Fourth of July and Family Reunion

We have had a great week!

First of all, the Fourth of July week pretty much shut down our business- I worked a half day on Monday and Wednesday, and was totally closed on Thursday and Friday. I could look at this as a bad thing, but our month is actually shaping up to be pretty good so instead I saw it as a nice extended vacation. Also, Rachel's family got here on Wednesday for the reunion that we are hosting and we have had pretty much nonstop fun ever since then. We've done hiking, climbing, inner-tubing on the river, boating, and a whole lot of swimming. We've also had great food and a couple of good nights around the campfire.

On the Fourth we all went into Coeur d'Alene for the fireworks where we got "front row seats" on the beach. The kids played and swam until the fireworks started, and then we enjoyed the show. One of my favorite parts of the show was the reflection of the fireworks off the lake, creating the illusion at times that we were actually sitting in the sky, with one show above us and another down below. It was beautiful. I love where we live.

Another notable activity was the river. We took 5 inner-tubes, one air mattress, and one small raft. The weather was perfect and I think everyone had a good time. We switched off often between the raft and the tubes, and the kids liked dangling their feet in the water or sitting on someone's lap in the tube. By the end of the trip the air mattress and two of the tubes where pretty much useless. This made for some interesting solutions, but it worked and we all made it to the end in one piece.

Tomorrow and Tuesday I have awesome days scheduled at work, but I have also planned on taking both days off early so that I can go hang out with the rest of the family on the big pontoon boat that we have rented. It should be a lot of fun.

Now, if only I can get through the next week without getting a sunburn we will call this reunion a total and complete success.

Here we are before the river trip

One morning I went climbing with Evelyn, Wesley, and Marissa

Maren loves the water...after she gets used to it. This can take a while though...

Everyone likes going out on the lake in the raft!

The rope swing got stuck on a tree branch and I had to climb up the tree to get it. By the time I reached the top, I had quite the audience between our family and the other people that were swimming with us.

Brandon and Addy are good friends

Got the rope swing down!

Evelyn and Addy playing in the waves at the lake before the fireworks started

Lots of good fun and conversation around the fire pit.

I love this picture of Evelyn.

The cooks.

Well- not much has happened this week. For family night we built planter boxes (12 in all) and planted our garden- 3 baby tomato plants, basil, rosemary, lemon balm, chives, cilantro, and 4 flower plants. We hung them off our deck which is quickly becoming one of my favorite places for the summer. It smells amazing, is easy to maintain, and the kids have fun helping.

Other news: We're looking forward to the Almond reunion at our house next week. Work continues to go well- we haven't yet experienced the big summer dip that we've been expecting (knock on wood). Our kids continue to fight play well together. Jackson drew a beautiful mural with a blue crayon up and down all four walls in his room, the window, and even some of the ceiling (and I always thought Evelyn was the artistic one). Rachel is still picking up random interpreting jobs and loving it (she did a wedding this week). My church calling is keeping me pretty busy lately. I bought some new flip-flops, Rachel waxed her eyebrows, and I need a haircut. Maren is getting cuter by the day, and is almost in nursery (yay). Basically, life is good.

 Here's a picture of one of our planters. We didn't take pictures of the other side, but it looks pretty much the same but is a little bit bigger (7 boxes instead of 5).

Right now it is Saturday night. Rachel is out having a relaxing night, probably sitting in a restaurant somewhere reading a book. The kids and I just finished watching Rescuers Down Under, and they are now in bed sleeping. I am outside sitting on our deck, smelling the fresh-cut grass, and watching the sun go down over the mountains while drinking an orange julius. I love my life.

In my last post I mentioned that Addy and I went exploring and found a campground that's just 15 minutes from here. Well, last week we packed all the kids up and decided to try it out for Father's Day. We had a blast! Highlights included the campfire, a hiking trail, the lake, and the bullfrog we caught. All of our kids were great campers and we are excitedly looking forward to the next trip. (This is a huge improvement over our last attempt, which took place last year and was a complete disaster). I love summer.

Besides camping, I have to mention that I had a great Father's Day. The kids made me breakfast, and then later in the day sang to me at church, and then even later gave me a present they had been working on with Rachel. It was a big picture in a nice frame that had each of their footprints on it and a caption that said "We are following in Papa's footsteps." At the bottom, Evelyn wrote in her Beautiful 5-year-old handwriting "We love you Papa." I hung the picture in my shop, and I think it will stay there for a long time. Also, I've got to mention that I got another present- a new computer! It is actually a Father's Day/Birthday/Rachel-broke-her-computer-so-we-need-a-new-one present, and it is super cool. It is a Dell XPS 12 for those who are interested, and it has a convertible tablet touch-screen, awesome battery life, a full suite of features, and is big enough to be a primary computer yet small enough to fit in my day planner. I've got to say, it beats an ipad (which I could get for free anyway) hands down!

Anyway...

Rachel just got home so we are going to sit out here for a while and read our book together, and then we might go down and finish a movie we've been trying to get through. Have a great week!

Here are some pictures from our camping trip...

Also, I thought I'd put these pictures up of some yard furniture I made out of some old pallets. I think they turned out pretty nice for being quick, easy, and totally FREE projects.

 Our deck- we spend a lot of time out here.

 We keep these in the shop because it's right next to the fire pit. We now have much-needed seating for 10 around the fire, and that's just counting the furniture that is devoted solely to that purpose.

 I recently made the park bench and the big long bench/coffee table. The chair was done toward the end of last summer and actually comes apart and folds together for portability.

Alright- that's all the pictures. Have a great week!

Ever since I can remember, I have woken up early in the morning. It doesn't really matter what time I go to bed, I will always wake up some time between 5:00 and 6:00 in the morning. This happens without fail, and without an alarm. I love these morning times and have really come to value them as the only time of the day that is truly "mine." Also, I feel like I am able to get more done between 5:30 and 8:30 than the rest of the hours of the day put together. It's great.

So great, in fact, that Addy has decided to try it- and she likes it! Her and I are now known in our family as "the early risers." It's fun having her as a morning partner, but it also makes it hard sometimes when I am counting on having time to do "my" stuff. Sometimes it is great though. Like on Friday. We were awake and ready for the day. We had eaten breakfast, showered, and gotten dressed. Everyone else (except Rachel) was still in bed. So we decided to go exploring.

Remarkably, there is a trail about 15 minutes from here that I have never been on before (I know, crazy). It's supposed to be super pretty, with a waterfall about half way through.  The whole hike is an  8-11 mile loop depending on how you do it, and I wanted to check it out. I knew we wouldn't be able to go very far, but at least I would be able to see if it was a place worth returning to.

So, we got in the car and headed out. 15 minutes later we were in one of the most beautiful places I have been to around here (and that's saying something). There was a huge wetland type field with all kinds of wild birds- cranes, geese, a lot of different kinds of ducks, and a bunch of other smaller birds that were super colorful. It looked like a bird refuge. In front of the wetland, the mountains rose up around the sparkling water of the lake, and beyond it they continued into National Forest. 

Walking around the initial parking lot we discovered a large park with a playground, lots of shade, fire pits, horseshoe pits, a sand volleyball court with a net, nice restroom facilities (this matters with kids), a boat launch, and a sheltered swimming beach. Wow! This was perfect! How had I missed this place? We then got back in the car and drove a couple hundred feet up a dirt road to find a beautiful, well maintained little campground (For my family, think of Teton Campground with a lot more trees and a lot better bathrooms). Woah- there was camping up here? I didn't know that? When I inquired about the price I found it to be extremely reasonable as well- about as much as it would take us in gas to drive to a free campsite (and around here, that's not far). 

Well, we kept going and came to a little creek with the trail-head marker. Addy and I hiked up the trail about 100 feet, and she told me she wanted me to carry her. Then she wanted to go home. Addy is a great exploring partner until you actually get out of the car to explore. After that, she is kind of like a big lump of wood that you are forced to carry around with you. 

Figuring that I was here for her, and that I could do the trail another day, we walked back to the park and the beach and played for a while before getting back in the car. When the car didn't start, we had another adventure- calling a tow truck! Thankfully we were close enough to home that they could just take us to our house (the rules on our free roadside assistance specify that they will take you 15 miles or to the nearest repair shop- whichever you want). 

So, we got home safely and we discovered a place that we will go back to a lot, I think. In fact, I think next weekend we will go there to camp for Father's Day. It should be nice.

Refreshed and Rejuvenated

Life. Is. Good.

I will let these amazing pictures tell the story of our annual anniversary getaway. We had SO much fun together.  I sure love Logan!  I am a very lucky wife. 

We set off for the trailhead for The Route of the Hiawatha trail on Saturday morning.  The trail is part of the rails to trails system because it was converted from a railroad.  This trail is 15 miles long with numerous tunnels and trestles. It is also breathtakingly beautiful!

This waterfall was right after the 1.7 mile pitch black tunnel! That is why we have lights on our helmets.

A beautiful view from one of the many high trestles.

I sure love him!

Showing off his awesome headlamp. You can see one of the trestles behind Logan.

After we finished the Route of the Hiawatha we headed to the Coeur d'Alene river to go fishing in our little boat. I was in charge of fishing and Logan was in charge of paddling. We live in a little slice of Heaven!

We saw a few people riding bikes on a short stretch of the river, so Logan went over to check it out.

After we finished the section of river we had an enjoyable 3 mile walk back to the car.  I must say that we had some excellent conversations during this trip.

With no schedule and no children we could do whatever we wanted! So the very next day we did a fifteen mile section of the bike trail we had found (the trail of the Coeur d'Alenes).

Heaven

This is a bridge that we paddled under the previous day.  There were two long ropes hanging down underneath with a connected board creating a swing.  The view from underneath was picturesque as was the top of the bridge.

Rejuvenated and refreshed!

During the course of our ride we made the decision that next year (or later this summer) we will be back to do the entire Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes together (about 75 miles).  Along the way we plan on alternating between camping, possibly staying at a bed and breakfast, rafting sections of the river, and fishing.  We obviously have some logistics to figure out.

On Sunday we attended the small Kellogg branch for Sacrament meeting.  I mention this because something incredible happened.  We walked into the small chapel to the welcoming and wonderful sound of prelude music played on a guitar. This brought back some fond memories for Logan.  He served his mission in Brazil where guitar music is common in Sacrament meeting and where he often played for Sacrament meetings.  

We arrived home on Sunday afternoon and we were able to finish out our weekend with Logan's parents. Sunday night we had a Backyard BBQ complete with s'mores around our fire pit. On Monday we went out to breakfast together at a restaurant overlooking the river.  After breakfast we hiked/played around at Black Bay Park.  

It was a perfect weekend.

This is a test...

Nice Hair

It's time for some pictures!

 Our home continues to be crazy. This is Maren, after one of the kids got to her with some bright blue fingernail polish.

 We've been going on a lot of walks lately. The weather has been beautiful, and the kids are at an age where we can let them explore and wander around on their own. This, along with the next few pictures, are from different walks we have taken.

 Climbing season is in full swing- I love living close to the rock! I go out alone at least once a week, Rachel and I go together about once a week, and we teach a small rock climbing class on Fridays. Our kids are getting into it too. They all love climbing, but these pictures of Addy were the best we had. She was so proud of herself. All the way up she had the biggest grin on her face and she repeated over and over "I am doing it, I am doing it!" When she got to the top, she proudly announced to the world- "I DID IT!" It was pretty cute. I hope she maintains her enthusiasm as she gets older.

 Friday morning I took Evelyn fishing at a little pond close to our house. We caught 5 fish, brought one home for lunch, found a cave, went on a walk to "flower-land," and had a great time. I sure like doing stuff with her.

And of course, Rachel had a birthday. 31- wow! She is getting old! Here she is with the kids and the presents they gave to her.