Autumn................Gasp! Not already!

Growing up I never really loved Autumn. Idaho is not really that pretty because there are not many trees so you don't get many of the great colors you do on the East Coast. It usually just means winter is coming along with wind and cold. When I moved to Michigan that all changed!!

I love Fall in Michigan. It is absolutely beautiful. There is cider and donuts, changing leaves, wagon rides, and I always have a craving for CHILI. Needless to say I am always watching for the first signs of Autumn to appear. I love Summer and Spring. I really do but Autumn has to be my favorite time of year since moving to Michigan. I really hate Winter except the Christmas season. Oddly enough I have had both kids in Winter and been married in Winter. We must have been bored during those cold months and needed something extra fun. My husband will tell you I thrive off of Holidays, Seasons, and stupid little things to do to celebrate them. Well, I was laying down on the couch for a nap today and I am looking out the window and I noticed the first signs of leaves changing!!! Yes I know I am crazy for being excited about this, but it will be an ongoing debate in our house for the next two weeks until there is no denying the fact its that time of year. We even saw geese flying south the other day so I could be right on track. I am sad to see summer go as we really had such a cold spring but as with everything a change is good, and I will embrace Autumn with all sorts of fun silly things like I do everything else.

We have had a pretty low key few days. I think I am trying to recover from vacation. Monday Lilliana was a cranky little girl. Her poor teeth are just getting the best of her. Needless to say I did not get much accomplished. She just cried and cried all day.


I did finally get a smile out of her that night so it was nice but it was a pretty miserable day especially when she is usually so easy going!



I have been contemplating using this website since before Lilliana was born. Finally Sunday when I had to go grocery shopping I bit the bullet and did it!! I am so glad I did. It is a site that has meals planned for a week with the recipe and then it gives you a grocery list. It uses stuff that is on sale so you save money. You can pick your grocery store and even special diets. I LOVE IT!! After 3 days it has made my life so much easier. Eli is eating all of dinner every night which never happens. I have had leftovers and they are healthy! If you would like to check it out is called http://e-mealz.com/ . I highly recommend it!

I decided not to get some of the veggies needed for the meals at the grocery store but get them from the local gardener who has a lot of produce for sale. Sunday it was all gone. So yesterday we walked all the way to get some of it and still nothing:( I was so bummed. I got in a good walk but only onions! The kids had fun and Eli thought it was so cool. This is not something done in Idaho. I found it really cool when I moved to Michigan and found these neat little places along the road. Everybody just sales their extra produce. Nobody seems to steal the money either and they just leave buckets out. I thought it was pretty cool.


Eli and Lilliana have loved being with each other lately. Eli is always trying to include her!
They also look so much alike..........

I love how her hand is on his.

Eli insisted they play ABCs together today. Also, Eli knows all of his letters. He amazes me with what he knows. He will pick them out all the time.


I found Eli doing when I was done changing Lilliana's diaper today. Oh and no he never has pants on! The kid loves to not wear them.

Those are chocolate chips but he pulled peanut butter and oatmeal down. Oh and our floor is getting replaced this weekend finally!!!

Lilliana is finally sitting up so well. I took these photos of her today. She has been doing with a lot of assistance lately but since we got home from vacation she is doing amazing!!!

Then it was time to chew on her toes. Yes, I know she will hate me for the bum picture but how cute is that?!? I mean she is just so chubby and squishy!!

We also went to the park today. It was a day for firsts.

Lilliana swung for her very first time.


Eli climbed this for the first time which he has never tried before. He did well.

Sadly our time did not last long as we got stormed out..........

I also forgot to mention in my blog about my trip home I was able to do one of my best friend's maternity photos while I was home. I had so much fun. I did not have a ton of time to do it. The lighting was perfect! She was 26 weeks so not too big yet so that made it a little more challenging.  I also had to take Lilliana so I was very surprised I got as many as I did. She is expecting another little girl. She looks great and it was so much fun to do them. Here are a couple of my favorites. I had several more but two will work for now. You can look at the other ones on my fb page.


I also am finally able to post videos again. Lilliana has always loved taking a bath but the past week it has become a whole new level of love. The girl splashes and moves like none other!

So far it has been a great week! I can't complain. Hopefully tomorrow we will be making a trip to the Library. It will be Eli's first time ever going. 

Vacation Part 2-Hagerman, Idaho

I will say this will probably be the longest entry I will have written as of yet. I have a week's worth of fun to write about!

When we began planning this trip last year it was so that my parents, 3 sisters and their families, and us could all be together. So we would be spending the majority of the time at the river waterskiing and doing what we grew up doing. We spent most weekends at the river growing up. It was always so much fun and reminiscing about how we started with our yard sale gear and the use of public docks to joining a waterski "club" with private docks and buying our first new gear. My sister Kim and I saved one summer to be able to buy our very own wakeboard. I remember that being our "big" accomplishment. We have had many fun moments there and some not so fun moments as there have been serious accidents.

Kim is the daredevil in the family and I think she split her head open once. She also use to do a 3 man pyramid and dislocated a hip doing that. Her most serious accident was tearing her ACL. Something that touched everybody close was when my dad lost his eye. I know it sounds crazy but just happened to be a freak accident. This happened after all of has left the house and he was waterskiing and had a freak accident. I know he still deals with that at times. Through all the difficult accidents the many great memories have made up for it and I can't wait to share with my kids some of the fun things their grandparents, aunts, and I have done.

After visiting grandparents we were off to the Hagerman Valley for a fun filled week of relaxing, boating, tubing, wake boarding, and waterskiing. Remember how I said our rental got us into trouble in my last entry? Well, as we were driving down Anthony got pulled over and got a ticket. In defense of Anthony it really was an honest mistake and we know the only reason he pulled us over was the fact we were driving a burnt orange Charger. What I still do not understand is why he did not give us a warning since we were from out of town and the fact that the 2 people right in front of us were going faster. Anthony also noticed the speed limit sign right as the he came over the hill so he was slowing down but apparently small hick town cops have nothing better to do. He was speeding and the law is the law but seriously very annoying especially when it was not on purpose and an honest mistake. Oh well. We finally arrived there safe and sound but a few dollars lighter.

The private waterski club my parents belong to has a kitchen, bathrooms, showers, and a huge lawn. There is basically a club house with amenities and then everybody brings a RV or tent to camp in if you choose to stay there. It is absolutely beautiful as there  springs all along the river that create waterfalls. They are working on the power plant and consequently a lot of water is being diverted so there was more than usual this year along with the high snow pack they had.

Panorama of the view from the club. 

Sunset.......These falls sit right across from the club. If you look really close they make the outline of the United States.

The first thing we did after arriving was go for a boat ride and Eli got to drive with Grandpa.



He even considered getting in the water off the back of the boat but decided he would just like his feet in the water.

We ate dinner and cleaned up. I only tell you this because as girls growing up at the club we always had to do everybody's dishes it seemed. In reality I am sure it was not the case but it always seemed like it so we thought we would reminisce a little bit. Thanks to my wonderful husband for remembering to take this.


My sister Holli is also into photography so we had a lot of fun together but the first night we watched the moon rise and took some photos. Sadly, mine are a little blurry. I did not have a tripod and was not that steady without it so they could be better but it was beautiful with the moon shining onto the water over the canyon wall.


The next few days were spent relaxing, soaking up sun, the kids playing in the pool, wake boarding, skiing, and tubing.........................

Sitting with Aunt Kim and her shirt appropriately says, "My Aunt Loves Me."

Lilliana's first boat ride. She was not a fan of the life jacket at all!

This kept the kids busy along with the pool for many hours.

Jaden wanted to learn to waterski so they got the practice ski's out to teach him on. Eli wanted to ride around on the grass like Jaden. Jaden is Kim's boyfriend Josh's son. He was so much fun to have there. Eli and he loved playing and Eli is still talking about him.


Grandpa wanted in on the action after that so he tried it. Poor Josh!

Anthony tried to waterski and did get up and crashed.......


There were many hours of time spent fishing with the kids. They loved doing that.



Eli went on his first tube ride with Jaden and LOVED it! Jaden was such a big helper. He was talking to Eli in his ear and laughing with him.

Everybody else took a tube ride at one point too. Anthony and I rode together.

I am so in for it....................

Then again so is Anthony..........

On Monday we had grandparents come down along with some friends. As girls we use to float down the river and walk back with a family friend. We decided to do it again as adults. It was a blast.


That night I got a generation picture of my grandma, mom, Lilliana, and I.


Lilliana also turned 5 months that monday. Sadly her pictures were rushed but that is ok. I got them. She was more interested in all the plants and the sun was bothering her eyes but we will take it!
The last one is hilarious! Its the fat chubby baby giggle!


On Tuesday I needed to do laundry so we drove back to my Grandma's house to do that. We left the kids with her for a nap. She was ever so happy to watch them and we drove to Shoshone Falls to take some pictures as the water level is very high. It was beautiful! I am told that Memorial day it was even better. They have been in a drought the past years so it has not been like this but the snow pack was great so they were beautiful.


We of course had to get our silly tourist pictures.........


Wednesday It was back to the River.  Eli got to push Anthony in and thought that was hilarious.



There was of course more water sports done including some crazy tubing with the guys. My dad even got in on this action and was proud of himself for not getting thrown off. He was also showing off a little I think.



We did some more wake boarding at which time I went myself.


I was proud of myself. Two kids later and I could still do it.

Anthony thought he would try to do what I had done even though it was only his second time trying. Needless to say it did not end so well.

Eli tubed again with Holli, Tosha, and Jaden.

We all decided to go as a family. Lilliana screamed the whole time but not from the ride. It was because she hated the life jacket. Her chubbiness was squeezed too much for her taste.

Thursday we went to see the alligators at the alligator farm. It was really hard to see them but the kids enjoyed it.



We also went to a fish hatchery where they have some sturgeon. These ones are really big about 5 feet long. We waited for them to swim to the glass but it did not end up happening. The kids still had fun trying to see them. They did see some trout.


That night we went for a boat ride to see some of the river. There is a waterfall in an inlet we like to go to so we went there.

We had root beer floats one night. I can't remember which night it was and Grandpa taught the kids how to build a fire that night too.



Thursday was our day to cook breakfast and dinner. So I had Eli help me make blueberry pancakes. I came home to find this picture on my camera. I think Anthony took it. Such a good husband and dad!




I kept trying to get out in the boat to take pictures of my parents skiing. It never happened due to weather or me being busy but I did get this one from the bank of my dad.


Friday morning I was up nice and early. I don't know why but I was so I took some sun rise pictures that day. It was beautiful watching it come over the canyon.



Some Slip-n-Sliding was done. We used this as a kid and by the end of the day we could touch the docks from going down the hill. Eli loved it as did the other kids.



My sister Tosha holding Lilliana who is wearing clothes Chloe wore the first time I ever met her and she was a year old!! Yep those are 12 month clothes!! She is so big!!


We took a final boat ride on friday down a favorite spot of ours known as "Blue Heart." It is where a underground fresh water stream comes up. It is so blue and clear but sooo cold. If you stand at the top of the cliff and look down it looks like a blue heart which gives it its name. The water was really rough and in order to have everybody go the guys had to ride the tube.

Lilliana sitting in the boat at Blue heart just enjoying herself.

The guys were taunting my dad so after he brought us all back he took them out and gave them a good tube ride. We all know not to tell my dad that or you are in for it!

Finally it was time to head to Boise for the night. We rented a hotel. I gave the kids a bath and then there was a great mirror to make funny faces in so we did that. Lilliana fit perfectly in the sink.




We had a good plane ride back!! It was so good to be home! We had such a wonderful week. It was good to have a wonderful vacation and be together. If you have read this far know you have made it through 102 photos:) This was not even a quarter of what I took. I still have  a ton of other family members!