Our 4th of July Vacation

We started our vacation by having a combined yard sale at our house with my sister, sister-in-law and best friend Annalissa. I decided to put all my Scentsy inventory out on a table to hopefully get rid of some of it because it was outgrowing the book shelf I store it on, well by the end of the day I had sold about 90 percent of my inventory on top of everything else we sold. At the beginning of the day I figured I would make about 100 bucks but at least I would be rid of a bunch of the junk we have been storing and moving for years - it was quite a shock when we tallied everything up at the end of the day and I had managed to bring in $581.00! I couldnt believe it! Granted about 75 percent of that was Scentsy, but hey, tha'ts alright - more money to spend on our vacation!

We didn't have a whole lot planned for our vacation this year, we just needed some time together away from work and all the stress, so we decided to go camping! Yes, that's right, the two least outdoorsy people in both our families, went camping! We bought a Coleman instant tent, sleeping bags, the works! The first "camping" trip we went on was just the two of us and the dog. We drove up to Riverside campground in Island Park, found a perfect spot and set up camp. We got up there about noon and it was so stinking hot all day! We walked down along the river, took a nap, read books, played cards, and just hung out all day. It was really nice and relaxing except for the stifling heat. Around 7:00 we decided to start roasting some hot dogs for dinner so we gave the dog a bone to chew on while we were busy with dinner. Before we knew it there were bugs all over her! We tried swatting them away but they kept trying to burrow down in her fur. Then we noticed some big red circle bite marks under her chin, and then on her stomach, and then her legs and her armpit and then around her eyes. Turns out they were fleas! I felt so bad for her and was worried they would make her sick or infest us and all our stuff so we picked them all off her, put out the fire, packed up camp and drove home at 10:00 that same night! We bathed her with flea shampoo, gave her a lemon bath, and sprayed her down with flea spray. Thank goodness we got all the fleas off before we came home, but she still wound up with about 20 - 30 bites on her little Shi Tzu body. :(  So camping trip #1 was pretty much an epic fail but at least we got to enjoy the great outdoors for a day.

Over the next couple of days we spent time with each other and family, we took my niece and nephew to Rigby Lake to go swimming, had a movie marathon, ate some good food, wound up having to buy 4 brand new tires for car, and eventually wound up at camping trip #2.

For the second camping adventure of the week we went up to Moody with my parents and my sister Amanda and her three kids. It was so much fun! We had my parents big trailer to escape from the heat, and 4-wheelers to ride plus great company, good food and lots of laughs! We finally got to sleep in our brand new tent and sleeping bags and I have to say it was a success! We had a ton of fun, but man were we happy when we finally got home and took nice long showers!

Here are a few of the lessons we learned during our camping adventures:

• 1. Don't go camping before 5pm at the earliest unless you have something to keep you busy. It can get VERY boring. 
• 2. Don't camp where there are only Lodge Pole Pine trees. There will not be any shade. 
• 3. Maizy needs her own chair - She is kind of prissy and refuses to lay in dirt, and most grass, so unless you want her in your lap all day, she needs her own chair. 
• 4. Coconut scented sunscreen defeats the purpose of bug spray. 

Then on Monday, our last day of vacation and the 4th of July we went down to the Freedom Celebration on Memorial Drive and checked out all the vendors and food trucks. We didn't really have any plans for the day except to watch the Idaho Falls fireworks, so when we got a call from my brother Justin inviting us to Rigby Lake for swimming and hamburgers we welcomed the idea! We donned our swimming suits and went to Rigby Lake for the second time this week and had a blast with my brothers family and then ate some delicious burgers my brother made for us! Later that night we met up with my brothers family and some other friends on the greenbelt along the river to watch the fireworks - which were awesome and we had an amazing view and plenty of room to spread out! Minus the hour it took us to get home afterwards, normally a 15 minute drive, I would say it was an amazingly fun vacation and 4th of July! I love spending time with family and it was great to have so much time off from work! I am so grateful for the opportunity we had to take such a long vacation together and I can't wait for the next one!