Haiku

Lately, I've been suffering from

Lack of Creativity

....
blogging is turning into sort of a chore from all the many things I
MUST
write about......

but just
DON'T WANNA.


Instead I'll write you a poem.
In Haiku format, of course.





Gnome, gonna EAT YOU
Little nibbles from the top
Oh! Our Poor Gnome Friend










Thanks for the awesome and tasty gnome cookies, Mana, they were truly inspiring!

Fête Nationale

Happy Bastille Day!!!!!

Today is the French National Holiday and since I consider myself part (well, FRACTION) French through proxy (twice removed?)-- I'll be celebrating with Hi Suk and Jean Claude too.

Salut, Ronin's! Party Hard, my dears, Party Hard.

ONE YEAR AGO....

We were preparing for the greatest trip we've ever taken. And since summer has rolled around on us again, I realize (and Taylor and Ava) how much we MISS France. Here's just a few of the things we nostalgically swoon over while we're sitting around here in Rexburg.

Firstly and Mostly, we miss Hi Suk and Jean Claude... they are Hilarious and FUN. They are still 22 years old (in fact, I'm quite certain they are YOUNGER than most 22 year olds that I know). Adventurous, strong and still in LOVE... we miss our new "parents".

And Alexis, JC's son, is way cool... from his sweet specs all the way down to his awesome sandals from Spain.

In Southern France the countryside is lush, beautiful, and full of deep sighs of contentment.

Oh and Castles!! Like on every corner (even though there really are NO CORNERS in the country). They're as common as Grease Monkey's here in the States, but WAY more magnifique. I never got tired of looking at them.

The FOOD.
I know you knew there was gonna be a Food tribute... no use trying to surprise anyone there. But HONESTLY, I cannot say ENOUGH about the food we ate there. (what's that you say? I HAVE said enough? Pish-Posh)

Trying. To Hold. Back. Tears.


AAHHHHH!!! WAAAAAHHHH!!!! Can't do it... it's all too much! Sob...
OH I MISS the food.

Let's wipe our chins and our tears and bravley move on.


Rustic Charm... sigh.


Rustic Charm? Sigh?


Birthdays!!!
Crap, now that T's birthday is coming up again, what am I to do??? Brazil? Cancun? New Zealand? Rigby, Idaho? Suggestions?

Ava was the PERFECT age for this trip... it could NOT have been better in terms of her "moldy-ness" (and I'm not talking about the fuzzy green stuff) she was just so easy to please and could sleep anywhere... that made our outings very easy. Not to mention incredibly happy and easy to be around (versus these last few weeks of Terrible Two-isms! ha. ha. dry laughter.)

Dang, she was so small-- my wee little bebe.


Did I mention that she slept on the go... ?
Sweet Tender Mercies from Above.


Taylor and I have never done this much walking and this summer we realized how much we really wish we had all the great treks that we used to go on.


All those fresh food Markets! I really really miss going to those.


And all the Spectacular villages in the area-- you'll never get bored, EVER!
My favorite little village is... no, wait, I can't pick ONE!


Lissac sur Couze
I. MISS. the HOUSE.
Terribly.
The Ronin's home is picture-perfect.... oh how I MISS IT.
This was my favorite place to be... on the back patio, looking at JC's garden and pretending that we were the only people in the whole wide world... or just reading... usually just reading though.


Goofin'. Boy did we Goof a lot! I think I know where I get my shockingly, ridiculously, hilariously hilarious sense of humor from. I know, I'm a second-gen funny girl.

no... wait, THAT (along with NO apparent skill in the arts) was unfortunately NOT passed down to me. Not. Fair.


DOORS!
DOOOOOOORS!!!!!
I seriously can NOT get over the whimsy, fairy-esque doors they have in France.
One day, I'm gonna stick it to the Man (whoever that may be) and paint my door Frenchy Blue, or Whimsy Green or Fairy Red...
Mark. My. Words.



And NOW... A little jaunt through Paris
the most awesomest city in the wooooorld.
right behind Rock Springs, Wyoming.
HA, just making sure you were still paying attention.

(ps. stop scrolling up and looking at the food.... remember, we've MOVED ON)


Is it too cliche to say that I ADORE this city?
But I must be honest here and say that Taylor and I really did miss the wide open, lazy droll of magical Southern France. Paris does have a beat of it's own... a beat that we LOVED.


Just a few of the big ones... I know you've seen all of these before, but who doesn't like to revisit the glorious past?


Fine, Fine, I'll post another one of the food. (soooo exasperating!)


We did take a few breathers while sprinting around the city.


All that ART... art, art, art... EVERYWHERE!
Hello Crash Course in all things Fine and Cultured.
Amazing.


Celebrating our Four Years together!!!!
From the Top of the Eiffel Tower to a night cruise on the Siene... magical in every way.
(even the part where the entire boat and it's patrons started singing T Happy Birthday due to JC's sneaky and wily ways!! HILARITY)

Speaking of Celebrations:
Happy Happy Bastille Day!
Wishing we were on the Champs-Élysées with all the partiers!

Gros Bisous!! MWUAH

Trivia Question...

What's My Favorite Holiday?

Answer at the bottom...



On July 3rd, we started our Independence Day festivities at Rigby Lake. They held some sort of Freedom Festival that had vendors, live bands, even the Idaho Falls' Fire Department Bagpiping Boys came!

These Ol' Boys were there, willing to chat, shake hands and share stories.
We LOVE our Veterans.


I did a LOT of Photoshopping to this baby, but I wanted it to look timeless, classic, OLD.
I sort of love OLD things.
And Old Men... not the krumudgen-type, the sweet Grandpa type.

And what's a festival without FUNNEL CAKES...
even if they ARE mostly devoured ones


Ava taking in the live band.
They played 38 Special.
"Hold On Loosely"
Oh I LOVE that song.
And many other great 80's ditty's for that matter

Then NEXT MORNING we went to the lil' ol' Rexburg Parade with our neighbors and friends, the Kirato's. They're Andrew's parents-- you remember Andrew, Ava's boyfriend!

We had FUN

Especially when we saw this "beauty queen", er, um...

Prime spot for Parading

Ava waved to everyone from the local irrigation company float to anyone who owns a riding lawn mower...
seems like they just let anybody in these things!


This is Juliet.
She's our new friend we met at the Parade.
She sat with us and shared her hard-earned candy with Ava and Andrew.
Juliet is incredibly sweet and wanted to give us her cell phone number.
We told her we don't even own a cell phone.
But we decided to meet right at that same spot for next year's parade.
See you in a year, Dear Juliet!

Sweet Andrew, wish you could see his dance moves... he was definitely shaking his groove thang.
Ava dances like me... pump legs up and down, a spastic twitch of the booty, and finish strong with a sassy split-jump that's really only about 2 centimeters off the ground.
That's my girl.

After the parade we meandered through the park and what's a trip to the park without hitting up...

the HORSIIIES


That EVENING (after the whole family crashed for a 3 hour long nap... love naptime) we were invited to a friend's home in Idaho Falls. So GLAD Dylan invited us, he's got a terrific family and a beautiful home (full of photo opportunities... I was in heaven)


Ava and Dylan
a whole day of playing with Dylan, Ava was in Paradise!


And Dylan's sweet sisters were all so much fun to play with too... Ava was drunk with attention
I think Shallon was teaching Ava "L-7 Wienieee", can't learn that too soon, I say.


There was some of THIS at Dylan's house...



And THIS...


This too...

(badmitton, of course)


Isn't this picture-esque?

I walked around the corner to find THIS happening...

Lick of watermelon for YOU (the dog)...
Lick of watermelon for ME (the child)...
Lick for YOU...
Lick for ME...

You get it.
I gagged a little... but not until I snapped a picture.
THEN I gagged.


Such deliriously, amazingly, delicious food... and for some CRAZY reason, I didn't take any pictures but this!
Must have been too busy stuffing my face.
How's that for a mental image.




I'm telling you, Dylan's home is CHOCK FULL of great (wonderfully vintage) things to take pictures of- next time I go back (and trust me, we WILL be going back :) ) I'll be sure to venture out and do more clicking and clacking.


But I couldn't resist when I saw the HORSES.
These beaut's were screaming for me to take pictures of them (or Naying it... I know, I'm not funny)





Horses in LURVE.


Funny how Miz Lou can be Deathly afraid of small Shnauzers or Beagles but freakishly humongous beasts of burden? Nahhh... she likes to stick her hand up their nostrils.


I wish I took more pictures of the company (and the food, for that matter!) but we got talking so much that I just managed to slip in a couple.
The company was wonderful, I LOVE meeting new people... LOVE. IT.
(so does Ava... wonder where she gets it from?)


Only two of three Landeen sisters (Dylan's fam)
These girls are dang awesome, so darling sweet and very talented-- Ava ate them up. Alive.

Now, you know how people flippantly say, "It's such a SMALL WORLD, yadda, yadda, yadda".

WELL, my world just got SMALLER and here's my "Yadda, Yadda, Yadda" about that.

THIS Hot Mama is Dyllan's awesome Mom, Jennifer...

I know, she's super cute AND a mother of SIX (yes, SIX)
I'm blown away too!

Anyway, back to my Yadda, Yadda...
We got talking and it came up that I'm from Rock Springs and she's all, "REALLY? We lived there too!"
And if you're from Wyoming, it's a RULE that you automatically become Best Friends Forever with anyone else you come in contact with who might have lived there (no matter how short or long their stay). It's a Rule. I don't make 'em, I just follow.
Ok, I digress.
So, we get chatting up about where she lived...
BURR Street (I totally know where that is)
Her old Bishop (again, I totally know who he is too!!)
There were MORE and MORE people we both knew in common and the list was growing and growing...
She knew like ALL of my best friend's parents (the Higgin's, the Huntsman's, etc)
Jennifer Landeen even knew EXACTLY who MY parents are!!
and I quote: "Your dad was a foot doctor and your mom has red hair and sort of quiet?"
YES, YES, YES!!!!!!!
And further BLOWING MY MIND, she remembered exactly WHAT pews we sat in during church since we were in the same WARD and she remembers when my little bro and I were ADOPTED!!!!
I KNOW, it was INSANELY fun to play the "do you know" game and actually win for once!

So bottom line: This was Quite a day, Quite a day!!

After our terrific day we drove home just in time to catch the Rexburg fireworks.
I wanted to test out my camera on the fireworks, but decided that I would rather spend the last of this perfect day in a cozy, cuddly Ava sandwich with The Hubs.

What a glorious day.





Answer to the Trivia Question:
Fourth of July.
THAT is my favorite holiday.