Camping at Granite Lake

This summer our family camping trip was to Granite Lake. We left on Thursday morning and came home on Saturday afternoon.
Thursday : We set up camp and then went down to the lake to see the sights and let Bailee play in the water. We didn't actually think that she would get in though. It was breezy and the weather had been fairly cool all week, so we were pretty sure that the water would be cold. But that didn't stop Bailee. After a week in California swimming at Uncle Dale and Aunt Pam's she jumped right in! It was short lived, I think that the cold water took her breath away and she got out only to jump back in minutes later. While we were at the lake we enjoyed the beautiful scenery and Bailee had fun throwing rocks in to make a big splash. After that we headed back to camp for dinner and bed time. We borrowed my mom's space heater for the tent and we were sure glad that we did because it was cold at night.
Friday: We made breakfast and lunch and then headed out on a hike. There wasn't a great trail so we had to go across country for part of the way. We had to trust that the GPS was taking us in the right direction. We made it to the lake (it was nameless) and stopped for lunch. Bailee was eager to do some fishing so we let her practice casting. Then we headed back. On our way around the lake we found some frogs we caught 3 and put them in a water bottle and took them back to camp. Once we got back on the jeep trail Bailee ran most of the way back. She is so funny. The res t of the day we hung out around camp and at Granite Lake. While we were on a walk we saw a Doe not to far from our campsite. Each night we played Memory in the tent before we got into bed. With the heater it was a good way to keep warm and keep Bailee occupied.
Saturday: We had breakfast and then cleaned up camp. Bailee and I went to let the frogs go at the lake while Matt loaded up the car. It seems to be our tradition when we come up to these mountains that we need a jump at some time on the trip. Matt discovered that the car wouldn't start and had to go find someone to give us a jump. It is unfortunate, but I think we are starting to find it humorous. After we got the car started we finished packing up and then headed out. We stopped a beautiful little meadow and did a little more frog hunting. We caught two or three big frogs while we were there and then continued on our trip home. We stopped in Cascade for lunch at a cute little restaurant, we had some yummy food and ate way to much.
We always have a great time on our camping trips. We love spending time together as a family away from all of the day to day
.

Baking Bread

I was so excited to get my Bosch Mixer a few months ago and I am so proud that I have not purchased any bread since I got my mixer. (other than hoagies, hamburger and hot dog buns) It has been a fun experience for me to see the fruits of my labor each time I pull the loaves out of the oven. We have been loving the homemade bread, but I think that we have been eating more bread since I started making it, at least it is whole wheat and preservative free.

Saying Goodbye

Our friends Jake and Debbie are leaving us for a new adventure in Houston, TX. Debbie is the first counselor in our Primary presidency and so the four of our families got together for a goodbye dinner and some fun watching the Olympics. We had a great time. Their family will surely be missed form our ward and neighborhood. We wish them the best of luck. Debbie, Lori, Melanie, and Me

Jake & Debbie, Jared & Lori, Kenneth & Melanie, Matt and I

Fun with the Washington Thompsons

Julie, Brandon and their kids came through town and stopped for a few days on their way home from Brandon's family reunion. We went to Settlers Park to let the kids play while Matt and my Mom were at work and then later that night we went to El Gallo Giro for a yummy Mexican dinner. We had so much fun with them. It is always fun when we get to spend time with family. It is even more fun when Matt and Brandon are together because they are so much alike, we just laugh and laugh. We love the Thompsons and hope that we get to see them again soon. Bailee and Rylan playing at the park, they were having so much fun.

Us at El Gallo Giro... YUM YUM YUM!!!

Brandon Julie and Rylan

Me. Mom and Kayla

Owen having his first taste of a Lime.

I'm so glad when daddy comes home

One evening after work I went out to mow the lawn. This spring Bailee would walk behind the mower with me. I think she decide that wasn't much fun getting grass in her face. This time she went in the garage and grabbed a chair. As I was mowing I could see her clapping every once in a while. I stopped the mower to see what she was up too. She was singing " I'm so glad when daddy comes home, glad as I can be. Clap my hands and shout for joy . . . " She is such a sweetheart. She loves to be with daddy.

Water Skiing with Bailee

One evening I took Bailee out to the lake with my friend Matt. I did a little slalom skiing and some surfing. Bailee played in the water and rode in the boat. We have a lot of fun when we go out just the two of us.

Water Sports Merit Badge

The scouts went waterskiing and wakeboarding. For many of them it was there first time on a wakeboard or skis. They had a great time jumping off the dock and ski/wakeboarding. My friend Matt pulled the boys behind his boat in a lake near Caldwell. The water was in the 80's it was perfect.

Owen starting to crawl

Today during dinner Owen crawled all the way from the edge of the chair to the kitchen. He pushes himself around with his feet. When he spots something he wants he goes for it. He is still easy to keep track of but before we know it he will be into everything.

Anderson Lake Backpacking Trip

In July we went on a wilderness survival backpacking trip. We hiked 4 miles into Anderson Lake near McCall, ID. Alec, Alex, Brady, Sonny, Dallon, Caleb, Adam, Brandon, and David all went. We didn't take tents and the boys had to build shelters when we got to the lake. The weather was great but the mosquitos where something else. We did a little fishing, exploring, firebulding and even took a dip in Boulder lake.

Growing Up Girl

Matt's parents have been wanting to take Bailee for a few days for a while now. We thought that it would work well for Bailee to go home with Mom and Steph after our Scrapbook weekend and then we would meet them in Twin Falls and go to the Temple Open House together. So the time came for them to leave and all of a sudden I realized that she was leaving me! I have left her to go on the girls trip and to go backpacking, but she has never left me for more than a trip to the store or a date with Daddy. Mixed feelings flooded me, but I knew that it was all just a test to see if we (Bailee and I) could handle her leaving for a whole week sometime. Leaving home for the first time and not sad about it one bit!
Bailee had so much fun with Maama and Papa. They took her to the IF Zoo and to see Papa at work. She had so much fun being the center of attention for a few days.
We met them in Twin Falls to go to the open house and also take Bailee home. Bailee was so excited to go through the beautiful temple again. It is so great to see the little children recognized the good feeling they get while they are in a house of the Lord. I feel so blessed to be able to learn through a child's eyes. They always see things in a simple and true way.
Since we went to the Temple, Bailee will put on her white sandals (she calls them her wedding shoes) and tell me that she is going to the temple to get married. It is so cute. I just love hearing her perspective on things.
My best friend, Amy got to come with us to the temple Open house too. I was so glad that she got to come with us. Amy was my Maid of Honor, but because we were married in the temple she didn't get to do a lot of what a traditional maid of honor does. I was so glad that I got to take her to see what it is like in the temple. She was able to see the beauty of the sealing room, I hope that she was able to feel how special the temple is to me and my family. I am thankful that we are a forever family.

Scrapbook Weekend!

Since Matt was on a scout backpacking on our anniversary (with my permission) I decided to invite Steph for the scrapbook weekend we have been talking about having for years now.
Steph and Matt's Mom came over on Wednesday night and we cropped all weekend, when we were not shopping, yard saleing, eating, sleeping and taking care of kids.... Needless to say we ended up doing more other things on our "Scrapbook weekend" then scrapbooking. It was a good thing that Mom came, because she helped out with the kids a ton. We had such a blast though!
Some of the pages that I did over the weekend. I had fun putting extra detail then I normally would into some of my pages.

5 YEARS!!!!

Wow, it is hard to believe that it has been five years that we have been married. The time has flown by. I am so thankful that I found Matt and that I get to share eternity with him. He is such an amazing husband and father. I couldn't ask for more.
This year for our anniversary we celebrated a few days early because Matt was going to be on a backpacking trip with the scouts. Matt took me to the Mona Lisa Fondue Restaurant for dinner. I have been wanting to go there pretty much since we got married. The atmosphere in the restaurant was so romantic and it felt as if we were the only people in the restaurant. It was a Tuesday night so it wasn't to busy and so we didn't have anyone sitting near us. I think that the desert was our favorite part of the four course meal, but it was all good.

Owen has his first Grahm Cracker

While we were at Julia Davis Park, Owen so badly wanted a peanut butter cookie. He even got one to his mouth, luckily I had a grahm cracker stashed in my diaper bag for him to try. He loved it!

Visits from my Sisters

My sister Julie came a few days earlier than originally planned so she could watch Bailee and Owen while Mat and I went backpacking. She is the best! Bailee had so much fun with her kids. I owe her big time because Owen wouldn't take a bottle and so she had some long nights. She must really love me.
Karin moved to Arizona last year and decided after last July that she will never spend another July in Arizona. So she took a three week vacation and spent a week of it here with us. Since she was coming Julie and Kristin decided to come here too so they could see her and of course us too. We had so much fun while they were here. I can't believe all of the stuff we were able to fit in to one week. In a weeks time we went to four parks and had picnics. Picked raspberries at GG's,and made jam with them. Made cards, roasted marshmallows, had two BBQ's, had several volleyball games, played Dance Dance Revolution, and laughed a lot. We went to Idaho City for a hike and yummy ice cream. We also went to the Twin Falls Temple Open House. It was so fun to take the kids. Bailee had been looking forward to going to the temple for weeks and was sad when we couldn't go in again. (we are going again because Matt didn't get to come with us, she will be so happy.)

Backpaking in Rainbow Basin

All year we have been waiting for our backpacking trip to Rainbow Basin. Matt and I left Thursday morning and drove to the trail head at Trinity Lakes. We met our friends Jared and Lori at the trail. The four of us started off on our four mile journey to Big Rainbow Lake. The weather was perfect as we climbed the first mile to the ridge. The next 3 miles are an easy stroll through the woods. There are 8 lakes in a 2 mile stretch in the basin. Matt enjoyed finding a few geocaches along the way. We arrived at Big Rainbow Lake and set up camp near the lake. We grabbed a bite to eat then headed to Little Rainbow Lake to go fishing. We had fun catching the little brook trout.

Friday: We woke up pretty early and went to check out the view and wildflowers near our camp. Our friends woke up around 9:00, they were either wore out or enjoying some sleep away from their kids. We ate breakfast then head cross country to Hideaway Lake. It was really steep and we had to cross a LARGE rock slide. This is where I learned I am very, very afraid of crossing rocks. We eventually made it to beautiful Hideaway Lake. While at the lake we enjoyed catching fish and eating our backpacker's pizza. I even took a nap, who knew I could sleep so well on a log. There was still lots of snow around the lake so Matt and I took the chance to make snow angels in July. From there we went to Middle Rainbow Lake to take a short break and enjoy the scenery. We went back to camp to eat some food and enjoy some fishing before we retired for the night.

Saturday: We woke up early, ate breakfast and packed up camp. On our way out of the basin we stopped a Big Lookout Lake. The were some large trout that enjoyed taunting me and getting my hopes up of a big catch. I can say I am a true fisherman now because I had a big one on the line but he got away. From there we tackled the steep journey on our way back to the car. We had a great time getting to know our friends Jared and Lori and enjoyed Rainbow Basin for a second time.