The not-so-soon- to-be Mr. and Mrs.

Wyatt and Gretchen were having so much fun playing in the car. They wouldn't tell me where they were going though.

What a good man. Making sure everything is in tip top shape.

1st Day of School

This was a very sad day for us. As we come to this time every year it makes us realize how quickly time goes and how little time we really have with our kids. We moved the kids to a different school that is not our neighborhood school so we have to provide transportation to and from school. They will not bus the kids because they are not in the dual immersion class, we are only a block from the "neighborhood school" line and they won't come pick up Dani, how silly. Anyway, Than is now in the 5th grade, and the last year of elementary school. We are close enough for him to ride his bike or walk and he is taking full advantage of that. Tony tried to convice Than to let him take him to school but Than was not the least bit interested. Tony was a little disturbed by how old and independent he is becoming. Our little boy is growing up. I didn't get any pictures of him. Then there is our sweet little Dani. Kindergarten, can you believe it?! Two in school. Dani was very excited to go to school. She is in the afternoon class so she doesn't go until 11:30(I have to say it's nice not having to drag her out of bed early). All morning she kept asking if it was time to go. Dani, unlike Than, was excited for me to take her to school, although she was a bit sad when she found out she didn't get to ride the bus at all.

You can't see the sign very well but it has the school name on it. This is the same school that my parents graduated in, now it's K-5.Dani is sooooo ready for her first day of being a kindergartener.

1 Fish, 2 Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish????

Tony was still on vacation for the week after our Yellowstone trip so we took the kids down to the fish hatchery to do a little fishing that all the kids could enjoy. The first pictures are of the first trip (this year). Dani is the only one that caught a fish. She was so proud of her catch.

And the winner is........Dani. Dani caught the trophy trout of the evening on what else but her Barbie pole.

Take one........

Can you see it????? Tony has Dani's fish trying to get the hook out of it's mouth.

Dani and Tony waiting paitiently for a bite. Tony won't admit it but really enjoy's these little times with Dani

Take two........
We went and got Gretchen a Barbie pole too so everyone had their own pole




Than is the only lucky angler today. He takes the trophy for this poor little fishy.

Family time

We decided to go camping for our last little fling before school starts. Tony wanted to go somewhere that we could take the boat to do some fishing and my parents camper so I don't have to deal with 4 kids in a tent. It was decided that I would pull the boat with the suburban and Tony would pull the camper with my dads truck. Tony informed me the night before that he needed to stop at JCPenny's in Idaho Falls to get some shorts. Are you kidding me, you're just now deciding you need new shorts when I was just in Twin. So, I get to pull the boat through Idaho Falls and go shopping, oh yeah we also had to stop at Wal-mart to get fishing stuff. I informed him I would not be going to the mall with the boat and the kids and I would wait at Wally World. Let the journey begin. It's always an adventure when we decide we are going to go anywhere with the kids. But what do you excpect when you are taking 4 kids and a very grumpy husband who has been up all night and wants to leave right after work. Anyway, the day started at about 6:30 for me, when I finished cleaning my parents camper, got all the food out in the fridge and freezer and made a macaroni salad. Than and Gretchen were both up and helping get things loaded. Gretchen started coughing and threw up a bit, ( I chalked it up to the dry cough). Well needless to says she threw up 2 more times before we pulled out of town, but I grabbed the puke bucket just in case we might need it. The goal was to get out of town at noon. It's 11:30 and we're ready to go. Tony gives me the go ahead and to stop at Guffy's for a drink and we would hit the road. I had the 2 younger girls, Tony had the 2 older kids. I made it the first 2 miles of the trip without a problem, but where did Tony go? 20 min. later he pulls in. We get drinks and we're off on the 2 hour drive to I.F. I only made it through town before Gretchen starts puking again, and she decided that she didn't need to hold the bucket. I stopped in Gannett(5 miles into the trip) and change her clothes and tell her that she has to hold the bucket. Back on the road again.This time I'm in the lead. We finally make it to Arco where we decided to stop for lunch and all is good. After we all have full belly's we head out. Gretchen pukes yet again and about two minutes later Tony calls saying Dani just puked and I need to pull over, okay I'll pull over the next turn out. If you have ever drove to I.F. you know that there aren't many turn outs that are big enough for a suburban and boat and 3/4 ton pickup and 20+ ft. trailer. He calls yet again to see if I'm going to pull over or just go into I.F. (at this point we're only about 15 miles out.) yes, I tell him as soon as I find a big enough spot that we're not going to have to slam on the breaks to stop at. We finally stop, get everything cleaned up, I take Dani and we're back on the road. I head to Wally World and Tony heads to the mall. 3 hours and 2 sick girls later we head out toward our final destination. We made it to camp at 8:15, get dinner and settle in for the night and hope noone gets sick in the night. The next day we had plans to go into West Yellowstone and find a laundrymat to wash car seats and blankets and see one of Tony's friends. Laundry done, belly's full of pizza, and friends seen were headed back to camp. A couple of Tony's friends met him at the camp site to go fishing in the boat so I decided to take the kids back to Yellowstone for a day. I hope you enjoy our adventure as much as we did.

Tony trying not to look at the camera and smile. It would be just aweful for him if I actually got a real picture of him smiling. he he

Fun in the sand. Tony gave the kids shovels to play in the sand. Than had made little towns with baracades, it was so fun to watch him and his imagination. The girls had fun wrecking his things. What are little sisiters for?!

how can you resist that face!
Off to Yellowstone. 4 healthy kids a lunch and no agenda for the day other than trying to get back to camp at a decent time for dinner with the guys. Since it was a 1 1/2 hour drive from our camp site to Yellowstone I knew we would have to leave the park by 5, we left at 7. We had fun and that's all that really matters when you're doing this kind of thing with kids, right?!

Our first critter sighting. How exciting!

After our little picnic and ready to hit the road. 4 of the most awesome kids in the world!

Geiser pools. After looking at these and reading what actually goes on with a geiser it just reminded me of how amazing and "in to detail" God was with creating the world. How could any think that it all "just happenend"? Amazing God, how great thou Art!

Old Faithful. What is Yellowstone without Old Faithful and bison? Alot of extra time on your hands. After a nice picinc we head over to Old Faithful (not really knowing where I'm going and hoping there is a gas station there). I see the signs, gas and services ahead. Deciding I should get gas first, find a parking spot, get t-shirts watch Old Faithful then be on our way. Silly me, what was I thinking?! After an hour of driving aroung all the parking areas, going the wrong way and then being told the parking spot I finally found was not really a parking spot, even though there were cars all along there, were head out to the geiser. It was just finishing and it blows every 90 min. I was not about to leave so we walk around all the geiser pools which turned out to be about 1 1/2 mile walk. What a workout! We head to the restrooms, find t-shirts and it's time to watch what we came to see. Becca's tired and wants to nurse and the other kids are really not all the interested. Oh well, maybe next time.

Yellowstone Lake

These are some of the most amazing animals to me. It is rutting season for them and lately the have been attacking vehicles on the road so Tony gave me very explicit instructions to stay away from them ( would I really put myself and our 4 kids in that kind of danger) anyway, we got stuck in the tourist traffic jam for an hour watching and listening to these huge creatures. Than kept reminding me of what Dad had said but what do you do when the whole world is stopped in the middle of the highway taking pictures (a little too close I might add). Gretchen and Becca were totally awed by them. Gretchen calls them "bluppalo's". I love listening to her say big words when she is soooo very excited.

isn't it cute

Can we are say beautiful?!!!! This is the lower falls in Yellowstone. The kids and were kinda lost at this point in the day. I was trying to follow the map and hit all the highlights of the park that my friend Kathy (the Yellowstone expert) told me to go to yet get back to camp at a normal time. I missed the turn Kathy told me to take and ended up here. Not too bad if I do say so myself. It was nice to get out of the car and stretch a bit before we headed out of the park.

a lousy attempt at adjusting the brightness of a picture.

One of God's magnificent creatures

Gibbon Falls

ready for the military

Than has always wanted a true buzz cut like Tony. After I used the wrong guard on my clippers he got one. He wouldn't cooperate to get a picture of the after result, but here is what came off of his head. He thought he wanted to go into the military until this haircut when I told him this is what his hair would look like all the time. (you can get a glimpse of what his hair is like in other posts, although it has grown quite a bit.)