So long Summer

We went out to Northview orchards last Monday to pick peaches. After finding a couple of good trees we filled our boxes pretty quickly. The kids ate their fill of peaches and we enjoyed the short outing that morning. I spent most of Tuesday canning the peaches. Casey helped some and Kendal helped cut up peaches for a bit. We picked just over 80 pounds and I only canned 70 pounds worth. Casey also made some sourdough bagels over those two days. His sour dough creations aren't as regular as a few months ago, but we're still reaping some tasty benefits now and then. 

 

My Dad had Surgery on his neck last week on Wednesday. (He's been hit with the a large load this past year when it comes to his health. He's a champ for going through it all, and we love him so very much. He jokes his warranty must be expired because he keeps breaking down, but he's just an amazing man who's done a lifetime of hard work and unfortunately it's catching up with him. He's a trooper though and through - you can do hard things Dad!) We wanted to go down to Logan to "help" with post recovery. Cheryl was watching Nicole's kids so we went out to Raft River on Wednesday to see cousins and stay over before heading to Logan. The kids had a super late night playing around with each other, but it's hard to say no when they don't see them often. We left the next morning to go down to Logan. Katherine was our champ and brought Dad home from the hospital (took him too). His surgery went well, and even though he's gone through a lot and still in pain I know he'll come out better than he was. (Positive thoughts Dad - you can do this : ) We let the kids pull out the kiddie pool that afternoon, and they also ran through the sprinklers a bit. Friday we took the kids to the shop to ride the four wheeler's so Dad could rest. Kendal and Peter had fun going around. Alice only lasted a few laps before she was done for the day. That afternoon we took the kids mini golfing. We promised mini golf as an end of summer reward and we thought it would be fun to take them to the golf course where we had our first date 15 years ago and where Casey proposed 14 1/2 years ago. The kids did well, Peter almost beat us all! Alice was excited for the first half and cheered for every hole, then she just wanted to wander and play around. We got to see David / Anica and the Boys Saturday and Sunday. The kids had fun playing outside! Saturday afternoon they were in play dough heaven for a while and that evening they shot off bottle rockets. David and I took dinner out to Nana Sunday and got to chat with her for a bit. The kids got to play with Campbell and Hailey Monday morning. Before we left for home that afternoon we took the kids back to see Nana. We got to catch up with Nana and clean a bit around her house.  We may not have been a great help to my Dad's recovery, but we're glad we went and got to see them before school gets back in. 

I ran around most of Tuesday getting ready for a combined YW dinner that I put together for Wednesday. It was a lot of prep and work, but so nice to see our combined group (we haven't been together since early March). We did a back to school feast for the girls and shared some "pearls of wisdom" with them to start their school year off on a positive note! 

While we were in Logan the kids found out their teachers. Kendal will have Mrs. Reed and Peter Mrs. Hedden. I'm so happy with both pairings and know the kids will learn lots this year! Casey also found out while we were away that his whole classroom worth of stuff was hauled over to his new (temporary for this year) building / classroom. So he headed over Tuesday to see the "damage". He spent a few days sorting through, reorganizing, and dealing with everything they brought over (He technically didn't need much brought over, but didn't get a say in it before they did it). Casey's first official day back was Thursday even though he spent most of the two previous days there as well. He's got a lot to do and a big load to deal with this school year, but I know he'll rock it! 

I spent Thursday / Friday sporting headaches and migraines. Plus had a rough couple of days with grouchy neighbors and kids with attitudes. I did manage to make a batch of chili sauce though with the tomatoes I brought home from Logan. Kendal and Peter played with friends most afternoons this past week. We just let the kids have some easy going days before we get busy with school and sports again in the coming weeks. We didn't venture out much thanks to the smoke in the area. Kendal took some fabric and made dresses for the barbies and we sewed skirts on Friday for the American girl dolls. (Alice didn't like mine and promptly claimed Kendal's cuter skirt ; ). 

Casey and I got a date in yesterday. We ran a few errands and went to eat at Olive Garden. I love that the kids can be at home just fine and Casey and I can get in. It's something we've gone without for many years, and are grateful our kids are older and we can get out a bit more. Casey had meetings and church duties all morning. We had our own sacrament and lesson right before lunch. After lunch Casey gave the kids some sweet back to school father's blessings. I love this tradition and hope the kids realize how special it is. Casey has volunteered to be Peter's soccer coach. Peter is happy because he has Dad and a bunch of ward buddies on his team! I got pulled in to help coach volleyball for Kendal's team. I'm in no way shape or form qualified or able to do this, but I'll do what I can!? Ready or not we're back to school this week and we're looking forward to everything (unknown and known) that comes our way this coming year. 

A couple of recent pics of the kids with friends:

Yellowstone 2020!

 Even with Covid taking away a lot of our normal happenings these past few months we decided we still wanted a family trip this summer so we chose to go to Yellowstone. We packed up Wednesday night and left early Thursday morning. We rolled into our campsite around lunch time. Since 3/4 of the Yellowstone campsites are closed and everything there was booked we opted to camp just outside of Yellowstone at a KOA campsite. It was fairly nice and had a lot of amenities, the only downside was it was colder than expected and we were next to the highway so we listened to traffic all night. We set up camp, ate lunch, then headed into Yellowstone. That first day we headed north. Our main stops were at Monument Geyser basin, Norris Geyser basin, Sheepeater cliff, and Mammoth hot springs. The kids got their lesson in "stink pots" and all things geological about Yellowstone. They enjoyed the cool colors of all of the different spots and the fact that we saw a small herd of Elk at dinner. We rolled into camp late and went right to bed that evening. 

Friday we started our day at the Grizzly and Wolf discovery center in West Yellowstone. We spent some time there seeing all the animals (bears, wolves, otters, and birds of prey). Alice and Peter loved the bears, Kendal enjoyed the wolves, and Casey's favorite was the otters. Afterwards we headed into the park. We went south and our main spots we saw were the Lower Geyser basin, Fountain paint pots, Great Fountain geyser, Firehole lake drive, Midway geyser basin, Upper Geyser basin, Old Faithful, Kepler cascades, and the West Thumb geyser basin. The kids all loved old Faithful, Casey and I liked the Firehole lake drive. This day was full of the Geysers and Mud pots. It's the "main route" people take in Yellowstone so it was very busy and harder to find parking and often lots of people around. We filled our day at the park and went back to camp late that night. 

 

 

(flower photo, Alice picked flowers for "gama". )

Saturday we packed up camp and headed into the park. It was a long line to get in, but we made it nonetheless. We knew we wanted to hit the Falls on the East side of the park and find some animals so that's the direction we went. We saw Virginia cascade, Upper canyon falls, and lower canyon falls before lunch. During lunch Casey went into a field to see a buffalo. Little did he know another buffalo would come up almost right behind him. He turned to see a huge buffalo coming his way. Luckily the buffalo was just looking to lie down and there were some tree's separating Casey and the Buffalo. (crazy close, but so cool!!) Kendal and I spotted a dear while the boys were wowing over the buffalo. After lunch we drove along the Yellowstone river we found a ton of Buffalo hanging out and the kids had a field day watching them all around the car, crossing the road, and roaming the hills. Alice was thrilled to see the baby buffalo and Peter and Kendal were laughing because the buffalo stopped in the road - backing up traffic. Casey also spotted an Elk on our drive. We passed Sulphur Caldron, Mud volcano, and the Lake. The kids wanted to end the day watching old faithful again so we got them some ice cream and waited around for the eruption. The kids were a bit done with the long walks by Saturday so we kept it simple. After the park we got a late dinner and headed home. The car was being iffy so it was a slow and long drive, but we made it home. Dirty, but full of great memories.  

(Princesses tucked in and safe ; )

(We have a tradition of getting photos on this rock at Yellowstone - Casey started it as a kid with his siblings.)

(Casey's lunch time visitor, Alice wanted a better view of the fields of buffalo / babies)