preschool group at the farm

On a windy March day our preschool group (5 girls), their siblings and moms (one is a dad), and a few others from the neighborhood had a tour of a local historic farm. Here are some of the photos I took. We had so much fun!


p.s. You can see Shboogoo at this farm in my 2008 blog post {HERE}.

Shboogoo's turn shaking the container to make butter

demonstration at the blacksmith shop

They still milk cows here.

This was the day I met Anna, who is from Armenia.

mama goat nursing her kids

cute piglet

more cuteness

baby cow!

I honestly really like pigeons.

one of my favorite photos of these two

queen of randomness

Maybe I have mentioned before that my roommate Emily (my first-year-of-college-Emily, not my second-year-of-college-Emily) accurately referred to me as the queen of randomness.

I have had so much on my mind lately. I know that doesn't make me unique, but it's just so much: 

• decision-making and depression in my family
• running my first half-marathon soon, and considering a full marathon
• friendships
• my annoying phone that I'm using because my pink one is missing
• birth politics and other topics I like to learn about (I am not pregnant)
• my girls fighting over things and screaming
• how I might use my degree someday
• my unfinished craft projects
• taxes
• pride
• homelessness
• obesity and disease
• our bathrooms that I need to clean
• the fact that I never feel like putting away the laundry
• the news
• the difficulties of relationships
• the decorating we haven't done
• my relative who recently finished his prison time
• radio stations and home-based businesses I would support if we had more income
• my grandpa's funeral at the end of January
• how nice it is to simplify our food by focusing on vegetables and fruits and using only a few coupons
• beauty and blessings
• whether or not I care about changing my blog template . . .

I figured I may as well share more randomness, shown in some of my January photos.

I used the JoAnn gift card from my sister, plus there was a sale, so this is about $84 worth of stuff and I only had to pay $27.

We visited a friend who lives about 2 hours away; her husband blessed their youngest and baptized their oldest.

Our big girl loves to make "computers" out of books.

I let her finish the oatmeal.

Saw this adorable dog while leaving the post office. My husband wants a pug.

Our church building.

Shboogoo had so much fun pushing her own cart.

I bought Shboogoo some new boots.

Snow on stone.

wyoming trip 2010

Our family took a short road trip to Wyoming, leaving the morning of Tuesday, July 6th and returning the evening of Thursday, July 8th. 

We went to Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park; my husband had never been to either place. Just once, four years ago, he had met my grandparents (my step-mom's dad and step-mom) who live in Jackson Hole. We wanted them to meet our kids, but when we finally got their phone number and called, they already had plans. We window-shopped on one street in Jackson Hole and then headed for home. It was a beautiful, relaxing trip. We'll definitely go again and explore more.

My husband's shot of the Teton Mountains

Craig Thomas Discovery & Visitor Center

Walking to Jenny Lake for a beautiful, chilly (when we drove fast) boat ride with about 20 people.

I look weird here. I felt bad for this girl; her jacket was in the car.

After riding across the lake, they let you off the boat. We hiked for ten minutes and took the boat ride back. We want to go later just as a couple so we can run around the lake.

The Jenny Lake campground was full, so we stayed at Colter Bay. I love our tent.

This is L with sweet potatoes on her face, holding onto the suitcase and poopin'.

She loves rocks. My husband cooked our tin-foil dinners while I went and bought the batteries we didn't know we needed in order to fill the air mattress. In the tent, we read from The Book of Mormon and watched some Ratatouille on the laptop with her before going to sleep.

We ended up eating breakfast in the Ranch House restaurant, going to Yellowstone for most of the day, and coming back to eat dinner in the Cafe Court on our way to Jackson Hole.

After breakfast.

The first area of Yellowstone that we got out of the car to see: Kepler Cascades.

Same as above, but he used the zoom. (No editing at all on this or the one above.)

The four of us at Kepler Cascades!

When we were almost to the Old Faithful geyser, I asked if anyone needed to go potty. In the restroom, D and another milblogger, C.J. Grisham, recognized and talked with each other. They both didn't know the other one was so short. We met his wife and three kids, too.

SO many people at Old Faithful . . . we didn't get very close.

I liked seeing our flag with all the green and the blue sky.

Drinking a "Hapwee Hun."

My husband zoomed in on the gross stuff.

I don't know why she was so worried.

"Yellowstone contains approximately one-half of the world’s hydrothermal features." I love this one.

This cool old couple was ordering dinner, too. I liked the way she asked him, "What do you want, love?" 

My shot of the Tetons, as he was driving and my window was down. 

This building looks really cool, but we only passed by (you can get a better look HERE).

We'd all been so cold in the tent Tuesday night that we got in the car at 3 a.m. Even with sketchy mobile phone service, we managed to call a relative to reserve us a room at an affordable place in Jackson Hole for Wednesday night. Every campsite was full in Yellowstone anyway. We could tell Pony Express Motel used to be studio apartments. It was a good place to stay, but S had to share the one bed with us, and we put our baby's play pen in the kitchen. Thursday morning I went out for a half-hour run and found my husband and kids still asleep when I returned to the room.

We got breakfast burritos and a McGriddle. We were too hungry to find a more unique restaurant.

The three-year-old took this picture (still in McDonald's).

All of the elk antlers in Jackson's Town Square (this is one of four arches) are gathered each year to replace the last year's. The person who took this picture was from Minnesota. In Yellowstone it was fun to see license plates from everywhere, and we met a man from Beijing.

A stop on the way home. I zoomed in on this cow. I wanted to capture her looking at me, but she kept running away. In Yellowstone the animals we saw were a moose, a chipmunk, and some birds.

I actually did want a photo like this. I liked seeing D's hat (which my dad bought in South America) and an Ensign magazine reflected on the glass. We enjoyed listening to Radiolab and other podcasts and music.