Idaho Vacation?? Huh?

Mike and I wanted to do something fun for our 15 year wedding anniversary so we packed up the kids and headed to Burley, Idaho for a family reunion with my in-laws. LOL. Yes, I know a typical anniversary for us. I had plans to go celebrate at Snowbird but then found out the Hansen reunion was the same weekend. With much prayer and fasting (LOL) we decided to go to Idaho instead of Snowbird. It was a hard decision. I already had a babysitter, I already had picked out the perfect spot but decided family should come first well that and my sister in law convinced me it would be the funnest cousin weekend ever!!

On our way to the reunion we stopped in Syracuse to see our Best Friends from Boise who are moving to Texas and were taking a pit stop in Utah. Look at these kids. Mine hardly knew who the Cardwell's were, they were really young when we moved 4.5 years ago. BUT we had a great visit and wish them the best in Texas. 

Maddy 9, Dayten 14, Oakley 12, Kenley 15 mo, Lexi 5, Jack8, Lilly 2, Camden 9, Hudsen 6

 

 Maddy and Camden were best buds in Boise. I wanted to see how tall they were compared to each other. Camden apparently didn't think that was too funny. He is 8 months younger than Maddy. He will pass her before we know it look at his brothers! 

 Dean, Angie, Kinz, Mike
Seeing the Cardwell's really made me miss them so much. The girls had their scrapbooks out last week and I saw pictures from Boise with our dear friends. They were our "family" in Boise. We had morning walks together, we played at the park, we traded babysitting, we celebrated holidays together. I have so many memories with them! Sorry we left you in the dust! But good luck in Texas. We hope to go and visit them, it's been 4.5 years since we've moved back to Utah and have yet to go back and visit. Boo on our parts!

So we left Syracuse and jumped on I-15 to track further up North to the reunion. We got on the freeway just at Brent and Julie were coming up. Literally we passed each other and Lilly said "there they are" as they drove passed us. What are the chances!!

 

So we caravaned most of the way up to Rupert. We arrived at the reunion and were in charge of lunch. As usual we had a smorgasbord full of food! And great company. I didn't get many pictures but tried to get some of Mike and his long lost cousins/Aunts.

Rewind, back to the decision making process for going to Idaho instead of Snowbird. Mike's Grandfather passed away in April and it really hit a nerve in all of us. He especially is so fortunate to have great health and longevity in his grandparents. Our children do not know their Hansen grandparents mostly because we do not take the time to go and see them as often as we should. So we decided to take a weekend trip and see them.

 

Here's Grandma and Grandpa

Aren't they cute and looking so great!

 Apparently I got Brent napping under the tree after lunch. Not really he was just trying to not get me to take his picture.

 After lunch ( or during for the kids), the pool got filled up and out came the bathing suits. It wasn't super warm but that never stops kids from getting wet!

 karsyn and Lexi are best cousin buds.

 After swimming and lunch was cleaned up, we played "red neck" games. The reunion was a red neck reunion. We split into teams and were all given a bag of big marshmallows and a package of spaghetti noodles to create something that would be the tallest. Jack's team won. This was there creation.

 

Their prize was mustache!

And this is where I stopped taking pictures. So bear with me stealing from others and my phone camera for some. We played more games. Golf with a tube, toilet paper toss which ended up in a toilet paper fight by the kids and the last game was a shaving cream hat contest. 

We were all asked to bring a photo of our family for our family tree. It was so fun to see everyone surrounding the tree with Grandma  and Grandpa at the top. Plus it was great to see some cousins and their kids pictures who weren't able to make the reunion.  

Here's the TP game. 

And the golf ball tube game 

And last but not least is the shaving cream hat game. Kade put jacks hat on. Maddy was doing Kamryns. 

Jack held really still. 

Kamryn and maddy did great also. 

The only bummer part was they didn't want the kids cleaning off in the pool rather the hose! Every kid even those who didn't participate in the game enjoyed playing in the cream and none minded too much the cleanup (except Lilly she was freezing)! 

Lilly did "show" grandma her shaving cream hands while grandmas back was turned, Lilly went up and put her shaving creamed hands down Grandmas pockets! Julie turned around to see Lilly full of giggles for Sharing with Grandma.  What a good sport she was and so funny of Lilly. 

A wind storm blew in but we didn't let it stop the fun. We enjoyed fire roasted hot dogs for dinner and more yummy salads and desserts. After we sang a song about how G&GH met along with there kids to the theme of Book Of Mormon stories. Each Hansen child was supposed to make up there own families verse. Some forgot, some did there own song, some weren't there but either way it was fun to hear and learn and laugh along the way. 

We left Connie's house and headed to the hotel in Burley, the kids were dieing to swim! We also had a room with connecting doors to Mikes bro who also made the trip. Hopefully at 10 o'clock our neighbors didn't Mind the excitement. 

Grandma and grandpa joined us also after the reunion ended. The kids loved having extra people to swim with.  It was the highlite of there night! The hot tub was hot and relaxing and called my name. 

We slept well. The kids were exhausted from a long day. We rose early and enjoyed the hotels breakfast. Not bad.Scrambled   eggs, sausage bacon, bagels juice. You name it. And of course the kids wanted more swimming. So back we went. 

 

After we cleaned up and attempted a cousin group shot but most were too busy watching cartoons to look at the camera. 

We had a great visit and are so glad we came. We were even treated to stay by generous inlaws. We wanted to stay and explore Burley but decided there wasn't much to explore. Lol. So we headed home. Somehow all the kids managed to stay awake (despite no nap the precious day and to bed late) and were such great travelers. We really do have great kids!! 

It was a wonderful trip and full of memories in Idaho. Jack was super proud of his redneck bird feeder which won him the prize for best haircut (Connie promised it was for the shaving cream hat not his shaved head to cover up his bad haircut following his bonk from the Eyre reunion.) the prize was a toilet plunger full of bird seed Hence the name redneck bird feeder. First thing jack did was dig a hole for it in my flowerbed. 

We are glad we went.  After all 3 of our kids are Idahoan potatoes it was great to get back and have a visit. Thanks Connie for hosting, Julie for all the food and of course the room. What a fun getaway!! 

AND Mike and I were able to sneak away on Monday to celebrate our anniversary. It was funny how many people remembered our big day because of the news remembering the 15 year tornado anniversary. 

Mike surprised me with dinner at Red Lobster, a babysitter, and tickets to see Calamity jane at the Desert star playhouse. 

Plus second row seats! 

It was the best night. The kids also had a great night they talked G&g into dinner at Golden Corral and to go to the WJ park that they love!! The show was so funny. My cheeks hurt from laughing so hard. I'd love to go again and see if it was "meant" to be that way or was just a Fluke. 

So we got the best of both worlds: celebrating our anniversary and enjoying a vacation in Idaho. We also booked dates for our real anniversary getaway inFebruary  in Kauai. Can't wait! Happy 15 to my love, my best friend, and the man I make crazy with all my to do lists! Isn't that what husbands are for after all!!