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."