A little fun

The kids were ready and waiting for us to go to a baptism.  So they were all huddled around Braxton's Ipod watching recordings of homemade Studio C.  The boys and some friends enjoyed making up their own versions and it kept them occupied for the entire afternoon.  It was AWESOME!  And the sat this close to each other without fighting.  Little miracles, right?

This is a  dress I re-purposed for Adria.  Kevin bought me this dress when we were dating.  So now, I trimmed it down a bit and it's a darling dress for Adria!  We've been doing some sewing classes this summer and the girls are getting pretty good!  

Home Sweet Home

We're in! We have new carpet, new paint and a pile of empty boxes on the back deck. I'll post pictures as we get things settled. For now, we are learning all the new light switches and how much we actually have to wash the dishes before we put them in the dishwasher. We are excited to have our own place and to be together as a family. Seth even gets to work from home tomorrow as he and Peter will be pressure washing the deck and staining it. Have a good week!

A Couple of Things

 This is Martha's mother, Louise Walker, when she graduated from high school in 1937.  Thanks Travis.  He saw this on Laurie (Langeveld's) Face Book page and ask Mom about it.  I'd like to contact her and see what else she has.  I've never seen this one.  Do you see any family resemblance?

 Grandma Zirker enjoying a moment with Cole

 This is Rileys opinion of the whole thing

 Matt, Kimbre and family (plus grandma and grandpa below)

Last weekend we spent a couple of days in Post Falls with our two families.  We ran around a little and then blessed Cole on Sunday.  Because we are both retired we came home on Monday and took a different route just for the fun of it.

Friday we went to the temple.  At least Mom did.  One of my medications is a diuretic that reacts rather quickly.  Not to be too graphic but I had to hit four restrooms last week in the course of about an hours shopping.  Mom said not to worry about it just raise my hand and tell the officiator that I needed to use the restroom.  I said, "sure, I'd like to see you do it."  So, I sat in the pickup while she went in and did a session.  I felt like the inactive husband who drives his wife to the temple and sits in the parking lot and waits for her.  I think with careful timing of my medication I will be OK next time.

Not too much going on around here. Kelly and I finished trimming about 2000 Christmas trees for her uncle and we're enjoying some nice weather. The Hill Cumorah pageant wrapped up last week and the farmers started harvesting their wheat this week. Also, Kelly just told me that there is a demolition derby at the Wayne County Fair in two weeks. 11 years she's been holding out on me and I knew nothing about this. Now I just have to find tickets...

Cole's Baby Blessing

A big Thank You to all those who could come and celebrate this special day with us!

Summer for the Jones Family

As you know, we moved over to Seattle last weekend. We are hanging out at Seth parent's house until our new place is ready. We will be renting Seth's brother's town home from them. They had been discussing the option of turning it into a rental and when we started looking for places to rent, they asked us if we would like to rent it. Win win for everyone. They just finished moving everything out and will be replacing carpet and doing some painting this week and we just might be in by the weekend. I can not wait! Our stuff is currently in their garage and we are excited to see what we actually own.

The boys decided to build a pond, it was beautiful with lots of vegetation and some wildlife but it had a little trouble holding water....Seth helped them rebuild it with a little waterproofing and we're back in business.

Kelly and Travis, I met Monica's sisters at church. They are here to help Monica with the new baby and all say hello!

Question for Matt and Travis: How appropriate are Calvin and Hobbes comic books for a nine year old? I don't think I've ever read them but I think Weston might enjoy them. Anything I need to know before I turn him loose with them?

A little parting humor for you all.

Flashback pics

I am having the scrapbooking itch again and realized I had missed printing up this trip so I've been sifting through and weeding out the good from the not so good.  Enjoy!  Oh, this is from the Idaho trip when the boys all came up to do Matt and Kimbre's backyard (Aug 2009)

All the cousins-Zirker, Jones, Skinner, Limburg.

Koper-need we say more!

Grandpa was cleaning out his junk and passed it on to a few drooling grandkids.  (Oh wait, did I say junk????)

Great grandpa.  I don't know what he did to Adria, but she didn't seem to like it!

My Time to Shine

Here are some shots from the first My Time to Shine performance of the year for family and friends.  Leslie is pretty happy- they have 80 students this year.  The kids are having a lot of fun.

-Brant

Fathers and Sons

 I wasn't sure I was going this year but last Monday I sent an e-mail to Kevin and Matt and asked if they were interested in going.  Kevin said they would like to come down.  Mom helped me get ready and Friday afternoon I headed out to Moose Creek.  It was 91 degrees and I was a little unsure about the heat.  We had a good turnout, the heat wasn't bad, and everyone seemed to have a good time.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I think I'm getting back to normal.  This is Kevin and Braxton setting up their hammocks.  My camera battery ran down so all I got was a few evening shots and breakfast the next morning.

 Here is Kevin testing one of he hammocks.  Braxton and Kanyon slept in them and Kevin slept on the ground just below them.

 Here is our camp.  The campground was a little crowded so the Skinners, Kevin and boys, and I shared a campsite.  You are looking at my transportation, sleeping arrangements, and kitchen.  When it came time to break camp all I had to do was throw the chair in the back, start the engine, and drive away.  This is a new era of camping for me.

 There was a beautiful "Super Moon" that night.

 Kevin helping Tyler Thompson with breakfast making "Breakfast Burritos"

Isn't this what Fathers and Sons is all about?  Boys standing around poking things in a fire.  See if you can find two Skinners and Kanyon.

More Pictures

Jeff's Family

 When I talked to Brant on Sunday he asked if I had any more pictures of Bob and Ardie's kids.  They had these collages on display at the party.  I hope you can blow them up and see the pictures.  There was not one for Mitch so I included a picture of him and a random shot of Brad.

 Brad' Family

 Christa's Family

 Mitch

Brad

4th of July at the Lake

It was a perfect weekend for the 4th of July this year.  What better place than to spend it at the lake?

 It took a while but Riley slowly warmed up to getting in the water and having some splashy fun!

 Babies always sleep well at the cabin because its so cozy and warm.

 Riley even went for a ride in the kayak with Adria!

 Enjoying some sparklers.

 And thanks to Lacey, the kids got to make some monster bubbles!

The boy in his 4th of July onesie.  What a cutie :)

Beaver Lake

While in Vail this weekend, Ty and I decided to go for a hike along Beaver Creek.  We woke up early Saturday morning and headed out.

We found a tee pee village along the way.

Ty spotted this Marmot along the trail.

Beaver Lake was peaceful and gorgeous.

With all the snow and rain, Beaver Creek was roaring pretty good.  These falls dump into the lake.

-Brant

Fifth of July

Happy Birthday to Les!  (She is getting old!)

Les wanted fireworks for her birthday.

 Notice all the barefeet- Safety First!

The grand finale- This one is for you Seth.

-Brant

Emotional Roller Coaster

Yesterday Mom and I attended a funeral in Lewiston for a young man (29 years old) who had served as my 1st counselor for 3-4 years in the married student ward.  He was an avid pilot and was flying a single seat experimental plane when the engine failed.  He set it down in a wheat field just south of Lewiston but the front wheel caught in the soft dirt and it flipped forward and killed him.  He left a wife and four small children.  He was one of the nicest young men you would ever want to meet.  When we got there they asked me to say the invocation.  I was more than a little worried (you all know how I cry at these things and this was a very emotional one) but I got through it and appreciated being asked.

We came home, changed clothes, said good-bye to Seth and Lacey (they left about 1/2 hour ahead of us) and headed to Royal City to Bob and Ardie's 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration.  We played leap frog with Seth and Lacey in their car and U-Haul all the way there.  They stopped in Royal to say "Hi" and then continued on to Seattle.  They called at 11:00 pm last night to say they were unloaded and returning the truck.  He hope everything works out for them.

 



 Seth did an amazing job of packing.  A couple of guys from the Elders Quorum helped but Seth made it all fit.

 The traditional "Good-Bye" picture.

Don't you love the hats? 

 Ardie and Bob - 50 years ago.

 This reminds me of the one you did for us.

 Cousins and spouses (I'm actually a 2nd cousin).  L-R Ardie, Linda (Ed's wife), Pam, Ed, Jack (Carollee), Me, Bob.  Pam and Ed are brother and sister (their Dad was killed in the truck/train accident in the 50's so they were raised by Aunt Fern and Uncle Jule).  Ardie and Jack are sisters.  Their other two sister Marilyn and Shirley live in Cody, Wyoming and couldn't make it.

Ardie and Bob's house in Royal City.  It's a nice house with a nice yard that sits on the top of a hill with a great view south looking over Royal City and the Columbia Basin.