Quick trip to Washington

 Joel and I traveled to northern Washington this week with the 3 younger kids.  Neither Joel or I had ever been that far north before (we were 1/4 mile from the Canadian border). It's always fun to see new places.

 We drove up to Boundary dam on the Pend-Oreille River. 

The powerhouse for the dam is all within this rock.  Crazy, huh. There are 2 tunnels big enough to drive into.
Gorgeous surroundings that I bet are even more gorgeous in the summer.

 

 While Joel took a test, the kids and I visited the local library and looked at the little museum which are all housed in what used to be the town's school.  Buildings were so much classier back then.  I love that they have antique rocking chairs all around that are meant to be used. 

They have a little theatre in that same building and Reagan thought the ticket booth looked like fun.

 Woohoo!  Torsten received his Eagle Scout award on Sunday!  :-)

 It was a great ceremony! 4 of Torsten's dedicated Young Men leaders from our 13th ward in Twin Falls came too. It was a wonderful evening.

Daydreaming

I made myself a nice hot cup of dark chocolate cocoa the other day.  I  have this super dark chocolate cocoa that I found at Costco and I love it.  It's a bit on the earthy side though, so I enjoy it even better with a bit of added sweetness.  In the chocolate I stirred 2 drops of liquid stevia, a shake of cinnamon and then put a dollop of real whipped cream on top.  Mmmmm.....I sat down to savor this warm cup of yumminess and read my email...........Whoah!  Big shock!

  It took a couple seconds to realize what the problem was. What was that ghastly flavor??  Then I finally placed the flavor and it dawned on me what had happened. My liquid stevia is the same brand and in the same type of bottle as my lavender oil.  And I keep them both in the same cupboard.  Oh yes.  I had just drank lavender oil laced hot chocolate.  It was certainly not a taste experience I'd want to repeat.  Gag. 
I do silly things like this way too often. I think it's because I'm daydreaming. Or something.  Like the time I was daydreaming  and accidentally drank bleach because I thought I thought it looked like nice cup of water.  The really dumb thing about that story is that  I was the one who had poured that cup of bleach earlier in the day. Sheesh. So I went running frantically out of the house to ask Joel, who was sitting in the back yard with our guests who were over dinner, what I should do about it.  That sounded intelligent.  "Joel!! I just drank a cup a bleach!!!  What should I do now??"  I still giggle to think about it and the ridiculous phone call I made to Poison control.

Reaganardo da Vinci and Mama Lisa

A conversation between Reagan and I while getting dinner ready:

Reagan:  Mom, will you sit in that chair?

Mom: Why??

Reagan: So I can be Leonardo da Vinci and you can be Mona Lisa!
(pointing to the chair)............ So will you sit in that chair and smile?

Just a quick hello

 It was so fun to finally get our first  snow! Hagerman never gets much compared to the rest of the Magic Valley because we are so low in elevation and close to the river.  But no snow at all by the middle of January is unusual! This year Leif was old enough to enjoy messing around in it.


The snow turned to rain the next day.  It rained and it rained.  We were then a soggy mess for awhile and we had a small lake in our backyard.

Reagan received mostly science related things for Christmas, including this chemistry set.  He loves setting up his "laboratory" and reading his experiment book looking for the next great explosion.  We've tried quite a few experiments together, but usually Reagan just goes at it on his own.  At some point, he made a solution of dish soap, baking soda, iron fillings, vinegar, food coloring, etc., etc. A few days later, I told him to pour the concoction down the sink before it spilled on something and ruined it.  Well, what do you know, but that concoction pitted the bottom of the kitchen sink and all the silverware, and plates and bowls that were in the bottom of the sink too.  They all have permanent rust colored speckles.  (When Joel installed the sink and faucet in this house I joked that I wanted to take them with us when we move.  Ahem. They can keep the sink now.)

Hailey turned 14 this month!  I. can't. believe. it. 



 The kids have been into taking "angelic" pictures of Leif.  So cute.  It almost makes me forget -----Oh my heck.  How ironic.  Just as I was typing that last sentence and I realized I hadn't heard from Leif in awhile.  He climbed to top of the bookshelf in his room to get the Vaseline jar. ( I hide it up high in a basket up but I guess he's on to that hiding place) Of course he was smearing it all over his head.   Off to give him a bath........   

Tree hunting

Our Christmas tree hunting expedition to the South Hills........

We found a tree for Grandma too. It makes me smile to remember-- Joel and Taylor had to leap across a creek to get to one of the trees, then throw the cut tree back over the creek to take it back to the car.  :-)

We had a great time sledding, finding that "perfect tree" (ha ha-- if you wanted a perfect tree you'd go to the tree lot!), oohing and aahing over the spectacular lights and Mongolian camel at the house you pass as you come down the moutain, and having a chili dinner with our friends afterwards.  What great memories!

What a Grandma!

Grandma Clayton sang at the Christmas concert last night that was put on by the Magic Valley Chorale and Twin Falls Symphony.  When her group performed their individual song it made me cry.  It was very beautiful and touching, but now I realize that what was most beautiful of all, was the fact that my lovely Grandma was singing in it and I love her so much!!!

Tonight I happened to come upon these pictures from almost a year ago that I never shared.  They illustrate perfectly what a talented and loving Grandma our family is blessed to have.  Grandma made this Valentine doll for Heidi's birthday and it turned out so pretty. 

The pink and red matched just right with the carousal cake that she also made.  Grandma puts so much love and creativity into the things she makes for her grandkids and great-grandkids.

And this fall she was willing to endure the long drive to Oregon to have an adventure with us.  We love her and our life is so much richer because of her!