Slushie Express?

Ummmm....

Excuse me?

What on earth is a copious amount of high fructose corn syrup doing on my kitchen counter?

I am the mother here; don't I get to vote on this?

..my vote is "NOOOOOO!"

I see nothing good that can come from large quantities of sticky, colored, diabetes-inducing liquid and cones that can't be put down without spilling over. Do you?

...oh, that's right

they ARE fun.

....but I still don't like it.

Singin' in the Rain

Wakin' up with the fallin' rain makes for a day of rain-singin', umbrella poppin', puddle-stompin' FUN!

...can you tell my kids absolutely LOVE Mary Poppins?

The girls covered their jammies with their rain gear so they could have some fun in the "muddy piles" (what they call muddy puddles)

Unfortunately, too much of a good thing is a REALLY, REALLY BAD thing. To see pictures of the ranch following the flash flood that claimed the life of George Reed and fatally injured our first cutting hay go here.

Airplane Fright

Jessa's reaction to the sound of an airplane overhead:

I think that about sums it up.

The audio would go something like this, "MOMMY, MOMMY! {crying}
AIRPANE!"

I decided to test-drive animoto today using some shots from our quick weekend of catching up with the Harris'. It was so wonderful to see LaDonne and Ian, wish MarLee the best on her upcoming mission, and watch Darin's bee sting swell his eye shut. The girls loved the Logan Temple and think it looks just like a castle. We saw 4 temples in 1 day: Twin Falls, Logan, Idaho Falls, Rexburg!!!!

My thoughts on animoto: A genius, easy-to-use idea. With the free trial version you get what you pay for--a 30 second clip with poor resolution--but I think it will increase in popularity as a means of displaying photos.

Niagara of the West

A waterfall begins with only one drop of water. Look what comes from that.
~The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay

Waterfalls are so powerful, enchanting, and uplifting....
See the wonder. Feel the mist. Hear the roar.

And of course, I couldn't help but get distracted for a moment and wonder what it would possibly be like to raft or kayak something like that (completely insane).

Just over the rainbow.

My own little pot of gold: Thank you random stranger for taking this photo.


Factoid #1: The "Niagara of the West" is actually higher than Niagara Falls, which by the way are in New York on the Canadian border.
Factoid #2: Doug has lived in this state basically his whole life and had never been here before.
Factoid #3: I had been here, but only long before I lived in Idaho.

I love Idaho.
I always have.
I love waterfalls too, but not until reading The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay as an adolescent did they come to completely fascinate me.

Silly me..I forgot to mention this is Shoshone Falls located just outside of Twin Falls, IDAHO (thanks Caroline!).

Road Running

It must be springtime because my dear husband washed up his car--a 1970 yellow roadrunner. Yes, he got it back when he was in college. Yes, he still has it and drives it. Yes, I am actually a fan of muscle cars even though I am not driven by testosterone. Does that surprise you? It is also FAR too loud for the precious and sensitive ears of my sweet little baby girls to ride in....well, at least it has been in the past. But this year the girls started calling it THEIR yellow car and have been dying to take it out for a spin. All winter long they have been begging, and well, quite frankly, speed just happens to race through their veins, so how could I possibly continue to deprive them of the experience?

• Carseats? You betcha! Safety first! This, ladies and gentlemen, is the reason we purchased carseats with the 5-point harness system! Whoever said these things are not family cars was seriously mistaken.


• Ear protection? A MUST! Um, Jessa, will you please put yours on!


• Rule #1 I overheard Doug explaining:, "Now listen. If you want to ride with daddy, rule number one is DO NOT touch the car!" Never too young to learn rule #1!

And here they are heading out for their joyride:

And NOW here they are one trip to the river store and an ice cream cone later:

Strong work, honey. There is nothing to put the kids to sleep like the throbbing of that motor. You are a genius! But let me just take a moment to remind you that my '65 Belvo is still even faster.

PS. Did I mention they absolutely LOVED it? They talked about this ride for days! Watch out daddy, what happens when they want you to buy them one too?

April in Review

The Bunny, The Branding, The Blessing--April was a Busy one!Jessa was waaaay too cute not to post, but it does look like the LITTLE bunny got a BIG upset losing all those eggs... Whew! I thought we might not recover from THAT one!

THE BRANDING was a thrilling event this year. Ask me about it sometime.

The Blessing was Beautiful

Bonus footage: The first time I caught Emeline smiling with a camera!

Just try to tell me this is not the cutest thing ever!

Have You Met Our New Horse Ladybug?

Well, then let me introduce you.....this is Ladybug, our new horse.

And in case you can't see it so great in that photo, Jessa still ALWAYS wears her hat sideways!