Bridger's Bear Award

For pack meeting, they did a water bottle launch.  Bridger took a 1 liter soda pop bottle and then decorated.  (It had been a busy week so he decorated it right before the event).  When we showed up, Bridger was feeling bad about his rocket because it wasn't very fancy.  A few people took this really seriously and put fins on their rockets and really decked them out.  Even though Bridger's was simple, it went really high in the air.  It was one of the best rockets!!!

Bridger earned his "Bear" award at pack meeting.  He's worked really hard with his scout leaders.  His scout leaders, Brother and Sister Crocket have been wonderful with him.  They've been so good to work on the requirements during scouts.  Bridger really enjoys going to scouts.

We have Footings!

After waiting for a few weeks, the guys finally showed up to do the footings!  It took them a couple of days to complete the project.  I didn't realize how big thick the footings would be.  It's fun to see the outline of our house!  We're so excited to see some progress.  

Real Soccer Game

We carried on the tradition another year and took Mom, Dad, and Mares to a RSL soccer game.  We gave Dad the tickets for Father's day and Mares her ticket for her birthday.  The W's and the C's wanted to join in the fun so they came too.  We met at Crown Burger before the game and ate some dinner.  Then we walked down to the stadium and enjoyed the game.  RSL was playing LA Galaxy.  It was a good game but it ended in a tie.  It rained a lot the day before so we were worried about the weather.  But the weather ended up being perfect!

Mylissa went and bought Caleb a slushy at half time so he could have a treat that he could eat.  Even though it was cold, Lilly and Tanner couldn't get enough of the slushy.  Mylissa was so sweet to share with them.  They were like little birds and couldn't eat it fast enough.

We brought a pair of small binoculars.  Tanner and Lilly took turns looking through the binoculars.  

Free as a Jay Bird

So Tanner is going through a phase where he likes to take off his clothes and be naked.  When I ask him why he's taking off his clothes he'll say "I want to be naked like David."  (From the "No David!" book).  I've also been working on potty training him so a lot of the time he doesn't have a diaper on.  One afternoon I looked out and he had taken his clothes off inside and then went outside and was jumping on the trampoline.  (He's figured out how to open the doors). He was happy as can be jumping naked.  He likes to be free as a bird.  When Bridger went out to get him, he kept running away from him saying "I be naked like David!" We joke that he's going to grow up and join a nudist colony.

Bridger LEAP program

Last spring, Bridger tested for LEAP (Learning Educational Advance Program - gifted and talented) and was accepted into the program.  Our school district does not have a lot of money so they only offer the class once a month.  He goes to F Elementary for the class.  Mrs. T is his teacher and she seems really on the ball.  We had a little meeting before the school year started to meet her and see the classroom.  Luckily Canyn, one of Bridger's best friends at school also made it into the program.  

Peach Milkshakes

Dad has been wonderful to keep us supplied with F.H. peaches.  They're the best peaches on earth!  Our favorite thing to make with the peaches is a peach milkshake.  The boys LOVE them!!!  So I sent this picture to mom and dad to tell them thanks for the peaches.

Chase's Scouting Award

Chase is staying right on track to earn his eagle.  His scout leader, Brother T is amazing!!  He does a great job of working on merit badges with the boys.  They're always working on something.  This ward does a good job of having "board of reviews" so the boys know where they're at and what they need to be working on.  Chase earned is Star badge tonight.  I had to attend a young women activity so I couldn't be there but luckily Matt was there.

C's Visit

Robby's grandpa passed away and the funeral was in Idaho on Saturday.  So when the C's were coming back on Sunday, they stopped by our house to see us.  We had dinner together and then went out to the lot.  The kids had so much fun climbing the big piles of dirt.  We introduced them to our horse neighbors.  As you can tell from the pictures, Lilly loved playing in the dirt.  I felt bad because she was filthy so Shan just used baby wipes to clean her up of the ride home.  We loved spending the afternoon with the C's.  I've missed having Shan 5 minutes away.  I've really enjoyed living up here but my heart still misses having Shan close by.  

Happy Tanner

Tanner loved the car he got for his birthday.  He rides it out front and even in the back yard.  He likes to ride it down the little hill, then he gets out and pushes it up the hill.  While he was out playing, he said "take a picture of me Mom."  I love how he's posing.  Bridger figured out a way to fit in the car.  I'm worried he's going to get stuck!

Tanner took off our Disney fridge magnets and brought them to see and said "see my friends."  I love his big happy smile.  He's such a happy little guy.  He's talking so well and tells you exactly what he needs.

Meet our New Neighbors

Our new next door neighbors to the left of us have four beautiful gypsy horses.  They have two large males, the white one is Duke and the white and black to the right of the baby horse is Kiren.  Then she has one female named Sis and she had a foal in May and they named it Summer Pearl but they call it Woobie.  Every time we go to the lot we stop by and see the horses.  They always come over to the fence and let us pet them.  They're very friendly!  I told Matt that this is the best scenario because it's like I have horses but I don't have to take care of them.

Let the Adventure Begin!

In January we started to work with Randy, our architect, to create our dream home.  We took one of his floor plans and then added our twist to it.  We walked through a friend of Mylissa's home and loved everything about her home.  So we based our floor plan on her house and our friend's Layne and Tiff.  As we worked with Randy, we ended up pushing out " this wall a little bit and that wall a little bit" and before we knew it we had a really big house.  It's a little over 5,600 square feet!  It took several months working with Randy to tweak our plans to get them just right (plus he was a little slow at times).  But overall we really enjoyed working with him.  Once we got the final plans back in May, we started working with a couple of contractors to get some bids.  Jen and Michael had Chris T build their house and they loved him.  So he was the one I really wanted.  Matt asked around town and got another bid from a local contractor.  Luckily his bid came in a lot higher so we met with Chris in August and told him we wanted him to be our contractor!

At the end of August we finalized our loan and started the building process.  Chris is the one in the red hat.  This was the first meeting to discuss where to dig our plan and map things out.  Chris cleared the area with his little skidster.

 On September 2, the excavator showed up and stared digging our hole!!!  It took them a few days to dig the entire hole.  It looks massive!

We went out to the lot at least once a day, sometimes a couple of times to watch them dig the hole.  Tanner loved watching the digger.  The boys love to play in the big mounds of dirt.  Tanner keeps right up with them and tags along.  

I've been taking Tanner on bike rides every day and we bike out to the lot to see if anyone is working at the lot.  Tanner loves his bike seat.  One time we saw a big snake in the road so every time we go he talks about the snake.

Our hole is finally dug!