Bull Trout Neighbor Campout

You know it's going to be a good weekend when this is the view up and down your street! In July, we went on our second annual neighbor campout. We rented a trailer and headed up to Bull Trout Lake - a little gem of a location close to Stanley. It was the perfect setting, made even better by the fact that we had the entire loop in our campground to ourselves! This was the best decision - it was so nice letting the kids roam and not having to worry that they would bother someone else.

Our camp spots were right on the water, and there were plenty of toys to play in the water with!

Saturday morning, a few of us decided to head up near Stanley to go on a hike. The weather was perfect and the scenery was breathtaking. I was proud of the kids and how well they did (although Bradley and Tyler did end up being carried for a lot of it!).

And you can't have a campout without dutch oven! We had our second annual dutch oven cookoff. My macaroni and cheese was a bust (too salty!) but there was plenty of amazing food - chili and cornbread, nachos, potatoes, sloppy joes, and more macaroni. Yum.

Our family loves camping. We love being out in nature. But camping with friends makes camping even better! Looking forward to next year!

Summer Nights

Something happened this summer that may have forever changed us! Our cute neighbor boys started coming over (usually after dinner) and asking if Tyler (and Kylee when she was home) could come out and play. The kids would ride their scooters and bikes up and down the sidewalks in front of our house. They became cute little friends... and we became better friends with their parents! It started to be as enjoyable for me as it was for Tyler - the adults would sit out front and talk while the kids played. The "scooter gang" expanded down the street, and more and more kids and parents began hanging out together, several evenings a week. We all love the memories we created this summer, and I am thankful for the friendships that we have all created and strengthened. I LOVE the street we live on, but that is because we have the best neighbors. I am hopeful that we have created some lifelong friendships :-)

On a side note, Tyler has become an excellent scooter rider this summer. He can go super fast, steer, stop, etc. He is a natural!

Neighbor Campout

We have some really great neighbors and have been wanting to go camping with them now for like three years! We finally made it happen this last weekend. We made plans with three different sets of neighbors and booked sites at Union Creek Campground in Oregon, just a couple hours from Boise. All of our neighbors have trailers, and since this was our only planned family vacation for the summer, we decided to splurge and rent a trailer ourselves. And boy, was that a good decision! We loved it!

We booked this 2017 trailer through RV Share, and it was perfect for our little trip. It was extra nice since Bradley is so little and it wouldn't have been as much fun having him with us in a tent :-)

The first day at camp was pretty relaxing. The kids did a craft and made some camp rocks, we took a walk down to the reservoir and threw rocks, and we enjoyed an evening by the fire.

Saturday was still relaxing, but filled with some more activities like a morning walk and a fun scavenger hunt. Matt helped the kids build this awesome fort. They spent pretty much the entire day there. We were informed that only kids 10 and under were allowed in there!

We also spent some time down at the water. The kids had fun taking turns going out with Matt.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was our big dutch oven cookoff. We had lasagna and three different kinds of enchiladas. For dessert we had cobbler and a smores dip. Mmmmmm, I wouldn't mind eating like that more often.

I realized a few things on this trip...

• Even though camping is a LOT of work, it is good for my soul. It is so nice to just be out and enjoy nature.
• I need to get a stand or something so I can cook dutch oven easier on my back patio. It really is a great way to cook.
• Camping with friends makes camping so much more fun. Kylee and Tyler had a blast having so many friends there with us. And I enjoyed the time with them too!
• We really liked the trailer, but what Matt and I really want is a cabin. We immediately started looking for property when we got home from our trip. We would love to go in on a cabin or some land with a couple other people. We would still need to save money up before buying one, but we will be thrilled if we can swing it one day.

Memorial Day 2014

We had a lovely Memorial Day weekend! We spent lots of time as a family and with family and friends, so that made it extra special. Here's a recap:

• We love our new flag and were excited to get the mount installed just in time for the weekend.

• We finished planting our garden. 

• We had a lovely dinner with my family (it was fun to have Beki in town!) and then visited my great-grandparents' graves. Funny story #1 - As we pulled up to my parents' house, BJ's Blazer (our old Blazer) was parked out front. Kylee got all excited and said, "There's BJ's limo! I love that limo!" Matt and I got a good chuckle. Limo/Blazer, same difference. Funny story #2 - As we drove into the cemetery, Kylee saw all the small flags scattered all throughout the cemetery. We explained to Kylee that those flags were there for the people who had served in the military. She asked, "Do they just poke the flags in their bodies?" Haha.

• We capped off the weekend with a hotdog roast Monday evening with some of our friends. We also roasted marshmallows for s'mores, set off fireworks, and tried out the new cornhole game Matt made me for Mother's Day (thanks Matt!). It was so much fun! I can't wait to pull the cornhole game out and play again. I know we'll get lots of use out of it all summer long.

Erin's Baby Shower

On Saturday I had the privilege of attending a baby shower for my dear friend Erin. After years of trying and multiple devastating miscarriages, Erin is due with a baby girl in May... and I couldn't be happier for her! It was fun to see her (she moved to North Carolina last year) and catch up, and I look forward to meeting her sweet baby girl when they come back to Idaho in August!

Baby Shower

This post is super late, but I still wanted to make sure it got documented!  My sweet friend and coworker Jami threw me a baby shower at the end of October.  It was very nice and made me feel loved.  I was having so much fun that I forgot to take pictures until the very end.  Thanks to Natalie for taking a couple during for me!

Crafting

I really enjoy crafting and was excited to have a dedicated craft room in our new house.  The only problem is that I have hardly spent any time in my craft room since we moved.  I blame that on a couple things.

1)  I have been busy.  Or sick.  Or both.  I got pregnant just shortly after moving in and didn't feel like doing anything (besides laying around) for months.  If I had tried to craft at all, I wouldn't have enjoyed it.  I also studied for (and passed!) my project management certification exam.  That was no small feat.  And finally, since I've been feeling better, I've been focused a little more on this coming baby... like scouring Craigslist for a dresser, painting a small end table white to match the room I pictured in my head, etc.  Oh, and I decided to get my personal training certification.  It's an idea I've been toying with for the last year or so and decided to just do it.  We plan on turning part of the 4th bay of our garage into a home gym and I would love to take on a couple clients after I have this baby and get back in shape.  But that means more reading and more studying and another test.  Speaking of the garage, Matt and I finally started epoxying the floor.  We had hoped to do it before we moved in, but they didn't finish the house in time.  Anyway, we finished two of the four bays this week and it looks great!

2)  My craft room is rather uninspiring right now.  It wasn't top on my list for setting up and decorating since the room isn't one of the main living areas.  The rooms people would see took my attention first.  Which, by the way, I've decided most of my house doesn't feel very homey.  I'm going to work on fixing that.  But back to my craft room - who wants to craft in an uninspiring space??

Needless to say, I've got some work to do.  I do have a bit of a vision in my head of what it can look like, though.  I've looked through plenty of photos on Pinterest, but I also have a great example in my friend Mandy!  I went to her house a couple weeks ago to make cards.  It's always fun to get together with her to craft.  Here are a couple pictures of her craft room (which happens to be a converted garage bay).

Looks like I've got a lot of work to do... maybe I should get off the computer and get going :-)

Idaho GOP Night at the Hawks

Our friend Trevor was recently promoted to the Executive Director of the Idaho Republican Party... cool, huh!?  It is the perfect job for him (in my opinion).  Plus, the promotion got his family to stay here in Boise instead of moving across the country for grad school, so that made us happy!

This last week, Trevor invited us to join them at the Idaho GOP Night at the Hawks.  It has been years since the last time I saw the Hawks, and Matt and I hadn't seen Trevor and Lindsey in a few months, so we jumped at the opportunity.  We got a table right next to the field and enjoyed some dinner, some baseball, and catching up with some of our favorite people from our old ward.  Thanks for the invite!  We look forward to getting together again soon :-)

Congratulations Mrs. Ellsworth!

Yesterday was one special day... Jen was married to her sweetheart Vaughn in the Boise temple!  I am so incredibly happy for her and wish her the best as she embarks on this new adventure.  I was happy that my family and I could share in this exciting day with her.

Not only was the ceremony beautiful, but we had a lot of fun at the reception that evening... complete with a roasted pig and an ice cream machine :-)

Also, I wanted to post a quick picture from the bachelorette party last weekend.  Andrea did a great job planning it, and we had fun riding around town in style!