Idaho

We spent last week in Idaho. We had originally planned to leave Saturday morning, but due to circumstance beyond our control, we had to wait until after church on Sunday.  We got to Malad shortly after midnight.  The kids are pretty fabulous travelers!  Lila likes to shove things in between her little body and the straps of her car seat.  Sometimes it is her blanket, a doll, a water bottle, a book, whatever she has. 

Clint bought another piece of land in Samaria this spring.  It is across the street from the piece he bought last year.  Except, this piece has an old house on it.  This past winter the pipes burst on the main level and it was discovered because water was pouring out of the basement windows.  The owner had no insurance and just let it sit.  It is pretty nasty and stinky inside.  Clint and Dale could not wait to destroy it.  What is it about boys??  We had planned on bringing it down when we first got there, but it wasn't meant to be.  The guy with the excavator was unavailable and it was too dry to burn it, so instead, Clint and Luke cleaned the rest of the property. In 100 degree heat.  I have to admit, being pregnant definitely has its occasional advantage.  I felt sick every time I left the shade, so I spent my days watching the kids and running to town to bring the boys milkshakes, lemonade, and anything else that would make working in the miserable heat more tolerable. 

 The girls found a bunch of old fingernail polish in the garage.  They had the best time painting the house!  I let them do it before I realized that it wasn't coming down this trip.  I kinda wonder what  passersby think when they see all the beautiful artwork!

 It really was a cute little house!  It was devastating to walk through and look at all the damage.  There's a piano covered with mildew in the basement.  We salvaged a couple of vacuum cleaners, some tools, an antique sewing machine, and I want to go back to get the china, but everything else has been ruined.

 There were lots of fences dividing the land.  Clint pulled them all  out.  He made several trips to the dump, made a large pile of wood to burn, and has several loads of metal that needs to be recycled.  It looks a lot better now, though!

 A kitten had actually been living in the basement.  It was a little skittish when we first found it, but Clint's nephew, Andrew, promptly calmed it down and Haden claimed it as his own.  "Tiger" was too dumb to run when Lila would come near so he was nearly suffocated with her loving.  We moved the cat to Clint's parents house and they assured Haden they would take very good care of him.  Haden spent every extra minute with the cat and cried when we left him.

 I explained that cats like the freedom of Idaho much better than living in Colorado. (Plus, I did not want that smelly cat in my car for 10 hours!)  It didn't seem to help.  We may have to go back in September just to visit the blasted cat.

 That night we spent with friends and cousins at a hot springs.  It's on private property, so we had it all to ourselves.  The kids loved it!

 It smelled like sulfur, so I kept my distance.

 The girls loved swimming.

 Haden loved swinging.

 Lila could have jumped on the tramp all night.

The next day was more of the same.  Clint worked at the house and I chased kids.  Haden didn't want to wait to take the house down and took matters into his own hands.  Why must boys destroy things?  Despite his best efforts, he didn't really do any damage.

 The kids loved hanging out with their cousins. They helped them do chores and feed the baby animals.  But I didn't get any pictures.

 The next day we went to Downata Hot Springs.  It was a nice break for everyone!

 The last day poor Tiger got loved some more,

 Haden drove the tractor with Grandpa.  He's a pretty good little driver!

Lila helped Clint raise Grandpa up in the bucket of the tractor to trim the trees. 

 And Dale got to go shooting.  This was the only day he would be in Samaria with us and had asked Clint to take him shooting.  They raided Doyle's gun safe and then headed to our yucky house.  They collected several bottles of pop, cans of beans, and anything else that would be fun to shoot and then headed up to the gravel pit.

 Then we headed to our hotel in Park City.  We met up with some friends who had moved to Utah earlier this year.  I think this was the part of the trip Haden was most looking forward to.  He and Corbin are best friends!  Lila and Avery love being together, too!  I love that even though they haven't seen each other for 5 months, it was like nothing had changed.  The boys wrestled and the girls played like they always did.  And I loved catching up with Staci!



I hope we can get together frequently enough that they can all stay best friends!

We met up with my family that evening.  Dale was drawing faces on the kids.  Haden only agreed if he could draw on Dale when he was done.  Dale gave in and my kids had the best time decorating his face!  I still laugh when I think of the look the lady in hotel gave him when we got back.  I guess you don't see a 6'2" 175 lb guy with his face completely covered in marker every day!  Lila had even given him eyeshadow!  It was awesome! 

Lila did her best to clean it off of Dale, but it just smeared.  She kept telling him to "hold still!"

The next day we stopped at Utah's Olympic Park before heading home.  We watched the ski jumpers.  Lila would yell, "that was awesome!" every time.

The trip home seemed longer than the trip there, even though it was 2 hours shorter.  I love coming home and sleeping in my own bed!