June Fun

June was a fun month for our family. After several weeks of house hunting and negotiating offers, we finally chose a home in Fruitland, Idaho. The house we purchased was not complete yet, so we spent most of June still living with my parents and enjoying our time there.

 We had a wonderful Father's Day celebrating with both Kelson and my Dad. Sarah is so blessed to have such an awesome father. He loves being a daddy, and I love watching him with Sarah.

 Since we moved, Sarah has become thoroughly obsessed with Finding Nemo. We watch it pretty much every day at Grandma's house. It was very exciting to go see the new Finding Dory movie. I even made Sarah a Nemo dress to wear to the showing. We decided at the last minute to go to an earlier movie, so I had to pin her into the unfinished dress, but she was still pretty adorable. I think this face is saying "You really want me to look away from the screen for a picture right now?"

 We finally closed on our house and moved in on June 20th. For our first couple of weeks in the house, Sarah had major sleep issues. She was waking up all the time in the middle of the night and then getting up way too early in the morning. It was exhausting for all of us. This was one day after a fun afternoon at the pool when she crashed on my bed. 

 Kelson had to spend a day in Boise for some meetings, so Sarah and I went along and had a mother-daughter date at the zoo. The zoo is pretty small, which was just right for Sarah. She loved feeding the goats and seeing all of the butterflies.

 This Komodo dragon was hanging out right next to the glass, and it took me at least 10 minutes to pull Sarah away from him. 

We ended our day with a ride on the carousel. Sarah was talking about this for weeks afterward. I was glad she enjoyed it, because the last time I tried to take her on a carousel she was completely terrified.

So many fun summer memories!

Snakes and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails!

Between moving, finding new doctors, and waiting for appointments, we have had to wait several extra weeks to find out if a boy or a girl will be joining our family this Fall, and we have all been very anxious to know. I finally had my ultrasound yesterday, and our little one is...

A BOY!

We got to see some pretty cute views of him during the ultrasound. 

 Look at that little face!

 Perfect little baby toes

Our son! Grandma Hindman got to come with us to the ultrasound too, which made it extra fun. We can't wait to meet our little guy in about 3 months. We have become pretty good at princesses and tea parties at our house, and now we will get to learn how to raise a little prince. 

Anniversary Getaway to Hot Lake

We have not had a night away on our own since Sarah was born, so we were super excited when my parents offered to watch her for the night while we went on a little anniversary trip. We only went about 45 minutes away, but we had a fantastic time. We love old hotels, so we decided to try out the Hot Lake Resort just outside of La Grande.

I grew up driving by this old hotel all the time and always thought it was fascinating. In the hundred or so years since it was built, it has been a resort, a sanitarium, a hospital, a nursing home, and even a honky tonk bar. A family purchased it several years ago and started restoring it. Now it is a bed and breakfast as well as a bronze studio and gallery. 

There are birds all over the property, including guinea fowl (which are amazingly noisy) and peacocks. 

 We were greeted by this mama duck and her adorable ducklings.

After checking in and exploring the hotel a little bit, we drove into town for an amazing dinner at Ten Depot Street. So yummy!

 We had a slight hiccup in our evening when our tire started losing pressure on the way into town. Kelson had it changed in a jiffy after dinner, and we were on our way back to Hot Lake for more fun.

 We spent the evening exploring the hotel and grounds. There is a cute little chapel next to the hotel that they have restored.

Watching the sunset over the very hot spring-fed lake.

The next morning, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast in the hotel cafe and then did some more exploring. The fun part was that the owners encouraged you to poke around and explore. We didn't have to worry about going on tours or anything. 

The swallows nesting on the hotel were crazy! Kelson was standing in a bird tornado.

Enjoying a little light reading in the former operating room.

One of the main attractions at the hotel is their soaking tubs. There are both outdoor and indoor tubs to choose from. Sadly, I could only put my feet in because I didn't want to cook our baby, but it was still relaxing. We would love to come back in the Fall.
After soaking in the tubs, we toured the museum that takes up a good portion of the building. They had an amazing collection of war memorabilia as well as Native American artifacts. 

Saying farewell to Hot Lake after a fun stay.

We drove back into La Grande and strolled around downtown while our two new tires were put on and then had some massive hamburgers and curly fries from Nells n' Out for lunch. 

It was a wonderful weekend and a great way to celebrate our first 5 years together. Thanks for babysitting, Mom and Dad!