Wyoming Part II

After we got done with our painting, Max was more than willing to help Grandpa work in the garden and Mark was excited to help ride the lawn mower. Here are some pictures of them helping Grandpa in the yard.

After helping in the yard, we were able to meet up with Garrett & Ginger in Alpine, Wyoming. Garrett (Mark's brother) drove down from Idaho and we had dinner at a little pizza shop. The cousins were happy to meet each other again since it had been almost two years since they had seen each other. It was great to catch up with Garrett & Ginger and we are waiting for their call on when their new addition arrives.

More to come ....

Tales Of Our Get-Away!

We have had quite the adventureous two weeks .... our trip included visiting Wyoming, Utah, Idaho and Montana. I have lots of pictures to post and I will do my best to journal our trip with the details that kept us moving!

After getting settled in to mom & dad's house in Star Valley Ranch, Wyoming the next day was Memorial Day. We celebrated by going down to the cemetary in Thayne, Wyoming where local guards had a small ceremony. Prayers and songs were offered followed by a several shots being fired. How grateful we all are for those who have served in our military to fight for our freedoms along with all those who serve now to help keep our freedom. Almost all of the graves were decorated in this cemetary. Quite a sight to see. By the way, it was a bit difficult to explain to Max why we were in a cemetary, honoring those who had died or gone back to live with Heavenly Father. But, we did our best to teach him to honor and show respect.

Thayne, Wyoming Memorial Day 2009

Teaching Max (3) to honor & respect those who have served.

Local Guard who conducted the ceremony.

Afterwards, we went back to Grandpa's and had some much needed play time in the yard. Grandma & Grandpa have beautiful views from their yard and fun trees that all the grand-kids like to climb. Yes lots of snow still in the mountains of Wyoming at the end of May.

We talked quite a bit about what we could do all week while we were there ... and our final decision was to help Grandma & Grandpa paint the upstairs of their house. (Mark is an excellent painter if you didn't know.) After several trips to the hardware store we were finally able to get enough tape, paint & supplies to get the job done. We painted the two bathrooms one color and then the living room, kitchen, hallway, and two bedrooms a green color called "honky dory". We laughed about the name of the paint but in the end we felt as though the walls did turn out great! Somehow I missed pictures of the bathroom.

Taking a dinner break from taping!

In the taping process ... love high angled ceilings!

Maxs' favorite activity with the exception of "having a meeting" in Grandpa's truck where he can pretend to drive was swimming. Here he is on SVR's pool with dad & Grandpa. We had to take a break from taping & painting!!

Work in progress.

Some finished views.

Once the painting was done, and all the furniture & pictures were put back we all agreed that the painting looked great and that the pictures really stood out. Many of the pictures in their home were painted by Grandma Tippets (dad's mom), crossed stitched by Marie (Grandma) Tippets or woven by dad (Grandpa) with his various weaving techniques. More pictures to come.

Each night before we settled down we would get out and try to go for a walk which usually included dipping our feet in to the "very cold" stream near their house. Here are some pictures of the walks and some of the beautiful flowers in their yard.

More pictures and stories to come tomorrow.... stay tuned!

And We Are Off ....

We are off to visit Grandma & Grandpa Tippets in Star Valley, Wyoming which is just outside Jackson Hole. We will be there for just about two weeks. We are so excited to just get away and not worry about this house for a couple of weeks. We are hoping to visit with a couple companies in Utah and possibly Montana while we are out West. Hope everyone has a safe & wonderful Memorial Day. Stay tuned for our western adventures!

A Day for Splashing!

Dallin & Kenzi came over today for a few hours to splash around. We found swim suits and extra t-shirts and everyone had a great time. Here are a few shots from today. The kids had more fun with the water guns than jumping through the water sprinklers. The video at the end is so cute. All three kids were singing Families Can Be Together Forever which turned out great! Enjoy the pictures!

Kenzi ... needing a sip ... but she was so happy to have her own water gun!

Dallin & Max giving me their best water gun faces! They were so happy!

All three monkeys having a good time!

During lunch we were singing the ABC song, Families Can Be Together, I Love to See the Temple, Popcorn Popping. This video is the best of all three of them. Enjoy! We are so sad to see the Pratts moving but, we were happy to have one good play date with them! We love Dallin & Kenzi!

Patience is a Virtue ... I'm Running Out!

They say patience is a virtue. Sometimes I believe I have absolutely no patience in the world and other times I would say I can stack up with the best. Lately, my patience level has been short perhaps even to the degree where you may say, I have none! I will not necessarily blame the lack of patience on no sleep. However, I will add that stress can have some added value to having no patience. I think I am having a hard to time accepting that I have absolutely little to no control over our lives right now. So many things are unsettled and we have certainly faced our share of adversity. I really am ready to have some concrete placed back in my life. I'm ready to know if we will have a job, go back to school, live in Fairfax, Alexandria, Southern Virginia, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Iraq, Afghanistan, or Europe. At this point, will some employer just make a decision and put forth a strong offer??? Ughh enough is truly enough and my patience has run more than thin!! Is this a sign that I am losing it?

Excellent Taco Meat

I don't put recipe's on here normally but, I have to share this one that I came across on http://www.recipezaar.com/. The best part is you will most likely have all of this on hand. This will now be our recipe basic for tacos.

Serves 4 - 6
1 lb ground beef
1/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon minced onion
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon cumin
1/2 cup water

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl except water.
2. Mix well as you would in making a meat loaf.
3. Pour water into pan and add meat.
4. Stir occasionally breaking up any large chunks.
5. Cook for about 5 - 10 minutes or until done.

Very tasty! Our family loved it with all the traditional toppings. Give it a try!

The Standard Works ... in Chocolate!

One thing that I like about teaching Primary is that the lessons can be very creative! I was working on my lesson for this next week and I found this creative idea online and thought I would give it a try. Our lesson is on Nephi went back to get the brass plates, record keeping, and how we believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God. So, I (with some help from Max) made these little mini scriptures from Hershey Chocolates. Not too difficult and if you need instructions, just let me know. I'm not sure they'll make it home with the kids but, I will plan to hand them out at the end of primary. Last week I made a magnet out of a wooden clothes pin with each of the kids name on it. I put them on the blackboard and clip their coloring pages or handouts to them during class time. They were so excited and really wanted to take them home. I may make extra's for them this week but, overall the class is pretty good. I average 5 kids each week but could have a possible 6. It cracks me up how many times the kids can ask to get a drink or go to the bathroom. Overall, I am learning to love primary again.

Speaking of primary, my thanks goes out to Sister Nancy Skiff in our ward. She is the music chair for the primary and nursery kids. Max has been singing more and more recently and likes to pretend that he is Sister Skiff. She comes in to his nursery class each week for singing time and he loves to sing all the songs that she has been teaching them. Today, his specialty was "If you see a frowny face do not let it stay.... simply turn it upside down and smile that frown away!" Max was using his alphabet letter drawings as his faces and would turn them around. It was cracking me up! I really need to get it on video! Thanks to Sister Skiff and her creative singing techniques!