A pleasant announcement!

I just wanted to officially announce the news of the new addition to the Arave Family........

Yeah, that's right.... baby #3 is on the way. We are super excited and will keep you posted!

The trip home...

Our trip home from Pheonix was eventful to say the least. Kammi got the flu two days before it was time to head home, she was feeling better but unfortunately Saydee was not. We decided to hit the road about 5am and at about 5:15 am Saydee started throwing up. She threw up till just about Cedar City, UT. She was running a fever and was absolutely miserable. We were glad to be home and the kids were glad to see Mike. We all ended up with a touch of the flu and have spent all weekend recouping from the flu and our busy Spud Harvest Vacation!

Last Day of Fun and Sunshine

Our last day we went to Chuck E. Cheese and let the kids have some fun. Mason loved anything that he could steer and Saydee had fun playing all the games and dancing on the T.V. screen.

This game had to be the favorite for both of them. They both laughed so hard with this game!

Fun Times in Arizona

We had tons of fun shopping with Megan, Henderson, and Amelia. They took us to the Arizona Mills Mall and there were endless bargains I couldn't resist. We went to Gap, The Children's Place, Old Navy, Carter's, OshKosh, all sorts of shoe stores, just to name a few - all outlets. I had to buy another suitcase to take home all the fun stuff we bought! We found these strange but fun little pointer fingers at the Hobby Lobby and where, of course, do all kids stick their fingers.....

We couldn't resist the photo op these strange toys brought!

All the kids together - this was our last day just at the Miles house (which might I add was decorated so cute - as always!)

Henderon and Amelia were so cute. We didn't realize how much we've missed them since they moved to Arizona. We can't wait to visit with them again, and we just got word they may be visiting for Thanksgiving!! YEAH!!

A visit with

After spending a couple days at the track, we went to my brother's house and had a really fun visit with his family. Saydee and Mason had so much fun being reunited with their long lost cousin Henderson and meeting for the first time, their cousin Amelia. After we arrived, our first stop was lunch at the Rain Forest Cafe. We had never been and the kids had so much fun. We got these fun froggy cups for the kids to drink out of - they were very handy on the car ride home too!

We also went swimming in their pool. The kids loved it they hadn't been swimming since before school started. They played hard and enjoyed their last fling of summer.

Mason loved the zero entry pool. He hasn't been a huge fan of the water lately and I had no hopes of him even wanting to go in. But much to my surprise he took a liking to it and was waste deep in no time.

Despite the 90 degree temperature the kids still had to take some time out once in while to warm up.

Beautiful, Sunny Pheonix - Arizona

After the camping trip, the kids and I loaded up and headed to Pheonix, AZ with Kammi (one of my good friends and Mike's cousin) and her kids. We left Friday and drove straight though 16 hours until we were there. All in all the trip down was good, all the kids were really good travelers and we only had to stop a couple times to let them out and run around. We stayed the first 2 days at Kammi's parents house and went to the horse races.

This is the horse racing track in Pheonix.

Here are the kids at the track.

We sat inside both days, we hadn't adjusted to the weather. When we left Idaho the high was 40 degrees, when we got to Arizona the high was 90 degrees. The weather felt so nice but still it took some adjusting.

We made sure we stayed nice and hydrated!

These two cutie-pies are Kammi's kids.

Mackay Mine Tour

While we were camping we went on the Mackay Mine Hill Tour, which is a self-guided tour you can take on ATV. It took us to the top of a mountain via old mining camps, mining ghost towns and mines. It was so interesting and fun, the kids loved every minute of it. We left first thing in the morning and packed a lunch. We crossed this old trestle bridge that was restored for 4-wheelers to cross it was previously used to take ore across this gorge in the old mining cars.
Here are Saydee and Mason at the top of the mountain, this is were we breaked for lunch and Saydee found a bunch of rocks that looked like they had some fun stuff in them - all gold and glittery!

Both the kids had a lot of fun. Saydee is climbing an old wall of rocks - not sure exactly what it was for but there was a bunch of collapsed wood all around.

This is where all the collapsed wood was and the rock wall. Mason was just enjoying a little snack!

Here is one of the old mines. They have a huge iron gate on the inside so no one can go in. Not that we'd want to but we hear there was something like 20 miles of underground mines all over that mountain. Just amazing!

Camping in Mackay, ID

We decided to take one of our only camping trips this year. We went to Mackay, and we were so glad we did. We had so much fun! Just our family went and it was so nice to spend time with each other in the great outdoors. Plus, it was basically Mason's first camping trip. So we enjoyed seeing him and Saydee playing together and having fun.
No camping trip would be complete with out a little time by the campfire!

Mike found himself the perfect walking stick (which I think ended up in the fire by the end of the night)!

We also did a little dutch oven cooking - chicken and potatoes and cherry cobbler for dessert - DELICIOUS!!

Spud Harvest

Spud harvest has come and gone....but boy, did we take advantage of it. We were so busy the entire 2 weeks that Saydee was out for school. She went back to school this morning and much to my surprise was pretty ok about it. Here is what we have done the last two weeks..............

Horse show at the fair

Saydee took 1st place in walk-trot at the fair this year! She did so good! We are super proud of her!
Here she is during the show.

Mason took 3rd place in lead-line. This was his first year doing this. So we thought it was so awesome that he took 3rd. If you can't tell what his costume is.... he is a Middle Easterner (? - I'm not sure the correct name for what he is) and he has a missle tied to his back. The brown humps are what we used to turn the horse into a camel. Mike lead the horse and he was dressed as an army guy. So he was sort of an Iraqi captured by a U.S. soldier...something along those lines. Anyway, he did a good job on his horse. He is holding his ribbon, but it is hard to see cause it is white. They both did such a good job!

Here is Mike and Mason during the show!

Hashbrown cook-off

Camille (my sister) and I attended out 2nd annual Non-pareil hashbrown cook-off at the fair. Last year Camille won 1st place and I took 4th. So we had high hopes for this year. The dish above is Camille's dish. I don't remeber what she called them but they are BBQ chicken and hashbrown fold-overs. They were delicious!
My dish was meat and potato enchiladas. I thought for sure they were blue ribbon quality! But, unfortunately, neither one of us won anything this year! We totally felt robbed. We were beat out by a breakfast burrito (which we both thought was so unoriginal - who coundn't think of making a breakfast burrito with hashbrowns?!) Anyway, not that we're sore losers, but we both felt robbed!

Fun at the Fair...

Well, maybe not so much fun! Mason thought he would like this 4-wheeler ride, but after it started he changed his mind. The ride attendant was so nice, she stopped the ride and let him off.
Saydee had so much fun riding all the different rides!

Sunday night we went to the tractor pulls. The kids had so much fun. I can't believe how much Mason enjoyed watching those trucks - he is such a boy!

Do these glasses make me look smarter?

Mason came out of his room wearing the glasses from his Mr. Potato Head. I couldn't resist the photo op. It was so funny, neither one of us could stop laughing. What a silly kid!
P.S. It was right after lunch (that's burrito all over his face).

My entries for the Fair!!!

It is fair time once again, which for me means making my entries for canning and baking. This year I entered chocolate chip cookies....
A themed gift basket......

and canned pickles, relish, peach jam, and plum sauce.

Wish me luck!!

May-May's back pack

Mason has been watching Saydee get on the bus every morning for school. Mason went out with me one morning to put Saydee on the school bus. On the way to the end of the driveway, Mason says, " where May-may's back pack?" then he said, "May'may back pack school bus go" he is such a smarty! Unfortunately, I had to explain to him that he had to wait until he was older to go on the school bus. Instead, we went inside and found him this back pack and he was satisfied to wear it around for a while. Still, everymorning Saydee gets on the bus he says, "May-may school bus go"
I don't think he will have any problems going to school when he's old enough.

He was so excited to have this little back pack. It is just his size!

Mike's brother Keith....

Mike's brother Keith came for a visit last week. He and his family live in Maine, so we don't get to see them very often. We got together for a dinner at Mike's dad's house. It was fun to see Mike's family together. They have always been so spread out. Mike's sister, Amy, and her family recently moved here from Iowa and it has been nice for Mike to be with his family more (I think anyway). He has one other sister that lives in West Virginia, but other than that they were all here!Amy's family (Mikes's sister) L to R: Wyatt, Allen, Amy and Justin

The closest thing to a family picture they will probably ever get.

Top row L to R: Keith, Amy

Bottom row L to R: Ralph (Mike's Dad), Mike, Kathy (Mike's sister)