Field Trip to Boise

Now that Jake has weekends off- no studying, no dissertation we've been going on weekend adventures. This weekend we went to Camel's Back park.  I saw online that it had a hike with a cool view of Boise from the top and there was a playground for the kids. 

There is a more roundabout course but we took the straight up trail. You can't tell how steep it was from this picture but it was pretty intense for small legs. Let's be honest- my legs were burning too.

Next we went to the MK Nature center. We saw lots of fish and were even lucky enough to see an otter pulling (or at least trying to) a huge fish up on the bank to eat.

Emma was kind of a mess here. She was so tired and grumpy we almost left several times. Austin and Brooke had their moments too. Overall it was a good day.

Every Day Life

On Pioneer day the kids made covered wagons. They saw this in The Friend magazine and had to do it.

Emma wasted no time in eating hers.

For some reason we seem to hang out in the garage a lot.- coloring, riding bikes, etc.

I bought this trailer off craigslist and have been hauling these kids around every morning since. Brooke even insisted on going for a ride.

Kaylee and Brooke got some science kits for Easter and finally put them to use. Kaylee made a volcano and Brooke is growing crystals.

There is also a lot of this in our daily routine.... this is all Austin ever wants to do. I hear "Can I watch TV?" about 500 times a day. They have to do their daily chore,  Austin has to do a reading lesson (which is sometimes torture for the both of us) and they have to play outside in the morning but after that there is a lot of TV viewing.... it gets  too hot to be outside.

Lego Americana

Cousin Dallin got to spend the weekend with us while his family went on a hike. The kids were thrilled to have Dallin here! There were many pillow fights and bike rides. Friday afternoon we went to the Boise Mall to see the Lego exhibit.

It was seriously impressive how detailed things were.

Zoo and Rodeo

We got a zoo membership last month so we've been making use of it. It's a nice place to go and spend a few hours out of the house.

Brooke saved this butterflies life in the butterfly house. Some lady stepped on it and Brooke scooped it up and put it on a flower. It thanked her by flying in her hair.

We went to the rodeo on the 18th with the Meyets. The kids all got free tickets from the library summer reading program.

I thought the girls would be really upset about the treatment of the cows but they didn't seem to care. They really enjoyed the show and were sad we had to leave before the bull riders. Emma mostly enjoyed eating popcorn.

Twin Falls with the Dormans

Our good friends Lubbock friends from Jake's PhD program currently live in Rexburg but will be moving to North Carolina at the end the month so we met up this weekend in Twin Falls.

We went to Dierke's Lake and Shoshone Falls.

The kids LOVED the lake (AKA part of the snake river) and Jake was a really good sport and went swimming with them.

Emma and Anna were happy to play together in the shallow end while the big kids went to the deep side.

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It was great to catch up with Taft and Shauna while the kids played. We may not have made any new friends in Idaho yet but I sure have enjoyed meeting up with the old ones!

After we'd had our fill of the lake we went to Shoshone Falls. It was really pretty but also really hot outside so we didn't stay long.

We finished up the day with ice cream and then headed our different directions. It was a fun day.

Baking Biscuits

I made biscuits for dinner and Brooke loved them so much she insisted on making them the next day. I got the recipe for her and with minimal help she whipped these up. 

 She even served them at a tea party.

Cow Day and Eagle Island

We met up with the Meyets at Chick-fil-a for cow appreciation day. We can't pass up free food! The Meyets were in our ward in Lubbock and they live just 10 minutes from us here in Meridian!

After Chick-fil-a we went to Eagle Island State Park. We had a free day pass from the library reading program so it was great to have another free event to our day.

These boys were shivering so hard after swimming they decided to lay out in the sun.

It was so nice to have all the kids play together and I got to just chat with Stephanie. It's really nice to have adult conversation.

The kids had a great time and didn't want to leave. "Just 15 more minutes mom!" I told them that was fine as long as they are just drying off in the sand. I packed up our stuff and found this... so much for staying out of the water. At least they had a good time.

4th of July and cabin trip

On the 4th of July we went up to the mountains. We tried to find a short hike near Idaho City. We ended up finding a cross country ski trail and followed that for a bit. We  didn't go far but it was beautiful and we had a good time. We caught the parade in Idaho city. It was small but the kids loved it. They got a ton of candy and even a roll of toilet paper.  

When we got home we had dinner. The kids kept asking why we didn't invite anyone over and I told them it's because we don't know anyone yet!

Jake and I were recently called to be primary teachers. When I found out we didn't have to teach the class yet I took off to Utah for a weekend at the cabin. It was really hot in Meridian (104 degrees) so I was happy to escape the heat. We left Friday morning and since Jake had to work he didn't come.

We got to the cabin around dinner time and it was so pleasant.

The kids went down the zip line over and over for hours.

Saturday morning we hiked Moose Trail. I was impressed that Emma hiked the whole thing!

Hanging out on "Danger Bridge"

I love the cabin-such great childhood memories here.

We saw a couple deer around the cabin and saw these guys as we were driving.