Wyoming rotation

We are currently 3/4 of the way done with our 2nd Wyoming rotation.  Tyler is living in Riverton M-F and then driving 2 hours to see us on the weekends at Grandpa Asay's house in Worland.

The backyard is huge, like the size of a Pittsburgh city park.  The garden alone is about 10 times the size of our Pittsburgh backyard.

This is what we do most of the time.  The weather has been so nice and so the girls spend the day digging in the garden, eating tomatoes and raspberries, shucking dried corn and cooking up fancy recepies for me.

They've "dug dinosaurs", looked for buried treasure and spent hours a day for the past 3 weeks running in the grass and digging in the dirt.  It's wonderful.

We also descended on Worland during sugar beet season!  We've done a lot of research on beets, dug one up, followed a sugar beet truck to the factory, boiled one and made sugar water and ate a picnic lunch while watching them get harvested.

Heidi told me "I changed my mind about being a ballerina when I grow up, I want to be a girl sugar beet worker!"

The girls have loved doing chores at the farm.  Grandpa has been gone everyday from early in the morning until bedtime (or much later!) pregnancy testing cows.  The girls have enjoyed seeing him though and Quinn chases him around and calls him Daddy, while Heidi chats his ear off and gets really upset when he leaves "But he JUST GOT HERE!"

We get to go out to the farm and feed the cows and any other animals that might be around.  Quinn has learned the routine and today she carried the bucket, helped fill it with corn, helped carry it to the cows and empty it in the trough.  She is very independent.

We always end chores with a drive around the field along the canal.  I let the big girls sit in the back of the truck and we got about 2 miles and hour.  Heidi usually sits back there singing herself a song while looking at the trees and fields and its the sweetest thing.

In such a big backyard we have learned how to play baseball, "tennis' and lots of other made up sports.  While in Utah I made the girls capes for the winter, I let them wear them this chilly day for the first time and there was plenty of excitement. 

Alex is a wonderful helper during the week when it's just us girls.  She is doing great in school and always catches on to everything quickly.  She discovered honeysuckle in the backyard and I can usually find her sucking on the end of one to get the nectar.

Heidi's skateboard has turned into more of a device to play with than skate on.  There were so many tomatoes in the garden when we arrived that Alex and Quinn ate 3 or 4 a day.

It's been a lot of fun to take my kids the places I grew up at and have them share in the memories.

We were treated during our second week here when my Mom and Danielle came to visit!

Quinn was very "helpful" to Matthew, and the girls loved getting to know Ryan and spending time with him.

They hadn't spent much time with little boys and it was a source of joy and at times frustration for the girls.

We went to Thermopolis and spent a day at the star plunge.  It was wonderful as always.

Mainly though, we have been able to relax and enjoy the last of the warm fall days.  The leaves have fallen and the mornings are cold, but we are still able to get outside time and enjoy the sun.

Having grandma around was a treat.

She took care of all the babies, and children that needed attention.

One of the days we visited Castle Gardens.  It was fun, but slightly overshadowed when we discovered that the secret family fossil beds were being destroyed by road construction.  It was gut wrenching to watch.

We carved our names in some sandstone.  Well, the first letter of our names- poor Quinn probably won't be doing much carving of her name, that was really hard.

It was a lovely adventure that ended with chocolate milk and a fish hatchery.

We also saw this.  The girls were out of their minds with excitement. REAL COWBOYS!

The girls built the obligatory sugar cube pyramids for history class.

Quinn is a total farm girl.

She screams and runs after the 4 wheeler.

Another treat this week was visiting "Uncle" Mark's taxadermy shop!  We saw all sorts of crazy exotic animals and got to ride a bear.  He even sent us home with a tongue and some teeth (fake of course).  The girls beg everyday to go back.