North to Alaska!

The countdown has begun for our major trip this summer. On August 9th, we will be leaving for 2 weeks to Alaska. The main purpose of the trip is to celebrate my parents 40th anniversary and we will be traveling with my Grandma, parents and sister. We plan to spend the first week exploring Anchorage, Denali, Fairbanks and several other parts in between. Then on week 2, we will board a cruise ship and visit numerious ports on our way to Vancouver, BC. The final weekend will include time in Seattle with Shelly's family.

I will do my best to post photos of our adventure shortly after our return on 8/24.

Bon Voyage!

Summer Camping - Part 2

The only thing better than camping in Idaho is camping on back to back weekends. A couple years ago, we discovered this primative campsite a couple hours east of Boise on the middle fork of the Boise river.

Our campsite was perched above a beautiful sandy beach with the crystal clear river and 100 ft granite wall as a back drop.

Our own private beach and swimming hole.

Looking down river at the other half of the beach. We also discovered another natural hot springs directly across the river in the middle of the rocky area. Our days started with a quick paddle across the river, to enjoy a morning coffee while soaking in the hot springs on the edge of the river. Perfect in my book!

The crew afloat!

Summer Camping - Part 1

After returning from San Diego, we were anxious to do some Idaho camping. My cousin invited us to join them for the weekend at Pine Flats campground, which is about 1.5 hrs from Boise and right on the S. Fork of the Payette river.

Our pull through site turned into be a big parking lot shared by four other campsites. No big deal as the site itself was large and all neighboring campers where friendly.

It was great to spend time with family and just relax. Even though we live close, life gets busy with jobs, kids, etc.

One of the highlights of this camping spot was a collection of natural hot springs located right on the river and only about .25 miles from camp.

Erica turns 10!

How did that happen? It seems like our little girl just celebrated her 5th birthday and now somehow she is in double figures.

Erica actually got to celebrate her birthday a couple times this year, once in San Diego with her Nana and Papa over the July 4th weekend and then again on the actual day in our association pool.

No better way to celebrate turning 10 than a pool party with all of your friends.

A birthday isn't complete without a beautiful custom birthday cake from Mom.

Play Ball!

In March, our family activities suddenly switched from skiing to baseball. Bryce began his 6th and possibly last little league season while Erica started her first. With both kids playing on the same nights of the week it quickly became a logistical nightmare for Shelly and I. On top of that both teams needed my help umpiring. Needless to say, it has been a BUSY but fun couple months.

Our "home" team!

Bryce from left field.

Erica on the mound.

Erica pitching with Dad behind the plate.

A visit from Seattle.

Another Spring highlight was a "surprise" visit from Shelly's Dad and Step Mom. They decided to take a trip from Seattle to Zion and the Grand Canyon. While the one day visit was not long enough, it was nice to catch up with them and show them some of our recent home projects.

Winter Wonderland

We decided to celebrate the long President's Day weekend by leaving the snowless Boise valley and driving an hour and a half north to Donnelly, ID. Our neighbors graciously offered to let us enjoy their cabin and what we found was a winter wonderland.

The snow was piled up 8ft high around the cabin and a good 4ft everywhere else. The mirrors of our truck scaped the top of the snow banks on each side of the driveway.


Albert and the kids spent most of the daylight hours outside playing in the snow, while Shelly and I enjoyed the warmth and quiet inside the cabin. We did venture outside to build a sled run and throw a few snowballs.

Bryce and Erica in their snowcave!