There's no place like home

After 11 fun filled, jam packed days and nearly 2,000 miles we weary travelers have finally made it home. So much happened that there's no way I can write about it all and not bore you to death. So I'll try and talk about the best of it.

WARNING: This will be a LONG post because we had a BLAST!!! :o)

Thursday (the 9th) we drove to Boise. Now, it's SUPPOSED to take 8-9 hours to get there, right? Yeah... it took us 11. Isn't traveling with young children (especially a teething infant) fun???

Anyway, upon our arrival at the home of a High School friend of Dave's house, we hit the sack after a short how-do-you-do? The next day, DAVE'S BIRTHDAY, he and Bryant went to work. Dave got to shadow Bryant, who is a CRNA (nurse anesthatist, which is what Dave wants to be). I must admit that I was a bit nervous about spending 8 hours with a perfect stranger. I'd only met Adrienne twice before, and although I found her perfectly nice nice, I hardly knew her! What would we talk about? Would it be awkward? What if she didn't like me?

My worries quickly subsided when she and her baby, Conner (6 months) proved to be AMAZING. It was as if she and I knew eachother our whole lives. My prayers to feel comfortable and to know what to say to her were truly answered. We totally hit it off and had a WONDERFUL time. I am thrilled to be able to call her my friend. She is such a sweet person and an amazing example. Thank you, Adrienne for opening your home to complete strangers and letting us stay with you.

Dave had a great time at work with Bryant. His goals to continue on to grad school and become a CRNA have been solidified and we can hardly wait. Friday night Adrienne baked a SCRUM-DILI-ITIOUS (as my Grandpa would say) tripple chocoloate cake with no less than 30 candles for Dave's birthday. We stayed up late chatting and laughing so hard I had tears streaming down my cheeks.

Saturday we went to a tiny town called Shoshone, Idaho. Our nieces and nephew invited us to go to their fiddle competition there. Having not been to one of their performances yet, we were extatic to be able to attend. We missed Lani's turn, but got to watch Kai and Maile. They did a great job.
The picture to the right is of Kai (12)


Maile and Lani had their faces painted. Don't they look GORGEOUS???


While in Idaho we got to see lots of friends and family. Unfortunately we didn't get to see everyone we'd hoped to, but we did manage to squeeze in lots of fun. We went to the park with a good friend, Jill, and her kids Amelia and Cooper. Andrew and Amelia have litterally been friends since they were 6 months old. It was so fun to see them play together just like old times.






Grandma and Grandpa have a HUGE yard and so the kids were able to tromp around with their cousins all week. They had so much fun.


They turned Grandpa's utility wagon into a covered pioneer wagon.


They went swimming and slid on the slip 'n slide. Andrew is a little fish, just like Dave. He loves to swim under water and search for the toy rings.


We also went camping and fishing. Even the swarms of horse flies and mosquitos didn't keep the kids from absolutely LOVING it. Andrew and Grandpa caught a fish. And the others caught 5 more.







Thank you, everyone for an AWESOME vacation. We love you all and we'll miss you. This post turned into a novel so I'd better close. It's taken me a couple days to finish it as it is.
Is anyone else ready for school to start?