Boiling Springs Camping

As we do every year, it was time to head up to Boiling Springs for some chilly fall camping. Except for one middle-of-the-night rainfall, the weather was GORGEOUS. The fall colors are really coming out up in the mountains, and we definitely took in every chance to appreciate them.

 

 

I took Matt back in to show him the old forest service cabin where I spent much of my childhood. While there have been a few changes to the cabin and the property, it still smelled exactly the same when we walked in. Funny how those certain smells take you right back to youth.

 

 

 

 

Saturday was an absolutely gorgeous day, so we all went on a light hike around the loop that circles the cabin.

 

 

We had to stop to let the dogs play in the river for a bit.....always entertaining, especially with Jesse the rock diving dog!

 

 

Matt and I also took the 4-wheeler up to the top of the world to take in some views. It sure was nice to not be surrounded in the Pioneer Fire smoke this time!

 

Since we don't have TV up there, we always enjoy the BSU games via radio and lots of snacks. There really isn't a better place on earth to take in a BSU game!

 

 

 

For the life of me, I can't remember this game that Brian and Ilyse brought, but it sure is fun!

 

And they also cooked us an amazing dinner.

 

I ventured out into the middle of the river for this shot - fall in Idaho sure is gorgeous!

Carter's Birthday Party

Carter's birthday party this year was incredibly low key due to him not passing out his invitations, and parents not RSVP'ing. What's with that, anyway? So he literally only had two kids make it to his party. It still ended up being a lot of fun with all of the games he wanted to play!

 

We had the orange roll race, where they couldn't use their hands or feet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had the fill-the-bucket challenge.

 

 

 

 

 

We also had a water balloon toss, that ended in a full-blown water balloon fight. Naturally. ;)

 

 

 

 

 

We had a balloon stomp game that included silly string. My yard was a mess after this one!!

 

 

 

 

 

And Carter's favorite - a piñata!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Instead of doing the traditional cake and ice cream, Carter wanted to do an ice cream sundae bar instead. It was really fun picking out all of the toppings and then watching the kids make their own bowls. Of course, they were light on the ice cream and heavy on the toppings. ;)

 

 

 

 

My Plank Wall

I picked out this project pretty much the minute I bought my house. I didn't know where it would go in the house, but I just knew it needed to be done. And we finally got it done this weekend.

 

When we painted the master bedroom, we purposely left off one wall, knowing this was going to be THE wall.  Random painting on the wall courtesy of my dad. ;)

 

 

 

Last week, I went and picked out the paint colors (milk paint is NOT the cheapest option, just FYI, but definitely gave this the exact look I wanted), and then Friday evening, we all met up to get the lumber needed for the job. We started in with cutting down the strips, and then I spent the remainder of Friday evening/Saturday morning doing the painting.

 

 

 

Each strip had several layers of paint/stain, and I was thrilled with how they turned out.  There were seven color combinations total. 

 

Sunday morning was the beginning of installation and I think it ended up taking roughly six hours, with some breaks here and there.

 

My little helpers arrived mid-project, and this is the ONLY time this is allowed to happen. ;)

 

 

Making progress!  We had a really good system set up as far as two people down on the saw, and two upstairs doing the install and picking out colors and measurements for the next row. It was quite the strategy session at times! I think our relay system resulted in almost 40 calls back and forth from upstairs to the garage.

 

 

The finished wall! I need to get some better pictures with the big camera, to show more of the detail, but OMG are we absolutely in love with this wall. We put the bed back last night and that wall really makes the room. I have one more project to complete before the room is done, and that's a custom headboard. The 1950's five-panel door is already sitting in my garage, waiting for sanding/painting. I can't wait to see this room 100% finished!

 

 

The building team - photo cred: Carter