Shoshone Falls

Grammy and Grandpa Earls came for a visit around Memorial Day so we decided to take them to see the falls. This beautiful spot is only ten minutes from our house.

The falls are a little dry. Here's an older picture:

*These are bonus pictures for Grammy*

May 2014

Hello all. May was a busy month that should be full of pictures, but I hardly have any. Mr. Mitchell and I celebrated our fourth anniversary (with a lovely night in full of good food and dessert), there was Mother's Day, and Memorial Day weekend with my family in Boise. Mr. Mitchell started work in Burley and has been doing an hour and fifteen minute commute to and from the ranger station. Sprout has started some early signs of entering his terrible twos. The busy summer season is upon me at work. Let's just say that we're all exhausted.

Here is what I do have for you guys - Random May Treasures:

Mr. Mitchell played in this car when
he was little and it has been bequeathed to
Sprout. Prior to this picture he was eating dirt.

My little buddy while I made his curtains.
No pictures of those yet since they're currently
 hanging on pins because I haven't bought a rod yet.
Classy, people. Classy.

He loves to 'read' books - large and small.

His pajama drawer is the 'go-to' drawer. He loves
 to empty it out, fill it with toys, and sit and play. He also puts
away ALL clothes in that drawer whether or not
they belong there. (i.e. daddy's shirts, mommy's socks, etc.)

The swing has been a favorite past-time for a
couple of weeks now. This was the second day we had
the swing and he wanted out there the minute he
 was awake. He is still in his jammies in this picture.

A favorite game of Sprout's is to put his blanket over his head and walk around bumping into things. Right before I started taking this video he was walking around for minutes at a time with the blanket over his head while bouncing off of the living room furniture and walls.



Mr. Mitchell had Sprout help him make a sandwich. Right before I took this video Sprout successfully stole the cheese right off of the sandwich. He's decided that sandwich making is pretty fun.



Sprout's vocabulary has been steadily growing. Sometimes it takes quite a bit of detective work to figure out what he's labeling, but he's always so proud once we figure it out. Here are some things he says

hi
no
doggy
daddy
buh-bye = bye-bye
nigh-nigh = night-night
deuce = juice/milk
peace = please
eyes
no = nose
airs = ears
he-air = hair
mau = mouth
toes
baw = ball
baw-baw = basket/bathub/blanket - most multi-syllable 'b' words
side = outside/swing
beh = book

Those are the just the ones off of the top of my head that he says correctly or are easy to type phonetically, but there are many more. He doesn't know how to say 'yes' yet, so, when offered options he'll say 'no' to the ones he doesn't want and either stays silent or says 'please' for the one he does want.

That wraps it up for this month. I'm sorry my posts have been blah lately. I'll try and get better at taking pictures and things so I have more to share.

Paul > Sabrina

Some of you may find this title odd and wonder what it means, some of you may be wondering where we disappeared to, and some of you may wonder why you even bother looking at our blog. I hope to address all three of these wonderings and if any of you are still left in confusion, let me know.

I will first start with where we disappeared to since some of you might not care and will just want it out of the way. I was in North Carolina assisting my brother's family and Mr. Mitchell was in Oregon taking down wildfires.

While I was in North Carolina I had internet access, but didn't much feel like blogging since every post would just be sonnets for Mr. Mitchell or me complaining about how much I miss Mr. Mitchell or how I had done something and wished Mr. Mitchell was there, etc. When I finally got to Oregon to be reunited with Mr. Mitchell, we did not have internet access and he was disappearing to fires all of the time. So, even if I did get internet access, all of the posts would have been me griping about Mr. Mitchell's job or me complaining about how I miss Mr. Mitchell or how I had done nothing because I was in Lakeview and Mr. Mitchell was gone, etc. We have been back in school for a week and half now and we have had internet access, but we've been busy, and I didn't see a reason to deliberately take the time to sit and blog about how I'm so busy I hardly see Mr. Mitchell or how Mr. Mitchell's clothes were strewn all across the apartment or how great it is to know that every night Mr. Mitchell will be home, etc.

So, I have waited until this moment to reenter the blogosphere. Not only am I in a much more positive mood, but in one fell swoop I have addressed everything I would have blogged about in the previous 3 months in a very concise fashion, and will finally have something that might capture the interest of our avid readers, but only if you're nerds, like us. If you are, then I can see why we're friends. If not, I apologize.

This leads me to the next wondering. This post title does not refer to our overall beings. Let's face it: Paul is not in every way > me. In many ways, I am > Paul. For example: his legs will never be as good as mine. Therefore, when it comes to legs, Sabrina > Paul. In this post, I am referring to book reading. That's right. This is the topic that will set our adoring fans on their ears. Paul > Sabrina when it comes to reading books. We had another book competition this summer, but this time it was official. I laid down the gauntlet and when we wrapped it up a few days ago I had my rear handed to me.

The totals are as follows:

Mr. Mitchell
26 books
11,581 pages

Mrs. Mitchell
18 books
6,350 pages

Yep. But I am not giving up. I will challenge him again next summer and he'll eat my book dust.

Our recommendations to our nerd friends are Flyboys: A True Story of Courage by James Bradley (recommended by Mr. Mitchell) and The Clockwork Three by Matthew J. Kirby (Mrs. Mitchell). Our least favorite reads of the summer were Animal Farm by George Orwell (Mr .Mitchell) and Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson (Mrs. Mitchell).

I would now like to address the last wondering: why you even bother to read this blog. You read this blog because it helps you feel better about life, it might give you a giggle, and you can say, "Thank goodness I don't live with those guys!"

Book Thoughts for April

I decided that I needed to share my thoughts on books a different way. If you really do not care about books, or do not like looking through wordy blogs, than those posts would be killer. I have transferred those thoughts to a different blog where people can view my book thoughts if they wish to. I will not at all be offended if not a single person looks at that blog because I feel better just having written my thoughts out. It's similar to the feeling of having a good 'vent' session and then not caring what people have to say about it because the actual venting was cathartic enough. Follow me? Anyways, sorry for boring you previously.