While I Was at Girl's Camp.....

Seriously.

Should I ever leave for five days EVER again?

Apparently this was the morning ritual in Darren's office.

Tuckered Out

Picture Justin lying here too, with his irrigation boots on. He wouldn't let me take a picture. We took the boys mountain biking in the South Hills on Saturday.

They can now ride "normal" size mtn. bikes and it has made all the difference. No waiting for kids anymore! We took them up Dry Gulch, over Matt's and down the gulley, or the "swooshy" trail.

Darren and I still wanted more riding so we begged and pleaded and they ended up following us up Back Door. Back Door is steep. Everytime I ride it I think how I'm not going to do it again for a while. Then we got to ride the swooshy trail again, it is so worth it!

I love riding behind Brady. His feet turn out ducklike on the pedals, and he is so tiny on the Salsa, but does so well!

I haven't been able to do much of anything excercise wise because of my STUPID back. This was a great day for me. I even rode Ryan's Corner all the way around -TWICE! Never even put my foot down. That is HUGE for me.

At the bottom of the swooshy trail the second time Justin's neck was bothering him so he and I cut off a few miles of climbing and hit the pavement along the foothills. Justin and Brady finished off the ride on the singletrack.


We tired these guys out big time. We stopped at Maverick on the way home for treats, hoping they'll come next time too!

Horsin' Around

Paige has been itching to ride Doc for a long time. She got this on the calendar with Grandpa last Sunday and has reminded us everyday since.

Her first request when Grandpa asked her where she wanted to go?

"Izzy's house."

So off they went to suburbia, creating quite a stir among the neighborhood children. Paige loved every minute of it.

What kid wouldn't love a horse to pull up on their driveway?

Grandpa and Grandma drove her home, took a peek at the new pigs, and Paige went promptly to the chicken coop to do her chores.

Grandpa went home with 3 fresh eggs.

Horse ride: paid in full.

Flyin'

This is Kite Skiing minus the snow and skis. You can search kite skiing on you tube and see what this sport is all about. Darren loves it. Brady and Justin got hooked this winter too. Usually they only fly the smaller trainer kites at the house.

The trainers are 3.5 and 4.5 meters.

This was the BIG kit - 12 meters. Justin has wanted to try this one when there was very little wind. Very little wind doesn't happen here very often.

I wish I had the camera ready when it launched Justin. On a 20mph wind day he would have been over the canyon. No joke.

I screamed and Justin looked terrified. Later he claimed it was "awesome".

From then on one of us "adults" had a hand on his harness at all times!

Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel

Some of the ladies.

Our new tenants.

We do this because?

A) We like ham and bacon ALOT.

B) We like how the pig pen smells in August.

C) We like to torture our children.

D) We save a TON of money on eggs.

If you guessed C you are pretty close. OK, so we actually really love our children and thus like making them do HARD THINGS! You know, learning work ethic, self-esteem, sense of accomplishment, yada yada yada....

This actually makes us have to do hard things too. Getting kids to do hard things can be HARD!

The truth probably is that we love to play so much that we have to put on the serious parent faces every so often. Our kids have to wonder if we lay awake at night dreaming up more work for them to do (plant 200+ trees, raise pigs, weed, weed and weed). And they would be right!

It's great to be a parent!

Slackin'

I'm just waiting for this to be hooked up over the canyon. If you can't beat them, join them right? I better brush up on my slack line skills.

I think it is easier in Chacos.
Not tight enough.....

......

Tuck and roll Brady, tuck and roll.

Deep Creek

Deep Creek only runs a few days a year. It is an epic run and Darren lives for it. Most of the guys he goes with are half his age. One of them is the son of the guy who taught him to boat.

Deep Creek is just outside of Buhl. It is an unassuming little creek when you look at it from the road.

Each of the guys have different parts of the river that they portage for various reasons. Usually it is where they have swam or taken a long time to roll in the tumultuous water. Darren had to roll the last time he did it. It's always on the last run of the day! No harm done, just a broken/hurt thumb?