GEG to LAX!

My friends, Shawnte, Sarah, Marrisa and I took a trip to CA for a little girl time. Marissa is having a baby (her 5th) in September and Shawnte will be moving soon, so we wanted to make some more lasting memories! Our flight was fast! Marissa and I played games the whole time while Sarah took care of Shawnte across the aisle. Poor girl, got really lightheaded during the flight and almost fainted. But she made it! :)

Our first stop in LA was....IN N OUT of course!! YUM! It was SOOOO good.

I love these girls!

Play time in Santa Monica!

Friday night, after dinner we walked around Santa Monica and the pier. Shawnte and I did the roller coaster a few times and all four of us went on the famous Santa Monica Ferris Wheel.

Perfect beach day at Manhattan Beach.

We ate at the Kettle in Manhattan beach for dinner and at the Creamery for the dessert! We shopped and just had SO much fun. We kept asking, "What time is it?" Then we would laugh and say..."IT DOESN'T MATTER!!!"

We really wished we could have had one more beach day. It was PERFECT. As the sun started to set, it started to get chilly, so here are my girls trying to warm me up! :)

On Sunday we visited the LA Temple visitor center. It was remodeled less than a year ago and is really amazing.

Monday morning bright and early at 5:30am we were lined up for the Price is Right taping. It will air 12/15 if anyone is interested!

Shawnte and I had matching shirts. She made them herself! On the front they said, " Way to Go Idaho" and on the back it said "We won't be duds, pick the spuds!".

We had so much fun at the taping of Price is Right. Doing zumba to keep us energized before we went in, meeting tons of fun and INTERESTING people, playing phase 10 in line and just having a good time together.

Kodak theatre in Hollywood.

We checked our the Chinese Mann, Hollywood walk of fame and shopped on Hollywood Blvd. Marissa was such a trooper. She didn't complain at all while we dragged her everywhere. Her feet must have been killing her.

You would think that I would have tons of pics throughout the years like this...but I don't. You take the things for granted when you live there I guess.

Overall, we had a GREAT time! We all were VERY tired from staying up way too late. Sometimes, even when we didn't want to! ;) We all bonded and what happened in CA stays in CA! :) I love my friends and feel very blessed.

Summer in North Idaho

We have been having fun this summer here in North Idaho. This has been a busy month so far, and when I say busy, I mean FUN! We've been going to the lake as much as we can and Kelsi is warming up to our subdivisions splash pad. Look at that girl on her toes. She just stands there....and stands there. My silly child.

Prancing around on her toes still.

John has been wanting me to mountain bike with him since we got married. It's just really not my thing, but I finally relented and let him buy me a bike. He took me for an easy beginner ride. I didn't think it was the easiest of rides, being that I have been on a bike 2 previous times in my adult life and prior to that, I haven't been on a bike since I was a teenager...and it was a beach cruiser. LOL! I'm still learning how to use the gears correctly. But, after being VERY timid on the downhills and cursing John for the single track that he promised he wouldn't take me on....I had fun and I really want to go again. Finding time is the hard part. I really enjoyed the climbing part of it and I became more comfortable the more I rode.

My SIL Jalyn has been in town and it has been SO good to see her again. I went with her and my FIL to hike Chilco Peak. It is 3.5 straight and then 3.5 straight back down. The down was rough on our knees and the up was a killer on our calves...but worth the climb once we reached the top.

As we reached the summit, there was tons of snow. I fell and slipped all over the place, and I wasn't happy to find my white "friend" in the middle of July....but we finally made it and it was just beautiful...if it was warmer, it would have been great to have a picnic.

More posts to come....girls trip to LA and John's Muddy Miles fun run!

4th of July

We had a GREAT 4th of July weekend! On the 4th, we went out to John's parents house for a BBQ and fun on the lake. These pics are a little out of order, but have no fear, I will narrate for you!

For the fireworks extravaganza, we took the boat out to watch the fireworks show from the Hayden Country Club. I've decided that if we are in town, I want to do this every year. The view from the water was incredible. We kept moving our boat back because it seemed like we were going to get hit.

Kelsi LOVED the fireworks. I was a little nervous about being on the water amongst throngs of boats with a screaming child...but she played with her cousins while we waited and once they started she kept shouting "THAT WAS THE BIGGEST ONE EVER! HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!" HOORAY!

Before the fireworks, we let the kids roast marshmallows.

That's my hot eagle scout right there, starting our fire.

True Idaho boy, chopping some wood. My father-in-law would be SO happy that I got a pic of his wood pile!

Before the show, we also went out on the lake. It was really busy on the water.

The only fireworks we bought were some sparklers from a stand outside the grocery store. They were HORRIBLE. They only sparkled for 10-15 seconds before they would fizzle out. But Kelsi still like it.

The biggest surprise of the day for me was that Kelsi went on a 4 wheeler ride. When we first arrived, we went down to the dock and let Kelsi splash her legs in the water. John took her up to the house a bit later and I just relaxed on the dock. When I went up to the house, I was FLOORED to hear that John took Kelsi on a 4-wheeler ride. She is usually SO scared of the noise they make. She was so happy when they got back, that we went out for a second ride as a family later on. Since then, she now wants to go on a ride every time we go to Grandma's house.

Happy Independence Day America! So glad that we don't have British accents.

June Randoms

We celebrated John on Father's Day. He was spoiled all day. We love him so much and are so thankful for the great Dad he is.

Sweet kisses...

Kelsi and some of her old friends from Clarkston...the Pond girls. They actually moved up to our area the same time we did and we are in the same stake, but sadly...we don't get to see them as much. They had a blast.

This pic was taken the next day at 9:30am! Kelsi had a hard time adjusting to it being light so late and so early. She would wake up between 6 and 6:30 and play in her room until close to 10pm. She wasn't napping and was playing hard. For about two weeks, she would just fall asleep in random places, which is NOT normal for Kelsi. She took her cat naps whenever she could. Thankfully, she is back to her normal wakeup routine between 7:30am and 8.

Our pretty little girl. We got home from church and she was just laying on the floor like this. I started laughing and had to grab the camera. She is quite the ham when she wants to be.

Swim Lessons

Swim lessons started out great this year. Kelsi remembered Ms. Diane from last year and this year she was able to take the class with 4 of her friends! The first week of swim lessons she was a big show off.

She wanted to be the first to do everything. She wanted every ones attention and she was very cute.

She is so big this year. She was able to "tigger hop" all over the pool all by herself since her shoulders were out of the water. Last year she had to stand on her tippy toes (as usual) and put her head back just to keep the water under her chin.

Then disaster struck. First, she decided she wanted to go on the other side of the rope (the deep end) even though her teacher told her not to. She went under slightly and got scared. THEN she was put into the hot tub after class and that was the last straw. I didn't go to class that day, and if I was she wouldn't have gone in the hot tub...she has a fear of the jets...but it was too late. The second week, she refused to get into the water. She sat on the steps and participated the best she could from dry land. When the rest of the kids would hop close to the rope, she would yell "WATCH OUT!!" and she was SO afraid of the pools' jets.

We will try again next year. ;)