Pig Tails

Jules' hair finally got long enough to attempt:

PIG TAILS!!!

At my first attempt, they are a tad lopsided and the part is off, but oh so cute!  Who knew she had that long of hair!   

 So what did Little Miss think of all this?

She thought it was impressive!  

And funny, and couldn't figure out what I was doing back there.

How about one more for your viewing pleasure!

Oh, and no worries, I have since perfected them and added a headband for the front.  So sweet! 
She isn't much of a baby anymore.  She is my little toddler girl.  Love you Miss!

Wheat

One cold day, shortly after we got home,  Dex and I decided it would be fun to make bread.  Whole wheat bread. With freshly ground flour.  So that is what we did.  We made bread.  Whole wheat bread.  With freshly ground flour.

I was actually excited to grind the wheat with Dex.  I thought he would enjoy seeing the process.  He didn't appreciate the noise, but he loved pouring in the kernels and watching the bin fill up with flour.

He kept his hand over his ear and loved helping me out.  He especially loved to help me dump the fresh flour into a different container.  He was so surprised to feel how soft and warm the fresh flour was.    

We made our yummy bread.  He smelled every ingredient that I put into the bread and helped me mix it, but in the end he refused it eat it.  JJ loved it though.  She and I enjoyed our warm, homemade bread immensely.

Catching up with Friends

I'm having a hard time getting the rest of our Idaho adventures up.  Don't worry, they'll get posted, I just wanted to get started on our current happenings to help get out of my "writer's block".  

When we got home, it was so sweet to see Dex with some of his friends, and to see them with him. I don't have pictures of all his friend reunions, but these ones I do:

Dexter's reunion with RJ was sweet.  Dex had been waiting for a long time to get to play with him, and they both light up when they finally got to play.

We swung on the swings and rode bikes for a long time.

Then with Lainey, we first saw her at church going to nursery.  Our nursery is so big they have split it and they are in different classes.  When Lainey saw Dex, she ran up and said Desser! Desser! Desser!, and refused to go to her class.  She wanted to play with Desser!  His little friend Garret was cute, too.  We sat down a couple pews ahead of them and Garret looks up and says "Dexter's back!  He's my buddy, my friend.  My friend is back!"

We went to the park with Lainey and I snapped a couple of these pictures.  It was cute to see these two enjoying playing together again.

JJ even enjoyed seeing Lainey again.  She really likes her and gets excited when she can play with her.

Geocaching with the Jenks

One evening, we went Geocaching with the Jenks.  It took us on a walk along the canyon.  It made Dex nervous to be near it and for a while after, he didn't even like us driving towards it.  He has the most amazing sense of direction.  I could spin him around blindfolded and he would still know what was where.  He  is just Amazing!

Our view:

We also walked along the canyon rim trail.  We didn't go the direction of  "Mr. Guess' Summer Home" (where we got engaged;  maybe next time out we'll make it there), but it is still just as magnificent and sent me reminiscing.  

As much as I have grown to love Iowa, I have missed this canyon something fierce.  It always make me feel at home.

Loveless Family Reunion

My mom did a Loveless Family Reunion while we were there.  We were supposed to ride the Thunder Mountain Railroad Line, but do to smoke and health issues, we decided it would be best to not go.  What did we do instead?  So glad you asked.  We went to breakfast at Golden Chorale   Gross, I know.  Twin definitely needs a better breakfast restaurant.  After that, we went to a fun new arcade place right next to Kurt's Pharmacy.  It's name escapes me.  We played their black light golf and arcade games.  The kiddos were spoiled with prizes and we had a good ole time.

After that, we went to Rock Creek Park and found a lovely little spot, where we took some family pictures.    I haven't edited these yet, so they are in their raw form. 

For the family picture, we just did a tripod.  Only took 3 shots!  

We hung out at Curt and Crystals and ate lunch then parted our separate ways.  It was so fun to get to hang out with my siblings and their sweet families.  We don't get to do that enough.  

Ahhh,  I just love family!

Getting to Be an Aunt

One of the things I have missed being so far from home, is having cousins near by and getting to be a fun Aunt. So that is just what we did.  The cousins got to spend the night and we had a grand ole time!  Crafts with the girls, plenty of playing tag, drawing on the sidewalk, playing the wii--ya, it was great!


Juliette loved Lydia!  She was quite content and loved being with her!  Lydia was such a great help.  She is quite the little mommy!

Drawing our city and body outlines

Resting after a mean game of tag.  Chloe was my little pal.  She helped me tag the others.

Girl crafts with Lydia and Chloe.   Lydia made pencil toppers for her school pencils and Chloe made a bracelet.

 

Jenga

Chloe modeling her bracelet

We had a ton of fun and both Dex and JJ loved their time with cousins.

Year Old Girlies

We did a combined birthday party for Juliette and Hadley.  They are 2 days apart, so we thought it would be   fun to celebrate together.  Here are the cute girlies:

I made them matching circle skirts.  Juliette only had a white onsie to match since I last minute (the day before the fiesta) decided to make these.   I made her a necklace to match to make it look complete.  Plus, she loves necklaces!  After the party I detached the flower and turned it into a hair flower.  

I love the big ric rac on the bottom!

Here are her cupcakes.  Ashton made his yummy chocolate raspberry filled cupcakes topped with a chocolate ganache--mmmm!  I made the toppers.  Crystal made another cake too.

Crystal and Hads

Crystal decorated the pavilion.  She did a great job.

We did a sloppy joe dinner and then had cake.  It was too hot to do ice cream and Hads is allergic anyway so we skipped that part.

Grandpa Jenks and Uncle Crayson with the birthday girl

After we sang Juliette devoured her cupcake (such a fun, yummy mess caught only on video), we opened presents. 

The pavilion was next to some toys so the rest of the kiddos were there most of the time.  We enjoyed ourselves.  We had a lot of family there and almost all the Great Grands there too.  We just missed Grandma B.  

Happy birthday girlies!  We sure love you!!!

Cousins and Birthday Kinda Day

The Monday after we arrived, we had a cousins day.  My grandmother was even able to come down.  It was so good to see her.  She has had shoulder surgery and been really ill since last March so it was wonderful to see her in much better health.  

We set up a fun water day for the kiddos in my mom's back yard.  

 Crystal, Grandma B., McKenzie, and Me

Today was Grandma B.'s 85th birthday.  What a fun treat it was for her to watch some of her great-grands playing.

Chloe enjoyed the little splash pool and the rainbow cove.

Dexter saying cheese and posing for a picture with Great Grandma B.

Hadley is so cute.  She thinks she is one of the big kids even though she is 2 days younger than JJ.  I put these star rings on their heads and she kept knocking JJ's off.  This was their first interaction with each other.

Grandma and her "twins"

After our fun time outside we crashed and watched Finding Nemo.

This was also Grandma B.'s 85th Birthday.  Later that evening, Uncle John and fam. came over and we ate dinner and had cake and ice cream.  

My mom's gang and my gorgeous grandma.  She sure looks pretty at 85!

To Idaho

Ashton has had  Pharmacy Rotation here in Idaho.  It's the first time we've been back since Devon and Kayla's wedding, about 18 months.  We've had a grand ole' time.  We surprised everyone by coming a day early.  It was a good thing that we did come early because we had to get a new fuel pump modulator in Laramie.  The car died about 15 miles outside of Laramie.  We were able to stop and restart the car and leap frog a blue truck who was also having issues.  We had a sweet tender mercy on this trip.  I booked the Hampton due to bed bug paranoia even though it was pricier.  Enter tender mercy:  The hotel was right across the street from the dealer who was able to fix our car the same day, and within walking distance of eateries, a dollar store, and pharmacy, all of which we walked to.

At the hotel, we swam in the pool.  Dex was a bit nervous at first, so he and I walked to the dollar store and bought him some floater wings.  That did the trick and he had a fun time when Dad and Jules joined us after dinner.  Juliette on the other hand didn't like it when Ash or I swam or especially went underwater.

The kids did absolutely amazing in the car. I just love that we have no need of electronic devices to keep them entertained while we travel.  We stopped at our favorite breakfast stop (McDonalds) in Gothenburg, NE.  We even did a leg stretch at the big Cabella's.

Dex won the windmill game and enjoyed seeing all the workers on the railroad fixing the rails through the Ogden canyon.

When we got to Idaho, we had Dex knock on each of the grandparents door.  It was a fun little treat to see their reactions.  They were a bit bewildered/surprised/excited all at the same time.