Girls (Late) Night Out

Last night my sister and I went to the midnight premier of the new Twilight movie, Eclipse. We are not die-hard Twilight fans. Beckie had not even seen any of the movies or read the books when we bought the tickets. It was a sweet set-up, though. We bought our tickets through a local charity and part of the ticket proceeds go to that charity. That got us reserved seating (no waiting in line!) and t-shirts. We picked up a friend and headed to the movie. Our theater had a raffle of awesome prizes (massages, facials, gift certificates and Twilight stuff) and my friend Lorna won a cool hat! It was good fun and nice to get out, even if it was at midnight!

My sister had to work this morning and I babysat her kid. She brought me this present this morning. I'm happy to say I haven't had to drink it today. I feel great! I might need it tomorrow, though...

Garrett is EIGHT!

Garrett turned 8 on Sunday, June 27th. He is such a sweet boy! Here he is all ready for church. You can't really see it but I got him a CTR pin for his tie. He was very excited about it.


Instead of birthday cake, he requested brownies and mint chocolate chip ice cream. Yum! We made brownies on Friday at the reunion and he requested the same thing again on Sunday at my parent's house. This is definitely my kid...brownies over cake anyday! Here he is with his cousin, Sean (sorry if its misspelled), picking candles out of his brownies.

When we got home Saturday, we went shopping for his present. He got to pick it out. He knew he was getting a new bike. He chose it. We went in the bike shop and the guy asked what he wanted. Garrett told him he wanted a bike with gears and shocks. The guy asked if he liked the color red. (Red is Garrett's favorite color and he told us on the way to the store that he hoped he could get a red bike!). Garrett's eyes got wide and he grinned and nodded, "yes". He took this baby for a test ride and it was love! Haha!

He is one cool kid in his sunglasses. His 2nd front tooth is almost grown in too! He is such a good kid and a good helper too. He is quite the tease (like his dad) but is so good with Hannah and Ryan. He is pretty easy going and is willing to try anything...once.

He begged me and begged me to mow the lawn. "Dad lets me do it all the time!" he tells me. Ok, I think. He's gotta learn sometime, eh? He drove our other one all the time. So I mowed the edges and let him go on the front lawn (under my close supervision, of course).

He did great! He was cautious and did a perfect job! He wanted to listen to the ipod while he was mowing, like Blaine does, but I told him until he had been mowing lawn for 30 years and he knew his mower inside out and all its little sounds, that he could not wear the earphones and listen to music. He said OK. Anything to get on that mower! Then he asked me how old dad was. Hmmm... Smart kid.

After he had mowed the whole front lawn, he got off the mower, came up to me and said, "That was awesome! Dad never lets me mow that much!!" Thats right, mom's the cool one!! Haha!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUD!

Jones Family Reunion

This week we went to Burley for Blaine's family reunion. It was such a fun time and the weather was great! The night before the "official" start date of the reunion, most of the family had gathered at Blaine's parent's home. The kids were roasting marshmallows and the adults were enjoying the nice weather (for a change). Ryan found his favorite toy on the deck. A jumping horse! I put him on and he went to town on that thing! No fear baby! Ride 'em cowboy!

Ryan even took his cousin, Taylor for a ride on the horse. Ride 'em cowkids! She is a lot more hesitant on the horse than Ryan is. He is all boy!


Garrett had fun roasting marshmallows and eating them but found out later what happens when you eat one or four too many. Marshmallows revisited! :( Garrett felt better after that but spent the night on the couch. Blaine stayed in the house with him and ended up sleeping on the floor. Not a comfortable option. I stayed outside in our tent with Ryan and Hannah and spent a very chilly night out there. It wasn't until the next day that I realized our "moon view" window was open and was letting the breeze blow right through the tent. BRRRR!! I didn't sleep much that night. I sent a text to Blaine at around 2 am that said: I'm cold. Hannah crawled in bed with me around 4 am and together we got warm. So, not much sleeping was done that night. Oh well, cuz the next day was so much fun!

We reserved an awesome place called Harris Pond in Burley. It is a man-made pond/play area that was developed by a sweet family. It is right in their back yard! They have canoes, paddle boats, a fountain, an island in the pond with a walkway to get there, swings into the pond, a slide and even a zip line over the pond! They built an awesome shelter with picnic tables, counters, sink, refrigerator and even speakers built in for music. This place was truly a little bit of heaven. Blaine and Jason wasted no time getting on the water!

Here is a picture of the zip line tower and slide into the pond. That is Clifton and Reagan getting ready to zip over the pond. I think Reagan dropped into the pond that time. Sorry about the pictures. I don't have a SMOKIN' camera like my sister-in-law, Jenn. Her pictures rocked!

Here is Garrett and Jordan in the canoe. I took the picture from the walkway that goes to the island in the pond. Garrett spend a lot of time on the water. He loved it!

They had kiddie toys and pools set up for the little ones. It was so nice knowing that Hannah and Ryan (for the most part) were on the grass, playing in the water or in the playhouse.

Here is the swing. They are getting ready to give Christopher a push over the pond. Those guys could really get swinging high! That swing is held up by two telephone poles! It was impressive.

After lunch, the owner of the pond brought out his kiddie train. The kids thought this was awesome. Hannah would only ride with Blaine but Ryan jumped right in. He rode once with Reagan and once with Garrett and then cried and cried when he had to get out!

The train was pulled by a golf cart. He took them all around and back. You could see those kids smiling from far away! Very cool!

Because I'm usually the one taking the pictures, there are never any of me in them. So, I took this one of myself to prove I was there.

Friday, after another not-so-great night (air mattress gone flat) we went to the mountains south of Twin Falls and rode 4-wheelers. Blaine took the boys for a ride up to the lookout on the mountain. They loved it. Garrett can't wait until he is big enough to ride the 4-wheeler by himself.

My men, back from their ride!

Jolynn took Hannah and Isabel for a ride as well. Hannah loved it too! It was such a fun time and the weather was perfect. Not too hot, although the back of my neck did get a little burned. Oh well. We had such a great time at the family reunion! Thanks to Shareese and Tyanna for organizing it. Until next time...

Bear Lake: A preview

Because I get a little neurotic about details and because we needed to get away, we took a little trip to Bear Lake yesterday. I wanted to check out our campsite that I had reserved for my family (parents, brothers and sister along with myself). I wanted to make sure all of our "stuff" would fit in the space allotted to us. I loose sleep over parking spaces and such...

Anyway, we drove to Bear Lake through Wyoming. It was a gorgeous drive that takes you through Star Valley. It seems weird to start traveling north to end up south, but oh well. It rained the entire way. We got to our campsite just in time for a terrific hailstorm and a huge downpour. The weather did give us a break long enough to get out, look around and snap a few pictures. The kids loved it. I did not love the mud.


Ryan did not want to pose for any pictures. That would slow him down from his muddy pursuits.


Next we drove around the lake some, just looking and getting an idea of what was available. The kids were restless, so we let them get out at the North beach and run up to the water. There is probably a quarter mile of just sand before you get to the water. The wind was blowing very hard so the water was really choppy. It was COLD too! Not just the water, the wind. Needless to say, we didn't stay very long.


Around the east side of the lake, there are some private properties mixed in with the park. This is a cute playhouse we saw at one of the properties. The Old Woman's shoe and her children too!


Have you ever had the realization that you have lived somewhere your whole life and never knew something existed? That was me yesterday. We stopped in Soda Springs and saw the geyser. I never knew it was even there. Granted, I don't live there but I've lived in Idaho my whole life. You would think I'd have a clue. Anyway, the kids thought it was awesome and you can walk around the whole thing. They have capped it and put it on a timer so it goes off every hour.

Hannah and Garrett were not fond of the sulfur smell. They both told me, while pointing to the stream that runs under the boardwalk, "It smells like fart over there!" I couldn't help but laugh. I told them thats what geysers smell like. They weren't impressed.

The Princess Party

Hannah was invited to a Princess Tea Party given by my sister-in-law, Kara. Hannah was sooo excited to go and had been looking forward to it for a while. She got all dressed up and on the way she said, "There is no boys at this party." Yup, princesses only! Anyway, she had a great time and loved her prizes! Thanks Kara! Check out the pictures here.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day weekend this year was full of lots of family time. Blaine's sisters, Rachelle and Shareese came to visit. On Saturday it was raining like crazy but we went shopping instead. We went to the Prepared Pantry in Rigby, we stopped off at the D.I. and went to the Army Surplus Store. Obviously we were shopping for random items!


Sunday we went to a BBQ at my Grandma Cook's house. The weather was great (not super warm, though) and the kids played outside. Garrett and Jayson shot BB guns. They were getting pretty good with that thing!



Hannah and Liam rode around in the wagon as long as someone would pull them. Ryan even gave it a try. Hannah wasn't too excited to get her picture taken, though.


Ryan had a good time as always!


Monday, we went to the Ammon Cemetary and saw the American Legion raise the flag and do their presentation. This is the headstone of my older brother, Jayson, who died before I was born.

My Grandpa Purcell's grave is just in front of Jayson's. This is the first time in about 11 years that I have not been working on Memorial Day. It was really nice to go visit the graves and spend time with family.

Here the American Legion is just getting ready to raise the flag to half mast.

Afterwards we had a BBQ at my parent's house. It was nice enough that the kids ate outside and then played out there most of the day.


Later, my dad and Doug played their guitars and sang. The babies were dancing and clapping. After each song, Hannah would say, "Play another one Grandpa!"

Hannah and my mom in the rocking chair, listening to my dad.

Overall, it was a great weekend spent with lots of family. I'm so grateful that I could spend the weekend, safely with my family.