Tuesday, July 27, 2010

more vacation pictures

papa and ryker

isley and george (isley's the one with the lovely dooo)

papa and jack at bar-j-wranglers

siona and kendyl


siona and gramma

kj

siona

kamryn trying to start a fire

kj, hunter, kamryn, and siona
(when am i going to learn that group pictures don't happen with these kids?)

kj and siona

siona thought it was really funny that haley was dunking hunter in the springs

whole different story when it was her.

she was NOT happy with haley!


kj and siona

jack was a happy camper!

they saw this moose and her calf on the side of the river as we were floating down it.

mel, siona, george and isley

summer vacation...

ok, ok! i know this is a little late posting, but really i was waiting on my kids to get me their pictures, so that i could get a variety.

this summer, we took the kids (all but cheyne) to island park and stayed at "fox hollow lodge". kendyl and siona rode up with us. we left saturday so that we could stop at don's sisters(valerie's) place in st. anthony. they took us to their rodeo celebration, that night. then the next morning we got up and went up to island park. we met jeff, haley, and the kids at the cabin.
this was at the rodeo and it was really cool

me, siona and kendly being silly

a look inside the cabin

after we got settled into the cabin, we went geo cashing. it was warm and we walked a good 1/2 mile to find the treasure... when we got back to the cabin, this was hunter. he said "holy tarnation it's hot!"


we went to jackson hole, to the bear and wolf refuge

and then to the bar-j-wranglers concert for dinner


hunter, thinking he's the "king of the hill"
siona's 5th birthday was tuesday, but george and mel weren't coming up until wednesday, so we had a party without them. haley made dinner that night and when we sat down to eat, siona told haley, "this is just a little gross!" (i guess that's better than a lot gross!)

siona, opening her presents

happy birthday to you!
__________________________

the kids LOVED the hot tub...


baby jack...


'big springs' was a big hit!

this is hunter showing us how tough he is.

the kids feeding the fish, ducks, seagulls, and the muskrat they saw.

me and donnie


the springs were peaceful and beautiful


trying to get a picture of these four was a total joke!

haley and hunter

one of the funnest days we had, we went to the 'big springs' and then we took a four hour rafting trip down the river, at mack's inn. the kids had a blast! definately something we will do again!! we had two rafts, and the kids went back and forth. at the end, it ended up that all of the kids, except isley, were in the raft with chet, tiff, jeff, and haley. don, george, mel, and i had a peaceful float down the river. who planned that?

hunter and ryker thought they were the cats meow, paddling like they were naturals.

we also had places where we got out of the rafts and played in the water.

jack, all tuckered out.

four hours, was a long time for isley, too.

hunter, jack and haley at the artist paint pots

the murdochs, heading into 'yellowstone'
the hunter's enjoying the hot tub

sauvao's heading into 'yellowstone'

hunter and ryker, ready for bed....NOT!

kamryn, in her space of the loft

a good group picture, is not happening with this group!

they're like a bunch of caged monkeys!

and this is "fox hollow lodge"

thanks, kids for all of your hard work and for making the effort to be with us. this is what we live for!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

rykers b-day

ryker turned "3". so this was the year that he got to go shopping with gramma to get his birthday present and then out to dinner with grandpa and gramma to the place of HIS choice.

when chet was this age, grandma ruth, made all of the grandson's stick horses. i don't know how many times she replaced the sticks on chet, ty, and greg's horses, because they would wear them down so bad, that they didn't reach the ground anymore, but i know that it was at least once (per horse). since ryker is all boy, and so much like his dad, i found these cute stick horses at the hospital pink shop (i could have made it, but we wanted it for this birthday). for his shopping trip, that's where we went. right down to the hospital, into the pink shop, and he got to choose, black or brown. you can see he choose the black one. - that was the easiest shopping trip yet!
auntie haley made these chaps out of a pattern from a pair that i made chet years ago. and with his boots, gloves, and his cowboy hat, he had all the fixin's of being a "cowboy.
he wanted to go to "texas roadhouse" for dinner. (he didn't have a clue what "texas roadhouse" was, except kendyl told him that he could sit on a saddle and they would say "yee haw"! to him).
didn't take much to talk grandpa into that!
here is is waiting at the restaurant
(i would have NEVER let chet wear shorts with his cowboy boots, but what the heck... who cares. this is what ryker wanted to wear!)
notice he has his stick horse with him, too.

grandpa let him get a specialty drink to share with him, (but i think ryker drank most of it.)

this was his favorite part of the whole night (except when he was flirting with the waitresses)! when they sat him on the saddle and yelled "yee haw"!

then they brought him his very own sundae.

happy birthday ryker! we love you and love the entertainment and joy that you bring!
love you, grandpa and gramma