181/365

If you wonder why we're just driving around, eating out & swimming, well, the house we're renting isn't available to move in until 7/1. The previous renters are going to be out tonight, then we'll move all our stuff into the GARAGE only, so they can clean the carpets. After we unload, we'll head back to Las Vegas for another small load & finish up there. Our "vacation" the last few days sure has been fun!

180/365

Boise has a Sub Zero ice cream shop! We'd first tried it with Ben & Becky in Provo, but when we saw one here, we had to check it out. You choose your base (Premium, low-fat, yogurt, etc), then choose your flavors (as many as you want to combine) and mix-in, then they instantly freeze it using liquid nitrogen... it's pretty fun to watch (and so yummy to eat!) Tonight Darin had mint chocolate ice cream with brownie, and I had chocolate fudge & orange flavored ice cream with dark chocolate flakes. Yum!

179/365

Our good friends, the Jardines, who we knew in Augusta, GA over 12 years ago, live in Meridian!

They invited us over for a swim and dinner tonight. When we'd left Augusta, they had a two-year-old son (now 11--not pictured) and an 8-month-old daughter (now 9--holding Ellie). They've since added 3 more girls to their family, including twins, Brooke & Brittany, just a month older than Gavin!

178/365

We went to church today in what would become our new ward. This was the only photo taken today... tried to get our classic "Sunday Gavin & Ellie in a chair" shot with my iPhone. It's fuzzy, but you get the idea! These kids are great travelers. We spent the rest of the day after church driving all around the area.
Happy 30th Birthday to Susie, and Ellie turned 8 months old today!

177/365

Last night after 1:00 am with 120 miles to go, we stopped for the night at a Days Inn in Jerome, ID.
We drove the last couple of hours this morning (beautiful country) and met a leasing agent for our appointment at noon. The second house we saw was the one we ended up renting... It could have been our photo of the day, but this one of Ellie was too cute. We are amazed by all the beautiful grass, flowers and trees here! And we discovered a new favorite place to eat: Smashburger.

176/365

Got the truck this morning and were ready to drive off by 12:30 or so. We grabbed lunch at Del Taco on our way out of town, where Gavin enjoyed the play place before getting in the car for the rest of the day. Darin drove the truck, towing the Land Cruiser, and I drove the Suburban with Gavin & Ellie, towing a 6'x8' trailer. Our route was straight up US-93 through Nevada, left at Twin Falls to Boise... 675 miles.

175/365

Ellie was a trooper with all the packing... She's particularly excited to unpack this box at our new home. Incidentally, most of our boxes have been with us for the last 3 moves... a few for 4 moves:
(CA to GA, GA to CO, CO to NV, NV to ID)! We do get around!!!

174/365

With two days until we get the moving truck, Darin started stacking our packed boxes in the garage
so they'd be ready to load. Isn't moving fun?

173/365

A couple of Gavin's favorite birthday presents, besides Obi-dog: Lego Star Wars pajamas from the Skidmores (which he hardly wants to change out of for the day) and a Bee Pillow Pet, which he'd been wanting for months, ever since he saw the TV commercial for the first time. Whenever the commercial came on, he'd inform Darin or me that he wanted the Bee, "because he's yellow." He is pretty cute...

172/365

Since we'd begun packing up the house for our big move to Idaho, tonight's dinner was all about trying to use up our fresh produce from the frig and items from the freezer... coincidentally, some of Gavin's favorite things: crab, corn, artichokes, tomatoes and of course, watermelon!

171/365

Gavin's birthday AND Father's Day... how to choose just one photo?

We thought we'd mirror the Mother's Day photo of the day, with one of Dad and his precious kids.

170/365

Gavin's early birthday festivities continued with a first-ever, much-anticipated trip to Build-A-Bear!

He chose this pup in Obi-Wan Kenobi garb, hence his name, "Obi-dog."

169/365

We started Gavin's weekend birthday celebration today with the Skidmores. We went to see Toy Story 3 (great), then came back home for dinner. Gavin specifically requested watermelon, grapes, corn & beans for his birthday dinner, and I added pineapple, tomatoes and barbeque chicken and a robot cake!

168/365

Right after we left the Howard Johnson's hotel, we made a quick stop at "Bearizona," a recently opened drive-through zoo that had bison, big horn sheep, bears (including 2 babies!), and wolf cubs.

167/365

We and the Williams said goodbye to the Heflins today and drove to Sedona, where we had lunch and spent a few hours exploring. Tlaquepaque was a fun and beautiful sort of outdoor mall, based on a real city in Mexico. We went on to Flagstaff and spent the night, before continuing home the next day.

Happy birthday, Dad!

166/365

We never made it to the pool today, but these kids had quite a long swim in the hot tub (which wasn't too hot)... perfect. Darin & Vince got in plenty of golf during our visit (4 days total--2 with Brett & 2 with Ben) but unfortunately, there were no golf pictures taken.

165/365

Thanks to the Heflins for putting on a great reunion... we really enjoyed their new back yard with the soft, short cut grass. It would have been fun to do the parachute with all the cousins, but there was simply too much going on! It made an appearance on Monday, and these guys had a good time.

164/365

Chrissie had asked us all to bring some 8x10 & 5x7 pictures of us through the years to display on both sides of their circular entrance to the family room. Fun to reminisce! Brett, Kris & Sadie flew out early this morning, the rest of us went to church at Chrissie & Vince's ward, then the Dixons and Skidmores headed for home.

163/365

A group of us, Chrissie, Vince, Brett, Kristi-Lynn, Ben, Vance & I, started the day with a little hike up to the top of Picacho Peak. It was my first time... not easy, but we did it! We had a BBQ tonight with the Browns at the ramada by the pool, complete with a birthday cake for Vince.

162/365

We had the kids talent show in the morning, then went to Kartchner Caverns, had a picnic lunch, went to Tombstone, then St. David for a get-together in Dan & Terrie's back yard with Don & Beth, Brittany & Pete & kids. Fun time... but Mom & Dad were definitely missed!

161/365

First official reunion day... designed to relax, swim and play. These cousins have a great time together. Finger painting was a hit! Next they ran through the sprinklers, had baths, and we all enjoyed a yummy dinner of shredded beef tacos. After the kids were tucked in bed, we had two great "classes" that lasted until the wee hours: a photography class by Brett, and a Photoshop class by Darin.

160/365

More pool time today--Ellie loved the water! All the rest of the family arrived tonight.

159/365

We spent the afternoon with the Heflins at Red Rock pool and enjoyed their new back yard in the evening. Brett was experimenting with his camera, taking pictures of the night sky and us in the dark.

158/365

We drove down to the Gibson family reunion today and stopped for a photo op at Hoover Dam--amazingly, there was hardly any dam traffic! Notice the new bridge in the background--almost done!

Happy birthday to Grandma Bishop!

157/365

Gavin really does love his little sister. He's so good at playing with her and talking to her, in addition to being our "Johnny on the spot." If Ellie's pacifier drops on the floor, Gavin is there to get it without me having to say a word... and he'll even go rinse it off! Or, if I need a pacifier or a burp cloth for her,
or if the phone rings while I'm feeding Ellie, Gavin will run to get it & bring it to me. Such a helper!

156/365

We knew it was coming... but when Ellie woke up 3 times between 9:30 and 11:30 tonight, kneeling up at the foot of her crib the first two times, then STANDING UP the third time and ready to play, that was it! Darin went & got his tools & lowered the crib mattress. This girl will not be falling out anytime soon!

155/365

Gavin got an early birthday package in the mail today from Aunt Lesley, Uncle Ron and cousins, Halley, Morgan & Tessa... which is fun in and of itself! Then he opened it and found a set of Bendaroos!

He immediately enlisted the help of his dad to make the snail. Thanks guys!

154/365

Captured on the iPhone: Ellie's first time sitting in a shopping cart... and she LOVED it!

She was giddy and kicking her legs back & forth the whole time.

153/365

Ellie just thinks she can do anything now... and she's so proud of all her new skills.

152/365

We went to Town Square to take Darin's laptop to the Apple store for some repairs, and found that the splash pad had been re-opened! (It was closed the last time we'd come). We hadn't brought Gavin's swimming suit, but it didn't matter--he just took off his shirt & shoes. Boys are lucky that way!