Idaho will be Idaho.

There are certain things in life that remain the same no matter what.
For me, Idaho is somewhat of a constant.
The people- they like their guns (protesting amidst all this political talk of taking them away) among other outdoorsy things.

The weather- will find ways to push your day around (getting stuck in a driveway for an hour and having all the neighbors come help).

Poor little car that had to deal with all that snow, and me, inexperienced snow driver at the wheel.

The clarity- it will always find a way to help you clear your mind and bring you peace. Maybe it's just the gorgeous scenery and wide open spaces, or the people, or the fresh air. There's just something that gives encouragement to me every time.

In short it was a weekend of visiting friends, sliding around in the snow, having fun (at green canyon, the Academy of Comedy- say that 10 times fast, and acoustic cafe), having some personal time to reflect on the things that try to worry me, and staying up late and sleeping in- laughing and talking. Laughing a lot. Thanks to Zoie and Aaron for letting me come stay with you.

North Carolina round 2

So glad I got to go spend a week hanging out with my brother and his family before I go. What's not to love about spending time with people who cook fantastic meals for you, have the cutest baby ever, and love to have you. Mostly we just hung out around the house and talked and played with the baby- which was fine by me. I got to read through most of my brother's missionary journals, which really helps me, as I'm preparing to go to go and seem to have all these weird little fears creeping up when they can, to see the fun and spiritual moments that someone else has gone through and to know it'll all work out. We also went to the state park (Raven Rock) and hiked around there, and went to some museums, walks through the neighborhood, replacing the lyrics to every song in the world with Miranda's nick names, walks through campus, made a birdfeeder, and stayed up watching tv and youtubes and eating way too many toaster strudels in one night.

Some pictures and videos from the week. 

The robot in the new library- it gets your books for you. And my brother the goof. 

Oldies movies- now I know where they got it.

Mohawk baby!

Miranda always knows when there's a camera and she stops whatever she's doing to look at it (and then try to grab it of course).

 My favorite moment was in Sarah's primary class when she asked "What did you do this week to choose the right?" And one kid answered back "well...I didn't steal." :)

Maui, Hawaii- in collages

warning: this entire post is collages and there are lots of plant pictures. 

Thanksgiving 2012. The first year we did not make apple cider. And I was fine with it. You know it's going to be a good week when you can pack nothing but short sleeved shirts, swimsuits, and coverups, and go fly to Hawaii to a condo right close to the beach. My little horticulture brain went crazy. And when I got home I realized that more than half of my pictures were of plants. I guess this just goes to show that I chose my major for a reason. Anyhow. Good weather, forests, fish, snorkeling, beaches, luaus, fruit, and other such adventures in Maui...sounds like a good idea for me. 

"Things that you struggle to grow in greenhouses...they grow like weeds on the side of the road there."

SNORKELING. Every Day. Obviously not many pictures for this one because we were underwater. But Maui has some incredible beaches with insane amounts of the coolest fish ever. We went out in a little cove, to the airport beach, and the black rock beach (favorite) and swam with schools of fish, watched eels, looked at all the colorful fish that I'd never heard of, and (my favorite) almost swam right into the face of a turtle. SO SOO cool! 

The Smoothie Bus that we found on our drive around the mountain (best. smoothie. ever.). Giant shark jaws in one of the windows on the Lahaina street (like the Hawaiian version of Park City's main street). Giant coconuts that are fallen all over the road and giant avacados. Basically all the fruit is huge and delicious. The streets are just strewn with flowers and fallen fruit. I love how the paths in the jungle smell like guava and are covered in these orange flowers. Little crosses all along the road. And geckos jumping on the leaves of the flowers I bend over to smell.

I learned very quickly the power of the ocean. It's so incredible the energy that is in the waves. But it was not so fun before I realized that a small slow girl like myself cannot, in fact, out run the waves of a rising tide when trapped in the awesome little cove she found with her faster sisters. So yes, I did get a few battle scars from being knocked over and then rolled on the lava rocks and feeling like Tom Hanks on Cast Away when he gets smashed on the coral. Thank goodness for sisters who can save you from those kinds of things. 

And yes. I was very much pleased when we got to make stops like 'Arboretum' and 'Kumu Farms' and I got to name off flowers and see the things I've been learning about in person..and just be amazed at all the tree types and how they grow SO MUCH produce there. 

BEACHES!

Hey Sabrina- lay down next to your Hawaii sign and I'll take a picture of you *as a big wave is on it's way*....the things we do to little sisters :)

Banyan trees + an art in the park type of deal...coolest thing ever- the tree takes up the entire park because it has expanded so much. It's in Lahaina.

 The Old Lahaina Luau. They made us a Hawaiian style Thanksgiving dinner, I actually ate some of that pig (yes, after seeing it in the pit with a face), had orchids and live music everywhere, and the hula dancing was awesome. Plus...the desert was super good- except that white thing was like some kind of coconut tofu tasting deal.

 Oh! The fancyness of the tropical flowers and orchid leis - and I was in heaven.

 And what happens when your server takes your camera...

Here's some Hawaiian dancing videos...

The Road to Hana (some of the previous pictures were from this as well).

Hiking through the jungle and swimming in hidden waterfall lakes. 

Native villages where they grow taro and eat fish they catch from the ocean, and Scotlandesque beaches. 

Black Rock Beach

Red Rock Beach

The Seven Sacred Pools

And more plants....because who knew that left-picture is what the inside of center-picture looks like, and right-picture is what the center of a banana tree looks like?

And awesome flowers that I had never seen before.

Parent-Birthday week

Once upon a time I started taking a family foundations class in which much advice is given on how you should have a fantastic family and get married to a fantastic person and have fantastic children which you raise in the best way possible. All this learning has actually just made me realize that I've had a wonderful example right in front of me my entire life. They seriously did a good job/are still doing a great job.

So pretty soon I finally get to hang out with them for more than a few hours and it's in the time between their two birthdays. This also happens to be the time of the greatest holiday ever- Thanksgiving. Anyways...Shout out to both of them...here is a list of (a few of) their combined qualities that I admire as parents and as people. 

I don't think I've ever head either of them yell at each other or any of their kids...or anyone. 

Passion for traveling and learning everything you can about the world.

Saturday chores when I was little- a combination of doing all the yardwork and practically spring cleaning the entire house. Every. Week. The reason...six kids.

The way they wake us up in the morning: mom=coming in and dancing the Ketchup Dance dad=consistent annoying bell ringing or blasting music

Lots of memories of eating dinner together...some of those dinners not so good. Like the yams that got spit all over dad's t-shirt when zoie told him she didn't want them, and mom thinking ox tail soup was a good idea. But mostly good food. 

The value of music. So many family home evenings when all we did was sit around the piano and sing hymns until we couldn't anymore. And then of course there's the 'you must pick an instrument and play it until you're 16' which only ever resulted in good things.
Watching movies as a  family when everyone would eventually falls asleep except me and dad. But mom's not asleep...she's just 'reading her book'...with her eyes closed.
The way they raised their kids and let them develop into whoever they wanted to be (with guidance to be a good one) and to not chose everything for us.


To name a few. 

Couer d'Alene, Idaho

Pictures of things I loved on this trip and a couple of my thoughts typed up in between them. Enjoy. And yes, I know it's a million pictures all at once.

Just before the trip- but it was such a cute picture I couldn't resist. My brother and his baby.

Also before the trip- got to see my sister before she moved to Chicago!

 This is the house we stayed at right on the lake. Found it on vrbo.com which I highly recommend if you are ever trying to rent any type of place to stay anywhere. It's a cool website. Anyways...firepit on the beach- which you only had to walk down like 80 steps (workout!) to get to, and a dock! Our neighbor let us borrow his boat also. And a fantastic view from any of the 3 decks.

 Flippers because, you know, I can't swim. Quin can but she still uses them as she freaks out over something...?

 Lovely.

 Hippy headband- all day every day! Especially because each day was a debate between should I shower or continue on with this wavy beachy dreadlock-esque hair of mine. The latter usually won.

 My cute family- I wanted to put a million pictures on, so to be convenient there are a lot of collages. And that face the baby's making- hilarious!

 Okay- so all up the Couer d'Alene river at the end of the lake are these houses (which are really on the shore of the WHOLE lake) but on the river especially it reminded me of a Venice-like town, just placed in the mountains of Idaho. here are some pictures of some really ritzy ones and one not so ritzy one.

 Sunsets.

  

 Fires on the beach and midnight swimming. Also. I finally got to make Smoreos! (smores on oreos)

 I would never get tired of sitting on that dock.

Love love LOVE wearing swimsuits and coverups all week.  And according to Forever 21 manikins it's okay to wear too-long shirts like this now. I liked the idea anyways.

 And from the little town of Harrison that we discovered. And I mean REALLY LITTLE! But still. They had a nice creamery and antique shop. That house in the middle- maybe I just like the color, but also I love the small old-looking houses in a small town. And what do they give their flowers to grow like that!?

The end.