Music Fest!

This was the 4th year that Hailey and Torsten were able to attend a week long music camp at the College of Southern Idaho. They had so much fun! Instructors from colleges around Idaho come teach and the kids choose a "major". Torsten majored in vocal and Hailey in piano. I loved the Friday concert. The songs ranged from Latin to negro spirituals to Irish or contemporary. Hailey's piano quartet was one of the 2 chosen to perform and we were all wowed by it! I am grateful to our wonderful friends who housed Torsten and Hailey and made it an even more memorable week.

Favorite summer activity

Okay, it's our favorite NON-activity. It is so nice to curl up in the cool house with a book!

4 wheeler Rides with Heidi

After morning barn chores and walking the goats and lamb, Heidi and I have been going on "explorations" on the 4-wheeler. It is so fun! Heidi drives and I just go along for the ride and the laughs. We like to try out different trails and see where they lead. They are usually just canal roads that meander between desert and farm, or an irrigator's path to his cornfield, but for some reason it is still exciting. Earlier this week it was unseasonably cool and that made for a great ride. The refreshing breeze picked up the scent of the far away rain and it smelled SO amazing. Here are a few snapshots of my view from behind Heidi the driver. Notice the winter hat on her? That's how cool it was that morning!

Orange

I am not a huge fan of orange. Never have been. When I used to have my own house and yard, I spent every spring and summer planning, digging and planting pink, blue, purple, white, yellow, fuchsia, or lavender flowers- perennials and annuals, in all the nooks and crannies of the yard. But I would steer far away from orange! I'd rip out daylilies that turned out to be orange instead of a warm pink like the picture on the package even though it took 2 years for them to bloom. I dug up all the orange poppies that came with the yard.
I've mellowed over time. Now I am grateful for any flowers that are in my yard. Grateful that someone before me took the time to plant perennials, so I can enjoy an abundant bed of color this year. Orange flowers are beautiful too.

Swimming in the cooler

On those days I can't take the kids to the lake or the cement slides, Reagan and Leif come up with their own water fun. The other day it was snorkeling in the cooler that Reagan was supposed to be cleaning out for me. I had to laugh.

Boating

This summer we decided to purchase an older boat with our friends, the Barzees. That lake in our front yard was just begging us to be out boating on it so we succumbed! The kids are having a great time tubing and learning how to ski and kneeboard and drive the boat. Hailey said that this summer we don't even need to go anywhere on vacation. :-)

Hailey and I were driving Taylor out to the Boren's ranch and we enjoyed watching the BEAUTIFUL sunset the whole way there. It reminded us again how the desert and the wide open spaces of the West have their own unique beauty. This summer Taylor is working on a ranch fixing fences and doing odd jobs. He all ready killed his first rattle snake. He did it with a rock because he didn't have a shovel or anything else with him and it sounded like a gruesome torturous experience for both of them.

SSB

CJ Strike is SSB! Seriously So Buggy!!! To garden or take care if the animals we put on "gnat nets" as we call them. Here is Hailey planting some Shasta daisies for me and sporting the camo gnat net. Below that, Leif and I were mowing the pasture and I didn't have nets yet so Leif put my sweater over his head to keep the gnats off. He kept saying "the bees are killing me!!!"

Hiking above Soldier Mt.

We haven't done anything with our adventurous Hansen family friends since last year's Green Canyon trip, so it was overdue for us to get together! We did a short sweet hike to Ross Falls in the the South Hills the day after school got out and boy was it lovely! I haven't seen the hills that green in a long time. There were wild flowers everywhere-- forget-me-nots, buttercups, salvia, and bright green new ferns uncurling along the path. I was so sad I forgot my camera! The next week when we met up again with the Hansens, this time in Fairfield to explore the area behind Soldier Mt., I at least had my camera phone. June is so beautiful in the mountains. I can hardly stand it! A phone camera does the actual experience no justice but I always try. (How do you capture the amazing smell, the expanse of blue sky and the panoramic view?) After hiking we had dinner and s'mores over a campfire. We lamented that we didn't bring tents so that we could stay overnight but really, day trips are SO MUCH easier and simpler. :-)