Back to August Again

I have to finish the photos for August before I can move on to our trip to Washington!! After Lyndsie and David left we decided to take a "little" hike. The boys had just been to the Wind Caves and said its not a bad hike. So, we geared up and off we went. Well, we had to drive over thirty minutes down a dirt road, with Josh driving, this should have been my first clue this would not be a couple hour hike!! It was very pretty in this little valley but I kept asking,"How much farther?" The answer was always we're about half way there. After the third time hearing this I decided maybe we shouldn't go all the way to the caves. I was vetoed! We made it, the views were amazing but it was more hike than I intended. Jason apparently had time to take pictures of flowers, I don't know if I even saw flowers, I was just trying to breathe and keep up!! On the way back Steven fell down the rocky hillside and cut up his legs.He did manage to keep his Red Bull can upright!! It was very steep in some places as you can see from the photos, which I got from Jason and Karla's camera as I didn't have mine with me. They took some great shots.

Basement Update

I am way behind in blogging but mostly it is due to our basement. We are actually making progress, sometimes it just seems very slow!! However, today I have photos for you of some completed rooms. Well, not actually completed as in you could live in them right now. The sheet rock is all up, and this is a major feat for us! The bathroom was the most time consuming as there were a lot of things to cut around. We had to put up durarock to attach our tiles to, that was not fun to work with. We have both the boys' rooms done, closets and all. The girls' will be next but we are waiting on our electrician to fix a small problem before we can complete all of it. Tiling the bathroom floor will be our next project as that must be done before the cabinets and the fixtures can be installed!! The photos are a little dark, that just means that things are closed in, yessss! Thanks to all of you out there who had a part in getting us to this point! We couldn't have done it with out you, OK, we could have but we would have a lot farther to go and it wouldn't have been as much fun!!

String Lake

On Sunday we went to church, made pizza and mostly hung out. Monday we packed a lunch and headed to String Lake with the Brunk's canoes. The day was gorgeous, the scenery majestic and the canoes were a blast! String Lake is a fairly shallow lake so the water is warmer than most of the mountain lakes. Still too cold for me to want to swim. The lake is situated right at the base of the Tetons in Teton National Park. The views don't get much better!! The little kids found very small fish in the shallows and kept busy catching them. We had several canoe races, I think I won! Helps to know which canoe is the fastest!! OK, I won with the help of my boys, we make a great team! We left right before a storm blew in!
I had to use Jason and Karla's photos for this blog as my camera had no batteries that day! Wonder where they were? Maybe in the gaming system remotes!!

Back to August

Let's see where to start? We celebrated Aunt Bonnie's birthday on August 16th and from then on it was non-stop action. Lorissa and Vince arrived on Monday night, Lyndsie and her boyfriend David arrived on Tuesday and Jason and Karla joined the fun on Friday! So, we did go huckleberry picking on Thursday, but no pictures. Sorry Abby! We managed to get a bag full with all of us hunting, sort of the end of the season. Ruth was RUNNING up the path and tripped over a stick, reminiscent of the Family Reunion. This time it was just her leg that got injured not her eye!! We made some good huckleberry muffins!!

Saturday we headed out with the older kids to Yellowstone Park, with breakfast at the Teepees in Moose! It was a little cold but the view and the company were incredible!! After that it was off to see Old Faithful. We were up close with a buffalo, ate lunch at the lodge and took a tour of the lodge, lunch and the tour were a first for us! Both worth it!!
We did lots of walking,took lots of photos, saw lots of animals and had lots of fun!! You can see for yourself with the photos!!

Josh Got a Car

One more newz flash for you, Josh got a car!! It does have a few dents in one side, the hood must be tied down and the power steering doesn't work. But hey what do you want for NOTHING!! It actually runs very well and from the left side it looks great!! Our good friends Jake and Christin, who are moving to Australia bestowed this gift on him and for this we are very thankful!

Drew Lost a Tooth

A little newz flash!! Drew lost his first tooth!! Check out the cute smile now!

What a Summer

Abby and Sue you were right I haven't been blogging enough. My last post was July 10th and I almost couldn't remember my password it has been so long!!
We just said goodbye to Lorissa and Vince the last of our summer visitors. If anyone else decides to come it will definatly be fall weather here!I believe summer is over even though it is only the beginning of September, we've already had our first snow (last Monday!), and Steve had to scrape the ice from Lorissa and Vince's car this morning. I've already put the last of the guest sheets and towels in the wash, made Drew's bed (the guest bed),and moved all his belongings from our room which is where he has been sleeping for the last three weeks. And its not even 8 o'clock in the morning!! What will I do for the rest of the day? I am really going to miss our activities director, Vince! He always had some plan for the day!!
I am not going to attempt to put everything that we did this summer into this blog or you will never get to read it! So, for today I will just start out with an update on Lorissa and Vince, the rest you will get in subsequent blogs. So you can start checking it again!
The Medranos have decided to move to Olympia, Washington. They were sort of inbetween jobs and lacking a home when they arrived here on August 18th but God is good and by the time they left Vince had accepted a position with a non-profit organization that works right in the downtown area of Olympia helping troubled teens. I'm excited to see how God is going to use Vince's talents for this position. Lorissa decided not to take the job offered at the foursquare church there as the position was not what she was looking for. She will look for work when they get there hopefully sometime next week. I don't imagine she will have any trouble, after all who wouldn't want Lorissa? While they were here they looked online (too bad we didn't have that in our days of moving!) to find an apartment. They had already been to Olympia in August and checked out some of the areas so they knew where to look. They sent in an application and a deposit so they should be hearing from them today on the drive back to LA if they got it or not. They will spend a few days in LA saying goodbye to family and friends and next week pack up a moving truck and head off on a new adventure. Vince didn't know what he was getting into when he married into the Quisenberry family as that seems to be the story of our life!! Vince I know how you feel, I lived in the same house for 19 years until I married Steve!! Pray for them they have a lot of changes ahead but also a very exciting time.

Ryan and Abbys Visit in June

Ryan and Abby came for a visit last month, so of course we did the Yellowstone trip since Abby had never been there before. Abby tried very hard to get me a good picture of a moose. They followed him to the river but never got quite the right shot. Maybe next trip to Yellowstone!! We saw lots of wildlife, besides our family, moose, elk, buffalo,deer and three bears!!  We sort of ate our way through the park (we had a bit of junk food) but had a great time.  

Their trip was short but sweet (except for not having their suitcases) in on Tuesday gone by Thursday. We take what we can get and enjoy every minute of it!

Ryan even got in on a little construction in the basement. Which is moving along quite nicely, Steve is running the wiring now.

Ruthie

For those of you asking about Ruth, I thought I should give you an update. After just two weeks she is almost completely healed. She still has a small scab on her lip and you can still see the marks under her cheek and on her shoulder where her skin was rubbed off.  For quite a while she would wear her hat so low on her face that no one could see it!! Now she still wears her hat but just to keep the sun off, so she doesn't scar. Thanks for the prayers and the calls and comments on the blog, she appreciated them. Here's a new photo so you can see for yourself, God did a pretty amazing job with our bodies that they heal so fast!!

Ruthie's Trip to the Emergency Room

For those of you wondering how Ruth looks after a battle with the neighbor's treadmill she allowed me to take these photos of her. These are actually day after photos, she doesn't look too bad. I know many of you were called by a frantic sister who was panicking because she was home without mom when it happened. Of course, I was at the grocery store. After a bit of debate, mostly mom, who of course would rather do it herself with butterfly bandage and superglue, dad opted for the emergency room. I wasn't sure I could do it very well where it was on her lip. What did the doctor use? Superglue and steri strips, just as I suspected!! The worst part is she is supposed to stay out of the sun for six months or keep sunscreen on her wounds, yea right!!

Spring Was Short!!

Today is still spring right? Well, for most of you it is even looking like summer. However, here in Wydaho we are once again experiencing winter. I woke up and could tell that it was dark outside so I figured it was raining like the last few days. I looked out the window and saw white roofs on the neighbor's houses. My beautiful tulips were being frosted with the white stuff. 

What you can't tell from these pictures is that it was still snowing quite heavily, they are expecting about two inches at least, we have at least an inch on the back porch. This will definitely go down as the longest winter! Must be that global warming thing going on!! Steve and Josh hopefully will not have trouble going over the pass from Jackson tonight as they already took off the studded snow tires!! The pass always gets more snow than we do. The one good thing is that the snow on the ski hill will be good and the ski lift opens again soon for the summer season!! 

  So much for going out and planting the peonies that Steve brought home for me yesterday, part of my Mother's Day present from Jason and Karla. I guess that will have to wait for a sunny day. If we don't get enough sunny days my tomato plant from Josh will never produce!! Ah well, the problems of living in this beautiful country.

Ruthie's Baseball Games

Ruth joined a baseball team a week or so ago to fill out their team. Most times they had to forfeit the games because they didn't have enough players. Two of her friends were on the team and the coach goes to our church. She has never played baseball before, but she hit her very first pitch way out there! She only got to play three or four games as it was the end of the season when she joined, but she had fun!

Basement Buildout

News Flash! We started our basement project. We are working on framing out three bedrooms and a bathroom. We put 22' of hall wall up all at once, impressive. OK some of you do that all the time but not us! We have come a long way in our building skills. We got two bedroom walls up with two closets, when we ran out of nails. Yes, I know two in the family work at a hardware store, but our little town of Victor closes down on Sundays!! I will post more pictures as we progress.

Lorissa and Vince's Visit

We had a great time with Lorissa and Vince doing all the tourist things while they were here. We did the shoot out in Jackson and that was the most interesting shoot out I have ever seen!! Lots of dancing and singing, weird for a shoot out! We canoed on String Lake, and of course had a famous huckleberry shake. Vince had never actually seen the ground, or grass in ID/WY, only snow!! The weather cooperated mostly, although we did have some snow fall on us while in Yellowstone, and quite a bit on the ground in some places. We saw lots of wildlife and visited all our favorite spots in the park.

Our Lily!!!

Here's for all of you who say I haven't been blogging lately, two in one day!! This blog is about Lily. She is a wonderful little two year old girl that we have the privilege of having in our home once or twice a week. Her mom and dad are Jake and Christin. Christin works at a salon and does my hair by the way, she has me spoiled. Where else could I go where the stylist has been thinking about me and what she would like to do to my hair.  I love it she makes me look good and younger!! While she is at the salon we get to take care of Lily. As you can see from the pictures she is a lot of fun. All of us have enjoyed having a little one in the house again. Makes me excited about grand kids!! By the way she calls me "mom" and Steve "dad", that's what everyone else in the house calls us. She thinks that is our names and I love it!! 

Charlie Hoof Arted

Vince this one is for you!! In an earlier blog you saw the coming to life of Charlie the snowman. Well, I guess this could be the story of his demise. In the first day or two we had a storm which wiped off Charlie's painted on face. Vince had the idea of giving Charlie a new face out of orange peels and a Popsicle nose. After months of wind poor Charlie lost his head. At the end of April he was reduced to hair and one small snowball. However, all winter he reminded us of the fun we all had making our snowman!!

Top of The Mountain

I made it to the top!! For all of you who know Grand Targhee ski area, that would be the Dream Catcher Lift to the top. Steve made me stop here to prove I did it. No, Jason it is not a fake backdrop, those are the Tetons behind me, great view at 10,000 feet up.The smile looks a little fake because I was looking down the mountain to where I was going to have to ski, and it was steep. OK, Emily I know what you were talking about wanting to swear!! Snowplowing down a mountain is not the way to go! Steve and Drew didn't like going so slow for me either!! However I did make it down alive and nothing broken but my pride. I have six months to work up the courage to try it again as the ski hill closes today for the season. There is still a lot of snow up there so our kids are up enjoying it one final day, and we are enjoying a little quiet time!!

Josh's Birthday at the Hill

For Josh's 17th birthday we decided to take a day off and head to the hill with our good friends, Christin and Jake. The day was great, snow coming down but not too cold. First thing we hit "North Pole terrain Park", you can see some of those shots.After lunch we convinced Christin to ski as well using Dad's equipment, a little big but it didn't stop Christin! She said she hadn't skied since last year and wasn't that good, ha! She just took off with the kids leading the way. I did my best to keep up with them all. Each kid took her on their favorite runs, "Eyeball forest", "Bird Brain","Wacky Weasel Way", "Rainbow Row" and "Otter Slide". Most of those go through trees and have jumps in them, I don't do trees! However, one of the runs Ruth led us through "The Bat cave", I decided to follow them not knowing that Christin didn't even do it. There is a jump, not too big but enough to give me a little air and throw me off balance. Anna thinks I looked like a monkey trying to fly, not too flattering!! Anyway I hit the snow. Christin challenged me to go beyond my comfort level, and I did. Hey, by the way I did break my run record of ten, I'm now at twelve!!
After skiing all day Jake, a little sore, and Christin joined us to celebrate Josh's birthday with dinner and cake. Thanks you guys for making Josh's birthday special!!

Record Break!!!

OK, I might be hooked!! Third day in a row on the hill. The sun was shining I think it was up to 47 degrees, we now have skiers tans. Today we set out to break my record of 7 runs in a row. We did it, I made 10! I know Jason and Joel are saying we told you mom!! April was a great help teaching me to make quicker turns and how to go down the the big bump section without getting out of control. Anna took me down a trail I hadn't been on before that was a little hairy, but I made it down. I didn't look real great and I took a few falls. My last run I decided to go Alley Oop Alley( the big bumps, now that I can do it), but I also wanted to do another run. I decided at the last minute that I could do both if I hiked across the meadow, now that is determination!!

More Skiing Adventures

Yesterday was a great day!! We went to the slope after church and had about 2 hours to ski. I actually figured out how to get off the lift without help and without falling. Falling is so humiliating when they have to stop the lift and help you up. I made the first run up the lift with April as my helper and it was great. I did washboard bumps and didn't fall. I wasn't tired when I got down and said I would do it again. Actually, I did 7 runs in a row!! I was very impressed with myself since I had never done more than 2 without being worn out! Sunday was the first time I could actually enjoy skiing because I didn't have to concentrate so hard.
Today I took the kids up to the hill without Steve. The kids thought it was the best day ever. There was nice powder and no people. I took the camera and took lots of pictures. They wanted pictures of them jumping in the trick park. I even tried one at the bottom not quite enough speed but it was overall a great day. Emily and Abby next time you come out you have to try it with me!! It gets better after the first day, considering my first day I hit a tree going uphill, the only way I could stop!! Enjoy todays slide show!