Blue Steel

I must say, this is a better "blue steel" than the original. Sorry Zoolander! Cooper has many many faces right now and He is so stinkin cute!!

some random Idaho happenings

There is a story behind this akward picture. Do you see Julie and Addie at the top. There was a new water park that opened in Rexburg this summer and we went one time. It was pretty cool. Addie really wanted to ride the big water slide and we decided that she was tall enough according to the sign at the bottom of the slide so Julie took her up. I stayed down with callen and played on smaller water attractions with him. After waiting in line for about 45 minutes it was finally their turn and Julie explained that she would go first and that addie would follow and the idiot boy at the top said okay sounds great. So AFTER Julie left he decided to tell Addie that she was too short and could not ride. So we waited at the bottom forever with our cameras ready and finally it was a different girl, not Addie who the lifeguard had told to tell us that she could not go down. So I sent Julie up to get her and before we could get to the stairs Addie had all ready made it to the bottom just bawling. She was uncontrollably bawling. i think she was embarrassed, disappointed, and just upset. I felt so bad for her and I was so mad at that life guard. Especially for letting her go down all those flights of stairs by herself when we were all clearly not there to receive her since we were at the end of the ride. Our trip was almost ruined but after about 20 minutes we finally calmed her down by promising dipped cones after and enjoyed the lazy river for the rest of the time.

We also got to visit my grandparents grave. They were really excited about this. Every time we passed a cemetery back home they would ask me if I knew anyone buried there so I told them that I promised I would take them to see where my grandparents were buried. So we went with my Dad and saw where my Grandpa and Grandma Potter are buried and then we walked by where my uncle Dennis and a sweet little cousin of mine are buried as well. It was a neat experience.

My parents have these this cool wooded area on the side of their house with bird feeders. We liked to watch the birds and decided to make a bird feeder of our own. We made the pine cone and peanut butter thing with bird seeds and it was a huge hit for a few days until Mr. squirrel found a way to get it off its hook and up into the tree. It was funny. We caught him in the act. It was good entertainment.

Of course the kids ran outside right away to try to help the birds get their bird feeder back but he was too fast.

We also helped Tony wash his cars. The kids had a good time with that and really enjoyed the popsicles that accompanied the job!!

4th of July again

The 4th of July really was a jam packed fun filled day. We had a big family bbq at my Dad's school in sugar City and I was able to see so many cousins an dfamily members that I had not seen in such  a long time. It was so great. I am sad that I do not have a picture of them. My one Cousin Brandon is convinced that I don't even have a husband because he never gets to go to Idaho with me. Maybe one day he can be initiated into the Potter family. My Dad froze water in storage type conatainers to make giant ice blocks and we went ice blocking down "potter hill" It was so fun

Cooper trying to go ice blocking. He really was the hit of the party. He was not shy at all and didn't even care if he was near me and just had everyone eating out of his hands. It was hilarious

My aunt carol put together a game where age groups stood around a circle and then money was thrown in the air and the kids had to grab as much as they could. It was like wild animals. They liked it though

Addie Ice blocking

Addie and Zoe participating in water balloon volley ball

Cooper liked finding the remnants of the giant pieces of ice and...

Eating them!

The 4th of July in Idaho would not be complete without a sno-cone. Our favorite Idaho summertime treat. They even bought them with their own money from Aunt Carol's game.

We finished off our night at Tony's house for some fireworks. I think I have action shots of all the kids lighting and then running away!!

Zoe

Keegan

Callen

Addie

Some of the kids did not really appreciate the loud sounds, in fact Addie really...

really...

Really...

really did not like the loud sounds!!

We had a wonderful day!!

Gorgeous

The weather in Idaho was so gorgeous. We practically lived outside!

Callen learned to ride a bike (although he wanted the training wheels back on when we got home)

We played at the water park ALOT!

And basically lived outside at Grandma's house (this is in their side yard, it was so beautiful and serene. We loved their new house so much!)

5K

Julie and I are preparing for our run/adventure! little did we know...

It all started with the tires
along the way we encountered canals we had to cross with water to our necks, shallows areas of water with hidden drop offs, hay bail walls to climb over, hills, tunnels, a fire jump, an army crawl, a wall climb (oy, that was hard) and...

The mud pit!! I almost took Julie's shorts off here. After this I thought we were done so I told Julie to sprint to the end because i did not want to but as it turned out that was just over half way and we had to do most of it again. It was hard the second time becasue we had rocks in our shoes from the mud pit and our pants were hanging off of us from being soaked. It was quite an experience.

We made it though!! Yay us!!

Julie's friend Mason ran too but not with us. He is too fast!

Next was the 1K that Addie and Callen got to run. I let Julie who is a lot more young and spry take them  on their run. Not because I couldn't... Well, she begged me to... Well, I couldn't say no to her... Okay, I was exhausted. I am a horrible runner. I am working on that.

They were so cute and they got to do just a few little obstacles with theirs

This is how we all had to go at the end of the race

And then we all got to wash off in the human car wash before running across the finish line

We all CONQUERED!! I did not get my time because my bracelet fell off my ankle somewhere in the race but that was okay we had a great time and it was a great day!!

How?

How do I even attempt to catch up? Should I try? I was just looking at my pictures and MAN, did we do a lot of things in Idaho this summer and in Oregon, and with lots of family, then we got home and bought a house, Addie started school, and life has just taken over. Should I attempt a catch up?

coffee pot rapids hike

Here are a bunch of random Pictures from a beautiful hike we took at Coffee Pot Rapids. Everyone did such a great Job. Julie's best friend Mason came with us and he helped carry Cooper for a while.

The beginning was calm and peaceful like this water behind Callen and then as the water got rough and full of beautiful rapids the trail also got a little more intense but the kids absolutely loved the rock climbing. It was nice on our way out though to see the trail and the water calm back down.

This is a funny story because Olivia picked these flowers Just for Grandma who was quite a ways ahead of her with the older girls and livy was determined to get these to her. It was so sweet.

My Dad taught callen how to throw deer poop. Of course he would. Why not, right? So one time he threw it at someone who did not want it thrown at them so my Dad had to teach him the polite way to throw it and so it went like this:
Callen: Mom can I please throw some deer poop on you?"
Me: Of course Callen, I would love that!"
Callen: Okay, (then he chucks it really hard)
Grandpa did not care about getting hit with poop either as you can tell from the picture below.

this is a cute picture of Callen with his adorable Aunt Shayna. One more quick adventure with Callen that I am not sure I should share with the whole world but I am going to anyway is one time he had to go potty which you can tell by a previous post that he LOVES to do in nature so while he was going he says, "Mom, My wee wee is kind of like a water gun." I don't know where that kid comes from.

We have had a blast doing a lot of fun things and having adventures in Idaho but we still miss our husband and Daddy very very very much!!