Judo

Liston got his first Judo belt on Wednesday. An orange and white one. He graduated to a class with bigger kids in it. Just some pictures of him doing some exercises and getting his belt. I wasn't sure how he would do in a new class with bigger kids but he made the transition just fine and still likes going. Now he gets to actually learn some Judo moves.

Preschool

Preschool is starting to get a little bit easier--maybe because I finally got a little more organized. And I've found some great websites that I really like. One of them is www.makinglearningfun.com It has tons of wonderful printables that I've been using to supplement whatever topic we're learning about. Since it's now officially Autumn I decided this week we would learn about trees. Yesterday we talked about different types of trees and the boys had fun drawing their favorite one. We also talked about James 1:5 and The First Vision and how Joseph prayed in a grove of trees. Today we learned about how trees grow and change through the seasons. And we made a neat craft with tissue paper. It's been fun and I hope I can keep it up. If anyone can tell me how to get preschool done AND my house cleaned that would be great! :)

Is this the right way?

Deacon is quite the joker! He's always teasing me or telling me a joke that makes absoltuely no sense--but he finds it incredibly funny! So yesterday he comes into the kitchen after using the potty. He usually asks me which way his pants go on because he's been having a hard time telling front from back. So he comes in and asks me "Is this the right way?" Well, you be the judge! :)(In case you can't tell that's underwear!)

Happy Birthday My Todd

Yesterday was Todd's 34th birthday! Man he's getting up there!!! I don't know if he had the funnest day cause we really didn't do too much! But he did get pizza, hot wings and cheesecake which is always a plus for him :) I'm so grateful for Todd. He's a thoughtful husband and is always working hard to make sure we're happy! And he's just a fun guy--he's almost always in a good mood! I love you Todd and am so happy to be on this journey through life with you.
ps I love the 1st pic! Aren't my boys all so handsome?

easiest one

This one was close to the widest one we crossed but it had a shallow shelf to cross. Plus a dead tree right in the middle was a good place to get out and warm up our feet for a second or two

Last day water crossing

This is one from our last day. After I had put my shoes bck on and stood up 2 deer were standing in the middle of the river looking at us. They had crossed downstream going the opposite way from us.

Bechler Ford

We had 5 big stream crossings on our trip to Yellowstone. This one was by far the coldest even though it was the narrowest. Halfway through you just wanted to stop and die the pain from the cold water on your legs hurt really bad!!!!

Yellowstone thermal pools

About halfway between Old Faithful and Bechler Meadows was a thermal region my book didn't really talk about other than that you should stop by. It was probably the best part of the trip. Thermal hot pools, geysers, all alomg a river for about 1/4 mile. One pool had bubbles coming up in the center so we were all alittle unsure as to how hot the pool would be. Turned out the bubbles were only pretty warm. The pool was feed by a small 1 foot wide stream that was too hot to touch and that turned out to be heating the pool. Probably as hot as my hot tub. Great break from our hike. Was a couple hours into our hike for that day. We were there for at least an hour had lunch and the place all to ourselves. Would definately like to take Mare here someday if anyone wants to watch our kids for a couple of days:)
todd

Boating

Here are some pictures we took on Jackson Lake with Dad's boat. Boat wasn't performing at its peak or we would have a lot more. Deacon liked his boat ride so much he fell asleep coming across and stayed asleep when I put him down on the deck. Nice scenery but a little chilly.
todd