Adventures in La Grande

Most of our adventures were in La Grande.  We always love meeting the horses that Grandpa is housing for the summer.  Grandma always comes through with a bag of carrots for their pleasure.

Annalyn loved them and had no fear of them like she did last year.

This one was super curious and always wanted to sneak into the barn when we were trying to get the four wheelers out. 

We had a sad moment while in La Grande.  My uncle Reed passed away from injuries sustained from a 4 wheeler accident.  We got to La Grande on Friday and his funeral was on Saturday.  I will do a whole post a little later dedicated just to him, but for now...Cynjyn was helping Ky get ready for that.

Everyone was looking so nice and Kres was excited to find out that so many of Taz's friends were in band.  He had just started playing the clarinet, so we wanted a photo of him with fellow band members. 

We so enjoyed being able to be outside all day, so much time was spent on the porch enjoying one another's company and watching the senior boys have fun.  Grandma is speading baking soda to get rid of some ants.

The three granddaughters!

Sunday dinners found us bursting at the seams in the dining room, but that makes it fun!

Beckham enjoying his quiet time so much that he fell asleep.  This was a day his mom went to Boise to take his dad home and came back the same day.

We decided to take a drive this particular Sunday and show the boys some of the beautiful sights of the valley mom  and dad live in.  These were photos that they took on the drive.  They were obsessed with the sunsets.  They are so beautiful and mesmorizing that you can't help but draw in a breath when you see them. 

After our drive, we stopped at the park.  You see dads septic tank overflowed and we were not able to use the bathroom for a couple of days.  So on our way home, we stopped at the park for everyone to use the bathroom.  They got side tracked with the swing and playground.  The septic tank problems also had us using the showers at the stake center.  Luckily they were like gym showers and the boys loved it because it didn't take over an hour for 6 boys to shower in one bathroom like at home.  So even after the septic tank was fixed, they continued to go the the church to shower. 

Cynjyn of course was taking an online school class.  US History and we had to go to the family history center a lot to work on their computers because it was easier than at grandma and grandpa's house with slow internet. 

Adorable Annalyn was with us all summer.

Officially summer

It's not officially summer until we are on our way to Idaho in our books. That started a little late for us as we had to wait for girls camp to be over and Taz's friends to be free. Taz had been planning an epic senior trip with his best buds from high school. He wanted them to "experience my childhood" as he put it and take them to the places he's loved and grown up loving.  We left July 5th.  Taz, Charlie, Markus, Michael, Ryan and Andrew drove the suburban and Cynjyn and I went in the Accord.  Here we are after just picking up Markus and heading out of town.

 A quick stop in Ely for lunch! The boys had a little fun with the statue at Mc Donald's.

There were a few things Taz wanted to do in  Boise.  One of them being going to Lucky Peak and water skiing and tubing.  Brian took the day off and had been working on the boat and with a packed cooler, they headed off.  Cynjyn was going to take pictures and have a little fun herself. 

They were so excited and it was such a beautiful day...until they got out on the lake.  Cynjyn, Brian and Michael were the first to go and they were headed off to find a dock for the day.  They got half way out onto the lake and the boat broke down.  They ended up going back and having to be done for the day. They were so disappointed. 

Taz taught them to ride the dirt bike one evening. 

Some of them had never even ridden a regular bike before, so it was pretty funny watching them. Here's Charlie

Taz and Kresimir

Ryan

Michael

Markus

Andrew

And then Cynjyn took a turn.  She did great for never having ridden before and had no trouble mastering it. 

I guess it pays to have that daredevil inside that comes with growing up with brothers and being surrounded by boys all her life.

We enjoyed the evenings at Krissy's and the cooler air. 

The boys did a lot of wiffle ball.

And Clay introduced them to a game kind of like volleyball, but with a little trampoline type thing and a small rubber ball.  I think it was called Spyder Ball.

Now Taz really wanted them to go to Roaring Springs, but Clay suggested floating down the Boise river, so they decided to do that even though they had never done it before.  They rented a raft and headed out.

On our last day in Boise, the boys decided to do a food challenge.  That was something they wanted to try on their trip.  They were going to do Rocky's Diner food challenge because Man Vs. Food had done it.  But Clay and Brian convinced them that the diner had really gone down hill and there was a much better burger place with a food challenge...Jud's.

These three were in.  On the way out of Boise, they stopped to do it.  It was a two pound burger a boat of fries and a large soda.  They had 30 min. to finish it! They were happy and excited at the beginning...They were sure they wouldn't have to pay the $25!

 The food came...still happy

 Digging in...still happy

 Dipping fries to kill two birds with one stone...still happy

 Ryan realizing there is mayo on the burger...he hates mayo!

 Andrew quietly plugging along...half way done with burger and soda...still a boat of fries.

 Taz still happy...but he's not a fan of fries and there is a boat load of fries left.

 Half way done...not so happy looking

 Ryan is at least attempting those fries

 Taz...really not so happy

 Andrew, done with soda, almost done with burger, fries barely touched

 And that's time!  Three really, full and unhappy boys...Burger place $75.00 richer!

Good thing we went to the Penetentiary before that!

Cynjyn and I opted out of the burger challenge and headed off to La Grande.  This was her first big time driving on the freeway and she got a good 3 1/2 hours on her driving log. She did a great job!!

And that is the first leg of our epic senior trip.  More to come.