Happy B-Day Tory (June 3)

I'm too lazy to separate these young pictures of Tory.

On June 3rd we celebrated Tory's 32 birthday. We had a simple party with just our little family and a homemade chocolate cake.

Tory didn't want much for his birthday...

He's always very easy to please... (especially since he usually gets his own presents and gives them to me for hiding and wrapping!)


He got "Plant Earth" and "Blue Planet" DVDs,

about 7-8 hours of nature shows and documentaries!

And something he has been wanting for a long time; a hiking water filter! Small, light weight, but very nice, and it gives you safe filtered water in minutes.
I'm grateful to have Tory in my life. We've been married for almost 9 years. He is a wonderful man. I am blessed to have him in my life. He is the best Dad! He's always coming up with fun adventures for us to do! He takes care of us and he loves us with all that he is. He is my husband, my love, and my best friend!

I love you Tory... Happy Birthday.

Kindergarten Graduation (May 28)

Chase had his "Kindergarten Graduation" on Friday, May 28. I almost put him in a white shirt and tie, but he didn't want to dress up that much.
This is Truman, Chase's best friend in his class.

When we got to school and saw ho the other kids were dressed I was glad I didn't insist on the tie!

Chase said his favorite thing about Kindergarten was "House Keeping" (a little toy kitchen area in his classroom.

Mrs. Greear has been a wonderful teacher! I wish the kids didn't have to change teachers every year, but I'm sure the next one will be just a great!

After the show was over we went back to the classroom for cookies and apple juice!

Tory's Road Trip (May 27)

Tory and his friend Rob (from work) decided to brave the open dirt road and take a day to explore some unseen parts of our beautiful State. They went on Mud Flat Road. It starts south west of Mountain Home and goes over to Jordan Valley area.

They took a Jeep Grand Cherokee on a 260 mile trip; 180 miles of that was dirt road!

They left a t 7:00 a.m. and got back around 10:15 p.m.

Tory took a lot of pictures but these were some of my favorites!

It rained a lot that week so all the colors were very vibrant; unfortunately our camera just doesn't seem to it justice.

Being the prepared scout that my husband is, He left me with a detailed map and all the areas he would be and the approximate times he would be at each of them.

He told me he would call and check in a 12:00 when they stop for lunch, before they got out of cell phone service range.

Since they were running late (from the dirt roads being rougher than anticipated) The Old Basque Inn restaurant had just closed it's kitchen at 2:00. They got there at 2:10. The kitchen didn't re-open until dinner at 5:00.

But they had some extra soup and sandwiches so Tory and Rob didn't starve.

15 hours, lots of mud, and a flat tier later They finally made it home safe!

This is a map where they went!

A New Milestone...

This may seem trivial or pointless to most people, but in our home Tyler eating something "new" is a BIG deal. So yesterday we had a simple, relaxed evening. Nothing formal for dinner, (although we almost always have dinner around the table every day) I just made some chicken nuggets for Tyler and grilled chicken for Tory and I. I was washing some strawberries for Chase and thought "how can a kid not like strawberries?" Sure the tiny seeds might throw you off at first, and some strawberries can be quite tart, but I was feeling very optimistic at the thought of offering some to Tyler. So I grabbed one strawberry and one carrot stick and went to the table.

I figured my chances were better if I cut up the strawberry into pieces and offered them with a fork, (nothing cold and wet to touch). And to my surprise, after offering it to him about 3 times he opened his mouth and reluctantly ate a bite! The taste was obviously a little shock at first, but tolerable. Carrots took a little more coaxing, but he did eventually take a few bites of the carrot.

In the end, Tyler ate one whole strawberry and almost a whole carrot stick.(Chase pretending to be a bunny wanting lots of carrots helped encourage Tyler). Plus, the whole experience was done with no screaming or forcing involved, and that is another big deal!

May 12, Tyler's 4th Birthday

My little Tyler turned 4 yesterday. We waited all day for Dad and Grandma and Grandpa Harris to get off work so we could have a party.

This was my attempt at a Wall-E finding a "bike" in a pile of garbage (garbage being granola bars).

I was so proud of him he actually blew out all his candles all by himself, which he couldn't do last year.

I got him some "Pop-Out" books in hopes he will sit better during church if his books are more interactive.



The cheapest little present seems to be the favorite: a glowing, spinning ball on a stick; under $2 at Toys R Us.

Grandma and Grandpa got him dinosaurs!! And to no surprise he knew at least half of them, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Ankilosaurs, exct. His favorite is the one that walks and roars, which went to bed with him last night along with the glowing Ball stick.

We finally got him a bike (Lightning McQueen). He has been riding a little tricycle around that we got for Chase's 3rd birthday. He's defiantly ready for a bike. He is tall and growing fast. I'm so grateful for this little angel in my life, and I'm grateful that my Heavenly Father trusts me with Him. I love my little Ty-Ty. Happy Birthday little boy.

May 1st: Our Day Hike

Tory planned a nice little family hike for us on May 1st. So that morning we got up and packed some lunches and got dressed and packed our gear, the we met the Mitchell family at the church.
Cory and Tory like to do the out-door's things together once in a while. And Tina and I like to hang out a lot.
Cory and Tin have 2 boys, Ben and Dallon. Ben is in the same Primary class as Chase. Dallon is about a year younger than Tyler.

We went on a short mile (maybe mile and a half) hike by Camel's Back Park, down town Boise.

We parked one car at the bottom of the hill and piled in the van and went up the the top. There was a little nature walk where we started.

about half way down, there was a pond with a small beach where the boys could throw some rocks.

Then about 3/4 way there was ha large sand hill that looked fun, but too steep for my taste!

The little boys kept up pretty good. I had to carry Tyler occasionally, but that wasn't so bad.

We all had a lot of fun!

Tina refused to let us take any pictures of her.



When we finally made ti to the bottom of the hill we had a picnic.

Then we crossed a field to the park and let the kids play for a while. The whole experience only took about 2 hours including eating and play time. We had a lot of fun.

Thanks Tory for keeping our life exciting!