Peach Harvest 2011

This last weekend we went down to the Tri-cities to help with the yearly peach harvest.

I love it. Jake bares it.

Here are some peaches waiting to be skinned and sliced.

(Yes that one at the top has been picked a bit by the birds)

This was our production line. A peeler, a slicer, and a bagger!

After mixing in the Fruit Fresh and some sugar they get bagged.

A close up of scrumptiousness.

Final stage - bagged and frozen!

July Birthday Boys

(Brandon, Jacob, and John)

Chatting after dinner and dessert

(Brandon and Katie)

A nice self portrait of Jimmy and I.

Jimmy and Jacob

John and Sally

(This seems to be the best picture I have of the two. Next time I'll try not to snap the picture in mid conversation.)

It was a nice get away. A nice break from the daily grind. A nice visit with the family.

Next adventure: maybe some more camping, the start of school, or the Muddy Buddy.

We'll see.

Roughly 11,672 Days Old

I say roughly because I didn't factor in which year was actually leap year. I can't determine if your age in days seems older then in years.

Jacob pretty much had an ideal birthday for him. We went to the movies, played video games, ate his favorite dinner, had ice cream cake, and slept. It couldn't have gotten better. Okay maybe winning the lottery but since we don't play it wasn't looking like an option.

Some presents:

His favorite dinner (fajitas):

Mint ice cream cake and a lot of candles!

Presents!! Golf stuff!!

A new fishing pole!

And what he spent a bit of the evening doing . . . casting.

And who would have thought at 32 a birthday could be so fun!

Our next adventure: the Peach Harvest!!

July Activities

Work has been so crazy I needed to get away. We weren't able to make it to Brashear Beach Week this year with the extended family so we opted for a mini vacation ourselves.

Destination: Farragut State Park (Athol, ID)

Idaho State Parks are amazing!! They are by far the most well kept. We stayed at the Whitetail Campsite #36. It was a prime location. It was close to the showers, restrooms, water spigot, and the Tot Lot for kids to play on. Yet it was far enough away from those things not to be bothered.

Our campsite.

Jake setting up the tent

I'm tying the poles in the inside.

1) We're getting the fire going for foil dinners

2) Creepy spider that must have been dangling in front of the camera.

We didn't notice it until today!!

Foil dinner. Yum!

This park has a ton of history. It actually was a Naval Training Station in 1940's (and other things after the war ended). It is the only land locked Naval Training Station. In fact the Navy still uses it today. They chose it because they were afraid the coast would have been attacked.

After the war the government removed all of the buildings in each camp. The National Guard came in and reseeded and planted trees to bring it back to it's original beauty. They did an amazing job!

This is a picture of Jake and I at Camp Bennion.

On one of our many hikes Jake and I found this double chimney tucked back off the trail. We later found out it was for the Officers.

This was a statue (obviously) dedicated to those who trained at Farragut and served in WWII.

This is the lower tip of Pend Orielle (pronounced Pond O Ray).

Us!

This was at the lower bend. It opened up to a massive lake. It was awesome.

Jake enjoying the view.

Making my signature scrapbook opener page.

Scrapbook opener page:

I found two rocks in the shape of hearts!!

We drove up to Bayview. I couldn't believe there were houses on the water like this. I know I'm a little late on things... Oh and the white building to the right is the "garage" for the boats. Crazy.

Then we ventured to Silverwood. Silverwood is a theme park. It's a Six Flags meets Wet 'n Wild. Although not as good as the two. Still extremely fun.

I made Jake drive me around in this car.

(it was a kids ride and we were the only adults without a kid in line)

Jake's favorite ride . . .

And how he felt after it . . .

Even though it rained on us while we were there we still ended the day with a Snow Cone!

On to our next adventure . . . Jacob's birthday!

Kicking Off Summer

We've spent time at the river.

Played with Fireworks.

Hung out with friends.

And relaxed.

It has been very enjoyable so far. I've been working some crazy hours but we've still managed to hit birthday parties, bbq's, and catch a couple of movies.

Dear Mother Nature,

Really? It's June 1st. Can we get some SUN?

Today Chance Tstms Hi 63 °F

Tonight Chance Showers Lo 44 °F

Thursday Chance Showers Hi 57 °F

Thursday Night Chance Showers Lo 40 °F

Let's be honest. 50% chance means it's going to rain up here! And I love the rain . . . but I would also like to run outside and not come home soaked. It would be much appreciated if you could allow summer to come a little early. I'm really missing the dry heat of the desert.

Thanks,

Emily

A Vegas Vacation

In April we took a trip to Vegas to visit family and friends.

It started out a little rocky by almost missing our flight there,

Waiting over an hour for our rental car,

Paying extra for coverage we didn't need on our rental car,

Finding out my phone broke and I was unable to call or get any numbers of my friends or family,

and we were starving!

But once we were there we had a blast!

We hung out with Mom and Brian.

We forgot to take pictures with all of our friends but . . .

Stayed with our favorite family and played with these awesome kids!

We cruised the strip once.

Ate at restaurants we don't have

(Claim Jumper, Fuddruckers, Smash Burger, some taco joint, etc.)

Went to places that weren't complete when we left.

(Hoover Dam and City Center)

And then flew back home to a little more color.

I had forgot how brown Vegas is.

We had a lay over in Seattle and decided to take advantage of the restaurants there too!

Jake about to enjoy Swordfish at Anthony's.

From Seattle to the Tri-Cities we got to fly on a new plane! It was only two weeks old and smelled so nice!

Even though it started out rocky we ended up having a great time. I was able to meet up with my friends, see family, and relax. In the end it was pretty stress free and relaxing.

On to our next adventure.