The end

Well, our summer in Oregon was winding down. Tanner and I left on July 28 for Boise. Taz and Cynjyn were staying until August 12. Tanner had to be back for Volleyball camp at BYU and I had to be back to go to Girls Camp. T and C wanted to attend the family reunion Aug 9-11, so they stayed and that way they wouldn't be alone while we were at the camps. I and they were worried. Taz is a momma's boy and for some reason Cynjyn was being a drama queen, but we got off and they survived. Here they are on their last day together, it had been a wonderful summer and we were all sad to see it end.
Cynjyn and Ella decided to set up shop and become photographers. They set up little scenes and had props and took a boatload of pictures. Here are just a few, I think they did pretty good and are both photogenenic and seem to have a talent here to develope!!

Now, I LOVE licorice ice cream and two, yep, count 'em, two shops in La Grande have licorice ice cream on a regular basis. So I HAD to get my last fix of ice cream on the way out of town!! So happy!!

Tanner and I stayed at Ky's and we got there after dinner. Krissy came over to visit and show up her latest pictures she had painted at art class. They were working on portraits. Here's one she did of mom and dad!!

And here's one of her and Brian. She did sooo good!! I'm glad she's working on that talent.

Now, back to reality, at least for me and Tanner!! Thanks for putting up with all my catch up posts!

Our last adventure

Our last adventure of the summer included a trip to Catherine Creek, wet kids, near drownings and chinese food. One evening, we decided to go try to cool off in the river. The kids didn't get to go in when we went to Boulder Park, so we went in search. We just went to Catherine Creek because we'd been there and knew the kids would be able to dip their feet and have some fun. Cynjyn and Ella jumped right in and wished they'd worn a swimming suit!

Taz and Trampis went in search of crawdads, that was their ultimate goal, fill their bucket!
Cynjyn and Ella got braver and braver as the evening wore on.

Tanner stuffed himself with dryer sheets and observed from a giant rock before moving onto a lawn chair.

The boys were not having much luck finding crawdads. Taz was getting very upset about this and just wanted to leave, so he entered "bad mood" mode.

The girls found a little "dam" of rocks that someone had started, so they convinced the boys to help them extend it. Taz only went out there to be in the picture, SOMEHOW, they got Tanner off his chair!!

Pretty soon, the boys started to strip down as the water got deeper and deeper.

Taz still won't relent and is searching for crawdads! No luck.

Tanner get's tired of hiking up his shorts and opts to take them off and just be in boxers much to the horror of Trampis.

We inform them that we need to leave soon and they'd better swim if they are going to. Ella has no problem giving up the dam building.

But some final pictures of their progress is a must. Taz is still in "BM" mode.

Now, are they brave enough to all go under??

First they have to go up the current a little ways, so they help each other advance upstream.

Ella goes down, but they rescue her!

They all made it!

Ella, the worst swimmer of the bunch takes off first??

Then Trampis,

Then Cynjyn,

She crashes into Trampis

Pretty soon, the three of them are floating away.

Cynjyn makes it out, but Trampis and Ella continue on into the RAPIDS!

They scream for help and Cynjyn runs along the shore and rescues them. Evening is over and everyone is hungry. Grandpa takes us all to Golden Harvest for dinner. We'd never been before and Cynjyn LOVED hers!

Tanner was impressed.

Taz got Orange Chicken and hated it because it wasn't like Panda, so I gave him some of mine and he ate his soup.

Another great evening adventure!!

Trampis and Taz had one crawdad and promptly cooked it and ate it after we got home.

Taz was so excited to try it because he was too chicken last year. This was his reaction after the first bite.

Apparently it doesn't taste like chicken!

Our fishing adventure

Ky wanted Kres to go fishing. So mom and dad checked out the laws and places and decided we could go fishing. So, we headed up past the Starkey store and started driving up the road until we found the national forest which meant we weren't on private property anymore and we could fish. This is what we had to stop and slow down for. OPEN RANGE!! We found a spot where we had to hike a little ways down to. Cynjyn didn't like the job of having to hold the smelly fish bag.

Grandpa found a rock to perch on and started baiting hooks. Good thing Ky was there to help. I CAN do it, but it's not my favorite thing to do, so I let Dad and Ky handle the worms.

Tanner was a trouper to carry Beckham in the backpack. Beckham protested too, until I started handing him rocks to throw, then he was happy.

Taz found a rock and casted away.

Ella caught the first fish, but alas, it was too small and we had to throw it back in.

Kres found a spot and happily waited.

Taz is getting discouraged, he isn't even feeling a nibble.

Patient fishers, and a baby throwing rocks!!

A squeal from Kres and he catches the second fish!!

Cynjyn hasn't even touched a pole at this point and is patiently waiting her turn!

We decided to try to go down the road aways to a different fishing spot. Grandpa and Cynjyn disappeared and pretty soon, Cynjyn scored with the biggest fish of the day!! A 13 incher!

Kres and Ella take a look...they approve.

Beckham loves the fish and continues with his fish noise for the rest of the time we are there! (But he won't touch it)

Finally, Tanner gets a turn.

And he pulls one out, once again, too small to keep.

Finally Taz hooks and fish...and it's a keeper!

Ella decides to try one last time because she seems to have forgotten that she caught the first fish, and she catches a ...........CRAWDAD!!

Grandpa takes the fish down to the river to gut them. This is what Cynjyn thought of the whole process.

Kres was mesmorized by it all.

Beckham was happy to get out of his stroller,

and get to his rocks.

We left in time to go see our elk herd, but alas, they weren't there!! So I took a picture of us driving home to the light of the moon. It had been another fun adventure!!

The next morning, much to Cynjyn's horror, Grandpa had the fish for BREAKFAST!

Only Taz and I were brave enough to try a bite.

Yep, tastes like chicken!!