4th of July 2010 (Late as usual)

What a whirlwind weekend the 4th of July was, starting on Friday July 2nd up until the following Monday, everyday jam packed with fun activities and lots of memories made. The annual Keith and Nadine Moore family reunion was held, that weekend, hosted by Marla and Mike Biddulph at Table Rock campground, past Kelly canyon ski lodge. Camp set up started at 2:00, and we thought that before we headed up the canyon we would spend our morning and early afternoon at Heise Hot Springs. I have SO many memories from my childhood at Heise, while it may not be the most extravagant springs ever, it is so much fun! Perhaps I'm biased though, because I have great memories there.... I took so many more pics than I am sharing, I am just sharing my favorites. Out of all my Heise pics, this is my favorite. Kimball was so cold, from the water and slight breeze, but he also wanted to go down the slide SO bad. He would be shivering, teeth jattering, and would still be begging to go down again!

Kimball after going down waterslide

We got to Table rock shortly after 2:00 and set up camp. Mike and Marla were already there, getting organized and setting up their tents as well. They did so well with the Reunion, it was perfect! I could probably take up a few paragraphs describing all the fun and activities, but I won't (I kinda need to go to bed soon)... Here are some pics though

Grandpa Moore with his custom-made walking stick

L-R: Oliver, Alex, and Brandon

Campfire gathering, Grandma & Grandpa started the evening
around the campfire by giving all her children and grandchildren
a gift, which was my Grandfather's personal stories and history,
which he has written in the past few months.... I am thoroughly enjoying
my reading time, curled up with his words!

A silly animal noise game... you put on a blindfold,
get spun around, and then sit on someones lap
while they make an animal sound. You have to
guess whose lap you are on by the sound... this is
Mike on my uncle Dennis's lap

Saturday's 4 mile mountain run Medalists for the
"Older guys" (Levi and Jared, Right) and the "Young Guys" (Derek and Blake, Left)

Saturday's 4 mile mountain run Medalists for the
"Older ladies"(Teri and Cheryl, Left) and the "Young ladies" (Lindsey and Amy, Right)

My Aunt Gwynn "found" a lollipop tree, and she took
all the youngsters to pick their special treats from the tree...
ahh the memories! At least they didn't get lost like me searching
in vain for the lollipop tree

On Sunday the 4th My Grandparents hosted a BBQ at
their house, which was a lot of fun... complete with roasted Mallow,
roasted bisquits with fresh jam, "fireworks", wiffle ball game, a new
game that my grandpa made, and of course the piggies. Brandon's
favorite is the last one who went "wee wee wee all the way home"

And the kids with the sparklers...

It didn't end there, on Monday we had a BBQ at Mor-Mor's with Matt and Katrina and their kids and then enjoyed some great fireworks that Matt bought on the Indian Reservation. Needless to say, it was a 4th to remember, that much is for sure!

Recycling

For some reason, when I thought of what I would post next, recycling came first to mind. And what I want from my awesome readers, is for you to share your own experiences with recycling, your thoughts on it, whether or not you have recycled, currently recycle, or if you ever plan on recycling.

The other day I sent in a request to our city recycling program in Pocatello, just wanting more information on their program. The funny thing is, the next day on our curb was a large blue recycling bin, to match our dark green city trash can. I read the information that was left with the bin and was SURPRISED how easy it was to recycle, at least here in Pocatello. There was a magnet of recyclable materials and short instructions on how to go about it. Basically, rinse out the product, if messy, and then put all products, regardless if it is plastic, paper, or what not into the bin. Every other week put the bin out with your trash can for pick up. So simple, I always took recycling as something difficult, time consuming. But our local program has changed my mind about it.

Anyways, now is the part where I want your input, by comments left, about your own experiences and thoughts, can't wait to hear from you!

Yes, I do get tired of keeping up on a blog...

Dad and Kimball before bed


Mom and Brandon before bed

The boys helping get the craft box for FHE

Kimball dressed up in dad's hat, belt and socks,
then lounged on the couch and called me into
the room and said "Mom take a picture, I'm daddy"

Brandon loves to help vacuum, he follows me all
through the house while I vacuum waiting for a turn

I admit, that keeping up on this blog does get old. So I decided to just take a break until I felt like posting again, to prevent myself from just getting rid of it. Although, I probably should anyways, I don't know how many readers I have but I'm sure I can count them on one hand, perhaps two. Anyways, Yay for the summer and warm weather. I have really been enjoying the time I get to spend outside. This week so far though, has been all about work, but come Friday, my family and I are getting out of this house, out of Pocatello, away from our jobs, and we are going to play. I am super excited for the Moore Family Reunion this weekend, in fact I can hardly contain myself. We set up our new tent this morning, to make sure we knew how to set it up, this way we won't fiddle with it very long on Friday. It is big, we will fit a pack and play (to contain our wild child Brandon) a queen blow up bed and a twin bed. We are going to bring our smaller tent as well, in case any one else would like to use it. We have set aside half of our front closet for the gathering of our camping gear, and I have a shopping list made out for what we need... I'm making some yummy salads and cookies to share with the whole crew. We are swimming all morning and afternoon at Heise and then heading up to Table Rock campground to enjoy Friday night and all day Saturday with my side of the fam. The last time I went to Table Rock, I was 2 and I got lost... quite an eventful trip that was for my parents. My uncle Steve was the one who found me. Mike and I will be keeping a close eye on our kids, we don't want any repeats! After all this, the fun still isn't over, we are all headed down to watch fireworks on the greenbelt in Idaho Falls, maybe at Freeman park, I'm not sure yet. Wish we could camp again on Saturday night and go to church with my Grandparents, but Mike has to work. To end the weekend of weekends, there is a traditional BBQ at my Grandparents house.

I did want to post a few pics we took in the last month, since I last posted (posted above). I got my hair highlighted, for the second time (1st time was at 16 years old). I'm enjoying it, change is refreshing sometimes. I don't have a pic, but oh well. I'll post at least once next week, and hopefully once more before we leave for GA on July 14th.

Corey's family and Memorial day

Memorial Day is always so much fun, and steeped in Tradition... at least since 2006, when Mike and I as newlyweds started visiting the gravesites of my relatives in Idaho (wish we could visit Mike's as well). Corey and his family came up on Saturday before Memorial day to spend some time with Mor-mor. We enjoyed the weekend thoroughly, and the kids had a ball together. Kimball didn't want to eat his dinner on Sunday night and Elena was trying to persuade him to eat, I love this picture!
The kids enjoyed their home-made popsicles, as you can tell.

We had a long day of driving on Monday. We traveled from Pocatello to Shelley to Victor to Rigby to Idaho Falls and then back home to Pocatello. We left at 11:00 and got back at 8:30pm.

Here is a pic of my Uncle Jim's grave.

My Grandfather's grave

Kimball and Kelvin behind my great-grandparents
grave. My middle name comes from her:)

My aunt Teresa

We couldn't help but stop off at the corner of Hwy 26 and Hwy 31 in
Swan Valley for some square ice cream... thanks to my Grandma
for introducing that to us:)

A shot of the Snake River on a scenic outlook on Hwy 26

Traveling in style

We sat Brandon on my Mor-mor's grave and he was all smiles

We were headed towards IF after our long journey and I was bored, so I started singing a song and Kimball turned to me put is hand over my mouth and said "Please turn that sound off". I didn't know I was that bad!

Cousin Scott's grave

Uncle Steve's grave

Afterwards, we had a fun time at my Grandma's celebrating her birthday. The food was yummy, the company delightful, and the weather... well not so fun but we had to have s'mores anyways on my Grandpa's new fire pit. Mor-mor was a big help to Kimball
I love my Grandma, and was glad to celebrate her birthday with her. She is awesome!
And last but not least, here is our bruised and battered one year old. He had a rough few days which included falling off the slide face first into the rocks, falling on a rock in the back yard and gashing his face, 5 minutes later falling on the concrete in the driveway and scraping his knee, and that night at Grandma's, falling outside and gashing his lip open. At the end of the day he was tuckered, and fell asleep soon after we started our trip back home.

Can't wait for next years Memorial Day adventures!!!

Wedding bliss

Well, May was a great month, the month of weddings. My Uncle Brent had 2 of his children's weddings this month, Jared and Jessica on the 14th and then Natalie and Michael on the 28th. They were both married in the Idaho Falls Temple and had a luncheon and reception later in the evening. I attended Jared's wedding with my mother and then the other wedding events with my boys in tow as well, but did not have a camera... bummer. But, on the 28th I did have my camera in tow, and was able to catch some fun pictures amidst all the wedding events.

Daymi, my sister in-law, watched my children and my cousin Rebekah's 3 children (as well as having her own 3) at my Grandma's house while we went to the wedding. I snapped this picture after we got back. The kids were all hungry, and wanting to snack on anything they could find. Rebekah pulled out a snack and the kids all gathered round her... she commented that she felt like "The Queen of the Ducks"! Too funny. I couldn't help but snap a quick pic of that.

I enjoyed the reception, especially how wonderfully it smelled. The held it at the Rose Shop in Idaho Falls, it smelled like you were walking in a Rose Garden! The cake was lovely, Mike and I talked to the maker of the cake about our own experiences with fondant. The feathers in red and turqoise was a nice touch.

I liked this pic of my little Brandon with his great-grandparents. He and Kimball are so lucky to be able to spend time with and get to know their great-grandparents. What a precious gift for them!
If you don't think is a GORGEOUS quilt, then you are crazy! My grandmother made this for Natalie, it has the Idaho Falls temple sewed beautifully into the center, what a priceless creation to cherish.
This would be my silly 3 year old, who did not keep his eye off the fishes at the reception for one minute. He misplaced his shoes at one point and I asked him where they were. He dashed off towards the lobby area and retrieved his shoes... apparently they were a hindrance to his fish-watching endeavors.
Did I take pics of the happy couple? Well, I did, but I can't find it, whoops.

I promised... and will deliver!

So I said I would post pictures, are you ready? So if you were to pull up to our place, this is what you would see. Quaint! We don't share a driveway with our upstairs neighbor, which is nice.
Right across the road from us is a great view of a beautiful and spacious park, the boys love it. You can't tell from this picture, but the park is really deep and fairly wide. There is a small playground in the very back of the park, so we have a good little hike over the hilly terrain of the park when we go play.

When you walk in the front door this is what you see, our living/computer/music room:)

2nd shot of living room

3rd shot of living room

Our kitchen is a galley kitchen, narrow... but there is at least triple the amount of counter space and cupboard space than our last apartment. The laundry closet is the left in this pic, and is behind closed doors... cover the clutter!

2nd shot of Kitchen

Here is our backyard, walkout access to it from the kitchen. Although, right now we can't use it because our neighbor upstairs has a friend of hers sleeping in a tent for the next few weeks. This lady works nights and sleeps in the day... weird huh?
The bathroom is nothing to speak...
But I love the decorations that we have in our bathroom, too cute!


The kids playroom, and when we are to that point, it will be baby number 3's nursery:)
The boys room, they do really well sleeping in the same room. I catch Kimball in Brandon's crib on occasion.

2nd shot of Boys room

And last, is our room, nothing much but a bed, 2 bookshelves, and our chest of drawers, and what would a Master room be with out kids jumping on the bed and playing with things that they shouldn't be?