Anna Homecoming 2017

Last year since Anna was new to CVCS and hadn't met many good friends she opted out of the school's homecoming festivities.  This year she decided dressing up, eating out with friends, and going to the dance sounded like fun.  The first two of our kiddos that went through high school were boys, so experiencing homecoming festivities with a girl was completely different--from dress, to shoes, to hair!  Thankfully, Anna is about as low maintenance as you get.  Her take away from the night?  "It totally isn't me and I don't need to do it again."  😄

Fall Trip to Stanley

We had been wanting to take a fall day trip to hike in Stanley, but unfortunately, rain was predicted on the only day that worked for us and Anna's school schedule.  So, we planned accordingly, packing lots of rain gear and some dry clothes.  Did I mention the highs for the day were barely in the 40s?  

Stopping at the hot springs for a quick dip is pretty much tradition.  You can tell how cool the air is by all the steam rising from the springs.

The fall browns, yellows, and oranges were actually quite beautiful around the Payette River.

We made a quick stop to take a picture of the Sawtooths at the pull-out area that always gives a great view.  The mountains were not overly clear because of the rain/clouds, but once again the fall colors were still beautiful.

After a quick picnic lunch (eaten in the car due to rain and cold) we began our hike. 

After a few hours and on/off rain we saw the falls in the distance.

We were pretty wet and cold and decided not to explore any further...just head back to where it was warm and dry!

This is Zoe after she slipped off a log while trying to cross the little creek.  I used one of my sweatshirt layers to dry her off a little because she was so cold she could hardly shake herself dry.

On the way back the sky cleared up and the sun came out, drying us off and warming us up and giving us a clear beautiful view of the Sawtooth Mountains!

Fall Youth Group Activity

Last year we tried out the first ever Cloverdale URC Amazing Race with the youth group.  The downtown Boise race was such a success that we put together another race in the Meridian area for the youth group this year.  We had six groups of 3-4 kids each, so a great turn out.  We had even more adults show up to volunteer as drivers or station managers.  Lots of laughs and tons of memories made with the church family.  

Here are a few pictures of that night--most of them highlighting Anna's group.

A stop at the thrift store to find an outfit for one member of the group to wear for the rest of the race.  Love the "Man Eater" t-shirt!

Trying to figure out the toothpick puzzle

Working on the "How Well Do You Know Your Youth Group Leaders?" worksheet.

Fill your bucket with water relay race.

Find strangers in the Village and take pictures with them while wearing crazy clothes.

Finished the football toss across the field.

How fast can you fix a puzzle of the United States?

Bowling in the St. Lukes parking lot.  

Putting nuts and bolts together.

Another relay race--trikes, jump rope, gunny sacks, and crutches

Putting the books of the Bible in order.

One Last Summer Post

As I was going through pictures recovered from a dying hard drive, I realized I had totally forgotten to post pictures of the father/son Cadet camp-out in Stanley which took place in July.  It is now officially fall, the irrigation has been turned off, our furnace has been running in the mornings to get the temps to at least 64° in the house,  the garden is dying, leaves are falling, and we need blankets at the football game, so it is past time that I post these last pictures of summer.  Some of these pictures will again show why the Stanley area is one of our favorite places in Idaho!