End of summer fun.

Last week Nate was able to score the box seat tickets to the Chukars game from his work. We invited some friends and had SUCH a great time. The kids enjoyed the TV inside and the adults loved sitting outside while watching the game! It will be hard to go back to a Chukars game and get regular old seats ever again! ☺ It really was a perfect END of summer evening.

Earlier that night Mr. Dallin received his WOLF! We're SO proud of him and the hard work he continues to put into scouting!

Labor day weekend was really low key for us. A few people in the ward were pretty shocked to hear that the Starnes family was actually staying in town for the holiday! Haha....yeah, USUALLY we would be outta here but we have some fun trips coming up here in the next few weeks so we decided it would be best to stay close to home and enjoy a little R &R and some good old BSU football!

Monday we met up with some friends over at Rigby Lake. The sun only came out for about 30 minutes but no one minded. We had a blast. I wish I had found out about this lake a little earlier in the summer. We will definitely be going a LOT more next summer. Sand+Water+Slide+Friends= Starnes Boy HEAVEN!

Tender Mercies

The past couple days have been extremely difficult for me. I wish I could talk more about it but I just can't seem to find the right words. I'm sure my feelings and emotions will surface in time but as for now I know I need to push (and at times FORCE) myself to focus on the good. It is such a hard thing to do when you feel so frustrated, discouraged and confused.

 I found a great quote that really spoke to my heart:

There is so much life that is indeed waiting for me. The boys didn't have school today and I hardly slept a wink last night so I slept in this morning. I REALLY slept in.....like 11:00 slept in. I could hear the boys playing quietly in the family room and I decided that I needed to get up and get going. I wanted to get out of the house and just DRIVE.

While filling up the gas tank at the nearby Maverick I ran into all of Nate's extended Samoan family. I just love this family. They are SO great. They were filling up the boat and headed up to the lake. They told us that we HAD to come with them. They instructed me to get home, get changed and meet them up there in 30 minutes.

We played in the sunshine with the cousins all day long. We talked, laughed, rode the tube and did some cliff jumping.

I'm grateful for tender mercies. I know it wasn't a coincidence that I ran into them at that particular time at that particular gas station. Even though a day at the lake with family doesn't make the heartache go away....it sure helps a little. And I am once again reminded that I have a Heavenly Father who really does love me and knows exactly what I need.

Famous Parker

Enjoy this little video my brother put together. The uncles are taking Parker under their wings and training  him while he is young. Parks will be doing crazy tricks on the wakeboard in no time!

 

After Parker watched this video he exclaimed: "I'm on YOUTUBE!!! I am a FAMOUS KID!!!"

Back to School!

 Supplies ready, lunches packed, back to school blessings done. I guess we're ready! Mr. Dallin starts 3rd grade! He is SOOOO ready to go back to school. In usual Dallin style he has been counting down the days since July. ☺

Mr. Parker is starting 1st grade. I'm having a really hard time with this one. I could handle kindergarten but THIS is going to be different! Landon and I will be lost without him. I'm excited to watch him continue to grow even though....it sure isn't easy.

 We decided to let him keep the long hair. We trimmed it up but he does look pretty cute with a little shag.

And Mr. Landon is headed to preschool! Thank heavens I still have this guy to hang out with during the day.

How is it possible summer went by so fast? I can hardly believe we're already back to the grind. O wait....I think I know where it went:

Josh Turner Concert

Last night was the Josh Turner concert! Nate's firm has sweet box seats for all events at Melaleuca Field so we got to sit in the posh seating with air conditioning and leather couches. It was pretty sweet!

I'd been fretting for days about what to wear to this concert. Do I deck out in all country swag? After all this IS eastern Idaho. I decided against it and was glad I did. I didn't see many cowboy hats so I probably would have felt dumb. I always stress about what to wear....especially to Nate's work functions. I know I'm dumb like that but hey......it's just the way I am. I found a cute light weight shirt and decided against both jeans and shorts and went with capris because it was HOT when the concert started but it cools off over here a ton at night.

Here is the finished product:

Did you see how CUTE those jean shoes are!! I ♥ them!

The concert was really fun. We watched the Governor and Mrs. Otter go up on stage and welcome everyone to the concert. 2 seconds later they were RIGHT NEXT TO US in the box seats to the left. I took an "undercover" photo.

Apparently there were all sorts of big wigs sitting next to us. Of course I had no idea who they were but I decided to be on my best behavior and act like a mature adult during the concert. No crazy dancing or boot scooting from this girl. ☺

Tom Luna (Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction) was next to us as well. Now that PE and MUSIC have been cut from my children's education there was nothing I wanted more then to go over there and give him a piece of my mind. Once again though, I maintained mature composure and smiled nicely when he looked over at us.

Nate and I had a fun night. We didn't know a lot of the Josh Turner songs but we did know a few. Any excuse to get out without the kids is a good time!

Farewell Summer

 USUALLY, the Starnes boys are all about our annual "BOYS CLUB" party in the summer. This year however, we decided to allow girls to come and we called it a FAREWELL to SUMMER party! Maybe this has something to do with the fact that Landon REALLY wanted KATE to come? I'm not sure but it was a ton of fun and I think we'll do this from here on out!

We did some water balloon volleyball:

 Finger Paints:

 Shaving cream to clean the paint off:

 And waterballoons with sprinklers to wash the shaving cream off!

 25 crazy kids hyped up on sugar! Poor Jack was exhausted when they all left!

Bannock Ghost Town

Monday morning bright and early Grandma EE and I took the boys on yet another adventure! We packed the car and headed north to see the Bannock Ghost town! Grandma had been there before but she wanted us to see it....and she wanted to see it ASAP since school starts next week.

We started going towards Dillion, Montana and stopped in the small town of Dell. We ate lunch at this tiny old schoolhouse. It was an actual schoolhouse from 1860-1920. Now it is a small cafe or "CALF-A" is actually what they call it!.

We continued on for another hour or so until we got to the town. This ghost town still has about 60 buildings standing . At one point there were over 5,000 people living here during the gold and silver rush. The buildings were beautiful. Lots of shootings took place here and the mayor of the town was actually hung in the gallows back behind the town. The gallows are still there. A tad creepy! Also, there was a building that was deisgnated for sick children only. People say that at night you can still hear the children crying. Yikes!

 The jail:

 Schoolyard:

 Church:

After walking all around the town we went down over by the river to soak our feet and look for some rocks to add to the boy's collections.

Summer is winding down. Next week the boys head back to school and Landon and I will be left at home to fend for ourselves. It has been such a great summer. Yes, crazy at times but we've crammed it in, lived it up, partied hard and we have a treasure trove of memories to take with us.

Grateful for my EE...for the memories, laughs and adventures we have together this summer. I wish everyone could have a Grandma as amazing, generous, caring and fun as she is.