The Western Idaho Fair

We thought that it would be a good idea to bike to the Western Idaho Fair. There were some bumps on the bike ride like a 30 mile per hour head wind (not good for an out of shape girl like me). Chris purchased a new bike and I am still riding the one I purchased when I was sixteen so I tried to blame my trouble on the hill on our way home on my bike, but we all know that it was the biker and not the bike. Even with the bumps in the road and sore bums today, our first Boise bike ride was a success.

Since we rode our bikes, we decided that it was OK to partake in drinking some brewskies and dining on corn dogs, sweet potato fries, and an Elephant Ear (a huge fried thing with cinnamon and sugar). They were so good. While there, we road the swings and the ferris wheel. Yes, we have officially graduated to the old people rides.

We also toured the animals including this big horned guy below, who was in the petting zoo! It seemed a little over the top to have him in the little kiddie area next to the pygmy goats and baby cows, but I needed my picture with him nonetheless.

The fair was fun and filled with some crazy carnies and some interesting teenagers. I think that I remember it a little more fondly as a kid, but it was still pretty fun.

Soon to be Mohnacky Mahem

What a weekend, what a group of gal pals I have! I had a great weekend down in San Diego. It has taken me until today to fully recover from all the "soon to be Mohnacky mahem" that went down. I headed down to San Diego to celebrate Mrs. Dina Salcido in her last few single days before tying the knot. A fun time was had by all. The weekend consisted of kayaking in La Jolla, sunning ourselves in San Diego, staying in an incredible beach house, and enjoying one crazy night out in the gaslamp district, which Lynsey liked to refer to as the torch district. I am already Idahoan enough that I felt like a small town girl amongst many scantily clad ladies and hungry eyed men. I came home completely exhausted with sunburned shoulders late Sunday night, but could not have been happier. Dina was a great sport and it was so nice to be with my girls. I miss all my California ladies (and my one Montana lady too) already. Here is to bachelorette number 6 of 8 of my housemates affectionately known as the 801 girls!

Daytime fun. . . . and . . . .

Nighttime fun.
(all thirteen of us, all in black, except the bachelorette in pink)

(me and Lynz - gas torch girl)

(three beautiful sets of eyes, Stace, Becko and "soon to be Mrs. Mohnacky")

Chris says that this is not very much of a Johnson Doodle and is more of an Ali Doodle, but we all need our own doodles sometimes, right? Chris held down the fort with the Bels this weekend, but don't feel too bad for him, he got a day of fly fishing in and purchased himself not one, but two new bikes.

Grandmas are Great!

This weekend we went to visit with Chris' grandmas in Walla Walla, Washington. We were lucky enough to also be able to visit with his parents too! Chris' grandmas are both just the best. I lost my last grandma when I was only 13 so to be able to have grandmas again is great. These ladies are just amazing. Grandma and Buffie both live on their own and have quite the active social lives. Buffie golfs at age 93 and is heads and shoulders better than I am and Grandma is a tech savvy little grandma and is even on Facebook. They are both loving, generous, sweet and just wonderful ladies. We had so much fun visiting with each of them and enjoying the darling town of Walla Walla. Among our activities were having a picnic complete with cheeseburgers from the famous Ice Berg, playing a round of golf with Buffie (which I unfortunately did not snap many pictures of), eating a fabulous dinner at the country club, and stuffing ourselves with a huge breakfast compliments of Grandma. It was also so great to be able to see Kim again and to be able to spend some time with Eric, who was my amazing golf partner. Without Eric, I could have been on the golf course whiffing the ball until sunset.

(no pictures of Buffie playing were taken, but here she is driving her cart, a Cadillac nonetheless)

Doggie Friends

Our people friends introduced Bella to some doggie friends last weekend and Bella was very much obliged. We went on a little hike in the Boise foothills with six people and five very cute pups. The dogs had a great time and so did we. Bella does not have very good trail etiquette as she would stop in the middle of the trail to make sure that we were following her, but other than that she did great. Our little fuzz muffin can hang with the more rugged guys!

Jaialdi and McCall

We have been busy over these last couple of weeks, which has resulted in poor blogging habits. On the every-day-life side of things, I am now in week three of my new job and I am really liking it. It is certainly an adjustment and I am learning new things every day. I go from reviewing Idaho community property cases to drafting a boat dock agreement in the same day. The people that I work with have been patient with me thus far and for that I am grateful. Chris is still really enjoying his work. He is also challenged everyday, which I think makes him happy. So our Boise careers are off to a good start.

The past few weeks have been jam packed. First, we attended Jaialdi, which is a big Basque festival that comes to Boise every five years. Boise apparently has one of the biggest Basque populations in the world outside of the Basque region in Spain so it is a pretty cool thing to have the Basque festival hear in town. Chris and I ate some chorizos and croquetas and enjoyed some beer on the Basque block before heading to the Basque sports competition night. Sports night was a showing of traditional Basque sports. Some were more entertaining, like the hail bail lifting where the guys were thrust into the air about 20 feet and others were less entertaining like the stick relay race where guys put a bunch a sticks on the ground one at a time and then picked them up one at a time. Overall, it was a great night and so much fun to be able to do on a weeknight. I actually have a weeknight life (most nights) and I am loving it!

After enjoying the Basque festival we headed to McCall for the weekend to spend it relaxing with my Dad and Robin before lawyerdom kicked in again. We ate at some of McCall's best places including brunch at Shore Lodge and a great dinner at the Jug Mountain Ranch Clubhouse(picture taken from our table on Chris' phone below). Both were delicious and were responsible, at least in part, to my pants fitting a bit more tightly these days. We also fished, took a scenic drive, and sat around the fire one night. It was a perfect weekend. Thanks Dad and Robin for letting us crash the end of your vacation!

We also celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on August 5th. I was remarking to someone that I cannot believe that it has been 4 years and then she said but in other senses doesn't it feel like you have been married forever? It is true, I have known Chris for 10 years and been married for 4. It does seem like he has been a part of my life forever and I am thankful for my wonderful husband every day.