This & That

Around Here This Week

First off, my sis has a birthday today so I'm hoping she has a happy day.

So around here this week....

My husband and I picked another quart of berries off our little plants and have enjoyed them all week. My mother suggested we make jam, but these taste to good to just squish them and add a bunch of sugar.

These came. I love sunflowers.

As always, there are such different and interesting elements in these arrangements.

See? Just really interesting. Not much else from me this week, mostly because I was playing catch-up after having Evan's boys here.

Sent to me from the kids and grandkids this week, though, it was photo-o-rama, which was really fun.....This was the youth activity Evan and Jan were chaperoning in Wyoming. It's a pioneer-type trek that the youth were on, hopefully giving the kids a taste of what it was like for our pioneer ancestors to cross the plains.

From Eric's family, it was swim lesson week. Here's Gwen...

Caroline....

Emmett....

and Ephraim. 

Back east, Collin's family must have had the chance to see Air Force 1 take off. These little treats are given to kids who see it.

From Marc's family, Jude is figuring out the whole smiling thing.

It's really hard work....

Marc and Isaac were out and about last weekend, getting a chance to go to Yellowstone.

I thought this picture was really cool with the mist rising off the lake.

Back at his house, Levi was home with Jude, lavishing him with love and attention. Jude's not sure what to think about.

It was also swim week for them and this was Levi's preferred attire....because everyone needs a winter hat and gloves when you go to swimming lessons.

Hiking Via Other People's Cameras

I'm always grateful when my kids share their adventures with my by sending along pictures.

Last week, Eric's family hiked the Box Canyon trail. My family has done this before, I think.

I've never attempted it because....yeah, I'd probably kill myself on this first steep part, tripping over my own feet. Eric called it an easy hike. Me? Probably not so much. This picture gives you a really good panorama of the Snake River Canyon. It's also great because there is still some green to be seen, before we move into the dry, drab, over-baked brown of summer.

They found a waterfall at the bottom of the canyon.

I'm thinking this picture could totally work for one of those "visit scenic Idaho"-type advertisement pictures.

The girlies. We couldn't figure out if this waterfall actually had a formal name, but Eric and his wife say it comes right out of the aquifer and the water was turquoise.

Ephraim got a reprieve from the backpack for a bit.

They found some wild current berries on the trail.

A little nourishment along the way...what more could you ask for?

 

A Blast From the Past, or Back to the Future?

I'm not sure quite how to refer to last week. My husband was in Alasaka salmon fishing with his dad, my daughter, and her husband. Meanwhile back at the ranch, so to speak, I was tending 3 of Evan's boys while he and Jan were chaperoning a church youth activity to Wyoming.

As always on these multi-day adventures, I'm reminded that it's a good thing we have our children when we're young and energetic. It's also a big ol' slap in the face letting me know that I am no longer young. The dogs were thrilled with the company, finding it totally excruciating to stay where they were supposed to. Mostly they were unsuccessful, which sort of compounded the excitement in the house. Gus was totally in major trouble for chewing up a nerf football. 

In my mind part of the solution was some outside time, so we were in the garden some doing a little weeding (not the boys favorite). Unfortunately the days that followed had wind advisories and temperatures that didn't make it out of the low 60's. That was hard for energetic boys, so we made field trips to the farm store to buy dog food and see the baby rabbits, to the dollar store, and to the grocery store. It was somewhat gratifying to me that I could still manage 3 boys on an outing, especially if one could be corralled in a cart.

We cut the lettuce.

These little butter heads were so cute.

And I was totally surprised that the lettuce mix included iceberg. Holy cow, we grew grocery store lettuce.

My little farm store hydrangea is starting to bloom.

And I cut some roses, all to foster my sense of normalcy for a week that was anything but. We kept each other amused and my heart was full when I heard Quincy say at the end of each day, "G'night, Honey."  I'm still finding socks in various places, though. I'm calling it a scavenger hunt. 

Around Here This Week

So around here this week.....

The strawberries are coming on. I picked a quart bowl from those half a dozen farm store starts. It's the most we've ever gotten. Too bad my husband is on a fishing adventure and won't get to enjoy them. I've had 3 of Evan's boys this week, and they have been gobbling them down.

I wish I could remember what the name of this flower is, but it's just really happy this year.

Maybe it's the wet spring. Those columbine? They spread like weeds and I have to beat them off all over the yard so they stay where I put them. I have a whole hedge on the opposite side of the house that have started from this one plant, prolific thing that it is.

My white peonies have bloomed. They are always the last ones since they're on the northeast corner of the house.

And along with the peonies, these were the roses I cut when I got home from the cabin. Is it possible for me to be happy about the blooming things and still hate the summer? Or is it a total double standard?

My mother and I drove down to Utah for a family wedding shower at my sister's house one evening this week. We drove through this both going and coming home. It traveled to my sister's yard, but she kept the rain off by sheer force of will until the quilt was tied and the gifts were opened. All attendees were gifted with a windswept version of the hairstyles they arrived with, courtesy of the coming storm.

Sent to me from the kids and grandkids this week.....My daughter-in-law, Elisa, and her kiddos did a little traveling in Utah as well recently. Although Ephraim  looks like he's not exactly thrilled right at this moment.

Here's our Gwen.

And Emmett giving his best raptor claws.

I'm thinking they enjoyed the dinosaur experience.

They also made a stop at Temple Square.

I've always loved this visitor's center.

And I loved this shot of Ephraim with Jesus looking on.

From Collin's family, there was a trip to the zoo, where David asked to hold James' hand.

I think David was pretty excited about the whole experience.

I'm not quite sure John's quite caught the vision yet, though.

Here's the latest picture of John, who got to try some rice cereal this week.

And lastly from Marc's family, here's the latest picture of Jude.

My Wandering Feet

I took a wander to the river while the guys were up in the hills by the cabin. Spring comes later and fall comes earlier as a function of altitude, I think.

I'm not sure I've ever seen these little flowers. Maybe I have, but flowers have a pretty short shelf life up there,

They were all over the place.

The wild strawberries are blooming. I've never seen actual berries on these plants. I don't think they exist.

Since we've gotten quite a bit of moisture this spring, there was some fungus in the shady, damp spots.

The river was higher than it was the last time we were here, but still not as high as 2 years ago. It's staying in its banks.

At this time of year, there's a little stream I have to cross to get to the river. Now, we've already established that I am not a very coordinated person, so this can be somewhat problematic. At this one moment in time, I was able to balance on the biggest rock in the middle of the stream to get this picture without ending up in the water. Yay me.

This picture struck a memory with me. It's been about five years ago or so that this field was full of church girl's camp tents. What a wild summer that was.

The Hummers

We spent a couple of days up at the cabin last week. It was awesome to get somewhere just a little bit cooler. I slept with the windows open and could hear the river.

In the morning I made some hummingbird food and filled both feeders. They hadn't been sitting there for even two minutes before we had visitors.

It was gorgeous weather and the cabin in spring is beautiful, before it really heats up and turns everything brown.

Evan and his three older boys were with us and spent some time on the deck stalking the hummingbirds. They didn't catch any, much to their chagrin. 

The moon came over the mountain before it was totally dark...just amazingly pretty.

Around Here This Week

So around here this week....

The rose show is on.

With the warmer weather, they are all wanting to get through the big bloom, so they can relax a little through the hot weather. I love being able to go cut a few of them every few days for the house.

The strawberries are also starting to ripen up. I haven't seen slugs on them yet, but it's probably only a matter of time.

It's pretty fun to go out a gather a few.

While I was sick last week, there were a couple of cabin days. I stayed home so I wouldn't either infect anyone, or keep everyone awake with the constant night coughing. The cousins had fun, though.

And Jude is getting really close to giving some good grins. I got this picture from my daughter-in-law with the caption, "Jude enjoyed his first cabin trip."

However, everyone was a little surprised by this. Fortunately it didn't last, but I would have been happy to have been there for it.

We had a family birthday celebration for Marc. He got 3 candles...one for each decade. You can also see Collin checking in via Skype.

My husband is getting ready to go on a fishing adventure in the next little while, along with my daughter and her husband. He was accumulating gear and found these in the pocket of my daughter's rain coat. They are from the last fishing adventure several years ago. I texted her, asking if she wanted them and was just a little surprised when she said yes.



Sent to me from the kids and grandkids this week, I got this picture of James, who is check his trucks for ticks before he puts them through the car wash. It's a very Allan thing to do after you've been in the woods.

 

 

Keeping My Hands Busy

Some recent projects I've finished off....

This cute little spring mat from the second Primitive Gatherings wool box. I love their stuff.

Yes, I have mastered Colonial Knots.

The nice thing about these projects is that they can be completed in a relatively short period of time.

As opposed to their quilts, which I also love, but struggle to get done, because they're much more labor-intensive.

There was also this decorative spring pillow, which I finished approximately 12 days before summer begins.

Oh but never fear, there's a summer pillow kit in the newest box....

If I can just get it done....maybe 12 days before fall.

Here are the latest weekly pages done with the Project Life app.

Lots of stuff's been happening in a short amount of time.

It seems to me like I've been going non-stop with family stuff since the beginning of April.

It's all good stuff....

...but sometimes I feel like I just need to catch my breath.

Or maybe I feel like I need to just catch up, since I seem to be running from behind almost constantly.

The Big 3-0.

My Marc is having a birthday today. I now have more than half my children above the age of 30 and I don't mind telling you, it has to stop. Right. Now.

Here's Marc and I in earlier days. Man, my hair used to be red. His hair grew in exactly that color.

Marc has an active sense of humor which enables him to wear shirts like this without batting an eye. Granted, he was something around 16 or 17 in this picture, but I have great confidence he'd wear this shirt again in a heartbeat at 30 if I hadn't already thrown it out, if he could find it.

He's on the last leg of some extended, extended schooling. He's worked darn hard to get where he is and his dad and I are tremendously proud of him.

It's nice to have him a little closer to home. Pocatello doesn't seem that far away, especially considering his family was in Iowa before this.

He's a fun boy, a great husband and dad, and as with all my children, I love him more than I have words to tell him. Happy birthday to my Marc!

Around Here This Week

It's a Friday edition of AHTW, because tomorrow's a special day. So around here this week, and a little bit last week....

I've been sick. Yep, sick, sick sick.

My mother brought me some peonies from her yard because she felt sorry for me. I sound like a croaking frog on the phone.

The darker ones are from my yard that I cut to fill out the bouquet.

To add insult to injury, this has also been happening. Not. My. Favorite.

Before I got sick, I got to go to Gwen and Caroline's dance recital. Ephraim wanted his "gamma" to hold him for the first part of the program. It was pretty sweet.

Here I am with all of Eric's kiddos. The recital was held in an old movie theater and as you can probably see, the concession stand was in operation. Emmett found a good use for the empty popcorn bucket.

Eric sent this one with the caption, "My kids are so cultured...."

And so it begins.....the first canning of the year was the strawberry-rhubarb jam. I've had the rhubarb cut for 2 weeks and this just really, really needed to get done, so I conscripted my husband to help with it a couple of nights ago when I was trying to cough up one of my lungs. Since he's the one who eats it, it seemed only fair.

Sent to me from the kids and grandkids this week....Eric and his wife have been working on the yard a little bit. They had some rock delivered and Emmett thought he'd try out the Evil Knievel jump in his driveway.

Eric says his kids call this "cardboard camping."

Here the chicken set up. All 10 are still alive and we're anxiously waiting for them to start laying eggs, which probably won't happen until late summer/early fall. 

From Collin's family here's cute David asleep. Does the position look familiar?

Then there was this one. Swimming is happening where they live.

There was a recent trip to Mt. Vernon where David got a tricorn hat and made a flag.

The scab and Dermabond came off his stitches this week and it looks really good.

I have to admit I shuddered a little at this one. Dang ugly shark-thing that James apparently thinks is very cool. That's David on the floor saying, "I'm swimming!" In shark-infested waters yet......where's my screaming emoji?

Then there was this one of James and David at one of the air and space museums. I love that half hug/half squeeze on the neck. ;) Apparently David was literally skipping around here saying, "Mine favorite!" when they got there. He does love a good  air and space museum.

And here's John, who found himself in this little mirror and giggled at his reflection until he gave himself the hiccups.

And lastly, we have Isaac channeling his gecko powers. Or he's a monkey boy....I'm not sure which.

This boy would give just about anything to be able to climb straight up a wall like his favorite lizard.