We stopped off at Uncle Steve's house in Shoshone on our way home from Elizabeth's graduation and decided to stay the night Saturday... then stay Sunday... then even stayed Monday! It's so nice having a flexible schedule (thanks for subbing in the Primary for me, Mom!) and the kids really loved having so much time with their cousins and loved exploring the farm.
Caleb is quite the awesome helper and really likes to help Sadie. She loved the swing in the tree and kept grunting for him to put her in or push her. Then she'd decide to go explore a little before grunting to get back in the swing!
She thought it was great she could see the mini goats in the pen, but wasn't quite so sure about it when they came to lick her fingers.
Morgan and Isaac are quite the pair. They went on all kinds of adventures together, looking at the cows and roaming free. They thought it was hilarious Uncle Steve keeps goldfish in the cows' watering trough to eat the algae.
Isaac and Morgan looking at the "poopy cows" as Isaac calls them. They were brave, but not that brave! Those cows are big.
Steve got some baby goats that were too small to keep outside, so they were in the garage. Isaac thought that was pretty cool. The pink is spray paint to mark them at the auction.
Uncle Steven had a calf and a few miniature goats in his front yard. Laura is quite the animal-lover too and really enjoys feeding the calf; look at that happy face. She showed us the ropes...
...then handed me the bottle! Esther and Sadie obviously weren't very interested in trying that; they both ran away when I offered them a turn!
Aunt Laura made a fun picnic lunch for us on the lawn. It wasn't exactly summer picnic weather, but we sure had fun. The kids thought it was great that she put in all kinds of things we don't usually get for lunch: Sun Chips, cookies, Capri Sun, peeps (an orange and a sandwich in there too, but those weren't exactly eaten first). She even put it in their own lunch bags, so they thought that was pretty cool.
Morgan is turning into quite the outdoors girl and spent lots of time outside to "explore the wild" on her own (yep, that's what she said!). She loves that Uncle Steven's house has a forest, a fire pit, a tire swing, and tons of animals.
What a fun trip to the Brady farm! Thanks, guys!
So, this post is going to be a bit different than most, more of a spewing of raw thoughts. It seems like we have had more and more friends getting divorced lately, and our good friends are now going through it themselves. It's so weird to think that just a few months ago, we were all hanging out together, and they were a unit... we spoke to them jointly, and their lives were intertwined. His plans were her plans, her future, his. Now all of those 10 years together are done and she has the kids for a few nights a week, then he does. It's so sad and obviously very sobering to me, and I just can't get it out of my head. I wonder what lead up to it, or what was the final straw. What, if anything, could have been done to avoid it? I married Dave not only for a lifetime, but forever after, so he's not getting out that easily. All joking aside, every marriage has ups and downs, and times when you feel closer and further apart. I have been making a little list in my head of things I can do to bring us closer when we drift, as inevitably happens. I'm no expert, but here are a few things I've tried in the past and know work for me:
