Bogren's Play Baseball at Bear Lake

I wanted to do a recap of our Thanksgiving trip to California while it is fresh in my mind!  The kids had the whole week off of school and so we decided to take advantage and take a trip our to visit Nana and Papa for the Holiday.  It was a great break away from the business of regular life. I will have to show more from the trip another day though.  My pictures are not uploading!  In the meantime,  I have not caught up with so many fun things we have done since summer...I figured why not do a little recap of our other Bogren trip we had not too long ago.

We had a mini-Bogren reunion at Bear Lake in September.  The weather was beautiful!  It was so fun to be able to go back and sneak one last trip in at the lake.  One thing the crew did a lot of was baseball games in the back yard.  I caught a lot of the action on camera.

September is a beautiful time to be at Bear Lake!  It feels like a different place than it does in July though...very quiet! 

Aunt Melanie has some baseball skills...me, not so much.  I just stayed behind the camera. 

Check out little Amelia's hair...she is a mermaid I tell ya.  It is so white and so beautiful. 

Luke

James

The evenings were just perfect. 

I think someone might be smack-talking the other team here...

Ezra playing his own little game while Daddy looks on. 

(Looks on laughing...)

Sophie is more a "sit and watch" type of girl.  She was happy to play with her new pink pony. 

 Go,  Melanie! 

Uncle Dane finding a ball in the weeds...

Joshua is always full of excitement. 

James

Dad is pitcher. 

Swing!

Uncle Dane helping Annie out. 

Run, Annie, Run! 

Look at her tongue up above and here, she is not the only Bogren that does this. 

Go, James!  Dad's gonna get you! 

Safe?

 She has it down! 

Ballerina-Baseball Player

Joshua getting into the game...

Michael bares his tongue too...

This picture is out of focus, but I love how Luke is keeping his eye on the prize. 

Also out of focus, but the only one with me! 

The sky was always changing, and it was so beautiful! 

So much beauty in every direction. 

During one of the games I took Amelia on a little walk and look what I found!  A mother Moose and her baby, RIGHT IN FRONT OF US.  

More pictures from the reunion to come!  Such fun memories.  I guess this is a Thanksgiving Post after all.  Looking back at these pictures makes me feel so thankful!  

I am thankful for wonderful Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins. 

I am thankful for a husband that is also a great father. 

I am thankful for my children that are healthy, growing and developing into great people even though they can sometimes give me some serious stress and cause me to freak out occasionally.

I am thankful for the beautiful world that we live in.  

I am thankful for the sun and sunsets each morning and evening.  The sky is an amazing portrait that changes hourly and it is just amazing. 

I am thankful for animals and wildlife. 

I am thankful for seasons and the change that comes with each one. 

I am thankful for cameras and technology that make it so much easier to capture memories and share them. 

October...one long marathon.

October was seriously insane. 

 I think it was my busiest month ever, but a good busy so I can't complain!  

(Hey, that was almost like a poem....it rhymed.) 

The first weekend in October was the St. George Marathon.  I had been somewhat training for it all summer.  It went better than expected and I was glad I did it, but even more glad to have it over with!  It was kind of a metaphor for the whole month-one long marathon from start to finish.  And just like in a marathon the last 6 miles seem longer and harder than the first 20....the last 6 days or so of the month were the most intense.  

I stole this pic off an email they sent me...it was that last brutal stretch when all I could think was "GET THIS OVER WITH".

October was the last month we spent in our house on Redonda.  I don't really miss the house, but I miss the sunsets and the views.  I can't believe how much Idaho changes from the beginning of October to November.  I think it was the most beautiful Octobers I have ever seen in Idaho.  I wish I could have slowed down a little to enjoy it more.  But, it was not really an option. 

We had lots of days with blue skies, and we were still wearing shorts.  (A trip to the new house to help the people that we bought it from pack.)

Check out this kids hair. 

It was so great to have the Garza's meet us in St George and cheer me on for the Marathon.  They are the best! 

Picture day at school...

 So sad, we never got her picture taken.  The line was so long and as you can see here, she was not cooperating so much. 

 My favorite tree at our old house...

This was my view everyday....

Ryan was really busy with work and made a couple trips to California.  This is not him... just pics from Engineering Sites that show up on my Photo Stream.  Ryan is not a picture taker...so these are the only kinds of pictures on his phone.  Awesome. 

Carly had baby #4.... welcome sweet baby Benson! (The hospital requires masks now.) Our cultural traditions require full head dress.  

I love this picture I had on my phone from his first few days home. 

I do miss a few things about my old house.  I loved the stairs. 

We had the lunar eclipse...

Okay, I also miss our old street.  It is seriously so close, but we just don't drive it a million times a day like we did.  I think it is the prettiest street in Idaho Falls.  And while I am at it, I miss our neighbors.  But less you worry, we have lots of wonderful new neighbors, and pretty new views. 

Carly and I did a mini photo session with Benson.  I am glad we did, because he has already grown so much!  Isn't he cute!?

I taught a class for our Annual Craft Night at Church.  

Got that crossed off my list.  

We served dinner to all the Primary Teachers at Church as part of our last Teacher Appreciation Dinner.  

We had good friends go to the temple and get sealed.  

We had Michael's Arrow of Light Ceremony.  

That means Michael is officially out of Cub Scouts and it was my last Pack Meeting that I helped with as part of the Primary.  (We were released this month.)

I co-hosted a baby shower for a good friend that was having a girl after five boys.  

(Her first is a girl, and her last...seven total! ) 

I was in charge of the Primary Program (along with the other awesome people I served with) and I am probably biased, but I thought its as the best program I have ever seen.  We have an amazing song leader and the songs were just spectacular.  The kids all did such a great job with their parts, having them all memorized.  It was like a farewell gift from the children to us as their leaders.  Like everything else this month...it was awesome, but I was glad to have it over with and done! 

(Please excuse my special needs child.  Sophie was not in the program...and she should not have been in this picture.)

Remember this pretty tree a few weeks earlier?  All the yellow leaves fell off by the end of the month.  It was the trees way of telling me goodbye. 

I did not remember moving being that much work!  

We had SO much help.  I feel so grateful for the insane amount of help we had from friends, neighbors, and family.  They babysat, brought food, loaned us cars and trailers, scrubbed, packed, and moved.  We could not have made it without the hours of service we received!  

Once everything was moved out, the house already seemed different.  It was no longer home.  Goodbye, house on Redonda.  Thanks for the good times.  

We made many trips to donate all the junk we have accumulated. (I love that feeling!  Goodbye, junk!)  The house we were moving into was already furnished so we have had to get rid of a lot from both houses.  We said goodbye to our table from the last ten years.  Right after we refinished it five years ago, Luke carved his name into it.  

Goodbye, Kitchen Table.  Thanks for the homework sessions, school projects, family fights, family laughs, and hundreds of meals and snacks.  Oh, and thanks for being the dog's favorite spot in the house.

We organized, sorted, packed, scrubbed and cleaned.  And then we dumped everything in our new house...and had to organize, scrub, sort, and clean again.  Just looking at this picture makes me depressed. I am so glad we are past those first crazy days.  We had a tangle of all the stuff the old owners had left, and trying to figure out where to put our new things...things have already greatly improved!  (I would like to tell you we are close to done...but this part of our life will be an ultra-marathon.)

Amidst all the chaos, Halloween fell smack in the middle of the move.  Since I am a room mom/helper, a week earlier another mom and I were responsible for gathering donations and getting a theme basket together for the School's Annual Fall Carnival.  Got through the Carnival (check) and   then it was on to Halloween Festivities.  I was in charge of Michael's 5th Grade Room Party.  The house had to be put on hold! 

Just finding costumes in the craziness of our house was a challenge.  It all came together though.  The best costume award went to our new house...it dressed up as a hoarder this Halloween.  

 Better pictures to come... but from right to left:

Army Guy (Luke)  Old Lady (Michael)  Gandolf (Gunnar)  Cowgirls (Sophie and Annie) 

Teen Dad (Joshua and Benson)  Nerd (James)  

Joshua really didn't dress up, so since he was holding baby Benson we told him he looked like a Teen Dad. 

The morning after Halloween...it was November and the Marathon Month was over.  We could finally take a breath.  

Our first weekend in the new house, we had a few moments of downtime.  

Like I said above, I have a feeling the next few months will be an ultra marathon.  Next week brings Thanksgiving, traveling, and then bam-December is here.  Oh, December, I wish you would wait for me.  I am not ready for all that you bring.  However, I will keep on running and try to enjoy the race along the way!

Our New House (in a few weeks)

A few people have asked for pictures of the house we are going to be moving into here at the end of the month.  We are SO excited about it.  It does have a lot of work, it was built in the 70s. But it has good bones, great location, and 3 1/2 acres to go along with it.  We are pretty happy about it.   I just took a few pictures the other day with my iPhone, but they give you the general idea.

If you are facing the house, over by the barn, this is our field and looking over to our neighbors to the right (or East).  Our neighbors have lots of horses, and a really well-kept home and barn.  That is always nice. 

If you stand in the field, and look South this is your view.  

This is our driveway, it leads all the way down to that road.  And it is all ours!  I think the kids will love riding their scooters and bikes on it. 

Tadaaaa!  This is our new house!  

 This big tree in the center of the circle, reminds me of Grandma and Grandpa Milligan's tree they used to have out front.  

This is the left side of the house.  The house straight ahead in back of us, belongs to some of our really good friends.  The shed type looking thing is actually part of the house, a sunroom area.  The field on the other side of the fence is partly ours and leads back to the street. 

Here is the field and another view of our driveway and that field on the right. 

Driveway and field to the left.  

Our neighbors with the horse property. 

This is our backyard, complete with Apple Trees...love that! The pasture behind the trees was used for horses.  We will have to figure out what we want to do with everything. I don't think we are adding horses to the mix anytime soon...we first have to get our monkeys under control.  

This is the back of the house. 

That horse pasture I was talking about behind the backyard. 

Walking around the back yard, you can see the barn up there.  

This was also used for horses, it needs a little work. 

I can't wait to paint the barn, and clean it all out.  

Well, that is our new home!  We are pleased as punch.  I never dreamed to have all that land, PLUS a house.  I think it will be so great for the kids.  I am so grateful to live in a place that you can still afford to have some property even if you are not a gazillionaire.  Sometimes I do envy city living. There are definite pluses to other lifestyles and locations.  However, I think this place will be perfect for all these hooligans to explore and roam and hopefully work too.  My kids will walk down our driveway just like this, to catch the bus.  

So, if you are wondering what happened to my 100 Days of blogging....well, it didn't happen.  But, I decided, it doesn't look like life is slowing down anytime soon here.  So, if I want to keep a record, I better learn to squeeze it in somewhere.  Now, I better get packin'!

PS How about that blue sky?  Almost 80F in October?  I will take it!