although many spaces were quite tight, I managed to squeeze through them, as did many of my students. Here are some of the highlight photos.

PreSchool Graduation

 
Posted by Picasa
The day after Hannah graduated from Kindergarten, Elayna had her Daycare graduation. As is tradition...Elayna was the sole flasher on the stage.

Kindergarten Graduation

 
Posted by Picasa
Hannah has graduated from Kindergarten...this is happening too fast for us.

Elayna's Party

 
Posted by Picasa
For Elayna's birthday, I tried a cake I saw on Pinterest. It was definately worth it, but very rich!!! A normal double layered cake with frosting, surrounded with Kit Kats, and filled with M&M's. Afterwards, she made quite a haul...her big gift was a three-wheeled scooter. She loves it and rides it most everywhere.

Elayna turns 3!

 
Posted by Picasa
When Hannah turned 3, we took her to get a pedicure. It was only fitting that we take Elayna once she turned 3! Although she was so small that she had to sit on the tank, she thoroughly enjoyed getting spoiled. She even convinced them to do her nails!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Easter Dessert/ Birthday Cake


After we finished playing at the park and blowing bubbles, we went back to Ed's apartment where we had a Cookie Dough Ice Cream Cake from Cold Stone. It doubled as an Easter dessert as well as a birthday cake for me since Ed won't be able to make it home for my birthday. It was very delicious. A great end to a great day. I am blessed to have such a wonderful family. Once the dessert was consumed, both girls had no problem crashing! Within minutes, they both were sound asleep...arms above their head...just like daddy!
Posted by Picasa

Bubble Party


The Easter Bunny brought both girls some bubbles, with blowers. Once we decided that the park was starting to lose its appeal, we walked to an open area and started blowing bubbles. No matter how old one gets, bubbles never seem to lose their appeal! Ed and I had just as much fun as the girls! 
Posted by Picasa

Park Party


After Easter dinner, we went to the park off of Vista in Boise. It was entirely too busy, but enjoyable none-the-less. The girls ran around and got all sweaty. Lovely! As all of you know, Elayna tends to be our accident prone child, however, this endeavor proved that her agility rivals Hannah's. Elayna managed to leave the park unscathed while Hannah had two significant injury moments. As Hannah was running past one of the toys a "big" kid jumped off the top and landed squarely on her. She half rolled her ankle as well as had a scuff mark on her shoulder and possibly the wind knocked out of her. Sensing that we wanted to check the damage and potentially head home if it was too serious, she ran off pretending nothing happened. The next incident occured when Elayna blasted across the balance beam without so much as a wiggle. Hannah, not to be outdone, also blasted across the balance beam. HOWEVER, her dismount proved to be lacking. She landed on her side rather than her feet. Besides those though, the night was fabulous. Hannah attempted her first 'underdog' with Elayna on the swing...a success. They scaled many obstacles, and bounced down many slides. Great night.
Posted by Picasa

Easter Morning


Easter morning came earlier than we thought. We got up at 5:30am to attend 7:00am mass at St. Mark's in Boise. It was a very elaborate church...and rather empty. They had masses at 8:30 and 11:00 as well. Our thinking was that the 7:00 would be less full and hopefully quicker. Elayna still struggles to get through mass without getting antsy. In any case, our thinking ended up being right, we actually had a whole pew to ourselves! I think that is the first time we have ever had a pew to ourselves! In any case, the girls were excited to get their baskets and, of course, to dress up all
'fancy'. BEAUTIFUL!
Posted by Picasa