4th picture Tag

Jeni tagged me with a fun quick tag. (I know, I know, I still haven't done a few of your tags, but this one is quick and easy.) Go to My Pictures and into your fourth folder, click on the fourth photo in that folder. Now describe it.

See quick and easy.

My 4th folder is labeled Elena and this was the 4th photo hanging around in there. That's me in my Junior year of college. With my pre-baby waist, nose, and arms. Seriously, I don't think I could fit one arm into my beloved Eddie Bauer sweater I once owned. Who knew arms could get fat?

And as always with a tag, I urge you all to do it. It's fun to see what you've got hidden in the archives of "my picture" land.

SITS

This is dedicated to my dear friend Jennifer P. who asks me "How come you don't do SITS?"



See that fun button above? Yeah, it's SITS or The Secret is in the Sauce. It is such a fun site, much like Blog Around the World where many bloggers come together to make new friends and get more readers.

The SITS girls feature new sites daily and have many fun giveaways. (Today being a HUGE giveaway day. Go check it out.)

The truth is, I DO do SITS. I have been there from the beginning. Watched the construction of their site and have watched their readership go up and up and up. (I'm just a wimp and I don't comment. Which is the entire purpose of SITS, so I guess technically, maybe I don't do SITS.) But I do recognize SO many faces (okay avatars, that's a word I learned through this blog journey) and feel like I'm seeing all my friends in the comments on various blogs.

My blog started out as a place to keep in touch with family and friends and I intend to keep it that way. I print it in books and enjoy to see what our family has done over the years. I am grateful for all the original commenters that are still here today. And I LOVE all the new friendships I've discovered by blog hopping and getting brave enough to comment. I get rather attached to my bloggy friends.

I don't decorate, or find ways to save money, or write poetically, or take beautiful pictures, or have anything to offer other than my adorable family and occasionally my personal insight to things. So, I don't go out and seek new readership, (of course when I find someone I click with I'm friends for life) but I can't let today pass by without letting the SITS girls know that they do a great job. Fabulous ladies, fabulous! (Even though they don't read my blog, and I'm a chicken and didn't link this post to them, but still...) And maybe one of you will hop on the SITS bus and make some new friends.

Try-It-Tuesday

Stuffed Bell Peppers

( I do NOT claim to be a professional food photographer. )

6-8 large green bell peppers (dice one up to put in rice mixture.)
1 cup rice
1 lb. hamburger
1/2 c. bell pepper diced
1/2 c. onion diced
one 15 oz. can tomato juice
shredded cheddar cheese
1 package Parma Rosa sauce mix (this gives it a nice rich cheesy flavor)

Cut tops off peppers and remove seeds. Cook rice in chicken broth (I just add chicken bullion to the water). Brown hamburger, season with salt and pepper and 1 tsp. beef bullion granules. Add diced onions and diced peppers, cook until tender. Add packet of parma rosa seasoning, then add cooked rice to hamburger. Pour in tomato juice and add about 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese. Spoon mixture into hollowed out peppers, top with more shredded cheese. Place filled peppers in 9x13 baking dish and pour 3/4 c. water in bottom of dish. Cover with foil. Bake 400 degrees for 30 min.

Oktoberfest Manwaring Style

We can't have a BYU party without a little food involved. This past Saturday, my mother-in-law suggested doing an Oktoberfest theme (her maiden name is Freidenberger after all) and it was great. Everyone brought something German-ish to eat.

We enjoyed Anna's famous bierocks- bread pockets filled with meat and cabbage, I made frikadelins (sausage and hamburger meatballs) with sauerkraut, amber brought haagen-dazs ice cream, Becky made German hot potato salad, Kaylin brought brownies, and Emily brought German chocolate cupcakes and the beer...rootbeer of course

This was good fun, but the highlight of the event was when Jarom's mom walked out in this cute little get up. So funny and made the Oktoberfest feel VERY festive.

Doesn't she look like a cute little German girl ready to walk out of a cuckoo clock? Thanks for a fun time everyone and great idea Anna!

First Snowfall of the Year

The kids were SO excited to play in the first snow of the year today. (I can't say I shared in their enthusiasm, but it was fun to watch them enjoy it through the window.)

Uh-oh, here comes the littlest one in her summer clothes.

She HATES it! (Next time put some clothes on kid!) Don't worry, in about as much time as it took you to read this, is all the time she was out there. As soon as I saw her walking out, I clicked the picture then headed outside to get her changed into something warmer.

Mrs. What's Her Name

Alyssa has a teacher named Mrs. "Holly". Jarom's great grandmother was a Holley. So I asked Alyssa how her teacher spelled her name. Maybe we were related?

Me- How does Mrs. "Holly" spell her name?

Alyssa- M-R-S dot H-a-w-l-e-y

That's why she's in the advanced program! LOL!! Oh I love that she's still little enough to come up with funnies! And nope, not related to Mrs. "Hawley".

National Delurking Day

Lula over at Lulaville has declared today National Delurking Day. I just barely delurked myself to her a couple of weeks ago. Thank goodness or I would have had to do it today on Delurk Day.

Anywho...I think it is a GREAT idea to have a day that is SAFE for all you scaredy cat non commenters to delurk all together. Believe me, I am the chicken of all chickens when it comes to commenting, but I promise I won't bite. I'll even be nice and leave a little comment love on your own blog. You don't ever have to comment here again (unless you want to of course), but I would really love to know who you all are.

I get on average 65 hits a day. (Yeah, I'm just a little blog.) And I'm sure some of those are return visits and me visiting my own self. But, I also know there are a few of you who just aren't letting me know you've come by.

So today on National Delurking Day won't you please tell me who you are? Pretty please? And in return, I'm going to Delurk myself on a couple of blogs that I frequently stalk. See...we're all going to make new friends today. How fun!

Oh and all you regulars, you can comment today too because you know I love it.

Step right up! Who's gonna be first?

What'd you just say?!

While reading my friend Camille's blog and her musings over what to teach their son to call his personal parts, I was reminded of a funny story from Carter. I just had to write it down so we'd remember forever. I know he'll get a kick out of it someday.

Carter used to walk around singing a song and I thought he was saying, "Shake your penis, shake your penis." The first time I heard him say that I flipped my head around and asked (okay demanded) "What'd you just say?!" I had NO idea where he had heard such a thing and kept scolding him and telling him that it was an inappropriate song. I'd get angry at him every time he sang it, and every time he'd kind of look at me funny.

Well, one day, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on Disney came on t.v. and I heard them singing, "Shake Shake Shake your peanut, shake your peanut." (I think it was a scene with an elephant or something.). "PEANUT" folks, not penis! It was completely innocent and a silly song. (Well, I think it's innocent. I can just imagine the hysterical laughter of the guys when they made this little jingle up.)

Poor Carter, I probably traumatized him from ever saying the word peanut again. I guess this is a lesson that we shouldn't always jump to the conclusion that our kids are being naughty.


This is the only video of the song I could find. Now that you've heard it yourself, what do you think? Innocent or hidden innuendo?

Try-It-Tuesday

This past weekend was General Conference (we get to stay in our jammies and watch church on t.v.) and it's tradition to do something fun for breakfast. These little diddies are called biscuit bubble rings, don't ask me why, because I don't know. But I do know they are simple and yummy for a breakfast treat.

Biscuit Bubble Rings

Make biscuits per Bisquik directions. Roll out and cut. Next roll in butter then brown sugar. Bake for time on Bisquik box.

Can't get much easier than that. Serve with a frothy cup of hot cocoa and you're good to go.

****If you have a tried and true recipe you'd be willing to share, leave a comment with the recipe title and post the recipe on your blog so we can all come and check it out. Thanks for playing; the more the merrier! ****

The First Week of October

Hello! We're back! This entry is going to be long and journal like, just a warning.

We spent the first part of October in Boise visiting friends and doctors. The friends part was fun, the doctors not so much. But it's done and over with and we hope we can now get some answers to Alyssa's esophageal probs.
Poor Lys had a pretty cruddy vacation. It started with a bee sting on the cheek and although you can't really tell from the angle of this picture, and her hair causes an optical illusion, but her poor cheek was HUGE! She looked like she had had her wisdom teeth pulled or something.

She also had to have an endoscopy and some biopsies taken from her esophagus. We're still trying to figure out what causes her heartburn, vomiting, and hives. We had to have a pediatric GI do the endoscopy, so off to Boise we went. She was terrified of the IV (this kid does NOT do needles, tweezers, or ouchies of any kind) but held really still and they were able to get it in on the first poke. (Blessings from heaven!)

She was pretty nauseous from the anesthesia the first day and sore from the biopsies for a few days afterwards, but no major complications and we are grateful. We don't have a final result yet, but images indicate Eosinophilic Esophigitis or EE for short. Basically its an allergic reaction in the esophagus. Jarom was also biopsied for this same thing last week. We don't have his results back either. It would sure be nice if we could find something that we could eliminate from their diets to resolve the issues, but the doctor said it's normally something more like grass that you can't just take away. He said that if it is this, they will probably prescribe a drinkable asthma med to coat the esophagus and that the results are pretty good.

We are so grateful that we have dear friends still in Boise. The Farnsworths babysat the younger kids and let us stay at their house during the much needed recovery time for Alyssa. When Carter found out we were going to be spending time with the "Farmwurfs" he grabbed his lightsabers and packed them especially to play with David. (David is 14, but is such a great "big brother" to Carter. Carter adores him.)

We spent as much time as we could visiting friends and staying out of the hotel. The people below us banging on their ceiling because our kids kept dropping things and jumping, about did poor Jarom in. It's not an easy thing to be trapped in a hotel room with 4 kids, but we did the best we could.

The kids and I were able to spend a few short hours with the Petersons. Jennifer and I got brave and let Alyssa and Zane babysit all 8 kids while we ran out and got yummy frozen yogurt all by our lonesomes. (And for the record, the kids did great.)
Of course I was too lazy to pull out my camera so I stole this one of little twinner Kate and James from Jennifer's blog. They really make a beautiful little couple.

Jarom had to work almost the entire time we were there, so I had to find things to do with the kids. I coerced Miki and her kids to drive to Meridian and join me for a picnic in the park. She brought balloons and the kids quickly found a water fountain to fill them up with. These entertained the kids for the longest time. Even kids we didn't know joined in the fun. I SO wish I would have gotten pictures. Carter had taken his lightsabers to play with Ryan, and alas, we left them in the park. We went back to look for them only a short 45 minutes later, but they were already gone. Carter was a pretty sad kid.

I called our friends the Shepherds and invited myself to their picnic/park plans. THANKS for letting us join! We enjoyed time at the MK Nature Center or as we call it, "the fish park". This is one of my most favorite places in Boise. And it's all free! I used to spend a lot of time there doing my homework when I was in college. It's very peaceful.
Looking for fish. When I was in college the fish in this pond were HUGE. People started poaching them though and I've never seen the huge ones since.

I love how it looks like the fish is looking right at Kate.

Julie is always behind the camera so I had to get a shot of her. She took some really cute pictures of all our kids that I'll have to steal from her once she posts them.

And I just had to throw this one of cute Kate in. Julie's daughter Kammy put that little flower in Kate's hair and she felt pretty as a princess.

On our last day we joined our long time friends the Eakins for lunch and a football game. Their son Jadyn plays and his dad Jeff coaches.

Don't these skies look like they'd be great for a football game?

Oh dear...good skies GONE!

We had to run to the truck for cover.

We looked like a bunch of drowned rats, but somehow, the melted M&M's managed to stay on Carter's face.

Let me tell ya, that storm made for some white knuckle driving on our way home. I was very much relieved when we drove out of it.

We're home now and doing laundry. Home is definitely where the heart is, but it's also where MY bed is. Ahhhhh.....

October!

To kick start the month of October, here's a homemade Halloween joke for you from Carter.


How did the monster count to 15?







He used his fingers!! (Insert hilarious laughter here.)

Don't you love 4 year old jokes? I thought it was pretty ingenious myself.

Try-It-Tuesday

 

One of my most favorite fall desserts.

Pumpkin Bars
4 eggs
2 c. sugar
1 c. oil
15 oz. pumpkin
mix together add:
2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground ginger (I go light on this)
1/4 tsp. ground cloves

Pour into greased sheet cake pan and bake 350 degrees for 25-30 min. Cool completely then frost with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting
6 oz. cream cheese
2/3 c. butter
2 tsp. vanilla
4 c. powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until smooth. Slowly add powdered sugar until well mixed.

****If you have a tried and true recipe you'd be willing to share, leave a comment with the recipe title and post the recipe on your blog so we can all come and check it out. Thanks for playing; the more the merrier! ****

Sister Sneak 2008

See ya later kiddos, Mom's going away for the night! To go stay in Victor, ID at the Fox Creek Inn Bed & Breakfast with the sisters.

We arrived right at dinner time, stuck a pizza in the oven and reveled in the silence of dinner without kids to feed or chaos going on in the background. It was golden.

My favorite part of the weekend was the gift bag exchange. We each brought something to share 9 times (one for each of us) and we came away with such fun goody bags. This was better than Christmas I tell ya. SUCH fun and a tradition we've vowed to do every year.

So what all did everyone give?

Amber- Colored toilet paper (We laugh every time we go to her house and see her pretty yellow, pink, and green 1960's t.p. She inherited loads of this from her Grandma's house.), raisins (Amber is NEVER without her raisins.), and CUTE bracelets

Anna- Witches Brew Scented Candles and Flips pretzels

Becky- Crossword puzzle books WITH pencils. (We even had a crossword puzzle challenge and of course Becky won.)

Elena- I gave Bath-n-Body Works Pumpkin Pie home fragrance spray

Emily- Paul Mitchell firm style hair spray (Great gift from the hair dresser in the family.)

Katie- Fabreze Lavender Vanilla

Kaylin- Homemade craft blocks

Missy- Scented sachet powders to pour into our vacuums

Natalie- Biore pore strips, face masks, and crest white strips for our teeth

It's not a sister sneak without Biore strips and face masks.

"Oooooo! How many blackheads did you get?" Yeah, we're gross like that.

Of course picture taking was a must.


As was lounging and reading.

Time for a nice soak.

The Bed & Breakfast was so nice and the beds were COMFY!! You'd think that we would have gone to sleep and gotten some rest, but instead we stayed up laughing and talking until 2:30 am, but we did get to sleep in until 10 the next morning so that was wonderful. David and Julie (the owner) made us a beautiful breakfast and kept us entertained. What a hoot these two were. Seriously, don't they just look like fun? Who wouldn't enjoy them making you a breakfast fit for a king? Thank you to them for making our weekend completely enjoyable.

Julie's bird ,"Girl Bird", entertained us with her dances and talking.

After breakfast we took off and headed to Jackson Hole, WY a short 20-30 minutes away. We enjoyed window shopping and eating a few tasty treats.
Yee-Haw ladies! Becky and Natalie having some fun shopping in Jackson. Don't they make cute cowgirls?

And of course, you can't go to Jackson without getting your picture taken in front of the famous antler arch. Back: Amber, Kaylin, Emily, Becky. Front: Missy (holding Izzie), Me, Anna, Natalie, Katie

Our get away ended with dinner at Johnny Carinos and some uplifting messages from the women leaders of our church at the General Relief Society Broadcast. Now we all sit and wait for another year to do it all over again!

The Birthday Recap

My kids have been so excited about giving Daddy their presents. It's been so cute to watch them prepare and keep their secrets. This is the first year that they've really been "into" having their own gift ideas.

Carter came up with the "perfect idea" to give Daddy his very own lightsaber so they could play together. How does a mom say no to that? So adorable. (And just look how excited Daddy was to receive it. That made a little boy's day.)

The girls have been fervently working on the most precious teddy bear ever. 100% hand crafted and sewn by Alyssa and Halle. Is that not a treasure forever?

And here is a picture of that delicious Red Velvet Cake with the artery clogging frosting that melts in your mouth. (I'll add this to my T-I-T post.)

Honey, when did we get so old? But you still got it.

Happy Birthday Jarom! (a day late)

I've loved Jarom since the first minute I saw him. It's really true. I saw him standing over by his friend's locker when I was in 7th grade and he INSTANTLY caught my eye. Here are a few reasons why I love this man.

1. He always kisses me good morning.

2. He holds my hand to fall asleep.

3. He makes me feel beautiful.

4. He is never afraid to speak his mind.

5. He works double time and then some to provide for our family.

6. He laughs at my goofiness and finds it endearing.

7. He rocks at Guitar Hero. :)

8. He laughs at his own jokes.

9. He is an amazing teacher.

10. He keeps me organized.

11. He rubs my head and back when I have a headache.

12. He's a pretty good nurse when I'm sick.

13. He can fix any computer problem I have.

14. He plays with our children.

15. He comforts, loves, and kisses our children.

16. He is trustworthy with everyone he comes in contact with.

17. He is responsible.

18. He sings silly made up songs.

19. He is an optimist.

20. He is my best friend.

Happy Birthday Jarom! I love you!

My Busy Life

Whew! This week is a busy one. Why does it seem like you go and go and never have anything and then all at once you're drowning in things? It's the same way with the phone. It doesn't ring all day until the moment you decide to sit down and call a friend. Then the other line starts beeping like crazy.

It was my sister in law Deidra's birthday on the 21st. I never had time to get a post up for her. So HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY Deidra. Sorry I didn't get your pretty picture up on your actual day.

It's actually my hubby's birthday today, but I'm waiting to do a post for him tomorrow. We decided we were too busy to celebrate until Thursday. Besides, how awesome is it to eat birthday cake and watch the Office premier for a birthday party? It works right?

So why are we so busy? Well lets see. Alyssa had an appointment Monday to have an upper GI done to see if we could figure out what's up with all her heart burn issues. She did great drinking the nasty barium and came away with an awesome x-ray of her insides to share with her class.


Yesterday an appraiser came to see if we can refinance our mortgage for a better interest rate. Funny story. The guy came to the door, I let him in and we shook hands and said, "Nice to meet you." I was about to walk off and let him do his thing when I asked him his name. Wouldn't you know it? He was my best friend in high school's ex-boyfriend. We used to spend A LOT of time hanging out together. Has it been so long and have we all changed so much that we don't recognize each other anymore? So sad. It was fun to chit chat with him after we figured out who each other was.

Today is Jarom's turn at the gastroenterologist to see what's up with his heartburn. Plus it's cheerleading for Halle, and book club for me.

Tomorrow Halle will finally have the tooth that has been giving us all fits for the past 9 months pulled. We've tried everything to save it and it just keeps abscessing. It's time to come out. Plus I have to go to the dentist for my yearly cleaning. Then it's party time for Jarom and the Office premier.

And then Friday I am going on a "sister sneak" with my sisters-in-law for a fun get away. Can't wait!

So that's what's happening here in a some what nutshell.

Now to leave this on a funny note...Who needs a teddy bear when you've got your trusty lightsaber? Lately Carter has been SO into Star Wars. When you ask him what he wants to be for Halloween he says, "A Lightsaber!!" He really means either Darth Vadar, Luke Sky Walker, or a Storm Trooper, but "lightsaber" is all encompassing.

Try-It-Tuesday

Okay, I am so behind this week. I have lots to blog about, but no time. And for the record, my brother was able to get the DVD out of the player, but, alas, the player is still broken. But at least the movie is turned in to the mean old library who insisted on charging me an overdue fee and refused to renew my movie. I even took Kate in to bat her eyes. They must not know a cute girl when they see one.

Anyway, as promised this week's recipe is Red Velvet Cake. My husband's favorite. It dirties practically every bowl in the kitchen so I only make it once a year, but that just makes it all the more enjoyable. Something to look forward to right? Like Christmas.


Most Red Velvet Cake recipes I've seen, have a cream cheese frosting; this one does not. It's more like a twinkie filling or something. (It's DELISH and I could eat the whole bowl by myself.) The cake is SO dense and the frosting is ultra light and it really makes for a yummy combo. I was hoping to have a picture for you, but we're not celebrating his birthday until Thurs., so sorry.

Red Velvet Cake (I like to one and half this and make a triple layer cake.)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon vinegar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons cocoa
2 ounces red food coloring
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions:
Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, cream. Mix into a paste; red coloring, cocoa and salt. Sift out flour. Mix vanilla with buttermilk. Dissolve one-teaspoon baking soda into vinegar. Fold buttermilk into soda and vinegar. Add red coloring mixture. Add flour and buttermilk alternately. Bake at 350 degrees 25 to 30 minutes.

Frosting: (I like extra frosting, so I make 1 recipe of this per layer. There will probably be a little bit left over, but it's better to have too much, than not enough.)
5 tablespoons flour
½ cup milk
Paste milk and flour. Cook on low heat, just before boiling. (Gets sort of gummy.)
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup butter
Dash of salt

Mix sugar, butter, salt and vanilla. Beat well. Add to flour mixture. Beat until light and fluffy. Add additional powdered sugar as needed. Cake will keep better in refrigerator.

There's a Problem Over Here

Problem #1 A disc is stuck in the DVD player in my truck.

Problem #2 The disc is a library movie.

Problem #3 The movie was due yesterday.


Sigh....

Randomness of all Randomness

WOW! What a day yesterday was! So much fun. Thank you to everyone who took time to leave a comment and make me feel like a celebrity for a day. I've tried to wade my way through and thank you on your own blogs and I think I've gotten almost everyone. (I now have tendinitis.)



Yesterday, while I couldn't pull myself away from the computer (because every time I would hit refresh a new comment would pop up) my husband decided to pull a prank on me. He came home for lunch (I had no idea) and heard the bath tub water running. A few minutes earlier I had told Kate to go turn it on so we could shower for the day (yes it was 1 pm) and get ready.



So Jarom, knowing I haven't done much besides sit in the office chair, hides in the closet and calls me from his cell.



Jarom- "Where are you?!"



Me- "In the office."



Jarom- "The neighbors have been trying to get a hold of you. They say there is water coming out the bathroom window. What's going on?"



Me- "What?! Water?! Where?! Hang on, I'll call you back!" And then I mad dashed it down the hall and heard the water in the tub running. My heart about hit my throat and I was sick, thinking that I had let time get away from me and had now flooded my entire bathroom bad enough that water was seeping out the window.



I looked in the tub and there was only a few inches of water. And no water that I could see flowing through the window. I was so confused, I thought maybe we had a busted pipe or something. While I'm thinking of all the $$ that this is going to be, Jarom JUMPS out of the closet and proceeds to laugh his head off. I could have killed him. But oh he thought he was funny.



Also, did you know I was a crack dealer? I didn't, but hey, if anyone needs some give me a call.

Be sure to run on over to Jennifer P.'s blogiversary party and wish her a good day.



I knew the Dish Network guy would be coming today to fix my DVR. What I didn't know was that he would show up at 7:55 AM while I was still wearing my pink chinese silk robe. While my house still smelled like morning breath and dirty dishes from lasts nights' dinner. While I was shouting at my kids to get them out the door to school on time. While the guinea pig cage still hasn't been cleaned because I keep forgetting to go the pet store and buy bedding. While Carter and Kate are still wearing the dirty clothes they slept in and wore yesterday. While my house has basically been neglected from all my comment love from yesterday. Ahhh....the poor dish man, he got an EYE FULL this morning.


And one last thing, your tip of the day. Never just pull the drain of the full tub your child has just puked in and then go back to bed. Because if you do, you'll wake to a dried ring around the tub of NASTY!

Welcome to Beautiful Idaho!

Today is a special day for me. I get to be part of Debbie's Blog Around the World travel itinerary. I absolutely love this blog. Monday through Thursday new blogs from all over the world are featured. It's like going on a vacation right from my office, each and every day. And the fun things I've learned... oh, it's just so great. (I don't know how Debbie keeps up with it, I have a hard enough time remembering to get my Try-It-Tuesday posts up on time.) So today, I get to say WELCOME to IDAHO!!

Some people think Idaho is a native American word, but nope, somebody, somewhere, sometime ago just made it up. "I da ho? Whatever, YOU da ho!" (yep, it's an on going jr high joke.) Story has it, that when Idaho was being considered for a new territory, a man George M. Willing suggested the name "Idaho" which he claimed was derived from a Shoshone language term meaning "the sun comes from the mountains" or "gem of the mountains." He later claimed that he had made the whole thing up. But for some reason "Idaho" stuck.

I was born and raised in Idaho and have never lived anywhere else. I've lived in Eastern Idaho, and Western Idaho, but never Northern Idaho. You NEVER hear the term Southern Idaho. (Southeast, yes, but not Southern.) It's really like three states in one. Western, Eastern and Northern Idaho.

You might be surprised to learn that Western Idaho has beautiful springs (I LOVE the flowers), very hot summers (triple digits) and fairly mild winters (Oh how I miss those dry roads!). (My husband and I on our son's blessing day, March of '04)

Eastern Idaho's winters, on the other hand, seem to last 9 months of the year, and are very cold (I've personally seen it get to -30F and even colder with wind chill) with a lot of snow. (Frosty comes to life in my backyard.)

But the other 3 months of the year are absolutely worth waiting out the deep freeze. Summers in Eastern Idaho are the most gorgeous around (if I do say so myself). The majority of the time we have highs in the low 90's/high 80's and by 7 pm, it cools off to a perfect 72 degrees. It is windy here, but I enjoy that fresh breeze that constantly blows. (Enjoying snow cones in front of the falls of Idaho Falls.)


There is a lot of farming done in Idaho. Everything from wheat and barley in Eastern to mint and onions in Western. But the thing we are most famous for is the Idaho potato. And you wouldn't believe the things you can do with a potato. Baked potatoes, fried potatoes, mashed potatoes, boiled potatoes, potato pancakes, potato donuts, even potato ice cream.

Now, if potatoes don't interest you, maybe television might. Did you know that the first t.v. was invented right here in little 'ol Idaho? That's right, in a small town not 20 minutes away, Philo T. Farnsworth invented the first completely electronic television. Now what would we all do without that?

I am blessed to live in an area where Jackson Hole, WY is 2 hours one direction, Sun Valley, ID is 2 hours another direction, and Yellowstone National Park is 2 hours the other. The famous Grand Teton Mountains can be seen on your way to Jackson or Yellowstone. And they are absolutely breath taking on a clear day. (Did you know they've found evidence of coral reefs near the top of the 13,000 feet high peaks?) (I'd better say I just stole this picture off the internet, but I do have some of my own beautiful pictures of the Tetons.)

We don't have an accent in Idaho (None of us ever think we have the accent, it's always the other guy right?) but we do have a few words that are unique/common to the Idaho/Utah area. These are the few I can think of right off: "awright", "you guys", "fer", "heck".

Ah what the heck, I'll close now by saying that I hope this post was awright fer you guys. Come back to Idaho some time for a visit and be sure to drop me a line when you do.