Inside the treasure chest...

Grandma and Grandpa Lawton must have known something even way back then! This is so cute!

A favorite find was a letter from Grandpa George to his grandson Gentry on his first birthday. It starts halfway into the letter because I started reading it to the kids and got a bit choked up so Gentry finished it. I like hearing Gentry read it better anyway. It is so sweet.

MIL Raises the Bar! (Again!)

No simple baby book with a few pictures in it for Nanny's babies. These blessed children have a mom who makes them a whole cedar chest with all their childhood memorabilia in it. For Gentry that included things he made (carved a knife out of wood, made a shirt when he had chickenpox, etc.) picture books, baby books with special letters and all the details of his birth and early childhood, and scrap books of his 4H projects, his building projects and so on. I have not completed filling out Victoria's baby book......um, don't get your hopes up children, I am not your Nanny! We have sure enjoyed going through everything and want to say THANKS! It is very special to have, and the work you have put in it is astounding.

A Trip

My hiking companion.
These may be ripe next week!

Maybe you have heard this song?

"Here comes Peter Cottontail,

hopping down the bunny trail,

hippity, hoppity, hippity, hoppity

........ TRIP!"

That was my theme song this weekend. Grant and I took a long walk, 3443 steps going uphill, and 5200 altogether. One of those steps was very hard in particular, and I am still feeling the effects. Hip, arm, gravel under my skin on my hands, I am sure you get the picture by now! I feel so young and foolish!

New Camera: Not much to shout about

Our neighbor across the street who sold us our house, and who had Gentry and Troy redo her kitchen and other areas in their home had some neighbors over for a potluck. It was really neat to have our favorite neighbors all together in one place, including some relation! I have a new cheapish camera for taking on walks, it fits in my pocket, which I like. Of course I don't care for the quality of the photos as much, the lens must be 1/10th the size as our other camera. It also weighs much less!

My "mug" shot. It is criminal how horrible I look in photographs these days....they just don't do me justice. Har har.
Our neighbor Steve and a good friend to the goats. They have a new St. Bernard puppy that he is socializing with the goats on a daily basis so that she is used to them. Pretty cute how the goats see him and come running. He often gives them treats out of his garden.
Serious discussions with Kay. I think I was saying how I am not real confident making pies. She made an apple pie that was very memorable. She definitely has the touch.

Gentry got the carving job. Slurp!

Brenna is the same age as Victoria and loves gymnastics. She may be in the next Olympics!

Neighbors Joe and Danny with a mouse? Victoria was also there, taking pictures most of the time, and Grant was moving too much so all the pictures of him are blurry. Go figure.

Cheezzecake

Tim's family invited us over for dinner so I made a cheesecake from a recipe in my Juniors cookbook. The dinner was great, and I found out that Tim's sister is a pastry chef. Talk about intimidating! She had 4 rhubarb pies in the oven for another event she was going to and they smelled heavenly. But my lowly cheesecake didn't do too bad. The topping was special: Huckleberries from V.R., picked by Pops, Gentry and I while we waited for the boat to float down to us. This is the first time I remember making a cheesecake, so I think it turned out well for all the modifications I made (making them individuals, and creating a huckleberry sauce of my own-scary!) Spongecake is on the bottom, with a toasted pecan/coconut crunch topping around the edges. Pretty yummy!

Watermelon

It is so hot out today that we ate up the rest of the watermelon. The great thing is, we will get to enjoy it some more with Watermelon Pickles! We love these...sweet and spicy!

Poor Toria is so sick, that we have been stuck at home. Making pickles helps to pass the time. Now I am off to ease the pain of my son who is missing his sister terribly. Rumbus anyone?

A little look back.

A bbbaaabby goat! While in Wyoming we got the privilege of visiting our friends in Thermop. Darren and Grant became good friends at Cody a few years ago and Laurel and Victoria go back further. Eacel and I were school chums (University) and Dennis and his family lived in JC for a very short while when we were kids.
Lucy the goat captured our attention and our hearts.

They had lots of great looking chickens! I could have spent quite awhile there watching them and taking pictures. They are so colorful and the rich textures were delightful.

And I had taken this picture of clothes out on their line and then saw some similar pictures..... take a look! The photography is not great but I do like the skirts in with the trousers. Neat to know I am not the only one who finds this sort of thing interesting and wholesome. I have always wanted to have a clothesline - although rain might be a problem.

A clearer confession...

Silly ole me. My father in law was right. Don't tell him. He said lightly that if I knew how to work the camera it would probably be fine. I told him quite firmly that the camera had BroKeN!
Gentry spent a few minutes with it and found a switch that turns the viewfinder on and off. (Who would even think about something like that and who would use such a feature?) Apparently if I was more mechanically minded it would have occurred to me to look for something like this. So, I eat humble pie. I really don't remember when I started feeling proud, but I do feel more lowly now. That is a good thing. Better pictures coming soon?

Wow! Its been a whirlwind....

In blogger fashion, I will start with the most recent and work back ... Gentry's parents were here for convention and we took them up to V.R. Our extra is Tim....he works for Gent and is actively hunting for bear. He taught Grant how to shoot a bow and even gave Grant one that he made. It is very cool. Grant loves the sport already.
Don't even think about my laundry piles. Convention......camping....I even have to make a trip to Costco this morning to get soap!

I like this picture of a happy Pops! He had a 70th birthday while here and we are so happy he is still here to enjoy. We have had some scary times with his heart by-pass in the past.
Milltown looks tropical in this photo of our beautiful Nanny....

Confession time: My camera is broken, and so the quality of pictures is most definitely compromised. The viewfinder does not work. Try to picture taking a photograph with a blind point and shoot method. Thanks Janell for getting this one with all of us in it. Joe was sleeping but you can still see a corner of his face! What you don't see is that Joe and Danny had matching duds on. Too cute! Yes, that is Uncle Brian! He came for the weekend.
Victoria took this one...not bad! But I must wonder why I was on the uphill side and Beth on the bottom. Poor planning on my part!

Victoria spent a couple of days while we were home babysitting. Marissa is now a big sister! Yeah!

So since getting back from Wyoming we have:

-had a reception for Reid and Doreen (sorry no camera, I am waiting for someone to share with me- cause there were some interesting moments! Hee hee!)

-gone camping with the Parkers: see pictures here.

-Gentry's folks came- I had to do our bills (it takes a full day or more...what? I have to work???) so the kids hung out at Beth's - Thank you!

-went to Convention

-went Camping with Nanny and Pops and Tim.

Now it is......laundry and more laundry! So a tripping I will go....

Ain't this sweet?

Sleeping in at Grandma and Grampa's. I couldn't believe Grant was really sleeping in that pose, but he slept through several flashes from my camera and all of us snickering at him.