Random Pictures - The Last Installment of Idaho

Hey! The title to this post sounds like an episode from the Star Wars Saga!

Anyway- Here are a few random shots from the trip. No explanations needed.

This is a picture mom took of us walking through the mall in Idaho Falls. We had an even cuter one, the only problem was mom didn't realize she took the picture while we were walking right in front of Victoria's Secret. It ended up being a semi-inappropriate picture. He he.

Mom's great idea

Mom had this wonderful idea. "All four of my kids are together and I want to get a nice picture." That's a great thought but she might want to take away the "nice" from that sentence. She can get a picture of her four kids together, maybe not a "nice" one, but she'll sure get a picture. Ha ha.

(FYI: The comentary for each ridiculous picture is written UNDER the picture)

Okay. . .We did want a couple of silly "serious" shots.

Sarah's got a half smile in this one, Philip kind of creeps me out, Emily is on the verge of tears only because Ethan has started petting her head.

There's more than a couple of issues with this one. Sarah's pretty much on the way to a real smile, Philip's spread eagle, Emily is being full on attacked by the gorilla named Ethan sitting next to her.

Okay. . .Sarah's pretty much sick of all the nonsense, Philip's chattin' it up, Emily's afraid to even move, (by this point she's asked Mom several times if she could sit over by Sarah instead of Ethan) and Ethan's finally got his attention on something in the corner of the room. I think a bug flew by and he got distracted.

This was the first "good" take. Yeah, it's all good except for the fact that Philip doesn't know when to stop! :)

Okay, we've got a couple of good ones. (Except for the fact that Sarah still looks like a mess. She threw up like 8 times since midnight the night before these pictures were taken. Something didn't sit well with her stomach. She has vowed to never eat at Craigo's or Winger's again.) :)

Then we had a photo shoot with mom in the mix. Cute idea except Philip couldn't quit "spanking" Mom. He looks pretty occupied, doesn't he? Kind of creepy, in a silly sort of way.

This one would be cute except for the obvious fact that Philip never knows when to be serious.

This is pretty much the best shot of the whole night.

And then someone has to go and ruin it.

This is what you get. . .

This is what you get when you leave Sarah and Emily in the car alone with a camera.

What else is there to say?

More Idaho

On Saturday, we woke bright and early. I mean, come on, we had more shopping to do with Tracy! We picked up Tracy from her hotel and drove over to Rexburg to meet Brittney. All along the way mom kept saying, "Okay. . .this is really freaking me out. It's just not right to be here in Idaho and have Tracy in the car!" Not a joke, she said it probably 8 times. :) Of course we did some shopping at the local craft store where, yes, there was plenty of fabric. Emily decided she wanted to make a cute rag quilt with some "sock monkey" flannel. It's going to be adorable.

Philip met up with us at Porters. He and Kaylee did a little shopping of their own while us girls shopped around the scrapbooking and fabric department. As Mom and Tracy were cracking up and nearly knocked over a fabric display and Sarah was trying to buy a giant 5 gallon barrel of buttons (and ask for a discount none-the-less), just guess who pops his head around the corner? That's right. Philip. He told us we were being way too loud because he could hear us on the other side of the store. All mom could muster through the laughter was, "Does this bring back any fond memories, Philip?"

Tracy and Brittney were almost late for the Mother-Daughter luncheon at BYU so Sarah had to take them. Of course, the first blizzard of the year decided to arrive the second they were on the road. Sarah got them to BYU safe and sound, but then realized she had no clue how to get back to Porter's. I mean, who the heck names their city streets "South 2nd West" or "East 3rd North". Really!!! Who in their right mind would do that? Well, Sarah made it back safe and sound but missed the turn for Porter's, reversed in the middle of the street and almost got ran over by an Idahoan pick-up truck. Don't worry. The car is safe. :)

After Porter's, Philip, Kaylee, Mom, Sarah and Emily went to Craigo's for lunch. It was waaaaay crowded. But the food was sure tasty.

Just a cute picture of Emily. :)

Of course, we couldn't get through a meal with Philip without him chewing on his straw. He's done that since he was little and clearly nothing has changed!

Here's Philip returning to the table informing his family the pizza is all gone.

After lunch we went to Philip and Kaylee's apartment. Boy, it was sure adorable. All neat and clean and perfect! (We wish we took a picture of it!)

Tracy called a couple hours later wondering if we wanted to have dinner with them at Winger's. How could we pass up another meal with Brittney and Tracy!?!

Philip and Kaylee (well, mostly Philip) could not behave. We put our name down and were supposed to have a 10-15 minute wait. We decided it was tolerable and Mom and Tracy sat down on a bench at the front of the restaurant. There wasn't enough room for the rest of the group to sit, so they we stood by the door. Ten minutes into our wait time, we were getting pretty antsy. Sarah dared Brittney to say "Tracy - Party of 7! Your table's ready!" Brittney wouldn't do it but of course Philip said he'd do it. He'll rise to any occasion to be silly. He lowered and sort of muffled his voice while he said it. Mom popped right up and said, "Oh! Tracy party of 7! Did you hear that Tracy? It's us!" It was so funny we were busting out at the seems.

Winger's has popcorn as their free appetizer. Not quite the nicest thing to have right before dinner, but it sure is pretty creative!

But of course, when you have a party of 7 that can't fit in one booth and you have plenty of popcorn at your fingertips, what do you get? That's right. . .a popcorn fight. Philip started by throwing a piece of popcorn over the booth divider. The next thing you hear is, "HEY! Who did that?!" Then, we get popcorn thrown at us. One thing lead to another and. . .well, you get the point. We were probably so close to getting kicked out of the restaurant, but luckily we had a nice waiter.

Sarah was really sad that we only had a day with Tracy and Brittney. It felt like nothing had changed since they were little. Sarah loves Brittney just as much!

We'll have more to post later!

We're back!!!

During the long drive to Idaho we were so looking forward to seeing our family and having fun. This trip was so jam packed there was hardly any time to sit and rest.

We couldn't believe Tracy was going to be in Idaho the same time we were! Kind of freaky! Mom kept saying, "I can't believe we get to see Tracy right after our California trip! It's just like Christmas!" The second we arrived at Ethan's we called Tracy. Well. . .I stand corrected. . .Tracy called us Friday mid-morning to see where we were. Then, we called Tracy in the afternoon about 2 or 3 hours before we got to Idaho Falls. Then we got another call from Tracy and then. . .surprise. . .we called Tracy again. Finally, we were in town and made plans to meet at Johnny Carino's. (Our favorite restaurant in Idaho Falls. I swear, they need to make one of these out here in Hillsboro. I mean, we've got a thousand Jack in the Box's and Taco Bells, why not a Johnny Carino's?)

And what kind of visit with Tracy would this be without a little shopping? (Yep, we hit the local Wal-Mart.) (And yes, I know you're wondering who in the world brings their camera into a Wal-Mart. The answer. . .yours truly. . .the dysfunctional Rayner family.)

I really think Ethan was starved of attention. He would never do this in public if he didn't want mom's attention.

Little Andrew and Mikaela were so adorable. Even though we were walking through Wal-Mart for 2 hours they never once fussed. (Although I think it helped that Ethan was going to buy Andrew a little "NASCAR" race car.)

And what trip would be complete without extreme laughter? I could hardly find any pictures with these two NOT laughing. They have got to grow up! :)

P.S. Tracy, Tracy, Tracy (tsk, tsk, tsk) - I'm still reading "50 years of Marriage." Yeah. . .you know what I'm talking about! Get your act together!