Everything Else We Did In Idaho 2012

Even though the fire put a huge cramp in our vacation plans (I know right, geez fire!), we were still able to fit a lot of playtime in our month in Idaho. There are about ten million pictures on this post. I should probably be more organized about it (and maybe introduce myself to Picasa), but I really want to get caught up, so here we go!

A friend of my dad's lent us his gorgeous summer cabin in Lava while we were booted from my parent's house.  It fit my parents, Kendall's family and us very comfortably.  Jaclyn and Andrew visited a few nights too.  It was pretty remote, but very close to their big pool, we we took full advantage.

I hardly got any swimming pics at all, but we went to Lava a ton that month.  The kids did a ton of sliding, jumping and diving.  Jayda even jumped off the high dive, I almost died!  She didn't do it again, but I was just proud she did it at all!

My parents got the kids their own bikes and scooters for the summer.  The kids LOVED them and spent a ton of time outside riding.  Jayda prefers the scooter and Sky couldn't get enough of the bike.  We nursed A LOT of scrapes, cuts and bruises, but it was worth it.

As per tradition, me, Davina and Deanna went out a night.  Sushi at Sumisu and then to the movies.  It was a lot of fun, I can't get enough of these girls.

Lots of boating.  I didn't get in the water as much as I should have this year, but I'm always just happy to be out at the river with the family.

Sky on the iPad.  Sigh.  If you ask him what he wants to be when he grows up, he says a gamer.  Part of me wants to laugh and cry every time he says it.

Back to Sumisu (we love that place) for Andrew's birthday.  It was a great time, no kids, lot of sushi and all the gag gifts this family is capable of.

Back on the boat!

Snails!  Well, his name is really Kale, but he was given the nickname Snails.  I can hardly stand how cute this precious boy is, it makes me sad to think of how grown up he'll be next time I see him.

One of our days on the river we smashed a pinata for Jayda's birthday.  It's become a tradition for her.  It was hilarious to see all of my adult siblings rushing for candy after it was broken.

Surfing the wake, funnest and most exhausting thing ever!

Jayda's little party after our day out.  She was very pleased with her gifts and cake.  We did miss her daddy though.

Lot's of grilling, baking, cooking and eating!

Even though all of us HS girls are scattered around the country, we are somehow always able to reunite once a year.  Janna, angel that she is, hosted a big barbeque at her place and we got all of our families together.  It was so cool to see all the kids and how big they're all getting.  Afterward, we dumped our kids and went out for dessert at Applebees and then back to Janna's to talk until 3AM!  So worth it though.  It was so nice catching up with everyone.  I just love these girls.

I was able to grab a quick visit with my friend Heidi, who I used to work with at Better Outlook all those years ago.  She was easily one of the best things about working there.

Lunch at Winger's with the folks.  No lunch is complete without a frothy glass of Diet Coke. 

My mom took me and the kids to Don Aslett's Museum of Clean.  It sounds a bit cheesy, but I was actually quite impressed.  We got a tour from Don Aslett himself and the kids had a blast.  Washing windows is never fun, unless you get to do it at a museum!

Birthday dinner for my mom after another great day at Lava.

I never feel like I get enough time with my friend Suzanne, but it's always so great to see her.  The movie theatre in Poky shows kids movies for two bucks a person, and you get a soda and popcorn!  We met up for those, as well as lunch at the park a few times.  It's so great to see them.

My dad and his motorcycles.  He got the little one for the kids, but I think it was funner for us!  My dad also took me for a ride on his big bike.  You have to understand that this was not an easy thing for me to do.  I am a HUGE chicken when it comes to anything that could potentially turn my body into ground beef.  Fortunately, nothing like that happened and I had a good time.

The Year of the Fire

One of these days I'm going to figure out how to upload pics from my phone onto the blog.  Until then, this post will remain a picture-less journal entry.

This entire summer has been...intense, for lack of better words.  After an exhausting move, and a long (yet fun) roadtrip to Texas, I was already spent, but still looking forward to a month away with my family. 

The night before I was supposed to leave for Idaho, my sister called me in a total panic because the mountain where my parent's had just built their brand new house was up in flames.  I tried brushing it off initially, but after checking the news online, quickly realized the doom that this fire brought.  By the time I had checked, seven homes had already been completely destroyed, but there was no way to know who the homes belonged to.  As the night progressed, the house count went up and I felt like I was going to puke.  My parents invested so much time and money in this home and literally paid the very last landscape bill THAT very morning.  I couldn't handle the idea that they were going to lose it the same day.  Of course, I also couldn't handle the idea that ANYONE was losing their homes that day, it was just plain devastating. 

The next day I sat by my phone not having any idea whether we were going or staying.  Finally my mom had gotten news that their house was standing, but they had no idea what condition it was in.  So, taking a huge leap of faith, I loaded up our stuff and went to the airport.

Can I just say that the Newark airport can kiss it.  What an organized mess!  I hauled three bags and two kids through three levels, and five different counters before FINALLY being guided to where I needed to go.  I was even scolded (not helped) but an airport worker for trying to take my kids and bags down an escalator after discovering that their elevators weren't working.  Add to that that one of my kids peed their pants on the flight and I threw up four times, and it's safe to say that it wasn't the best flight of my life.

I arrived to SLC with the news that the house was still standing and in liveable condition, with the exception of three of the bedrooms in the same corner of the house, one upstairs, and two downstairs.  The fireman actually chopped a huge hole in the side of the house to prevent the house from imploding, the pressure of the fire was that great.  And, as would be expected, there was a heavy smoke odor. 

Seeing the burn, after knowing how beautiful the mountain had once been, was tragic.  My parent's home was completely surrounded by burn, it really was a wonder that it wasn't taken like so many other homes. 

Well, to keep a long story from getting any longer, we were displaced for about two weeks.  Initially we thought we'd be able to move right back in once they opened the mountain up, but unbeknownst to us, it's unsafe to stay in a home that was just surrounded by flames and smoke.  Who knew.  So we stayed in a cabin in Lava for a week, then in a hotel for another week.  It was exhausting to pack and repack, something I did probably six or seven times.  Not nearly exhausting for my parents though, who had to face, once again, months of construction on their brand new home.  Needless to say, emotions ran strong, but I think we all did pretty well considering.

The Sunday after the fire, their ward had an emergency Sacrament Meeting with a luncheon afterward.  It happened to be testimony meeting, and what a powerful meeting that was.  The majority of the members had lost their homes (over 50 homes lost, I believe).  Talk about a strong and faithful group of people.  I pretty much bawled the entire time.  I can't imagine losing everything so abruptly, pictures, documents, clothes, sentimental items. 

Fortunately, we still managed to have a good month, and did a lot of fun things.  I'll get to that...

Shore Times!

Having the shore forty five minutes away from you does not suck. Quite opposite in fact. And in New Jersey, there are a lot to choose from. The beginning of the summer we met the Bergeson's in Ocean City, and a few days later, I met a bunch of the Philly girls (along with Kelley!) at the same place. A week or two later Jack came to stay with us a few days and we took him to Asbury Park. So far this has been my favorite place. It takes no time to get there, the parking is cheap, the boardwalk is beautiful, and we had the place to ourselves!  Then just a few days ago, some new friends of our picked us up and took us to Sandy Hook.  It was a lot of fun, but very crowded (Labor Day weekend usually is).

What is it about the beach that is so wonderful?  I never want to leave.

Road Trip To Texas

Again, I apologize for my sloppy format of long dialogue, accompanied with a mish mash of out of order pics. But I'm what you would call a "lazy blogger." Besides, this makes my life a lot easier should I ever turn this disaster of a blog into a book.

The week after we moved to New Jersey (the move was exhausting, but smooth and uneventful. we now live in another apartment in a nice area, but we'll get to that later.) we decided that it had been WAY too long since seeing Glenn's family, so we packed the car up and road tripped it down to Texas. The road trip consisted of two eighteen hour days, which is LOOONG. Luckily we made it with little incident. The only incident being that our first night, after a VERY long and exhausting day, we realized that the motel we reserved was a venue where hookers and meth addicts go to die. It was so beat up and unsanitary that I didn't feel safe sitting on the beds. After throwing a classic diva fit, we got our money back and got the H out of there. We ended up paying double for the hotel across the street, but it didn't smell of syphillis and sadness, so, win for us.

We had a lot of fun during our five days in Texas. We got to see Blaine and Irma's place for the first time, which totally rocks, especially for the kids. They live in the woods with a fire pit, porch swing and tree house. The kids had a blast, especially getting to meet their cousins for the first time. We fit a lot into our quick trip. A night out with Glenn's siblings, a nice Father's Day with the whole family. A day of fun and games with Glenn's parents and Dee and Stacy, and a family birthday party for Skyler, ice skating and everything.  I'm so glad that we got that time to get to know his family better.  We're already excited for our chance to see them again!