Fair 2012

We made it to the last day of the fair!  We started at the animal barns to check out the cows.  Marc was amazed that the guy showing in the background was wearing shorts and a t-shirt!  Marc said during his days of showing he once got in trouble for wearing a baseball cap...he was told "Boy, this is ranching NOT baseball!"...boy how times have changed.

Next we went to check out the largest pumpkin.  Marc wanted to be sure he wouldn't regret not entering his pumpkin in this year...these were pretty big pumpkins!  Impressive!

And the main reason we came...Mutton Bustin.  This year we had two participants.  Marcus has been gearing up for this event since last year.  He had a plan this year.  First he wanted to wear long sleeves, guess it was a little rough on his arms last year.  Next he had a plan to hang on and not let go.  Emma had a plan too.

All geared up and ready to go.  Check out facebook to see how they did...I posted a video.  We did purchase pictures this year too, but their printer was not working so they just took our order and have to mail them to us.  I didn't take pictures of the actual event since I was videoing it.  I'll post them when they come in the mail though...turned out pretty good!  Marcus fell off pretty quick and was a little disappointed.  But he didn't cry this year and he was there to cheer on his sister.  Emma actually hung on well.  She almost made it to the end!  We couldn't believe it.  She said next year she's going to win...I believe her!

Easton and his dad Jordan came to cheer on Marcus and Emma too.

Then we headed to the rides.  This year all 3 kids rode the roller coaster.

They had to ride the carousel too of course!

Olivia got to ride a pony since she didn't ride the sheep.  She did great but got a little bored at the end.  She actually said maybe she'll try the sheep next year.

Then on to the petting zoo.  The goats were the best.  They ate from everyone.  The kids loved it.

Yummy.

Marc wanted to pose in front of this huge long horn...can't see the longhorn very well though.

Here it is!

Then it was ice cream time!  YUM!

We walked by the Ziggy's booth and the grabbed the kids for some bean bag tossing.  Marcus threw it right into the hole with his second beanbag.

Olivia overthrew her first and then got the second one in too.

Emma also got one in!  They all got a bag of goodies from Ziggy's.  What fun!

We walked around a little more until the kids got so tired they could not go another step.

So we found a nice spot to rest...Marcus says "Thanks for the break Mom!"

Olivia says "Ahh...this is great!"

Emma says "This was the best day ever!"  We can't wait to come back next year!

No Training Wheels!

Marcus figured out how to rid his bike without training wheels! 

He's awesome at it!

We can't get him off the bike.  He did this yesterday and when he woke up this morning a (at 5am!) he asked if he could go out and ride his bike!  Funny thing...shortly after Marcus mastered this, his sisters followed in his footsteps...can't let a 4-year old beat out two 6-year olds!  I love competition :-)

Harvest

We are harvesting this weekend.  Yesterday we spent most of the day picking, cleaning and vacuum sealing the vegetables.  Emma was a big helper!

Look at all of those carrots!  Look at the green beans in the pot too!  We also did corn; we have 19 bags of corn in the freezer right now!  We've got over 30 bags of veggies between the corn and green beans.  It got too late to do the carrots yesterday so we'll work on those today.  We've also made tomato sauce with our tomatoes...I think we are ready for winter!

We've been bragging about our pumpkins so the kids wanted to show one of them off. 

Isn't it huge!?!  We've got a few of them this size and then several medium sized and smaller...can't wait to see if they grow any bigger!  We'll save these for harvesting in October!

First Day of First Grade

Today was the girls' first day of 1st grade.  Hard to believe 1st grade already!

Marcus was a great sport again.  He knows he's got one more year and then he'll get to go on the bus too.

The girls were a little nervous this year.  They met their teacher at an Open House last night and looked at the names on the desks.  They didn't recognize a lot of the names so they were afraid they might not know anyone.  Also this year they have to go to the after school program (I worked part-time last year but was unable to this year).  They were a little nervous about that too; mainly because it was new to them.  When I picked them up they talked non-stop.  They ran into old friends and made some new ones too.  Olivia said her favorite part of today was reading.  Emma said her favorite part was the YMCA (the after school program).  That made me feel much better...I was feeling really guilty about them having to go there...but they LOVE it so I think it is going to be okay.  So far so good...we've got 2 kids who love school!

Labor Day 2012

We went to visit Grami and Poppi this year for Labor Day.  It was a full house...even Nana, Papa, Tavein, Jared and Jaxon came along.  It was a beautiful weekend.  Tracy, Nana, Grami and Kimmie enjoyed the cool breeze and an afternoon chat.

Jaxon showed us his soccer skills.

The bigger kids swam for a bit.

Then we headed down the road to pick some corn for dinner.  Jared, Jaxon and Tavein wanted to pick some corn too.

Olivia and Ceci thought this was pretty cool.

Auntie Kimmie loaded them up with lots of yummy corn!  What good little helpers!

After a yummy dinner, it was off to the hot tub.  Do you think we could get any more people in that hot tub?

Then it was off to bed...here's a quick little cousin picture from Mommy's side...Emma, Marcus, Jaxon and Olivia.

We woke up the next morning and playtime began.  We showed Jaxon the cool little rocket...he Loved it!

Grami made some yummy orange rolls...they got 2 thumbs up from Marcus.

Then it was off to Yakima to visit Grandma.  We decided to take a generation picture...here is 4 generations.  Me and my Dad in the back and Marcus, Emma and Olivia with Grandma, my Dad's Mom.  Too cool!

Generation picture with Tavein's family.

I thought this was pretty cute.  Marcus was helping me take this picture...he got a good reaction out of little Jaxon.

We took Grandma over to Aunt Sheila's house.  The girls found some sidewalk chalk and had a ball.

Marcus found a cool bike to ride up and down her long driveway.

Then back to Ellensburg for dinner.  The Great Falls bunch (Nana, Papa, Tavein, Jared and Jaxon) headed back to Spokane Sunday night so they didn't have such a long drive on Monday.  All the kids found a rock and waved good bye.

Then it was game time before bed.

Monday morning Marcus, Marc and I headed to the corn field to get more corn.  We plan on freezing it to enjoy all winter.

Then it was time to head home.  The kids were exhausted...that's a sign of a great weekend with the cousins!