The first weekend of July we took a mini vacation to Idaho Falls. We left after Joe got out of work at noon on the 1st and arrived around 6pm. The kids were so excited to stay in a "hotel", too much watching of disneys Suite Life. We checked in and went on a couple dinner date with our great friends, the Wiricks and enjoyed a great gluten free sushi dinner. I was so stuffed! Totally worth it though. Saturday morning I went on one of the most beautiful bike rides I have been on with our friend Brady. Half of the ride was uphill, but it was all worth the pain when we got to the top to see the glorious scenery. The Tetons were far off and amazing. Everything was so green and just perfect.
After the ride I met Joe back at the Hampton and he already had the kids at the pool, I love my man! We had some fun playing in the pool and then we got ready and took the kids to see Kung Fu Panda 2. The kids loved it and I of course fell asleep. I was super tired from the early morning ride. Then we walked the mall and bought a great GF book, Cooking for Isaiah, I recommend this for ALL newbies in the gluten free world! It makes everything easy and not so expensive. The trial and error has been done for you.
Later we went and register for the Fire cracker 5k, which would be on the 4th of july! I signed myself and my 3 older kids up for the race. They were stoked for their 1st race!!
Sunday we went to church and then enjoyed a great day of driving and visiting different scenic spots in eastern Idaho. We even ventured into Yellowstone!
Monday morning. We got the crew up at 6, ate I lite breakfast and went to the race. The kids were nervous and asked a million questions. I told them to stick together and have fun. The race started and we all stayed togehter for about half a mile. Then the boys wanted to take a breather so they told me to go on. I wished them luck and kicked up a notch. I almost always find a person about my same speed and stick with them, so that's what I did. She was really great, we played cat and mouse for the majority of the race and about a 1/2 mile to the end she started to sprint a bit and that's when my competive drive came out. There was no way she was going to beat me. I started my sprint to the finish and left her behind. Joe was there with the 3 younger kids taking pics. I saw the time and had a bout 15 secs until 27 minutes, so I pushed even more and maneuvered my way past people. My official time was 26:46! Hello! I was so happy :)
The boys finished at 40 min with a sprint to the end and smiles on their faces. Joe said they didn't even break a sweat. Cheyenne was 3 minutes behind them and finished strong! I was happy and proud of my kiddos! I think we found yet another family activity to do together! My step dad suggested having them race everyday and getting little awards for them, I like his thinking!
After the race we ate a big breakfast, we were all done by 8:30, took showers, checked out of our room and we surprised the kids with a gift from their gramps and grandma to see Transformers 3.
The day ended with a yummy BBQ and fun fireworks with our friends, the Wiricks. We hit the road that night with the kids tuckered out and enjoyed a quiet ride back to Boise.
You might wonder how we ate the whole weekend. Well before we left I made all of our dinners and put them in foil containers. I bought snacks and lunch items and planned for one meal to be eaten at a restaurant. Total money on food for 4 days on the road was $150. We stayed at the Hampton, which provided our breakfast. We had plenty of GF options to choose from. I also booked our room on Priceline which saved us a ton on our room! It was a lot of hard work, but having a big family is expensive so every penny counts. The pro in making our food was I knew exactly what was in it and didn't have to worry about gluten. The pizza restaurant we went to was also very careful in preparing our food and not cross contaminating, making sure to use different gloves, tools, and pans.
