what we love the most

Hands down the best part of Idaho is being with our family! I love being with our little family in Idaho too. It is so nice to just have time together and time to do the things we love. I know we don't look great in this photo, but it's just all of us together and truly happy. We couldn't want anything more.

My brother and me Rhone and Nan snuggling up to a movie Not a great picture but one with Granny Great. Rhone hamming it up with Grandma and Grandpa Ro-ro Spending quality time with Ace. Rhone and Olin supporting the Colts. Rhone and Olin are so much fun together Rhone loves following his cousin Kaleigh everywhere. He even had to have a doughnut just like hers. Papa and his boys Rhone and I flew back to DE on Valentine's Day. Rhone got a heart doughnut for his treat. We celebrated Valentines Day with Ben a little late. We enjoyed these YUMMY brownie covered oreos.

outdoor idaho

Even though it was especially cold while we were home, we still did our best to get outside. It really is one of our favorite things about Idaho. We did lots of chores and saw lots of animals. We shoveled and played in a little bit of snow. Most nights we went on a deer drive. Rhone loved spotting the deer and then looking through the binoculars for a better view.

Rhone helped Brock feed the cows, which happens to involve a tractor and cows, 2 of Rhone's favorites. He really likes Brock too.

Rhone was very serious about driving the back hoe

This little guy really likes snow.

Sledding with Papa

Feeding the horses their oats.

We got in 1 hunting trip before Ben left town. Ace and I are taking a break from the steep climb of the chukar hunt.
Papa was nice enough to carry Rhone for us. Even though is was around 20 degrees Rhone never complained about being cold. One chukar got up, that neither Ben nor I shot at and Rhone was yelling. "shoot bird, shoot". He really pays attention to what's going on. My dad thought it was especially funny.

Saying hi to a brand new calf.

Checking on the cows with Papa.


That is a LOT of free range chickens!

Rhone helped sort the eggs and put them into the carton. I think we only ended up with 1 or 2 broken ones.

we partied in Idaho

We did celebrate a lot of things while we were in Idaho, but it didn't really feel like a party since
Rhone and I (and Papa too) spent 2 weeks of our visit sick. A lot of our plans got canceled, but we still made the best of the visit. Next year I think we'll skip the winter month visit.

We had a birthday party for Rhone with my family. We had to cancel our super bowl party because we were sick, but Nana, Papa, Rhone and I still watched the game. We celebrated Ground Hog Day, and Valentines. Thanks so much for all the gifts and fun times!

Look how good at blowing he is!
Rhone's "Toothless" cake from How to Train Your Dragon.


Opening his present from Olin.
Rhone shooting his hunting nerf gun (it has a bolt action) from Nana and Papa. I remember being in that same spot as Rhone while I learned how to shoot a gun.

Super Bowl snacks with Papa

Super Bowl entertainment with Nana

Rhone's ground hog that we made with bendaroos. He pops his head up out of the ground
Making Valentine Cards to send to Dad and our family

Olin and Rhone with their new dish sets from Nana and Papa. What a great Valentine gift. Olin definitely wanted Rhone's dragons over Woody and Buzz that day.

a mini reunion

It's not often that Ben's family gets together. In fact, I don't think everyone has been together since Ben and I got married. So we grabbed the chance to visit with 2 of Ben's sisters, his brother, and parents while we were in Idaho. We had a busy couple of days. It's fun to see cousins play together and to see how the activities have changed with more kids in the family. Thanks for hosting Erich and Kara! Here are a few of the things we did.

Grandmommy and Grandad with some of the grandkids. As you can see, Rhone did NOT want his picture taken.

We met little miss McKinley.

Rhone with his cousins, Liesel, Isaac and Jacob. Gotta love the CHEESE!

Rhone got a cake and presents to celebrate his birthday. (Yes most of them did fit into the suitcase).

We painted pottery.

We bounced the night away at Hop 2 It.

bowling and the museum

We spent a week without Ben. Rhone and I got to shovel out from fresh batch of snow. When Ben got home we tried to make up for lost time and do some fun things together. We took Rhone bowling for the first time. It worked out nice that it wasn't too busy. We had a lot of fun even though Rhone with 6 lb ball is a little dangerous.

It was extra work, but I shoveled a "snow mountain" for Rhone to climb up and down. Rhone showing of his bowling shoes I love the look of excitement on Rhone's face. Ahh, yes he is kicking the bowling ball. On the way home we stopped for an ice cream treat.

Since Ben got Monday off for MLK day we decided to take a little trip to the Brandywine Valley. It is so beautiful there. We spent most of our time at the Delaware Museum of Natural History. They had a lot of great hands on activities for the kids too. The dinosaurs were definitely Rhone's favorite. We were looking for someplace to get lunch and I told Ben that we should try and find something local. We sure did. It's a place called Jimmy John's Pipin Hot Sandwiches (not the chain) in PA. It was a really busy "frankfurter" place. They had the best shakes and onion rings. Rhone loved watching the trains and even made a new friend.

Rhone's favorite exhibit, see he can't take his eyes off it.
We couldn't skip out on a picture with the pheasants. I founds some really odd greeting cards at Anthropology with pheasants, chukars, and grouse on them this day too. They were over priced, but I couldn't pass them up.
There were quite a few live animals/insects there from the Pilly zoo. Rhone wasn't not interested in touching any of them.

Jimmy John's restaurant was full of great black and white photos

Rhone watching the trains