Silver City

A couple of weeks ago we loaded up the van and headed for them thar hills in search of the ghost town called Silver City. Steve has always wanted to go out to this very secluded ghost town. This place is way up a dirt road that's not always wide enough for two cars to pass at the same time. This was quite an exciting drive. Some very beautiful scenery along the way and some scary spots when you are driving where you can't see where the road is going when you get to the top of the hill. I am glad Steve was driving!!! This place is up about 6000 ft.

There is a little shop and a hotel with a restaurant even and a campground too. There is some restoration going in this little town that you can't get to until the the snow clears out and the roads clear. The only public restroom in town is an outhouse. There are outhouses around town with the sign that says "Show by appointment only" or in other words "you can't use this outhouse it's private!"

We had fun walking all over town and taking pictures. Steve had his camera, I had mine, and Jonny was using one of Steve's old cameras too. We had a few hundred shots to go through so the slideshow is long...takes longer to watch the slideshow than it does to walk through this little piece of history called Silver City. There was a dog at the hotel that greeted us when we arrived. A little bit later we were up at the cemetary taking pictures for a project and the same dog that greeted us earlier came to see what we were up to. He is the town mascot I suppose.

The town church sits on the hillside. The kids started up that hillside to go see the church and grabbed onto the "iron rod" to help themselves up the hillside path. "Hey Mom! The iron rod!"

New Wheels....

We bought a Suburban yesterday. It is HUGE! I feel like I am driving a boat or a tank. We got a great deal and it has very low miles and has been very well maintained. We paid cash for it and now we are set for a couple of summer trips to visit family. It is hard to find a vehicle that fits our size of family and all the cargo space we require! We feel blessed to have found this great vehicle!

Our van had over 260,000 miles on it and was dying a slow death. We have nursed it along for awhile but the final straw was when the power steering and power brakes went out. Add that to no air conditioning, a radiator leak so it overheats so I have to keep filling the radiator with water and then I have to run the heat to keep it from overheating when I haven't filled it with water in the last two days....um time to get a new vehicle don't ya think? (I know that was a very long, run-on sentence) I am so grateful Steve was driving when the power steer/brakes went out. Earlier that day I had the van full of kids and groceries going down the freeway from Costco! That would have been exciting!

Easter Bunny Rail....

We started our Easter celebrations a week early and boarded the Thunder Mountain Railroad for the Easter Bunny Rail. It is about a 3 hour round-trip ride from Horseshoe Bend to Banks, ID. They have dining cars with gifts and food as well as passenger cars, and the outdoor cars. The cars for this train came from as far as New York and New Orleans. They had blankets you could cover up with while sitting outside.

The kids had a blast moving all over the train. We started in the car that had tables and everyone colored/decorated their bags for the Easter egg hunt. We dined on hot dogs and water, mmmm.....! After a time in the outside cars, some of us moved to the inside cars where you could enjoy the sun coming through the window while watching the beautiful scenery go by without the wind in your face!

The kids had fun taking photos during the trip. We had three cameras going most of the time and one Flip camera taking video too. When we arrived at Banks everyone got off of the train for a little Easter egg hunt for the 11yr and under crowd, which only includes two of my kids now. There wasn't much else to do during out little stop in Banks.

The Easter bunny was walking around the train during the trip handing out candy. Emily really didn't want much to do with the Easter bunny but she would take the candy just fine.

We had a great time!

Summer fun in Washington....

We are in Washington visiting Steve's parents and here for a neice's wedding too. We have been enjoying the parks and waterfront inspite the grey and cloudy days. In fact we dodged the rain for a few minutes then hopped out of the car to play on the beach. Emily loves to play on the slides and swings and asks for them each morning when she wakes up!

Fossil Hunting....

One of Steve's friends told him about this road-side fossil bed just outside of Murphy, Idaho.  So we loaded up the crew and headed out there last Saturday morning.  ALL of the kids had fun, even Emily.  We took Aunt Tami and Grandma Lockhart along.  Everyone got into the dig.  We all found our share of what look like fossils to us, but they are probably not that old.  Who knows.  Fun was had by all and that is what matters most!

I Love the Fall Colors....

I love all the colors of the trees during this season. I drive around amazed by the beauty that surrounds us. It is like looking at a fine painting. The bright yellows seem to illuminate the area all around. When I see these beautiful trees, surrounded by their fallen leaves, I want to have my family sitting in the middle of those leaves for a portrait. I love outdoor photography and always want a great family portrait outside. As I am driving my kids around I will see different settings that would make great portrait sites; a rustic fence, a big tree, piles of leaves, abandoned buildings. I can see the set-up and know the time of day that would provide perfect lighting. I am always taking those beautiful shots in my mind.

I took this shot above after I dropped Logan off at Scouts. His leader lives down a long driveway and this tree is in the neighbors yard. I just had to stop and whip out my little point and shoot camera and capture this scene.
In my backyard I have a little bit of this yellow, a rustic swing, and some cute kids. I was making dinner and saw this photo in my mind as I looked out the window. One of the kids is missing, Jon was at church for Mutual. He would have whined about being in the picture anyway. I aspire to be a great outdoor photographer. However, it is all in my mind for now.

Learning to spell....

The kids have these foam letters in the Harry Potter closet and they have been making mess with them and having a little fun too. They think it is funny to stick one on Emily's forehead and see what she does. She is such a good sport she will just wear the sticker and keep on going. At one point they had her name spelled across her forehead. It was there for a couple of hours before her Daddy removed them for her!The first photo reminds me of a game we played on one car trip to Washington. We figured out how to say each other's names if their names were spelled backwards. This kept the kids entertained for hours. Give it a shot, but some of the foam letters would make it a lot of fun! Only if you don't mind the sticker peelings all over the place!

Happy Birthday Logan!

Logan just turned 11 on Monday! Time sure seems to go by faster and faster! I remember when he started walking, and he was born talking! I remember him dressing himself before he was even two years old! He is a sweet, tender-hearted boy! We love him!
Logan wanted to a have a few friends over for a small party. He wanted to play video games and so we limitedthe number of friends to the number of controllers for the game system. We had his family party the week before when the Murphy grandparents were passing through town.

I don't usually do friend b-day parties. I have limited it to when you turn 12 and we'll go from there maybe to 16. After Logan's birthday the 1st of September, I have 4 birthdays now, all a week apart starting in October and ending on or near Thanksgiving on 11/24. Since we are not independently wealthy and Christmas follows so soon after the last birthday in November, we limit the party to family only.

Logan doesn't like most baked sweets. So the birthday cake is not really for him, it is for the rest of us! At Sam's Club I found the coolest cake, it was two huge cookies with frosting in the middle, a cookie cake. It was huge too, what you see above is 1/2 of the cookie! The chocolate chip cookies were really good too.

Summer's over ...School begins!

As the school bus pulls away with the last group of my kids I realize summer is over! It could be the colder mornings, the pool without kids in it all day, the quiet house, or the backpacks filled and ready to go, fall is coming and the kids are finally back to school! Our summer vacation came to a close a week later than the schools around us, due to construction. We have had a great summer. But the last week while everyone else in the area was going back to school, I was starting to lose my mind! And I think the kids had finally had enough of summer too. It has been a bit of a transition though.

Logan's 1st day of Middle School

No more running to a friends house for the day or playing out in the neighborhood. It is back to the books for these kids! Oh yeah, regular bedtime, EVERY night! Yeah! (did I say that out loud?) Every summer gets a little easier as the crew kids a little older. I can take everyone shopping with me and only 1 child in the cart. Now do I take everyone shopping with me? Only when it is unavoidable. This year we have two in Middle School and 3 in grade school. So the years of split schedules begins! In just two years they will all be on the same schedule again and all in Middle School or High School. This year we have 7th grade, 6th grade, 5th grade, and two in 4th grade. When Emily finally starts school, Katie and Carson will be in 10th grade! Potty training and Driver's training, Kindergarten and High School. So much fun ahead, really!

Summer's Last Adventure....

After getting the chores done around the house we packed up a picnic dinner and headed out to Eagle Island State Park. We have gone to this park for years and love it. It is close to home and is just a beautiful park.The waterslide is great fun too!You can buy 10 rides for$5 or unlimited rides for$10. The tickets don't expire and we had saved the tickets from last year so the kids got a few rides a piece, which was plenty as it wasn't all that hot! Then they were off to the lake to swim some more.After grabbing some towels we were off to do some geocaching. The kids love the treasure hunt! Eagle Island has 14 caches and we found a good one.
Every cache is different. Some just have a log book that you sign. Others have stuff to trade. This cache was full of kid-friendly stuff to trade but we didn't bring our trading stuff with us so we just signed the book and re-hid the cache.The walk around the lake was beautiful. We have been to this park for many years like I mentioned in the beginning, but we have never walked around the lake! It is a nice walk, even with a stroller on dirt paths. The scenery is just gorgeous and the surroundings quite peaceful too.

My Summer Favorites.....

Some of my summer 2008 favorites are....

My Wave Petunias by my front door....

My tomato patch....
My children sitting peacefully together watching a show....

Camping at Pine Flats

As mentioned in an earlier post my sister and I took the kids and went up to the Lowman, ID area and camped at Pine Flats campground. We found it on the US Forest Service website. You can check out photos and all the amenities a campsite has to offer and make your reservations too!
We had a great time. The kids loved exploring and making up games, playing in the hot springs, and roasting marshmallows for s'mores. We even sang songs by the campfire. Emily did NOT loving the nights! She would fall asleep and wake back up 20 min. later and do this all night long. The first night I thought maybe it's because she is teething. The second night was just another repeat of the night before. My sister got up and took over about half the night and that saved my sanity! When we got home Emily's nightly routine returned to normal! Go figure! Steve was just sure that she didn't like sleeping away from her Daddy!
I have trimmed my photo selection from 300 down to 33 that I have placed in a slideshow.

Backyard Fun!

We put up a new trampoline on Wednesday.

Thursday we started putting a new pool up only to find after we started filling it that we needed to level the yard or the 6500 gallon pool would be soaking our yard and the neighbor's too.
So Friday we started draining the pool. Saturday Steve picked up two yards of sand and the kids helped to shovel it off of the truck onto the driveway. Then the kids loaded the wheel barrow and brought sand over to the pool area. After we got the pool set-up again and started filling it, the kids took the last yard of sand and wheeled it over to the empty sandbox. We had enough sand to fill it to the brim! We had no idea that the sandbox would be such a big hit with ALL of the kids. Emily was taken in and promptly started to eat the sand. Jonny, who is 13.5 (who reminds us frequently that he is not a kid anymore, a teenager!!!!!) was out in the sandbox too with his Legos!
All the time while we are working Kristina would say "This is the best summer ever!" I am so proud of all of my kids! They all worked so hard out in the hot sun to get this stuff done. It was the kids' idea to start hauling the sand to the sandbox! It helped that I was passing out popsicles on a regular basis to add to the fun and keep them hydrated too!

4th of July Celebration

The children had a "blast" setting off fireworks. Grandpa made sure that he got stuff the kids could light off. I am not sure if he even lit one firework! The trick is keeping everyone in the right order so they don't think they have missed out on a turn to light stuff. Emily was a real trooper through all of the loud fireworks, she didn't seem to be frightened at all! The neighbors must have set off hundreds of dollars, the big stuff you see in shows!There were fireworks for a couple of hours after we were done. We could have just watched what they set off and been just fine! But the kids don't see it that way. They want to light some too!

4th of July Trip to Washington

At the last minute we decided that we would pack-up the family and head to Washington to visit Steve's parents for the 4th of July holiday. It is quite a chore to get everyone packed-up and leave the house in order too. Our life is an adventure, always something exciting coming our way. The adventure began this trip when our van overheated less than 2 hours into the trip. I should have taken a photo but did not. We are on the side of the freeway, sitting on the back of the van in the shade. The kids have their blankets and pillows spread out like we are on a picnic at the park. We asked them when was the last time they got to sit and watch cars go by on the freeway anyway! Many people stopped to see if they could help. We just needed to the let the car cool down enough to inch along to the nearest exit. Meanwhile, Steve is calling his friend who has done car repair in the past and talks through some troubleshooting trying to figure out what the problem is. We finally make it to Baker and coast down the exit to the gas station and Steve checks the radiator and it is bone dry! Well, go figure! He filled the radiator and bought two gallons of water and we were on our way to the grandparent's home! Hooray!


On the agenda for the next day was to go and watch the Tall Ships come into the harbor in Tacoma. The kids got to run the beach and find treasures which I informed them needed to stay on the beach.














There is a new park in Sumner that Grandpa wanted to take the kids to and they loved it!

A blast from the past ... The Grand Canyon 2006

For spring break in 2006 we made an 18+ hour drive to the Grand Canyon. We had planned places to stay along the way, even made reservations. However, Steve loves to just get there and so we drove straight through after getting up at 4 or 5 am. I had activity packets, kids atlases, food, movies, etc. We were ready for the ride!
As you can see from this photo, when we got there the Grand Canyon was covered in fog! We saw all kinds of weather including; fog, rain, hail, snow, and yes a little sunshine too. As we drove from point to point along the rim of the Canyon it would be foggy or any other weather from the above list. We would faithfully get out of the car and walk to the view points hoping we would see something. As we got the view point the clouds would part and the sun would shine down if only for a few minutes. The rain would stop too. As we were done at each view point and walk back to the car the weather would continue in it's blustery fashion. It was really amazing!

This is inside of the Watchtower along the Canyon rim. The next photo of Jon holding his hand out is a fun photo trick that Steve enjoys doing. Click on that photo and it looks like Jon is holding this building in his hand.

The kids each worked on their Junior Ranger badges while we were there. I think only Jonny and Logan we able to get it all done. We love to have the kids do the Junior Ranger program at any National Park that we go to. It makes the visit interactive and they learn something too! Not to mention the cool badge they get when they are done. There are some on-line programs to complete too.

On our way back home we stopped through Las Vegas to pick-up Steve's sister Diana. We stopped and went through the M&M World store. That was so fun! The kids got to pick a souvenir and then their own color of M&Ms too! Once we made it up to Salt Lake we took the tour of the Conference Center. The artwork is amazing. They have the entire collection of Book of Mormon art by Arnold Friberg. It was amazing to see the originals. I think I will add a slide show from our trip. There are so many cool photos, I can't include them all here individually.