My Instagram: Northwest Edition

No, I'm not talking about Kim and Kanye's baby girl. This "Northwest" I speak of is of the Idaho, Washington, and Oregon variety. The family and I have been enjoying the last couple weeks of summer with some beautiful scenery, crazy adventures and loads of family laughs. But school is back in session (already? yes. sigh.) and it's time to put these fancy-free days behind us and and live through them again with our pictures. So I submit to you my favorite Instagram images from our trip! We joined my brother and sister's families from the far corners of America to celebrate our parents' 50th Wedding Anniversary in the mountains of McCall, Idaho. We used to live in Idaho (moved to California when I was 7) and it had been a long time since any of us had been back. Views like this down the road from where we were staying captivated us. Idaho is beautiful!

Very close to the red barn was a fishing hole. Yes, a fishing hole. Very Huck Finn. All 15 of us climbed over two rickety fences, crawled through barbed wire, and hauled our poles and worms to go a fishin'. We caught 14 rainbow trout, 9 of which we took home, cleaned, crusted in almonds and ate whole. Wowza, my friends. We are pretty hard core. You can tell by the way I'm holding my kill (as has been kindly pointed out to me several times). You can also tell by my tattoo. I gave my mom Jane Austin tattoos for Mothers Day and we all wore them to go fishing. Mine said, "Mr. Knightly", as in Emma's love interest. Like I said, we're pretty hard core.

Of course I am going to include this picture since my very attractive husband's muscles look very attractive in this lighting and against this mountainous backdrop. We rented a boat for the day and took everyone boating, tubing and, skiing (until my sweet sister-in-law had a rather unfortunate encounter between the force of the water and her hamstring). McCall, Idaho is the kind of place you hate a little because by experiencing it, the place you are forced to live gets a little uglier and more boring.

My littlest munchkin. Those curls and that he still likes to cuddle = Best Things Ever.

Our entire crew went white water rafting on the Salmon River! We dropped off the little kids and our parents at the 10-mile mark, before the waters got more rough. Then the rest of us took turns jumping out of the raft, swimming down the river, fighting with our oars and "riding the bull" of the raft through the rough waters. It was such a blast!

We left Idaho for my sister's house in Vancouver, Washington. We picked 15 pounds of blueberries with the kids but paused for a moment to stand in the blueberry field and blow dandelions like carefree little girls. Aren't we just the most precious?

Bowling: It's fun to spare! (I didn't want to be punny, but I couldn't help it. You understand.)

Portland, Oregon is a quick jaunt across the river, so we went over there as often as we could. You cannot be in the northwest and not get some hot brewed black deliciousness. I am sipping some of that amazing stuff as I write this, thank you so much.

We went to Oaks Park, a great amusement park that is over 100 years old. The rides are newer than that, however. I checked.

Lastly, I love this 3-D cement block wall in Portland. Love the colors. Portland even has cool cement blocks. It's that cool. I used this on my Facebook Page too. Until next time, northwest!

Well, I've told you about my trip and my kids are back in school. Looks like summer is over. (I'll pause here whilst we weep).

Time to get back to work creating fabulous spaces for my clients and maybe for YOU?! You've been putting it off but it is back-to-school time, the holidays are quickly approaching, and it is time to get it done. Let's do it! Message me and we'll get started tomorrow (or whenever is best for you, after you buy the mountain of school supplies).

While you're at it, see even more and Follow Me on Instagram!

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My Instagram: Northwest Edition