Give Aways....I will win someday!

Do any of you have favorite crafty blogs that you follow? I have several that I love. They always have fun ideas for home decor, yummy recipes, and most of them are always having some real exciting give aways! Now, I have yet to win, (because I generally don't win things).....but I am determined to win one and I hope it is sometime soon!

Tatertots and Jello is having a give away to a fantastic site, The Vintage Pearl. The Vintage Pearl has beautiful personalized jewelry, and I would love to own some of it!

So, check them out! Maybe you'll get lucky too!

And check out My Give Away Today to see some great give aways out there in Blogland!

Some of August

I can't believe that August is nearing the end! Seriously? Where has the time gone? Of course the older we get, the faster time flies!

This week was the first week of school. Another reminder of just how quickly my kids are growing and getting older.

Carson actually starts next week, but he got to go meet his teacher, so he was just as excited to get all ready for the "first day." I will get some pictures of his official day on Monday.

Connor had a few little jitters the night before. I tried to comfort him and help him to realize it would be an exciting day. There are lots of kids from the neighborhood in his class. It wasn't until he saw them, that he started to relax and get excited.

It has been hard for me to get back into "schedule." Especially because it is still August! Whatever happened to starting school after Labor Day?! I love the freedom of summer break. I love doing fun things all the time, and letting bedtime slip here and there. But, it is time to get back into the swing of things!

Here are some pics of the kids just doing the day to day stuff in the Zierse house!

This has been a rough week for baby Jace. Sick babies are no fun!

I knew something was wrong with him because he NEVER cuddles! Cuddling is all he has wanted to do for the last 4 days!

He started to perk up a bit last night so we went outside to play and enjoy the pleasant evening.

I haven't quite decided who Jace looks like. But, I do have an identical picture of Connor at this same age!

Katelyn and her cousin ran around forever!

Ring around the Rosie's

and chasing each other all over the yard.

I am going to miss the nice weather. I love just sitting in the yard and watching the kids play and play. Hopefully we will be blessed with a nice and long fall!

The Rest of the Story.....

Okay, so this is my final post of our vacation! I hope you enjoy the rest of our pictures!

After we left Rexburg, we made our way up to Island Park. We made a few stops along the way.

One of those stops was to Upper and Lower Mesa Falls. I love it up here. It is so pretty and the views are breathtaking!

First was Upper Falls and then Lower Falls

As we entered Island Park, we stopped at Big Springs. The water here is so clear (and cold!)

Kelly had to take each child and hang them upside down and pretend to drop them in the water. Of course, this was a fun game to them!

One of our days there Kelly rented a four wheeler and took the boys out all day. Connor said it was more fun than Splash Mountain......I begged to differ!

They did enjoy their 9 hours of 4 wheeling and I enjoyed going to West Yellowstone for lunch with my grandparents!

You can't come all this way and not spend some time in Yellowstone! We had a great day there and saw lots of neat things.

We saw lots of elk (like the one in the background,) deer, and bison (we even had to stop for 30 minutes or so to let a herd of them cross the road!) Kelly even got to see a brown bear.

One of my favorite parts of Yellowstone are the waterfalls.

We had campfires and S'mores (as Carson is so kindly showing us with his chocolate grin!)

Our cabin also came equipped with a hot tub. This was sure a fun treat! Although the kids just thought it was a small swimming pool. We had to remind them that hot tubs were for sitting and relaxing!

On our last night we went to The Mountain Vue Ranch. It was in the most beautiful location, just off Henry's Lake.

They put on a little rodeo, which the kids are down participating in some activity in this photo

After the rodeo, we had the best dutch oven dinner ever! Chicken, steak, beans, potatoes, homemade rolls, and peach cobbler for desert. YUM!

This was the view we enjoyed while we ate.

At one point during dinner, they let the horses out of the stable and they all went running through the field.

After dinner we sang songs and did some line dancing. Katelyn especially loved the dancing. It was such a great way to end our vacation!

So, that's the end! What a great time we had. It was such a beautiful and relaxing place to spend some time together!