Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Homage to an amazing summer.

Laura is blogging again and it hasn't been 6 months!

Watch out.

Alright. Let's just go ahead and get down to the nitty gritty. This is what we have been up to this summer:

We went to Boise to visit Matt's dad, Kim and Nikki. We had so much fun hanging out, EATING, sight-seeing and FISHING!!! WOOO!!!
"Fish OOWNNNNN!"
Fishing at Arrowrock Reservoir



Doofus.


Little dude!
Wells Fargo Building
Boise is the city of trees.

Matt is related to Arnold Williams....




I took this picture, and then went down into the gift shop to see the EXACT photo that I took for $75. It's a good thing I'm going into photography. That would have just made me sick. Haha
I love that the streets here are separated by a median of trees.
Idaho's State Capitol


Sadly, the next 6 pictures are the only ones I got of our trip down to Vegas. Haha! We had a blast down there though... Hunter was home for a while, but while we were there, he officially left for Afghanistan. We had to say good bye to him for a while. That sucked.... But we did lots of other things too! Elin and Derek taught us how to long board, we had Yogurtland for the first time, had barbeques, saw the whole fam, visited grandparents, went to Jersey Boys, swam, bought bikes, etc. It was sooooooo fun to visit Vegas again and see my family!





After Vegas, we drove up to Duck Creek, Utah to stay at my parents' cabin for a few days... We did some hiking, quading, and hanging out. It was so nice up there and we had a freaking blast. The next few pics are of us hiking at Mammoth Caves. What a ton of fun.
Tiny hole to climb out.

Miniature 99 cent flashlight that we used to navigate the stinking caves!

We had to crawl through that LITTLE hole to get into the cave!













Neat ice shot...

We were standing on this piece of ice that had about a foot of nothing below it... Scary.


This was a pretty steep chuck of ice to climb up...

We got a little duuuurty.

Me new Merrells..... :( But they cleaned up nicely.



Neat ivy covered building in Salt Lake. Saw it while visiting Grandpa Ed on the way home from Vegas.
I always catch the first fish... But then it's my last.... Matt's dad came to Blackfoot for his mom's 90th birthday party... But it's not a trip to Blackfoot until you hit the Snake River. So we went a-fishin. And for my birthday, Matt's dad bought me a year long hunting-fishing combo license! That's what I'm talkin about!!! :) Oh, and I've used it too....



That was his spot. Don't go near it... Haha By the way, nice boots, Durell. Haha

The fishin man always catches the most... It's alright. He earned it.
Matt's dad came over again that summer for another weekend to help Matt fix up his pride and joy, and get "her" (why do guys refer to cars as female?) runnin. After 3 hours, they succeeded and then they took a victory spin up and down the highway. I hesitate to say that I've never seen Matt happier....
His long time buddy, Marcus also came over to lend a mechanic's hand.
Marcus is such a good friend.
"Now whatcha got here is a loose turbine rotator shaft. Whatcher gonna wanna do it get your circuit ratchet and make sure it's all topped off and bottomed out" What?
Matt and Marcus.
In May, Matt had a company party in Idaho Falls. We barbecued ate snow cones, laughed at little children and went to the zoo! Elin and I were in charge of face painting. We had a blast. These kids came up with the funniest things for us to paint on their faces. I was expecting flowers and spiders and butterflies... But the vert first kid to come up to me said, "Can I please have a porcupine?" SURE! :) It turned out pretty neat too.
Elin showing off her mad skills...
Keith uploaded this photo up to FB immediately.
Freaky zoo mascot.
How sweet are those colors??
Ha.
Peacock! He's the cock of the walk.
Have you ever touched a deer? I didn't think so. :) My parents came up to visit for a few days! We went to Mesa Falls, went hiking, ate at KFC, went to a community 4th of July party, were proud Americans, lit off illegal fireworks, etc. You know, the normal Warren business...Oh we also went to Yellowstone's Bear World! WOO!

Widdle baby goat!
What the H are we doing, you ask? Well, "The Hustle" came on, so naturally, we all had to jump out of the car in Idaho Falls and do it. My mom taught us. It was freaking awesome.
Do do do do do do do do do!
You can see that we bailed out of the car to catch this one.
Mesa Falls
Her name is Petunia. Sorry Elin, I just named her.
I've had a lot of time to hang out with the cousins. And believe me, I did. I love Matt's family, and I'm so glad that they have accepted me as one of their own! As for the picture... She is much taller than I. That is sad.
WOOOO! I love my girls!
My girls. After swimming down at the water hole. Yes, we actually have a water hole. Complete with rope swing, drunk idiots and all.
We drove down to Utah right through a lightening storm.... And then we were blessed with this little treasure.
We went fishing with the Gunderson's at Carrey lake in Carrey, Idaho. We must have cause close to 100 fish that day, but only kept the one's worth eating.... B-L-A-S-T. 'Nuff said.
We had a fish fry that night. Uh-mazing!

Matt caught a baby fish!!! :)

How tiny is this little dude!!!!!

I love fishing. Seriously.
Almost there...
Gundy and Matt, getting prep'd. To be destroyed by the only girl there.
Caleb's pumped.... about being able to pump. Haha
Can I just take a minute to tell you that Matt and I have the BEST family in the world? Susan, G, Jessica, Lindsay, Kaitlyn and Christian all came over for days on end and helped us get these walls scraped down to the latham plaster.... Then we primed them and then painted. They are troopers, and I definitely would not have been able to complete this project without them. I love them so much! :)
Jessica... Before the vinegar fumes overtook us all.
Almost finished!
Pulling 15 hour work days. Just on the house.....
At 7 Peaks for the Nate Family reunion. Obviously the sun got to our skin AND our minds. we had a blast.
I don't know what compels us to take pics like this, but we do, and we like them.
Me and my cousin, Brock! :)
How presh are they?
At the beginning of the summer, Matt came home from work and surprised me with 6 new little buddies! They are pretty huge now, and are about ready to start laying eggs!
Apple tree...
These are a couple of my beet plants... Do you see the little buddies ready for their close ups? I'm going to be honest, gardening has got to be one of the most satisfying activities around. You are actually growing FOOD!!! And then to watch it as it ripens and then pick it and eat it... I can't get over how excited I am about my garden...
I'm not sure if this is one of the sugar snap pea or lincoln pea plants, but it's growing right along!
The radishes before I killed them. And ate them. And enjoyed them. :)
These are my spoils after just a few weeks!

And that's about it for now. I'm still just straightening up, doing yard work, and working on finishing the basement before school starts next week.

Whew... Any questions? :)