Wordless Wednesday

 The fountain at St Luke's Plaza
Boise, Idaho
Taken 2/24

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Today, I did something I've never done before. I donated some books that I was done reading to two of my local "Little Free Library" locations. not sure where else in the country they are but here is their website. I am learning more about them now, it's a pretty cool program. Anything that allows people to have free access to books is wonderful and should be embraced. You should check out your city, see if they have one. My girls LOVE going to see what they have and we have taken a few books ourselves. Its ever changing and fun to watch. When we stumbled on the first one, we thought it was one of a kind, when we found the second I was very happy it wasn't!


1000 Gifts: 3 gifts close

• it is a gift to be growing even closer to my sister. 
• it is a gift to be close to my husband. He is my best friend and I love that we can talk about anything. 
• it is a gift to be close with both Stephen and my family and also the girls' dad's family. It's important that they know we are still a family, just a bigger one. 

Wordless Wednesday

We were blessed with amazing atmosphere while we were at our retreat. This is just one of the many shots I got.

Salem Scenery

Since I arrived an hour early for my date on Wednesday, I took the opportunity to walk down to the capitol and also wander through the Willamette University campus. They have some amazing architecture and flowers too! 

Shamrock Shuffle Recap

I have been looking forward to this one for awhile. The weather forecast looked to be beautiful! I had never been to Ste Chappelle's Winery. I am really glad I arrived early for this event because I was able to enjoy the beauty.

The bib and swag pickup was very well organized and there seemed to be plenty of volunteers that made it go very smoothly. A few more pictures of the landscape, it was breathtaking!

The run/walk itself was good. I can only speak for the 5k course, as that's what I walked. The route was well marked and the volunteers along the route were really friendly and encouraging. There was one aide station along the 5k route and it was well stocked with water and Gatorade. Again the volunteers were excellent, so energetic and friendly. The course itself was very hilly and I could definitely feel it in the calves! I walked the entire course with a friend and finished in 56:19.

The post race food and drink was awesome. Green beer for those who wanted it as well as green juice, water and Gatorade. They also had a lot of snacks and treats to enjoy. At first the line was a bit long, but it seemed to be just moving slowly. There was plenty of food and drink though.

I planned to volunteer after and on my way back from my car I managed to trip in the gravel parking lot. My right hand and left knee took most of the fall, you can see my  hand in the pic below and the knee isn't scraped but it will have a very colorful bruise by tomorrow I'm sure.


And the race swag was awesome. For those who wanted them, glass beer steins

and for those who didn't there were aluminum water bottles.

Overall this race was awesome. I did race free as an ambassador for Final Kick, but I probably would have run if I signed up before the price hikes. It is worth the cost for what you get.

30 Days of Thanks Day 7

Yellow ribbons on the capitol building in honor of those serving and who have served

Today, on Veteran's Day, I wanted to make sure to express my gratitude for those who choose to go into the military. I know it can't be easy to be away from your family especially if you are in a situation where you are under constant threat. The decisions you made to serve your country are appreciated. I can't imagine my life without the freedoms that your fights have protected. I have been blessed enough to know many veterans and also a few active duty members and have the privilege to serve a few veterans at my workplace. Never fails to amaze me, some of the stories these men can tell. If you are close to a veteran (or active duty military person) please hug them for me and tell them thank you. Happy Veterans Day

Down from the Mountain

This is both figurative and literally.

One of the few pics I got of the beautiful area we were in

This past weekend I spent in beautiful Bend, Oregon at a young adult retreat. It was an unforgettable weekend with a wonderful speaker and wonderful company. I will write a bit more about what I learned later, but today I just want to remember that mountaintop experience and try and hold on to it for as long as I can. I also want to remind myself that the mountaintop experience isn't the destination, it's the starting point. I am feeling both renewed and refreshed.

365/106: Another trip to the Capitol

 With my sister being in town, we had to take advantage of what being in the capitol of Idaho has to offer! I sometimes forget how lucky we are to be right here in the capitol and being able to just drive and do self tours. The girls always seem to have fun when we go, even if we have been three times in the last 30 days. =)

 View from the inside looking out

View from near the top of the capitol looking down









My girls and Aunt Sissy!









Looking up, if you look carefully you can see stars in the center!

 Resting!

 Downtown Boise

 They are trying to control the bird nesting, but you never really can. Look at the detail on the pillar though! Amazing.





And to the right here is the middle of the capitol! =)

And you can't be in Bronco nation without a tribute to the 2010 Fiesta Bowl champions! =)

365/75: Natalie's House

This week ended pretty good. We went to Natalie's kindergarten registration on Thursday, she did pretty well on her evaluations (they check how much she knows, ie her letters, numbers, colors and if she can write her name). She was "middle of the road" not fantastic, but not horrible either. Natalie, McKayla and I choose to walk home after (about 3 blocks or so). It was the perfect 1st walk for me. Not too far. I felt really good after.

On our way we passed this house and I took the opportunity to take a picture of it. You might be asking yourself why I am taking pictures of random houses. It is a pretty nice house, but the real reason I took the picture is that this is "Natalie's house." I guess that every time she is riding with daddy by it she tells him we need to buy that house. She just LOVES it. I asked her why and she said the beautiful trees in the yard (you can see the side of one on the left there). I just find it humorous that my five year old knows just what house she wants. And she doesn't care that it isn't for sale. She wants daddy to buy it for us! lol. We also had a conversation about what Natalie wants in a house. We figured out that she wants a house with three bedrooms and four bathrooms. She also really wants two living rooms (still trying to figure that one out lol)
I really do love that girl. She makes me laugh with the things she comes up with.

All the pretty houses!

I was so blessed this week to work in a different office. I used this opportunity to take a couple walks around the neighborhood.

The neighborhood I worked in was amazing. There is so many different types of houses, different ages, different architecture. Well, I decided to just take some pictures of the ones I really liked. Beautiful! 

Boise Train Depot

There is another wonderful thing about living in the capitol city, there is an amazing opportunity for us to explore and get some serious history lessons. Idaho really does have a rich history and this weekend we had the amazing opportunity to visit the train depot. It is where the train used to come in from all over the country. The depot featured an amazing Union Pacific engine that sadly, I got zero pictures of :-( but I did get LOTS of other pictures (too many to put on one blog for sure!) But here are just a few for you.

This is the sign right at the train entry. Union Pacific is the railroad my grandpa worked for. I love seeing that name. =)


This is the train depot clock tower (and the bright HOT sun- it was nearly 100 degrees!)


This is the back side of the building: I love the Spanish tile on the roof.

And this is one of the three bells in the top of the tower (we got to go up on an elevator!) This is the one that still rings, three times a day. The bells were given by a family for the tower in 1927! I am just in awe of the history this building holds. I am hoping to go back another day (probably without the kids, since they still get bored easily...)

This is the AMAZING view from the top of the tower. It is actually the window that is opposite that last picture - You can see most of downtown Boise in this pic. So beautiful!


And lastly, one of my beautiful little girls. They seemed to enjoy it, even though they were beyond ready to go by the time we were done. =)