A surprise visit

On our way home from Utah we took a slight detour to New Dale, Idaho, and attended the homecoming (do they still call it that?) meeting of one of our favorite Washington missionaries, Elder Tyler Andreasen. He gave an exceptional talk. His cute mom and dad, Nikki and Eric invited us to have lunch with their family. It turns out that Tyler's grandma and grandpa live in the same town in Utah that I lived in when I was in high school and we know a lot of the same people. Talk about a small world! How fun it was getting to know his awesome family!

We made it up to Idaho Falls early enough to snap some pictures of the temple with the sun coming up directly behind the temple. A jogger stopped and offered to take our picture, and as I was backing up I lost my shoe. I thought for sure it wouldn't show in the picture...but she cut off the spire of the temple and got my shoeless foot! LOL oh well.

We stopped by the Rexburg Temple afterwards. It's beautiful. I really want to go back and go through a session sometime.

We've been able to see two temples so far on this trip..

This is the east side of the Bountiful Temple. The flowers were gorgeous. We sat on this bench right in front of a little cascading waterfall and boy was it HOT! We sat just long enough to snap the picture and then we jumped up! Also, on our way down to Utah Ron surprised me and stopped at the Boise Temple, which is undergoing some serious renovations. It's a smaller looking temple, but beautiful!

We left Erin and Ben's this morning, but not before we snapped a photo with all the Abram's boys. Just look at how photogenic these boys are. Tyler with his big brown doe eyes and Nathan looks like he could be in a Ralph Lauren ad! And my little handsome Bryce, asked me (no, actually told me) that I had a baby in my tummy. Lol that kid makes me laugh!

Because Grandpa is so amazing and watched the boys....he really was watching them...

Erin, Janae and I were able to have some "girl" time and enjoy a pedicure! Thanks honey, you're the best!

This was so awesome...just what I needed!

This was Holli's wedding trip, so we didn't get to spend too much time with any of our kids this trip (actually, no amount of time is enough time)... Is there anything better than a smiley baby? Little Cooper was smiling it up for grandma and I even got him to giggle...love it!

Having a bath at grandma's kitchen sink is a right of passage in our family. This is Janae's sweetest little Danny loving the water, with Annabelle helping to give him his bath. She was next...in the big bathtub of course!

When my babies were little, my favorite time of day was early morning before everyone else was awake. Having alone time with a baby is pure sweetness. I put Danny in a trance-like state by tickling his hair.

In the afternoon the kids loved riding around with grandpa in the backyard. Danny gets a lesson from grandpa.

Two (and too) cute kids

Happy Birthday

In our family we have a few birthdays with shared dates. For instance, Ron and our granddaughter Ella share June 23rd as their birthday. Jon, Angela and Janae share May 24th. And today is our grandson Bryce's birthday, which also happens to be my mom's birthday. Bryce is three. My mom would have been eighty-three today. I almost can't imagine her being that old. She died at the same age I am now, fifty-two. Too young. I miss her...still. Every day. Happy Birthday Mom.

Mt. Rainier

Ron and I took a little day trip up to Mt. Rainier today. So this past week we followed the water from the Nisqually Glacier on Mt. Rainier, to the Nisqually River, down to the Nisqually Estuary, to the Puget Sound, crossing the Straight of Juan-De-Fuca into Canada. Only backward...because we were in Canada last week and at the Glacier today. It was a beautiful day to do a little hiking. The Mountain with all its wildflowers and waterfalls is absolutely stunning! The French gentleman we asked to take our picture here on the steps, said "Oh to be in love!" How did he know??

Oh DEAR!

Lot's of waterfalls

...and more waterfalls

This quote is engraved on the steps.

I'm so glad we bought a National Park pass this year. It has been so fun-interesting-amazing and educational seeing all the beautiful gifts God has created just for us!