Week 17 in Quarantine (Exploring Idaho)

Sunday morning we had church and it was extra nice having my family here to take the sacrament with in our home. We watched a couple of conference messages and then Kefford gave everyone an opportunity to say something about what we listened to if they wanted. After church my family had to hit the road. Mom, Heather and Jaylynn were going to Utah with Emily to spend some time down there before flying home. I am always sad to see my family leave but this time around for some reason I was a little more emotional. As I was hugging everyone outside I started crying and I couldn't say anything, I just hugged and cried. It was a sad goodbye but hopefully I will be able to see them sooner rather then later.

Isabelle, Jaylynn, Grandma Bonnie, Kenedy, Heather, Ryker, Elizabeth, Kefford, Rylee, Avynlea and Emily

After lunch and naps we went on a drive to the outskirts of Kuna. We drove to an outlook that looked over the snake river and it was really pretty. It was nice to get out with my family and see some of the beautiful sights in our area.

Avynlea thought it would be funny to have Rylee take picture of her looking like she is hanging on for dear life. I like that we can see a little bit of Kenedy in the picture and think it's funny that it looks like she is not concerned with Avynlea's stressful predicament, these kids bring me joy.

This week Kefford has off from work and on Tuesday he planned an all day outing adventure for us to go on. We started out hiking down to Box Springs. It is outside of Twin Falls and it is by the snake river.

Ryker is very adventurous and likes to find the big rocks to climb on, with his Dad's encouragement and my trepidation.

We found a pretty waterfall on our hike down

I wanted to get a picture of all of us in front of the waterfall and I did but Avynlea decided to use that time to try to fix her hair. Bad timing, hahaha, by the time she got it together the rest of us were done with the picture.

We finally reached our destination of Box Springs and it was a natural pool the had the most clear, beautiful water that was colder then ice. I could barely put my feet in and once I did had to quickly take them out because it was so cold.

The kids were tougher then I was and all managed to at least stand in the water with Ryker actually doing in and swimming around. 

I took some pretty shots of my beautiful girls and then Kenedy took a shot of me. Ryker and Kefford were busy trying to film underwater shots of Ryker swimming in this crystal clear water. They were using one of their phones in a plastic bag but Kefford wasn't getting the shots he was hoping for. My phone has some water resistance qualities up to 3 feet and 30 minutes so Avynlea took my phone and dunked it in the water minus the bag to take video. I don't know why Kefford and I allowed it but I did tell them that if anything happened to my phone they had to buy me a new one. Kefford took it was was able to get some cool underwater video with it and after they were done it seemed to be just fine.

The hike back up seemed to be shorter then the hike down and once again we stopped for some photos along the way. 

Kenedy was ducked down wanting to take a photo of Kefford climbing the cliff wall that made it look like he was higher then he was but he jumped down while she was talking the picture and she ended up with a pretty cool action shot.

A successful family picture

I love the closeness that my girls have and love that they enjoy being together and have fun with each other.

We packed a lunch and after we were done hiking we were all pretty hungry and ready for a break to eat. Before we did that though we found one more waterfall to enjoy.

We ate lunch and then drove to Mammoth Caves so we could explore the caves and then walk through the museum they had. The cave was nice and cool and not too long of a walk to get through. It was pitch black in their and we were given three lights to take with us. It was difficult walking through without a light in my hand because the people holding the lights weren't the best at directing the light on the path for everyone to use. With 6 people and only 3 lights it makes sense that it would be difficult.

After the cave we went through the museum and saw lots of artifacts and interesting things. There was an area that had taxidermy animals with two heads or two bodies and it was a little creepy although kind of fascinating at the same time. Rylee did not like the two headed bunny.

The big crocodile was cool

Mammoth caves had fun stuff outside to look at also

Once done with Mammoth caves we drove a little ways to the ice caves. 

Ice caves had a book you could sign that said who you were and where you were from. I signed it and then Avynlea signed it. Halfway through her signature she switched out the pen for the arrowhead and had me take a picture so it would look like she was talking a picture with that. Clever, creative, funny girl.

 

The ice cave was nice and cold and had lots of ice in it, fittingly. It was nice to walk through there and get a reprise from the hot day.

A funny story about these two ladies in pink. They are sisters and we also saw them at Mammoth Caves. We were in the gift shop at the Ice Caves waiting for our tour when these two sisters came in and signed up for the tour as well. As soon as they walked in Kenedy and Kefford sitting on with side of me both said at basically the same time that they were the future me and Heather. 

We started out tour and it was a little bit of a walk and hike down to the entrance of the caves. The tour guide and the rest of us noticed pretty quickly that these two sisters were going to hold things up a bit, they were very slow and fell behind pretty quick. We had stopping points on our tour and we would have to wait longer for them to catch up. We had a small hike down to the entrance of the cave and most of us were waiting down at the bottom for these elderly sisters to make their way down when we saw one of them slip and fall on her bum. Ryker and Kefford rushed up to help her and they then became their guides for the rest of the tour. They stayed back with them and helped the ladies when they needed help. It was pretty sweet of Kefford and Ryker and the sisters were appreciative of their help.

After the caves we stopped at a Dairy Farm for a tour of their farm and cheesemaking factory. We were able to get samples of their cheese and that tasted so good to these starving explorers. After the dairy farm we stopped off at McDonalds for dinner on the go and then headed home.

The next couple of days I noticed a fogginess to the camera on my phone. Turns out the water was not good for my phone and it cause condensation to build up in the camera lenses. We tried sticking it rice which didn't help and then we bought the dry packs and stuck my phone in a bag filled with those for a couple of days which also didn't work. Finally Kefford and I took it in to a phone repair place and they were able to wipe the lenses clear but they said my phone has water damage and it could be a week, or months but it is only a matter of time before it croaks. So sad

Week 16 in Quarantine (last days in Seattle, Blueberry picking and Family comes to visit)

On Sunday Rylee spent some time reading to Amos and Fredrick, these boys are so lucky to have such fun and loving cousins! Joshua's Ward does a church service through Zoom and it was nice to be able to participate in that. It was a quick service, they had a youth seeker and an adult speaker both speaking for about 5 minutes and they did some primary time, in all it lasted 30 minutes.

After church some of us left to go on a nice Sunday walk. We walked through subdivisions and walked through foresty trails to end up down by the boat dock. It was a beautiful walk and only turned into a hike on the way back when we had to go back up the hill we walked down. 

Avynlea, Rylee and Jaylynn went with Amos and Fredrick out on one of the docks to explore.

On the hike back home we spotted these cool Angel Wings on someone's fence. I got Avynlea to pose in front of them and she looks like a pretty cute Angel.

I got to spend some time hanging with my pal Amos, he is so cute and has a fun personality. On Saturday I wore my 4th of July dress, it is grey with red and white stripes on one sleeve and blue with white stars on the other sleeve. When Amos saw me in my dress he proclaimed me the American Flag and proceeded to sing "She's a grand ol Flag" at me. It was pretty funny and I loved hearing him sing the song.

Rylee took pictures of Avynlea making up her Grandma's bed for her, what a happy helper she is.

Monday morning was our day to leave Seattle. We had such a great time with the Lutes family and loved being able to visit them despite the pandemic going on. 

Rylee, Avynlea and Jaylynn

Amos, Grandma Bonnie, Fredrick, Joshua and Mallory

Heather and Elizabeth

Kefford helped Joshua and Mallory find a new car, they are having their third baby in a couple of months and needed something bigger. He found one that they liked and bought in Meridian so I drove their new Toyota Highlander to them. That left us without a vehicle to drive back home in so Joshua rented us a minivan to use. Their wasn't any parking by the rental place and Joshua had to drop us off to get the van, it was pretty sketchy and we had to pass some really sketchy people but we got the van, brought it to Joshua's, loaded up and headed off to Meridian. 

Heather came with me to the rental place so she could have her name listed as one of the drivers. I drove partway and then had her take over for a while.It was so nice to have another person help with the 8 hour drive. It gave me a chance to rest and relax and it was not a bad drive with all of us chatting and being together.

On Tuesday we went Blueberry picking with our Peterson Family. It was fun to see them and to pick some delicious blueberries. With all of my teenagers helped we got about 16 pounds of Blueberries. Not a bad haul. 

front row: Jason, Hazel, Kinsley, Garrett and Caleb

middle row: James, Xander, Kelly, Tayvia, Jenna, Madison and Sadie

back row: Asher, Lainey, Kenedy, Brooke, Rylee, Amelia, Brielle, Qiana and Avynlea

Avynlea, Elizabeth, Heather, Rylee, Kenedy and Jaylynn

On Wednesday we got out first shaved ice of the summer. We went to the stand that is over by the Target because it had good shade and lots of seating. It got a little chilly eating our ice's and so after a little bit Mom, Heather, Avynlea  and I deflected to go sit in the warm vehicle and finish our treats. 

After our shaved ice we went into Target to get a couple of things. After we checked out I was trying to get a picture of Heather and I when we got photobombed by my selfie loving kids. After a couple of toys we finally got one of just the two of us.

Out pool has been shut down 3 times since it opened up because of poop in the pool and that is not ok.

Kenedy and McKoy made this "Poopon in the pool is NOT Permitted" sign and hung it up at the pool. We all got a kick out of seeing it on Facebook and are glad that people are appreciative of their efforts. 

Rylee and Jaylynn pulled out Avynlea's and Rylee's about me books from their first grade days and I loved this page I found in Avynlea's book. I am still waiting for that day but goodness she looks cute in her Authors photo.

When I was younger I was obsessed with the Baby-sitters Club Books. I read them all the time and would play The Baby-Sitters Club with my sisters, I was always Stacy. When I got married I was a newlywed living on the farm in Nyssa, I didn't know anyone, I was homesick and I was lonely. I would go to the library and check out the Baby-Sitters Club books and they were my comfort food, reading those really helped me. Netflix just released the first season of The Baby-Sitters Club and I was so excited. I was even more excited that I had family here to watch it with me. It was so fun to gather and watch this beloved series, it was very Politically Correct and they threw anything and everything into the series to make it that way which was a little annoying and weird but I still loved it and hope to see more seasons in the future. 

We wanted to go and do something fun and I saw that the Nampa pool was open for reservations with limited numbers. We were able to all go on Friday afternoon and we had fun hanging out in the pool. Avynle and Rylee took advantage of the waterslide and went down that a lot which they really liked. We probably won't be going back because my kids were the only teenagers there, it was more of a younger kid thing but we had fun anyway.

Heather, Isabelle, Emily, Elizabeth, Kenedy, Avynlea, Jaylynn and Rylee

I thought Kenedy looked like a supermodel when we were leaving to head back home so I snapped a picture

Kefford came and picked up Rylee and Avynlea from the pool so they could go to Madison's baptism. Ryker was supposed to go but there was miscommunication with his church clothes getting their and Kenedy had plans so she couldn't go. I had my family in town and didn't want to leave them for the 3-4 hours it would have taken for the baptism and I hope all of the Peterson's understood. I rarely get to see my family and I wasn't wanting to leave them even for a little bit, my time with them is precious. I did send candy and a note for Madison. Whitney sent me the pictures she took of Madison with our family and they all look so good.

Later in in the evening we needed a girls getaway so Mom, Emily, Heather and I snuck away for some ice-cream therapy. It was nice to be able to talk to my family and have heart to heart conversations

Nobody knows why AVynlea was wearing goggles but Rylee took some pictures of her being a weirdo. 

Saturday was the 4th of July! I love this holiday and was really excited to have some family here to celebrate with. We decided to barbecue hamburgers and we had potato salad, watermelon and chips. We also had s'mores for later, I love s'mores! Kefford bought a canopy and we set that up and ate outside and visited and took pictures. Our city wasn't doing any fireworks because of Covid but there were enough neighborhood fireworks that we still had a show to watch. It was a great holiday and I had a lot of fun!