Matthew and the Tramp

It wasn't very long ago that Matthew was scared to jump very high on a trampoline. Now he is an expert. He is always showing me tricks that he can do. I caught a great picture of him doing a flip. Brisa taught him how to do a front hand spring and he thinks that is just great.

Crater of the Moon

Matthew took this picture and I think that he did a great job.

These are some pigeons that we found in Indian Cave. This is Indian Paintbrush. One of the flowers that we really wanted to see in bloom.

This is Mountain Blue Bell. I really like it.

This is the Syringa. The Idaho State Flower.

Dan and Matthew by the a sputter cone. It is really neat because some of the gas holes in the rocks are big enough to put your arm in but not touch the bottom.

This was the snow cone. There is snow in the bottom of this all year long.

We climbed this cinder cone. It was really neat at the top. There was flowering bitter brush everywhere. It smelled really good. It smells a little like sweet chamomile tea. Mmmmm.

Dan and Matthew on a bench in Devils Orchard. A minister came to craters and made the comment that this is what the devil's orchard would be like and so it was named.

Matthew at the top of the cinder cone looking out over the valley.

This is a Lava tube.

These are cute little flowers. The pictures are bigger the real like and they are called Monkey Flowers. I found out that they came in pink, purple, white and yellow. I saw all of these colors at craters.

On Saturday the 30th of May, we went to Craters of the Moon. I have to say that I love living in Idaho and especially in the Magic Valley because there is so much to do that is so close to home. It took us about an hour and a half to get to craters and we had a great time. The weather was great until the very end and we were able to see alot of things.

I have to admit that we probably should have planned a bit better and wore tennis shoes but we still had a great time. We went to see about everything there is to see there and I think it would have been better if we had 2 days instead of just a few hours. We were really tired and sore by the time the day was done but Matthew was so good and we got to see some really cool stuff.

We went last weekend because we wanted to see the flowers in bloom and there were a few but we were a little early. Last time we went we were told that we were a little to late to see them in bloom. We still got to see some great flowers and the cones were really neat to see.

It wasn't really hot so I didn't wear sunscreen and am, still paying for that mistake, but since it wasn't to hot it was a really enjoyable time. I took some pictures and Matthew took a picture. He is quite the little photographer. We were just about done and just had to go to the caves because we promised Matthew that we would when the clouds started rolling in and there was lightning. A storm was a brewin'. Another reason that I love Idaho is that you can never really tell what the weather is going to be like.

We went to the caves and were really tired (we should have done those first) but we hiked our way to the Indian cave and it was big and fairly light. We had brought a flashlight from home and then on an impulse buy we got another one at the visitors center store. That was a great buy. We didn't need the flashlight for the Indian caves but it was nice to have it. Then we went to the Boy scout cave. Now I really don't like tight places and I had the bad flashlight from home so I didn't go in very far but Dan and Matthew explored it for quite a while. I was really glad that they did because Matthew had a really great time. When they got out of there it started to sprinkle and we wanted to eat lunch. So with promises that we would go back another day we hiked back to the car. We wanted to eat outside but there were no covered picnic areas and by that time it was raining really hard so we ate in the car and went home. It was an exhausting but a great day.

Kaya's Graduation

This is my whole family. We were all together for Kaya's graduation

Back: Dan, Heather Dad, Loren, Grandma Stahle, Ivan, Travis, Chelsea & Bianca, Cody

Front: Matthew, Mom, Brisa, Kaya, Grandma Tucker

Loren's Girlfriend, Kristen took the pictures and she did a great job.

Thanks Kristen!

This is Kaya giving her speech.

I haven't posted anything for a while and I thought that it was time. Alot has happened in the last little bit so I am going to do 3 different posts to get it all in. My second youngest sister, Kaya, graduated from High school as the Salutatorian. Congratulations, Kaya!!!





She did a great job on her speech and had a good time at the party. We did a family picnic at the MK park. Matthew, Dan and I discovered the visitors center and we played in there for quite a while. We really enjoyed ourselves and the family.

Time for T Ball

This was from Today's game. The ones with the Orange shirt are from last week.

Matthew is n T-Ball and is doing pretty well. He seems to be a pretty good little athlete but he is also a 6 year old boy. The games are all at 7:00 pm which would be fine except that Matthew's bed time is 8:30. The games don't even get over until about 8:15. This makes for a very tired little child. Mondays are challenging because of this but I think that as he gets older I will be glad that he is in so many activities. Here are some pictures from the last 2 games.

Wishfull thinking

I loved these flowers. They were so pretty and smelled really great.

Dan in the Cave that we found.

Matthew in the cave that we climbed to.

Can you find Matthew in the Sea of Flowers?

Matthew playing in the River.

He had so much fun and even though there was wind and rain there was also sunshine and warmth.

I want so badly to go camping. I was looking through our pictures and found some from last year that were taken at great camping spots. We love to try new spots and we found some great ones last year. We went up to the Iron Bog Camp Ground out side of Mackey and it was great. We hiked to Iron Bog Lake. It was a good hike but we did run into snow. I wish that I had taken my camera on the hike but it was a last minute hike. Luckily we had a case of water in the car so we at least were able to stay hydrated.

Another Camp spot that we went to was behind Lucky Peak. It is called Arrow Rock and it was a really great spot. There was a river that Matthew was able to play in and there were flowers every where. Above are a few pictures of Arrow Rock.

Weekend Blues

What a weekend. Well I guess I should say, "What a week". I have been sick so I haven't really blogged or anything else. Hopefully it passes soon. I felt pretty good Saturday and Dan and I worked the whole day. We mowed a bunch of lawns and helped John and Jessica with their yard. John had back surgery last week and so it was really nice to be able to help them out. We also had dinner with them and just had a great time visiting with them. Matthew loves playing with Kaylee, Kyler and Gage. Dan and I were really tired and sore but the feeling of accomplishment makes it all pretty great.

We took my computer to Best Buy and the totally messed it up. I have just spent the entire weekend, as I have had time, to fix it. I have probably spent 8 or 9 hours working on it. I think that I finally have it working again but not without some frustration.

Earlier in the week while Matthew and I were taking Dan dinner we found 3 bunnies eating grass on the side of the road. Matthew loves animals and thought that it was really fun to see rabbits in the wild. I have some pictures and that I will post as soon as I get them off of my camera.

Rock Creek Park

Matthew Playing with the Nerf shooter that John and Jessica got him. That is also a great present that we have had alot of fun with. Thanks guys.

Dan and Alexis playing with Sam and Dee's puppy Mellow.

Matthew playing with his new Tribot. This is a very cool toy. Dan and I have had a ball with it.

Matthew at Grandma's

Matthew with his Hulk cake. I had been so sick that I wasn't able to make him a cake at that time but I did make up for it on Saturday.

Matthew's Birthday

Matthew got to have quite a few birthday parties this year. His birthday is on 3/19 and he is 6 years old. He has not been hurting for attention. The whole week previous to his birthday week he was student of the week at school so I made cup cakes for him and frosted them in black and orange (his school colors). Then came his birthday week. It just so happened that it was also spring break. This time the poor kid wasn't so lucky since his mother got strep and couldn't move until Thursday. Thursday was his birthday so we had Cake over at Grandma Ada's and played with Aunt Lizzy, uncle Richard and the kids. He got a really cool robot and an Bakugon game. Then on Saturday we had a party with his Uncle Sam and his family and Uncle John and his family at rock creek park. It was a beautiful day and a really fun time. After church on Sunday we went to John and Jessica's and played there all day and he got to talk to grandma Eldredge. What a treat since she is in Germany. It was a great week and I thought that I would post some pictures of our adventures and fun but I haven't got them off of the camera yet. I will work on that and post them soon. I love this family because it is so nice to be able to do stuff together. I love that Matthew knows and loves his cousins.

What a Weekend

This picture is Matthew at Shoshone Falls. We had gone down there with Dan's and My families and had a picnic and a great time.

This has been an interesting weekend to say the least. On Friday the car started acting really funny so we have to take in into the shop. Mom and Dad are letting us borrow grandma's car and on the way up here it had a hard time. Thankfully Dad and Brother Yost got it running and I should be able to drive it until mine gets fixed. Then we will take that one in and see what it needs. Conference was pretty good. At least the parts that we were able to see and we did enjoy it. Theresa, Randy, and the kids came down so that was a really fun time. We always enjoy getting together with them.

What was I thinking

I have never been a person who likes to journal but I like to read blogs so I thought that I would try to make one of my own. It seems to be the perfect place to keep a record of my family and let my other family members see what is going on on our lives. I just hope that I can keep up with it.