{the tew family}: August 2013

Friday, August 30, 2013

Island Park

Last weekend our friends the Berrys invited us

to their cabin in Island Park, Idaho.

Jessica and I were roommates in college at BYU-Idaho

(you can see old pics here, here, and here)

and I was excited to spend a few days together under the same roof

just like old times!

We drove to Idaho Falls Thursday afternoon and spent the

night at their beautiful house. I loved their big open kitchen/family room.

Mabel loved 8 month old Jack:

The first thing we did when we woke up was go outside

to bounce on the trampoline. We have got to

get this girl a trampoline.

The cabin is about an 1.5 hours from Idaho Falls....

we drove past lots of farms, cows, and barns -

part of me will always be a country girl!

(PS: I am pretty proud of us for all the driving we have done this summer

with our little miss car seat hater. She did really well and we only

wanted to strap her to the roof a few times on the ride home.)

The upper back patio:

The view:

Best cabin furniture ever...old and comfy!

Adam and Nate planned their outfits.

Mabel has been begging to play baseball for weeks.

We got a Barney video from the library that was about sports and

I think that is where she got the idea. A few days before we left we

were at Target and found this little plastic baseball in their dollar section.

She had been waiting so patiently to try it out and play baseball with daddy!

She was so happy!

This was the view from my morning run...

I snapped this shot in between constantly scanning the trail

for bears. You can't be too cautious in bear country!

Jack would watch everything Mabel did.

She even got him giggling by making this weird growling noise.

She was really soft and sweet with him and liked to "pet" his head.

This is what she would do when he would cry:

On Saturday we went to check out a place called Big Springs.

It's where the water comes right off the mountain and begins the Snake River.

Mabel INSISTED on pushing the stroller.

She would instantly have a melt down if anyone else touched it

or tried to help her. Thanks Jess for being so patient with her!

Two cuties rocking their sunnies.

The water was so clear, it made me thirsty.

We had a little tailgate picnic lunch.

I have a little Perrier fan!

She loved it.

We took turns making meals - we each made one dinner

and one breakfast and then brought our own stuff for lunches.

Mabel was our dishwasher.

Adam has this cool rice cooker to make sticky rice.

Dinner on the deck:

Jess and Adam made tasty Udon noodle stir fry:

Sweet face:

The mango sticky rice was amazing!

Tasted just like one of our favorite Thai restaurants,

except better because Adam served it with ice cream!

We ate dessert and played Compatibility which is an awesome

game from the 90s. It's all about seeing if you and your partner

can come up with matching answers to beat the other team.

So fun to play with couples!

For one of the turns Adam had one more card to put down and he

said he had no idea what Jess would put...he was totally at a loss.

I asked him if I could guess for him and the card I picked was the EXACT one that

Jess chose and it was in the EXACT same order! (which gives you more points).

We laughed and laughed - I know my girl!

The next day, at Mabel's constant request, we

played more baseball. But Nate got tired of having

his fingers hit with the bat so we set up a make shift tee.

I haven't forgotten how to hula hoop.

Nate was impressed.

On Sunday we had breakfast and had to say goodbye.

Mabel wanted baby Jack to come home with us.

Jess and Adam suggested stopping by Mesa Falls on our way home

and I am so glad we did!!

We drove up to pay and the forest worker said there was no fee

since it was National Get Outdoors Day. Sweet!

Headed to the falls:

It was magnificent!

I didn't realize it was going to be this big -

and there was even a rainbow!

We had a great Idaho getaway -

thank you Jess and Adam!

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Brunch, War Stories, & Pinochle

A few weeks ago we spent a Saturday with Nate's grandparents in Syracuse.

We had a tasty brunch out on their patio.

Mabel loved their swing. She kept saying,

"Ampa, come swing me?"

We asked Grandpa if he wouldn't mind getting out some

of his memorabilia from his military days.

Out came a few boxes and a lot of interesting stories.

This is a Vetcong flag that was taken off the

fallen standard bearer. Grandpa kept it.

Cool foreign money and grandpa's dog tags.

Grandpa always thought his name was Eugene growing up.

Then when he went to register for the army he found out his

name was actually Farrell Eugene! His parents had never told him

that he had been going by his middle name his whole life!

He said he never really liked Farrell.

An old newspaper with details about the

Vietnam War.

Grandpa was a pretty high ranking officer.

Nate asked if he told a lot of guys to drop and give him twenty...

he said he didn't, but I bet he did.

Grandpa modeling his commemorative hat showing the
three wars he has served in:

WWII, Korean War, and Vietnam War.

That is a lot of war for one person.
He shared a few stories about when he came very close to dying...
pretty intense situations that make me shudder.

He is a brave man and

we are so grateful for his service and that he is alive!

After the war he was the ONE police officer

in Pleasant View City. Crazy.

We put Mabel down for a nap and played Pinochle.

Grandma was nice enough to help us every hand since we were REALLY rusty.
She helped us so much that we ended up winning the game!
I won the last hand with a move called, "Shoot the Moon" where you win
all the tricks in that hand.

We had such a great day, thanks Grandma and Grandpa Tew!