Dear Idaho Trip #1,

I have been out of town a lot lately. The last three weekends to be exact. First home to Idaho to spend time with family and to go through the temple and receive my endowments, then up to Canada to see the beautiful Stephanie Layton get married, and then home to Idaho again to crown the new Miss Magic Valley. Every week on Thursday I remind my boss, "I won't be here this weekend..." because he has stopped keeping track even. I work from home when I head out, so things get done. I am just not in the office to do the little last minute tasks.

So let me tell you about Idaho through a series (seriously HUGE amount) of photos!

Adam and I got into town one night earlier than my brothers (minus Eric which was a bummer because I really like having him around) and their families so I could do an appearance for MMV and spend time with the Walkers that were visiting on their way through. So that day we spent time with my parents. We went to lunch and a movie. And we went and worked for my Dad at his "man cave" project painting poles yellow so people wouldn't back into them and fixing some walls. Adam actually had to fix the wall because it was at the VERY top of a huge ladder and my Dad and I are both scared of heights.

The whole family rolled in around 10ish. Late. So we all talked for a little and went to bed. Woke up the next morning. Ate. And got ready to go to the temple. The temple has a lot of unknown until you go through it, and I heard a lot of different things. But at the end of it all, I loved it! It felt so natural and right. I am so happy I got to attend the temple with my family and that I have had the chance to return again. These special experiences are going to make my wedding day even better.

It was my Mom's and both of my sisters-in law's birthday. We had a nice pool party BBQ with cake to celebrate. This is one of my FAVORITE cakes.... but for some reason I really struggled with trying to help and frosting it. It ended up lopsided. But we ate it all, so that's fine, right?

It isn't a real trip to Grandma's without a little (meaning a lot because she owns every system and has a TV for every single one, party house anyone?) Nintendo and basement fun.

These next few are my favorite. The nephews LOVE the camera. So Adam and I thought it was an opportune moment to teach them how to make a few funny faces. I think that they did a pretty good job!

My family has a tradition of a board game championship. Someone goes to the dollar store and picks out a few funny prizes to wrap and put in a pile. Whoever wins the board game gets to pick a prize. We usually play it over a couple of night, but this trip was quick so we played three games in one night. My brothers tied for Gestures so these are photos of them having a Gesture-off for the prize. We were all laughing SO hard.