Updates to the 50 States Album

Trevor has added three new pages to his 50 State Album. Here's Virginia, from his March trip with his school. The trip included Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York also, but he'd already been to those states, so Virginia is the only new page.  

We just returned from Missouri and Kansas (as well as Idaho, but that wasn't a new-to-him state). Here are those pages:

While blogging and scrapbooking (and then blogging about scrapbooking!) are my preferred ways to document our trips, this simple format works well for Trevor. Slide in the postcard, write a paragraph and add a flag sticker, then choose one photo to represent the state. Quick and easy.

I absolutely love looking through Trevor's 50 States album. It's now 32/50 complete. You can see all 32 pages here, along with links to buy supplies to make your own album. Obviously, this idea isn't limited to the 50 states. Use it to document any sort of travels. Or, switch out the postcard for an invitation or a second photo and document pretty much anything else. It would be super cute to have an album about a child's birthday parties each year, or their Halloween costumes.

Family Cooking Competitions

As promised, I've finished organizing another category for my FUN WITH FOOD page. Presenting... Family Cooking Competitions!

Any guesses how many cooking competitions the deRosier family has done? Hop over to my Family Cooking Competitions page to find out! I've organized the page based around the Food Network show that inspired our competition... and ended up with a bunch that we came up with on our own. Reading these posts bring back lots of good memories of fun times and (usually) tasty food.

Ellia at 10

As hard as it is to believe my goddaughter Kylinn is 13, it's harder to believe that her little sister, Ellia, is 10. I was there when Ellia was born, which will always be special to me. Watching her grow up has been a delight.

Ellia at 10 (affiliate link)

Each year, it seems like one of the girls' layouts comes together much easier than the other. This time, Ellia's was the challenge. When I pulled the black of her outfit or her purple hair, the page was too dark and heavy for this happy, sassy, imaginative girl. The page worked so much better when I switched to the lighter background with pinks. 

Looking back at her 9 previous pages, I've used a lot of different colors and to capture expressive and creative Ellia as she's grown. But many of the words I've used to describe her have stayed the same from year to year, which is true for Kylinn and Trevor as well. It's so interesting to me that their personalities as preteens/teens are the basically the same as when they were toddlers.

Kylinn at 13

I gave my goddaughters their birthday layouts yesterday, so I can share them here now. Here's Kylinn at 13:

Kylinn at 13 (affiliate link)

I am proud of the teenager she's become. Kylinn is very interested in social justice and equality for all. She speaks up against injustice and is a kind and caring person. 

As always, I didn't look back at the previous layouts I've made for her until I finished this one. If I had, I probably wouldn't have chosen a purple color, since I've used some shade of purple on 6 of the previous 12 layouts! On the other hand, she does have purple hair and a purple tie in the photo, so the color scheme was pretty well set for me. I'm pleased to see that I haven't used this particular arrangement before either. There's only so many ways to put a title, one 4x6" photo, and list of adjectives on a 8x10" page. I'm very happy with how this turned out. 

Family-Friendly Things to Do in Boise, Idaho (Part 7)

This is the seventh and final post about our family's adventures in July 2019. If you haven't already, I recommend reading the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth posts about this trip. 

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After our week exploring Missouri and Kansas, we flew to Boise, Idaho for a family reunion. My parents and my sister's family live there now. My aunt, uncle, and cousins and their families drove over from Spokane for a long weekend.

The first morning we were there, my mom joined Steve, Trevor, and me to do the Boise Urban Adventure Quest. It started at the State Capitol.

The Quest took us by Freak Alley, JUMP, the Anne Frank Memorial, the Boise Art Museum, and the Basque Block.

  

  

We also passed by the library. Or, more accurately, the Library! The next time I'm in town, I'm going to visit the four branches to find the one with exclamation point shelves.

As always, we had great fun doing the Quest. It wasn't our best showing (2 mistakes) and our time was terrible (we stopped to tour JUMP, took photos at a bunch of places, and looked around a bit at other sites), but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. And it introduced us to places we didn't know existed that we'll explore further during future visits.

We finished the Quest a half block from Boise Fry Company, so that's where we had lunch. We've eaten there during both of our previous Boise trips, and it never disappoints. We did find it funny that we went all the way to Idaho and they had Heretic on tap... it's only a few miles from our house and hosts Steve's homebrew club meetings.

And check this out! Idaho potatoes, of course... but I spy California sweet potatoes. And the 'Ruddy Spuddy' boxes are labeled California Potatoes. Funny!

We spent the rest of the day hanging out with our extended family (19 people) at my sister's house. We played a bunch of games, indoors and out. That's my nephew, Timothy, with cousin Aiden on his back and cousin Lillian as his cornhole partner. 

Here are cousins Trevor, Ethan, and Aiden playing a non-standard version of cornhole while Lillian and Allison watch. 

My godson Teagan and my niece Allison both helped me work on a Diamond Art project (affiliate link here and throughout the post). Both kids are 6 and did a great job. 

Meanwhile, Timothy, Lillian, Trevor and Grandma played Harry Potter Labyrinth. We LOVE Labyrinth. It's one of our favorite games. 

We ate a lot, too.

On Saturday, we did a float trip on the Boise River. 

It's mostly relaxing, with bursts of excitement here and there. In addition to the excitement of the rapids, there was unexpected 'excitement' when my brother-in-law helped save a young girl who was not wearing a life jacket. He was injured in the process, but all ended well. Please, parents: insist your children wear life jackets, even if they're strong swimmers. And wear your own!

We stopped for lunch along the river.

In the afternoon, we returned to Kari's house for more food and family fun. And a group photo.

This Disney-themed Eye Found It game is great fun for all ages. 

Nertz is a family favorite, too. 

All too soon, it was time for us to head home. We had a fantastic time exploring Missouri and Kansas, plus returning to Idaho. This trip brings us up to 32 states... only 18 more to go! Follow the link to see our updated map, plus recommendations for all 32 states we've visited. Any guesses where we're headed next?!