Saturday

It's been years...lots of years...since I've been to Lake Owyhee.

On Saturday morning, Max, Amanda, Matt and Ryan headed down to the

boat at 6 a.m. I wanted to take a few photos of them heading out.

If there are views like this every morning, I might

be convinced to go there more often!

there they go

Matt on the wake board

After breakfast, we left Matt here (yep, that's him

under the blanket...he can sleep anywhere!) and Amanda

napping in the tent, and the rest of us headed out to

go fishing.

I had forgotten how beautiful the lake is!

Carol (Amanda's mom) helped Emma fish.

Ron (Amanda's dad) caught a couple of fish.

Max's catch

Mom relaxing

The kids fell asleep on the way home from the lake.

We put them on the bed while we unloaded the car and

got ready to head to Jon's friend Kristi's house for a pool party.

They were so exhausted...it was incredibly hard to wake them up!

There's more fun to be had today, though.

Saturday night...

...we spent at Jon's friend Kristi's house playing in the pool.

Emma hitched a ride on Uncle Jon

there were scary things in the water

this pool starts at 3 feet and goes to 10-11 feet deep. It was the

perfect place to be on a hot summer day

If you know Ryan's history with deep water, this will amaze you. He took several years of

lessons when we lived in Portland. He got to the point where he could swim across the big pool (12 feet deep) on his own. Then, one morning at swim lessons, something happened. I didn't see anything and neither did the instructor, but he developed an intense fear of deep water. Up until Saturday, he could swim like a fish in water where he knew he could reach but wouldn't get into anything deeper than four feet. I had gone inside for a drink...when I came back out, Bob told me to look at Ryan. He was simming across the pool, over the 10 feet deep water! I was so excited for him. By the end of the evening, Kristi had taught him to do flips off of the diving board. Fear conquered!

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

~~one generation teaching another~~

~~we love uncles who get down on the floor with us~~

~~they make good toy-holders~~

Roughing it

We've been roughing it this week.

Bedtime snacks of banana slices with peanut butter and raisins

have been eaten outside where it's still over 90 at 9:30 p.m.

Our downstairs was invaded tonight by a strange orange object.

We bought a new tent in preparation for Boring I. We now have

an opportunity to put it to use this weekend, so we decided to make sure

we could put it together. It was still close to 100 tonight at 9:30 when we started. So, we decided that we'd put it up in the living room. Surely it would fit! Only just barely, and we have a pretty big space down there. The kids, of course, love it.

Bedtime stories were read, songs were sang, and it was off to sleep...in the tent...

in the living room.

Christmas is Coming

Did that title get your attention?

I know...it's a long ways off...

unless you're trying to do a handcrafted Christmas and have

a very large family and wonderful friends.

So, my question to you is...

if you knew you were getting a handcrafted Christmas

present, what would you want it to be?

Cards? A small scrapbook? Crayon rolls with matching bags for your kids?

Aprons? Bags? A perpetual birthday card box? Food?

If you look back through my posts, you'll see some of the items I've made

in the past. If you're a friend on Facebook, look in my

handcrafted album.

I need to know what people like, and I also need some new ideas!

Thanks so much for your help!!

A little snippit

We've been enjoying summer this week!

Mostly, we've been enjoying it by staying inside.

Here are a few photos from this week.

Wow, Uncle Matt, those are big muscles...

...but mine are bigger!

Aaahhh...quiet time. The kids are covering my walls with

masterpieces. Priceless artwork!

Enjoying fresh homemade chocolate chip cookies.

~~~

Yep, that's all for now. I can't remember the last time my post only had

three photos! I'm sure you're all breathing a sigh of relief! :)

~~~

Off to make fudge for my big brother. This is normally a Christmas-time-only treat,

but he did ask nicely. If you live close enough, you might just get

a little treat delivered to your door. I don't want any leftovers at my house!

Emma, Mom and I spent Saturday morning at a lavender festival in Nampa.

It was a mild overcast morning. With the trees, beautiful fields and Lake Lowel in the

background, it felt like we were in the Willamette Valley.

Emma loved cutting the lavender. The field was full of bees. But once Mom explained that they were pollinating and wouldn't bother her, Emma was willing to walk carefully through
the field.

When Emma was six months old, we went to a lavender festival near

Salem. I have a photo of Emma sitting in Mom's lap in the middle of the

lavender field. I wish it was on my computer...it's neat to see them

in the same environment four years later.

Lake Lowell in the background

The lavender we picked, along with Emma's colorful contribution.

When we first arrived at the festival, we were able to taste lavender cookies.

They came back out of Emma's mouth very quickly. Before we left, we tried lavender icecream and lavender honey. She loved both of them. We bought a honey bear to

take home with us.

What a wonderful way to spend the morning!

We picked Matt up at the airport past week.

The kids were so excited! Even though they see him just once a year,

there's never a need to "get to know him" again.

The kids, Matt and I headed to Nyssa on Thursday for

Thunderegg Days. Ryan inherited Max's interest in rocks (and his rock collection).

He's very serious about selecting just the perfect rocks to buy. Emma

bought a few this year, also.

While we waited for Mom to get off of work, we took a break at A&W for

ice cream cones.

Many people tell me that Ryan looks a lot like Matt (just a lot less hairy!)
What do you think?

Here's Matt teaching Emma how to play the piano.

It doesn't look quite right to me!

Maybe a little less fists and a little more fingertips?

Mom and Dad's raspberry bushes are producing like crazy. The kids

got to pick (and eat) the berries for Mom.

It seems like this grasshopper is saying, "This is

my flower. Find your own!"