Idaho Fun

I have one other Picassa album I've created since we've moved here, and since it's soooo easy to create a post from the album I'm going to cheat and do it again.

We love Boise. Even though it's the capital city, it's a pretty small town compared to the sprawling, concrete Valley of the Sun. The Boise River runs right through the center of town, and it's lined with all these different parks and biking paths. The Greenbelt is just beautiful, and in many areas you can be on the river bank and not see or hear the city around you. It's like being in the middle of nowhere. And it's a 10 minute drive from our house. Course, I could drive to the other side of Boise and back and not really feel like I've exerted myself much.

The city is ringed on one side by the Boise mountains, on the top of which is Bogus Basin, the popular, local ski retreat. I haven't been skiing. I probably won't go skiing. But I still enjoy the drive to the top of the mountain. Just 30 minutes from downtown Boise and you're on the top of the mountain, surrounded by pines and gorgeous views. It's a fun place to walk around and explore all year long.

We love to explore and take the kids out and about. The air is fresh, the sights are rejuvenating, and the family time is priceless.

Picasa loaded these a little mixed up, but I'm not going to take the time to fix it. .... More updates later...

Wedding and Honeymoon

Well, even though the updates on this blog will just be about the boys, I had to include this in my updates too.

And just in general about the updates, I think I'll just write a little introduction at the beginning of these posts and follow up with pictures. It's too time-consuming to try to weave it all together and I'll never get this done if I try.

Anyway, the wedding was beautiful. We had an outdoor ceremony with immediate family. The weather was perfect. I have such wonderful memories of our ceremony.

We held the dance... I mean, reception... at a nearby church. We shook a few hands and I recall cutting some cake, but mostly we danced our favorite dances to our favorite songs and had an absolute blast.

So many friends helped us in so many ways, and I'm so grateful for all they did. It was a beautiful day. Kevin and I were delighted with the way everything turned out.

For our honeymoon we spent a week in Sedona, while my mom took care of the boys back home.

Speaking of the boys, it was an emotional time for them obviously. We talked a lot about it later and they told me how weird it was to see their mom get married. They told my mother, "She should've gotten married before she had kids." My mom's reply, "She did."

But they did pretty good. John did a good job giving me away. The boys left about half way through the reception, but Ben and Chris ended up coming back near the end to give me one last hug and dance with me. :)

It was wonderful to have the girls down for the wedding too. I so enjoy them and have loved it every time they spend the weekend with us here in Boise. But more on that later.

Anyway, without further yakking from me, here's a few pictures from the wedding, reception, and honeymoon:

If you want to see more pics, including more pics of the boys, here's the slideshow to a Picasa album I created a while ago...

More updates to come...

Ahoy Mateys!

We had so much fun dressing up for Halloween this year. Not to mention visiting the giant pirate ship Kevin's neighbor built in his front yard.

A Few Random Things

Parrots hanging out in our front yard:

John receiving two rank advancements in scouts. He's now working on his Star rank. Thank goodness for excellent scout leaders who've helped him get this done!

John had some tooth work done and came home with a pretty swollen cheek. He had some fun with this. Video will be forthcoming.