Our Father's Day Weekend...

It's been a little rainy around here this June, but at least it hasn't been snowy (last year it snowed on June 12th!). On Friday we had the privilege of attending Brady Powell's wedding at the Rexburg Temple,

(internet photo)

and spending a little time with the Powell family and the Rogalsky's at his wedding luncheon. We sure miss our 14th ward family in Boise!

The precipitation has slowed down the last couple of days, so on Saturday we ventured out with our mountain bikes to Harriman Ranch in Island Park...

Stopping for lunch at Swan Lake (wildlife refuge) John had the camera on Saturday...Pretty impressive, huh?

Betcha didn't know he had such an "artsy" eye!

After church and a barbeque with all the kids this afternoon, John and I headed out on a Sunday drive to Cave Falls. It is just inside Yellowstone Park in the Bechler region. The entrance is just north of Ashton, on the southern border of the park. We can't get the kids to go on our Sunday drives with us. Boy, are they missing out!

Can't go without part of my
Yellowstone Park book collection...

Cave Falls middle plunge is about
15 ft high and 250 ft wide!

Can you believe that this is just
a little over an hour from our house?

Then the dark clouds start to roll in...

...and we're in the truck,
just in time to keep our rain gear dry!

Sunday drives are the best!

It's today!!! Stampede Days is here...

We passed out flyers,

tossed Tootsie Rolls,

and had mini"solo" performances along the parade route.

Then we had a final, last "hurrah!" performance
in front of Broulim's---

in the rain,

next to the hot dog stand.

Bethany was our Stampede guest performer--

she did a flamenco number,
Irish hard shoe,
and an Indian medley where
she wore bells around her ankles.

Madi did a "Numa, Numa" solo (Thanks Laura--this is all of my other clogger's favorite dance to watch; they get so excited when it is in the performance order!)

We had to squeegee the floor several times, and mop up water with towels, but all went well!

Our first dance season is officially over!

Getting ready for Stampede Days...

This weekend is

Jefferson County Stampede Days.
For Rigby, this is a pretty big deal. The celebration surrounds a rodeo that has been happening since 1928. It was originally held in Lewisville to help raise money to build a new LDS church building.
In 1939 it moved to Rigby.

Along with the rodeo, there is a parade and a celebration with booths and entertainment in the park.

Last May, I decided to start advertising to gather students for a clogging team. I tried to pick a name that would be a little different from other clogging studios in Idaho/Utah. John and I love Yellowstone Park. We now live less than 100 miles from it. So that's where the first part of the name came from.

The "clogging company" part is obvious. I didn't want to disguise what kind of dance group we are.

The last part came about because I wanted kind of a theme name. Gem Cloggers use words to name there teams like "rubies" and "diamonds." So I picked "Stampede."

Yellowstone Clogging Company STAMPEDE! or
"Yellowstone Stampede" for short.

Now I have groups called
"Stampede Rumble" and
"Stampede Thunder" and
"Stampede Storm."
I kind of like it.

So I sent out flyers in early in May. Soon after, I drove into Rigby and saw signs on all of the lamp posts in town, advertising an event I had never heard of before, and my new clogging team name--STAMPEDE DAYS!

Well, if your clogging group is called Yellowstone Stampede, it is necessary or almost required that your dancers are a part of the whole thing--don't you think. I made up my mind then and there that we would be part of Stampede Days the next time it happened. And here we are getting ready.

Much can happen in one short year...

PS--Laura, if it were not for you, none of this would be. Thank you for sharing your talent with the girls and I. Now there are new cloggers in eastern Idaho benefiting from you as well!
And, last but not least,
I finished ALVOR
(over a week ago,
sorry so slow to post),
and I LOVED it!!!
Keep working on #2...

Yay!

I finally received our copies of Alvor...

I think my weeding can wait a couple of hours...

Windhaven Fields (aka Woodhaven Creek)...

I have always resented the names of subdivisions. To me they are all totally ridiculous. Who makes them up anyway? Why do they even have to have names?

In Boise, our subdivision was called
"Annett Subdivision."
Now this is a practical name--all of the streets in the sub were off of Annett street. Now this makes sense to me.

Today some guys came and put up new signs outside the entrances to our subdivision. We live in
(drum roll please.......)
Woodhaven Creek Estates!
Now let me tell you a little bit about this place:

1. There is not a tree over 3' tall in the whole neighborhood. NO WOOD!
2. Creek? No, i-r-r-i-g-a-t-i-o-n ditch (not even a pretty irrigation ditch).
3. The word "estate" conjures up images of beautifully manicured lawns. When I look out the window, to the west I see AN ACRE OF DANDELIONS. To the east I see AN ACRE OF DANDELIONS. To the northwest ANOTHER ACRE OF DANDELIONS. There is a little alfalfa mixed in.

So, Taylor and I have come up with a new name for our new neighborhood. It is
WINDHAVEN FIELDS.
Actually, Taylor wants to call it
Windhaven Ditch,
but I prefer Windhaven Fields. It is a little more catchy. And the new name fits in perfectly with some of the other subdivision names in our ward boundaries (Windemere, West Wind). You have probably noticed a "wind" theme by now. Come visit us sometime and find out why first hand!

If you're going to name a place, why not do it right?

All before 7:15am...

Taylor, Bethany and I (Madi says she can't join us because it would be way too easy for her--although she was aching head to toe yesterday from playing ultimate frisbee Saturday) have been trying to get up before school and exercise. We are doing a program Bethany found called "Couch to 5K", which starts out really slow and works you up to 3 miles. If we get up 3 days a week and do it, we reward ourselves with a "healthy" treat (I think we are going for fruit smoothies).
This morning during our workout we went all the way down to the ditch bank at the back of our neighborhood, and what did we find? You guessed it--asparagus!

So I finished my little run with an asparagus torch, just like a real olympian. I even got to the stop sign first. "Couch to 5K with asparagus"--I think it might become the new, popular thing to do...

Happy Late Birthday to my little brother!

Yesterday was my brother Parley's 38th birthday! Since our family was returning from a weekend jaunt in Yellowstone of animal-watching
(I will post a slide show asap),

I didn't get to this until today.

Thirty-eight years ago on Mother's Day, I woke up early in the morning to give my mom the present I had made for her at kindergarten. I wandered through the kitchen to the bathroom where she always did her hair before church. To my surprise, I found my grandma in there instead of my mom.
She told me that my mom was at the hospital and that I had a new baby brother.

She took us (Natalie, Nathan, and me) to her house and we went to her church that day. In my Sunday school class we made cards for our mothers. But I didn't see my mom for a couple more days.Parley--I think about 2 mos. old

My dad brought her and my new brother to come pick us up at Grandma's.
This was the first time I met him. I wanted to post the picture of me holding him on that day, but I guess I don't have a copy of it. I took that picture to school with me for show and tell.

He has always been a pretty cool brother. And now he is a really cool dad. With 5 kids (including 4 year old twins), a new business, and a house that needs siding, he keeps himself plenty busy. But I can call him any time, and he'll help me out best he can. I miss him a lot since we've moved away.
Happy Birthday Parley!
I love you!

Lotz of goingz on...

Today my sister-in-law's new novel, ALVOR, was released. It is available on Amazon.com.

I haven't had the privilege of reading it as of yet, but my daughter, Madison, proofread it here and there along the way, and she thinks it is great! I ordered 2 copies for us so there would be less contention in our household as we all try to read it (and also there is free shipping with Amazon if you order $25 or more of merchandise--another good reason to order our extra copy).

We are impatiently tapping our fingers on the counter,

gazing out the front window,

waiting for them to arrive...

In other news:This last weekend my little clogging team, Yellowstone Stampede, attended Open Nationals at Lagoon. It poured for most of the day, making it not only no fun to go on rides, but literally impossible to practice anything before we got on stage to perform. All of the dancers and their families were huddled together under the pavilions trying to keep somewhat dry, running through the rain from one stage to another, depending on whether they were competing team or individual events.

It's hard to maintain a good attitude after you have to wring out your socks and dry your feet off with paper towels from the restroom.

Freestyle--Taylor and Rylee

Beginning Traditional Solo

But my kids did a great job! They placed first in their team events and did well in their individuals. Although we were soggy, we were still super!

On Sunday afternoon, John and I took a drive together up to Island Park. When we got home we had the cultural experience of trying borscht and perogies (2 traditional dishes from the eastern European/Russian region) for the first time . Borscht is a vegetable soup with a red beet and tomato base, so it is very bright. When you add a dollop of sour cream on top and mix it in, it becomes fuchsia. Perogies are a dumpling stuffed with potato, onions, and cheese.

Both were very good. Our girls prepared dinner for us while we were gone. Here is a cheesy picture of them in their aprons Grandma Sharon made them for Christmas. This is sample of what went on during our absence.

It makes you wonder a little bit...

WEEDS...

Now I remember why I was thankful when the snow came last fall...

I don't know if we can conquer this acre--and voles ate the bark off of the bottom of some of our poplars.

This is what they do for fun all winter.

(what alot of our grass looked like when the snow left)

That's what we get for buying a home built in an alfalfa field.

But who is complaining?

(okay, I guess I am a little)

...and how was your Friday?

I started out my day calling every windshield replacement shop between here and Idaho Falls. After finding the best deal, I made an appointment and struck out on my errand to fix up our "kid car" (Bethany's coming home, Madi's taking driver's ed, etc.). It only took an hour to get the windshield replaced (I hemmed Madi's easter dress while I was waiting) and things were looking pretty rosy. I then preceded on the Sam's club to replace the tires.

At Sam's club the wait was an hour and a half. Not too bad. I had a piece of pizza and a rootbeer, and then wandered around the store, shopping for this weekend (my mom and dad are coming to visit) and putting things into my cart, then changing my mind and putting them back. I managed to take up the whole hour and 1/2 doing this.

I paid for my groceries, and headed to the credit union to deposit checks from clogging classes. On my way home my phone rang--my kids. As I was hearing about what was going on, I preceded through the stop light at the corner of Hitt and Yellowstone. All of a sudden a rock flew up and smacked my new windshield on the driver's side, leaving a nice dime-size rock chip.

.

A rock chip!!!

In my new windshield!!!

I pulled into the corner gas station, exclaiming about what happened to Seth. I said good bye and turned back around, heading back to the Glass Doctor. They said that I set a new record for visits in one day.