Our Weekend in Eastern Idaho

This past weekend, we took advantage of the last weekend before school started to go to Eastern Idaho to visit Brian's sister, Janna and her family, my Swensen grandparents, and Brian's Hanks grandparents. We also got to see some aunts, uncles, and cousins! It was a really fun weekend and made us both really appreciate our families and our heritage! 

Friday morning, Janna and I took the kids to the zoo (no pictures). In the afternoon, we went to visit my Swensen grandparents. We went to dinner at Pizza Hut which was a hit, of course!

After pizza, we took some of the crusts down to the greenbelt and fed the ducks. Unfortunately, it was super chilly (with a wind) so it was a quick trip.

The kids had fun watching the ducks chase after the bread.

Wes and Sydney wanted their picture taken on this bench. The Idaho Falls temple in the background is where each set of their grandparents were married (Swensen in 1975 and Hanks in 1979).

My Uncle Kirk, Wes, Sydney, and me at the Idaho falls.

On Saturday, we drove out to farm country to visit Brian's Hanks grandparents. In the morning, after a great breakfast by Grandma, we went out and collected some potatoes.

The kids were good potato pickers!

We then went fishing!

Daddy-daughter fishing moment. Cute, right?

Brian (and Sydney) caught something! Wes and I were on the other shore and he started yelling, "My dad caught a fish! My dad caught a fish!" He was so proud of his dad.

Janna, Audrey, Sydney, Brian, Wes, and Great Grandpa Hanks with the fish. Sydney specifically requested Aunt Janna be in this picture instead of me. :)

Testing out what the fish feels like.

Wes reeling in another fish that Great Grandpa Hanks caught.

We stopped by Brian's aunt and uncle's house for a visit. The kids really enjoyed the little kitty.

Sydney thoroughly enjoyed the fresh carrot she pulled out of the ground. Produce is the best fresh!

We then went back to Grandma and Grandpa's house for lunch (Grandmas rock!) and Grandpa worked on cleaning out the fish. Wes was totally fascinated.

After lunch, Wes asked me to take a picture of him in this little African chair. Sure thing, bud! I'll take pictures of you as long as you'll let me!

Janna and I headed back to her house with some tired girls. While we were at home, we had some singing time.

Wes, on the other hand, stayed with his dad and went to visit a cousin who let them shoot his guns. I just have to laugh when I see this picture.

And this one...I love the concentration. It looks like Sid was trying hard not to laugh, too.

Wes pointing out the hole he made.

Wes showing off a shot up bleach container. Apparently, Wes was super excited about it all and cheered every time he hit something. He came back a happy man...and confused about where their neighbors lived. :)

Later that night, we celebrated Uncle Tyler's 29th birthday!

Then, Aunt Janna read the kids (sans Sydney) a story before bed.

Other Random Summer Pictures

Some of these pictures are from the Spring, but the point is, that they have not been posted to the blog before and needed to be!

This picture was taken before we moved to Boise, but I never got it posted. Time for the dentist!

This is Sydney getting her first official teeth cleaning from Grandpa Swensen.

Wes got a cleaning, too...and fluoride!

This was just another reason we weren't too sad to leave the city of Seattle. Seriously, can't they spend the city's money and efforts on the multiple shootings in the area instead of worrying about plastic bags?!?

Also before we left Seattle, we had one last play day at the gymnastics place across the street with the kids' friend, Troy.

I can't remember the point of this picture, but it was pretty silly!

While going through our stuff before leaving Seattle, we came across Sydney's swimsuit which she obviously liked well enough to put over her clothes.

Shortly after our arrival in Boise, Sydney was invited by a neighbor friend to a tea party. She was very excited to be dressed up so fancily! I'm not sure where she inherited her love of frills from, because it sure wasn't from me! I would have hated wearing that dress when I was her age.

To celebrate the Olympics opening ceremonies, we cut out and frosted sugar cookies. The kids had a lot of fun watching the Olympics. I also kept a running medal count each day, which the kids really enjoyed. Go Team USA!

This was a combined effort to make the Olympic rings (minus black). You can see I didn't have any corn syrup on hand, hence the reason our frosting ran everywhere!

I got a "bee in my bonnet" (which is usually a good thing, actually) and I got all of our food together for 72 hours.

You can see it's not portable in a backpack, but we can throw the box in the car and none of the meals require extra water or heat to prepare.

Recently, I also made homemade yogurt, which was something I'd been wanting to try for a long time. I have this mental "bucket list" of things I'd like to do (mostly foods to make as of right now), but I haven't written it down. That's probably it's taken me a couple of years to actually make the yogurt!

Boise Smith Family Time

Over the last month or so, we've had a lot of opportunities to see Brian's relatives. With so much family around, it seems like there is always something going on. Here are just a few pictures from our Smith family time. 

One of Brian's cousin's daughters got baptized in July so we went for the festivities. Brian's taking the picture and I'm his helper in case you were trying to spot us.

One afternoon, we went to Aspen Leaf in downtown Boise to see the city's first public piano and support another of Brian's cousins and his website: stayweirdboise.com.

On Sunday, August 19th, we went to visit Brian's Smith grandparents and help celebrate his grandpa's 91st birthday!