My Grandpa Jolley turned 90 on March 17th. We were lucky enough to get to go up for his birthday party. We were only taking a few days so we flew into Idaho Falls and stayed for three days before heading back home. While we were there we fed the calves, rode tractors and motorcycles, celebrated birthdays,
explored the farm, spent time with cousins and family, and the kids
roamed the ranch enjoying their freedom.
On the way up we thought there would be snow at the ranch since we know it had snowed just a couple days before, and the pass through the mountains was covered with snow. We had stopped to let Ryan go potty at the top of the pass and he asked to taste some snow, so I walked a ways away from the road and got a handful of snow for him and Rachel and Annie to taste. Good thing I did because what little snow was left on the ranch was not fit for consumption.
Jacob called it snud (snow+mud). The kids threw a few snud balls at each other until their fingers were too cold. It was good enough for our kids to get their snow fix for the year.
Savannah and Todd brought some coats for my Arizona kids to use, since we don't own any thick coats and couldn't buy them if we wanted to in Arizona since they already have swimsuits out in the stores. We were grateful for them (especially Thursday morning when it was down in the teens).
We had lots of fun with cousin time. And cow time.
The kids jumped at the chance to feed the calves. There weren't as many
calves to feed as there used to be when I was a kid because they don't
raise dairy cows anymore, but when the beef cows have twins they do feed
one of them since the mom usually doesn't produce enough for two calves
to thrive.
Benjamin and Ryan were best buds, going everywhere together. They also really enjoyed the freedom of going exploring all by themselves (usually together, but without any grown ups). They would go back and forth between Aunt Barbara's and Grandpa's house over and over and over.
Uncle Boyd and Nate and Josh were all very good about bringing the kids on rides with them. The little boys especially loved it and requested rides over and over and over.
After 3 rides with Boyd I told them the motorcycle was probably getting tired and might need a rest so Boyd could go do whatever he needed to do. I left Ryan at Grandpa's house, then headed over to Barb's. A while later Ryan ran in bursting with excitement: "Guess what, Mom!! That boy (Nate) took me up to the mountains and took me on the GREEN motorcycle and it went really fast!" He had been eyeing the green motorcycle all afternoon. And had been asking to go up to the mountains since we arrived 2 days earlier. Nate totally made his day. And now he thinks the color green makes cars or motorcycles or tractors super fast.
Fun on the rope swing:
Megan is taking after Annie in her love for babies. She doesn't quite get that people (including babies) have a bubble they like to maintain. Megan loved Sammy and got in his (and baby Luke's) face every chance she got.
Here are some pictures from a few of our walks exploring the farm:
It's such a beautiful place. Even more so in the summer when everything is green.
The kids loved all the chances to push their limits and explore in "dangerous" ways. The ranch had plenty of chances for fun risk-taking activities.
Megan was such a goof ball. She fell in love with the rug in Grandpa's house and every time she saw it she tried to hide underneath.
She also got really into Ring Around the Rosie and did that over and over. So funny. And fun to hear her as she starts to enunciate a little better each day.
Friday night Savannah made us some delicious pizza and we had movie night. The kids thought it was a special treat to watch a movie and eat dinner at the same time.
Friday night the Jolleys from Utah came up for the birthday party on Saturday, so we moved our girls out of the bed they were sleeping on so another adult could have a bed. Rachel slept on this huge beanbag chair and I thought it was hilarious how she was sleeping. This is her typical position at home, too. I don't know how crossing your legs like this to sleep is at all comfy.
Saturday morning the kids all wanted to make sure to get a ride on a tractor since we were heading home the next morning. Ryan and B went first, then Rachel and Annie had a turn.
Friday night Grandpa Jolley had been inducted into the Idaho Agricultural Hall of Fame. Because of his health he couldn't make it to the ceremony, but Boyd and Barbara and Von and Patty went for him. They brought his plaque and the slideshow that had been shown at the ceremony and shared it with Grandpa and the rest of the family Saturday before his birthday party started.
Ryan stole the camera and snagged a picture of his favorite person,
Nate. Giving tractor and motorcycle rides to a 4-year-old is a great way
to be his hero.
After the birthday party got kicked off Aunt Barbara had organized egg-dying and a scavenger hunt that ended with a bag of candy for each of the kids.
They had fun on the scavenger hunt, then ran off and had more fun finding this huge teeter-totter that used to be a trailer of sorts. They tipped it back and forth over and over, and much to our surprise there were no major injuries. :)
After Grandpa's party was done we headed over to Barb's again for a family party celebrating March birthdays. They were nice enough to include Ryan with Nate and Parker's birthdays.
Ryan got some airplanes and was very happy to celebrate his birthday again. And with his favorite guy, Nate.
Early the next morning we headed for Idaho Falls. Going over the pass the weather was super cold. 9 degrees.
We're just thankful that Saturday the weather was delightful and the whole time we were there it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be for us Arizona-warm-blooded folk.
At the airport they had a photo booth with props to keep us occupied:
The kids traveled great and I feel like this summer we may actually survive even though we're going to have to drive for days to get up to Idaho instead of the 2 hours driving, 1 1/2 hours flying, and 2 1/2 hours driving that it took this time.
The only hiccup of the trip happened after getting off our plane. We found one of our tires completely flat, so we had to find a tire place to change our tire (it had a nail in it). It added an hour to our trip, but at least it didn't happen on the freeway in the 85 degree heat of the afternoon. All in all a fabulous trip. Happy 90th Birthday, Grandpa!
