Friday night was movies and the night spent in a fort on the living room floor.  Gerda loved the fort, too, but she ended upstairs on the bed while Emily and I stuck it out all night downstairs.  Fast forward to Sunday (Saturday was spent running errands in Twin Falls) and it was a beautiful day spent outside. Emily loved shooting her new pistol with her dad in the morning, and we played outside all afternoon.  Emily had a great time playing chase and pull with Gerda.

Last weekend started out with open gym and a play date with Kennedy at her house.  We ended the day at the Harvest Festival, a celebration of locally grown foods.  Sunday started off a little earlier than normal.  Swiftsure has asked Emily to participate in some instructor development, so we were at the ranch by 8:30 that morning.  Emily commented how odd it was to be there so early!  Emily played the role of student as new instructors demonstrated their lessons in front of an evaluator.  Brooke was out there with us, so another play date unfolded and it was decided to bring Brooke home with us for the afternoon.  It seems like we have participated in a lot of play dates over the last few weeks!  Sunday ended with us planting lots and lots of tulip bulbs, so hopefully our spring is welcomed with a lot of color in our yard.

The school week was uneventful, but very rainy.  The only real highlight of the week was that today was picture day, and the weekend ahead also seems uneventful.  I'm sure we will end up filling it with outdoor winter preparations (there's leaves that already need to be raked), probably a few board games, and with the forecast being sunny, maybe even a bike ride or two.

2nd Week of School

We are easing back into the routine.  Emily was back at gymnastics this week on Tuesday and Thursday.  We still have a couple of weeks before she starts riding on Mondays again.  Wednesday she was lucky enough to have a playdate with Brooke (her friend from Swiftsure) at her house, and on Friday she brought her friend Sofia home with her for a couple of hours.  We ended the night by meeting Brooke at the park afterward.  Those are things we like to do when Dad is away on his shooting excursions.

Saturday started with going to open gym.

And then it was such a beautiful day we decided to take a bike ride to the river and had a great time throwing rocks that Gerda would try and dig out. 

Gerda is fishing for rocks...

Twin Falls County Fair

On Saturday, Emily and I braved the cold, rainy day in Filer to attend the county fair.  It didn't matter that our seats were soaked, she was finally the height to ride all the "big kid" rides, yet still loved all the little kid favorites as well!

Wagon Days

We had planned to get away this weekend to Salt Lake City, trying to soak up a three day weekend.  But then Swiftsure Ranch offered Emily the opportunity to be in the Wagon Days Parade with them, and she chose that over 10 hours in the car, hotel stays, eating out, and fun big city things like the zoo.  It took her a whole two seconds to decide, she'll do anything for her favorite cowboy Hugh Blue!

Moose and Zeus, the minis, with Emily & Brooke

Waylon, Wyatt, the girls, and the minis

Harvest

We love having pear trees in our yard.  Gerda anxiously awaits for them to drop to the ground, or she steals them straight from the lower branches.  She then stock piles them under the pine tree for a snack later on.  We tend to wait until they are ready to be picked, and just hope the birds leave some good ones for us.

The ones we picked this year were really good, better than any other year.  Maybe that's why two young bucks have been stopping by in the evenings to help themselves.  Then there was the skunk that came right into our yard and helped him (or her) self to the ones on the ground.  Gerda wasn't very happy that any of the critters were taking her pears, I'm just glad I looked before I opened the door at 6 AM, and that the skunk was safely sighted from the indoors.  

Deer, skunk, and birds are the only creatures taking up space at our house lately.  There are these suckers who built a gigantic nest that Aaron knocked down (then ran quickly).  They were persistent, and tried to quickly rebuild.  Then it was time to call in a professional!