Trip to Frozen Erie

I got to take another trip to Erie to see Brian, Celia, Maden and Annie! I flew out of Idaho Falls on Friday, Feb. 28, 2014 at 6:30 am.  I flew to Salt Lake, then Dallas, then Detroit and finally made it to Erie at 9:15 pm.  Brian picked me up and we headed to their house. The car said it was 10 degrees.  Saturday, March 1st was Brian's birthday.  He had bought tickets for a car show in Cleveland. First we went to Eat'n Park for a buffet breakfast, then headed for Cleveland.  The car show was great, we all liked it. We stayed for quite awhile, then headed back toward Erie.  The plan was to stop at Red Lobster for a birthday dinner, but it was going to be an hour wait, so we went to a Chinese Buffet instead.

Here we are at Eat'n Park. It was a good buffet and so fun to be with these four!

Family photo in front of the new 2015 Ford F150. (The main reason for the car show)

Ford had set up a play area. Maden got too scared to go up the slide, but he would catch Celia. Celia and Annie went down.

Maden was so excited that there was a Ferris Wheel inside the building! He loved every minute of the ride.

There were some carnival mirrors that were really fun. I loved the one that made me look tall and skinny, but not sure I liked it making Maden look so grown up.

There was a lot of things to do besides seeing the cars.  Brian tried golfing and shooting a basketball.

Brian and Celia took a ride in a Jeep that went around this course. They thought it was really fun.

So fun to be with this cute little lady and see her cute personality.

When we got home, Brian opened his presents. Celia and the kids ordered him a whole case of his favorite popcorn.

I brought Maden all the state quarters except Alabama. We ordered him a map to put them in. This was our Sunday morning activity. He loved seeing the map get filled up. He loves all things about the states. His favorite game on the IPad is Stack the States.

Annie had watched Maden hit this balloon with the bat, and so she wanted to do it too. She had come down with a bad cough, so I stayed home from church with her. We took her to the Dr. on Monday morning, turned out she had croup. Poor baby. She was such a good girl even though she didn't feel well.

I took money for Maden and Annie for their suprprises. Maden got to count it every day, then on Friday we got to spend it. He loved the activity! He really loved the silver dollars that Billie had sent for them. He played and played with them.

Maden loves to play Wii Fit. He is pretty good with the balance games. He is so good about following the rules to get the privilege of playing the Wii. He would read a book to me so he could play.

Even though it was really cold, we ventured outside to get some fresh air. Both kids loved it! 

We went to library, it was Dr. Suess Day. The librarian was dressed like The Cat in the Hat. The hats were a little big for Annie. Maden loved the SmartBoard. I thought it was pretty awesome too.

Annie and I are just a rocking away at the library.

Maden and I built a "temple" with his big blocks, then he measured it, and figured out it was taller than him, then Annie helped him knock it down.

We went to Krispy Kreme even though the hot light was not on. We were going to just buy some donuts and take them home, but Annie would not leave without eating her donut there.  I think she knows everything!

We went outside again.  Celia let the kids slide down a little hill. Annie loved going down by herself.

Maden is doing some math problems to earn some time either watching  a video or playing the Wii.

When Annie woke up from her nap, Maden went and joined her in the crib.

We played a giant game of checkers, and Maden ate a giant strawberry.

We went to Sam's Club for a pretzel.

The many antics of Annie in Sam's Club.

Maden wasn't thrilled to get a hair cut, but he was good boy and sat really still. Having my IPad play the song Fifty Nifty States, and Primary songs helped a little.

Friday night we made it to Red Lobster for a late Birthday dinner.

All to soon, it was Saturday, March 8th and time for me to fly home. Annie was getting a little daddy time before we left.

We stopped at Chic-Fil-A on the way to the airport. The kids got to play a little bit. It was a great trip and I'm so thankful for the time I got to spend in Frozen Erie. Can't wait to go back.

On again, off again, on again trip to Boise

Blake was scheduled to work in Boise on Feb. 24th. Randy and Jared found that out and decided it would be fun to go a hockey game in Boise on Saturday, the 22nd.  Blake and I decided that we would go over on Saturday and just stay until Monday. The kids would drive over on Saturday and come home on Sunday morning. 

Well, on the 17th Blake received word that he would have to work on the 24th, so he and I decided we would not go at all.  The kids were just going as planned.

So, on Saturday morning at 7:30 I mentioned to Blake that the Firth Girls Basketball team that his niece Sharla Cook coaches would be playing in the state championship game in Boise later that afternoon. His immediate response was, "let's go."  He talked to Randy and Jared, told them we had changed our minds again and were going. We could all ride together in Red, he called the hotel and booked us a room, fixed breakfast, and we were all out the door by 9:02 am.

We got to the Idaho Center at about 1:00pm.  We sure did surprise Merralee and her family.

   Here we are at the game.  Merralee, Kimberlee, Brittany, Melanie and her boys, and Melinda and her family were all there to support Sharla and the Firth girls.  Bart was in his usual spot behind the camera filming the game.

I zoomed in so much that the pictures are a little fuzzy.  But, here is Sharla coaching her team in the championship game.

And....they are the Champions!  Congratulations Sharla! It was a good game, and so fun to be there!

After the game, we went to Cheesecake Factory to eat! Then we went and checked in the Hampton Inn, Downtown Boise.  We walked about 1 1/2 blocks to the Century Link Arena for the Hockey game. None of us had ever been to a hockey game before, we really didn't know what to expect or anything about hockey.  It was very interesting, kind of long, but interesting.

All ready to watch the Idaho Steelhead hockey team take on the Utah Grizzlies.

They ran the Zamboni before the game, and between each period.  Hockey is sure a physical game, they would smash each other into the walls and trip people with their sticks.  The Steelheads ended up losing in a shootout.  

Nikelle just couldn't sit still when they would play the music and say to get up and dance!

After the game, we walked back to the hotel. We left at 7:00 am on Sunday morning, and were home by about 10:45 so Randy, Courtney, Jared and I could fulfill our teaching assignments at church.  It was a fast, fun trip!

Dr. James Cabin - Island Park

Blake works with Dr. Michael James, a podiatrist in Idaho Falls.  He is a very good friend also.  He has been talking to Blake for a long time about inviting us to his cabin. We finally found a time that would work for all of us.  So on Friday, Feb. 7th, Blake, Randy, Courtney, Jared, Nikelle and I loaded up and headed for Island Park.  As it turned out, Dr. James was the only member of his family that could make it.  He was the perfect host, and we appreciate him letting us invade his beautiful cabin.  

We got there about 8 pm. He had it all lit up and ready for us. This is the view from upstairs looking down into the living room. It has seven bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. It is just beautiful.

These are the same windows with the blinds opened up on Saturday morning.  These windows over look the lake.

Beautiful site!

This is the wonderful kitchen. The top left picture was taken on Friday night just after our arrival.  Dr. James made us a delicious breakfast on Saturday morning, then he and Blake did the dishes.

Top left: the living room, top right: the entry way, bottom left: the landing at the top of the stairs, bottom right: the bathroom sink and tap.  I loved all the details and furnishings, it was all very amazing.

This is the outside of the cabin, facing the road.  I couldn't go to the lakeside and take a picture there.

After breakfast, the boys went and unloaded the snow machines and we were ready for some fun. It had snowed quite a bit during the night and during the week before we came.

Dr. James took us to an area that he goes all the time. There was so much powdery snow and no one had been on it yet. He said it is always packed down, but not this time. This is just one of the three times that Blake and I tipped over and got stuck! 

Courtney is trying to come and see if Blake and I are ok. Then me and Nikelle and Courtney are just resting in the snow while the boys dig the machine out.

Blake and I were not the only ones to get stuck, the powder was incredible. We rode around for awhile, then decided to go back to the cabin for some lunch. We were all pretty tired by then. The guys decided to go back out after lunch, but the girls stayed inside and basked in the wonder cabin.

Look at all that powder!

Looks like Dr. James is stuck again!

Thank you Dr. James for a very nice trip!

New Sinks

In January, Blake and I were in Lowes to pick up a new shower head. I mentioned to him that the tap in our bathroom sink seemed to be leaking and wondered if it was too hard to replace the tap. He said well, lets just replace the sink.  So, we bought the sink and and materials and headed for home.

 So Randy came over and the work began.  As you can see, the sink was a lovely yellow, so I wasn't too sad to see it go.  It was a little difficult to get it to drop out, but it finally came.

Now they could work on the the pipes underneath easier.

Now it's all in and looks so wonderful.  I love the new tap too! 

Well, after deciding that putting the new sink in wasn't so hard, we decided to replace the sinks in the main bathroom.  They had to order more sinks in that size and so Blake and Randy got them installed yesterday, Feb. 15th. They look wonderful too! Yay! No more green sinks!