Facebook and the Death of a Blog......

So my last blog update was sometime in 2009.... most likely the same time a friend named LaRae sent me an invite to join Facebook. Wait, isn't she the same person who made me start a blog? Why, yes she was. Unfortunately the draw of finding old friends, seeing what everyone was doing in 1 sentence, and flipping through pictures was enough to get me hooked. Sorry fellow bloggers, I am a facebooker now - you can blame LaRae :)

Commencement

Idaho is definitely a little strange. Here, Prom is no big deal - in fact it is a Semi-formal event. Haley says no one even goes. Who knew???

It's all about Commencement. Commencement is the "BIG" dance here. Formal dresses, updo's, suits or tuxedos, that's what Commencement is all about! Since Haley is 16 she was actually able to go! So here is the story....

Step 1 - The Invitation
For those of you who have had the pleasure of seeing Napolean Dynamite - the whole "Build her a cake or something" is not a joke - it is a total Utah/Idaho thing. The kids really do try and ask in a unique and unusual way. You can't just call up a girl and ask her, you have to do something. Since Haley's date was her long time boyfriend, a huge dramatic invitation was not necessary, but he did however make her a poster and put it in the fridge before she got home from work. Of course when she got home she was hungry so she opened the fridge and there it was. And, yes - she said yes.

Step 2 - The Dress
Oh my gosh - this was an ordeal. So Haley has made it perfectly clear on more that 1 occasion that she hates dances. So of course Chris was afraid to ask her to go to this one, until I asked him if he was going to. He said he wanted to, but was afraid Haley would not want to go. I told him to ask anyway (see step 1). Needles to say, by the time he asked her it was only a week and a half before the dance. Saturday morning we woke up and headed to Rexburg, hoping that they would (a) have something modest - after all it is where BYU Idaho is and (b) have something unique that every other girl in Idaho Falls did not have. 2 hours and 3 stores later we drove back to Idaho Falls. 3 hours and 5 stores later Haley was in tears. NOTHING...we found NOTHING. Everything was either too small, too big, strapless, or $600. We quit for the day and promised her we would resume the search on Monday, even if it meant driving 3.5 hours to Salt Lake. I checked online and found a store in Blackfoot (20 miles south of IF). I called on Monday and she said she only had Wedding dresses, but that a new store had opened across the street that had really cute dresses. We left immediately after she got home from school. SCORE! We found a cute dress and it could be easily altered to be modest - and it was only $299 (I can't believe I was excited about that).
Trying it on just after picking it up from the seamstress. She added the sash and the straps.

Step 3 - The "Day Date"
Not sure if this is an Idaho thing too - but everyone goes on a day date. Usually something adventurous. Haleys was paintball. I think she had a good time - she only got nailed once - in the ankle - has a bit of a bruise!

Step 4 - The UpDo
So after paintball - it was off to a quick lunch and then home to hop in the shower and then off to the hair dressers. She went with a pretty clip we bought for her hair and 5 or 6 photos she found online of cute updo's. The lady in front of her spent 30 minutes complaining about her hair so Haley's appointment started 30 minutes late. To no avail, her hair dresser was an expert and got it finished in time.


Step 5 - The Ridiculous Amount of Pictures
Chris picked her up at 6:00 - posed for pictures, went straight to the school - posed for pictures, headed to dinner with 7 other couples at one of their homes - posed for pictures, and so on. Dinner was prime rib - when I drove up to take pictures there it smelled heavenly - we had McDonalds for dinner :(



Step 6 - The Dance
She's there now - I hope she is having fun. She just texted me and said she lost her voice (she was a little stuffy when she left this evening). My daughter is so pretty!

Bye Bye Children - Hello Teenagers

It's official. I am old. I have no more children, only Teenagers. Reagan turned 13 on April 26th! Here present was a new digital camera (believe me her 2 gig card is probably almost full) and her food choices for the day included Jamba Juice for Breakfast, Red Lobster for Lunch, and Cafe Rio for Dinner - their official grand opening was her birthday!

I feel pretty darn old now. When someone asks me if I have children I can officially say "No, I have teenagers"!


Self portrait taken with new camera.

New Job

I got a new job! Like 25 people interviewed and I got it! I am pretty excited but it has been a ton of work.

We have a brand new community in Ammon (suburb of Idaho Falls) and it is the first Master Planned community around here. I am especially excited because this is the kind of neighborhood that we are used to living in and have missed living in something like it (parks, walking trails, tennis courts, pool, clubhouse, etc).

The neighborhood is called Hawks Landing and you can check it out at www.myhawkslanding.com. Anyways, the neighborhood is split up into 3 types of homes - Mansion Twin Homes (town homes or duplexes depending on where you are from), Parkview Homes (homes that have small yards but are all separated by parks and open space), and Grandview Homes (1/4 to 3/4 acre lots around the outside of the community). Destination Homes out of Utah (www.destinationhomes.com) bought all of the Parkview and Mansion Twin Home Lots and are building approximately 200 homes. I was hired by Destination Homes to sell those 200 homes.

I started the new job on April 6 and it has been kinda crazy since! Back and forth to Utah for training, following up on tons of leads, and getting ready for our Grand Opening Celebration on May 16th is what has been consuming my time! Hopefully once we get open, life will return to a more normal pace!

Despite what you hear on the news, there are still great places to buy a home and home sales are still going strong here in Idaho - in fact we sold just as many homes in Bonneville County this April as we did last April! Now that is exciting!

Blogger Slacker

I am officially a blogger slacker. It's been like 3 months since I have blogged anything. Much has happened so I will try and get a few posts in for anyone who still actually reads this. At least I will have a record for my posterity even if everyone else has lost interest.

Oh My Gosh - I Have a 16 Year Old!

It's so hard to believe that it has been 16 years since that little girl was born. I wish I could remember every little step of how she has come to be the young lady she is today. I was thinking the other day that it must have been so hard for mothers in the olden days - no camera's, no blogs, no video cameras, how did they capture the memories of their children? How sad it is that these kids have to grow up. Why can't they just stay little forever. I would be content to have a 2 year old for the rest of my life. (I say that now most likely because I can't really remember what life was like when she was 2).

None the less, we are so very proud of her at the ripe old age of 16! She has grown into a beautiful young woman - both inside and out. She is a 4.0 honor student aspiring to be the Valedictorian, has a job and works hard to be a great employee, sets her own budget and saves her money, cooks, cleans, runs errands whenever asked, and is just an all around good girl. I long for the past, but also can't wait for the future to see what kind of grown-up she will become. We love you Haley!

PS. To explain the picture - her first date as an official "16 year old" was dinner at Johnny Carinos and the movie "Coraline" in 3D (hence the beautiful glasses). She also got flowers from her Aunt Julie and us, and we made a trip to Salt Lake to buy her the one and only pair of $250 jeans that she will ever own (as long as I am paying).

Will Winter Ever End?

Ok - I've had enough snow. We had a lovely white Christmas, a white New Years, and now I am ready for the snow to melt but it just keeps coming. This has been, by far, the most snow we have seen since we moved here. The storms just keep rolling in and they are so close together that the snow doesn't have time to melt so it just keeps piling up. I think our front yard has over a foot right now. I am hoping for an early spring - unlike last year when our kids were snowed out of girls camp - THE FIRST WEEK IN JUNE! At least I was able to get some cute snow pictures of the girls. But I am ready for the snow to melt and the tulips to bloom now!

Blogger Slacker

So it takes a SNOW DAY in Las Vegas to get LaRae out of her blogging slump. I am so much more easily amused.... I was sick yesterday, laying in bed pretty much sleeping, when I hear Dave out in the family room yell "oh my GOSH!!!" Within 30 seconds he was in the bedroom, laptop in hand, showing me a news story. And low and behold..... We are getting a CAFE RIO!!!! Now that is the most exciting news I have heard all month. Not 2 miles from our house, the new location already has the sign in the window "Coming Soon - Cafe Rio". I can pretty much guarantee that Dave will eat there EVERY SINGLE DAY for the first few weeks that it is open.

For all of you california readers that don't know what Cafe Rio is, click here to go to their website. It is pretty much the BEST mexican food ever. Yippy for us! Idaho Falls is not such a small town after all!

It's Been Way Too Long!

Wow. Where does the time go? It's been almost a month since my last Blog post. I feel like such a slacker. I could use the excuse that it is the Holiday season - but I have barely even started my Christmas shopping, so that really does not work. We did get our Christmas tree up (the day after Thanksgiving) and have enjoyed how festive it makes the house feel. So what's been occupying my time? Let's see...

1. Work. It is slower than usual, but there is still work to be done. The real estate market has taken a hit here (although no where near as bad as places like Vegas and California) so things are a little slow. I have had extra projects to work on though, as we have a new developer in town who has developed Eastern Idaho's first New Urban Community. I have been helping him with marketing and other things so that has taken some of my time. I am excited for the comminuty to get up and going. We are even considering moving there instead of building our home. You can check out the community at www.myhawkslanding.com

2. Family. My sister Beckie has been taking care of our nephew Malachi (my brother Seth's son - Seth passed away in January of this year). Malachi is just 14 months old and quite a handful. Well Beckie had to have surgery on her foot so Malachi is up here with Julie and I. We have him on the weekends and Julie has him during the week. Seeing as my baby is 12, having a 1 year old around has been quite a bit of work. How soon you forget the gross dirty diapers, crying in the night, drooling, and getting into everything. He is darling, but quite exhausting!


3. Church. My new calling requires that I teach a lesson about once a month. We have 1 other advisor besides myself, plus the YW president, then the monthly combined lessons, so I end up having to only teach about once a month with the current rotation. THANK GOODNESS! Wow - teaching to 5-year-olds was so easy. They do not care if you leave something out of the lesson or forget to show a picture. They were impressed with silly little games or even just coloring. I started preparing my lesson for Young Women's 3 weeks ago. My kids think I am crazy. I am not really nervous, I just want to make sure I am overly prepared. The lesson is on Avoiding Crisis Living. I really liked the topic and took quite a bit of my lesson from the book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens", by Sean Covey. It has a wonderful time management matrix that really illustrates how we spend our time and how to avoid being a procrastinator. I have read the original book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey and have often applied the principals found there to my personal life. Hopefully the girls will find it useful. I was able to get 2009 Planners donated from a local title company - enough so that I could give one to each girl. I covered them in scrapbook paper and made them really cute. I included some scripture references that applied to the lesson to the inside cover - along with the time matrix. I hope they will use them to schedule their lives! I would be lost without some sort of planner!



So that is why I have not blogged in a month. I will try and be better about it and will add it to my list of New Years Resolutions!

An Unlikely Champion

Haley's High school had a dismal football team. For the past few years their football team had not won a game. In fact, up until this season, they had lost 23 games in a row. Since they only play about 8 games a year, this means that they had not won a game in YEARS. An not only were they loosing - they were getting KILLED. Most games we lost BADLY.

This season our football team got a brand new coach. He told the team that the only thing they needed to do was "believe". He brought in a new offensive strategy. We ran the ball on almost every play. The offensive line was so unique - you could hardly tell who had the ball. From the stands, with a birds eye view, it took a good 15 seconds to figure out which player was running with the ball - I can imagine it was even harder for the other team to figure it out.

So this season started out the same as the last. We lost our first game. Trounced 30 to 6. No big surprise. The new offense did not make a difference. We all figured this season would be like all of the rest. We do have quite a great fan base though - and even when our team was loosing, the stands were always filled with supportive parents, friends, fans, and classmates.

After the first loss, the coach was not concerned. He told the team that as long as they believed that they could win, it would happen. The second game we played our in-town rival, Idaho Falls HS, and low and behold we won. Not only did we win, we won big! 39 to 14 and every single touchdown we scored, we did by rushing - no passes. The new offensive strategy worked.

The third game - same thing, and the forth, fifth, and sixth. We were on a roll. We finished out the regular 8 game season with a record of 7 wins and 1 loss. We were heading to playoffs - for the first time in a very long time.

We sailed through the playoffs - winning most games by a very large margin. We were headed to the state championship game. A team that had not won in years was playing for the state championship. The students, family, and fans were all so excited! Last night was the big game - played at Holt Arena down in Pocatello.

What a game - Hillcrest won by a score of 55 to 35. It was close at times - tied 28 to 28 near the end of the third quarter, us up by 5 with 7 minutes left. Then our explosive offense - who just needed to "believe" took over and again, lead us to a huge victory.

Imagine that - a team that had not seen the left side of a win-loss column in almost 3 years, brought home the schools first ever championship title. I guess you can get anything as long as you "BELIEVE".

The Things We Do For Our Kids

When I was 15 there was no way in the world that my mother would have (a) let me stay up until 3:00 in the morning on a school night or (b) waited in line for hours to get into a movie. Times have changed and I feel like the kids these days have so much more power over their parents and I am guilty of letting it happen!

Never the less, after reading the book 4 times (all 4 of them in the series 4 times each in fact), I knew Haley would not be able to wait until this afternoon to see Twilight - not that she gave me an option. Was it all worth it? Not sure, Haley was pretty darn disappointed last night when we got back out to the car at 2:58am.

We bought tickets back a the beginning of November. At the time we purchased them, the theater was offering 5 showings - 4 at 12:01 and because those had sold out, they opened up a 12:30 showing. That is the one we got tickets to. So Haley and her cousin Rachael decided at about 8:30 last night that we should head to the theater because they knew there would be a line. We have done this before for Pirates and Harry Potter and there are people who line up pretty early. So we go there at 8:40 or so and the line was already around the side of the building. I guess people had started lining up at 6 - CRAZY.

All 3 local news crews were there and it was quite cold and windy. The manager of the theater walked by and I was able to grab her and ask her what the plan was. She said as the previous movies ended and they emptied the individual theaters, she would begin calling out theater numbers and lining them up 1 at a time and let those people into their proper theater. Little did I know at the time, but they had opened 7 additional 12:30 showings - hence the giant lines!

So at about 9:30 the anchor lady from the Local News 8 crew came over and told Haley and Rachael the she wanted to interview them in a few minutes if they were still in line. They had been trying to get on camera all night. Of course, not 2 minutes later they called our theater number so we had to go inside.

What a waste of time that was. We were in there by 9:45 with about 30 other people, all alone with this cheesy music/news ad that was on about a 15 minute loop. We must have heard it 10 times before the previews finally started. So the theater is basically empty until 11:00 when all of the smart people (who probably waited at home and took a nap) started showing up. They, of course, would have been able to walk right into the theater (since the line did not exist any more because all 12 showings had been seated at this point) and grab a seat. It did make me a bit angry when the really late people started showing up around midnight and expected everyone to move around so they could sit together. Get there early like the rest of us and be torchured by the stupid music/news loop if you want to be able to pick your seat!

So at about 12:40 when the previews still had not started, the manager came in with a mega phone. I thought, oh crap - if there is something wrong with this movies projector and they make us move to another theater I will be so mad. We always sit in the very top row, right in the middle in every movie we go see - that way no one can kick the back of our chairs. If they were going to make us move, we would be the last ones out of the theater and would have the crappiest seats in a new theater. Luckily, that was not the announcement. She said that they were having a bit of trouble with the film. Because they had so many showings, they were having to string the film across all 8 projectors and it had broken a few times. Sure enough, if you looked up into that little projection room, you could see the film coming into our projector from across the room and heading out to another projector. I had no idea they could do that.

Finally at about 12:45 the previews started - the whole theater erupted with applause. At this point, I was really wondering how I was going to stay awake. I was more worried about how Dave was going to stay awake since he usually falls asleep during movies that start at 7. Poor Reagan was just about asleep. Haley and Rachael had both taken little cat naps and were now wide awake - much too excited to even think of sleeping.

So how was it? Well there were obviously differing opinions. I really enjoyed it. I have read the book (only once mind you), and thought they did a pretty good job with the movie. Now maybe it wasn't exact - but do movies EVER follow the books exactly? The movie Running Man comes to my mind. I was a huge Stephen King fan growing up. The Running Man was one of my favorites. Absolutely loved it. When they announced a movie for it, I was thrilled! Unfortunately, the book and the movie had almost NOTHING in common. I was so disappointed after I saw the movie, that I stopped even try to see movies based on books. I just knew they would be ruined.

Haley, on the other hand, was pretty mad. I am not sure what she did not like since she went straight into bed when we got home and woke up by herself this morning and left for school before I was awake. Rachael had mixed feelings. She said on the way home last night that there were things she liked and did not like about it. She was totally infatuated with the actor that played Edward Cullen (Haley thought they should have cast someone else) so that may be why she liked it more than Haley. Hopefully, Haley's disappointment at the movie and her huge lack of sleep (besides the fact that she is a normal, somewhat hormonal teenager) will not cause her to be completely unbearable this afternoon!

As I said, the things we as parents put ourselves through for our kids is ridiculous - when did the kids start to rule the world?

New Calling!

So I was called into the First Counselors office on Sunday morning before church. We all know what that means. I was called to be the Laurel Advisor in Young Womens. I was very excited since, as I was getting ready to go in, I had convinced myself that they were going to call me to be the primary chorister - a calling I have no talent for, nor any desire to learn. When he said Young Womens, I was thrilled! I held it together and didn't even cry until Sacrament Meeting, when I saw the faces of some of the kids in my class. Ugh - I never thought about the fact that I would have to say goodbye to them. My joy turned into pure sadness and I cried pretty much the rest of church - all through Sacrament Meeting and most of the way through Primary Opening Exercises and Singing Time. I finally pulled it together enough to teach my last lesson. I am going to miss those kids so much! On the up side, Haley will be a Laurel in February, and many of her friends are already Laurels, so I am really looking forward to having the new challenge! I guess I will take the sad with the happy....

I recommend...

For those of you who are Glenn Beck fans, you probably already know about his new DVD "An Unlikely Mormon. The Conversion Story of Glenn Beck". I purchased it for Dave for our anniversary. He is a huge Glenn Beck fan and has been listening to his radio program for over 5 years now. More recently, Glenn had a show on a cable news network and is now switching to FOX come January.

We were able to see Glenn live in a benefit he did here in Idaho Falls for a family in need. His daughter goes to college up at BYU Idaho and in his travels here, he met a family that was in desperate need of help. The family consisted of a healthy mother, father and 3 sons in wheelchairs, and a sister that died a few years ago. The mother is trying to take care of everyone and work full time and the house they lived in was not handicapped accessible. Glenn did a fundraiser show and donated all proceeds from ticket sales to the family so that they could build a new, handicap accessible home. The show was wonderful.

We knew bits and pieces of his Glenn's conversion story through his radio program. He talked about it every now and again. But in this new DVD he really opens up about where his life has been, and where it is now. He is a recovering alcoholic and drug user, divorced, and from a very broken family - yet he has completely turned his life around and is one of the most successful radio talk show hosts - third only to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.

I highly recommend this DVD - especially if you have non member friends who are investigating the church. It is uplifting, real, and moving.

Ward Split

Sooooo.... It was NOT as traumatic as I thought it would be. They took about 150 members from our ward and combined them with 200 members from an adjacent ward, and created a new ward. Our entire Bishopric stayed in tact. We lost a few teachers from primary and a leader or two from RS and YW, but that was about it. I did loose my visiting teaching companion, but all of the ladies we visited are still in our ward. All 8 of the kids in my primary class are still in our ward. And NO, I have not gotten a new calling yet! They filled the position of Primary second counselor that was left vacant last week, but that was the only announcement they made. I am assuming now that the ward was officially split we will have a bunch of new callings next week. We do get to go to a new building - which is great because it is within walking distance of our house (not so great in the winter - but wonderful in the summer). Well I guess I will keep everyone posted on any new news!

Rumor Has It....

That our Ward is being split this weekend. Dave and I got called into the Bishop's office this weekend. I was thinking we were finally being released from our calling (I have been in Primary as a teacher for almost 5 years and am looking forward to a change - Dave joined me about 2 years ago after serving as Elders Quorum Secretary for 2 years). I LOVE my current CTR 6 class - I have had them since they were Sunbeams, just moved up with them each year, but I was looking forward to a change. Anyways, as we sat and talked with the Second Counselor (he is over Primary), I realized we were NOT getting released. In fact, he asked us if we had any musical talents - to which I quickly replied "NO!". Anyways he said he was doing some fact finding and was not making any changes at the moment. All of this happened just prior to Sacrament Meeting.

Haley was really sick on Sunday so after the interview we headed back home and then just went to the last half of church. What a day to miss Sacrament Meeting! The entire Primary Presidency was released. They called a partial new presidency but they did not fill the position of Primary Second Counselor, Choirister, or Piano player (hense the earlier questions from the Second counselor I assume) and they announced that we all need to be at the Stake Center at 9am next Sunday to hear the announcement of the new ward boundaries. Apparently they are taking 2 wards and making them into 3 wards. UGH! So I guess maybe sometime this week I will get a new calling! I would really like to be in Young Women's so I could be with my girls, but anything with the exception of Primary Teacher or Nursery Leader would really be fine! Guess we will have to wait a week to find out!

Haley Got a Job!

Can you believe Haley is old enough to get a job? She worked for her dad a little bit this summer - but that does not count because she did not have to interview for it. Last week she decided she wanted to get a job - a real job. She and her cousin Rachael headed out and collected applications at any place that would hire 15 year olds. She only ended up turning in 1 application, to a place called Craigo's Pizza. She got a call the next day for an interview. She was hired during her interview Wednesday and started training tonight. She was only supposed to work until 7, but I guess they said she was doing such a great job, they kept her until 8:30. She ended up getting $17 in tips too - which was completely unexpected (it is a buffet so there really are no waitresses - just kids who bring scones to the table). Her manager said that they usually do not get that much money in tips so that made her happy.

She said yesterday that she was terrified to go to work today. Once she got home tonight I could tell her fears had faded and that she was pretty proud of herself for doing such a good job. Next week she works Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights. Unfortunately she has to work on Halloween, but she is too old to trick-or-treat anyway. Good job Buggie - we are so proud of you!

First Snow!

Can you believe that it is only the beginning of October and it is already snowing? It was over 70 degrees last week, and today we get this! I do love how beautiful and quiet it is when it snows like this, but I am just not ready for winter yet.... we just started fall.... :(

Homecoming Duchess

Our Haley was voted Homecoming Duchess this year! The kids in each grade nominate 5 or 6 kids and then they vote on the nominees. The Seniors with the most votes are named King and Queen, the Juniors are Prince and Princess, Sophomores are Duke and Duchess and the Freshmen are Lord and Lady. Haley received the most votes for the Sophomores and was crowned Duchess. Her very best friend (also known as a boyfriend) Chris, was the Duke.

Her "Duchess" duties made for a long day today. The pep assembly was at 11:00 this morning at the school where the winners were announced (we were notified on Monday that she was the winner - but it was to be kept a secret until they announced the winners today). Each winner had someone escort them through the sword line. Haley had her cousin Seth escort her. Chris had his second cousin as his escort - who was completely adorable by the way!



After the assembly, we had to get her into her dress and head over to a church parking lot a few miles away where the parade would start. Each couple rode on a convertible and threw candy to all of the elementary school kids who line the streets to watch the parade. It was FREEZING today of course - its been in the 70's until this week - we are even supposed to get snow this weekend!



Once the parade was over we headed home to start doing her hair for the football game this evening. It took about 2 hours to get it all curled and now I am not sure why we bothered - by the time we got home it was almost completely straight again - good old Brackett curl.



At the football game, they again rode on the back of the convertibles onto the field at half time. Dave and I got to escort her through the swords as they read a brief paragraph she had written about herself. It was even more freezing than it was today and she was a trooper and made it through the half time show with no coat. We stayed and watched the rest of the game (we won - yeah!) and then got MOSTLY defrosted on the way home in the car. Next time we will definitely remember to bring blankets and wear more clothes!



The Homecoming Dance is tomorrow night. She is NOT going - for 2 reasons. The first is that she says "I don't dance - so I don't go to dances", and the second is that she is not 16, and therefore can not date yet. It seems kind of a waste to spend so much money on a dress for her to wear for a total of about an hour - but she looked beautiful. Hopefully this will be one of her very happy High School memories!

Canada is Gorgeous in the Fall!

We just got back from a wonderful 4-day weekend in Edmonton. We have been there several times before, but our trip has always been during the summer months. With Dave's crazy work schedule, this year a summer vacation was just not possible. The kids were out of school on Thursday & Friday, so we left right as school got out on Wednesday and headed up for the long weekend.

Boy did I need the vacation. It was very nice just to spend some alone time with the family. No instant messaging, limited texting (no service in many of the areas), no emails (I did not check them the whole time we were gone!) and on top of that, I turned off my cell phone.

We spent the majority of our time at the West Edmonton Mall. For those of you who have never been there, I would HIGHLY recommend it! It is huge, and has an indoor amusement park, indoor water park, mini golf course, 2 theaters including 1 IMAX, and countless stores and restaraunts.

On the way home we drove through Cardston, Alberta - which is a very small town just on the Canadian side of the border. It was settled by early Mormon pioneers who migrated up there and built the first Canadian Temple. We met a friend there for lunch (a guy that Dave works with is actually from there and was there on vacation also), and then headed to Waterton Lakes National Park. It was beautiful! The leaves were all changing and it looked so gorgeous.


In the park there is a cute little tourist town. We stopped just for a minute and noticed that there were deer wandering around town. It was really weird - they must have been almost tame. They let you get really close to them before scurring away. Reagan, of course, thought that she would be able to get them eat right out of her hands, but that was not happening!



It was so wonderful to be able to spend time as a family and I am grateful for the chance to get away (the shopping wasn't bad either!)

It's Potato Time!

Yeah - the trucks are rolling, the equipment out, the dirt turned, and potatoes are being harvested! I was visiting teaching night before last and the lady whom we were teaching asked if we had gleaned any potatoes yet (for those of you who are not familiar with the term - it means take what you can use, and applies to not just potato harvesting). Yikes! I hurried and gave the lesson and was out the door so I could get some good harvesting in before sundown. I called my sister Julie and told her to hurry and bring a bucket or box for us to use.

For those of you who do not live in Idaho, the harvesting of potatoes is all done by machinery. About 3 weeks before harvest, they kill the plants (some farmers just roll over them with heavy equipment - others spray them with a chemical that kills the above ground part of the plant, others wait for the first freeze). This process actually sets the skins on the potatoes. If they skipped this step, the skins would come right off. Once the skins are set, large machinery comes through and "digs" the rows of potatoes up. This same piece of equipment has a conveyor belt. As the potatoes move up the belt, the dirt and vines are shaken off and then the potatoes are dropped into a huge truck that rolls along side the harvester. Click here to watch a short video of an actual Idaho potato harvest.

I explain all of this for a reason. The trucks only make one pass over each row, and they have to turn corners with a machine that has zero turning radius. Tons of potatoes are left on the ground - especially at the corners. The farmers are more than willing to let the average Joe go in after the machinery is done and get as many potatoes as you can find. Otherwise, they rot in the ground. So needless to say in just under 30 minutes, Julie and I were able to get a good size tote full of potatoes.

Potatoes on the ground after the truck has run through the field

We decided it would be great fun to take her 3 little boys out yesterday after school for their first potato harvest. At first we were met with quite a bit of opposition to the idea - they were just too busy playing with friends. But after my assurance that it would be fun, they reluctantly got in the car. Once we hit the fields, they were off having the time of their lives. They compared it to an Easter egg hunt - with the coveted prize not being the most brightly colored egg - but the biggest potato. Let me tell you we found some WHOPPERS. Nothing like these ever make it to the stores. You could feed an entire family on 1 potato!

Bryan, my nephew & his HUGE potato

The potatoes are "California Whites", which the farmer explained to us are strictly a "processing" potato. They do not kill the plant to set the skins on these ones. They are meant for the processors who make them into french fries, dried potato flakes, frozen hash browns, etc. They are not good for baked potatoes, but they make excellent mashed or au gratin potatoes. The russets are being harvested later this week so we will head out and get some of those also. Believe me when I tell you there is NOTHING like fresh potatoes.