Summer of Bugs: Part 2

This post is mostly for Mrs and Dickens because "Summer of Bugs: Part 1" we all experienced together in Provo, 1999. It was a crazy fun summer and we had a blast all living together, the bugs wanted in on the fun to. One day, I think a Sunday after church, this monster bumble bee flew into the apartment. It was truly a battle to the death. We were swatting things around and it finally trapped itself in the light in the kitchen. Tricia was on the floor, under a blanket with a broom, swatting at it. It finally died and we stuck it in some container for evidence. Later that same summer we had gone on an early balloon delivery to a car dealership. When we arrived home there was a gigantic moth hangin' out on the wall by the sliding door, "where do these things come from!!". Tricia and Jessica both hate moths and butterflies and anything in that category. Liesl got a bowl and trapped it, we kept a book on top and I'll admit I think we shook the bowl a little bit, just to see what the moth would do. Finally we decided to end the moths life, but no one was willing to squish it or anything so we soaked a cotton ball with alcohol and put it in the bowl. I think eventually the moth and bee ended up together. I don't recal any other bugs that summer, but that fall for my birthday, Tricia and Jessica sent me a birthday package with wax lips and candy and all kinds of treats and one big suprise. There was a tupperware bowl in the box with some huge, weird looking bug with wings. It was dead. My roommates weren't so sure about these "friends" of mine. I thought it was hilarious.
OK, so back to the real purpose of the post. This summer we have had bugs to share. Every night you can, without fail, find a slug somewhere on the sidewalk or even climbing up the side of the house, if you don't see a slug you will see his slime trail in the morning. Huge slugs! One night when Bradon was leaving there was a slug, a millipede and a praying mantis all sitting outside on the doormat. Did they want in? I still don't know what that party was about. Then the other night when I got home from Brandon's parents house there was this gigantic, bright green, winged bug. I have no idea what it is or why it was there, but it was huge.
What is with all the bugs!

You might need to click on the picture to see it enlarged, but I circled the bugs in red

Big Green Monster? and Giant slug climbing up the side of the house.

Indian Creek Festival

Indian creek is a creek that runs right through downtown Caldwell. Many original Caldwellians may not know that because for years and years it was mostly covered up by street, parking lots and local businesses. In the somewhat recent past a car wash that occupied some of that real estate that covered the creek, fell into the creek. It was there that the process of uncovering the creek started. I have seen some of the progress over the years, but at this years festival I saw the finished product and I have to say it is absolutely amazing. I am so impressed with Caldwell!! Aside from the fact it is a creek and well the water isn't real clear, the landscaping and the foot bridges and water wheel is just really neat and beautiful.
At the festival there was music and an array of carnival rides and booths, dancing and fair food, old, classic cars lined the streets and a load of people and not a single one that I knew. Go figure, I spent a good 20 years in the town.
It was a lot of fun, especially the boys scouts tight rope walk that my dad and I did.

Classic cars and the rope walk


My dad and I walking across the rope
don't worry, we didn't fall in

Heidi and Topher sucked in by the carnies

We played in a fountain, Topher had a meltdown after getting the bottom edges of his pants wet, it was dry five minutes later. Topher also got Grossmami (Grandma Bitsch) to buy him a marshmallo gun that we all had a lot of fun with. You have to be careful not to suck the marshmallo back into your mouth, because who knows where those things have been.
I think when the time comes to ask for money for a wedding I am going to send Topher, he seems to have the magic touch these days.
That kid can get anything!
It was a really fun time.
Go C-Town!

No Longer a Legal Alien...

My dad is now a U.S. Citizen!!
For many years in order to become a U.S. Citizen you had to denounce your original citizenship. This has recently been changed and when my dad found out about that he got to work on becoming a citizen of the United State of America. This process came to an end on Sept 11th, 2008 as he was sworn in as a citizen. Mike, Sarah and Topher came over from Hillsboro and luckily I was able to get off work for a few hours in order to join in the festivities. It was a neat thing to see and very moving as over 300 people were sworn in that day. We celebrated that night by going out to Texas Roadhouse (delicious) and then by having a family dinner at my house the next night and another family dinner in Caldwell the night after that. Basically we celebrated by eating, eating and more eating. Is there a better way?


We waited in the auditorium forever so we took pictures and video. Topher had a great time with the video option on Heidi and I's cameras.

There is my dad walking across the stage with his certificate.
And the family picture afterwards, no my brother doesn't smile in pictures

Could you pass the U.S. citizenship test?

Click on the link to check out some questions that come from the U.S. citizenship test.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13442226/

Baby Quail

Have you guys ever seen little baby quail running around in a line after their mother? It is quite possibly the cutest thing ever. The other day Brandon's mom found some baby quail who were either abandoned or their mother died, and being the animal lover that she is, she kindly took them in. They live in the days travel pen and eat crickets. One of the little babies has a crooked beak, he looks a little retarded, but is so cute, we call him "crooked beak". I am waiting for the day the little birds start following Brandon's mom around the yard in a little line like she is their mother. How cute would that be!!

Fire! Fire! Fire!

The Treasure Valley is on Fire!!! It's not even hot! On Monday, Aug 25, there was a huge fire on a rim in east Boise on the edge of Columbia village. It burned nine houses and damaged ten more. It was crazy to watch on TV, so surreal. I sat glued to the set for a good three hours watching things burn and while the news crews were interviewing whoever they could get their hands on. One guy didn't even have shoes on! Unreal how fast and awful fire can be. That weekend Brandon, Heidi and I were going to go to Capener's house to see some baby quail and stop by Brandon's to pick up movies. As we were getting ready to leave we could hear all kinds of sirens, loud. We were trying to hurry, hoping we could drive by the excitement. Little did we know the excitement came to us. There is a large field right by my house that is zoned for a sports park, but right now it is just a lot of dirt and dry grass. Well some joker started a fire, or accidentally caught some grass on fire, and well, there's a lot and it's dry so it spread, fast! We drove down a side street right by mine and got up close to the fire, it was so hot and smoky we jumped back in the car to park over by my house so we wouldn't get blocked by the fire engines. After we parked we headed out into the field to get a better look. Again another crazy fire. There were at least three fire engines along with the fire chiefs car and a handful of police there. The fire crews were quick to respond and had things under control quickly. I haven't been over there yet to check out the damage, but there was a good blaze going and we all smelled like camp fire. Apparently there was also a fire in the foothills, just behind Camelsback park, one out in Kuna and two in Meridian since the first big fire on Monday. It's the most absurd thing, it's not even hot, no lightning storms, virtually nothing, just fires starting. Crazy!
Here's some footage from the fire by my house.

It was late and dark so the pictures aren't great, but you get the idea. The bright red on the left hand side of each pic is on of the fire trucks.

Check out the vido below

North Boise Fire in the Ester Simplot park field

footage of the fire by my house
If you listen towards the end you can hear the fireman yelling at people to get out of the way

another video

Weddings!!!

I don't know if I've ever told you how much I love weddings! If you've spent any time with my best friends and I, you know we are pretty much crazy about weddings, and well when it comes to weddings just crazy, if that makes any sense.

A week ago a couple of friends from the ward got married. They are so stinkin' cute and just cream of the crop people. The reception was beautiful too. Here are some pictures. A couple of little girls in their fluffy dresses were playing leap frog so I put on my continuous shot and got some great pics of these girls. So cute!!


The happy couple.
I ripped this picture off their facebook. Sorry guys, but you're just too cute!

Kiddaloos hangin at the reception

Here is the succession of the girls leap frogging. How cute is this! I love the ones where the little girl is in the air. Weeeeeee!!

Bus trip with Dad

My dad works for a company that buys buses and sells them to school districts. There were two buses that had to be delivered to northern Idaho and I had the day off so I went along for the ride. Don't worry, they haven't made school buses any more comfortable. Idaho is one beautiful state though. We drove and drove and our first stop was Deary, Idaho. Just a small little town. The next stop was another little town, St. Maries, Idaho. Talk about a long ride. I met my dad at his work at six in the morning and we got home about eleven that night. By the end of it all we covered about 750 miles I think. I do not envy truck drivers, driving day in and day out, wow! I would go crazy.

Redfish Lake

I had a week off of work and school and wanted to have fun and relax. The original plan was to go to Colorado, but some stuff came up and that didn't work. Instead Heidi P, Brandon and I decided to take a day trip to Redfish Lake. I've heard it was beautiful up there and I wanted to find out.

We started off with breakfast at one of our favorite places in Boise, Goldy's! Yum! We headed up the windy road to the lake, we had to take a pit stop, poor Brandon wasn't feeling so hot and with all the winding, well I think it was making us all a little sick. The lake was gorgeous, blue and clear. The Sawtooths were shooting up in the background, it really is beautiful country up there.

It was a bit too chilly and windy to sunbathe on the beach and the paddle boats looked like fun. The key word there was "looked" like fun. Turns out it wasn't so fun. We paddled around just briefly, it was difficult, frustrating and my side kept filling up with water! We traded the paddle boat in for a motor boat, now we were getting somewhere. We motored around, Brandon hitting every wave he could and splashing cold water on Heidi and I. It wasn't real pleasant. I took over the driving and after drenching all of us real good with one big splash we carried on with a nice ride around the lake. It was so pretty and we had a good time until the wind really picked up so we decided to head back. We had lunch there at the lake then headed to Sun Valley. Once there we hopped on our bikes and took a little ride around town. By this time it was late in the day and we were all kind of burned out so it was just a quick ride and then we headed back home. The wind was so bad that we had to stop a couple of times and readjust the bikes because mine was falling off the rack.

It was a fun trip. Check out the pictures of the lake, the color was unbelieveable.

Breakfast at Goldy's

Our stop on the side of the road


The lake, look at that blue. I didn't photoshop anything!


Brandon, giddy as a school boy driving the motor boat.

I just love this picture