Yellowstone

We took 4 days off and headed for Yellowstone. There wasn't much relaxing going on, as we packed our days with animal watching, shopping, sight seeing, hiking/walking, bike riding, ice cream, and lots of driving. Jay has Earned the nickname "Bear" He didn't appreciate Yellowstone as much as the rest of us. My mom will be making him a shirt that says
"I put the YELL in Yellowstone" All in All He did well. We can't complain too much.

This picture is at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.
Jappy put up his hammock. The Kids enjoyed it

Nana and Papa dressed for fishing. They didn't bring back any fish. So Sad.

Our BIG BOY. He loved playing in the DIRT, Finding ROCKS to put in his mouth, and picking up STICKS.

The girls took part in the Jr. Ranger program. They had to visit a certain amount of sights and fill out a packet of activities. They did a ceremony honoring their achievement. They loved the attention.

Enjoying Old Faithful with Nana and Papa

Looking at the elk.
Brooklyn enjoying the Smells of Yellowstone.
Our "Bear" and a Bear print

The girls LOVED having Nana and Papa there. They loved having an audience to sing and dance for. They surely did A LOT of that.

We saw LOTS of Buffalo, elk, eagles. and a Big fish in the river. We visited Old Faithful 3 times, along with many other Geysers, and Hot Poole's. The girls did NOT appreciate the sulfur experience of Yellowstone. It made us laugh every time they plugged their noses. We had a great time and plan on returning. (When Jay's a little bit older)

Crawling is not for Him

Jay has really taken off with walking. There is no stopping him now. He stands on his own, and is constantly on the go. He is so proud of himself and just smiles. He has also figured out the stairs and goes up and down. This makes things a little bit less stressful. We have been more brave with the foods that we give him. Hard boiled egg whites, gold fish, cheese, mashed potatoes, all fruits, and steamed broccoli, and cauliflower He's content to sit in his high chair as long as he has things to put in his mouth. He has picked up a new sign this past week 'all done' and he's been blowing kisses. He got his third tooth, and the fourth will be coming through very soon. I love the stage he's in now. He entertains us all day long.

He turns the Big 1 next month.

Our trip North in a Nutshell

Everyday was packed with some kind of activity. We roasted Smores, visited with friends, and family, went to the beach walked the boardwalk, had ice cream had our family pictures taken, Thanks Cass your amazing!! And had a big 4th of July Bash.
Two of my brothers came to town during our time there. The kids had lots of people to entertain them. It doesn't seem that I did very well with taking pictures. but I'm sure the others will share their pictures. WON'T YOU.


When we got there we took the kids to a park that has a place for kids to enjoy the water. It has several fountains, that the kids can run through.

Jay mowed the lawn with daddy and soon after starting was sound asleep.

Everyday Papa had the 4 wheller out and hauled kids around the field. Jay also enjoyed it.

We spent some time at the lake. It was Chilly!! but the kids didn't mind it. (Silly Papa)

Check out that Hair. It's the wind look out on the boat

We tookk the girls to drive the go carts. We thought for sure mady would be tall enough to drive but she was a few inches short. Hopefully next year.

Nana got out the kiddie pool and girls never wanted to get out. Nana finished Mady's swim suit while we were there. Mady has waited almost a year to wear it. Thank you NANA Mady loves it.

The girls picked strawberries one morning in their Pajamas. Mady and I found a snake. It scared us!!! Then we realized it wasn't real. Thank goodness

At the parade. You can't see the girls shorts but I made them. It was hot the entire time we were there and nobody got sunburned. YEAH!! That night we watched the fireworks from the boat. The kids and the adults enjoyed it.

We were loaded and ready to go. Poor Duncan didn't want us to leave, or he wanted to go with us. We miss you too buddy.

We also took the girls (my brother and sister in law) to Silverwood which is an amusement /water park. Brooklyn rode her first roller coaster. She didn't like it, we'll try again next year. Mady on the other hand rode several and LOVED every minute of it.

Jappy and I went to my class reunion. There were lots of people that didn't come that I would have loved to see. I still got to catch up with several, that I hadn't seen in awhile. Why is it that you are so close to someone in high school, and then you graduate and you never see them again? They did convince me to get on facebook, so I'll be getting that set up this week, thanks to their peer pressure.:) We had a fun trip and never seems like it's long enough to do everything we want. Thanks everyone for watching our kids, and spending time with us we had a BLAST!!

Cashism

Jappy got a new putter. Jay thinks it's his.

Our 'great' nephew Cash came for a short visit. He is the most polite 2 year old I've ever met.

He always says 'no thank you Jen' or Please after everything he says. But the cutest thing he says is when he calls Jappy "uncle Jap Jap's". It is so CUTE.

He also calls Jay Baby Jap Jap's. It's so sweet. I hope he never grows out of it.

Cash and Baby Jap Jap's

That's a Wrap

Today is one for the books....
Today is Jappy's last day working for Key Bank :) US Bank offered him a job and he jumped on it.
We are excited for a new avenue of banking. He'll be over the merchant services for Twin Falls to Jackson Hole. He'll be working with business's setting up their credit card accts./machines.
We hope that all will go well with the transition, and that he has fun doing it.
He's still playing softball and it's always fun to watch/play. They have only lost 1 and that's because we were a head by 12 and we goofed around too much. We were quickly humbled.
Mady started baseball and she's done well. Her fielding needs work but she's got the hitting down. The coach pitches to them so they don't use a tee. She can hit it into the outfield. She's on the same team as our neighbor boy and they love it.

Jay stays entertained during her games.
Mady had a week long class at The Museum of Natural History and she LOVED it. They learned about the planets and plants and animals and then went to the zoo on their last day, and observed the animals and their habitat. I'm so glad she got to go it was a fun experience for her.
Brooklyn hated her being gone. Which i don't understand cause all they do is fight all day. MAKES ME CRAZY.
Jay is 10 1/2 months. He's getting to be more of a handful every day. He's trying to walk. It's soo cute. He loves to play peek a boo and says mama and Dada. He is a climber, and a screamer. And has started to be a FIT THROWER He likes to have our attention at ALL TIMES. (He hasn't been spoiled at all)

Magoo Climbing onto B's bed
I took the kids to the pool this week and he had a blast! I couldn't take my eye off of him he just wanted to go go go. The girls had fun, they just did as they pleased, and checked in often.The pool is fairly small and they both can touch everywhere they wanted to go, and I could see them from anywhere.

B sporting her goggles
We are headed to Coeurd'Alene tomorrow and the girls are very excited. We'll be there over a week. We hope to just relax, have time on the lake, and see our friends and family.
I hope everyone enjoys the 4th I know we will.

I miss the mountains!

I took a last minute trip to Coeurd'Alene with the kids last week. I made the drive on my own and we all survived. Although we had the flu bug when we got there. That was a ton of no fun and then we shared it with my mom and dad. YUCK! We were there 5 days and only had one day of everyone being healthy. So we packed our one day full of FUN.
The picture of the lake is just as you are getting into town. It's how our girls know that we made it. They are so excited to see the lake. I get excited too. I don't realize how much I miss the mountains and trees until I get there. The weather was Gorgeous 80-85 degrees. It was perfect. It rained at home everyday we were gone. I picked a great week to go.

My Aunt Mae and Grandma too the girls to Tito Macaroni's for Lunch. The girls got to make their own pizzas. They were so cute in their hats and being their own chefs.

I took the girls to the lake one afternoon. It's still very cold but they wanted to give it a try. They didn't stay in very long. Duncan was so HAPPY to see us. We have all missed him. He's starting to show his age, and it was very frustrating to the girls. He couldn't run endlessly like he once did. It's just part of old age. He was still very sweet with the kids as always. He kept inching closer to Brooklyn's towel. He wanted to lay on it with her. Notice the one paw. Jay loved the animals. He always had a stick, a bat or a golf club in hand.
Papa got the 4 wheeler out when we all were feeling better. The girls helped Papa plant trees. And by help I mean played in the field.

My parents took the girls fishing early Saturday morning. The girls help dig for worms, and then headed to the lake. B caught 3 and Mady 2. Brooklyn was very upset with Papa when he kept throwing hers back in the water. She came home in tears. I explained "They needed to be with there families" It held her over until she forgot about it. But they really did have a lot of fun. That was a big part of why I took them. Brooklyn asked me a couple of weeks ago when they could go fishing. Jappy and I aren't into baiting the hook or getting the fish off the hook, BUT PAPA WILL.

B and Duncan

Mady and Jack

Nana found the lil pool. He LOVED it He was in there for at least an hour. He'd climb out and in.

Saturday was also my dad's stations open house. We watched the helicopter land, ate cookies and hotdogs, and jumped in the bounce house. They also had a rock climbing wall and both the girls were brave enough to try. Mady went right to the top without hesitation and Brooklyn mad it 2/3 the way up and was ready to come down. I don't know why I don't have any pictures of that but there on my moms Blog if you want to those. Along with some fishing ones.
Our last night Papa made a fire and we had Smore's it was a great end to a full day.

It was a good visit but it would have been better if we wouldn't of gotten sick. But oh well. The girls needed time at Nana and Papa's. I hope they think it was worth it. Cause we do.

KICK OFF to SUMMER

We took and last minute trip to Logan over the weekend. We actually took the motor home and we had a GREAT Time!!
We spent the first night at Brooks and Christy's They had the tent set up for the girls to sleep in when we got there. They were so excited! We made Smore's and stayed up late..

Jappy got up at 5:30 the next morning to play a round of golf with Bryce and some of his friends. It sounded like they all had fun. And they returned the golf cart in tact (barely). When he got back around 10:00. Christy, Jessi and I headed for some shopping. I found a new store that I just love called Hobby Lobby. I didn't spend nearly enough time in there ( we were on a schedule) .

After our shopping he headed for the pool. We spent the remainder of the day there. Surprisingly Jappy and I are the only ones that got burnt. I don't know how that happened but I'm happy it wasn't the kids.

Eating lunch before we hit the water.

We swam and did the slides and even jump off the high dive. We had a lot of fun coaxing each other to do things. Brooklyn even made two dollars. She didn't want to do the slide so I told her I'd give her a dollar, and then Bryce told her that he'd throw in a dollar. So she headed for the slide. After that she was hooked she loved it.


This did not turn into a belly flop :D ---Mady and her cannon ball

Bryce and Jessi made dinner that was Fantastic!

Jappy took the girls back to Brooks to play with Bailey, I laid Jay down and Jessi and I made Watches. They turned out so CUTE!! We are amazingly creative!

Bryce made everyone breakfast/ brunch and they we headed home. The girls had Cold Stone for breakfast. It really is Summer.

This is how the girls spent their morning.

Thank you everyone for a fun filled weekend!

The girls didn't get to sleep in the motor home that night either. They wanted to sleep in Jessi's house. So Last night they had their own camp out in the motor home. They Loved every minute of it.

Summer has officially started for the Jeppsen's

Isn't he a CUTIE?