Sunday, July 11, 2010

7 on 7/7 Happy Birthday Rylie


We had a lot of fun celebrating Rylie's birthday this year. In fact we got to have two pre-parties and cakes before the day actually arrived!

I (daddy) took Rylie fishing with Tanner and Jocelyn at Dierkes Lake (pronounced deer-keys).  Idaho Fish and Game was sponsoring a free fishing day and they provided rods and bait for everyone.  All we had to do was just show up!  It was great!!  Rylie was the first to hook a small bluegill but it got away just before she could pull it out of the water.  Jocee's was the lucky pole that day and we caught two bass.


Mommy did a rockin' awesome job no the birthday cake which was inspired by a real life observation of the circle of life by Rylie in our back yard several weeks earlier.  In case you don't get it, the lady bug is eating an aphid.  It was the best tasting cake ever!  Chocolate cake with cherry fluff layers and a sweet cream cheese frosting and icing.  Rylie certainly has a flair for the morbid realities of life.

Rylie loves riding scooters, horses and her daddy.  She is also reading lots of books and loves to play her new leapster Didj.

The Farm














One of my memories as a kid was going to the farm. My grandma and grandpa Rich's farm in Ashton Idaho. There weren't animals on this farm... only potatoes. This never seemed to phase us though... for there was always so much to do.

As I got a bit older I was able to work for money picking dirt clods from the conveyor belt. One year I bought a bike that way. Nathen would move pipe for money. I was always jealous of what he could earn... but NEVER wanted to do that job.

When I was younger, too young to even think about working, it was just the best place on earth to play. There were barns to hide in and chicken coops to break into (never succeeded... in fact I caught Tanner trying it this year to no avail) tractors to ride and hay bails to climb.

There were also old toys. One of which were the old tractor bikes. I loved these bikes. I would ride them around that farm as if they were full size. So many games were centered around them.

With each baby I've had I take a picture of them on the tractor at Great gram's and Grandpa's. Its fun to see them all grow up and do the same things that I used to.

It's funny that to a kid, it must be so obvious what to do there. I watch them explore and play in all the same ways Nathan and I did. Eventually every kid will try to climb the ladder that leads to the hay loft in the old white barn. Every kid will try his hand at swinging on the pulley (when no one's looking) that lifts things 20 ft up to the loft in one of the other buildings. The 4-wheelers must be rode. The chicken coop is the untouchable building with the door buried down just enough to never be able to open.... everything inside looking the same as it did 40 years ago. Each kid will spend hours playing pool in the ancient echoing basement. The little closet full of games upstairs must be thouroughly investigated. And every kid, without execption, loves the little tractors.