Granite Hot Springs

Granite hot springs is my family's favorite spot to go camping. We go at least once every summer. Mark and I went up a day before my parents were suppose to be there. We rolled into camp just as the sun went behind the mountain. We were driving through the campsites looking for one big enough for our trailer. As we went by, I saw some silhouettes of some people standing by a campfire. I was doing some wishful thinking to myself, saying...Could that be Kimberly and Tracy....and that little person....could that be Ethan??? So Mark yelled out "Tracy??" It WAS them!!! Whoa, what a pleasant surprise. I had no idea they were going to be up there. They only could come for one night and knew that we were all coming up the next day when they had to leave. Jade had just said that it would be cool if someone else from the family came early, but with it being so late, they knew that probably wouldn't happen. The kids were all so happy to have cousins to hang out with that night and the next day at the pool.There were so many wildflowers, I had to make Alyssa a crown.

(I'll show how I make them in the next post.)

Jade wanted to make a flower creation too.

The Granite Mountain

The view from a little hike my Mom and I went on.

My Mom and the big waterfall.

We could see the pool from the trail.

The river was raging. It was kinda scary being so close. This was upriver from the waterfall.

Alyssa went on a little hike with Grandma and Grandpa.

The Grandkids watching Bolt in G & G's trailer.

Alyssa loved playing with Angel!!

We saw this hippy van when we went for a ride on the fourwheelers. I swear I saw it at Heise a couple of weeks before. There is a note in the back window, explaining that it is NOT an abandoned vehicle so please don't haul it off. Funny.

Rob sacrificed his arm for this shot. Lots of mosquitoes!

The kids are always happy to get a ride on the wheeler.

Forrest was happy to camp with us. He was cute riding on the back of the four wheeler.

Off to the pool!

My legs know two colors. Here they are White, later they were Red, Lobster Red to be exact.

Genessa and Bridger.

Our third day at the pool, we were privilaged to get a free therapy session from this "therapist". (At first when we saw him, we thought it was a relative of Rob's.) He educated us all on sexual matters as he read out loud to us and his imaginary friends. After the pool worker told him that his material was not appropriate for the children that were swimming, things got even more entertaining. He went off about the constitution and his rights. Then he looked up to the sky and said "You were right, God, these people are just like the people in the book."

I had to laugh at Alyssa. She was doing a spread eagle back float. Her cheeks are full of air as she holds her breath to stay afloat.

Kenzie, Cole, and Ashley

You can see the rocks where the hot water comes right out of the mountain. The pool overflows into the stream and they drain and refill it every night. I love how the pool feels clean without the chlorine. We had a such a great time with everyone. What a fun trip!!

SUMMER FUN

We had a great spot for the Idaho Falls Firework Show. Great view, great spot for the kids to play, and great parking. And it works out that the roads that we take home, avoid all the traffic. Yeah!
Aunt Mindy brought some sparklers for the kids. They loved it!
Britton, Paige, Ryan, Grandma Sherrey, Mindy and Elly
Candace, Cole, and Mark. Grandma and Grandpa Hitz, Rob and Angel, Rob's brother and cousin joined us later.


Kiddos playing with their bubble necklaces
Brooke, Cole, Candace, Alyssa, and Grandma Gloria.
My cousin Brooke, her hubby and cute kiddos came to Idaho for the 4th of July weekend. The Rhodehouses got together for a BBQ. It was so good to see them all. I hadn't seen Brooke in years. We used to have lots of fun when we were kids. I have lots of fun memories with my cousin Brookie Rollerskates.
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Last weekend we had the funnest BBQ at Grandma and Grandpa Smith's house with the whole Smith Gang. Grandpa pushed all the kids on the swing. We played the bean bag toss and volleyball. I wish I would have taken more pictures. I know my Mom got some good ones though.
The kids tossing bean bags. Can you see the river? It was high and flowing very fast. It was stressful to make sure Cole didn' t get too close!
The bean bag toss stand. What does it look like to a two-year-old?
A Potty!
He sat down and practiced some grutting sounds. I was laughing so hard!

Alyssa had a pioneer primary activity where all the kids got to dress up. We didn't have any pioneer clothes, so I went to the DI. I was lucky to find this dress. I thought there would be tons of options, but when I was looking through the racks, I had to keep telling myself, "Pioneer not Polygamist". I wished I would have had more time and I would have sewed her up a matching bonnet. I was able to make her a little pioneer hat and finished sewing it just before she walked out the door. She was really happy when she came home. She told me all about the pioneers, and the games they played.
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Some friends of ours invited us over to watch them rope, and let the kids ride their pony.




Alyssa was so excited, she made sure she had her pink cowgirl hat and pink cowgirl boots!
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We took the kids to the Rigby Stampeed Days Parade. Alyssa didn't want to ride the Rhodehouse float this year. She said "I want to get the candy, not throw it!"
Cole stuffing his pockets. He knows that Mom takes the candy bags away after the parade.

Watching Rigby's Stampeed Days Parade with Grandma and Grandpa.

Aunt Ashley with the dance team.We were laughing when we went to Wendy's after the parade and saw this!

Life is Good!

I have been looking for a shower curtain for my master bathroom for quite a while now. I had a picture in my mind of what I wanted and was just starting to realize that I was probably going to have to find the fabric and sew my own. But today while shopping with my sister, I found pretty much what I was looking for. The tag said 50 dollars. That is a little much for a shower curtain, but because I have been searching for so long, I was ready to get it anyway. That's when the magic happened. The tag flipped over and on the other side, was a clearance price of 15 dollars. Woohoo!!

Little did I know, that at that moment, Mark was also experiencing some good fortune. He went fishing for the day, with our friend Alan and Alyssa. They were looking for some landscape rocks to bring home and Mark stepped on what looked like a rock. It was a huge, coiled up rattlesnake. He jumped back. It struck twice, but Mark was able to get out of the way in the nick of time. It was the biggest rattler he had ever seen. Who can step right on a snake, without being bit??? We must be living right.

Ruby River Closes, Lets Go Camping!

Well, the days of Mark working at Ruby River are over. It is pretty sad. The combination of the economy being the way that it is, and Ruby River being on the expensive side, was not good. We were happy about the job because it was close to our house and easy for Mark have a job after quitting Rhodehouse Construction. Luckily, he isn't out of a job though. After firing all the managers at the Sizzler in Pokey, they transferred him to that store. So in the meantime, his resume is being sent out and we are trying to decide what to do. They wanted us to take over a store in Utah. I am totally cool about moving (I am not wild about Utah though), but I really don't want to sell our house until we get it finished. We just got Mark's transcripts from ISU, so maybe Mark will go back to school. I feel bad for all the other employees at Ruby River who lost their jobs and feel grateful that we still have one. There are rumors that they may turn the building into a Sizzler, if they can't lease it to another restaurant, so that is a job possibility too. Since the store closed on Wednesday, that meant that we got a unexpected paid vacation. We were pretty happy about that, so we hooked up to the fifth wheel and went camping! Mark's parents and bro and sis-in-law joined us. On Friday, before we left, Ryan and Britton took us out for a ride on their new boat. It was so much fun. I even climbed in the tube, clothes and all. I hated having a wet butt in jeans, but it was worth it.

Ryan found this butterfly and brought it to us. We had fun playing with it. Can you believe that Elly was scared to hold it??? She will play with a worm, but not a butterfly. Funny kid.

Sweet Baby Paige
Cole just wanted to stomp on the butterfly, while I was trying to take pictures of it. What a BOY!

All the kids enjoyed making smores. Cole loved the fire and kept saying, fire, fire, fire. He learned that it is hot, by picking up a hot rock. Yikes! Good thing I had my lavendar essentail oil. It worked great on his little hand.
mmmmmm
Cole and Elly
Where are my pictures of Dean, Sherrey, Ryan and Britton??? They were really there, I promise!!
Jordan is Cole's Hero! (Other than his Dad, of coarse!)
Alyssa is always happy to get to ride her PINK four wheeler! What a fun weekend!!

Run Forrest, Run!

This is our puppy, Forrest. We got him the day before we left for Tennessee, but didn't name him until we got home. He seemed just fine when we got him, but then he started having trouble walking. He was so sad to watch because his front legs were so weak, he would take a couple steps and then fall on his face. His legs weren't broken or anything, just bowlegged and weak. We splint his front legs and he loved it. It gave him the strength that he needed to walk and run. When we took the splints off, he was doing much better too. The name Forrest seemed fitting, because we kept encouraging him to walk, saying "Run Forrest, Run!" He is doing great now, and the kids are enjoying him.

Tennessee

I have lots more Tennessee pics, but I'll never be able to post them all so this concludes our trip. As we were headed to the airport. We saw this. Some people collect stamps....Some people collect washing machines. There were more appliances in this guy's yard than at Sear's!
The kids did great on the plane. Alyssa was helping Cole with flash cards. Cole's favorite thing to do on the plane was to smash silly putty on the tray table with his tractors. I also showed the kids how to blow bubbles with the silly putty, they thought that was pretty cool.
Alyssa loved her window seat and kept herself busy with her coloring.
Mark was so cute when he picked us up from the airport. After getting a big smooch, he handed me a bunch of roses. He had some set aside for Alyssa too. We missed him so much!