Our Latest Trip to Boise, Idaho

Wayne looking down into the reservoir.

The famous Boise chicken....well maybe not famous, but well known....well maybe not well known but of interest to us.

Wayne and I started out our married life together in Boise Idaho. We loved it there because it had a gazillion maple and fruit trees, wonderful parks and museums, skiing just a few miles north and swimming just 10 minutes from downtown. A river runs right through the town and there are bike and hiking paths that run everywhere. The air is clear...no industrial pollution, and the downtown has been redone with shopping, museums, and lots of restaurants. It's clean, diverse, and a fun place to be. So why am I not still there ??? I don't know, except it was a 13 hour drive to see our parents and when it was hot in the summer, it was REALLY hot...... lots of days in the 100's. We met some great people that we will remember forever, but we had an even greater life in Montana and now in Utah. We went back two weeks ago for one of Wayne's business trips and drove to the places we used to haunt. It was a fun look back. We lived by a little restaurant that had a giant chicken on top and 37 years later, it's still there. See, you can go home. We have had an inside joke about it for all these years so I just had to take a picture.

There are subdivisions that have the most incedible landscaping I have ever seen. Almost every subdivision in the newer Eagle area is breathtakingly beautiful.

This is a crazy tree growing by this house. I don't even know what it is, but I loved seeing all the different vegetation everywhere.

Lucky Peak Reservoir is the place we used to go to swim and soak up the rays. I stood in front of the dam this time and it was so loud that I couldn't even hear myself talk. Much quieter behind the dam, but this is fun to watch.

Almost every home we went to in the newer areas around Eagle had some type of water feature.

At Relief Society last night the theme was "My Favorite Things". They gave us a questionaire to fill out although I could have filled out 20 of them. Wayne always says "you sure love lots of things"and it's true. I don't remember all the questions, but I will try to remember most of them. Maybe those who know me won't be surprised but then again, maybe they will.

Favorite singers: John Gary,Johnny Mathis, and Michael Buble'.... especially when he sings "I Want to Go Home"
Favorite Celebrity: I'm not really too enamored by celebrities but I would say Meryl Streep (such a good actress)
Favorite Sport: Golf...used to love to play but can't now with my bum leg
Favorite Songs: Somewhere Over the Rainbow...my headstone should read "She's Gone Over the Rainbow", Because I Have been Given Much, What a Wonderful World, and When you Wish Upon a Star
Favorite Animal: All animals but especially dogs and I love cows for all the things they give us and sacrifice for us....milk, cheese, butter, ice cream, meat, leather
Favorite Color: Red with green a close second
Favorite Season: Fall...the smells (gingerbread, tomato juice, applesauce, pumpkin pie) the colors of gold, green, red and orange, garden produce, the farmer's markets, the cooler weather, bazaars, the beginning of the holidays, and the end of yard work, although I love that too.
Favorite foods: Mom's potato salad, rib steak, crab legs, halibut, burgers, mint chocolate chip ice cream, pig rinds, eggs cooked any way, Life cereal, Grandma Sycamore's bread, fideo from Cafe Rio, quesadillas, salad, creme brulee and potatoes cooked any way.
Favorite Desserts: Cheesecake and creme brulee
Favorite Snack: Snapea Crisps..I can only find them at World Market (they are like green Cheetos but made from peas)...sounds weird but taste great, dark chocolate and Bing candy bars
Favorite Movies: South Pacific, all the Harry Potter movies, Sense and Sensibility, Die Hard (quite the variety huh?)
Favorite TV shows: American Idol, anything on HGTV, 20/20
Favorite Books: The Robe, The Count of Monte Cristo, Book of Mormon, Ann of Green Gables, Jane Eyre and many more
Favorite vacations: Disneyworld/Epcot/Animal Kingdom and the tour of the original 13 colonies
Favorite Flowers: Gerbera Daisy, peony, rose...basically all flowers
Favorite Activities: surfing the Net, scrapbooking, singing, playing piano, shopping with my daughters, reading, painting, sewing, needlework, and decorating my house
Favorite websites: ETSY.com, pandora.com., my family's blogs, Cowley Wy website
Favorite car: Honda
Favorite Quote: Some people, no matter how old they get, never lose their beauty - they merely move it from their faces to their hearts.
Favorite Scripture: O be Wise; Can I say more?
Favorite gift to give: Books
Favorite gift to get: soap and books and pj's
Favorite thing about myself: positive outlook and ability to be very grateful for my blessings by knowing where they come from
Favorite person of influence: Mom...example of unconditional love, charity, hard work, and spiritual strength
Favorite things to collect: Santa figurines, hatpins, children's pop-up books
Favorite date: out to eat and then to an art museum
Favorite inventions: computer, Prilosec medicine, eyelash curler, telephone, scissors, emery board, light bulb, digital camera
Favorite Stores: Costco, Dear Lizzie, Robert's Crafts
Favorite Holiday: Christmas...hands down
Favorite thing to complain about: the weather ( I like it between 68 and 76)

As I had mentioned earlier, I am an animal lover. That goes for birds too. I have a feeder for my (yes they are MY) finches, juncos and sparrows. They will come and eat and then sing me a beautiful song when they are done. I also have two hummingbird feeders. The little guy in the picture has taken possession of them both and when other hummers come to feed, he fights them off. He will sit on the back of the deck chair and look back and forth, back and forth.... keeping an eye out for intruders. He will let the little female feed though, so she must be his wife. I am hoping to see baby ones before the summer is over, but I never have seen any before. I got some commercial food that has dye in it (supposedly non-toxic) and it attracts them, but they prefer the plain old sugar syrup that I make. One is pretty tame and flies right up in front of my face, very close to my eyes, and I'm not altogether sure that he won't attack me sometime if I get too close to the feeder. One year Wayne and Amy were actually able to touch and hold one. We have a new male this year that really is a hummer. He is very loud and you can hear him from a long way off. I spend way too much time just watching them.

Wayne and I went to an alpaca convention this weekend. Why, you may ask? Because it was there, and it was free, and because I love animals!! There were vendors all the way from Peru to Oregon and California to Pennsylvania. I told one woman how absolutely cute I thought they were and she said " yes, that's the ways it starts." Well, if I had an acre of land outside the city limits, I would have one too...along with a pygmy goat and a few other critters. Maybe I was an animal caretaker in Heaven before I came to this earth because I just feel a connection to them. I think (with a few exceptions) all animals are wonderful. I can do without the skunk, the snake and the rat. I'll let my sister Margaret take care of those because she probably even likes them.

Giving his sister a hug

He is my favorite. He looks like a big old Teddy bear.

They weren't as tall as I thought they were.

They shaved the baby one but left his little face fluffy.

They come in lots of colors

There were two different types of alpacas. Those with fluffy poodle type hair and those with the dreadlocks. They were all adorable. I would go again in a minute. Maybe I need to get out more often.

My favorite soldier...my hubby Wayne. National Guard 1968-1973