Home is where your hubby is

Kyle and I spent a wonderful couple of weeks in Idaho recently and had so much fun! We spent a few days in Boise celebrating a mini-family reunion (super fun!)

Kyle loved his Great Great Aunt Iverna and Great Great Uncle Alan (Alan is my Grandma Nila's brother). I think they liked him alright too.

We spent a day in Garden Valley with the Grandparents (super relaxing!)

Yes, there are two baby ducks swimming in the horse trough. That is how us country people do it! And yes, we were feeding them worms dug out of the horse poo pile. They liked it. And yes, if you must know, I washed Kyle's hands very well after this little bit of fun!
Zoey and Kyle get along so well! Very cute. The jury is still out on who gets to drive the tractor though.

This picture is just an example of how cousins plot against their parents, uncles, aunts, and grandparents. Or maybe they were plotting against Riley. That would be OK. And look how grown up little Darrianne is. Stop right now Missy!

This picture has to be included for two simple reasons. It is one of Larabee's all-time favorite pictures of his boy. Mine too. And Also because you can see the lime green fingernail polish on Darrianne's fingers, thus proving that while she looks grown-up, she is sooo not! Phew!
Finally we spent a little over a week at home in good old Emida. Lets just say being home was not nearly as relaxing as GV. It was with good reason though, since I was going to tear down our porch and get some work done. It did not help that we had broken pipes ALL OVER our house though! THANK GOD for Merle. How likely is it that you will find a licensed plumber in Emida of all places? Not likely, but someone was watching over me. Kyle did not care about busted pipes. He just loved the space to run. Uncle Levi really liked getting in there and helping with the porch destruction. Even though the poor kid was running a really high fever all weekend. Kyle just liked getting into stuff, particularly the buckets of old nails/bolts/screws (see below for explanation). The dogs liked going outside without leashes, but Summer tended to get into things that upset her tummy. Poor girl never learned. There's no place like home, there's no place like home. We miss you home! We will be back someday! And you will have new landscaping and be spruced up all the time!
We got everything fixed and my Mom came down for the weekend and helped me tear our porch down. What a project that was! The man who built that stinkin' porch used every type of fastening device ever invented, then added a few more for good measure. When 2 nails will suffice you might as well use 2,184. Obviously. But, as I said, it is done. Yay.

It was wonderful to see everyone in town and get caught up on everything that is going on, which really isn't much. We loved spending time with Auntie Tiffy, Uncle Wayne, and Livie! I miss them so much when we are gone. Sometimes I feel like I will come home someday and we will be so out of the loop that Tiffy will not want to be my friend anymore. And then I remember that she wouldn't know what to do without me. Problem solved. I could not believe how cute Livie is. She is going to be a real heart breaker someday, much to her Daddy's dismay. Sorry Wayne. Deal with it.