Visiting the Enchanted Gardens

Which is what my kids call the BYU-Idaho Horticulture Gardens we visited today.

We took a quick trip there Sunday night with my family, and it was so gorgeous I had to go again after our monthly Babywearing Meeting at Mommy n Me (my new favorite kid store).

Seth was absolutely enthralled and Eliza couldn't hold still long enough for any decent shots because she was so excited to be in such a beautiful place!

She was obsessed with all of the water features and ponds; I'm just grateful she didn't fall (or jump) in!

By far the favorite place in the whole gardens was in their European-inspired section with statues, stone fences just the right height for the kids, water (or course) and gorgeous, vivid flowers

Running away from Mama into the "enchanted garden."

Seth performing quite the balancing act along a stone ledge. He was so proud he didn't fall once!



I'm debating on getting our family pictures taken there because everywhere you look, there's a Kodak moment waiting to happen, and the kids had an absolute ball!

Transplanting the Alps to the Rockies

Before leaving the Homestead Resort on the last day of the Paul Reunion, I HAD to get pictures of its lovely grounds. The whole area had a Swiss feel to it, so it almost felt as if a bit of the Alps got transplanted into the Rockies. Definitely my kind of place!

Take some time to stop and enjoy the pics while we stopped and enjoyed the roses:

Well, maybe they're not roses, but they sure were pretty!

The main building at the Homestead.

When we checked out, they gave us warm chocolate chip cookies. I LOVE this place!

The only way we can get Seth to sit still long enough to take pictures lately is to put him "in charge" of Eliza by having them sit next to each other.
He acts as a good example for her on how to sit....

Because of the extra attention, Eliza decided to become Seth's shadow and followed him around everywhere! He didn't think it was cool.

Main building of the Homestead. Eliza kept walking off on me (maybe she was looking for Seth), so when I tried to get her attention to look at the camera, she'd quickly look then run off like she got away with something.

Which I'm sure she did, the monkey.

Still looking for Seth near the spa that the Homestead boasts.

I would have LOVED to have gone in there!
The menfolk were extremely bored with all the picture taking.
Eliza found Seth though!

Right across from the entrance to our resort. I don't know if this is a private residence or an inn, but talk about adorable!

See the window boxes? That would be the next house project at the Martin abode.

We finally got on our way but I made Chris stop and pull off the side of the road to get more pictures of awesome buildings. Dang, you can't really tell, but this has awesome murals on the walls.
This was as we were leaving the resort.

The City Hall in Midway.

OK, how can you not fall in love with this house?! I think it was even for sale...hmmm. It's a good thing Chris has been working so hard on summer projects for me in our house otherwise this would be tempting...

Now you can see why everything reminded me of when I went to Germany and traveled through the Alps to Italy. Ah, good times....(tinkly flashback background music)

Like walking the streets of Heidelberg in 2001.

It was so picturesque!
And it had a castle...

While in Rothenberg, we stayed at a B&B and my room was the Princess and the Pea room, much more to my taste than the Barn.


Hmmm...maybe the reunion wasn't JUST like Europe after all...
It didn't have a medieval wall like Rothenberg
Or the Black Forest...

OK. Europe's cooler, but I wasn't surrounded by family while on my humanities tour. Just a bunch of silly American girls, a few friends, and some of my favorite professors.

* * *

No matter where it is, THIS is what vacations are really about: Thanks for re-experiencing our awesome reunion with us! Stay tuned for the plane museum!

Um....THAT was Random!

I couldn't think of a proper post for most of these pictures individually, so I thought I'd just do random reunion pics with the post caption I would have used.

Enjoy!

Dirty bum!

We're outta here!

Matt, we're not coming out to get you!


(Seth speaking in a cool dude voice:) "Hey, Jackson! Check out my cool tire. It's more manly if you take your shirt off, but those jammies are the bomb!"

Leisure time at the Barn

What happens when Seth is given the opportunity to decorate a shirt. With permanent markers.

I give you the Settlers of Catan!

Proud Daddy Brady showing off Marshall to Uncle Matt

What the crap?!

Uh....you can fill in your own caption here!

Fun in the Sun because the Water was too Stinkin' Cold!

Now, I've grown up in Idaho all my life, so you'd think I'd be use to cold. Nope. I love warm weather, warm water, sunshine and green grass.

I blame it on the fact that I'm half Californian since my farmboy of a father was able to swoop his Californian girl out of college and into a more rural existence. We never grew up on a farm or anything (thanks Mom for the hay fever and animal dander allergies!) but we know how to rough it.

Visiting the picturesque Jordanelle Reservoir was like walking into a lake full of icecubes.


Those beautiful mountains provide awesome glacial run-off that lasts all summer long!


The majority of us stayed in the shallow bit while a few show-offs completely submerged themselves in anticipation of tube rides behind the boat pulled by Uncle Greg (remember the dinner theater? He was the one in the tie-dye shirt...)

Eliza figured out how to avoid the cold by sitting on Uncle Matt while he floated on a tube.

Debating on going back in after getting her feet wet...

Seth was daring enough to put mud on his fingers, but he stayed pretty dry as well.

Cute little froggy! She ultimately decided against going back into the water, which worked for me because it gave me an excuse to stay out of the frigid water as well.

Instead we decided to do a photo session with my beach hat.

She really hams it up, doesn't she?! You can also see Chris in the back using the rotisserie method for a burn. Sigh.

And, she's done.

All that fun in the sun takes a toll on pasty skin, so periodically I'd catch one of the kiddies and spray them down with sunscreen. As you can tell from our extremely white skin, we're "sun healthy!"

Coming out of a rotisserie turn, the kiddies decided to snuggle next to daddy. Ahhh!

Later on we had an awesome lunch of hot dogs and hamburgers with chips, cookies, and fun talks. I just LOVE summer vacations!!!

Going to the temple through yoga poses

One of the highlights of every Paul Reunion is the opportunity to do yoga with Vicky, my cousin through marriage to Bruce Paul. She's a yoga instructor in Chicago, and AMAZING at her stuff!
Unbeknownst to me, Chris got back from golf right in the middle of our outdoor yoga session and decided to snap a few pictures:


I'm not really sure what pose we were doing here, but we had nearly every age in attendance, from early teens to some well into their 70s (THAT was WAY impressive to see!)

Seriously one of my favorite poses of all time: child pose. We usually do it when coming out of a super-pretzel pose (NOT the real name) and allows our mind and body to relax in the moment.

Chris later asked me why I liked yoga so much, and this is what I told him:

It gives me peace of mind and allows me to be in the moment. It disciplines me to not worry about outside distractions and focus on my body. My body is a temple and yoga allows me to discover all of the wonders that it can do. Yoga isn't about flexibility. It's about coming out of limiting mindset that helps to realize there's so much I can do. It reminds me of when I attend the temple.

Namaste!