Life with the Conleys

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 : )

Josh was out of town this weekend so my friend Becca and I decided to have a girls day. We went on a hike to Rachel Lake in the morning/afternoon and then watched the Relief Society broadcast in the evening. The hike was about 9.5 miles round trip, much of it was rather flat however the last mile or so into the lake was a pretty serious climb. The lake was brilliant blue and clear. It doesn't matter how many of these alpine lakes I hike into, I can't get enough. Just after we had started hiking. First view of the lake. So clear... If you are thinking to yourself, "Hmm, her pose is really awkward." All I can say is that you should have seen the other ones, they were far worse. Becca. This one is my favorite. Views like this never get old. Sorry all the posts recently have been about hiking. I feel like this summer is quickly coming to a close and I can't bear to have any sunny days go to waste.

It would seem from our blog posts that all we do is hike. This post won't do anything to dispel that assumption. Hike 1: We went with some friends, Tyler and Becca, and our intent was to hike into Rainy Lake. We didn't actually make it to the lake but it was still a pretty fun day. We started hiking up the wrong ridge and by the time we figured it out it was too late to do anything about it. So we hiked back down and the boys went fishing in the river. As they were fishing Becca and I decided to hike around and explore. After a series of perhaps less than stellar choices I ended up falling into the river. Not in the shallow part where I would have gotten wet to my knees, oh no, I fell in up to my neck. Really, up to my neck. And what did Becca do? Offer assistance? Ask if I was ok? No, she laughed, and not just a little. It was pretty hilarious though and I was laughing too. It was a pretty fun day. The lovely river I fell in. Hike 2: This was not too much of a hike. Josh and I...