Idaho Gives Thanks

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Let's hope so in this case, because I wasn't there. We'll just figure it out together. 

As you know, June and I went to WA for Thanksgiving and Tyler took the rest of the crew north to Idaho. In some ways, with modern communication, it hardly felt that we were apart. I talked to him every day and we texted back and forth as we did things. One the first pictures he sent me while away was this one:

Robyn lost this earring and was so sad about it, but it was just behind the box. I was able to celebrate with her, although miles apart.

This next picture is probably my favorite. Tyler made sure to clean the kitchen well before he left because neighbors were using our ovens over the holiday. I really like a clean house.

I selfishly took the van (to fit a bed inside) so Tyler drove everyone in the smaller car. Snug, but doable.

Grandma immediately put the kids to work in Idaho. She had them decorating for her.

Seems she put them to work in more than one area.

Quickly the day of feasting arrived. Who let these boys near a slicer??

There is Popeye doing the potatoes...oh wait, it's Kolby.

Now that is a mountain of spuds. (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, anyone?)

Kathryn took lots of pictures and sent them to me. She is great about documenting. Check out some of the moments she caught.

Even Moxy.

The kids played well together. Especially Robyn and Rozzlyn. Those two were thick as thieves. They played some weird game where they were two old people: George and Edna.  (Don't ask me...I wasn't there.)

Tyler was in charge of entertainment to a degree. He doesn't know how to do things small. He sent me this picture and asked me to guess what he was making. What do you think?

I guessed Mafia shoes. (I thought that was pretty creative.)

Turns out he was making a forge. He planned to melt aluminum into ingots. It was quite the endeavor. I really  need to get Tyler to come on here and guest post about the forge. Mostly he took videos of all the stuff they did, so I don't have a lot of shots. I do have this picture of KJ and Tyler mixing Plaster of Paris and sand. Mixing by hand looks...messy.

The process was pretty awesome. I got to see it in action in video and later when Tyler built another forge for the scouts here in Utah. They heated a crucible and melted down tons of cans until they had enough aluminum to make several ingots. Here you can see two ingots and some of the dross left behind. 

Tyler can do anything he puts his mind to. Eventually, it was time for our crew to leave ID and join up with long lost Mommy and Junie. Pip decided that she could do without the extra attention for a while.

One last shot of Daisy sleeping. She looks so cozy. And it describes ID pretty well. We play until we are exhausted and then we sleep, with perhaps a furry friend for company.