ZOOM, ZOOM!

As one of Treyson's birthday gifts, we told him we would take him on a mommy-daddy date to the Meridian Speedway. He was WAY excited to go and was full of questions, as usual. Many of the questions had to do with the cars crashing into the stands. As with the rodeo bull riding, he was concerned about the safety of this adventure.

We're ready for some fast racing action!

Here's Brandon the flag guy.

We learned what each flag color represented; yellow=get ready to start, green= GO!, white=one more lap until the finish, and checkered=finish. The longest race of the evening was 75 laps. Pretty cool to watch.

Jason caught an insulated can holder they were tossing into the crowd. Treyson was a little bummed it wasn't a bear or t-shirt, but was mostly just happy he got some sort of souvenir.

I think these cars were called wind-sprints. They had to get a push to get started, but once going they were LOUD! Each time they raced we would put in our ear plugs so we could stand watching them.

The night we were there, there were a lot of crashes and pile-ups, (I guess more than usual). You probably can't tell by the picture, but there was a big crash right in front of us, that had atleast 6 cars piled up on top of each other. Each time there was a crash, a team of officials would come inspect the situation and then methodically disassemble the pile of cars with a tow truck and man power. One crash that evening resulted in a racer going to the hospital in the ambulance on site. I believe he was released the next day.

After the race, we went "behind the scenes". We met a few race car drivers, got some autographs and saw the cars up close. One racer knew Jason well from the carwash. His grandson raced that evening. He let Treyson sit in his car.

Happy 7th Birthday Treyson!

Treyson's birthday is on Pioneer Day. This year he decided that he wanted to dress up like a pioneer and have a pioneer birthday cake. Here's our clan dressed up like pioneers or as close as we could get with our dress-up.

We invited family over for present opening and cake and ice cream.

Sweet Katelyn

Cool Kyrick

Jackson and Micaela

Little Lizzy

Look what I got!

For Treyson's pioneer cake I went to The Friend magazine on-line and printed off these 2 cut outs; a handcart with family and oxen with a covered wagon. They may look simple, but they took patience and quite a bit of time cutting, folding and gluing.

Some of his favorite gifts were: Webkinz and a gift certificate for a date with mom and dad to Meridian Speedway.

Happy Birthday Treyson! We love you!

Hee-haw!

This summer, our kids have been taking part in the Ada County Library summer reading program. As the kids read each day they mark their charts and then turn the completed charts in for prizes. One of the prizes they earned was a night at the Idaho Stampede Rodeo. We had never been to a rodeo as a family before, so we were all looking forward to it. Treyson had concerns about the bull riding; "Do the bulls come up into the stands?" We explained and re-explained over and over that no, the bulls stay in the arena, inside of the gates. The bull riding was the very last event of the rodeo, so we had a long night of explaining to do.

I think I had only been to one other rodeo before, when I was very young. I was surprised at how entertaining it was...never a dull moment. They had different acts in between the rodeo events. Some of our favorites were "The One-armed Bandit", the silly doctor clown and the "Stampede Riders".

The One-armed Bandit was a man who literally only had one arm. He cracked a bull whip in his one hand and guided his horse using his legs. He rode his horse to the top of his trailer and tamed 2 "wild buffalo" with his whip.

The Stampede Riders were a group of women on horses, who had lights all over themselves and their horses. They turned down the arena lights as we watched them ride all over the arena in different patterns. They were cool to watch.

Cousin Fun

To keep the kids busy, we decided to go to the Discovery Center. We spent hours there. Some of the favorites were the grocery store center, the pet care center and the rope chair lift.

While we were there, they had a special presentation. Catie Jo and Treyson were selected to assist the "mad sceintist".

4th of July Fun

The 4th of July was a fun-filled, busy day. Our Olsen cousins, from Utah, had come to celebrate with us. First on the agenda was our neighborhood pancake breakfast and little parade. The kids got busy that morning and decorated their scooters...red, white and blue.




The neighborhood parade was so cute. There were scooters, bikes, trikes, wagons, etc. all patriotically decorated. Someone even had patriotic music playing as we walked/rode down the streets and sidewalks.
We all ended up at the central grass area for pancakes, juice and milk. It was a fun relaxing morning.
Next on the agenda was swimming. We all got suited up and went swimming in our neighborhood pool.


Abree decided to do a little sunbathing after her swim.
Next we went to a family/friend BBQ. Some participated in tag football.
Some did the SUPER slide. We attached a sprinkler at the top of the slide and made it really slippery, then put a tarp at the end to splash in.
Splashing in the wading pool.
A little more slippery fun.
Yummy picnic.
You gotta have watermelon at a 4th of July picnic, right?
And finally, fireworks.
It was a long day...but a fun day. Happy 4th of July!

It ain't over 'til...

It ain't over 'til the last feather's GONE!
We're still livin' in remembrance of our cousin party. I'm still finding bits of feather boa here and there. I also keep forgetting the star garland that decorated our front door. (Our door is TALL and I can't reach it without a ladder.)Wonder if I'll EVER get all the feathers cleaned up... it seems to be a never-ending task. I find them in the front landscaping, in the grass of the back yard, under my chair in my bedroom, in the corner of the guest bathroom...EVERYWHERE! --Gee, I wonder if it was really an "accident", that they were left behind. I think.... NOT! :o)