Sunday, November 23, 2008

Finally, a new post

I can't believe it has been nearly two months since my last post. I guess this fall ended up being much busier than I had anticipated. Anyway, following are some pictures of our fun times in Idaho. Be warned, there are lots of pictures, but it is truly only a sampling of all that we took during our time there. I've taken lots more since we returned, but those will get posted on another night... hopefully within the next few days.

Vacation in Idaho

In October we traveled to Idaho to visit with our family up there. It's always a long drive, but the kids did a great job sleeping in the car and patiently finding things to do to pass the time. Here's a little recap of what we did while we were there... (We were there for 3 weeks so there are lots of pictures)

Yeah!!! We finally made it!


The first item on the agenda was a Bronco game. Nana and Uncle Bobby are huge Boise State Bronco fans and they have worn off on Micah. So he was very excited to attend his first college football game. And they won! What a fun game! Here he is with Uncle Bobby and Daddy.


Cheering with Papa and Nana

This was Ashlyn's first time in Idaho so she got to meet a lot of people for the first time. Here she is with Grandma Sue (Nathan's mom)

Ashlyn with Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Truax (Barb's grandparents)
We were so blessed to have this opportunity for Ashlyn to meet her only Great-Grandpa and even be held by him for a few minutes, as two weeks later he passed away.


Aunt Joy Joy with the kiddos
~ Jasmine, Ashlyn and Micah ~

Ashlyn's new favorite place is in her Great-Grandma's lap!

Ashlyn had her first sleep-over, with her cousin Jasmine.

Jasmine loves holding Ashlyn's hand!

Aunt Joy-Joy, thanks for watching our baby girl so we could have a night away.
(And thanks for watching Micah for us Nana!)


We celebrated Daddy's 34th birthday while we were there. Micah came up with the idea for Daddy's cake and decorated it himself. (It's a pond with gummy fish, worms in the dirt, and a gumdrop fence all the way around.)

It was the first time in 17 years that Nathan was able to celebrate his birthday with his mom and his sister.


Aunt Becky had fun lovin' on Ashlyn

And so did Daddy...


Micah greatly enjoyed a belated birthday present from Uncle Bobby and Aunt Joy ~ his very own Bronco blanket! He sleeps with it every night.


Micah did lots of work in Idaho too! Here he is "working" on the playhouse.


Mowing the lawn with Papa is always a highlight of our time in Idaho.


Ashlyn loved the puppy Biscuit, especially pulling his hair!!


Ashlyn got all dressed up for her first tea, with Nana and Mama. She looked like a princess.


Grandma and her little princess

Feeding the ducks is always fun!


Aunt Joy and Ashlyn

Ashlyn's first bath in the big tub. She loves the water!

Barbara, Grandma, Ashlyn, Joy, and Mom

Happy Birthday!

Since we all share birthdays within two months of each other, we all went out to lunch to celebrate together. It was a fun time!

The Back Yard

One of the best things about Papa's house is the back yard. It is huge! So that means lots of room for digging and doing other fun, dirty stuff. Micah loves to spend as much time as possible outside while we are in Idaho. Here are a few of his recent adventures...


"Daddy, let's did a big hole and see how big we can get it"

"Now I need to mark it with a sign so everyone knows what I've been doing"

Helping Papa get the sign ready to post

"Here's the place to put it. The sign says 'Micah digs here.'"

Papa has a great garden with lots of vegetables that are so yummy. But at this time of year the best thing is the pumpkins. They are huge! It took two of them to get it into the trailer.
Jasmine and Micah going for a ride with the pumpkin

This was the first time Micah carved a pumpkin. He was not as interested in it as we thought he would be. In fact, we could not even get him to stick his hand inside to pull out the seeds. He thought it was too dirty and yucky.
He did enjoy the finished product though.
Papa had some things to burn so the boys had a little bonfire one day...

And they turned it into a weenie roast. Micah sure liked his hot dog!

Just Becousin'

During our trip to Idaho, Ashlyn and Jasmine met each other for the first time. Jasmine loves babies, so of course she loved Ashlyn. And Ashlyn loved Jasmine's hair (she loved pulling it). Every time Jasmine got close, Ashlyn was quick to reach out and grab a handful. But we still had fun getting some pictures of these two cousins together...




Our favorite mountain retreat... McCall Idaho

We all headed a few hours north to McCall for 4 days at Camp Pinewood's beautiful new retreat center. We had a blast exploring the outdoors and seeing some of the beautiful fall color that we miss so much in So Cal, hanging out together, and of course staying up way too late playing games...


Micah was thrilled to get a ride on the backhoe with the camp director

Uncle Bobby, Jasmine, Micah and Daddy

Micah loved all the hiking! He even got to see several deer!


Micah and Jasmine enjoyed the camp playground together

And Ashlyn loved the swing

Sweet little Jasmine!

Although the weather was quite crisp, we bundled up and made the walk into town. Micah and Jasmine were fascinated by this little candy shop along the way.
Micah and Daddy on beautiful Payette Lake
The boys...

and the girls...

Ashlyn always stayed warm in her cozy snow suit

Jasmine enjoyed being indoors where she could read books

Ashlyn checking out Uncle Bobby


We all worked hard on this puzzle and finally finished our last night there.
Ashlyn got her first taste of veggies in McCall ~ yummy peas!!


cousins...
Jasmine with Uncle Nay-Nay
Jasmine and her Daddy