Steadman Farm End of Summer Extravaganza!

Yesterday we were invited by some wonderful friends to join them with a few other families at Steadman Farms near Raft River.  

Our Saturday was the perfect day to end our summer...we played our guts out.

There were two huge water slides, a zip line, a candy cannon and playground.   The best part???  This place is free of charge.  Wow!  All our kids agreed that this might be better than Roaring Springs.  There were no lines and I didn't have to drop a small fortune.  I have lived in Idaho almost all my life and I didn't know about this place until recently...best kept secret in Idaho!

Huge thanks to the Urry Family!

If you don't want to look at a bazillion pictures of my kids having the time of their lives...please kindly skip this post.

 Andrew was the best big brother ever and entertained Saylor the entire day.

Steve and I appreciated him so much!

Collin and Carter.

Love that Carter has this man as his buddy.

At the top of the slide you looked to the north and saw this sight.  Only in Idaho.

Man, do I love where I live!

 Saylor made a new buddy too!

Darling little girls.

Why is the sight of two boys with kiddie tubes so hilarious to me?

 Grady practicing his best pirate face.

 I'm sure he was a little ticked he couldn't slide.

By the end, Saylor was brave enough to go down all by herself.  

Next year she'll be unstoppable!

First Day of School 2013

The first day of school was yesterday and it went off without a hitch.  All the kids were up around six, dressed, rooms clean, beds made, music practiced and ready for scriptures by 6:45.  (we won't talk about what happened today...lets just say it wasn't quite as pleasant) 

 We were ready for first day pictures around 7:30.  It was a blooming miracle figuring we haven't been getting out of bed until 9 for the last two weeks.  (shhh...Steve doesn't know that we've been lazy sacks of you know what after he's left at 7:30 am every morning to slave for us mooching wretches.  Ok, maybe he does.)

 Saylor couldn't be left out of the picture...her or her stuffed monkey.

 Carter...quit giving Colby bunny ears or I'm going to ask him to kiss you!

Too late. 

There's a lot of love around this house I guess.

 Carter is going into 4th grade with Mrs. Vining as his teacher.

He had mixed feelings about being in the portables this year until he realized the portables have actual air conditioning vs a swamp cooler in the big building. 

 The portables are now A-O-K.

(While we're on this pictures, lets just chat about this kid's smile shall we?  Carter's teeth grew in like this...perfect.  I NEVER had teeth like this and either did his dad.  I am in love with the fact that when Carter smiles I can see his molars!  This smile will break hearts one day...if it's not already doing it.)

 Oh yes...and it would be wrong of me to not mention that I'm NOT going into the school unless there is a diabetic emergency.  Carter is taking care of things himself this year with the help of his trusty IPhone.  Can you hear the hallelujah chorus in the background?

Colby is going into 2nd grade this year with Mrs. Snow as his teacher.

He came home excited and boisterous yesterday afternoon (until he had to go to violin lessons).  "My teacher plays the ukulele!"  I think he's going to have a fun year!

 Hopefully he won't give his teacher this face...

 or this one either.

That's the one Colby!  Charm her with that one.  It works on me every time!

Sorry Saylor, this one however, doesn't work on me.

Andrew started 8th grade and I couldn't believe how much bigger he looked than many of the kids walking into Stuart as I dropped him off.

I guess that comes with the territory of being the oldest grade in the school.

He wouldn't smile and show his braces for me to save his life...

so I fought back by getting closer...

and closer.

One day I'll catch a smile with his tinsel mouth!

Andrew came home tired and starving after school and a long cross country practice.  He ate four muffins and two eggs along with a bunch of cookies.  Fruit? Vegetables?  Maybe next time.

He was happy with his schedule and teachers.  I'm hoping he loves his last year of middle school.

 My school boys.

Typical for my kids.

Saylor:  not paying attention

Colby:  being squirlley

Carter:  quiet defiance

Andrew:  taking himself out of the situation before I embarrass him even more

waiting....

After much sweat and toil we finished our first (possibly last, but hopefully annual) Dixon Family Video.

Much thanks to our friends and family who inspired us to do something constructive with our children besides clean.  (you know who you are...please don't hate us because we chose to copy you!)

Please click here to watch.

Enjoy!

A Sunday Evening Walk plus The Funniest Pictures I Have Ever Taken

 Steve asked me to go for a walk tonight.

I came outside and he had Saylor and Grady ready to go.

 I wouldn't have thought of this myself, but found it quite ingenious.  Grady was happy our entire walk and didn't even complain about being in a pink bumbo.

Truly, he is the best baby ever.

On a funnier note...

 our family is working on a small project.

Hopefully it will be finished soon, but who knows.  I make no promises and I'm sure Steve doesn't want to spend his entire day off working on it.  Maybe in a week or so????

But, finished or not, we have had more laughs working on this project than I can say.  It's also made for some of the funniest pictures I have ever taken.  Just looking at these makes me laugh out loud all over again!

(Yep...this is the best one hands down.)

One last summer hurrah-unless the kids can con Steve into another one

Somehow the kids convinced Steve to take them Lego shopping at 9pm last night.  Money in pockets burns mighty hot around here.  Carter and Andrew both had a blazing holes in there pants crying out for new Legos.  Unfortunately, or fortunately (depending how you look at it) Target did not have the sets the boys wanted, but Saylor convinced Steve to buy her her first girl Lego set even when the boys got nothing.  Girls have that kind of power over their dads.  

Then...as they were driving away from Target, my entire crew had a hankering for some Chick-Fil-A.  

Man, Steve is a softy for kids and greasy delicious fried chicken.

The line was even long enough in the drive through for Steve to buy the coveted Lego sets on Amazon while they waited for their nuggets to properly crisp.  

I hope my kids realize how lucky they are to have a dad that is willing to spoil them rotten...icky smelly gooey rotten.

 Saylor and her new Girl Legos.  

She wanted the ninja set...not the pony or doll house one.  Does this girl have three older brothers or what!

 The mooches at their finest.

 Colby just ate fries. 

(so did I, but I won't say who ate more)

Earlier, before the greasy spoiling, I actually weeded my garden.

It was about three weeks overdue and I was starting to feel guilty about the tall weeds going to seed and  threatening to spoil my neighbors perfect lawns. (After I weeded, the garden looked half empty.  The weeds were BAD.)

The garden is composed of zucchini, sweet meat squash and pumpkins this year mixed in with a few tomatoes and sunflowers.  We planned it this way because with a new baby I knew I would not have time to weed constantly and put up food this year. 

I picked my battles this year and the garden was not a battle I wanted.

 While cleaning out weeds I was surprised to see how many good sized squash and pumpkins we are going to have baring any major garden disasters.  Whew...this year wasn't a total waste.

We planted an entire row of sunflowers and only three came up.

I guess we went for quality not quantity this year.