JULY 2019

The big excitement of the month was Jed starting at his new job.  It wasn't quite as nerve wracking as that last job he started because now he has 5 yrs of experience. But still starting over with no patient base and no relationship with any of the staff is hard.  Luckily, I know of no one who works harder than Jed so I'm sure he will surpass expectations quicker than expected and be very busy before we know it.

RALEIGH'S BIRTHDAY - Our first officially day full-time living at the ranch Sydnee invited us to go up to Jackson Hole to celebrate Raleigh's birthday at the swimming pool.  It is always surprising how far away Jackson Hole is!  We had a lot of fun though swimming and celebrating and are so excited for opportunities to be around cousins more often.

4TH OF JULY - We celebrated Independence day by heading down to Idaho Falls to go watch Grandpa & Grandma's horse race at Sandy Downs.  We stopped at a restaurant that looked like a 50s diner for lunch because what's more American than that?!

After the races we drove down to Jake's house to hang out.  They were taking kayaks down the river and we arrived just in time for Ava to go along.  Jagger gave Dallin rides on his little ATV and we all thought those two together on anything that moves might be a bad idea!

We stopped in Idaho Falls on our way home to watch the fireworks at Berry Oil and they were great.  Everyone was wiped out by the time we got back up to the ranch.  It was a wonderful day to reflect on our freedom and blessings of living in America. The next day we stopped by the Loft to celebrate Josh's birthday we Papa Kelsey's subs and good conversation.

RANCH LIVING - We embraced the new normal of mountain living.  I had to laugh about my urging my mom to cancel her satellite now that we were up there with absolutely no tv!  Internet was good for only a few days with the jetpack and then was super super slow like dial-up again.  Not the greatest as I was trying to build our Hazel Blue website.  I ended up getting another jetpack to try to help with that.  The kids did a lot of playing and Ava did a lot of reading and writing.  I felt like a lot of the time was spent with me working and them doing their own things.  It was hard to balance and I felt like I was constantly just telling myself - 5 more minutes and then I'll be done.  I made an effort to be done on the computer when Jed would get home.  We went and got ice cream at our favorite spot in Swan Valley.  We also went on evening razor rides to check the cows.  I think that was our saving grace.  Being up on top of the mountain is so peaceful and beautiful that everything else stressful was forgotten for a bit.  It didn't take long before the kids had named certain spots on the mountain.  There was one spot that had some bigger rocks and salt licks that Dallin named Pride Rock.  The kids would sing at the top of their lungs as we drove along. 

My mom didn't have time to put away a lot of her pictures and family history work, so I just put it in piles in the office to make sure it didn't get destroyed.  I had to laugh at some family pictures I found.  I loved texting them to my siblings.  It is so funny to look back at how hairstyles and clothing looked.  My sister Katie and I thought these two pictures were absolutely hilarious.  Katie was especially offended that she looked like the Grinch on the left and was literally glued into the family in the picture on the right.  hahahahaha

OREGON COAST FAMILY REUNION - We were all so excited for our big Erickson reunion this year because we headed to the Oregon coast for a week!  When we realized we would be moving and Jed starting his new job, he suggested we just skip the reunion this year.  If it would have been a camping year or something like that I would have obliged, but Ava had been looking forward to going to the coast and the beach and the ocean for so long I just couldn't tell the kids we weren't going.  We decided that I would drive out there and on Thursday night Jed would fly to Portland and spend the weekend with us and we would drive back together.  We had to be in Boise on Monday to close on our house so it seemed like it would work out perfectly.  I love road-trips so I wasn't worried at all about driving by myself.  We drove to Eagle on Sunday afternoon after church and stopped at our house for the night.  It was so peaceful and calm.  We ate dinner on the deck and played in the yard until dark.  There were tons more raspberries so we filled our bellies with those for dessert.  The sunset turned the sky the most beautiful pink and blue colors.  It was bittersweet to take it all in again.

We had nothing left in the house besides a few cleaning supplies and our sleeping bags so we slept on the floor in the master bedroom.  The next morning the girls and I went to get a pedicure because I wanted to take some pictures for the boutique on the beach while we were in Oregon.  I'm pretty sure it was their first time getting a pedicure - Kinsley's for sure.  Then we were off to Oregon.  I made the whole trip it's own post because we had so much fun and took so many pictures!

SELLING OUR HOUSE - Getting back to Eagle Sunday night was truly and finally our last night at this beautiful property that we thought would be ours forever.  There was a sense of peace as we walked through one last time.  I had the kids all go say goodbye to their rooms.  Then we took one last walk around the yard and said our goodbyes.  I will be so thankful for the opportunity to call this place home for 2 years.  It was a wonderful time of our lives.  We met so many good people in our ward.  It was by far our most favorite ward we've ever lived in.  There were highs and there were lows but I have to say that it was a great time for our family.  We were so blessed with how the sale of the home transpired.  The Herrera's home went under contract right away and we had no hiccups whatsoever in selling.  We didn't have to pay any realtor fees.  We didn't even have to list it.  We sold it for $150,000 more than we paid for it with only two years of equity into it.  We put $100,000 towards our student loans and made it realistic for us to finish paying them off in the next 12 months.  We were crazy blessed.  Even though we were heartbroken to leave it is obvious that things fell into place so it would be to our benefit.  We may not know or understand why it all had to happen like this, but we both felt it was important to acknowledge God's hand in the events and how lucky we were that Jed had quickly and seamlessly found another job, we had a place to live for free for the summer, we would be closer to family, we didn't take a hit on our home sell, etc.  Really so many tender mercies occurred for us.

And after signing the papers we were officially homeless!  Although Silver Springs Ranch wasn't a bad place to be homeless at for sure.

GARTH BROOKS CONCERT - After all our talk about never driving to Boise again, we drove back the next weekend! lol  I had purchased tickets to see Garth Brooks at Albertson's stadium before I really knew if and when we would be moving.  I had no idea our house would sell so fast and thought we could just come back there to stay.  Luckily, Abby offered to watch our kids and we went over for two days.  Abby took good care of the kids and took them to pick peas and for ice cream.  They had lots of fun.

Jed and I had a blast on our little getaway.  We stayed right downtown at the Grove Hotel.  The rooms look down on an indoor hockey rink so they would be really fun to stay in for a hockey game because they had little balconies.  Nothing was going on while we were there so we just kept the blackout curtains shut.  It was so dark in our room Jed had to wake me up the next day at 11:30am.  I honestly would have slept all day because I had been staying up all night working on the store and was seriously sleep-deprived!  I had big plans to go do things around the city, but instead we had to run out to our house and pick up more shoes that had been delivered after we had left and went to an early dinner and got ready for the concert.  I convinced Jed to wear his boots and we walked down to the stadium.  It was so packed and we didn't have the greatest seats, but it was still so fun.  Garth is a true entertainer and every song the entire crowd was on their feet and singing along.  Garth asked the crowd how many people were there that were born in the 1940s - cheers, then 1950s - cheers.  He went down all the way to people born in the 2000s.  There were people from every single decade there.  There were people there that weren't even alive when Garth was actually at the height of his career.  That is pretty incredible to appeal to that range of people.  He is by far someone I would go back and see in concert until I was 80 years old too.

NEW FAMILY - On Mother's day this year we got the surprise of the century when we received a text from Jed's oldest brother Johnny.  He told the family that turns out he had a daughter named Vanessa he never knew about with a girl from high school.  She had actually found and contacted Jed's sister Michelle because she had done a DNA test and it told her they were close relatives.  The lady had grown up never knowing her father or who he was.  Vanessa had lived in Rigby until she was about 12 I think and then her mother and her moved to the midwest.  Her mother wasn't ever very stable so at 16 Vanessa moved in with another family who had the last name of Erickson.  An ironic twist right.  Vanessa said the family was so normal and happy that she used to pray that one day she would be part of the Erickson family.  Little did she know that her prayers would be answered in a round about way.  So Johnny had met Vanessa for the first time shortly after finding out.  Vanessa and her husband lived in Midway, Utah and had 3 kids.  Vanessa was about 42 years old.  It was such a crazy story - the funniest part of it all was that our neighbors in Eagle had just had the same sort of thing happen in their family and right before this happened they were telling us about it.  That is one way family history work is changing the world and bringing families closer I guess!  Mid July they decided it was time to meet the whole family so Vanessa came up for a bbq and to spend the weekend.  Her oldest daughter Grace is in a green shirt in the picture below.  She looks like she fits right in.

This is a family picture of Johnny's family.  His two sons and their wives are on the outside.  Vanessa and her husband are next to Johnny.  I mean Vanessa looks just like all the other Erickson females in my opinion. I was really impressed with how welcoming everyone was and how Vanessa and her family instantly became like another piece of the pie.

OTHER ADVENTURES IN THE MOUNTAINS - The 2nd half of July was equally as exciting.  We had a badger problem up at the ranch.  Elmer Fudd Jed took it into his own hands to solve the problem.  He became somewhat obsessed with killing all the badgers and after seeing the first one up close I wasn't mad about it.  They are some creepy animals and their claws were insane.  I've seen lots of badger holes up by the pine trees, but we found 9 holes up by the waterfall where the kids play so Jed would sit out on the deck and watch for movement with his gun every night. 

Dallin decided he needed Kinsley's cowgirl boots now that we were up in the mountains.  They were too small for Kinsley so she didn't mind.  Dallin literally wouldn't wear anything else.  Good thing he is the roughest toughest boy I know to balance out the glitter.

We continued our evening razor rides to check the cows and falling asleep in the beanbags during a game or movie.  Dallin fell asleep pretty much everywhere.  The kids got really good at building towers with playing cards, we watched the flowers bloom, and we saw the most amazing lightning storms from the deck.  One of my favorite things to watch was the wind blow through the wheat.  It looked like ocean waves rolling through the field.  It was so beautiful - I honestly don't ever remember noticing that before in my life.

One day we got a call from Ava's friend from school Claudia.  Her family (she is an only child) were coming through on their way to Montana and wanted to meet up for lunch.  They are a very wealthy family and an older couple so Claudia gets the best of the best.  I had to laugh because Ava hadn't told me they were coming and wanted to meet for lunch until after she had made the plans.  They had asked what place in Rigby had the best food.  Ava had replied with bambinos.  So we met them for bambinos. I mean they are really good, but I can only imagine what they were thinking!!  Ava sat with them to eat and we sat in a booth right next.  My kids were loud and crazy and again I can only imagine what they think.  lol  I'm sure my life looks chaotic and out of control but they are always very kind and nice.  It was fun for Ava to see Claudia and catch up.  Meanwhile, in our bench the craziness escalated quickly.

I also did some more product photography for the store.

JED'S 38TH BIRTHDAY - Finally it was Jed's birthday!  Jake had called and asked if we wanted to go to the Chukar's game with them and watch from the hospital suit.  He said it would be fully catered and everything.  I told him it was the easiest birthday party I've ever had to plan.  We had a fun night hanging out.  I've never been a big fan of baseball or softball because I think it is really boring to watch, but watching from a box suite with food was not so bad.  We are so thankful for Jed and what an awesome guy he is.  He literally makes our world go round and provides so many opportunities for us to enjoy life.  He is the best!