Lazy Lil Ranch

Here is a little movie of Mathew going over a jump at Kelly Canyon. Good thing we started him out wearing a helmet. Later in the day he took a few nasty tumbles. Do the terms "pretzel" and "scorpion" mean anything to you? On the last run, he was adjusting his goggles, slipped off the cat track and hugged a bush. Poor kid. At least some crazy teenagers came by while he was assessing the damages and did some 360 jumps off the same bank he went off of. I'm sure he had the best view!

And this is Micah going over the same little jump. He makes it look so easy. Truth be told, I went over the jump first so that I could take some pictures, but someone should have been taking a shot of me since I landed and rolled and crashed in an explosion of powder! I really need to work on landing...

Here is our new family photo...this is the best one...you should have seen the others...perhaps we'll try again...soon.

So we were cleaning out the garage.
Josh sent a Suburban full of stuff to the neighbors and another pile to the trash. But Mathew, with his empty piggy bank, decided to make a buck off of his old stuff rather than just giving it away. He wrote up a sign and parked it in the yard like every other Idahoan with an extra vehicle pulling a crappy trailer.
It's still out there...if you're interested...

Nathan and Mayflower--Is the boy in the goat cage, or is the goat in the boy cage? (Little boys make anything into a fort. The other day the whole neighborhood was hanging out in the chicken house, and "the girls" weren't too happy about it, I'm sure.) Jared and Mayflower--a couple of happy kids!

Jared...sleeping...homework...OSMOSIS the cure all! He was just too tired to get it done.

I am thankful for fond memories...

When I was eleven years old, my sweet aunt and uncle invited me to join their family on a cross-country trip to visit many historical sites.

This is Plymouth Plantation in 1987. Oh, the 80's... And here I am in the village stocks--just where I belong some days--with my cousins, Shelley, Justin, and Brian. (James isn't in this photo.)

The Circus came to town this summer. None of us had ever been to one, so we decided to go see what it was all about. The elephants dazzled us! This rather large, lovely lady kindly took Jared, Nathan, Mathew, Bethany, and Amy for a jaunt around the ring. And her name...Cindy.

Jared is being funny while dad is building a goat gate for mom. We are filling up the swimming pool. It was cold. I went "waaaaahap" and it wasn't in deep water.
I was sitting in the dog's water bucket to get warmed up.
It was fun jumping off the diving board and when I jumped off the diving board I went under the water with my eyes opened. This is Mathew jumping off the diving board.

by Nathan

Uh-oh, there's a dent in the tent door. I wonder what it is.
Three harmless little boys came out. I think that sort of scared me.


We tried to let Lily in the tent, but she ran over and over and over and tried to knock the tent down. Then she broke one of the poles that held it up. So I went inside to get duct tape and fixed the broken pole as much as I could. Then instead of having Lily in the tent we decided to have Zelda in (Mathew's new cat).

Mom and Dad decided to have us buy a new tent for them. But it was only the pole that needed to be fixed. So we bought a pole replacement set instead.


by Mathew

No, this isn't SNOW--its Mammoth Hot Springs on a rather rainy day! But Nathan and Jared look like they are on the edge of a glacier or something.
Mathew, Jared and Nathan got to ride a REAL elephant at the circus in Rexburg this summer. So they enjoyed posing in front of Elephant Back at Mammoth.
We decided to take a side loop drive on a dirt road in the park. Josh drove "Idaho style" with his elbow hanging out, so Nathan decided to do that too. Way too cute!
And here's the view from the driver's perspective. I think Josh liked his little imitator.

Nathan is lining everything up getting ready to take a whack at it.
Jared on the back swing--he often pulls a Happy Gilmore hockey slam.
Mathew shows his brothers what it is all about.

The kids love golfing with Josh. We generally go through a few large buckets of balls at the driving range.