Cowboy Hats

These are the two latest additions of hats for the boys. Have you ever seen a cowboy with a sword before?

IdaHome

It is so nice to be home in Idaho. We took the kids and went for a picnic and hike in the hills just above the city. It was such a beautiful day and the scenery was terrific. I totally missed the mountains while I was in Texas. The boys are doing well - Connor is his energetic self and Braden is growing quite fast. So far, Braden has the same quiet demeanor that Connor had at his age - could we be so lucky as to have two terrific boys? I couldn't be happier that I made it home in time for Father's Day.

Finally, the sun is setting on Texas and I'm coming home!

My training in Texas is over Wednesday morning. I finally get to go home. I have enjoyed my stay, but I miss my family. I got to see a lot of Texas, and I think it's a pretty fine place, but it's not anything like the beauty of Idaho! I'm anxious to get home to Julie and the little guys, but I'm taking the opportunity to fly my oldest son, Tyler, down to Dallas on Wednesday evening and he will accompany me on my journey home. It means a couple extra days on the road, but it's going to be a good time. We'll catch a soccer game and a couple of baseball games along the way and we'll just have some fun. It's just one of those father-son trips that all guys should have; and since Tyler lives with his mom I'm really looking forward to this trip with him. But the best part will be when I see that Boise City Limits sign.

(I do love the sunsets in Texas - I took these photos on the highway towards Lubbock)

The Grand Canyon and Train Tracks

Not much to say besides it is truly amazing and breath taking. One of the few group photos of the whole trip and as you can see Connor wouldn't look.
Trying out moms new hat, but don't take a picture of me.
There is a train that runs from a nearby town to the Grand Canyon. Connor was so excited, but nervous, to walk on the train tracks. We had told him it is dangerous to walk on train tracks, but then told him it was ok to walk on these because the train was gone for the day. He still wasn't quite sure and kept looking for a train to come.
Grandma and Braden, and Connor.

Volcano Crater

One picture Connor did cooperate with.

These are pictures of an old volcano crater (the picture with me in it) and all the lava rock below it. People were allowed to climb it until the 70's when Hollywood wanted to blow it up for one of their movies and people protested and then it became protected. You can still see marks on it from where people used to climb it. You can now walk on a one mile path below it. You can only see the crater from pictures taken in the air.

We're dying to know....

Julie and I have been racking our brains....our little globe tracker is fun because it let's us know how far our blog travels among friends and family - but we can't figure out who lives in Hawaii. We apologize if we've forgotten someone, but it would be fun to know who our Hawaii visitor is - my guess is that it could be family from Japan on a nice vacation to the islands. Am I right? Julie has ruled out her friends that used to attend BYU-Hawaii. Anyway, it's fun to guess. Thanks to all our guests for visiting.

I was too young to get to see Pele (one of the best soccer players in the world). At least now I can say that I've seen one of our generations very best, David Beckham (sorry, no sighting of Posh). I have played organized soccer since I was six so you can imagine my excitement to watch this game - FC Dallas vs. LA Galaxy. I can't believe my luck that I scored a front row seat right behind the LA Galaxy bench. I was literally ten feet from the action. Beckham played up to his reputation perfectly passing the ball to his teammates and leading the Galaxy to a 5-1 route of Dallas. So glad I had my new camera for these amazing photos.