1st day of school 2009

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The first day of school is always full of excitement! Jaysie was up early and ready to go in no time. She and the neighborhood kids (about 15 of them) made a plan to walk to school. They have a route they take and make sure to never be late or it screws up the timing of it all. I think it's great, they think it's great and we're all happy!

Teegan got to start his 2nd year of preschool the same day instead of waiting a week. He was super excited to go to his new preschool. He is meeting new friends and enjoying his new teacher. He even has become quite the gentleman...he always carries in Jocelyn's backpack for her. (Jocelyn is a little friend in our carpool)

Now Kate and I get to hang out together and the whole time she asks where Teegan and Jaysie are, so I know how I rate! Both of us can't wait for them to come home each day....they are truly missed.

Like every other year, we'll get over it and wonder where the day went by the time they come home......

10 days and 2200 miles....

A trip to a lineman's rodeo in Montana turned into 10 days of living out of the trailer and miles of beautiful country. Many of you may not know that I'm married to a rodeo champion. (I've secretly wanted a rodeo man all my life) My dream came true when Trent won the SLC Lineman's Rodeo in June. (Hey, it counts!) To prepare for his International Lineman's Rodeo that the company will send him to in October, he decided to compete in the Montana rodeo for practice. So we started out in Cascade, MT watching Trent and his friends from work (Tom & Shane) compete. If you've never experienced a lineman rodeo, they are unique to say the least. My favorite event is the people watching event....just imagine a party tent in the middle of nowhere with free beer, karaoke and a dance floor.

Our next stop was Glacier National Park. What a beautiful place! We had a great time skipping rocks in MacDonald Lake, driving up the Going to the Sun Road and getting almost close enough to touch this Big Horn sheep and the mountain goats.

This mountain goat had quite the hairdo.

In our rock skipping competition, Trent took the cake!

We couldn't wait to get to Aunt Becca's house in Sandpoint, ID to see baby Porter. He was 10 days old and soooo cute! It was great to visit with Becca and Jeff and see the beautiful area that they live in. They were great hosts especially with having a new baby. My kids will say that this was their favorite part of the trip....

I've trained my kids well.....we LOVE bleu cheese salad dressing! Nothing tops Litehouse Bleu Cheese and it just happens to be made in Sandpoint. We made sure to leave with a BIG bottle. The other day we had spaghetti for dinner and Teegan decided to top his spaghetti with bleu cheese dressing instead of parmasan. He said "It's cheese, right?"

Our last stop was at Henry's Lake just outside of Yellowstone & Island Park. We met up with Trent's family for a little fishin' and some good fun. We went into Yellowstone Park and saw everything except wolves and bears. We swam in Firehole River and didn't forget Old Faithful. We always seem to get there just after Old Faithful has errupted and have to wait a good hour and a half for the next show. The kids never seem to think it's worth the wait.....

After 2200 miles and no DVD player, the kids did surprisingly well. We only had one meltdown from Kate, a few tears from Teegan because Jaysie kept beating him at tic-tac-toe and lots of mosquito bites. I'd do it again tomorrow.....I love vacations!!