One Year Cabin Anniversary

We visited the cabin a few weeks ago and celebrated our 1-year anniversary as cabin owners. So far we are still exploring the country, but are getting settled in.

I thought back to our first visit to the cabin. I took the kids while Karen stayed home with her sick grandpa. I arrived late at night with the kids, and heard an elk bugle while running back-and-forth trying to get them settled. I worked the next day to clean things up while watching the kids. Karen called to let me know that her grandpa Earl had died. I sat down on the stairs and explained to Elena (then 3) that her great grandpa was dead. We shared a few moments together and she (surprisingly) understood.

Moving on from that memory, we had a good time on this trip. I took this photo of a grouse from our deck. Yes, the season was open, but I couldn't bring myself to shoot this little girl.

We continued to explore the area hot springs over the last year, and this is one of our favorites. It's on the SF Salmon River.

 Here's a picture of Marcus enjoying our lunch spot nearby.

Speaking of Marcus, he has learned a new skill: undoing zippers. If you dress him in pajamas with zippers they will be taken off immediately in his crib. All of his winter pajamas we had at the cabin had zippers.  Enter Elena's old PJ's. They are pink. Here he is pointing at the camera, desperately trying to get the paparazzi to leave.

 "Look, Dad, they are taking pictures of me!"

 I MUST conceal my identity!!!!!

While we still feel like we need to spend some more time exploring the surrounding area, we have (mostly) enjoyed our experience thus far. And yes,, Marcus successfully wore girls PJ's!

Goodbye Kitchen

When we bought this house over 12 years ago, we made great plans for remodeling. We have remodeled every room in the house except the kitchen. Until now. Demolition starts Nov. 10th. Here are some 'before' pictures. I'm sure I will post later once it's finished (hopefully around Christmas). The hallway/doorway kitchen will soon be a thing of the past.

 

 

Our next kitchen will be built here:

Does that look like our shop? Yes. It's much warmer than the house, so we're going to live there from now on... I plan to move most of the appliances to the shop and set up a kitchen to get us by. In case you're wondering, we are shamelessly soliciting dinner invitations from anyone and everyone for the months of November and December. We can provide raw goods. Whatever it takes. Give me some dates people!

Sooo Close

We are notoriously stingy when it comes to heating or cooling our house. We try really hard every year to make it to November before we turn the heat on. This morning when I got up I took a picture of the thermostat.

Marcus is normally happy when he wakes up and keeps himself occupied in his crib playing with his toys until you come get him. Not this morning. He screeched. I went into his room and he begged for his coat while I changed his diaper. I turned the furnace on and gave him his favorite treat: a pear. No dice.

I went outside to feed the animals and noticed fire in the shop fireplace had burned all night. Maybe we should camp out there next year so that we can make it until November before the furnace starts.

Karen is usually up by the time I leave for work, and I was running late today. She was still in bed. I went into the room and asked her if she was feeling ok. She said, "Yes, just cold. Waiting for the furnace to warm things up!"

Disney on Ice

Last Spring Lisa invited us to attend Disney on Ice when it came to town. I don't typically like this type of thing, but thought Sprout would enjoy it. Here we are getting ready to head out. 

 We used Luis's BSU parking pass to get some great parking. I packed what Sprout calls "picnic lunches" for the girls to eat prior to the show. There also happened to be a bottle of wine for the adults. Luis was surprised that Disney on Ice required tailgating; I thought he knew us better than that.

After we got seated, I got the girls snow cones in a Disney souvenir cup. I had to draw the line at the $15 cotton candy and $25 show light.

 Then we sat through 1.5 hours of Disney.

 It was worth it to see this- one really happy girl that loved the show. The best part was how she would site at the edge of her seat, smile, and clap. She's already talking about next time.

Canyon County Classic

Elena made her fun run debut last week. It was a one mile participation run sponsored by the Caldwell Y. The clincher in signing up was the yellow owl shirt she saw on display. Despite my broken toe, I decided to run with her. (read- Barry wasn't having any part of this). 

 Prior to the run, there was a warm up and stretches.

There was a minimal amount of whining until the domino collision, when cousin Katie fell and took Sprout with her. I think we must have looked a sight with two kids bleeding from their knees, one of whom was crying quite audibly.

All was made well when Lisa treated all of us to ice cream.

I have a video of the recap in Sprout's words, but blogger hates me and my video and isn't cooperating.