Shoshone Falls

About a month ago we went and visited Shoshone Falls. It is just outside of Twin Falls (which is a 2 hour drive for us). We were planning on taking a long weekend and camping with Adam’s parents in their fifth wheel. The camping part didn’t work out, but we did end up going just for the day.

Here are some pictures of the falls themselves:

 

It was really so beautiful! But of course pictures can never do it justice. The water flow wasn’t as high as it would be a little later in spring, but we still enjoyed it. And here is a panorama that Adam put together. I was impressed.

 

And here is my cute family! They each picked out their own clothes this morning. That’s not too unusual, but what is funny is that each of their shirts represents their different personalities perfectly! Emma is a very smart girl and loves to read, so she picked her Berkeley tee-shirt. Ben picked a shirt with mountains on it, and his hiking boots, because he knew we would be outside and he really wanted to do some hiking. Spencer picked his red shirt because he thinks it is his football shirt, and he is definitely a kid who likes sports. That might only be interesting to a parent, but I just thought they were so cute with their different clothes – that they each picked! And it’s amazing to see how different kids come. Each with their own personalities right from the beginning.

 

Here’s all of us. And if you look closely you can see the beginning of my little belly bump. I think I’m about 3 1/2 months along in this picture. I had wanted to do a separate post on being pregnant, but it hasn’t happened, so this is what you get! :) But we have our ultrasound on June 2nd! I can hardly wait. I feel like it’s a girl, but we’ll see…

 

 

If you don’t know, I am painfully afraid of heights. So it was all I could do to not cling desperately to the railing! I made a conscious effort to not look like a white knuckled freak in this picture. But I was dying inside to get away from the edge!

 

And here’s Pa and Grandma Martineau. And Spencer was trying hard to pose for this picture. He was quite pleased with himself.

Snow, snow, snow! (Soda Springs in February)

 

Some time in February we decided to go visit Adam’s parents in Soda Springs Idaho. It’s a four hour drive for us from here in Boise. It sounded really nice to relax for a long weekend, and we knew they had snow there, so we would be able to play! Pa started piling up snow in front of the house so the kids would have a big pile to play in.

First they had a great time being pulled behind the ATV.

 

Spencer could not keep his hat on straight. It was cracking me up! And there’s my sweet Ben.

    

 

My snow angel Emma. And you can see how high the snow was piled in front of the house.

 

The idea was, that Pa and Adam were going to build a sledding hill for the kids. So there’s Pa starting to work on it.

   

 

Here’s Pa giving the sledding hill a try. It wasn’t quite steep enough at first, so Adam had to give him a push start. It didn’t work so well. :)

Then Adam walked up the hill to say hi to Emma, and fell in! Good Pa had to help him out, and down they both went! I was laughing pretty hard! If you look at this set of pictures and the ones right before, you will notice Pa and Adam both end up laying in the snow. This is how most of their projects together go – both of them, figuratively, in the snow, and me on the side lines cracking up! They are too fun to watch together.

 

Here is Pa testing out the sledding hill again after some modifications. He will demonstrate proper sledding technique. First, you sit on the sled. Second you…uh, this isn’t looking right. I don’t know that on your back is the best sledding position…

Oh no, he’s off the course and onto the driveway! Sweet Pa, he’s so much fun. And that sled was really awfully slick!

 

Pa worked really hard to get the sledding hill just right. So a couple more test runs and it was ready.

   

The next day was sunny and beautiful, the sledding hill was complete, and we all had so much fun! The sledding hill didn’t melt away for a couple months, so apparently all the neighbor kids would come over and use it after we left. How fun is that!

  

Birthdays Revisited!

I wanted to make sure and add Spencer’s and Ben’s birthdays this year.

First, Spencer turned 3 in January! He is such a fun kid. He knows just what to say to make me smile and laugh. I think coloring his tummy was his birthday present to himself.

 

 

I usually let the kids pick what flavor and color and kind of cake they want. I enjoy trying to figure out how to create what they ask for. So I was quite pleased when Spencer simply asked for a green cake. I can do a green cake.

 

 

Then Ben turned 6 a couple weeks later in February! 

 

 

 

So Ben asked for a snake cake for his birthday. He’s had a snake cake before, I think when he turned 3 or 4. But then he thought he wanted a rainbow snake cake. And then he decided he wanted a triple decker. I didn’t think I could put together a triple later, rainbow snake cake, but I had to give it a try. So this is what we ended up with – I couldn’t have been happier with how it turned out. :)