A Week in HEAVEN

A couple times a year my family goes on vacation to the family cabin in High Valley, Idaho. It is my absolute favorite place in the world, and no matter how many other different places I go, there is nothing that beats a trip to the cabin. It is a vacation in every sense of the word, total relaxation. It is nice to go somewhere for a week where you don't have any plans and can just do whatever you want.

I look forward to this time for months and am never disappointed with the time spent there. I was also lucky enough to marry someone who loves the cabin almost as much as me (I say almost because I am sure that no one can love it as much as I do!). Corey got to go up to the cabin with my family before we were married and now he teases me that the cabin is the reason he decided to pop the question. I have to say I can't blame him!

Our trip started last Wednesday; we were going to Caravan up with my parents and my sister Alison and her family. My fam called when they were about five minutes away and so we headed down and got in the car and headed out. We ended up being about ten minutes behind my family and just figured we would catch up to them eventually. After about 40 minutes on the road we heard a loud noise from the car, and pulled over to see what the problem was. We got out of the car and saw that a tire had blown. Since we were so close to home, Corey decided to change the tire, drive home and switch vehicles and it was back on the road again!

We got to the cabin at about 1:00 in the morning, and just the first breath I took after getting out of the car was worth all the trouble getting there. It is the best smell ever!

Since this is my first post about the cabin, I must put a picture of the cabin in all its glory and one of Leo's lake which is just a short walk away. It is incredibly beautiful there and these pictures don't do it justice.

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The thing that Corey looks forward to at the cabin is fishing, and lots of it. Leo's lake usually has some pretty good fishing if we go after they stock it, but we also usually make a trip to Tripod lake which is about 15 minutes away. Between Corey and Baylen (they were the only ones that got a license) they caught about 30 fish there. Every time we have gone there we have seen the same eagle, and it is always so exciting, but this time we actually saw it fly down and catch a fish out of the water right in front of us which was AMAZING!

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On Saturday my Uncle Randy and Aunt Caroline came up to visit and all the guys got to help fix the dock. Corey and Baylen just got waders since they've decided to take up fly fishing, and so they got to go into the yucky water (it is full of gunk and leeches and who knows what else. Definitely not a lake for swimming) to hook the end of the dock in.

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Our vacation is always full of lots of ATV rides. There is usually always someone out on a ride and we always come back caked with dirt.


This is an amazing view from one of our rides. We are DIRTY, DIRTY in this pic. You always know it's been a good trip when you come back with some battle wounds.
Raylee and Ashlyn both had their first ride on the ATV's this trip. Raylee was not a big fan.
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Although Leo's lake is not a lake for swimming it is a great lake for boating. We have a paddle boat and a canoe which is always lots of fun.

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And you can't have a trip to the cabin without lots of campfires. This time we tried smores with strawberry marshmallows and they were delicious.

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Raylee had her first ride on the tire swing and absolutely loved it. She kept giggling the whole time.

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It was really hot and so we blew up the raft and filled it with water and turned on the sprinkler and the kids had a water party to help keep cool. I forgot to bring Raylee’s swimsuit so she just wore a onsie and a regular diaper which was HUGE by the time she was done swimming.
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We also went on a Sunday walk over to the huge rock and so of course they wanted to climb it.

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One of the best parts of the trip was that we got to spend lots of time with the fam.

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The wildflowers were absolutely gorgeous this time, and so of course I had to get a picture of Raylee in them! This was the best picture from my attempt to be a photographer.

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And last but not least is the picture of Raylee and our little fam next to the bear. My sister started this tradition with her kids because its fun to look back at these pictures and see how much they've grown and so of course I had to copy.

I am already counting down the days until the next time!