Final Outing with the Cousins

Jed and I took our kids and their cousins, Drewe from Florida, and Kaylee and Carson from Texas, on a final outing before they left for home this weekend. We took them to the West Fork Mink Creek Trail.  It's a beautiful, easy trail that my Aunt Renae and I have gone horseback riding on several times.

Just getting started - all smiles.

Ronin getting his hat just right.

We are on our way!

Connor and Carson made themselves the leaders.....surprise.

I thought this was a great photo - I'm glad our kids have been able to spend a lot of time with their cousins.

Ronin trying to keep up with the older boys.

Being with Ronin on this hike reminded me again how so little and cute he is. I remembered how he used to be my little baby and now he's grown up so much. He relishes being in the woods and has boundless energy. I love the hat.

Enough pictures, mom!

Kaylee stopping and smelling....I mean "blowing" the flowers.

Drewe wanted to try it too.

Aubrey and Jed took up the rear, mostly because Aubrey stopped a lot to take tons of pictures and Jed was teaching her different things about what was around them. She is most definately a daddy's girl and is stuck to his hip.

Rocks are magnets to boys, they couldn't help picking them up and throwing them.

The trail follows the actual Mink Creek and so here are all of the cousins hanging out on the bridge.

Sometimes it's just impossible to get just a nice smile from this boy.

Starting to look a little tired....

Finally, after an hour or so of hiking we found a nice little spot to rest and eat snacks.

Ahh, it's nice to just sit.

Like I said before, Ronin is all fun and jokes much of the time and it can be hard to get just a simple smile from him for a picture.

So, he got us all laughing and we gave up trying to get him to be serious. I hope he never loses his playfulness - maybe some of it will rub off onto me, I know I could use it.

Ok, this is the best family photo we can get with two silly boys. I give up....

The hike back went much faster, for it was either flat or down-hill walking. The kids liked running ahead and hiding so that they could scare one of us walking by. Kaylee scared Jed pretty good - enough to make him jump back. It was great.

Apparently, Aubrey and Kaylee got a little bored and took some silly pictures to pass the time away.

We all had a wonderful time and we will miss all our nieces and nephews that were able to come and spend some time in Idaho. We had lots of fun with all of you!

Man Trip

Jed decided that he and Connor needed to go on a "man trip" into the mountains this last week. So they took off towards Kite Canyon in the Pleasant Valley area and Stoddard Creek for a couple of days. This was a different trip, however, because now that Connor is a little older, Jed decided to rough it and make it more of a "survival trip." There was no tent and little food brought in. What you hiked in on your back is what you had for the whole trip.

Stoddard Creek Huntley Trail - nice views!

They hiked into the mountains for several miles and were determined to shoot a squirrel or rabbit sometime during their trip. The first morning they woke up to two does looking at them. Cool. They did end up shooting a squirrel the second day and ate it for dinner that night. They both said it was really nasty, so their first bite was their last. Jed said it tasted like cat meat - stringy, gummy, and disgusting. I asked him how he knew that. He replied that he was fed some cat meat on his mission but didn't know until after he had just ate it. So, Jed and Connor took pictures of the squirrel through the whole be-heading and gutting process...laughing at the thought of Aubrey's reaction to the pictures. Of course later when Aubrey was looking through the pictures with the family and came across the dead squirrel, she got mad, left the room, and slammed her bedroom door. Needless to say, that is just the reaction Connor knew she would have and laughed. Poor Aubrey...so many brothers to put up with and a dad that likes to hunt.

****WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES AHEAD! *** I did put a few photos of the squirrel but not the real nasty gutted ones (even those grossed me out)...still, if you are not sure you want to see a be-headed squirrel don't scroll down near the bottom. Connor joked about having the squirrel head mounted to his wall just like you do when you shoot a deer. I laughed at the thought of that, funny funny.

Jed named this area "Minnie's Meadows" after me because we camped close to this spot during the first year of our marriage and I loved the beauty of it. I told him it would be a perfect place to put a cabin and just live there, it was so pretty.
Jed and Connor made this night shelter out of branches - I thought it looked quite cozy. They did a good job; I'm sure Connor really enjoyed making it.

Ok, so not every moment was completey enjoyable...after hiking several miles with a heavy pack they started feeling it. They both came home a bit sore, Connor bounced back much quicker than Jed did.

****DEAD SQUIRREL PICTURES****

Be-headed squirrel.

Yummy! Yummy! Squirrel meat for dinner tonight!

Look Aubrey - a dead squirrel that I'm going to eat! It just doesn't look that good to me, definately not a fat, plump squirrel. They should of just shot one from my mom's backyard - those ones are definately well fed.

Nice - Jed put the squirrel tail on the antenna of the car.

Swimming

We spent this last weeked swimming. The kids had a great time swimming together. Not only was it our family along with Kaylee, Carson, Drewe, and my mom and dad, but some of Renae and Peggys' families were able to come too.

Rigdon finally warmed up to the Kiddie Pool water after an hour or so. Here he is playing with his Grandpa Hansen's hat.

Grandpa Hansen with Rigdon.

Aubrey & Kaylee swimming together.

Connor and Carson crossing the nets.

My niece, Drewe, crossing as well.

Grandpa Hansen pulling on Aubrey's hair and then when she would turn around to see who it was, Grandpa blamed it on Rigdon.

Connor, Jed, Grandpa and Rigdon.

Rigdon trying to steal someone else's cooler; luckily it was too heavy for him.

My cousin, Sam, was a wonderful help by taking Ronin on the river float.

Rigdon hanging out with Daddy.

My cousins Alana and Sadie. My cousin, Travis', daughter, Cassie, is in the background.

Eatin' snacks.

Aubrey & Kristine's Horseride

My Aunt Renae was kind enough to take Aubrey and Kristine on their own little horse ride down by the river a few weeks ago. They had a great time running the horses up and down the little sand hills and racing each other. Here's the only photo Renae took and it's a little blurry but good enough to still post.

Kristine's Earthquake

I got this from my mom's camera of my niece, Kristine, and her "earthquake video." This was taken at Thorpe park in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Carson's Birthday

Carson, my nephew, celebrated his 4th of July birthday at my mom's house with many cousins, aunts & uncles, great-aunts and uncles, and many others. We had actually planned a cook-out at the park but it rained for about an hour and everyone was hungry so we ended up at the Hansen house. It was a fun family gathering. Happy Birthday, Carson!