Beautiful Fall!

It is Fall in Star Valley again, and we are enjoying it. I took the kids for a fun bike ride this past week. Kelly was on a golf trip (with the school - he is the golf coach for the high school) yet again, so we decided we needed to get out and do something fun too.
I LOVE Swift Creek canyon. It is the canyon that is in Afton and ends at the Periodic Spring. It is so beautiful. We decided to haul the bikes to Afton and go for a little trek. We had a great time. It was a bit of a climb, so Reesie decided that she liked the way back better. Brannen liked the stopping to throw rocks in the creek. Brady liked taking some "off road" adventures.

We had a great afternoon. It is so nice to get outside and enjoy this place that we live in. Gotta soak it up to last through February!

Mom - update your blog!

Apparently I have been doing a bad job at Blogging lately. Each time one of my kids is on the computer I hear, "mom, you haven't updated your blog!" So I will update! Apparently my kids don't know what we have done until they see it on the blog!!!
Makes sense to me!

Lil trip

Over the holiday weekend we took a little trip to Idaho Falls. The boys wanted to golf, I wanted to buy Brannen a good stroller, Rae wanted to walk the mall in true teenager fashion. So we went. We had a great evening walking around the falls around the temple. The kids really loved it.
We found so many fun trails that we didn't even know about. Fun stuff.
Yep, the dad took the blurry picture. Well, it was better than the group shot that some random teenager took for us. That was too blurry to post.
Brady and Reese LOVED exploring the rocks and waterways.
You can always spot the "country folk" at Home Depot. They are the ones that think it is highly amusing to put strange objects on their babies heads, and then take a picture of it. We have surely "gone to town" now!!
Some quality time at the mall's play place. Once again, proof that the "country folk" are hittin' the big city!

TV

The boy has recently decided that tv might be kind of cool. Sesame Street is his current obsession - and I have to say that I like it a lot too. What a great show!
The other thing that helps keep his interest is the fact that I let him watch on my very tall bed. He can get off of it if he really wants to - but it is kind of scary. So it helps to keep him in one place. Rock on Cookie Monster!

Playing with the boy

I have such good helpers at my house! Brannen is definitely at the stage where he needs to be entertained all the time - he is such a busy little guy.
Brady and Reese end up with the brunt of the entertaining. Rae is so busy now - and always somewhere that is not here! These two do an AWESOME job with baby Bran though. He loves them so much. They are always finding something to do.
I don't know what I would do without my awesome big brother and big sister! They totally save me every day!

This picture is for you Aunt Jen! Holy cow you are right! This kid has my pointy chin! Not to mention my crazy good piano skills! :)

New Do

She wanted a new haircut for school - and it turned out cute cute. I am just sad that everytime she gets her hair cut she seems years older to me! I guess she is older and-- wow--time flies! What can ya do?!

First Day!

Today is our first day of school! How great do they look? All ready to head out the door!
Yep, this is really how they feel - TIRED! This morning was early for us - we have got to get to bed better! We have had too much fun this summer! : )
We will miss you Bran boy! We will miss you buddy!
I am going to miss my helpers sooooo much! I really do wonder if I will be able to shower until next June. Hmmmm . . . it will be interesting to find out! Maybe a bit smelly too!
I will miss the kids TONS! We have had a great summer. I could have kept them home for another three months! But it is so nice to be on a schedule too. I don't know why it takes the school system to get me on a schedule - but it does and I love it. Here's to a great school year!

Mud Monster

I just found these pictures that I forgot to post. Great huh?! Rae has had a fun summer helping out Grampa Jonesy at the stable in Alpine. She has also had tons of fun hanging out with my cousin Melissa who has worked there the past two summers.

Melissa has taken such good care of Rae this summer! She would never take her on the ATV's down to the mud flats! She would never bring my daughter home covered in mud! : ) Just look at the grin on Rae's face - that's how much fun she had with Melissa this summer!!!
Love you Melissa! Thanks for the Rae help!

Burton Bikers!

The Afton Tabernacle just celebrated its 100th birthday this past Saturday. As part of the celebration, they held a bike-a-thon in memory of the early saints that built that awesome building. Families biked the same route that the stone was quarried and carried to build the present standing tabernacle. They asked that families who biked did so in the name of one of their ancestors that was living when the tabernacle was built. So Kelly and my kids peddled the journey in memory of Chris' Grandpa Burton. She was raised in his house, by him and her mom.

Here's the crew getting ready for the early morning ride. Yes, Brady is employing his special super-power. His eyes are closed! Amazing!!

We got started in Fairview - they day was looking rainy and cold - but it held off and they didn't get wet.
Brannen was my navigator in the car. I debated hooking up his bike trailer and taking him, but it was really far and cold. So we helped by encouraging our fellow Burton bikers!
Showing off our shirts!
Grama Chris had these great t-shirts made for us. My kids think they are fantastic. They wore them all day. They say BURTON on back, and say George F. Burton 1888-1971 on the front.
Here we go! Kelly had them ride in formation - to keep track of the crazies.
There they go! No one has broken formation! Awesome! Would YOU break formation with Kelly in charge? I think not.
Arriving safely and a bit tired in Afton at the tabernacle.

Grama Chris made this an extra special day for her Aunts and Uncle who are the children of George Burton. She drove to Salt Lake and picked up Uncle Mel and Aunt Fern, gathered up Aunt Mary who lives just down Nield's String from the tabernacle, and also brought her mom, Marjorie, who is living with Chris and Barry now. She wanted them all to be a part of the celebration and see the kids arrive. I think it was great for them. After the bike-a-thon, Chris and Barry took them all to the Cheese Factory for lunch and then drove around the Greys River loop for them to see the canyon. I think they had a great time being together and visiting. Way to go Grama Chris!
Aunt Mary gives Brannen a hug.
Posing in front of the tabernacle (I am a dummy and never got a shot of the huge spire that is to Kelly's left. It is an awesome building.).
Proud to be a Burton!
With Grama Chris and Uncle Mel. What a great day! My kids will definitely remember it.

Mini Horses!

Reese's friend Kaitlyn who lives next door to us just had a fun birthday party. Her smart mom had some boys come who give pony rides on their miniature horses. Well I tell you, that was fun fun!! All of my kids had a blast.

Bran couldn't get enough of the horses. I think Rae had to stand like this for most of the day!

Goodbye Wave

It is officially over! Rae is a princess no more! She gave her farewell wave during the rodeo at the fair. What fun she has had this year!

More Horsin' Around

Some more pictures of Rae at the fair.
She used a new horse - Belle - for most of the competitions. Kelly usually rides Belle when Rae and he ride, and Rae has decided to work with her more and turn her into a royalty horse. Lady is too used to running barrels and kind of goes crazy when ever she enters a ring. It is a big switch to then have her do slow and beautiful reining patterns, so Rae has been using Belle more and more. She is a sweet horse.
Aunt Jen and Colin tried to watch Rae with Bran and I. It got waaaaay too long and we had to leave before we really saw anything. But it was fun to visit and watch a bit. What a cutie kid! Such a smiler!
Grandpa Barry brought a horse to the fair too. A young one named Moonshine. Rae calls her Moonie I think. We decided that after Grandpa just watches horses for a day, he can't help but bring one and ride too. Moonie needed the work and Grandpa had a dandy time riding for the day.

Baby Audrey

Last week (or so - I'm seriously loosing track of time) we got to play with my cousin Megan's daughter Audrey while she and her husband Thomas went rafting with Melissa. My kids really enjoyed it. They took pictures of her and hauled her all over. She got lots of hugs and kisses! She is such a gooooood baby! It makes me realize what a monster I am raising! Anyway, we had fun with her for the afternoon. Are you jealous Grandma Ellen?!? You should be - she is such a sweetie! : )

I have learned that this boy eats much better if I just give him a spoon and let him have at it. It takes great strength on my part to just walk away and not worry about the food being thrown everywhere. He is just such an independent soul - he wants to do it all by himself! Ahhhh!


What a grin! He knows that he is driving me crazy!

Horse Girl!

I have so much to catch up on! We have been having a fun and busy summer and I can't keep up with my blog. I'm going to try and post some today.
Rae has had a lot of horse fun lately. She got to spend a lot of time at the fair doing various events. The highlight of the week for her was earning this awesome belt buckle for coming in first in the "poles" event of the junior rodeo. She was over the moon about winning this. Way to go Rae!

A Boring Weekend - Day 2 part 2

So after the Junior Rodeo, we went to Grama & Grampa Fullmers for hamburgers and such. The kids were hot and starved, and it was great. We had a fun time visiting for a bit, and then Grampa Jonesy called and said that a raft was available for us to go rafting. Yahoo! We're going to float the Snake!
We are so glad that grandpa arranged his day so that he could be the guide. He is a great guide, and so much fun on the river. We never get tired of his tried and true rafting jokes! You know this cable was installed to hold the mountains together . . . . . .
The group included: Grampa, Kelly, Clint, Allison, and cousin Carolyn (adults), and Rae, Brady, Reese, Rylee and Gavin (kiddos). I was the babysitter and picture taker. Oh and also the official "Waver" of the group. When I met our group at the bottom, the boat next to us said, hey - you're the lady who stopped and waved a lot. Yep, that was me.
Just getting on the water. Chase, Brannen and I gave them a royal send-off.
There they go!
Hitting Kahuna. Grampa does a great job of making sure you hit all the nice waves. They said that they didn't miss one.
The rafters had a great time. They even got rained on during their float for awhile. Bran and Chase and I had fun watching and waving too. We were a great cheering section.

So the weekend turned out busy and action packed and so much fun! So much for a boring weekend! Great to see you Clint and Alli!

NANA!!!

Friday night when we returned from all our playing the adults decided to go out and eat. We went to Agave in Afton, and were just leaving when the couple next to us stopped Kelly and said - hey Fullmer, we think we have your dog. *mouth open, shocked expression*!!! Really? Black hound dog with brown stripes on her sides? Yep - that's the one.
We lost Nana this spring - the week before school got out. Actually, we figured that she died in the mountains. She is SO OLD, and wasn't doing great at the time. She was a stray Rae took in and we have had her a couple of years. The kids love her and she is a sweetie. I guess she found a squirrel to chase up the canyon-- these folks found her and thought she was lost-- so they have been taking care of her. When she was missing, we called the Sheriff and the Pound here, and called the radio the announce she was lost - and the people that found her had put an ad in the Penny Pincher here - but apparently we never connected. So a week or so ago, they took Nana camping with them, and one of our neighbors saw her and said, she looks like the Fullmer's dog.
There you go - Nana found. Baby Bran is happy happy. Reese cried. Nana is home : )

She is getting a new tag that says, "My name is Nana. I live in Grover. Leave me alone. I will go home".