Ninety nine bottles of Iron Port & Cherry on the wall.....

Our summer started out with Josie flying out to Idaho as soon as school got out.  With her all by herself and hadn't flown since she was a little girl...well, needless to say I was so happy all went smoothly in Dallas for her change of plane and very relieved when she got to SLC safely.  Her Aunt Jill & Grandma Karen met her at the airport.  Then they ran over to Aunt Josie's house (she just turned 85) to say hello.  Josie hadn't seen Aunt Josie in probably 10 years or so.  Sadly no one took a picture at that visit.

She stayed with Grandma Lucy & Grandpa Jay, with weekend get-aways at Grandma Karen and Grandpa Bob's.  She worked at my moms store, Mini Bazaar, and helped around the house.  She had a fantastic time and would have loved to stay longer if girls camp hadn't gotten in her way.  And I think they would have kept her too.  But we missed her and wanted her back.

While she was away we wrapped up the boys baseball seasons.  Mitch had a really fun year on a new team and they won most of their games.  He got to try the catcher position for the first time and it turns out he's really good in that position. Todd played his last year in the county league, with several home runs, but none of them thrilled him more than his Out of the Park home run.  He said he finally got to cross something off of his bucket list.  Justin's team did awesome and even won the tournament championship.  He joined a new team too, and was the youngest.  He looked so little out there, but he pulled his own weight and really improved as the year went on.  He got to play catcher too and did an awesome job.  Even though the gear nearly swallowed him up.  It was a great baseball season for the Coleman Boys.

Then we headed out to Idaho and found Josie.

Home Sweet Home

We love spending the 4th of July in Idaho.  We have big family parties, homemade root beer, homemade raspberry ice cream (thanks Aunt Ellen), yummy scones (thanks Aunt Grace), and a million other way yummy foods to enjoy.

Thanks to Frank Vandersloot, our 4th of July fireworks display is never a bummer.  Mr. Melaleuca pulls out all the stops (and $$) and gives Idaho Falls a great show every year.

My Aunt Millie and Uncle Alan came from from their three year mission in Brazil right when we got there.  So that was a fun reunion to have everyone around.

And since Aunt Millie was back home we had an emergency Hen & Chicks party which worked great for me because I couldn't make it to the one in the spring.

My mom insisted Josie was to come too and she had fun.  Now she knows that my weirdness comes from a long line of weirdness.  Thankfully for those that married into the weirdness, they either fit right in or tolerate the rest of us well.  I have the best women folk for family!  My Aunt Grace was worried that Josie would learn some bad stuff from us, but Jo said that she goes to public school and we weren't anything close to that kind of bad.  Whew, now I feel so confident sending her off to school every morning.

I also found out that my grandmother thinks I'm a "jolly good fellow".  Not sure where to go with that one.

These are some pics out at Layne's parent's house.

 

And then we got home.  Our darling little neightbor keep our flowers, bushes, and gardens alive. 

 

Layne and Todd worked hard at both my parents house and his parent's house.  We got to meet Jack (Bobbi's baby, 8mts) and MaKadee (Marcee's baby,5mts).  We got to see all of our cousins and play play play. 

Great Grandma Fern & Jack Underwood

A four generation picture.  

Grandma Fern (85), Lucy (56), Cassie (37), Josie (16)

I have one from when Josie was a newborn.  I'll have to find it to compare.

Zoey, Carter, & Mitch playing some game on the ipad at Grandma Lucy's

Todd & Tyrel

These two are buds.  I'm so thankful our kids and their cousins love each other so much.

Mitch & Grandpa Jay

I got my fill of Iron Port w/ Cherry.  It is a soft drink that you can only find *according to wikipedia* parts of Utah, Southern Idaho, Western Wyoming, and Eastern Nevada.  I also noticed that there is also a place that you can now order the syrup.  When I read that I my head got dizzy just thinking about the happiness that could bring me.  I must investigate that option.  I got several raspberry filled powdered donuts digested, and a few other things consumed that can only be found 'Out West'.  

We had a fantastic trip to Idaho.  We all agreed it was our favorite trip out West so far.  I'm not exactly sure what made it the best one, but we sure did have fun. 

 Thanks for everyone for everything!

If you're lucky (and not sick to death of this long post) I'll find the other pictures I wanted to post.  Humor me, this is as close as I get for journaling these days.

Plus:  We had family pictures with both the Simmons Fam & the Coleman Fam.  So I'll post them soon too.

More on our trip at my mom's blog.

More on my Aunt Millie's return to Idaho at my cousin Becca's blog.