March 2013

We celebrated another birthday the first of this month.  Trey turned 12 on the 1st.  It is crazy to think that we now have another kid going to mutual and another boy passing the sacrament.  No more primary for Trey...he is pretty happy about that!  Both sets of grandparents came to support Trey when he was ordained a Deacon in the Aaronic preisthood.

The day after Trey's birthday Chase, Trey, Layton, and dad went to Magic Reservoir for some ice fishing with Grandpa Yearsley.  They had a great time!

This sweet little girl turned 6 months...

Because of mom's surgery hair cuts weren't done for a while.  Declan's before and after... (side note--as I am compiling this post the boys have all looked at the "before" pic of Declan and have asked me who it is)

 Dad and his little princess

Crazy Hair Day

 Mustache Day--McKay wanted to have a mustache like Zander and Layton (the face paint stained their skin so there was a mustache on their faces for at least day past washing)

We ordered 80 pounds of chicken to freeze...it was quite the job to trim it all and bag it into meal-size portions.  

Dad was so excited when the weather warmed up a bit because he was able to go out and till the garden.  Zander and McKay had fun following him with their big John Deere dump trucks (can I say those have been the best presents ever!  They have played with them more than any other toy.)

Over spring break we went up to Hamer for a couple days.  The littles (Z, M, D, K) and I hung out with grandma while dad and the bigs (C, T, L) went steel head fishing with Grandpa Yearsley.  Trey was so thrilled because he caught his first steel head.  Dad was a little envious seeing how he hasn't caught one of his own yet.

Here are just a couple fun pictures of the kids......

Summer: Month TWO!!

July was a busy month at our house . . . it seemed like we were running almost the entire month.  We were still able to squeeze some fun in though.  The first week Chase and Trey spent at the Burley pool working on the requirements for the swimming merit badge.  Chase was able to finish it and Trey has one requirement left.   

We had a pretty low-key 4th of July which was great!  We went to the Rupert 4th of July parade that morning, and it was HOT!!  I was really good to make sure that everyone got sunblock on . . . everyone that is except for me.  I put it on my face and arms, but completely forgot my legs and they go fried (enough that I could hardly walk the following day).  The little boys loved seeing all the tractors, fire trucks, police cars, and horses. 

We went to lunch at Burger King and then picked up our fireworks on the way home.  The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and swimming in the pool.  That night we let off our fireworks.  The older three boys were more interested in lighting the fireworks than actually watching them.  It is going to be interesting when we have ALL six boys each wanting to light the fireworks. 

Chase went to Scout Camp at Camp Bradley during the second week. He was able to earn 8 more merit badges as well as do some fishing with his Scout Master. He had a great time!

The third and fourth weeks were full of dentist appointments for cleanings and fillings, doctor appointments, and swimming lessons.  We told Chase that because he had completed the swimming merit badge that he didn't need to take swimming lessons, which he was more than excited about. So he got to stay home and take care of Declan, which was much appreciated because there was no way that Declan would have sat for an hour.   The boys did great in swimming lessons and all passed their classes and will move up to the next class next summer. 

We spent an evening bucking hay bales.  Can I just say how nice it is to have boys that are strong enough to do a good chunk of the work now . . . especially since I was unable to help out this year other than drive.  After the work was all done we finished off the night with homemade chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches and italian sodas.

July was also filled with fun in the pool, canning beets, a bike wreck (Chase), fixing a car, and lots of fishing!  It was a great month!

 

 

Steelheading

The last weekend in April, Matt and the older three boys went up to Challis to go steelheading on the Salmon River with Grandpa Yearsley. They were so excited to spend the weekend fishing with their dad and grandpa. They had a great time fishing, exploring, skipping rocks (not the best thing to do around people fishing) and just spending time with Matt and Grandpa Yearsley. Thanks to Grandpa Yearsley for taking them!

Fishing for FHE

The boys are constantly begging Matt to take them fishing. Last Monday was a pretty decent day weatherwise (imagine that) so we decided to go fishing for FHE. We drove out to Minidoka Dam because we had heard that a lot of people have good luck there. Trey cast as soon as he was on the dock and had a bite, but no catch. After a couple more casts he had some more bites and then he caught one! Trey was so stoked to catch a fish, especially one big enough to keep, because they haven't had much luck since moving here. It was an exciting time! Later Matt caught one and let Zander reel it in. Zander thought that was the best thing ever! Chase caught himself a lot of stick and tree fish and Layton caught a krawdad. McKay had fun watching the water splash against the dock. We finished off the evening with frozen yogurt. It was a great evening spending time with our boys!

Labor Day Adventures

Matt and I decided to get out of the house for Labor Day. We wanted to spend a day with the boys having fun, not working on the house. So we packed a lunch and headed for Hagerman. We went to the Hagerman Fossil Beds, which was kind of blah. I had gone on a field trip eons ago and we dug fossils. I thought the boys might have fun with that, but there is NO WHERE to dig fossils in Hagermen. Everyone was pretty bummed out about that. Matt and the boys did a short .6 mile hike to see an Oregon Trail overlook while I sat in the car with sleeping McKay. Chase wasso excited to find a Horny Toad right before we left. He was pretty upset at us when we told him he couldn't bring it home.



Then it was on to find the alligator farm. What a JOKE! The signing for that place is terrible....actually, non-existent! We were frustrated and went to turn around just as we found the place. I have to say that I don't think it was worth the gas or time that it took to get there . . . the alligators were quite boring. Even with Matt tossing rocks, small rocks, at them they didn't move.



The boys were more interested in the fish in the creek and the caterpillar that Layton found.

After the alligator farm we headed to the National Fish Hatchery. Of course my boys love places like this. We walked around and saw the baby Steelhead in the pens. McKay loved seeing the fish swimming around. They paint blue fish on the ground to lead to the different fish areas. Zander had fun following the fish. He would stop at each set of fish and say "fish" and point.

There was a neat area with Rainbow Trout and White Sturgeon that we were able to lay on our bellys and touch the sturgeon. Everyone had a great time touching the sturgeon.

For lunch we headed to a nearby lake to eat and fish, but there were WAY too many people so we packed up and drove to the State Fish Hatchery which was much nicer and had less people. There were picnic tables and trees for shade so we ate our sandwiches and fished. Only a couple small fish were caught, but everyone still had fun just enjoying the outdoors.
Zander and McKay had to spend the afternoon in the stroller and carseat, but they still had fun being outside and seeing all the fun things, and snacking on Twizzlers. :D They were such troopers.
As we were getting in the car to leave Trey caught a little frog which he brought home and released in the ditch behind our house. We stopped at Doug and Kathryn's house on the way home for a quick visit. Had dinner at Sonic in Jerome per the boys' request, and then made our way home. It was a great way to officially end the summer season!

Big UGLY fish!!!

Chase had the opportunity to go Sturgeon fishing on the Columbia River with Matt and Jim (dad's fishing buddy from the ward). Jim's pole is the one that "caught" the fish but Jim was kind enough to give Chase the chance to land the fish. The fish was about 2 feet long . . . not long enough to keep. Matt and Jim both warned Chase not to touch the spines on the back of the sturgeon but was he too excited and touched anyway--resulting in a couple good cuts on his hand.