finally finally

We went to MC Sports clearance sale and found two Bears onsies. Of course, we had to get them!

V "helping" Vance play Need for Speed.

Libby, V, Lilly, Gus and Payton having fun on the porch swing

V with her Uncle Goober at the Maple Leaf Parade

V having a tea party at her Oma and Opa's


I now can post more often like I have wanted to! John bought me a MacBook for Christmas 09 and Birthday '10!

We just got back from vacation. We departed on a two day trip back to Missouri. We first spent some time in KC with John's folks and then stayed in Webb City for the duration. The amazing Eden's let us bombard their guest room for the week.
We had a fun filled and packed schedule. We arrived on Friday and had dinner with my family since my Aunt, Uncle and cousins were in town for Maple Leaf. We then attended Maple Leaf where V loved the horses! Unfortunately we were rained out towards the end but V got to see the Clydesdale's and the marching cobras.
Sunday we then went to Mystery and had an amazing lunch with the Karnes and Edens. The rest of the week we were busy but relaxed.

We arrived back in Idaho Monday at 3am. John decided to drive straight through the night. Virginia didn't much care for that idea but we made it and because of that we have had all day to unwind and relax before starting back at it tomorrow morning.

bad,bad,bad

I haven't posted in so long!!
I do have a good excuse though, I am with the boys for 15 hours a day and our Mac crashed. We are hoping to go to Salt Lake in a couple of weeks and pick up a new one.

Well, 4H fair came and went and was the longest week of my life!!! Virginia had fun the first day of it but by Tuesday I had to take her home in the afternoon for a nap. It was nice though, it meant that I got a nap too!

Right now the boys are watching a movie and John is outside getting the fire pit ready to make smores. It has been a pretty nice day. Jason and Jim took the boys to the golf tournament so John and I got the morning off. The boys have been in a tournament for the last two days. They are amazingly good at golf. None of them had played before but they are loving it. The boys (and staff) have had private lessons from pros. It has been very informative and I can't wait to go out to the course and play 9.

Virginia has been growing like crazy. She jabbers constantly. She is getting so tall and her hair is getting pretty thick. I was excited that I had to go and buy de-tangler for her.

I was going to post a ton of pics to here and facebook but the lodge computer won't let me. When we pick up our iMac I will post them.

good news and bad news

The good news is that we bought a Flip camera on clearance and took some funny videos of V with it.
The bad news is that our Mac crashed and the PC here in the lodge dosen't recognize the Flip.
It looks like we might be going camping now after all from Tuesday to Thursday. The boys have to get a lot done on their 4H books before then though. We worked on them for about 2 hours straight today. I am hoping that they will get enough done so that we can go. I was really looking forward to camping.
We have a boy visiting right now. He is a carni kid. That made us laugh so hard when we found out. The really funny thing is that there is a carnival in town too! I wondered if his dad was working it. I am going to vote that he dosen't come back to stay. He is TERRIBLE and we already have our hands full with one bad kids I don't think we can handle two right now.
We have a cherry tree on ranch that is ripe right now. Me and some of the boys picked some cherries off of it. I am hoping to make them a pie for tomorrow.
We had our four days off four days ago. We just came back on at 9am today and I am already ready for our next 9 days. It is not fun to come back to full chaos!

so very tired

V rode her first horse the other day. She did great. She didn't act scared, just like it was natural for her. She loves all the animals here. Everytime we go by the pigs or even go anywhere near their pen she starts to grunt like the pigs. It's cute. She dosen't say 'oink' because our pigs don't say 'oink'.
Today we took the four boys we have left (the other 5 are on home passes right now) and went to the towns july 4th parade. It was pretty nice. There weren't any long pauses like in Maple Leaf so that was nice. After the parade we headed to the park and had a sack lunch. We got back around 1:30 and I took the boys to the arena to ride horses until 4:30. I was asked to ride a horse named Arrowhead because it is a 4H horse and the girl that has been working with him requested that he be riden. So, I obliged and now I know that I will never ride that horse again! I am going back to Sassy! Arrowhead kept trying to run off with me on him and tryed bucking me at one point. He was being a pain!
After the horses we started dinner. The girls went the the rodeo and then to fireworks in a nearby town so we had the ranch to ourselves. So we decided to have a fire pit and cook hobo dinner packs, eat some jello cake and roast marshmallows. It was fun. Of course we had the usual complainers but once they started roasting marshmallows or finding out how good the dinner was, they stopped the complaining. The boys are now watching Drowning Mona and are cracking up!
These past few days have worn me out! I am looking forward to my 4 days off that are coming up on Tuesday.
Oh yeah, I am now a lifeguard. I passed! 6 of us started and only 4 of us finished.
I am hoping to purchase a camera soon so that I can take some pics of V on her horses.

lost forever

It is official, I have lost my camera. I can't believe it! I had taken it to the pool a few days ago to take pics of V's first time swimming in a public pool. I must have either put it under a chair at the pool and forgot it or someone got in my bag when I was helping the boys swim and had taken it. Either way, it is gone with an entire memory card worth of pics that I hadn't transfered over yet. I am VERY VERY VERY upset right now.
So now I am in need of a new camera but they are so expensive that I just don't know what to do at the moment. If I am going to replace mine I want to get a nice one. I have been wanting to get into photography for the last couple of years but my camera didn't let me do much. I guess this is the way I am going to get a better camera now.

Fair is coming up for the kids at the ranch. I now nothing about fair. I just helped Mr. Halquist (the 4H teacher and equine therapist) with 4H for the last 3 hours. I learned a lot! I didn't know that you had to be so specific with all measurements and feeding amounts. The more I learn about fair, the more excited I am to see all of the kids hard work.

Rupert has their July 4th fireworks tonight (it dosen't make much sense to me either). I am trying to decide whether to take the kids or not. The fireworks won't start until it gets dark, around 10pm. The kids have their last full day of summer school tomorrow and we won't be getting home till probably 11:30 and that means they won't be in bed a somewhat settled until midnight. I know that they would have fun but I just don't know if it is worth the hassel. (it also would mean that I would have to be up until midnight and I am not excited about that)

sore body

I was going to post some pics but can't seem to find my camera. I am sure it is around here somewhere.

Yesterday we went on a horse ride in the mountains. I am still amazed at the open access of land here. The state owns most of the land in Idaho so it is free to the public. Back in MO you have to ask to use the river because someone owns it, here you just pick a spot and start fishing. It is grand.
Anyway, we left the ranch around 9:30am and arrived at Sun Valley around 11:30. We then rode horses until 2pm, ate lunch and rode back. I rode a horse named Sassy and she has earned every bit of her name. She has a mind of her own. She kept throwing me into trees, other horses and other riders. She is also a biter. She bit one boy, me and several horses. Sassy did not like to be passed so when another horse would come along she would bite them on the neck. She is sassy, but I like her. We got back to the ranch around 7pm and then it was dinner, showers and lights out. We were exhausted.
I don't know how people ride horses all the time. I am so sore! My whole body hurts and I have lifeguard class again today until Friday.
Virginia stayed with her Aunt Brenda and had fun all day. She got to play with another girl her age named Alexis. They are best friends now.
We have painted our living room and dining room, entrance way and front door. If I can ever find my camera I will take some pics and post them.
Tomorrow is our down day and we have Thursday to Monday off. I can't wait!!!

frisbee golf

Apparently frisbee golf is HUGE here in Idaho. The clinician, Jason, holds some kind of records for it.
Today the girls went on an all day horse ride so it was just us and the boys at the ranch today. Jason decided to take them out of school early and all go to a park and play Frisbee Golf. I didn't know there were certain frisbees for it and that some are for distance, some for curving and so forth. I guess there are huge tournaments for it. What dorks!
The boys had such a great time. Jason told them that if they could beat his score, giving himself an 18 stroke handicap, then he would buy them rootbeer floats. They boys did great, as a collective they had only 9 over par. We had rootbeer floats tonight! We are also watching Edward Scissor Hands right now too. It has been a great and much awaited for night considering the nights we have been having with the boys.
I took some pics but am too lazy right now to get up and go to the house to get the camera. Maybe I will post them tomorrow. I am excited to have the next 4 days off! And then Thursday we get to go on our horse ride!