Potato Harvest!

It's that time of year again... Potato Harvest! We love potatoes in our family, and nothings better than FRESH potatoes! Hilary's husband works on the farm where these potatoes are grown, and we love to go get them and bring them back.

This year we took our swingset up to Charley's parents house, so we rented a trailer. This meant we could bring back more potatoes on the way back! Our family and friends love them as well...

I never thought we would get this HUGE swingset on the trailer and that it would make the drive. But guess what, It did! Took 5 guys to load it onto the trailer, but they made it. (Good job guys!).

It was such a short trip up and back. We left home around 10 PM and made it to Filer at 2 AM. We were up early that morning to unload the swingset & rebuild it at grandma's house. Charley and his dad rebuilt the whole thing that morning.

Then it was off to get potatoes. Nate really wanted to come this year since he missed it last year. He was in "awe" at the size of the potato cellar. And yes, those are potatoes in the background.

I think this potato that Nate's holding here was bigger than my shoe!

And I don't think this picture even needs an explanation as to why I took it? LOL. It was so cute.. had a body, and even a tail on the back. But, of course, I focus on the three circles :)

We put all the kids to work bagging... It took us about 3 hours to bag 50 bags that are approx. 100 lbs each! Here's all the kids chillin afterwards... Aren't they so cute? This is what the load back looked like.

It was a short one day trip. I always wish we had more time to stay and visit everyone. Nate loves to go up and visit the cousins.. in fact, one of them wanted to come home with us for a week! LOL. We left Filer around 7 PM, and went to get some dinner at the first place I ate in Twin Falls when Charley took me up to meet his family. A chinese restaurant called Wok n. Grill. After that, it was on the road again.. We arrived home around 1 Am, and had to unload all the bags so we could get the trailer back before 7 AM. Whoa... Talk about a long day, and a lot of manual lifting!!

This is what our garage looks like now. Time to deliver potatoes so I can park the truck in the garage again! (And thanks Hilary & Charles for letting us come up every year!)

Potatoes, Potatoes & more Potatoes

So I have seen potatoes, or I had thought I've seen potatoes. But this weeken, I SAW POTATOES!! We went to Idaho this weekend to bring back some potatoes for friends & family. My sister in law Hilary's husband works on a potato farm and we had a chance to buy some potatoes from the farmer. We also got to see how the harvested potatoes are sent on a the conveyor belt right to the cellar. I must say, farming is quite a process!! I never knew there was so much equipment involved. It was fascinating to watch (and some also say that I'm very easily amused).

This is a picture of the conveyor belt that unloads the huge trucks. I couldn't believe how many potatoes (and how fast) they were going by. We were just grabbing them and putting them in the bags. We filled 24 bags in an hour and a half. Look at the size of some of those things!!

And this is a picture of the inside of the cellar where they all dump to. It's literally filled from floor to celing with potatoes.

Hilary's kids are adorable. They had fun helping

Except for this little guy who was all tuckered out...

Needless to say, we had a great time this weekend. We gathered potatoes, and we also visited with family. We took Nate with us and took him swimming at Miracle hot springs. It was his first time there and he loved it. Several of the cousins also came. We also made cards and watched conference. It's always fun & relaxing to take a drive to see the in laws.

Labor Day in Montana

Charley's family reunions are usually Labor day weekend. Normally everyone meets in Filer and goes white water rafting and then to the Filer Fair. This year, everyone headed to Montana. Charley's oldest brother, James purchased property in Montana and invited everyone to come see the property & camp. This year everyone was able to make it except for Danne's family & a few of the grandchildren. There were 29 total Blackwoods there!

Here are some pictures that were taken on James's property. It was huge and the view was awesome. They are planning to build a cabin on it, but for now, it's nature.


After, we all headed to a campground to spend the weekend. Nate was excited to go camping since he hasn't been for a few years. He also knew there would be several cousins for him to play with, and he couldn't wait to sleep in a tent. He thinks that's "real camping" since we've been spoiled and have taken the trailer the last several years. Here's a picture of the tent we borrowed from Craig & Heather. It was HUGE! Sleeping in a tent actually wasn't that bad! Good thing we had air mattresses! We had a total of 5 tents, a tent trailer, a large RV motorhome, and one corner of the campground to ourselves. There was so much to do! Nate & some of the boy cousins spent a lot of time playing with Heath's dogs:
They played catch:

We shot BB guns

Charley tried to burn his fingers off:

And of course, we don't go anywhere without our laptops:

We even had a family picture taken. This is everyone assembling in one place for the picture.

Luckily Travis had his tripod & camera there so we could set the timer. Everyone had to gather around to make sure we got "ONE" good shot.

Here's a picture of some of the kids. (Keep in mind I have 5 of these pictures, but this is the one where everyone is looking). This is Braden, Brogan, Peyton, Nate, Jordan, Mylie, & Madison.

We ended up leaving Sunday afternoon. (We were going to leave town again Tuesday and needed to get home so I could work two days). We had passed "Blackwood Road" on the way in and wanted to stop by on the way out and take a picture, so we did. (Actually, Charley wanted to steal the sign, but he couldn't reach it!!).

We left early enough so we could drive through Yellowstone Park on the way. Although we got there just before dark, the drive was beautiful. There is so much wildlife, and they come right up to your cars!
We also stopped at Old Faithful and watched it "erupt" It was dark, but it was still neat to watch. I haven't been there since I was a child, and this was Nate's first visit to Yellowstone. Definately something you need more than a few hours to drive around. We're going to add it to our list of places we want to go camping.

It really was a great weekend. A lot of driving (1200 miles total in two days) but it was well worth it to spend time with the Blackwood family.

Nothin' Like Homemade...

Aren't these shirts cute? My wonderful friend Jen has the machine to make them! First we cut images in vinyl from the silhouette and burned them onto the screen. Then the machine does all the rest! Holly wanted twilight, and Lauren wanted Jack.


They were so easy that my sister in law Heather made 12 shirts for all her nieces and nephews in about an hour. They ranged from Jack to bionicles... and even some Tinkerbell. Ahhh, the benefits of a large family. (I think the twilight screen is still available... and Jen takes donations!! Just Kidding).


And a quick picture of the back of Holly's shirt... Yes, they are sisters and have so much in common. On the other hand, they are totally opposite! If one likes it, chances are, the other one doesn't. Here's a prime example... Holly likes Edward, Lauren doesn't!!


And here's a pic I'm just tossing in for fun just because I really like it. Isn't it cute? Here's the girls in the hoodies & leis we brought back from Hawaii. Did I mention that I loved the swap meet there? $15 hoodies!

A Great Weekend

We had a great weekend. It started Friday when I was able to go to a party to celebrate Denise and Heather's weddings. They both were married last month, but it was just hard to find a time everyone could get together. We all met at a pizza place and just sat and talked. I haven't done that in a while. It was good to see everyone outside of work and talk about more exciting things.

Saturday was National Scrapbook day! To celebrate, Roberts had a free all day crop. My wonderful friend Jen hosts the crops so they are so much fun to go to. Lauren and Holly were excited to go and make something. They both made chipboard word books. Lauren's said "Friends" and Holly's said "Party" I think they both had a great time. Holly also made a summer page and both girls made bookmarks and photo frames.

Meanwhile, Charley and Nate went and saw Wolverine. They loved it! Afterwards they came and picked us up and we were headed to Addison's First birthday party. It was at the Living seas Aquarium. The place is so much bigger than it was when it was at the gateway! They had tons of family and friends there, pizza, veggies, bread, drinks fruit, lots of food. And of course cake! It was so fun to watch Addi open her gifts with the help of Travis and her bio parents. it was a neat party for everyone to be at. There was also a video playing highlighing Addi's first year of life. Very emotional and very exciting to watch. After the party the girls were able to come spend the night at our place with Kendal. Clint & Sheri & Grandma Blackwood came by to visit also. It's always so fun when Charley's family is in town.

Here are a couple pictures from the aquarium...

Disney Fever...

I can't help it. At least it's a fun, healthy addiction. (only if it were cheaper). Besides, the weather is lots nicer there. Anyway, here are some of my favorite pics from our latest trip to Disney. Everyone always asks why I don't get tired of the place? I actually don't know. It's just a fun place to escape to... even just for a couple days. I'm so glad that Charley's family feels the same way because they sure are fun to travel with. I already want to start planning the next trip! Hopefully sometime in the spring!