Idaho 2014 (Days 3 and 4)

Upon waking up the next morning Krystel had set up Joy down stairs with some Curious George, to keep her from waking everyone up. 

(She likes to run and play in the morning and we were sleeping in her room...)

It was sweet to sit on the couch with her and snuggle a bit. Then Krystel started making another incredible breakfast of German pancakes (puff cakes?) Which Brent got the recipe for...

Annette and I tried to help, but you can tell Krystel has this hosting thing down. She must be used to hosting the masses cause it was flawless. So...Annette and I drank some coffee and enjoyed the new fallen snow!

Hunter and Mitch hit it off. It doesn't hurt that from a very young age Mitch has been a self proclaimed "animal whisperer"...

 Hunter was so comfy with Mitch he ended up on his lap! I guess he really thinks he is a lap dog.

 Joy was so polite and helpful. You can tell she has amazing parents.

Annette getting ready for the hot springs

August had just hugged Joy...and this was her reaction.

 We finally made our way to the hot springs.

It was pretty busy there.

And snowing.

The ground was so cold by the time we slipped our feet in they were stinging and burning...

We decided to eat and then go in the water, because getting out of the water to eat was not a really good idea. I know I sound like a broken record, but again Krystel made an amazing lunch. Croissant sandwiches with a curry chicken salad. Dang were our taste buds spoiled. Brent was enjoying it so much he was turning purple just to keep eating :)

 It was perfect. And had it been a little less crowded I could see it being an ideal place to meditate. The soft snow falling, and the slight trickling of water. It's pretty magical.

No wonder so many people enjoy it.

We didn't stay as long as we could have. Annette was done fairly quickly and I saw her get out and wanted to make sure she wasn't alone, but Jan had gotten out too. So I decided to walk around and take some more pictures. Mitch had my water proof camera, but had gotten some of the sand in the lens so it was stuck. Still he got a pretty cool video of the snow falling around us.

I feel like having us girls out of the water put pressure on the guys to "finish". 

Again, I know our crew could have spent hours there. 

August and Mitch love the water.

But, it was perfect.

After that we headed back to the house for some of Krystel's chili. We insisted on having left overs too, cause that roast was way too good to not eat some more.

Somehow it got mentioned how I am a lousy "pie crust maker". 

How my several attempts of baking have been full of hiccups.

Krystel had a "can't fail" pie crust recipe and offered to school me in the ways of the crust.

I of course was a little hesitant. I would hate to take her time and mess it up.

I am glad I agreed it was fun and I ended up making a yummy peach pie. (Thanks to Krystel)

Everyone graciously ate it and complimented me. Super embarrassing.

We all visited some more and let the kids entertain us.

There was plenty of chasing and giggling.

Most of the group shots were taken with Annette's camera. I will have to post them later when I get them...

It truly was a blast. It was fun spending time with Jeremy and Krystel, Jan and Evan.

I am glad Annette got to have a little fun.

She turns 80 this year so it really is a year to spoil her!

Joy was so fun to watch too. She talks so much and is such a sweet little girl. She even said grace before dinner for us one night. So precious...I know Brent just adores her.

It was hard not calling ourselves "Uncle Brent" and "Aunt Lisa". Generally we don't really care. Heck I'm "Aunt Lisa" to so many kids I'm not even related to...

Besides "Cousin Brent" sounds funny...

 Krystel getting the camera ready for our group shot

On our last morning Krystel makes us a scramble. Complete with eggs, potatoes, bacon, cheese, and other stuff...she was like, "I'm just making a simple scramble for you" almost apologetic. Like it wasn't good enough or something. All I know is she is a great cook. The scramble was awesome. It was so nice to start the drive out with full tummies. Plus she had to go cups for our coffee.
Like always it is sad to say goodbye. I was happy to hear Jeremy plans on going on the Rogue rafting trip this summer while Krystel visits family in the Portland area.
It's been awhile since we've had him on any river but the snake.

 Mitch the little prince putting "Cinderella's slippers" on.

Joy's white shoes were her "rella" shoes.

As we drove away the Olson's stood in the doorway waving. 

What a great trip.

The drive home was fun too!

 The halfway point is around LaGrande, which worked out wonderful. I was able to again see Rhiannon and Laurel. They came and met us for lunch.
Laurel is having her first ever cold. She was still adorable, running nose and all.
We ate at a Chinese/Japanese restaurant.

 Apparently I only took one photo of them...grr.

I need to just live with my camera on my face

I drove from LaGrande to Portland. Which happened to be the wet part of the trip. Thankfully we finally got Grandma home a little after 5pm. We got her all settled and then headed to my sister Jen's house for dinner and some movies. We ended up just crashing at her house and doing some of our laundry from the trip. Yeah for sisters! On the way over to Jen's we noticed Tigard had quite a bit of rain too!

 After dinner,

My baby ordered me my favorite to share with everyone...

Fried Ice Cream folks!

We are so blessed to have such amazing people in our family and our lives!

There are so many times we let circumstances and societal views skew our goals.

Traveling costs money there is no doubt about that, but the memories are worth it.

Spending time with Annette is way worth it, especially when time is growing short for these types of trips with her. We just absorbed every second humbled and grateful for the opportunity to have real memories to draw experience from.

Thank you Olsons for an AMAZING time (again)!