2 week vacation

We spent the 4th of July (and the weeks before and after it) visiting Tyler's family in Idaho.

Xander earned his keep by doing yard work:


Me, the babies and my mother-in-law before the 4th of July parade (it was FREEZING):

As the parade started, I realized just how bad a small town parade can be. I asked Ty to take pictures of the worst entries, and, well, he pretty much took pictures of all of them. A few of my favorites:

A plain blue car...

...scratches and all:

A truck with a piece of paper on the side that said, "ENTER 2 WIN A FREE OIL." Not sure what they meant:

And a septic/sewer cleaning truck. No decorations. No red, white & blue. Just free advertising:


After the parade, they had a party in the park. Xander quickly spotted the train and was thrilled when it was finally his turn:

But then the ride was over, and this little boy couldn't understand why he wasn't riding a train anymore:

Screaming, grass pulling, shoe throwing followed. I begged Ty to keep snapping pictures of the tantrum, to which he asked, "Is this some form of child abuse?"

Playing memory with grandma and dad:

Playing Scrabble with the adults:

Grandpa took Xander fishing:

Ryan's fishing experience:

A family friend let us fish on their private property. We could have just stuck our net in the stream and pulled out fish. It only took about 15 seconds of having the pole in the water before a 15-18 inch trout was chomping on the other end. My kind of fishing.

These cows came over and watched us fish until Xander ran towards them and scared them off.

Mom and the little lady:



One of Ryan's go-to moves to get attention is to give us a big cheesy smile and throw her head back laughing. She's such a ham: