Life in North Idaho

france trip: day 5

2012-01-25T19:19:00.000-08:00

Monday morning we caught an early train south, five hours to Nice. It was so cool to watch the countryside change from green and soft to dry and rocky. I loved seeing the villages all tight and compact then miles and miles of pasture all around. I remember my first glimpse of the Mediterranean. I could not believe I was really in the south of France! A true dream come true.
A sign we saw as we were walking to our hotel. That's my girl!!

This is the main street leading straight to the sea.
Pizza for lunch. Since Nice is so close to the border there are a lot of Italian influences around. Adaline and Jodie made me laugh. They loved this restaurant! We ate here for lunch two days in a row. Here is our picture menu.

Mmmmm. That green stuff is not guacamole. It is olive tapenade. Delicious.
Ada was obsessed with this chocolate mousse. She ate it so fast we couldn't get a picture of it.
It was my lucky day. Another antique market set up on one of the streets down town. Did I mention how much I love old things? Especially old French things sold on the street a block away from the Mediterranean Sea? Ada took many more photos while Jodie and I shopped. She was composing some pretty interesting pictures.

I really wish I had bought this clock.

Finally, the sea!!
The water was just a little chilly, just cold enough to think, I'm just going to get my toes wet. Then your feet are numb and you creep farther in. Pretty soon you're thinking, Why didn't I just bring a towel! I always end up getting in anyway!

The beach was all rock. It was very beautiful but not very comfortable.

On our way back to the hotel. I hated leaving the water but I was ready for some rest.
Another carousel, this one is two levels. Really interesting.
Tucked in for the night. Ada doing her homework. Jodie checking in with Jared. In Paris Jodie had her own room. It was much more fun having her stay with us at night.

france: day 4

2012-01-20T08:17:00.001-08:00

On Sunday we went to church. What a memorable experience. Sister missionaries met us at the door and immediately escorted us to Primary to get Adaline situated. The sisters were both from the States and it was so nice to speak English (and be understood). Jodie and I decided we wanted to stay in Primary too, so we sat in little chairs around a table with all of the other children. All 4 of them, 5 counting Ada. Crazy. There were two kids, maybe 3 and 5 years old and another boy, probably 10. Another 10 year old boy came in a little late. The first boy had been having to read and answer all the questions so when the other kid arrived he looked so relieved I laughed. There was a full Primary presidency. 4 women plus a music lady all teaching and clucking around these children like mother hens. It struck me the individual attention and instruction these kids get every Sunday. I'm sure they need it. They invited Adaline to say the closing prayer.

Next was Sunday school. The kids had an amazing teacher and one of the presidency members joined us. The teacher spoke English really well. She would say something in French, then in English, so we were completely involved in the lesson. She had the kids acting out scripture stories. At one point someone was standing on a table pretending to lift a sick person into the church to see the Savior, or however the story goes. What a wonderful woman!!

What I remember most about Sacrament meeting is the music. The familiar sounds with different words attached. First, I just sang the English words quietly. They were familiar hymns so I knew at least the first verse. Then I realized I had an opportunity to try and figure out how these stinking words I had been trying to read for days actually sounded. The French language really is beautiful especially set to music. I loved trying to sing in French.
Getting ready for the day.
I had never been to church in a place that was not a free standing building. This was like walking into an office building.
After church we walked to Luxembourg Gardens. On the way we saw beautiful displays in the storefront windows. Chocolate eggs and flowers everywhere. We stopped in a neat old church that had some interesting features. The picture below is one of my favorite treats. Brioche with big chunks of sugar. Soooo tasty!!
After church we walked to Luxembourg Gardens. I had never been before so it was such a wonderful surprise. I absolutely adored it. I read in a guide book that they have pony rides so we set off to get Ada in a saddle. It turns out Luxembourg Gardens is the place to be on a beautiful spring Sunday afternoon. I think I saw some forearms, even a few shoulders. So interesting, in the rest of the city everyone wore lots of layers. At least 90 percent of the people had coats and scarves on the whole time we were in Paris. It was so funny because the weather really was wonderful, maybe in the mid 60's. There were chairs all over the park with people laying out and enjoying the sunshine. I wish I had taken a picture of everyone lounging around.

Beautiful Palace. There was a place to rent sailboats to float in the "basin". Along with the 80 year old sailboat came a long pole to push it around with. My favorite part of the whole day was watching Adaline run around, her hair blowing in the wind, playing with the boat in the water while I sat in the sun.

This is an incredible statue. In a city full of art, this stands out as really magnificent. It is called Homage to Delacroix by Jules Dalou
We took lots of pictures of deer and elk to show Jacob.
We finally found the pony rides. The Gardens are immense with lots of different activities for families. This is a very sweet donkey. He carried Adaline with quiet dignity.

The trees were dropping their blossoms. How pretty.

Cherry glace. Very tart!
When planning our trip I knew we would only have time for one art museum. I let Adaline decide between the Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay. She did some research and told me she liked the Impressionists. Yay! That is where I wanted to go also. We all sat on this bench for a long time just relaxing and enjoying each other's company . We did lots of speculating about that clock for some reason. It is pretty big and beautiful, much more interesting in person. The wall panels provided some good conversation too. I think we were almost rummy, going on and on about those things. It was funny. Unfortunately, we couldn't take photos anywhere else. The art in there is inspiring. That is an understatement I guess.

Dinner at a little cafe. Poulet and frites for Ada and Jodie. Another Croque Monsiuer for me. Adaline became obsessed with Orangina. It is like carbonated orange juice. yummy!

View of Notre Dame from our cafe.

Some restaurants had their meat cooking on display. Notice the tray with veggies cooking in the meat drippings. That is either delicious or disgusting, I can't decide.

There were people walking around with little leafy branches all weekend. We were intrigued. We finally put together that it was Palm Sunday but we had no idea where the branches were coming from. We passed this church yard on our way home for the night. I really wanted a branch of my own.

france: day 3

2012-01-18T18:55:00.000-08:00

We stayed at a really cute place called Hotel 3 Colleges in the Latin Quarter. Perfect price and perfect location.

View out our window.

We had some bare breasts on an otherwise lovely lady that kept making us giggle, so we covered them with my shirt.

A bright and clean bathroom with a little bathtub. I love a bath in those mini tubs!

Breakfast pastries in the Metro. Mmmmm.

We loved these moving walkways.
This was our shopping day. We went to two different flea markets. This one is Vanves, it is my favorite. It runs on a sidewalk in a straight line forever. I'm not sure the length, maybe a half mile? Anyway, tons of cool stuff and great people. The vendors were very nice and some spoke English. If they didn't, they would punch the price of the item into their calculator and show us. Ada bought some pretty earrings from this woman. She did it all by herself. She wasn't timid at all to try to speak the little french she knew to make the deal. When she wasn't practicing her french, Adaline was taking mass quantities of pictures. I indulged myself and posted way too many of her flea market shots. I just couldn't help myself.
This man was very sweet. Ada was looking at some weird bugs in a resin cube and the guy just gave them to her. He said she was too beautiful to take her money or something cute like that. We had wonderful experiences similar to that our whole trip. None of the French snobbery you always hear about.
Notice the reflection of the tree.
Lots of taxidermy. She took a picture of every single one at the market.
Artemis is her favorite.

I really love this plate.
Grandma Borg has this at her house in Idaho. How bizarre to find in Paris.
Ada desperately wanted this long white dress.
Love this picture!

The honey buckets over there were super deluxe. After you exit, the thing does a spray down inside so it is completely sanitized before the next person goes in.
lunchola.
The next market we went to was St-Ouen, the largest flea market in the world. Just so you know- I dream about these places.
I found some cute plates in this shop.
We were watching an episode of House Hunters International a couple weeks ago and we saw this piano. It was very exciting for us.

In the metro again to Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur.
Montmartre is a great neighborhood. It is very artsy and has lots of cool shops and grocery stands like this. These are the best strawberries I have ever eaten! We bought some on the way up the hill to Sacre Coeur, ate them all in about 5 minutes, then nearly had an anxiety attack trying to find the same street on the way back down so we could buy more.
Glace, french ice cream. So beautiful, so intensely flavored, so smooth so delicious.
On the steps of Sacre Coeur. I love this church. It is newer than most but the mosaics are so incredible. The priests inside were trying very hard to keep reverence inside. No photos allowed, they didn't even want anyone to talk. In contrast, there was a super dance party going on outside. The dancers were extreme hip hop stunt guys. Very interesting. (said with an eyebrow lift)

I'm pregnant here remember.
Jodie would get very excited when we passed a chocolate shop.
More of the mind boggling strawberries.

We wanted to check out the famous Champ-Elysees. We looked in some expensive shops, then the Arc du triomphe.
We were tired after our long day. We found a grocery store and bought bread, cheese, salami and this amazing vanilla custard and had a picnic dinner on the counter provided. It was probably the best dinner we had during our stay in Paris.

france trip: day 2

2012-01-18T11:16:00.001-08:00

Day 2 we arrived in Paris 8:30 am. We tried to sleep on the plane so we would be ready to get after it once we arrived. Sleep didn't really happen but with a fresh mouth, adrenaline kicked in and we were going.

We took the train to our hotel, dropped our stuff and had to eat something yummy. Crepes for Ada and Jodie. A ham and cheese omelette for me. That omelette was one of the best things I ate our whole trip!

We set off to explore the city. The Place St-Michel was near our hotel. This fountain is very cool and a great landmark. This first day in Paris I was moved by how Adaline seemed to belong here. She looked and behaved in such a way that I couldn't stop photographing her.

This building was another landmark that we used all the time. Funny the relief I would feel when it would come into view and now I can't remember what it is called.
What can I say about Jodie? We just love her. She has three adorable little boys at home but no girls to go on a mommy daughter trip with, so we invited her to come with us. Plus she is so fun and was in charge of communications for the trip. A very big job.

There is a great flower market near Sainte-Chappelle where we wandered around for awhile. We ended up going back there at the end of our trip for an owl made of bark that Ada wanted to bring home. Below are pics of the windows at Sainte-Chappelle. They are magnificent!

When Jacob and I visited here last October, This area of the chapel was under construction. They did a beautiful job restoring it. No pretty pictures outside Sainte-Chappelle, it is under going restoration as well. The Notre Dame is very impressive. Ada took all of these photos except the first. It was fun to see what she thought was photo worthy. Here are just a few.

Guess what? We are tired here. Most all of the restaurants in Paris have outdoor seating, some with glass covers like this. Many restaurants have their restrooms in the basement. You walk down these narrow, sometimes twisty staircases and there you go. This restroom was especially pretty. The doors on the left are old phone booths. Very cool.

Croque Monsieur for Ada. After lunch we jumped on the train to see the Eiffel Tower. It does not disappoint. The lines for the elevator to get to the viewing decks were very long. We talked about walking up the stairs but decided we were too tired. I've seen the Eiffel Tower three times now. If I ever get a fourth, I'm going up.

Never too big for a carousel ride. All of these horses had tires for back legs.
Jodie found free WiFi near this gnarly old tree in the park by the Eiffel Tower. Yay!

france trip: day 1

2012-01-18T10:58:00.001-08:00

My friend Emily just inspired me to finish blogging about the amazing trip to France Adaline and I took in the spring. We flew to Seattle then straight to Paris, 9 hours. I'm posting by day, so this first day was all about anticipation! Snowbell was the lucky animal that made it into the carry-on.

young family reunion

2011-12-13T12:15:00.000-08:00

After the rafting trip we all met up at Jared and Jodie's house. We chatted and ate and of course looked at pictures of the day's adventure.

Emmett and Alice

On Saturday we all went to the Lowder's to enjoy a day of FAMILY FUN!! It was a thoughtfully planned day with tons of activities and opportunities to reconnect with everyone.

All the Young kiddos together with their mom.

Hazel and Logan in the bouncy house

Minute to win it

lounging

One of the auction tables. Our family donated over 2,000 dollars for our two nephews who have MD. We have such kind and generous people in this family.

Lovely ladies

Little ones kept in place

Grandma Young with two of her strapping lads, Robert and Jacob

The bottomless cookie jar was a main attraction. There were a LOT of people eating a LOT of cookies ALL DAY!

Everyone had fun getting wet. Even James (who is being tossed in the picture above) was feeling really confident. In fact, we had a little miracle happen. I was walking from the covered tables toward the cookie jars and I had to pass the pool to get there. As I walked past the pool I looked in the water and saw some hair and some eyeballs. It took a second for it to register that those eyeballs were terrified and needed help. It took a little longer for me to see that it was my Jamers who was drowning in the deep end. I immediately jumped in and saved my boy. What a blessing I was walking by at that moment. He was nearly finished trying to keep his head up when I got to him. There were so many kids playing and splashing he was not noticeable. Who knows? I'm just thankful I was able to help him when I did. We never did figure out how he got in the water. He was not talking much about it, he was very traumatized. I think he just jumped in before he had his life jacket on. Scary!

A major highlight of the day was the belly flop contest. Funny, only Borgs participated, except poor Ben who succumbed to peer-pressure. Jared was the winner I think.

Jack practicing his belly flops

The esteemed judges

Since my clothes were soaked in my rescue mission, I got to wear my swimsuit the rest of the afternoon. Good thing I care more about being tan than having people see my pregnant jiggle.

Craft table

The whole crew

Grandpa playing along

The evening ended with a talent show. Ada played piano while Jack sang My Country tis of Thee

Jared jamming on the harmonica

junior appears

2011-11-06T21:47:00.000-08:00

Finally! This is the precious bundle I have been holding. I am in heaven.

sleepy head

2011-11-06T21:15:00.000-08:00

This picture warms my heart. I have a long-time love affair with Cheetos. This time of year I especially love to sit down with a tall glass of eggnog and a bag of Cheetos and watch tv. It is sublime. You should try it. Make sure it's Darigold eggnog, other brands just aren't quite as good.

riding the river

2011-11-04T20:21:00.000-07:00

We drove to Boise for the Young family reunion in August. It was a packed weekend full of generations of cousins bonding and summer fun. On Friday a passel of people got together and floated the Payette River. I was too pregnant to join them but I'm in next year! Thanks to Uncle Justin's safety assurance, Jack, Ada and Alice went on their first river ride. Here are some shots of the day.

ashes

2011-11-04T20:15:00.000-07:00

I don't want to forget our little friend Ashes. He was a wonderful pet for my Jimmers who carted him around day and night. So sad that his life was so short. It is dangerous out here for cats, we are finding out, with all the monstrous owls and coyotes. Like his mama Scarlet, he went out for a night walk and never came back. We all miss him.

seversike family reunion

2011-11-04T17:59:00.000-07:00

The family got together at Ensign Ranch for a reunion. As you can see, a great time was had by all...

Cue the theme music. Look at that stride. See the wind blowing in our hair. Amazing.
Campfire partiers.

Candy eaters
Trail riders.

Uncle Bryant is a good pusher.
Chair dwellers.
Hand holders.

Slip and sliders.

Rope swingers.

The end.

garden 2011

2011-11-04T17:38:00.000-07:00

What I would really like to be blogging about right now is my new, beautiful, sweet, baby boy. Unfortunately, I need to get the pictures from Jacob's computer onto mine. Instead I will blog briefly about the other things I grew this summer. I decided to do my planting in galvanized containers this year. I used the square foot gardening recipe for soil; one third peat moss, one third vermiculite, and the last third a mix of 5 different composts. I think it worked pretty well, my most successful garden try yet. The deer stayed away for most of the summer though they did eventually eat everything except the onions. The turkeys joined the deer for the buffet too but oh well. Someday I'll have a fence to keep the critters away. I planted pole beans, cucumbers, squash, beets, peas, onions, zucchini, tomatoes and peppers.

off to the ocean

2011-11-04T16:49:00.000-07:00

This summer my nephews Asa and Ethan came to stay with us for a week. We loved every minute of it. Once again, we had so much fun living that I didn't want to take time to get the camera. I didn't want to miss anything. So, lots of good memories of the boys at our house but no pictures to share. Hopefully, they will come back next summer and I will make a point to take at least a few.
After we returned them to their home, the kids and I went to Ocean Shores with my mom. I have many memories of this place. I'm lucky my parents would take us to the ocean when we little. I loved jumping waves and playing in the dunes. Sometimes we would dig for clams, the biggest thrill of my young life. "Quick, dig,dig, don't let it get away!!" "Now, stick your hand down there and grab it!" No time to think about what you could be putting your hand on instead of a clam. Don't even consider that instead you could end up touching some sort of ocean beast and it could suck you under the ground and that would be the end of you. I truly remember having those thoughts. Quite thrilling, really. I was always excited to drive on the beach, so close to the water and waves. It seemed so renegade to me. It was fun for me to take my kids to one of my favorite childhood places. Plus we lucked-out and enjoyed an absolutely beautiful sunshiny day!

wild neighbors

2011-11-04T16:36:00.000-07:00

These two guys were hanging around our house all summer.

epic fourth

2011-09-29T13:00:00.001-07:00

We always seem to have the most fun on the 4th of July. This year truly was epic. Jared and Jodie and their boys came up, so did Ranie and her kids. We had tons of fun doing the usual summer stuff.

Gracie Belle coming out of her shell with a mustache. Hilarious!
Uncle Jared entertaining kids with the remote control car.
4 wheeler rides for all ages.

Aunt Jodie in the razor.
Boy table.
Girl table.
Cousins about to sleep in the new loft in our shop. Notice the footie jammies in July. That's the kind of summer we had.

Ready to go to the lake!
Henry, the master of all things wheeled.
Finally, the Fourth comes. We headed to Honeysuckle Beach to play. We had our favorite Canadians show up for the special day. The Nilssons came down to join the festivities!

Jacob finally bought some camp chairs. He has been holding out for the perfect ones. I have to say, the trays on the side are perfect for sandwich making.
Borg brothers.

Home for dinner! Chicken Satay with peanut sauce and couscous, epitome of summer eating!

Are they related or what!?
Most of the kids.

So Jacob does this thing with a pot of water and a soup can and a firecracker that is pretty cool. He lights the firecracker and it blows the can into the sky. Then the fun thing to do is try and catch it. It is kind of hard. The can goes really high.

Here is Joseph ready for the launch.
I snapped this picture right as he caught it. Perfect!
Anna's ready
Oh yeah!

Ada and Jacob and some of the loot.
And so it begins...
Love this little Cashi.
Sam in the garbage box.
We started our firework show with the Pledge of Alligence

The kids also sang America the Beautiful.
Firework madness. We had a ton of people, at least 50, show up in our cul-de-sac for the show. It was so fun and a little crazy with all the kids and sparklers. I was relieved when that part was over and the real show began.

The pyros. Good job boys.

The Nilssons sacked out in the loft. You can't tell but Mandy is probably 7 months pregnant here. I promise I offered her a more comfortable sleeping option. She is one tough lady though.
Swords and the Nilssons and Borgs. I should write a song about that.

Me and my Jimmers, what a day!

more seversikes in town

2011-09-29T11:59:00.000-07:00

This summer my little brother Tommy and his cute family moved to Richland, Wa. Yay!! That is only 2 1/2 hours away from us. They lived in Arkansas, then North Carolina for what seemed like forever. I'm so happy they are so close now. Tommy and Ranie hosted a camp out/ birthday party in July. We had so much fun!

Pretty sure we ate the whole time. Everything was delicious!

Hanging out side. The temperature was pretty high. Gotta love southeast Washington weather!

One afternoon we went down to the river to cool off. The Columbia River is freezing cold, in case you were wondering why on such a stinking hot day people are only in the water up to their knees. It takes awhile to get numb.

These shots are cool. Brad is launching Jack into the river.

The kids relaxing in the reading room.

Some BBQ.

Some birthday action for Tommy and Tommy Jr.

Crazy cousins spazzing.
Crazy cousins mostly-posed.
Hello Tricia. Time to wake up, Brad.

Our darling hosts. Thanks for moving back West!
Classic fan talk.

utah or bust

2011-09-18T19:44:00.000-07:00

This year we started our summer vacation with a trip to Utah. My grandma's husband died so I drove with the kids down to attend the funeral and to visit family. It was a wonderful experience to stay with my grandma and spend time with her. We also took the opportunity to visit some church sites. Jacob was able to fly down for the weekend which made it so much better. It was fun to experience Temple Square and such as a whole family.

On Sunday, I had to run my mom to the airport so Jacob decided to take Ada, Alice and Jack to listen to The Spoken Word at the old tabernacle. President Monson was there, sitting some rows beneath them. They were very excited.

Next they toured the new conference center. I thought the kids might be bored but they absolutely loved it.

The next day we went to the church history museum and all around temple square. I remember very vividly doing this as a kid with my cousins. Now as an adult, it is so different. Everything seems so small. So sad when that happens. We all had a great time and enjoyed a really sunny day. This summer those were few and far between in June.

My kiddos with grandma. She is such a character. They all fell in love with her and her sweet ways (and cool games). I wish we weren't so far away. There are so many things to learn from her. I'm hoping we can get down there more often.

we love our dad!

2011-09-18T18:47:00.000-07:00

My kids have the best dad! He is definitely the "fun"one. We wanted to treat him right this year so we let him be in charge of the whole weekend. Our Saturday started with breakfast at The Breakfast Nook, our favorite breakfast place. Then we went downtown Coeur d'Alene to check out "Car d'Alene". We saw lots of cool old cars and lots of cool old guys in lawn chairs sitting in front of their cars. It made me want to have a classic car hobby when I grow up. Unfortunately, it started to rain so we didn't stay too long. We had a wonderful weekend together. This summer was unusual because we got to spend so much time with Jacob, usually we just get Sundays. A Saturday spent like this, just wandering around, was completely new. Lucky us!