Misc. pictures from the camera

I'm still playing catch up on my pictures, but I'm slowly getting there.
Between the time of Jenny's bridal shower and Jenny's wedding we just hung around the house here in Blackfoot but I was able to get a few fun photos of the kids.
One morning I gave the kids strawberries for breakfast. THEY LOVED IT! They both kept asking for more and I felt bad that we only had 1 container. I guess it's for the best because too much probably would have given them a nasty stomach ache.

While I was cutting more for Zeke, Rosalee snuck into the sugar and made her strawberries "beautiful with yummy glitter". The scoop in the bucket is a 1 cup measuring cup so she ate about 3/4 a cup of sugar for breakfast. MMM MMM GOOD!!!!

We went to Shawn's house to ride horses a few times. Mayzee (the horse) is now at my mom's house (I'll get to that post soon) so I wanted to let the kids ride her as much as possible before she left. I just love love LOVE how happy my kids get while riding a horse! Rosalee squeals with delight and has a goofy grin the entire time. Zeke now grabs the pommel on the saddle and points his toes out like a little cowboy. I could just die from the cuteness!

Rosalee has been asking me to do her hair a lot more lately. She loves having "princess hair" and she doesn't seem to mind that I really have no idea on what I'm doing most of the time.

Rosalee is quite the character now. She loves dress up, acting, singing, and dancing. I love to just sit back and watch her. On one particular day Rosalee found a rubber glove and a strainer and made herself a nice little costume. She was dancing around singing about chickens and a farm. Her imagination astounds me!

Jenny's bridal shower

Jenny had a bridal shower in Blackfoot, Idaho two weeks before her wedding. I took videos of the games we played and her opening presents but my computer is AGAIN not allowing me to upload them. Soon, hopefully, I'll make one huge post with all of our videos from the past few months.
After Jenny opened her presents we decided to make her a dress out of the wrapping paper. I think we did a great job!

To make it even better we made Jenny walk back to the house (2 or 3 blocks) in her fancy dress. I ran ahead and told Hayden to walk outside and find her. He looked shocked and confused but was still willing to hold her hand.

I love my Gavin friend

During the week that Lindsey and the kids were here in Idaho we found random fun things to do to keep the kids entertained. Jesse was cleaning out the garage and found a package of fireworks left over from the 4th of July. Then being the guy that he is, he got the toy cannon from the pirate fort... Can you see where this is going?

I wish Jesse took a movie instead of pictures because of the squeals, screams, and giggles from the kids. Their eyes were the size of dinner plates and they all had smiles from ear to ear. It was beautiful!

During the week Rosalee and Gavin really bonded. They would sit together and watch movies, play outside in the fort, swing on the swing set, and just had a great time. Rosalee told me several times then, and now, "I love my Gavin friend." But now that he's back home in Utah she usually says, "I miss my Gavin friend." When she found out that Gavin has a birthday in November she INSISTED that they have a birthday party together. I told her I'd make her a Tinkerbell cake here and even that didn't change her mind.
SHE
MEANT
BUSINESS!
So we're going to Utah for Thanksgiving and then the Friday or Saturday after we'll be having a joint party. But how could I say no when they're so cute together!?

For the love of horses!

Lindsey and the kids stayed for the week after Labor Day because the next Saturday was Jenny's bridal shower here in Blackfoot. John took Dennis's car home so Lindsey would have her car here to take the kids places. On a nice day we went out to visit our friend Shawn from scout camp to see his horses.
Shawn is going on a mission for the LDS church soon so my mom is going to take care of his horse Mayzee while he's gone. I wanted Rosalee to start getting use to being on horses now so when we visit my mom she'll be a pro at it. Plus I thought it would be fun to get out of the house and I assumed the kids would love being on the horses.
When we got to Shawn's house all of the kids acted hesitant about riding. I can't blame them when the horse, June, is taller than I am at the shoulders! So Zeke got to go first. Why? Because he's too small to protest!

He was smiling and giggling the ENTIRE time! We just found out that Zeke has low muscle tone and I knew from teaching that horseback riding can be beneficial. So aside from teaching him to love riding, I wanted him to have some physical therapy as well.

Once Gavin saw that the baby would ride the horse he was willing to hop on. He rode around with a cute smile and seemed to really love it. When we asked if he wanted another turn he said "no" and just played in the yard. I'm just glad he was willing to try it.

Maddie is the family cowgirl! She hopped right on June and kept asking for more turns. Every time June came back up to us she'd say, "Maddie's turn!" and would be sad if it wasn't her turn.

Hudson giggled and seemed to really like riding June. He wasn't quite as enthusiastic as Maddie, but he did ride three or four times around the yard.
Next came Rosalee's turn...
She had been talking about riding horses for WEEKS so I thought she'd be as excited as Maddie.
WRONG

We started out by just having her pet the horse and then she said she was all done. Jesse said we needed to push her limits a little so he grabbed her leg and swung her up on June. Shawn and June were very sweet and patient with Rosalee and didn't move for a few minutes.

Rosalee finally calmed down and, with Jesse right by her side, she let June take a few steps. 9 feet later she was "ALL DONE!" and leaped off June into Jesse's arms. I was really sad but she said that she'd ride again but only if the horse was a little horse.
We gave Maddie and Hudson a few more turns and finished up with Zeke.

Next we went to the summer pasture to meet Mayzee. As soon as I saw her I was IN LOVE! I keep half jokingly tell Shawn that he might not get her back after his mission.

She hadn't been ridden very much all summer and had never had children on her so Shawn was nervous about having the kids ride her. We let them walk up to her, pet her, and then brush her. While Maddie was brushing her she kept grabbing her back and pulling herself up taller. Eventually she just swung her leg up and I helped her to sit on Mayzee. She really liked being up there so I let her sit for a few minutes before getting down. After seeing Maddie sit on Mayzee Rosalee told me, "Mama I can ride the little horse because she's my size."

Grandma's birthday at the fair

John, Lindsey, and their kids stayed an extra day during the Labor Day weekend so they could celebrate Jesse and John's mom's birthday. This year was the 40th anniversary of her 19th birthday and she decided that we should go to the fair to celebrate. (Apparently that's what all the cool people do.)
We started by going to the ride area only to find out that the rides wouldn't start for a few more hours. So we walked on and found a free kid play zone. The kids would have stayed there all day if we let them I bet!

Jesse and John playing basketball with their dad
Next we walked over to the petting zoo area. This is other area that I bet Rosalee would have stayed at all day if we let her. Last year the main area had all the goats running around and they kept nipping at the kids hoping to get some food. I guess this year they realized how annoying that was and all of the animals were in pens.

I love this little puppy because she looks like our old dog Roxie

The petting zoo at the Eastern Idaho State Fair is tricky. All of the animals that you see and pet are available for adoption. That way your kid can love on the dog and when they demand to take it home you can't say, "Oh but it belongs to the nice worker." One of the ways they earn money to pay for the food is to have a train ride for the kids.

Despite not being the biggest fan of rides Rosalee did get excited over riding the train at the petting zoo. Last year she was determined to ride in the pink piggy car and, with a great memory, she again picked the pig to ride in.

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After riding the train we walked around and saw some of the livestock animals. The kids really loved seeing the horses. I thought they would be nervous around such large animals but it was quite the opposite.

While petting this horse a lady with a fancy video camera starting taking a video of Zeke.

After looking at the animals we decided to get the kids a snack. We all agreed that ice cream would make a great snack for the kids.

Yummy mint!

"Strawberry because it pink and it is tasty."

The kids with their ice cream

Happy kids = happy parents!

Zeke LOVED the turkey leg as big as his head! I swear he ate 1/3 of one by himself.

Apparently John is not a fan of boiled crawfish...

Nothing says HAPPY BIRTHDAY like a giant turkey leg for lunch

Zeke is becoming QUITE the ham! He was VERY VERY VERY happy to eat his tiger ear. (A tiger ear is what most people call an elephant ear only here they are sold by the Boy Scouts as a fundraiser. We thought if we bought several we could donate that money to the "Hire Jesse James fund". Hopefully soon we'll see if that panned out!)
After lunch we did what any smart parents do- we took the kids on rides!
Rosalee was excited about them until we bought the tickets and she saw the rides up close. Even if she could ride with Gavin, hold Daddy's hand, AND get a treat she wouldn't budge! We walked around and she picked the boat to ride on. She wasn't thrilled about it, but at least she wasn't screaming her head off.

Sadly Zeke was too tired to ride.

I guess there is something about the fair that wipes Zeke out! Remember last year? He's gotten so much bigger, but I guess somethings are still the same.
Rosalee was excited to ride the merry-go-round but only if all the cousins and her dad rode with her. Jesse let her pick out which horse she wanted and you can tell by the look on her face that she was truly happy.

Gavin and Rosalee laughing up a storm on the merry-go-round
After we ran out of tickets we found a place with some free toys for the kids to play with. We stayed here until it was time to go home. It was a great day because the kids loved it and we didn't have to spend a lot!