Fluming in the Last Chance Canal!

My nephew Logan, age 16, was at my parents house for the summer working. Just let me tell you, he is one of the hardest workers and such a good kid! What a stud muffin he is. He would be blushing if he were to read this. Love you Logan! He was able to get my Mom to do a lot of things that she would never have done before These things included,going down the slides in Lava and going milking with him. But there was one thing that Grandma wouldn't do and that's flumming.It ended up that Logan wrangled me into doing this crazy thing. One morning I got a call around 8:00 AM or so with Logan telling me he didn't have to work and wanted me to come and go flumming with him. Logan is not a telephone person so for him to actually call me on his own meant a lot. So Portia, Ryver, and I jumped in the car and traveled to Bancroft for a quick day trip.



The flumes are in Grace, which is about 15 minutes from my parents house. It's where the water from the Bear river cuts through the mountain and over a fairly large deep canyon to the Last Chance Canal for the farmers to use for irrigation. You jump in where the water starts to go over the canyon and the speed of the water shoots you down the steel piping to the open canal. It was really fun. Logan said that it wasn't as fast because the water level had dropped, but for me it was good! Thanks Logan for the memories of what it was like being 16 again!



The scariest part of the whole thing was walking back to the starting point. As you can see you have to walk back on just old cracked worn out boards that have been there for who knows how long. The first time I went across it took me forever but Logan patiently waited. By the end I was almost running across the them like Logan!



Logan showed off a little bit by not just jumping in, but he did a full fledged flip.

Mom Caught Me!

Poor Ryver, Mom always catches him in the act. He was busted with the markers, thank heavens they are washable. As you can see he is crying in the pictures. At first he was mad that Mom caught him and then he realized what he did. He realized he had marker on his legs and feet. He's quite the clean freak and doesn't like to be dirty and pretty much was freaking out that he couldn't get these marks to come off. From this day forward if he comes across a marker he takes it to Mom or any adult that is in the room. We all just wonder how long it will last!

Only at Aunt Dawn's

Ryver has many names at Dawn's house; Hoover, Numb nuts... Most of them came from Uncle Jeremy. The most popular is, "Tommy Tough Nuts". This picture explains where that name came from. Ryver is known to have a secret shoe fetish, like his MOM! Needless to say he has his pick when he goes to Dawn's house, full of little girls, he is in high heaven!


Dawn secretly took this picture while Maggy was busy! "Cause that's girl stuff, not Ryver stuff!" That's right Tommy, Strut your tough stuff!

Splish Splashing in the Backyard!

So I'm kind of cheating with this post. This is from my sister Dawn's blog. She watched Ryver for me one afternoon and captured some fun times. Wait, it's always fun at Aunt "Na Na's" house! Thanks for letting me share!

This summer has been so full of fun that wow it's almost over! This is an example of a fun afternoon of play at home with Ryver and the Girls.



Notice Payge and Maggy's posing as Movie Stars, and Ryver telling the world that he's the man. Yes, Ryver you are the little man at my house.



What fun sliding down into the freezing cold water. What it would be like to be a kids again.



Every time Ryver would go down the slide he would jump up and say, "Na Na (dawn), Yay, Yay, (clapping his hands). I would then have to say: "Yay, Ryver, Yay." Then he would hold up his crooked pointer finger and say, "one more?" I would then have to reply: "Yes, Ryver, one more time." This went on for a very long time. What a fun Maggy and Ryver have together. . . usually.

Fun Times!

We haven't had a whole lot of time together as a family this summer. We have had to take advantage of just the little fun and adventure we can! This is a classic moment jumping on the tramp at my parents house!


Once again Ryver loves horses in books, and riding in the car he gets excited and calls them "Nay, Nay's", but up close they are not so fun for him. My Dad took him out in the pasture and he started flipping out just walking towards them. I didn't go rescue him, because I figured he'd calm down when he got closer and could actually pet them. Well Grandpa tried to put him on the back of Tolby and that did not go well. Ryver was screaming for "Mama". I decided I would go out there and you can somewhat tell from the 2nd picture he was non to happy I left him out there as long as I did. I did feel bad though, because he really was just shaking when I took him from my Dad. I sure hope he toughens up! Portia came running in the pasture yelling at Grandpa, "I'll show him how it's done Grandpa!" Like I said before she really loves animals!




BUBBLES need I say more!

Happy Birthday America!

I truly love the 4th of July. Wherever I've been for the 4th of July and watched a parade I think I've teared up when I've seen the American flag. I'm so extremely thankful to all the men and women that have, are, and will fight for the freedoms we all have today. We celebrated the 4th of July at my parents house. We went to the parade in Soda Springs. It was fun to Portia FINALLY get excited and aggressive enough to gather candy. Ryver on the other hand was so worried about all the big trucks and the sirens that would go on the fire trucks. When they went by all that he wanted was his Dad. At the park they had a ton of games and actives for the kids that were totally free. You can't get better than that! It was fun and perfect weather. That night we went to Lava for the famous fire works. The kids loved it and we even had our own display at the house. I'm still having a hard time believing it's the 4th of July!



Ryver was wiped out after the parade! He slept while we were in the park!


We stood in line for a good 30 minutes so Portia could ride this little kid farris wheel. She loved it, although notice how far away from that other little boy she is! I think she'd rather have ridden by herself!

Tautphaus Park Zoo

Portia, Ryver, and I made a trip to the Idaho Falls zoo. It was a great day. Portia is such an animal lover. She loves all animals and they love her. Ryver loves animals in books and I thought he would love the zoo. But, I was wrong. Portia didn't disappoint me though. She had fun and can imitate the monkeys a little too well. She enjoyed herself brushing the goats and looking at the biggest turtle she's ever seen. Ryver basically freaked out even getting close to the glass to look at the animals. He wasn't quite the fan like I thought he would be. Hopefully he'll grow out of it. His favorite part was having lunch at the zoo, hotdogs! All in all it was a fun day.
If you look really close there is a lion in the back ground! Notice Ryver wouldn't even stand next to Portia for the picture.