Box fun

Last Monday was Jake's birthday. We got him a cooler and a promise to go camping soon (and a few other things). And the girls got the box that the cooler came in (we ordered it online). Ever since then they have been in heaven. Especially Rachel. She has decorated it for hours on end.

It has been her tent, her bed (she's slept in it for nights on end), a jail, and is now turned on it's side and is her door/tunnel to get into her room. Annie just likes following Rachel around, so she enjoys being locked the dark box with Rachel, and chasing her through the tunnel.

Not sure how much longer it'll last (or how much longer I can stand it), but it's already provided way more entertainment than we paid for it. :)

And might as well throw in a few pictures of Annie that have been sitting around on the camera. Notice Annie's Jack-O-Lantern teeth:

Our budding pianist:

And the happy messy kid:

Dance moves

Annie, like her big sister, loves music. Most of the time when music starts playing Annie will stop what she's doing, look around, then start shakin' it.

She shakes her head like crazy when she really likes the song. And sometimes she'll do some dancing besides head banging. :) Even hymns at church can occasionally get her to boogie. She is so entertaining.

Our little troublemaker

Annie is making great strides in learning things that may land her in the hospital with a broken arm or leg. Our little 9-month-old seems to be destined for great things. Or injury.

While we were Skyping with Jake's sisters:

Annie was so proud of herself for climbing up on the chair. The picture is out of focus, but you get the idea.

Annie can also climb up on Rachel's bed if the little stool is close enough to the bed. She goes straight to the headboard, holds on and starts dancing. Now she just needs to learn how to get down without going head-first.
Annie's lid-opening skills are problematic. I thought all the cans within her reach were unopened, but apparently I missed one.

Messy kid.

And last week Annie took her first steps. For the first few days she would only walk to Rachel. Now she's getting braver and can take up to 6 steps at a time and will set off on her own sometimes without any encouragement.



It's all downhill from here...

Idaho-the last of it all

We've finally reached the end of the endless pictures of Idaho. :)

The night before we headed back home we went up to my Aunt Sharyn's place. She has a beautiful house, and paints beautiful pictures. We enjoyed sitting out and enjoying the beautiful scenery, but one of the highlights for Rachel was helping Sharyn gather eggs from their chickens.

Doesn't she look excited?

We all went back to Grandpa Jolley's house and all the family in town came over for one last big dinner together. And, since Jared's birthday was just a couple weeks away we celebrated while we were there with him with a tasty cake and ice cream. Grandma even gave him his present, which the other kids promptly monopolized. I'm sure he'll get in plenty of play time at home, since he didn't get any that night. :)

Awwww. Cousin love:

Friday morning while we were getting ready to leave Rachel and Jared played house. Rachel was the mommy, Jared was the daddy, and Todd was the Rachel.

We squeezed in a few family pictures before we left:

Though the grandkid picture didn't quite work out...

While we were up there Grandpa Jolley got a few new toys, including one of those cool recliners that stands you all the way up, and this walker that has a seat on it. Rachel and Jared must think Grandpa Jolley has all the fun, since he gets to play with this walker all the time. :)

It sure was a fun trip. We're glad we were able to see a lot of family, though we missed the ones that weren't there. We're hoping to see everyone next year for a fun family reunion.

Idaho-hanging out

One of the nice things about this vacation was being able to just sit around and hang out with family and let the kids run around and have fun. One of the favorite places for both Rachel and Annie was the trampoline. If the back door which was right next to the trampoline opened at all, Annie would start booking it toward the door, trying her darnedest to get to the trampoline before someone could stop her. Rachel loved jumping and bouncing Annie, or playing ring around the rosies with Jared, and occasionally, but not always, liked being bounced by a bigger kid. Annie loved being bounced and as soon as she was on the trampoline was happy as can be, crawling around, rolling like she does on our bed at home, her other favorite place to be.

Annie and Brooklyn, buddies hanging out on the kitchen floor:

Annie always loves swinging. Swinging with Grandma and Eloise is a bonus.

Annie had two teeth on the bottom when we were up there (with 4 on top coming through all together, but not quite through). She had figured out how to use those 2 teeth to her greatest advantage. One of her highly honed skills is being able to open many containers just by getting her teeth under the lid and prying it off. She managed to get her favorite snacks open one morning, and promptly proceeded to grab a good handful, knowing I'd close it right back up.

Such joy!

Idaho-on the road

Be prepared to judge our blatant un-safeness. Growing up, Idaho was always the place where I perceived driving laws as more of suggestions. I think the first time I drove I was 14 on the loooong, straight highway on the way to Salmon after the turn off near Mud Lake. Maybe I was 15, but I don't think so.

On this trip we taught Rachel the fun and freedom of not abiding by the laws. But it's only okay in Idaho (especially on the ranch). :) Her first taste of underage driving:

Riding in the back of the car free from the confines of a car seat. What fun! (Note, when we went out on the highways she still was in her car seat--it was just driving short distances on the back roads that she got this special treat.)

All the kids living it up loving the lap more than the buckles:

(Good thing they got a break-after 2, then 3 more hours driving to get to Salmon Annie was NOT happy with her car seat)

Of course, Mom had to get a picture of all of us and how unsafe we were. As if what she was doing was safe in a moving car. :)

Rachel and Jared also got to play in the tractor.

Rachel wasn't too happy about the sun being right in her face, but was content to sit and enjoy the view while Jared worked the controls. He did NOT want to get out of that tractor.

Lucky for him Uncle Boyd was very accommodating and let him drive the tractor himself. It was amusing to see the tractor weaving slowly back and forth as Jared steered all over. Hopefully all this driving/law breaking experience doesn't lead to joy-riding hoodlums in a few years. :)

Idaho-The Petting Zoo

Just up the street from the ranch some neighbors have lots of animals for a petting zoo as a kind of side business. They were nice enough to let us come visit for free on Tuesday morning. Rachel LOVED it! So did Annie.

When we first got there the sheep came running full speed right at Rachel and Molly. Rachel thought it was the funniest thing in the world and screamed in delight as the sheep nuzzled her. Molly not so much. I think it may have traumatized her for life. Or at least for the day. :)

There were lots of cute baby goats all around. Carrie and I reminisced about the time years ago when Justin and I went with her to a 4-H meeting and got chased around by a big goat. This time the kids did the chasing, mostly. This goat was really interested in making a meal out of Rachel's clothes, which Rachel thought was hilarious.

Annie liked looking at the animals more than touching them. Actually she didn't mind touching them, it's more when they touch her that she backs away from them.

This little pony was a hit. Rachel got to feed it some carrots.

She also got to feed the pigs some lollypops. Apparently they like the sweet stuff. They eat the sucker, and spit out the stick.

Jared liked feeding the pigs, too:

The littlest kids all gathered looking at the goat:

Notice Megan's protective stance, shielding Molly from more trauma. :) I love the look on Brooklyn's face.

I love this picture because it shows so well what the dog was doing the entire time: looking longingly at the bunnies, chasing them around the outside of the fence when one got close enough to tease him.

Here's a goat eating my shirt:

Rachel and Sophie holding bunnies:

I think Annie's favorite were the ducks. (Notice the dog trying to eat the bunny through the fence.)

If I was holding Annie when a duck walked by she would arch her back to get out of my arms, and when I put her down, she was off, trying to catch herself a duck. Rachel and Sophie had a grand ol' time chasing the ducks mercilessly for quite a while as well.

The petting zoo may become a must-do activity every time we head up to Idaho from now on. It sure was a hit.

Idaho-Monday

We have so many pictures from Idaho, we'll see if we can wade through them all.

We woke up Monday morning with Rachel not feeling all that hot. She didn't feel like doing much except laying around. Of course Annie thought it was a grand idea, and joined in the fun, playing peekaboo under the covers and "hiding" from Daddy whenever he came in the room. Rachel thought it was hilarious laying under the covers giggling and Dad couldn't figure out where she had gone.

Annie with Grandma Pat:

Annie and Eloise with Grandma Knight. It was fun to get to meet Eloise, Todd and Savannah's 3-month-old. What a cutie!

Rachel spend the morning feeling yucky and laying around watching movies. I think she probably felt better after a little while, but of course our little girl is getting wise to the ways of the world, and milked it for all it was worth, realizing that sick=movies. After a couple movies we convinced her to go over to Aunt Barbara's house to play. She felt fine and had a good time the rest of the day. Jake left after lunch to head back to Tucson for work while we stayed and played the rest of the week.

Annie and Rachel loved playing with Brooklyn, my cousin Emily's little girl. She's 13, almost 14 months, and is a real cutie. Brooklyn would go pat Annie on the head and say "Ooohhh." Or sometimes she would give her a nice, juicy open mouthed kiss. Aaaahh.

Brooklyn sporting Annie's sunglasses:

That evening we all got together at Grandpa Jolley's house for a BBQ. All the family that was around came and it was nice to hang out all together. All the girls were having a good time on the swing. Until water from the canopy started dripping on them.

The trio of kids getting fed:

One of Rachel's favorite things about the ranch was being able to hang out outside as much as she wanted, and run around free in the open air.

Of course she ran from me as I was trying to get a picture of her. But she finally turned around. Isn't the whole place beautiful?!

Rachel and Sophie had a blast running from Ellie on the rope swing trying not to get tagged by her.

The 4 sisters. After this last year with Reah being in ICU for months and all her complications, and my mom's run in with the truck, we're glad to have them all around and doing well.

A nice color coordinated picture of Todd's family:

Rachel and Jared headed back over to Barbara's house for a fun bath together before we all turned in for the night. So fun to have cousins around!