Cascade Getaway

Last weekend we had the opportunity to go to Cascade and relax by the lake with my family.  It was lots of fun.  We usually try to do this once a year.  My mom and dad have a house next to the lake so it makes it easy to go have some fun.  This year things ended up a little different but it was all good.  Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of anyone, except my niece, Whitney.  So I'll include one of here and maybe find an old photo.  I know...a photographer without pictures.  Anyway, my weekend started by taking some senior pictures of Whitney.  It was fun and she did great!  Friday evening, we relaxed, played games, watched movies, etc.  The ladies played a round of ping pong and what a riot!  I must say, I saw a side of my Mom and sister that I have never seen before!  We got to a point that we were all laughing so hard we were crying.  Surprisingly, we didn't wake everyone up considering it was about 1230am when we were playing.  It was great! Saturday morning the guys and some of the kids went out fishing and caught a few fish.  I think they all had a good time and Ethan and Alys were able to use their fishing poles for the first time.  By the time they got home and we all had lunch the weather took a weird turn.  The wind was blowing and it became cloudy.  This was supposed to be our day at the lake, but the weather changed that for us.  Instead, the community has a nice little park area called Fischer Pond that we all went to.  We played some sand volleyball (loved that!), horseshoes and did some more fishing.  That was quite a hit as they caught about 15 trout.  This is a little pond that they stock mainly for the kids to go fishing.  So even though we weren't able to enjoy the lake we still had a good time and did some things we don't usually do.  It's always nice to get away and it's nice to spend time with family as well.

I Love to See the Temple

The Twin Falls, ID temple has recently been completed and they have been hosting an open house.  This gives anyone the opportunity to walk through the temple and see it.  This is wonderful for children or those who are not members of the LDS church.  Some of my family members were already planning on attending and we ended up making it a family affair.  I was excited to be able to take my kids to see the temple.  This doesn't happen very often and I didn't want to miss the chance to go.  Twin Falls is about 2 1/2 hours away so it wasn't bad.  I think the kids enjoyed it, once Alys was done screaming!  She found out that she had to wear paper slippers over her shoes while walking through the temple and literally was screaming bloody murder because she didn't want to.  Imagine that...the temple is usually a quiet, peaceful place and instead we are being serenaded by the lungs of Alys screaming.  Needless to say, it was still beautiful as they all are.

After the temple we had some lunch and headed for Shoshone Falls, which is in Twin Falls.  Evidently, there is not always water running over the falls this time of year.  I guess it depends on the amount of rain/snow received during the year.  So, this was a treat.  The falls are beautiful and it really does look like a mini-Niagara Falls.  There is a big canyon and just below a small dam the water flows over these beautiful rocks.  It is definitely a site to see.  

To finish off our trip, what's better than a little ice-blocking?  Some of the kids and adults tried it out from some ice blocks that others had left behind.   Benjamin tried it, by sitting on the block of ice; probably until he realized how cold it was.  The rest of us opted out this time, but I'm sure it will be on our list of things to do.

Birthday #6 for Ethan!

July 20, 2008 was a day of celebration for Ethan.  He turned 6 years old!  Wow!  I can hardly believe it; my oldest is going to be a first grader.  This years celebration included a "Jr." car cake from the movie "Cars".  When Ethan told me that he wanted a "Jr." cake I didn't know what he was talking about.  He told me it was in the movie and I asked him to describe it.  "It's red, " he told me.  Since that gave me a lot of information...I ended up having to watch the movie again to find out who it was.  Come to find out it's the Dale Earnhardt Jr. car and it only appears maybe twice in the movie!  Thus, the Jr. cake.  Ethan enjoyed all the celebration and was excited to open his gifts which he loved.  He also enjoyed running and playing with his cousins.  Happy Birthday Ethan!  We hope you have another great year.  As your mom, I'm so proud of you in all that you do.  I enjoy watching you grow and learn and am so glad your a part of our family.

What's Life without Friends?

I recently had the opportunity to visit with a couple of my friends.  We simply met for lunch and just chatted; caught up on life's moments.  It was fun to just chat, relax and laugh.  These are a couple of great ladies and I could probably chat with them everyday if life allowed it.  Life is so busy for all of us and I realized how grateful I am to have such good friends.  Friends that you can count on for pretty much anything, even at a whims notice.  My life has been blessed by these great friends and I enjoy watching their families grow as well.  I look forward to the next time we get together and the moments where we just have time to say "Hello".  After all, what's life without friends?

Happy Birthday America!

It was a great 4th of July this year!  It was filled with family, food, fun & fireworks.  We all met at my sister Tammy's house, relaxed and had a good time.  We dined on BBQ, salads, fruit, flag cake and homemade Root Beer Float and Maple Nut ice cream.  I think those were the crowd favorites!  Once it finally got dark...around 10pm we started a few small fireworks, only to lead up to some big ones.  In a small town, we didn't go anywhere to watch fireworks, we just bought and lit off our own.  The small kids enjoyed some sparklers and the ones that jump around on the ground.  We had a few fountain fireworks and then launched off some huge bottle rockets, courtesy of my brother, Curt.  Needless to say, you can get by with a few extras around here. 

Between us and the neighbors I would say we had our own pretty good little fireworks show.  All we needed was a big boom box; next year we'll add that to the list.  As I was enjoying the festivities I reflected on the joy of being with family and realized that's what the spirit of America/4th of July is all about is families and friends getting together and just having good fun and creating those "moments in time".  I look forward to next year!

I Can Sleep Anywhere!

On a hot summer afternoon, the kids were outside playing.  As I was upstairs doing chores, I realized that only Ethan and Alys had come in as I did not hear Benjamin's voice.  After a few minutes I asked the kids where he was and they said he was outside playing.  I was not surprised as he loves to dump out the dogs water and then sit in it or put her food in the water, etc.  You name it, he'll try it.  I decided that I'd better go check on him and make sure all was well.  Here's what I found...

sweet little Benjamin, sound asleep on the cement patio.  I know, poor kid!  I guess he was too tired to come inside.  We really do have beds for our children, although they do like to crawl into the dog kennel.  Hey, maybe I don't really need a house, just a cement slab, some dog kennels and we'd be good to go...for about an hour!

The Alys Comics

Recently, Alys tends to come up with silly thoughts and/or sayings.  I'm not sure where they come from or what she's really thinking but they make us laugh nonetheless.  One night we had gone to a Chinese restaurant for dinner.  As we were about finished, with chinese food sitting on the table, Alys says, "Next time can we have Chinese food?"  Another day I was looking at some photos I had taken of my sister-in-laws family.  I had a few poses of couples giving each other a kiss or kiss on the cheek.  As she was looking at them she said, "They need to get married in the temple!"  Now that's one I think I'll use on her when she starts dating.  You're so cute Alys!