Life with the Conleys

A few weeks ago Josh and I packed our bags and left Seattle in search of some sun in Southern California. We actually went to spend time with Josh's family but the sunshine was a fantastic perk. We arrived late on Friday night (thanks to a 2 hour delay at the airport) and early Saturday morning the boys headed out to go quail hunting. They didn't end up getting anything but I'm sure they had a good time. After they got home Josh, Jereme, Christy, and I went to the beach. You will notice that most of the pictures in this post are from that afternoon. I don't now what it is about the ocean at sunset but the lure to take pictures is hard to resist. Ocean (and me, but mostly the ocean) Flying a kite. It's not as far away as it looks, the kite is just very small  I was moving back and forth to get my feet buried in the sand and Josh started telling me to hold still. I had no idea why or for how long so I just stood there looking down feeling ridiculous....

As I am sure you are all aware, Christmas just happened. We have no pictures. So this will be an interactive post that requires you to use your imagination. This was our first Christmas in our own place. It was kind of weird on Christmas morning with just the two of us, but it was also really nice. We woke up early so we could be done with our Christmas before heading to Lynn and Angie's to watch their kids open presents. After Lynn and Angie's we went to church. After church we went to Dan and Ashley's for Christmas dinner.  It was fun to be able to do our own thing and get to spend time with family. A wonderful day.  As nice as it was though, it was tinted a little gray. On Christmas Eve my Grandfather passed away. This meant an unplanned trip to Emmett for his funeral. As much as I will miss him, it made me realize that I have an incredible family. There is so much faith and love. I am truly blessed to be a part of such an wonderful family.  We were in Emmett ...

Some friends invited us to go to Leavenworth with them. We have heard that Leavenworth is a fun town to visit, so we were excited to go. It is called a "Bavarian Village" and all the shops on the main streets are themed accordingly.There are art galleries, and candy shops, and all of your typical tourist town shops. It was RIDICULOUSLY busy. I really couldn't believe how many people were there. There were even lines to get into some of the shops.  After visiting some of the shops there was a tree lighting.It seemed to last a very long time (not sure if it actually did, but I was hungry and everything seems to take forever when I am hungry).  After they light the tree the whole town lights up.  After the tree lighting we went to dinner at Andreas Keller . It had pretzels, brats, schnitzel, kraut, and other German fare. It was a cool restaurant with a delicious house mustard and a resident accordion player. Thanks Dan and Wendy for the invit...

That's right, no pictures. We were too busy having fun to document it with photos. We flew to Boise late Wednesday night, just in time to go to bed. On Thanksgiving day we went to my Grandparent's house for an early dinner. Not sure why but they always do a Thanksgiving lunch instead of a dinner. There was lots of food and family. It was really nice to see so much of my mom's family. I saw some cousins that I haven't seen in years. Love them. On Friday we played volleyball for 4 hours in the morning, ate at Roe Ann's (a must when visiting Emmett), saw my Grandpa Mendenhall and listened to some of his memories from his service in WWII. Saturday started the same way Friday had, with volleyball. That is one thing I love about my family. Enough of us play volleyball that when we go to Emmett, it is a guaranteed activity. After volleyball we rode the four-wheelers up into the foothills and went shooting. We shot a .22, an M1-.30, a 357 magnum, and a 30-6. I a...

Bad news part 1: Well, the past month has been an interesting one. We found out a few months ago that my grandfather (Mom's Dad) had cancer, but just a few weeks ago we heard that the cancer had spread and that he has only a few month left. When we got the news my brother, sister-in-law, sister, and I all headed to Idaho for a visit. Despite the pain that I am certain he is feeling he was in good spirits and positive. He is an extraordinary man and grandfather. I am so grateful for his example and love. Josh and I will be going to visit again for Thanksgiving and I am excited to have the opportunity to spend more time with him. One fun fact about my grandparents: They have 10 children and 50 (yes five-zero) grandchildren. And what is even more incredible, and what speaks the most to their merit, is that for the everyone gets along. When 60 people are involved it is pretty impressive that there aren't any family feuds or fallings out. I love my family! Grandpa and Grandma Walker...

Last Saturday our friends Dan and Wendy invited us to the Space Needle and the Experience Music Project or EMP. I hadn't been to either of them before and was really excited. We went to the Space Needle first. View from the bottom. Us. View from the top. After the Space Needle we went to the Experience Music Project. I had heard some less than stellar reviews of the EMP, but I really liked it. I doubt I would pay to go back but for free it was awesome. Part of the sculpture at EMP. It played music.

Ok, I know all the posts about hikes are probably getting boring. And I contemplated not posting about this one but I HAVE to because it is the conclusion to a previous post. Earlier we tried to hike into Rainy lake with some friends and we failed. Not only did we fail but I ended up falling into the river. Well, not this time! We found the lake but we found the fish too. It has been quite a while since we have had decent fishing and it was great. On the way in Josh spotted some interesting vegetation. We couldn't decide if it was a fungus or a flower. Turns out it is a flower called either Ghost Plant or Indian Pipe. Rainy Lake We should have taken a picture of the fish at the lake as they got a little discolored on the trip home. Even though they were discolored they sure did taste delicious : )