If any of you know my Nana and Pops Smidt, you know that no matter how long you stay at their house, it is always, always a GREAT time and never quite long enough. I wish I could just move in with them for the rest of my life. Then I could die happy ;)
My Mom and I took Lucy and Piper up to beautiful Coeur d'Alene, Idaho this past weekend and only had 4 days there, but we managed to squeeze in a lot and had the time of our lives while we were there. We almost didn't even make it up there (there was a road closure an hour and a half into our trip which set us back 2 1/2 hours! It was almost a 10 hour drive up to CDA instead of the usual 7) but I am SO glad that we eventually made it. I like to think that Heaven might be Nana's house. Therefore, I'm really excited to die. Ha, just kidding. Kind of.
So the main purpose of our trip was to attend Brianna Ball's farewell before she journey's down to Brazil. We went to church on Sunday to hear her, Heather and Jason speak and then listen to a really beautiful musical number by Noll's and Cambrie. It was such a beautiful sacrament meeting. I am so grateful I was there. The Ball family is truly my favorite family on this planet and the spirit that they brought to us was astounding. I am blessed to have been witness to such a wonderful service. Branna will do GREAT things down in Brazil. We will miss her fiercely, but we are all SO incredibly proud of her. She might be younger than me, but I truly look up to her.
Also while we were up in CDA, my mom and I were able to take a run/hike up Tubbs Hill. Hiking through those dirt trails lined with wildflowers on top of the lake brings me back to my childhood. I love the smell of the air there. There is NOTHING quite like it and it makes me so happy to see all the beautiful wildlife and smell the clean, fresh, air. We then brought the girls down to Coeur d'Alene lake where I jumped off docks seeing how deep I could get (another childhood favorite activity of mine) and swam around in the clearest, cleanest lake water around. I think you could drink that water, it feels so clean. Lucy, unfortunately, wasn't a huge fan. I think the darkness and vastness of the lake scares her. She loves to swim but if she can't see the bottom, she isn't comfortable. Piper, on the other hand, loves any and all water- whether its hot, cold, full of chlorine or fresh. She just wants to splash as long as you'll let her!
A major memory that I need to pen is of Lucy and Nana's clock. That was a treat for us just as much as it was for her. Let me explain. Nana has a clock that chimes on the hour. It does the traditional clock song every single hour, on the hour. Each and every time it chimed, little Lu Lu screamed and clapped and yelled and jumped and looked around making sure everyone around her was listening too. She thought it was the absolute coolest thing in the world! Her face would turn BRIGHT red and she'd get breathless for about 10 seconds each hour during the "chime." That was HER version of Heaven. What a delight! It made all of us laugh and smile. My mom said that was worth the 10 hour drive- just to see her excitement over the clock chiming.
The last day we were there Nana, Mom, Piper, Lucy and me walked along the Centennial Trail. Coeur d'Alene is just beautiful. I love the scenery and the fresh air. The weather was PERFECT (60's-70's, something I haven't felt in far, far too long) and I was floating on cloud 9 while I was there. It was a break from my crazy life and a vacation from the stress we've dealt with all Summer. Now that we are home I need to (begrudgingly) get on with my life and figure out some major things regarding the location of where my family will end up in the extremely near future. Can't wait til this whole unemployment thing ends. It has nearly killed Shawn and I. It's a constant struggle everyday and as much as I may not be looking forward to moving somewhere away from the beautiful Northwest, I may not have a choice.
So thank you, Nana and Pops, Ball Family and Coeur d'Alene, for giving me a dose of peace before I returned to the storm of reality.
Here are some pictures of our wonderful trip! The best part was that Piper was able to meet lots of family she has never met before. I treasure these memories!
Traditional Morning at Nana's- prayer, then bacon and waffles!
4 Generations right here. Nana, Mom, Me, and my two cutie patooties.
As always...."until next time!"
Bye!
Britt, you're so sweet! I've always looked up to you, whether it was by deciding that Britney Spears was my favorite singer ever because you loved her, or that I'm going to have little girls just like yours because they are the most darling little things on this planet. Love this blog post and love you!!
ReplyDeleteBranna! Hahaha that's awesome! I didn't know you loved Britney! You're a smart girl ;-) thanks for loving my babies! They love you too! Almost as much as I do :)
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