1 John 4:10

"1 John 4 : 10

This is love, not that we loved God, but that HE loved us, and sent his son as a propitiation."

Kaebrie's first memory verse for AWANA. They assigned her the very short abbreviated version, but Sam taught her and Christopher the full on version! So cute I just had to video it.

New Bike!

Well, it was finally time. Kaebrie now has a bike of her own! She LOVES it! And Mommy loved finding it at the thrift store for four dollars! :-)
I don't think Kaitlynn knew that her new cowboy hat had been swiped though.

On another note, she went in for her well "baby" check a few days ago. She is 32 pounds STILL. She hasn't gained any weight in 6 months. But she has gained inches, so we won't worry. She is 95% in her height, and 50% in her weight. Just like Kaitlynn used to be.

She answered every question on the development qustionaire until they didn't have any more to ask! The form stopped at 4 years 6 months. Verbally, she is VERY gifted, but no surprise there! We have known that for a while.

She only had to get one shot. Idaho does hepatitis shots for kids since it is prevalent in this part of the country. She will need part 2 in six months. She did very well, only screamed for a second, then got really excited about her DORA band aid.

Last Sunday night, AWANA started up again after a long summer break. AWANA is a Christian "sunday school" type program ( but way more fun ) for kids ages 3 thru 6th grade. For the first time, in the history of our family, ALL FOUR KIDS WERE DROPPED OFF and we came home to an empty house.

WOW!

10 1/2 years of parenting, and we are finally on to the next stage! We danced around the house singing WE DID IT! WE DID IT! WE DID IT!

Not really, but we did sing it in the car on the way home. :-)

HeeHee

There is plenty of room for ya'll to come on out and stay! :-)

(Click on the picture for a great big view of what could be your new home.)

Marriage Seminar Weekend

This weekend was a marriage seminar hosted by Liberty Chapel. Back in April, Sam submitted a proposal for a $7,000 grant and it was approved! But goodness, what a hassle it was to spend that money because it came with about 12,874 rules!

Anyway, he was able to fly in Guy and Denise Richardson from Jackson, Mississippi to be the guest speakers. Guy is now the President of Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson where Sam graduated from, and he was also the pastor that Sam interned under in the Presbyterian Church in Edwards, MS where we lived our last year of school.

They are both phenomenal speakers and had great and encouraging and challenging things to say.

Friday night we all drove down to Carmella Vineyards about 45 minutes south and were treated to a great dinner and session 1. It was while we were gone that Collin broke his finger. With 45 kids left behind at the chapel with 11 childcare providers, thankfully that was the only incident all weekend.

Saturday morning, all the kids were dropped off at the chapel again, and we had 2 sessions and brunch at the club.

Then the kids were dropped off again (not ours, we got a sitter) at 4pm and off 35 couples went to Horseshoe Bend, Idaho! We were in our van with 2 couples, 27 couples were on the bus, and the remaining 5 couples took their new limo. They are all pilots with the 389th, the TIGERS, and the squadron just purchased a limo and all these pilots and wives enjoyed rubbing that in!

We boarded the Thunder Mountain Express for a two and a half hour dinner train ride.

IT WAS WONDERFUL!!

It is a really old, yet restored train that travels kind of slowly along the Payette river up through the mountains. So pretty!

Here we are BEFORE the ride, still a bit warm and not yet windblown! :-)

Here we are with Guy and Denise.
Before dinner in the dining car.
The food!
This was the outdoor car behind our private dining car.

Sam issued a "mandatory cuddle time" after dinner was over. :-)

And what a good idea!
This is our Wing Chaplain, Vic Toney and his sweet wife, Pam. We love them!
A shot before the sun set to much and you couldn't see the front of the train.
It was a wonderful weekend.

We met a LOT of new couples and all the comments were very positive.

I wish we could do this once a month!

We have a new member of the

SMITH BROKEN FINGER 2007 CLUB!

Collin was officially inducted last night at 11pm in the ER.

As you can see, he is not happy to be in this club.

He wants to return his membership and refuses to pay his dues, but once a member in this club, you are a lifer!

The soccer ball involved in this initiation to the club was unharmed.

Parade Rest Guest Ranch, West Yellowstone, Montana

Well, it has only taken me almost a week to get all these pictures posted, but at least I got it all narrowed down. I came home with almost 600 pictures total! ( ALmost 300 of my own, and almost 300 from the trip leader). Here are about 60 of the best ones and the ones that tell the story.

Kaitlynn and I took advantage of a trip sponsored by the OAP (Outdoor Adventure Program) on base, and joined 12 other adults for a horse-back riding trip to West Yellowstone, Montana.

We left here at 4am last Friday morning, boarded up 2 vans, and attempted to sleep part of the 6 hour drive. We made it to the Parade Rest Guest Ranch in time for lunch. Not a bad drive!

Our first trail ride was scheduled for 1:30, so we ate quickly and got bundled up for our ride. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and the clouds were beautiful, but it was a bit colder then Idaho!

We started our afternoon ride with about 4 extra layers on! Kaitlynn was given Strawberry to ride. A sweet older, calm mare. They hit it off instantly. After a 5 minute lesson, off we went up into the mountains! Here is Kaitlynn on her first ride, though it isn't Strawberry's best side. :-)
Sunset that first night was beautiful.
It was so peaceful just standing there in the quiet watching the colors.

This was the bridge was crossed over to walk through the pastures and down the road to the stables. I think it had to be over a half mile one way. So, we did a LOT of walking!

Our first few minutes there, we went out to meet the sweet baby. His name was Java, and his mother and brother were Mocha and Cappichino.


This was the main lodge used for check-ins and sign - ups. Very pretty!

This was the walk through the second pasture on the way to the stables.
Kaitlynn's first time on Strawberry!
( Sorry, I tried to keep the pictures all in order, but I goofed.)
Coming up the main trail into the mountains.

It is a bit hard to take a focused picture on something small and far away when you are on a moving horse going uphill, but this one isn't to bad of the eagle's nest. We saw several flying as well.

We were so high, almost 10,000 feet, and the clouds were so white and fluffy, it felt like we could almost touch them!
After one of our rides. I am on Taco. Who would rather NOT be on the trail if he had his way.


One of the rides had us going through the forest. The pine trees smelled SO good!

Our first night we had a mountain cook-out. Most of the guests rode the surry to dinner, but Kaitlynn and I and 2 others left an hour early and rode the horses to dinner!
DELICIOUS! Steak, corn, beans, slaw, potatoes and carrot cake!
After dinner, Kaitlynn got comfortable on a log, watching the people and listening to the live entertainment.

I think she was ready to fall asleep!
This is the suri that everyone rode back. Except us, we had to ride the horses back home!

Notice the jacket and gloves... it was COLD! In the 30's.
Our cabin! It slept 8 and there were only 3 of us in there! Kaitlynn took the twin bed by the stove. No central heat or air here! Ya want to stay warm, you have to feed the stove!
She liked the horse print on our chairs.

And really liked the unique bench!
Here is a shot of the hot tub and the swings.
Here is our genuine western cowgirl!
The rules of the ranch:

Saturday afternoon, Strawberry was tired, so Kaitlynn rode a new horse, Classy! Classy was NOT as calm as Strawberry and gave Kaitlynn some fits!

Here are all the aspen trees. I learned that they are all connected by the roots and the roots only go down about 24 inches, so they are prone to blow over during storms.

(well, i just hit a button and the picture disappeared. That has never happened before. And I have NO idea how to put it back in this spot).

So, just imagine a close up picture of a forest of trees, and the ground covered with downed aspen trees.

This mountain pond was nice. SO nice that Classy tried to LAY DOWN in it with Kaitlynn on her back. Thankfully our cowboy.....um....wrangler was rather quick and got there and grabbed the reins before we had one wet, cold 8 year old. I think her screams might still be echoing through the mountain range!

See the bear claw scratches? They are everywhere! I am sad we didn't see a real one out in the wild.
This is Dotty. Kaitlynn did NOT want to ride Classy again!

The front of our cabin. There were 16 cabins total. This was one of the bigger ones.

The ranch closes in October, and one person stays behind until November, when the 18 wheelers come and take all 60 horses to spend the winter in Idaho. I asked our wrangler how much snow they usually get, he said from 6 to 12 FEET!







Who knew I could make such a gorgeous HOT fire! But when it is 20 degrees out and you are cold, I guess I shouldn't be surprised! :-)

This was EARLY Sunday morning. She looks a bit sunburned and a bit tired doesn't she?
We spent a few hours in town, walking and shopping. EVERY store had a different painted buffalo in front of it. This one was in front of the IMAX theater where we saw the movie YELLOWSTONE.

We were one mile, ONE MILE, from the park entrance. So officially, I still have not been to Yellowstone, but I think I have been the closest possible with out going!

There are more posts below, smaller ones that I did in a few freee minutes during the week.

What an AWESOME trip!