James mows the lawn!

James has always liked "helping" push the lawnmower and Matt has always encouraged it.  This week, James actually took control of the mower without dad's help!

James really was proud of himself today.

Great job James!!

2011 Fair

Fun at the Western Idaho State Fair 2011!!  We always get to the fairgrounds before the midway opens, so we start with the animal barns.  Much to our luck and surprise, the first barn we entered had a little calf the kids could actually pet.  Oh, how sweet.

Our timing was great again when we visited the goats.  The owner of these cute little babies went into the pen and helped the boys pet a couple of kids.  Julia didn't like the animal barns because of the flies.  She cried and cried.  Apparently, she's very much afraid of flies.  Bees don't bother her, just the flies. . .  I didn't like the animal pens for other reasons (ask me another time).

Julia calmed down when we went into the fowl barn and saw baby quail hatching out of their shells.

The ag building is always fun.  Simplot is the main sponsor (notice the hat).  Wouldn't grandpa Robertson be proud of his little farmer grandkids?

Who knew we had an entire garden of veggies in our house?

Playing in the ag building.  You can't beat a Deere (John, that is).

One of the exhibits on the way to the midway was a butterfly habitat.  They let you dip cotton swabs in a sugar solution and the butterflies would literally land on the swab for a snack!  How cool is that?

James on the ferris wheel.

Jacob on the choo chop train.

First day of school 2011

Hello second grade!!!!  James started second grade this year.  I can't believe he's growing up so fast.  So far he's doing very well and has a wonderful teacher.  She makes a point of greeting each child and saying something personal to them both as they enter and leave the classroom every day.

Labeling all of our school supplies.

Coloring the Travel Folder picture.

James loves silly faces.

James Day #3

Our final James Day finally arrived the day before school started.  We decided to go to Camel's Back Park, as Jacob's school was having a playmate there as well.  Besides, it's been a while since we'd gone to that park to play (and it wasn't cold and wet!).

Our day started with a special James Day breakfast.  And in true James Day style, James topped his previous two breakfasts by a mile (notice the soda can at James' place?).

After we got to the park, the kids spied a dog and since Jacob says he's now "not afraid of dogs anymore," they all decided to ask to pet the doggy.

A rare moment when all three are on the swings at once.

James and his nemesis, the monkey bars.  Actually, today he could not complete the bars, but by the second day of school, he was a whiz!  I'm so proud of him!

Jacob sitting on the bench.  Apparently, he thought his tummy hurt and decided he needed to leave the park.  So I let him sit on the bench in the shade for a while.

Oh the tunnels at Camle's Back!

Slide hair!!!

For some reason today, Jacob decided that he was Frankenstein.  I'm not sure where this notion came from today, but he was certainly playing the role well.  Actually, he wasn't just Frankenstein, he was an electric Frankenstein.  So, in his best monotone robot voice, he walked around the park saying, "I am a Frankenstein and you are not."  By the time we were ready to leave the park, he had two other boys following him repeating his phrase as electric Frankensteins.  I guess he's the pied piper now.

Listen and you'll hear the "Electric Frankenstein."

Electric Frank and his posse.

Lunch.  In front of the tv of course (actually, I think it was a Spongebob video).

A rare photo of mommy when James asked to take some pictures.

Snack time.  Soda, again.  And if you look closely, you'll see that the kids have s'mores for their snack (we had just gone camping the weekend prior so s'mores were on the brain).

Dinner was my now famous pizza pockets (thank you "Our Best Bites!").

Dams & Canyons Day 8 Robertson Reunion

After all the planning, the Robertson Reunion was finally here.  My cousin, Sarah, and I planned this year's festivities.  She planned the location and activities, I planned the food (fortunately, I didn't have to cook it!). We always have a good time with my extended family.  I always feel like you couldn't meet a nicer, more hospitable group anywhere.  The reunion took place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

This is a kids' craft that I planned (ok, so I did one other thing besides plan the food).  We made paper plate tambourines.  The kids had fun decorating their plates and even more fun shaking them to make noise!

One thing we knew in advance of the reunion is that we would not have a full kitchen at our disposal.  So we planned meals using Dutch ovens, slow cookers and camp stoves.  Uncle Charlie was our resident Dutch oven master.  Here he is reheating dessert on Sunday morning.

Great Aunt Carole, aka Julia's substitute grandma.  Julia just seemed to adore my aunt Carole.  Every opportunity she got, Julia could be found in Carole's lap.  Here, you see Aunt Carole showing Julia pictures from her camera.

The teeter-totter airplane.

Dutch oven glory.

The view behind our cabin.

James learning how to play bocce ball with his third cousin.

Aw, throwing the cow poop into the bucket . . . what, doesn't everyone play that at their family reunion?  Say what you will, the kids LOVED this game.  My cousins made cow poop patties out of spray foam.  How clever is that?

Fishing for cans.

Each activity came with rewards in the way of candy and plastic dinosaurs.

Chilling outside our cabin on Sunday morning.

Sunday morning breakfast . . . pancakes cooked by Uncle Jim and Aunt Carole.

Fun times!!!!!!

Dams & Canyons Day 7

Do you really need me to tell you where we were today?

Bryce Canyon was the last national park on our dams and canyons trip (and a really spectacular canyon).  Unfortunately, when I woke up this morning, I felt truly awful and knew I was going to be sick all day.  I honestly felt like I needed to toss my cookies all day long and really kind of wished that I had.  So, I did not get to enjoy this part of our vacation.  I spent most of our time in the car, moaning and groaning.

Bryce Canyon is so cool.  It was another one of those places that we felt we could have spent a day or two exploring.  What you don't see in most of these pics is the maze of trails that winds through each mountain side.  They lead through tunnels and into caves and around peaks.

You have to have at least one family pic everywhere, right?

One of the coolest features of Bryce Canyon is the statuesque "fingers" that appear throughout this national park.  They are really cool in pictures, but even more so in person.  

This one looks a little like a city.  You can sort of imagine some scenes from Star Wars being shot here.

I thought this one looked like a castle.

Trail leading into a cave.

The day ended with s'mores at the Robertson Family reunion in Torrey, UT, near Capitol Reef National Park.  Finally, the boys got to see a "whole bunch of Robertsons."  The road from Bryce to Torrey was pure torture for me, as I felt worse during this trek than at any other point during the day.  I felt a little better once we were out of the car, but not much.  I did eat some chicken soup and felt ok enough to take this picture.  All afternoon and evening, the boys kept asking when we were going to start the fire.  Matt kept putting them off and at one point said, "Go look for the fire starter switch" (we have a gas fireplace at home).  So the boys started looking in all the cabins for the magic "switch."  Finally they realized dad was pulling their leg and said, "no, you need to light it with a match!"  They were so happy when dad finally started the fire!