Surprise!

Okay - So we didn't stay quiet for long! Last Wednesday night Cameron drove into town with Jonah, Gideon, Isaac and Felicity. Let the good times roll ...

With BYUI Education week beginning Thursday morning, I had to scramble to get things in order. Thankfully, they were able to manage without me for my Thursday morning hosting shift and so I spent the day with the kids. We had a tuna sandwich picnic in the park and just relaxed. The highlight for the kids was the visit to "Reeds Dairy." Gideon was particularly interested in the ducks. Is there something about being five and being fascinated with the fowl world? We all thoroughly enjoyed the fresh made ice cream. Jonah gave a valiant attempt at eating the whole "one scoop on a waffle cone" strawberry cheesecake ice cream BUT he didn't quite make it.

Friday morning dawned bright and early for me as I set off for Education Week. As soon as my hosting shift ended, I headed back to Idaho Falls with a half day pass for Cameron as well as a ticket for the nighttime performance of the International Dance Festival in the Hart auditorium. She made her escape and the kids and I settled into watching "Meet the Robinsons." (Love that movie!) As soon as it was over, we headed for LDSFS to pick up Grandpa. While he changed, the younger kids and I headed for the car wash. I am certain every bug in the whole of Washington, Montana, and Idaho had met their doom on the Stewart Family Van! Thank goodness for the foam brush!!

Grandpa and Jonah rejoined us and we headed for "Blast Off", a playland/arcade/laser tag facility. The kids really enjoyed themselves for a couple of hours. We arrived back home ready for quiet time and stories. Cameron returned around 11:00 p.m. and we all collapsed into bed.

Saturday was back to BYUI for me while the kids and Grandpa headed for the water park in Pocatello. They had five full hours of fun and I had opportunity to take in some family history classes following my shift. I also thoroughly enjoyed my class by Joseph McConkie on the gathering of Israel. I have long been a Joseph Fielding McConkie Fan so this was a real treat! Best of all, I was able to get some great ideas from Sister Angelle Anderson for our Family Reunion next summer!

I got home around 5:30 and put a couple of pizzas in the oven. As I pulled the first one from the oven, the crew got home from their water fun HUNGRY! We all enjoyed the evening and before I knew it, it was 10:30 p.m. and I still had my Sunday School lesson to prepare! At 3:30 a.m. I finally crawled into bed for what was tooooooo little sleep. That was a bit stressful and I was extremely tired because of it. The class went well though at least up until the end. I bore my testimony on the power of the scriptures to bless our lives and then started cleaning up. No one moved or spoke. I thought "This is weird" but I really couldn't figure it out. About an hour latter (well Okay, perhaps it was just a minute or two) Felicity ran to the front of the room and as your dad caught up with her he said, "Are we going to have a closing prayer?" What a riot! I was really spaced out. He said the prayer and everyone got really animated after that. LOLALAL! (laugh a lot and lots and lots!)

As you might guess - I needed a nap Sunday afternoon and so as Claigh and the kids headed for the falls, I slipped into unconsciousness.

Today is going to be a bit laid back with Dale and Kelly stopping by on their way to the MTC. Bradley is going on a mission to Boise Idaho - Hooray! Cameron and Gideon will go to see Kung-Fu Panda. (After he found out Grandpa and Jonah had gone to see it last Thursday night, he was pretty upset because "Everyone in my class has seen KungFu Panda and I am the only one who hasn't!) What fun with more to come!

Quiet House . . .

 
We enjoyed a pleasant Sunday evening on the greenbelt by the falls in downtown Idaho Falls. The children particularly enjoyed walking down close to the water edge. We even saw a large pelican floating on the water at the top of the falls - who knew? One of the pleasures of the Atlantic beaches is the abundance of pelicans soaring close to the water in search of dinner. We never expected to see one here in Idaho!

All good things come to an end however. Early Monday the Bailey bunch headed for home and the house is tooooo quiet! What a joy to have a week of family fun!!

Seven great days in a nutshell:
"Quiddler"
Barbeque
Yellowstone Bear World
Hide and Seek
Hiese Hot Springs and water slide
Kick ball
Rexburg sites - Fry Sauce at Arctic Circle
Ice block sliding
"Mancala", "Make n' Break", "Chinese Checkers"
Grandma's flower beds weeded and the grass cut (Thanks Jacob and Noah!)
The Eagle Fountain
"Passage to Zarahemla"
Fishing (one fish-stick caught and released thanks to Seth)
Ball Tag
Great grapes - so-so watermelon
Seth, Jennie & Grandma's reading club
Church and new friends
Greenbelt hike

Seth and Jennie meet Stiltz

Hungry Grizzly - Yes he caught it with his mouth!

Brigham Newell Bailey

Seth Anthony Bailey

Jensen Leigh Bailey

Noah Claigh Bailey

Jacob Calvin Bailey

Yellowstone Bear World Adventure

Tuesday, July 22nd dawned bright and sunny. The Bailey Crew and Grandma Jensen headed for Yellowstone Bear World. "We had a blast." as Jennie says.

First we enjoyed watching the 6 bear cubs play. One cutie liked to run down the rock pile and pounce on his brother. Hmmmm - a bit like the people world I believe. Next was the petting zoo where Seth was determined to pet a chicken or a duck or a peacock or a goose. - Any bird would do. No success there but the baby goats and deer were very friendly. Jennie had a baby goat that seemed to prefer her to everyone else.

We also met "Stiltz", the three year old moose. He is a gentle soul who was rescued from the wild as an orphaned calf. He let us pet his antlers which were very hard and covered with a soft velvety coat.

After some time with the baby animals, we went to the trout stream. A group of young men were eying the great numbers of trout and wishing they could fish. - Talk about easy pickins! Best of all though - a duckling was hiding his head under his body thinking he was invisible to determined Seth. SUCCESS - Seth got to pet a duck! We also saw a little garter snake like the ones I use to catch as a girl in Southern Alberta.

From the trout stream, we boarded a special truck to make our way through the bear grounds. We passed through the elk and mountain goat range first. They even have a white elk! After feeding the elk, we continued on and finally got to the bears. First the grizzles - one fellow was soaking in a stream but the other came quickly to the truck knowing we were about to feed him. He stood on his hind legs waiting for a tasty morsel of bread.

As we approached the black bears, they came running, excited to see us and they gathered around for lunch. There were many black bears of many different sizes and shades of browns and blacks. Because we chose to go on a slow day for the park, we had the whole truck to ourselves and the kids got to do a lot of feeding. Every time we moved forward to feed another group of bears, the ones we were leaving would quickly follow behind. By the time we got to the last group we had quite a crowd surrounding us.

Once we got back to the compound, we took in the kiddie rides and enjoyed some shaved ice cups. Needless to say, Jennie, Noah and Seth each enjoyed picking out a bear from the gift shop to remember their adventure. Jacob chose a set of marbles which gave us some fun that evening back at home. Thanks to the internet we now know how to play. Carey seems to be a natural!

FUN FUN FUN DAY!!!!

Happy Idaho Times with the Bailey's

Carey made the great drive from Arizona (Yes all 14 hours of it!) with the Bailey babes arriving safely in Idaho Falls Sunday evening, July 20th. Happy Happy Day for us!

Monday was spent relaxing and giving everyone time to recover from the miles in the car. Jacob had returned from Boy Scout camp just in time for the trip so he has had a bit more to recover from than all of the rest. What a wonderful young man he is becoming. He is particularly helpful and watches out for his little brother Brig.

Noah celebrated day one by learning to play "Quiddler" and creaming his grandmother on his very first game. Not only that - he did a repeat performance on game two. This boy is going down! Claigh, Carey, Jacob, Noah and I all play a game or two each night. Carey is wise to make Jacob her partner when we play. The boy really knows his words - a testament to the benefits of the extensive reading he does.

Our Jennie is a ray of sunshine for sure and Seth has really cone into his own this past year. Every night the three of us read before bed. Seth always picks a "true facts" book. Perhaps we have a budding scientist on our hands. So far we have learned a lot about the creatures of the ocean, the Savannah, and the jungle. I really treasure these times. We also have fun playing "Make 'n' Break."

Brig is a busy year old. He seems to appreciate the toy shelf I set up for him, however, his favorite toy is my dust pan and little sweeper broom set.

Claigh knows how to work hard and is just as capable of playing hard. What a delight for him to have a crew waiting for him to come home each evening. We're talking some serious playing here!

Last of all, our Carey Lyn is looking very cute as she five months pregnant with our little Lucy. It is a joy to just have her here to visit. What a blessing daughters are!

We are enjoying Idaho summer at last. Others seem to be feeling the heat but in comparison to Virginia, we can't comprehend what they mean. The evenings are especially nice.
This past while we have received cute pics of some of the grand kids. How we love them! We haven't seen Felicity since she was a new baby. These distances are tough to span sometimes. She celebrated her first birthday with a wonderfully decorated "girly" cake by

Alyssa celebrated her 23rd birthday with friends and fellow missionaries in Viseu, Portugal, June 17, 2008. Of the gifts she received, her favorite was the Cheerios sent by Mom. It is funny the things you miss when you are far from home! I must say - those were the most expensive Cheerios ever when you consider the postage. This girl is definitely worth it.

It's summer right?

Just so you know I am not kidding - Today we woke up to large fluffy flakes of snow. Now that might be really pretty at Christmas BUT JUNE!! The planter in the back is filled with Petunias and you can see the humming bird feeder beside it. Somehow I think the woman who told me the humming birds come from Mother's Day forward throughout the summer was just pulling my leg - - I'm just sayin'. . .

Catch Up - The Girls . . .

Cameron busy loving and caring for her husband, soon to be sixteen year old step-son, three more sons and a beautiful daughter who just celebrated her first birthday.

Carey and husband looking forward to bringing child number six into the world this November. We are still waiting to hear if this will be son number five or a second daughter. We win either way! (children ages one and a half to twelve years old)

Sara enjoying being the only girl in her family with three sons and their dad showering "favorite" girl status on her. Her oldest son will be baptized this July.

Ashlee and husband living the mid-west life dodging tornadoes along with two terrific sons and two delightful daughters (ages one to eight.) We all wish them WEST!

Alyssa - the furthest east - serving an 18 month mission in Portugal. We are excited for her return home the end of September 2008.