Day 8 and headed home!

 On Monday night we headed out to see Ryan's Aunt "Bubbles", Uncle Bob, and their daughter Kelly. It was neat to see where they lived and for Ryan to go back to where he used to visit, They would play basketball in this old shed when he was growing up. It had so many neat old things in it!

 Aunt Bubbles is the sweetest. The kids were pretty to happy when they go to load up on chocolates :)

                               Brinley had lots of fun entertaining everyone with her gymnastics.

 Kelly is so sweet too, she had lots of fun taking pictures of the kids.

 Marlee sure loved Uncle Bob. He is 87 years old and has no grandchildren. It was neat to see them enjoying one another. I had never seen him smile so much :)

 They had the coolest old trucks just sitting outside. Brinley was excited to get pictures on them.

                                                      Casen had to join in too ofcourse :)

 After visiting with Aunt Bubbles we went to this park near the Snake River in St. Anthony.  I remember going here with my Dad when I was a kid and it was so fun to go back.

 I showed my kids where we jumped in the river and floated down.

 We headed on the road home the next day and stopped at the LDS Salt Lake Temple Visitor's Center on the way home. The statue of Christ was beautiful. The kids really enjoyed being in that room. Marlee especially loved Jesus. She kept hugging his foot and leg and saying "My Jesus, my friend." She actually cried when we had to leave. I love how close little children are to the Spirit.

 After walking around temple square we met Clay, Kara, and their 3 cute kiddos for dinner and some playtime. We stayed the night with them and had a great time staying up and chatting after the kids went to bed.

 In the morning the kids had fun dancing to Gangnum style. It was so cute. We had so much fun seeing these guys! We sure miss living close to them!

Idaho days 6 & 7!

Friday night after getting back from the cabin, we headed over to Chris and Cindy Merrill's house for a fun BBQ with a bunch of Ryan's highschool friends and their wives. We love anytime we get to spend time with this fun group!

These cute girls got a little table all to themselves. Notice the princess jammies shirt Marlee is wearing. Grandma just bought this for her and she loves them to much to let me take them off. So yes, jammies at a BBQ :)

Fun on the tire swing! This was after Brinley got off.

Ryan's best friends from highschool... Chris, Ryan, Justin... Vince, Richard, and Devin. Such a great group of guys, even if they like to act like they are still in highschool when they are together :)

The ladies! These girls are all so sweet! I have loved the time we get to see them in Idaho and any trips we have been able to do with them. So good to see them all! Cindy and Lindsay in the back with me, and Charm, Angie, and Natalie in the front.

The next day we had a big Nelson-Mickelsen "Duck Race" day.  It was lots of fun! The kids always love the "fishing."

Cute cousins with their matching outfits! Brinley, Rachel, Annie, and Karlie.

                                                                      Love this face :)

Candy Cannon again! The kids loved it, again :) Lots of candy went in the ponds and river. After lunch we did the annual duck race where we race rubber ducks down a little stream in the front yard, but something is wrong with my iphoto and all of the pictures got deleted!

Marlee sure would have loved her grandpa Galen. She has a special thing for her grandpas and I know he would have been no exception!

Sunday was Father's Day so we went to visit Grandpa Galen. It's always go to go. Sure do miss him.

The kids had a lot of fun on these scooters. Even Marlee was able to ride them.

My cousin Rachel and her two cute kids! We met them at the park to play in the water and then Esther and Becky ended up coming too. The kids didn't last long in the water cause it was cold, but wanted to go on here over and over!

Riding with my best buddy!

Grandma Q took Casen shopping as an early b-day gift. He bough the "cool" green shirt he is wearing and this "awesome" remote control 4 wheeler.

We decided it was time to tell the kids I was pregnant and expecting Janrary 12th. I was 9 weeks along when I told them and Brinley wanted to know why I hadn't told them sooner. Casen was pretty excited until he found out there was a chance it could be a girl... hence the sad face in the pic :(

Marlee was very excited and kept saying "my baby."

Day 3 ,4, and 5 in Idaho!

The next day Becky and he kids met us out at their land and let us ride horses with them. It was so nice of them to go through the work to do that for us. The kids had a lot of fun!

While Marlee and Casen got to ride horses, Grandma Q took all the "big girls" shopping! They are ages 7-9 and all have summer birthdays. They had so much fun together picking out matching outfits!

That night we went to see Preston and Katie, some good friends of ours! Preston and Ryan lived together in college for a while and have been great friends since. They have 3 adorable kids and together our 6 kids had a blast!

The next morning we went to meet a bunch of my cousins at the park but got rained out! 3 of my cousins and their families all live in a house that is divided into 3 apartments... how fun would that be! We had a great time seeing everyone and it was a special treat that Loren and Jill were in town too!

That afternoon we headed up to Grandpa Dale's cabin! First things first.. we had to pull out the toys right away! Rachel and Brookie caught a ride up with us so we all loaded on the four-wheeler together.

We took the kids out on the Razor and these two cuties got the top seats! It was so fun!

          Had to have potatoes, we are in Idaho afterall and Grandpa does own a potato factory :)

The next morning the rest of the gang arrived and despite the cold weather they headed out on the water.

                       Marlee loves all her Uncles, but warmed right up to her Aunt Becca Lecca :)

The kids spent most the time in the hot tub but Case got brave enough to jump off the dock into the freezing water! Crazy kid! I was proud of him though :) Poor guy was seriously in shock at how cold it was, I felt bad! The look on his face was priceless. He ran right back to the hot tub.

Marlee always wants to be one of the big kids... but I want to keep her my baby while I can!

The boys went fishing that morning and Grandpa Dale carved the fish for dinner that night.

Killer outfits from the dress up box. These girls were cracking themselves up, it was way too cute to watch. Brinley's pants were HUGE on her and we kept having to tie them up, she got pretty creative.

Casen learned to ride the motorcycle! Definitely a step up in difficulty from a four-wheeler. He did pretty good but dirt bikes sure make me nervous!

We went on a walk to a "water-fall". The whole gang went and Marlee hitched a ride with Uncle Jeff.

Turns out we couldn't make it to the waterfall! We stopped at the no trespassing sign :) All the kiddos with Grandma Q and Grandpa Dale.

Uncle Greg brought a "candy cannon."  You actually set it off like a firework but it launches candy into the air. Sometimes the candy would be blown apart or melted, but the kids sure had fun running around to find it!

We headed home the next day and made a stop at a huge waterfall (forgot the name!) It was beautiful! So loud and powerful.

Hiking back up! I ended up having to carry a kicking and screaming two-year old back up :)