The End

Here's the house in all it's new glory...

Siding Adventures

more water park

Isaac was on a first name basis with the lifeguard. He probably rode this slide about 30 times in a row. He'd come down the slide, roll out of the tube, and carry it back up the ramp all by himself.

Thomas Edison...

Ethan has figured out how to turn on the light next to the bed. He thinks it's a great game to play.

Roaring Rapids - Boise, Idaho

Monday, July 28th we were in Boise for a Wood family day at Roaring Rapids. It was to celebrate Rob's dad's birthday. The kids LOVED it!!

Lava Springs Camping

Friday night (7.25.08) found us camping in Lava with the Copelands, Andersons, Browns, and McMasters. We had a nice time getting to know each other better.

The kids loved the dirt. They weren't even allowed baths when we got home...it was straight to the shower where we could hose them down!

Ethan is cutting three more teeth. No wonder he's been grumpy lately.

Last night our external hard drive stopped working. We're hoping we can recover the home movies that are on it...everything else we have anither copy of.

Pioneer Day Parade 7.19.09

Cosette and Claire

Moving to a city that has a bigger Pioneer Day Parade than 4th of July Parade is quite different. Every float almost had a family or temple theme. The kids collected more candy from the parade than they do for Halloween!

We watched the parade with friends from church: Claysons, Copelands, and Turgooses.

Washing Dishes

Last Friday I had the day off from work. Cosette asked if she could wash her cereal bowl and spoon. Not a problem. I was vaccuuming and doing other things...this is what I walked into when I came back to the kitchen! They had a great time.

Ethan Swimming

This guy has no fear.

Faith's Birthday

Tuesday night we went to Island Park to celebrate Faith Carter and Tricia Ellinger's birthday. They've been having joint parties the past couple of years. This year we had an Indian themed party complete with war paint and boys and arrows. Swimming was at Blacktail (I think that's what it's called).

Aunt Tricia and Ethan were good buddies. Well, Ethan thought the deal was pretty good. He ate cupcake while Aunt Tricia fed him.


(don't worry Rob, we didn't forget that your birthday is this Monday. I love you.)

Kids

Cosette took this picture of Isaac and me as well as the one of Ethan. Judging by the other pictures she took, these two were kind of lucky shots! The hammock is the place to be at our house though.

Ethan thought he could escape. I still have a hard time believing he's almost 9 months old. I guess it's because I have a 2-yr-old and 4-yr-old to 'compare' him to. Ethan is such a joy though.










Cosette loves being a big sister. She's very helpful, especially when it comes to Ethan. I know that I can't count on that willingness forever, so I'm trying to take advantage of it while I can! She will even change Ethan's wet diapers for me.

Sprinklers

Ethan on the bike with Daddy. He was startled when the engine started, but enjoyed his short ride into the garage after that.











Isaac faithfully watched the pipe pulling in the front yard. He thought the big machine was great. We put the sprinklers in Saturday, July 12th and like Rob mentioned in the last post, they were officially finished last night (July 16th).






This picture is of the pipe winding it's way under the ground. I know some people wanted pictures of the whole experience, but really all you get were little pieces of black pipe sticking up from the ground where a sprinkler head was going.

Sprinkler System

We have just finished installing the sprinkler system for the yard. We used poly pipe this time as opposed to PVC pipe that is used in southern California. Pros and cons to each way. Poly pipe can be "pulled" under ground without trenching so that is great. PVC is trenched and you can test the lines and see if there is a leak or if it is broken before you cover the line up. Poly pipe does not have that feature so you have to guess where the pipe could have gotten pinched or possibly even broken. Installing heads on the poly lines are very easy and fast...no glue or mess like PVC. I did some research as to why everyone in Idaho has poly pipe yet everyone in California has PVC. It turns out that PVC becomes VERY brittle in cold weather and breaks easily. It doesn't just break part of it but will shatter the entire line, fitting and all. Poly is a flexible line that is resistent to cold and will not shatter if water freezes in it. It will split part of the line but nothing drastic that cannot be repaired. Also PVC holds pressure better that poly so alot of places have pressure reducing valves on the sprinkler lines seperate from the house. Anyway it runs great and is fully automated. We look forward to having a green lawn in places that don't have the green grass yet. Pictures are comng soon.

July 4th - "It's Independence Day"

Check out Isaac's hair!
This is the park that is right out our back door. We went around 6pm and the place was empty. 3 hours later we went back and it was buzzing. The fireworks at the fairgrounds can be seen from the hill of the park.
Ethan in our crawling machine. Nothing stops him! His favorite place to play at home is the bathroom. Is it a boy thing? I don't know. But, if I forget and leave the door open, he pulls himself up on the bathtub and stands there slapping the sides of the tub.
Cosette is trying her hand at gymnastics I guess. She just discovered she can climb the aspen tree in our back yard too. She's quite the girl. Every night I tell her to read herself a book and she responds, "but I don't know how to read yet." She's almost there though. She can spell 'cat', 'stop', 'go', 'mommy', and 'Cosette' all on her own. Her favorite thing to do, besides play on the computer, is work in her "homework book".
Ethan was in bed by the time we got to the fireworks. It didn't get dark enough for the big show to start until 10:15pm. We're doing sparklers here at about 9pm.

I started a new tradition this year - rootbeer floats on the 4th of July. That might sound like a lame tradition...but then again, YOU don't have the cool boot mugs that we do! Rob found these in Lava Hot Springs and bought me 6 for my birthday. You can see them on the counter in front of the kids. Originally they were sold with jam, but they ran out, so Rob just got the cups.

This is the neighbor's yard we laying in. We thought we had a perfect view from our lawn, but there are two large pine trees in the way. The kids thought the fireworks we fun. Everytime one went off, Isaac had to tap me on the shoulder so I could look at it.