Tanner and Blake

This August we had the best weekend.  My nephew Tanner was coming back from his mission in Ohio days before his younger brother Blake left on his mission to Norway.  Tanner flew into the Salt Lake airport on Saturday, so we met him there.  I don't have any pictures because we were running just a bit behind because of road construction on the freeway (curse you, Lehi!) so I hurried, hurried, hurried and forgot my camera in our van.  Farris was recovering from his bout with whatever Felicity had had on her birthday, so he stayed at home and I toted the kids to see their cousin that we all missed and are so proud of.  We ran into the airport and were so close to the baggage claim, we just had to go down the escalator, the kids ran for it, and I started to...when I realized Seth wasn't coming.  The boy was completely horrified of the escalator and refused to go anywhere near it.  I offered to carry him down, but then he just wouldn't get any where near me and was hiding behind some chairs in the corner.  Poor kid.  Luckily Melissa came to the rescue and helped us find the elevator and then she helped Dad and Mom find the right baggage area, and then Tanner came down the stairs and made us all cry.  It was so, so good to see him again.  I've told him but I don't know if he realizes what a great influence he has been on my kids.  We love him around here quite a bit.   We all stood around talking and crying and taking pictures, pretty much what always goes on in the airport when you see Welcome Home Elder/Sister posters, and it was wonderful.  Then we drove home as fast as we could (through a huge downpour with several inches of standing water on the freeway and the road construction again) so we could take family pictures. After the crazy huge rainstorm, we were worried we wouldn't be able to take the pictures, but it was a fast moving storm and was gone when we got to Nephi.  I'll post them later in one big post.  The pictures were great, it was a happy, happy day.  The next day Tanner reported on his mission and Blake gave his farewell. How blessed we are to have these young men in our family!  Chad and Tarilynn raised some good kids.  Blake is going to be a great missionary, he's kind and fun and smart and mature and so excited to serve the Lord.  He's in Norway right now, his first week there, and his excitement and happiness pour through his emails.  Abby has been in love with Blake this summer, she always asks about him and gets excited when she sees him.  Since he left she keeps asking for him and is confused when we say he's gone on a mission.  I want to keep showing her his picture so she'll remember him two years from now.  And actually right now she's sitting next to me pointing to him in the picture and saying "Blake's on mission.  Blake's on mission." 

 

 Here's the family, enduring more pictures!  After the homecoming/farewell and the food and after everyone left they were able to go be together as a family for a couple days before Blake left for the MTC on Wednesday.  Before Blake gets home, Jacob will leave for his mission and then there will be a little while before Reid goes. And then Felicity is the next up...but I'm afraid to think that far ahead!

Jacob stylin' with his Captain America socks.  Oh, yeah.  And he didn't wear them like that to church, don't worry.

Abigail peeking through the window. Then she came outside and...

they all scared her.  And I keep talking about what a nice family they are.  Hmmmm.

This is one of my favorite, favorite pictures.  Those boys love their little sister.  And she loves them back.

The boys!  Look at all that crazy goodness lined up there!  When Farris and I got married, Reid was a little guy and Jacob refused to be in any pictures.  Like 'he thought it was going to take away his soul' refuse.  Tanner and Blake called Farris That Guy but loved to wrestle and play tickle games and chase him.  Now they do that for our little ones, and now I'm getting all old and sentimental. Oh, my, how time does fly. 

Girl's Birthdays: 2013

With our girls having their birthdays one after the other, we try to have a big enough celebration that each feels special.  This year we were thrown for a loop, though, when Felicity was sick from the day before her birthday until a couple days after.  It's already bad enough to be sick during the summer, but then throw in your birthday, too!  Poor Lissy!  So we ended up celebrating a couple days late, and then Felicity had her friends party a couple weeks later--we wanted to make sure everybody was feeling better and we were germ free before we loaded the house with giggling girls.  

But back to the birthdays...

 When I was at Michael's awhile back, there were cake tattoos in the clearance section.  I loved the bright colors and I knew Felicity would like it.  I'd never tried cake tattoos before, but I figured it should be fairly easy.  When we ended up combining the birthdays, I decided to make one big cake for the both of them.  I made a three tiered cake (never done that before) and frosted it.  Frosting is a challenge for me.  I can't get it smooth and I can't not have crumbs all over in it.  I've tried freezing the cake, I've tried smoothing a little bit of frosting to seal in the crumbs: bad, bad, bad.  So if any of you have any other ideas, let me know! The tattoos were smaller than I imagined, so the banner that goes along the edge didn't fit around the whole cake, leaving a nice gap in the back.  And my cakes weren't exactly smooth, and then the frosting was even less smooth, so it was wrinkly around the whole thing, just a bit of a mess.  But from the top it looks good!  And any cake with strawberries tastes good, right?  The girls loved it and that's what mattered.  We have 13 candles on it, 11 for Lis and 2 for Abby. 

 Felicity was still trying to make it back in to the Land of The UnSick, but she wanted to celebrate her birthday so bad. 

Abby was a little overwhelmed at all the fire on top of her cake. But she thought it was pretty cool.  No matches for that little girl.

And then on to the presents.  This is definitely Abigail's favorite part.  Well, that and the ice cream.

 New toys! Center of attention!  Abby's dream come true!

 

 One of Felicity's wishes was that Abigail would get her own horse stuffed animal.  Apparently the little sister likes to take the big sister's favorite horse.  Felicity's favorite White Horse was from her 1st birthday, we bought it the first weekend we lived on the Rez and she's been Felicity's favorite snuggler ever since.  And she wanted a distraction for Abby.  I looked and looked and finally found a decent horse, (even though it's not very realistic) and Abigail loved it.  And Grandma bought a horse stuffed animal for her too, which made her super happy.  But she still takes White Horse whenever possible.

Lissy wanted the LEGO friends set that had a horse stable and with horses and lots of cute things.  Aunt Melissa and Nicki chipped in because it was a little out of our price range, thank you very much, you guys! I have to admit I'm impressed with the level of detail in the set.  And Felicity loves it.  It was perfect for her to tinker with while she was starting to feel better.

The girls had great birthdays, despite being sick and waiting, waiting, waiting.  And now we have an 11 year old (gasp!) and a terrible twoer.  

Felicity has changed and matured so much in just the last 6 months, it's amazing to me how quickly they change from little kid to almost young woman.  She's grown in many ways.  She's been my right hand man the last while, I don't think I could get along without her. Even homework this year has been easier, maybe she is ready for junior high?  She is still super creative and loves making games for the whole family to play.  The other day she had all the kids organized into a Circus and they were happily playing away.  She's a great big sister and is getting to be a good babysitter, too. 

Abigail is growing, too, and exploring and demanding and giggling and singing to herself.  She's learning how her world works and sometimes doesn't work and it's a crazy ride to be around her.  She loves to talk--my sisters call her Gabby Abby--and she loves to laugh and sing and dance.  She was singing and dancing to"What Does a Fox Say?" the other day, and we were all laughing pretty hard.  Last night she dove into the bucket of flour and had flour all over.  I wasn't laughing as hard then, but that's a two year old for you.  They explore, they make messes. She's going to be our fashionista, she already helps Felicity pick out clothes to wear to school, and she loves to get her hair fixed.  I know, craziness. She does snuggle wonderfully well and gives sweet kisses if you're lucky.  

We love our girly girls and are so glad they are here to be a part of our family.

The rest of July

Today is the perfect day for snuggling in and catching up on the blog!  I have a sniffly and throat achy kind of cold, and it's cold and rainy outside.  Farris actually had a skiff of snow on his windshield when he left early this morning.  First snow of the season, in September?  It was 90 degrees here just a week or two ago, what a weird weather year it has been this year.  Luckily, it hasn't quite froze, so our tomatoes aren't happy, but they're not dead yet.  We've had a great harvest this year of tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, raspberries, apples, pears, and peaches, and the pumpkins are turning right now.  We also tried tomatillos for the first time, we've only picked one, but there are a bunch more getting close.  If the weather warms up for a little longer anyway!  But back to catching up.

After the reunion, we stayed in Idaho for about a week, some with Farris' family and then up to Richfield to see my family. We love our Idaho trips!  I do like where we live, but there is something about the space and beauty of Idaho.  This year while we were in Burley, we went to one of the most fascinating places in the area and a National Reserve:  The City of Rocks.  Funny times, it took the whole day to convince Joseph and Caleb that it was the City of Rocks and not Rock City.  The City of Rocks sounds more powerful and intimidating, doesn't it? 

City of Rocks is a small valley, typical of Idaho in that it's filled with sage brush and scrub trees, but there are these huge (some really huge) granite rocks dropped throughout.  It's famous in rock climbing circles and you can usually see license plates from all over the US and hear different languages being spoken.  We saw license plates from Illinois, California, and New Hampshire and heard a group of people speaking what we think was German, maybe Hungarian?  This picture is of Farris is on top of Bathtub Rock.  I wish I'd taken more shots from up there around the valley, you'll just have to believe me when I say it's incredible.

The rocks have also been carved from wind and rain, so we had a lot of fun climbing in all the pockets of rock. 

Not all of the rocks are so big you need a harness, there is plenty for little kids to play on, too.While Farris took the three older ones on top of a rock, Judy, Charitie, me and the littles stayed behind to play.

Can you see Caleb and Farris up on top?  Felicity is up there somewhere, too.

On their way down, we decided to climb up a little to meet them.  I don't remember the name of this rock, but it all kinds of weird pockets the kids played in.

We spent a while climbing in and out of all kinds of holes and niches.

Then we went to one of the arches.  This place is just a huge jungle gym for the kids and it could be kind of hard to keep up with all of them and keep them together.  Luckily we didn't see any snakes (yikes, there are rattlers around this area, you have to watch for them to be sunning themselves on the rocks).

On top of the arch.

Finding another fun crevice to squeeze into.

The last place we went was Bathtub.  It's quite a climb, but you don't need a harness, someone went through and put iron handholds in the toughest spots.  Farris and I both wanted to climb it and the three older ones wanted to, too.  Joseph got about half way up to where it got difficult and decided it wasn't a good idea.  Farris helped him back down to Grandma, and I sat with the kids.  The difficult part is scary, so I went first and helped from the top while Farris followed and helped from the bottom.  We got to the top and Caleb and Felicity played in the big hole that gave the rock it's name.  Supposedly, the natives in the area climbed to the top to take baths in the natural bathtub.  There hasn't been much rain this year, so the water was all evaporated out.

Caleb and Felicity "swimming" in the upper part of the tub.  There's a larger, deeper hole right in front of the picture, you can see some of the mineral deposits making the rings around it.  Just like at home when my kids are super dirty and take a bath.  Coming down was a challenge too, because you have to do everything backwards.  We took it in stages and sent only one kid down at a time with me above and Farris right below.  Yes, it scared me watching these kids looking for footholds.  But I'm proud of them being so brave and making it to the top when it seemed to hard and scary.  You can do hard things!  As long as you have long enough arms and legs, Joseph just couldn't have done it, and having one for each of us to watch out for on top of that thing was plenty.  And if you do go, make sure everyone is wearing sneakers, this just isn't a good place for flip flops!

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The next day we headed up to Richfield.  It was Fair Time!  The Lincoln County Fair has gotten smaller than when I used to show a calf and sew an outfit for 4-H, but it's still fun to go.  My niece Taylor showed a calf, named Cassidy (right, Tasha?) and Abigail was not too sure about sitting on her, but all the kids liked being able to pet her.  We also got to go to the parade, lots of fun, and I ran into a girl I graduated with and haven't seen for years.  When your graduating class has only 19 people, most of whom you knew since kindergarten, you get to know everyone pretty well.  It was great seeing Melanie and meeting her son.

Back at grandma's house, Abby likes to get into trouble.  She found my makeup bag, the little stinker.  You can't see very well in this picture, but she has foundation all over her face, neck and shirt, plus the eyeliner making half a mustache and she attempted to put some on her eyelids, too. I love Seth in this picture, you can tell just what he's thinking! Farris went with Dad to cut firewood, which is something he loves to do.  He likes helping out and the labor and spending time with Dad.  And then we get to do fun things back at home with Mom and Tasha and the kids!

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When we got home, the boys reminded me about the geodes my sister bought for each of them.  they wanted to smash them open to find the crystals.

Caleb smashed into a few pieces, but was excited to see the crystals inside. That's Hyrum behind Caleb, he's Joseph's friend and he was interested in it all, too.

Joseph was really enthusiastic with the hammer and got a dozen or so pieces, and Seth just knocked off a one side, just enough to expose the crystal.

And now we're done with July!  It was a good month!

Family Reunion

                               Every July Farris' family has a reunion, sometimes in Burley at his grandma's house, where we were this year.  We love going, his cousins are so much fun and it's nice to see everyone that we don't see often, except once a year at the reunion!  This year there were lots of activities, including a huge bounce house style slide.  I think our kids were on it about 90% of the time we were there.  And miraculously, even with about 20 kids on it, there were no broken bones or knocked out teeth.

 Of course, they did spend some time building these:

 Rocky and Stacey brought the making's for marshmallow guns and all the kids went to town! 

Abby would just grab whatever pvc pipe piece came close to her and stick it together in all kinds of wacky ways.  She's a builder.

After making the "basic" model, they started modifying it, we had long barreled shotguns, double barreled, pistols, crazy up and down models.  Not all of them worked very well, but much fun was had.  And guess which adult was right there in the middle of it all?

  Yep, Farris.  After a little while all the kids were ganging up on him and marshmallows were flying at full speed all over the yard.  We made a huge mess, but we had so much fun.

The next morning (after a yummy breakfast) we played minute to win it games.  We divided into family groups.  Kelan, on the end, was our representative.  He's finding a gummy worm in the middle of cool whip.  And he got a little covered.

We filled buckets by passing a soaked sponge down a line.  Now, let me tell you something.  I love Farris' cousins and aunts and uncles, we always have a ball at the reunions and any other time we all get together.  But they are cheaters.  I know, I know, Farris looks so innocent, it's not true.  I have heard it all started with Grandpa.  Regardless, they are all cheaters.  And we all laugh and then try to top each other.  Towards the end of this race there were sponges flying through the air, just bypassing the line.  It was all good, though, we were laughing pretty hard.

This race that Caleb volunteered for was something about an elephant.  We put a tennis ball in the toe of a pair of nylons and then tied it (we were promised that they had never been used) to heads.  Then they had to swing the ball back and forth to knock over the cans of pop that were lined up.  We learned quickly that the nylons stretch, so tie it closer to the head than your first instinct.

I think this was blowing bubbles through the hoop?  This is the problem with writing this a couple months after it happened, I forget.  But I do remember that all the little kids wanted to hold the hoop.  Look at Joseph beaming.

This one was fun.  Put a golf tee in your mouth, balance a ping pong ball on the tee, and hold it steady while your partner knocks it off with the blast from a squirt gun.  Poor Jaydon had a hard time keeping the tee straight.

Joseph, of course, loved the squirt gun.

And we had to do the cookie down your face into your mouth without touching it with your fingers game.  At any minute to win it party you have to play that game, it's classic.

This picture is of Farris freezing his stomach.  Joseph is demonstrating how he should try his armpit, and I did have another picture with Rocky holding his legs together like he had to go to the bathroom really, really bad.  This game made everyone do strange things.  Each group was given a t-shirt that have been frozen solid (like a week in the freezer) in a big, tight, very cold ice cube lump.  We had to warm it up enough that someone could put it on.  After thawing it enough, we had a tug of war to open it up, and then froze Caleb while we pulled, pushed and prodded it on him.

Felicity with two of her 2nd cousins.  She had a blast with them.

Our family came in third place and since Abigail is the youngest, she accepted the trophy for the family.  We purposely left at Farris' moms house because she's the head of the family, anyway.

Then there was a near indestructible pinata.  I seriously have never seen a pinata get so battered and still stay together.  It must have been the triple layers of duct tape.  Farris has some cousins who grew up on a farm, and let's just say I wouldn't want to be in a fight with them.  And that pinata gave them a run for their money.  But eventually it burst and the kids scooped up tons of candy.

Rocky and Stacey also brought a little sized motorcycle and four wheeler.  Luckily they brought the helmets to go with it.  I didn't get a picture of the aftermath, but Caleb had a little accident.  He decided he wanted to ride the motorcycle, so a few adult men crowded around him with many instructions.  His eyes got wider and wider, and he finally told Farris that he didn't want to go.  Farris encouraged him anyway.  As he started it was ok, Rocky and Farris  were able to keep up with him by running along side, but them he turned into a tighter place of the yard, got a little nervous and accelerated instead of braking straight toward the line of parked cars.  And he crashed into one of our cousins cars.  He was pretty shaken up and his ribs hurt where he hit the handle bars, but none the worse for wear.  Unfortunately, there was a nice sized dent in the car door. Our insurance was able to work with us to take care of it.  Poor Caleb, not a great beginning to his adventures on a motorcycle!

Thanks to Chuck's kids for being in charge this year, it was so much fun, they did a great job!