It's a Parade!

Because of the crowd of people that show up for our local Fourth of July parade, we attended the Firth/Shelley Spud Day parade in September instead.  Its a lot less crowded, the parade last about 20 minutes top, we can find a place to sit and park that is close, and our kids get enough candy to last until the end of October! And we ended up seeing pretty cool things...at least things that you won't see in the "city" where we live. 

Julia's first parade experience! She's not so sure about it as you can see.

I loved how my boys kept their hands on their hearts even after the flag had long since gone by. Matthew had so much fun clapping and cheering for every float or car that went by

Some of the "strange" things that we saw.... a tractor being carried on a flat bed. ...

Russet Pride....Shelley's mascot is the Russet Potato.

Old fashion tractors...

Kids on donkeys and horses...

my personal favorite....Miss Hot Potato

The world's largest baked potato...

Guys that graduated before I did still singing in a "garage" band...

The local band...I personally think this in the middle school but I'm probably wrong and its the high school....kids are getting younger and younger these days!

The spoils of the day! A large cloth bag filled 2/3 full with candy!!!

Updates!

It's that time of year again! Time to update the family photos for the home! I finally got around to taking pictures of my kids...still working on the updated family picture! It's so hard to get one that works with me working a tripod. Hopefully, the third time will be the charm!

They are getting so grow up! It surprises me every day how much they have grown up. The most humbling job is that of a mother. My kids teach me things about myself every day. 

Below are a few outtakes of the shoot. The ones that I edited but won't make the "wall" anytime soon! Maybe I'll do a collage this winter and hang it somewhere. 

Keeping Busy

With Peter in school all day now, the rest of us try and keep busy. 

Julia colored her first picture!!

Matthew "drew" a picture

Andrew does pages in his workbook!

And I have been canning! I love it!! It gives me such a sense of accomplishment! Seeing all the jars lined up with food is a beautiful sight!!

Our State Fair, is a Great State Fair!

The past couple of years we have made it a tradition to attended the East Idaho State Fair! It has become something that our kids look forward to and talk about...counting down the days until we get to go!

This is us waiting in line to get into the fair. We got there right when the gates opened and it was stilled filled with people!

This year they had a fun hands on science area where the kids could do brain testers and play with gears and other cool things! My kids loved it!! Matthew didn't want to leave! Anthony had to pick him up and carry him into the petting zoo! Science beats animals any day!

This is probably the ugliest thing I have ever seen! Some may say cute but I say ugly!

They had a "real" cow that you could milk and then get a sticker and some flavored milk! So glad that my kids were able to have this farm "experience."

We wondered around some more, went through the commercial buildings, always a huge hit, and then found the food! To some the best part of the fair...but for me...a non-gallbladder victim...it wasn't too fun. Greasy food and my stomach just don't get along...sigh... Ne ways... Anthony found these really cool fries at one of the booths. Its a whole potato, spirial cut, deep fried, and put on a stick! They had all kinds of things on stick..fries, chocolate bananas, and even cheesecake!

We always save the animals for last. This was an albino rabbit! No joke! That's what its really called. Its has red eyes and everything!

My mom and brother Glen came with us! Its great that we get to spend this time with them. As you can see our kids had to get a balloon and a Culligian water Indian hat! It's tradition!!

This was picture worry since Anthony hates touching animals...something about them being dirty...

These two did surprising well for being kept in a stroller for over two hours!

Love this picture of Peter with jaw dropped at seeing the size of the horses!

Dubbed the keeper of the hat 

Enjoying an ice cream from the Reed's Dairy Barn...also another tradition!

When we were leaving, there were so many people because of Labor Day. But it was a lot of fun and we enjoyed spending time as a family. 

We LOVE Preschool!

Andrew started preschool two weeks ago and absolutely loves it!! One of my friends and neighbors runs a preschool Tues-Thurs in the afternoon! Andrew attended last year and did so well! He loves to learn and has already mastered his letters and most of his numbers. He loves to compute sums in his head! Thanks Ms. Jeni for all that you do to help my boy learn not only letters and numbers but for challenging him as well!