Uncle Perry

camera

Just ran over my camera with the van. Must have fallen out. Boo. It looks surprisingly unsquished. Wish I could take a picture of it.

Pigtails

This was my first time doing pigtails on someone. Turns out it is quite difficult. I'm pretty impressed with all you mothers with daughters who have their hair perfectly beautiful every day.

It took me a good 30 minutes to get these in. It took both Elijah and I wrestling her, I think I swallowed one of the hairbands, and she hated the entire thing. I told her, beauty is painful, at the end of the ordeal.

Would it be that bad to shave her head along with all the boys? I think she's up for it.

not for Matt

Matt called Luke "Pookey" today. Luke told him that,"Only people who give me stuff can call me Pookey, like Uncle Don."

More fun with family

We have so many grasshoppers I've been paying the children one cent per grasshopper to kill them. I'm out over 20 bucks so far and lots of grasshoppers left. Kelly had a good idea. We gave the boys some time to kill and said each grasshopper would count as a dollar in an auction. Kelly put together some auction items to bid on. When each boy had about 200 auction dollars, and we spotted Gideon and Jana with a similar amount we started the bidding.

They loved it! Here they are with their $200 prizes. The first one is Michael winning his bid. They couldn't be happier. And I had another thousand bugs killed for some spare food out of the pantry.

reaction

Heard in the Boyd house when one of the boys saw the new blog title, "We are NOT Muffins!!"

Boys Boys Boys

I've been mentioning our overabundance of grasshoppers. Now, the boys are eating grasshoppers. They pull the heads off (the guts come out with the heads), clean out the insides with a small stick and fry them in butter. Sam called them "crunchy, scrumptious, and plentiful." with honey he describes them as, "the texture of bacon." He also mentioned they were "sweet and delightful."

I just had to tell a very disappointed Sam, that no, he was not allowed to eat flies.

Sam is the child who doesn't like eggs and took 5 years to learn to like chicken. But bugs are on the yes list?

Side note - they are offered actual food. I have tacos ready to go for dinner.

the odd tooth

Found a tooth in my contact case when I went to take out my contacts.

Havin fun with Kelly

That is my foot in the picture so we are all there. The kids are in bed.



We were cheating and I'm not even a very muscular cheater.



Matt's milkshakes have never been surpassed.





Me and Kelly at the Chocolate Cafe in Fort Collins. Yummy. Trifecta - oreo cookie bottom, chocolate mousse middle and whip cream top.

Swimming with cousins and the cousins cousins

The Loveland Classic

Before the race






and after.



We all finished! I think it was a mile but if felt short so maybe half mile? That is Uncle Matt in the red shirt and my sister in the blue. We went to her house on Friday to swim and play. Saturday morning we did the race and Chick fil A. Then on home for Luke to cut his head open, me to find the snake (posted below)....

Last night we went to Lone Tree Canyon for a picnic with friends. I don't know why its called Lone Tree - its a forest.

We saw fireflies and a herd of horses. There was no wind so the smoke from our campfire went straight up. The weather was beautiful. It was warm but not hot and no mosquitos. It is even more in the middle of nowhere than Lagrange and we got to see the stars so clearly. Gideon wanted me to lift him up so he could get one. : )

The boys hiked up to the cliffs on the sides of the canyon. We had smores. It was very peaceful and beautiful.

When we left the herd of horses was standing just feet from our van. One big beautiful white horse was standing behind our van. It let Matt and I come and stroke its neck and back. Its hair was silky soft. Surreal. and heavenly.

too much excitement for 5 minutes

If we were a stitching family....



We had just gotten home from visiting my sister in Fort Collins and I sent the boys to the backyard to play. Some un-named brother got Matt's crowbar out of the garage (a no-no) and decided to dig with it. He missed the dirt and hit Luke's head.

Lots of blood but not too deep. Just a little butterfly band-aid and a partially shaved forehead to make it stick.

Then I went out to water the strawberrys and almost stepped on a bull snake. eeik! A big one, but easy to distinguish from a rattler.

Then went to pull the radishes and they were beets. And delicious too. Much much better than radishes. : )

Nate and Rylee visit

i

Abbey and Rylee have so much fun together. Rylee teaches me how to be more feminine and how to cook.

We have so much fun when they are here. Our usual week is sampling specialty chocolate, and snacks and drinks that Nate and Rylee bring. And playing board games and sometimes a tennis match. They both take a run everyday. Nate does 10-15 miles depending on what he is training for. Rylee does 2-3. This last trip, Matt's parents watched the kids and we did a night away in Fort Collins with just the 4 of us and Abbey. It was amazing. I wasn't responsible for anybody but Abbey. It was a very freeing feeling. I decided to be selfish. I went swimming for me. I took a long shower.

Nate job is working for Arup Laboratories where they test samples for dangerous viruses and bacteria. His specialty is Tuberculousis. His biology training makes him very aware of germs on surfaces and hand washing and stuff. Part of his job is washing his hands about 100 times a day.

He says it is good for him to come visit because it helps him realize that his body is able to fight off lots of germs. I think he is always amazed that we survive the dirt and grime of little boys.

He says it helps him be less excessively clean at home. Everything in moderation Nate.

It helps Matt and I because Nate stands over the boys while they do their chores and explains to them the proper way to clean. : ) I love that. One of the things he taught one of the boys was "Don't dry the dishes on your underwear." I am so glad he was there. : )

Lucky

This is our friend Lucky. He farms on a farm : ) about 8 miles out of town. He seems to like the boys and they LOOVVVEEE him. He also has cattle and ducks and chickens and goats and cats and dogs. I get my free range eggs delivered to my doorstep every Sunday for a $1.50 a dozen. ahhh.

Lagrange Life Pictures

This is our backyard neighbor. God gave him 5 children and he is very patient with ours. He likes the pit they dug in the side yard. He says that is a good activity for boys to do. : )




Here they are paving B Street and fixing the drainage issues. They call them oil roads around here.



Looks like a rain cloud is coming in!



Wyoming has been in a drought for the past 10 years. This year they had lots of moisture. There is a 15 minute downpour about every afternoon. It is a nice cooling off after a hot day. Lots of days I don't have to water my garden.

And my garden is doing amazing! The soil is much more fertile here than our old house. I didn't even prepare the ground with anything. The success comes with a price though. Lots of weeds to pull. At the Hidden Valley house the plants had a hard time growing so the weeds didn't even try. We have lots of grasshoppers. I'm concerned they are going to eat the garden. I pay the boys a penny a grasshopper to get rid of it. They have killed 1400 grasshoppers and counting. Good thing I said a penny and not a nickel. We have also been collecting frogs and putting them in the garden to eat the grasshoppers.

I can't remember if I mentioned I gave back the raccoon. Too many things to keep alive and the raccoon was last on the list. I was the most unpopular mother and wife for about a week but I think they got over it.

flowers