Tag Archives: corey

Jul 16 2012

Mesa Falls

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Upper Mesa Falls

The last weekend in June or first weekend of July, however you want to look at it,  we went camping up by Mesa Falls.  The falls were a beautiful site.  It was pretty crowded up there but well worth seeing.  They have an old log inn there that they have turned into a visitor center/gift shop.  I told Corey that someday I wouldn’t mind retiring in a log cabin like this.  We went through the visitor center and a park ranger gave the boys a booklet to look through that had a comic in it.  Afterward we walked the path that went by the waterfalls.  While everyone is looking at the falls Levi would find a bench and sit to read his comic.  He was so much more interested in what happened to smokey the bear than the beautiful scenery around him.  We had a really nice weekend.  We are so lucky to live near such beautiful areas.

Beautiful!

Levi and his comic

Really neat Inn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can you see the Tetons in the back?

Love Sophia and Levi’s expressions here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We spent a couple of nights in this area and the next day we ended up hiking by Warm Springs.  They have an old fish hatchery that you can rent out and near there was a bunch of hiking trails.  We decided to hike a couple of miles (all Sophia can handle).  Have I mentioned how beautiful the area is?  This was a great weekend.  We had beautiful scenery accompanied by equally beautiful weather.  I love going camping.  It really helps me relax and get away from the world.

Hiking along Warm Springs

 

Taking a trail mix break

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The grass is as high as Sophia

Family Photo at Lower Mesa Falls over look

Jun 12 2012

Another Birthday

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geek cake

A couple of days ago Corey turned…. sorry don’t think I should tell you.  If you don’t already know then you can ask him.  I’m sure he is fine divulging that information but it’s really not my place.  Anyway he had a birthday and he is getting old.  I asked him what kind of cake he wanted meaning along the lines of flavor and frosting.  He started spouting off geeky things he wanted me to shape his cake as.  So I compromised and made him a cake with a few of his favorite geeky things.  I’m not a professional cake maker and I’m sorry if it doesn’t look up to scale.  Corey is also a very hard person to shop for.  He wanted some very specific things and after going to 6 different stores lugging around 3 kids I decided to order online.  One of the specific things was a certain chef knife.  I think you will all appreciate the picture with his precious.

making a wish

Blowing out the candles

 

 

 

 

 

Crazy Corey

Jun 12 2012

Camping

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Mike Harris Campground

Yay!! School is out.  We have been out about a week but I’m slow at posting.  On the day that school ended we celebrated by going out on our first family camp trip for the year.  We packed up and went to Mike Harris Campground in the Grand Targhee National Forest.  This is a place we have been before and like to go to for our first campouts of the season.  Despite forecast for rain we decided to tough it out.  The weather actually turned out perfect and it only rained for a couple of hours on Saturday.  We got there pretty late on Friday and discovered that we forgot many things including bug spray.  We didn’t want to be bug dinner so we had to go into to town and buy some. The other stuff we did without.  That’s what the first campout is about right?!  In the morning we warmed our breakfast up on the fire (breakfast burritos I learned from pintrest).  The kids really liked it.  They were easy too.  It rained for about and hour and we just read and played games in the trailer.  After the rain let up we went for a hike.  There is a really neat trail near the entrance to the campground.  It leads up to some peaks.  We didn’t go that far.  We only went as far as Sophia’s little legs could take her.  It ended up being about 2 miles round trip.  It was a beautiful hike.  On the way back it started to rain again.  By the time we got back to camp we were all pretty wet.  It rained for about another hour.  After that it was beautiful.  There was one other family camping in the campground.  We introduced ourselves.  Their kids are the same age as ours and they hit it off really well.  The kids went and played hide and seek.  After talking with them a little we discovered that they live just on the other side of the airport from us (small world).  We also found out that although they wear red and we wear blue we can still get along (those of you who are cougar and ute fans know how hard that is). We exchanged phone numbers and the kids have future plans to hang with them sometime.  We packed up and left Sunday morning.  On the way home we stopped one more time for a short hike.   Not as great as the first one but still fun.  This outing was a great start to our season.  I love being out in the woods.  It really helps me appreciate all that Heavenly father has created for us.  I can’t wait to go again.

Cooking breakfast on the fire

Beautiful Hiking trail

Sophia and her hiking stick

All of us on the hike

 

 

 

 

 

 

The kids getting warm after the hike

Gorgeous sky as the sun was setting

 

 

 

 

 

 

Almost full moon

Our little home away from home

Jun 11 2012

Menan Butte

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Our family likes to go on a small hike to kick off the camping/hiking season.  In May we decided to hike the North Menan Butte.  It’s about a mile up the butte.   Over all we hiked about 3 miles.  Sophia made it to the top and then Corey had to pack her around the rest of the way.  She did pretty well for her first hike on foot.  I have to say it was a little challenging, although it doesn’t look it, most times it felt like we were hiking straight up.  It was a beautiful day to hike and once we reached the top we loved the view.  At the top there are many different rock formations that the kids (and Corey) loved to climb around in and on.

The boys starting out up the butte

A nice little critter we saw along the trail

 

 

 

 

 

 

taking a rest

Beautiful spring flowers

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taking another rest

One of the many caves up the butte

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cute little hiker with her cute little backpack

Lunch time

 

 

 

 

 

 

The view from the rim

Corey climbing around on the rock formations. "I'm king of the Mountain"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hiking back out of the caldera and then on down the butte

May 17 2012

Biking fun

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Corey and I recently celebrated our 13th anniversary.  Corey told me he had a plan and it turns out it was a good one.  We dropped Sophia off at a friends and during the middle of the day, while the boys were at school, we went on a bike ride.  We biked from our home the short distance to the green belt.  Then we took our time riding along the green belt.  After about an hour we went to out to lunch to Pachangas a little Mexican restaurant in downtown Idaho Falls.  After lunch we took our time making our way back around the green belt and then home again.  I forgot that we had a hill to climb to get back to our neighbourhood.  I’m sure I was a sight fighting with all my might to make it up the hill without stopping.  We did it though and we have the sore bums to prove it.  I can’t believe it’s been 13 years but it is also hard to believe that it’s been 17 years since our first date.  Corey said something sweet the other day.  He said “You were my girlfriend way before you ever knew it.”  I sure do love that man of mine.

Apr 16 2012

Easter

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Family picture after church

Okay, I know Easter was over a week ago, but I’m finally getting caught up on blogging.  Next week is Preston’s birthday and I have to get caught up before then, right?!

I’m always forgetting to snap pictures so I only have a few of Easter.  On Saturday we colored eggs and had them for breakfast on Easter morning.  We have early church (9:00am) so after breakfast it was straight to church.  After church we took a little family photo of us all pretty.  Then we did our traditional Easter egg hunt in the back yard.  Corey always does such a good job of hiding all the eggs.  The kids were still finding some the next day.  In the picture with the three kids Levi doesn’t look very happy.  That’s because he thought his brother was finding all the eggs and he wasn’t getting any.  Next year I think we’ll have to make up some rules so the boys don’t fight over the eggs.

Sophia finding eggs

The kids with their baskets

Sophia being silly

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love this time of year.  It’s a great time to reflect on the Savior’s love for us.   He sacrificed so much for each one of us.  I’m so grateful for his atoning sacrifice.  I love the Savior Jesus Christ with all my heart.  I know it was for us that he suffered.  I know that he did suffer for us so that we may someday return to him and be like him.  What a great blessing to have him in our lives today.

Apr 16 2012

Colorado Day 4

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Cool park we went to

Day 4 was technically the last day of our vacation.  Day 5 was spent all day in the car on the way home and nothing exciting to write about.  On this day we decided to take it easier than the others.  We had a slow morning where the kids just played with old toys and us adults recouped from the previous day.  After lunch we went to a park.  You can see from the pictures that the play set was shaped as a barn.  The kids liked that.  We took some good pictures of the kids playing.  We spent at least an hour there if not more.

 

This was Sophia's favorite. A rocking chicken.

All of the kids loved this. They called it the twirling toilet.

I think he is getting a little big for this

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Corey even got in on the action

Corey and his cool ride

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kids just hanging on

After the park Corey’s parents took us to the local dairy for some ice cream.  So good after a couple of hours in the sun.  While at the dairy we got to go into a viewing room and see some cows get milked.  We also got to see some little baby calfs on our way out.  We went back to grandma and grandpa’s house where the kids colored with grandma.  We had such a fun vacation.  We wish our family lived closer so we could see them more often.  All of the kids were crying as we were leaving for home.  They really had a great time with nammi and nampa.

Mmmm... ice cream

Sophia enjoying her cone

Coloring with Nammi

 

Apr 11 2012

Colorado Day 3: Part 2

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Things have been really busy and I’ve gotten so behind on blogging.  Well the second part of day three for our spring break in Colorado started with lunch.  There is a park between the museum and the zoo.  We had packed a lunch and decided to eat at the park.  It’s still early in the season so there were no picnic benches.  Preston wasn’t keen about sitting on the ground.  He had determined that the ground was covered in goose poo.  Luckily Nammi had brought a table cloth and had the kids sit on that.  There was a sprinkler on next to us that sometimes seemed to creep up on us.  We ended up moving a few feet so we wouldn’t end up with a shower.  There were, however, some kids playing in the sprinkler.  I was proud my kids resisted the urge to run through it.

After Lunch we walked over to the Denver Zoo.  It’s a lot bigger then our own zoo here in Idaho Falls.  There are so many pictures but I think I’ll have to cut it down to just a few to show you.  We got there around 1:00 in the afternoon.  Just in time for it to really heat up.  I was really thankful I brought the kids some water.  Corey carried Sophia just about the whole time.  When there was a big crowd Levi had the best seat in the house on top of Nampa’s head.  We spent about 5 1/2 hours at the zoo.  By the end we were all tuckered out.  We ended our day with a dinner out at some fancy Italian restaurant.   Needless to say on our way home we had 3 sleeping kids.

One of my favorite exhibits. The giraffes.

The kids liked th sea lions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the many exotic fish exhibits. Levi taking a seat where ever he can.

The Kamodo Dragon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For Corey, the red panda or the real "firefox"

Our tour guide. This peacock lead us through a good section of the park.

 

 

 

 

 

One of the many exotic bird exhibits.

One of the many, many benches that let us park our derrières.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Walking through the zoo. Getting to the end.

 

 

Apr 6 2012

Colorado Day 3: Part 1

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Denver's Museum of Nature and Science

Day three started here at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  Day three was so busy I had to split it into a couple of post.  This museum is huge.  We didn’t go here to tour the museum though.  That’s going to have to be another trip.  We did, however, go here to see an IMAX 3-D movie.  The movie that we watched was “Flying Monsters.”  This movie was about the tarasaur.  This is the first 3-D IMAX  movie that our little family has ever been to.  The first impression I had was wow this is really neat.  The second impression was we should do this more often.  Then things began to change about 30 minutes in I started to get a little motion sick.  By the time it ended my vertigo was off and I felt nauseated.  The kids loved it but my first and second impressions were quickly dismissed by the end.  They can go again but I think I might have to pass.

The escaltor in the museum

the entrance into the theater

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Waiting to be let in the theater

Sitting in the theater

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sophia with her 3-D glasses on

The museum has a little discovery center around the corner from the theater.  After the show we decided to take the kids in there to explore a little.  They had fun with all the cool stuff to do.  One of our favorites was the wall with mirrors on it.  Preston enjoyed making his arm look like a wing.   There was a skinny mirror that I wouldn’t mind having in my bedroom.

Sophia playing with some blocks

Levi and Grandpa doing the smelling test

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Preston our paleontologist

Preston making his arm a wing at the wall of mirrors

Apr 3 2012

Spring Break in Colorado Day 1 & 2:

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This year, since we are having great weather, we decided to go visit Corey’s parents for spring break.  The first day we spent most of it in the car.  Usually the drive is about 10 hours.  This time we wanted to go through Utah to hand off some baby stuff to Corey’s brother and his wife.  We left at 6:30am and got to Orem by 10:30am.  We got to talk and go out to lunch with Russell and Hannah.  She looks so cute with her little baby bump.  It was so nice to clean out our storage area and get rid of most of the baby stuff.  By 12:30pm we were back on the road.  Colorado here we come.  We stopped in Echo canyon and Corey tells me that his 3rd great aunt was named after the canyon because she was born there while migrating with the pioneers.  So we had to stop and take a picture.  We also got to see some ground squirrels up close.  We did finally make it to Greeley Colorado by 9:30pm.  We were tired and it didn’t take us long to get settled.

Echo Canyon rest area

Ground squirrel

Echo Canyon

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day two was a blast.  Corey’s parents had to work for a few hours that day so we decided to go to the family funplex in Greeley.  We didn’t bring the camera because we were afraid it would get wet.  This place had a zero depth water play area, a lazy river, a couple of big slides and a normal swimming area.  We all had a blast playing in the water.  It was easy to spend a few hours there.  When we got back we ate some lunch and walked over to Nammi’s work to pick her up.  We went for a walk around the park.  That is when we noticed how nice and warm it was.  It ended up being in the upper 70s.  By the time we made it back to grandma and grandpa’s we were pooped.   Corey and Sophia took a nice nap in the recliner.  The boys had fun playing with all the old/new to them toys.  These toys were toys that Corey played with when he was a kid.  We thought this was a great day and so much fun.

Preston playing with an old set of bricks (lego type toys)

Levi climbing into the large cabinet full of toys

Sophia playing with an old farm set

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daddy and his little girl taking a nap.