Idaho Modge Podge... the last in the series:)

You would think I was busy or something the way this blogging is going... I am finding that this fall is flying by! I need to start reporting on our day to day, preferably before Christmas! Anyway, on to Idaho... We had the most fortunate opportunity to spend our last couple of weeks in Idaho not traveling at all, but instead indulging in raspberries and green beans everyday. With warm days and cool nights and GREAT company, who wouldn't fall in love??
  

Richard Pieper Family 2010

Quite the babysitters:)

Best Friends:)

Welcome back Paul!

I have to admit that part of my nervous self was nervous to spend an extended amount of time with the Piepers. That doesn't sound right.... What I mean is, I still wanted them to LIKE us or even LOVE us after our trip was over. I know my kids aren't ALWAYS on their best behavior:) ok, neither am I. As luck would have it, we had THE BEST TIME EVER in Idaho! I LOVE LOVE LOVE spending time with our families and my kids are in LOVE too! Even Zach has learned to say "Nanna" for Hannah and "Pauo" for Paul. The kids were most entertained with all the aunts, uncles and cousins, not to mention two very loving, helpful, spoil-rottening Grandparents. I love you all to pieces and we had a WONDERFUL time!

     I should also mention we had our first ever Richard Pieper family reunion. What a lucky time. It just so happened all nine siblings could be there. Paul came home from his mission the first day and we just had a blast! As you can imagine, we kept busy as ever! We also we able to catch up with Casey, Rach and Zaya before they began their Las Vegas adventure and Beck, Michael and Jacob before their Wisconsin adventure. What a lovely time to be together. I can't say enough good stuff.

      Finally, we were able to spend lots of time outdoors hiking, biking, running and climbing. Oh, and we even tried out the new hottub while projecting a moving onto the side of the house. Yep, take a sec to re read that one... The brothers were at it with crazy shinanigans the whole time! 

     All in all, the summer was just wonderful. It makes me sad to post all this b/c I've been trying to forget how fun it was:) and get back to life "in the big apple (desert style)!" We feel very fortunate to have had this time together and to have shared it with so many of you!

Mary, Hannah, Peter, Paul, Rach, Sarah, Beck, Jen, Ben

cute back sides:)

Calvin Klein... meet your match

 

 

The Jones Family - cute little baby Jacob

hiking at Jenny Lake (before Ike fell in the lake!)

 

post falling in Jenny Lake- brrr! Nice monster undies!

Logan Canyon hike- Wind Caves

Happy 7 yrs of Hiking Married:)

The Boys with Great Grandma Pieper:)

The Midwest, In All It's Glory

As if we didn't have enough fun the first time around, we returned to Nebraska and Kansas for more "action:)"

Playing at Lake McConaughy- awesome sandy beaches and warm water. We made a little afternoon trip out of it and even managed a stop at Ole's to see the famous Polar Bear, Elephant head, Giraffe head, etc. A "must see" on I-80:)

Laugh if you must, but TRACTOR PULLS are the COOLEST thing ever! As you can see from Zach's reaction, they are simply mesmerizing! Really though, if you ever have a chance at this pure redneck form of entertainment, run to it! It was well worth every pennie and the 100* 90% humidity we suffered through to watch it! Ike's favorite tractor was name "Mean Moline." He still pretends he is Mean Moline every once in awhile.
Perhaps just as good as the tractor pull itself is people watching at the tractor pull. Lets just say we have a whole new respect for redneck children and what they must go through at home... Ok, I better share... I saw a little kid with BEAUTIFUL long curly blonde hair. In fact it was so beautiful that I pointed it out to Ben. THEN THE KID TURNED AROUND... yep, it was a BOY with lovely blonde locks down to his hips age appx. 2 yrs. with a shirt on that said "My Daddy Drives a Caterpillar Machine" sweet.

How can you not eat PLENTY of CORN on the COB or cookies for that matter?? It's the midwest for heaven's sake! Zach LOVES it:) This was the day he discovered said love.

My cousins with Ike- they look pretty tough, eh?! They played nurf wars for what seemed like hours. Ben was on a team with Justin and Mallory. Ike, Josh and Madison were the upstairs team. Nurf darts were flying everywhere. It was a sight! Ike is still talking about going back to visit these guys and when that will be. He had a blast (and we did too)! We also got to see my cousin, Danielle and my Aunt Jen of course, but I missed that photo op:)



Ike prays every night that we can go back to North Platte to the bumper boats and that he and Grandma can choose red again. Yep, it's bound to be a tradition now:) Besides bumper boats, he also LOVED the Childrens "mah-zoo-zem" including the dentist room, doctor room, pizza shop, bank, grocery store, school house, farm, art room, music room, and car racing room. It was a huge hit! (he prays for that every night too)!



Zach and Gramps enjoying the tractor pull- can you tell it's HOT??

Grandma Pokorninininini (as Ike calls her) We just call her Grandma :) I love this lady so much. She is truly someone I look up to and miss everyday. Sniff. What a good lady.



Well, I missed getting pics of the rest of my family in Kansas, but this is my Aunt Mary. She is so fun! In fact, she is so fun that she was caught on many occasions taking my kiddos for walks to the pond, to see the birds, to the Library and Park! Crazy lady:) I love her and am so glad she has left such a good lasting impression on my boys. I hope they always remember the goodness of our family in Kansas. Wow, I really miss them now. Maybe I can talk Ben into moving to the Midwest after school???

 We had such a good time in the Midwest. I really do feel like it is my growing up home. I miss it, maybe someday I'll even miss the humidity:) We were able to spend lots of quality time with our family and with each other. We took walks or runs every day. We also went on an awesome day trip 4 wheeling with my dad to Halsey National Forest (in Nebraska- weird, I know, but really cool). We went to Cody Park to feed the ducks and ride the carousel innumerable times and even checked out a tandem bike to ride around town (for free, no less)! The river in North Platte is beautiful with the nice river paths and I had a blast running there (turns out I can run FOREVER in the midwest)! Oh, I also should mention, I had a wonderful time Garage Saling and ended up with some real steals- like a new kelty baby backpack for $5! Sweet! Thanks everyone, we had a wonderful time!

On to Pinedale!

Not such a flattering pic of me... note to self... don't stick belly out for pics ANY MORE:) 

O
Next stop: Pinedale, WY. We are lucky enough to have amazing family everywhere. When we found out we had such a long summer break this year, we had to promise Joni and Clay we would not "jip" them out of a visit... It just so happens we are usually coming or going from our parents when we pop in to see the Kenningtons. Not this time. We were able to spend several days enjoying Wyoming with them. As you can see, we had a chance to do some AMAZING hiking, even with the little kiddos and a sick preggo. In just under 4 miles round trip, we saw a place called Sacred Rim. I can definitely see why. We hiked through a beautiful wooded forest outside of Pinedale in the Wind Rivers up a mountain. Eventually we ended up here on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Wind River Range. Words could never describe the beauty of what we saw. I think all of us could have sat there all day and just admired the beauty of the earth we live upon. Wow. I know my photography skills are lacking, but I hope to forever keep this one ingrained in my mind. Thanks Joni and Clay for humoring us with these hikes.
     We also had a chance to go to the Pinedale Rodeo and Rendevous Days; a free kids matinee at the theatre, jogging every morning with the kiddos, Ben and Clay went mountain biking, and to "the beach," to name a few of our destinations. I love Pinedale. If it weren't for the winters and the lack of proximity to Walmart (or any chain for that matter...) I could live here. The fact that Joni and Clay live here does sort of make up for that, so who knows... Maybe someday we will live here:)
      I just want to mention here (warning: oncoming sapfest... I miss my sister)! I love Joni and Clay and their sweet little family so much! We miss them dearly. We have such a good time together, even in the depths of morning sickness (all day sickness, in this case). I feel SO BLESSED to have them as family and to be able to share cousins of the same age. What a special thing that will be for our kiddos. Joni and Clay, you are such a shining example to us of good, honest, wonderful living. Thank you for being a good, righteous mommy and daddy that we can look up to and share with; we love you to pieces and really, really miss you. and the girls. and maybe even a new boy?!

**Note- my friend just pointed out that I never mentioned WHO was pregnant. My sis, Joni is the one expecting, not me. Don't worry, I will tell you when it happens, you won't have to try and guess:)

Dose 2: Utah! Fam Reunion and "old" Friends:)

Evening Hike to Bridal Veil Falls at dusk

This may have to go on their wedding
announcement someday:)
Best Friend Hiking Buddies

My best friend who gets the award for best
smore and best smore maker and smore snot:)
Apparently their is a perfect way to make a smore

After Nebraska, we took a slight detour 10 hours west to Utah. Lucky for us, Jen and Tom graciously opened their house and their kids' rooms for us to stay and then helped us navigate to a beautiful Pieper reunion spot. Unfortunately, it seems I have no pictures to document the entire reunion... Hmm. I guess we'll have to rely on a few other Piepers for those:) Needless to say, we had a wonderful time together, as always. I am so glad to be part of a family who values being together and finding time to go to family reunions. There is great strength we draw from all being together and uniting our hearts and friendships. We love you and can't wait for next year's reunion!

It just so happens that our dearest friends, Mike and Chalece, live just down the road from our fam reunion. So, we very luckily got to check out their new digs and visit them for a few days. It was bliss! I don't know how we'll make it without these wonderful friends just down the street! Hopefully Jaylee's prediction comes true and we end up related in the end! We even got to go on a little hiking/smore trip in Provo Canyon with them. Thanks guys for the great memories (and many apologies to Chalece for the smore shot)... It's just that you have such a talent in smore-ology. It's about time the world knows- let your light shine:)

Small Doses Summer Lovin Part 1

ThE fIrSt StOp...

      North Platte, NE home of G&G Pokorny

After an undisclosed amount of time, one very successful dental board examination (part 1), 6000 miles, 2 portable DVD players and more than trader joes100 granola bars, we have returned to Arizona for year 2 of Dental School. Whew! We had a great summer criscrossing the country and I can honestly say we made the most of it! I don't think there is much we left out of our travels, short of a Tropical Getaway (maybe next year?! ha!) So, I guess we'll start at the beginning and make our way through in small. doses. Buckle up. Here we go!

Lucky for the boys, Grandma and Grandpa got a new
stove... you know what that means- instant fun!
This was a "Mexican Wagon" where Ike sold
quesadillas for 20 cents and gatorade for $2.
Zach was more than happy to join in the fun!

North Platte Train Park- Happy Boys

Fireworks about to begin- Redneck Style
FYI North Platte is the Fireworks Capital of the US! None of us have
ever ever seen a display like this, not just from the city but
from literally every home on every street... We were real party poopers
only spending $20, but had fun watching everyone else blow
a month's salary on fireworks! Thanks Cornhuskers:)