Category: Out and About

The sites and scenes of our everyday life away from home.

Picking

Our plan for the day was to find and get some huckleberries out in the wild. Unfortunately, we didn’t find any, but we had a great time together and we got to see new things. Enjoy!

Mount Rainier from the east side.

My cutie-patootie and my hubba-hubba hunk of love!

The road down just as pretty as the road up.

A waterfall, one of many, that we saw along the road. This one went way up the mountain side!

The hunt for huckleberries lead us to this slow moving stream in the woods off the main road back in the woods.

Didn’t see any animals besides this frog and several hawks. Isabel was worried we were going to see a bear but we didn’t.

Isabel and I along our quiet stream. So peaceful…

We decided that it was time to head back toward home, so we drove further and then turned westward toward home.

Checking out this fast moving stream for fish… there were none.

Getting sleepy, hungry, and disappoint we didn’t find any huckleberries, Isabel sits a moment along the stream.

Gorgeous view of Mount Rainier looking from the south.

Surprise Surprise

Today as we headed out, Gino told Isabel that he had a “meeting” he had to go to…

She was still thinking about this “meeting” that Daddy had to attend, up until she saw the poster and then she leaned over to me and whispered, “Momma, can we see that (pointing to the sign) after the “meeting”.” I couldn’t help but laugh as I explained to her that Daddy’s meeting was at the movie theater. The look on her face was priceless!

Espinoza Family Reunion Day 3

Today was the Jose and Feliciana Espinoza Family Reunion at Weber County Memorial Park in Eden, Utah.

Jose Ponciano and Feliciana Archibeque Espinoza.

Feliciana was born on June 6th 1914 and dead February 7th 1976. She was 61 years old. Jose Ponciano was born on March 9th 1912 and dead October 5th 2003. He was 91 years old. They (and those who have passed on) were missed at our reunion!

Jose and Feliciana together had 10 children: Pete, Benny, Bill, Michael, Betty, Mary, Paul, Ernest, Danny, and Joe

One of the family members made T-shirts with the family crest on the front/back for each family member. Each family was represented by 10 different colors.
The Michael Espinoza family proudly wore red!

From left to right: Joe, Mary, Betty, Danny, Paul, Ernest, Michael (Pompo!)

Joe Espinoza family.

Mary Espinoza-Schrika family.

Betty Espinoza-Balli Family.

Danny Espinoza family.

Paul Espinoza family.

Ernest Espinoza family.

Our team! Micheal Espinoza family.

Benny Espinoza family.

Pete Espinoza family.

Bill Espinoza family.

Espinoza Family Reunion Day 2

Yesterday we mad it all the way to Missoula, Montona. We explored the town a bit and I would enjoy going back and really looking around. The Bitterroot Valley is beautiful with lots of areas of exploration and lots of areas to fish for Gino!

Just outside Missoula the mountain range along the way.

The mountain range is the border between Idaho and Montana.

The remaining clouds from last nights lighting/rain/wind storm.

Snow covered valley just outside Darby, Montana.

We arrived in Salmon Idaho (the birthplace of Sacajawea), and pulled off the highway to eat some lunch at a local park.

Isabel was just happy to get out of the car, for a little while anyway.

Across the street and along the highway, we noticed this cool monument.

Back onto highway 28 we headed southeast and drove by the Sacajawea Center and learned we were driving on the Sacajawea Byway!

We pulled into the Sacajawea Center and took a picture from the car. We had to get going otherwise we’d never make it to Utah early.

Interesting things along the way, I told Gino I would like to go back and spend some time learning about this great women.

We passed a few nice signs like this one along the way to Interstate 15.

Isabel on the other hand wasn’t that interested in Sacajawea… she kept on reading her Bible and finished it by the time we arrived in Utah.

 

Espinoza Family Reunion Day 1

We are on our way to Eden Utah for the Espinoza Family Reunion at Weber County Memorial Park. The Reunion is this weekend and then we are planning on heading south to visit family for a few days before taking the scenic route back home.

While driving down the freeway just east of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho we found this Old Mission. Unfortunately, we arrived to late to really look around and visit the visitors center.

Heading further east toward Montana we entered a lighting/rain/wind storm.

We saw double rainbows after the rain had let up.

We had to pull over on an off ramp to get the sunset in Montana.

Big Sky country lives up to it’s name with an amazing sunset!

Still Here

I am still here… I’ve just been on a blog-vacation.

After school got out, I felt like I was free from the blog to enjoy summer but now that more then a month has gone by, I need to blog about something. We’ve remodeled a room (which had to remain a surprise until our guests arrived), we’ve planted a garden, worked more in the yard and have had guests for 2 weeks. We’ve been here and there and now we are home again before we go again! So I must catch up at some point otherwise you’ll think I’ve left… for good!

(BTW… be sure to check back to mid June, since my catching up begins there… Enjoy!)

New Plants

Today was a great day spent with Gino.

Grandma and Grandpa took Isabel for a few hours while we ran errands and enjoyed our time together. Our plan was to meet up later and go to dinner and then play mini golf but the weather didn’t cooperate for that and Gino (and Dad) and I bought a bunch of new perennial flower plants for the yard!

Looking south east, my Dad helped me arrange the flowers before Gino and I dug the holes to plant them. Last year this area was planted with evergreen shrubs but with all the rain during winter, they didn’t make it. So we decided to go with flowers instead!

We got Salvia, Daisies, Foxglove, Lavender and Gaillardia (which reminds me of Daisies!). I’m excited because I LOVE Daisies!!!

Looking north east, we finally got the flowers set up the way I want them. Thank you Dad for the help! They look so good!!!

Isabel had a great day with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa went to play golf and Grandma and Isabel got to ride along in the cart. Isabel even got to drive it! Afterward they went to Old McDonald’s and Isabel got to play in the playground after having lunch.

Getting the flowers in the ground before it started to rain, just as we began to dig the hole for the last flower. Didn’t get it in the ground that day or the next because of rain. We eventually got it planted and the flowers are doing great! The Foxglove seem to have really taken off! We have also attracted a lot of bees to the yard but I don’t mind, as long as they don’t sting!