Travis and I had the weekend off, so we took advantage of the one beautiful, rain-free day (Saturday) and went "hiking". If you are looking for trails to hike in a gorgeous setting, come to Western Washington. They are everywhere! We live right near the Soos Creek Trail. It is 7.62 miles long and is almost completely paved. This is where we go each year to watch (and smell) the skunk cabbage. They just completed a new section and so we went to explore. Of course we took some pictures. Connor wasn't feeling very well again, so his enthusiasm was less than usual, but it was still a lot of fun. After walking the trail we went to Travis's parents house and had a really nice dinner and played some more in their backyard. Travis and I spent half an hour trying to remember how to throw a Frisbee. He was much better at it than me, but it's been many years since I've thrown one, so he cut me a little slack. It was fun just having some time together. It was a good day!
Here is the skunk cabbage. It wasn't really very smelly yet. Give it another month and it will be nice and ripe. I think the ones over by the creek are a little more stinky, so we will have to go back and try out that section of the trail next time to test my theory. 
This picture is just to once again, prove that it was snowing on the day of the funeral! Plus I wanted to throw in a picture of Jeff (Travis's bro) and Olivia. Olivia says she reads all my blogs, so, HI OLIVIA!!!
Again at Grandma's house. She served us strawberry shortcake! Yum!
Travis liked the ham.
I have tons more pictures, but like I said, I want to keep it fairly short or I will lose my audience. This is a very good summary of the events. 
We had a really great drive from Seattle to Boise. The boys were as angelic as could be. We did not have a little tv or dvd player or anything. They were just super good! We slept in Boise, but after dropping the folks off at the hotel, we went back to Eagle to visit Grandma Margaret. (Mog!) We visited for a couple of hours, had strawberry shortcake and the boys each got a big old bear. (which they all sleep with now) Doesn't she look great?!
The next morning we headed on down to Logan, UT! There was snow everywhere still. The mountains looked breathtaking as always. We met up with Travis's aunts and had lunch, got our hotel and then took the boys to the Logan cemetery to take pictures of Travis's relatives headstones and show Joseph the headstone of his great-grandfather and namesake. 
While at the cemetery, we found a very large headstone that was actually like a small bed with a little boy sleeping in it. It had the picture of the child by his name. He was 3. It was such a sweet, yet sobering tribute to this little boy. It brought tears to my eyes, but it tore Spencer apart. He burst into tears and was inconsolable, saying, "I just can't believe that little children can die!" Here is a picture of me trying to explain to him something that even I don't understand. I was able to take the opportunity to express how grateful I was that all three of my boys are healthy and with me. Spencer is now even more diligent about asking me if every food I serve him is healthy or not. Aren't kids amazing. He is such a sensitive little boy. 
That night we went to the teeny tiny (smaller than Aberdeen ID folks) town of Newton to have pizza at Travis's Aunt Kathy's. Travis has some really fun relatives. I really enjoy talking to all of them. After a while, the boys got restless, so Travis took them to the park down the street and I stayed and chatted with the family. A good time was had by all. 
This is Lee and Kathy. Travis's mom's sister. She's my moms age and a real hoot. She reminds me a lot of my mom. 
This is Deone's other sister, Joyce. She and Kathy are two crazy fun people when they come up to visit. I like Joyce cause she and I have the same taste in books! (o:
This is Deone's brother, Richard. (and his wife) He is such a nice guy and I really enjoyed talking to him. We haven't seen him nearly as often as Joyce and Kathy, so it's nice to visit when we can. 
Travis says this picture looks like I'm being coy cause I just passed gas. Nice, eh? Or...is he right? (o;
Here are the park pictures. There were a few little boys (all brothers) that were at the park as well. Joseph had a blast playing with the ones about his age. For those who fear that my kids are going to be socially retarded because they are homeschooled should rest at ease. Joseph has no problems going up to kids, introducing himself, and then asking them in-depth questions about themselves. (He isn't afraid to do the same with adults.) 
Lastly, Joseph wanted to make sure that I included a picture of Kathy's cat. His name is Archibald but they call him "Itchyballs". He was really friendly and the boys had a blast playing with him.
(This concludes this round of photos. We took over 300 pictures for heaven's sake! I'll do the rest of the trip tomorrow. I just don't want to make this post too long and boring.)
