Backpacking and Helena Handbasket

Last Friday (8/5), Rich and his brother Mike took the kids backpacking up Suce Creek while Gram and I stayed home with Niles (we had our own fun time but didn't take pictures). At the trailhead Friday evening

On the trail with Uncle Mike

Setting up camp and roasting dinner

James and Addie bedding down for the night.

Heidi in the creek

James

Heading Home

Uncle Mike rewarded the hikers with ice-cold sodas...

Heidi's 7-Up

James' root beer

Checking in with mommy on the cell phone
***

On Sunday night, we ate a potluck dinner at Pine Creek with some mebers of our ward family to say farewwell to Aunt Debbie & the Holm Family.

"See you later, Sisterfriend." We are going to miss Debbie like crazy.

***

On Tuesday, the kids and I drove Grandma to Helena to see The Postums and Lehmans.

Gram took us to lunch at Chili's, then we hung out at Matt & Amie's farm house. Here are Gram & Niles ith Matt & Emily

Amie & Em

Gram & Niles

Matt & Amie are renting the cutest little farm house while their new house is being built. The cousins had a blast swimming in their little pool out on the farm.

Sam, Jake, and James getting dry

Postums' House

Addie doing a backward dive

Addie & Jared picking on grasshoppers

Amie's pretty sunflowers

Heidi got too much sunscreen on her face, so she put some on Addie's back--hahaha!

We put Niles in his Bumbo chair for the first time on Tuesday night--I think he's gonna love it!

Growing up too fast!

***

We have had a wonderful time having Grandma Lyn at our house and we are going to miss her terribly. Tomorrow we head down to Utah to return Gram to my mom's for a litte more visit, and to see Sam & Kristen & fam, and to surprise our kids with a super-fun weekend in SLC, culminating in Nana's 60th birthday dinner Sunday (hint: agoonLay and Children's Museum and Temple Square). Can't wait, it's gonna be so fun!

***

PS: If you're reading this, Daddy Jim, we wish you a speedy recovery & we're grateful your leg surgery was successful. HUGS!

A Pretty Good Week

This picture captures my sentiments exactly (you can find it HERE).

It has been a pretty great week, actually.

But I failed to take pictures of it, so here are some illustrations:

We drove down to my own private Idaho (my dad's house in Poky) on Friday night. We got there late, so we just put the kids to bed and visited adn introduced Niles to Papa Jim and Gramma Becky. It was fun.




Dad and Becky have a raspberry patch of industrial proportions, so early Saturday morning, the kids and Rich helped pick a bunch, then Becky sent some home with us. They were DIVINE...



Rich made freezer jam with most of them on Sunday evening, and it is so delicious! Garden to jar in 36 hours? Not too shabby. (THANKS, DAD & BECKY!!!)



Anyhooooooo, the reason we made the turn-around trip was to fetch my Gram from my mom. Grammy flew from AZ to SLC on July 18th and has been visiting my mother and helping my brother Sam & his family get settled in Tooele and his snazzy new job at Dugway. She was ready to come do some time at Casa Melin, so we went to get her. She'll stay with us until we head back down to Utah for our little family vacation on August 11th. We had a decent drive home from Idaho and got everything ready and had a restful Sabbath day, too.

On Monday, we made enchilada casserole and had the Petry Family (new to our ward from Washington State-via-Farmington UT) over for dinner and FHE (I wish I had taken pix of that cuz it was so fun, especially when James and Ava Petry got SOAKED). It was a rainy day and it was a good "down" day to just be home and get situated (although things are still kinda upside down from organizing all our "dumping grounds"--the office, the laundry room, and the craft cabinet). After FHE, before bed, we made s'mores over our tiny hibachi in the kitchen. They were so yummy with nutella and coconut marshmallows!

Heidi with her 'shmallow

roasting with great-gram

blowing out the fire on Heidi's 'shmallow

Gram tasting her first indoor coconut s'more--YUM!

***

Gram has been doing a lot of baby-snuggling, but I haven't taken pix of her and Niles yet (it's on my to-do list--my mom got some, though). It has been super-fun having her here. We've watched the Masterpiece Theatere Jane Eyre twice (because Addie wanted to watch it with us, so we happily obliged) and we both expressed gratitude for getting to live out most of our lives with our true loves (the Jane in this version is so great--actually, the whole thing is wonderful, I highly recommend it). We are having a relaxing, good time.

***

I found this picture on my camera, too:

That's Addie having a "tea party" (with Crystal Light, chicken nuggets, poppyseed muffins, and cheese) with her friend Sarah last Friday. She's such a doting mini-Martha!

SO, there ya go. I'll take more pix and keep you updated, but mostly I'm gonna enjoy some time with my Gram.

Midsummer Night

My darling hubs went to college at BYUH in Laie, Hawaii on Oahu's north shore. He had a great time not just in school or at the beach, but working as a photographer at the Polynesian Cultural Center and working on the yearbook, too. His best college friends are from the yearbook staff, so you can imagine our excitement when his friend and former editor, Amber Bodily Greenwood and her family came to visit us from Northern California this weekend. Amber is becoming a Foot Zonology Master at the Zonology Institute in Paradise Valley, just a stone's throw from the ranch. So we had them stay with us the night before her latest training session began. We had SUCH a good time with them! After a delicious dinner of camping leftovers, we played out back with some sparklers.
Lighting sparklers at the grill.


Little Calvin with a sparkler

Addie

Heidi

Later that night, all the kids slept downstiars and gave our guests the upstairs (which, considering the heat, wasn't a sacrifice--sorry it was so hot, Greenwoods!). Here are Niles and Addie.

We put Niles in his crib and the girls ended up snuggling--cute sisters!

Rich & Amber relivin' the glory days over some yearbooks they made.

Ah, memories!

We had a great time with JT, Amber, Calvin, and Forrest & we hope to get together again soon--NOT in another 10 years! ;)

***
This morning after we cleaned the kitchen together, I let the kids make something out of Addie's new "Kids in the Kitchen" healthy cookbook.

I wish I had made a video because they were pretending to be on a cooking show. Addie was a startlingly good narrator, and Hedi and James kept throwing in funny details like, "After the commercial break, we'll be back to show you how to do the chocolate!" (Heidi) or "For the recipe go to kids in the kitchen dot com!" (James). It was adorable.

Ta-Daaah! Honeybees!

They're no-bake peanut butter and chocolate treats made with peanutbutter, honey, dry milk, wheat germ, chocolate (or carob), and little almond-slice wings. So fun. Now we're off to the pool on this amazingly beautiful 77-degree day. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods!
***

UPDATE: Well, crap. (literally?) The pool is closed due to a "biohazard," so we are back home doing yard work in our swimsuits. If you're in a surfing mood, may I direct your attention to some new-ish links? Over there on the right I'd like you to meet Elly, my neighbor who is a designer/seamstress/knitter/ mama/ and generally lovely person. She is part of Lincoln School Artists, Livingston's latest art collective. And if you're looking for a chuckle, Passive-Agressive Notes should make you laugh (or, if you're in my family, kick yourself for not starting an anonymous blog of family correspondence YEARS ago...;))