Our Journey to the Center of the...North?

OK, it has been long enough!!! :D We have been home for almost two weeks, so I should probably blog about our "Vacation"...it is in quotes for several reasons which I will elaborate on in depth! :D You know me, I can't describe ANYTHING if it isn't in depth! ;)

As most of you know I grew up in Hayden Lake, Idaho...right near Coeur d'Alene, ID...waaaaaaay up in the Idaho panhandle- like almost to Canada. Northern Idaho is beautiful, green everywhere (I miss the green the most), lakes, pine trees, the BEST summer weather (unfortunately followed by some really, REALLY NASTY COLD and snowy winters) it is actually quite different from Southern Idaho...which many people who haven't been up north don't realize, but since Hayden is 'home' I really do prefer No.Idaho, it is such a paradise in the summer! :D Oh...the GREEEEEEEEEEN!!! (plus the temp drops into the 50's at night in the summer...so perfect!!!) Nothing quite like that homecoming feeling...even when everything has changed so much I can hardly find the church building! LOL

Side note: But who doesn't prefer where they grew up? When I first went to BYU I got all the Idaho Potato jokes thrown at me...and I didn't really get it! :D I mean there is very little farming in No.Idaho, (instead there are mountains, lakes galore, mining, logging, skiing, and tourism- especially in Coeur d'Alene) it is really a totally different place in just about every way! It was funny to see someone trying to tease me about potatos and faltering when my face said: "You...are lame" LOL ...and what exactly is wrong with potatos? They are super yummy! ;) Plus I am lucky enough to have some totally awesome friends from No. & So.Idaho, basically the whole state is cool...in my humble opinion!!! :D OK, tangent......done.

My brother Jared was going up to visit as well, so he accompanied us on our trek! Thanks Jared for the extra set of hands! We decided to fly up, since it would take about 18 (or so) hours of just driving time to get there...yeah, with four kids? I am NOT brave/crazy enough! Plus driving wastes precious vacation time! My girls are on year round school and they only have about 3-4 weeks of 'track break' at a time. Josh is frantically studying for his first set of Board Exams, and couldn't take such a long break from that studying so we were without Daddy during this vaca...one reason why this vacation was a "Vacation"...we all missed him a ton, and Sam especially had a difficult time not having his Daddy around! :(

Off we go...into the wild blue yonder:

An 'over-the-seat' shot of my Manda

Emily braced for take-off!

Sam mezmerized by the view during our ascent into the clouds.

Izzy on Uncle Jared's lap...tearing apart a magazine! She laughed at both take-off and landing, it was really cute!

The kids all LOVED the flight! Only Amanda remembers flying before, it has been a looooong time since we flew anywhere, so they were really excited! They all were leaning forward in thier seats so the takeoff could SLAM them back in thier chair...soo funny! What WAS NOT funny was the actual trek through the airport, and onto the plane. (reason #2 for "Vacation") Sam was NOT happy, like crying, freaking out, laying on the floor kind of unhappy. *sigh* Luckily Amanda could push Izzy in the little stroller so I could wrestle Sam through the airport...oh and get this...while boarding the plane he was FREAKING out bigtime! So I am carrying the baby carseat (remember for the LARGE, HEAVY, baby? luckily Jared had Izzy) and a huge backpack, while pretty much dragging a shrieking Sam up the aisle by one arm, while trying not to brain the passengers that had already boarded. WOW was I getting some looks! I just kept telling everyone that I had candy and he would be quiet! :D He ended up calming down and it was all OK, but WHAT a stressful ride! :)

My parents have a pretty large house, not a million bedrooms or anything, but the rooms are pretty spacious....but the catch would be that Marie and her three awesome kids are already living there...which makes for 7 kids and 5 adults all together for two weeks. *silence*

(reason #3 for "Vacation")

Yeah, it was CRAZY!!! But we had a blast as well! They have had the house painted since I was last home...looks like a Three Musketeers bar right? :D LOL

We BBQed, Marie bought this sweet grill before we came up- and even worked her tail off to clean up the porch and make it a really sweet spot for us to hang out and have people over! It was great! :D Just LOOK at my cute sister! She has been taking great care of herself, and I think she looks smokin'!!! :D Can I just take this opportunity to say how much I love my sister?! She is easily my bestest girlfriend, we talk everyday on the phone! Even with all the stresses of being away from home with little kids I would do it all over again just for the time we got to spend together. Just watch out if a mosquito lands on your head...Marie is not so good with the aiming at the mosquito with the back of her hand...and not whacking your head instead!!! ROFL!!! ;)

I think that the thing my twerps loved the most, by FAR, was my parents yard. It is HUGE!! Not large by Vegas standards only either, I mean our yard is like 20' by 25' or something (I am totally guessing, I have NO eye for spacial measurements!) thier yard is ginormous!!! :D This would be the three oldest girls vs. Chris! HA!!! Since there is no sprinkler system the kids were always out in the sprinklers in the yard, they had a blast!

ALL the kids are under this blanket...I am still unclear as to what game they were playing. What I do know is that they were keeping Izzy happy, which rocks, and for some reason Emily is perched on Chris' back...they are so weird...sweet, fun, & crazy, but weird! :D

They also have a little grove of some colossal trees in the corner of the yard that the kids had a 'clubhouse' under & inside of this 'deep dark forest'...they had so much fun running around like fools...it was great! :D Here we were having a picnic, right near the entrance into "The Deep Dark Forest" The weather was seriously gorgeous, even on the days it was cool and rainy I was LOVIN' it! I mean it has been near 100 degrees and dry as a bone here for WEEKS, 65 degrees felt like HEAVEN!!! :D

A rare, happy, sweet moment of my Izzabeth on the steps outside! Angleic huh? Well, read on...

For about the first 1 1/2 of our 2 week vaca Izzy was having...well, lets just say she was having some issues! That poor chubblett! :( She did NOT adjust well to being away from home and around so many new people! Seriously for about 10 days or so she wouldn't let go of me...and I mean literally! I had to be with her on the floor, or holding her, or she was in my lap...my back was KILLING me! (reason #4 "Vacation")She has NEVER been a clingy baby, she usually only wants to be picked up when she is tired or hungry (...or if she wants the wireless mouse, I don't know why but she LOVES that thing! :D) You have seen the pics...she is not a lightweight by far, she is freakin' heavy!!!! Ugh! The last few days she finally got comfy and crawled around more, that was nice...just in time for the older kids to start getting a bit cranky and missing thier beds...c'est la vie! :D Although Izzy DID sleep really well the entire time! ...and YES I am so very thankful for a child who sleeps so well!

Izzy put herself in charge of 'redistribution'...it is the same job she has at home!

We didn't eat out much, but when we did we went to the places with the indoor playlands...yeah, that is just how we roll! Here Izzy was trying to take her shirt off at Burger King...I have no idea why...perhaps this is a HUGE sign that we have been near Vegas for too long? LOL ;)

As long as she is eating she is happy...thus her vastness!!! :D

What is a trip to No.Idaho without a trip to the lake? Not much of a trip at all if you ask me! :D We went to Honeysuckle Beach, the closest one to home...it takes a whopping like 10 minutes to drive there. Love it! :D It has changed some over the years, but only for the better! The kids had a blast, the water was icy, the sun was warm, the lake was beautiful and the sky was blue...PERFECT!!! That is Mikaela out in the water, Alex in the foreground and I think the top of Em's head! :D

Here the girls were trying to make 'sand castles' not too successfully, but they were lovin' it so it all worked out great!

I guess that Sam thought the 'noodle' was just a huge straw...

I think this is Izzy telling me "MOM!!! I am hot, I am tired, please take me home so I can take a nap or you will REGRET IT!!!!"

OH!!! I almost forgot an important event, all our older girls: Amanda, Mikaela, and Emily (well Marie did it too) got thier ears pierced! :D Josh and I had told them awhile ago (when they asked) that they could do it whenever they wanted, but they were afraid of the pain! But they banded together and decided that they all wanted to do it all together! So fun! We trekked to SilverLake Mall and basically camped outside of Claire's for...EVER, but they were all very brave and very happy with the results as well! This is a pic of almost everyone, (who do you think is holding the camera... silly!?!) after new earrings, car-stroller rides, and warm delicious pretzels for dinner! :D

Probably my biggest OOPS of the trip (and reason #5 "Vacation") was that I forgot to pack my camera battery charger...

DISASTER!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel totally helpless without my camera!!! :( Especially with fun stuff going on! As you can all tell by my posts, I take WAY too many pictures! I was very careful the first few days to use my camera sparingly, and by the time the travel charger I ordered off of Amazon.com arrived I went totally crazy and took like a bijillion pics! :D

OK, I know, I know...I win for longest most rambling post of the year...Thank you, thank you! :D

Even though it was really great to see my parents and my awesome sister and her kidlets and this trip was long overdue, and we really had a great time, I was REALLY happy to come home! Vegas has NEVER looked so good! :D The perfect proof that it was a good time to be going home was that as soon as we got to our own house all the girls wanted to do was go and see thier beds! ROFL!!! So funny!

I hope I didn't bore you all too much! But now I have most of our trip stuff written down...plus 400+ more pics I have saved on the computer as well! ;)