Mitchell Family Reunion: Day 1

On Sunday we headed out for the 2011 Mitchell Family Reunion. This years reunion was hosted by Levi's brother Birney, he invited us all to Seattle for a fun filled week. This first day we drove from Meridian, ID to Shoreline, WA. We arrived in the evening.

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Everyone loves a Parade!

Ian, Kaleb, Oliver and I attended the Meridian Winterland Parade today. Josef wasn't with us because he is still feeling sick, we left him in bed. It was fun, but cold. The boys collected quiet a bit of candy. Oliver ended up with a frisby,he turned it upside down and held it out like his own personal offering plate. "More candy please, sir?" Then we headed to Hasting's Hardback Cafe, sat on thier couch with some cocoa and watched the snow fall outside the big front windows.

Here some photos of us with our after parade glow.

Ahh! That blissful Christmas-y feeling!

Veteran's Day

Happy Veterans' Day 

to all those who have served!! 

Thank you so much!!

I am getting this posted really late, but if I can push the Publish Post button by midnight...it counts right?

The photo above is my oldest son Josef, he wanted to be a Marine for halloween. The jacket he is wear is actually his Grandfathers unifirm from the 60's. He looked so handsome and I love that he would be willing to serve out country and knows that is an option for his future.

A few days ago the boys and I went to a presentation out at Gowen field hosted by Idaho Military History Museum. We had never been there before. It was a great museum! They had many displays ranging from the civil war to present. It was fun pointing out the different branches of the military to the boys and the various wars and which of our family members served and at which time. There were also so gun and canon demonstrations the video below is of everything going off at the same time, again the weapons range from those used in the Civil war to those used in the present. We had a great time and learned a bit of military, world, country, and family history. We also couldn't hear very well for a while after all the canons and guns were done. : )

Picking Pumpkins

We had our yearly excursion to Linder Farms this past week. We went as part of a homeschool fieldtrip set up by another homeschooling mother. It's been our fall tradition for about 4 years now.

Out at the farm, they have added a few things, like these climbing tires Josef and Ian scaled.

We also took advantage of the new photo oppurtunity.

 

The Corn Box was a hit! The boys even buried Ammeme.

 

Everyone (including me) found that perfect pumpkin to take home to carve later.

So what are some of your favorite Fall traditions?

August 2010

Hello, my long neglected blog.
I have missed you.
I am so far behind on posts. I'm going to be marathon blogging just to get through August and September.

August was a crazy month for us; a family reunion, a funeral, a move, and a birthday all in one month.

The family reunion was for Levi's immediate family. It's a new family tradition we are starting. We'll have one a year in the summertime. Everyone was able to attend. Here we all are, plus Savannah's boyfriend. I am sure years from now we will think...who was that boy? I hosted the reunion this year, it was a Luau theme as you can see from the Hawaiian shirts and leis. This picture is really funny...got some strange expressions going on. At the reunion we had talent acts, the limbo, a hula contest, and hula hooping. Here are a few more photos, if you are wondering about our hula skills...we are pros! We had so much fun!!! Birney (aka Greatest Uncle Ever) is hosting the one next year in Seattle, we are all looking forward to it.

Levi's Grandpa Kidd died a few days before the reunion, so it was all very bittersweet. He would have loved the reunion.We drove over to Ashton, ID for the funeral. It was such a  lovely service, and so very many of his family and friends attended. He was always very kind and loving to me, you always just felt like one of his grandchildren. He loved the boys and it was so nice for them to get to know their Great Grandfather while he was alive. 

Yes, we moved AGAIN, but hopefully it will be the 2nd to the last time...I hope.We are living in the upstairs of Levi's parents house, paying off some debt and saving for a home. Wish us luck!!

We are helping to remodeling the upstairs. It has been fun and also hard work. Check out this cool paint job my friend helped me with. Yes, that is all paint...can you believe it? She has these awesome patterned rollers from the 70's. I think it turned out beautiful! The color is a little off in the photo, but it is a Sage Green.

Last, but just one day before the last day of the month. Ian turned 10!! Double Digits. Isn't he a cutie?! Happy Birthday, buddy.

"I don't know what the future may hold, but I know who holds the future."

~Ralph Abernathy

Fabulous Fourth of July

How was your Fourth of July? 

Hope it was very patriotic and full of family, fun, and gratitude.

  painting by John Trumbull, 1817-18

Ours was great! 

We had a lazy morning and slept in. Then we met Levi's parents and Great Grandma and Grandpa Kidd at the Golden Corral in Boise for Great Grandma Kidd's birthday lunch. After we were sufficiently stuffed and managed to roll ourselves to the car, we we headed over to Levi parents to play some card games, like Killer Bunnies, and BBQed. The boys love to eat Grandpa Mitchell's BBQ.

Oh look here he is...remember it is not the size of your BBQ that matters, but how good the food tastes!

Here we are LETTING Levi win at Killer Bunnies.

Then we headed out to The Dairy Queen in Meridian to watch the Meridian Speedway fireworks from their parking lot. It was a really nice fireworks display. Twice as long and bigger fireworks than the God and Country Festival display we saw on Wednesday.

I was thinking while I watched both firework displays,had any of them been tested over Lake Havasu, where my Grandmother and Great Grandmother live. So, Grandma you are not so very far away in thought as you are in miles.

Aren't they cute? They were even cuter a few moment later, all asleep in the car.

So glad Levi was home for this weekend!

Summer Splash

"Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit.  A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all's right with the world."  ~Ada Louise Huxtable

Fireworks

You may be a redneck if... your lifetime goal is to own a fireworks stand.  ~Jeff Foxworthy

 

Wednesday night we got together with a few friends and went to watch the fireworks show put on by the God and Country Festival in Nampa.  We all such a great time. We found an empty spot on a grassy hill in front of Mercy Hospital. It was still warm out when we arrived and the cold damp great felt great on my feet. I walked barefoot as I took Ian to the gas station across the street to go to the bathroom. There was a energetic game of soccer being played near out blankets. You could say we were just barely outfield. We had a few balls fly over head. The small kids, like Oliver, ran about and danced while waiting for the sun to go down and the show to begin. We waited and waited and waited as the sun sang lower and lower and we grew chilly as the sun withdrew itself. We waited well past the 10:20 pm scheduled start time, the children growing tired and then hyper. I had to make one more bathroom trip with the kids and just as we reached the restrooms the first firework exploded in the sky. "Hurry!" the kids all shouted as they used the restroom in lightning speed, afraid they would miss even a single glorious explosion. We ran back across the grass covered hill, passing families on blankets and chairs, their faces lite up and stretched to the sky like sunflowers. Safely on our blankets, we too craned out necks upward and watched expectantly as firework after firework erupted and shot into the night sky with wild bangs and pops. Just like anything you wait a long time for, the fireworks ended much too quickly. We gathered up our belongings, hunting in the dark cold grass for missing flip-flops and trash. We marched back to our car full of excitement and wonder.  What a lovely evening and we even avoided all the traffic leaving by taking a back route!

 

 

June 2010 Cub Scout Day Camp-Ian

Ian had a blast at this years cub scout day camp. The theme was Cub Scout World Tour. The boys went from country to country doing activities and getting their passports stamped. Take a look at these fun photos:

June 2010 Cub Scout Day Camp Ian

Flying high while eating french fries at the Library with bologna in our pockets and horse manure on our shoes.

....yes that is the kind of Saturday we have had.

8:45 am

Took cub scout Ian to the Nampa airport for a cub scout activity-The Young Eagles Program. I was thinking he would be looking at airplanes and maybe get to taxi around in one. Nope, they were gonna actually take them up flying. I really should read those permission slips more carefully. My baby high above the ground in a bitty-bitty plane...make that two babies because they said Kaleb could go too.

Waiting patiently in the freezing cold hanger for their turn to FLY.

WAITING *read in an ominous tone (I'm foreshadowing)

The guy in charge tells us one of the pilots was very experienced and he flew in WWII. I thought for a moment. Didn't Levi's Grandpa fly in WWII and he is now deaf and blind. Not reassuring to parents AT ALL!

Their pilot in above picture( he looks like a capable guy....right?) and the boys about to board.

 

 Yes, that is the little plane they flew in and they loved every minute of it! While down on the ground, I tried not to worry and Oliver whined that he was cold and hungry and wanted to go home (After all HE wasn't going in the airplane so why should he suffer needlessly?)

noonish 

LUNCH @McD's

 and a

visit to Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell's to pick up Josef. 

( I know they are so evil...but SO good) 



1:30 pm

Trip to library

2:30 pm Call from Tanya (my bff) and invite to watch Kelsi show her horse @ the Canyon County Fairgrounds. After being lost 3 times trying to find it from the freeway we FINALLY arrived then we waited, and waited, and waited. 

We went outside in the grass to let the boys run around a bit. Tanya and I were talking and Oliver walked up and had a slice of Bologna in his hands and was eating it. I asked him where he got it and he pointed down and I freaked because I thought he had found it on the ground. I made him drop it and was telling him how we NEVER eat things off the ground, when he explained it had been in his pocket. Then I was almost even more grossed out, because I had taken those pants from the dryer that morning. So it must have been in his pocket though the whole wash and dry cycle  and come to think of it I haven't bought Bologna in months and months. He could have taken it from Levi's parent house...that it what I am choosing for the official origin. He shoved a slice of Bologna in his pants pocket to take home and eat later. Really none of these sound all that great. Yuck!

Then Kelsi got a turn to show her horse in a trail ride event. It was tough. I was on the edge of my seat as each rider did their thing. Kelsi did really well for it being her first time doing this particular event. She had no training and her horse had also never done this event. Her horse was also being a pain and rearing up a bit. I think she did as good as she could have. Look at me trying to sounding all knowledgeable when I have no idea about showing horses. I learned a great deal about waiting today...I mean showing horses. They even have their own horse show fashions and if you are not wearing the 'in' thing you can loose points. It's brutal.

7:00 pm

( I told you we waited FOREVER)
So dusty, tired, and our shoes surely covered in manure we took everyone to Primo's for dinner. 

That place is amazing. Where else can you feed a kid till he is literally oozing pizza and salad for only $3.75?
We do not leave hungry that is for sure.

10 pm

 I'm exhausted. Goodnight!