Lemonade Stand

If you ever see a lemonade stand in the summer, STOP! A couple of fabulous people stopped for my super cute girls and they were so, so excited. It took a lot longer to set this up than it lasted, but they had a great time.

Father's Day

We had a great Father's Day barbeque when Jenny and Don were here. I thought Russ deserved his own little celebration, though. The kids and I made a plan to surprise him. The girls made him a crown. When he got home they crowned him and sat him down for a foot spa with his favorited drink, a peach kerns on ice. While they were doing that I made one of Rusty's favorite dinners, baked chile rellenos with sopapillas. After dinner we had an ice cream tasting contest. I found the idea somewhere on the internet. My plan was to buy the small little pints of ice cream, but they were almost as expensive as the bigger size. We still have leftover ice cream. I gave everyone a spoon of ice cream and they had to write down what type of ice cream they thought it was. Kyleigh won the contest. We also gave him this years pictures for his
D-A-D picture frame. Rusty is a great Dad that deserves a special Fathers Day.

Trip to Boise

Near the end of our trip we made our way back to Boise. The occasion was the sealing of our sweetest ever little niece. We got all of our families together in one place, and huge bonus, all of our closest friends were there, too. Jeff and Dawn flew in for about 24 hours and John and Wendi came from Utah for a long weekend. The sealing was beautiful and it was apparent that our nieces love us. We arranged to stay in the same hotel as the Giles while we were there. We made it to the park, zoo, out to dinner and ice cream, and the MK nature center. While we were at the nature center we saw a doe and her two

fawns. They are in the bottom picture, if you can see them. We had so much fun being with our friends and Hawaii family in Idaho. The post vacation depression set in as soon as we got home. The beach helps. Million dollar question, though, when do we get to go back?

The Babies. Ridge, Macy, and Aliya.

The little girls. Katelyn, Naiya, and Abby.

The big girls. Haley, Alyssa, and Kyleigh.

Yellowstone in pictures

Brink of the lower falls.






















First bear spotting. He was off the side of the road. We had to wait for the line of cars to move slowly past him before we could see him. Later we saw a momma bear and two cubs.


















We made a quick stop at Mammoth Falls. Amazing!

Wagon/horse rides for everyone out to a chuckwagon steak dinner with entertainment.

Kyleigh petting the horse that pulled their wagon. She loves horses.

One morning we ran into a group of buffalo on the road. They didn't have anywhere to go. One side was mountain and the other river, so they were running up the road. We literally could have reached out and touched them. They had a few babies with them also. This was a once in a lifetime experience.

Katelyn and Naiya love to pick flowers. This was on our 6 or so mile round trip hike to the lone star geyser.

Cute kids eating lunch at the lone star geyser.

The lone star geyser goes off every 3-5 hours. We just happened to get there about 10 minutes before it went off. It shot in the air for about 30 minutes. Some people had been waiting for hours and others happened upon it just after it stopped. We were so lucky.

Man, Rusty is exceptionally hot.

Papa and Katleyn at the mud pots.

Aliya had her first birthday while we were at Yellowstone. We tried to have a party for her, but she fell asleep. I guess that is what happens when you are out of the cabin at 5 a.m. to look for animals. Happy Birthday anyway, sweet Aliya.

















Other Yellowstone news:

We stayed in Island Park at the Mangy Moose cabin. We enjoyed it, although we weren't really there a whole lot. Gone by 5 a.m and back around 11 for 2 of the 3 nights we were there. It is so nice to have a place to cook, though. We would stay there again if given the chance.

The first night we were there we went to a play at the playmill. It was High School Musical. The girls enjoyed it, but the babies had to leave before intermission. Holly and Russ took the babies and got some extra shopping time in at West Yellowstone.

I had been telling the girls of the fabulous candy store in West Yellowstone, and how I had bought a monstrous jawbreaker as a kid. It took me weeks to finish that thing. They wanted one, too. Sure enough, they still had them there. Katelyn decided on something else at the last minute and Kyleigh bought one but has barely taken 10 licks on it. I suppose it will sit in my fridge for a year or so. I don't think she has my sweet tooth.

Rusty and I haven't been to Yellowstone since we went camping on our Honeymoon, and we didn't really see much of the park then. We are looking forward to going back.

Prayers

Our innocent little Katelyn knelt to say her prayers last night. She loves to pray for sweet things, like the blooming flowers and her brother and sister. This time she knelt and thanked Heavenly Father that she could "whip it like a cowgirl."

Note: we think (hope) she was referring to her ability to whip a little elastic cord over her head.

Visit to Pocatello

Roller skating- we love Deleta skating. They are the cheapest, most family friendly form of entertainment and it's a blast from my past every time we go. It's a bonus that the kids like it, too. The last time we went Ridge wasn't yet born and everyone was freaking out about me roller skating when I was 7 months pregnant. This time they gave us a stroller to push Ridge around in. He was happy until he spotted the small section where they had a practice rink with a basketball hoop and a bunch of balls. After that he just cried for the balls. The girls had a blast and so did I, but we are yet to win the free drinks in the musical circles game.

Tauphus Park Zoo- All of the cousins got to go to the zoo together. Kyleigh and I got to pet the boa constrictor. We also caught the lions walking around and roaring and we watched the zookeepers feed the penguins.

Swimming at the public pool- I love the Pocatello pool and don't love the Pocatello pool. I think it is a good deal for the amenities but I have never been there when they didn't shut down the kids section for an hour or so. They also make you clear the water for 5 minutes on the hour every hour and babies have to have swim diapers AND plastic pants. Despite the drawbacks we all had a good time.

Drollinger family reunion- Our first day in Southeast Idaho happened to be the day of the Drollinger family reunion. We went to Heise and met up with my Dad just as he was coming off the golf course after the golf tournament. We got to see some of my cousins, including my cousin Jill and her kids. We had a big potluck lunch with everyone and had the family auction that funds the reunion. Russ and I participated in the horseshoe tournament. We lost to my Dad and Dan/Chad. We also took the kids swimming at the Heise pool. We bought a pass to go down the slide a few times. I remember loving the slide as a kid. I thought it would probably be one of those things that is really fun in a memory and lame in present day life. I was wrong, it was still fun as an adult.

Larsen Reunion- We had all of my Aunts and Uncles and families over for a backyard barbeque one night. I just love my Mom's sisters and their families. We even got to see Jeana and James, down from Utah. It takes Kyleigh and Eden (my cousins daughter who is 9 days apart from Kyleigh) about 5 minutes to become great friends again. My Uncle Mel fell in love with Ridge. He is pretty hard not to love, not that I'm partial or anything.

Inflatable Pool- The whale pool had gone the way of inflatable pools, so GG and Gpa got a new one. This one had a little inflatable slide into the pool. You would have thought GG and Gpa had a water park in their back yard. The kids played with it with and without water. Rusty, Gpa, and I all took turns sliding, too. I can't believe that little thing held up, but it did.

Counter Tops- We are always talking about the projects that Russ could do at my Mom and Dad's house, but because we live so far away and have so little time to visit they never get done. This time we chose a project we could do in a day or so and actually did it. We love working together on stuff like this and in one long day we replaced the old, white countertops with a new, dark, sleek look. We had enough materials left that next time we can do the same thing in the bathrooms.

Microderm abrasion- My Mom won a free microderm abrasion treatment from some drawing. She scheduled it when Darci and I were both home, so we did that one afternoon. The Mary Kay lady came to the house and did it there. She kept calling Rissie, Rizzie. When she left Darci said she was going to call Rissie Mizz McGrizzie from now on. It's an old joke, Rissie used to move away to the deck when she was mad at us and tell us her name was Mizz McGrizz.

Fishing- In the paper one morning there was something about a free fishing day. We looked it up and the fish and game in Idaho has a program called "take me fishing." They have a trailer that they move around to different lakes. You just drive to the lake, sign in, and they give you a pole for everyone in your group. The poles are baited and ready to go, and you don't need a license. We took our kids and Mom and Dad took Rissie's kids. It was very hot and we didn't catch anything, but it was fun anyway.

Alma's Birthday- The first time Dan met our family we were having a little 2nd birthday party for Kyleigh. We did the same thing for Alma this trip. She is such a little cutie. Of all the kids she loved the pool the most. She kept scooting her little self over to that pool every second she thought she could break away and make it.

Shauna's house- We got to see Shauna, her kids, and her new house. When we drove past the elk farm to get up the canyon to her house on 5 acres Rusty's face got greener and greener. Her house was beautiful and the kids had a great time. They ate ice cream and then caught a baby mouse and played with it for awhile. I know I get mother of the year award for letting my kids play with a mouse.

4th of July- We made our way to the Pocatello parade on the 4th. The weather was hot before and after, but during the parade we got soaked and the wind blew thousands of little leafs into our hair and they stuck to our wet skin. FUN! We set off fireworks at the house and also watched the fireworks that Pocatello shoots off. We lost Ridge's final binky sometime during the day and made an emergency stop at Walmart on the way home and bought 3 packages. We have almost lost all of those now, so we are about to pull the "plug."

Mt. Borah- Climbing Mt. Borah is something I have wanted to do since I was a teenager. Rusty and I decided we were going to do it this trip, even though it was early in the season. Dan wanted in on the fun,too. Then Dan and Russ started talking about needing to rent ice axes and cramp-ons and I started picturing death. I was so close to backing out the night before we left, after we had indeed rented the aforementioned equipment. We left Chubbuck at 4:30 in the morning and arrived at the Borah campsite at about 6:30. We ate a quick breakfast and headed up the mountain. I have heard of the grueling nature of the hike. I just kept thinking to myself, it's only 3.5 miles to the top, it can't be that bad. I was so wrong! The first portion was a steady climb that we took at a pretty fast pace. It was all lungs. Then we came around a bend and the grade increased to about a 45% grade. All legs. Then we came to chicken out ridge, where we put the cramp-ons and ice axes to use. Talk about feeling tough. After the snow there was some class four climbing. All mind. Don't think about the death drop just below your feet. After all that we came up over a peak and decided that we couldn't continue safely without ropes. After all that work it was very disappointing to turn back. However, after getting back to the car it was still a high. I don't think I have ever set out to do something, not reached my goal, and felt a high from the attempt anyway. We will be back to finish what we started. We have also started researching Mt. Rainier.

Other fun things we did during the trip were:
Played with Marley, Rissie's new puppy.
Went to the theatre and watched Cars 2.
Ate at Texas Roadhouse, Red Robin, and had shakes at Arctic Circle.
ROSS! Rusty's favorite.

This was just a portion of our vacation. We also went to Yellowstone with Rusty's family and back to Boise for Aliya's sealing. More pics and posts to come.