Thanksgiving in Texas

Thank you Megan and Annemarie for a wonderful time at your home and the yummy Thanksgiving dinner!
We were able to spend 9 days with them and did some great things. We went to to Rudy's and had lunch on Wednesday and had the best barbque beef in Texas. We also went to the new Christmas Carol movie at the IMax in 3D. It was a great movie and we all enjoyed it. We also spent some time on the river walk and ate at the Iron Cactus.

Starbuck and Saul were fun to be around, they are great dogs.

We just had a wonderful time and are glad that we were able to take the trip.

The Ten Virgins

We returned Saturday from Rigby. We (Benji, Tory and I) went to Erins to attend her production of The Ten Virgins that her ward Relief Society put on. It was very nice and Erin did a wonderful job during her performance. We had a wonderful time while visiting them in Rigby. Lucy and May were also able to come and enjoy it with us. Thanks for the wonderful time.

Glenns Ferry Trip

We went to Glenns Ferry this past weekend with our friends the Crosgroves. We had a great time seeing new places we haven't visited before. We stayed in our camping trailer at the Glenns Ferry State Park, which was very nice. Our first night there we went to the dinner theater. The play was kind of lame but the food, which was flame broiled steaks, was very good.

On Saturday we went on a road trip and the Crosgroves showed us around. We stopped in Haggerman for lunch, we had sturgeon and catfish sandwiches which were great. It was the first time any of us had tried sturgeon. The rest of the day was spent visiting Thousand Springs, Miracle Springs, Balanced Rock and Malad Gorge. We got back to our camp around 9:00 hoping to go to the observatory at Bruneau but it had become cloudy so we didn't go. We left Sunday at 1:00 to come home. It was a great place to visit.

Oregon Trip

We returned from our trip to Oregon last Friday night. We left on Sunday for Oregon and traveled on I-84 down the Columbia River Gorge. We spent the night in Hood River and enjoyed watching the para-surfers on the river. We visited Multnomah Falls and others along the Columbia on the way to Portland. We stopped in Portland and ate lunch at one of the food carts that are all over downtown Portland. We had yummy East India curry.

The next day we visited Fort Klatsop in Astoria. It was a neat place to visit and walk around. We spent the night in Tillamook and visited the cheese factory and got some yummy cheese.

On the way down the coast we visited Seaside, Lincoln City, Newport and Florence.

We loved seeing the light houses, the beach and the wildlife. We also had some great sea food.

Little Redfish Lake

Here are some of the pictures that we took on our recent camping trip to Little Redfish Lake up by Stanley. We had a wonderful time with the whole family. Unfortunately Derrick and Annemarie were unable to be with us. We spent the time relaxing around the fire, fishing, reading, cooking and playing games. I hope we can have a lot more of these wonderful experiences together. We have a super family that loves getting together and having fun.

Florida Collage

Siesta Key

We had a wonderful time at Siesta Key with Megan, Annemarie, Lucy, Derrick and May! They left for home on Saturday and Benji and I have been staying at Marti and Dick's. We have had a great time with them, enjoying their pool and visiting the area. Benji and I went down to Sanibel Island on Monday. We did some shopping at the village shops and swimming at the beach. The Gulf beach was very windy with very high waves. We had fun jumping the waves. We ate at a restaurant called The Island Cow. I had fried oysters which were great.

We spent the day yesterday at Siesta Key shopping and enjoying the beach for the last time before we leave on Saturday. It has been a great vacation.

Mule Days in Star

The Jacksons came over today and went to some of the Mule Days activities with us. We had a fun day. We went over to the library's used book sale and got a bunch of neat books. They were only $1.00 for hardbacks and 50 cents for paperbacks. We got enough books to keep us busy reading all summer. We then went to the parade, which was pretty lame this year. I think there was only one mule in the whole parade. The kids had fun though catching all the candy that was thrown. We took the boys over to the playground at the elementary school and had fun there. We had a yummy dinner of ribeye steaks on the grill and red potatoes. We all enjoyed it. It was a fun day.

Bruneau Sand Dunes

This past Friday and Saturday we went on an overnight campout with the Jacksons to the Bruneau Sand Dunes down by Mountain Home. It is a good to go camping there early in the season because it can get very hot during the summer. Benji and I arrived there around 5:00 pm Friday and the Jacksons arrived at 8:00. It was in the 90s and we thought it would be to hot to enjoy being there and hiking tomorrow. We had hamburgers and relaxed around the campfire eating s'mores. Saturday started out being a little cooler and the temperature stayed in the high 80's. We went hiking on the dunes in the morning and had a great time. Benji and I walked up some of the smaller dunes and part way up the larger one. The Jacksons made it all the way to the top and AJ was able to fly his kite from the top. They were hot and tired when the got down from the dune. The boys then played in the lake and we had a picnic in the shade of the trees. We then went back to camp and packed up then headed for home. We were glad that we went and had a great time.

Roses

Our roses have done beautifully this spring. They have really taken over our front flower bed. I need to trim the ones back from the sidewalk coming up to our front door, but I hate to trim them while they are blooming.

It has been forever

It has been nearly 3 months since I last Blogged. We have been kept very busy doing the things that we enjoy doing. The weather has improved and I have been able to do some yard work. I have some of my garden in and it is coming up. I hope to plant soon my tomatoes, squash and cucumbers. I have to wait for the chance of frost to be over. They say that you should wait until the snow has melted off of Bogus Basin to be safe from frost.
Benji and I went to a family history conference last weekend and enjoyed most of the classes that we took. We are hoping that taking these classes will inspire us to do get working more on our geneology.

SLC visit

This past weekend we went to SLC to visit LJ and DJ. We had a wonderful time, and enjoyed spending time with MJ. She is a cute baby and is growing up so fast. We were able to attend the open house for the Draper Temple. It is a beautiful temple and is in a great location overlooking the Salt Lake Valley. We also enjoyed playing their new game of Camelot. It is a fun game that we all enjoyed playing. The neat thing about the game is that you don't play against each other but as a team and try to win against the game.

We also went to Kneaders, a bakery/cafe and had the best French toast that we have ever had. It was delicious!! It was made with a special bread that they bake there. We will return there and have it again. Thanks for the wonderful visit.

No Heat!

Last Sunday night we noticed that the house was cooling down. I went to the thermostat and it was set at 71 but the temperature was 66. The furnace had shut down! I went up in the attic (that's where the furnace is) and tried without success to light it. We decided to wait until morning to call for help. We turned on the gas fireplace and started 2 electric heaters.
The next morning I got in contact with the guy that installed the furnace and he came right out. After examining the furnace he found that the inducer motor and blower wheel was not working and it had shut down the furnace. He went down to Boise to pick up a new motor but they had none in stock. He came back and told us that they ordered one but it would take 2 days to get here. He would come back Wednesday to install it.
We had quite a time trying to keep the house warm enough so that we were comfortable. Sadie our dog loved it! She enjoyed being in front of the electric heaters and the gas fireplace soaking up that wonderful heat.
The furnace guy came Wednesday at noon and installed the motor and everything is back to normal. Sadie is quite upset because her heaters are all put away. She sits in front of the fireplace and looks up at me as if she were saying, "Well when are you going to turn this thing on?"
Having something like this happen makes you appreciate the conveniences that we have in our homes.

Columbia River Gorge

Our ward here in Star was helping one of our new members move her household goods from Oregon. They needed some of the brothers to travel to Dufur, Oregon to get her stuff. I had the free time to help with this project so I volunteered. Brother Spencer and I drove one of the trucks with a trailer and Brother Marlin and his son Chris drove a small moving van. We left Friday afternoon. It has been quite a few years since I have traveled that road through Oregon. So it was kind of a new adventure for me. The roads were clear of snow but it was overcast and we ran into some fog going over the Blue Mountains. After we had past Pendleton we were right against the Columbia River with steep cliffs along both sides. It is a beautiful area that we all enjoyed. We arrived in The Dalles at 6:00 pm, checked into our motel and went to dinner at Ixalata, a Mexican restaurant.
The next morning we went with the Bishop of the area out to Dufur, which is a small town 12 miles south of The Dalles. We had to travel 8 more miles south of Dufur to the house where the sister used to live. There we picked up a piano and playground equipment. We were then informed that the rest of her stuff was 10 miles more down the road to a town called Tygh Valley. It is a very small town in the mountains. We then loaded the rest of her things on the trailer and truck. We left there at 12:00 and headed back to Idaho. We arrived back at Star at 6:00. It was great to have this opportunity to help out and to see new country. It was too bad that it was overcast and foggy for most of the trip and not really warm. Benji and I plan on going back to that part of Oregon when the weather is better and it has greened up more.

Christmas Holiday

We all had a wonderful time during Christmas vacation. Megan was able to come home and spend a few weeks with us and the family. We enjoyed having her here and hated to see her leave yesterday. We were all able to meet over in Rigby at Erin and Dales for a week during Christmas. The grandkids had a great time playing together. Erin had a house full when we were all there together. We had a great time playing games, eating and enjoying the sled out in the snow.

We came back to Boise for the New Year and enjoyed it with the Jacksons. We had yummy food and saw the new year come in together. Now that all the festivities are over and everyone is back at their own home it is too quiet here at our house in Star. We miss having family here at our home. Hope we can all get back together soon.