5 Things I've Been Loving

💐 Colorful flowers popping up all over the place- all around businesses, all over people's yards. 

🍎 Our emergency lunchbox... I now keep this full at all times- a filling bar, dried fruit, and nuts or crackers or something. If one of us has to leave the house unexpectedly we can grab it + whatever fruit is handy and boom, automatic snack plate lunch all set. 

💰 Prize money... I filled out the winter bingo card my library put out as an adult reading program and I won a $25 gift card! Reading does pay. Less than $1 a book, but still 😉 

👕 Crann Organics... My daughter got one of their sweatshirts for Christmas and my son just got a pair of their sweatpants. They both love their Crann items and I am now watching this company for coupon codes + sales! 

🎧 I've had great luck with podcasts lately and wanted to share Max Lucado on Read Aloud Revival 

Adventures in Boise- part 2

 

Day 4- We started this day with breakfast and a walk around the green belt behind our airbnb. 

We went to the Discovery Center with family and it was a big hit, the highlight of the trip for two of my kids. That month they had an impressionist art exhibit (Degas has always been one of my favorite artists so that was fun), fossils, simple physics, space, and a big LEGO area. 

We had a smoothie bowl lunch at Boise Juice Co (100% gluten free + vegan at some locations) where our whole party either chose the peanut butter bowl or the Chocolate Cherry Cashew bowl. Delicious! 

Then we headed downtown! 

 

Maybe it's my dad's construction background coming out but another thing I love on trips is admiring beautiful old architecture. My husband loves this now, too, which is so fun! We point out neat old buildings to each other as we drive/walk and marvel at the craftsmanship differences between then (arches, turrets, balustrades🏰⛪!) and now (tall rectangular skyscrapers 🏢🏬, fast, so we can move on to the next 🤑🤑🤑) 

Our main focus downtown was a set of sister bookstores. Rediscovered Books is a store full of new books and Once and Future Books is their used branch. We did leave the used bookstore with several children's books thanks to Nana. 

We made dinner in the Airbnb and it was a learning experience. The plan was to do Boise Juice Co for lunches and to alternate rice bowl dinners with our hashbrown taco dinner but then we saw a new, clean ingredient veggie burger and everyone wanted to try that instead. It was good (our new favorite, definitely recommend) but it was a lot more work / more time intensive to make those + fries and next time we'll stick to the plan. 

Hubs and I ended our night with two episodes of A Thousand Tomorrows. 

Day 5- We slept in, ate breakfast in the Airbnb, and all went to a park with a great playground. My husband and I enjoyed a Lime scooter date- so incredibly fun! I do recommend these, but I recommend a helmet. You can get going a lot faster than you might think. 

We again had lunch at Boise Juice Co. I opted for the Popeye smoothie but I found it to be so bad it was undrinkable! I'm a green smoothie girl and I add far more spinach and kale than most people but I still found it to be bitter, bitter, bitter. Fortunately they'd accidentally made an extra smoothie bowl so I just had that. Again we all had the peanut butter or chocolate cherry cashew bowl. 

We checked out VIP Games and then got several items from our lists at Half Price Books, a store we enjoyed in Texas. 

This night's airbnb dinner was another I find to be so simple + easy for feeding a crowd- hashbrown tacos! I dumped hashbrowns, salsa, canned beans (drained + rinsed), canned sliced olives (drained + rinsed), and leftover sauteed mushrooms + onions into a casserole dish, mixed, and baked at 350 until nice and warm. In the meantime I steamed broccoli, sliced avocado, and added a thin layer of cashew cream to all the tortillas. That's it! Warm hashbrown mixture plopped into tortillas, avocado slices for those who want them, steamed broccoli on the side. You could easily add meat + cheese for those who want it. 

Uno and Sorry were played and then we said our goodbyes, packed up the Airbnb, and finished A Thousand Tomorrows (loved the show!)

Day 6- Time to head hoooooome! 

We checked out of Airbnb and grabbed smoothies + bars to-go at Boise Juice (three of us had The Original and three had the DragonFLY, both were hits) and began the trek home! 

Idaho books we have loved...

Adults: Before I Called You Mine (Christian) // Beyond (Christian... I feel like this is more of a middle grade/YA book though) // I'll be Seeing You (Christian) // A Promise Kept (Christian)

Middle Grade: Running with Wolves (secular)

Picture books: Beauty and the Beak (secular) // Goodnight Idaho (secular, board book) // The Skydiving Beavers (secular)

Recent reads

📖 Catching the Wind (Christian, historical fiction, time slip)... I should be tired of WWII - journalist stories by now but I'm not! Melanie Dobson is one of my favorite WWII authors, too. 

📖 Long Way Home (Christian, historical fiction)... I'll start with the warning that there was a major focus on WWII tragedies + a character's depression, PTSD, and suicide attempt. This WWII story was a difficult read as a result but so good and well-done! 

📖 Searching for the Ark of the Covenant (Christian, nonfiction, history [kinda])... I loved this fascinating nonfiction and I am excited to learn even more about the ark of the covenant. I have so many thoughts and ideas about it! 

📖 An Unexplained Death (secular, nonfiction, true crime)... I got very curious about this true crime story and have read + listened to many interviews about it. This book was heavily focused on suicide. It's hard to say a true crime novel was good, given the subject matter, and I come to a different conclusion than the author because of other interviews paired with what's in the book, but overall I'd call it generally good. 

📖 When We Were Young (Christian, contemporary fiction)... This was my favorite "Baxter" book yet! I loved the influencer angle because it's something I think about so often! It's primarily about an unrelated couple who happens to know some of the Baxters and works very well as a true stand-alone for those who have never read the Baxter books. 

Weekend!

This has been a super busy season for us so I was determined to make this weekend a nice combination of productive + fun + relaxing in spite of a couple obligations. 

Highlights: Finding an outfit I like even though cozy sweater season is ending // Pizza-movie-night with Sgt. Stubby // The best weather for sitting outside in the shade during a phone call with extended family // making a decent dent in my big book labeling project while Hubby and I watched a movie // listening to a good audio book during my big cleaning time // got a restaurant in a bigger town to make us some delicious custom breakfast wraps (mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, potatoes, avocado, salsa, greens) // a beautiful walk down by the water // lasagna soup for dinner being a hit for the whole family // tea and a good book! 

Recently Watched

As always, we tried a few things not worth mentioning here. These were the shows and movies we found most interesting, inspiring, thought-provoking, etc. You can find more TV and movie posts here. 

📺 90 Minutes in Heaven (Christian, based on a book)... I remember liking this book (I have a real love for books about near death experiences) and have wanted to watch the movie since it came out. I'm so happy I finally did! 

📺 Aurora Teagarden Mysteries- A Bone to Pick // Real Murders // The Julius House // Dead Over Heels // A Bundle of Trouble  (secular, TV, cozy mysteries)... I'm so happy with these! Like a cozy mystery in movie form. My husband and I both really enjoy a good mystery (especially a show that's focused on one long mystery that unwinds over the whole season rather than a different mystery each episode) but it's so hard to find one these days that isn't full of sex and gore. I'm okay with my kids watching these two as younger teens and I will definitely watch the rest + other Hallmark cozy mysteries! 

📺  Ben Franklin's Bones (secular, documentary)... I have long been aware of the fact that multiple human and animal bodies were discovered buried under Ben Franklin's old house and there has been some speculation that he may have been a serial killer. This fascinating documentary addresses those remains and theories. I have lots of thoughts but they'll spoil things. Word of warning: organs, bones, and body systems are displayed from a scientific setting + there is reenactment of a medical act that may all be a bit much for younger/squeamish viewers. 

📺 Economic for Children: Saving, Spending, and Investing Money (secular, kids educational nonfiction)... Definitely a smidge cheesy but one of my kids was instantly inspired to make wiser money decisions. 

📺 The Hunger Games // Catching Fire // Mockingjay Part 1 and Part 2 // Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (secular, movie, dystopian)... A lot more violent than I remembered but goodness, so clever! I don't honestly think I'll pass this one on to my kids as teens. I still haven't decided how I feel about the final one, kind of a Snow backstory. It was well-done and held my attention but did I like it? I don't totally think so. Also, depressing to end with that one. 

📺 Inkheart (secular, family, fantasy)... I'm pretty sure I heard a quiet d-word and there was non-graphic combat violence but I was comfortable with all of it for a tween and think my kids will love this one in a couple years! 

📺 A Thousand Tomorrows (Christian, TV, based on a book)... Loved this six-episode miniseries and hope they put it out on dvd! Will share with the kids as teenagers. 

📺 Wonder Park (secular, movie, family)... Super sad beginning that made me cry but overall good. There was a moment that one character made a statement that would normally come before a curse word (I'm sorry I don't remember what!) but it's pretty rare to not see at least one thing that shouldn't be in a children's movie.