Thursday, September 11, 2008

Weekend of Family, Food, and Fun

So this post was supposed to be up a month ago, but stupid blogger was having issues with uploading my photos, so that is why it is so late in being put up.
The weekend of September 11th was a busy one, but it was filled with family, friends, and lots of fun.

Thursday 9-11-08 my dad was sworn in as a US Citizen. After 30+ years of living in America, he can officially call himself an American. He would have done it sooner, but when he first came to the states, they wouldn't recognize his Swiss Citizenship if he became an American and he did not want to give that up. Now, they will recognize his duel citizenship and after a long and expensive process, he is a citizen and will be able to vote in his first ever presidential election this November. There were almost 300 people who were sworn in and we were there for about 2 1/2 hours. It was fun to be there, but I'm not gonna lie, it went on a little longer than I wanted and on top of that I really had to use the bathroom. I could have gone when they were handing out the certificates, because that took a long time, but then I would have had to climb over all the people in the row and then climb back over when I was done. They had the ceremony at the Nampa Civic Center and it was not big enough. There were people standing in the aisles and out in the hall.

Heather, Topher and Me, waiting for things to get started.

Topher got a hold of mine and Heather's cameras and decided to play photographer. He was taking pictures of the lights, his legs, himself, Heather, anything he could think of.

Heather was taking a picture of me and Topher, but he wasn't really paying attention.

Try number two

Still waiting. Fortunately he had a toy from Burger King that came with his lunch that we got right before the ceremony.

Finally a US Citizen

The family after the ceremony, no Mike is not grumpy, he just doesn't smile for pictures.


That night we went to Texas Road House for dinner to celebrate and I was so happy. I love love love that restaurant and I'm addicted to their rolls that just melt in your mouth. Not to mention that the stake is wonderful as well. We also stopped by Yogees afterwards for a frozen yogurt treat. I had their yummy coconut yogurt with strawberries and kiwis. YUMMM!

Friday Heather and I had the family over for dinner. I made delicious salmon, roasted potatoes and corn. Everyone loved the salmon, and we even got my nephew Topher to eat some and he enjoyed it as well. After we visited with the family for a little while, they went home and Heather and I had a sleep over with our nephew. We watched the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie (not as good as the original) had some candy (don't tell his parents) and stayed up way too late. :) After the first movie got over Topher wanted to play a game, but both of his Aunties were worn out and ready for bed. So we picked out another movie and fell asleep to that.


Saturday we went out to Caldwell for the Indian Creek Festival. This year they had carnival games and rides set up and we had a lot of fun. The boyscouts had set up a rope bridge across the creek for people to walk across, some were successful, others ended up a little wet. My dad and Heather decided that they wanted to go across so they gave Me and Annie all their valuables and went to wait in line. The line was taking forever, so we decided that we would walk around a little while we waited for them to cross. We checked out the car show and saw some really neat cars, then headed over to the carnival games. I let Topher play one game and then we were headed to the lemonade stand for a drink when Heather called and said they were getting ready to cross. So we raced back over to the bridge to watch and take some pictures. I'm proud to say that they both made it across the bridge without falling in. We hit the carnival games again and Topher and I had a water race. I wasn't really thinking about letting him win the game, way to go Auntie Heidi. I did however, let him have the prize. Annie played some basketball, but didn't have any luck and Topher tried to knock down the milk jugs with a baseball. He did a good job, but in order to win a prize you had to get all 3 down at one time and he only got 2. That's when Grossmami stepped in and said that carnival games were a waste of money and that we weren't playing anymore. We walked around some more of the booths and went over to the old train station where they have the water fountain. Heather tried to convince Topher to run through with her, going around the water so they wouldn't get wet. She finally got him to go with her, but then he had a little melt down because the bottom of his pants got wet. Then we headed over to the bouncy toys and Topher had a great time running through the obstacle course one. My mom also bought a marshmallow shooter for Topher and he had a blast playing with that.

Waiting for Auntie Heather and Gross Papi to cross the rope bridge

Some of the cars lined up on the street

Neither one of them fell in

Gotta love the carnival games

I should have let him win, at least I gave him the prize

Annie shooting some hoops

Auntie Heather trying to get Topher to run through the fountain with her

Playing in the army cars

He had a blast playing on this

Playin with his marshmallow shooter


After all the fun in the sun at the Indian Creek Festival, we went to my mom's house for dinner with family and friends. My brother blessed my mom's house and we had delicious burgers, salads, and lemonade. It was a great weekend, and we all had a good time getting to spend some quality time together.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Alive After Five

Alive After Five in Boise happens every Wednesday night at the Boise Center on the Grove. It's a place to hear live music and get some good food that is catered by some of the downtown restaurants. It's also a place for the hippies to come dance and the business crowd to come get a little buzz (or more then that I'm sure as the night progresses) Heidi P. has been wanting to go, so last night we decided to head over there and check out the fun. We had a nice little dancing show put on by some of the local tree huggers, very entertaining, and hopefully I'll be able to post the video so you can all share in the laughter. (Don't get me wrong, they are good people I'm sure, it's just funny to watch the way they dance.) Then we walked around and watched some cute kids playing in the fountain. We were a little disappointed because we couldn't find where the food booths were, all we saw were the beer tents. So we decided to head over to Old Chicago and had some delicious food there instead.

Some of the crazy dancers, enjoying the music.

Heather and Heidi enjoying the show


Me and Annie


This is what happens when you have free entertainment and too much alcohol in the system, guys show up and dance in a skirt.

I thought this was such a cute picture


Rod Stewart in Boise!!??

Nope, just a look alike that drives a limo around town. It's not the best picture, I was trying to get one without him knowing I was taking the picture. I was standing a little farther away from him and had the camera zoomed in, and then he started walking towards me. That's why it's so blurry.


Some other cute little boys that were playing in the fountain. They were filling cups up with water and then throwing the water at each other.

Heidi's got a NEW RIDE!

So I have finally found a new car after two years of wanting, searching, and waiting for a raise at work. I have mostly been searching for a used Honda Accord, because I love those cars and they last forever. (My last Honda is 15 years old and has 201,000+ miles on it and still kicking.) However, due to the gas prices, the sales for good gas cars like Hondas has gone up and I was not having any luck finding what I wanted that fit into my price range. So I started looking at some other options: Toyota Camrys and Nissan Altimas. If you're wondering why I didn't just go for a Civic or a Corolla, which would have been in my price range and I could have gotten a newer model, it's because I love the bigger cars. I love the space they provide as far as comfort for my passengers go and trunk space. As I said earlier, I've been searching for TWO YEARS for the perfect car. Thankfully I wasn't in a big rush and still had a good car to drive (thanks Mom and Dad!) so that made it a little easier because I could still be my picky self and get everything that I wanted without having to rush into a decision. I was looking on Craig's List a week ago (love this website for used goods) and remembered that a friend of mine had driven a Nissan Maxima while we were nannying back East and it was a nice car. So I decided, what the heck, let's put it in the search and see what comes up. Well folks, I found a beauty of a car that just happened to be in my price range and had everything that I was looking for. (minus being a Honda, but a Nissan is a good substitute) I called the number and asked the guy if I could come take a look at the car. As fate would have it he lived in Caldwell, and I just so happened to be going out there the very next day to help my mom paint one of her bedrooms. I took Annie with me so I could have someone else there for an opinion and we took it for a test drive. It drove so smoothly and went real fast. I was in love and was anxious to make an offer. The ad said that they were selling the car for $13,500 and this included 4 20" custom chrome rim tires. We got done with the test drive and I offered $13,000 for the car without the tires, cause 1 I don't need or want fancy tires, and 2 I don't need or want the extra attention it might draw from people. He said that he would have to double check with his son because it was his car and he was selling it for him. (his son is in Holland playing professional basketball) He called me back around 4:45 and said that his son was worried about selling the tires without the car and wanted to know if I would accept $13,250 for the car. It was still in my price range and Me and the car had already started a love affair, so there was no giving it up now. :) (I think about it now and I could have just taken the tires and then turned around and sold them and made some extra money off them. Oh well.) Friday afternoon, my dad met with the guy at the credit union got the title signed over and picked up my car. Then after I got off work, I went out to Nampa to pick up my car and sign the necessary paper work. It was a very scary and yet rewarding feeling as I signed the papers and slid into a car that was all mine. So here it is, my beautiful new car.




As I said earlier, it's a Nissan Maxima, 2004 and is in really good condition. I love that I have remote keyless entry and an alarm on the car. I love that the windows are tinted already because then I don't have to do it myself. I love love love that it has a sunroof and love the look of the car. I love that it drives so smoothly and is relatively quiet inside. Basically I'm in love with the car and am really enjoying driving it around. I know it's a complete waste of gas, but I just want to drive it anywhere and nowhere just to drive it. :) I haven't picked a name out for the car yet, but if anyone has suggestions I'm willing to take them into consideration.