Fun, Fun, and more.....Fun?

Yup. I think so. Back to the vacay postings. So, here we are up huckleberry picking. We have our favorite spots, my Dad always knows where the berries ought to be. For those of you unfamiliar with the huckleberry; it tends to grow in specific climates and is similar to a blueberry only with bright purplish/red insides and is at least 20 times more flavorful & tart. I LOVE them. Each year we go picking and I carefully transport them back only to ration them out (sometimes quite stingily) over the span of a year; hopefully to run out just a week or two before going home again. The kids did their best (ahem...or their best playing/eating while the adults picked) We have one rule: One for the mouth, five for the bucket.

This was a fun night. Sam had to fly out for work and it was family night. I decided to put together a night hike for the kids to follow clues while learning the lesson. It was a lot of fun and definitely one for the highlight reel of the trip. I'm thinking we can for sure pass off something in Reese's scout book from this!

Many great days were spent just being at Mom and Dad's. I've said it before but they really have made the house a grand kid haven. We even got out my old pair of stilts, they were a big hit, - and I might add, that I beat Sam in a "stilt off". Hey, when you got it, you got it. Thanks Mom and Dad for having such a peaceful, awesome place for your family to enjoy. We're so grateful.

A few more lake pictures that I missed. This is my friend Liz. I've known her since I was three. We took Liz and her sons out on the boat for a day, it gave us a chance to catch up, which was fun. Then at the very end of our stay, my sister came up for the second time this summer so that Jessica, (seen below in B&W) her daughter, wouldn't miss out on all the fun. I was so glad she came, although she somehow convinced me to run a half-marathon this Oct. Not sure how that happened.... She'd been spending her summer semester in Europe and still had to make it back to our little beloved town in North Idaho.

Good times

This Rocked!

Just to have a little reprieve from my vacation postings, I decided to share what we did this weekend because A) I was so excited to finally get rock climbing again, B) because the kids loved it and thought it was awesome, and C) It's good advertising to get some of you locals to come join us or D) All of the above. Correct answer, D) All of the above.

Here's the back story. Sam introduced me to climbing back when I was a teenager. I love it. When we got married, we lived in Logan. Logan Canyon has some Nationally recognized rock climbing. We loved to climb as much as possible, even with the addition of kids we kept it up. That is, all until we moved to our current location. I don't know if it was a partly due to my being upset at being relocated, just not knowing where to go, or a combination of things; but we have never climbed here locally. Until this weekend.

All the kids absolutely loved going. We weren't even sure exactly where to find this fabled location we had been hearing about. I think I was skeptical that I would get to climb at all, hence my jeans and normal everyday attire. Not exactly what I'd typically be climbing in. But find it we did, and it was definitely an afternoon well spent.

This location turned out to be perfect. Plenty easy enough for the kids to have fun and close enough to go on a whim. There really are so many things that are close by to enjoy if I only look. Something I'll have to keep in mind. It was a good experience simply to squeeze/force my old climbing shoes on too. They're meant to be extremely tight fitting and ooh la la, did I forget the pain those shoes can inflict. It was all in good fun though, this is living :)

So who's up for coming with us next time?

Gone Fishing

This was a great fishing day by all accounts. My Parents work in the Spokane Temple, which is how my Dad met one of his good friends that happens to have a private, stocked fishing pond on his property. So pretty much 99% guaranteed successful fishing for kids.

Successful it was!

Nothing beats fishing with Grandpa

Thanks Dad for the awesome day! We loved it!

Lazy Lake Days

These were our favorite days, the kind of days where we got out to the lake about lunch time and stayed until it got dark. The kind of days where everything seems right in the world? Pretty much. The kids were more and more brave this year, especially with my bribing (10 dollars to try wake boarding at least four times ) and we even had a few successes! Thanks to Sam the kids didn't even have to go it alone, he just bobbed out there in the water for hours. I'm pretty sure he's going to get some kind of medal for his efforts.

Dad is always so great to come and stick it out with us on our "Marathon Days". This is what my Mom calls them. She's learned to either bring dinner out to us or simply remain home with it knowing not to bother keeping it hot and ready until at least 9 pm. We had a few days where the water was absolutely perfect, and plenty when it was really choppy. It's all fun to me, that's what the tube is for I guess!

Sam's Mom, his step-Dad and his sister joined us for some of our time on the water. Grandpa Tony was such a good sport he decided to give wake boarding a go. He and Sam's mom Mary were even up for tubing with the grand kids which was a big hit. Both Audrey and Reese were able to get up on skis this year! Yeah! Go kids! It was awesome to see them conquering some fears and trying something new.

The days spent out at Sam's house are always peaceful and boat aside, the kids could probably keep themselves busy forever just swimming and fishing off the docks. Here's Sadie, Sam's cousin with Audrey in the golf cart. She had the best way of keeping track of her little dog that I'd ever seen. She would simply tie his leash to a milk jug full of water. That way he can move around but won't be going anywhere quickly anytime soon. It was pretty funny to see.

It's been a great summer, and it's easier to leave the Lake behind feeling like we got our fill of time on the water. That and knowing that by now, this first week in September, we'd likely be using wet-suits to do the exact same activities. The lake can cool down in a hurry. Til next year!

Here we go...!

Well, well, well.... Here I find myself sitting, wanting to get caught up on this seemingly endless task of chronicling our summer adventures. I figure I'll be doing good if I can at least get started on our two + week stay in Coeurd'Alene. There's always another day to start up blogging about our Florida trip, during which of course I took a ridiculous amount of pictures. How could I not? So, I've decided to group together plenty of collages, and knock out a few of these posts one step at a time.

Ah, time spent in the good ol hometown. Nothing finer. Mom and Dad were gracious hosts as always and we loved every minute. As we do each year, plenty of time was spent perusing around the art-fair, the street-fair, the pig-out-in-the-park-fair. This is what we love to do.

Along the dyke road, (the road literally serves this purpose..) we walked past this amazing yard/antique sale. So many cool, quirky items. This coat was magnificent, that is until I asked what it was made of. "Chimpanzee" came the proud response. What?!! Ew. How sick could a person be? At least the coat was made about 75 years ago. Booo, hiss. Triumph was ours though when Reese stumbled upon the exact thing he'd been begging Grandpa to make. A mini skateboard ramp for his tech-deck skateboards. There it was just sitting, waiting, a modern toy in a sea of antiques just for my boy with a can-do attitude. :)

Mom and Dad kept the kids one of the evenings while Sam and I were off to explore the streets on our own. Here we are in front of the famous Sand Castle, the same guy comes to make it for all to marvel at each year. The art fair wouldn't be complete without it. I had to include this picture of one of our favorite places. This beachy house belongs to the parents of our good friend and is also where we spent many a day hanging out back in our dating years. The house is right across the street from the beach. You can see why it'd be a popular teenage hangout. Brings back fun memories.

You can click on the collages to enlarge them, (or once you've done that you can do it one more time to super size them! if you really want to...) . If you folks who frequent my blog are unaware of this by now..... I'm not sure I can help you any further... ;)

Enjoy! More posts to follow!

Family Picture Day

Old Fashioned pose?


Nope, can't do it

We're well versed in the Prom poses though

Sam's gorgeous sister and our lil girls

Sam's Mom and Step Dad, Mary and Tony

My mom and Dad

Here's an impromptu interpretation of what it feels like if your mom is a crazy slave driver when it comes to taking family pictures..and, I'm sure this about how your feeling if you're still looking at these:

So much to catch up on, and with school starting and a slow computer to boot, It won't be easy but I'm vowing to give it a shot. I really need to print my blog about now... I'm almost two years into it. Two years! I love the chronology for my family, but I sometimes wonder just how much time I've used up doing this. For now, I'm still happy with it. It may just mean less posts, but I do feel like my family enjoys keeping up with us from afar. Anyway, thanks for taking an interest! Til next time :)

Phone pics etc...

Well, about all I can do from afar is load my pictures from my phone. To document what we've been doing, I figured I'd post a few along with minimal explanations. My fave kind of post. :)

Here's a delicious bowl full of raspberries picked by me each morning in about ten minutes. LOve. It.

This is actually a concert that Sam and I went to back home the night before we left on vacay, tons of fun!
Down at the street fair we came across these super cool custom longboards made from vintage water skis. So awesome.

Here we are stopping by the "Rock of Fame" that my Dad recently had his name added to due to his contributions/sharing knowledge with the city. Pretty cool Grandpa.

Sam and Reesey enjoying a little downtime at Mom and Dad's


This is another one that's out of chronological order and was also back home in Ut. Here I am being shown by my good friend Cassidy where to find Diane Von Furstenburg dresses. This dress was amazing! Like butta. Felt like a dream.

Me kicking up my heels after wakeboarding, an activity that has occupied at least 50% of my time here in Cd'A.

The three musketeers down at the street fair enjoying some sherbet!

Last but definitely not least, the view I enjoyed last night while downtown. The kids were running around chasing seagulls and loving every minute of it. I loved it too, it was a beautiful end to a beautiful day.

I'm so thankful to be from such an amazing place, and as much as I love it here, I love it home in UT too; thanks mostly to my friends. I hope you're all doing awesome and know I'm missing you!! See you soon!

We are here...

Yes, we are here. Well, not home so much, but at least alive and kicking. We've been having a lot of fun this summer and basically wearing the kids out in general. Soon I'll be home, loading up all sorts of pictures; but for now I'll just have to settle for this:

A gem of a picture off my Dad's computer. That chubby little sassy gal would be me -about 29 years ago. I'm thinkin my mom may have had something to do with that haircut... either that or one of my four brothers.