Life Happening

It's easy to document the bigger events in life, but there are so many small moments that make up our lives.

We invited Cornia's to join us for an evening at Rose Pond: friend chicken and friendship.

Delsie can't get enough of her vegetables, finally I just gave her the serving bowl. 

Don't be deceived.  It was only 55 degrees, but in the spring the kids think it is stinking hot.

We special ordered our sectional.  It took a few months, but the kids were so excited for it to finally come.  I even let them sleep upstairs that night.

Ruby Red tongue

Water is so fascinating

In the right light, even dandelions can be beautiful.  Taken on a walk over to Blaine and Janice's.

Hudson got promoted to my old bike.  Never mind that it was a hand-me-down, he was pretty excited!

Ruby working on her knife skills.

When Brent and I picked the kids up from my parents watching them while we were on Trek, my mom suggested that we get Dalanie's are checked out.  The next day I took her in and learned that she had broken her collar bone.  Dad said he heard it snap when she fell off the trapeze bar, but she was too stubborn to admit that she was hurt.  It put a damper on swimming lessons.

Meet our get-along shirt.  The girls only wore it on one occasion, but it sure did it's job.

We did a few art projects during the summer.  They enjoyed working with pastels.

While the guys were away at Father and Sons, we hosted a Grillin' & Chillin' party.  Quite a few and we had a good time.

Honing her inner indian and grinding corn with rocks.  Cheap entertainment.

We headed over the Jackson for the Bar J Wranglers.  Mitch got to come along.

Hudson started private piano lessons during the summer.  He even accepted the 100 day challenge and spent a good deal of his time at the piano.

The girls and I volunteered at the Historical Park in Shelley.  We got to stain raised beds.

We happened to be there the same time that the bunny people were, so we got to make some new friends.

There were a few parties at Fielding Park.  I feel blessed to have a lot of good kids to raise our children with.

Twinners, matching pajamas.

Swimming at Jenny's

Family sleep out

Creativity on the patio

We nearly missed the pollywogs this year.  The girls were pretty chicken to get in and get dirty.

Eating out!  We love eating on the patio.

Jenny had the girls over to paint finger nails, go swimming, and get snow cones.  She is an incredible babysitter, friend, and example.

Dalanie's snow cone shop- serving up the best snow cones in town.

Hudson was obsessed with fixing up this old four wheeler.  He would beg Alan to help him once they finished up their work.  They finally got it working and Hudson was so proud.  We finally had to convince him that he could walk places, all he wanted to do was drive that thing around.

Delsie was quite expert at making book messes.

Shopping trip to town.  Dalanie was so happy not to have school so she could come with me.

Delsie has got this shopping thing figured out.

We had a really wet August which meant flooding in our basement and waterfalls in the shower.

Indian Hot Springs

Brent and the crew was chopping hay down in American Falls when it donned on me, it was Labor Day weekend- the last official week of summer.  So I called Brent and proposed the idea of the kids and I meeting him and camping at Indian Hot Springs.  When he agreed, we started getting busy and preparing.  By the time I finally pulled around to hook onto the camp trailer with little luck, I nearly called the hair brain idea off.  But we persisted and finally got it hooked on.  (The lever was rusted closed from all of the rain.)  

We pulled in at dark- normal Hillman time.  We cooked Papa Murphy's pizza and Brent took a shower in the dressing room since his clothes soaked up a diesel spill.  In the morning we drove all over Lake Channel checking on corn fields.  Hudson was dying to catch a fish, so we quickly ran to the reservoir before Brent had to meet up with the crew to chop hay.  We didn't have much time, but the kids and I went back to the reservoir next to the field we were chopping.

It was windy and cold.  The sand stung your face.  I knew we would never catch a fish, but Hudson still wanted to pretend he caught something.

Right as we were loading up, I snapped these pictures.  They are some of my favorites.

The kids were ready to go swimming, thank goodness the water is warm!

Dad had to come to American Falls to measure a spud cellar, so Mom, Dad, Ty, Tameka and Tuff met us at Pizza Hut and took the kids back so they would be there for the Wilkins Reunion.

It was a whirlwind of craziness.  There were so many times I wished I had bagged the whole idea, but I'm glad we made the best of our situation and took time to be together.

Back to School

As is the case, summer slipped away quickly and we found ourselves staring school straight in the face come the middle of August.  This marking the passage of time is abrupt and in-your-face.  There is no denying that kids are growing bigger, getting older, and smarter.  Sunday night, Brent gave the kids priesthood upon their request.

 Lucky to have each other to ride the bus together.  And look at Hudson, doesn't he look like a protective big brother?

 Hudson was ready to be the big kid at school as a fourth grader,  He didn't get his preferred teacher, but was equally excited to get Mrs. Nelson.

 Dalanie is headed into 2nd grade and anticipating a year full of fun with Mrs. Johnson.

 Ruby requested that I wake her up so that she could see the kids off before they got on the bus.

 And just like that, another year is underway.