New kitties - again

We are now on kitty #11 and #12 - Katerina and Raccoon.  They are very nice kitties.  They run fast but when caught they let Sabree haul them all over the place.  And boy does she love them!

Paislee is 8 months old!!

I can't believe how fast time is flying! My little Paislee is already eight months old. She sure does love her mama! And as long as mama is somewhat close Paislee is an angel. She is sleeping through the night, and generally puts herself to sleep for a nap. She has been crawling for a few weeks now and pulls yourself up to the furniture and in the crib. She loves food - sitting and eating a cracker is her favorite activity.  We sure love our little Paizle!

Camping fun

One of my favorite things is going camping.  We really wanted to go to Mount St. Helens but we couldn't find any available spots, so we found a different area and found a campground with no other reservations. I reserved 3 sites cuz we had 2 other families that wanted to join us.  We went up Thursday afternoon and got set up.  Unfortunately it's too dry this year and there was a fire restriction so we couldn't have any camp fires.  Makes camping at night kinda lame.  Our friends didn't make it until bed time so we had a great time as a family hiking and exploring and being together.  There were a ridiculous amount of bees and I really worried that they were going to ruin our weekend.  A shallow river ran behind our campground and the kids had an amazing time exploring and catching craw dads and hanging out.  Of course everyone ended up with wet shoes at one point or another.  We explored and had lunch at soda springs and the kids played in the river and we saw a cool bridge and bubbling springs.  They also found a big frog. The bees weren't as bad during lunch and we were grateful for that . They were quite annoying during all meals.  Then we headed up the river 5 miles to Bumping Lake.  The website said it has "sandy beaches" and apparently I think of sandy beaches as much else rocky.  But when we got there the kids found that there were thousands of little tiny frogs all along the shoreline.  They used the sand buckets and collected frogs by the handful for hours.  It was an enjoyable afternoon in a nice breeze and sunshine. It was wonderful that the kids were entertained and the adults just visited.  Dutch oven dinner with aggressive bees for dinner at camp and then off to bed after a scary story or two. The kids slept great and it was less cold the second night than the first which was nice.  We woke up to rain off and on Saturday morning.  It didn't stop us from having fun but makes it annoying to put away everything damp cuz we have to set it out to dry when we get home.  We stopped at Boulder Caves on out way home.  It was a nice little hike about a mile long and a walk through a very dark rock.  I love finding cool things in nature. we at a picnic lunch and then headed home. On the way home we all tried to figure out when we can go camping again.  

A family adventure

Dave decided last week that he wanted to go see some hill side combines in action.  We had no plans this weekend and grain is being harvested here, so we made plans and took the family to the road.  We had such a lovely time.  We saw some beautiful, rolling, golden wheat fields, found a few combines at work, stopped to see a rattle snake on the road, got out and saw how HUGE wind turbines are, snacked on wheat from the side of the road, had dinner at Applebee's, and then found a hotel with a pool to swim in. (We planned to go to the Clarkston water park but when we got there they told us it was a misprint on their website and the waterpark isn't open on Fridays but their indoor pool is. We figured the hotel could do that for us so we left.) We stayed the night in Lewiston, Idaho.  Our room was on the bottom level and Sabree loves riding the "alligator" up to breakfast.  This morning we got up and took the scenic route through the Palouse stopping in Colton, WA for a photo op, walking through a pet store in Pullman, driving down Main Street in Palouse, having lunch at Schmuck Park in Colfax and getting ice cream in (my favorite little town) Dayton.  We stopped and turned around here and there to get the best view of a combine, although we were a few weeks early for most of the wheat fields.  All the boys would stick their iPods out the window to take video of the machines at work.  I think Tanner was the most into it, besides Dave of course.  Tanner said the only thing that would have made it more perfect was to see a combine unloading into a grain cart while moving.  Dave said we will find one at his farm this coming week.  

A solo vacation

Tanner had the opportunity to go on vacation by himself this summer. He rode with our friends the Ransom's to Utah on Tuesday.  The next day he went with Grandpa and Grandma Peterson and Mitch and Amanda and their friends to Lake Powell for three nights and four days. He had an awesome time hanging out with the adults, cliff jumping, swimming, camping, tubing, knee boarding, etc. then he was able to play with cousins for a couple of days in Lehi, and then spent a night with Grandma and Grandpa Mills.  They took him to crystal hot springs and out to lunch.   He missed our family a little bit (which made us feel good) but he had a wonderful time overall.