Wyoming Trip 2011: Part 1

Every year we make our annual trip to Wyoming to visit family. This year we left on a Saturday and drove to Boise and stayed with the campus minister for Boise State. We went to church with him on Sunday and drove a short 4 hours to Idaho Falls and stayed at a KOA campground.

The next morning we got up and drove to Jackson Hole, WY. Below is a picture of Jason and the boys with the Tetons in the background.

We stopped at the visitors center and Jason asked about a hike we could do. I was thinking a short 1/2 mile hike and then get back into the van to head to Lander. Jason was thinking he wanted to see something cool. Against my better judgment we hiked the Hidden Falls Creek trail. It is a 3 mile hike in, making it 6 miles round trip with two kids and one pack. Jason reassured me it would be okay and we headed down the trail.

Here are the boys about 2 miles into the hike. The lake is Jenny Lake.

At the falls. Josiah walked/ran the whole 3 miles and it was not a leisurely stroll. There were some rocky parts and the end was a steep uphill. Josiah did run a lot of it. We kept getting weird looks from other hikers heading back from the parking lot. I know what they were thinking, "Your taking your 4 year old on this hike!" I was thinking we were crazy, too, but we made.

While I was glad to see the falls, I was grumpy because we had an exhausted 4 year old and 3 miles back to the van. That was when Jason decided to tell me we were 200 yards from a boat that would take us across the lake back to the van. I was relieved and Josiah was so excited. Josiah's smile tells it all.

Here is Josiah at the trail head before we got in the van. We had to document Josiah's first 3 mile hike at 6,000 feet elevation.

That night we made it to Lander and spent a week there. Pictures of our time in Lander will be in the next post.

Celebrating Josiah

This year Josiah turned 4 years old. We have never done anything big for his birthday. We are usually traveling to Wyoming and Josiah doesn't have any friends his age so I feel kind of weird inviting a bunch of boys that are 4 and 5 year older to his birthday party. But this year, he really understands his birthday and I wanted to do something special. After much thinking I decided we would do a day dedicated to him. Everything we did would be show him we love and him and that we are so grateful that God gave him to us.

So on July 9th we got up in the morning and had donuts (something we rarely do) and headed out for a day of fun. First we went miniature golfing. The picture below shows that Josiah actually parred a hole. He got the ball in the hole with 2 shots. Watch out Grandpa Chuck in a few years he might be beating you on the golf course!:)

Then we drove up to Salem. He chose to have pizza for lunch. We order some and headed to a park to play. We also took time at lunch to share why we loved him. He would just smile and give us hugs saying, "I love you, too."

For his birthday present we took Josiah to Toys R Us and he got to pick out a new bike. Jason laid out a few options for him and without much thought he knew he wanted the Lightning McQueen bike.

Here he is enjoying his new bike. We go for bike rides all the time.

We love you Josiah and we are truly blessed that God has given us 4 wonderful years with you!

Auntie Kate's Visit

Auntie Kate came to help me out this week. It was a good thing she did, because I ended up helping some friends and had 5 boys in my 1,000 square foot house. The boys ranged from 9 years old to 10 months old. It went okay. Nobody got hurt and nothing was broken, but it was tiring. I am really glad Katie was here to help.

On Monday we went to the aquarium in Newport. Here are some pictures from our trip.

Auntie Kate and the boys.

Josiah and Nathaniel. Nathaniel is a boy I watch 3 days a week. This was his first time to the aquarium.

Me and the boys.

Jaron playing on a turtle.

We went to the beach, briefly, after the aquarium. Katie had never been, but it was cold and raining so we didn't stay very long.

This is Jaron's "I am smiling for the camera" smile.

Cute Pics

The boys reading at the table.

The boys were playing very well together on the ottoman. I decided to take a picture because they looked so cute. They both decided to give me silly smiles. Jaron especially likes to be a ham for the camera.

Jaron likes to climb into chairs and read.

This is for mom and dad. Here is grandma's Iris that bloomed this year. It had 3 more blooms after this one.

"Summer" Time

I put the word "summer" in quotations because it is not a normal summer yet. However, I am not complaining. I am enjoying the upper 60s-lower 70s weather. I don't like being hot so this weather is ideal for me. I love that I can work in the yard and not overheat. I can still use the oven without worrying about overheating the house. We are able to get out an enjoy without getting rained on, so I am content. Here is how we have been enjoying our summer.

The boys have been enjoying basketball. Josiah is really good about taking turns with Jaron.

We have been doing lots of yard work, though it doesn't look like it. I feel like I work on it all the time and it never changes. *sigh* Perhaps one of these days it will look good.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Jim the farmer has been giving us tips on organic farming. He uses fish emulsion (poop) to fertilize. It is cheap and it works great. My peas were over five tall last year and we couldn't keep up with the picking. Below is Josiah fertilizing a new plant we put out front.

We went back out to the farm. I finished doing a job I was assigned to do and went looking for Josiah. This is what I found. A boy covered in mud stealing eggs from the chicken coup. :)

Brothers

As a mommy, I am very blessed. Both of my boys are very fun, energetic, loving, and obedient kids. As Jaron gets older, the more and more Josiah and Jaron are becoming friends and I haven't had to deal with many fights between the two. Sure they have their moments when Josiah takes a toy away from Jaron because he wants it or times when Jaron throws a fit because he wants what Josiah has (okay lots of those moments). But overall the play very well together. Josiah loves to give his brother hugs and is so excited when Jaron wakes up from his nap. Josiah also doesn't like to go outside to play without Jaron. They like to take turns shooting the ball into the basketball hoop or ride around on Josiah's John Deere Tractor. Jaron likes to model his brother and wants to do whatever Josiah doing. I have issues with them making faces and giggling at each other during meal times instead of eating. For being the ages that they are, they do a good job playing nicely together.

Here is Jaron and Josiah "washing" dishes together. They played nicely in the water for 1 1/2 hours before I decided they needed to eat lunch. Jaron threw a 5 minute fit when I took him off the chair.

Sharing the John Deer "tractor".

Playing in puddles together.

I know there is a real possibility that they may not play with each other this nicely as they get older, so cherish in my heart the wonderful memories they are making together now.

Working on the Farm

A friend from church owns a farm, and due to the economy was unable to hire as many people to help on the farm this year. So Jason recruited some help from church members and college students to go out and help Jim for a few hours on a Saturday.

One of the tasks was to removed 4 tons of debris. Below is Jason on the red tractor and a friend on the green one scooping up the trash. Jason loved that part. :)

Josiah hanging out on the lawn mower

Josiah and a friend cleaning buckets.

Jaron spent most of the day in the pack so that I could help out. Toward the end of the day I let him out to play. Yes, I realize he is wearing a a winter hat at the end of April. Trust me, he needed to wear it, but I won't talk about what the weather has been like because it is a depressing topic.

A couple weeks later we went back out and got a tour and the owner explained how he runs things. The boys got to play around while he talked with Jim. Here is Jaron chasing chickens.

Josiah got to feed the chickens. Some ate from his hand but he didn't like the feel of them pecking the food from his hands, so daddy did it instead.

The boys spend most of their time playing in puddles, while Jason and I walked around.

Just as we were getting ready to go, Jaron did a face plant in a big puddle. We had to strip him down and put him in the truck to warm up.

We are going back this coming Saturday to do some more work. We have really enjoyed helping. It is nice to work outside plus we are learning a lot about organic gardening.