Idaho, how I love thee

Idaho's sunsets are unparalleled.

I'm back! Andrew and I headed up to Idaho to see my family for an extended weekend (we got back at about 2 a.m. Tuesday morning). It was actually a fantastic time to head up there, because for once I didn't feel like I'd missed out on a bunch of family stuff since I live four hours away. Here's the lowdown:

My sister got engaged! She is marrying Tom, a great guy from Burley, Idaho (about 2.5 hours east) in February, since she's about to head to Jerusalem (!) until December. Funny story: Tom had actually planned to propose on their hike to Table Rock Saturday morning. When Lauren (who had no idea what he was planning) asked if she could bring her roommate along, Tom sent a text to his mom, griping that he couldn't propose if another girl was there — except that he sent it to Lauren by mistake. He realized his mistake and proposed to her early, so she was caught completely off-guard. It's pretty funny, and it'll be a great story they can tell their kids! 

P.S. My sister HATES having her picture taken and ruined many pictures we tried to take of her and Tom this weekend. But since she doesn't read my blog, I don't feel bad putting this up. 

They were a little sunburned from the hike.

I got to meet baby Evelynn for the first time. I know I am her aunt and am more than a little biased, but she is seriously the most beautiful baby. She just turned three weeks old, but she's still tiny and wonderfully snuggly. Evelynn screamed for a few minutes when I was trying to take pictures of her, and then she fell asleep almost immediately when I laid her against my chest. Megan (my sister-in-law) thinks maybe she could just sense my heartbeat and it calmed her down — for about 20 minutes anyway.

We floated the river and went huckleberry picking with my family. For some reason, Andrew and I have been married nearly three years and I've never taken him on one of my favorite summer pastimes: floating the fork of the Snake River that runs through my town. While it was a lot more shallow this year and we had to get up and stumble over river rocks several times to find faster-moving water, it was relaxing — and Andrew actually wanted to go again before we left (but we didn't get a chance to). We also picked huckleberries about a half hour away from my parents' home and have the horsefly bites and scratches to prove it.

We watched my dad and my brother perform Les Miserables. With my dad as Javert and Reggie as Marius, it was a wonderful production. I actually teared up during Eponine's "A Little Fall of Rain" since my brother is so great at conveying emotion. And my dad's version of "Stars" was beautiful, too. I feel lucky to be part of such a talented family. If you're in Idaho, you can still see the play through Saturday! :)

It was a fun way to spend the weekend. I hope yours was as great (even though we're halfway to another one now)!