Labor Day Weekend

We went camping with friends up in Riggins, ID for Labor Day and we had an ABSOLUTE BLAST! Good weather, good friends, good food, and INCREDIBLE s'mores! Lara bought some seriously huge marshmallows and we had fun roasting them over the fire. Here's Matt after he took a bite:
And me mid-bite. I felt like a little kid again because I couldn't help getting it all over my fingers and face.
Gavin and Anna around the fire, getting lunch ready.

Gavin decided he wanted to swim across the river and climb the mountain. He's so adventurous!

You can barely see him across the water, but he's there.

It was such a fun trip. We've really missed our friends Matt and Lara since we left DC, so it was nice to meet up again. It was fun to see the Kirkham's too.

We had a really nice campsite neighbor who let us each take a ride on his 4-wheeler, and they showed us how to pan for gold and let us use their equipment. It was hard work, but we did get a couple of flakes of gold--real gold--right there in the river! It was fun to learn. I had one whole speck of gold in my pan and I was pretty proud of myself.

Well, we're back in Idaho again. It was such a wonderful summer and I definitely miss the east coast, but I'm glad to be around family again. It's good to be back.

Gavin and I have had lots of fun the past few weeks. Now that we have STUFF again (we lived in an unfurnished apartment all summer to cut costs and simplify) we have taken a couple fun camping trips. The first one was up around Idaho City. It was gorgeous. We camped by the river and enjoyed exploring and looking for wildlife. The fish really liked Gavin and kept biting at his legs. There is a video at the bottom. Even though I loved and miss the lush greenery of Virginia, Idaho is beautiful too...even if Boise is a desert. :) Here are some pictures from our little trip.

Gavin was adding to a little dam someone had built.

Despite all the rocks and twigs and stickers, Gavin is still barefoot. But that's a given if you know him. :)

Gavin is the best person to go adventuring with! I get excited over every little thing I see and he just laughs and gets excited with me. I'm so grateful to live in such a beautiful world with so much to see and discover, and to have such an incredible person by my side to discover it with.