Horseback Riding

I don't really know if you consider riding horses around the pen horseback riding, but it totally counts for my family. My kids have never been around horses nor have they ever rode one before. So it totally counts. Briar, don't laugh. Baby steps.

We started out on a pony named Butterscotch. She was gentle, old, slow: perfect for us. She didn't really want to do what we asked her to, but she would follow any person around the pen. That helped us get familiar with horses.

(this one if for you Briar, our little cow, girl. Do you see her boots?)

It is so sweet when these two get along. I mean when Howie is nice to his sister. She just adores him and wants to do everything he does. This is one of those rare moments when he is happy to be the big brother and help her.

Yes, that my feet can almost touch the ground. Safer that way, didn't you know? Less distance to the ground when you fall. Howie and I were giving each other high fives.

I finally advanced to the big horse. This is me looking like I know what I am doing. Not.

Thank you so much Karen for a fun couple of hours for our family. It was super fun, the kids had a blast and keep asking to do it again.

We had packed a lunch and went to the park to eat and let the kids play and get their energy out. It amazing me how much energy kids have. Seriously, where does it all come from?

Then we stopped at the local fruit stand and picked up some blueberries (another canning project for myself) and snagged these photos.

Howie's the 1st Grader

I just love the First Day of School. I remember it as a kid and how excited I would get. It is still fun for me. I just love those first day of school photos and how neat and clean everyone it. I love the school supplies and organizing your desk. It is just a fun feeling. Well Howie was excited to start school too. My impression of Howie's attitude was, 'ya, I've been to Kindergarten last year. I already have this school thing down. I am big stuff.' Of course, in a totally cute, matter of fact kind of way.

Jealous sister. She wanted to be going to school too.

With his teacher, Mrs. Martin. I love that there is only one class per grade in our small country school. I love that in Howie's class there are only 15 kids. I love the one on one attention. There are some great perks to small.

Excitedly putting his supplies in his desk.

First day of school, getting home from the bus. Love it.

Birthday Surprise

I really thought that Tommy had forgotten about my birthday. It wasn't just any birthday either. I was turning 30 this year! He was asked to sing at a baptism. We were going to go out to dinner afterwards. We left the kids with mom. After the baptism, my mom called and told me that livy had broken her leg in the trenches in the yard (my parents were babysitting and they were getting a sprinkler system so there was trenches all over the yard). We needed to come home and take her to the hospital. I was so upset. Driving back to my parents house a million things were running through my head, 'why didn't they bring her to town so I could take her to Ontario to the hospital? She has been in pain this whole time!' 'I am going to spend my birthday in the ER.' '30 Sucks!!' By the time I got the house, I was pretty worked up. When I walked in the front door, I wasn't paying attention to who was in the room, I just saw heads, lots of people. I instantly freaked, thinking it was worse than I had thought and they were all there to help give her a blessing. Then they all yelled surprise. I was so worked up, I just burst into tears. I just kept right on walking out of that room and into my mom's bedroom. I bawled and bawled. Relief that livy's leg wasn't broken, but mostly embarrassment that I had cried in front of all of them. I really didn't even know who was here. It took me a good 10 minutes to regain my composure and go back out there. Tommy had remembered my birthday. However, I don't ever want another birthday like that again. It was too traumatic for me.

Bruce Sexton had asked Tommy (beforehand) how I reacted to surprises. He said he didn't know, he had never surprised me before. Bruce laughed and said this might not be the best way to see my response.

Here is something I thought was very thoughtful of Tommy and everyone that came. I had just started a lifestyle change, eating low glycemic and was off carbs and sugar for a couple of weeks. People brought things that were healthy to eat, rolls and meat/cheese tray (but I just ate the meat/cheese wrapped in lettuce) fruit salads, etc. It was so great. Thanks Sheree for making the Cow Hollow Blackberry Cheesecake for me. It was my splurge. That meant a lot that everyone would be so thoughtful. Thank you.

Thanks to friends and family that made my birthday party. Even though my emotions were all over the place, it turned out to be a good day.

Edible Pencil for Teacher

I had Crayton and Kenzie at my house and we made a back to school treat for their teachers. It is a pencil made of rolos and a hershey kiss. They had a good time making it and were excited to give it to their teachers. Hopefully they can wait a couple of days until school starts.

A visit from Grandpa and Grandma Rushton

We were glad to have grandpa and grandma Rushton stop over at our house on their way to Washington. We got to have them stay the night on the way up and on the way back. We had a lovely time with Clyde and Sandy. We started out by gleaning potatoes and then we went fishing. We had the worst luck (I don't think kids make the best fishing partners.....their noise level is probably the reason we didn't catch anything), but still enjoyed each other's company.

Grandpa forgot a hat and would have been badly sunburned. We turned the lunchbox cooler into a hat. Kind of reminds me of Johnny Appleseed and his pot he would wear on his head.

So funny story here. We drove by the houses below the dam to try and find a good fishing spot. One person told us to go up to the dam and fish below it. We got stopped by people and when we told that another Owyhee water district worker said we could, they let us by. We got all the up there, started fishing, when a pickup came up there and told us that we couldn't be there, that no one could. For a while we were pretty close to the dam. I have lived her most of my life and had never been down there, that close to the bottom of the dam. It was kind of fun.

It's always fun when grandpa /grandma come when grandpa/grandma comes hooray! They always say the kindest things and in the kindest way. They have a wrinkly twinkly smile; they're happy all the day. It's always fun for everyone, when Clyde and Sandy come.

Library Summer Reading Program

We had a fun time participating in the city library reading program this summer. We would check out books and I would read to them. They got a ticket for every 30 minutes of reading time. They also got tickets for filling out a form that withe the name and author of each book we read. There was a line for a short summary of the book, which earned them another ticket. Each week, Howie would look at the baskets and determine which one he wanted to put his tickets in for. He told me all summer he wanted basket #6. I told him to put all his tickets in that box. But, he chose to put them randomly in any one he wanted. Most of the time he did in fact put them in the drawing for #6. We went into the library to watch the drawing at the end of the summer. After they had chosen 4 of the baskets, howie was starting to get deflated and almost started to cry. I told him (like I had all summer) that he might not win, but that we were

enjoying reading some fun books. Then, Howie's name was drawn for basket #6. He was so elated! You would have thought he died and went to heaven. He still had a perm-a-grin on his face when I took this picture. What a fun reading program. Thanks library.

Swimming Lessons August 8th-12th

We did another round of swimming lessons. Livy begged and pleaded to get to have them too, so we obliged. We were able to use Karina's pool (much closer for lessons) and Olivia Walker from the ward was their instructor. Livy thought it was pretty cool they had the same names. {on a side note here: I remember when Olivia Walker was born. I had fallen in love with the name and swore someday my daughter would have that name. Funny that here they both are: Olivia and Olivia.} She was great and the kids loved it. They learned a lot. It is crazy, but swimming lessons takes so much energy. They both had naps during this week. NAPS!