Road rash!

About a week ago Tori fell while riding her bike. She skidded in the dirt and gravel. Ouch!!! Her leg is starting to look a little better but will take a while longer to heal.

Titan turns six

After a couple of weeks of counting down, Titan's birthday finally arrived. He had a great day and got a lot of fun gifts-of course! To celebrate he went with his family to see the cars 2 movie. He loved it!

Spring catch up

Well, I'm finally posting about all the happenings around here for the past couple of months. If you are interested, there are eight posts so keep scrolling! I love this picture of sweet little Strider. This was taken on Easter. He was 8 months old.
This was taken June 4. Strider is 9 1/2 months old. He is doing the army crawl now.

Let's party!

Kevin's parents are celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary on June 10. Kevin's sister Tana put together a surprise celebration on June 4th. She told them that we were going to have family pictures taken at the church. She sent the family invitations that looked like a wedding announcement-in fact it was nicer than most of the invitations I receive! She decorated the church like a wedding reception. She had a table with a guest book, round tables with cloths and centerpieces, a wedding backdrop,and a refreshment table. She had even taken a picture of their wedding cake to the bakery and they duplicated it as much as possible. Kevin and I had the job of picking them up and taking them to the church. They seemed very surprised when they walked in and saw about 80 members of the family seated and clapping for them. Tana showed a dvd of pictures of them throughout their marriage. It was a wonderful celebration. Thanks Tana for ALL of your hard work. I know they loved it. This picture shows the "happy couple" cutting the cake.
The traditional kiss after the cake has been cut.
Beth and Lloyd with their five kids-Kevin, Tana, Kent, Gwen and Kyle
One of the tables that held pictures of them.

School's out!!!

Another school year has come and gone. Both kids (and probably their teachers!) are ready for a break. They both had great teachers this year who went the extra mile. This is Tori's last day of fifth grade--look out middle school, here she comes!!
The 3 kindergarten classes had a very cute graduation program. The kids sang a few songs and got their diploma. Titan loved his hat.
This picture shows Titan on stage getting his diploma. His teacher, Ms. Jones is on the left.

"Spring" in yellowstone

We spent Memorial Day weekend in our favorite place--you guessed it--Yellowstone. We met up with our friends, Mark and Liz. It was a blast spending three days with them. We had a lot of fun as we adventured along. Parts of the park are green and spring-like and other parts still have a lot of snow. The weather was surprisingly pleasant for the most part. We did have a few rain/snow moments but that is how it is in the park this time of year. However, we have never seen so much snow still on the ground. It was an interesting trip in that regard. This snowman was at fishing bridge. He looks like he is praying it will stay cold!
This cute couple was spending the day at the shore of the lake.
This winter the snow got so heavy on the roof of the service station at fishing bridge that it collapsed. Ouch!
It snowed one night. This semi seemed to be having a bad morning as it tried to get from Norris to Canyon. Luckily they were letting vehicles pass as they decided what to do.

Favorite yellowstone pics

One of the reasons I love Yellowstone is because you never know what you are going to see around the next corner. This spring we saw 32 bears! They were everywhere--and we only spent one day in the part of the park that we usually see the most bears. There was a rock slide on the road so we could not go to the Tower/Lamar Valley area. This first grizzly was on the road between Norris and Mammoth.
Notice the claws on this grizzly. I bet he could rip apart any thing he wanted!
This grizzly was digging for something. He made a hole big enough for his head to fit in.
This cinnamon colored black bear was between Mammoth and Gardiner-in an area where we have never seen a bear before. In fact this trip we saw three bears in that area. What a nice surprise!
It rained hard off and on all the way home. This rainbow was near Idaho Falls. It was very bright and a nice farewell for the weekend.

Spring sports

Both Tori and Titan played soccer this spring. The weather was wet and cold for the first couple of games but warmed up a bit towards the end of the season. Tori has improved a lot and I think she feels more comfortable with the game. She had a great time. Last year Titan got hit in the face with the ball the very first game so he didn't play as aggressive as he could have. This year he was very aggressive and scored often. It was fun to see how much he has progressed.

Titan has started playing tee ball. His team is called the "Lugnuts". How dang cute is that!?
Titan is standing near second base--probably a little bored and wondering if anyone can hit the ball that far!

Our little miss gymnist

Kayla has been taking gymnastics this year. She loves it. A "meet" was held to showcase what the kids had learned. She did a great job. Here the class is stretching while they wait for it to start. I loved that Kayla stood up and waved before she warmed up!
Kayla on the balance beam. Don't you just love that intense look as she concentrates?
Doing her bar exercise. It was fun to watch her show off her skills.

Mother Nature

A female Finch built a nest on the ledge outside my bathroom window. It took her about four days to finish it. After she laid her eggs, she didn't leave the nest. The male Finch brought her seeds to eat. Finally the baby birds hatched. We were looking up at the nest so it was about a week before we were able to see their heads pop up when they were being fed. Both the male and female brought them food. There was at least five of them. When they got a bit bigger, they would stretch their wings and flap. I was sure a couple of them would get knocked out of the nest but they never did fall. It was fun to hear and watch them. Our little town had it's share of flooding this spring. This flooded pasture is about two blocks from my house. The flood washed over the bridge we always use. Word is that it probably won't be fixed. I will miss entering "home" by way of this quaint little road.