Summer Fun

I've been so caught up in other things lately that I haven't posted about my wonderful little man. This summer brought about lots of changes and growth. Austin is definitely ALL BOY and loves to run, kick, jump, spit, pick his nose, throw dirt and make roaring sounds...all daily. Unfortunately he's picked up a few bad habits too like biting and hitting other kids when they have a toy he wants. We're working diligently on trying to curb that habit! He already has a thing for girls and seems play nicer with cousin Ava and the little girls across the street. His favorite saying is currently "What happened now?" and will repeat it over and over when something happens but he's not quite sure what. And he also likes "My turn now!" Of course. And like most kids, he seems to have a soft spot for Barney and sings the "I love you, you love me..." song. It's funny though because he can't pronounce "v" and it comes out "b" so the song goes "I lobe you, you lobe me..." He's learning to pedal the new bike I found for him and he loves to be outside. But probably the biggest change is coming up soon...potty training! We just started this week so I'll keep you posted! Here's a synopsis of our summer adventures in Star...

Many, many popsicles. He doesn't eat them alone and insists someone else eats one too! Here he is with cousin Ava.
Pool time at SpurWing Country Club. Perks of the job!


Chillin' on the spiderman couch in his PJs. It's probably like 4:00pm. :-)

Back to the Western Idaho Fair after many years of absence. Hasn't changed at all. I seriously don't know why I get so giddy over the stupid county fair, but I do...every year. Brett tried his first Idaho ice cream potato this year and said it was delish. The animal barns are a must with kids.




Playing in the dirt at a moms/kids only BBQ. Good times!

Hangin' out with the cuz, Jakob, eating popcorn.

Sharing his string cheese with friend, Lily. Surprisingly he loves to share these days...just don't hop on his bike or he'll smack ya! :-)

Bath time at Grandma Nagels on our first trip back to Idaho Falls.

Snuggle time.

Garage Sale Steals

Visiting garage sales has become a bit of a pastime since I had Austin. Toys are so expensive and kids hate them a week later so I love getting great deals on slightly used toys at garage sales. Here's what I scored last weekend at a neighborhood sale near our house. Everything shown totaled a whooping $8.00! Wahoo!

*Hey Miss Joelle, your couponing skills ain't got nuttin on my garage sale skills! :-)

Bike, toy Dyson vaccuum (just like mine), stroller, 2 Barney DVDs, 3 play hats = $8.00!

P.S. Brett game me a hard time about the stroller. I'm perfectly ok with my son playing with girl toys. He loves to do everything mommy does and I just happen to push him in a stoller so...his stuffed animals have already been pushed all over the house! And I figured cousin Ava could play with it when she comes over.

SpongeBob Treat

Don't ask me why, but for some reason I started laughing hysterically when I pulled this stupid SpongeBob popsicle out of its wrapper. It's just so ridiculous it makes me laugh! Fruit punch and cotton candy flavored with gumball eyeballs. Just what a sea-dwelling sponge should taste like I guess!
FYI - I did not purchase this silly treat. They were leftover at the pool at the golf course so Brett brought a few home. I can't imagine why there were would be any left over! The laugh alone is worth the money.

Poor Peaches

This is a picture of a perfect peach sneakily growing in our new backyard. We discovered we had a peach tree a couple weeks ago and I immediately started dreaming about fresh sliced peaches, peach cobbler, peach cordon bleu...
There's just something about fruit and veggies growing in my own backyard makes me all gitty inside. After discovering the peaches we headed off on a trip to West Yellowstone and when we returned we found our perfect, precious peaches scattered all over the ground rotting and infested with bugs. I was so pissed! I should have picked them immediately. I guess they were more ripe than we thought and fell from the weight of their fruit. So long delicious, juicy, FREE peaches :-( Maybe next year.

Star, Idaho

We packed up our 24' Budget moving truck for two solid days and headed to Star on Aug 6th. It's amazing how much crap you can accumulate over the course of 7 years. Even after a huge garage sale and a donation to the local youth ranch, we still managed to have a few items that just wouldn't fit in the truck. Thanks to our good friends the Dixons, we didn't have to trash the stuff and can pick up our sorely missed BBQ during our next visit to Idaho Falls.

So here we are now in our cute little 1200 sq ft rental home in Star. It's the first time the house has been a rental so it's very cozy and better maintained than all the others we'd seen. We choose it because it has a fantastic backyard with a deck, mature trees and a garden, a large kitchen with lots of cupboard space, and located in a really great neighborhood in the heart of Star. And, Brett's commute is less than ten minutes to SpurWing CC. We've been really happy with it so far. Bailey finds a bone almost everyday buried somewhere in the backyard and Brett got to buy a new flat screen LCD TV because our old one just wouldn't fit in our small family room. But most of all, it's great to be back together as a family again. There's still lots of unpacking to do but I'm sure it will get done eventually. Funny how much time you don't have when you're a full-time unemployed mom.


Star has a population of 1795 people. Let me introduce you to a few of the hot spots...

The MERC...all the essential groceries you need at inflated prices.

The STAR COUNTRY CAFE...a local favorite for biscuits and gravy. Need to try those soon!

And SAM'S SALOON...cocktails and cold beer according to the marquee.

There's also this really great barn that I love to pass by...

And this huge pile of hay bales...

And lots of scenes like this...

But the farm livin' doesn't last too long. We're only a short ten minute drive to Eagle or Meridian or the interstate. And we do have two workout places, a mexican and chinese restaurant, two pizza parlors, a library, a bank, a post office, doctors and dentists, etc., etc. So what I'm saying is feel free to visit any time. We're not totally in the boonies!

SOLD!

After moving to Star a few weeks ago, we finally sold our house in Idaho Falls. WAHOO!! WOOT, WOOT!! HALLELUJAH!! We were actually supposed to sign the closing documents the day we moved but a very long, boring and stressful story short, the deal went through as planned on Aug 18 after a two week delay. We just had to fork out a couple thousand more dollars to make the deal happen, but a small price pay to help the buyer get our house and let us move on to new adventures. We had so many great memories in our first home and we will always cherish them. A fond farewell to 1887 Ironwood Dr...

P.S. She's lookin' hot in her picture above sportin' a new paint job, manicured bushes, and a brand new bed of flowers!

3rd of July in Idaho Falls

If ever the 4th of July falls on a Sunday, it's celebrated the day before in Idaho Falls, hence, 3rd of July. But nonetheless, we just love the Independence Day celebrations. Idaho Falls does it up right. Even after we move, I'm sure we'll be back just for the festivities on the 4th (or 3rd!).

The last several years we've attended the parade at our friend's parent's house. They live right on the parade route and are kind enough to let friends and family take over their yard for a few hours. Plus, they share yummy donuts, coffee and other treats! A kickstart for the day!

This float was from Melaleuca. Melaleuca puts on the awesome fireworks show every year, and didn't let us down with their parade float either. Probably the best one of the day.


Austin and Dad chillin' together. It was nice to have Brett in town for the entire weekend. Austin was pretty much scared of everything; the firetruck sirens, the loud motorcycles, small fireworks later in the day, so him and Brett got lots of snuggle time together.

Austin sportin' the American flag shirt with a handful of bubble containers. He has two obsessions at the moment; bubbles and balloons!

Since Austin was being pretty sensitive to loud noises all day we didn't attend the big fireworks show that evening. But no worries, he'll see it one day.