The Croft Menagerie

**Due to a mistake with my picture account and a computer crash, we sadly lost our pictures from June and July 2011 - however, some of them ended up in the 2012 Calendar I made**

May I just say, "GO WYO!!!"

A couple weeks ago, our friends, the Crofts, invited us over for dinner. It was so delicious! The kids' favorite part was seeing all of their animals. They have hedgehogs, a baby raccoon, dogs, and birds. They loved it! The kids were excited, but a little unsure about the hedgehogs!

Another Look at My Garden

**Due to a mistake with my picture account and a computer crash, we sadly lost our pictures from June and July 2011 - however, some of them ended up in the 2012 Calendar I made**


I know this may sound a little pessimistic, but I really didn't think anything would grow when I planted my garden. I figured even if they did grow, the grasshoppers would get them. I've never had much patience when it's come to plants, but they are actually growing great! They may even produce, which would really be something! :)

Beans


An actual bud!

White potatoes

Red Potatoes

Pumpkin

OK, I have a little confession to make. When I planted the garden, I only had one potato. So, I planted it and then got some red seed potatoes the next day. So, a few days later, I planted the reds along with the white... or so I thought! I guess I wasn't paying much attention, because I planted them in the pumpkin barrel! So, I have one white potato in a barrel by itself and four reds with one pumpkin in another barrel! It's a little crowded, but so far so good! :s

And the first zucchini flower!

We have a tree that hangs over from the neighbor's yard and we have to cut it back every year. This year, Taysum thought it would be fun to make a nest out of the branches Ken cut. They were pretty proud of their little nest! :)

Silly Kiddo

Taysum tasting a lime!

Fourth of July 2011

**Due to a mistake with my picture account and a computer crash, we sadly lost our pictures from June and July 2011 - however, some of them ended up in the 2012 Calendar I made**

Fourth of July!! What more can I say?! The kids were so excited to dress in their "America clothes."

Taysum and Bailey making an "oo" with Ken's juggling rings

We went out to the lake with the family. The kids love Horseshoe Bend! We had a great time with the Andersons and Lindsays!

Later that evening we had a yummy Bar B Q at Grandpa and Grandma's!

Grandpa had set up his new wall tent and the kids had a blast playing in it!

Then, when it started getting dark, we went out to the Lindsay's for fireworks. They always put on a good show!

We are so very blessed to live in this amazing country! And even more so to live in this beautiful part of that country! I'm so especially thankful to have the freedom to spend such a wonderful time with my family!

Mustang Days 2011

**Due to a mistake with my picture account and a computer crash, we sadly lost our pictures from June and July 2011 - however, some of them ended up in the 2012 Calendar I made**

Taysum has been going to a school program called Pup's Club. It's a summer program where they get to read, do crafts, sing songs, play games and just have a good time! I was hired as a sub and have had a great time helping out and getting to be with Taysum! The week of Mustang Days, they were in the park. This is the robot Taysum drew with sidewalk chalk.

Friday night, Ken and the kids went camping with my family. Matt and Megan were in town, so it was a fun group. I kept Hayden home because he was pretty sick. Saturday was the parade and it was a beautiful day. The kids had a lot of fun and really enjoyed all the candy! We sat with Chad's family. This was our crew!

Carissa was on the Dance Academy float. Bailey had been invited as well, but she didn't get back from camping in time. The little girl to the left is in my primary class! :)

Matt rode on his 10 year High School reunion float.

Later that evening, we had a family dinner at Uncle Dan's. It was really nice to see everyone and we had a great time! I love my family!!

After the dinner, we got the kids all ready for bed and then headed to Horse Shoe Bend for the fireworks! We took a movie for the kids to watch on Ken's laptop. Best. Idea. Ever!!

It was a little crazy this year. We were sitting next to some noisy neighbors. Then, just before the finale, someone started to leave and was shining their headlights right in our faces for a long time which made it hard to see the fireworks. Then they went tearing through! It was scary and annoying! Usually, I'm a lot more into Mustang Days, but this year I was sick and Hayden was sick. We still had a nice time, though!

At the Drive In

We figured the Sapp family hadn't had nearly enough of our craziness, so the day after our Gillette trip, we went to the drive-in with them to see Kung Fu Panda 2. I had also been invited to a baby shower in Powell, so Ken took the kids to the park while I went to the shower and then we went to the drive-in.

It was a pretty good time. Hayden was just going nuts and wiggling all around. Then, all the sudden he crashed and was out! :) Drive-ins are always fun!

Our Trip to Gillette

During the middle of June, we went with Ken on a business trip to Gillette. There was a big oil show there and Western Engineering had a booth set up. Ken and his co-worker, Brad, left super early in the morning. Brad's wife, Mary Ann, and their two kids drove over with us later in the day. It was a pretty good trip, and the kids did pretty well! Hayden got a little car sick and we had to stop and do some major clean-up. Other than that, it was a pretty uneventful drive. I really enjoyed getting to know Mary Ann a little better; we actually have quite a bit in common!

We got there quite a bit later than we had planned, but the kids were set on swimming. We settled a bit and then headed to the pool. For dinner, we just ordered pizza to the room. We were watching their kids while Brad and Mary Ann went to the banquet for the oil show. When they got back, we were able to meet up with the Ringer family! It's been a while since we've seen them and it was so great to get to hang out with them for a bit and see how well they are doing! Some of our friends are really struggling right now and it was really refreshing to know that even though the Ringers had difficult things in their life, they've come through it and are as wonderful as ever! They are great friends and we love getting to have some time with them! We were all so exhausted and it was so late by the time we got back to our room, we all pretty much crashed right away. I stayed up doing some laundry from Hayden's little mishap. It was kind of crazy, because I had to drive around for quite a while trying to find some laundry soap! I finally got to bed and we all slept pretty well!

Breakfast the next morning was amazing!! Ken and Brad had pretty much accomplished what they needed to at the show, so they went to man the booth for the morning, then came and got us for lunch. Then we decided we were so close to Devil's Tower (45 min.) we couldn't pass up the chance to go! Ken's been wanting to go there for quite awhile now! I'm so glad we took the time to go! It was so beautiful and it was an incredible sight! I know I went with my family when I was young, but I didn't remember much of it! It was mostly fun to see Ken so excited about it! The kids had a great time, too!

We went back to Gillette and the guys tore the booth down. We stopped by Wal Mart and I did some shopping for Bailey and I, then we were on our way home! We saw some moose in the mountains.

The water was just unbelievable! This was above Ten Sleep! It was just so incredible to see!

Even though family trips can be a big production, I'm glad we went and that we were able to have that time with Ken and to get to know the Sapp family better!

Sweet Sabbath Morning

I have a little story that I want to write down before I forget. Yesterday morning, the kids got out on the wrong side of our bed. They were grumpy and arguing and crying and it wasn't a fun way to wake up! I went to make some muffins and the butter was hard, so it was a mess to try and cream it with the sugar. Then I realized I didn't have an egg, so I had to go borrow one. Then I realized I was out of flour, so I had to go digging in our food storage. Then our can opener decided not to work. So, I got the can half way open and then I tried to pry it the rest of the way open. It flipped back and smacked my finger pretty good. Taysum and Bailey were in the kitchen with me and they were pretty worried about me. Bailey said, "Heavenly Father will help you feel better, Mom. Because Heavenly Father helps people feel better." And I did! It was so sweet and so true. I had a whole new outlook on the morning, thanks to my sweet B. And by the way, the muffins turned out just fine! :)