Our Maiden Voyage - Camping with a 1 yr old

A couple weeks ago, Matt and I decided to take our first camping trip with Riley!  We went down to Laird Park. We got going a little late, but it being our first time with her, we gave ourselves some slack.  When we first arrived, we had lunch and got going on a little hike.  Riley did really well in her kid-carrier for the first time!

When we got back, we set up camp and got things ready for dinner. Kent and Martha and Lacey and her boys joined us for the evening for tinfoil dinners and s'mores!  After dinner we played a round of horseshoes.  I actually got a couple ringers!

I did my best to not constantly follow Riley around with wipes and I was successful most of the time. After a little fussin' she even had some muddy tears.

We had a great time and can't wait to go again!

During the last few weeks we've spent some time with Kelly's family in NY and a few days at the beach with Kelly's cousins. Good times were had by all. This week Kelly's grandpa had an accident at work and got run over/dragged by a tractor that was pulling a big roller. He has a crushed pelvis and two broken legs and a long road ahead of him, but he seems to be stable for now. I imagine he'll have a long recovery and it will put a dent in his future tractor driving time. Keep him in your prayers if you wouldn't mind.

 Kelly, Lauren (Adam's wife), Raphael, Kristi, Adam making S'mores

One of the benefits of living in the country. Backyard clay pigeons.

 Our masterpiece, until the tide came in.

 Sunrise. 

 Kelly and her boogie boarding skills.

Jockey's Ridge. Just down the road from Kitty Hawk. 

Fun at Von4L's

Yesterday, we spent the day doing some landscaping work at Von Forell's.  Dennis rented a skid and wanted to move some dirt from the vacant lot near his house to his yard.  We ran that tractor for 8 hours and moved a lot of dirt.  I'm guessing we moved close to 50+ yards!  I would run it for awhile, and then when I wanted a break, Ty would run it.  We switched back and forth all Saturday and had a good time.  We built them a nice patio area surrounded by a berm and then re-enforced the lower hill below their house.  At the end of the day, we celebrated Katie's birthday.  Here are some shots of the day's activities.

 



Dad and Katie

 

Tyler and Aimee

 

Aly

 

Katie's Birthday Cone

 

Aimee's sunset

Brant

Another Week

I just got home and had dinner after my first Sunday as executive secretary.  It was interesting and fun.  Bishop Skinner is great to work with and I think it will be Roy Lathen's and my job to keep him moving physically as he loves everyone in the ward.  I taught my last Sunday as high priest instructor.  It was a good lesson and I will miss the discussion.

"F" Street is officially paved and open to the public again.  It completes the street to the proper width with sidewalks and all.  I assume they still plan to stripe it with bike lanes, etc.

Mom has started school and the kids start on Wednesday.  Back to the old grind.  The weather is hot, lots of forest fire smoke in the air but the forecast is for a cooling trend.  I think summer is on its way out.  Hopefully I'll have a few pictures for next weeks blog.  Maybe I can find some old ones of G & G or Mom and I.

First day of school

We succesfully made it through our first week of school. It was a rude awakening to have to be on such a schedule again.  The kids seem to be enjoying it though, especially Adria.  She comes home at noon everyday and can't stop talking about all the things they did.  I love that! 

Along with school, we are doing soccer and band so that gives us some extra curricular activities after school.  We hope everyone else has a good back to school day!

Homemade Splash Pad

It's been wicked hot here in CdA lately so we decided to be a little inventive in ways to cool off!  Couldn't be simpler really...a tarp and a sprinkler.  Riley loved it!

New Calling

There was a change in the Rolling Hills Ward this morning.  The bishopric was released and a new one called:  Bishop - Matt Skinner, 1 Coun - Devon St. Pierre, 2 Coun - Jeremy Hansen, Exec. Sec. - Kent Zirker, Ward Clerk - Roy Lathen.

My phone has started ringing already.  Hang on, here we go!!!  It looks like a great bishopric and I am looking forward to the new challenge.

"F" Street got its first layer of paving this week.  Hopefully they will finish it this next week.

I am working on a blog to chronicle the family reunion.  When I finish and Mom has proof read I will publish it.  Then we would like you to blog your thoughts or experiences about the reunion and Kimbre will compile it into the 2012 Blog book when she gets there

Mom goes back to her classroom tomorrow to prepare for the next school year.  Wish her luck!!!!

What did you have?

We had coffee cake for breakfast (after first explaining to the kids that there isn't coffee in it...) and I chose the pieces I wanted even if it meant abandoning the orderly row concept.

What did you have?

My week

At work, we are in the process of starting several large driveway projects using brick pavers.  My job this week was to oversee the excavation and installation of new base material and then receive the paver shipments.  The first job was located up in Evergreen and required six semi loads of pavers.  It was going fine, until one driver did not swing wide enough going around a curve.  Here was the result-



The more he moved, the more he slid down the hill.  He ended up blocking the road, so in order to pull him up with the backhoe, we first had to take the tractor down through the trees in the left of the picture.  Think "Man from Snowy River" but with a tractor instead of a horse.  We got him safely pulled back onto the road and up to the job site.

Once the trucks were unloaded, we had to lift the end of the trailer to get them turned around.  Good times!

Brant

Riley's 1 yr Photos

Here are Riley's 1 yr photos. Thankfully, our photographer took some family portraits as well and I love how they turned out!

Softball 2012

This summer, I played city-league co-ed softball with some friends from our ward.  Sadly, last night was our last game but as always it was a ton of fun!  We ended the season with winning 5 games and losing 5, so in my book that's a success!  I can't wait to play again next year!

 Not the greatest form but I get on base every once and a while!

The Bombers!  What a great team!

What Aurora Zirker's do for fun...

Kevin celebrated his 35th bday!  Thanks to those who called and wished him well!  He requested Spudnuts.  Why does boiling oil in the middle of summer not sound fun to me?  We cranked the AC just to make it tolerable.  They were quite delish though.  Wish we could have shared them--he took them to work the next day and shared with the crew.

We have spent much of the summer in the water.  This particular time we went to a play date with friends from church up to Stapleton, about half hour away.  (The distances we drive for free fun huh?)  It had this cool rock fountain that they could climb on and play in.  It was a perfect sun-shiney day to enjoy the cool water.

Braxton in a water fight with someone on top of the fountain.  I liked it because I caught his water flying through the air.  He and Kanyon are good sports to go to these play dates because usually the oldest kid is 5! 

Kids go back to school tomorrow and we're half excited half sad that summer is over.  But on to new adventures, we have band, soccer, scouts, and I get 4 hours to myself EVERY morning.  Not that I'm too excited or anything.  Now, to fill it up with some productive...

Not Much New

Not much new this week.  Mom and I spent Thursday in Pilot Rock, Oregon inventorying the addition we did to the meetinghouse there in 2007.  Yes, I am a little late (5 years) but we got it done.  My mechanic Joe, helped us.

"F" street is still a mess.  They started grading it Friday so it may get closer to completion this week.  Mom went over to Model Home Furnishings in Pullman and picked up the new chair we ordered a couple of weeks ago.  We put it in the living room in place of the old rocker.

Monday afternoon we are going up to Laird Park to have dinner with Matt, Kimbre, and Riley.  They are camping and we are just spending the evening.  Lacey and boys are going with us.

I'm still working on the Family Reunion Blog.  Be patient.

Something to think about...

U of I plays BYU on November 10th and we're headed down to game.  We'll be making a mini vacation out of it and are hoping to visit with some of the aunts/uncles/cousins down there.  If anyone is bored and would like to drive out to Provo for the game, I'm thinking Seth could get you sideline passes...You might have to wear your BYU gear underneath your U of I gear though...

"F" Street Facelift

 We kind of moved the sign out of the way

 Looking west toward Mountain View

What an asphalt grinder can do

I was watching the city council meeting on TV about a month ago and they talked about working on "F" Street.  Thursday there was a flyer on our door that said we should move our cars off Lund Lane because they were going to grind "F" Street and we may not be about to get out.  Friday morning at 7:00am they started and by early afternoon they were done.  Next week they will grade, roll, and repave it from Eisenhower to the pool.  It should make a nice street.

This week Mom is going with me to Pilot Rock (15 miles south of Pendleton, Oregon) to help with inventory.  We built on to the building about 8 years ago and I never re-measured and inventoried all the changes.  I need three people so Mom, my mechanic Joe, and I will do the measuring on Thursday.

Last week Kimbre suggested we blog about the Family Reunion just to get it on the record.  Mom and I will work on it and then do a semi-large blog.  Thanks for the suggestion Kimbre.

Elitches and MTTS

We went with Lisa and the kids to Eliche's and got so wet!  We played at the water park first, ate lunch, watched a rain storm pass, ride some rides, and then for some reason, the last 2 rides we went on were the water rides.  We got SO wet!

Look at these cute kids.  We performed yesterday at Heritage Square.  The kids did a great job!  I even had to perform, we only had 2 HS girls show up, and so the 3 of us teachers performed with them.  Super fun!

The Buffalo Bills Day parade!

Yep - we even won a platter for being the best Band!   Don't ask how many others we were up against, but we still won!

One more week and then the final show!

Another fun summer with My Time to Shine!

Leslie

Hello from the Grand Canyon

Who knew that Pennsylvania had a Grand Canyon? I didn't until yesterday. We camped there last night on the way to NY for a family reunion with Kelly's family. 

 This little church was in the middle of no where on a a back road in rural Pennsylvania