Summer '09 Road Trip-Stop #11

Stop #11

Lava Hot Springs, Idaho

Grandpa Kay & Grandma Beth Allred were staying at a timeshare in Lava, which is 1.5 hrs from my brothers place, so I decided to jet up there to see them. We only went for a few hours, but it was nice to see them. Trent's Mom, Joy, sister Tawnya and her kids Tucker & Hailey came down to see us too. It was fun to hang out and let the kids play for a bit.

The park had a lot of puddles that we tried to keep the kids out of at first....I'm sure you can see where this is headed. Kids and mud puddles have a mysterious magnetic attraction to one another. It's like an invisible life force is attached to both of them and slowly retracts until the child, or mud puddle can no longer resist the temptation and one or the other gets the other dirty...did you follow that? I hope so b/c if you talk to any child who's been caught playing in a mud puddle, it's NEVER their fault...so logically, one can conclude that mud puddles must have a mind of their own.

As you can see the merry go round couldn't be used b/c it was surrounded by a moat of dirty, mucky mud. And as you can also see, the kids are having a great time.

Even Carley & Hailey got in on the action. They just ran circles laughing and giggling. It was cute, until the inevitable happened.

Even after Carley fell, it was pretty cute. She was so distraught, I couldn't help but laugh.
She'd been warned. Hailey was very concerned about her and ran to comfort her.
Which was fine...until she fell too.

Here I am with the fam. Trent's mom, Joy and Grandparents Kay & Beth

Summer '09 Road Trip-Stop #10

Stop #10

The May Residence-Newton, UT

After 2 days driving cross country, we arrived back at my brother's house in UT to drop off Aunt Liz. Since we didn't get to visit when we drove thru the first time, we decided to stay for a few days of cousin mayhem! We had a great time. It's so nice that our kids are the same ages, because everyone has a friend and the playing doesn't stop!

Here are Luke, Carley, Emry & Addi with Grandpa May (who was in town for the night). It was good seeing you dad! Next time I hope we get to visit a little longer!! hint hint...

We went to a park on night to work off the doughnuts we'd made.
Here are Luke & Cameron hanging out...they think they're soooo COOL!
I think they're soooo CUTE....if I say that out loud I get serious eye rolls!!!

I'm not entirely sure what Luke was doing here...he wasn't upset or feeling lonely.
I guess he just needed a moment of solitude.

Luke & Cameron played exclusively on this merry go round! It made me dizzy watching all the spinning that was going on. But here, it's break time and I couldn't resist taking this shot!

Kade graduated to a bigger "cast".
It was really funny and sad at the same time watching him try to walk in it. Poor guy.

BFF

OK, I have to say that all the sunflower pictures are dedicated to Kristene. I'm glad I took them b/c the very next day they'd been trampled on by the kids and they were all laying on the ground...dead. Kind of like that super cool chicken I took pictures of, you know the one with the mohawk??? (If you don't remember click here.) Well a few days after I left UT, it got really hot and he didn't make it. If you'd like to read his eulogy click here. I was so sad b/c I was hoping to take more pictures of him on this visit. He was just so cool looking!

A Hopper Trilogy: These grasshoppers were just babies, very tiny maybe .5 inches. They were jumping all over Kristene's garden...lots of fun.

taking flight

A Portrait of the Midwest

Summer '09 Road Trip-Stop #9

Stop #9

The Springer Residence-Menomonie, WI

I took the kids over to see how Carol & Erinn were doing. Carol mentioned to me that she'd let the kids ride the horses, so of course they were totally pumped! We had a nice visit. I haven't been out to the house in a long time, so it was good to be there and see all the changes. Luke & Emry really thought it was neat that a ladder was tied to the wall in the living room (leads up to the loft). At least until I told them that when I was little there was a rope swing too! Those were good times!

The kids were totally in love with the horses. They helped Erinn feed them and they were able to pet them too...very very exciting! I don't think any of my kids even took their eyes off of them.



This is Kaia. She's old and blind, but very nice. She was so good to let the kids be around her.

Here is Erinn. Carley really took a liking to her and barely let her out of her sight
while she was there. Erinn used to babysit Luke & Emry when we lived in Colfax,
so it was fun for them to see her too. They'd forgotten what she looked like, which is funny because when they play, her name often comes up.


This is Lace. She was more feisty than Kaia, but still super with the kids. In fact, she didn't really pay any attention to them at all...she only wanted to eat the good grass!!


Emry didn't stop smiling...until it was time to get off.

Luke was very annoyed to have to have Carley ride with him. He got his own ride later.
...and so did Carley.
Here I am with Carol.
Thanks for letting us visit and ride your horses!! Can't wait to do it again, soon!

Summer '09 Road Trip-Stop #8

Stop #8

The Higbie Residence-Tainter Township, Wisconsin

My good friends Pat & Audra (went to high school with them) allowed me to check out their new diggs and take some photos of their kids! When we were living in Wisconsin, we would go to their farm and "Farmer Pat" would show us around. Once he let Luke have a tractor ride...way cool!

Anyhew, they recently moved into a beautiful new home which I'm sad to say is far away from the farm. No moo moo cows on this trip, Luke was a bit disappointed and Emry didn't remember. Adia and John were so good to let my kids run around like wild animals in their rooms...I'm pretty sure they got out every toy in the house!

As some of you already know, I'm trying to learn how to use my camera and trying to increase my skillz so that someday I might be able to be a freelance photographer??? OK, working for National Geographic might be a pipe dream, but smaller projects will definitely be within my reach. Audra was my latest guinea pig customer...he he he. She was good enough to allow me to photograph her children, thank you very much! It was my first time shooting a baby, that was exciting. I am posting some favorites here, and hopefully a disc will arrive in the mail shortly to you Audra! I hope you like them!

Meet Miss Ella.





This is what was going on while I was trying to take photos of Ella...

Meet Miss Adia.



Meet Master John.