World Famous Big J's

After the guys went golfing on Monday, we met them at Big J's with the kids.
Bart also went golfing with them and joined us. It was good to see him and we kept calling him Dr., which he said that he wasn't. He is still Bart.

Jess is starting to blossom. Baby girl is due in a few months. Matt is a proud father.

Two enthusiastic souls!

DeMilles

Eating one of Holly's favorites-tater tots. She told them that this was her place of employment in high school. Megan also worked at the counterpart: Pizza Villa. Now it is combined into one place. Megan was busy running a marathon in Los Angeles. She also qualified for Boston. I guess that all of kids are fast runners.

Thomas'

Eric didn't know about a Big J and just ordered a normal hamburger. Sid couldn't believe it. Fortunately for Eric, they made a mistake on Sid's order and Sid had two Super J's instead of one. So Eric and Dusty shared one.

Cooking the Perfect Hot Dog and Marshmallow

Grandpa is helping Adam cook his hot dog.
Dusty is helping Brax.

Matt did a lot of cooking too. Here are the two Thomas kids: Preston and Devree

We decided that we needed to use this pit more often. It was fun to sit around the fire. Dusty and Eric stayed outside and told the kids scary stories.

Here are the golfers-minus Eric. They played on Saturday and Monday. Eric claimed that Dusty made them play not only 9 holes, but also the back 9 holes until Dusty was ahead. Sid said that he lost at least a dozen balls with all the water and the darkness. He said that when they back to clubhouse, everyone had gone home. They had to chain up the cart by themselves. They probably couldn't believe that anyone was still golfing. They obviously do not know Dusty very well.

Time with the Family

Sid and Brax were loading the flowers to take to the cemetery.
It's always nice tohave the family with us.

We even found some lilacs to put by Granny's grave.

It's always hard to believe that Tim isn't with us anymore. We always miss him when the family gets together.

Brax has his meat!

Darby, Eric and Holly dishing up the roast.

Mata, Keith and Matt awaiting the food.

Eric brought in his table so the kids all ate in the living room.

Matt and Jess

Dusty invited the Thomas family to join us. They are always fun and we were glad to have them with us. I was on the cooking rampage all weekend. (Consequently, I didn't cook one thing all this week-I overdid myself.) Sid always misses Sunday dinner with the family, so we had everything that he likes to eat. He even left his Sunday meetings early so he could spend time with us. Matt and Jess and the DeMilles all arrived on Friday night. The Thomas' arrived early Saturday morning and Keith and Mata came late on Saturday.

Play Ball

Dusty was pitching the balls and also coaching.
Yes, here I am getting ready to smack the ball in my pajamas and glasses.

Adam, the lefty, needed Grandpa's mitt. Can you believe he is the first left handed kid for two generations of Browns. None of our kids were left handed. Usually when a parent is left handed, one of the kids usually is. Sid kept his old mitt around for years in hopes that someone would use it. Now that he has someone who could, he can't find it.

Cole is very serious minded when it comes to sports. He is a good hitter, thrower, and catcher.

Brax hit the ball. He also throws the ball quite well. We just aren't quite sure where it will end up. Dusty had him running the bases and he did great!

Dusty wanted to bring out the baseball equipment so that Brax could practice. Dusty is Cole's coach and wanted Brax to practice also. Then everyone thought it would be funny to see if I could actually hit the ball. Surprising everyone, I did hit the ball. Dusty is a great Dad and coach. He got everyone involved.

Sand Buggy-Memorial Day Weekend

Cole is driving Preston, a friend, and Adam.
Braxton also decided to go for a ride. It is large enough to handle quite a few boys.

Brax pulled the old four-wheeler toys out of the shop and wanted Matt to drive him around. Here is Brax and Adam.

Cole, the designated driver

Here is Grandpa taking Cole on the first ride. That is the last time that Cole was ever in the passenger seat.

Sid was obsessed with getting the grandkids another go-cart. Last year's go-cart finally died from overuse. Sid is planning to fix it. But he looked around and found another larger one. The DeMille boys put it to use with Cole and the designated driver. Sid made a trail for him through the grain field. We followed Cole out to the field and saw him trying to take drive the go-cart up a mound of dirt. I don't know what would have happened it he actually would have made it to the top.

Boston Qualifiers

I spent the weekend with Adam. What a character! I enjoyed being with him. He is a real companion. He loves hamburgers and ate 3 of them on Saturday. He also had a sausage biscuit for breakfast. He has on Braxton's helmet and was riding his bike. The weather was perfect and we were enjoying time outside. His brothers and Dad were in Moab so he enjoyed being the only child. Sid is very jealous that the sandhills are not Dusty's only place of recreation. We are looking forward to seeing them this weekend. Keith is coming from Dallas so everyone is congregating,

We have four birthdays this month. Cole turned 7. Jess and Matt also celebrate birthdays this week. The funniest story is about Cameron's birthday. His birthday is tomorrow. I sent Lily a few things because she is my favorite granddaughter. Cam called me to ask me if I made a mistake by sending her a gift. He wondered if I had forgotten that it was his birthday this month and not Lily's. He couldn't understand why she got something and not him. Sid said that he better get used to it.
Holly is approaching the finish line. Adam was very patient and we enjoyed watching the runners go by us.

Here is Holly with her friend Jen. Even though Holly got sick toward the end of the race, she finished it and still qualified for Boston with her time. This was Jen's first maraton so it was quite an accomplishment for her. I was just amazed how strong the runners finished after running for 26 miles. It made me tired just watching them. They both did great. Holly was disappointed, but I thought she did fine!

Sand Storm

This was the view from our yard tonight. It looks like the driveway is extended, but it really is just covered with sand. The driveway is all bumpy. Three days of wind made havoc with the crops and the yard. How I hate the wind in Idaho!
This is how it looked after I mowed it last Saturday.

Apron Creation

Charlotte, Diane and I went on a Quilt Hop(for those of you who don't know what that it, it is a way to get quilters to go to all the stores in the area). They have charms at each store, sales and prizes. Charlotte, of course, won a basket last year. Anyway we found a lot of dfferent apron and bag ideas. I also bought a cute kit for a baby girl...I couldn't resist. We also ate at Cafe Rio. We were so excited to see it finally open in Idaho Falls. It was very crowded and most of the people there had been to Cafe Rio before in other cities. Anyway I made this apron in just a few hours. I was going to give it to Tauna for her birthday, but it looked more like Charlotte.

I was glad to finally complete a project!

Family Home Evening for 110!

The weather had been cold and snowy the day before. I really thought that the weather would not cooperate for the outdoor FHE. We didn't know how many students would show up, but our rough count was about 110. The weather turned out fine and we had kids everywhere.
We had two fires, a volleyball net and several acres for the kids to get to know each other. They were taking pictures and liked to use our old stuff for props...including Sid's Ford pickup.

We had a simple menu with hamburgers, hotdogs, potato salad and chips.

Brant ended up being the chef. He did a great job and kept up with all of the starving students. We found out though that they didn't really like hot dogs that well. All in all it was a great evening and it was a good way for the students to get to know their bishopric.

Reclaiming the Yard

Time to get out the lawn mower.
Finished project. It was good to get all the dead grass off the lawn and pine cones, etc.

Here are the piles of dead grass that I mowed and thatched off the lawn. I was amazed how well my little thatcher did.