Amelia has been attending preschool here in Midvale as a "guest" for the last three weeks. She has been riding the bus and really feeling like a big girl! She even ate lunch at school....On the last day of her time as a visitor they had a tea party with real china and everything! They had been learning the tango and all the parents were invited to attend. Pictured above is Amelia and her friend Mandy that she enjoys playing with while here in Idaho. We've really had fun on our long vacation. Now it's time to head north and get back to our life in Alaska.....!!!!

Baah!!!! Today we visited Lance's Uncle Nelbert....we first went to a cow auction where we sat in an audience and watched ranchers buy cattle.. The auctioneer was so talented, it was like music. Reid danced to the sound of his voice and both of the kids were really into watching the cattle walk through. Next we went to a sheep farm and saw some new little lambs and a few big rams. It is official that Reid needs an animal to raise this summer....he is so into it!

Lance, his dad, Amelia and I all went to Hell's Canyon Dam a couple days ago. It was 36 degrees and sunny....perfect for a nice walk at the end of the road along the river. It's about a 2 hour drive from Midvale if you're not stopping to take a photo every 10 miles..... There were lots of opportunities for Lance to practice his photography skills. We saw mountain goats, mule deer, blue heron and eagles. The scenery was spectacular. Jim hadn't been to the area in about 20 years so he really enjoyed the trip.

We've always known Reid was clumsy but this takes the cake....this morning he was walking over to the window to look at some ducks flying by and tripped and bit through his lip when he hit the window sill....the window is low to the ground and he left nice teeth marks on the window sill and three teeth marks on his lip.....we figured it was too traumatizing to deal with stitches so nature will have to heal the beast!!!!!

A day of sledding fun on a hill above Midvale....it was lots of fun...the longest and fastest sled hill I've ever been on....there were two 4-wheelers hauling sledders up to the top. As you can see they were packing them on!!! The "luge" was made with a tractor so it was nice and wide.....

Too much snow for the barn........bummer!!

Snow Angels, snow caves and snow slides......sure have had lots of snow around here!!!!!