Visitors from California & Luke turns TWO

This month feels like it is sort of flying by. My parents flew up and spent a week with us, celebrating Luke's birthday and Easter together, then it was time to get my very belated taxes done and now kind of recovering as we move into the "what's next?" for our summer {more on that to come soon!} It has been a good month and as things s-l-o-w-l-y warm up here it is easy to find joy is so many simple things. I am SO thankful for Spring!!

Luke's birthday was chilly. We'd had snow that morning which didn't bode well for the park play-date I'd scheduled with some of his friends. Most everyone showed up though which was great!

(A note for future cold weather parties ... rice crispy treats do not do well in the cold!)

Weekend family gathering for Luke's birthday -- the first time both our parents have been together since our wedding day nearly 8 years ago!

Easter Sunday -- all ready to go to church but our Jeep wouldn't start and our neighbors couldn't get it jumped :(

Little exploring of our area -- lovely town of Troy, playing at the park with Papa and hiking at Phillips Farm Park.

Goodbye to Nana & Papa! (Snow again, of course!)

Hanging out in McCall, Idaho

Last month we had an awesome, long weekend with Jason's parents in McCall. A place three hours south of us that we'd heard was beautiful, but had yet to visit. This ski town is really pretty ... mountains, lake, trees ... what's not to like. We went in the middle of rain season however, so perhaps not quite as pretty as it could have been, but still great to do some exploring in this big state of ours.

 Jason was excited to see a Foresters Club ;-)

On our way home we made a stop in Riggins, ID ... home to some very good white water rafting. It is also in an unusual warm pocket and Spring was definitely arriving which was such a joy to see after our months of dreary weather and dead landscape.

Snow and Peeps

Feels like we've been running around a little bit crazy for the past month and have a lot of catching up to do. Hope to post pictures this week of a trip to McCall, Idaho with Jason's parents, my parents visit here, Luke's birthday, Easter and more ... but for now, this is what we woke up to this morning {super pretty, but seriously...it's the middle of APRIL and I am very ready for warmer weather!)

On another note ... last week, I finally let Luke have a go at the pure sugar that are Peeps candies -- he bit the head off of each one and loved it!

Hiking at Elk Creek Falls {Idaho}

Jason came home Friday with a surprise plan for our Saturday - a scenic drive to and hike at Elk Creek Falls. The weather was forecast to be wonderful (almost 60 degrees!!) and it was a perfect idea. We were all very ready to be out of the house and doing something active for a change.

It is about an hour from where we live, but we'd yet to discover it and it was really wonderful! I was feeling a little anxious as we drove up due to the amount of snow still on the ground and the fact I was only wearing my running shoes, not my waterproof boots. But luckily, the trail only had a few spots where snow/ice were still hanging around.

The hike includes look-out points at three different waterfalls - so so beautiful!

The end of an era ..

Monday morning Luke let me know he was up from his nap by knocking on the interior of his bedroom door. This was a first, since he is usually fully contained in his pack-n-play crib.  Since then he's figured out how to climb back into it too.

Fireside music

Jason had his guitar out last night which Luke loves to "help" him play and it was just a very sweet few moments of them together beside the fire, making music.