Family Abroad

Sunday, August 7, 2011

The trek continues

Caitlyn, Noah, Sadie, Haley and Meghan at Mesa Falls near Island Park.

All the kids thought the Falls were pretty neat.

On the upper part of the Falls there was a cabin for visitors to look at animal pelts and other cool things.

At grandma's house we had a little craft time, so Noah and Grant got to break in the new playdough cake maker. . . .

. . . and the rest of the crew got to make beaded necklaces.

Sadie--proud of her creation

Noah--proud of his creation

Grant--SUPER proud of his creation

Noah had so much fun creating, and he was definitely creative!!

The tradition when we visit grandma and grandpa is to go to Tautphus Park and ride the rides.

This year was extra fun because Adam's kids were also there to ride with us.

Sweet sisters, Sadie loves taking care of Lydia

The other tradition is feeding the ducks at the river by the Temple.

Or feeding ourselves if we're hungry ( I think Caitlyn ate just about all of her bread before she even got to the ducks.

3 goofy kids striking a pose

We had a great time in Idaho Falls!!

The trek to Idaho

We had a good time this year as the girls and I visited Idaho Falls again this year (Brian stayed home to work, but joined us later for his family reunion in Utah).

We were lucky enough to be there for the 4th of July where they have a fun parade and one of the largest Firework displays this side of the Mississippi (or something like that). It was HUGE and was set to music as well.

The girls are all prepared for their favorite part of the parade--the CANDY!! Of course Lydia's favorite part was anything big and loud--she LOVED the fire engines and anything that had music playing with it.

We visited several places with my parents, one of which was a place I had never been to before--Quake Lake. It was so fascinating!

The girls loved being outdoors, and not sweltering in the heat.

This boulder actually slid from the opposite side of the mountain (next picture with Sadie standing in the foreground) and it never rolled, it went so fast down the mountain during the earthquake.

We had a highway between us and the other mountain, and the boulders and rocks broke off of the mountain behind Sadie (where there's no trees) and came across a river over to the side we were on.

Some interesting facts of Quake Lake, the earthquake dislodged a huge chunk of mountain and took out a campground area and killed many people in the valley below.

DID YOU KNOW. . .

Sunday, June 5, 2011

WAY belated Pre-Easter Celebration

We started the pre-Easter celebration with a church breakfast--mmmmmm, pancakes, ham and eggs, yummy!!

Then a little egg hunting, Brian found an egg in this tree that looked as though it had been there a couple of years.

So exciting, she doesn't know what's going on, simply that she's finding cool plastic things with candy in them.

Time to play in the water, what is it with getting dressed nice so we can get dirty?

Awww, three cuties and their treasures. Kinda slim findings, but there were a LOT of kids there!!

Right after the egg hunt/breakfast, we headed to Rockdale, TX to Jamie and Jake's wedding reception.

Caitlyn and Sadie found a cute little friend.

Steve got a little choked up when they asked him to say a few words. It was a beautiful event.

Aunt Jerry made it, and we had a great time visiting with her as well.

Our little toothless wonder, she has since lost two or three more teeth and looks similar to a Jack-O-Lantern.

Whew! We're done!!

Well, it's obviously been a while since I updated last, but I've been caught up in all the end of the year school craziness! I do however have some GREAT updated pictures of our finished addition to our home!

1st off, who doesn't love a giant dirt hill? Well the mother who has to clean everyone up after they've played they're little hearts out, to name one. Still, it did keep them quite busy!!

This was right after they painted our existing family room, you can see the old color on the right, we had them lighten it up a bit, just because we now have very little natural light coming into this room.

I had to get a picture of the E.T. room. O.K. if you've ever seen the movie you'd get it. Anyways, this was our kitchen for a good couple of weeks. We couldn't eat in the kitchen, because they had it blocked off while painting and when they blew the insulation into the attic. It's hard to see, but it completely closes off the back half of the house (new addition).

It was totally worth it!!! This is our new tiled kitchen/breakfast area. You get a glimpse of our new pantries as well. The one on the right is just for food storage.

The finished product for the kitchen! We had to get a new chandelier because the other one broke when they took it down.

Here's our new WOOD burning fireplace. We are excited to use it this winter.

Caitlyn's room--this is so her with it being pink!

She has almost the largest closet 2nd only to ours! I was standing on the other end of the closet when I took this picture.

My craft room! Thank you Brian!!

Whew, watch out Green!! Haley's chosen color for her room. Which also connects to the new bathroom.

We are THRILLED to be able to have our own rooms, even if there are no curtains yet.

The new bathroom. Double sinks, with the tub and potty separated by a door.

Lovely built in cupboards--yeah for space!!!!

This is probably Lydia's favorite place in our house! The new game room. All of her toys are in a section of the picture that I couldn't fit in--at the right side of the picture. Brian even questioned if I had put Lydia down for a nap because she wasn't following me around everywhere and it was quiet, I simply told him that she was so quiet because she was playing in HER room--it's FABULOUS!!!

Our new updated living room. New carpet, and no stray toys!! It's wonderful!!

This is the hallway leading to all of the new rooms. Caitlyn's and my craft room on the left, Meghan's straight ahead and Haley's and the bathroom on the right.