JULY 2020

JULY 1 - 4TH -  So much happened this month it might be my longest blog post ever. First off, Katie decided to stay for another month which is great motivation for us to get together more often.  We decided to have a Foster bday party this weekend to celebrate all of those that had birthdays during lockdown when we couldn't celebrate together.  Malorie made two amazing cakes and we played games in the backyard and talked together.

Jagger got baptized this first Saturday and his cousin on the Baldwin side got baptized too.  He was baptized by Jace.  Afterward we went back to eat at Jagger's house.  There were some family members who wouldn't come over to the house and some who would.  Everyone has such different takes on covid and what is safe and isn't.  Sometimes it all seems ridiculous. Here is a shot of all the Erickson grandkids and great-grandkids that were there.

 

INDEPENDENCE DAY - The 4th of July was on a Saturday this year which is a fun day to celebrate a holiday. Jake invited us down for the day so we went kayaking down the river, rode horses, roped, and the kids ran around.  After awhile more of Megan's family came over and then we had a big cookout and lots of food.  

All the boys decided to set up the rodeo game where the cowboys sit at a table and see who would be the last one sitting before the bull charges them.  These boys set up the same thing in the pen with the steers.  They thought they were super tough, but funny enough the steers are not very aggressive at all. They also spent time playing basketball video games.  There are so many kids close to the same age in the Baldwin family. So there were a ton of girls around Kinsley's age and lots of boys around Jagger's age.  It was very fun. 

Meanwhile, the older girls decided to take patriotic pictures.  It is no surprise that Mallory thought up the idea.  She had Ava and McKenna and herself all posed out and props and everything.

Once it started getting dark the fireworks started.  Lots of fun.  Their neighbor just up the river bought a ton of big, huge fireworks to light so we had a front row view for some great fireworks.  There were also sparklers and a few smaller fireworks we lit off.  Also lots of poppers that surprise all the boys started throwing at each other.  We had such a fun night and day.  We are so blessed to live in America and have so many freedoms we don't even realize.  There is so much I take for granted in my life and I'm thankful for these holidays or times with family or just moments when my brain wakes up a bit and reminds me that I have so much to be grateful for.

WEEK 1 (July 5th - 11th)  - We are still on home church which has turned into something I look forward to each week.  This week was Josh's birthday so he invited everyone out to the Loft for church.  Since everyone was home it was such a great opportunity to be together.  Jordan & Jed took care of the sacrament and Kasen passed it.  Austin led the meeting and Malorie played the music and Abby led.  Then everyone who wanted to got up and shared their thoughts and testimonies.  Josh left the program on the pulpit so everyone who spoke wrote their names down.  It really was a wonderful day and lots of tears were shed as hearts were opened.  Georgia had made cinnamon rolls for everyone which was a wonderful treat as well.

 

The rest of the week was just full of adventures.  Deantre and Katie came over quite a bit and they did lots of playing outside.  For some reason Kinsley dressed up like the Statue of Liberty?, and my kids were obsessed with trying on Katie's fake glasses any chance they could.

 

We went up to the ranch a couple of times to check on the cows.  It is so peaceful and beautiful and it feels like you are all alone.  When we are up there we always have to take a trip for some ice cream!  One night this week Jed took Kasen to Rexburg to a roping.  They got home pretty late and as they were pulling in Jed turned to sharply and the trailer shattered his back window.  He said it was so loud he thought he was being shot.

 Later in the week it was decided to put the cows around the house so they could eat down that grass and keep it from being a fire hazard.  The farm hands went up and put up an electric fence around the house, but we were asked if we would go up and keep the cows off the yard and the getting too near the house.  So we went up to stay for a few days and keep guard.  It reminded us of last summer when we had so much fun being up there and going out to check things on razors and just that lazy summer feel.  Kasen, Kinsley, and Dallin took their guard duties very seriously and would chase the calves out of the yard and charge the cows if they took a step past the fence.  They fished for moss on the pond for hours and hours keeping watch. It was pretty much impossible to keep the cows off the grass because the electric fence was only two strings and the calves would just walk right through it and knock it down everywhere. 

 

Once our ranch guard duties were over we went down to Idaho Falls and watched the Chukars game in Bingham Memorial's booth.  It is always fun to watch the game this way because we get so much food and drinks and the kids have a blast.

WEEK 2 (July 11th - 17th) - We started off the week by driving to Humphrey to check on our cows.  Deantre and Katie hung out with us and Ava tried to teach Baby D how to do a rubix cube and watch funny videos.  The high school also held a volleyball camp for younger girls.  Kinsley signed up and Ava volunteered to help run the camp.  It was fun for them both to be there together.  

We took a trip to the Idaho Falls library and played outside.  We cancelled our sattelite subscription so the kids have really had to use their imagination to keep busy and play.  Kasen has been on a lego kick and has made so many cool things just on his own.  We kept talking about how we should drive through West Yellowstone so Kasen made bison out of his legos.  He also spent a lot of time drawing.  He is so smart and so good at something when he enjoys it.  Ava finally finished her comic book she got a few years ago for Christmas.  She wrote about a girl who had amazing antibiotic heroine side named Cyclosporine.  She spent so much time not only writing the comic, but then also drawing the entire comic series.  She is just so amazing.

This week was also really exciting because it was our Erickson Reunion.  The plans went back and forth all year long on whether it was a go or a no-go.  John and Coleen were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary so everyone definitely wanted to celebrate that so from July 16th - 18th the reunion went forward. On Wednesday before the reunion "officially" started those with kids and who wanted to went to the Idaho Falls zoo. 

Thursday there were hikes to Tablerock planned and other smaller hikes plus dinner at Tetonia.  Jed worked until 2pm and then we drove up to hike up a trail for a bit.  It was fun to just be in the mountains - we didn't hike too far or too hard. 

After hiking we went to the Berry's home.  While dinner was being prepped Kinsley got her snuggles in from Aunt Tresa and Jake/Jed somehow convinced the kids it would be fun to run like a steer and get roped by them.  

Friday we went back down to Firth for a water day in the am and a rodeo in the pm.  Coleen had rented this huge waterslide and it was a big hit for young and old. 

The waterslide was up for about 12 hours and I'm pretty sure the only time it was empty was when the worker's came to deflate it and take it.  So much visiting was going on today.

The waterslide fun lasted all day and as late afternoon evening came we shifted gears to playing and getting set up for the rodeo.

 

Jagger and Kasen took rodeo setup very seriously.  They went down by the barns and set up a table where people could come and pay entry fees.  They were a little too far away for anyone to notice them though, so Jake moved them tractor style closer to the crowds. 

 

First event was team roping.  The brothers got real fancy and wanted to show off for everyone I guess.  The fun thing for me was watching Kasen try to rope in front of everyone.  He gets really competitive and wants to win and for the crowd to cheer.  He did really good.  It is actually really fun to watch the Ericksons rope because they are all so good and make it look so easy.

 

 

Grandpa decided he wanted to rope which made all of us really nervous.  He doesn't have great balance and coordination anymore from the Parkinson's, but on the other hand you feel bad telling someone they can't do something.  No one really knew how it would go and it took an army to get John up on the horse.  He started out pretty good going out of the gate slower than he would have liked and Jake got the steer roped.  Grandpa would try and try to swing and he would get maybe 3-4 swings and then catch himself in the rope.  He couldn't quite make his arms work right.  He tried and tried for about 10 minutes but it just never caught.  I'm really glad I got a good picture of him out of the gate waiting for the steer to turn.  He looks strong and aggressive like we all know he used to rope.

 

No rodeo is complete without a crowd.  It is fun to see all the Ericksons get excited about things like roping even though only a few people do it.

After the roping the kids all got to ride and take turns being on the horses.  Jake got out their little pony and the kids led each other around on it.  Kinsley and Hayley were going around and having fun and then they came over by the fence where everyone was watching.  Something spooked the pony and it jumped.  It bucked hayley off and got Kinsley tangled in the lead rope, also jerking her down.  She was terrified and started bawling.  She thought she hurt her arm really bad.  So Tresa saved the day with hugs.

 

Lots of levels of horsemanship going on.  Lots of fun for everyone.

One event that everyone was looking forward to was chasing the steers with money taped to them.  That was very fun and funny to watch.

Seth wanted to try his hand at steer wrestling.  It turned out to be a little harder than he thought.  He got jerked around like a little rag doll.  So Jake had to show him how it was done. Jake actually did really good and Megan said he would be bragging about it for the next year.

 

Some more shots of the awesome crowd that cheered everyone on all night!

After awhile they rolled out the barrels for people to try running. I think by now a lot of people were getting FOMO because the ones who at the beginning said they just wanted to watch now got on the horses to ride.

I loved watching Cowgirl Kinsley attempt the barrels.  She even trotted on the home stretch and with even with a hurt arm!

 

The rodeo lasted until dusk and everyone had a great time.  We had such a fun day and it was so great to be all together.

 

Saturday we started the day at with Mason, Morgan, and Susan for breakfast.  They had stayed the night which was so fun to have them.  During breakfast Kasen was pretty certain his first armpit hairs had come in.

The activities for the day all took place in Lewisville at the park next to the church.  We set up a volleyball net and lots of lawn chairs for relaxing.  There are some playground things there so lots of swinging for the kids and someone brought spike-ball.  

 

Grandma Veda Erickson was an amazing softball player as the stories go, so in her honor we brought baseball/softball gear to have a family ball game.  I'm not sure a game was actually played or not, but anyone who wanted got to hit and play outfield.

 

First up - the hitters.  We had a lot of people that looked like they were going to hit the ball into next week!  I won't say how many actually could. 

 

I only got a few pictures of the outfield.  Not a lot of action out there.  

Of course some action shots of the players running the bases...

Another dozen rounds of players up to bat.  It was fun to watch so many give it a try.  Lots of family tried hitting even with little to no experience.  I think it's great to try things even if you don't think you'll be that good or will look silly doing it.  Grandma & Grandpa even got up to bat.  Grandpa swung himself around in a circle and fell down on the ground!  Grandma almost did the same thing.

After everyone got done with baseball, we had popsicles and played some more relay type games.  There was a bag hop, three-legged racing, and just some good old foot races. Jed was so proud he still was the fastest of all his siblings.  Jake was a close second so of course he said Jed had cheated the entire time.  Jake might have been growning/yelling from the starting line as he ran.  

As things wound down and evening came we transitioned over to the Lewisville community center for the anniversary program.  Mallory had put together a slide show of pictures and Grandma/Grandpa's favorite songs.  Ava had put together a playlist that played in the background of the evening of their favorite songs too.  The sisters had arranged for catering and a program.  Grandma and Grandpa danced to their favorite song.  It was a fun night.  I took pictures of everyone's families with John and Coleen.  Then we just hung around laughing and talking.  It is pretty incredible that John and Coleen have been married for 60 years!  They have been so many things in their lives separately and together.  They have seen so much change in their lifetimes.  They are wonderful people and there is no question that they value family over everything.

Family picture time... I'm not very good at taking pictures of people but they let me do it anyway. John and Coleen have 10 kids - 9 living all with families.  Those were the first round of pictures.  Then it was just them with their kids, then them with their kids and spouses.  Next all the grandkids and great-grandkids.  Last of all was everyone there!!!  4 generations and over 50 people there just from John and Coleen being married.

WEEK 3 (July 19th - 25th) - We've been rotating each house we gather at each week and also rotate who makes the plan for the week when we are together.  This week was Abby's house so we went and cooked hot dogs and smores in their firepit. Big Deantre had flown today to Idaho and it was fun to see him.

Deantre was here for a week to ten days and for most of the time he quarantined with Katie and Baby D at the ranch but towards the end they came down to hang out.  He wanted to cook for everyone at the Loft one evening.  It was a beautiful evening and we had time to play together and talk in the garden area.

Dallin and Deantre just "hanging out".  These two get along pretty well together.  Deantre thinks Dallin is silly and funny and Dallin has no problem being both.

I brought my camera because Abby wanted some pictures of her family so as we were waiting for dinner I just walked around and took some pictures.

The flowers in the garden were absolutely beautiful.  It made me really miss our Eagle yard and all the flowers, trees, and pretty places there. 

Deantre was cooking steak and chicken and it smelled absolutely delicious.  So I took pictures of the food too.

 

When Hamilton's arrived I took pictures of them just behind the Loft by the grain field.  I didn't have my focus just right, so some of the pictures are blurry but still cute.  I really wish I was better at learning my camera settings - there are just never enough hours in the day to do and learn all I want!

Kinsley's arm still wasn't feeling right so I took her up to Jed and he x-rayed her arm and sure enough she had a little fracture.  So he had to make her a little cast! She has been pretty tough with a broken arm

Ava is in full driver's ed mode now.  She goes to class everyday and has drives everyday.  She had to do the infamous changing of the tire and a bunch of other "tests" and worksheets this week.  

On July 23rd I officially finished my last semester of college!  I had actually finished all my coursework a few weeks before but the last day of the semester was this week and then they had a virtual graduation ceremony Thursday night.  Jed came home from work and went straight to a roping.  The kids were all busy.  So I watched it by myself.  I started feeling a little sorry for myself and feeling bad that not one person cared about all the time and effort I had put into this goal.  It's been years of my life in the making and I stuck with it!  The next day I told my family how I felt and that even if they didn't think it was a big deal I was going to make it special for myself because it was a big deal to me.  They all looked at me with the same look Kinsley has in the photo below.  So I told them they all had to pretend like they were excited and I was going to tell them about my graduation.  I made myself a homemade cap and made them take pictures with me.  I had to talk down the voice in my head that was saying, "You are so selfish to make such a big deal out of yourself."  But I just kept telling myself - no this is a big deal.  I've worked really hard to earn this.  If this was anyone else we would make a big deal about it so since no one will make a big deal about it for me then I will!  Later Jed told me he had planned out a surprise party for me on Sunday, but when I looked at his texts it was actually Katie that had planned it all out so I still didn't feel bad about making everyone celebrate with me that night. The next day Jed brought home congratulatory flowers and cookies and said he was sorry he didn't know it was such a big deal to celebrate on the actual day.  I set him straight.

When we were taking pictures that night I took a couple of just the kids.  I really do know they are my fans and if anyone has sacrificed for this degree along with me it is them!  

Jed said to celebrate we should go to West Yellowstone in the trailer and stay overnight, but there wasn't anything available so instead we went up to Swan Valley and camped with the cows.

 

The next morning I knew I could use the leverage I had from everybody feeling bad they forgot my graduation to get them all to go for a hike.  We decided to go to Lower Palisades which said it was about 5 miles.  But that turned out to be 5 miles up and 5 miles back.  It was a beautiful hike, but also my feet hurt so bad and the last few miles were brutal for everyone.  I told Jed I wasn't sure if I ever wanted to hike again and he said that was the most wonderful thing I've ever said to him. 

When we got back to our campsite that evening, Katie came up with baby D and hung out with us for awhile.  We had taken our bikes up and some games.  My lower half hurt so bad all I wanted was a bathtub.  I really really wanted to go home, but I didn't say anything so we stayed one more night for the kids. 

 

WEEK 4 (July 26th - 31st) - Sunday came and for our Sunday School lesson Jed made everyone watch my graduation ceremony.  We had just finished when sure enough I got a knock on the door and it was Sydnee with a cap and gown and she said, "Put these on and don't ask questions and don't come outside until I tell you to." 

 

 When Sydnee came and got me she made me go through the garage to the back door and when I walked out they started playing the graduation march.  Josh and Georgia were dressed in their robes as master of ceremonies.  They had made posters and had balloons.  It was so fun and I appreciated it so much.  I had to pretend like I didn't know of course. Honestly I think it was in the top 5 of nicest things someone has done for me in my life.

People stayed for awhile and played, ate, and rode horses.

Later that week we also discovered a whole bunch of nests from the killdeer birds.  They are so noisy and a little annoying, but their babies were cute.  Deantre came and played a whole bunch this week.

 

These last few pictures are just some random ones I found on my phone.  We went out and picked raspberries a few times for Coleen.  You have to look hard to find Dallin.  The other big highlight of the week was Jed's 39th birthday.  I can't believe I didn't take any pictures at all of how we celebrated.  After work on his birthday we met Jake, Megan, Matt, and Amie at an escape room venue and tried that.  Our escape room was set up like a bank and we were bank robbers trying to get into the vault.  We had to find all these clues which then unlocked things around the room which then unlocked other things that would take us (hopefully) into the vault where we could take the money.  We made it out of the fake bank lobby and had just barely gotten into the room with the vault when our time ran out so we lost big time.  It was still fun though.  Afterward we tried to find someplace to eat but everything was booked solid.  The only place we could find to eat without waiting for an hour was Chili's.  Chili's in Idaho Falls is about the worst place to eat in America we found out that night.  It was so bad!  Everything Jake ordered the waitress would write down and then in about 3 minutes come back out and say that they were sold out of that.  Even things like corn on the cob or steak fries.  It was so bizarre.  Amie got something she didn't even order.  Everyone's food tasted like garbage.  We had been sitting there forever waiting for the lady to bring the check when finally we asked another waiter if they could have her bring our check.  He said, "Oh sorry she left about 30 minutes ago."  She didn't even finish serving us!  It was so weird and we will laugh about it for a long time.  Afterward Jed and I went and stayed at the Anniversary Inn in the Venice room since we can't actually go anywhere with covid right now to celebrate. The next day we celebrated with the kids and opened presents. It was a really fun birthday and I hope Jed knew and could tell how much we love him.  For the next 3 months Jed are actually the same age!