Camping in Cascade at Horse Thief Campground

We are not campers!  We don't like packing our whole lives just to spend the day in the dirt, but we only includes Barry and I.  The kids think it is delightful, nothing is better than swimming in a lake and changing your clothes in a tent, freezing all night long, and gutting the fish that you caught.  Luckily we went camping with campers (we didn't even bring a flashlight), they had everything including a trailer that we could warm up in.  They made the trip our best camping experience ever!  Lynn set up our tent up for us and got everything set so we could enjoy ourselves.  It was good company and beautiful scenery.  

 All the kids had fun running and jumping into the lake from the dock.

 Lynn and Barry took some of the kids out on the pontoon boats.  Barry and Kara's motor ran out of juice right as they got out to the middle of the lake.  The wind was blowing for a bit and they thought it would bring them to shore, but then the wind stopped so they paddled with the fishing net and were about to jump in and swim in when a boat came near them that they flagged down and towed them into shore.

 These blue eyed boys loved playing in the dirt at the campsite!

 Tanner and Kara thought that gutting the fish was so cool!  Lynn's mom Brenda cooked their fish for breakfast!

 Kendra kissing a fish (I'm amazed that she would do this).

 No open fires were allowed at the camp site because of fire danger.  We put the kids to bed and had a secret s'mores party.  We used the lantern for roasting, it kind of worked.

Firsts In Fruitland

Fruitland is called that for a reason!  All summer long, there are fruit stands filled with lots of yummy produce, in fact I rarely had to visit the Walmart all summer, which makes me happy!  People we know grow corn and sold it for $2 a dozen when we picked our own.  I thought that it would be fun to go out and pick it, but it turns out that picking corn is not fun.  We all came out itchy and I was afraid that I would lose a child out in the field.  Luckily no one got lost and we picked 10 dozen ears, WOW!  All the ladies around here know so much about how to preserve all the bounty that surrounds this area and they were eager to teach me a new skill.  I knew that I could not use 10 dozen ears of corn, nor did I want to figure out what to do with all that corn by myself, so I called up my sister Lisa and she came and helped me get the corn ready so we could freeze it.  It was more time consuming than I ever thought.  We did enjoy lots of corn for dinner all week long, and have a freezer full for later!  

 Kara found this corn that had a weird growth.

 I also was taught how to can peaches and pears.  They looked so good in the jars.  The other day I got a jar of peaches down from the cupboard to open and noticed they are starting to brown, so I don't know what I did wrong.  They sealed correctly and still taste good even discolored and we haven't gotten sick yet.  I'm not sure if home canning is for me, it really takes a long time to can and makes a disastrous kitchen mess!

Christensen's Pond

This little hidden Gem of Fruitland is one fun place!  Some people that we go to church with own this pond that they have developed into a water park, with a zip line, water slide, high dive, canoes, paddle boats, etc.  We only discovered it at the end of the summer and just had a great couple of afternoons there.  We even invited cousins to enjoy the pond with us one day.  We hope to enjoy it for many summers to come!       

 Kara loved the zip line!

 I had to force Jaxson to get on the boat with me, he was not a fan at first, but began to enjoy it just as it was time to leave.

 These kids liked being dropped off on one of the docks or "islands"

This paddle boat had no steering, but it didn't matter everyone was just along for a fun ride, even if it was just in circles!

Moving Day

We knew when we bought our first house that we would continue on the house hunt.  It was very difficult to find what you want when you want it in a small town.  After just living in our first home for four months the second house came on the market as a foreclosure.  We hopped at the chance to buy it.  The same day we put an offer in on the second house we had a knock on our door with someone who wanted rent the first house.  We figured everything would be closed by the first of August, but with the foreclosure it seemed to take forever to finalize.  Luckily the renters wanted to move in a few days after the first. 

Moving day came and we picked up the moving truck.  We were asked how many miles we thought we would put on the truck and told the guy maybe 5 miles, because we were literally moving two doors down from the first house.  We had lots of people come help us move and we were so grateful for their help and couldn't have done it without them.  We ended up only putting 3 miles on the moving truck and were relieved to move out in time for the renters to move in!  

Barry's dream of owning rental properties is beginning to come true! 

A Visit From Wisconsin Friends!

Matt and Leigh came to interview in Boise and we got to hang out with them!  Matt interviewed with the hospital that Barry works for so we got to take them out to dinner and try to convince them to take a job here.  Although Matt was not impressed with the job, it was so great to see them again and catch up.  We miss all of our friends in Janesville.