This was a double rainbow in the barley fields above our house. I thought it was pretty. Oh well. 

Happy Birthday Dad!!! "29" 

Kirsten trying on dad's hat. Which way??? 

Jake got 2 new hats for his birthday. One for work and a NICE one to wear when he isn't working. Which isn't very often. He also got a new shirt. 

Jake and Cruz blowing out his birthday cake. 29 is a lot of candles to light! 

A natural!!! Cruz is driving again. This time in his own car.  

Me and the kids. 

My angels once again!!! 

Grandpa Smith unhooking the fish and rebaiting the lines. 

McKay and her fish. The reason that everyone caught one was that we were at a fish farm. It was hard not to catch one. Grandpa Smith enjoys taking the grandkids fishing once a year. We all had fun! 

Kirsten and her fish. Her idea of fishing is sticking the end of the pole in the water. It was her first time. 

Axel on our fishing trip. 

Jake is now building two gazebos at work. He has been so busy! 

All nighter

We just got back from a very long day and night. Jake and Axel worked all day in Idaho and then I drove them to Utah to work all night planting trees and installing sprinkler lines. I don't think I have ever seen Axel work so hard and for so long. We left early this morning to come home and Jake went back to work. Axel has crashed on my living room floor and not moved for three hours. I guess they will be going to bed early tonight (for once).

Update on our coon hunt, we caught one more coon the next night. Jake took it to his boss's house to show their 4 year old boy. When his boss saw it she fell in love with it and begged Jake to let it 'live' in her fields. We let it go and it is now a happy coon! We haven't caught any for a couple days though.

Coon Fever!

Well it is late Sunday Night (12:50 AM) and Axel and I have just finished emptying our traps for the second time tonight. Never in a million years would I have thought that we would get another 6 coons tonight after the 3 we got last night ... 9 coons in less than 24 hours .... I am starting to think that there are more coons in Idaho than potatoes. The girls made me promise to wake them up if I caught any more coons. We got them up and they were excited. McKay went back to bed, but Kirsten would not go back to bed until I promised that I would wake her up when there was another one. I promised ... feel kind of bad because I left her in bed during round two. Oh well I am sure that there will be more to come. Off to bed ...

Bandits in Idaho

Tonight we set a trap for the raccoons we saw yesterday eating our cat food. As you can tell from the pictures below, Jake was in heaven. I went out and checked the trap after a game (11:30 p.m.) and we had caught 2 coons in the cage. When I looked down there was a third in the cat house. He didn't run away. Jake immediately went for his gun and called our neighbor Brad to come shooting with him. (It's never too late for that). When we checked the trap we saw one baby coon and a huge one run away. We have set the traps again tonight to see what is in them in the morning. I guess we just pray that there won't be skunks. I laugh because only in Idaho can you do this in your yard at midnight AND have your neighbors come over to join in the fun.

The two coons we caught in the trap. They had been eating our catfood. 

We caught two 'coons in the cage and one was in the cat house. He was afraid to come out because Jake was waiting for him with his shotgun. 

Red, White, and Blue! 

Happy Birthday America! We hope everyone had a good Independence Day! 

McKay knew how to have fun!  

Cruz didn't really care. 

Kirsten wasn't too sure of the sparklers. 

Axel as the statue of liberty. 

Home sweet home!

McKay came home July 6th! We were so happy to see her! Kirsten hugged her the whole way home. We missed her a lot. She was happy to be home and see all of her friends and pets. It's hard to be away from home so long!

One more kitty? Mom was a sucker at the store. They were giving away kitties at a grocery store and I picked the last one. It's another girl. Now we have 4, one of every color. We named it Rapunzel. Kirsten was being a good 'mommy' in this picture. 

Kirsten clapping as the parade goes by.  

Cruz not quite sure of the parade itself. Just all decked out for the 4th! 

The kids and I watched the 4th of July (Whoopee) parade in Rexburg. It was fun to see Kirsten run for the candy.