Boise Day 1

The weekend of April 17th we took a long overdue trip to Boise. Kenny has a lot of family in the Boise area and the last time we were up there was for his Grandpa's 80th birthday which also happened to be Sarah Kate's 3rd birthday. We figured 5+ years was a long enough lapse and that it was probably time we returned. We chose a wonderful weekend to go. The weather was in the upper 70's, near 80, and we were able to brake out the shorts and enjoy the time in the warm sun. Funny story about that. When I got Gracie dressed on Saturday morning I put her in shorts. It's the first time she's been in shorts since last summer. As soon as she put them on she started twisting her hips. She looked at me and said, "Ooooh, I like these." She's become really fond of shorts lately.

Hanging out with family in Emmett.

We arrived late Friday night and stopped for a quick visit with Kenny's Grandma and Grandpa Holderness before we continued our drive a little ways to Emmett where his Aunt Janet's house is. Janet happens to be one of my favorite people in the entire world and though I've been in this family for almost 11 years I've never made it to her house. It's kind of ironic that the first time I make it out there happens to been when Janet and Jim are on a mission in Massachusetts. It was still nice to see beautiful Emmett even if Janet and Jim weren't there. Their son Zane is living in their house while they are gone and he was an excellent host for our large family.

Gracie loved throwing the Frisbee for the dogs. It did get a little slimy sometimes though.

Gracie and Hannah having fun on the tramp together.

We put the kids to bed right away and then Zane gave us a tour of the house. After that he and Kenny stayed up until 2:30 talking and catching up, I went to bed. In the morning I got up with the kids while Kenny slept in a little. When I was almost done getting them ready Kenny got up and we all went to the grocery store for a few breakfast and lunch items. On the way back to Zane's house we stopped at the open house they were having at the fire station. I was so bummed I didn't have my camera with me. The kids had a blast climbing on the fire trucks (all except Hannah who was terrified of how big and loud they were) and then they got to go try on fire fighter clothes. They had a fun game set up for the kids while they had the jacket and hat on. With a hose they had to shoot water into a hole that filled up a bucket. When the bucket filled up it would drop from where it was hanging. There were 4 hoses which was perfect for our 4 big kids. They loved filling their buckets with water and it was so cute to watch and help them. Again I wish I hadn't taken the camera out of the car. After that we saw the large dalmatian dog/guy and then they got to see an old fashion fire truck. It was definitely a highlight of the trip and we didn't even know about until we drove by.

The three big kids jumping on the tramp.

At one point Gracie got the tramp to herself. She loved it.

After the fire house we went back to Zane's house were we were shortly joined by his sister Shannon, her 5 month old daughter Ava, and Zane's brother Lance. The guys drug out the tramp and cleaned it off for the kids and Zane got the 2 dogs out so the kids could play with them. We had a wonderful time in the back yard playing on the tramp, throwing the Frisbee to the dogs, and visiting in the warm sunshine. After awhile I made lunch for the kids and then put them in bed. This gave the adults a chance to visit without kid interruptions. It was a nice way to spend an early afternoon.

I took a bunch of pictures of the babies. After the big kids went down for a nap the babies enjoyed laying on the floor just looking at each other.

They're about 4 months apart and they seemed to be real interested in each other.

I like this picture. I can just see Daniel saying, "Come on Ava, follow me."

After our visit with Janet's kids we decided to head into Boise and see Uncle Darin (this is another place I wish I would have remembered to bring my camera.) Lucky for us Darin's daughter and her family were in town from Utah and we were able to see them as well, including their 1 month old baby Bailey. It was so nice to visit with them and the pancake dinner they made us was delicious. All in all we had a great Saturday in Boise and were so happy to be able to see so many people. The kids had a blast and now they think Boise is so cool.