July-ish

This summer we got to go up to Cascade Lake for a little Jensen reunion time. The below pic was our view from the porch, umm gorgeous. It was so nice to be up in the mountains and breathe in that fresh Idaho air. (and believe me when I tell you the fresh air is something because I would never say, "and breathe in the fresh Taipei air!")

The biggest hit of the entire reunion for the kids was easily this tubing thing. Yes they love riding on it as it is pulled behind Grandpa's boat, but who knew it would entertain a dozen grandkids for literally hours on dry land?! The dramatic pretend play that went on around this was too funny to watch.

 Ander is one month older than his cousin London. Nevertheless London called Ander "Baby" the entire trip. She was like a little mother sharing her snacks with Ander, so cute! The only problem with London is that she is a sweety, and I would say about normal activity level for their age. She did Ander ZERO favors by being her normal little self the whole time. It really highlighted what a busy kid Ander has become. I couldn't count how many times SILS/BILS, grandparents and cousins commented on how "busy" or "active" my little whirlwind is. And they are right, he is crazy "busy", and next to London it was obvious for sure.

 The weather was beautiful, cool in the mornings and evenings and hot during the days, we spent a lot of time outside fishing, hanging out for hours and hours around the campfire, boating, swimming, or playing ball, so fun!

 Laynie and Kennedy are BFF's and are for all intents and purposes, connected at the hip. I love that they have such a great relationship.

 We went to the 4th of July parade where I have to give Cascade props, they did NOT skimp on the candy, unlike some parades *cough, Dairy Days, cough*

 This summer when we arrived in Boise I was most surprised to see how much several of my nieces, especially, had grown. Morgan is about a full head taller than me and gorgeous (though it should be noted that ALL my nieces are gorgeous). Rylee had broken her solemn oath of tomboyishness and was wearing the perfect amount of natural looking make-up, and she even wears her hair down on occasion, not to mention our Maddie headed off to college (boo for us!) and Emilee was getting through Driver's Ed... it completely and totally blows my mind. I love my nieces and nephews so much, it is crazy to see them grow up seemingly overnight. And they are all truly such unique, talented and genuinely good kids, I am proud for my children to look up to them. Why I have zero pics of them from this trip?! I don't know! Anyone want to remedy that???

Listen, some of the best jet skiing is done on dry land. No lifejacket, license or water required.

 We finished out our trip with a little detour Nathan had gotten the kids WAY excited about. Seeing snow. Kennedy is the only one who can even vaguely remember playing in the snow so they were all giddy. I was nervous (read: grumbly) we were gonna have to drive forever to find it. But alas, my optimist Nathan asked the locals and sure enough, twenty minutes away at the top of a mountain pass there was "snow" (aka: dirty snow melted and refrozen into side of the road ice chunks). We pulled over and unloaded everyone and let the good times begin. A small and dirty ice ball fight ensued and Ander made us laugh by wanting nothing to do with the snow. I kept trying to lean him forward onto the snow but the closer I pushed him the further he pulled back any body part about to touch the cold stuff. But everyone else was SO excited to see snow in July.

As much as we wanted to we couldn't stay in Cascade forever. Next up was Nathan's birthday. Happy Birthday to my favorite man in the entire world! We celebrated with my little sister Ashley's birthday as well and we all headed out to Barbacoa in Boise. The food is the stuff my dreams consist of when pining for "good food" when stuck in Asia. Check out what they brought out for Nathan's birthday, glowing cotton candy. A brownie and candle inside. It was delicious, and how fun is that anyway? When is the last time someone brought you glowing cotton candy?!

We filled our days with lot's of swimming...

Special one on one outings with Pixie...

Taking granola making lessons with Uncle Shayn....

Even a trip to Krispy Kreme! The kids made the cutest doughnut shop when we got home, taking everyone's orders and delivering the doughnut of their dreams. 

Our family felt so blessed and loved to get to visit with several of our dearest family friends this trip. Though it should be said, there is never enough time for dear friends! We went to lunch and then swimming with our friends from Taiwan who are now back in the Seattle area. They were driving through town on their way home and we got to spend several hours swimming and visiting.

Our friends the Dunnings actually changed their flights so that they could spend the day with us before heading out to Idaho Falls area. We spent a great day at the pool with the Dunnings, so. much. fun.

And last, but certainly not least, the FurniFurni to get some ice cream. If we lived closer to these guys I would never need to do an ab workout.

We heart the Furni.

Enough gushing about friends, back to fam. My dad and brother made it back into town the weekend before we left so we grabbed everyone and headed up to Black Canyon for a day on the boat.

What could these ^ proud parents be looking at you ask?

Oh nothing big, just our little Kennedy skiing for the very first time. It went like this: She popped straight up out of the water, skied for about 10 minutes before giving the 'cut it' sign and sinking into the water. Never even got her hair wet!! We were so proud, no use denying it.

She was pretty proud of herself too :)

Aunt "Madawie" with Aly and Kohen

Aunt Ashley and Aly

See, I told you Uncle Justin came along...

Papa John also had a first this day. He went wakeboarding for the first time. He did awesome of course, but he is a snowboarder (I'm sorry, I still think that's cool) so he had that going for him. Go grandpa!!

One of the best pics ever ^.

Kohen takes driving real serious. Real. Serious.

What can I say, it was a rather idyllic summer vacay this year.  Thank you to all of our loved ones who made it that way. xoxoxo