The Finaus came to town Saturday evening! Manase had an emergency appendectomy Thursday night, but was tough enough to want to be in a car 4 hours to come visit us. We must be pretty amazing for him to want to do that...Saturday night we dropped all 3 kids off at the Bates' house so the adults could go to Buffalo Wild Wings in Idaho Falls. It was fun! The Finaus went to Sacrament meeting with us Sunday morning, then left Oliviana with us while Kristen and Manase went back to our house to relax. We just hung out Sunday, ate rolls, bratwurst, potatoes, and peach cobbler for dinner (it was raining so we couldn't go for a cookout, which was our original plan). Kristen brought a craft project idea she found in Family Fun, and helped Lauren and Oliviana with it.
(Emma had to go to a fireside about the law of chastity and pornography, which she admitted she had no idea what either of those things were...I just tell her not to touch boys and don't let boys touch her...the rest will be taught on a "need to know" basis.) We played Connect Four, Farkle and Blokus together and saw a side of Nase we haven't seen before, which was pretty fun. 
Monday we had a quick visit from a friend from our mission, Ron Richins. He's a landscape photographer and likes to come up this way to take pictures in Yellowstone and the Tetons. It was really fun to see him. While he was here, Kristen, Nase, Oliviana and Lauren went to the clubhouse and played around. Later we went to Craigos for lunch, then to Fat Cats and played arcade games and let the girls cash out their tickets for a bunch of crap that I'll just have to throw away. 
The Finaus left for home after that and we went to see "Prom" at the cheap theater. Don't make the same mistake we did! That movie was so boring and stupid! Even for a tween movie. Don't waste your time.
I went with my friend Kris to Portland to eat at a Czech food cart! I had the goulash. It was really good, but I think the Czech guy who owns it changed the food to appeal to the American palate. The goulash was spicy and strong-flavored (not a very Czech characteristic), and the other food was turned into sandwiches (fried cheese sandwich instead of just fried cheese, etc.).
We also went to a fancy chocolate shop where you sample all different kinds of imported chocolate in the form of drinking chocolate (like warm chocolate syrup) and chocolate bars. We tried spicy chocolate, cinnamon chocolate and some kind of dark chocolate. It was fun. One day I took Nanny to get her hair cut, and boy did it need it! Mom called her "Bo Jangles" because of how wild her hair was. I made her pose for the "before" and "after" shots (she has taken to not wearing her glasses and I don't like it. Mom said old people need some kind of barrier between the world and their old wrinkled faces...I have to agree):
My mom's sister Bunny and Bunny's husband Dennis came up from Springfield, OR to visit Nanny and Mom on Saturday. (I'm always fascinated by their lack of teeth...they have about 8 teeth between them.) At one point I was sitting in my parents' living room with them while they reminisced, laughed and shared the crazy antics of present and past family cats. 
After the fun times with Bunny and Dennis, Mom and Dad and I took a drive up to Ridgefield to visit the National Bird Refuge. My parents have enjoyed driving around that place and spotting birds and other wildlife for years and I had yet to experience it. We spotted owls, cranes, herons, turtles, nutria (they're water mammals that look like enormous rats), geese with babies, and lots of other random birds. I'm not a fan of birds, but it was kind of interesting to see so much wildlife in one place. 
The top picture is a white nutria...they're usually brown, but I spotted this ugly white one. I'm guessing it's an albino. The bottom picture is a "yellow-headed blackbird." Creative name.
This is me, being handi-capable and entertaining my parents in my mom's borrowed wheelchair (which she never actually used or needed).
Nanny has been at a rehabilitation hospital for more than a month. I spent a lot of time visiting and/or transporting her with her oxygen tank. I was really happy to get to spend so much time with her.
The last night I was in town Heidi, Jason, Chloe, Lindsey, John, Katie and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings in Vancouver. It's one of my favorite places to eat when we're in Las Vegas and I was excited that there's one in Vancouver now. (And one just opened in Idaho Falls!!)
On the way to the airport we got a flat tire, so Heidi came and picked me up while Dad stayed with the car and a nice neighbor changed the tire for him. My plane was delayed in Portland so I was late to catch my connecting flight in Salt Lake, which meant I missed Lauren's Lewis and Clark play that night. I was so sad that I found a bathroom stall and cried for a while (not really my style, but I really hated to miss such a big deal for Lauren...she was fine though), then the flight I finally got on in Salt Lake was delayed, but I did walk in my front door around 10:00pm that night. Such a long day, but I was really grateful to have that time to spend with Mom and Dad and everyone else. We're looking forward to visiting in July!
The Christensens cooked foil dinners and we roasted bratwurst. Heidi had brought frozen fruit pops for dessert, and we had brought peeps and graham crackers for Peeps S'mores, so we had 2 desserts. 
The big highlight of the evening was spotting two female moose run past our campsite toward the river. When they first showed up, they stopped and looked at us long enough that we all stood up and started backing away, in case they wanted to run our direction. Later, something spooked them at the river and they ran back the way they came, so we saw them twice. In addition, we saw a huge dead porcupine, saw hawks and eagles, a cottontail rabbit, a tiny mouse near our campfire and heard tons of coyotes howling nearby.
Emma used the camera to take lots of random pictures of the kids playing (they took off to explore right when we arrived, but the moose later appeared right near where the kids had been playing, so maybe we'll keep them a little closer next time!!). Ketti and Lauren were attempting to bring "seaweed" back to the fire to burn, and Jens was finding the biggest roasting stick he could in order to roast his Peeps. 
Emma and Landon built this awesome planter box on Saturday together! Because we can't plant anything in the flower beds around our townhouse, Emma drew up some plans for Dad to help her make this planter box. She is going to plant a couple of tomato plants and some basil...at least that is today's plan. It may change as time goes by. I think it turned out beautiful!
We had so much ham left over from Easter that I made a pan of rolls to eat ham sandwiches with. I can't help taking a picture almost every time I make rolls because I think they are so pretty when they are done. Self-indulgent, I know.
This is Lily...my new favorite 1-year old. I thought it was funny that she had stuffed her mouth full of crackers and was still trying to smile at me. The older girls got jealous and tried to do the same thing, but I had to tell them it wasn't as cute when you know better. (I know I'm mean, but it's true...) 