Our Fall Activities

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Here are some pictures of a few things we've done this Fall. Time has gone so fast this summer, I can't believe it's almost Halloween!

We went to Yellowstone a few weeks ago, and had alot of fun seeing the sights. The weather was GREAT, and we saw alot of Buffalo. No bears, though. I really wanted to see a bear. And I wanted to see the Morning Glory pool. I've never seen that, but by the time we got to Old Faithful it was a little after 3:00 and we had to wait until almost 4:00 to see it go off, and the walk to the Morning Glory pool was well over a mile long. Maybe next time....

Our beautiful little niece was born in August. We went to little Elliot Grace's baptism a few weeks ago. We had fun. We enjoyed Elliot's first trip to the zoo together. Oh, and her parents came, too. (haha) Funny isn't it? How parents take a backseat in the spotlight when a new baby comes? I don't think they mind. We're all very happy Elliot is here, and she's as healthy as they come. (Thank you God) She's very content, only crying when she's hungry. She's great.

We just got over our early Fall vomit-fest. I HATE those times. Jonah got sick last Thursday night, Chase followed it up Friday morning, and Nathan got it Sunday. Not the funnest. My brother's family all got it, too. The WHOLE family, all five of them. Poor guys. Poor ol' Elias got sick up on the mountain during hunting season. Elias and Chris had to drive off the mountain at 1:30 in the morning because Elias got sick in his sleeping bag. And for any of you who know Elias, you know that having to leave hunting camp was probably WAY worse than even being sick. He was ready to go back up the next day, but he was given another day at home to recover.

And for any of you who know OUR family. You've probably heard me talk about Chase's struggle with Sensory Defensiveness. Well, a couple weeks ago we met with an Occupational Therapist in Cody. He taught us a brushing technique that we've been using with Chase...5 times a day! There's alot of science (the OT says it's more of an Art than a Science, but there's alot of scientific terms used) that goes into how and why brushing Chase's skin will help with his sensory awareness. We're willing to try anything. So, we've been doing this brushing technique called the "Wilbarger Protocol" for anyone who's interested in looking it up. And we've been doing it for 2 weeks. His daycare providers think its a miracle. I tend to be cautious, but I think I can see a difference. His teachers at CRC have been telling me this week that he's doing very well. That's good news. Especially since I didn't tell them we started the brushing thing. (Kind of a test to see what people would say who DIDN'T know what we have been up to.) I hope and pray it works well for him.

A good, full day.

Saturday morning we got up, got ready and drove to Lovell for their Lake Days. They were giving free boat rides at Horseshoe Bend, so we took advantage of that and hopped into a boat. Turns out the owner of the boat knows Dad, Mom and my cousin Todd, so that was a nice coincidence. Chase and Jonah had a blast and weren't nervous at all about their first ride in a boat. In fact, they were both way to gutsy, as far as their mother was concerned. Chase wanted to sit on the edge of the boat and hang his feet over in the water, and Jonah wanted to go to the back of the boat and inspect the motor. I said, "No!" to both.

This was our first catch of the day, a Croppy. They're pretty when they first come out of the water, but not-so-much later. And I had a hard time deciding what to do with them. I think we'll throw them back from now on...as long 2 little boys don't get too attached. Jonah is not unhappy in this picture...just the opposite in fact. When you tell him to smile and say, "Cheese!", that's what he looks like. Funny thing is, when you go back later and show him pictures like these, HE thinks he was crying!

Daddy and Jonah reeling in...nothing. Dang-it!

Chase and mom reeling in....nothing. They both got way too excited and started reeling in imagined things. Patience is learned from situations like this...i hope.

Nothing....

We decided finally to put the fish we DID catch in a cooler because neither of them could stay away from them when we put them on a stringer and threw them back into the lake. They kept yanking on the stringer and bringing the fish back up, then throwing it out again. I started feeling sorry for the fish!

Class reunion

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We had a great time at our reunion. We started on Friday with dinner at Lisa's restaurant, then moved to the Smokehouse. I finally made it home at 3:00 a.m.!! And I wasn't the last one there! There were still a few of my classmates who stayed up later than that. Nathan was impressed. When I got home, he was sleeping with both of the kids in our bed. Ahh, it adds character. The next day we met up again for a picnic in the park. That was fun, too. More laid back, and people brought their kids which was fun to see. I had planned to try to make it to the street dance later that night, but I when I put Jonah to bed, I laid down with him and never got up. I slept in his room all night, which he didn't mind at all. I was too tired and sunburned to gather the energy to make it out one more night. I missed seeing everyone and saying goodbye, though. It was a fun time. Fun enough, in fact, that everyone wants to try for another reunion in 5 years instead of waiting the usual 10.

Visiting Grandpa

Last weekend we went to visit Chase and Jonah's Grandpa on the farm in South Dakota. We were wondering how the weekend was going to turn out since it rained the entire way from Greybull to Eureka, SD. We stayed the night at a hotel in Spearfish on Wednesday. The kids had a blast swimming in the pool. We bought them floaties and noodles for the pool and we almost couldn't get them out at 11:00 p.m. to go to bed!

If Jonah had his way, he would have lived on Grandpa's tractors for the whole visit! He couldn't get enough.

Chase liked his turns, too, but didn't have the drive that Jonah did. Although, he looks pretty darned serious about his ride in this picture.

When Jonah wasn't on one of the tractor's, or 4-wheeler's, or lawnmowers, this is what he looked like...poor guy.

Nathan, Chase, Jonah and I went on a 4-wheeler/3-wheeler ride to the lake that's by their house. While we were throwing rocks in the water, watching the birds and contemplating the possibility of a developing a recreation area...some storm clouds came up and started spitting rain on us. We hurried back home before it got really bad and I was able to take some cool cloud pics.

I love storms on the farm in South Dakota.

After the rain, and the sunset reflecting on the clouds. Real colors, too! No doctoring!

Grandpa's birthday cake, and of course Chase and Jonah had to help blow out the candles!

Huh? Speak up, I can't hear you!

Nostalgic, Sentimental, Excited, Anxious, a little Sad.....AND OLD!!!!

Friday the 13th (nice, huh?) will mark the first day of my 20-YEAR class reunion. Holy COW!!! I can't believe it's really been that long. I've been lamenting some gray hairs I've been spotting on my head, so last Friday I went to the beauty shop and got 'Frosted' with blonde and red. We don't use the term 'Frosted' anymore. That was what you did to your hair in the '80's. Now you get 'foils,' 'highlights' and 'lowlights.' Whatever...

Hopefully at the 20-year reunion we're still young enough to leave out of the conversation words like: Bowels, Fiber, Sciatica, Rheumatism, Lumbago (whatever that is), polyps and "hitch-in-my-gitalong."

I AM really excited to see the Class of '88 from Greybull, Wyoming. How they've all grown up, gotten older, wiser, more mature, etc.

There's a phrase from the John Lennon song "Beautiful Boy" that says, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." Sometimes that's good, sometimes that's not-so-good. I'm looking forward to seeing how life has shaped my classmates....

Family visit, and other things...

Nathan's cousin Mike and his family visited us from Minnesota on Saturday evening. It was fun to have them come to our house. We made up a bunch of shish kabobs on the grill and sat around outside shooting the breeze for a good 3 hours. Ours was one of the first stops of many Mike & fam. will be making the next 2-3 weeks. On Sunday they headed for Yellowstone, then will go visit their Aunt Judy in Idaho, then on to Washington to see more family, back through Montana and then home. They're going to put on alot of miles, but it sounds like a fun vacation! Jonah fell in love with their daughter Katy. She was great with him, and Chase too. They ran around the yard and played in the little pool until they were all wet and cold. (I sure hope Katy didn't get sick!)

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Mike, his wife and their girls at our house Saturday night.

Katy and Jonah having fun.

Jonah hopped in their van and would've probably completed the trip with Katy if we would have let him. They both settled in and got comfortable with their jammies and blankets. We drew the line when they started asking for their pillows!

The next day we were outside contemplating our garden set-up and I saw Chase and Jonah sitting on a stump at the end of our grass, over-looking our pond. I got the camera and went to ask them what they were doing...

They said they were looking for rattlesnakes!

Chase thought that if he found one he could catch it with the net he is holding in this picture. We discussed the pro's and con's of this idea and hopefully they will remember that the con's HEAVILY outweighed the pro's!!! A couple weekends ago, a family friend was bitten on the wrist by a baby rattlesnake. She was out in her yard pulling weeds around a tree and she said she felt like she was poked by a thorn, but it turned out it was baby rattlesnake teeth. She had to be life-flighted to Billings where she could get proper medication, since we didn't have any of it around here. Worland was short-staffed, as was Cody hospital. So she got a rather expensive, mostly pointless ride in a helicopter, and will be fine, thankfully.

Then they started getting goofy, and the snake-hunting was forgotten...(phew!)

Chaser playing around with his mom...

Chase and Jonah pics

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