We went to Juniper, Idaho for the weekend. (Except for Jeran, who went to scout camp again.)
Juniper. This is my country! Land of my birth! (Not really. I wasn't actually born in Juniper, but I did live there from before I was a year old until I graduated from high school.) I'm still proud to say Juniper is a part of me and I'm a part of Juniper.
But back to the incredible weekend.
Spray painting t-shirts.
And if you say spray paint instead of tie-dye, teen boys get into the fun.
This girl is a baby charmer. Every time I turned around she had a baby in her arms. And she was so sweet with them. They love her!
And Megan was pretty good at entertaining the younger crowd...
No one but them understood the game, but it looks like they're having fun
Lots of fun...
And then there are these two (Nate and Braden), who aren't so tiny any more, and they're definitely, definitely up to something...
The younger crowd ready ride on the back of the truck
Except these two (Nate and Braden) who preferred the independence of the 4 wheeler.
Yes, we're thankful for all those tiny (some kind of getting bigger) feet.
There were also rides on River
And later there were bombs bursting in air (the water powered bottle rocket type), but we didn't catch that on camera.
And lots of dawn's early light moments and memories made far, far beyond twilight's last gleaming...most of which also weren't captured on camera.
The dawn's early light moments included the kids being able to do early morning chores at a neighboring dairy farm. One of their cousins, Dani, gets paid to feed cows there morning and night, and the cousins love to help when they're visiting. (Dani's sure they might not love it as much if they did it every day.) We're just glad she lets them help. They love it! (And we thank the farm families are patient with our city kids.)
One of Gabby's favorite moments of the weekend was (and still is) feeding the baby calves.
My cute nephew, Edward getting to know the baby calves
Awwwwww....
At dairy farms, calves are separated from their moms at birth and given bottled milk so their mothers can provide milk for the dairy. Since we've been home, when Gabby says her bedtime prayers, she prays for the baby calves, that they will be ok since they can't have their moms. Hearing her talk about feeding the calves makes me realize how important it is for her to have those nurturing experiences...just one more reason I'm thankful to have roots in Juniper. Those kinds of opportunities are endless there.
But back to the weekend...
There were beautiful spacious skies filled with stars, sunshine, clouds, sunrises, sunsets, and rain...
And when the rain hit, we were up in the mountains...
Did you know camp chairs can also double as umbrellas?
My view from inside the nice, dry car. (I was helping Gabby hold a baby at the time...a good excuse that always works in a pinch.)
Certainly we saw our share of purple mountains majesty, which were actually green up close...greener on this very cool, wet year than I've ever seen in my life. It was beautiful.
And while I was sitting in my camp chair still taking it easy from surgery a few weeks ago, many others got to go enjoy hiking the majestic mountains. Gabby has hiked twice now. Once in the Utah mountains before my surgery, and again this trip. She might just be addicted to hiking. I hope. It's one of my favorite things to do.
The hikers. Over hill, over dale, we have hit the dusty trail
(but no caissons were rolling along).
Gabby is in the blue sweatshirt in the middle of the pack. Joie is just to the right of her in the denim jacket.
Others hung out around the campfire during the hike. Watching socks burn dry seemed to be the activity of choice.
That would be my nerdy feet because all I brought was flip flops, but I did find some socks in the car to keep my toes warm.
Nate was just amused by it all.
And Tim, who had just worked a midnight shift, took advantage of a quiet moment to just snooze a bit.
There were also rides on the most amazing swing on the planet...
Off we go, into the wild, blue yonder, climbing high, into the sun...
Here they come, zooming to meet our thunder...
(Yeah...better when the Air Force sings it.)
Did I say there was a lot of food?
Dutch oven style
Seriously. Eclairs over the campfire. Try it. There were even s'mores.
It happened to be way past twilight's last gleaming when we left the canyon...but there was that pesky flat tire on our way home. We'd been driving slow on rocky dirt roads and as soon as we pulled onto the pavement we realized we'd been driving on a rim. Yes. Another flat tire. Sadly, our vehicle was the designated baby vehicle, so while Tim and several of my brothers were changing a flat tire, three of us sat in the car holding sleeping babies...because by that time it was beyond late.
Too late for fireworks (that Gabby so, so wanted because she hadn't done fireworks before, but that would wait for the the next day.)
It was an almost perfect way to spend the 4th of July. All weekend we all kept thinking about those of the family who weren't there. Nine out of 12 of my siblings were represented at some point in the weekend, which wasn't bad. And even though my parents are away for a while, they were sort of represented because we all crashed in their house. (And Dad, you might recognize a few of your shirts in the pictures. Thanks! They kept us warm!) But we all kept thinking of that one thing that would have made this 4th of July perfect.
My brother was to have returned to Germany from Afghanistan the day before (when it would have been the 4th of July in Germany), but his flight was delayed. Bummer.
We all kept waiting to hear...
Then this facebook post from his wife:
"He's home."
Those words were the perfect end to our 4th of July weekend. Joe was back on friendly soil.
Oh beautiful for heros proved in liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life...
Welcome home Joe! Can't wait to see you in person.
We're looking forward to spending more time in Juniper this summer...less than a week and counting to Gabby's birthday party at the farm.
And on Monday Tim is off to the cabin with the kids (while I work).
It seems like we may be getting back to summer again after that
You can't ever have enough summer.
Partial lyrics from:
America the Beautiful
Star Spangled Banner
The US Army Song
Air Force Song
and This is My Country!
Photos provided by all the many people (myself included) who were holding my camera over the weekend, and photos from Beth and Trevor and Becky. Also the photo of Joe and his family was shamelessly borrowed from facebook...pretty sure Tawny didn't take it because she's in it, but thanks to whoever captured that amazing moment for their family.
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