Day 98

HAPPY 73rd BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!!! We had a lovely day here. We got some housework done, weeded the garden, then went to Idaho Falls to pick up Baxter (he got fixed today), ran a few errands then picked up some Johnny Carinos for dinner (one of my FAVES) and had a picnic outside! We ended the day with some more gardening before turning in for the evening.

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Day 97

I can't believe I forgot to take a picture today!!! Lawrence spoke in church today on behalf of the singles. He did a great job. He's a wonderful speaker, so I didn't expect anything but greatness from him. After church I worked on family history. I found this neat picture from the Lueck family reunion a couple of years ago. It's of my dad & I wandering the cemeteries taking pictures of headstones to research. It's one of my favorite pastimes.

Day 96

HAPPY 75th BIRTHDAY GRANDPA!!! Last day of the trip for us! Grandma took Lawrence and the boys garage saling this morning. They got some fun toys! Then we met Lawrence's sister & her husband and had breakfast at a buffet to celebrate Grandpa's birthday. It was so yummy! We had some cake and ice cream back at their house before we drove home. Happy day for Luke...his soccer uniform was waiting for him! He had to put it on right away, of course! We're glad to be back home! :)

Day 95

The best day of the trip!!! Daddy was with us all day! We went to Julia Davis Park and rode the paddle boats (we even saw a turtle in one of the bays), ate snow cones, played on the playground, and walked around. We went to Chuck E Cheese for lunch and games (daddy agrees that we need one in Rigby, what a fun place!). Then we went to the store for a few things we needed and went to Grandma & Grandpa's house for the evening. Lawrence's nephew & his wife came over and we played cards and had boston creme pie after dinner.

Day 94

Another fabulous day! Daddy spent the day at meetings so the kids & I were on our own! We headed to Grandma & Grandpa's house and picked them up to go to the zoo. We had fun seeing all of the animals (there was even a legless lizard there we were able to touch), playing on the fun playground things there and the boys even got to ride a carousel! We had a nice picnic in the park after the zoo. Then we took Grandma & Grandpa home and the kids & I stopped for an ice cream cone before we went swimming at the hotel. Luke & Carson took their floaties off and they were able to swim without them!!!!! They were GREAT! We hurried over to pick up daddy and meet Gma & Gpa at a Chinese food restaurant for dinner. I was terrified when I saw baby octopus offered. The boys were all excited so they asked for them. I was further terrified when they were the only thing Lilly would eat!!! GROSS! The girl won't eat ANYTHING (peaches, applesauce, green beans, NORMAL food) but she eats octopus?!?! Who did she come from!?!?! The boys each took a little bite, Grandpa popped one in his mouth like it was a bite sized candy bar and Lawrence even ate a bite. I passed on my opportunity. I had one in Advanced Biology in high school...that was enough for my lifetime. Anyways, it was a nice dinner and we enjoyed visiting with Grandma and Grandpa.

Day 93

What a fun fun day! We went to the Discovery Center and had a BLAST playing with all of the fun science things there. We looked in a microscope to see bugs and cocoa, another showed us our blood cells in our retinas, we learned about sound vibrations (one computer even showed us how tall we were just by talking to it!), the boys went into a little grocery store where they got the items on their list and then paid for them, there was a bed of nails, a yelling tube (Carson especially liked that one) and so many other fun fun things! After we were done there we dropped daddy off at his conference and we headed to CHUCK E CHEESE!!! The boys have DREAMED of going there for ages. So, you can imagine their excitement when we were able to go. They were in awe walking in. We invited Grandma and Grandpa and we all had lunch before hitting the games. It was so much fun! We spent the better part of the afternoon there before we said "see you later" to Grandma, Grandpa and Chuck E Cheese and went back to the hotel to go SWIMMING!!! It was so nice and warm outside it made the pool feel heavenly! By the time we were done swimming daddy was done with his meetings so we picked him up, had dinner with Grandma & Grandpa and went back to their house for some fun visiting before we went back to the hotel for bed!

Day 92

We drove to Boise today! We checked into our hotel (Red Lion, the boys LOVED seeing the lion on the side of the bldg and pointing it out whenever we drove by it) then headed over to Grandma & Grandpa's house. We had the tastiest dinner and visited for a while before we headed back to the hotel and turned in for the night.

Day 91

What a nice day. We all worked hard. We set the timer for 23 minutes of cleaning then 10 minutes of down time. It worked GREAT! We're just about ready for our trip tomorrow. I have planned some fun things for us to do, we're so excited!!! FHE was awesome tonight, we talked about testimonies. It was touching.

Here's Luke with his FHE treat goofing off. I was working on DOF.
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Day 90

What do you get when you mix a long trip, late nights, no nap and too much fun? Tears. Over nothing. Here's sweet little Carson playing with Kolton & Luke in the backyard after dinner today. We had Jeanie and Aunt Mary over. It was a lot of fun! Church was nice, too.

Day 89

We had a fun Saturday today! Finally it's feeling like summer (just in time as today was the first day of summer). Upper 80's, little breezes, NO WIND!!! Maybe I just cursed myself. ;) Lawrence and the boys slept out back in the tent last night with Peter & his kids. They seemed to have a blast. They all had breakfast while Lilly & I slept in. Baxter was groomed this morning (shaved bald) and looks much cleaner. We went out to look at a Willy's that's for sale in the area in hopes of restoring it but it was junk. Then we grabbed lunch at Wendy's and ate it at the city park. What a NICE day for a picnic! Then we went to the local nursery and bought some flowers for our front yard. We planted them under the trees out front, hopefully they take! Then the thing that is so rare it is almost non-existent happened...we all took a NAP! After the boys woke up they put their suits on and ran in the sprinklers. We all ate dinner and then watched some TV before bath time, story & BED! Isn't that the perfect day???

The pic is of a spider's web on the Willy's, as requested by the boys.
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Day 88

Another beautiful day. Even better than yesterday! It's just breezy enough but warm and sunny. We had a sweet, summer day today lazing around the house and enjoying the weather. The boys (Baxter included) and I weeded the garden with Lilly strapped on my back, we ate some snacks outside, Carson was THIS close to catching a butterfly and we laid on our backs watching the puffy clouds float by. SOOOO nice! Here's a picture of Carson climbing the tree out front. Last year he was so jealous of Luke being able to climb it so it's extra special that this year he is able to do it, too!

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Day 87

Well, Lawrence got his birthday wish! We got a dog. He's a 2 year old Miniature Schnauzer that we named Baxter. He looks a little rough in this picture but he's got an appointment to get groomed, fixed and shots! He's the sweetest, most calm, obedient dog. We really lucked out with him. He comes when called, has yet to bark, and is so sweet and loving with the kids. It was fun buying all the doggy stuff for him. Welcome to the family Baxter!

Day 86 - Happy Birthday Lawrence!

We had such a FUN day today! Lawrence had breakfast on the porch (french toast, bacon, OJ) after he and the boys played outside in the BEAUTIFUL weather for a while. Then I ran to my Children's Mental Health Council meeting. When I got back we went to Idaho Falls and saw Prince Caspian at the theater (it was SUCH a good movie, but it's among my favorite of all books ever so no surprise). Then Lawrence wanted to go to the Animal Shelter and play with the dogs. We loved this chocolate lab so much. He was so sweet and playful. We also saw two miniature schnauzers that we fell for. After that we went to dinner at Lawrence and Luke's favorite restaurant, Chuck A Rama! We stuffed ourselves then went to the pet store where we got two black fish (the person that worked there gave us a girl and boy so our hopes of babies might be realised). There was a teeny, tiny little baby fish in the tank that she threw in for free!!!! It is SO cute! We named it Puff. When we got home we all crashed. It was such a nice day. I love spending time with my family! It just never gets old.

Day 85

It was a beautiful, warm but BREEZY day. We are so glad to be back home. Lilly seems to be the happiest about being home. She slept most of the day! Luke did GREAT in T-Ball tonight. He played short stop and did so good grabbing the ball and throwing it to first! He still gets stuck at 2nd base though. He seems to forget to run to 3rd. I love it. SO CUTE!

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Day 84

Here we all are just before we rolled out for home! Grandma and Grandpa are so sweet to us. We love them so much! They are so kind and hospitable whenever we visit. The kids get so excited when we tell them we're going out there. Lucky for us, we'll be there again next week!!! We can't wait!

Day 83 - Happy Father's Day!

We drove back from Tahoe to Boise today. What a long, tiring drive! We drove straight to Lawrence's brother's house for a DELICIOUS dinner and fun times with them. It was a lot of fun visiting with them. If Lawrence and the kids look a little run down it's because we were. The picture was taken around 11pm and everyone was ready for bed. Luke even got into bed and put himself to sleep that night. I don't know if he's ever done that before! Carson fell asleep during family prayer. We all slept well (and in the next day) with no problems!

Day 82

The day of the wedding. It took place on this dock. It was a beautiful day, really perfect weather. I was chosen to take all of the pictures, which was a bit intimidating. But, it's over and done with now. Here is Lawrence with our kids before the ceremony.

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Day 81

We drove the rest of the way to Lake Tahoe today. What a LOOOONNNNGGGG drive! The best part of the day was Carson City. He's been waiting so patiently so we could take him there. He loved seeing his name everywhere (Carson Mall, Carson Community Center, Carson Gas & Go, etc). Luke was just as excited pointing out "Carson" everywhere.

Day 80

Craters of the Moon!!! It didn't look much like the moon to us, but it was still fun to be there. This is the first time we've taken this route to Boise. It was a beautiful drive! Daddy stuck a dollar under a couple of rocks and the boys thought it was SOOOOO cool when they found them! We stayed with Grandma & Grandpa Blackburn over night. What fun we had!

Day 79

Here are some sweet little yellow bellied birds sitting in the field next to our house this evening. Does anyone know what kind they are? It snowed this morning. Yup, it's June 11 and it was snowing! The wind is still whipping...will it ever END?! Despite that, Lawrence planted a bunch of flowers and bushes that we got through a seed catalog. Isn't that cute? A seed catalog! We got all of the laundry done, the house cleaned, everything out ready to pack away and I even got over to my friend Kimber's house to borrow a couple of ring slings for the upcoming trip! We're pretty well ready to go tomorrow! I won't be posting my POD until we get back in town.

Day 78

D went home this afternoon. We miss her very much. We went to Rexburg for our family haircut day. D and I also got a manicure. It was so cute how excited she was to pick out the color and keep her hands very still as they primped them for her. Tonight we had Luke's T Ball pictures and a game. It was SOOOOO windy and cold!!!!! We almost didn't stay for the game but I felt a little guilty for leaving his team there without him, so I took the kids (daddy stayed home to clean up and get some things done). They only did a short game; everyone bats once. Here's a picture of Luke stuck on second with Isabelle keeping him company. Then Isabelle ran to short stop. Then to third. Then when she was at 3rd Luke ran to short stop. Then Luke went to 3rd. Then they ran home together. And the game was over. SO CUTE! We were dying laughing. I don't know why parents say they don't like watching Tball, it's HILARIOUS!

Day 77

T went home today but we got to keep D an extra day!!! Look how cute her hair looks this morning. We put a huge korker that was all different shades of pink in it. It looked so GOOD! We had a really good FHE on Temples tonight with a scavenger hunt and everything! The kids loved it. Luke walked around with his magnetic draw that had the list on it and would say, "Ok, we found the picture of Jesus...check check! Let's see what's next." It was so cute.

Day 76

We're going to miss our friends when they leave tomorrow! It's been a blast having them here. Hopefully they'll come back to visit again soon. Here are the girls before church. Don't they look pretty? Church was wonderful. The kids are always so well behaved, they make me so proud! I even had a woman come up to me after Sacrament Meeting asking if I'd teach a class on how to have your children behave reverently. I laughed but when I looked up at her she wasn't laughing. ha ha ha...it's true, our Sacrament meeting does seem to be out of control at times!

Day 75

What a fun day today! We went to the summer movie (Underdog) and had lots of treats there...then we got to come home and set up an indoor campsite!!! The kids thought that was the COOLEST thing ever. They got to watch a couple of cartoons before going to sleep for the night. Carson decided he'd rather sleep in his bed just before everyone fell asleep.

Day 74

Our little friends came today to stay the weekend! We love it when they come visit us!!! Lilly was especially excited to have another girl in the house. We went to Luke's Tball game (which was INCREDIBLY windy...big surprise) then played on the playground after. We all had a great time!

Day 73

Did lots of shopping today. We got these camping cots for $25 each (we got 2 of them), they retail for $70! So, that was exciting. Other than that, just food and other fun necessities!