Twin Falls Temple

After we had some time to settle down in ID, we decided to go the the Twin Falls temple open house. It was beautiful and a great opportunity for the kids. They were able to see inside the temple and ask questions, and maybe get a little better understanding. The great thing about the open house is that it is open to everyone, no matter the age or religion.

Twin Fall, ID is a gorgeous town. There are the Shoshone Falls (which we didn't get a chance to see, but we plan on coming back next summer for a camping trip), as well as a gorge that will take you breathe away. As you drive into town, there's this bridge you drive over, and the view of the gorge is just amazing. There is a pedestrian path to walk on the bridge, which against my better judgement we went on. It scared me to death. Even Aleana and Trent were frightened. But Tracy had to get some pictures. They turned out good, but in my opinion, that's what they make postcards for. This is the same bridge that crazy people parachute off of.

Above: View of the Gorge (Snake River) from the bridge - if you look close enough on the right side of the pic, there's a golf course. Pretty cool. Below: View of the stinkin' bridge that we walked on. That was nuts. What was I thinking? The last pic is another of the Gorge, from under the bridge.

Moab, UT

Following Park City, we headed down to Moab, UT. It was a short trip, but it was really nice to visit and see everyone. We would have loved to stay longer, we had to get back, because the movers were coming in the morning.

The first is one of Aleana, in the morning...didn't get much sleep. The next one is Hannah and her Great Grandpa Scharf, followed by Hannah and her Great-Great Aunt Gayle. Last, there's one of Hannah, Grandma Eva Lou and her dog Molly.

Which way to go? Idaho.

Well, this past month has been full of changes for us. We've been to reunions, 4 different states, packing, and most importantly, we have moved to Idaho. Why Idaho, you may ask? It is where we felt the Lord wanted us to be. No, we didn't take a dart and fling it at a map, or spin around three times and point to "home" (although that would have made life a little exciting - as if I need anymore of that...), we just feel like this is what we are supposed to do. I am not going to lie. It has been scary and exhausting and frustrating. But even with all the craziness, I feel at peace and as complicated as everything is, life just seems to be more simple now. It is what we have needed to do, we just didn't know it. Everything happened to so fast, which I am grateful.

With that being said, Tracy doesn't have a job just yet, but we are in serious job hunting mode. He has already registered for the ABCTE program, to get his teacher certification. He has been to Boise State to get started on the GI Bill process and as well as getting grad school going. As soon as he gets certified (about 4 months) we'll hunt for teaching jobs.

As for me and the kids, we are unpacked and have pictures hung and everything. O' happy day! School start this week. Aleana will be in third grade, and Trent starts AM Kindergarten. I can't believe that my babies are that big. Hannah is growing and it has been so much fun to what her discover things. But my favorite is still her smile. She melts my heart. I just weaned her to a bottle this past week (boy that was an experience). Although I am really sad to have that separation, I must admit, it's really nice have my body back to myself.

Besides moving, we have been able squeeze some fun in there. In July, we went to Tracy's family reunion in Park City, UT. I was pretty much busy with the baby, but Tracy and the kids were able to get some hiking in. We also went to the Alpine Slides, played softball at the park, and just hung out. It was really nice to see everyone. The kids especially enjoyed seeing all of their cousins.

Above: Trent in his natural habitat :)

Below: Trent, Grandpa Giles, and Kelsey

We also took family pictures while we were there and managed to snap a few of our own. The first is our Drama Queen throwin' some attitude. The second, I just really liked and the third is of Trent and Troy. Troy is only a few weeks older that Trent. They had a lot of destructive fun together :)

Murphy's Law

"This summer is the summer", I kept telling myself. We have been at this house for 3 1/2 years and have yet to do anything to our backyard. Sure the previous owners had it "landscaped" if that is what you would call it. But some grass here and there and a whole lot of rocks just isn't my thing. I hate pulling weeds in the rocks (yes there was the tarp thing under the rocks...but after a few years it's not so great at keeping the weeds from growing from the rocks down into the top of the tarp...)

Yep, I couldn't take another year of weeds, weeds and more weeds. I couldn't take another year of having this great-sized backyard, and the kids coming in complaining that they're bored, and then having to yell at Trent to quit throwing rocks for the umpteenth time. So I put my foot down, then begged and pleaded and got what I wanted. I got Tracy to agree that we needed a fort/swing set. Not just some cheapie metal one, but a wood one that would last forever. So we did our research and found this kit at Home Depot that had what we wanted at the right price.

But before we could put up the swing set, we had to do some "landscaping" of our own to level the land. There's lots of clay, so we rented a bobcat. And boy it was worth every penny!

(Aleana and Tracy above, and Trent and Tracy below)

Then we got to looking at where we would move the rocks to and what we would put under the swing set., and decided that since we would have the bobcat, that it was the best time to move in some good soil to plant some trees. 15 tons to be exact.

(Trent's dream come true. Dirt, dirt and more dirt.)
(Site for future swingset, from the deck)

So after multiple trips to Home Depot, with some friends help, some help from the family and alot of sweat, we finally got the dang thing up. And the kids wasted no time playing on it, neither did their friends, or their friends' friends. And while we were at it, we decided to put up a tube slide from the deck. (Our friends were moving, so we bought it from them, and installed it.) And all of the sudden the neighborhood kids wanted to play at our house. Hmmmm...wonder why.

Ahhh. Hear that? Silence. The kids are playing outside. No fighting, no crying no whining of boredom. Yep, I could get used to this. This is what summer is all about.

2 days later...

Tracy comes home, and informs me that he has just been "let go". "Due to the current economy, they could no longer support his salary". Yep, 2 days. 2 stinkin' days of peace that I could actually enjoy. We had some major decisions to make, and let me tell ya, they were made fast. Within a few hours we knew what we were going to do, and within a few days we knew where we were going to go. Yes, we decided to move (to Idaho - and I will fill you in on that "adventure" in my next post). Decided to put the house for sale once again, and decided that it was going to be somebody else who would get to enjoy the lovely fort/swing set. Gotta love Murphy.