Hells Canyon Reloaded

Labor day is the last HURRAH!! The family went back to Hells Canyon again for some skiing, camping, and fun. On the last day we went to the dam for some fishing. It was really pretty up there.

Caleb was really cute while we were at the dam. He threw rocks into the water and said, "Oooooohh!!! Splash!" This trip was truly an improvement from last time. He is really starting to get better with his fear of water. We took him to the beach and at first he just wanted to play in the sand, and not touch the water, and then he got his feet wet, and then he got his legs wet, and then his tummy and before you knew it, he was saying, "Swimming!" Even though the water was still kinda cold.
These pictures are all from our trip to the dam. Everybody did some fishing, and it was REALLY windy, but it was sure pretty. Caleb kept trying to take his shoes off and stand in the water. He'd say, "feet?" But for some reason the dam water is way colder than the water at the beach. I'm so glad he's getting better with the water, he just has to get used to it. He doesn't like being thrown in.

Here's a picture of the boys fishing. The luck wasn't as good as last time, but it was still fun.





Well now it's official. Labor day is over, and so is all the fun. Now we welcome AUTUMN! My favorite season by far. It's a time for sweaders, scarves, long pants and boots. And lets not forget....football. I've never considered myself as the sports type, but it is true that I love football. Not so much professional, but college and high school games are the best. Something about that cold air just makes me wanna paint my face and go sit by the band.

Sorry my updates are so sparce. It's been tough to get on the computer when you're camping for five days. I sure do love hells canyon though! I got some serious water skiing in, and I even managed to recover from a minor hand injury (boy was that scary! It was my left hand too!) But it was better in a day, and I was able to ski three more times before we left. I must say, I think I'm finally getting good (or at least I hope so). Sorry no pictures of skiing this time....I forgot the camera. Okay I'm out!

Never Miss A Day

Okay, for the next few months, the purpose of this blog is to keep Parker up to date with the goings-on of his family here in Boise. Yesterday I gave Caleb a bath, and he was being pretty cute. Here's some pictures and videos of what he was doing.

Okay so the funniest part about the whole thing was, after he was done and I had him dried off with a clean diaper and his jammies on, I went in to talk to my dad for a minute. When I went to put him to bed I couldn't find him. So I went back into the bathroom and you guessed it, he'd found his way back into the tub again! Clothes and everything. AGAIN! This time he says, "TOYS!!" He's sure a joy, and Parker we both miss you so much already. This morning he asked when I pulled him outa bed, "Where's Daddy?" I love you. See you at Hells Canyon.

The Jackalope

Okay, so yesterday Parker wanted to take me to dinner cuz he left to go back to school today. And so we went to the Texas Roadhouse. Now as we were eating and talking, I looked up and saw this funny creature mounted on the wall. Here' a picture.

Okay so my first thought was: "Allright, someone stuffed that jackrabbit and put antlers on it to be funny." But just to be sure, I asked Parker, "What is that thing?". Without missing a beat he says, "Oh, that's a Jackalope."

.........."A Jackalope?" .........

"Yeah." He goes on to tell me that they're around really remote desert areas. He tells me that you can find them out in Oakely (which is out in the boonies past where his parents live) and that they just grow two point antlers and......on he goes. So then I'm thinking to myself, "How does a rabbit breed with ANY kind of creature with antlers?" There he did it. He made a fool of me. As soon as I started to ask it out loud he starts laughing. I just about leaned across the table and slapped him. You know, he didn't have me convinced, but the fact that he had me even CONSIDERING that such a creature exists is joke enough. That's right, I'm a gullable fool and now the world knows it, but I have to admit it was pretty funny. I spent the rest of the evening trying to convince him that I didn't believe him all along, but he didn't buy it. He knows me better. I love you Parker! I'm sure gonna miss you this week.

Heather

Oh, I just have to say one more thing about this song: there is just something amazing about Diamond Rio. I don't know what it is, but they have like this six-part harmony on all of their songs and it just makes my skin crawl cuz it's so beautiful. I know they sound pretty much like the typical "country twang" but it SO works for them. Their muic is some of the most beautiful stuff I've ever heard. This song is dedicated to Parker who is now living away from me for four days a week.

Birthday Parties

Birthday season is in full swing. While we were in Burley for the fair, we had Parker's birthday party (as you can see from my last post). However, the next day we had another birthday party for Caleb's cousins, Lucas and Ethan Turner. Actually, technically Ethan is not Caleb's cousin, he's just Lucas's cousin. But it's all the same to me. They're all gonna be buddies anyway. So, for the party we had the Turner and Miller clan come over and we did a barbeque outside. Robyn and Jill, I waited like a week to post this incase you guys wanted to, but I just had too many cute pictures, I figured someone had better do it.

Here's Ethan eating his yummy cake. Both the boys got covered in cake. Lucas was much worse, but they both needed baths when they were done.

Look at the amazing cake that Jill made! Soo cute!

Allright, so in MY opinion, but cutest part about this birthday party was Caleb because he just LOVES to sing happy birthday. And so when everybody sang it, he did too.....and then he kept singing it after we were done. Here, watch the video and you'll see what I mean.

Grandpa did the work at the grill, and we all had hotdogs and hamburgers. Travis and Jill, I know you're gonna love me for the picture of you two, but it's the only one I had! I can't just not put one, especially when the one I DO have is as good as that! :)

Here's Melissa and Ethan, and below is Caleb. He loved playing on the see-saw with whoever was willing to balance him out.

The boys played yard games too. Yard golf and "bocce" to be exact. (I hope I spelled that right....it sounds like "botchie"). So here's a picture of the guys getting ready to throw those heavy balls across the yard.

Okay so lastly I have to say one other cute thing Caleb was doing. (Oh, and can I mention how incredibly good-looking my husband is in this picture on the right). When everybody was trying to take pictures of Ethan and Lucas eating their cakes, Caleb was standing RIGHT in front of every camera and saying, "CHEESE!!!". It was hilarious! He wanted to be in all the pictures. And I'm sure he ruined a lot of them too. Oh well, it's cute.

Parker's Birthday, Fair Food, & Ice Cream Cake

Today is Parker's 27th birthday. The week of Parker's birthday is always the week of the Cassia County fair! Parker's birthday also means back to school is just around the corner. Sigh.

So for the fair we went to the rodeo, and Caleb actually did quite well for a two hour event. He was a little wiggle-worm for a while, but then he just sat on my lap and talked about the horses to me. It was cute. Parker and Caleb are on the right saying, "cheese!". And below is Parker's wonderful ice cream cake. I sure love ice cream cake! I have to tell you how I eat it, cuz there's only one way. First of all I scrape off the frosting, cuz it's just too fluffy and I'd rather eat the ice cream. Then I eat all of the vanilla on the one side and off the back. Then I eat the chocolate and the cookie center together at the end. Yummy!!

This picture below is the family at the rodeo. We were with Jayne, Alex, Grandma, Grandpa, Me, Parker, and Caleb.

Okay so the other great part about the fair is the "fair food." The picture below is the delicious funnel cake. Oh my goodness, I am so dedicated to the funnel cake! My first one I ever ate was actually at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri. And I just loved it so much that I have to get one every time I go. Now it's the same at the fair! Wow they are delicious! Parker and I shared this one and I enjoyed every bite.


Me and Caleb at the rodeo. Thanks for letting me borrow your jacket Katelyn! I sure wish I would have bought one when I was there with you.

And below is a picture of Jayne and Alex, and of course they're holding some fair food! I wonder what it'd be like to spend a day in the life of a carney. I hear you get as much money stolen as you make.

Caleb and grandma sitting on the bleachers at the rodeo. We love that grandma and grandpa give him whatever he wants to eat. This picture Caleb has his mouth full of popcorn (which is fine that he eats) but I've also caught them sneaking him sipps of Dr. Pepper behind my back. We know they mean well, and after all he asked for it: "Drink?!" "Wan drink?!" So he got one......several. He still went to bed though thank goodness. Alrightey, Happy Birthday Parker! We love you!

Twin Falls Temple Open House

Yesterday Grandma Lyons so generously volunteered to watch Caleb and Lucas (Robyn and John's son) so that we could all go to the Twin Falls temple open house. (We know she was just absalutely put out to have to spend the entire day with her little grandsons). So we got up and then Parker, Me, Robyn, John, Jayne, and Alex drove to Twin Falls. We toured the temple, and oh my goodness it was so beautiful! I know people always say that about temples, but honestly it was so much more beautiful than any temple I've ever been in (except maybe the Nauvoo temple). The interior had light-colored woods, and white carpets. It was absalutely gorgeous.

We all took turns taking pictures in front of the temple, but I just posted the group ones and the ones of me and parker because Jayne and Robyn both have blogs, so you can check theirs for those pictures okay? Okay.

So after we went to the temple, the six of us went to Johnny Carrino's for lunch. That was REALLY good. We decided to take advantage of a happy free babysitter. Then after lunch we all did some shopping. We went to the mall and I got some earrings (which I have to mention that I got THREE compliments on my earrings just yesterday......true evidence of a good buy). Parker, John, and Robyn each got two pairs of jeans, and then we got Caleb a white polo shirt. We all wore white shirts for our family pictures that we took yesterday evening too. They're now added to the right column of this blog. Pretty sweet huh? Caleb's such a cutie! I'll probably make another post this evening with pictures and videos from the Cassia County Fair. We're all going to the rodeo tonight. SEE YA!!

Hells Canyon- The Best Part About Summer!

Between work and vacation, I'm sorry to say that it has been about a week since my last update. But here it is! The best one yet! This weekend we went to Hells Canyon for 3 and a half days of camping, skiing, fishing, and fun. Hells Canyon is on the border between Idaho and Oregon and is about a 3 hour drive from where we live. So why do we drive three whole hours just to go camping? Cuz it's not just a camping trip. More importantly....it's a skiing trip. And Hells Canyon has the best water I've ever seen in my life! The lake is always a glassy mirror and to have waves on the water is a rarity (is that a word?...I think it is). We actually did get one night of rain though! But it was over by the time we wanted to go skiing again, so no harm done. We had so much fun this weekend. Warning, this post has LOTS of pictures. So it looks long, but really it's just lots to look at.

Okay well one thing about Hells Canyon, is it's a place for accomplishments! For landmarks! When I was about ten years old, I went outside the wake for the first time while waterskiing. Granted, I was scared stiff and even though I had skied several times, it actually took me lots of tries before I got enough courage to go outside the wake. Anyway, Parker had his first Hells Canyon Landmark this weekend. He cleared the wake for the first time on the wakeboard. YAY Parker! Now when he goes up for Labor Day we'll have to convince him to do his first backflip. (wouldn't that be cool)!

Allright so this picture is me, and I know it's blurry, but I HAD to put it on because there are VERY FEW pictures of me skiing on this trip (since I took all the pictures) and I just wanted you all to see that pretty little rooster-tail spray I've got goin' on there. I'm very proud of that rooster-tail and it's because water-skiing is the ONLY sport that I am better than Parker at.

Hells Canyon is also a great place for fishing. This is Parker's favorite part about the lake. He and my dad and Derek went up to the dam and fished for a couple of hours. They caught so many fish! Parker said they were biting every time you put your line in the water.

These are some pictures of David wakeboarding. I have to say he's the best wakeboarder I've ever seen! (which isn't saying much, cuz I don't watch other people wakeboard, besides my family) However, I happen to know he's pretty dang good. This post has a few videos of him and Jason wakeboarding so you can see how good they are for yourself.

David gets SO MUCH AIR when he jumps doesn't he?!! Holy cow I'm amazed every time I watch him!

You'll probably notice that Caleb is crying in lots of pictures where he's wet or in the water. I'm sure you remember me saying that the kid has a phobia of water. The problem is, that it was SOOO HOT up there that we had to dip him into the lake at least two to three times a day just to keep the kid cool. He'd pretty much cry till we pulled him out and then he'd just want to sit on my lap until he was dry again. The poor kid. He NEVER took naps on this trip, cuz he's a little energizer bunny and he won't go to sleep unless he has a dark room and a crib. No can do while you're camping....so he just stuck it out and then crahsed with us when we went to bed.









And here's more pictures of my brothers. Derek slicin' up that glassy water on the water ski, and David flying through the air on his wakeboard. Did I mention he's really good? Oh yeah, I did.

Parker also caught the most air I've ever seen while at hells canyon. I'm so proud of him!!

And this is me. Like I said, very few pictures of me, and even less that are good. Oh well. I skied so much that I could barely get up the last time I went! My muscles are SOO SORE!

Allright, here's Caleb crying his eyes out cuz he had to get wet. Parker and I double knee-boarded together, and when we were done, we had Caleb join us in the water. Boy was he upset! I have a feeling it's gonna take YEARS before he has enough courage to water ski (just like it did me). I'll tell you what. The kid is a physical clone of his father, but he's ALL ME when it comes to his personality.

Me and Parker double-knee-boarding. Really....it's just a spray contest. So much fun! Thanks for letting us borrow the kneeboards Teresa! (Man we gotta get us some of those).

Caleb always knows when he's getting his picture taken. He'll say "cheese" even if you're just viewing videos on the camera. He loves getting his picture taken.