Caldwell Christmas Wonderland Lights

 

I love being able to see the amazing lights in Caldwell, Idaho when we are in town for the holidays. They get better every year and are so worth checking out. Lots of fun for kids, parents, couples, etc. Keep reading to see more of what we were able to look at and enjoy.

 

Hyde & Seek - Boise, Idaho

We met up with my brother Matt and his family before they headed back to Arizona after Thanksgiving. This is a store called Hyde & Seek in Hyde Park in Boise Idaho. Come and take a look inside with me!

Black Friday Shopping 2019

 

We were up again, bright and early at 4:45 to go to stores. Lowe's had a tool Tony wanted and poinsettias for members of his family who wanted them. Keep reading to see where else we went!

Thanksgiving Day 2019

Big news first? Okay! IT SNOWED IN RIDGECREST! And I can't believe we were not home to witness it. Luckily we had our house cameras so we got to track the progress of the snow. It was quite fun to watch but crazy that after being home for 2 weeks and getting on the road again, the weather decided to give this small desert town some snow. Sigh. Such is life...

Terry Family Reunion in Albion Idaho - Day 3

Last day at Albion! Our time here went far too fast. Gosh, what a fun and memorable time it was!

Terry Family Reunion in Albion Idaho - Day 2

The day started out with breakfast, obviously, and crafts!

Breakfast was fruit cups, yummy breakfast cookies, sausage..

Crafts were all kinds of things! Painting birdhouses or treasure boxes and canvases 

Terry Family Reunion in Idaho!

This is the first year we have camped at the Normal School on campus for this family reunion. Last year we stayed in the main building but Tony's brother invited us to camp with them so we used the teardrop every night and I loved it! Didn't love pulling it soo far but loved being able to use it.

Spirit of Boise Hot Air Balloon Festival

I was really wanting to go to the hot air balloon festival in Boise but Tony was not so much into it. It was talked about at the reunion and Tony's mom expressed interest in going so we woke up shortly before 6am to make the hour drive in to Boise to watch the balloons fly. It was perfect timing!

Meridian, ID

After the family reunion we rolled out of the campsite around 11am or so on Labor Day. We headed to Meridian where my parents live and met my dad for lunch at Which Wich. I got the chicken parmesan sandwich and it sure was good. We went to the house and dropped off our stuff because we were staying the night and left again after awhile to do some errands.

River & Hot Springs Fun!

Sunday afternoon we drove an hour to a hot springs that also had a river flowing right by it. Such an interesting experience. It felt so good to soak in the warm water as well as wade through the colder water. I just really wish I had brought my water shoes!

Albion Idaho Reunion Eats

We had so many good meals while we were at the reunion but one of my favorites was an interesting dish. They had 2 tall metal containers that looked like old fashioned milk buckets. The canning lid rings were put in the bottom first, then layered (I guess) with ham, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower and mushrooms. Steamed for a couple hours (I think) and dumped out in to these sled trays for everyone to dish up. It smelled fantastic and was so filling and good.

 

Evenings in Albion with Smores!

 

 

 

Anyone who knows me by now should know that I love s'mores! I found some s'mores trail mix that is good. Some s'mores gum that is...interesting. I ate my share of s'mores and roasted marshmallows at the reunion.

 

 

 

A great way to end the evenings in Albion. That and the fact that there were 3 screech owls flying around too! So fun!

Albion Idaho Nature & Animal Walk

The campus we stayed on had a petting zoo of sorts, more looking than actual touching of the animals but you could touch a few. We also found some other cool things around the campus.

 

  I'd never seen a white peacock before. This was as close as I could get though.

 

 

 

We actually went up inside the bus and poked around a bit. 

Found a stash of fun clothes from back in the day.

 

 

 

 

 

The horses were loving the attention!

 

 

We found an old fire truck in one of the buildings

 

This is the front of the building we stayed in

 

 

 

City of Rocks National Park

 

I don't know of many national parks that you don't have to pay to get in to but this is one of them! Such a nice surprise since our pass expired in May and we weren't quite ready to buy another one yet.

Albion Idaho Campus Retreat

I went with no expectations to Tony's family reunion because honestly I did not know how it would even go. I was more than happy by the end of the weekend that it was so fun I wish it could have lasted a day or two longer!

 

This is the building we stayed in on campus called Miller Hall and the whole place is called the Albion Campus Retreat.  The campus used to be for the Normal School, where teachers went to learn how to be teachers before universities were established for this kind of thing. 

To Idaho in June!

June 5th we drove to Boise for the weekend

Golden Spike National Monument

Checking out Golden Spike National Monument in Utah

So excited to be here, it was our first time being able to go.

Made sure to put a stamp in our passport book

Pretty amazing , 10 miles in one day was a record for them

I wanted to go to Sacramento when I saw this sign. Only 690 miles away - hehe

Miniature replica of the exciting day the railroads met

Tony liked what this said so much when I read it to him. We laughed so much. It says,

"Irish workers wrote a song

about their work with

explosives like black powder and nitroglycerin:

Last week a premature blast went off,

And a mile in the sky went big Jim Goff.

Now when next pay day came around,

Jim Goff a dollar short was found.

He asked the reason; came this reply,

You were docked for the time you were up in the sky."

To visit this place yourself, here's the website with more information