Fall is here

Our month of September was eventful and busy as usual. We had unseasonably warm weather with temperatures in the 90's and then today, the last day of September our high is 57. (only in Idaho)

Senior Pictures
What? I have a senior in high school? When did that happen.








Cross Country
Meets, meets and more meets. Septmeber was full of them. We went to caldwell, Wieser, Idaho Falls (all in one day), Eagle Island and Nampa. The Varsity flew to Portland to run in the Nike Pre-Nationals. Both the boys are doing very well. Coelton continues to improve with a PR of 16:48 to date and Caden's is 21:13. Caden has struggled with asthma issues and Coelton had a little struggle with Poison ivy. (it's not toilet paper:) Coelton has kept a top 7 spot which has allowed him to always race with the Varsity. We are proud of their accomplishments this season, and are hooked on XC!




BYU Football
Joel, Coelton and Caden love to watch football. I get a little annoyed with it after several weekends of it. Joel reminds me that it is his "hunting" time. (please) We don't have cable TV so it's hilarious watching them scramble to find someone to invite them to watch the game at their house. So far, they have found a way into some poor souls house for 3 hours every week. I like watching the game, from about half time to the end:) I really like wearing our BYU shirts on game day just to make people in Boise mad...they are obsessed with BSU, and we hate BSU.



Labor Day Camping
I really wanted to take the trailer out another time, Joel refused to go over labor day because BYU was playing. So I found a camp ground with cable TV. We went to McCall and stayed at a very nice KOA. We had a delightful time being together, riding bikes and playing games. It was a great weekend.







Sisters race/get-away
My sisters and I have done a race together for the last 3 years. Our first race was in Idaho Falls May 2007. When Mom passed away, we decided that we needed to spend more time together. We all live in different cities/states. Last year I hosted our first get-away and they all came here and we ran the womens fitness celebration. This year Shalean was in charge and we ran the Simplot Portneuf greenway. We stayed at the Holiday Inn, and enjoyed being together; laughing, shopping, TRYING to sleep, eating, and more laughing. My sisters are my best friends. DaNae had some shirts made that we wear when we race. They have Mom and Lori's pictures on them and say "running with angels". It is a nice tribute to them, I'm sure they were there too. We hope to run a race every year together, even when we are 90.



Daddy Daughter Date
I am the activity days for girls leader, so this year I got to attend the date too! We had a Mexican Fiesta, complete with taco bar, chips and salsa, frieds ice cream and piniatas. We played the mexican train game and also learned about all the Dads and the funny stuff they did when they were kids. It was lots of fun. Joel is very happy to retire pine wood derbys for daddy daughter dates!

Picture coming soon.

End of Summer Vacation

August is always a busy month for us. We try and finish up all the things we said we would do during the summer. Cross Country starts the middle of August and the kids start school the last day of August, so that leads to school shopping etc. And the garden is producing way too much, which leads to lots of canning and freezing. Amongst all the business it is HOT too. We hit 100 plus temperatures a few days in August.

Cousin Swap
My sister Shalean and her family live in Pocatello. They are the closest Judy family to us. She has daughters that are Hailey and Chloe's ages. Last year we met half way in Jerome and picked Strawberries for the day. It was so fun we decided to make it an annual event. This year the strawberry crop wasn't good, so we decided to make a cousin swap. Chloe went to their house for a few days while Makayla came here. They had so much fun. We took the boat out and Kayla got up on the water skis (for a few seconds). They went to Wahooz and played miniature golf and then to Roaring Springs for a day. We drove to Twin Falls and swapped them back and spent the afternoon shopping and eating at Target.





Cousin Campout
Joel's parents had the girls cousin campout at their house in Shelley this year. They have a boys and a girls campout each summer. All grand kids ages 8-12 get to go. Aunt Jill teaches home economics at the junior high. The girls got to go to the school and use the sewing machines while Grandma taught them how to make a pillow case.
When we swapped kids in Twin Falls, Shalean took Hailey and Maiya to Pocatello and Grandma Hammer picked the girls up there.

Garden Goodies
Our garden has produced lots of stuff for us this year. We froze lots of zucchini, green beans and corn. We canned some spaghetti sauce with our tomatoes.

snapping beans early in the morning



Hammer/Johnson Camp
We got together on Wednesdays for a fun "summer camp" with the Johnson's. Jordyn, Treven, Hailey and Chloe enjoyed making crafts and playing together. One day they made quite a bit of money doing a lemonade/Cookie stand.




Hike to Bogus
We had planned to finally take the boat to Owyhee, and woke up Saturday morning to cold tempratures and wind. So we drove to Bogus Basin and went for a hike to the top. We heard there was a cave up there so we wanted to find it. It was a beautiful (cold) day.





Boating on our own
We got tired of waiting for Joel to have time to take us boating! He is usually working out of town during the week, so I got brave and started taking the boat out on my own, (with the kids) Coelton is a great help and I couldn't do it without him. He helps hook it up then we drive it to lucky Peak. I back it down and he unhooks it and drives it off the trailer. I park the trailer and then he usually drives the boat. Caden has become a good boat driver too. We have a lot of fun, but I learned I will not ride the tube with coelton driving anymore;)
When we are ready to head out I get the trailer and back it down and he drives the boat on and hooks it up. The tricky part is getting it backed in the garage. There is only about 1 inch of space on each side. It takes me a while, but it eventually makes it back in:)




Eagle Scout Project
We set a goal to get this done during the summer. It was hard to find a good project but we finally did. Caden organized about 55 volunteers to paint fire hydrants for the city water dept. It was even better when we found out that the fire hydrants were located in our neighborhood. We ended up painting nearly 100! He logged 113 hours, and did a great job!

BEFORE


AFTER


Instruction on how to paint a fire hydrant


Cross Country


Both boys are running cross country this year. Coelton has earned a spot on Varsity. He ran a 4:50 mile and at his first meet he ran 17:39 in 100 degree temperatures. He came in 2nd for mountain view and 4th over all.
Caden has been training with the team and ran a 6:15 mile, but had a bad athsma attack and has been out for a week.


Varsity boys posing like Steve for year book.

Our awesome 1-2-3 punch! Agida, Coelton and Parker

It's a dangerous sport!



Back to School
This year we have a kindergartener and a Senior. (both ends of the spectrum) Hailey is in 5th grade and Caden is a Freshman. We have 2 in the Elementary school and 2 in the High School. Caden is happy to not have to ride the bus, since coelton drives the ranger to school most of the time. I'm happy that Chloe can ride the bus to school with Hailey and she can help her get to her class. I hope I don't get too lonely during the day without a little buddy around. For 17 and a half years I have always had little buddies with me. Now what do I do?