My Garden

Getting tomatoes to grow in Idaho Falls this year has been a trick with the crazy weather. My mom says she plans on tomatoes about the 20th of August. Well, I did pick my first tomato 2 days ago and here are the next ones ripening.

Green beans, lots of green beans, they are my favorite. I have learned bush beans do much better than pole bean here.


I love gardening and getting vegetables from my garden. I have watered, fertilized, succored, talked, and sang to my plants. Aren't they pretty?

Soccer and Shin Splints

Ben made the Idaho Falls Varsity Soccer team. At the beginning of the season he usually has some ailment or another after 4 hours a day of intensive work out. This year we avoided sore heels, and pulled muscles, only to encounter shin splints. He has iced, stretched, and Melanie had to do some quick coaching on how to tape shin splints. I had to start taping, take a picture and then send it to her to see if I was doing it right. It worked! Mel was patient and good at explaining the procedure to someone who is mechanically altered when it comes anything that takes exactness and precision. Nice Legs Ben!

Idaho Falls always plays their first game of the season against Bonneville (4A Idaho State Champions last year). They have not beat Bonneville in a couple of years as they are such a quick, strong team. Ben was petrified to start as right wing defender. He was the only one on the team to start that has not played varsity before. It was a much faster paced game than he was used too, but he bobbled his way through the first game without too much damage. He played very well. I think the next game will much more enjoyable for him.

Ben had to mark #17 who was quite quick and looked for the long ball so he could sprint to it before his defender and score. Ben's job was to stay goal-side, which wasn't easy as #17 kept maneuvering for position. I did ask Ben what flavor of gum #17 was chewing as they hung around each other a lot.

Sprinting back to position, after Bonneville's defense kicks a long ball. Idaho Falls won the game 5-2.

David's in the kitchen

David's home for a few days between summer term and heading down to work in Provo. He had a great time, enjoying tennis, a few classes and summer social life. He got a job at a warehouse in Orem and starts work on Wednesday. The plan is to work while getting mission papers in. He offered to fix dinner for me as he knows the cooking is not my favorite past time. Aaron, his cousin, came to help him make homemade pizza.
The best was the sauce that Aaron made, it had tomatoes and fresh basil from my herb barrel. YUM!

Katie's FINALLY in Armenia

We received this photo from the Armenia Yerevan mission on Saturday. Katie is picture with President and Sister Dunn. She left Thursday, August 14 at 2:30 from Salt Lake and arrived at 11:30 pm Armenian time Friday, August 15. Armenia is 11 hours ahead of Idaho Falls time. She is so ready for this next step. She is stepping into a whole new culture and life style. She said she had to say lots of good byes to quote Katie:

"Having the last everything is so weird...my last wrap, last real shower, last night on a mattress, last time seeing my teachers, etc. It is neat though because I have loved my time at the MTC but I don't feel sad leaving it. Many people don't enjoy the MTC, but I think it is a matter of just living in the moment and getting as much as you can out of it. I can't really pick out any favorite moments and I can't say there is anything I really hated. It has all been just pleasent. They do a really good job of managing and taking care of 2500+ missionaries...

"It will be fun to get in Armenia and experience all these things I have heard about for the last three months. It will be cool to try the nasty salty cheese, the nice warm bread, have my shower break on me, speak with someone in this strange language I have learned, and so much more. I really just pray that I can have a love for these people so that when I serve them they will feel Heavenly Father's love through me.

A Fabulous Four Days

Richard and Jenn came up this last weekend plus a few days and we played hard. Thursday, after Jenn was pronounced cavity-free, we went on a bike ride to the river and back, I imagine that is about an 8-mile round trip excursion.

That afternoon, we went huckleberry picking up Kelly Canyon. Huckleberries are thick this year. The only spot I know was one the Driggs family showed us. The berries were a bit small, but Richard saved the day. He got to thinking what type of terrain would create the biggest berries - one that got lots of water and sun. So he went exploring a found a slope further up that produced gorgeously big berries and showed us the way.

While we were picking berries, we heard a bunch of mooing, hawing, and whistling. A cattle drive was going on just a few feet from us.

Friday we stopped for a picnic on our way to Jackson Hole for a hike around Jenny Lake and a visit to Bar J. The ants were a problem at this spot so we just all sat on the table and it worked great.

Here we are in front of Jenny's Lake.

Ben likes taking pictures and got several beautiful pictures as we hiked.

Richard was voted the most adventurous hiker. He was always mapping out and exploring the unknown terrain first. One little contest he and Ben had was to try and stay on the rocks, as the path was a bit rocky at places.

We veered from our usual path and hiked towards Moose Lake. It was quiet, humid, with lots of beautiful wild flowers and bugs. Jenn was even startled by a snake.

Oh, I forgot to mention the early Friday morning golfing game at Pinecrest on Friday. No wonder we were so tired Saturday. Although we did go to the river to check on the Roaring Snake River Youth Jam, checked on the remodled Idaho Falls Visitor Center, and hit Deseret Industries to buy special outfits for a horse-packing trip over Labor Day weekend with the Oldhams. Here's Jenn and Richard relaxing watching 2008 Olympics on Saturday. We had such a wonderful time. Let's do it again!

Working for the City of Idaho Falls

Thursday was Ben's last day working for the city. He was in the weed control department. His main job was spraying round-up or some other chemical on weeds. Now this can be a trick in Idaho Falls as spraying cannot be done if there is more than 7 mph winds. Ben started work at 6 AM and was done by 2:30 PM. Usually the wind kicks up late morning and he is reciprocating in the afternoon. A reciprocator is a weed-wacker like machine, but the head has two frisbee-size discs with teeth that rotate is opposite directions, making a scissor effect when cutting down weeds.



Jenn, Richard, and I rode bikes down to the river by the Idaho Falls to sneak pictures of him working on his last day. The weed crew was cleaning up for some town jamboree at the river. The first time I road right past Ben thinking that could not be him because the boy I saw was too muscular, but lo and behold, it WAS him. By the way Ben weighed in at 173 lbs today. I'm not sure if he has cracked 6 foot yet, that is 35 lbs more than a year ago. Kill me if I do that.