COUSINS!

The Specht Cousins have come to stay!

First thing on the agenda was to release the frogs as soon as the cousins saw them.

 Then there was BB gun shooting...

 ...and archery.

Friday night was the Olympic opening ceremonies. 

Talmage and Makaley were the only ones that made it to the lighting of the torch.

Saturday was swimming at Gibbons.

We said good-bye when they headed to Moses Lake this evening. 

But, it was a different good-bye.  The temporary kind---yeah!

24th of July

No one throws a Pioneer Day Party Like the Basin City wards.

 Our rough and tough crew with the Cazier boys.  (Especially Hyrum.)

 On the trail.  Sariah is in the yellow dress, Talmage on her right, Hyrum on his right.  Bryant?  Who knows.

                                        
                                                                

Hyrum bouncing along in his khaki shorts.

Sariah's archery skills.

Oh, there's Bryant.  Carefree cowboy. 

(Still scrubbing the grass stains out of his white shirt.  Maybe that wasn't such a good idea.)

 And Rex and Lyle ate to their heart's content, bounced to the beat of the music,

and stayed up 2 hours past their bedtime!

Finding our New Groove

It's been awhile, but we are finding our new groove.  Here's what has happened since we moved to Grandpa's and Grandma's almost a month ago.

 We celebrated Talmage's 11th birthday a few days late.  Mud pie of course.

 Helped Grandpa pick a stellar crop of sweet cherries.

 Caught tadpoles when the Cazier boys came to visit.

 Enjoy popsicles in the hot, hot weather.

 Watch our "bear cubs" grow.  They have both taken about 4 or 5 steps as of today.

 Saw the "reptile man"--- a favorite.

 We take a lot of baths to wash off the daily dirt.

 We've been picking raspberries almost the entire time we've been here.  It's been a great year for raspberries.  I literally eat them three meals a day!

 The kids are sleeping on the triple bunk beds I grew up sleeping on.  Hyrum has the top!

 Rex and Lyle's first 4th of July out-of-doors.

 The infamous Basin City parade with cousins.

 A quick visit from Grandpa and Grandma Hales.

 Story Time!

 A lot of new creature friends.

 The view we love everyday.

 Our tadpoles and now frogs.

 More creature friends.

And a "new" van that is a whole story for a different post.  James and I have nearly 50 hours in it so far trying to clean it.

Scrubbing every square inch of every seat.  See the difference?  It's even more blatant in "real life".