fall 2014

We wanted so bad to get up to yellowstone this fall. But we needed to get our grass seed in first!  Brandon's mom and dad have a little cabin they have been remodeling, just outside of west yellowstone and we were antsy to get up and see it, but we weren't sure if we would make it before it got too cold. But right before a crazy windy rain storm one night, we finally got all the seed in and this plastic sheeting stuff down on top of it that helps it grow faster.  woohoo!

 And yellowstone was perfect.  Heaven must have been happy with us for some reason and shined down the most perfect, goldeny, 60 degree fall weather ever.  It was awesome.  We spent an afternoon at firehole river having a picnic all by ourselves!! Such a beautiful day.

 We stayed the night in Rexburg and on the way back down we drive to mesa falls.  I was in awe that we could be in Ashton Idaho, mid october and feel so warm.

 best cowboy hat clad girl ever.

 gray manned the camera that afternoon and took 700 pics.  Not sure what I'm laughing at in this picture, but I like it.

 Byron had to have surgery on a little skin cancer spot by his eye and had to have it covered for a while with an eye patch.  Soo we had a pirate party for him and to celebrate grahams birthday.

 pumpking picking.  I tried to be excited about going to the patch this year instead of having our own pumpkins to pick, but - there were lots of mosquito's.  and we spent $34.  :( but these pictures sure do look cute.

 he liked the heavy warty ones.

 and she liked sucking on her fingers

 she attacked velvet and hauled him around that time.

 kinda looks like i have a mustache in this one.

 remember how last year when we carved pumpkins that graham decided to take a bite and liked it?  This year it was leah's turn.  and she liked it too!

 He was a handsome little zombie skeleton.

 And she was a dia de los muertos lady.  very sophisticated of her.

 our pirate.  If you ever don't have a costume for a kid, make him a pirate.  easy and super cool and very fun to hear your 3 year old say "RRRRRR Matey!" at every door.

 The Jacksons came over and let us tag along for trick or treating.  And Mike wore this fake booty on his head all night:)

 Our neighbors the gunns.  These guys really are incredible.

 And someone nailed me in the head with a hatchet.  AHHHHH

 First time with piggies.  she hated 'em:)

 The first snow storm of the year and gray jetted out in him jammies and built a snow man without any gloves on.  it was pretty cute.

 Happy Birthday Babe.  You rock my whoooooole wide world.  that's why i made you that awesome pie:)

 we decided to stop at mesa falls again on the way up to get trees.  Crazy how much a place can change in 6 weeks! It was so beautiful in the snow and me and b reminisced about the time we went up there when we were dating and went cross country skiing.

and another graham/mom conversation for this post;  me: who is the most adorable 3 year old ever even though he acts like a scary dragon all day and pretends to eat his little sister? graham: "ummm... ME!"  yep.  he tells me he's a scary dragon and that i'm a happy cow:)

very favorite picture of the whole holiday.

For the first time since I've known the john clan, karen came with us!  the kids were so excited to have grandma there:)

It was sooo freezing cold and windy and snowy.  Karen and timmy took the little ones back to the truck and the big kids even got tired hiking through the knee deep snow after a while and we had to make a little base camp for them while me and b kept looking.  every few minutes gray would scream "MOOOOOOOOOM!  WHERE ARE YOOOOOUUUUUU?????"  and i would scream back and he would be satisfied for a little bit and then we would do it again.  But we found a tree before anyone was in tears so we felt accomplished.  And on the way back we happen to see a cafe sabore that had opened up in island park! gitty up for christmas trees and mexican food!

summer and early fall stuff 2014

There was sooooo much dirt this summer.  While they were getting the ground all level and Brandon and Byron were driving around that big tractor I would vacuum every night and by the next afternoon you could see our footprints in the dust on our wood floor again.  ack.  The dirt got all nice and light and fluffy on top in the hot windy weather and my kids would run through it feeling like speed racers, amazed that their little bodies could cause such a dust cloud.  But lots got done. Two acres of shaping and sprinklers is a lot of work.  This summer felt crazy.  The company B had worked for for the past 6 years hadn't been doing too good, but he always felt like he should stay there.  Until this summer.  We both kind of felt uneasy about things and then we found out they were doing layoffs and there was a pretty good chance he would be one of them.  But he wasn't.  And instead of being relieved we realized we were sad he hadn't been!  It was such a roller coaster of emotions.  But eventually we realized that it was time for him to be done there and to take this huge jump and leap of faith and go into a startup company with an old friend and mission companion.  Soooo on top of lots of yard work, Brandon was working to start a new company.  And who knew how much work either of those things would be????  and so lots of yard work had to wait.  and lots of home remodeling is still waiting till we see how this thing works out.  but we both feel good about it.  even though i worry way more than is helpful for either of us.  But along with all the hope of this company working out there is also a whole lot of hope that next summer will bring with it trees.  and plants and flowers and so many green things that we had hoped would make it in the ground last summer, but didn't quite make it:) 

you should have seen my tub at the end of each night.  geeze... look at those brown eyes and try not melt, even with a snotty nose

clara was in a little singing group last year.  my most wonderful, sweet, dear friend Monica was the teacher of the group and this was at there year end concert.  And then that darn friend moved to Denver and last night we got together for a christmas party and i cried when i saw her and was so dang sad they had to move:( i typed that frowny face really hard like somehow it would show just how sad i am they moved, but it just looks the same.......so just pretend it looks super frowny. cause that's how i feel about the situation! miss you friend

"And fo bweakfast I will have a half a watowmellon pwease"

Graham as I've mentioned/bragged about a couple other times on this blog potty trained himself this summer (I can brag about it because I had another nameless child that was 3 1/2 and still wearing a diaper) and did super awesome as long as he was naked on the bottom half.  put on a pair of pants and he quickly forgot we only pee in the potty.  so he spent a good month naked.

summer was meant for grady.  hot, and sweaty and dirty, barefoot and shirtless.

leah is so dang funny with these cats. she cuddles them and loves them and mauls them with no apparent interest in the fact that they are trying with all their might to get away from her chubby grasp.

she holds too tight.  so lightening decided to suck it up and deal with it.

and then she loosened her grip and once again it got away.  "HEY!!!!!" so sad when she looses her kitty.

We had the Marchants dog Lucky for a little while after they moved to Denver and were staying in an apartment.  I knew i wanted a dog but I didn't know how much! Oh we had fun with that little dog.  Graham would take him for a walk, sans pants, multiple times a day.  At least he got his batman undies on.   

She loved a good head wrap:) i love her.

I've already posted lots of the pictures from orcas island, but they are just so beautiful that i needed a few more on here.  Once we made the decision about B's job i was pretty ready to scrap this trip.  But we had already put a deposit down for the little house we were staying in and B talked me into it.  I can't even say how grateful I am that we did.

Leah doesn't sit still much.  I wanted so bad to take a picture of her in this little dress one day, cause she looks so much like clara some days and this was one of her little dresses.  but i couldn't.  for 10 minutes i tried with all my might to get her to hold still for 1 second but she wouldn't.  and so this was the best i could get!

B moved the driveway!  It was along the side of our property before and not very welcoming and also really hard to get out of so he and Byron dug it all up and moved it to the middle and put in a little circle and even though it still needs a lot of work my home feels just a teeny bit more inviting.

playing with our dear little friends cal and lindy.

september mornings.  off track. nanny's and peaches and cartoons in pajamas.

me "graham do you need a haircut?"  graham "um.... let me close my eyes and sink about it... nope!"

My dear dear friend Amberly had a bad year.  I would write something a lot worse than bad, but I don't write words like that.  And on her sweet Lindy's birthday, she wasn't feeling good and my kids were off track so me and clara and gray whipped up this sparkly, butterfly birthday cake.  oh that was a fun thing to deliver.

we had a little party for grahamy and charley up at my parents house.

and then charley shoved a piece of cake in grays face cause he really likes to do stuff like that and grady almost cried but he fought back and laughed instead and i was very very proud of him.  the kid had quite a bit of icing up his nose.

and thats all for now!