What day is it?

Next we headed down through Idaho, Montana and back into south east Idaho to visit the lovely little Rexburg. Rexburg is the home to BYU-Idaho, the place where both Devin and I attended college. We have so many good memories of this little town and the school... it was nice to return and se all the changes they have made since it was little old Ricks College. My brother is there right now too, so it was nice to see him while we were there.

This is the Rexburg temple, something that was not there when we were. It is beautiful!

Rexburg temple at night. You can see the temple all the way from the freeway (which is pretty far) At night, when you come in on highway 33, that's what you see in the distance. It's wonderful!
We failed to get very many pictures on campus, but this is often how the kids were as we walked along. They love holding hands! They thought it was so funny. What good big brothers Ella has!We hiked, not very far unfortunately, at the Menan Butte's. This was one of Devin and my favorite things to do when we were here. Once you get to the top, you can see forever... it's amazing! But we had some (or one) tired boy that wasn't wanting to hike, so we just walked a little ways, so Anson felt like he had gotten to hike. It was still beautiful.

Anson, determined to climb to the top...

Another of our favorite places was the Sand Dunes. We went to only one small area of these massive dunes. The boys thought they were so cool and wondered how so much sand could be in the middle of nowhere. We wonder too.

You can see a little bit of the dunes, just past this little puddle lake.

We also spent some time at Porter park. The kids needed some free time to run and play.

You can't visit Rexburg without eating at Big Judd's! Out of all the memories we have of Rexburg, a lot of them consist of food and restaurants. with a list of places we wanted to eat at while we there, but not enough meals to fit them in, we had to pick our tops. We made it to most, especially Millhollow for there delicious sandwiches and frozen yogurt (yum, oh so yum) and Big Judd's. Sorry, Craigo's we'll have to get to you next time :(

Big Judd's not only has the largest burgers you have ever seen, they are also the most delicious. And one of the things I miss most of Idaho? Fry Sauce! Here is Anson with his burger... the size of a plate! And this is just a single! They also have doubles and triples now! The story is,if you eat your entire burger you get your picture on the wall.... there are a lot of pictures on the walls! And they have 2 more categories now! Too much deliciousness for me... we actually split this burger with the whole family. It comes with great fries and we also ordered their super yummy onion rings. Not up for a plate sized, pound of meat burger with all the fixin's? Don't worry, they have regular sized burgers too... then you can always end you meal with the hungry hefer... that's a 15! scoop ice cream sundae. Never tried that one, but it always amazes me that's in on the menu!

The kiddos loved staying in a hotel... although I swear hotel rooms pipe something into their ventelation systems that make kids go crazy! Lots of bed jumping, running... you know the usual.More days to come! Sorry for the long posts!

Day one... ROAD TRIP

This is day one & two of our road trip. Wee first drove across state to visit Matt, Gina and the girls in Spokane. We miss having them so close and admittedly, this is the first time we have trekked over to see them (yes, they have been there for 3 1/2 years) we hope to make it over there a lot more often now.

It was a lot of fun to stay there, watch the kids play and have so much fun together... and of course we watched conference while we were there. Ella's favorite part was probably the grapes that she picked in the backyard. She LOVES grapes and was in heaven.

The boys liked playing with cinnamon, the snake. Ella did not like the snake, but had to stay in eye sight of it. If she was too close, she let everyone know. More on their house soon.

On to the next destination!

First day of school... a little late.

Better late than never? As most of you know I am far behind on my blogging and I will attempted in the next little while to catch up. I promise more is to come... and it won't take me another month to post, honest!

from our garden

Every year I enjoy planting a garden. This year wasn't any different, although the strange weather did some unexpected things and what my garden produced this year was quite different then years past. Nonetheless, we did benefit from many different things. The kids especially love the garden, and it is always hard to keep them out of it. Usually I just let them eat whatever they pick, as long as it is ready to be picked. We enjoyed blueberries, strawberries, tomatoes, basil, zucchini, crook neck squash, 1 pumpkin, mint, onions, shallots, peppers and a few more things. Tanner planted sunflowers and out of all the years that I have attempted this feat, he by far grew the tallest, strongest we have ever has. Our beans and peas didn't fair too well as well as a few other lost plants to animals or poor weather, but it is always fun and rewarding.Above, Ella running to pick and eat as many things as possible before I get to her. Below, a close up of one of Tanner's sunflowers just before it opened to a huge flower. Looks kind of like it could eat you, doesn't it? "Feed me Semour, feed me... wa, haa, haa!"
A few early tomatoes and other things. The tomatoes that we harvested in the last few weeks have been huge and very delicious! :)

oh, did we tell you we love you?

For Devin... we miss you!!!


p.s. watch Tanner and Anson... they're the real entertainment here. :)

A Camping We Will Go...

So, straight and yes I mean straight from the ocean, the kids and I headed off to our ward camp out. We set our stuff up in the A frame, started hunting for kindling, gathered fire wood... then I started a raging camp fire. Soon Devin met us there with Aunt Jaqui & Uncle Travis.

We finished setting up camp then we went on an adventurous walk around the property.

After dinner with the ward, we headed back to the campsite for s'mores
and more fun. Didn't Jaqui take a cool pic?

More sparkler fun...Travis & Jaqui

My Family

Anson found this cute little tree frog

Ella enjoyed stealing her friends stroller.
Her friend didn't seem to mind.

To my Pittsburg hubby...

Hubby Tag

So I was tagged by my friend, Laura, to play hubby tag! I rarely do these, but since Devin is away on business, I thought it might be fun since he's not here with me. Here it goes....

What is his name? Devin Palmer Shumate

Nicknames? Dev, devey devers (his mom loves calling him that) D40, D-shizzle...

How long have you been married? 8 wonderful years

How long did you date? well... we were "just friends" for a good portion of the time (at least that's what we told everyone) but from the first time we went out to our wedding... about 11 months.

How old is he? 30!

Who eats more sweets? depends... we both have sweet teeth... (not just one) but probably me... although he generally eats more ice cream than me

Who said I love you first? he did

Who is taller? he is

Who can sing better? me

Who does the laundry? depends... usually me, but he is definitely better at getting it all folded and put away after he washes it... I get distracted.

Who pays the bills? me

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? me

Who mows the lawn? usually Devin

Who cooks dinner? me

Who drives? he does

Who is more stubborn? hmm, I'm not sure, he'd probably say me... but I'm not stubborn, am I? :)
Who kissed who first? I think it was a tie...

Who asked who out first? I asked him out :)

Who proposed? he did. all alone in a wide open field at night, music playing, slow dancing... then he gets down on his knee... good memories

Who has more siblings? I do. he has 3 brothers, I have 2 brothers and 2 sisters

Who wears the pants? We each have a leg in there.

TAG.... Dani, Adrianne, Gina, and Jaqui