Summer Break!

The past two weeks of summer have been jam packed with all the fun we can stuff into a day.

Picnics at the parks...

Playing by the Poppies...

Biking all over town (notice the new member to the bike family! By new blue commute about town bike!)...

Hiking at Klemgard Park

Hiking at Kamiak Butte,

Playing with baby goats at our friends farm,

Daddy's been kissin' the lamas...

Klemgard park hiking

Poppy Playing at the park

This is all unorganized and mush mashed together...and it doesn't even include pictures from the frog pond, the library, the movies, the farmer's market, the walks for ice cream, etc. That is because it is too much work to re-format it all and to get it all on here. Suffice it to say that we have been so busy lately that I haven't had the energy to post much. I'll try to do better.
Oh, and I have been taking an adult "Hip Hop" class this week and have been refining my dance groove! :0)

Serious catch up!

The past couple of weeks have been a little bit of a blur. A lot has been going on and the more I think I'm going to blog about it the less I do.
Here is list of some of the happenings:

Last week I got the flu or some other ravenous virus/bug...I was ill. The majority of the week was spent in some sort of haze. My eyes kept being glued shut at night my head was full of mucus and I really felt horrible. It is rare that I actually really get sick but last week was horrible! Not to mention the horrible weather.

My garden survived the Freak snow storm. Gratefully I am loving each of those little plants that pulled through a June inch and a half of snow! Yeah for living Plants!Two weeks ago I received a new job at church...I was changed from being in the primary presidency to the relief society presidency. This happen amidst a transition period full of various transitional responsibility. I had to finish up my Primary Summer service party and also be in charge of our ward's father's day gifts (a loaf of bread and a brownie for each of the dad's! That is 90 loaves of bread ).This transition has been a bit challenging in moving from one group of leadership to another. I am finding myself a little lost as to what my place is in the new presidency, while feeling sad that I'm not a part of the previous. This week is getting better but last week was a strange week of interim.
Oscar had his last day of school last Thursday and is now going to be a FIRST grader! His last day was a beach party and it was great to get to see my little boy all grown up from the beginning of the year. Every day I think of how much I love this sweet spirited boy.
The outdoor Pool opened! However swimming in really cold water with 70 degree water was short lived. The sunny patio was nice. Especially with a bit of sushi to eat.

Daddy Day

This post is late I know...but not forgotten. For father's day I truly had these three great guys on my mind, I even started this post back then. However, to actually articulate the love or respect I have for them was hard to put into words.
I'm grateful for the wonderful Men who directly have influenced my life. Somehow each of them has seen the best in me and has pushed me to greater heights.

Thanks Daddies for all of the Joy and love you have brought to my life.

Daddy Dilworth
The dad who always has a great earth breaking idea and a good story to share. You really know how to work the crowd and make people feel comfortable in your presence. Thanks for giving me the gift of gab, I inherited it from you!

Daddy Big Edge

Who always has each of his kids on speed dial and is always ready for a bike ride. I love your caring, passive yet compassionate means of teaching. I believe each of your kids have said that they learned so much from you by just goign to the grocery store with you. Thanks for all of the great rides and wisdom.

To the main man in my life who has blessed me with wonderful kids and a fun filled, joyful life. I love your simple, yet driven way of life. I am always amazed that you married me, and am grateful that I somehow convinced you to do so. Thanks for always being a great husband and Dad. You always have us as your first priority, and I'm incredibly grateful for it!
Happy Father's day Daddies!

*&$%# SNOW!!!!!

Do these peonies look happy to you??? Yeah, they look like how I feel about this snow storm!

My poor, poor garden!

This was before the weighted collapse.

Oscar and Poppy were excited to get the snow gear out again.

For the record today is in fact JUNE10th! My tomatoes that I have painstakingly taken care of since February, are in the ground. The basil was going nicely and it was finally looking like we might actually get summer...
I have had a cold for the last couple of days and in my sickly-sleepy brain I heard Rick tell me to look outside...It's snowing!!!!
I seriously was hoping that I was still in dream world, but alas I placed my spectacles on my face to discover that is was in fact SNOWING!
After trying to find some plastic to rescue the poor plants, I ended up using our bed linens, a kiddie pool, gunnie sacks, and anything I could find to try to protect them. And when they were finally caving in from the weight of the snow, I had to come up with plan B. I began using buckets from the garage (which I should have thought of in the first place!) and removing heavily weighted bed sheets.
I don't know if I was able to save them...I know there are definitely some that I could not save or cover. I just hope that the majority will pull through! I have a feeling that our local nurseries are going to find a bunch of tomato plant customers in the next few days.

Now, I hesitate to even say this out loud for fear of being cursed...but please, please, please, I AM READY FOR SOME WARM WEATHER!!!!!
I want to leave the snow clothing in the cupboard for at least 4-5 more months. I want to place the snow shovel in the very back of the shed and I don't want to see it for a very long time!!! I want to lay by a nice warm pool and watch my kids play in the water. I want to see big healthy tomato plants growing in my garden, I want to ride my bike without getting my feet wet! I want to wear flip flops and shorts without freezing my extremities...is this too much to ask?????

Oodles of catch-up

Wet, rainy ride.

When a group of mom's have their children cared for, and have scheduled a ride, they won't easily be persuaded to forfeit it due to a little(or a lot) of rain. Thus we freeze our appendages, and huddle like bunnies on bikes just to be out and enjoying being alive. We did cut the ride shorter than the planned 42mi. We will settle for 25 (The return half with a headwind and strong rain).

This is the garden progress...ahhh, to see things getting green. I am seriously considering getting a air-soft gun for Ricky's father's day present, to fend off the ravenous bunnies. They are not adhering to the liquid fence rules!!! We are going to have to call in for reinforcements. Our Home teacher said he would shoot them, but he can't in city limits....darn.
Smiley has been fired of bunny duty...he is NOT doing his job!!!
Ahhh...the new chariot. We have seriously been breaking in our new Jogger/ trailer. Kids love it, and the parents like to push/pull it.
Goal for summer: Master pulling the tike's to the top of our hill, without being breathless. Going nicely thus far, but looking forward to the giant Quads I will have at the end of summer.
Oscar's class field trip to the High school's "AG days" Yes, this brought back many FFA memories. A little uncomfortable to remember those awkward days of the past (notice cowboy clad HS student in his "cowboy-up" cool gear and his sweet pair of aviators to round out the outfit, yikes!).
Oscar seemed to love checking out the tractor. Maybe Rick will live vicariously through his son when he decides to become a farmer.
And since we can't be real farmers, we make it a hobby in the back yard. The seven chickens are growing up nicely, however they seem to be racist. The golden ones leave out our black and brown ones. They will pick on them and will keep them from getting food. Luckily the two outsiders are feisty and can hold their own. Oscar is a good caretaker and loves to catch, pet and care for them.
This is also the sad picture of the going away dinner for the Weikins...we will miss their fun family (and delicious bike treats). Otis (on the far right) enjoyed playing with the chickens too...maybe his parents will get some chickens when they get to Vermont???
Frog hunt! Lately we have been frog hunting. Current frogs caught total is 4. No we haven't brought them home, merely catch and release.
Rainy frog hunt. Due to the cold rainy weather we just had to get out of the house. No frogs were found this day...too cold. We were cold too, but happy to be out and about.

Life is full of busy fun times lately and I always think of a million things I want to post. Then it requires me to actually sit down do it...I'll have to work on that. In the meantime, you can rest assured we are in fun spring-time mode and look forward to school ending this week and having the summer (if it ever gets warm around here) to play!

Growth spurt?

When you daughter who typically wakes up at 6am sleeps until 8am, and eats THREE pieces of pizza for dinner, you begin to wonder if she is in fact growing again.