Camping and Boating!!

Brent and I had the opportunity to go up to Lewiston this past week and spend a couple of days camping and boating at Dworshak Reservoir.  It was so beautiful up there...lots of trees and shade for camping.  We picked a boat access only camping spot and hauled in all our stuff.  Danny, Trisha, Ali and Grant went with us, and it was a big help having them there to carry all our stuff and help set up camp.  We each had a tent site with an outhouse and we had a couple of picnic tables and a firepit that sat up on a little hill that looked over the lake.  It was so pretty at night when the moon would come out and reflect across the lake!  We were able to get to a floating dock that had a swimming area in the middle...that was pretty neat...and we set up our canopy and stayed on the dock all day Friday, and most of the day Saturday.  We boated and tubed and Brent even skied and kneeboarded.  We had a great time and enjoyed the swimming and the food.  Trisha and her Dad were pretty good dutch oven cooks!!  Ali and I stuck to what we did best...riding the tube!  Trisha's family went exploring one day and discovered a couple of rattlesnakes...yikes!...but they didn't bother us, thank heavens.  We loved the reservoir and we all had a great time.  I hope we can go back sometime.  I didn't get my camera packed, so I don't have any pictures, and we were so busy having fun that Trisha only got a few, but if you check out her blogspot, you can see those!!

Fun with Gramma...

On Tuesday, we headed into town to go see the animals at Ross Park Zoo.  It is a huge excuse for a zoo...but the kids liked it and had fun walking around seeing some of the animals.  Grant's favorite part...pushing his stroller around by himself.  Ali's favorite part was the bears and the REAL Indian TeePee they had set up.  My favorite part was when we got to leave and go to Arctic Circle for lunch!!  (huge surprise!)  It was pretty fun walking with the kids and doing something fun for the day, even if the zoo was lame!! ha ha

Arctic Circle has some toys that were in an air conditioned building and the slides aren't hot...so Grant had a ball!  "Ready, Set....GOOOOO!"

We are having a fun week.  Our neighbor has been kind enough to let us come swimming every day, and Ali has made a little friend from our Ward that lives up on the hill, Ansley.  They are quite the combo.  Grant...well he LOVES it when Grandpa comes home and he plays with him and scares him and snorts at him and chases him around!!  He just calls for MORE!!  "Pa-Ga, MORE!"

Fun with Ali!

Today was kind of an inside day...it was cloudy and gloomy outside, looked like it would rain.  So we decided to make some play dough for Ali to play with!  She had such a good time cutting out cookie shapes, and she did such a great job., I decided she should have a try at the REAL thing!   

I mixed up some sugar cookies and turned her loose.

 She did a GREAT job cutting them out and getting them off the cupboard and to the pan and she had so much fun decorating them for baking!  She thinks this cookie making thing is a sinch!

Just for Mommy!

What a little ham!!  Grant and Ali are staying with us for the week.  We are having so much fun...this morning I tried to sneak up on Grant cause he was playing so cute with his cars, I wanted to get a video, but he caught me, and the smiles and poses came out for the camera!!  He is doing really well without mommy...but this one's for you mom...so you don't miss this cute little guy too much!

Want to meet up?

Ok, so I have decided that I have the sure fire recipe for accidentally running into tons of people that you haven't seen for years, or meeting up with old friends that you can't seem to find the time to otherwise...and for that matter, you can usually see someone important, or people you have high esteem for also!  Here it is:  Run to Walmart in a hurry with your sweats on, and NO makeup, and your hair looking like you just crawled out of bed!  Never fails... you try to sneak in for a little something you need and get back out...and sure enough - EVERYONE you know is there and SEES you!!

Happy Birthday Tanessa!

Today is my daughter, Tanessa Lynn Larsen's, 24th Birthday!!  I just want to tell her Happy Birthday and let her know how special she is to me.  She has a kind heart, is very loving, blunt & to the point, and sometimes talks before she thinks...but she loves to have fun, likes to entertain and have parties (and she's good at it), she makes wedding cakes...and can pretty much do anything she puts her mind to.  You can not tell Tanessa she can't do something...she will DO it, and when you try to advise her, she will always say..."I am FINE!"  She loves to exagerate (a trait passed down from her mother) and she is a total sweetheart!!  She also lives WAY too far away in FLORIDA!!  But I

 want to say...Happy Birthday Tessy Poo...I love you so much!  

She's a great water skier too!

Tanessa and her husband, Jake, and her baby girl, Addi

Our baby girl, Tanessa

4th of July/Flash Flood!

Our 4th of July started out like any other Independence Day.  We woke up to a beautiful blue sky and nice weather.  We spent the morning getting things ready for our annual "Water Party"  We set up slip and slides...little pools for water baseball, tables and chairs for our meal, and took seats down to set up for the parade.  Clinton, Katie and Corgin went to the "Candy Parade" with us, and Brent's sister Paula and her 2 little grandkids joined us there also.  It was a fun parade, the sun was getting hot, and after acquiring a fair amount of candy, we packed up and came home !  When we got home, we filled about 250 balloons with water and put them in the coolers for safe keeping.  About this time, people started arriving for lunch, bringing their salads and desserts, and Clint and Katie started making the homemade rootbeer.  Brent cooked the marinated chicken and we just had a fun fiesta!!  After dinner, we were all getting ready to play a little "Water Baseball" and we chose up sides and started the game.  As we started playing...a little sprinkle of rain started coming...but we decided that we were going to get wet anyway...so PLAY ON!!  We were only in the bottom of the first inning when BOOM!!!  Hard rain and hail started pelting us, and we all ran for cover in the garage.  After quite a bit, we decided that it wasn't going to let up, and the game would have to be over...so we all went in the house to sit out the storm.  When all of a sudden we heard loud noises...pelting sounds and rushing water!!  We all ran back out to the garage to see what was going on!  Little did we know that we were amongst a one of a kind FLASH FLOOD!  We had quite a day witnessing the rushing rivers behind and in front of our house...the new waterfalls cutting through our fields and quakies and hail denting all our cars.  Also, our next door neighbor's house in the swell caught the brunt of the waters crashing into and breaking all their windows in their window wells and filling their basement with over 6 feet of mud and water!!  Quite a memorable 4th of July!  I have posted all of our videos on YouTube if you would like to see them.  They are titled "Flash Flood in Inkom, ID"  posted July 6th!  Check it out!  Also...boys will be boys, and Dustin and Clinton ran all the bases and did the slip and slide even in the hail to score points for their team...I just didn't get a video of it...but Trevor and Dallin were captured in this little clip...they had a little foot race out to the 'rushing waters'!