{ Camping }

Last weekend we went camping. We really needed to get away and take a break after working long and hard on cleaning up since the trees came down at the beginning of July. Our plans changed several times, but we made it and over all we had a good time. It is always a challenge to camp with little kids, but they loved it and once they went to sleep, they slept well :) The first night my parents joined us and we enjoyed the lake.

The second day they went home and we headed into the Idaho mountains for some exploration. Tim had found couple of mountain lakes that we intended to hike in about 1/2 mile to find. After driving for a couple of hours and only making it about half as far as we needed to go, with a vehicle not really meant for the kind of road we were on, we decided to head back toward home. We found a nice creek that was very clean and shallow and we all had a great time getting wet and relaxing before heading home. We had thought we'd maybe spend another night, but by then we were just wanting showers! Not sure how much camping we will continue to do while our kids are this little, but I'm glad we did it, all things considered. In fact, this coming Monday we're planning to camp again, only this time on someone's property. We are going up there to pick up a load of firewood they are giving us. Looking forward to camping, but also having access to a house with amenities!

{ Surprise Party :: 1930s Style }

This past Friday night I attended a surprise party for a very sweet friend, Tessa. She turned 30 yesterday, and to celebrate a couple of her friends planned a 1930s Hollywood Glamor party to welcome her to the new decade.

A lot of us know her through church, but she is also very involved with MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) so there were a lot of ladies who knew her from there, including our very gracious hostess.

It was SO. MUCH. FUN. Seriously it was the funnest evening I have spent in a very long time. I'm not trying to imply that my life is dull and void of fun, but I am also not exaggerating when I say how much fun it was. It was due in part, I'm sure, to the fact that we all got to dress up and go out for an entire evening for girl-time, kid free. I counted 14 ladies at one point, and from what I could tell, we were all having an equally fabulous time. It was so much fun finding out about the 1930s, a time period I have never thought much about before. The hairstyles and clothes are so feminine and charmingly elegant. Other than the Great Depression, I think I would have loved living back then! Well, and heels. As pretty as they are, living in a time when women wore them all the time, even to clean house doesn't really sound appealing. We had all kicked off our shoes about an hour into the evening. The co-hostess of the evening brought her grandmother's jewels from the 1930s to decorate with. So many pearls, furs and sparkly things! The decor was white, pink and soft silver. So airy and feminine. There was plenty of delicious chocolate to eat and fun time spent learning to dance the Charleston, accompanied by music from the decade.

But enough said, here are some pictures to give you a feel for the evening. How I wished I'd brought along a better camera, but thankfully I had my phone and was able to capture a little of the elegance of the evening.