Fourth of July

Long time, I know. So two weekends ago, Jeff and Mel invited me up to The Birds Nest (family cabin up in Idaho) over the 4th of July. It was fun, and the "cabin" had two buildings, a barn, horses, and a huge backyard. I was shocked at how big it was, since I grew up with Grandparent's Gibson and Larsen cabins (small to medium where houses are concerned). But, I loved it. We actually drove to Idaho Falls (Yes I thought of the Simpson's) where Grandpa Ray had his birthday (though it's really in December) which included a family reunion. I would like to tell everyone that I was not just a sack of potatoes that sat around being shy and doing nothing. I had very important role actually. My very hard and taxing job was to push the camera button to take the family picture. Phew. It was really hard.


This cute little kid, Jake, had a sucker (in his Left hand) that he was enjoying. Well as most of you can already assume, he was sticky. Very very Sticky. For some reason, he touched the grass and if you look closely, you can see grass blades sticking to his hand (right hand). He was staking his hand trying to get rid of it which is why his hand is up in the air. Even as I was taking these pictures, he dropped his sucker in the grass, grabbed it, and stuffed it grass and all into his mouth. He was then trying to spit out the grass which was now in his mouth.


After we cleaned up the party (7 pm), we started the family caravan (about 6 cars) headed west and then North to Donnelly (?). Around 2 am after 4 deer and an hour and a half riddle, we finally drove into the driveway of the cabin.


On the fourth, everyone was groggy (some of the kids stayed up the entire drive from Idaho Falls to Donnelly) and slept in. Well I did till about 10am. The entire day was pretty slow, but we did do the annual family Olympics. All the kids were able to participate, and ultimately I too ended up playing soccer. I didn't know my skills were so rusty! We were not able to go see the fireworks since the mosquito population was out to eat us alive. So we were content with watching old family video's in their home theater (!). Mel was SO cute when she was little!

Since the children weren't able to do the annual family parade we were able to do so on Sunday. After church, the kids started making preparations for the floats. This entales hooking up a four wheeler to a trailer and having everyone pile into the back dawned in floatation wear. Here is one of the cute ones, it's a Star Wars float. Jeff is so great. but my favorite is definately Darth Cheese-Grater Vader. There was another husband wearing a grill as a vest.


On Monday, Jeff and I headed home. We had quite and adventure in Boise. We added about 30 minutes to our overall trip just to see the hospital and capital building. What fun!? On the way, between Boise and Salt Lake, we passed a Jelly Belly truck. Jeff laughed when I snapped a picture. I mean, how often do you pass a Jelly Belly truck on the freeway? Now you see my point.