IN OTHER NEWS...

1.) A gargantuan 50-inch screen television is being stored in our living room for a friend. It looks rather ridiculous on the stand we have. And it is so big it has required me to move the pictures around on the walls so that they aren't hidden behind it.

We don't really watch TV, but our movie watching has sure been fun these days! We hope to conveniently "misplace" it before our friend comes to pick it up.

2.) This van was spotted in the Melaleuca parking lot downtown with the following message painted on the windows:

Does this freak anybody else out?

3.) A naked baby was recently seen on the hood of an F-250 in the Gringo's Parking Lot.

I'm not really sure why I thought anybody else would be interested in this random event. Just plain weird.

4.) My little sisters continue to be dang adorable.

5.) Lucky us. My love and I are off to the beautiful state of Washington tomorrow!! We are to spend an entire week playing at the lake with friends and then visiting fun family members! Catch you all lata'!

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GROWINGS ON AT OUR HOUSE

I recently went downstairs to our cold-storage room and found this bag of potatoes {gleaned from last fall} growing...Medusa hair. I'm thinking it's probably time it was thrown out.

It made me think of our garden. It is currently yielding bushels and bushels of luscious, green...weeds. We haven't even watered it once!

In our defense:

1.) I do have some successful blooms on our front porch. They make me very happy.

2.) Andrew helped some friends build their house this year for free. As payment, they are sharing with us the benefits of their gigantic garden...without the work of watering and weeding!

The peas were ripe first. We were just over there picking buckets and buckets full.
{Andrew and Josh}

Our freezer is now stocked with the yummiest of garden peas.

I'm excited for the corn, onions, beans, cantaloupe, carrots, and lettuce to come!

BECKSTEROONI

My little sister, Rebecca, moved into our guest room temporarily. She is transferring to BYU-Idaho and is on the lookout for a place to live along with a job to pay her rent. In the meantime, we have enjoyed showing her around this neck of the woods.

We took a little drive to Mesa Falls. Very pretty.

Becca overlooks Mesa Falls.

At Porter Park, Becca introduced us to her long board.

{If I look a little nervous it's because I am.}

Then we explored a bit of Beaver Dick Park.
{Yes, you heard correctly.}

{Becca was apparently really excited about it}

We didn't stay long though, because the mosquitoes were making us crazy.

Also, Becca was a good sport and helped me practice my camera skills. {more to come}

We've been trying to get others to move to Idaho for awhile now, so you can imagine our excitement when it actually worked on Becca. Any other takers? (Lane, you should totally come to school here!)

PERFECT AFTERNOON =

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Beautiful Spring-y Rexburg Weather
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Frisbee
+
Adorable Husband...

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+ Shaved ice from the Snow Shack ...

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+ sunset on the front stoop

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DUNES

We went on another drive. This time around the sand dunes. Andrew wanted to check out the top of this one, so we pulled over for a sec.

"I think I can, I think I can..."

"Almost there!"

"C'mon...Think SPIDERMAN!"

"...Gotta...catch...my...breath..."

"Oh man...that was a workout."




Off to explore

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"Crap. Now how do I get down?"

"Well...here goes nothin'!"

"COWA-BUNGA dude!"

"Don't die, Don't die, Don't die..."


"Oh yea! I hope someone was watching that."

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It sure was beautiful out there at sunset! Check out a few more pictures from our drive right HERE. (There are some good ones!)

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YES, WE ARE NERDS

Andrew and I have read all of the books out loud together several times, own all the movies, and watch them more often than any others that we own...

And we have been anxiously awaiting this day for a very long time. We are nerdy enough to be one of those crazy midnight premiere ticket holders you saw on the news waiting in ridiculously long lines to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. However, we are still a level lower on the Geek-O-Meter than those who showed up in full Wizard costumes. (But if we were being completely honest here, if I was younger and still single...I would totally be one of them.)

Here we are getting in line at about 9pm.

Check out all the people who got there even earlier than us to stand in line...




... the line kept going around the corner of the building...

...and back behind the theater.

Every screen in the theater was devoted to Harry Potter...3,000 people in total! Crowd control was handled surprisingly well. We were seated and ready to go about 2 1/2 hours beforehand. Though I have to say...that's a long time to wait. As you can see, things got a bit crazy. Andrew resorted to digging through women's purses for sunglasses to entertain himself with. (Jared looks like he was beginning to lose it too!)

Despite the show starting about 45 minutes late, the movie was FABULOUS. It diverted from the book a bit, but Andrew and I were not disappointed in the slightest. Check out what time we stumbled into the car afterward! By the time we drove the 30 minutes back to Rexburg and fell into bed, I could see streaks of sunlight on the horizon in the east. If you are judging us right now...you can just get off your high hippogriff! The experience was TOTALLY worth it.

SUMMER SCHOOL

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I have been working in a summer school kindergarten class since the beginning of June, and the last day was Friday (hooray!). Cool thing to happen this week: The principal arranged for an Apache helicopter to land on the school grounds. The captain used to be a third grade student of my principal's back in the day!

Here it comes!

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You wouldn't believe the wind this machine picked up! It was blowing over large speakers and small children.

After the captain got out and introduced himself, the students were able to walk around and touch the helicopter. The kids...not to mention I...loved it!
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ALSO:
I wanted to share a few things. Kindergartners I have learned, are VERY different from the 3rd graders I am used to.

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1. I had to get after a kindergarten student for repeatedly licking the bottom of her shoe . She was just sitting on the ground with her foot up to her mouth...licking away like it was an ice cream cone. What possessed her, you ask? Only goodness knows.

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2. I also wanted you all to take part in the following conversation. Maybe you can help me make sense of it:

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I am sitting at a table painting with 5 kindergartners. They notice a boy pouting on the floor (who was recently in trouble), and they begin to discuss amongst themselves what could be making him upset.

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BOY #1: Oh, he's just depressed.

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{pause}

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(to the rest of the table) Do you guys know what depressed means?

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BOY #2: No...what does it mean?

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BOY #1: {very matter-of-factly} "It means he's in love with someone, but he's just too sad to admit it."

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MRS. ASHMORE: (To BOY #1) Have you ever been depressed? (I just had to ask)

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BOY #1: No...I've just been pissed at my brother.

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{pause}

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If you're depressed to a cop than you'll go to jail.

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MRS. ASHMORE: What does that mean?

(I'm kind of confused at this point)

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BOY#1: You know (with a shrug)...it means he's being a pouty bum, or he's in love.

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Can any of you shed light on this poor child's logic?

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A SUNDAY DRIVE

I thought about putting these on my photo blog, but these kept within the theme of small town Idaho so beautifully that I put them here.

Check out that rising full moon!
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Can you see the moon? If only I had gotten there 5 minutes sooner...the Tetons would still be lit up by the sun!

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And then the storm clouds rolled in and covered up the moon.

Beautiful Sunday evening.