Joel's trip

I'm not going to do a "real" post about Joel's trip to Lovell since I wasn't there, and Joel doesn't want to post it himself. :) So I will post some pictures and tell what I know about them.

Joel went down Devil's Canyon twice. Once with his brother, Daniel, and once with his cousin Lane.

Joel and Daniel found Dane's shoe, which had been there for about two years!

Joel is drinking from Fan Springs, a natural spring that comes into the canyon. Joel says it's the best water he's ever had.


He killed a grouse to supplement their dinner.

He went golfing with Devin.
He went 4-wheeling on the Pryor Mnts with his Mom and Roland. Here you can see Big Horn Canyon and Devil's Canyon.
They ate in this cabin for lunch.
He saw a lot of wild horses, but couldn't get any good pictures of them. He was using a disposable camera, so there was no zoom.
While in the canyon with Lane they killed a rattlesnake and ate it for lunch.






And I guess that sums up his trip. :) I know he had a great time and was absolutely in love with being in the mountains again.

Joel started his first rotation yesterday. He's at a family practice a few miles from our house. He had a good first day, and hopefully the rotation will be fun and informative.

First day of School

First day of fourth grade!

First day of first grade!

First day of preschool at home. :)

Jenna's Birthday

Our big girl just got a little bigger. Jenna turned nine years old yesterday! We had her party on Sunday, the 7th. Some of her aunts and cousins that live here couldn't make it, and they were definitely missed. But Jenna wasn't going to let that stop her from having fun; I mean, there were presents involved!

She got a few things that she's been wanting for awhile, like a wallet and a clock for her bedroom. She got a lot of other things like bracelets, a new shirt, a new book, a movie that she wanted, etc. After she opened presents she told me that the presents this year were the best yet! :)

Dad was helping her put her birthday money in her new wallet.

And what's a birthday party without cake and ice cream? She picked out a funfetti cake, so that one was for the kids. The adults had a delicious chocolate bundt cake. It's too bad I didn't get pictures of it, because that was the pretty one.




On Monday, her actual birthday, we went out to an aquatic center that had some fun stuff for the kids.




We all had a great time! Both boys made progress when it comes to swimming. Will has been pretty attached to his floaties this summer, but Joel and I have been encouraging him to try swimming without them. He swam quite far a number of times without floaties on. Soon he'll be a little fish, I'm sure. And Adam's big breakthrough was putting his face in the water! He HATES having his face in the water, and avoids it at all costs. But by the time we left yesterday he was willingly putting his face in (eyes and all) and blowing bubbles. We were very impressed.

There was a lazy river and some water slides there that weren't open when we went. We want to go back when those are open because I think we would have fun with those. The price is super reasonable, and we're really glad we went!

The birthday girl requested fruit pizza for dinner. Since the kids don't all like the same kind of fruit I decided to do individual pizzas that we could top ourselves. I think the kids really enjoyed it.




After dinner we headed to Meet the Teacher night at their school. I think they are both excited to start school, but also pretty nervous. I'm excited and nervous for them, as well. Joel gave them each a father's blessing today before he left, and I think that helped a lot. It's hard to believe that Jenna will be in fourth grade, and Will in first. They're getting big!