2012 Summer Trip - Friends in Idaho

 The first three weeks of July were spent away from home. This was the year of Lee's big family reunion (held every four years) on the Washington coast. I decided that if we were going to drive all the way up there, I wanted to stop and see a few people. First stop -- Jerome, Idaho to see my friend Andy Prescott and his great family!

While in Jerome we discovered that Melissa has a thing for cowboys! :) Andy's son Porter got down to play with Melissa, and it didn't take her long to steal his hat. Porter loved it - he's the one who grabbed my camera and got a great picture of Melissa in his hat. :)

 We started the 4th of July at Andy's where he and his wife, Janet, were nice enough to invite us to join them at the lake. It was the first time my kids had ever been boating and they loved it!

Brynne loved being the flag girl anytime we had someone skiing. I'm thinking her arm may have gotten a little tired when it was my turn to ski. :) (For the record - I got up the first time I tried regular water skiing 18 years ago, but I struggled a little more with the slalom ski on this trip.)

 The girls got to ride on an inner tube. They loved it until Andy decided to have a little fun. As Brynne puts it, "Their dad was a crazy driver!" Brynne and Porter ended up in the water at one point, which Brynne was pretty upset about; but no worries - she just went back to her duties as flag girl!

 In the pictures above and below, are two of Andy's kids - Liz and Porter. Morgan and Liz had a wonderful time together! Liz loves horses and goes riding most mornings, so she and Morgan had lots to talk about.

 One of us had a tough time staying awake with all the excitement. :)

 This was just after I got done trying to ski. Melissa was not too happy with me that I left her with strangers and jumped in off the back of the boat.

 The second half of our 4th of July was spent in Caldwell, Idaho with our friends the Christensens. I went to Ricks College with Lee and Dee Christensen and have remained friends with their family. (Ricks is also where I met Andy Prescott!) We joined the Christensens for potluck and fireworks before heading to bed after such a long, but fun, day.

The next morning Morgan and Brynne got a chance to ride horses. They had ridden for a little bit at Andy's house but we super excited for the chance to ride more.

 As if riding horses wasn't enough, Morgan learned to drive a "gear motorcycle." We tried to tell Morgan it's called a 4-wheeler, so now she calls it a "gear 4-wheeler." Can you tell someone is excited about the gears? :) Morgan took Brynne out for a ride. I was quite nervous but was thrilled to actually have a picture of my girls doing something together with genuine smiles on their faces!!

When we left Idaho, we drove to Portland to stay with Aleisha Calabrese Harr, a friend of ours from Seattle. We didn't have much time there, but it was so nice to visit with her!

A fun fact: Andy has a daughter who is one day older than Melissa, and Aleisha has a daughter who is one day younger than Melissa. It was lots of fun to watch Melissa with her new friends. :)

Oh How I Love Salmon, ID...

We lived in Salmon, ID for two and a half years. Even though we moved three times while there (long story), that's the longest by far that we've ever lived in one town. We made lots of good friends, and the girls and I were able to see lots of them on the way through. The Stokes family was one of the first families we met when we moved there. They have four beautiful daughters that my girls absolutely love. Only two of them were home during this visit (Carrie and Sarah), and we got a picture of my girls with them:

I didn't get many other pictures with people because I saw most of them at church. The girls and I were in church from 9 am til 4 pm (with only a break for lunch in the middle) trying to see as many people as possible.

We also took a little time to see Loryhl Davis (who I worked for a little bit in Salmon) and her kids, Katie and Kayla. They used to take my girls riding horses a lot and were planning on raising my kids up to be rodeo queens. We ended up moving, but my girls still always talk about riding horses with Katie and Kayla. They were nice enough to take us riding again. Here's Brynne with Kayla:

And here's Morgan with Katie:
When we left Salmon, we drove to Moscow, ID to stay with my Uncle Dave and his family. I hadn't been to his house since I was younger, so it was nice to stop there. He took us on a tour of Moscow and my kids got to play with my cousin Tara's kids. It was a beautiful drive to get to Moscow from Salmon, and it was a nice stop on our journey.

When we left, my Aunt Laura was nice enough to pack us a picnic lunch (yes! saved from the McD's dollar menu!). We stopped by the Columbia river to eat it. It was beautiful and would have been really enjoyable except that it was nearly 100 degrees out there. We ate fast and then opted for air conditioning.