When the colors start to change

you know it's time to do some canning! I did some salsa a few weeks ago. Then I put up pears.

My parents came to visit this past week and brought me some grapes and we made 24 qts of grape juice...yum!

...just thought you'd like to see another member of my menagerie...this moose was relaxing in the shade!

Best Buddies

This is Lea and her good friend Zac. They went to the prom together several years ago when they were both still in high school. She hasn't seen a lot of him since high school, just around town here and there.

I was talking to Lea's case manager, who also happens to be Zac's as well and she mentioned that Zac wanted to see Lea more often. She suggested to Zac that he set up a weekly lunch date on Mondays. As you can see, it was a successful Monday! (I wonder if they talked and coordinated their shirts?)

what they do

Here are just some things that my kids are into "doing". Here's Ty after he finished the bike race LOTOJA. For those of you who don't know what LOTOJA is, it's a bike race from Logan, Utah to Jackson, Wyoming. Yep, 206 miles of a lot of fun? Ty raced with a relay team, so he didn't ride all 206 miles himself. (but a lot of people DO ride all of it!) His leg was from Alpine, Wy to the finish line, which was conveniently at the road to my house. I had someone snap this photo right after he'd gotten off is bike!

I only have one swimmer this year...Miss Sky. Here she is at the most recent swim meet doing the breast stroke. I apologize for the poor photo with parts of the diving platform in it....but I got Sky swimming!

they adore him

Little boys just ADORE Kirk! These two little guys were over at the house being "babysat" by one of the girls. James and Jackson are so into "Kirky" that they followed him up to our bedroom. Kirk was just coming up to watch TV and so the little guys made themselves at home....yeah, they fell sound asleep.

This little guy is Carson and he loves to follow Kirk around as well. I saw Kirk jumping on the trampoline with him and ran to get my camera. Turns out, he was teaching Carson how to do a drop sit. It was adorable watching Carson trying to do what Kirk was trying to teach him. I love this photo where Carson makes sure that he faces the same way that Kirk is facing.

more....visits

So, our friendly bear made a few more visits. After the first time seeing him, I just dismissed that fact that I would EVER see him again...oh no, I guess I have the best berries around! Visit #2 happened on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Kirk, Maya, Sage and I were sitting outside on the back patio....thank goodness Sage was facing the mountain...cuz Mr. Bear was coming up the walkway and was really close to Kirk's feet! She said "BEAR" and we knew what that meant! When we hustled to get back in the house, he hustled away as well. A bit later, I caught him eating berries on the grass outside of my office window.


Visit #3 unfortunately I do not have a picture of him. But we again "caught" him eating berries off the path to our big grassy field. Kirk and I were "sort of" watching him since there is so much brush in the area. We could definately hear him as he shuffled around gathering berries to eat. I was getting a bit impatient at Kirk...and so I raised my voice a bit and then all of a sudden I heard major movement that I thought was FOR SURE coming towards me. EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF! I ran like the able track star I am (NOT) to the house. All the hurried movement was the bear going UP a pine tree! I wished I could have gotten pictures of the bear in the tree, but Lea was waiting for me in the car to take her to work! You all have vivid imaginations, I'm sure you got the picture?

This visitor is welcome.....anytime!