Lost Photos - Lesson Learned!

Well, here it is October, and it's way past time to wrap up the summer blog.  By now I should have ordered the "Blog to Print" book that helps us keep our summer memories alive.  I should have blogged our Purity Springs Trepanier family reunion and maybe even the kids' first day of school.

But, alas, I did none of that.  I got caught up with the hectic schedule of work and kids' activities and everything else that the school year brings our way and kept saying "I'll get to it in good time."  Then about 2 weeks ago, I left my phone (iPhone 4) unattended for about an hour in our dining hall.  Unfortunately the finder decided to be a "keeper" rather than return it to the lost and found.  All of the photos on my phone since about mid-August were lost.  I hadn't backed them up or correctly set up the "wireless stream" to iCloud.

First I had a little pity party.  Then I decided that I had to take responsibility.  I should have had the photos backed up, by manual upload or wireless stream.  And I should have made this a priority much sooner.  Keeping a record of our life, with and for our kids, has to be a top priority.  I've let that one go for too long.  We LOVE going back to our old photo albums.  The kids love it and Corbin and I find that our memories are not as sharp as we'd like to think they are.  We need those photos and records to help us remember!  Now I have my new iPhone 4S set up to automatically stream photos to iCloud and my computer.  I'm sure I'll discover some faults with this system, or it will become outdated sometime in the not-so-distant future ... but for now, I'm doing my best to make sure I don't lose anymore photos.

Now ... to work on those photo albums :-)

By the way, Purity was AWESOME.  We had 8 adults and 12 kids together in the ski lodge.  We had meals together, evening activities (games, karaoke, swims, etc) together, lots of cousin play time and plenty of celebration of the blessings we share.  Grammy and Grampy are healthy at 71 and 72, and we are already planning our celebration of their 50th Wedding Anniversary on Dec 28, 2013.

Joe and Ruth
Nancy, Corbin, Brady, Connor, and Maggie
Maribeth, Paul, Michael, Christopher, Kalli, Timmy, and Matthew
Jay, Sara, Jonas, Lucas, Reese and Remy

What a group!!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Leaving for SLC

We drove to Salt Lake City this morning and I put Nancy on the kids on a plane back to Andover.  I'm going to miss driving back East with everyone, processing the summer and talking about the excitement of the upcoming school year.  It was a long day in the car, around 13 hours round trip.  Just a warmup for what's to come.  I leave for Andover in two days and need to make it to Purity Springs by Friday night.

At the SLC airport

I took the back way home from Salt Lake.  I went through Soda Springs, past Blackfoot Reservoir, into Freedom, WY, through Alpine, WY and Swan Valley, and ultimately back to the Teton Valley.

Not a good place to break down

Our Final Week

We went into our last week here with the idea that we wanted to appreciate what we had, not overschedule our week, enjoy the quiet moments, and allow for spontaneous moments.  With no good excuse, we felt a bit tired and less energized than usual.  Many in the valley attributed exhaustion and headaches to the smoke in the valley.  While I have no idea about any correlation, I can say that we had a slower week than usual.

What emerged?  Bike rides to the creamery, baseball for Corb and Connor, quality time for Brady and Lia (before she headed on a family vacation), fires on the deck at night, dinners out, reading, card games, a day at Teton Springs pool, and a night at the rodeo!

Fire on the deck

On Tuesday we went to the Targhee pool and after Corb biked up, I was in need of a sanity trail run.  I took the chairlift up and ran down Bannock.  It felt pretty easy for me - not much cardio and faster than I expected.  My awesome track coach husband reminded me that CNS workouts (central nervous system workouts) - where your brain has to think about foot placement, balance, and agility - are very valuable!  Wednesday, I drove up to the Russells' ranch for a run with Susy.  We went in the heat of the day and I felt sluggish, but we enjoyed our time together on gravel roads and the kids enjoyed play time together.  Thursday, Brady and I went to Teton Springs so that Brady could babysit Tim while Susy and I went for a hike (and the rest of the kids did swim team practice).  We hiked Mud Lake and the kids enjoyed swimming.  Friday, we went raspberry picking.

Lisa and Mike Evans

The Cowgirls

Giddy up

Cheyenne Wilcox

Gabby on Abby (Cheyenne's horse)

Maggie on Abby

Friday night we went to Tony's Pizza and met the Wilcoxes and Batchens for dinner, then went to the rodeo.  Last summer, we went to about every rodeo; this year our first was August 17th.  Cheyenne is royalty, and she gave Maggie and Gabby rides on her horse, Abbey.  We ended up bringing Gabby home for a sleepover.  Today we tended to packing and cleaning business, while also looking at a possible new/used car for purchase, while Connor and Maggie played on the trampoline and met the Schmidt's pony, Blossom.  Brady mowed the lawn, Connor helped Corb take down the wall tent, and Maggie helped me pack clothes.

Tonight we are enjoying Corbin's raspberry pie and a movie at home after dinner out!

Eating Out!

We have had many themes around cooking and eating during our summers.  Some years we are inspired to cook a lot - grilling, slow cooker, new recipes, so many variations.  We have some things that are our "summer standards" - rice & beans, bran muffins, BLTs, local garden salads, homemade pizza dough with toppings, etc.  This year, more than ever, we have been tempted by local restaurants!  This past week, in particular, I have insisted that we clean out the fridge, not shop, and eat our dinners out.  We always love TWR beef, we happily tried a new Thai place in town, we cannot resist our Brakeman burgers, and Big Hole BBQ is a new favorite.  This week we also tried out the new Mexican place in town and found that they have the best tacos around.  Friday night, when we finally committed to going to the rodeo, we announced to our friends that we'd start the evening with dinner at Tony's Pizza (much to our kids' disappointment, we had not yet dined at Tony's this summer), and the Wilcoxes and Batchens joined us.  It was a very fun evening.  Tonight as we were headed out, the Russells called and told us they'd like to join us for a "good-bye" dinner but didn't want to eat at TWR, lest Susy be easily called away (as can happen way too easily), so we agreed to meet them at Warbirds Cafe!  We ended up having a very fun evening, eating out on the patio and enjoying a few takeoffs and landings (the local private airport).  We all sense that we haven't had enough time with the Russells, who we would consider some of our best family friends ever, so each moment together is cherished.  I genuinely miss my time with Susy when I'm not here - and I know she feels the same way.  I hope to sneak in a quick run with her tomorrow morning (Sun 8/19), but if it doesn't work out I'll be grateful for the time we've had, even if some of it has been at restaurants!

Raspberry Picking

This morning we went raspberry picking.  There is a u-pick patch just outside of Victor on the way to Pine Creek Pass.  The Russell clan joined us.  After an initial lesson of what and how to pick, the patch owner sent us down the rows.  It reminded me of hiking because soon the kids clustered together in different groups, talking about everything under the sun as they picked.  It was a very mild morning and the picking was relatively easy, so conversation flowed.  Throughout the morning different groups of kids and adults formed, chatted, broke up among the rows, formed again and talked more.  At the end of the morning we had picked almost 3 flats (gallons) of berries and solved the problems of the world.  After a stop at the library and an Emporium milk shake,  we drove home.

Morning Baseball

Morning Baseball at Lyon's Park

This week Connor and I have been going to Lyon's Park every morning for a little baseball session.  The routine usually begins with a warm up toss.  Then I hit a bucket of balls to him as he rotates through every infield position.  I set up the pitch back at first base and tie my shirt on the net to give him a throwing target.  Next, he hits as I pitch.  Connor tries to see how many balls he can get into the outfield before hitting the dirt infield.  Afterwards, we head to the gas station to replenish.  Maggie joined us one morning and Connor was so supportive, giving her pointers and showing her the routine. One morning, instead of the gas station we went to Pendl's.  Connor's skills are improving.

Heavy Hitter!

Apple Strudel with Whipped Cream

Batter up!

Quiet Days

Another lazy Sunday afternoon.

Well, I gave 2 haircuts - Brady spent the day with Lia at her grandparents' campground in Victor, returned in time for dinner & a shower, then went back for a sleepover at Lia's house. She and her family will leave for their vacation soon, so they are spending as much time together as they can now.  We ended up having a very nice Sunday, with a bikeride downtown for ice cream at the creamery, then haircuts for Corb and Connor, then we were treated to another dance performance by Maggie!  We all enjoyed a fish taco dinner on the back deck.  We heard it was a good night to watch the meteor shower, so we had a fire and hung out on the deck in hopes of seeing the show.  However, we gave up around 11pm.  Maybe we'll look again tonight.  We did have a visit by a family of raccoons who wandered through the backyard!  This morning, Brady and Lia are having another lemonade stand (proceeeds go to save the snow leopards), Corb & Connor are off playing baseball, and Maggie is choreographing more dances in her "dance studio" (aka the garage). Quiet days are really nice.