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.

The Time Flew By

Summer vacation has now come to an end.

The kids started school last week and Josie started VERY early morning seminary....5:30 am early!

The start of school is always bitter-sweet for me. I like them home with me, playing outside, swimming, etc. I also like getting back to a routine.

Here is our preschooler, elementary schooler, middle schooler & high schooler.

Some of the things that have happend this past month are: Josie got busy with high school stuff, Todd grew taller than me, Mitch went up to the next swimming level, and Layne started a new job.

Josie turned 14 on July 31st.

On August 19th Layne and I made it to year sixteen.

He's balding, I'm fat, & we still like eachother.

We have had an unusually cool summer with little humidity.
It has been WONDERFUL!
It sure has been good for all the crops around here. Including our garden.


It has been tomato season and when Josie asked me where a good place to make toast would be, I realized that I really had to get some canning done. The counter tops have been covered. So last week I got the salsa and tomatoes done (any more that come in are going to have to find a new home). This week I'll get the relish and an awesome sweet and sour sauce made. Oh, a new thing I came up with is what I call Hot Pepper Peach Jam. I added orange zest and hot pepper flakes to the peach jam. We've already found lots of yummy ways of using it. It goes wonderful with cheese (brie and cream cheese are my favorite), on meats, and even on steamed Chinese vegetables. It is alwasy fun to figure out something new and delicious.



Hope your summer was great!

Our Amazing Moments of July & a Contest

*This is my most amazing thing in July.*

As many of you know, I like to cook. What you may not know is that I don't love to bake.

And on the top of my list of things I don't feel like I do very well is

PIES.

Well, to my amazement, last night at the 24th of July picnic I won the

Pie Baking Contest!

It still makes me giggle because I DON'T MAKE PIES!

This is not the exact one, but it was a fresh peach pie. It was gone before I got the camera out. But, Layne did request another one today.

We've been letting the boys & Josie drive the truck around our "farm".

We have 16 acres of field so and we like to spend time over there, as we wait for our current house to sell. Know of anyone that wants to buy a great house?

Justin only runs the wheel, but he does good. Until he takes a sharp left. That's a little scary.

Mitch does a good job too. Petals and all.


Here is a pic of our place.
Home Sweet Home
someday.


The boys (including their dad) like to set up targets and practice their shooting on the 'farm' too.

Justin calls it the farm, but I've always wanted to name our house/place. So here is a great opportunity. Give me some awesome ideas and whoever wins gets a great prize from the great state of Ohio.

Some details to help your creativity:
We'll have cows,
a horse or two,

chickens,
gardens,
fruit trees,
alfalfa field,
Layne will for sure plant Quaking Aspens (his fav),
there are TONS of deer,
our last name is Coleman,
oak trees...

*Can't wait to see what you might come up with*


We have a few trees, mostly oak, along the fence line. This one amazes me. I love looking at it. It is huge. Layne's arms don't even make it 1/2 way around and that is about 6 feet of arm length. We need to remember to take our measuring tape out there next time and find out how big this tree is. Layne sees $$ signs or beautiful floors in our house. I say NO WAY. That thing is at least a hundred years old and still healthy. It stays put.



Several summers ago I was at my Aunt Grace's house. I fell in love with her row of Hollyhocks. I planned on getting some Hollyhocks growing at my house. Well, this is the last summer at this house (I hope) and I finally got the Hollyhocks planted.
They remind me of my Grandma Simmons. She always had some in her flowerbed and we'd play dolls with them. I love showing little girls how to make dolls out of hollyhocks.



And last, but not least, this is what Todd does when he's not busy.

Poor Mitch.

Come and Gone

This is how I know summer is almost over....

*school is back in session

*there are too many tomatoes and pears on my counter

*the garden is getting empty

*canning supplies haven't been put away for a couple weeks

*my boys are picking apples

We had a great summer and here are a couple of highlights...

Lots of swimming. It was good to see Mitch enjoy himself this year. He's been a little (okay, a lot) scared of water till now. I must share a story.

Last year we talked him into jumping off the diving board with his swimming class. So it was his turn and he got to the edge of the board. His teacher was in the water waiting for him. It became obvious that he wasn't going to jump. I was across the pool so I walked over there, yelling at him to jump. After about FIVE minutes everyone at the pool was chanting "Mitch, Mitch, Mitch...". I was yelling at him at this point and bribing him with DQ. The next thing we knew he is on his hands and knees. Then some how, and to this day I don't know how this happened, he was holding on the board with his fingers and toes. Yes, he was now underneath the diving board hanging on, like a monkey. I was more than mad and embarrassed and he was scared to death. His teacher finally peeled his toes off and he hung there by his fingers till he finally lost feeling in them. At that point I gathered up all the kids and we went home.

This year we are proud to announce that Mitch jumped off the diving board several times (with his teacher waiting for him, and yes, it was the same teacher) and down the slide all by himself! Yay Mitch!

One more swimming note. I got smart this year and put Judd in a life jacket as soon as we would get there. Last year I had to pull him from the bottom of the pool TWICE. Did I mention I was fully clothed both times? Wow, he could jump in there fast! I didn't have a chance.

We had a fun day playing in the mud. Is there anything more fun? Looks like Todd & his buddy Jonathan already cleaned up but Mitch and Judd are still covered head to toe. It must have been cold to clean off.

Anther really fun time was the day before school started. On August 19th Josie hosted the neighborhood children to a Coleman Back-Yard Olympics. She had laminated signs at each event station (about 10 of them). There was shot put, javelin, a triathlon (bike ride, running, end in the kiddy pool), and discus throw to name a few of the events. Here are some photos. They ended with an awards ceremony (medals made from canning lids) and lunch. She did such an awesome job and had the kids separated into age groups so they all had a chance to do well. It was enjoyed by all.

Now we are back in school. Josie is in the 8th grade, Todd is in the 6th grade, Mitch is in the 2nd grade, and Judd is still home with me. He watches the clock so he can be ready when "his friends" get home.

Summer was fun.