FALL

Summer Sun, A Tribute to 2011

Come September, I find myself reluctant to allow Summer it's exit, and Fall it's debut. For this reason, I make a point to review my Summer pictures at the end of the season, to remember the fullness of all we were privileged to be a part of. So what follows is some of my favorite moments of this Summer, in pictures. Robert Louis Stevenson accompanies with his lifting words.

Summer Sun

Great is the sun, and wide he goes Through empty heaven with repose; And in the blue and glowing days More thick than rain he showers his rays. Though closer still the blinds we pull To keep the shady parlour cool, Yet he will find a chink or two To slip his golden fingers through. The dusty attic spider-clad He, through the keyhole, maketh glad; And through the broken edge of tiles Into the laddered hay-loft smiles. Meantime his golden face around He bares to all the garden ground, And sheds a warm and glittering look Among the ivy's inmost nook. Above the hills, along the blue, Round the bright air with footing true, To please the child, to paint the rose, The gardener of the World, he goes.

Fair, 2011

We live right down the street from the fair, so when the first carnival trucks pull up and rides begin to be assembled, the girls can barely contain their excitement. One of their favorite parts of the fair is entering various projects they completed during the year into the exhibition contests.

It was especially nice this year because the girls were in different divisions (as opposed to competing against each other).


Here Liv shows the cookies she made for the fair.


And here she is with the painting she created for Brian for Father's Day. She won first place!

Holland shows us her bird collage, made with pre-cut shapes, torn paper, glittery rhinestone stickers and cloth flowers.


It took awhile to find it on the massive wall of youth entries, but after a bit of hunting we found Holland's photograph of Brian and I and Reesie on Bull Trout Lake. She got an honorable mention award for it!

And she was super excited to find out that she got first place for the painting she made of my dad (aka: Papa Snail) for his Father's Day present.

With an unusual name like Holland, we may not find her name printed on coffee mugs and barrettes, but we do see her name all over the place advertising either the country or the tractor line. Here she spots "her" tractors at the fair.

The funniest happening at the fair this year, by far, was when Liv and I were petting a horse. It suddenly let out a ear splitting sneeze. It sounded like his nose blew off his face. And it scared us silly. We both jumped about a mile. Laughing, I turned to look at Liv and her whole face was covered with lots of goo and green grass. It was disgusting. And hilarious. While I took a wipey to her face, she laughed and was an amazingly good sport. Looking back, I think I should have taken a picture of it, but at the time I couldn't bear to have her wear the horse sneeze any longer than she had to.

The girls loved combing the cow....

And riding the slide...


And having Mary join us for the evening...

The girls have always loved the most adrenaline inducing rides, but they also have a super soft spot for carousels and I love watching them pick their horse. I think it shows a lot of a kid's personality. For instance:


Holland chose the Zebra.

Liv chose the loudest and the fanciest horse she could find. And she poses just right to be riding such a horse.

Reese chose to ride with Grandma. :o)


And the fun house with mom.


And then Reesie rode away the night on the motorcycles.

Exterra, 2011

I've been stalling the posting and documenting of this post. Because, you see, I have been afraid that the winners (yes, I said, winners) will be taken aback at the lack of photos I have of the race itself. Apparently, I thought the spectators were much more interesting this year (and one of said spectators kept me on my toes...need I mention a certain 2-year-old's name?) than the hardest mountain bike Tri in these parts. Even so, I think you will agree, that these spectators are one-of-a-kind:

If you want to see these kids spontaneously bust out their most hideous and funny faces, just grab the camera. It's almost like they've been taught to do this! We could take them on a traveling road show! Who's in?


Look at Reesie's face in the photo below. She has a great idea!

Noses are meant to be picked, right?

Look at the boys' faces here. Oops, Reese. Party foul.

Even racers get silly:

AND muddy.

And now I interrupt the posting of this race to show you that Wieber girls can, in fact, be serious (even if the attempt to be serious is silly in itself!):


This is the same exact look that Liv would give to us when she was an unhappy toddler. Our good friend, Troy, coined this look, "The Stink Eye".

And my friend Keri is --hands down--the best creative divert-er of children on the planet.

Liv has so many pictures of her communing with butterflies this Summer, that she is becoming known as "The butterfly Whisperer" around here.


Here are the racers and their families, pre-race...

Amazing swimmer extraordinaire, Kristin and her fam:


Super speedy Scott and his fam.

And now....the moment you have ALL been waiting for....

wait for it...


wait for it...

THE WINNERS!!!!

Oooops...er...

... the Winners!!!

The setting for this race is absolutely beautiful. The racers did AWESOME and their months and months of hard work paid off! We got to eat at My Father's Place after the race. Keri and I got to go on a trail run together. Our family's played by the water. It was a perfect "End of Summer" event! And I think my husband has already started training for next year's race.

I wish he were more competitive.