My Trip to Hide-A-Ho

I made a trip to Idaho or as Kammy would say "Hide-a-Ho" for 4 days this last week. I had never been before and was excited to see a new state. My friend Christina asked me to go with her and so we made it a girl/road trip. No kids.....No husbands......it was an exciting adventure........She has family there and so we were able to stay with them. We made it to Idaho and back on $50....probably the cheapest road trip EVER!! We were very proud of our thrifty selves!!
We did the typical girly road trip things....like rock out to 80's music and sing at the top of our lungs...with no fear of our kids plugging their ears and telling us we sound bad. We ate whatever we felt like, whenever we felt like....and answered to no one. If we wanted an Oreo Cookie milkshake from Jack in the Box at 10pm.....we went out to get one....but then also turned it into a Ghost Hunters episode (which BTW we watched for hours almost scaring ourselves to death), finding our own haunted house and exploring it while I being the chicken one almost peed my pants!!

I was most impressed with my ability to legally go 80mph!!! All of you know that I was born with a lead foot....it must be inherited from my motorcycle racing daddy who I KNOW has speed flowing through his veins. So what a joyous day for me to cross over to the Idaho border and see a 75mph speed limit!! YAHOOOOOOOO

We were also able to visit the Boise Temple. Unfortunately it was closed for cleaning so we were unable to go inside...but we walked around the outside...it definitely was a beautiful sight.

This is another picture of the Boise Temple...just me trying to be a creative photographer catching the sun between the spires. It truly was a beautiful day.

I enjoyed my trip immensely. Whether it was exploring a new place....getting to know a friend better.....or just having a moment to myself that was so desperately needed.....I can't wait to go back.

The High Desert Museum

The High Desert Museum had a free family day this last weekend and we took advantage of free family fun as did the rest of the city. Seriously........we enjoyed ourselves a lot and learned a lot in the process, which is always good!!

We learned about the animals and habitats of the High Desert. We saw snakes, lizards, fish, owls, spiders, otters, goats, chickens, a bobcat and bald eagles!!!

We learned about pioneers and actually got to visit a real homestead. It was fascinating to see how the pioneers lived and worked. At the homestead we got to go in a real one room cabin decorated as it would have been in the 1800's with a wood stove and bed......There was a little old pioneer women inside just waiting to tell us some pioneer stories!! This by far was my favorite part.....I think in another life I would have been a pioneer....but at the same time very thankful that I'm not!! We also got to visit a mining town and see what the stores and banks used to look like back in the 1800's.

We got to go inside a real tepee and discover how the Indians lived long ago.....We saw an Indian camp on the prairie and oogled over the beaded clothing and shoes

It was a day of discovery and fun for all of us. We talked about our favorite parts all the way home and decided we would go back in the spring when it's not so cold and snowy!!


The beautiful bobcat we saw on our journey......

The kids thought this "Outside Toilet" was hilarious!!

Here's me showing them how to use the Outhouse!! They thought that was hilarious too!!

The Indian Tepee.....Kiley's missing.......I think she was napping inside!!!

Pinewood Derby 2009

Nathan's 2nd Pinewood Derby race was this week. He and Mike worked really hard on the car this year, trying to make it faster than ever!! It was a cool looking car......all black except for the flames on the hood. It was appropriately named "Fire Bolt"..........no relation to last years car "Lightning McQueen." The excitement between the boys (Nate and Mike) could be felt all week long. They knew they had a winner!! It was the longest week ever while they put the finishing touches on "The Bolt." I think Mike was almost more nervous than Nate......You men know it's a direct reflection on you if your boys car doesn't run good!!! Or so they think.....Anyway.......each boy gets to run their car in 4 heats down the track....The cars time is averaged by a very high tech computer system and when it's all said and done the fastest car wins!! Nate's car won 1st in heat #1........2nd in heat #2...........1st in heat #3...........and 2nd in heat #4.........He thought he had a pretty good chance.........In the end we think he finished in the top 10.....they only had trophies up to 8th place, so he didn't get a trophy but he did win "Most Colorful Derby Car." Once again I was completely impressed with each boys sportsmanship they showed to one another. Nate and Mike are already planning for next years Derby!! It was a fun night had by all!! Nate and Mike putting an extra weight on the car right before race time......It has to be no more than 5 ounces at weigh in

"Fire Bolt" with the certificate of "Most Colorful Derby Car"

The Promise of a New Year

As I got out of the shower this morning, the first day of 2009....I heard lots of noise outside and decided to peek out the window to see what was going on......I found that the wind had started to blow just as we had been warned by the National Weather Service. But....I also found this beautiful rainbow just outside my window.....I'd like to think it's just for me and a special promise of better things to come this year. I immediately wrapped up in my robe and ran out to the living room and begged Michael to go outside to take a picture of my New Years Rainbow!! He thought I was nuts....I kept telling him to hurry before it went away!! He got some great pictures and I new I had to blog about it!! Later after about an hour Mike says...."You know, it's really weird...there has been a rainbow in that same spot 3 times this week!!!" Coincidence??....Maybe......
Special promise just for me??.....I'd like to think more likely.....

Happy New Year 08/09

We began our New Years Eve Celebration with our Annual Banana Split Party....we all look forward to it every year and usually start talking about it the day after Christmas!!!
As you can see it's not the most beautiful Banana Split there ever was....but let me tell you.....it tasted like a million bucks!!!

Maddy wanted to show off her Banana Split that she made!!

Kammy would hardly stop eating hers so I could get a picture!!

Kiley and Nate enjoying their Splits!!

This obviously was the highlight of the night.....but we still had many more hours to go before the New Year......5 to be exact.....can they make it.....We'll see!!!

Happy New Year 08/09.....(continued)

This year was the first year the kids were attempting to stay up until midnight.......It was hard for all of us....They watched several movies to help pass the time.....As you can see they almost didn't make it. These pictures were taken about 10:45pm.......

The time finally came to select the pots and pans for the ringing in of the New Year....A careful selection was made to make sure each one was loud enough.....Boy were they ever...it even scared the cat who went and hid under the bed!!! About 5 min before midnight Kammy started having second thoughts about causing a raucous in the neighborhood that late at night....she was so afraid someone was going to call the police on us.....Poor girl...she almost decided to stay inside, but we convinced her she wouldn't be hauled off to jail........

They had a great time making all that noise....Mike even let off some fire crackers and we whooped and hollered.....come to find out we weren't the noisiest one's in the neighborhood....Kammy was safe this year!!!

We had the TV on also watching the Ball in NYC drop and the kids were amazed at how many ppl were there and how big that party is.....After all that was their first time to see the huge ball drop from the sky.....they had heard us talking about it but never really new what we meant and thought those ppl in NYC are crazy for dropping balls out of the sky at midnight!!

After all the excitement we went to bed.....no arguments tonight as it was WAY passed our bedtimes!!!!

We had so much fun with the kids this year....it's amazing how much fun they can be the older they get......

Happy New Year!!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone!! Here's the Christmas picutre of the kids this year. It's a cute one...maybe one of the better ones I've taken.

This year we spent Christmas in Portland. We had originally decided to stay home....but then Mike's Grandma died a few days before......so we had to go to Tillamook for the funeral service....since we were there we decided to head to Portland and spend Christmas with my sister and mom and grandma.....We had a great time......The snow was ridiculous. There was about 18 inches in Portland.....the whole city shut down....some ppl hadn't had garbage service in 3 weeks!! YIKES!!

We finally made it home last night after being gone for a week only to find that we had to dig out our driveway just to get to it.......We had a fresh layer of snow..about 1 1/2 feet....

It's good to be home......