Idaho 2014 (Days 1 and 2)

A couple of years ago Brent and I were lucky enough to go out to McCall Idaho to visit Brent's cousin Jeremy and his family. It is one of those things that get brought up on a rafting trip, "hey you guys should come visit us sometime..." and then we actually made it happen. Mitch had gotten sick that time and stayed home with G-ma, so we had only taken Brayden and August. It is one thing about having a growing family...there are less places you are really able to go. It is hard for most people to host a family of 5. We are so very grateful for such a welcoming and loving family to visit.
Ever since our trip to Idaho Annette (our river grandma) has talked about wanting to go to McCall and visit. We told her we would get her there one way or another. After Mariette passed (Annette's sister) last year she has been feeling pretty down. So, Brent and I decided we need to make good on our word and show this amazing lady a good time.

McCall Idaho is just 457 miles from Portland Oregon that's a hop-skip-and-a-jump to us young people, but we knew the drive would not be as fun for Annette.

We were going to take the Volvo which has very comfy seats that adjust all over the place, but the morning of Lizzy's bridal shower (Saturday before we left for Idaho) Brent got rear ended. His entire back end on the driver's side was squished (no trunk access), but that is another story entirely.

So...we took the Corolla. Not as roomy, but great gas mileage. Our cars only seat 5 (another reason a fourth child would be a big change for us), so Brayden got to stay and hang out with his cousins and Grandma for the week. That way Mitch could have an opportunity to experience Idaho.

We left Salem around 6:40am heading to Annette's house in Portland. Once there, we loaded her up and headed out!
I started the driving, as Brent had worked the entire day before and was still up around 2am unable to sleep...

Our first stop was at Denny's in Pendleton.

 My poor tired baby (Brent) and August with his cupcake cup!

 The roads were all clear and there was hardly any traffic. It was a nice drive. Annette was able to talk about her parents coming out to Oregon for their honeymoon in 1931. That was when they decided to move there from Nebraska. Annette was born after Mariette in 1934 (in Nebraska) and by 1935 they were in Oregon. Pretty neat to hear the stories...

Unlike this video I took at one of the rest stops...Okay people this is my new phone and I am still working out how to use all the features!

After a few more pit stops and about 6 hours of my driving Brent finally wanted to drive the rest of the way (like an hour).

Can I just say,

Jeremy and Krystel are amazing. 

Krystel had wanted to make Annette's favorite foods and really give to her this week. I had tried to let Krystel know Annette's favorite foods, by stealth-fully getting this info from her however, Annette is the most laid back person alive. She really "isn't picky" and really "doesn't care". Which is awesome in so many ways...not so much when you are trying to surprise her with favorite dishes!

It worked though. We arrived in Idaho around 5pm (our time) and Krystel had an AMAZING roast dinner for us. Jan and Evan were there too! Brent's aunt and uncle. And their daughter Joy had grown so much.

We ate, visited a little and then headed to bed.

Krystel had to work in the morning at the Quaker Hill Friends Camp, so she had Jeremy all set to give us a continental breakfast.

Again, it was quite the spread and there was so much thought and planning put into our entire visit.

I was up early, like usual and so was Jeremy. Sweet Joy woke and entertained us with her love of "chase" and little giggles.

Annette took the tour of Jeremy and Krystel's place. Jeremy had built a green house since we had been there last. He was still working on it, but it was quite impressive. 

After hanging out in the greenhouse and checking the chickens for eggs  we walked down to Jan and Evan's new house to check it out and visit with them some too. (Another thing I didn't take photos of)

 Annette loved the snow. She kept saying she never saw it snow so much in her life. Everyday it snowed. It was really beautiful. The pictures don't do it justice.

 Joy really loved Mitchel, or "boy" as she referred to him the first couple days. It was very cute.

 Joy showed me how to dig in the dirt and place it on my knee. She was is adorable.

The view from the back porch

 We had fun throwing the ball for Hunter. He is such a good boy! On the way back from Jan and Evan's it was snowing (again). Annette was loving it.

the view from the corner of the porch...

the Blue Barn

View from downstairs window...can you tell I loved the view??

Annette being escorted home (back to Jeremy's) by Brent...See Jan and Evan's house in the background? It's the white/cream colored house with green roof.

These cousins had some fun. Joy got to experience some boy filled rough and tumble stuff...(sorry guys)
The boys got to help dig some holes and plant some asparagus. They also got to walk around and point out some of the wild strawberry bushes that were starting to sprout up.

That night we went to Krystel's camp for a pizza dinner. The chef was a pizza genius and there were several creative pizza types. I was going to take pictures (AGAIN) and forgot. It was a great thing the camp was doing to help raise funds for several organizations in their community. Mitch tried a Cesar pizza with anchovies on it. I had a veggie slice with huge pieces of artichoke hearts...It was great. Jan and Evan had come with too! After eating we went outside and checked out the zip line. It was like Disneyland where I wanted to try things, but was too scared and kicked myself later. I wanted to try the zip line, but jumping off of a ledge with only hanging onto a small rope...scary.

 It made for some great photos though.

 Everybody watching...

Even Joy wasn't afraid to do it.

After her I decided I could try it (on the ground)

It was hard because it just kind of takes off with your feet in it. I ended up slipping and falling on my backside. Thanks to Krystel we got pictures of it!

 Is Joy not so in love with her Papa in that picture?! 

Too cute.

Then there is me...

We also got to see the chapel where Jeremy and Krystel were married.

My pictures weren't the best. I was still recovering from my time on the zip line.

We got back to the house and enjoyed some strawberry shortcake desert.

Krystel was so accommodating to my picky little man. August is so particular about his food and the presentation of it. She worked hard to help him create a dessert masterpiece.

Annette was pretty wiped out. 

She was getting a lot of visiting in. In fact, in all the years I've known her I have not seen her sit for those lengths of time! It was impressive.

 Brent working out his dicing skills in the kitchen. Those strawberries didn't stand a chance...

Mitch showing off his muscles!

He's getting so big...

We tried to go to bed a little earlier because we knew the next day we would be going to the hot springs. Annette didn't pack any swim clothes (or rafting clothing) so we had swung by the ritziest place in town (similar to Fred Meyer) and picked her up a pair of pants on the way home from the pizza diner.

I felt bad she was a little apprehensive of the hot springs. I should have prepared her better..

She was a good sport though and just went with it.

So that was our first couple days in Idaho...