Warm Slough

(Five week old little Evan 😍)

This summer we have spent a lot of time at the river or slough to be more exact. It's a smaller portion of river that feeds into the much bigger Henry's Fork area of the Snake river. It's super kid friendly and the water while chilly, is much warmer than most bodies of water around here. The slough is shallow and the kids are able to freely explore without us having to watch them like a hawk- which is always so relaxing to do haha! The kids favorite part of the slough is finding all of the creatures that live around there- frogs, turtles, minnows and crawdads. They can spend hours searching for and catching them. It reminds me of my childhood a bit, always exploring. 

More pictures of our time spent at the slough:

Rexburg Rapids

Rexburg Rapids is a summer must. We usually only do it once or twice a summer just because it's normally crowded and we prefer adventuring and playing in natural bodies of water- streams, rivers, lakes, you get the idea. This year was a little more difficult because with Evan being a newborn that means no water activities for us, but it's still fun to watch the girls brave the slides and float the lazy river. I think Austin appreciate cooling off a bit too, this summer has been SO hot which isn't well suited for end of pregnancy or post-partum hormones, but oh well. 

Palisades Reservoir

Shortly after Maisie started her first summer break (the end of May 2016) we took a day trip to the Palisades. We had intentions of hiking the Upper Palisades, but ended up just exploring the Reservoir and buying fireworks in Wyoming (note to self: buy more lady bugs next time haha) instead. This little day trip is when we first became aware of Ellie's motion sickness and unfortunately hadn't stocked up on baby Dramamine yet. So after a quick stop to change her clothes and sanitize her carseat as best as possible, we continued with our day. I took a picture of Ellie post clean up and she looked so darling, even for a baby who just was sick all over herself just minutes prior. Need evidence? Here you go:

Need evidence that Idaho is incredibly beautiful and that our girls are cute (albeit crazy)?

Last adventure of 2015

It took quite a bit of arm twisting, but I eventually convinced the family (mainly Austin) to leave the safety of our warm cozy house to brave the 3 degree temperatures to go ice skating. We bundled and layered our girls and made sure to pack a thermos of hot chocolate and made our way to the rink. It was a lot of fun and while he won't admit it, Austin had fun. He was by far the best skater in our family- I on the other hand will be babying a bruise the size of Alaska on my left hip, but totally worth it. You know those moments where you know you are creating memories for your children? We did that today. It was a perfect way to say goodbye to 2015.

Family Photos 2015

I think this is my favorite picture- it was Maisie's idea to pose like this.

In mid October our friend here in Rexburg kindly offered to take some family photos for us. He's a photography major at the University and has all the fancy equipment any professional would have. He will be famous one day, I just know it! His work is awesome and we are so thankful for him, that he and his wife took the time to get some pictures of all four of us. I would be lying if I said getting these photos were easy because my normally photogenic and cooperative children decided that day would be a good day to want nothing to do with pictures. Playing in the mud and throwing rocks seemed like a better way to spend their time and while I can respect that, it didn't make for a good time for either Austin or I. Herding cats I tell you! So you will notice there aren't many of just the girls or with all of us together. It was just not going to happen that day- oh well. That's just the season of life we are in.

P.s we had to hike down to this spot from a bridge out in the middle of nowhere Rigby/Ririe area. It was a muddy venture and there were fresh moose tracks everywhere. We even heard moose calling from the other side of the river- it was pretty intense and REALLY loud. I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared- I have seen one too many videos of people being mauled by moose(s?).

Box Canyon Camping

Skeptically inflating our tent.

The babies of the families.

The view.

Tinfoil dinners and s'mores done right.

An intense round of Memory

Eating the chips the kids dropped in the dirt. Yummm

The weekend before Maisie started Kindergarten,we went camping with our good friends and their five kids. We decided that we would go for a more "real" camping experience and actually be further than 5 minutes from our houses. Sidenote: last year when we went camping we were literally a couple miles away from home, but I was 34 weeks pregnant, sooo yeah, better safe than sorry right? Anyway, we headed up to Island Park (about 45 minutes from Yellowstone) to find a camp site that could accommodate our large party. We ended up finding a nice spot in Box Canyon right above Henry's Fork river (world renowned for trout fishing and some of the best fly fishing in the states!) AKA hardcore bear territory-good thing we had bear spray! It turned out to be a great weekend to go because with all the forest fires plus wheat and hay harvest, the air where we live was thick with smoke and dust, so we got into the mountains just enough to get out of it. This trip we also decided to for-go our usual go-to camping food (hot dogs) and instead decided to do some tinfoil dinners and make use of some cast iron skillets and dutch ovens which was quite delicious. Breakfast turned out awesome too, we made pancakes and breakfast burritos. It turned out to be a really fun, albeit short, camping trip. Next year I want to camp at LEAST two nights. 

p.s don't trust an inflatable tent... ever! haha

Tornado?!

Last Wednesday me and the girls were playing in the back room when my phone made the Amber Alert sound. I was fully expecting to see information regarding a missing child and a possible vehicle to look out for but instead saw this:

I first thought it was a joke. Yeahhhh right there are no tornados in Idaho! A minute or so later our lights started to flicker and then finally the electricity shut out completely, then back on, off, on and off for the span of 20 minutes. Loud sirens started blaring through town and the loud hum of firetrucks driving by. That's when I started to panic. Austin works at the University and it's notoriously known for having poor cell reception, so I was happy he got my text right away informing me he got the alert. I was trying to stay outwardly calm for the sake of the girls, but Maisie could tell something was wrong and she grew more curious the louder the sirens got. I explained that there was a storm that was nearby and that we needed to stay safe. It wasn't until she overheard me talking to Austin on the phone that she heard me say "tornado". That started a slew of conversations about the tornado in The Wizard of Oz- "But Dorothy got taken by the tornado and she was just fine! Maisie's blasé attitude towards the tornado helped soothe my uneasiness, but then my thoughts of the deadly tornados that have ripped through Oklahoma in previous years were running on loop in my brain as well. All I wanted was for Austin to get home and FAST. The thought of being without him if a tornado did hit nearby was too much. Plus possibly being stranded away from each other hours and hours or worse the whole night would have scared me to death. While we were waiting for Austin to get home safely I refreshed webpages following the storm and that looked like this:

Thankfully Austin was able to get home relatively soon and the minute he walked in the door I felt immense relief because at least if something did happen now, we would all be together. 

The conclusion to this story is that the storm headed more north and other than some crazy wind nothing happened- we didn't even end up getting a drop of rain. Turns out a tornado started to form, but never touched down (thank goodness). I think it was a good wake up call because I realized how ill prepared we were. So my new goal now is to be better prepared in case of an emergency. Here's to starting 72 hour kits emergency kits, first aid and ample food storage.

sidenote: In my whirlwind of emotions (mostly panic and fear) I realized that if we lost water usage we would be in real trouble, but thankfully we had two empty 5-gallon jugs that I filled up in the bath tub. It makes me laugh now thinking about it, but it did help ease my fears a little bit at the time. Austin still laughs at me for how scared I was, but better safe than sorry right? 

Big Springs

with the pluggie...

after I pulled the pluggie out. haha! So serious!

See the trout?

After Mesa Falls we traveled another 20 or so minutes to Big Springs near Island Park, to feed the wild trout. Unfortunately the fish were a little shy and so we were only able to see a handful of them rather than the normally large amount that frequent the area. Even though the fish didn't show up the place was beautiful! The water was crystal clear- plus it almost looked like clovers were growing under water (reference trout picture above).

I'm glad we were able to see so many different things in Idaho before the weather turns for the worse. Making friends with locals has really changed our outlook on Idaho. It truly is a beautiful place with so many things to see and even when we get homesick for our beloved Oregon, I am still happy that we live here right now.