What They're Working On

In no particular order:

One day after harping on the kids to get the table set, I turned around to see Delsie taking matters into her own hands.

She's also been right by my side to take lunch out to the field or help with odd jobs.

Ruby's a budding little artist, that's what she wants to be when she grows up (just like Dalanie.)  She is learning and growing in leaps and bounds.  We quite enjoy our time together when the older two are at school. 

Practicing her knife skills.

Best part of making anything. . . licking your fingers, bowl, and beaters.

Sometimes she surprises the kids with cookies when they get home.

Or meatloaf/mashed potato cupcakes for April Fools.

Ruby is our sleepy head.  She often eats a bowl of cereal by herself once the other kids are off to school and she doesn't want what I fixed for them.

She's also gotten to be a pretty good helper for Brent.  She likes to take him lunch, hang out at the shop, or check on fields with him.

Dalanie has been bringing home several pictures she has drawn while at school.  She is the one that inspired Ruby to be an artist.

Besides working on spelling, math, and reading she has been practicing hard at dance to get ready for their spring recital.

She is such a little nurturer.  She is a second mommy to Delsie.  Lately they've been working on Pat-A-Cake.

Hudson has been working hard at composing his first piece for LPM.  Here's his rough draft.

He's also been perfecting these "toxic toenails."  I don't know a kid whose nails grow quite as fast as his.

And of course, I never notice them until we're at church.

After riding on the planter to help put in the test plots, Dan Coleman gave him a Ruby Red Squirt.  It looked like he had been putting on eyeliner and lipstick.

After declaring my utter distaste for our "windbreak- catchall" I set them all on fire.  Hudson and Canon Carpenter helped me rip them all out.  At first he would hook the chain around them and somehow through the course of it all, Hudson got promoted to loader operator.

At the Elder's Quorum Top Shot party, then honed their roping and archery skills.

We've also been working on perfecting our silly faces.

The kids have been working on going cross-eyed too.  Such great life skills!  Dalanie got so good at it, she was starting to make a habit of it.  I think we scared her into stopping before they got stuck.

WaPaNiKaDeTa Reunion

We made a big push to get things finished up at home and on the farm in order to go to the reunion.  At about Fort Hall, Hudson said he didn't feel very well.  We threw him a sand bucket and by Pocatello, he had thrown up.  We called the clan to poll the audience.  They said to come!  Mom rationale, "Besides if you would have gotten here last night like planned, he would have gotten sick here."  So this is the fashion Hudson spent the first day and a half.

We were itching to fly kites and the kids were dying to get wet.

The water was cold.

People were packing up and leaving at the beach.  I commented that I hope we didn't scare them off and they pointed to the approaching storm clouds and said, "they are."  It was a most memorable evacuation.  Wet kids were cold and whining, kite strings had to be wound up, Gracie June and lost her clothes.  Most of us made it back before the rain fell and it fell hard.

The big bathtub downstairs was the perfect way to warm up some girls.

We joined the 1,200 other people for Sacrament meeting.  Here the girls are in their Sunday best on the porch of Valhalla.

Don't forget the boys.

And this was the view.

We spent some time making wallets to store our Papa Pesos.  You earned pesos for participation and they worked for bribery.  

My flat-landed kids loved the hills to ride on.  Some of us rode on the bike path down to the lighthouse.

The kids did great.  It was about a 6 miles bike ride.

Grandpa promised extra pesos if you could ride the entire way up the hill back to our place.  Dalanie couldn't pass that up. 

We went on an outing to the bird refuge.  We saw a few birds and this snake.

On the way back through, I decided to stop at the Paris tabernacle for a tour.  I have driven by so many times, I decided we might as well check it out.  It is an amazing structure.  The thing that always impressed me is what they were able to do without modern machinery.  The rock was hauled from a quarry on the east side of the lake.  

We had people brings things to contribute to a store/auction where they could cash in their Papa Pesos.  Dalanie made several rubberband bracelets.  Hudson made pb bars.

The auction very well could have been the funnest part.  There was all sorts of jumping up and down and outbidding.  Grandma was the cashier and kept giving "change" back.  

The funniest was when they wanted something so bad, they would outbid themselves.  The kids were great sports and even bought items for others.

As time went on, the number of sickies kept growing.  By time it was all said and done Brent, Tuff, Gracie, and Grandpa had all been infected.  Some of us braved the lake so we could cash in on our rentals.

Dalanie hogged the paddleboards.  The kids played in the water, but you can bet that the adults kept a good distance from the water.

We rounded things out with lunch at the Bear Cave.  This is the Kool Kids table.  The best part of lunch was inheriting some extra burgers and fries that no one claimed.