Thousand Springs- Fishing

After all the swimming, we decided to cast a few lines and see if we could catch some fish. Thousand Springs has the pool....but it's on the edge of the Snake River near Hagerman....it's so pretty! The kids were really tired, but Caleb wouldn't let it go. "Are we going fishing?" he kept asking. So Parker got his little ice fishing pole and let Caleb fish with that one.

They sat down, and Caleb reaches into Parker's tackle box. He grabs some sinkers, "Are these rocks?" and then chucks them into the river! Parker's like, "HEY!" Naturally he'd thrown in the biggest sinker he could find. I told Parker, "Don't get mad....he doesn't understand. You're just gonna have to teach him."

So Parker rigged up the pole and they fished for about fifteen minutes.

Parker is the luckiest fisherman I've ever known. It seems like when NOBODY can get a bite. When nobody catches a fish....Parker ALWAYS does. And so it was today....

It's about 6:00 PM and around 90 degrees outside....not exactly ideal fishing weather or time....and wouldn't you know.... Parker gets a hit.

The second video is of the fish. We've never seen it before. Parker actually didn't recognize what it was. And he still needs to look it up... enjoy!

Thousand Springs

Today my work schedule kinda went to crap. People keep cancelling their appointments....and when that happens, I get sent home.

So today I got off at 12:30. I ask you 12:30?!!! It wouldn't be that bad except I got sent home at 3:00 yesterday too. I'm losing so many hours....but what can you do. It's a job and I'm grateful.

So we decided that since we had some free time today, we should take the family swimming. We decided to go to thousand springs, since we've never been there. It's about 30 minutes from where we live. It's a nice pool. And very warm. I'm pretty sure they're open year round too....which is good to know because if we ever get bored in the winter.....we can go for a swim. Anyway.....some details about Caleb when it comes to swimming.....

The kid's a frady-cat! He's SOOO terrified of getting his face wet, or getting water in his ears, or eyes, or mouth. Or getting splashed. Or sinking. He's PARANOID!

When we first climbed into the pool, he had a DEATH-GRIP around my neck, and would not let go. I tried to hold him on his tummy so he could practice kicking his legs a little. Oh no. He wouldn't let go of my neck. I don't know what his deal is. Parker can throw him 10 feet in the air (not literally....but close I swear) and he doesn't even care. He'll jump off the counter tops into your arms.....six feet away. But he won't jump off the edge of the pool into your arms. I can't quite figure it out. Except that my mom says I was EXACTLY the same way when I was a kid. We really have to be patient with him, because he's really GENUINELY freaked out. and even though we say "I won't let go." or "I won't let you sink" he's still so scared. I know the only thing that will make it go away is to keep on taking him swimming.


There's a little kid's swimming area that's 2 feet deep....separated by a wall. He LOVED that. Wasn't scared then. Although he did slip once and fell, and his whole head went under. He came up so stunned! He didn't even get any up his nose. No choking. He was like, "Whoa!" He wanted to cry....except there was no reason to cry....cuz he was fine. So he said, "I fell!" And I said, "Yeah! You're fine too!" And that was the end of it!

Parker's the REAL water baby! He could swim all day and just love it! I hope we get a pool someday.....Parker would go swimming EVERY day I just know it.
Now Angie. She has no choice but to trust us. And she did AWESOME in the water!! We put her in the little baby float tube.....which kept her head just above water if her arms were tucked in. Towards the end....she started kicking and splashing! It was so cute! She totally loved it!

We swam for over 3 hours I think....or close to it. We really had a blast!

I have one thing to say about that diving board. The tall one. I watched Parker jump off.....no big deal. It doesn't look that high when you're in the water looking up. But then I climbed up there. OH MY GOSH! I felt like a 7 year old child again. And when I was 7.....that diving board FREAKED me out. I stood there for like 30 seconds before building up the courage to step off (no jumping....that's too scary). I'm such a scardy-cat I know.....I don't blame my son at all. I know it's because of me he's like that. But I'll tell you ...... I only jumped off that high-dive like 2 times. I just thought it was a little too much for me.

These pictures are some of the best....my camera really isn't good at stopping motion. We get a lot of blurry pictures. I'm wondering if it's time for a new one.....we've had it for 2 years now. How long is a camera supposed to last. I don't remember the pictures being blurry before...

Here's some videos from our day!!

Some SERIOUS work!!

About a year ago, my sister, Melissa, started working on this blanket for Caleb. It started out because she made some CARS blankets for her boys. She uses my mom's fancy sewing machine and downloads these characters and then the machine sews them for you. But it takes lots of time to design each character so that the stitches go the right direction, and that all of the colors match correctly. And the machine takes anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours to make each design (depending on how on-the-ball you are with changing thread colors). So after the CARS blankets, she decided to make a Toy Story blanket for Caleb. And it took all year pretty much. But yesterday it was finally finished and Caleb got to open his first birthday present. I just realized I should've taken a better picture of the blanket so you could say the detail for each of those little characters. Like I said....those things aren't ironed on people....they're SEWN IN!!! Talk about some serious work. Thanks so much mom and Melissa. I'd take a better picture now....but he's sleeping with it, and I don't wanna wake him up. :)

FINALLY!

I feel like we've been working on this thing forever!! Remember our waist-high weeds along the side of the house?...........TA DAAAA!! This morning we decided to beat the heat and finish the project before we could get scalded by the terrible heat! We started at about 9:30 and we were done before noon....
I am so excited!! Our front yard is really coming together! And we're running out of excuses to get started on the back...... yikes!

We have a pretty rosebush on the side of the house. It's yellow roses with pink/orange tips. It's so pretty! The only thing I don't like is it's REALLY thorny.

Then I bought us a new white rosebush to put in front of Caleb's window. Parker says it's good to have thorny bushes in front of windows....it deters those who might break into the place. I also bought these orange lillies....they're SOOO pretty! And some white daiseys. Those things attract BEES!! Which I kinda like. Honey bees. Not wasps. I feel like I never see honey bees anymore.

to the left of the flower bed will be a concrete slab for a padio......so we still have some tall weeds. But we're getting closer to being finished!! I'm so excited!

Six months

Angie is six months old today! I know I say this all the time, but I still feel like we just brought her home from the hospital. And now she's grabbing stuff out of my hands! She has also discovered my earrings, and wants to pull on them..... I wear a lot of earrings.... I'd better be careful. She also loves to grab her daddy's face. I'm not sure why. She doesn't grab mine. But it's like whenever he stoops down to talk to her, she reaches out and touches his face. It's so cute!!

She rolls across the room all the time now. She's finally discovered it gets her places. And she's ready to go go go. She also won't wear her bows anymore. She's figured out how to pull them off and then proceed to chew on them. I may get a few people who might think she's a boy....especially since NONE of her 6 month clothes are pink.....all yellow or green or brown. Funny how that worked out. And now no bows to clarify...... oh well.

I gave Angie her first taste of baby food yesterday. Squash. She wasn't a fan. But for some reason she still isn't too used to eating from a spoon yet. She has been having rice cereal once a day for about a month now.....

With baby food comes smelly diapers!! Phew!! Time put a trash can outside!!

It feels like it just barely got warm outside, and summer's already half-over! We have a few things to do before summer ends though.....

next week is Caleb's birthday. I think we're gonna take him swimming at the hot springs or something.

We are planning a trip to Vegas to spend some time with Robyn and John. Yes it's gonna be hot, but flights are cheap and we haven't been out there for 3 years.

We also want to go camping one of these weekends.....just our little family.

And Labor day weekend we'll be going to Hell's Canyon with my parents. A fun tradition that we love. It wouldn't be summer without Hell's Canyon......hopefully no rain this year (last year we got rained out.....first time in like ten years).

Also before it gets cold again, we will be tilling tup be back yard. COMPLETELY. We're gonna churn it up, and then level it flat. And then we'll plant grass seed to grow through the winter. Then when next spring hits, BAM! We'll have a yard!!

The mote....

We finally got around to getting rid of the mote that's going around our house. Parker had dug the trench which would outline the flower bed we're going to have around the house. Which ended up filling up with water when the sprinklers came on. We've had so many projects, it's been so hard to get everything done. But yesterday we bought the materials for this flower bed....and now we just have to finish doing it. We started digging, so now the mote is a pond.....cuz we're not done yet. The flower bed will be outlined with stones (like the island is), lined with ground-cloth and then covered with rock. Below is our before picture. It's mostly tall weeds ..... although you might be able to see that rosebush hiding on the side of the house. It's gonna look really awesome once we're done. (hopefully this weekend).

Caleb came out and tried to help dig with his little shovel for a bit. Then he laid in the tall grass in a little inclined spot and called it his "nest."

He also pulled his hat over his eyes and said he was going to "take a little rest." He is so funny! He makes me laugh every day.

Angie was also a by-stander for this project. She just laid there in her bouncy seat and watched us work. She never made a peep cuz she loves to be outside....and loves it even more if there are people to look at who occasionally talk to you and make you smile.

I'll put up more pictures once the project is done!

Angie update....

I can see how it might be kinda dumb to create a post as simple as this. I have nothing more to say except that Angie is finally rolling over. A lot. She's finally figured out that it gets her places, and she doesn't throw a fit when she's on her stomach, because if she decides she doesn't like it she'll just flip over. She's one week away from being 6 months old. So she's got one week to learn how to sit up.................right? Just kidding. She's got her own timeline. Robyn says Kaylee is sitting up now. Angie is just so stiff. She loves to stand so much. She tries to stand up out of the BUMBO seat even (although she can't.....she tries). She'll get it. It seems like she gets cuter every day. And I just can't believe how much she's grown. I still feel like I just brought her home from the hospital. Here's a few pictures! This first one's my favorite!

About a week ago she started grabbing her feet too. I think it's so cute!

She can also be quite loud at times. She loves to squauk!! And sometimes, if you're funny enough, she'll even giggle for you.

Goodbye

Yesterday we said goodbye to Garrett. He is now on a mission. After some time in the MTC, he will be going to Baltimore, Maryland.I am really going to miss this kid. He's grown up so much since Parker and I got married. And even in just the few weeks before he left, I could really see how much he'd grown and changed. We're so proud of Garrett that he is serving a mission. And it's just such a miracle that he's even able to go! A year ago he was bald from chemo fighting cancer for his life.
I know he's going to be an awesmoe missionary. He has a great testimony. I've told him that I'm gonna be really good at writing him, so that he can always stay up-to-date on how the kids are doing. I am a pretty good letter-writer when I want to be. And we all know missionaries always need letters. I think I'll send thsese pictures in my first letter....what do you think?

Everything I know.....

Everything I know about roses, I learned from my sister. Melissa. I just had to share with you some of the beautiful flowers that are growing in my yard.

I'm no expert, but here's some things I do know.

#1. Roses usually grow in triads. You'll see three little rose heads come from one branch. This isn't a very good picture, but I think it illustrates my point:

If you pop off the two small buds on the side so that the one large one is left to grow alone, it'll grow bigger and more beautiful. And when it's ready, you'll have a single long-stem rose to cut instead of a triad.

#2. If you pop off all extra leaves and thorns when you cut the rose to enjoy in a vase.....the flower's strength goes into the blossom instead of the thorns and leaves.

#3. I would say this is the most important thing I know about roses..... you MUST get them into water in less than 10 seconds after they have been cut. Otherwise the ends will seal and they won't drink any water. So.....if you can't get it into water immediately, make sure you cut the end again before putting it into your vase.

I love my flowers!! They're so pretty!