Our new fence and our View

We wanted to put up a fence to keep the kiddy's and the kitty in our yard. We were a little nervous that it would be too tall and block our beautiful view. Well, the fence is all the way up and Ty and I love it! Not only is it good at keeping things in the yard, but we think it looks really nice too. On top of that, our view is not hindered at all. We can still see the majestic mountains and the fields in harvest. It is such a beautiful scene.

Marissa's 6th Birthday

It's so hard to believe Marissa is 6 years old! Has it really been that long? We feel so blessed to have such a delightful, smart, sensitive, beautiful, sweet girl. I often feel unworthy to be her mom--she is amazing and has incredible potential. I pray every day that I can help her reach that potential. She deserves so much. Anyway, our day started out with a party at school. I brought treats in and we played pin the tial on the donkey. Then we worked on her birthday cake during the afternoon. She picked out and designed her own cake. She wanted a unicorn cake. When I showed her the pan, she immediately said, "I want it to have a white body with a heart with sprinkles on it here (pointing to it's side), pink hooves, rainbow mane and tail, and blue eyes like mine." Marissa was very excited to have a family party, and they all spoiled her. The main attraction was her last gift--we had her close her eyes and then brought out a beautiful calico kitten. As soon as she heard it's little meow, her eyes popped open. She was literally speechless, and I've never seen her eyes so WIDE. She just kept saying, "It's SOO AADOOORABLE." She named her pinky-pie. Since then, she has been with it non-stop. She wanted to sleep with it, eat with it, watch a movie with it, ride her new scooter with it in the basket, etc. After cake, we did a pinata. It was so hard that the teenagers had to break it open.

Savanah's Wedding

I think the funnest part of my cousin's wedding reception was the dance--I love watching people dance. So, here are 3 cute couples:
1-Savanah and Chico
2-My Grandma and Grandpa Baker
3-My Uncle James and his daughter, Madison

Mr. Caterpillar

Right after we got home from our trip, we found the cutest, fuzzy, black caterpillar. The kids are convinced they can feed it till it spins a cacoon and turns into a butterfly. We'll see. But they played with it all afternoon. Chandler was a little nervous--you can see it in his face. Marissa is a total animal lover--ALL creatures great and small.

Camp Bradley for Labor Day Weekend

We went up by Stanley, Idaho for our last reunion of the summer. It's the firt time Ty and the kids have been up there, and they all loved it. We've been having those reunions there for over 20 years. It's actually really fun to see Marissa get to do the same things I did when I was little. It's gonna be fun to compare pictures--I was about her age when we first started going. A few things we did: hike, swim, ride 4 wheelers, catch frogs, make smores, play at the creek, play board/card games, and of course talk and eat A LOT!!

One thing that was different than all other years was that we woke up this morning to snow!!! It's the only labor day of my life to snow. Marissa and Chandler were loving every minute of it. They were enthralled with the kid-size 4 wheelers, and I was a little apprehensive at first, but they got the hang of it so quickly, and the bikes can't go very fast. Marissa, Chandler, and another girl, Avery, literally loved a frog to death. Poor thing. They kept catching the same one over and over, and kept holding it a little too tight (it kept trying to jump out of their hands), then on it's final release, Avery took her dad literally when he told her to throw it back--it hit a rock and died.

It was absolutely gorgeous there. I really love the mountains. It was so fun reconnecting with all my family after not seeing most of them for 4 years.

Potty Training--Whoopie!! I'm a big boy now!

I know--it's about time Chandler was potty trained. He turned 3 in May, after all. But after the first week of him doing AWESOME, I'd say there's a lot to waiting till they are a little older. These are a few reasons:
1- bigger bladder (don't have to go as often, and can hold it longer)
2- better communcation (he can tell me he needs to go, and I can explain things to him better)
3- more coordinated (step up on the stool, hold the wee-wee down, wash hands, not fall in toilet)
4- can dress/undress better (pull pants and undies up and down)
Ya know, as long as they can do it all before kindergarten, who really cares if they're 18 months old and potty-trained?
I came home last Tuesday evening with pullups and put one on Chandler. Within 10 minutes, he announced he needed to go, and he did. I thought, surely this can't be THAT easy, but the next day we went and bought "Cars" and glow-in-the-dartk undies and he only had 2 accidents. He has made all but one poo-poo's in the potty. Even during camping this week, when we thought pullups would be more wise, he refused to ever use them. He would rather stand out in the snow to "peep" (he says peep and poop). In fact, he thought "peeping" outside and not in the toilet was soooo fun--he is such a boy!! First thing in the morning, before anything else, we hear him run and go potty before he has even taken his pullup off from the night. He has also held it really well, when needed.
I don't really care for potty training (at all!!) but I'm optimistic about the whole thing now--so I hope Chandler keeps progressing this well.

Apricot Jam

The apricots we got were tree ripened and SOFT. We ate a ton of them fresh, then got 19 pints of jam out of the rest. Thanks for sharing the apricots Barb.