Thanksgiving and the Big Barn Adventure

For Thanksgiving this year, we did what we always do... eat at home and make our own turkey with all the trimmings. It is wonderful to eat on your own time schedule and to lay down in your own bed afterward and take a nap! James and I went to check out some Thanksgiving night sales, but the crowds were insane and we spent a whole total of $11.

Happy and full of Thanksgiving dinner!

We tried a new dish this year--stained glass jello. It tasted better than it looked. 

But, the day after Thanksgiving we did something out of the ordinary--we went to my sister's house in Utah for another Thanksgiving dinner! Marian and Vern had just bought and moved to a new home and it was big enough to accommodate us all. It was a nice chance to see all the family. James couldn't go because it was black Friday and a big sales day for him at the shop, but the rest of the family drove down to Lewiston, Utah. (We almost didn't get out of town... our battery was dead when we went to leave, so we had to have a neighbor give us a jump. Thankfully we then were driving for two straight hours so the battery charged up and never gave us problems for the rest of the weekend... just the next week when we had to buy a new one.)

Look at all the cousins! From left: Janessa, Afton, Zach, Abby, Sophie, Taylor, Thomas, Sam. On couch: Bridger, Jonny, Carter, Josh. Behind couch: Jim and Augie. Not pictured: Jace.  So all but 2 (Jim and Sam) are age 9 or under, with 3 babies. 

The next day we all recongregated back at Marian's for breakfast. Afterwards all the kids were itching to get outside--it was chilly but not super cold, so I decided to walk with them across a couple of empty crop fields to a big, wooden barn.

The little tree is in Marian's back yard... in the background is the barn, the destination for adventure. 

To the west is the old abandoned sugar beet factory... maybe an adventure for another time. 

 I started out walking, and Sam joined me. Then Abby and Taylor wanted to come. Then Jim came along, then Augie, Bridger, Carter, and Johnny, and finally Zacky joined in, too. So I was like the pied piper leading all the children away. :) After about 10 steps I realized that we all should have had chore boots--the mud was thick and clingy and we had an extra 5 pounds of sludge clinging to each foot.

After crossing one field, we stopped and looked at the neighbor's alpacas, chickens, goats and rabbits.

Sam loves Llamas, so he was happy to meet their cousins the alpacas. 

Then we went on to the barn. I loved the gray, weathered wood, the sloping roof, the old silo and the broken-out windows. Behind the barn a couple of horses were pastured, and the kids wanted to pet and feed them. We also wandered along a drainage ditch/creek where a lot of cattails were growing.

Our adventure team!

I love the aged wood and the sagging roof... this barn has so much character.

Playing with cattails. 

A shower of fluff!

Visiting the horses. 

After our trip to the barn I spent a good hour scrubbing shoes... Marian's utility sink saw its fair share of mud! We all went home with semi-clean but wet shoes. It was a short trip but one full of memories.

I just like this picture of Ninja Augie, so I had to put it on. :)

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Augie's 7th Birthday

I am months of blog posts behind... and the only time I remember to update is on birthdays. So because today is Augie's birthday, I will do his birthday first and all the missing updates later. :)

Augie turned seven today... my baby! Seven years old! It's crazy how time goes so fast.

This is my happy birthday boy!

His favorite video game is Skylanders, and the new game, Skylanders Giants, came out just a few weeks ago. He probably knew he was getting it for his birthday, but it was fun to make him wait and anticipate for weeks to actually get and enjoy the game.

We made his cake to look like a Skyland (floating islands) and the portal that "brings to life" the characters in the game. I placed the cake on an overturned cake package to make it look like it was floating. Abby helped me with the frosting. We placed one of his new figures on the top of the cake. It was a fun cake, and pretty simple and stress-free, too.

The finished cake.

Abby wrote "Skylanders" in frosting on a graham cracker.

He had a lot of fun gifts. Abby made a rubber band gun from a stick and clothespin. :)

Legos from Grammy... Always fun!

And the grand prize... the new Skylanders Giants game!

He loves Easy Cheese so I got him his own bottle. 

A Skylanders sack-pack filled with goodies

A super hero Lego from Grammy. He also got a cup, a watch, and a card, and some erasers. 

He said, "I tried to smile my biggest," for these pictures. He is bubbly and happy today and it's a pleasure to celebrate this special day with him!

Jackson Hole Trip

This summer we took a day trip to... 

Jackson Hole, Wyoming!

Our trip was an early celebration of Grammy McCartney's birthday, which is at the end of August, but we would all be in school by then, so we went on Aug. 13th. We drove up to Jackson and went directly to Jackson Hole ski resort. We had tickets to ride the tram to the top of the mountain. 

This is what the tram looks like. It's big enough to hold about 50 people standing. It crosses five cable support towers as it climbs from 6,000 feet to over 10,000 feet.

The family waiting to get on the tram.

The tram arrives...

we hop in and ascend the mountain... tower 3 is ahead.

Abby was having a panic attack because she was afraid of the height of the tram. As it swung and bumped over each tower she would put forth fresh tears. She only opened her eyes for about 30 seconds of the 10 minute ride.

and this is the view from the top!

It was very hazy/smoky, because of all the wildfires that have been burning in central Idaho. The air quality was not great, but the view from this 10,000 ft. mountain was awesome!

Jim and Sam at the top.

Abby and Augie sat down to get out of the wind and to make sure they went nowhere near the edge!

At the top of the mountain they have a waffle hut... we ate a waffle!

The next mountain peak over... the Tetons are behind this peak, but you couldn't see them for all the haze.

See that?! says Dad.

Sitting on the tram on the way back down. Abby was calmer on the ride down. 

The Jackson Hole resort looks like it's own little town as you look down from the mountain.

After the tram ride, the older boys and James and I rode the smaller ski lift up another hill. They have a special attachment in the summer and mountain bikers hitch their bikes up, ride the lift to the midpoint of the mountain, and then ride the mountain trail down. We rode up and back just for the view. Meanwhile, back at the resort, Abby and Augie got to try the bungee trampoline. They bounced about 12 feet in the air--they loved it!

Augie bounces up high!

Abby soars through the air. 

Woo hoo!

 After Jackson Hole, we went into the town of Jackson and had lunch. Then we walked around the town square, visited their awesome toy store, candy store, and other specialty shops, and then the kids went on a stagecoach ride! Jim got to ride "shotgun" for real!

He'd better have good aim, riding shot gun up there!

Abby, Sam, and August riding in style in the authentic stagecoach!

Then we rode off into the sunset, at the end of our enjoyable outing in Wyoming. :)

Summer birthdays

Summer is such a busy time, and add to that our two kids with summer birthdays, Abby and Jim, and you'll find out why this post is weeks late. We did have a lot of fun celebrating their birthdays. This is a year for "friend" birthdays, so we had parties planned and invited friends along.

Abby had four friends join her at Blast-off, a local indoor gym/arcade place. She had a good time playing tag around the playground and playing games and drinking lots of pop. She chose a hula theme and every girl got a lei, necklace, and had cupcakes.

Abby's cake at home turned out really cute. We had a barbie doll inside a dome cake, and the cake was her hula skirt. However, I had the bright idea to use sparklers instead of candles on her cake. After I lit them, the house started filling with smoke, sparks were landing on my arms and feet and in the carpet, and we were all choking so badly on the smoke we could hardly sing! It was a memorable birthday song for her!

Abby with her hula cake. :)

Took all day to make the cake, but it turned out great. 

This bouquet of flowers from Grammy had hidden dollar bill blossoms in  the arrangement.

 Abby was a smart shopper and took her birthday money and bought a bike for $20 and a bike seat cover for it. She now has a newer, good-working bike she can ride around the neighborhood.

Abby got some wonderful gifts, including these jeans, books, games, clothes, a gift card, and a chalk tool for writing on the sidewalk.

Jimmy's birthday was a little harder to plan... when you're turning 14 your friends are important and it's important to be "cool." So he invited two friends and his brother to go to Riot Zone for mini golfing. When they got there, they actually didn't golf... they rode go karts, bumper boats, and played on huge inflatable bounce houses doused in water. They had a great time being teenage crazy boys. ;)

For Jim's "family" party he wanted a Star Wars theme. He showed me this small model space ship, and asked me to create a star cruiser cake. Now, that was tough! And the fact that it's all frosted in shades of gray makes it look less appetizing, but hey, it's a ship. We had cake, root beers floats, and pizza and breadsticks. All the stuff a teenage boy enjoys.

He loves Green Lantern and enjoyed wearing this hat after he opened it.

His favorite thing, Legos, and a Star Wars lego ship at that!

A Harry Potter lego set.

I have included a little video singing Happy Birthday to Jim. The candles were "rockets" on his cake. 

Overall it was a fun summer with fun birthdays and lots of cake and ice cream!