What a Hoot

Pinterest and I have fallen in love.
It's a good and happy love with only one downside. More to do than can ever be done. But I have been doing many of the things I've been pinning, so I really don't feel bad about stealing a glance at my pinterest feed every chance I get. I have several boards going right now, and my favorites are Happy, Merry Christmas and Little Makes. The first board is all about my Christmas "want to do" projects. The latter is all about making things with my little people. Yesterday we spent the entire day playing with my brother and his family. The kids rode horses with Papa and then played and played and played, and cried when it was over. As soon as they started getting bored I pulled out my craft project basket, and my sister-in-law Mary pulled out her uber cool papers, and we whipped up these owls. They are made from toilet paper tubes, paint, paper, and glue. This kids did the painting and a little gluing. Mary and I did the paper selecting.
We both loved the end result and we'll hang these little guys on our trees.
More Pinterest, please.

An Egg

We have been patiently waiting since April for this moment. When I brought four little chicks home nearly 5 months ago I never thought the first egg would come. Even more doubt set in when I arrived at the coop to find two broken eggs earlier this week. But alas...we have an egg. A beautiful, speckeldy brown egg. I think this first egg comes from little Blacky Crow. This makes little Amelia quite happy. Hopefully this is the beginning of much eggy bliss!

Goose Creek Falls: Mostly Macro

Our recent family foray into the woods was brilliant.

Campfires, s'mores, a gorgeous hike.

Sunny days, stormy afternoons.

The tiniest pleasures become GRAND

Wildlife sightings, hot springs, favorite mountain thrift stores, massive ice cream cones, the beach, fairy house building, and time for just relaxing.
Henry the 1964 Oasis back on the road after many years...this time will all of us tucked inside.No buzzing, beeping, ringing, humming.

Just simple togetherness.

Amazing what three days can do for the soul.

Almost 10 on the 10th: Berry Patch Edition

7:30am
Chocolate doughnuts bribe the girls out of bed and we are headed to my bosses house to visit her amazing berry patch.

8:30am
Half a Flat
9:30am
Time for a break with Abby the puppy
10:30am
Still Picking

11:30am

Finally Finished: 32 Pints-16 for us and 16 for Her. It's a Good Trade. 1:30pm
Italian Cornmeal Cake with Berries and Fresh Cream for Dessert

2:30pm
Rest Time for Everyone
4:30pm
Making Raspberry Jam

Sisters and Cousins

My little sister, Lindsay, and my Mom came to town for a week and we took the opportunity to play, play, play. Seeing all the cousins together was pure joy. Just like every other family we have our struggles, and it's not all perfect and happy all the time, but these little people are what it's all about. Watching them play together and build friendships with each other is priceless. the good

The Moms

Baby Lucy

Duck, Duck, Goose!

Build Your Own Sundaes for the June Birthday CelebrationAmelia telling us about feeding baby cousin Halle...how did I not get any pictures of the little gerber baby?!Three Little Boys (and the rest are all girls!)

Three Little Monkeys and their reading material in the carBye-Bye, Lucy
Ezra with his shades on the escalator
Saying goodbye is hard, but we'll all get to play together again soon.

N-I-N-E

Last year I was worried that Hadley would grow too big to fit in my lap, and that has happened. She is up to my chin now and threatening to pass me by any minute. Sometimes that makes me feel sad. I know the little girl days are gone for good. But I also love spending time with her now. She is so witty and smart and happy( and just a weee bit competitive). Seeing her develop her own ideas and become exactly her own person is very sweet.

For her birthday she requested a chocolate cake with light blue frosting (her new favorite color). After freezing the cake and using a crumb coating I was able to pull off the light over dark without a bunch of black crumbs! Amelia added the candles and jelly beans all by herself and helped me wrap the gifts.
Since Hadley and The Mail Man shared birthday and Father's Day this year they headed to Wahooz for a rocking good time while Amelia and I wrapped gifts and decked out the house for the party. Blueberry muffins for breakfast, tuna sandwiches for lunch, chinese buffet for dinner and chocolate cake with blue frosting. A perfectly orchestrated (and very simple) day.
Since I don't do parties for odd number birthdays she is already planning the bask for next year. At least then she'll be old enough to help with the work, too! I guess there are a lot of perks to her growing up.

Team 10K

(Mark (Dad), Trish, Heather, Mary, Andrea)
Running a 5K with my daughter, Hadley, was extremely satisfying and really fun. It totally fired me up and allowed me to see that my body was much stronger than I thought. Not only my body, but my mind as well. Before I even ran the 5K I knew I could go longer, so I started training for a 10K and recruited a team of friends and family to go with me. I fully expected to run slow, and honestly I had no idea if I could actually run 6.2 miles without stopping.

To be honest, I don't run. I jog. Slowly. And I wasn't sure if I could pull off doubling my endurance over a 6 week period. But I followed a training plan and sure enough I was able to do a test run about 5 days before the race.

The day we completed the Idaho Potato 10K was perfect. The weather was seriously amazing. We ran along the Boise greenbelt and saw goslings, flowers, blooming trees, a flooding river, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
As we were boarding the shuttle I realized that I had left my perfectly programmed ipod back in the car and would have to run without music. I was so upset as I really didn't know if I could do it, and I had spaced the songs out just exactly how I thought I'd need them on my playlist.
I ended up with much better entertainment as Trish ran with me the whole way instead. She could have run much faster, but I was so thankful for her companionship. Being able to talk to her for an hour and seventeen minutes without interruption was pure bliss.
When we started the race Andrea was going to just do the 5K loop and then stop. When we rounded the corner and saw her still on the track after the turn off it totally fired me up! She exceeded her own expectations.
My Dad finished his race and then came back for me and Trish and ran through again. Just before we got to the finish line he looked at me and said "beat that lady up there"...so I turned on the burners and flew through the finish line with tears streaming down my face and a huge sense of accomplishment.
Mary kicked all of our butts and finished in under an hour. She was there cheering for all of us as we came through.

Thank you running buddies!
I can't wait for the next 10K this fall.
I am not really compelled to run marathons or even half marathons, but I am interested in a sprint triathalon. I don't know when I'll find one locally, but the next time one comes up I plan on being ready. I like having a goal to meet with a deadline, and I really like working my body hard and feeling strong and healthy. More exercise, please! I hope I feel this way for the rest of my life. I certainly never saw it coming!