IDAHO SUMMER TRIP 2017

Our summer visits to Idaho Falls are so precious. They are seriously some of my favorite times. Stella just disappears for days, playing and having the time of her life enjoying adventures with her boys. This was Vivi's first road trip and visit outside of Utah. We drove up there the day after Stella's birthday on the 21st. Vivi did pretty well on the drive. I was hoping for her to nap most of the way but she woke up as we reached some road construction and never went back to sleep. It was fine though--after she came to realize she wasn't getting out, she gave up and calmed down.

Probably the highlight of our adventures was finally making it to the sand dunes out past Rexburg on June 22nd. We went to the Beehive Credit Union picnic that was in town first and watched Craig get all honored for helping to build a pavilion in the park, and then watched the boys attack fish in the fish grab. We also had dinner. After we were done there it was the perfect time of night to head out to the dunes. It was so so fun. Stella loved it. Vivi did not. Overall it was just a blast and we left with sand everywhere.

Of course the best part of our Idaho trips is just the hanging out. One morning the kids came up with the best obstacle course, and then one night they had this water balloon game that kept them laughing all night. The balloons were their babies and, as usual, Catcher kept everyone in stitches while being the worst water balloon dad of all time.

Then there was the very well choreographed dance number to "Surfin' USA." Heidi was their coach and Catcher, Wyn, and Stella practiced so hard for the big performance. They showed it to us on the trampoline and turned on the sprinkler to add a bit of pizazz to the number and we were all impressed. After the show they continued to enjoy a summer tradition of adding water fun to the trampoline.

Every Monday morning the boys go golfing. It was an early morning, but we all got up and joined them. Basically we just rode in the cart looking for Catcher's lost golf club (which was not actually lost, but at home) but we still had a very good time. Stella even got some tips from the professional golfers. I'm not sure she enjoyed the golfing nearly as much as she enjoyed driving the golf cart though. The boys were all super grumpy--I think we had had too many late nights and so they didn't quite golf their best. It was still fun though.

Before leaving on Tuesday we spent an hour or so over at Grammie Barb and Papa Dave's house. It is always hard to leave, but we always try and squeeze out at much as we can. We made one last trip to get shaved ice and then Vivi made us all smile when she walked into the garage by herself and grabbed the bubble maker and announced that she wanted it on. She is so smart and clever.

It was another great summer visit for the books. This year was light on baseball but that only made it so we could get more adventures in. We had also pushed our visit back a week so that we could get nicer weather, and it was worth it. Vivi's first trip away was a success. She loved every minute of it. She was always a good baby, even though we kept trying to get her to say "bad baby" because it was hilarious.