Mesa Drive

So Allyse has a good friend Sam in Salt Lake who books bands etc. She has been to alot of concerts with Sam etc. So she gets a call from Sam in late July telling her there is going to be a band in Boise that night and she should go hear them, they are pretty good. So she and a friend go and meet up the Jason who is Sams Business partner and the Band Manager of Mesa Drive (the before mentioned band). At 10 pm I get a call from Allyse who is checking in with me because she has invited the band to stay the night. It was a last minute booking and they didn't have a hotel yet. They didn't want to impose, but Allyse knows me too well and assures them that they would be welcome and everyone in the house would love it (Dil and Rae were out town). We did love it! I hurried and got beds and couches ready and downloaded their CD from itunes so I could at listen to them and I even really like them. The next morning Ifixed a big breakfast and mentioned they may have to "play" for their breakfast so afterwards the lead singer Chad Hansen and his brother Marc broke out their acoustic guitars and played for about an hour with Chad explaining what inspired him to write each song. It was way cool and they were way good. They dubbed me their Idaho mom and I assured them that they can always crash here...for just one song!

Tye Lake, British Columbia

July is Lakehouse Month, our favorite time of year!! We had to leave without Aubrey this year, but she was able to get the last week off of work and join us then. We went to Waterton (Glacier National Park on the U.S. side) for a few days and crashed Sue's family reunion and we were graciously received.

The deer in Waterton have long since figured out that they are protected in the park and they roam all over none too afraid of people. It was the perfect time of year, there were baby fawns still with spots all over.

Laurel, her cousin Kurt and his cousin, Ethan (Sue's side).

They stopped to run in the meadow on a morning walk (morning at the lake house for everyone but Sue and Fred, doesn't really start till 10 or so)

Lilly runs on our walks and I walk and make Daisy chain crowns

Awe...we love Fred for Providing our summer holiday each year!

Lilly always has a pretty sweet ride.

The favorite pastime at the Lakehouse.

After a ski you may talk Lilly into a "dock" message.

They're showing off their tan lines...They wanted to show a Coppertone baby tan line but I thought maybe not.

One last swim!

The party is always over too quick. Thanks Sue for all the meals.

June 08

Aubrey graduated from High School the first week of June. I am so glad that Lilly won't leave us for a long time because it is bitter-sweet for us when they leave for school. We will miss Aubrey and at the same time we are so pleased with her preparation and decision to further her education.
Lilly is always my best "help" in the kitchen and because she spends so much time right by my side, cooking I am putting my bets on her leaving home with the best cooking skills.

Lilly's big sisters often get a book and a towel and go read on the lawn, so when she and her friend Madison needed something to do she grabbed some books and towels and headed out the door.....so cute

We ended June Celebrating Aubrey's 18th birthday.

May 08

Did you know that the largest sand dunes in North America are just outside of Boise? The week before the father and sons campout, a few fathers gathered up to take their girls on an overnighter to Bruno Sand Dunes. Karl claims she trudged up these dunes always insisting on having no help. She had a ball and was treated like a princess by all these girls.

The next event in May would have been Aubrey's Sr. Prom. Her date is a friend of hers but my girls have always mantained it is not about the guy; it's all about the hair and dressing up. They took pictures in Paul Redondo's backyard; it was good of them to accomadate a big group. What do you know, you can fit sisters under that dress!!

Great hair aye?

Next came building the Playset and Lilly was so excited when Uncle Danny showed up to build it for her....as was her parents. Dan is amazing at this stuff, and Lilly had as much fun building it as playing it when it was done. She played with tug and tried to help when she could but most of the time she played on whatever part was finished while we worked on the rest. Dan was the hero for May and it was so nice to spend time with him and listen to him sing in the evenings. I love you big brother.

April o8

I love general conference time and I love this picture I captured of Dil and Rae watching conference
April wasn't so much fun for these two, but at least they shared the experience of getting their wisdom teeth out with each other. I am afraid Laurel had the worst go of it. What took the oral surgeon 20 minutes on Aubrey took him 2 hours for Laurel. Her left upper popped through into her sinus and the Dr was very patient in trying to get it back out. She couldn't even shut her mouth for a day or two and just as well because her sinus was not happy and she couldn't breath through her nose anyway. Poor sweet girls. Extracting Wisdom teeth is always something your glad to have over and done with.

Spring Break at Dillon Beach

For spring break we were invited by our good friends Scott and Paige Chatterton to spend the week at her parents beach house at Dillon Beach (about 1 hour north of San Fransisco). It was fabulous. Lilly had lots of respect for the Ocean and didn't want to get too close but she loved the endless sandbox.
We did alot of walking the beach, reading and relaxin but inbetween we did a few things. We spent a day in San Fransisco and that is always fun. One afternoon we went whale watching at Point Reyes. We even saw whales. Lilly would call them in with her special whale call I think she learned watching Go Diego Go. An older woman next to us was telling her Husband it was time to go when he said "Not till Lilly calls one more whale in" and she did of course. We went to Bodega bay for lunch one afternoon. That is the little place where they filmed "the Birds" anyway the little cafe was just a wall of windows looking out over the dock of the bay and while we were there Vogue was shooting for their June issue. The thought occured to me that the handsome older man looked a lot like Pierce Brosnan but I was not interested enough to look real close, but Laurel was and he waved and smiled at her. It wasn't till that issue of Vogue came out that I realized it really was him. The name didn't impress Laurel much until I explained he was the last 007 and then the lights went on in her head and she reminded everyone that he smiled and waved at her through the window.
Sweet girls; too bad Allyse couldn't come. That school thing really gets in they way sometimes. We left for home via the Redwoods. Lilly walked and hiked for hours and never tired of it. She talked about the big forest where she went sliding inside an old tree trunk.

Its been a few days and now it's "The God of faith, our Eternal Father" close.