Road Trip: June and July 2011: Day 3

Today we started out in Fairmont Springs, Montana. After having breakfast...I know this picture is terrible, but you can kind of see out to the pool area in this shot... we headed out for Georgetown Lake. It was about an hour drive from here. We can't wait to see Marv, Cheri, and Jonathon! Courtney's cross-eyed hot chocolate shot of the day...

We noticed this mountain peak while driving...doesn't it look like where the "Grinch" lives?

Arriving at Georgetown Lake... the bugs on the windshield are getting a little out of control!

I can't believe I didn't get more pictures! Here Courtney is snuggled up to Uncle Marv. Aunt Cheri made her famous fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and corn on the cob. Plus apple and cherry pie. Is it any wonder we all gained a few pounds on this trip?! Gene and his wife Jeanie and Wendy and her husband were also there. It was fun to get to know them better. Gene sure looks like Grandpa Tommy did! (He is his younger brother.) It was fun to reminice with them about grandma and grandpa.

Courtney wrote a book while on our trip and was sharing part of it with Marv. He is such a great guy! He loves our girls!!! I just love how they are sitting in this picture. She climbed into the little spot behind his legs and snuggled right up... so cute!

We didn't leave until 5 pm!!!!! It was so hard to go... and we had a 4 1/2 hour drive ahead of us to reach Sandpoint, Idaho! It was worth it...getting to spend time with them on this trip! The ride between Georgetown Lake, Montana and Sandpoint, Idaho was one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. I should have taken more pictures...but the lighting wasn't great.

This is coming across the lake into Sandpoint... gorgeous!

This too...

After checking in, we headed over to Burger King to grab a quick bite and then let the girls go swimming. Long day...but perfect day! Only regret? That we didn't stop at the redneck theme park we saw about 30 minutes outside of Sandpoint and let Dan and Kenna go on the roller coaster. If we had realized that we were in a new time zone....that it was an hour earlier than we had thought....we totally would have. Here's to ALWAYS being spontaneous!

Road Trip June and July: Day 4

We started out this morning in Sandpoint, Idaho. We had a late check-out so we could attend church this morning before heading out. We LOVE attending church when we travel. It is a great reminder that no matter where we go in the world, the church is the SAME. The testimonies were amazing, the "locals" friendly, and we enjoyed every moment here... After sacrament meeting, we went back to our room and changed, packed up and headed for Coeur d' Alene. We decided that we would stop at Texas Roadhouse for a late lunch. This was our awesome waiter "Zachy Poo". The name on his tag reflects a lapse in judgement when he left it at work one night and it fell into the wrong hands! He was a lot of fun... and this was the scene of one of our favorite moments on the trip...

Vacation just wouldn't be vacation without a shot like this one of Courtney! Our cute girls!!!

Courtney decided she wanted to dance with the waiters and waitress's... this cute girl took the time to teach her the steps!

Lookin' good Courtney!!!

I love how brave and confident she is!!!

A shot of the scenery on our way to McCall, Idaho...

Kenna's favorite activity on our roadtrip...

One of Courtney's favorite activities... playing games on her DS...

On our way, we realized we were literally yards from Washington state, so we drove over and let the girls "step" into Washington! This made it officially 5 states on this trip!

On the opposite side of the road we took this shot...

The scenery along this route was unbelievable!!!

This was going over "White Bird Pass"... We needed a break to stretch... What a manly man...

A "Courtney" pose...

She is thinking about wether or not she wants to get back into the car...

Me and my man...

We came through McCall about 4 years ago and have looked forward to going back and staying at some point. Little did we know that the 4th of July is THE time for the ENTIRE state of Idaho to come visit. It was CRAZY! There were more teenagers in McCall than anywhere I have ever seen. I'm just sayin'....avoid it unless you love lots of noise and half-naked people! Oh... and if you want to get REALLY crazy, go to the North Shore of the lake. Aparently most of the people who go over there end up naked, drunk, and in jail. So weird... it seemed like such a nice quiet town...

After checking in, we went and got some dinner. This is Courtney posing with the biggest bottle of wine we have ever seen. Maybe this is what they are drinking on the North Shore?...

Another of our favorite waiters... he was hilarious!

Time to head to bed... this has been a wonderful day! We just need to come at a different time of year!

Road Trip 2011: Day 5 & 6

We got a late check-out this morning...and after heading across the street for breakfast at the famous "pancake house" we headed down for a quick swim before heading out for Twin Falls... Dan saw this striped marlin and had to get a picture... this is what he caught on our Hawaii trip...

This is our "little fish"... she LOVES swimming!

Enjoying some frozen yogurt on the ride...

What a gorgeous view!

It was beautiful until just after these shots and we got to Boise...

We stopped for a quick lunch in Boise... for whatever reason this has become the favorite pastime while waiting for food on this vacation. Balancing Courtney's crayons and then balancing sugar packets on them...

After arriving in Twin Falls, we checked into our hotel and took the girls down to swim again... Courtney is about to jump off Dan's shoulders...

Blurry... but I thought this was a pretty awesome shot!

After everyone cleaned up, we headed over to Shoshone Falls... this is looking down the canyon. It was beautiful!!!

A shot of my 3 favorite people...

Me and my girls... with the falls behind us...

Looking down at Dan and Kenna... I must admit I got a little nervous when we walked out there...

Here are the falls!!! Amazing!!!

After the falls we headed over to the Twin Falls Temple. I wish we would have had the time to go through for a session...

Now time for fireworks! We couldn't believe that one of the best spots for viewing the fireworks was our hotel! We pulled up some blankets...got some KFC... and enjoyed some time as a family!

Our cute girls...

While we waited Courtney lit some sparklers... this was a crazy shot because you can see the smoke that we couldn't see while just sitting there looking at her... but it showed up in the picture!

Writing her name...

Time to snuggle up and watch the show!!!

A few minutes into the show, the funniest thing happend.... the sprinklers came on! We screamed...jumped up and grabbed the camera and our things and ran! Kenna went in and told the hotel staff so they could turn off the sprinklers... and then she ran and found the owner of this car. This sprinkler head was broken and was just shooting tons of water into the air! The worst part? Their windows were down! What a funny memory!

That was where we were sitting...

And the show was GREAT!!!!

After the show, we headed in and Dan took Courtney for one last swim in the pool while Kenna and I got ready for bed. I can't believe I didn't take any pictures at breakfast or on our way home...but we made it home safe and sound on Tuesday about 3 pm. What a great vacation!