Our Garden Valley Vacation!

How could it not feel like a vacation when we wake up to this view every morning?

I took this picture from the kitchen table, it's hard to tell but we look out the window and see a gorgeous view every day!


We decided to have the attitude that this is a vacation because in a lot of ways it feels like one! At home there is always something that needs to be done, and here, once I get the usual things cleaned up, I'm finished! We get to spend a lot of time together in the evenings (Josh studies a lot, but it's still fun just to have him here.) I am getting some good reading in, and my fill of ESPN for years to come. :) Every night I say "what do you want to do tonight?" And he says "there's a great game on!" It's a joke now because there's 'a great game on' every night. All year round pretty much, but especially right now as you all know.
Crazy game last night between the Lakers and Mavericks, huh? That one was actually pretty fun to watch. 5 ejections in one game! I don't understand why Joey Crawford is still a ref...

Another reason it feels so much like a vacation is because of the dishes! Or lack thereof! I decided to use paper plates, bowls, cups and utensils while we're here. Wow, I love it! I really should have done this during our rotation in Utah, too. It it is absolutely amazing to only have a few pots, pans and cooking utensils to clean every night. It makes life so easy! I'm going to remember this lesson and keep paper stuff on hand for times when I'm stressed out. It really makes it feel like we're camping/on a vacation.

Saying "mmmmm!" Because we're excited for dinner

Licking our lips because we're excited for daddy's grilling!

Kisses!

Michael's first time Finger Painting:

Not in your hair, Michael! You can tell the look on my face by the look on his face. This is his "is this making you upset, mommy?" face.

This is us in the shower downstairs--Michael loves to play in the shower!


Michael's Pictures:

Michael took these pictures all by himself! He got a hold of my camera and would say "smile!.... cute." I guess I say that every time I take a picture, because Michael said it on every picture, even when it was of the ceiling (which most were.)


Josh's hair

This one of the ceiling was his very first one.

He actually got my whole head in this one!

Oh, and this has never happened to us before: A couple nights ago as Josh and I were laying in bed going to sleep, we heard a pack of wolves howling! It was loud and pretty close, and we could tell there were many of them. It was so crazy! Pretty cool.
On a not-so-cool note, the bugs are slowly returning. Ants on the counter again, what's the deal? We've run out of bug spray and need to go get more and apparently our little ant poison things aren't working. I'm learning that getting rid of bugs is a skill, and one that I don't have yet. So every day I keep a string of TP on the kitchen counter so it is handy to kill all the ants I see. And, our large spider count is up to four. I've killed 2 and Josh has killed 2. I'm over the ants thing already, I really don't care when I see one. It's the spiders I'm anxious to get rid of!

Our Garden Valley Adventure

We drove up to Garden Valley yesterday for Josh's new rotation. We had a lot of second thoughts about all of us coming up here to stay since we have a nice, comfortable apartment in Meridian, only an hour and 20 minutes away. And because his rotation ends May 6th and my due date is May 7th! But we decided to come--because we'll save gas money, I'll see Josh more and most of all, I thought it would be a fun adventure! So far I'm right!
We got here Saturday, March 25th in the afternoon. We are living in a cabin, and the people who own it are nice enough to let students stay here while they are away. They are interesting people, who definitely love nature and animals. Even bugs :) We got here and there were bugs everywhere. I never looked down at the counter without seeing an ant and there were piles of dead bugs lining every window sill, and every door to the outside. The tub was full of bugs and so were the counters in the bathroom. I have been so spoiled at our apartment in Meridian! We have only ever seen ONE spider in the year and a half we've lived there! Bugs have been almost non-existent for us ever since we've had Michael, so this is good for me. I haven't had to kill bugs in years!
The cabin is really cool, though. It has a wrap-around balcony in the back with a beautiful view overlooking a river and mountains and pastures with livestock. It's gorgeous. And there are 9 windows in the living room and kitchen, so we get that view all the time! It's fun to look out over the mountains while we're eating at the table. The doctor's wife brought us to the apartment and told us a few things we needed to know. For example, where in town you can get cell phone reception! "There's a spot in front of the post office..." she said. And where THE grocery store is.
The first night we went to the grocery store--the Merc. It's the only grocery store here, and it's next to the only restaurant and the only gas pump--yes, just one. There are no specified parking spots at any of the stores, everyone just kinda parks wherever. Driving through the "town" was hilarious! All the stores are cabin-style with old-time signs and handwritten everything. This place should be in a movie! And the best part is that it's not for style, it's just how it is here. Of course the grocery store was fun. There's a sign out front that says "no public restrooms." The locals all know each other by first name, of course. I guess they are building a new building for the grocery store, so the talk of the town right now is what will go into the old building. They all had their opinions about what they'd like to go into the building--a bakery, a farmer's market, etc. So funny. I went through line carrying 3 gallons of milk and the lady in front of me said "oh dear, give me those!" And she put them on the counter for me and then said "We're dairy people, so thanks for supporting us. You drink as much milk as you like, and we'll get ya some more!" The store was a little spendy, but I was impressed how much they stuffed into one little store.
That night we put things away and put Michael to bed... in our walk-in closet. There are 2 extra bedrooms here, but one is downstairs and the other was so full of bugs and spiders' egg nests that we couldn't put him in there. So we made it look as cozy as possible and put him down in a closet. We both felt so bad. There's something sad about closing your child in a closet. But he did pretty well for his first night. It started to rain by the time we went to bed and it caught us off-guard because you can hear every drop. We must have a tin roof with no insulation because it sounded like we were hearing the rain in a tent! We laid in bed and turned on the lamp to read our scriptures and all the bugs in the house rushed to the light and Josh was having to swat them all away--just like camping! So we had to turn the lamp off fast. It was hard to fall asleep with the rain and bugs, but we did.
Sunday morning we woke up to Michael calling out for us and I was quick to get him, still feeling guilty that he's sleeping in a closet. He laid with us in bed for awhile and said "happy." Josh has taught him to say that during sweet moments when one of us is having a tender moment with him. It was so sweet. day we went to church. There is a small branch here, and they meet in a beautiful huge church building! It's the nicest, biggest building I've seen here! It's just like all the huge ones in Utah. We got a new branch president on our first Sunday! My favorite part was taking Michael to nursery. The signs on the doors said "12-18 yr old Sunday school" and the nursery door said "18 mo. to 4 yrs." Michael did well in nursery, but I went to check on him because my back hurts if I sit too long anywhere, so I had to leave Sunday school. He happened to see me peeking through the window, so I stayed with him for a few minutes and was shocked that the 2 nursery workers also take babies! Any children under 4 are welcome in the nursery! So they were rocking babies and playing with toddlers and teaching the lesson... it was impressive.
After church we cleaned a lot. Josh sprayed the entire house with bug spray, we had to open all the doors and windows to be able to breathe! I disinfected all the surfaces in the kitchen that I was planning on touching. I was shocked at how well it worked! After that I have only killed a handful of ants and other bugs! Yay! We also figured out that we DO get internet access and today I found out that I get cell phone reception if I stand by the window! I can't sit down or tilt my head the wrong way, but it sure feels great to be able to call someone if anything happens! We also have cable, which will be fun for awhile. The funny thing is, we don't get any local channels, so no Survivor or Amazing Race or March madness.
On that note--neither of us have any of our teams going to the final four, so our brackets are shot. But I reached my goal--my bracket beat Josh's the second year in a row! I can't wait for next year!
Tuesday, March 29th
Had to kill my first huge spider today. I'm still shuddering.
Many people wondered why we were coming here and they'd say "there's NOTHING to do up there." Well, they're right, but Josh and I think it's just fun being here, though. It's kind of fun to sit down at the end of the night and have nothing to do! I'm reading some books and making fun things to eat. It has been difficult for Michael, too. He doesn't have his toys here, so he's been creative while entertaining himself. It's great cause I can just get up with Michael and say "what do you want to do today?" and we do it! Today we read books, had snacks, fingerpainted, played 'come on,' played with the phone, ipod, and camera, and then Michael wanted to watch some ESPN. Really, he did. I think after this I'm going to give him a bath just for fun--after scrubbing down the bathtub because it is still disgusting.

New house