Friday, September 13, 2013

The Boise Biggie

As promised, the Boise post has finally arrived. And it's massive. I'm sure you've been waiting on pins and needles for this, so bear with me as I jot it down into the annuls of Cardon history. 

The kids and I (chaperoned by Auntie Whitney), all flew to SLC (no significance other than it was much cheaper!) on Sunday, July 14th. We left super early from Raleigh, and all went smoothly with our connections so that we arrived  in SLC at 10 a.m. and immediately loaded up in Whitney's brand new car and drove to Boise. My kids were absolute TROOPERS, after literally about 15 hours of traveling, a 2 hour time difference, and waking up at 4:30 a.m. They could not wait to get to Boise and finally see everyone and everything we'd been talking about for weeks!
Guess what was first on the list of "Things-To-Do" Monday morning? I sent this picture at 8:01 a.m. to Jonathan when Lucy was finally allowed in the pool to go swimming! She had waited all year for this moment. I'm not sure if she spent more time OUT or IN, after this...
 Monday night found us at our old favorite-- U-Swirl-- for FHE. Zach had no problem loading his fro-yo up with tons of candy. Oh yeah! We even claimed Grandpa Tom-Tom for the outing which was a rare treat-- between Bishoping and the mountains, he's pretty hard to pin down.
 We spent the next few days in the best ways possible-- lots of shopping, swimming, and spending time in each other's company. Oh yeah, and eating lunch at Cafe Rio, more than a few times. We bought some cupcakes from a local shop on our way home from one of these outings. Aren't they pretty? And even though I was diligent and headed to the gym every morning (thanks to my mom and Whitney for babysitting), I'm pretty sure I undid everything and then some by the amount of food I consumed! 
 Sunday evening we headed out to Meridian to visit my Grandma and Grandpa Charlie. It was Leah's first time meeting them, and although she was a little shy, she had fun playing with all the toys they have on stash.
 My poor Grandma has been through an ordeal with her back, and was not feeling very well, but she managed to visit with my kids for a little bit and at least see us while we were in town. I sure wish we were closer to see them more often! 
 We met my Dad the next afternoon for a picnic lunch at a local splash park that the kids had a blast playing at. I was amazed at how although the temperatures were up in the 90's, without the constant humidity of the South, it was actually quite nice outside!
 Lucy and Zach drying off after playing on the splash pad!
 Leah, enjoying an Oreo from the picnic. Nice photo-bomb, Whit!
 We spent many an afternoon "relaxing" (or not, as in the case of Whitney-- she was mostly just attacked) in the pool, and Zach got to be a pretty competent swimmer with water wings, of course. He finally got brave enough to try the water slide by himself, and after that you couldn't keep him off it!
 My parents took Lucy and Zach to our ward's picnic dinner on Pioneer Day, which was fun for them since it's a holiday that doesn't exist out here.  
 Lucy even got all dressed up for the occasion. I doubt the pioneers ate popsicles, but I bet this one tasted pretty good...
 We had our own pioneering outdoors excursion in the Idaho wilderness a few days later, when my parents talked me into camping overnight. 24 hours is about all I can take with the bugs, dirt, and babies always about the crawl into the fire pit, but Lone Wolf promised me some dutch oven cooking.
 While Leah was napping and out of fire danger, Whitney and I taught Lucy and Zach how to play UNO. They caught on really quickly and it's their new favorite game!
 Dinner time! We had dutch oven BBQ chicken, cheesy potatoes, whole wheat bread, and watermelon. It was a feast! And by the time it was ready, the bugs had finally calmed down a bit.
 Leah was loving all this yummy food! She had finally cut a tooth on the bottom, and she made good use of it on just about anything I offered.
 It doesn't get dark up there until after 10 p.m., so we had to roast our s'mores while it was still light outside. Didn't change the taste any! My kids could camp for weeks-- luckily they love it more than their mom so they can be their dad's camping buddies.
 This little stinker went to bed laaaaate, and then woke up at the crack of dawn ready to play. At least we were sequestered in the car, and everyone else in the tent was able to sleep in. Reason #52 why I don't like camping with kids!
 A well rested Zachary enjoying his scrambled eggs and hot chocolate for breakfast. 
 While I stuck Leah down for a nap in the tent, everyone else went hiking to explore a nearby hot springs.  
 "We're following the leader, the leader, the leader! We're following the leader wherever he may go!"
 Can't beat the Idaho wilderness! What a sight, what a sight!
 My little bathing beauty Lucy enjoying a dip in the little pool right below our campsite. It got HOT up there and the river felt just right!
 Cooling off in the river just before lunch. Luckily none of the trout nibbled on their toes, shudder.
We enjoyed a nice picnic lunch before packing up and shipping out. Overall it was a successful camping trip (there was no barf at least)-- and most importantly, the kids had fun. 
The reward for being such a team player? Dinner at my all-time favorite Boise gem, Goodwood Barbeque. I love this place! Their food is amazing and quite possibly worth the horrible night's sleep I got sharing a sleeping bag with the world's wiggliest baby.
My parents flew to the Dominican Republic to pick up my brother Taylor from his mission later the next week, so meanwhile we visited Jonathan's family in Washington (see previous blog). They all got home the following Sunday afternoon, and we drove back from Washington the following Tuesday morning. Taylor did a lot of maturing on his mission, but luckily he was as weird as ever!
Of course the first thing Lucy wanted to do back at Grandma's house was jump in the pool with her cousins Eva and Sophie! We spent a LOT of time outside swimming!
That night Taylor made us food he'd learned to cook while in the DR. I was scared, I admit it, but it was all pretty tasty. This was a mango smoothie he was mix-mastering in the blender.
The cousins enjoying Taylor's DR food.
He made fried chicken, fried plantains, a sweet potato and black bean dessert, and Whitney made the tomato and cucumber salad with yogurt dressing.
The next day we decided to throw a tea party for just the girls, and use my Grandma Gabe's china and tea sets. Whitney made some pinkalicious cupcakes.
Here it is! The table all dressed up with good things to eat!

Lucy loved getting all dressed up and ready for tea. This was definitely right up her alley!
Sweet little Leah joined the cousin party too!
Taylor had never met Leah, obviously, so Leah wasn't really sure what to think when Taylor held her. She warmed up to him towards the end. Zach however would have wrestled Taylor all day long.
One of the guys' favorite pastimes in the pool was finding as many crazy ways to throw the football as possible and catching it while jumping in. They'll be the next YouTube phenomenon.
Wednesday night we hired a babysitter for the kiddos and the adults all got to go out to dinner for Thai food at Sa-wad-dee, a really yummy place out in Eagle.
When we got home we decided to treat the kids to a little firework show, compliments of the illegal fireworks my dad picked up this summer in Montana. We figured we'd better head to the baseball fields behind our house so we didn't accidentally blow the neighborhood up.
The cousins had a blast watching Grandpa and Taylor light 'em up. They are such good buddies. I love this picture!
Friday afternoon my parents bought Taylor, Hodgeman (dont' ask), Whitney, and Jon a white water rafting trip on the Payette river. It was Jon's first time and while it was a little more tame than other stretches we've done, I think Jon really enjoyed it.
Those left at home to babysit kids took a little outing to get Delsa's ice cream, which is about a 10 minute walk from my parent's house-- and a summer tradition.
Lucy with her blue bubblegum ice cream!
 Mmmmm! Leah absolutely loves ice cream in any form.
Saturday was cause for another family pool party, as my Aunt Kay and Uncle Ken drove up from St. George for Taylor's homecoming the next day. 

As each person jumped in the pool Lucy got more and more excited and yelled, "This is my favorite day ever!" She loved having people to swim with.

She has become quite the swimmer this summer!

Zach-O hiding under the hot tub cover. He had a blast going down the slide with the other kids.
After the pool party we had a BBQ with turkey burgers, yummy salads, and grilled corn on the cob with cillantro and queso fresco. Idaho has the best sweet corn!
Sunday we went to Sacrament meeting where Taylor gave a GREAT talk and told some awesome stories about life in the DR. We had a Mexican themed luncheon afterwards for all the family and friends who'd come to hear Taylor.
 
That night we had my cousin Missy take a family picture of all of us, since we were reunited for the first time in 2 years! I love these guys!
 Monday we got lunch at Smash Burger, which Jonathan was dying for (we got addicted to the Spicy Baja burger while we lived in Vegas). I think Taylor missed hamburgers in the DR, but I'm not really sure why he has that cooky expression?
That night we drove over to Fairmont to watch the guys play soccer. They had just mowed the grass so there were clippings everywhere, so we managed to fit all 5 cousins on top of Taylor's car so they could watch.
Well, all good things must come to an end, and that's just what happened. We flew out of Boise back to Raleigh on Tuesday afternoon, but not before we gorged on Cafe Rio one last time. We had such a fantastic month bouncing back and forth between Boise and Selah, and getting to spend so much quality time with our extended family. And most fun of all? Seeing Elder Morris return home triumphantly and safe and sound from the DR. I feel like it was just yesterday that we were dropping him off at the MTC and then on our way to North Carolina to begin our adventure here. Where does the time go??