Picnic at Balanced Rock

This past Saturday Ryon decided he wanted to go on a picnic. He said there was a spot by Balanced Rock that was really pretty and that he thought the boys and I would love. After a busy Saturday morning we "packed up" the boys, stopped by McDonald's to pick up some lunch for our picnic, and drove out to Balanced Rock.

The weather was beautiful (a bit windy, but warm) and the park was perfect. Jett enjoyed crawling on the grass and picking up leaves, while Hoyt and Ryon played football. After our picnic we stopped by Balanced Rock. Hoyt wanted to know if we could climb it that day; we promised him we would do it sometime soon!

The boys ready for a picnic


Jett in his BYU finest!


Let the football playing begin


Passing...


tackling and lots of grass stains!


Jett enjoyed the afternoon inspecting leaves


This picture shows his beautiful eyelashes - I had to include it!


Hoyt and Ryon....they're #1


Balanced Rock - pretty amazing and only about 20 minutes from our house!

Coyote Hunter Hoyt

Ryon went coyote hunting the other morning, and when he got home Hoyt started crying because he couldn't believe that dad would go coyote hunting without him. Putting on all of Ryon's camo gear seemed to help him feel a little better! (I think we may have a bit of a fanatic on our hands....wonderful!!)

TROUBLE!

Jett is officially into everything, and I am in trouble!

The dishwasher is a favorite spot....


the fruit snack box provides lots of entertainment....


and the pantry will never be the same!

Apple Picking

One of the ladies that I visit teach has an apple tree in her backyard. She called me the other evening to tell me that her tree was full of apples that needed to be picked. I assured her that Hoyt would love to go apple picking and that we would come by in the next few days. Two days later the weather was gorgeous and Ryon was home, so we went on a "family date" to pick some apples.

Hoyt on his way...let the apple picking begin!


The apples on the lower branches were Hoyt's favorite


Jett was happy to sit on a blanket with the apple basket - taking an apple out for every apple put in!


We're making lots of dried apple chips and apple pie filling at our house. I think I'm going to try applesauce as well, but haven't made it that far yet!





We had a fun afternoon and can't wait to have fruit trees in our own backyard!

Field Trip

Hoyt had his first field trip this week to the pumpkin patch. There were two classes that went (the 3/4 class and the 4/5 class) so we took about 30 children total. I signed up to chaperon and drive, and it was pretty fun to have six bubbly four and five-year-olds in the back of the car. Oh....if you could only bottle all of that energy!

As soon as we arrived Hoyt was sure he had found the perfect pumpkin. His teacher told him to "keep looking"!


Here he is with a "snake gourd". He thought it was pretty cool!


Hoyt's class


Hoyt and his buddy Kaiser - look at those grins


Showing off their pumpkins


A few of the kids decided to take a rest on a pumpkin


I'm looking forward to lots of field trips!


Ready to head for the cars


Before heading back to school we saw a "real snake". This one was dead but, as you can imagine, every preschooler had to have a good long look!

Oh Boy!

Jett is not only crawling, but pulling himself up on just about everything and even walking along the side of the couch. He is extremely proud of himself!!

Nine Months

This big boy is just about nine months old. He is now crawling all over the house and into all sorts of things. He is certainly growing up a bit too fast!

Preschool....Preschool....Preschool!!

To say that Hoyt was ready and excited for preschool is an understatement. The last two months of summer he asked at least 3 times daily when preschool was going to start. How happy we all were when September 14th arrived!!

Hoyt woke up bright and early, ran into our room and said, "It's finally preschool today!" He couldn't wait to get dressed, eat, brush his teeth, etc. Once we were ready to go I had to snap a few pictures. Here is my big preschool boy!

Backpack on and ready to go


I tried to get a few shots with Jett; however, this is about as good as it got


Invariably when one is looking at the camera, the other is not!


This is Hoyt saying, "Mom....enough pictures!"


Getting ready to go inside - let's just say that he wasn't sad at all when I had to leave!

Back in Blackfoot

Ryon had some work to do in Easter Idaho, so the boys and I decided to tag along and spend some time in Blackfoot. We were able to spend some time with Noelle, Landon and Ava and hang out with grandma and grandpa too. We had a fun few days!

The boys watching TV in the "tent".


Big smile!


Hoyt is really into his show


Out to lunch with Noelle, Landon and Ava. This guy was his usual happy self!


Jett and Ava are growing up


Hoyt and Landon eating their ice cream cones


Grandpa and Ryon went on a cattle round-up while we were there


While the guys were on the round-up, grandma and I took the boys to a luncheon at the church. Jett loved playing on the grass afterwards....


Good thing I had my camera!

Learning to Crawl

This little guy is learning to crawl, and he is pretty pleased with himself. I think I only have about a week of semi-containment left and then he will be absolutely everywhere and into everything. I say bring on Tupperware all over the kitchen, every book out of the bookshelves, and all toys out of baskets in the toy room.... I'm ready!

Up on his knees and ready to go


Falling onto his tummy, but he looks pretty happy about it!


How can you not LOVE that face?


Up again and on his way - I think he took about "2 steps" and then he was back on his tummy.