AUGUST 2019

NEW HOME - At the first of August we decided to put an offer on a house in Rigby just one mile west of the clark church.  It was not our dream house and about half the size of our home in Eagle, but there really was no market for homes in Eastern Idaho at all.  Our offer was accepted and we only had four weeks to closing.  There were a few things we were hoping to do after we moved in: fencing and paving the driveway.  Even though it was a relief to find a place that will put us closer to work and school, it was a little bit of  a gut punch thinking about our beautiful property in Eagle and settling for this.  I know that sounds ungrateful, but hopefully it will just take some time to adjust to and it will be fine.

HAZEL BLUE LAUNCH - On August 16th we launched our store to the public.  This was pretty nerve racking and scary to be honest.  I had spent so much time this summer getting everything ready.  I had pulled all-nighters and many days just had to ignore my kids while I worked on the computer.  Wondering if it was going to be worth it was stressful.  I had no idea what to expect at all.  Ava and I had taken lots of pictures in the clothes and started posting the images to social media.  Honestly I felt so self-conscious about it.  I just felt like people were laughing at me and I felt like they were probably thinking "She sure is trying hard to be cute."  It took major courage to push send every single time on a social media post.  We had such cute inventory I just hoped we would have a couple sales.  We had also connected to Ave Shops so we had lots and lots of inventory through them which was great and access to all their professional pictures.

 

We had a contest to draw winners of some store coupon codes to try and build excitement.  Our social media following jumped from 1 follower (me) to 78 followers overnight which was exciting.  We got lots of nice compliments and people seemed genuinely excited and supportive.  The first weekend we had over $700 in sales.  It was so exciting and I loved hearing the cha-ching on my shopify app alerting me to a purchase.  Granted it was mostly from family but it was still exciting.  I applied to sell on Jane.com which is a deal site, but I was denied.  I applied for some other deal sites and was accepted, but after our good opening weekend we decided to hold off on that.

MESA FALLS - After a few stressful weeks getting ready for the store launch I convinced Jed to take some time on a Saturday to drive up to Mesa Falls.  It had been a long time since either of us had been there so we had forgotten that it was a bit of a drive.  It was really pretty once we got up there.

There were paved trails and scenic signs leading down to the falls lookout which made for a pretty easy little hike.

We went to both the lower and upper falls.  It is really amazing to stop and slow down and just look around at nature.  It is so amazing to see huge waterfalls or miles and miles of forest.  It always makes me thankful that we have a beautiful earth to live on.

On the way  home we stopped in Ashton and drove past Grandma Foster's childhood home.  We stopped at the little drive-in ice cream shop on our way home and checked out their interesting statues? Only in eastern Idaho.

PUPPIES -  Sydnee's dog had it's puppies and they were pretty dang cute.  I believe there were nine puppies in all.  I'm not really sure how Sydnee survived the month taking care of 5 kids and 9 puppies while being 36 weeks pregnant, but she did it!  She had sold all the puppies before the end of the month.  The kids (especially Kinsley) begged and begged for a puppy, but I couldn't commit to taking care of anything else that needed that much attention.

JACKSON HOLE ROPING - Jed entered to rope at Jackson Hole with Jake so we went up early and spent the day in Jackson.  We walked around town and stopped to say hello to our favorite friends.

Then we went up to the ski hill to ride the alpine slide.  We doubled up so the girls rode together, Dallin went with Jed, and Kasen went with me.  Kasen was very serious about slowing down when he saw the slow down signs so it took us about 10 minutes to get down the slide!

We spent the afternoon at the roping.  This is probably one of my most favorite pictures of Dallin ever. I had to laugh when I saw these four pictures.  A perfect reflection of how my girls and boys feel about spending the day at a roping.  Can you tell which ones are excited about it?

There was no money won at the roping, but it was still fun to spend the day all together. 

WELCOME TO RIGBY - Being back in eastern Idaho got a lot busier in August.  It was so nice and fun being up at the ranch, but we sure did do a lot of driving to get places.  Here are a few of the things we did during the month:  Jed went to another roping in Pocatello. We met our cousins on both sides for an afternoon at Rigby Lake.

We met cousins in Idaho Falls while the older girls did temple baptisms.  The younger group went to the visitor's center and walked around the temple grounds.  We did some shopping and for the first time in Kasen's life he couldn't put down his book and read it while walking down the mall.

We spend lots of time at the park in Rigby near the rodeo grounds.  It had been totally renovated at some point while we've been gone and the kids loved all the things to do there.  One time Grandpa stopped to say hi and see if we wanted to go get an ice cream cone.  As we were walking into Arctic Circle, Grandpa tripped on the step and fell hard on the cement.  It was pretty scary and he was banged up for a few weeks.

Everybody got dentist check-ups - even Dallin!  He was pretty cute in that big chair. Ava made the 8th grade volleyball team at Rigby Middle School (hence all the time we spent at the park during her practices), and the kids started piano lessons.  While they were inside at piano lessons, Dallin and I wandered around outside looking at the chickens.

One afternoon while Ava was at volleyball, we discovered that the 4H county fair was going on.  We had fun walking around looking at all the animals.  We even watched some of the judging.  Then we discovered a fun little part of the fair with booths and activities. Dallin rode in the train and Kasen rode the bull. We also took a few naps during the month.

RANCH LIVING - Being up in Swan Valley was a fun experience for us.  Living in the mountains for the summer with no tv and limited wifi took some time getting used to.  There were days the kids played really well together and other days they did not.

One thing that was fun for sure was catching glimpses of wildlife.  We started seeing more and more deer during August while the grain was high.  Speaking of the grain, one of the prettiest things we saw was the wind blowing through the grain.  It looked like waves of the ocean.

For a good two weeks we had water issues.  It was not fun.  The first time they re-dug lines and the second time they had to go replace something on the pump.  Finally after a point we started hauling up water from the pond so we could flush the toilets.  Without tv or internet we found some other things to fill our time.

One thing that was fun for Kasen was he started fishing a lot.  I'm not sure he ever caught anything, but he spent a few days out at the pond for hours and hours at a time.

We played with Foster cousins a lot during the month at the ranch.  Before we moved we invited Jake's family and John/Coleen up for a cookout.  We spent time in the pond, the razors, and admiring the beautiful sunset.

One of the most fun things about ranch living was going on daily razor rides up the mountain.  Jed took it upon himself to "check the cows" everyday.  We loved looking for our cows.  Even with going up nearly every evening, I still felt like there were times we were driving and I had no idea where we were!  Dallin had some key places labeled.  There was a place up top that had some salt licks in a rockier, dry spot.  Dallin labeled that spot Pride Rock and amazingly he always knew when we were close to it.  He would just burst into the opening number from the movie - "Naahhh Sevenya!"  Dallin's hair got super fantastic with each ride - Miami Vice style.

Speaking of Dallin, he discovered a classic Hawaiin Rhinestone Cowgirl boots and shorts look that he perfected with cuteness.

UTAH WEEKEND - Mid month we went to Utah for the weekend (luckily it was during a no water period at the  ranch) to welcome home Seth from his mission.  We took a trip to the big aquarium while we were down there.

We spent time at the hotel pool.  Kasen, Kinsley, and Dallin perfected their belly-flops in this pool. 

It is amazing how the Ericksons can fill up a room!  Trena had planned a welcome home party complete with a taco truck.  It was fun to have everyone together and listen to some of Seth's stories.

On the way home we stopped and saw the Monson's new house.  We loved it and loved their fun backyard and fruit trees.  It will be such a fun place for their boys to grow up.

HEATH'S BAPTISM - Sydnee had asked me if I would take some pictures of Heath for his baptism.  He came up to the ranch one evening and we walked around.  He is such a fun kid and I had a great time trying to capture his personality and excitement for turning 8 years old.

On August 31st, Heath was baptized.  He had a big turnout to support him!  After the baptism we went out to the baseball field behind the stake center and had lunch and played a little baseball game.  Heath is really into baseball right now.  Sydnee was so over being pregnant that she volunteered to run the bases for anyone that didn't want to themselves.  It was sad not having my parents there.  I think it was the first real family gathering we have had since they left.  Thankfully reflecting on the gospel keeps it all in perspective and helps us all to know they are doing something really amazing and special for a small period of time to gather Israel.