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.

Kim Comes for a Visit

We had our first out of town visitor stay with us last weekend and we were so happy that it was Chris' momma. We spent a wonderful weekend with Kim which started off with dinner and drinks in downtown Boise. We went to a couple of restaurants and got to enjoy eating on the outside patio at what is now one of my favorite little restaurants. It was a great night and was topped off with giving Kim a tour of our new house.

The next morning we went to the Saturday market in downtown Boise. Among all of the fresh vegetables, flowers, and fruit, we found the one station that was offering Johnson-style food. Yes, fresh mini doughnuts topped with cinnamon and sugar. They were delicious. Then we were off to the Boise river. This was both Kim and Chris' first time rafting the river. I had not been for probably 10 years or so either so it was fun for all of us. The weather was perfect and it was just a great way to spend the afternoon.

We enjoyed some dinner at home and then some games in the yard. Of the three types of games that Kim and Chris competed in, Kim beat Chris at two of the three. I guess we know from where Chris gets his natural athletic abilities. Go Kim!

Sunday morning Chris headed out to South Carolina for work so I got Kim all to myself for pretty much the whole day. We planted some trees in the yard, had a nice breakfast and then shopped till we dropped for house stuff. I absolutely loved having her here and am excited for both of Chris' parents to return in September.

Home Life.

We are settling in to Boise and our new house. Just this week Chris looked at me and said, "this is a big day for me." It wasn't the day that he started his job or the day that we finally set foot in our own house. It was the day he first mowed our grass. It was cute how happy it made him. It was about 98 degrees outside and he was kind of purple in the face, but I have never seen him happier. In addition to mowing, he has been digging holes for new trees and taking bushes out. It is clear that the yard is his domain. And for those of you that don't believe that we really do have a farm in our backyard, I have posted some pictures of our new neighbors. I actually like the noise of the roosters now and being able to look out and see the horses while I load the dishwasher. What I thought was going to be a downside really is turning into an upside.

My sister was in town for vacation and for Owen's baptism so they came over one night. Our neighbor told us that you could fish the ponds in our neighborhood so we told Tyler to bring his fishing pole over. Sure enough, the fish were easy picking. I am pretty sure that this was Tyler's first fish that he caught. He was so excited at one point when he was told to hold off on casting so that his line could be untangled, he pointed to the ground, stomped one foot and said, "but I am fishing right now!"

(isn't he the cutest thing?)

(Owen and Grandpa talking about all of the fish that Tyler caught - I think 5 in total!)

Some of the other Boise highlights that we have experienced thus far are going to alive after five last Wednesday, which was great. Each Wednesday, they have music, food and beer in downtown Boise and the people pack in and sweat out the summer air with ice cold beers in hand. I also took Chris to enjoy his first snow cone. Growing up in Boise, I thought it was normal to have a snowshack on every corner with about 50 flavors of shaved ice. This was a phenomenon to Chris and so I had to take him to enjoy his first Boise snowcone. I don't know if he was really impressed with the ice covered in sugar syrup, but it is more about the experience right? We also got to have my other nephew Brad over for dinner one night. He showed us his moves on the trampoline and challenged Chris to a game of Horse.

Bella is also loving her yard and house. Her favorite things to do are search for sticks and other things to eat in the yard, monitor the turkeys from her post in the living room and "help" dig holes when we plant things in the yard.

Bay to Boise!

We made the big move! On Wednesday July 7th, we closed up our yellow Penske truck and hit the road headed towards Boise. The drive is long when you are allowed to go to the speed limit, but it is far longer when you are limited to going 55 MPH (especially because you cannot take advantage of the Nevada 75 MPH speed limits, dang it). Chris navigated his large truck, which was pulling my Camry behind it, very well. My three year old nephew later marveled at the fact that Uncle Chris drove that big of a truck. I must say that for a girl who usually spends at least half of every road trip asleep in the passenger seat, I also did OK with the 4runner. Even our car-sick puppy was a rockstar - thank you Dramamine! We only had one minor hiccup with smoking tires about 20 minutes from town when we got too excited and went over our allotted 55 MPH speed limit. All in all, the 15 hour drive through 4 states was a success and we rolled into our new house at 10:00 p.m. The sun was just setting as we drove in and I felt like God was smiling down on us. We had a fantastic ten years in California. We each left home at 18 years old to attend Santa Clara and ten years later have moved back to my hometown and a city that I think Chris is happy to be in. A lot happened in that ten years and I think that we both feel like California holds some of our greatest memories and our dearest friendships. We will always treasure those things and visit often, but we are both excited to call Boise our new home.

A break in Nevada.

Bella kicking the car sick habbit!

Just a little excited.

The 4th at Priest Lake

We had the pleasure of spending the fourth of July at Priest Lake. Priest Lake is a bit of heaven even on overcast weekends like this one. It was just what we needed before the long haul to Idaho. It was a little weird to explain to coworkers that I was going to Idaho for vacation and then coming back to the Bay Area only to move to a different part of Idaho two days later. The whole Johnson/Whitfield clan was able to make it up for the weekend. Some highlights were stuffing ourselves with Kim's famous lasagna, spending time with the whole family especially sweet little Sophie,

freezing our buns off waterskiing one morning (yes, I am still the dork on two skis),

testing out the new Johnson fishing rig even though the fish were afraid of our new mighty boat, sleeping on bunks in the newly renovated "schoolhouse" which made us feel like kids again,

and snuggling up with a good book in front of the fire. Who would think that you would need a fire on the 4th of July? Well, we did and it was wonderful. It is always nice to spend time with family. It is especially nice to spend time with family when so many things are changing around you.