We went on an almost three week journey to Idaho with a short visit in Utah. Wow, what a drive. We went a way we've never been before, and after being in flat Texas so long, I was fascinated with all the scenery! To begin with, Chandler and Camden slept very well in the car, as shown below, but Dekan never fell asleep in the car.
On the way, we saw this enormous rock in the distance, it's tough to see in this picture, but I thought it was awesome. The thing is gi-normous!
I told you, beautiful scenery!
Once we got to Utah, we had a little family reunion with my mom's family in Utah over the fourth of July. They have an incredible lot behind their house that they've transformed into a kid's park and pavilion for adults. There is a huge slide down the mountain that Dekan enjoyed, until he tripped on the concrete stairs going up to the slide and split his chin.
While in Utah, we stayed with some friends who recently moved there from here. We went to a parade and Dekan and his bud had a photo op in front of the police car.
And went to a free bounce house afterward.
Back at the reunion, my boys both took a turn going down the zip line - yes, even Chandler had the courage to go all the way down on that thing - and look at the view!
While in Utah, we stayed with some friends who recently moved there from here. We went to a parade and Dekan and his bud had a photo op in front of the police car. And went to a free bounce house afterward. Back at the reunion, my boys both took a turn going down the zip line - yes, even Chandler had the courage to go all the way down on that thing - and look at the view! This is Camden at church in the hallway, he was being way cute with his chubby legs so I had to snap a pic.
This photo was taken just a year ago - these are my running buddies, who I ran faithfully with several times a week for 3 years. Then, all of a sudden, the two on the left decided to up and leave to Utah at the same time - (what bums, huh?) - there were several other families in the area that moved away about the same time leaving us sad and lonely. (I need to get down to that weight again!)
We had to stop and see them and their families while we were there. There was a picture of all the womenfolk but I somehow didn't get that one.
I almost cried when we saw them all - I miss them so much!
After that, we dropped Dave off at the airport and I bravely took all three boys to temple square until I could meet my mother and drive to Idaho.
Once in Idaho, in typical Wilhelmsen fashion, I played lots of games with my bruthas.
This photo was taken just a year ago - these are my running buddies, who I ran faithfully with several times a week for 3 years. Then, all of a sudden, the two on the left decided to up and leave to Utah at the same time - (what bums, huh?) - there were several other families in the area that moved away about the same time leaving us sad and lonely. (I need to get down to that weight again!) We had to stop and see them and their families while we were there. There was a picture of all the womenfolk but I somehow didn't get that one. I almost cried when we saw them all - I miss them so much! After that, we dropped Dave off at the airport and I bravely took all three boys to temple square until I could meet my mother and drive to Idaho. Once in Idaho, in typical Wilhelmsen fashion, I played lots of games with my bruthas. Then, we had swim lessons in Idaho - and this is how they had to walk from the little pool to the big pool. The second and fourth child are Chandler's cousins.
We went to the Boise zoo while there and Camden didn't like being a turtle.
Some cousins in a bird's nest at the zoo.
More swim lessons - every day for two weeks.
More swim lessons - every day for two weeks. My mom likes to buy little prizes and candy for the grandkids and play Bingo for prizes. They love it and I love that they love it - they sure had a fun time staying at Grandmas.
We also stopped at the Boise Temple - where Dave and I got married. Ahhhh
While there we had to see our best buds in Idaho and make a stop to Artic Circle so why not do it as the same time - Have I mentioned I love fry sauce?
A friendly but serious game of volleyball in my brother's backyard - I gotta tell ya' the weather was awesome while there. My boys played outside almost the entire day and didn't die of heat and then it cooled off at night.
So, while the kids chilled out with a movie,
The adults played games and lots of them! That's my family's thing.
Now, on to the Blacker Family Reunion. We went to some cabins in the mountains and this was the first time Dave's family has all been together since his Dad died almost 6 years ago.
We were a little bored at times, so Chandler and I decided to make a face out of Reese's Pieces - well this is how it started, and then we involved Whoppers, Hot Tamales, licorice, and Sugar Babies. Now you know why I don't weigh the same as I did in the previous picture.
Dekan helped by this time, and I thought it looked pretty cool.
We got some pretty snazzy t-shirts for our family reunion picture.
This is Dave's family - just the siblings and mom.
And all the grandkids.
There was a swimming pool that was about 40 degrees - no joke - I couldn't believe it - I missed my 90 degree pool in Texas (that's why nobody is in).
Lastly, this picture was taken after Dave realized we had gone almost three weeks on vacation of me snapping pictures left and right and realizing that I was not in one of them - he took several of me standing there just so it would seem like I was on the trip.
Dekan helped by this time, and I thought it looked pretty cool.
We got some pretty snazzy t-shirts for our family reunion picture.
This is Dave's family - just the siblings and mom.
And all the grandkids.
There was a swimming pool that was about 40 degrees - no joke - I couldn't believe it - I missed my 90 degree pool in Texas (that's why nobody is in).
Lastly, this picture was taken after Dave realized we had gone almost three weeks on vacation of me snapping pictures left and right and realizing that I was not in one of them - he took several of me standing there just so it would seem like I was on the trip.So, we are home again, home again, jiggety-jig, jiggety-jig.
