lost

We went jet-skiing last night with Dave's company party. It was fun. See those $100 sunglasses on my handsome man? They are now at the bottom of the Snake River.



We went to a wedding today. See our adorable little girl who waited outside the Temple for us? She was lost in the Twin Falls Mall for a few minutes today.



We went to the mall after the wedding and while I was in a store trying on a few dresses we realized she was missing. There was a confusion with who she was supposed to be staying with, she ran off following Grandma, and didn't see her walk into a store. She kept running, yelling for Mommy and Daddy the whole way, til she got to the other end of the mall. Somebody found her and helped her get to the Security Guard station. Dave found her there.

She said later, "Those strangers wanted me to go with them, but I didn't obey them."

We told her that was the right thing to do.

I never did go back to buy that dress I liked.

a story for you

Yesterday, Ana found the pit of an apricot on the ground, which started a discussion on squirrels. She then told me the following story. I wish I could record her expressions and voice inflection. My interjections are in italics.

There was a little girl squirrel and I gave her this nut. And she ate the pit and it was so yummy. She had a mommy and a daddy and a sister. What are their names? They are both named Ana. And I slept over there. Cuz I have a crib there. And then it got windy. No, rainy. Did you get all wet? No. Why not? Cuz we all had umbrellas….

[She got distracted for a minute, but then a few minutes later...]

Let’s talk about the baby squirrel again.

Once upon a time, there was a baby squirrel. And I brought it home. And it was so tiny. And I gave it this nut, and it ate the pit and it was so yummy in her tummy. And then we had a sleepover at your house. And we slept in the big bed. And when we woke up, it was Sunday. What did you do on Sunday? We went to church. And there was a doctor there. Really? Yeah, and somebody died. Oh no, that’s sad. Yeah, but it came back. There was one in their tummy and it got bigger and bigger. And I had a cat and a dog. But they liked the squirrels. And I had lots of animals. And two squirrels came to our house. And they rode on a bicycle. And they wore helmets. And then a man gave them to me. And he opened the door, and I said, “Thanks, Man.” And then I fed this nut to a squirrel. It was a baby squirrel. Then the guy fed it to the squirrel. No the guy didn’t feed it to the squirrel, I did. And I fed the mama ones and the baby ones and the daddy ones. And I fed the cat catfood so the cats didn’t get ‘em. And a weirdo dog liked this [referring to the pit] and he ate it all in his tummy.

That was the end. I then had to go outside and move the water on the lawn, but she carried that pit around for a long time. I just had to write it down.

get away

Our trip began on Wednesday morning. We kissed the kids off at Grandma's house (and they totally weren't sad because they LOVE Grandma) and then headed north to Missoula, MT via Sun Valley and Salmon. We stopped near Redfish lake and walked through the river. (see previous post picture.) It was a beautiful drive. We got to Missoula around 8 and then turned west to Couer d'Alene. We were kinda bummed that we drove through so much of Northern Idaho in the dark. We got to Round Lake State Park around 1 (I guess it was 12 with the time change). We pulled into the parking lot, rolled out our sleeping bags in the back of the truck and slept under the beautiful stars. The next morning we rode our bikes around the lake. It was a beautiful trail!





We then headed over the Sandpoint and up Schweitzer mountain. We were going to ride the ski lift up to the top and ride our bikes down, but wouldn't you know it, it started to rain and they closed the lifts. So we left. The view of Lake Pend Orielle was beautiful up there. Here's our "baby truck" (in the words of Ana) checking out the view. Dave rode his bike down the road back down. He beat me down, and I was going at least 30 mph.


That night we stayed at the south end of Priest Lake. If we had known how beautiful Priest Lake was we would have skipped Schweitzer altogether. It is crystal clear (you can see the bottom 20 ft down) and so picturesque. We went swimming early the next morning and even at 9:00 it wasn't too cold. We had the beach practically to ourselves.

We then headed over to Spokane, via Couer d'Alene. We weren't impressed with Couer d'Alene. Maybe because we only saw the "tourist trap" or maybe because we had already seen so many beautiful lake views, but Spokane we liked a lot. We went to the Temple, which was really nice. We stayed that night in a hotel, so we swam in the pool that night, and then rode our bikes around downtown Spokane the next morning. It was a pretty cool place.


The next day was Saturday and we headed South via Moscow and Lewiston. Lewiston was beautiful. The highway passes really high above Lewiston, but there is this crazy windy road down into the town. So we drove down there and visited Hell's Gate state park which had all sorts of interesting stuff about Lewis and Clark.



Along our drive we saw:

This cool battlefield. It spurned an interesting conversation about Native Americans and Manifest Destiny.



This beautiful gorge where we saw fish in the water and almost pulled out our fishing poles.

These beautiful white sand beaches along the Salmon River. We wanted to find a way to get to them, but we couldn't find the bridge.



And this:



We also saw a sign to Hell's Canyon National Recreation Area and thought, "let's go see it." Not a good idea. Sure the view from the top was beautiful, but we couldn't even see the Gorge itself (the deepest in North America) and the road up to it was an 8-mile, 1-lane, dirt and gravel switchback road up the side of the mountain with the plunging mountainside beside us the whole way. It was scary. Here was the view from the top. It doesn't do the top justice. It was pretty cool, but totally NOT WORTH THE DRIVE from Lucille, Idaho. I'm sure there is a much better way to get there and we totally want to go see the Canyon some day.



We ended up driving almost straight through the night. Our original plan was the camp Saturday night, but we passed the camp grounds and didn't feel like stopping, so we kept driving. About 12:30 we pulled off the road and slept in the cab for about 3 hours, and then Dave woke up and kept driving. While we were gone, the kids went to my parents house for a few days, and we pulled into their church parking lot in our Sunday clothes at 9:00 am for church. Boy were they surprised.

It was an awesome trip. We missed the kids, especially after I saw my life flash before my eyes while driving up that treacherous slope. And I could tell they missed us, too. But Dave and I had a stellar time. We talked and laughed a lot, listened to music, sang, and did whatever else we wanted. There were a few things we would've liked to do that we didn't have time for. Maybe another time. It was definitely needed. I'm glad Dave talked me into it.

home again

After 26+ hours in the car, several beautiful lake views, mountain vistas and scenic routes, and 1 treacherous trip up the side of a mountain, Dave and I are home again from our trip up to northern idaho. It was beautiful and such a great time. In some ways it was a day too short, but I think our kids were ready for us to be home. More pictures and stories to come.

three

How did this:



Become this:



I can't believe my little girl is three. Well, I can believe it. Boy oh boy does she ever act like a three year old. Its gone by so fast, yet it seems a lifetime ago. Last night as I was walking through the house picking up last minute toys off the floor I had another "I can't believe that I am a mom" moment. There are so many days I worry about whether I'm doing a good job mothering this little girl. She has so much energy and intensity. (I wonder where she gets that?) We butt heads a lot of times. I really don't know what I'm doing with this one. But man she brings me so much happiness. Like when she says things like, "It makes her nervous." Or "You startled me, Mama." Or when she tells someone she wants a "pig - a piggy bank" for her birthday and then says, "but I don't have any money" with a big sigh. She hears and notices everything I say and do. Not a day goes by that she isn't willing to give me hugs and tell me she loves me. She talks all day long. If too people are talking in the room she says "excuse me" a million times louder and louder and louder until you respond. She loves playing with kids. She is just the right amount of cautious and outgoing. Everywhere she goes she meets friends, and everyday she wants her friends to come over. She could just play and play with friends all day long and wouldn't miss me a bit.

We celebrated her birthday all day on Saturday. She opened a present in the morning, a couple more after lunch.





That night we had family come over for cake and ice cream (pink, of course).




We also took her shopping for some new shoes (which she needed) and we brought her a long because boy does that girl love to try on shoes.

I could tell a million things that I love about this one. She is such a cool girl. She is willing to try anything. She is willing to share anything with her friends (and she doesn't quite understand why other people don't share back.) She doesn't stop moving all day long. She loves dancing, singing ( primary songs especially), drinking juice, going to Grandma's, swimming, playing outside, taking showers, talking, pretending she's a puppy, playing games like candyland and go fish, playing on the computer (we found some really simple point and click games at pbskids.org and Dave being the "tech-y" guy that he is just had to teach Ana how to use the mouse. I wasn't quite sure I was ready for her to know, but we only let her play for a few minutes a day.) She is the apple of her daddy's eye and he takes her everywhere he goes. She also slumps her shoulders and walks off when she's sad about something, throws a fit when we have to leave the park or a friend's house, tackles her brother (which sometimes he likes, sometimes he doesn't), has a hard time picking up her toys and obeying Mommy, and climbs in Jack's bed at night and bugs him while they are supposed to be going to sleep, (which sometimes he likes, sometimes he doesn't).

I remember thinking when she was born that this little baby was a strong spirit, and that is certainly true. Let's hope we steer it in the right direction.

Happy Birthday, Ana-girl!

family fishing trip

We spent the day on Chesterfield Reservior with Dave's brother and wife and daughter. The weather was beautiful, the fishing was good, and the company was better. Ana loved it. Jack didn't mind until he got really tired. Between the 7 of us we caught 9 fish. The biggest fish was about 3 1/2 lbs which Ana caught on her own little fishing pole. At first Ana was a little scared of the worms and the floppy fish, but by the end, she was bringing the fish to Steve to clean and carrying the cleans ones back to the cooler. What a cool kid!

haircut

I've never been too picky about my hair. I just want it to be easy to fix and look fixed. I got sick of my no-shape hair this week and decided to cut it. Its actually a little shorter than I had anticipated. About an inch longer and it would have been perfect. I haven't had hair this short since tenth grade. I'm happy with it.

Before



After:




The only thing I'm sad about is that my hat doesn't look as cute on me as it did before. Oh, well.

p.s. Don't you love my bedroom wallpaper. I know, its awesome.

our house

There is nothing quite like being in your own home. We're renting a little two-bedroom home with a ugly wallpaper, a washer and dryer, no dishwasher, and a big back yard with fruit trees. Its been really nice. Saturday we spent all day in the yard. It wasn't very well taken care of by the previous tenant and we have been working hard to get it looking nice.


Dave spent hours, and cut his hand, weed eating around the perimeter. All around the fences it looked like this:



Grandpa came over to help.



Jack ended up playing in the mud out front.



Ana ran through the sprinkler fully clothed.



It was a very satisfying day to spend working outside. I really want to get a swing for a tree we have, a hammock and a little slide and it will be such a great back yard! We just have a few more boxes to unpack and stuff to hang up on the walls and then we're all settled. Happy Day!

america! america!

This past week we celebrated my favorite holiday. I love everything about the 4th of July. It's even better here in a small town. The festivities kicked off on June 30 with fireworks at the town square. My kids love fireworks. I wasn't sure how Jack would do, and though he was a little concerned at first over the noise, he quickly got over it and started clapping when they'd go off. All week long there was food booths set up on the square, so we went over and ate dinner there one night and let Ana jump in the bouncy things they had set up.

Saturday was non-stop fun. Highlights:

*Parade
*BBQ at Grandma and Grandpa's complete with a rousing game of the Patriot Challenge which yours truly won.
*Jack falling asleep in the swing at Grandma's
*Watching the Burley fireworks with friends
*Getting choked up a little as I thought about the words to "America the Beautiful" while we watched the fireworks. (I think next year I'll have a CD to play along with them.)
*Fire crackers in the street. Ana was so cute with sparklers!

It was such a great day!

Of course, we forgot to put the memory card in the camera before we took off, so this is one of the only pictures we got.



I love my country. I thank my parents for instilling in me a sense of patriotism. That proudly stands when I see the red, white and blue. That cries a little when I hear patriotic music. I know this land is a blessed nation. I hope that as a people we remember what great men fought and died for. I hope we remember to be kind and thoughtful, even when there is no reward for us individually. I hope we remember that "America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great." (Alexis de Tocqueville)

God Bless America!

lagoon trip

Dave's sister Janet invited us to go to Lagoon with her family last Friday. It was a ton of fun.

The first thing Dave wanted to do was take Ana on the Sky Ride. I didn't really care to join so I decided to stay on the ground and take pictures. I guess while I was waiting at the other end with Dave's Bro in law, our nephew Austin insisted on going on one of those spinning rides before the sky ride. Ana was just barely tall enough and Dave said she loved it!

We rode the train twice - once with Janet and her boy Austin. It was so much fun to be there with them!

Ana like the carousel, of course. Jack didn't mind it either. It is just about the only spinning ride I like.


Ana loved all of the rides. This one she wanted to ride twice. The second time she steered. She smiled and smiled.

Jack was pretty tired, so he got to nap. I was so glad he could walk, because I was able to put him down and let him roam a little. He did really well all day.

When I got in this roller coaster with Ana, she said, "but I want to ride it by myself, Mommy." She was quite insistent, and when it was all over, she said again, "But I wanted to ride it by myself." I'm sure she would have done just find by herself.

This little boy was so cute. He was in the boat behind Ana, but he really wanted to ride in the pink one. Dave told his parents that Ana wouldn't mind. So, they rode together and smiled and giggled with each other. There was another ride that Ana rode with a little girl. That was so funny. The other girl was so friendly and showed Ana how to hold on and talked to her the whole time. It was cute.

Dave was such the proud Daddy and loved taking Ana on all the rides.

Dave and I did get a couple of the big roller coasters in. Janet and her other son Justin watched the kids for us while we rode them. I love roller coasters!

At about 7:30, it started pouring. We ended up over at the bumper cars and Ana did those a few times and then we decided to head back to Janet's house. We got back home at 1:00 and both the kids were so beat that they stayed asleep while we moved them into the house and didn't wake up until about 11 the next morning.

Just as a side note, our little girl rocks. She is so excited about everything. Even when it was raining so hard she said, "I can ride that one with a cover, mom." (They wouldn't run it for just one kid, so she couldn't do it.) She makes friends everywhere she goes, and I hope that never changes.

Thanks for such an awesome time Janet. Loved it!