Lets Start At the Very Begining......

To start off our vacation, we spent a couple of days in Rexburg with my Aunt and her family. First we went to Porter Park and spent some time at the splash pad and carousel. It was a great splash park and the kids had so much fun!

On July 24th, we spent the day in St. Anthony, ID where my mom and her family are from. They have a big celebration for Pioneer day, including a parade.

The kids managed to collect quite a bit of candy. Of course to them, this was the highlight of the parade!

They have a 5 and 10k race as part of the festivities. Kelly ran his 2nd 5k and beat his time by 2 minutes! He was pretty proud.

After the parade and a picnic, we went to the St. Anthony Sand Bar.

The kids weren't too sure about getting in the river at first, but soon enough they were having a grand old time!

Up next: More Island Park and Yellowstone fun!

One of my most favorite things to do is travel. I love a vacation. It doesn't have to be far or overly spectacular. Just a nice getaway with my family is good for me! There are times I wish I could just live on vacation and not have a care in world!

We recently got home from a wonderful getaway to Island Park, ID. We rented a beautiful cabin near Henry's Lake and had a lot of good times!

Some of my pictures were uploaded to my computer as well as my mom's laptop. So I suppose I will be sharing our photos in a couple of posts.

This is our second day in Island Park. We rented a raft at Macks Inn and floated down the Snake River.

Here we are awaiting our adventure!



My one job was to hang on to Jace! The last time (8 years ago) we floated down this river was in a canoe and one of our canoes tipped over! We lost our lunch and our goodies. My brother, his wife, and one year old daughter also had a wet treat! I was determined not to have that happen again! So we went for the more expensive raft to insure no tipping!

We pulled off to the side several times to let the kids splash in water.

The boys were especially excited to help row the raft.

Katelyn helping daddy!

We were floating down and Kelly saw something up ahead in the water. Here he is pointing out his finding.

This is what we saw! This moose was having his lunch break! It was cool to see him just standing there, without a care in the world. We weren't sure if we should wait for him to leave or slowly float by him. We ended up just waiting and watching. It was quite a sight!

Stay tuned for more pictures of our trip!

My New Favorite Dinner......

This is now my favorite dinner! I love when I see something that looks good and when I attempt it, I succeed! The best part is when your family (namely the picky eaters) devour it!

I found this recipe from http://www.sistersstuff.blogspot.com/
They have lots of fun things on their blog.

Here is the recipe if you are in the mood to try something new and yummy!

ORANGE CHICKEN

12 CHICKEN TENDERS
3 EGGS
½ C. CORN STARCH
½ C. FLOUR
GARLIC SALT (SPRINKLE)
OIL

¼ C. CHICKEN BROTH
½ C. VINIGAR
¾ C. SUGAR
1 TBSP. SOY SAUCE
4 TBSP. KETCHUP

DIP CHICKEN IN EGGS THEN CORN STARCH, FLOUR AND GARLIC SALT MIXTURE AND FRY IN HOT OIL. PUT FRIED CHICKEN IN A BAKING DISH.

BOIL BROTH, VINIGAR, SOY SAUCE, AND KETCHUP. POUR OVER CHICKEN. BAKE AT 350 DEGREES FOR 45 MIN.- 1 HOUR.

Enjoy!

More Summer Fun!

To continue with the festivities of summer, we decided to spend the day at Lagoon.

Half way into the day, I realized the camera was in the car. I wish I had gotten more pictures of the kids. They had so much fun. Katelyn was a crack up on the rides. She laughed so hard and got so excited while ridding. The best part was when she rode the "Bumpin Cars" AKA the Bumper Cars. She was laughing so hard as she drove her car all over the place. Then at one point she was just going around and around in a circle, with the biggest grin on her face. It was a fun and exhausting day!

My brothers and their kids came with us to the splash park earlier this week.

I love the splash park. It is such an easy and safe way for the kids to play and get wet!

This week for playgroup we went up Little Cottonwood Canyon to walk around and explore the temple quarry.

The kids loved being able to climb on the rocks.

They also loved jumping off !

I love summer! So many fun things to do!