SO BEHIND!!!!! AHHH!!!!!!!!!!!
Things around this house have been absolutely insane lately (which I will get to later), but all in all it means that I am WAY behind on all of my posts, and need to get them done before the end of the year so I can print this out for my family! :)
This past July we took a fabulous trip to Idaho for the Christensen kids family reunion! All of Teage's siblings were there except for Brett and his family which had just moved to Texas, and we rented a CASTLE for all of us to share! It was truly amazing! And when I say castle, I mean castle! This place was once in a lifetime! It was huge, a ton of room for everyone, and so much character! We all absolutely loved it!
The week was filled with family time, and we loved every minute. The cousins picked up right where they left off having fun together (honestly like no time had past), and all of us adults had so much fun catching up again. Leroy loved having all of his children and grandchildren around him, and since we were in the middle of almost no where, we weren't busy or rushed, and had time to just re-connect. We loved it!
On Monday we spent most of the day settling in, and even cleaning up the place a bit. The house manager didn't have time to clean up before we got there, so we did some of it....which was fine honestly. Later that day we tried out the recreation area just down from the castle and played in the water and had a ton of fun! Brook and Susie showed up that day and we had fun just relaxing, eating, and playing games together.
Tuesday ended up being a very fun and creative day (well, thanks to Tawna!). The day was really hot and we weren't planning on going anywhere, so Auntie Tawna came up with what we called "Christensen Olympics"! Basically a series of games and obstacles between two teams, and whomever finished first wins! We had so much fun cheering each other on and laughing hysterically. There was everything from as putting a puzzle together to carrying water from one bucket to another and eating something as fast as you can! Hilarious!!! That night we also went out to dinner the only time that week, thank you Papa Christensen! There was a really fun floating restaurant just one town away and everyone loved eating while watching the boats come in, fish jumping, and frogs croaking.....the kids especially loved eating while swaying on the water!
Wednesday we received a fun visit from Leroy's sister Neva and her family! It was wonderful to see them, it had been a really long time for me. Neva and Larry brought three of their children with them, as well as two of their grandchildren, and thankfully everyone got along really well. We all went to Sandpoint Beach and hung out in the sun and sand all day. The kids loved the water and the floaty toys, the adults loved some chatting time and the sunshine. That night we did a huge castle scavenger hunt and smores under the stars....amazing!
Tawna and I also tried hard all week to keep exercising, so we decided to run the "hill" that the castle was on. Oh boy.....we made it eventually but it was literally straight up!
The boys (Teage, Stuart, Ethan, and Brook) went golfing in the morning on Thursday while the rest of us just hung out and had some fun together playing games and watching movies. The ladies and kiddos then went into Sandpointe and did a little window shopping and had ice cream!
Friday was the 4 of July!!!!!!! We had so much fun together that day! We started with watching the Sandpoint parade by the side of the road in the morning, lunch together and some walking around town, and back to the beach for some fun in the sun! That night we all sat out on the amazingly gorgeous back deck overlooking Lake Pend Oreille and celebrated America's freedom. We lit sparklers and watched fire works from across the lake. We had fun with the camera and got some amazing shots with light. And we ate way too much with a BBQ and smores! We had so much fun that day, it really was amazing to be there with family, not have to worry about anything that was going on at home, and just have some fun together.
On Saturday Brook and Susie had to leave, so before they set out we did a little photo shoot with Damon and his cousins. He is so stinking adorable! Tawna and her family had some things they were doing together as well that day, so we took the opportunity to drive around with just our family and see the sights and sounds of Idaho and Montana. We explored the mountain that the castle was situated on, and then drove down the highway until we reached Montana. There was a really neat overlook with a view of a HUGE dam, as well as a little pull off of the side of the road where people usually camped in the summer time, but at the time was deserted. We found a gorgeous inlet of the lake and stayed there for quite a while, just the five of us, putting our feet in the water, watching the beautiful butterflies all around us, and talking and laughing together. It really was a magical day. That evening we all worked hard to clean up the castle and get ready to go the next day, as we had to drive straight home in the morning so Teage could get to work on Monday.
Overall it truly was an amazing trip, filled with laughter, love, and family. We truly had a wonderful and fabulous week. Maiya and I even had to document the occasion with our royal princess dresses (thanks for being my sidekick Maiya!!)! And thank you to Papa Christensen who made all of this possible for us to be together. We would definitely love to go back!
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