Beach and Tropical Paradise . . . in IDAHO?

So you may not think of tropical paradise when you think of Boise ID, BUT it is!

The fountain in our lake, behind our apartment is gorgeous.

We got a tropical fruit basket at Dave's work party and made an amazing fruit salad after a lot of hard work learning how to cut a pineapple, coconut,papaya and mango.

Sandy point beach might be manmade, but we love it. Despite the cold water, my mom helped up to wade out to touch the water fountain. Beach volleyball with strangers was fun (mosly because we won).

Family Fun

My little sister Marcie came to visit me last week! We are 13 years apart, but I feel like she is one of my best friends. Here enthusiasm, love and excitement for life are contagious. She keeps our family young.

She was the little girl who would come running out the front door to give me hugs when I got home from high school. I remember one night of particular boy trauma in college, she just cuddled with me while I cried. When my mom called her to go to bed, she went upstairs and said she couldn't go to bed yet, because I was crying and she needed to be with me. This is one special sister and we had a blast together!

We started out with several bike trips up the river to parks, the zoo, the rose garden and the human rights memorial. The rose garden has a million varieties of roses. It is beautiful.We played alot of games, mostly Settler's online. We visited the zoo, swam and shopped a bit. We enjoyed running and taking naps!

Mostly, Marcie was the best little mommy to Jackson. I never had to buckle him it (what a nice break) and she sat in the back to entertain him. Thank you for helping me!

Then my parents and other little sister, Melinda, came up for the weekend. It was very 'interesting' to host 6 people AND a baby in a 1 bedroom apartment. We only had 6 cups, plates and bowls. The guests had to bring their own air mattresses, sheets, towels and even chairs! Here is my mom drinking out of tupperware. They were very good about being put out.

Hey look! Our new couch! We got it only minutes before my family left. We made sure to have NO furniture while they were here so that we could fit them all on the floor to sleep. :) Thanks Mel, for the great couch find!

Amongst many fun activities, we were able to go to the Boise temple as a family.

We also had a barbeque and swim party. Then we biked to all the Boise sites we could. We attended the Farmers Market (sort of-it wasn't opened yet). The Boise beach was awesome (post to come) and we even had time for another going out to eat, another hot tub run, going to church and seeing the "Nature Center" We packed alot in a short weekend, but thouroghly enjoyed being together and having fun. I think they mostly came to see Jackson :). Kind of makes you wanna come visit; right, Shel?

Tater Tuesdays

Lest you think my good intentions to make different potato dishes were only intentions . . .here is an update of how Tater Tuesday is going

Top left: Roasted red potatos (before they were roasted) SO good and SO easy we forgot to take another pic.

Bottom Right: Roasted Potato salad- Very yummy, we both loved the bacon in it.

Bottom left: Potato Pancakes- didn't taste bad, but I am not much of a pancake fan. I think I liked it better than fluffy cake-like pancakes. (the syrup made it delicious!)

Middle and Top right: Peruvian Stuffed Potatoes- different that what I invisioned when I set out to make it. You take mashed potatos, fill it will meat/egg concoction and then fry them. I liked them, but there wasn't enough flavor. I want to try again now that I know a little bit what is going on.

Bottom middle: Twice baked potatoes: Yes, I know this is a Harper favorite (ran out of time, money and ideas), but I did try a few new things. As always, we loved it.

You also get a glimpse at my scrapbooking adventures. I am still not very good, but I am trying to do a page a day. I usually get paper and layout and pictures on, but don't finish the journaling and the titles. Oh, well at least I am trying. Maybe someday I will make a book.

Strawberry picking

Besides the fact that I ruined our camera, strawberry picking was super fun. I met a girl who volunteered to be my friend on craigslist (Did you know you could do that?) She is super nice a mom of 2 boys and she is always doing something around Boise. Her husband happens to be doing an internship in Salt Lake and she is staying in Boise with the boys. Tonight I met her at a Christian concert outdoors. She is fun! I hope to be nice enough to volunteer to be someone's friend!

We started out looking at the pigs, cows, chickens and sheep. Jackson was fascinated. This pig licked his hand. . . oh no! Swine flu!

Then came the tragic tractor ride out to the strawberry fields . . . (pictures are courtesy of my internet friend)

Jackson went crazy eating strawberries, dropping them in the mud, picking them up (with the mud) and basically making a mess. I put him in a backpack and he would pull my hair everytime he wanted another strawberry. My hair was disgusting!

And the spoil was great! I made jam for the first time ever. We have enough to last the whole year!

Obligitory ZOO post

I think every mother-blogger has to have a post about taking their child to the zoo. I must be an outstanding mother . . . because I have taken Jackson TWICE to the zoo! I know zoo pictures and posts aren't that exciting (Especially with a 1 year old only!) so I won't be offended if you click "Mark as Read" to get on with your life. Here is a compilation of the Hogle Zoo and Zoo Boise. Jackson really didn't show much emotion either happy or unhappy. Uncharacteristically he was very solemn.

He did really get into the drums and the playground. Especially the woodchips.

I'll be honest. He hated the carosel. It is sad when we try to do things JUST to make our kids happy, and they end up hating it- and I got sick on it. I just don't want him to miss out on any fun that he could have.

Zoo Boise was much smaller than hogle zoo. but I liked that there were so many animal playground equipment and statues. I think Jackson enjoyed it more because there were things he could do

Climbing up to this slide you see the monkeys and then slide down.
There were all sorts of displays where the kids got to be part of the animal. Very fun!Jackson loved this minature tiger. He would walk around it, bounce up and down and laugh and then climb on it and just enjoy himself. I might just pay to go back to the zoo purely to let him love this tiger again. The tigers were definitely my favorite part.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! From your little sister Marcie

On Jamie's 28th birthday, I was lucky to be there to celebrate her special day. Jamie and Dave finally got a BED!!!!! They have slept for weeks on their air mattress and were very excited to have a bed.
This was Jamie's breakfast (sausage gravy and bisquits) that Dave made for her. (It's one of her favorites!)


Dave then took Jamie out to the edge of the river for lunch and we all had a picnic with chicken sandwiches, oreos and lime chips. Dave wanted to try and recreate the dinner they had when he proposed. He's very thoughtful.
o
You can't see it in this picture, but it is SNOWING on JUNE 24th! The cottonwood trees shed all of the cotton all day. We went swimming AND sa
Jamie got PRESENTS!!! They are mostly from Dave of course, but I tried to contribute.
Green shirt, white shoes, a purse, a bag and a book. You might be wondering what the board is. . . it is a make-shift "desk" to be used on the camp chair. Very thoughtful Dave!The night ended with Dave taking Jamie to dinner while I babysat for them!

p.s. does ANYONE know WHY it underlines and turns some text blue and how to get it to stop?

The really important things . . . my boys!

I took this picture because the first time I went to the library, I got lost in all the one way streets. I was sitting at a stop light knowing I was close, but not finding it. I said a little prayer, looked up, and there was this 'sign'.

We've gone to baby reading time 3x. Jackson doesn't get it, but he loves pet the animal time!

We did FHE at the Boise Depot. We got a great view of the city and learned the history. History is much better coming from a guide rather than just reading it!

The Idaho museum was a great rainy day activity for us to learn more about the state we live in.

A born cowboy!






























I'll be honest, Dave and I have played at least 10 games of ticket to ride. The Switzerland version is awesome for 2 players. We are both competetive enough that if we lose, we beg for another game.




BIG JUD's: We ordered the one pound hamburger meal. Lucky for our hearts we only ate half of it!For those who care and love Jackson like I do (i.e. To the grandmas:) Here is a picture of his one tooth in the middle, and you can barely see the other tooth and the space in the middle. (Not to mention his gorgeous eyes!)

I called him snaggle tooth for about a week. Tooth #3 (the middle one) is coming up strong so he is looking alot more 'normal' (if you can look normal with only 3 teeth)

GOOD NEWS: I got my new trailer today (unfortunately they weren't having a 2-for-1 deal :( )

We like the color even better than the red one and notice . . . we are storing it inside YAY! more furniture! :) We're going on a bike trip tomorrow to lucky peak (hope it lives up to its name!)(unless it rains . . .again!)

I think that Jackson is pretty amazing. I am not sure if other kids can do this, but he can get to standing up without using his hands. All day long he gets up, takes a few steps and falls down. He is determined and excited to be walking.

Repenting

So I feel bad about all my negativity on the blog. I have become enlightened in the past few weeks. But then I had another test yesterday with the camera, and still failed miserably. . . good thing God gives us a longer time to repent in this life!

First off, if the only problems you have are financial . . .you are doing pretty darn well! I started thinking about all the things we have that can't be replaced with money-- our health, our friends and family, our mental capacities, our relationships, our son, our spirituality, our emotional health, etc, etc.

2ndly (that is a word right?) Temporal things will constantly break, be stolen or lost or become otherwise unusable. They are things . . . they don't last. It is natures way of telling us to seek for something lasting. As it says in Jacob 2:18 'Before you seek for riches, seek for the kingdom of God'. I want my focus to be on higher things than "things". I want to care about everlasting and eternal things the most and not worry or stress about temporal things that can't be taken with me anyway. (Mosiah 4:23- [the rich man's] subtance shall perish with him; pertaining to those rich as to the things of the world)

Finally, I want my motives for possessing temporal things to be for the benefit of others. We can want a camera to have the latest gadget, or we can want it to preserve memories of our family and the good times we have together. What is your motive in using your money to buy 'things'?
2 Ne 9:51- Do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor labor for that which cannot satisfy.

Almost all of the 'trials' I've had here is Boise have been financial. It seems hard right now when we are in school and trying to pinch pennies to not worry about it. But this is the time to focus on the bigger and better things. It is the time in life where we are molding what kind of a family we will be in the future. I want to be generous. I want to be thoughtful of others and so far, my focus has been on how we can save all our money for us and get ourselves ahead. I know there is a balance of being self-sufficent . . but there is a mindset that money is temporal and the things of God are lasting that I want to have!!!
Timothy 6:10 The love of money is the ROOT of all EVIL.

Please accept my apologies for focusing on the temporal. I hope to help us all to focus on the eternal and important events in our lives . . .

P.S. the camera works! Only the screen is broken, but it still takes pictures and videos!

To the tune of "Grandma got ran over by a Reindeer"

My camera got ran over by a tractor . . . .
Driving out to pick some strawberries.
So you must all beware of tractors,
or you might just lose your memories.

Yeah- you guess it, the camera is ruined.

Sappy Happy B-day to Dave post

June 10, 2008
The day started with amazing german pancakes and sugary fattening syrup (good recipe, thanks Briawna!) I thought it was funny how high out of the pan it came!
Lunch included our FREE birthday meal at Tucanos. SO DELICIOUS (sign up online at Tucanos and they send a certificate for an absolutely free meal- if someone paying dines with you)

Jackson loved trying a bunch of new things, mozerella balls, mandrin oranges, lemons, cheese bread, some meat, etc. (He looks like he loves it right?)
After work I told Dave we needed to go on a walk to burn some calories from lunch to be ready for dinner. We took the foot bridge accross the river to the gold course. Dave started talking about how he missed golf and I said . . . we'll lets go! He was all worried about not having his clubs and a ball, etc . . . but little did he know I had taken them there earlier.

Jackson laughed at Dave swinging the club. Dave ended up getting an 8 on the course! After not playing since last summer. He really is amazing!

After a long walk and 9 holes of golf, we still weren't hungry so my dinner surprise would have to wait until the next day. We ended with birthday cake (the cheese kind) and a movie. (notice the lack of furniture . . .)

Jackson wanted it BAD!The next day, we headed up the trail again, this time to do a mini BBQ. we had hamburgers, potato salad (from tater tuesday), fries and a candy bar. The only thing I forgot was a match. In this case, I am glad we are around some non-members because they happen to carry lighters more often than members :) Everything was delicious. The only bad part was the giant water snake I nearly stepped on-yikes!

Is it mean to make him cook on his own Birthday?

The beautiful and overflowing river in the background. These picnic tables are built on a platform over the river. It was cool to have the river flowing right underneath us!

Anyway, the point of all this fun and activity was for Dave to be happy, and for me to show him how much I love him. He is a great father. He works really hard to provide for us and make us happy. Yesterday, when I was feeling down, he came home on his lunch break just to hug me and try and make me happy.

He is always thoughtful and considerate of others. He worries about how to make others happy and comfortable. He is a man who loves God first and wants to do what is right.

I love his influence and love in my life. I am thankful he was born . . . do you know how many years ago?

Here is Jackson walking. I think he seriously walked an entire hole like this- he did NOT want to be held. Our better video of real walking is on the other computer . . .