Still in Idaho......

Ya'll. I know.

I get it.

I really do.

You probably are sick of my Idaho trip already, but guess what??..... I took over 2000 pictures and I think we're only at like... 700. Yeah. There's a ways to go. For reals.

So I'm just going to do Cliff's notes- sorry if the wittiness I usually have is down to a minimum.

We're all sorry about that. 

 Alright- so before I got to go to Idaho I sent out a big ol' FB message about  doing a shin dig while we were out there. My brother and his wife would also be there that day- so why not?

Loads of people responded with a heck yes! We'll be there....

Not so  many showed up. Super bummer.

Chip was like "Ya know, this is what will happen if we move here, you wouldn't have anyone to hang out with anyway." It was a little depressing. 

BUT- and this is a big big BUT (not to be confused with BUTT)  Those who did come were so flippin' fantastic!! It was awesome!

My mom's high school best friend, Linda drove down all the way from Coeur D'Alene- along with her hubby, her son and his wife, and their 4 little men.  I have no idea how they escaped me not getting a picture of them. I don't know what is wrong with me! Anyway, this family is dear to my heart. We flew to their house in Montana for my 18th birthday- where they treated me to a party at Chuck-E-Cheese and Ajae did a magic show for me- and yeah. it was super fun. I will always treasure it.

Also two of my dearest friends came down from Lewiston/Clarkston - Tara (Who has been my BFF since 1st grade) and Christina (who joined the bff crew when she moved in in Jr. High). We were missing Ciree and Kit.... anyway, Tara and Christina brought their kiddos-

 Sweet Ronin. He is so witty it cracks me up. And look at those chocolate eyes- I'm melting! He'll be a lady killer for sure.

 These are Christina's two littles with my dad, Madysen and Jordan. 
 (and now you know why Chip likes a big handle bar mustache. He wants to be uber manly like my daddy-o.)

I am still laughing over these two. For some reason my dad and Madysen singled each other out and were picking on each other all day. It was hilarious.

This is us- Tara, Christina and me :)

Tara and her sweet guy

Jordan and I. I hear he doesn't take to many people, but by the end of the day, he was also my BFF. Love him!

And Madysen and I. Ohh she just still cracks me up- just thinking about how fun she is.

And let's not forget my adorable sister Leah- she graduated with us too. (Again- so many missed photo opportunities! Why did we not all 4 take a picture together?! Palm meet forehead.- smack!)

 Miles (red) and Dexter (grey) posing so nicely for a picture.....

Some rainbow trout that my Uncle Ken and dad caught.  Apparently people think these are yummy.

Uncle Ken went down and picked up sweet Lexi- she is my cousin's daughter. He is serving in South Korea right now. We were so happy to be able to snag her for a few days!

Lexi and Maddy-  tribal tattoos?

Rylan and Papa Doug snuggling. Love this picture!

Leah and I were able to take a purse class while we were in Grangeville. It's called a Mondo bag. They are so cute- and actually pretty easy! (and huge. They are well... Mondo Big.)

My dad smoked the fish.

I used to eat fish and eggs all the time as a kid. Then one day I just stopped liking them. Every few years or so I try it to see if I still dislike them.... and yep- I still do.  Sad day. My kids and Chip gobbled this right up.

Scott, Leah, Chip, and I decided to drive down to Lewiston and play in the Snake River for the day. (This is the Washington side of the Snake River- looking over at the Idaho side. See those green grain towers? My dad used to work there. It was a great place to explore. It is also one of the reasons why I don't eat split pea soup. We got like a billion pounds of split peas one year and I swear we ate split pea soup every night for YEARS. Probably not that long- but it sure felt like it. Anyway, add split peas to my egg and fish dislikes. :D) We met up with one of my besties Beth and her 5 kiddos- and Leah met up with one of her besties Lindsay and her two kiddos. It was a busy beach. :)

After swimmin' we headed over to the BEST RESTAURANT IN THE ENTIRE FLIPPIN' WHOLE WIDE WORLD- Taco Time.

 

okay, it's probably not THE best, but I'm pretty sure It's in the top 100. For some reason the Lewiston/Clarkston locations are the best. I have been to other ones and they are just not the same. Probably because the key ingredient is love. 

The best part- we got to meet up with some old ward members- Pete and his family (who lived down the street from us) and my favorite Young Woman's leader Marilyn and her gorgeous daughters.

And then even more fun happened when my cousin Kezia and her 4 boys drove down from their far-away home in the middle of flippin no where, Washington. 

J.T was a huge, HUGE hit with all the kids. I want to keep him. He would be the bestest babysitter/entertainer/fun zone in the world! 



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I've been wanting to write more but life has once again, gotten in the way of what > I < want to do. Chip is out of town for the week. Maggie has a huge ear infection that is oozing the nastiest ear boogars in the world, the boys are off the hook and both have nasty colds- so they are having a hard time breathing, and in the past 3 days I have gotten a combined 5 hours of sleep- due to crying children. I am a little cranky to say the least.  I have written this blog post over the past 2 hours of me telling them to "lay-down-or-else and do-you-need-a-spank" and various other interruptions.

It will be surprising if we all make it alive till Chip gets home.

 For realzies.


If I don't post again for a while.......

You'll know they won.

Clippity Clop

My dad is one of the hardest working, busiest, least sleeping guy I know.  If he's not driving truck to Boise and back, taking care of his property and horses, doing freelance work, and heaven knows what else.......  he gets about 4 hours of sleep a day. Poor guy.

When we first got to Idaho the kids fell in love with Papa's horse Sprinkles. (who for some reason I don't have a picture of?! WHAT?!)  Sprinkles' REAL full name is Sprinkles Flashlight Hoogland. (Rylan named her when he was like 3... haha)  Anyway, knowing he only has one horse, dad arranged with his neighbor up the mountain who has 5 horses- to meet us at the arena to ride.

The kids were head over heals. The boys were too scared to get on the horses, but they sure loved petting them and feeding them.  

 Alli and Papa Doug.......

The rule was (which I am so thankful for!) that everyone needed a helmet on while riding.  The neighbor up the hill has a daughter who is 5. Her name is Trinity.  Trinity is such a competent horse rider and even has her own pony.  We got Maggie up on the pony and Trinity lead the two around the arena for a good 20+ minutes. When it was Trinity's turn to ride she got up on the horse, took about two laps around, and all of a sudden- out of nowhere the pony decided to lay down and roll over on top of her. It was pretty scary. Luckily Trinity was okay... but it sure got our hearts going!

This is why we wear protective gear.

 Papa let each boy walk around with him as he lead the girls. They were thrilled. (Miles is pictured above)

 The riders and their noble steeds.

The black horse is an Arabian. He was GORGEOUS. He is Tristan's horse- who is 11 (12?). Anyway, you should have seen what that horse put up with. Tristan was doing all sorts of fancy stuff- standing up, flipping around his tummy, standing on 1 foot while the horse was going, riding backwards- doing handstands.... and the horse just was steady and calm.  It was fun to watch someone so young being so confident with his animal. 

 Rider Alli.

 The boys loved watching and kept cheering everyone on as they went around the arena. Future cowboys? Maybe if they get brave enough to ride.

 It was a spectacular day. I am thankful that dad took the time out of his sleeping time to arrange for this activity. The kids are still talking about it months later.


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I just wanted to post pictures of why Idaho is the greatest.

Ready?

This is the view from my parent's front porch.

It's over looking the Camas Prairie.  That little hump is the Cottonwood Butte.   The yellow patches are rapeseed fields. It's just such a beautiful patchwork.

I tell ya, Idaho is God's country.

I'm not going to lie. It's just kept a secret so stupid  people don't ruin it.

And here is the same view at night.

Every night there is a gorgeous sunset.

*sigh*

I miss it.