Scott’s Bottom

Last Thursday, on a whim, we decided to take a drive. So we called up my SIL Rachel and she and Naomi, and their giant lab Brutus, came too! We dropped Haylie off at school, jumped in the suburban and we were off! It was a bit of a rough drive out there, but SO worth it! The river was so shallow that we could all walk across to this little island. Except Maggie. She wasn’t havin’ any of it!

SO she just sat in the sand and watched all that was going on around her.

Cousin Naomi joined in on the fun. But she had other things on her mind, and didn’t last very long just sitting in the sand…

It took Lady about 5 years to where she wouldn’t run off, the first chance she got. She’ll be 6 years old in November, and she has become a wonderful family dog. She loves to explore and she will go for little adventures, but doesn’t go too far. She was completely in her element down at the river… all of the dogs were. So many smells = Beagle Heaven!

Oh… Connor. Why, why, why?
I don’t know if it’s a phobia or what, but Connor won’t wear wet clothes. So when he immediately took his shoes and socks off and started wading through the river, I had to wonder at the way his brain was working. Sure enough, as soon as he realized that he had to get OUT of the water and put his socks and shoes back on, he FREAKED. We all know how hard it is to put clothes when our skin is wet… aye, aye, aye. In these kinds of situations, I (usually, unless Joe isn’t there) quietly make my exit and Joe handle it. Luckily there was lots to see and do, so it kept Connor’s mind off of his wet pants.

More of Maggie… the colors in this little shirt just popped with the greens, blue and browns in the background. Plus, she’s cute. :) Maybe I’m biased…

Guess who!

OK, so maybe the water wasn’t so bad… unfortunately, these little pants are hand-me-downs (Thanks Rachel!) and are a little too big, so she got soaked. Especially when Lucy came running and knocked her flat. THAT went over well…

Time to dry off! Maggie lost the wet pants and muddy shoes, Naomi lost the jacket and we started exploring!

And then Brutus and Lucy realized that they both like to run! Well, mostly Brutus was just chasing Lucy… notice here how they’re stopped? Lucy is giving him the look. You know the one- tilted head and arched eyebrow… “THE look.”

Still thinkin’ about it…

I guess he didn’t get the memo. She’s all out TICKED, here. See how’s he’s leaning to the side? She had just barked at him right before I took this picture and he’s ready to bolt!

I can’t wait to go back!

The boy is in preschool…

Someday I hope to get a picture that has the smile from the first and the eyes from the second. For now, this will have to suffice.

Sometimes I worry about this one… he is a huge momma’s boy and homebody. Recently, both he and Haylie started swimming lessons. Haylie got moved up to Level 2 while Connor will stay in Level 1. After he realized that he will be in the class all by himself, he told us that he doesn’t want to go anymore. I think it will be really good for him to do some things on his own and to take directions from a teacher(s) without Haylie around, but at the same time it KILLS me to see him anxious and nervous. So far, he is loving preschool though! He is getting to do some fun crafts and other activities… and meanwhile, Maggie goes down for a nap while he is at preschool, so I get some peace and quiet to do whatever I want! I think this is going to be a really long year, but I am grateful for all of the chaos to keep me busy. Hopefully I won’t be able to dwell on how hard life is right now…

GRAMMA JACKIE CAME!

Woohoo! And I didn’t take any pictures until she was almost gone. :( We walked down the bike path to the mountain bike park (about a half mile or so). The kids love going down there and REALLY wanted to show Gramma Jackie. I had just had very minor toe “surgery,” if you want to call it that, so I was a little unsure of how it would feel, but it was fine!

I got almost  three pictures of Haylie, and this is about as good as it gets! That girl was all over the place. And when she was tired of riding her bike, she ran around the whole park (literally) non-stop, which is probably a good half to 3/4 of a mile total. If this girl doesn’t run cross country or do track, or both, in middle and high school, I will be shocked!

See? What’d I tell ya’?

Woohoo!! Here it is! The only picture we got with Gramma Jackie, and she’s not even looking at the camera. :( Oh well… at least we have proof, right?

(Sorry about this next picture.. I couldn’t get the editing right.) We had Joe’s parents for dinner on Sunday, and then after we all drove up the mountain and walked a little bit. Gramma Jackie WAS there, I promise.

Look what she brought me! A set of work bowls from Williams-Sonoma! I love them! Thanks Momma.

We also did this! It took us two days but it was SO fun! Mom brought a bunch of produce from home, including a big box of Gala apples from Larry… Thanks Larry! You wouldn’t believe the difference in taste of apples right off the tree to apples in a Wyoming grocery store… yuck! We are LOVING having a little piece of home. :)

We feel so blessed to have had her here, all to ourselves for 5 whole days. I don’t know what I would have done without her… I never had a dirty dish in the sink, never had any dirty laundry or dirty floors, and she took care of all the meals including on the day that I had my little toe “procedure.” :) She took Haylie to school in the morning and picked her up in the afternoons. She took Connor on errands. She made sure Joe had food in his belly before he had to go to bed at 5 and we watched chick flicks EVERY NIGHT. We are missing her terribly. Christmas is a very long ways away…

Bear Lake, UT

Joe used to go to Bear Lake for scouting trips when he was a kid, so it was fun to see a place where he spent some of his childhood!

I just couldn’t resist…. this picture is hilarious!

And we got this swimsuit from my SIL… looks SO cute on Maggie.

Connor, being the Nervous Nelly that he is, wasn’t too sure about being buried in the sand, but when we finally convinced him that he would be able to get out all by himself, he was good to go!

Haylie, on the other hand, was all for it!

Shocked?

Connor just asked me if this is his daddy. No, Connor, it is not. Although, I think Joe may have been a little jealous… his mountain man side was longing to be set FREEEEEE!

Joe was inside the gas station when I spotted this handsome hunk… he didn’t see me taking pictures of his backside, but his friend did. I was a little embarrassed. But come on… chances are slim that I’ll ever see a real live human dressed like an Indian (and driving a car). :/ At least he’s fit, right? We later learned that this guy, and his equally authentically dressed wife and kids were headed to the “Mountain Man Rendezvous” in Fort Bridger. The reason we know this, is because we went to the “Mountain Man Rendezvous” in Fort Bridger. And we saw MANY MANY more people dressed this same way.

(Sorry for the “bu-thigh” shots.)

Ulrich’s Fossil Gallery

Over Labor Day weekend, we got ditched. Joe’s sister Rachel and her family ditched us, his parents ditched us… so we had to make the best of it. And we survived. It was actually a lot of fun… Joe had 2 days off of school so we had lots of time to play! On Saturday we took a drive to Bear Lake, UT. On the way, we saw this sign that said, “Fossil Butte.” We didn’t actually make it to Fossil Butte, but we did spend about an hour at Ulrich’s Fossil Gallery.

The Ulrich’s (I’m guessing) live in this gigantic house/fossil gallery. Up those stairs, through the door and up some more stairs to the right is the gallery. They have some fossils that are millions of years old… they were incredible! The left side of the house with that little sunroom, is where they live. We didn’t meet “Mr. Ulrich” but his wife was SO sweet. She told us all about the fossils and how they started their business… amazing.

This dinosaur fossil is displayed right outside their home… Connor was in awe!

The Ulrichs have some employees who take tourists up to the mines to look for their own fossils. When they come back, they unload them all, and turn on their electric saw and then cut off the edges and whatnot to make it square. The pile of rock on the left side of the picture is where they throw all of the extras. Mrs. Ulrich gave each of the kids a hammer and chisel to look for their own fossils right outside the house. I can’t believe how interested both Haylie and Connor were in this… It was like 600 degrees in the shade, and we still spent a good 45 minutes splitting rock. And the coolest part was that we got to bring all of the fossils that we found, home!

This is the one Connor found… cool huh?!

Poor little orphan Maggie.

Pure…

…silence.

For a minute anyway. It was one heavenly minute though, let me tell you!

(more to come on the “Bear Lake” part of the trip)

Deeee!

Every time we walk down to get Haylie, well lately anyway, there are three big bucks that camp out in the yard of the house right next to the school. She LOVES the “deee!” As we pass them, she turns and looks out of the jogger, not wanting to miss a single moment of seeing them. This day, they appeared after we were already home from getting Haylie from school. The kids spotted them, and they just stood there and let us take pictures. Here, they still had the velvet on their racks and they seemed so much more gentle.

 

I caught these two having a little “tiff” the morning my mom left. See how their antlers don’t have the fuzzy velvet on them anymore? Don’t they look way more intimidating?!

I hear people always complaining about how obnoxious the deer are because they eat their flowers and bushes… but I just can’t help but be in awe of them. I love it when they come in our yard. Just last Monday, we came home from swimming lessons and there were two bucks, maybe these same ones, in our front yard. And the kids and I just sat in the car until they finally moseyed their way down the street. They really are beautiful, majestic animals…

(I secretly love that these ones are hanging out in town because they have less of a chance of getting hunted. ;) 

Poor, poor Maggie…

Don’t you just love the “terrible twos?” Or in this case, the “terrible fifteen months…” Maggie got mad at me because I wouldn’t give her the camera. She threw herself down on the floor and had a nice little tantrum.

And when she realized I wasn’t buyin’ it, she promptly got up and was fine!