This Old House

Over the past ten to fifteen years since I've gotten into photography and done some traveling...I've become fascinated with different landscapes, textures, and anything else that I think would make for an interesting photograph. Over the years as I've traveled to and from Cascade, Idaho, which is a small town about 1 1/2 hours north of where we live, there's an old house off the highway just south of Cascade. I'm not sure why,butI'vetakenseveral photos of this house and I'm wondering if I have recentlytaken my last shot. This is a very old vacant house out in a field. Ever since I remember seeing the house it has been leaning.We know that someone once lived there because my nephew discovered a stove in the house when posing for a photo. I'm sure there are many stories that exist behind the walls of this old house and I wish I actually knew how old it is. However, with the storms that it has weathered and the winter snow that falls each year it will probably soon give way to mother nature and simply be a part of history that one can only read about in family history. So, I just thought I would share what I have captured over the years. I must admit I will miss looking for this house when it cannot be seen any longer.

McCall Winter Carnival

Every year in McCall, Idaho they have a winter carnival. They have a parade and lots of activities that go on for a week or two. The main attraction there during this time is the ice sculptures that artists from the Northwest create and maintain during the carnival. I remember seeing this a few times growing up in Idaho and have always wanted to see it again. McCall is a small town so you can just walk the main street and see pretty much all of it. So, after ice fishing was finished Woody and I decided to head up toMcCall to see what we could find. The kids were tired at this point and opted to stay with Grandma and Grandpa. Besides, sledding was more fun than riding in a car to go see ice!Anyway, it was just about dark when we got there so we didn't get to see all of them. And since my camera died after a few shots, we couldn't capture them anyway. So here's a few of the sculptures we saw. Even though it was dark, it was nice to be able to spend a little time with my husband walking around in the snow. I think next time we'll have to plan a trip just for McCall so we can see things in the daylight hours and enjoy the rest of the beauty around the area.

Ice Fishing

Since our last visit to Cascade a few months ago, Woody has talked about wanting to go ice fishing. He wanted to gothe weekend of his birthday, however the house that my parents ownthere was going to be rented out. So on a whim, my parents saidthey were going to be going up there last Saturday and asked if we wanted to go. So Woody did some research and last Saturday we took off to Cascade to do some ice fishing. It also helps Ethan complete a scouting badge and in McCall every year at this time they have the Winter Carnival. They have lots of different things going on, but the main attraction are the ice sculptures that artists create and maintain during this time. I remember this as a kid and wanted to try and go see them again.

First was ice fishing. The kids were excited to go check this out and I think they thought their odds of catching some fish was pretty good. Well, let's just say they haven't learned enough about fishing yet! They drilled their holes, tied their fishing lines and literally dropped their lines into the hole. Fortunately it was a fairly nice winter day with little wind, but I'd say the kids were done after about 5 minutes and couldn't figure out why they hadn't caught any fish. The bait was probably frozen after they dropped it into the hole. I don't think I'd be eatin' the bait either. For me, it was a little leap of faith to walk out that far on a frozen lake. I've never walked on water before!

Pinewood Derby Time

For those that are familiar with Scouts, every year the Cub Scouts have a Pinewood Derby. The boys get to make their own car, paint it, add numbers to it, whatever they would like to make it their own. Since this is Ethan's first year of scouts he had that opportunity. With Woody's help, they worked on his car for about three to four weeks trying toget everything just right. They sanded and painted and added weights, spun the wheels in graphite, etc. The car itself could weigh up to 5oz. and I think they had it at 4.9oz. Ethan did a great job and I'm glad Woody got in to help him because I probably would have been fine with a box car and a little paint. Race day arrived and there were 28 boy scouts with cars to race. The event actually went fairly quickly considering each one raced their cars eight times! They even had them connected to a computer which kept track of the times and all. Ethan's car appeared to be racing very well and was taking first in almost all of his races. Well, when all was said and done, Ethan actually came in 5th place out of 28 boys. He was pretty happy about that.However, I was more proud when he told me that he tried to cheer up a boy whose car wasn't doing so well. We had been reminding Ethan the weeks before the race that he may or may not win but to just have fun. I think that he did and Woody did also...he's ready to make his own car next year so he can race one. I'm also grateful that Ethan took the time to think about someone else. I've only got a few shots of the race because a boy kept popping his head up just as I would take the picture. The car was named "The Flamer".

Benjamin Hits 5!

To start off the year we celebrated Benjamin's 5th birthday. He was so excited! It was hard for me because for a while I've tossed around the idea of having birthday parties with friends every other year instead of every year. Itried to throw that out this year, but I was simply outvoted. So, the Monday prior to his birthday I quickly made up some StarWars invitations for some of his friends from church and drovearound with Ben to deliver them. That was the first hurdle. Then there is the games, party favors, decorations and of course the cake. Thank goodness for Woody's help with the decorations! With the Star Warstheme that Ben picked out he asked for a Clone Trooper for his cake. I think my boys are making this harder every year!I managed to pull it off however and even used marshmallow fondant, which I've only done once or twice. It looked great and everyone was happy.

The party was fun for all. I think we had a total of 7 four and five year old boys running around the house which was a little crazy, but they had a great time. I made some foam light sabers and played games with asteroids (foil balls) and even had glow in the dark straws for the green punch. This was Benjamin's first birthday party with friends over and he had such a great time. We were so happy that he could enjoy a fun day with his friends, especially since it was such short notice. He got some great toys and other fun things to enjoy. Grandma and Grandpa Pariera also came over to enjoy dinner and more cake with the family. We were also able to set up Skype with my brother Thad and his family so they sang to Benjamin which was great. We are so happy to have Benjamin in our home. He is our little love bug. He loves to sit in your lap, give hugs and kisses and just be around you. We love him so much and he's growing up so fast! It's hard to believe it's time for Kindergarten this fall.

Welcome 2011

Well, it's now 2011 and it's been over a year since I've posted on my blog. Not because I didn't want to, life just seemed to keep on ticking by and updating my blog was not usually in the picture. So, I hope to do better this year so that someday I can look back and have something to help me remember all the many things that are family does, especially the kids. Rather than try to catch up over the last year I'm going to start with some recent stuff and maybe later I'll go back and hit a few highlights of 2010. Hopefully this year will be another good one.

Farmer Woody

Since moving into our new home, we have about 3-4acres around our house. It was supposed to be alfalfa, but was mostly weeds. We want to try to grow a crop that will help us to make a little money so Woody wanted to plow up the ground this fall in preparation for next spring. So here he is after loading up some pipe and plowing the ground.

This is how we irrigate our field. This is corrugated pipe that

we pulled out in preparation for plowing the ground.

This is not our new SUV! Woody borrowed the tractor

and was quite proud of a field well plowed. Stay tuned

we'll see what comes up next spring.