Vacation Part Two - Blaine County, Idaho

Every year in June, my Dad goes to Idaho for a meeting of the MACLAIC corporation, organized by him and his brother and sisters to manage the land they own near Carey Idaho.   It's also serves as a family reunion for those that can be there.  I've always wanted to go, and this year I was able to make it happen.   Dad had space in a time share where Skip and I could stay in Ketchum.   One of the weekend activities was a pot luck picnic at the pavilion they had constructed in Biscuit canyon (part of their property).   I got to see some cousins and aunts I hadn't seen in a long time.   

Skip looking relaxed and happy.   

My brother John's wife Lisa, and their daughter Michelle Condie Mecham. 

One of my favorite places on the planet!   The land here is part of my family because my Grandfather homesteaded here.   His family (Dad, a brother, and five sisters) lived in a cabin near here that's still (barely) standing part of the year in order to have ownership of the land.   The actual home they live in is in Carey at a hot spring where they used to have a "bath" house.  They farmed there and raised livestock.   When I was little, my Dad lived there and raised sheep.   They sold that property, but kept the range land.   Now they lease it to ranchers, and have developed it into a beautiful spot for family camping, picnicking, hiking, shooting, ATV riding, and other activities.

My brother John and I at our mother and sister's grave sites in Carey cemetery.  They both died as a result of a car accident in 1960.  

In Ketchum, where we were staying, there were some beautiful bike trails.   I went running a couple of the mornings we were there.   It was so beautiful!    Both times this black dog followed me and kept me company.

While there, we enjoyed shopping and exploring Ketchum and Sun Valley.   There are several ski slopes in the area, cute shops, and nice restaurants, and gorgeous homes.   One day we went in to town, it was a little rainy and cold.   It turned to hail, then snow, but by the end of the day when we were heading to dinner in Sun Valley, the sun came out!   We stopped in a starbucks/visitor's center for hot chocolate.

It was fun hanging out with John and Lisa and two of their kids.   They live in California, so we don't see them often enough.

John and his son, Kyle playing checkers in a beautiful home furnishing store.   (A lot of "cowboy" style furnishings and decor.)

The whole group had dinner at the Sun Valley resort.   The restaurant was right next to the skating rink.   I can remember seeing skating competitions here on TV.   Along the walls of the resort they have pictures of several famous athletes and celebrities that have stayed there.

Some of my relatives at dinner.

Dad, Mom, John, Kyle, and Michelle:

We ate at a table with my aunt Lillie, and (pictured below) my aunt Ivie Babbel and two of her daughters, Poiette Babbel Lang

 and Sylvia Babbel.

On Sunday evening we took a drive a little farther north into the mountains for some beautiful scenery.

I was so thankful I could take this trip and spend some time in Idaho with my Dad and other family members who love this part of the country as I do.

Cross Country Vacation - Part One

Part one of our cross country vacation was our adventures driving across this beautiful land.   Our first rest stop was in Maryland, where we had a beautiful view of our rolling valleys in the eastern United States.

Skip looks pretty cool in his sunglasses!

Our first night we spent in Columbus, Ohio.   After finding a hotel, we found a Chinese take out place open, and while waiting for our food "enjoyed" the thrift store decor and a coconut water.

 One of our other stops was Omaha, Nebraska.   We wanted to see the church site there known as Winter Quarters.   It's the area where the pioneers stopped and settled for the winter after leaving Nauvoo and trekking across Iowa for several months.   I knew there was a cemetery and a temple there, but didn't know they had such a nice museum/visitor's center.   It was definitely worth a stop.   They were about to close, but one of the senior missionaries gave us a quick tour of the museum and let us use the facilitates.   We had to find our hotel on the other side of town, but we promised to come back in the morning, which we did, and took some time to watch a movie, see some more of the exhibits, and enjoy the peace of the cemetery.

Our last stop before arriving in Idaho was Cheyenne, Wyoming.   Our method of finding hotels was to go to online sites, find something reasonable, and book it if the reviews weren't too bad.   The Hitching Post Inn sounded reasonable, but after booking it, I think Skip looked it up online to find out it had been burned down!   We thought we'd been scammed, but after further investigation found that a major part of it had burned down and they had reopened some of the buildings, with a couple of rooms serving as the office.  After driving past a few other seedy looking hotels,  we found our hotel with a neon OPEN sign, and the makeshift LOBBY banner.

It turned out to be a very large, comfortable room, with the bed at least 15 feet from the window, which was good, because there was a raging thunderstorm throughout much of the night that flooded the room near the window!   

  

31 derful Years!

Where else do you celebrate your 31st anniversary, but Baskin Robbins 31 flavors!   Besides having some ice cream, we had a day together in Alexandria.   I had been wanting to go inside the George Washington Memorial Masonic Temple.   It was quite interesting.   We learned a lot about the Masonic traditions as well as George Washington himself, and had a splendid view from the top of the memorial.

30 Day Challenge!

I was inspired by this yesterday.
I discussed it with Dara while we were visiting to celebrate her birthday, and we decided to start a 30 day challenge together.   We're starting rather small, but hopefully it will lead us into a habit that we've all been encouraged to start:

FLOSSING OUR TEETH!

We consulted a few lists, and have plans to complete other 30 day challenges.   Some we may do on our own, or we may try doing more together.   It's good to have a challenge buddy so you can encourage each other and be accountable to reporting to them.   Kara and I did a no sweets challenge last year, and had some success with that.   Here are a few ideas for 30 day challenges that I found/thought of:

take a picture a day
learn a new word a day
read 50 pages a day
draw something every day
clean or organize a space a day - drawer, shelf, closet, cupboard
memorize a measure of music a day
exercise every day
memorize a scripture a day
read the Book of Mormon (Dara did this in March)
act of service every day
try a new recipe every day

What are some of your ideas?    I'd be happy to try some with you!

A Blessing for Lillian

On Sunday morning, February 5, Skip, Kara, and I, after picking up Grandma and Grandpa Condie along the way, drove down to Charlottesville, to attend sacrament meeting with Ryan and Dara, to witness and participate in the priesthood blessing given to little Lillian.   In preparation, I made the dress Dara had picked out for her to wear. 

We were so happy to see her after about a month.  She has filled out a lot and has some sweet round cheeks, and a smile that fills up her whole face.   We passed her around during the meeting.  Kara was holding her in this picture.  It looks like she's playing peek-a-boo! 

After church, we went to Ryan and Dara's apartment (UVA married student housing), took some pictures, and had a delicious meal to celebrate sweet baby Lillian and her special day.

Lillian and Grandma Baird

Kara, Grandma Condie, and Grandma Baird with Lillian

With Grandma and Grandpa Baird

Grandma Shreffler with the sweet Lillian

Dara, her daughter, and her Mom

The whole gang!   Ian, Denise, and Kara in the front.  
Back row:   Grandma and Grandpa Condie, Carla, Lillian, Dara, Aaron, Ryan, Emily, (Jennifer behind me!), and Skip

Grandpa and grandson have the same hat!

A Full Family Christmas

This was one of the best Christmases ever!   It was so nice to have everyone except Leslie (missed her very much!) in Virgnia with us.   We squeezed all 14 of us here in the house on Sturbridge Rd. - Laura, Kart, Aiden, Emma and Owen were in two of the bedrooms downstairs.   Natalie and Kara slept in the other bedroom downstairs.   Ryan and Dara upstairs in the "blue" bedroom, and Beth in the office.   Valerie arrived the day after Christmas, and she had the couch downstairs until another bedroom became available.

We  had some pretty great times together.   Here are some of the highlights:

1.   Making gingerbread houses and stables!

2.   Riding the Metro to D.C.  Laura, Kart, and kids, Beth, Ryan, Dara, and even baby Lillian, and I all took a trip to D.C. early one afternoon.   We rode the Metro to the Smithsonian, and enjoyed seeing the insect zoo, and an interesting forensic bone exhibit at the Natural History Museum.   In the American History Museum, we saw Julia Child's kitchen, and a demonstration on how to stage a sit in  Woolworth lunch counter style!   Then...more metro riding in search of cupcakes.   

 3.  Making, eating, and shopping for cupcakes!   Laura was on a mission during our D.C. trip to collect samples from three different cupcake shops, and taste test them when we got home to determine the best.   Sprinkles in Georgetown was the overall favorite.   They were all pretty good, but the cupcakes Laura made herself later were probably THE best. 

4. Christmas Eve dinner and program at Grandma and Grandpa's. After a delicious meal, we had a service of lessons and carols.   Kara played the piano, and the men read the scripture selections.  Julie and her family, as well as Karyn had come to visit from SC and TX.

5.   Taking silly pictures.

Natalie and Kara

With Aiden

6.  Taking a few normal pictures.

Natalie, Owen, and Kara

Natalie and Ella 

Karyn and Natalie

Laura, Ryan, Owen, Kara, Natalie

7.  Waiting for Santa to come.

8.  Seeing that he came.

9.  Opening gifts.  Some made us laugh.  Some made us cry.   Some were homemade.  Some were tasty.   Some were beautiful.   Some were fun.   Some were dangerous.   Some were silly.   All were given and received with love.

10.  Welcoming Valerie.   We were so happy she took time out of her crazy busy life to spend time with us.   She was full of energy and fun, and we all enjoyed spending time with her.

11.  Running.  It seems to be one of the major forms of exercise we enjoy.   It's easy, not too expensive and keeps us in shape.   Beth had a great time running in D.C. one morning.  

12.  Taking pictures.  On Christmas day, after church, our friend Channon Zabel took family pictures.  I will put my favorites of hers in a later blog post, but here are some out takes with my camera.   

Another fabulous photographer (our own Laura) took some sweet newborn pictures of Lillian.   

Kara and Dara

The Barnetts

Owen

Aiden 

Channon at work

The five siblings

The four girls

Sweet Baby Lillian

13. Hanging out with Grandpa. 

Those are just a few of the incredible times we had.   There were so many more that pictures didn't capture.   We laughed about many things. We feasted on delicious food, and sweet conversation.   We delighted in talents shown and shared.   We filled our hearts with poignant memories to be treasured whenever we think about the Christmas of 2011.