New House Update

So, we spent our entire weekend of the 4th moving into our new house.  Since then Mandy and I have worked every day and all last weekend either in the house or in the yards.  The folks before us were obviously not yard people.  Paul (our shop superintendent and my best friend here in Idaho) showed up to help me all day Saturday to clean up the back yard.  After 2 full (and I mean FULL) truckloads of pieces of forest I finally got the back yard presentable.  Heck, I even found a full size purple plum tree in the corner of the yard.

We still have an office which is untouched and full of boxes and an empty basement..  The basement is another story and will be a work in progress.  The basement has a 3rd den or living area which ever you want to call it, a 5th bedroom, and a full bath.  Mandy has generously given me the base to do whatever I want to do with it since the main floor has a living room and a den already.  I am very surprised she said that because there is no telling just how awesome this thing is going to get.. That will be later blog post as it progresses. 

Anyway here is where we are so far.. Pictures below..
**Please do not show Dawn and Allie Rai this post.. Mandy has not sent them a single picture of anything.. She wants everything to be surprised when they get home..

Front

Kitchen

Breakfast Area & Living Room (View From Kitchen)

 

Breakfast Area and Kitchen (View From Living Room)

Entry

View of Entry from top of stairs

Dining Room

Den

Master Bed Rm

Mandy's Favorite.. her new 250sq ft. closet

Unfinished portion of Basement for Storage

Part of back yard..

Allie Rai Baptized 4-19-15

Sunday morning Allie Rai made a decision to be baptized.  Mandy, Dawn & myself are so proud of her.  She has always been a strong believer and follower of Christ.  She has many times been the rock of the family and kept us going in the right direction despite her age.  She can get me so frustrated at times and then turn around and say a prayer that will bring a tear to your eye. 
Dawn was baptized at Funston church same place Mandy and myself were.  Dawn has really done good in her faith and still continues to walk with the Lord and has grown into a great example of how Christ can change and lead your life in great ways.  We are so proud of both our girls.

Some pictures we took Sunday.

 

 

Grand Targhee 4-11-15

Well I finally got Allie Rai up to Grand Targhee for some Spring time snow skiing.  We had a ball.  She has gotten so good that she is able to ski on the steep intermediate slopes with me and other guys from work.  Below are some pictures taken.

Our First Ride up.. She is totally excited to get to see me ski again..

Our first run down on this particular slope has a turn where you can stop have get a great picture of the grand Tetons in the back ground.  

2nd ride up, she is totally chilled and looking like a pro waiting to get to the top.. 

 

Just another spot we stopped to rest for a second on the way down.. Some of the slopes take you about 20 min or so to get down.. This place is huge..

We stopped here also to watch a ski championship going on in the background.  People are skiing down that cliff.  I could totally do it but didn't want to leave Allie Rai by herself waiting on me.

 One of the guys I work with wanted to take this picture of us in front of that sign.  Then I sent it to Mandy.  She didn't fine it as amusing as I we did. 

Kyle was there this weekend too.  So we skied with him for a while as well.

Pretty nice view from the top.  

Video of Allie Rai and Kyle headed down one of the slopes..

New House

We will be moving possible mid-May or into June.  We really hate leaving the house we have grown to love these past 2 years and have done so much work to in order to make it our own, but an opportunity has come up for a house right down the street from us in the same neighborhood and we just can't pass it up.  It is so nice and Mandy and the girls love it.  Allie Rai will be starting jr. high at Taylor View next year (this school is inside our neighborhood as well) and the house is a few blocks closer.

With it having 5 bedrooms and around 4,500 sq. foot its a bit more house than we really need but we want it anyway.    The 3 car garage will allow Dawn to finally park inside without stealing my spot.  There will be plenty of room for when y'all all decide to finally come visit.    I will post more of the new house once everything is done and we are all moved in.  Right now I only have photo from the outside. 

2 Trips to Kelly's

So, a few weeks back Allie Rai and I hit the slopes at Kelly Canyon together.  We had a blast.  Allie Rai has gotten really good this winter at Skiing.  She was involved in a Ski club they offer at her school which helped as well.  Every Friday for several weeks they headed to Kelly's for night skiing. 
One week after that, I took Dawn up to Kelly's so she could get some practice in.  That made for another fun day with one my girls.  There is just so much to do here its unreal.  We are looking forward to spring and summer..  It will be camping and hiking time again.  But before that, Allie Rai and I have plans for one more ski trip.. Saturday 3-21-15 we will be headed up to Grand Targhee for our last ski trip of this season.  She has not  yet been there so

Below are photo's from both Dawn and Allie Rai's trips to Kelly's...

Allie Rai's Trip...

 

Dawns Trip..

 

Now the below look is the "OK I'm tired and frankly another trip up the hill is out of the question look"!!!!!!  

Grand Targhee 2-8-15

Took my first ski trip to Grand Targhee yesterday.  Went with a couple of buddies of mine from work. This place is unbelievable.  I can see why folks travel across the country to ski here.  Its about an hour drive from my house.  Pics below...

Me and Kyle on the lift

Paul Leonard

 

Kyle Beecher

 

Me Crushing it!!

Some pictures I took on the slopes

Kyle and I were sitting here waiting for the clouds to move so the Grand Tetons would be exposed.  They never did, however I got a great shot of them leaving Grand Targhee..  Figures they would have cleared when I left..

Over looking the planes..  We are in Wyoming looking into Idaho.  Where the tree line stops at the bottom is about the border between WY and ID.

This at the base of Grand Targhee.  Very clear day which is very unusual.  Due to the elevation you typically can not see the top of the mountain due to it reaches into the clouds.

 

View of the Grand Tetons as we were leaving.