Back to School and Braces

Wednesday, August 26, the kids went back to school. I always have to take my back to school photographs, which Brodie just loves, but he knows better than to argue with me, its just one of those things that Moms do. His only question was "Are you going to post them on the blog?" Well....of course I am. He posed anyway. I make them pose in front of the front door, to see how much they've grown in the past year.

Brodie is a Junior this year.


You'll notice in this next picture that Brodie has a new smile, complete with braces. He got them on August 18. Let's just say he was not as thrilled about getting braces as Jayce was.

Jayce is a Freshman this year.
Harleigh is in the Second Grade.
For the first day of school Harleigh was supposed to take something that described her or she liked to do. We finally decided on a rose since her middle name is Rose and she is named after her Grandma Rose. Then we figured she could give the rose to her teacher.

Celebrate Youth

The day before school starts the School District and City of Rexburg, along with other agencies hold a Celebrate Youth event in Porter Park. The police department is in charge of making and handing out free popcorn. The entire event is FREE!! There is free popcorn, free cotton candy, free ice cream, free dinner, free train rides, free carousel rides, splash park, etc. Can I just say that FREE brings out so, so many people. This is a crazy day!!! It is fun for the kids, but it is so, so CROWDED!!!!! Usually I'm busy helping in the booth but this year at 5:00 p.m. I said I'm done, I only signed up until 5:00 p.m. so I ventured out into the crowd with Harleigh. Harleigh had been there since it began with her friend, Heidi and Heidi's family.

My sister-in-law Kim and niece Courtnie also came with Brentlie, Kaydn, and Emma.

Courtnie took Kaydn to the Splash Park and he had a blast, but I guess he just didn't get enough water because while we were waiting for the drawing he found another puddle and was quite happy. They give away all kinds of cool things including a Wii and a Nintendo DS that Harleigh really, really wanted but we didn't win. She soon forgot. After a little while I took Harleigh home. One thing I HATE about this event is it is the day before school starts, the day I want dinner fixed, clothes laid out, baths taken, and in bed early, I'm ready for the ROUTINE!! The boys got home later, after the dance was over.

Glider Flights

Todd and the boys have been in Civil Air Patrol for several years. One of the cadets' favorite things to do is go for glider flights. This is something that they don't get to do often, so when they do they take advantage of it. Last Saturday after we got home from camping and Brodie got off work we went out to the airport to watch Brodie fly in the glider. Todd had been there all morning helping the cadets do their glider flights. Brodie had gone earlier that morning and came back for one more flight.


The glider plane has no engine and gets its power by a powered airplane pulling it up to altitude and then releasing it. The glider plane then is powered simply by the wind. The cadets get to fly the plane, but there is a certified instructor in the back seat instructing them.


This is a picture of Brodie in the glider plane and then being pulled by the Cessna plane. The only bad thing about the glider is once it lands you have to push it back into place.

Last Camping Trip

Last week my parents took Jayce and Harleigh camping with them before school started. They went to one of our favorite camgrounds, Buffalo Campground. When my Mom retired, Dad and her bought a trailer and they took the grandkids there quite a bit. Harleigh wasn't even born when they started their camping trips in the trailer. Brodie and Jayce have fond memories of floating the river with my niece and nephew, Michael and Maryanna, so this campground has always been a favorite, I think because they have had so much fun there.

Harleigh called me at work Friday and said that if I would come up camping she would make me a smore so I decided why not. Todd stayed home and Brodie had to be to work early Saturday morning so he stayed home too. After work I drove up and got there just in time for dinner, good timing I know. After dinner we went down to the dock so Jayce could fish.
While Jayce was fishing Harleigh practiced on the "balance beam". Later Harleigh cooked up the promised smore!

Here is the look you get if the smore isn't perfect.

Jayce cooked a few too.

A couple of my pictures were double exposed, I had to include them because they looked kind of cool.

The next morning Jayce helped cook breakfast. He's turning into quite the chef.

One thing I learned about going camping with them was that the kids have the whole routine down with Grandma and Grandpa and I was just in the way, if I tried to take plates to the table one of them had already done it. If I needed to put something away, I better put it in the right place or I was in trouble. GEEZ!! I finally just decided to sit back and relax so I didn't get into as much trouble. It was kind of nice! It was a fun getaway for the evening. Thanks Mom and Dad for taking the kids and letting me come up too.

Last Soccer Game

On August 11 Harleigh had her last soccer game. I think she has enjoyed playing this summer, we've missed a few of her games just because of so many other things going on. It is fun to watch how the kids improve from year to year.

Cousins In Town

My nephew, Justin, lives in Boise so we don't get to see his daughters very often. They were in town and staying with my sister-in-law, Rima. Harleigh loves it when Brynn and Addison come to town. Brynn is 8 and Addison is 6. We got together with Brentlie and Courtnie let us play with Kaydn and Emma too. Of course we hung out at one of our favorite places, the pond. Jayce loves giving rides on the gator so he took Brynn and Addison on a ride while we were there.

New Suit

Jayce got a new suit for his birthday. He looks pretty handsome if I say so myself. My brother Blaine kept teasing him that he didn't know if he should ask him for a loan since he looked like a banker or avoid him in case Jayce was working for the mafia and was scheduling a hit for his Uncle Blaine.

Train Ride

On Friday, August 7, Todd, Jayce, Harleigh and I went on a train ride. Brodie was still in Oklahoma with Todd's mom. The train ride was through the Operation Lifesaver Program. It was pretty cool. We got on the train in Idaho Falls and were able to take a short ride. Operation Lifesaver gave the rides to help educate people about being safe around railroad crossings and the safety of vehicles and trains.
One of the engines had broken down earlier in the day so they were really behind on the train rides. We were scheduled to go at 6:00 p.m. and finally boarded around 7:30 p.m. They cut our ride a little short to try to make up time but it was still a fun ride.

A "Riot" of a Celebration for Jayce

Jayce turned 14 on August 4. Brodie was out of town with Todd's mom so our celebration was pretty simple. Jayce wanted to go to the Riot Zone. We took his good friend, Jake Wood, along. Jayce, Jake, Harleigh, Todd, and I went to have a riot of a time.

As you can see Jayce got several John Deere tractors for his birthday. Jayce loves to collect John Deere tractors and has them on shelves in his "John Deere" themed room. Only problem is Todd needs to make some shelves to surround the room because Jayce has been collecting them since he could walk and his collection is getting pretty big. He has taken such good care of them, literally washing them in the tub and sink when he was little, that they are all in really good shape.

I had one of the officers' wives, Ashley Wheeler, make him a John Deere themed cake complete with budding potato plants on the cake. Thanks Ashley!! By the way, check out my side bar "Ashley's Cakes by Design" she has some GREAT cakes!!!

Once we got to Riot Zone the weather got a little ugly but later turned out to be nice so we hung in there and had a great time. Sheila, who I work with came along and joined us for a while.

All in all I think that Jayce had a good birthday.

Picking Raspberries

One thing we always have to do the first of August is pick raspberries for some frozen raspberry jam. I am lucky enough that one of the officers that I work with has so many raspberries that he lets us come and pick all that we want. We took Jayce's friend, Jake Wood, with us a few years ago so now he usually asks when we are going and volunteers to go with us. I also made the mistake a few years ago of stopping at Big Juds for hamburgers after we finished picking raspberries and so now not only is picking the raspberries a tradition but stopping at Big Juds is too. Good thing I don't have to pay for the raspberries because it would really add up!!

Happy Birthday Courtnie

Today is my niece, Courtnie's birthday. I thought I would share some pictures and a video from the surprise birthday party Luau three years ago. Wow, Courtnie, a lot has changed in three years including your marriage to Tyson and two beautiful children, Kaydn and Emma and we are glad that we have been a part of it all. We love you and hope that you have a Happy Birthday!!