Relax and Travel

Well it has been a couple weeks, so an update is only right. The last weekend in September Jason and I decided to head to the corn maze is Shelly, ID. (It is only about a 15 minute drive) They say that the maze has about 7miles of walking trails and there are 4 different mazes within the big picture that they create. Some may say it is cheating, but they do give you a map and you have to find the punch stations that are numbered. I'm glad they do or I would be the one lost and spending the night in the corn haha. The other day on the news or somewhere online I read that a family called 911 because they couldn't find their way out. (Can't remember where, but not in Idaho) Frightening... Anyway we had a great time. It was a beautiful day in the low 80s and bright sunshine. We then went to Buffalo Wild Wings (one of Idaho Falls newer additions) for some beer and football :-) It was a nice relaxing weekend.
Last weekend we were in Wisconsin for Jason's friend Nathan's wedding. We flew out on Thursday and were back late Saturday night. The weather there was beautiful as well and the leaves were starting to change. It reminded me of NY in the Fall and made me miss the Northeast Autumn. The wedding was a blast and it was nice to finally get to meet some of Jason's friends from college. One day I hope to actually see where he went to college or one of the Texas A&M games, however the last few weeks have been rough for Jason and his team that can't quite seem to pull off a win despite the decent playing in the first half.  Although they pulled off a win today so he was in a good mood hehe. While away is Wisconsin Jason and I missed the first snow in Idaho Falls. I got a text from my friend who was watching our cats that said we had about 2-3inches on the ground. She said all our neighborhood kids were building snowmen. I'm a little sad I missed it but when we got back the hills and mountains around still had snow so I got to see some white. I know I'm a little crazy but I do like snow and enjoy seeing everything covered in a blanket of white. Jason will be making snowmen in our backyard with me this winter, he just doesn't know it yet... haha.
The weeks seem to fly by lately I think because school/work has been so busy and we always have things to do. I have a training on Monday in another new program we will try to implement in our school. Sometimes I wish the people that came up with these "genius ideas" actually knew what it was like inside the schools, but that is just my opinion.
This weekend was another weekend of taking it easy for us. We mowed the lawn and finally pruned our rose bushes...or what we call pruning...We hope they come back next year. We are trying to be good home owners and keep our landscaping looking nice...we have some learning to do though...
I made a cherry almond cake with some of the cherries we had froze from our cherry tree and tried to work on my scrapbook some.  We also cleaned out the garage a little and I finally finished staining the bookshelf that I started back in June...(oopps) I am hoping to get it into the house in the next week and maybe finally finish my office and unpack the totes of books stacked in the corner.
Tomorrow will be a day of grocery shopping, cleaning, and church. Jason just found out he will be going to a meeting in Huntsville, AL not next week but the week after. I also just found out my parents will be visiting in December. I am soo excited!!! I don't think I can ever get enough family time :-)
We are still excited about our trips in November to Jackson and NC.
Not many pictures this time but a few of the maze and the wedding.

Cool looking clouds 

The reflection on the wall from out front door

Jason taking on the maze

Side ways view of the maze.

me punching the card at a check point

Getting ready to enter the green maze

Jason trying to fold the pocket square thing, looking handsome in his tux

I had to add this. Look at Jason in the middle sporting
 his suspenders and having a grand old time

At the wedding

Fall Adventures

The last couple weekends we have kept busy. The weather has been great; warm and sunny. On the 17th Jason's work had an open house. I got lucky because it was the first one they have had in like 10 years. It was neat to see where he works so I can visualize the labs and such. I still don't understand everything he does, but visuals always help haha. After the open house we drove out to Eastern Idaho to Redfish Lake where we camped for the night. It was so beautiful! I love mountain lakes. We camped right near the Sawtooth mountains. It got down into the 20s which was pretty cold for the sleeping bag I packed...next time I will pack the warmer one. We  had a nice fire, roasted some marshmallows, and played cards. On Sunday we drove to a hot springs before heading back to Idaho Falls. It was neat there is a wooden tub with pipes coming from the spring. It is a homemade hot tub. It was very relaxing. It was in the upper 40s when we went so the water felt really good. It got pretty warm after awhile so we cooled off in the creek nearby. Jason jumped right in but the water was like ice so I just stood in it for a minute. We got back Sunday evening and got ready for the week.

 School has been busy as most school years are. I have a great group of kids so that always makes the days go by fast. 

Yesterday Jason and I ran a 5k. It was my schools's fundraiser this year. We did pretty well for not training that much and it was a good time with all the kids and staff participating. 

Today we  have just been relaxing and watching football. I have taken full advantage of fall and the pumpkin that has made it to the shelves in the stores. I have made pumpkin yogurt cheesecake cupcakes and pumpkin spiced chocolate chip cookies. Sooo yummy. 

We are getting ready to do some traveling over the next couple months. We will be in Wisconsin for a wedding the first weekend in October, Jackson the first weekend in November and North Carolina for Thanksgiving :-) 

Pictures below.... I couldn't take any of Jason's work so we will start with our camping trip. 

clear mountain lake water

Little Redfish Lake. This is the lake we camped on

Views on the drive to the lake

Some of the Sawtooth Mountains

Our camp site.  Jason was looking at some trail maps

Little Redfish Lake as the sun was starting to get lower in the sky

Jason's sleeping gear. I was laughing until I realized I should have packed
one for myself...

Hanging out near Little Redfish before dinner

Our blazing fire.

Trying to stay warm near the fire.

making yummy eggs and bacon for bfast.  It was still very cold in the morning

Sawtooth Mountains from Redfish Lake

There is a red fish in this picture but it is very hard to see. It was
neat because we had just talked about why the lake was called Redfish Lake and then
we saw one. 

Redfish Lake

Staying warm near Redfish Lake

View on the drive to the hot springs

We drove down a dirt road for a few miles before we got to the hot springs

The water was very hot luckily whoever created the intense hot tub has
some cold water coming in too.

Jason was brave and got in the creek too cool off.  It was literally ice cold.

This is as far as i got....burr. 

The hot springs tub

There is a plug and you empty it when you are done.

Views on the drive home

View through the buggy windshield 

End of Summer

Well August has ended and time has flown by. We have been married for 6 months already! After getting back from NY Jason's parents visited. We went to Yellowstone and Tetons for our third visit this summer. It was by far the best weather yet. All the geysers and springs were very colorful with the bright sunshine. There was also a lot of activity so we got to see a lot more geysers going off. We stayed in the same cabins that we stayed in in June when my family came. It worked out well. We might be seasonal visitors hehe. We had a fire each night and of course s'mores. We did two days in Yellowstone and got to each lunch with Elk one of the days. They were laying and walking around the picnic tables we ate at. Unfortunately there weren't as many buffalo as there were in the past visits, but we got a pretty good view of a moose and a quick view of a bear. The third day we spent in Teton National Park sight seeing and hiking inspiration point. It is always amazing to see the Tetons. I could probably go every weekend and spend hours taking in the beauty.  We had a good dinner in Jackson and then headed back to Idaho Falls. We introduced Jason's parents to the goodness of Reed's Dairy and Smitty's Pancakes and they got to see Idaho Falls and our new house.

School started shortly after their visit and summer was over...booo haha.  We tried to relax a bit over the last few weekends in august. On the 25th we went to see Josh Turner in concert here in Idaho Falls. It was good and nice to see some live music. I think Jason and I were spoiled in Raleigh with all the live music and variety of concerts.  We take what we can get here haha.

Labor Day weekend Jason was in Denver to see some friends and I got time to clean the house.  I think I waited to long it was quite a task. The kitties like to get hair everywhere haha. Monday we got to go to the Eastern Idaho State Fair. It was a good time. We spent 4 hours walking around and seeing the animals and booths. The food was as tasty as ever and just as unhealthy as usual. We don't have any big plans for the weekend but it is supposed to be very nice weather wise so I bet we will be outside doing something. Jason and I signed up to do the 5k run fundraiser for my school on Sept 24th so maybe we will be doing some practicing hehe. Hopefully with a routine back in place I can keep this updated more frequently. Until next time....

My grandma and grandpa Luke at their 60th anniversary party. 

Elk we ate lunch with at Mammoth Hot Spring in Yellowstone

Lower Yellowstone Falls. The sky was so blue

More Elk

Grand Prismatic Spring 

Jason's parents in front of Castle Geyser 

More of Castle Geyser - it went off for about 20 mins

The colors were so bright

Jenny Lake from inspiration point

Jason in front of Hidden Falls on the inspiration point trail

another geyser going off. Lots of steam

Josh Turner doing his thing

And again

Lolly got tired of work on the computer haha

Snickers found a new resting spot in the "tv hole" we have not covered yet.

Eastern Idaho State Fair. There were lots of sheep

Big horses

and greasy food. They call these "tiger ears" here after Idaho State 

Fun times at the fair